Exploring Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy In Clinical Practice, Tim Rieck

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Key Words: religion, spirituality, sacred, intervention, spiritual intervention, soul

Over the past twenty years, spirituality and religion have gained increased attention in the field of psychotherapy. In the research of psychotherapy, psychology, and social work, there is recognition that spirituality and religion can contribute to positive outcomes when people are faced with various challenges and distresses in life.

The main challenges are tied into determining how to move the research beyond the fact that spirituality has importance in psychotherapy to exploring how spirituality is integrated in psychotherapy. There are numerous questions to explore regarding the application of spirituality into …

Who Is The Stranger Really? A Reluctant Autoethnography Of The Strange Situation Procedure, Tara Yazdani

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper aims to review the cross-cultural application of attachment theory as a western model of thought and practice. That is, this research aimed to recognize and question how embedded attachment theory has become in programming and education within North American academic and practical arenas. In applying the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to a limited sample of Eritrean dyads, important considerations and questions arose regarding the cross-cultural application of this protocol. The aims of this research shifted toward further exploring these considerations and questions, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the new research aim emphasized how to inform future …

Second Generation Christian Korean Canadians: Exploring Their Lived Experiences Of Mental Health Issues And Services, Kyoung Jung Kim

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

This study explores the lived experiences of second-generation Christian Korean Canadian young adults with mental health issues (MHI) and their use of health services (MHS). In addition, this study asked this cohort to discuss their beliefs about the views their parents held about MHI and MHS. All research participants were born and raised in Canada by Korean born immigrant parents. This study was descriptive, phenomenological, and qualitative in nature; it consisted of in-depth interviews with six male and six female participants. In their experience with MHI, seven participants experienced fear and sadness (depression and anxiety) and three of them …

Complex Thinking: The Science And Spiritual Nature Of Therapeutic, Pedagogical, And Supervisory Relationships, Daniel Rzondzinski

Consensus

This article explores the similarities and differences between the therapeutic, pedagogical and supervisory relationship in the context of complex thinking and emphasizes the importance of spirituality as a central dimension of human beings. It will explain why human beings are multidimensional, have many social locations and develop complex relationships such as therapeutic, pedagogical and supervisory relationships. It will pay close attention to their structural components (complex adaptive systems; power differential; assimilation-accommodation processes; transference-countertransference; therapeutic alliance-learning alliance; and spirituality). Finally, it will reflect on the importance of the spiritual dimension, which was rejected by classical science. It explains why we consider …

Beneficial Mourning By Inmates Who Have Lost A Significant Person, James Bradley Shoemaker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Incarceration is already replete with loss before someone of significance to an inmate dies. The prison environment challenges every aspect of grieving, and failing to effectively mourn pathologizes grief, reduces quality of living, and results in behaviours that cause recidivism. It is a poignant interaction between this researcher in his role as a chaplain and a particular inmate that provides the impetus for this study. This study begins with a qualitative meta-synthesis that examined 10 qualitative articles and dissertations published over the last 30 years to explore how some inmates manage to effectively grieve the loss of a significant person. …

A Phenomenological, Arts-Based Study Of Art Therapists’ Self-Reflective Practice, Laurie Ponsford-Hill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This phenomenological, arts-based study examined the experiences of 15 art therapists using five-minute, full-bodied self-portraiture with 55 minutes of self-reflective journaling once a week for four weeks at the end of each work week. The therapists determined the location for this practice. Subsequently, the four artworks, as a serial, were explored with each participant in a one-hour telephone or Skype interview to understand their lived experience through art, and its signs, and symbols. This process enabled the therapists to act as witness to their respective self/selves, deepening their insights and connections about self. The transcribed audio-taped interviews were manually coded …

Experiences Of Racialized Service Providers Who Work With Racialized Clients: Functions And Constraints Of Master And Counter-Narratives Of Helping, Racism, And Vicarious Racism, Prapti Giri

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

What are the experiences of racialized frontline workers? How do they experience vicarious racism? I interviewed 8 frontline workers who were involved in counseling racialized individuals. The narrative paradigm, constructivist self-development theory (CSDT), and critical race theory (CRT) were the theoretical frames that guided the interviews and data analysis in order to answer these questions. I conducted a structural narrative analysis, which revealed how participants utilized assumptions from master narratives and at other times countered them. Interviewees occasionally stepped outside of the master narrative entirely, for example, by rejecting the categorization of race. According to CSDT, our meanings are determined …

The Experience Of Elderly Koreans' Han And Its Implication For Spiritual Care: In The Canadian Context, Jong Park

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Han is an indigenous Korean concept signifying a depth of internalized human suffering, caused primarily by a long history of socio, economic and political oppression. Han can also be understood as the deep psychological wounds of the Korean people. This study focuses on the Han experiences of elderly Korean immigrants living in Canada. The main purpose of the research is to provide a better spiritual care for such seniors who live as a marginal population. For a holistic understanding of their Han, the literature review examines Han-related history, religion and psychology, and explores Han experiences in the family …

Planting The Seeds Of Hope: Research And Action On Body Image Of University Students, Michelle Poechman Fisher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A number of researchers have expressed concern regarding the growing prevalence of body dissatisfaction, especially among North American women. Such body dissatisfaction is often linked to dieting, weight concerns, excessive exercise, poor nutrition, and eating disorders. In order to expand our awareness and understanding of university students’ needs with regards to issues concerning body image, a needs assessment was conducted in two universities located in southwestem Ontario. In focus groups and individual interviews, students were asked directly about the issues they find most troublesome, their experiences in the recovery process, and their needs for supportive and preventive interventions. In order …

Youth Stress, Support, Coping Skills And Depression: Developing A Model For Primary Prevention In The High Schools, M. Jill Somerville

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examined the needs and resources of Galt Collegiate Institute and the City of Cambridge in order to develop a primary prevention program for adolescent stress, support, and coping skills. Two hundred and ten high school students (grade 9 to OAC) completed an adolescent experiences questionnaire including measures on daily hassles, social support, coping skills, depression, and affect. As well, ten individuals from the community completed an interview focusing on program ideas and available resources. Multiple regression analyses of the student data revealed that hassles were directly related to negative affect and depression, and coping skills were directly related …

Program Evaluation Of The Community Aftercare Program, Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Region, Karen J. Nesbitt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper describes an evaluation of the Community Aftercare Program, a program of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Waterloo Region. This case management program offers long-term support to psychiatrically disabled adults who were once hospitalized and now live in this community. Ten people from the Community Aftercare Program and ten individuals who were on the waiting list for the program were interviewed for this static group comparison design. Using a stakeholder approach, data were collected on measures of hospitalization, adaptive functioning, community integration, social support networks, employment, housing, service use, and quality of life. Results indicated that the program clients …

The Prediction Of Success-Failure And Terminating-Remaining In The Bibliotherapy Treatment Of Obesity, David John Mckay

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

136 obese adults, 119 females and 17 males, all at least 15% over their ideal weight, participated in a ten week self-administered bibliotherapy treatment of obesity. The study examined the relationship between socio-economic status, locus of control, field dependence and their interaction terms and success-failure and terminating-remaining in a totally self-administered behavioural self-help treatment. A multiple regression data analytic strategy was used for data analysis. Significant relationships were found between locus of control and total number of lessons completed and success-failure. Also, significant relationships were found between participants’ age and locus of control and terminating-remaining. The marginal results of the …