Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Crossover Youth: The Pathway To Development And The Relationship With Life-Time Offending, Hailey Kolpin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A large portion of justice-involved youth have previously been involved with the child welfare system; termed crossover youth. What is less understood is the trajectory of crossing over and the potential role of mental health problems. Using the theories of developmental traumatology and Moffitt’s developmental taxonomy of antisocial behaviour, the present study investigated the ability of several factors to distinguish and predict crossover youth who develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this study of 299 justice-involved youth, chi-squared analyses found that several factors were able to differentiate youth with PTSD and/or associated symptoms from those without. Logistic regression indicated that …

Assessing The Perceptions Of The Use Of A Courthouse Facility Dog Program With Child And Youth Witnesses, Melissa Glazer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study evaluates the use of a courthouse facility dog program as a testimonial aid for children and youth testifying in court to help reduce secondary trauma. Court officials’ perceptions of the use of a courthouse facility dog program were assessed through a structured interview and a short self-report measure. A total of seven court officials participated in the study. Results indicate that court officials perceive the use of a courthouse facility dog to be beneficial for children and youth who are experiencing challenges testifying in court. In addition, results show that some respondents perceived a degree of bias against …

Supporting Dynamic And Distributed Decision Making In Acute Care Environments: Insights From A Cognitive Ethnography, Anthony Naimi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The way that medical decisions are carried out in hospital environments has undergone radical changes in recent years, in part as a result of the changing landscape of care. To make decisions, physicians are expected to keep abreast of a growing and changing body of medical and patient knowledge, collaborate more with clinical colleagues, and utilize more technologies to inform care than ever before. This dissertation reports on a five month cognitive ethnography in an ICU in Ontario Canada, and utilizes distributed cognition to understand the challenges that physicians face in making decision in modern acute care environments. It also …

Settlement Experiences Of Syrian Refugees, Jennifer Perkins

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statistics Canada (2017) reports that over 40,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since November of 2015. This large influx of refugees, some with psychological trauma, poses a great responsibility to service providers to ensure services meet the needs of their new clientele. One service provider in Midsized City, Ontario, which will be referred to as The Resource Center, has taken a new and culturally informed approach to providing service. This center has held multiple “Welcome Neighbour” events across the city to invite newcomers to form a closer community and give them the platform to express their needs as refugees. …

Risk Factors For Domestic Homicide: Immigrant & Canadian-Born Populations, Sakthi Kalaichandran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Domestic violence is a critical human rights issue that can escalate to cases of domestic homicide. Globally, approximately 30% of women in relationships have reported experiencing violence at the hands of an intimate partner. In Canada this pattern is echoed, as over 25% of police-reported violent offences were from victims of domestic abuse. Recent research has revealed that immigrant & refugee victims experience unique risk factors that may render them more vulnerable to this form of violence. Yet, despite this burgeoning research area, and Canada’s diverse population of 6 million immigrants, there is a dearth of research pertaining to domestic …

Examining Stigma Among Preservice Teachers Following The Completion Of A Mental Health Literacy Course, Nella Cautillo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examined whether a mental health literacy course for preservice teachers reduced mental health stigma and whether there were any meaningful differences in stigma based on gender, BEd program, previous degree, and previous learning about mental health. Preservice teachers from X University participated in a mental health literacy course for ten weeks, which involved education about various topics related to mental health. The teachers were asked to complete a pre-test (N=263) at the start of the course, which included an Opening Minds Stigma Scale (Modgill, Patten, Knaak, Kassam, & Szeto, 2014), measuring mental health stigma. Similarly, the teachers were …

Industrial Stagecraft: Tooling And Cultural Production, Jennifer A. Hambleton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The tooling of theatrical spectacle requires collaboration between stagecraft technicians and designers in an increasingly globalized and standardized manufacturing process. While hand skills are still used and remain useful, digital fabrication and other tools are now incorporated in labour processes in scenery manufacturing workshops, altering collaborative work in complex ways. This thesis is an inquiry into the epistemological role of software and digital fabrication tools in stagecraft practices and explores how the politics of craft labour intersect with material practices in media production labour. The technical aspects of the fabrication of theatrical spectacles and display environments, the way objects are …

Barriers And Facilitators To Positive Mental Health On A University Campus, Sheldon Hill

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The prevalence of mental health concerns among university students is well-documented and students accessing campus supports appear to be increasing. The objective of the current study was to gain a holistic and thorough perspective of the facilitators and barriers affecting positive mental health from the undergraduate student perspective. Data collected via an online form asked students about their current perspectives of mental health at an institutional level. A thematic analysis was performed and four overall themes were identified: trust in and quality of services, validation of mental health concerns, institutional procedures and environment, and stigma. The various themes and factors …

Exploring Dimensions Of Vulnerability In Victims Of Domestic Homicide, Natalia Musielak

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Gender-based violence is rooted in a network of multidimensional constructs encompassing personal, situational, social and cultural elements, as well as the intersectionality of these elements. Current research on victims of domestic homicide has not incorporated the use of this lens and has had a tendency to focus on a singular construct as independent and autonomous. The present study explored 20 dimensions of victim vulnerability. Cases from the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee were analyzed to examine the presence and frequency of these dimensions within the sample. Using two-step cluster analysis, different profiles of vulnerable victims were determined. Relationships between …

Symbolic And Material Justice: The Case Of Displaced Persons In Chocó, Colombia, Allison Cordoba

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examines the causes and impacts of victimization as experienced by rural populations displaced by conflict living in Quibdó, Colombia. It draws upon Bourdieu’s social theory to understand how the distribution of various forms of capital structure the lives of the displaced. A brief history of the conflict in Colombia is presented, which is broken into five periods, from 1946 to 2014 when the fieldwork was conducted. A description of the context of Quibdó and the department it is in, Chocó, is also provided. Particular attention is paid to the role of symbolic, economic, and cultural capital in the …

Comorbid Depression And Substance Abuse In Perpetrators Of Domestic Homicide, Casey Oliver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Globally up to 38% of murdered women are victims of domestic homicide. However, research has yet to examine comorbid depression and substance abuse in domestic homicide, despite comorbid mental health conditions being associated with homicide in the general population. A retrospective case analysis approach was performed using domestic homicide cases that had been reviewed by the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee of Ontario. Group comparisons were made by compiling cases into groups based on perpetrator mental health status: a no mental illness group, depression only group, substance abuse only group, and comorbid depression and substance abuse group. Statistical analyses compared …

Perfectionistic Strivings Are Neither Adaptive, Healthy, Positive, Functional, Nor Advisable: Findings From Six Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles, Martin M. Smith

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This article-based dissertation incrementally advanced our understanding of the contentiously debated (mal)adaptiveness of perfectionistic strivings (i.e., self-oriented perfectionism and personal standards). Perfectionistic strivings’ relations with negative emotionality, narcissism, depressive symptoms, and suicide were examined using structural equation modeling, path analysis, and meta-analysis. Additionally, bifactor modeling was used to explore how controlling for perfectionistic concerns (i.e., socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, and doubts about actions) impacts perfectionistic strivings’ factor structure. Results suggest perfectionistic strivings are neither adaptive, healthy, positive, functional, nor advisable. Indeed, perfectionistic strivings exacerbated perfectionistic concerns’ relationship with negative emotionality. Likewise, controlling for perfectionistic concerns rendered perfectionistic strivings …

Pushing The Limits: Testing, Magnetometry And Ontario Lithic Scatters, John E. Dunlop

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Lithic scatters, small ephemeral clusters of stone artifacts on cultivated surfaces, lie on the periphery of archaeology. These sites are often too ephemeral to be fully understood through standardized fieldwork methodologies mandated in Ontario CRM archaeology and yet, they are widely regarded as worth documenting with hundreds now recorded. In this thesis, it is argued that what are small artifact scatters on the surface can belie more complex subsurface finds of significant cultural and historical value. As such, there is a need to reconsider the approaches made to the investigation of these sites. Geophysical techniques applied early in a scatter’s …

The Impact Of Beauty, Body Image, And Health Discourses On Eating Disorder Risk In South Asian-Canadian Women, Nazia Bhatti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explores socio-cultural influences that impact South Asian women’s self-perceptions and eating behaviours. The findings revealed that cultural gender ideologies played a substantial role in shaping the way women view themselves and their bodies. The analysis of interviews conducted with seven South Asian-Canadian women between the ages of 19-29 years, demonstrate that women’s perceptions of their own physical appearance is framed within the context of their South Asian cultural identity and cultural norms. This study was approached through the lens of post-colonial feminism by examining cultural factors that contribute to South Asian women’s increased risk for developing eating disorders. …

The Semi-Subterranean Sweat Lodges Of The Redeemer Site, Amanda Parks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sweat bathing is a practice of great antiquity and is well documented throughout the world. In the archaeological record of southern Ontario, sweat bathing has been identified via a feature class referred to as semi-subterranean sweat lodges (SSLs). To add to our understanding of this feature class, this research examines the SSLs of the Redeemer site (AhGx-114), a fourteenth century Iroquoian village located in Hamilton, Ontario. Statistical analyses were applied to SSL data, aimed at identifying whether any significant patterns emerged regarding spatial and morphological attributes, and artifact distributions. Broader societal changes during the Middle Ontario Iroquoian period were also …

Water Governance In The Lerma-Chapala Basin Of Mexico: A Shift From State-Centred To A Multi-Stakeholder Approach?, Luis F. Silva Jimenez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a framework for assessing water governance by consolidating and refining disparate principles of water governance in the existing research literature. The developed framework is then applied in a case study of the Lerma Chapala basin in Mexico to assess the state of water governance, and identify accomplishments and constraints in the implementation of an effective water governance system. The study conducts a content analysis of primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with multiple stakeholders in the basin (N=51) and secondary data from national water policy documents (N=18).

Overall, the study identified one …

Self Presentation Of Select Female Athletes On Instagram And Public Responses, Erin Ratelle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social media sites vastly have changed the ways in which athletes can interact with their fans. Positioned within the area of feminist cultural studies, this thesis employs a mixed-methods approach to examine how 8 selected female athletes display their bodies on Instagram via posted photos; how the public responds to this content via photo comments; and how these interactive postings fit with wider socio-cultural and historical contexts of women’s bodies in sport and physical activity. Using Erving Goffman’s theory on self-presentation and Jurgen Habermas’ theory on the public sphere, I conceive Instagram as both stage and space for public deliberation. …

A Foucauldian Genealogical Analysis Of Healthy Eating Education Materials In Ontario 1942-2015, Janet N. Loughheed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examines the introduction of the Official Food Rules in 1942 and the formation of subsequent dietary self-analysis practices in Ontario curriculum and textbooks. Examination of the influences of nutrition science, Ontario education policy and politics, and Canadian health policies are combined with Foucauldian critical discourse analysis of selected classroom materials. The Grade 4 dietary self-analysis, based on the various forms of the food guide, from 1946, 1974 and 2011 are analysed and compared. Themes of truth, power and identity within this regime of truth are examined. The ordering of food in the Food Rules was a discursive event. …

Perceptions Of Primates And Protected Areas: Ethnoprimatological Implications For Conservation In The Pacoche Refuge, Tamara L. Britton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research uses an ethnoprimatological approach to investigate people’s perceptions of primates and protected areas through a case study in the Pacoche Marine and Coastal Wildlife Refuge in Manabí, Ecuador. Twenty-one agricultural workers from the community of Pacoche were interviewed using a photo pile-sorting exercise and structured open-ended interviews.

Results regarding perceptions of primates indicate that despite previous local practices, in comparison to other faunal species in the park, primates are no longer commonly targeted for food or medicinal purposes. White-fronted capuchins, while reported to be damaging to corn and orange crops, and commonly viewed as aggressive, were also widely …