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Coping Mechanisms Used By Socially And Emotionally Isolated Older Adults, Paulla Dechmann

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory and descriptive qualitative study was undertaken to examine the nature of social and emotional isolation as it impacts older adults by examining the coping mechanisms they use. The participants (N=15), clients of Senior Community Services and CommonBond Communities, completed a structured interview consisting of nineteen primarily open-ended questions. The study looked at the issues of social and emotional isolation as it was identified by participants, the amount of support they received, and the methods they used to cope with any recognized feelings of isolation. The survey identified those persons involved in the senior's life, how frequently contact was …

Burnout In School Social Workers, Carol L. F Davis

Theses and Graduate Projects

This quantitative study used survey research to explore the burnout level or degree of burnout experienced by school social workers and school social worker's relationship to burnout, caseload size, and multibuilding assignment. A survey of 95 school social workers in Ramsey County showed that most had a sense of personal accomplishment, felt connected to their clients and were not emotionally exhausted. The Maslach Burnout Inventory and demographic information were used to determine the burnout significance. The variables of caseload size and multibuilding assignment had no relationship with the bunnout scores. In addition, no relationship was found between the three subscales …

The Relationship Between Tamoxifen And Depressive Symptoms In Women With Breast Cancer, Terry Marie Lynn

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine whether women with breast cancer and the presence of the drug tamoxifen, are more severely depressed than women with breast cancer and the absence of tamoxifen. Average Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores did not differ between the two sub-groups; however, two significant group differences were found. First, 10 women in the tamoxifen group had scores of zero (versus 4 in the absence of prescribed tamoxifen group). Research has shown that scores of zero do not always reflect an absence of depression. Second, the most severely depressed women (BDI scores in the 25 …

Long Term Implications On Male Children Who Witness Interparental Violence, Michelle M. Erlandson

Theses and Graduate Projects

The immediate effects of family violence on child witnesses are well documented. Even with this information children often do not receive any services particularly if they have not been physically harmed. What is less evident are the long term effects of, family violence on child witnesses. This study gathered data via a questionnaire from 25 males who were attending a domestic violence education program for assaulting their female partner. The questionnaire addressed childhood experiences such as the witnessing of parental violence, conflict resolution methods observed in childhood and discipline methods used in the home. Additionally, the questionnaire asked about current …

Self-Esteem Enhancement In Deaf And Hearing Women: Success Stories, Mary Catherine Holte

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study explores the process of self-esteem enhancement in 23 women, nine Deaf and fourteen hearing, for purposes of both individual and group comparison. The qualitative design examines material from in-depth interviews to generate themes relating to the ways in which these women have described the concept of, and enhanced, their self-esteem.

It was found that, while both Deaf and hearing women described self-esteem in conceptually-equivalent terms, a distinction was noted in specific words used by each of the two groups. A contrast was also found between the number of Deaf women who reported education as a factor in self-esteem …

Interracial Adoption: In Whose Best Interest Is It?, Pamela L. Beyer

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study investigated the impact of interracial adoption on adjustment, self-esteem, and racial identity among Korean adoptees who were adopted into Euro-American families, as related by the adoptees. Twelve respondents between the ages of 18 and 22 answered survey questions relating to their self-concept, their involvement in cultural activities, problem areas as a result of their interracial adoption, adoptive parents' characteristics and responsibilities, and the roles of social workers. Respondents indicated that their adoptive parents' sensitivity as well as involvement and education in Korean culture was important and should be the focus of recruitment and training efforts by social workers.

Farm Women's Roles And Their Experience Of Role Strain And Role Enhancement, Diane Dunn

Theses and Graduate Projects

Studies exploring farm women roles were limited to data of the 1980s utilizing the scarcity approach to role theory. This study expands on research by exploring farm women's roles today utilizing both the scarcity and expansion approaches. Random sampling of 81 farm women ages 26-78 were drawn from the Pipestone County Farm Service's mail-listing. Data was analyzed using JMP Statistical Data Analysis. The study revealed that farm women continued to fulfill roles involved with family, farming, and off-farm employment at rates similar/greater (employment) to those in the '80s. Findings also suggested that farm women experience both strains and enhancements from …

Adolescents' Perceptions Of Their Relationship With Family Members, John L. Upshaw

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory quantitative study examined adolescents' perceptions of their relationship, in terms of interpersonal boundaries, with family members. The literature review revealed different types of boundaries and boundary positions. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale was the instrument utilized for assessing the adaptability. (EACES II) The questions this study answers include how the adolescents' boundary position, in terms of cohesion, and boundary adaptability effects delinquency and school achievement? Also, how do religious activities of the adolescents effect delinquency and school achievement? Self-survey questionnaires and FACES II inventories were administered at two separate high schools. The findings revealed connected family cohesion …

The Relationship Between Recreational Activity And Dementia Behavior: An Exploratory Study, Nicole Schueller

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study explores the effects recreational activity has on specific dementia behaviors such as wandering, pacing, agitation, calling out and repetitive verbal comments of 15 nursing home residents with dementia. Previous research indicated that too often a resident exhibiting a dementia behavior warranting the need for a restraint is treated with a physical or chemical restraint without careful consideration of the meaning of the behavior. The ethical dilemma of using restraints suggests the need to find alternatives to restraint usage. The study examines how activities affect agitation levels of the residents.

This research consisted of an observational study of 15 …

Grief And Loss Issues And Women's Drinking Patterns, Joyce M. Halstrom

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken to explore the relationship of grief and loss and women's drinking patterns. The literature review focused on major contributors of grief work, theoretical frameworks of the grieving process, and an overview of alcoholism in women. Ten women who were recovering from alcoholism in a half-way house were interviewed using open-ended, semi-structured questions. The interviews focused on the respondents' drinking patterns, their grief and loss issues, and the treatment of those issues in their chemical dependency treatment program. Implications for social work practice is included. Results indicate the importance of prevention, intervention, and education of …

The Transition From Adolescence To Adulthood For People With Cystic Fibrosis, Marykay Lannon Palmer

Theses and Graduate Projects

Cystic fibrosis (CF) has long been thought of as a childhood disease due to the shortened life span of its victims. Due to advances in medical research, the life expectancy for those with CF has been steadily on the rise to the current median life expectancy of 30 years. There has been extensive medical research on CF in adulthood but little or no research on the impact of CF on becoming an adult. This exploratory, qualitative study examined the perceptions of adults with CF regarding the impact the disease has had on their lives, especially during the transition from adolescence …

The Salvation Army: A Study Of Organizational Culture And Type, Susan S. Gotzman

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study of The Salvation Army examined the relationship between the organizational character type and management style related to models of communication and decision making. The research statement of this study on the organizational character type of The Salvation Army indicates its capacity to involve personnel in communication and decision making processes. Carl Jung's psychological type theory provides the theoretical framework. Jung's theory explains human behavior in terms of individual preferences for acquiring information and making decisions. The Organizational Character Index, a Jungian typing instrument adapted to an organizational context, is used to determine the organizational character type. A sample …

A Descriptive Study Of Adolescent Truancy In Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ruth Merritt

Theses and Graduate Projects

Truancy is defined as the act of being absent from school without permission. The problem of inconsistent school attendance is often the first sign of trouble with students. Studies show a strong link between truancy, dropping out of school, and delinquent behavior. Excessive unexcused absences are present in varying degrees in all schools and across the country. Truancy is a complex problem that involves the student, the family, the school, and the community. The problem continues to increase year after year.

In this study, 50 subjects aged 12-15 are described using two different measures. Parent-completed intake forms provide information on …

Development And Implementation Of A Parent's Grief Support Group Concurrent With A Preexisting Children's Grief Support Group, Evelyn J. Swenson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Children who grieve need the support and understanding of their parent(s) in order to experience a grief reaction void of negative long-term effects. Parents experiencing grief are often exhausted from their own grief response having little energy to obtain support and information to provide a supportive atmosphere for their children. This study evaluates the efficacy of a parent grief support group in conjunction with a children grief group for ages 6-12 in response to the belief that the parent-child relationship undergoes extreme stress when a death is experienced in the family. A six session psycho-educational parent grief support group was …

Exposing And Reframing Welfare Dependency, Elizabeth Bartle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Defining the phrase welfare dependency from a feminist perspective offers a way to understand how the rhetoric around the use of this phrase continues to legitimize current changes in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) while simultaneously diverting the public's attention from the real issues of poverty of and discrimination against women. This article includes a detailed definition of welfare dependency, a brief history of its usage, and a reconceptualization of women's use of AFDC on a long-term basis. This reconceptualization expands on international dependency theory and reframes dependency as interdependency that builds on women's strengths, women's rights, and …

Poor Children "Know Their Place": Perceptions Of Poverty, Class, And Public Messages, Susan Weinger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This qualitative study hears and clarifies some of the voices of children concerning how they feel their lives are circumscribed by living in poverty, by public messages about the poor, and by their views of their socioeconomic status. Twenty-four children between the ages of 5-12 years were interviewed using snapshots of different economic level homes in order to capture their uncensored responses. Findings reveal that the children view poverty as a deprivation, perceive societal messages as disparaging of the poor, and have some difficulty holding on to positive views of themselves. These children's thoughts about the realities of their lives …

Women "Reading The World:" Challenging Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Kristine B. Miranne, Alma H. Young

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The latest iteration of welfare reform, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), endorses work requirements and time limits on benefits, while giving greater discretion to individual states in developing welfare programs. Linking personal responsibility with work indicates that policy makers believe that it only takes properg uidancea nd minimal trainingfo r welfare recipients( predominately women) to make the transition from welfare to work. We suggest, however, that focusing on incentive, sanction, or compulsion ignores the structural features of poverty, especially as they impact the multiplicities of poor women's lives. In order for the welfare system to …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 25, No. 2 (June 1998)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• CONTESTED WORKPLACE: THE CASE OF THE STRIKE OF THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS UNION VERSUS MEIJER - Barbara Thomas Coventry and Marietta Morrissey
• EXPOSING AND REFRAMING WELFARE DEPENDENCY - Elizabeth Bartle
• THE FORGOTTEN MANY: A STUDY OF POOR URBAN WHITES - Reba L. Chaisson
• ATTITUDINAL PREDICTORS OF PREFERRED POLICY OPTIONS: CONTRASTING AFDC WITH WORK PROGRAMS - Jill Littrell and Sahna Diwan
• POOR CHILDREN "KNOW THEIR PLACE:" PERCEPTIONS OF POVERTY, CLASS, AND PUBLIC MESSAGES - Susan Weinger
• RETHINKING SELECTIVISM AND SELECTIVITY BY MEANS TEST - Chack-kie Wong
• ESTIMATING HOMELESS POPULATIONS THROUGH STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING - Christopher G. …

Attitudinal Predictors Of Preferred Policy Options: Contrasting Afdc With Work Programs, Jill Littrell, Sahna Diwan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Two studies were conducted in order to determine the attitudinal predictors of support for AFDC, work programs, and the option of the government playing no role in protecting the welfare of poor children whose families have no income. The first study evaluated this question in 362 students of Criminal Justice, Business, Urban Studies, and Public Administration at an urban university in Georgia. The second study evaluated the question in a telephone poll sample of 822 randomly sampled Georgians throughout the state. Majorities in both samples preferred work programs. In the student sample, all three choice groups were distinguishable on the …

An Historical Review Of Empirical Research Regarding Homophobia, Andrew Klopp

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study sought to explore empirical research which exists regarding homophobia. Only within the last thirty years has there been a serious attempt by researchers to critically examine and discuss homophobia in our society with regard to heterosexuals' attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Three themes emerged from the literature: 1) discussions of how homophobia may be quantifiably measured; 2) how the fear of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is equated with the fear of homosexuals; and 3) how direct practice with clients is affected by a practitioner's own homophobia. This researcher found varied social, medical and political schools of thought …

Attitudes Of Paternalism Among Social Workers Working With Involuntary Clients Who Are Adolescents, Karol J. Jensen-Schneider

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study identified how social workers in one metropolitan county view the use of paternalism when working with involuntary adolescents. The social workers interviewed state that paternalism is becoming more and more a part of the role of social workers. The study also discusses what attributes of involuntary adolescents and factors are important to social workers in their decision to allow adolescents to make choices about their case plans. There were nine important attributes and factors identified in the data: they are best interest of the adolescent, offering choices to the adolescent and choices made by the youth, relationships with …

Birth Parent Participation In Foster Care Placement Planning: Relationship To Discharge Outcomes, Karen A. Hulteen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Prior studies have found a positive relationship between contact of birth family and foster children and reunification, as well as with children's well-being, adjustment, and development during and after foster care. Law requires and research validates social work practice which places children in the least restrictive, most normative living situation possible to meet their needs. Examining records of 188 youth discharged from treatment foster care from Human Service Associates from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1996, this investigation discovered that birth parent participation in placement planning meetings and quarterly reviews, one indicator of birth family involvement, was related to …

Factors That Contribute To Resiliency In Anishinabe/Ojibwe Children Overcoming Adversity, Jeffrey S. Rodin

Theses and Graduate Projects

The object of this research is to examine the resilience of the Native Americans from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. This group of people have faced many forms of adversity over the generations. These adversities include poverty, racism, and cultural separation just to name a few. From the perspective of ecological systems theory, family systems theory, and the strengths perspective, this study focuses on individuals that grew uP on the Mille Lacs reservation and have been recognized as being successful by their tribal community. Reflecting on their childhood, these individuals discussed three factors that contributed to their resiliency. These …

Exploring The Differences In Autonomy For Residents With Alzheimer's Disease Between Those Living In A Special Care Unit And Those In A Residential Group Home: A Comparative Study, Michelle Mari Jensen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) is a progressive, terminal disease marked by the loss of cognitive function. Due to cognitive impairments, residents with dementia exhibit behaviors that indicate disordered person in environment transactions. Due to the resulting disordered transactions, residents with dementia living in long-term care settings offen experience diminished opportunity to choose.

This paper is a comparative/descriptive study based on nursing assistant responses from an anonymous questionnaire in two long-term care facilities. Autonomy is defined by Callopy (1988) as freedom, independence and choice.

The results indicate that the residents at each respective facility seem to experience autonomy in …

Clientilism And Clientification: Impediments To Strengths Based Social Work Practice, Charles D. Cowger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A strengths-based practice perspective is, at best, weak and, perhaps, irrelevant in social service structures that are powered by social control values, driven by the market economy, and protected by professional self interests. This paper proposes that the relationship between the patron and the client, as expressed by the metaphor "clientelism" in the development literature, and "clientification", as described by Habermas, are informative as significant obstacles to the implementation of strengthsbased social work practice and social service delivery. The paper argues that for strengths-based practice to be viable, it and its advocates must confront more fundamental change by becoming more …

When Do Single Mothers Work? An Analysis Of The 1990 Census Data, Marta Elliott, John F. Packham

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study analyzes the relative effect of the amount of public assistance income received one year on the probability that a single mother is employed the following year compared to a variety of other determinants of employment status. The analysis is based on a national sample which was drawn from the Public Use Micro data 5 percent Sample (PUMS) of the 1990 U.S. Census. It consists of the 275,744female householders who were divorced, separated, widowed or never married, and living with their own children age 18 and under. Logistic regression was utilized to calculate the probability of being employed in …

Client-Case Manager Relationship: The Effects And Impact Of Rule 79 Case Managers Testimony In Commitment Court, Teresa M. Nordin

Theses and Graduate Projects

Changes in the mental health laws in the United States over the last 50 years has altered the manner in which individuals with a serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) are involuntarily committed. The changes have increased the need for mental health professionals to be involved with the court system to aid in understanding the client's mental disorder. The Minnesota Comprehensive Adult and Children's Mental Health Act (MCACMHA) provides mental health case management for individuals with a SPMI. This exploratory study focuses on how the client-case manager relationship is impacted by the requirement that case managers be involved in all …

Characteristics Related To The Overall Empowerment Of Urban Female Parenting Welfare Recipients, Glenda Yvonne Boatner, Narda Judge

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Plant Therapy: Should It Be Given The Green Thumbs Up?, Christy Ann Mahoney

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Factors Contributing To African Americans Graduating High School, Robert Pallotta

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.