Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Resources For The Church In The Prevention Of Suicide, Robert Ian Cuthbertson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper is an analysis of the history and signifcance of suicide in relation to the church and its mission to be "the salt of the earth". It will be an analysis of the types of suicide and its frequency in Canada. The paper will also review the resources, both literary and community, which are available for the minister. Interviews were conducted with ministers of various denominations, primarily in the Hamilton Region to determine the extent of their contact with suicidal situations. Possible reasons for the lack of interest on the part of the church in this issue are discussed. …

The Biographic Impact Of An Hiv Diagnosis (Immune Deficiency), Leanne Carol Baird

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

All In The Family Home: The Biological Children Of Parents Who Foster, Judith Heidburrt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Foster families are intended to provide children at risk with a secure environment. But how secure is this environment for the biological children of the foster family? While foster parents may feel drained by the needs of the foster children in their homes, the biological children may feel neglected by their parents. How do these children respond to—and perceive—the reality of foster children in their home? To address these questions, nine children were interviewed individually. Five of these children were still living at home, four were adult children reflecting back on their experiences growing up. The results from these interviews …

Detecting Simulated Amnesia Through The Use Of A Battery Of Memory Tests, Sandy A. Bellos

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In today's society people's locational residential preference is no longer dependent on the distance from the Central Business District. With the demise of the concept of the friction of distance other accessibility nodes, besides the central business district, such as and retail and suburban employment are necessary attributes towards the determination and influence of land rents. Where this is the case, the hedonic regression methods analysis to explain house prices should employ distance variables corresponding to each of the urban nodes. However, these distance measures may be highly intercorrelated, thereby posing a problem of "spatial collinearity." Two authors have examined …

Rituals Of Engagement And Disclosure: The Assessment Of Male Batterers In Clinical And Pastoral Perspective, Kelvin Frederick Mutter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study explores the dynamics of engaging the male batterer in the assessment interview. A model of interviewing is employed which considers both the interpersonal processes as well as the extent and relevance of the information which is gathered. Engagement is understood to have occurred when the client is committed to the process of therapy. The study focuses on the processes by which the battering client might be engaged in therapy. Consideration is also given to identifying factors which might prevent engagement. Theories of battering and engagement are explored in relationship to the work of Alan Jenkins. The extent and …

Some Motivations And Expectations Of Rural Men Regarding Professional Counselling Services: 'You Can't Just Go To Town And Get Counselling', Neil Stanley Lackey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A qualitative research report focused on interviews with twelve rural men between the ages of 30 and 55 living for at least 10 consecutive years in a community with a population of less than two thousand persons. Most were farmers. Findings indicate that the rural male's motivation to use a professional counsellor may be greatly increased when the following three factors are attended to: (1) Professional Public Relations (PR) (advertising/marketing geared to the rural language and setting; (2) Individual men Naming their issue and Knowing someone who might be helpful (N/K) AND (3) Normalization (via PR) of knowledge that rural …

Children Who Witness Mother-Assault: An Expanded Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Conceptualization, Peter John Lehmann

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The impact on children who witness mother-assault was conceptualized as an expanded posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and an exploratory research study testing this formulation was carried out. The current conceptualization was based in part on the work of V. Wolfe and associates who utilized a model whereby a number of mediating factors were thought to determine adjustment to traumatic. An important part of their model was the utilization of the Type I and II trauma typologies of Terr (1990, 1991). These typologies were used to measure the PTSD symptoms of children in response to the severity and course of mother-assault. …

A Naturalistic Study Of The Relationship Between The Process Of Empowerment And Mental Health During Adolescence, Michael Terrence Ungar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A qualitative study of 21 at-risk adolescents led to the development of a grounded theory which shows that mental health and resilience depends on the acceptance of teenagers experiences for their self-definitions and the power they exercise in the social discourse which constructs these defining labels. Using the metaphor of drift, this paper explores how teens seek acceptance for the most powerful personal labels accessible to them. The process of empowerment is conceptualized as a protective mechanism giving a young person power in the social construction of his or her identity. The young people in this study explained that participation …

Urban-Rural Socio-Economic Links In African Countries: The Case Of Accra, Ghana, Edmund Nkansah Okoree

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One of the most significant spin-offs of migration in developing countries is the remittance of cash and other resources from migrants to their family members remaining in the area of origin. Through remittances, income is redistributed from urban areas to rural areas. This results in an extension of social, economic, cultural and political fruits of urban life to rural households and communities. This study examines the types of links migrants in Accra, Ghana, maintain with their kin back home. Through a study of the flow of cash remittances and other resources between migrants in Accra and their area of origin, …

Coping With The Transition To University: The Impact Of A Social Support-Based Intervention, Daniel Jeff Lamothe

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The transition to university can be a particularly stressful time for incoming students, as indicated by high first-year attrition rates (Levitz & Noel, 1989). This stress may be produced in part by a reduction in social support that many students experience when they begin their university studies (Albert, 1988; Kenny, 1987). The present study examined an intervention program based on social support, and its impact on students' adjustment to university. Fifty-five first-year university students completed pretest questionnaires in August aimed at assessing levels of social support, as well as self-esteem, depression, stress, and integrative complexity of reasoning about university issues. …

Food Systems: Community-Shared Agriculture, A Means Of Empowerment And Social Vitality, Godwin Samuel Ashiabi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this thesis I focused on the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) as an alternative form of farming to industrialized agriculture. CSA connects the growers of food directly with the people who eat it, in a way where everyone shares the benefits and risks involved in agriculture. The Huron Community Garden in Goderich is the setting that was selected for this study because of its five-year history as a form of CSA. A naturalistic participant-observation mode of enquiry was employed. As a participant-observer, I was involved in all activities of the Garden—weeding, tilling of the ground, transplanting of seedlings, watering of …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Multiple Distance Measures In Regression Modeling: Predicting House Prices, Dawn Maire Porter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In today’s society people’s locational residential preference is no longer dependent on the distance from the Central Business District. With the demise of the concept of the friction of distance other accessibility nodes, besides the central business district, such as retail and suburban employment are necessary attributes towards the determination and influence of land rents. Where this is the case, the hedonic regression methods analysis to explain house prices should employ distance variables corresponding to each of the urban nodes. However, these distance measures may be highly intercorrelated, thereby posing a problem of “spatial collinearity.” Two authors have examined and …

Peer Evaluation: The Effect Of Reciprocity And Level Of Performance On Evaluative Feedback, Doreen Maria De Veen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The study was designed to examine the impact of reciprocal evaluation, a factor which differentiates the relational aspect of peer and supervisor evaluation contexts, and level of performance on the accuracy of performance ratings. One hundred and thirty-six undergraduate students evaluated standardized solutions on an 'Organizational Problem Solving Task' which demonstrated either a poor or a satisfactory level of performance, under one of two rating conditions. In one rating condition, participants were told that they would simply evaluate another person's performance on the task (non-reciprocal rating condition). In the other rating condition, participants were informed that not only would they …

Ibogaine Fails To Interrupt The Expression Of A Previously Established Morphine Place Preference, Tracey Lyn Luxton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ibogaine, a proposed anti-addictive agent, has been found to interfere with the acquisition of a weak morphine-induced place preference. The purpose of the present experiments was to determine if ibogaine given at various times prior to a test for morphine place conditioning would interfere with the expression of a morphine (5 mg/kg) conditioned place preference. A single injection of 40 mg/kg ibogaine 24 h, 12 h or 4 h prior to the test did not interfere with the expression of a previously established morphine conditioned place preference (CPP). Two injections of 40 mg/kg ibogaine 48 h and 24 h or …

A Community-Based Needs And Resource Assessment On Youth Mental Health: Bay Of Islands/Pasadena, Newfoundland, Joanne A. Mills

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this research project, I undertook a community-based needs and resource assessment on youth mental health within a western Newfoundland community to assist a mental health planning team, the Community Mental Health Initiative (CMHI). CMHI is a stakeholder-based committee dedicated to addressing mental health concerns for all citizens in a geographical area in western Newfoundland, encompassing the city of Corner Brook, the communities along the north and south shore of the Bay of Islands, and the community of Pasadena. The mandate of CMHI includes identifying mental health needs and promoting the general well being of all persons of all ages …

Safe Families: A Model Of Child Protection Intervention Based On Parental Voice And Wisdom, Sharon Patricia Mccallum

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study aimed to hear and understand parental voice and experience in regard to a statutory child protection system and to use this experience in the development of a model of intervention. The study was undertaken in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario and participants are, or have been, clients of Family and Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region. The study utilised grounded theory, a form of qualitative research, and data were collected via a number of in-depth interviews with each of the ten participants. The participants, both men and women, included people who had abused their children and non-offending partners. …

Economic Development And Local Agency In Pond Inlet: A Community In Baffin Region, Northwest Territories, Paul Emile Blais

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Canada over the last decade, economic development policy-makers have emphasized the role that localities can play in creating or capitalizing on their own capacities for development. Through an investigation of the situation in Pond Inlet, Northwest Territories, the author defines the role that local agency has played in the economic development process in that community. This investigation, based upon interviews of the role players and a broad literature search, involved an examination of the evolution of the economic development organizational structure over the last decade. More specifically, the author evaluated how the individual roles of the different development institutions …

Government Coordinating Agencies In Canadian Coastal Planning And Management: The Islands Trust And The Waterfront Regeneration Trust, Colin Graham Crance

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the coastal zone, relationships between natural, social and economic processes are often intense. This complexity has led to a host of government agencies involved in the planning and management of coastal environments. Unfortunately, these institutions often work at cross purposes, generating inefficiencies and exacerbating conflict. This conflict is compounded by the increasing participation of non-governmental groups and local interests in resource use decision-making. Further, reduced spending by the public sector is restricting government programs. These problems are not limited to Canada as there have been international calls to improve coastal area planning and management by forming authorities to coordinate …

Maps As A Visual Language: A Chinese Perspective, Zhaoyuan Li

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One primary goal of cartographic research is to improve cartographic communication. Psychophysical and cognitive research has assisted our understanding of the map use process. The present study is from a perspective of maps as a visual language. This study hypothesizes that (1) the map symbol system constitutes a visual ideographic language and (2) cartographic communication may be improved by applying the methods of teaching visual ideographic languages as a second language. Chinese script originated in primitive drawings of concrete things--pictographs--and ideographs. These became stylized and combined, and were expanded greatly in number. Although the characters came to include phonetic symbols, …

Internal And External Commuting And Their Role In Explaining Demographic Change In Nonmetropolitan Areas: A Case Study Of Simcoe County, Ontario, 1971-1991, Robert Gregory Atkinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Since the 1970's, nonmetropolitan areas have grown at rates in excess of those experienced by metropolitan areas. Two opposing arguments have been put forth in attempting to explain such a trend. Such arguments focus on the processes of counterurbanisation and metropolitan overspill. This paper ascertains to what extent these processes determine population change in Simcoe County, Ontario, between the years of 1971 and 1991. Associated physical factors, such as metropolitan distance and accessibility, settlement size, and settlement form, are all assessed. Emphasis, however, is placed on an examination of internal and external commuting patterns and their role in explaining recent …

Recent Changes In Domestic Accessibility In The Canadian Airline Industry: The Pre- And Post-Deregulation Situation, Ruben Jose De Castro Furtado

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In 1987 the Canadian National Transportation Act was amended. Airlines became free to enter/exit markets as they saw fit, and a network-wide reform of airline services began. This thesis examines the extent of network development since 1970, and attempts to determine the some of the spatial effects of the 1987 deregulation of the airline industry on nodal accessibility. Accessibility is a relative term and difficult to define explicitly. While it can be measured in distance or time, it may also be measured as the frequency of links between places over time. In this thesis the connectivity among places is used …

A Process Evaluation Of A Participant-Centred Approach To Opportunities Planning And Its Potential For Empowerment, Barbara Dian Chrysler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A process evaluation of an "Opportunities Planning" pilot project was conducted. Stakeholder participation was utilized to help determine the evaluation focus. mainly qualitative methods were used. The evaluation utilized field notes, program documents, focus groups, and structured interviews. Over 40 meetings were attended and recorded, and 27 one-on-one structured interviews were conducted, as well as two focus groups where eight individuals were interviewed. These interviews were conducted with a variety of key stakeholders, including: participants (social assistance recipients), program participants (individuals receiving the service), staff, service providers, and ministry representatives.

The research results are arranged in four parts: (a) the …

A Survey Of The Sources Of Information That Influence Adolescents' Knowledge And Attitudes About Sex And Dating Relationships, Laura Park

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was an initial attempt to understand the impact of parents, peers, the media, and sex education curricula on shaping adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes about dating relationships and sexuality. In addition, participants’ descriptions of what constitutes a “good” date and a “bad” date were investigated. One hundred participants (48 females, 52 males) aged thirteen to sixteen participated; half of the sample were early adolescents (13-14 years) and the other half were middle adolescents (15-16 years). All participants were asked to describe experienced or hypothetical “good” and “bad” dates. For “good” dates, respondents identified engaging in fun, recreational activities, whereas …

Social Identity And Integrative Complexity: The Effects Of Silent Group Membership On Reasoning About Social Issues, Stephen Leonard Friedman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The works of self-categorization theorists (e.g., Conover, 1988, 1984; Turner et al., 1987) suggests that presenting individuals with social issues central to the interests of their social group, and individual differences in group identification, can accentuate the salience of one’s group membership. Further, they suggest that social group salience may affect individuals’ viewpoints on group central social issues, resulting in more extreme, black-and-white thinking. The present study was designed in order to investigate the extent to which social group salience and/or individual differences in group identification affect the complexity with which gender group members think about a gender-central social issue. …

Coping And Support Needs Of Family Caregivers Of Older Adults With A Developmental Disability, Caroline Cochrane

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Due to the policy of deinstitutionalization there is a population of adults with a developmental disability who are aging in the community and who are living with their aging parents as caregivers. This study used a phenomenological, qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of these aging family caregivers of aging adults with a developmental disability. A literature review indicated that some sources of support and service needs have been identified for this population of caregivers, and that planning for the future of their adult child with a developmental disability was important to these caregivers. Six caregivers, …

Social Work Education From A Lesbian Standpoint, Robin Hjordis Stevenson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study looks at social work education from the standpoint of lesbian students and faculty. The literature indicates that many social workers manifest signs of homophobia, and that this affects the provision of services to gay and lesbian clients. The purpose of this study is to explore how issues of same-gender sexual orientation are addressed in schools of social work and to make recommendations for change. My approach is based on the view that “knowledge” is reflective of the values and experience of those who create it and that education serves to perpetuate and reinforce dominant social values. Looking at …

Resolving Community Conflicts With Public Participation: A Case Study Of A Southwestern Ontario Community, Rosalba Stocco

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative case study of a southern Ontario urban fringe community demonstrates that unresolved community conflict continues to be played out in the political arena by different actors in on-going disputes. A macro, meta and micro level of analysis reveals that negative patterns of interaction have contributed to a fatalistic attitude to community problem solving. Furthermore, the study confirms that the traditional processes did not address the needs and fears of the residents, thus contributing to the entrenchment and impasses the community faced.

Eramosa Township was chosen for its highly conflictual nature and its extensive public participation practices. Participants from …

The Role Of The State And The Community In Community Participation: A Case Study, Joseph Jean-Marc Andre Belanger

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study analyzes the principles and the practice of the concept of community participation. The purpose of research is to address the degree and manner of autonomy that can be exercised at the local community level and also what kind of participation should come from the state when communities are engaged with the state in a community participation process. The methodology of qualitative nature, is a case study of the Sudbury Better Beginnings, Better Futures Associations. An analysis of the public documents comparing the state and the Sudbury Association’s position on community participation principles is portrayed before performing an analysis …

The Discontinuation Of Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment From Infants In The Nicu: The Parental Perspective, Carolyn Daniels

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Discontinuation of intensive care treatment is a factor in most infant deaths occurring in the neonatal intensive care unit. Parents participate in and are affected by decisions to discontinue intensive care. Yet, few studies have been reported which examine parental views and experience. The purpose of this study was to explore parental involvement in the discontinuation of intensive care treatment from critically-ill infants. Using a qualitative methodology, decision-making in 28 sets of parents, 27 mothers and 17 fathers, was examined. The key themes reported by parents were personal process—individual feelings, thoughts, and reactions; the marital partnership—parents’ experiences and relationships with …