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A Qualitative Study Examining The Experiences Of Children Living In A Residential Treatment Program, Elisabeth Robson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this research project was to gain an understanding of the child's experience living in residential treatment and to explore the child's understanding of treatment and the therapeutic process. Limited information on this topic has been found in the research literature, therefore this study was also an attempt to add qualitatively to the body of knowledge on residential treatment, incorporating the child's perspective. Six children living in a residential treatment centre in Southwestern Ontario were interviewed. Their interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and analyzed using the grounded theory techniques of Strauss and Corbin (1998). Demographic information and treatment goals …

Learning, Earning And Parenting (Leap) Directive 39.0 Of Ontario Works: A Policy Analysis, Tracy Anne Smith-Carrier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Learning, Earning and Parenting (LEAP) is a policy directive under Ontario Works that outlines three specific components to ‘assist’ teenage parents complete their high school education and garner important employment and parenting skills while receiving social assistance. According to the Government of Ontario, the three components addressed in the directive include: first, Learning—involves offering particular benefits to teenage parents to facilitate their completion of high school. Financial supports are purportedly allocated to LEAP recipients to ‘enable’ them to attain their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Second, Earning—focuses on the acquisition of employment skills through training courses and employment opportunities. Third, Parenting—requires …

Self Appraisal In Later Life: Comparison Orientation And Well-Being, Angela Marie Pye

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study explores the relation between different comparison orientations, use of coping strategies and well-being in later life (N = 95; M = 76 years). Past research has identified individual differences in people's preference for comparison standards: some rely on social comparisons (to other individuals or groups), others use temporal comparisons (to the self at various points in time), a variety of both comparison types, or none at all. Mixed method analysis revealed that, although older participants generally preferred temporal comparisons to social comparisons, many people reported relying heavily on both standards and a considerable number relied on neither standard. …

A Comparison Of Kinetic Family Drawings Of Firstborn And Second-Born Siblings, Lynn Anderson

Dissertations

Problem. While the Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) is a popular assessment tool for clinicians, research on developmental issues and how siblings draw their families is lacking. The purpose of this study was to (a) describe the way siblings perceive themselves and their family interpersonal relationships as expressed in the KFD; and (b) to describe possible developmental age differences in the KFD.

Method. The KFD and a Family Dynamics Interview Schedule were administered to 50 pairs of first- and second-born children from Southwestern Michigan, ages 5-14. The data were analyzed quantitatively by the Wilcoxon Sign Test and Chi-Square, using …

The Longterm Effects Of Television Mediation On Lds Young Single Adults: An Exploratory Study, Jennia Parkin

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines what Latter-day Saint young single adults remember about their parents mediating the television and its use, and how those recollections contribute to their current attitudes and values toward the media, as well as their media choices. A stratified random sample of 267 LDS young single adults across the United States and outside the state of Utah responded to a cross sectional mail or online survey. The three mediation styles established by Valkenburg, Krcmar, Peeters, and Marseille (1999)—Restrictive, Instructive, and Coviewing—were used as the independent variables while scales assessing television offensiveness levels, attitudes, orientation, and usage were …

Introduction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’S Sociological Perspective On Ethics And Society, Michael R. Hill, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Social Ethics: Sociology and the Future of Society provides a complex yet accessible statement of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's mature sociological theory of ethical life. Her perspective is welded intellectually to sociology and evolutionary thought and concretely to the well-being of children throughout the world. We have failed, writes Gilman in Social Ethics, to teach even "a simple, child-convincing ethics based on social interactions, because we have not understood sociology" (emphasis added). For Gilman, a world in which children are not loved, well fed, properly clothed, thoughtfully educated, and humanely disciplined is a world ethically at odds with logic and itself. …

The Bodhisattva And Relationship: Thich Nhat Hanh And Rita Gross On The Integration Of Parenting And Buddhist Practice Among Non-Asian, North American Buddhists, Marybeth White

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One of the key elements in the growth and adaptation of Buddhism in North America is the integration of Buddhist practice and family life (see Farrer-Halls: 2002, 88; Ikeda-Nash: 2000, 297-300; Tsomo: 2000, 327; 1999b, 26; 1995, 12; Gross: 1999b, 105; Nhat Hanh: 1996, 200; Mandell: 1995, 51; Boucher: [1988] 1993). Scholars and practitioners acknowledge the difficulty balancing childcare with a strict meditation practice adopted by many non-Asian North American Buddhists, as well as the long term ramifications of addressing Buddhist practices and what have been issues traditionally associated with the Buddhist realm of samsara rather than nirvana. By appealing …

Men's Strengths In The Transition To Fatherhood, Dawson C. Cooke

Theses : Honours

This paper considers the ways men succeed or grow stronger (strengths perspectives) in the transition to fatherhood. Becoming a father is a normative life event for a man that presents a unique opportunity for developmental growth. This aspect of fatherhood has rarely been addressed in psychological literature despite the growing interest in fatherhood and strengths perspectives. An overview is given of fathering literature with attention to the transition to fatherhood, positive outcomes and strengths, and recent Australian studies. Models and classifications of strengths are introduced, including findings from the positive psychology movement (C. Peterson & M. E. P. Seligman, 2004) …

Social Competence : An Exploration Of Children's Experiences Within The Home Environment, Mandie B. Shean

Theses : Honours

The acquisition of social competence is an important developmental task for children. This review examines how child effects and environmental effects contribute to children's achievement of social competence. Environmental factors are addressed through Bronfenbrenner's (1999) ecological systems model of the microsystem, mesosystem and exosystem, The microsystem includes the home environment with parent-parent, parent-child and sibling relationships. The mesosystem includes the school environment with peer and teacher relationships. Finally, the exosystem incorporates indirect environments such as parent work, economic status and the media. Issues of reciprocal effects are addressed and the suggestion is made that social competence is the result of …

Exploring The Experience Of Fatherhood For Men Over 40 Years Of Age, Jan Henderson

Theses : Honours

Fathering literature from the past 30 years was explored to firstly, gain an understanding of how fathering roles have changed over this time, and secondly, to explore predictors of fathering involvement. The major changes in fathering appear to originate in gender ideology, resulting from a growing rejection of male gender role constraints concerning how men relate to their children. Further issues explored include post-war societal change; personality; work roles; relationship quality, and gatekeeping, where the child's mother is believed influence her partners fathering involvement to suit her own needs. Comparisons with past research revealed that recent studies are more likely …

Intimate Gatherings Something Old, New, Borrowed And Blue: A Small Wedding May Be Right For You!, Hakisha Lashea Thomas

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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An Examination Of Fathers' Satisfaction With The Legal System: Exploring The Concept In Relation To Fathers' Experience With The Family Law Court Of Western Australia, Janelle M. Hawes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although the importance of fathers' post divorce contact with their children has been linked with a better outcome for the children and is valued by society, studies in the United States and Australia have suggested that up to 30 percent of fathers do not maintain regular contact with their children post divorce. To date, the literature has focused mainly on demographic variables and some personal characteristics of the father. An area, which has been neglected, is the influence of fathers' perception of legal proceedings and rules on their contact with their children post divorce. This study aimed to explore the …

Father Role Identity : An Exploration Of The Construct And Its Measurement, Michelle J. Gobetz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There is relatively little research in respect of father’s and their post-divorce contact with their children. Preliminary research suggests father’s identification with the parent role may play an influential role in this contact. Though the Self Perceptions of the Parental Role Questionnaire (SPPE) has been utilised to measure father’s identification with the parent role, the psychometric properties of this instrument have yet to be systemically investigated. The lack of psychometric information about the SPPR seriously limits this instruments utility. The aim of the current study was twofold. Firstly, to determine the psychometric properties of a formal measure of parent role …

Kimberley Women : Their Experiences Of Making A Remote Locality Home, Elaine Rabbitt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In previous histories of Western Australia, pre-dominantly written from a male Eurocentric viewpoint, scant attention has been drawn to the everyday lives of country women. The study described in this dissertation explores the responses of women to the challenges of relocation and settlement within a remote locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

"Fine Designs" From Italy: Montessori Education And The Reggio Approach, Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Italy is not a huge country, nor one that dominates research in scientific areas like biotechnology or computer science; but in the particular field of early childhood, it can be described as a kind of gifted, creative giant. Italians have always revered beauty, architecture, painting, cuisine, and creative design. In a similar fusion of art and science, they have produced two of the 20th century's most innovative and influential leaders in early education, along with their methods of pedagogy and philosophies of education. The two figures were Maria Montessori (1 870-1952) and Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994).

Both Montessori education and the …

Shift Work And Negative Work-To-Family Spillover, Blanche Grosswald

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A representative sample of the U.S. workforce from 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce data (Families & Work Institute, 1999) was examined to study the relationship between shift work and negative workto- family spillover. Negative spillover was measured by Likert-scale frequency responses to questions concerning mood, energy, and time for family as functions of one's job. Statistical analyses comprised t-tests, ANOVAs, and multiple regressions. Among wage earners with families (n = 2,429), shift work showed a significant, strong, positive relationship to high negative work-to-family spillover when controlling for standard demographic characteristics as well as education and occupation. Distinctions among …

Finding And Keeping Affordable Housing: Analyzing The Experiences Of Single-Mother Families In North Philadelphia, Susan Clampet-Lundquist

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The location, availability, and quality of housing shapes one's social networks, affects access to jobs, and impacts on social relations within the housing unit. However, access to affordable housing is limited for a significant portion of the population in the urban United States. In this study, I interviewed eighteen African-American and Puerto Rican single mothers in two low-income neighborhoods of Philadelphia about how they create and maintain their housing arrangements. Within the constraints of an affordable housing shortage, women told me how they struggle to share housing with others, rehab abandoned properties, live in substandard housing, and remain in unsafe …

The Effects Of Subsidized Childcare On Student Parents' Access To Higher Education At Portland State University, Elizabeth Dawn Creach

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify critical childcare resources that student parents utilize that allow them to access higher education at varying levels, but also to make assumptions about parents unable to enroll due to barriers and/or lack of resources. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent does subsidized childcare facilitate student parents' access to higher education? Is subsidized childcare a more important resource for some groups of students than for others?, and 2) Are student parents making childcare-enrollment trade-offs in order to pursue higher education? Are certain groups of students more vulnerable …

Predictors Of General Medical Use Among Individuals Seeking Therapy For Marital And Family Problems, Jacob D. Christenson

Theses and Dissertations

A number of studies have examined variables associated with medical use. However, most of the studies deal with samples that are not easily generalizable to other populations. In particular, no study is known to have looked at general medical use among people seeking services for marital and family problems. In this study, medical use of participants from the marriage and family therapy services at Brigham Young University Comprehensive Clinic was investigated to determine the best predictors of general medical use. Best subsets multiple linear regression showed that the best overall predictors of general medical use were anxiety and hostility.

Technology Goes Home Evaluation – Executive Summary, Donna H. Friedman, Michelle Kahan, Tatjana Meschede, Consuela Greene

Center for Social Policy Publications

Technology Goes Home (TGH) is an innovative program designed to bridge the digital divide by bringing technology into low-income families’ homes. This Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF) program strives to prepare adults for employment opportunities and to help children improve academic performance by offering computer training and equipment to families in Boston neighborhoods and schools. Classes are offered in groups, with parents and children learning together in order to strengthen families and build community as well as skills. Neighborhood programs are operated in six communities through Neighborhood Technology Collaboratives, coalitions of community-based organizations. These coalitions select participating families, and provide …

Good Helping Relationships In Child Welfare: Co-Authored Stories Of Success (Summary Report), Catherine De Boer, Nick Coady

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

This project involved multiple, in-depth interviews with six worker-client dyads from child welfare. The dyads were selected on the basis of workers and clients agreeing that they had worked through some degree of negative interpersonal process toward the achievement of a good working relationship. For each dyad, two individual interviews with the worker and the client were followed by a joint interview. These interviews produced stories that described from workers' and clients' perspectives how the relationship developed over time, how difficulties were dealt with, and what impact the relationship had on the participants. Although these stories were written by the …

Good Helping Relationships In Child Welfare: Co-Authored Stories Of Success (Full Report), Catherine De Boer, Nick Coady

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

This project involved multiple, in-depth interviews with six worker-client dyads from child welfare. The dyads were selected on the basis of workers and clients agreeing that they had worked through some degree of negative interpersonal process toward the achievement of a good working relationship. For each dyad, two individual interviews with the worker and the client were followed by a joint interview. These interviews produced stories that described from workers' and clients' perspectives how the relationship developed over time, how difficulties were dealt with, and what impact the relationship had on the participants. Although these stories were written by the …

Against Same-Sex Marriage, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

The question of the day is, Why should the law limit marriage to heterosexual couples? That is the question posed by the coming debate over the FMA.

No answer fits neatly into our cultural practices. Marriage is already in a very confused state. The way that many married couples live is, in fact scarcely distinguishable from the way some homosexual partners do. Where marriage means to so many heterosexuals: share a bed, share a checkbook and maybe, some day, share parental duties, why exactly is it that two men may not marry? Saying that two men cannot marry appears, from …

Wars Remembered, Shaun O'Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

O'Connell speaks about his father, among other war veterans, dealing with the effects of the wars they fought in. He explains his father's history from how he enilisted to how he died. He also touches upon other's war experiences and writing about the after effects of them as well.

Lasting Learning Inspired By The Reggio Emilia Philosophy: Professional Development Experience Within The Chinese Context, Wen Zhao, Carolyn P. Edwards, Joan Youngquist, Wenzuo Xiong

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2000, 1 became the educational program director for Half the Sky Foundation. Half the Sky Foundation was organized by a group of American parents, led by Jenny Bowen, who had adopted Chinese orphans from Chinese Social Welfare Institutions. After seeing their own daughters become happy and healthy in a warm and stimulating environment in the United States, these parents wanted to give something back to the children (predominately girls) who still remained in the institutions in China. Therefore, an educational program called the Little Sisters Program was developed, integrating Reggio Emilia principles, Chinese early childhood practice, and North American …

Indicators For Safe Family Reunification: How Professionals Differ, Brad R. Karoll, John Poertner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Many professionals who work with substance-affected families consider the time limits prescribed by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (1997) to be unrealistically short. The high prevalence of substance use in child welfare cases requires professionals to quickly determine when it is safe to reunify children placed because of abuse or neglect in concert with this serious family problem. This exploratory study identified similarities and differences on different indicators of safe reunification between judges who hear juvenile cases, private agency child welfare caseworkers, and substance abuse counselors. The study examined these professionals' rating of the importance of each indicator. Judges, …

Prevalence Of Child Welfare Services Involvement Among Homeless And Low-Income Mothers: A Five-Year Birth Cohort Study, Jennifer F. Culhane, David Webb, Susan Grim, Stephen Metraux, Dennis Culhane

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper investigates the five-year prevalence of child welfare services involvement and foster care placement among a population-based cohort of births in a large US city, by housing status of the mothers (mothers who have been homeless at least once, other low-income neighborhood residents, and all others), and by number of children. Children of mothers with at least one homeless episode have the greatest rate of involvement with child welfare services (37%),followed by other low-income residents (9.2%), and all others (4.0%). Involvement rates increase with number of children for all housing categories, with rates highest among women with four or …

Stories Of Mothers And Child Welfare (Full Report), Gary Cameron, S. Hoy

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The voices we hear describing the lives of mothers who come into contact with child welfare agencies are usually those of service providers and researchers. How do mothers make sense of their own lives and what happened to their families when they became involved with child welfare? This report provides an opportunity to listen to what 16 of these mothers had to say over conversations averaging 5 - 6 hours with each woman. Aspects of these stories will be familiar to some readers. Nonetheless, these stories challenge both popular and professional perceptions of who these mothers are and how they …

Mothers’ Everyday Realities And Child Placement Experiences (Full Report), Nancy Colleen Freymond

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Placing a child in substitute care is one of the most challenging aspects of child welfare work. In situations of apprehension, child welfare workers may be required to make quick decisions about child placement sometimes with very limited information. This paper is based on interviews with mothers whose children were placed in substitute care. Mothers’ daily lives, including the nature of adversity in their lives, will be discussed. Mothers’ response to adversity and how they are impacted both positively and negatively by child welfare interventions will also be explored. Their experiences of placement reveals there is a disconnection between the …

Child Placement And Mothering Ideologies: Images Of Mothers In Child Welfare, Nancy Colleen Freymond

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.