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A Ministry Manual For Supporting Pastoral Transitions: Addressing The Emotional And Spiritual Needs Of Clergy And Their Families, John Tucker

Dissertations

Pastoral transitions represent spiritually significant yet often under-supported moments in the life of clergy, congregations, and ministry networks. While leadership change is frequently framed in theological language emphasizing divine calling and institutional continuity, insufficient attention is given to the emotional, relational, and familial dimensions of these transitions. This Doctor of Ministry project examines the spiritual and emotional impact of pastoral transitions within African American church contexts, with particular attention to clergy wellbeing and systems of care.

This study employed a mixed-methods research design integrating quantitative survey data with qualitative semi-structured interviews. Survey instruments were distributed to pastors affiliated with The …

Seminarians In The Person-Of-The-Therapist (Pott) Training : A Phenomenological Study, Tomichan Moonnanappillil

Dissertations

This dissertation presented a transcendental phenomenological study conducted among eight seminarians in one of the theological schools in Southern Texas, who attended the personof-the- therapist (POTT) training program during the fall semester of 2019. This study aimed to examine seminarian participants' experiences in POTT training, their influence on their selfawareness, and their impact on their emotional maturity and the ability to make responsible life choices. The study was guided by an existential-humanistic philosophical orientation as an overarching theoretical orientation with the subjective epistemological worldview and socialconstructionism paradigm. Findings indicated POTT training positively impacted seminarian participants' human formation, which was foundational …

Implementation Of An Adverse Childhood Experiences (Ace) Screening Protocol For Adults At An Outpatient Medical Psychology Practice: A Dnp Project, Jennifer E. Allain

Dissertations

This DNP project aimed to educate and train staff and providers on ACE screening and implement an ACE screening policy and protocol at an outpatient medical psychology practice. The two expected outcomes of this project, provider knowledge after ACE training and provider compliance with the ACE screening protocol, were measured to determine if a clinical practice change occurred. A paired-samples t-test compared the participants' knowledge of ACEs before and after the ACE educational intervention with a pre/post-test. There was a statistically significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores. These findings reflected a change in knowledge based on education …

The Influence Of Social Capital On First-Generation African American Gradaute Students: A Grounded Theory, Janeisha Anderson

Dissertations

First-generation African American/Black graduate students face challenges that must be overcome if they are to persist to degree completion. However, literature on factors contributing to their success and circumstances that hinder their academic outcomes is sparse. This qualitative grounded theory study investigated social capital and its influence on first-generation African American/Black graduate students' success. Participants (n = 17) were purposefully selected and included students who were enrolled or had already graduated, and others who had withdrawn from their graduate program. Thematic analysis of 17 interviews identified three primary themes: support within an academic setting, external support outside of an educational …

Expanding Consciousness Across Disruptions: Developmental Leadership Coaches Growing Together Through Action Inquiry, Ilaria Distefano

Dissertations

The planetary, societal, and personal challenges of our times call for the expansion of leaders’ consciousness. More comprehensive and integrated ways of making meaning of self and systems are required to navigate the current levels of complexity. Based on constructive-developmental theory, developmental leadership coaching supports leaders in this evolution.

The literature on developmental coaching converges on the relevance of the coach’s meaning-making to coaching outcomes and processes. The purpose of this study was to explore how seven developmental leadership coaches, including the researcher, could evolve their consciousness, capacities and skills using action inquiry. Seven meetings were held, and knowledge and …

Parenting Capacity And Meaning Making Among Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Johanna Engler Barry

Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation used a feminist methodology to explore parenting capacity and meaning making among a purposive sample of 16 female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). The two research questions that guided this work centered on how women's exposure to IPV during both childhood and adulthood impacted parenting capacity. All participants for this dissertation experienced IPV during childhood as well as adulthood, and had at least one school-aged child. Participants completed semi-structured in-person interviews during which they were asked a series of questions about their experiences with IPV during childhood and adulthood as well as questions about their parenting …

Widowhood: The First Anniversary Spousal Bereavement-Related Stress, Coping, And Well-Being In Older Women, Mary Elizabeth Minton

Dissertations

By 2020 approximately one million individuals will experience spousal bereavement annually, primarily older women. However, little is known about the survivor's well-being around the first year death anniversary. This study examined spousal bereavement-related stress, coping, and well-being in widows 65 years and older at months 11, 12, and 13 following the death of the spouse based on Lazarus and Folkman's transactional approach and Schaefer and Moos' model of life crises and transitions. Using a prospective, longitudinal, correlational design, data were collected from 47 widows.

Mourning, Melancholia, And Masculinity In Medieval Literature, Rebekah Mary Fowler

Dissertations

This dissertation examines male bereavement in medieval literature, expanding the current understanding of masculinity in the Middle Ages by investigating both the authenticity and affective nature of grief among aristocratic males. My focus is on the pattern of bereavement that surfaces across genres and that has most often been absorbed into studies of lovesickness, madness, the wilderness, or more formalist concerns with genre, form, and literary convention, but has seldom been discussed in its own right. This pattern consists of love, loss, grief madness and/or melancholy, wilderness lament/consolation, and synthesis and application of information gleaned from the grieving process, which …

Spiritual Well-Being And Quality Of Life Among Persons With Paraplegia, Darlene Nelson Finocchiaro Phd, Msn, Rn, Crrn

Dissertations

With the advent of better emergency response and medical advances, the life expectancy of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) is about 85% to 90% compared to that of non-disabled persons. Since SCI survivors are living well into their 70s, quality of life (QOL) is a major concern. The purpose of this study, informed by Ferrell and Grant's Quality of Life Model, was to examine relationships between spiritual well-being (SWB), existential well-being (EWB), religious spiritual well-being (RWB), depression, length of injury, age, gender, ethnicity, and QOL while living with paraplegia one year and longer. A descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design, with …

Spiritual Capital: The Relationship With Civic Engagement Among Faith-Based Leaders, Sylvia W. Burgess

Dissertations

The current status of America in relationship to civic engagement is one of steady decline. The available research examines the decline from the viewpoint of the role religion plays in engagement, the role of volunteerism, and voting, social networking, and memberships. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between spiritual capital, civic participation, and civic engagement. An in depth analysis of relationship between spiritual capital and types and levels of civic engagement was investigated. The research sample included faith-based leaders from five churches in North Carolina and Virginia who were identified by the senior pastors as leaders …

Exploring Efforts On Two College Campuses To Cultivate A Culture Of Vocation, Mark Peters Phd

Dissertations

Young adults today experience an extended adolescence, a period of time now commonly referred to as emerging adulthood, in which they delay undertaking the roles traditionally associated with becoming an adult in contemporary society. College has the potential to become the mentoring environment needed for emerging adults to consider their future life choices grounded in the context of their deepest beliefs, shared values, and personal passions. Since 2000, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. has invested over $2 million in 88 select religiously affiliated colleges to fund Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation (PTEV). These Programs were designed to help students …

The Validity Of The Growing Disciples In Community Model Among Adolescents In Seventh-Day Adventist Schools In North America, Kathleen Beagles

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study. There is little empirical research about discipleship, and particularly discipleship and adolescents. An understanding of Christian discipleship might, however, be an antidote for a growing trend toward consumer mentality in the church, the effect of post-Christian culture on the home, and the departure of the younger generations from active church life, which are all seen as problems that face Western Christianity. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a discipleship model—Growing Disciples in Community.

Method. A conceptual model of discipleship and discipling based on theology and social science theory is developed and …

Spiritual Well-Being And Quality Of Life As Correlates Of Job Stress Among Academic Chairpersons In Selected Seventh-Day Adventist Tertiary Institutions, Russell Mark Aldridge

Dissertations

Problem . Stress, like pain, begins at birth and remains common to the human condition throughout life, and it is a factor in the experience of every human being who ever lived. It is not merely universal but it is also endemic and omnipresent. Chairpersons, due to the bi-directional demands of administration and students are in a stressful environment. This study was undertaken to identify whether quality of life and spiritual well-being play an important role in occupational stress levels in chairpersons of Seventh-day Adventist Tertiary Institutions.

Method. Three questionnaires were used to get responses from 137 chairpersons in …

The Impact Of Intentional Learning Experiences For Personal Spiritual Formation On Seminary Students, Carol M. Tasker

Dissertations

Problem. Many seminary students describe their time in seminary as a spiritual desert. Most Protestant seminaries do not provide spiritual formation classes for their students, thinking that such measures are unnecessary or inappropriate for theological education, or assuming that the church is the place for spiritual formation to take place. Nevertheless, pastors are expected to be spiritual leaders, and the pastor’s spirituality is ranked by laity as the highest priority needed by seminary graduates for effective church ministry. A literature survey of theological education shows that, in the last 150 years, students have consistently recognized their need for help …

Teachings From Cree Elders: A Grounded Theory Study Of Indigenous Leadership, Leona Makokis Edd

Dissertations

For the past two hundred and fifty years, the relationship between First Nations and Euro-Canadians, has shifted from an equal partnership to one of colonized and colonizer. Despite this history, First Nations people have shown resiliency, continuing to honor beliefs, values, and traditions. Constrained by Euro-Canadian government Indian Affairs polices, First Nations have not progressed economically or politically, but have been caught in the trap of administering their own poverty. The First Nations people are dying a slow death; thus, it is critical to examine their current reality, acknowledging that history does not begin with the arrival of the Europeans, …

An Investigation Of The Ursuline Charism As Manifested In The Leadership Of Three Ursuline College Presidents, Suzanne Sims

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Theodore Parker's Man-Making Strategy: A Study Of His Professional Ministry In Selected Sermons, John Patrick Fitzgibbons

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Faith And Leadership: The Spiritual Journeys Of Transformational Leaders, Rita M. Marinoble Edd

Dissertations

Transformational leadership, as it has come to be understood in the study of leadership, is a relationship among people that is characterized by mutual purposes that transcend daily concerns--purposes directed is some way toward the common good. Transformational leaders hold and articulate vision, shape values, and engage themselves and others in efforts that somehow benefit the human community. Faith development and the spiritual journey can be viewed as providing a context for transformational leadership because they involve an individual's search for self-transcendence and ultimate meaning in life. This search is a process that includes movement towards wholeness and integration by …

A Descriptive, Reliability, And Validity Study Of The Enneagram Personality Typology, Jerome P. Wagner

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Student Personnel Services In United States Catholic Seminaries Training Diocesan Seminarians: The College Level 1973-1974, Michael F. Pfeifer

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Contemplation For Education: Its Value Shown In The Life, Education, And Writings Of Thomas Merton, Edward Colman Cosgrove C.Ss.R.

Dissertations

No abstract provided.