Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Qualitative Study Of Coping In Mothers Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heather Miller Kuhaneck, Tajhma Burroughs, Jamie Wright, Theresa Lemanczyk, Amy Rowntree Darragh

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

A significant body of research exists that explores the stressors of raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are fewer studies, however, that examine specific effective coping strategies of mothers of children with an ASD. This qualitative study explored mothers’ perceptions of effective coping strategies for their parenting stressors. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 mothers to inquire about their personal coping methods. Interviews were coded and emergent themes identified which included coping strategies such as “me time,” “planning,” “knowledge is power,” “sharing the load,” “lifting the restraints of labels,” and “recognizing the joys.” The information from …

Mothers In Trouble: Coping With Actual Or Pending Separation From Children Due To Incarceration, Katarzyna Celinska, Jane A. Siegel

Publications and Research

Although female offenders are the fastest growing population in prison today, relatively few studies focus on their unique experiences as mothers. In this study, the authors utilize 74 semistructured interviews with mothers before trial and during incarceration to document coping strategies employed to deal with potential or actual separation from their children. From the study data, seven strategies emerge: being a good mother, mothering from prison, role redefinition, disassociation from prisoner identity, self-transformation, planning and preparation, and self-blame. The findings show that mothers used multiple strategies and tended to employ emotion-focused and adaptive coping techniques. The policy implications are discussed.

A Qualitative Study Of The Psychological Impact Of Unemployment On Individuals., Marie Conroy

Dissertations

This research study examines individual’s experiences of unemployment from a psychological perspective. It presents the different psychological and financial effects of unemployment and presents the different theories developed on the effects of job loss on the individual. It will also examine the central role which work contributes to an individual’s life. Finally, it will investigate how a person deals with unemployment and copes with the transition. A qualitative approach was selected as the research method for this study, through the use of six semi-structured interviews.

The research findings indicate that unemployment can affect an individual’s psychological well-being. Unemployment can leave …

"I'M A Community Clinic Kind Of Gal": Coping With Emotional Labor In Community-Based Organizing, Alexandra M. Zoellner

Sociology Honors Projects

How does the organization’s social environment affect the emotional labor employees perform? Previous research on emotional labor has focused on the service sector and omitted examples in nonprofit organizations. To address this gap, I conducted interviews with staff members at a community-based, low-cost reproductive health clinic. Its internal work environment values strong co-worker relationships and support in coping with labor. I found three distinct realms of emotional labor: between clients and employees of the organization; amongst the staff of the organization; and between the organization and the surrounding society. Each realm corresponds to distinct challenges that contribute to employees’ experiences …

Spiritual Bypass: A Preliminary Investigation, Harriet L. Glosoff, Craig S. Cashwell, Chereé Hammond

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

The phenomenon of spiritual bypass has received limited attention in the transpersonal psychology and counseling literature and has not been subjected to empirical inquiry. This study examines the phenomenon of spiritual bypass by considering how spirituality, mindfulness, alexithymia (emotional restrictiveness), and narcissism work together to influence depression and anxiety among college students. Results suggested that mindfulness and alexithymia accounted for variance in depression beyond what is accounted for by spirituality and that all 3 factors (mindfulness, alexithymia, and narcissism) accounted for variance in anxiety beyond what is accounted for by spirituality. Implications for counselors are provided.

Amf Development Proposal-College Student Bereavement On The Oru Campus, Andrea C. Walker

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

This presentation served as a proposal to develop an AMF chapter for grieving students at ORU. This group was part of the National Students of AMF (Actively Moving Forward), a group designed to provide peer-led support for college students experiencing death of a family member or friend or facing their own terminal illnesses. ORU Students of AMF was active for about five years.

Facing The Music Or Burying Our Heads In The Sand?: Adaptive Emotion Regulation In Mid- And Late-Life, Robert J. Waldinger, Marc S. Schulz

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Psychological defense theories postulate that keeping threatening information out of awareness brings short-term reduction of anxiety at the cost of longer-term dysfunction. By contrast, Socioemotional Selectivity Theory suggests that preference for positively-valenced information is a manifestation of adaptive emotion regulation in later life. Using six decades of longitudinal data on 61 men, we examined links between emotion regulation indices informed by these distinct conceptualizations: defense patterns in earlier adulthood and selective memory for positively-valenced images in late life. Men who used more avoidant defenses in midlife recognized fewer emotionally-valenced and neutral images in a memory test 35-40 years later. Late-life …