Current Search: story theory (x)
View All Items
- Title
- EXPLORING WOMEN'S LIFE COURSE EXPERIENCES WITH WEIGHT USING STORY THEORY.
- Creator
-
Edmonds Poff, Allison, Bushy, Angeline, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This qualitative study included women who had gone through the menopausal transition and had experienced obesity, and it focused on their weight histories and experiences across the life course. The goal of this research was to add to the body of knowledge concerning weight gain by applying a novel middle range theory (story theory). Story theory was used to collect and interpret from women's life course stories the critical themes and patterns of their weight gain. Oral accounts were...
Show moreThis qualitative study included women who had gone through the menopausal transition and had experienced obesity, and it focused on their weight histories and experiences across the life course. The goal of this research was to add to the body of knowledge concerning weight gain by applying a novel middle range theory (story theory). Story theory was used to collect and interpret from women's life course stories the critical themes and patterns of their weight gain. Oral accounts were elicited during personal interviews from a convenience sample of ten women recruited from a weight loss and exercise program in Central Florida. Literature focusing on the prevalence of obesity, contributing factors and associated complications, as well as treatment approaches is extensive. A variety of approaches have been proposed to identify factors that contribute to the development of obesity across the lifespan. Ultimately, the goal of these studies is to understand risk factors for weight gain along with corresponding prevention and management strategies. A particular life course approach focuses on critical periods across the life span that may be associated with risk for the development of obesity. For women, puberty, pregnancy and menopause are noted to be critical for weight change in the life course as they are associated with hormonal changes and changes in body composition including fat mass. Story theory was chosen to conceptualize and guide participants through a personal interview in order to share their weight experiences along their life course. Content analysis procedures were used to analyze the data in order to identify themes and corresponding verbatim exemplars. A re-constructed composite story was developed that included excerpts from the participants' stories in order to reveal contextualized results. Themes that were identified relative to participants' experiences with their weight included: changes associated with emotional and physical health; eating patterns associated with multiple and/or changing roles/relationships; and, changes in the environment. An interpretation of the predominant pattern of weight gain included: changes in eating and physical activity that occur during multiple and simultaneous transitional life experiences, primarily in adulthood. The findings suggest that transitional experiences in women's lives - physiological, developmental, relational or environmental - were critical in that they presented risk for behavior changes related to eating and physical activity. The results of this study and the use of story theory have implications for providing individualized, patient-centered lifestyle recommendations for the prevention of unhealthy weight gain.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003974, ucf:48663
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003974
- Title
- The Collector as Arbiter of Art: A Phenomenological Investigation of Collectors' Critical Judgment Development and Their Understanding of Art Toward a Theoretical Model for Appreciation and Criticism in Art Education.
- Creator
-
Grey, Anne, Brewer, Thomas, Sivo, Stephen, Kaplan, Jeffrey, Price, Mark, Roberts, Sherron, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study was to investigate art collectors' specific method of developing and making critical judgments in the context of their understanding of art. Phenomenological research methods were employed to obtain data through interviews with collectors of Contemporary African American art, Latin American art, and Minimalist and Conceptual art. Based on the findings, collectors' approaches to critical judgment can be categorized into three areas. First, critical skills are both...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to investigate art collectors' specific method of developing and making critical judgments in the context of their understanding of art. Phenomenological research methods were employed to obtain data through interviews with collectors of Contemporary African American art, Latin American art, and Minimalist and Conceptual art. Based on the findings, collectors' approaches to critical judgment can be categorized into three areas. First, critical skills are both intuitive and developed over time, through a holistic and aesthetic process set in the art world. Collectors' edification requires commitment, and intense looking enabling them to see how works of art communicate. Second, key events that marked collectors' methodological approaches were connections with artists and art, notable purchases, and exhibitions of their collection. These events resulted from an integration of the collectors' identification with the art work, manifested over time in various forms. Finally, those objects that best reflected collectors' specific development of critical judgment and understanding of art were noted either by specific artists in their collection or the collection as a whole, functioning as vital aspects of the collectors' life and at the same time contributing to culture and society in its capacity to cause conversations. There is an opportunity to apply the information from collectors' processes as an educational model for teaching and learning about appreciation and criticism in art education by thinking about art collections more broadly, as another way to look at life and the art in life.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004115, ucf:49103
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004115