Digital Commons Network^™

Narratives Of Resilience : Stories Of Survival Among Rwandan Women Who Endured The 1994 Genocide, Leah Krieger

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative thesis explores resiliency factors of 17 Rwandan women who survived the 1994 genocide. The psychological symptoms of trauma and resiliency research are explored as well as narrative healing techniques. The thesis uses secondary data of unedited testimonies collected after the genocide in Rwanda and qualitatively codes for resiliency. The research shows that the following factors aided in resiliency with this population: courage, a belief in God, carrying on the legacy of their family, communal support and a purpose in life. This body of work emphasizes the potential for not only healing after a trauma, but also increased growth, …

The Effects Of Alternative Treatments Such As Yoga And Meditation As Adjunctive Therapy On Adolescent Alcohol Abusers With A History Of Trauma, Ann Marie Hegarty

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to determine whether alternative forms of treatment such as yoga and meditation, when used adjunctively with traditional therapies, are effective in the treatment of adolescents with both alcohol use disorder (AUD) and a history of trauma. There have been studies linking relaxation therapy and meditation to improved outcomes in similar adult populations but very few have studied adolescents. Given the early onset of use and abuse of alcohol by many of those who also have a history of trauma, this study sought to explore the opinions of clinicians who utilize these alternative treatments. A total of …

Incarcerated Motherhood, Duchess Harris Phd, Jd

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire: Trauma In The Lives Of Homeless Youth Prior To And During Homelessness, John Coates, Sue Mckenzie-Mohr

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Anecdotal evidence from those who work with homeless youth indicates that trauma permeates these young people's lives. This paper presents the findings from a study of 100 homeless youth regarding the presence of trauma in their lives, both before and during homelessness. Participants living in the Maritime Provinces volunteered to take part in a semi-structured interview lasting one to two hours. The interview questionnaire was conducted by a trained interviewer, and was composed of standardized and adapted survey instruments, as well as questions regarding demographics, experiences prior to becoming homeless, assistance received while dealing with stressors, and current needs. The …

Therapist's Views Of How Hope Influences The Setting And Attainment Of Treatment Goals Among Clients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder : A Qualitative Study : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Courtney Anne Jones

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of the current study was to determine the way that therapists view the role that hope plays in the treatment of clients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, specifically in regard to the treatment planning process and attainment of treatment goals. This exploratory qualitative study aims to contribute to previously existing literature about hope and its influence on treatment processes and focused on the areas of: (a) the role of hope in the therapeutic process, (b) hope and PTSD, (c) the assessment of hope, (d) fostering hope, (e) PTSD and treatment goals, and (f) hope, PTSD, and treatment goals. Ten …

The Exploration Of Therapists' Personal Experiences With Secondary Trauma And Their Personal Mindfulness Practice : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Elizabeth Jane Reinecke

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study investigated the use of mindfulness by therapists treating trauma victims. The purpose of this study was to better understand ways in which a mindfulness practice, such as yoga and/or meditation, can affect the experience of secondary trauma in trauma therapists working with clients who are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Six female trauma therapists working with the VA system in Colorado were interviewed. Each participant was asked to reflect upon their experiences with secondary trauma and how their mindfulness practice has impacted both their personal and professional lives. Participants were all at least Master level …

The Use Of Dialectical Behavior Therapy For Treating Juvenile Delinquents : How Mindfulness Mediates Trauma Symptomatology And Reduces Anti-Social Behavior, Ashley Emma Sitkin

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Youth within the U.S. juvenile justice system are among the most traumatized. There is a need for trauma sensitive treatment in order to address the mental health needs of traumatized, delinquent youth and prevent re-traumatization within the juvenile justice system. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a promising treatment for juvenile delinquents with trauma histories. This thesis posits that DBT for delinquent youth supports rehabilitation through the mechanism of mindfulness by targeting posttraumatic stress reactions, which in turn may reduce anti-social behaviors. A review of the literature appears to support the hypothesis that through decreased experiential avoidance and enhanced emotional regulation …

Liberatory Means To Liberatory Ends : A Qualitative Study Of Direct Service Providers' Perceptions Of Transformative Justice As An Intervention In Child Sexual Abuse : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Dona K. Hirschfield-White

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study sought to explore direct service providers' perceptions of transformative justice (TJ) as an intervention in child sexual abuse (CSA). This qualitative, exploratory study explored how TJ informed direct service providers' work with people impacted by CSA (survivors, bystander, and offenders). Twelve direct service providers who had been trained in transformative justice participated in this study. Participants were interviewed for 50 minutes. The interviews were audio-taped and questions focused on the following topics: 1) What are direct service providers' perspectives about how transformative justice impacts their ability to work with offenders, bystanders and survivors? 2) What are direct service …

Clinicians' Use Of Mindfulness As An Adjunct To Trauma Treatment : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Lisa Beth Rogers

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This project was undertaken to explore how clinicians use mindfulness as an adjunct to trauma treatment. Data collection for this exploratory study consisted of hour long, face-to-face interviews or telephone interviews with a qualitative, flexible method of data inquiry. Eleven experienced clinicians from a variety of mental health disciplines whose practice of psychotherapy was informed by mindfulness training participated in the study which was designed to collect their perspectives about mindfulness practice. This study examined therapist perceptions of the effectiveness and contraindications of mindfulness, and their application of mindfulness in sessions through the use of case samples. Major findings of …

A Grounded Theoretical Approach To Embodiment Among Homeless Youth, Felicia Washington Sy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using grounded theory methodology, this research explored, described and theorized about the ways youth, specifically homeless youth; make sense of their bodies within the context of living environments. It describes the relationship between body, space, and context for homeless youth in order to inform treatment options for this population. The importance of context, setting, and participant frame of reference was stressed, because embodiment is contextually and culturally influenced. The research addressed the questions: What is the process of becoming consciously embodied for homeless youth who have experienced multiple traumas? Do homeless youth who have experienced multiple traumas perceive a role …

An Inquiry Of The Lived Experiences And Contextual Understandings Of Early Childhood Special Educators Related To Children's Trauma, Alison Dubois

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Secondary trauma stress, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma are terms rarely found in educational literature. Studies have shown the significant and lasting ramifications of these constructs within the realm of counseling and psychology. Professionals working in educational settings with high risk populations encounter multiple exposures to children experiencing traumatic events. Despite this phenomenon, teacher and counselor training programs do little to address the issue, thereby matriculating graduates who do not feel confident, well informed, and effective when dealing with trauma material on a daily basis.

This inquiry sought to examine the lived experiences and contextual understandings of early childhood special …

How Counseling Helps: An In-Depth Look At Domestic Violence Counseling, Sonya V. Crabtree-Nelson

Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently described by trauma researchers as a social epidemic (Briere & Jordan, 2004) . The array of domestic violence services we currently have in the United States were started 30 years ago by women victims assisting other women. Currently, the services we have for victims of IPV are largely unchanged and the literature lacks information on what is helpful to victims of IPV in a domestic violence counseling setting. The research points to the fact that women seeking domestic violence counseling experience an array of physical and mental health sequelae as a result of the …

Attachment: The Antidote To Trauma, Joshua Straub

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Trauma and loss in life are inevitable. And all too often the traumatic experience itself can be enough to paralyze the mental, emotional, and spiritual state of any given person. Unable to interpret the traumatic experience, many instead are left defined by it. Helping clients discern the objective experience and their subjective reactions to it will help free them from the emotions and beliefs that subsequently control their lives. Based on the most relevant attachment theory research and clinical techniques, this workshop teaches the attentional strategies necessary to helping clients overcome trauma.

Racial And Ethnocultural Considerations In The Treatment Of Combat Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder With Servicemembers And Veterans Of Color, Nada Michael

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Research from past wars has shown that veterans of color have significantly higher rates of PTSD than their white counterparts and a higher prevalence over their lifetime. Studies have sought to explain these differences and have found that while there are perhaps no racial genetic predispositions to the development of PTSD, ethno-cultural factors which are often associated with race play a significant role in the etiology and treatment of PTSD and therefore are important to consider when working with this population. This purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which clinicians who work with servicemembers and veterans …

A Follow-Up Study Exploring The Transformative Effects Of Wilderness Therapy On Adolescents With Histories Of Trauma : A Project Based Upon An Investigation At Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs, Albany, Oregon, George Carter Herrity

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This quantitative, quasi-experimental study examined 57 adolescents, ages 13 to 18, who attended the Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Program 21-day trek. The program is based in Albany, Oregon. The purpose of this study was to conduct a follow-up to Ganapol's (2008) study in order to further assess the treatment modality, wilderness therapy, through the lens of trauma. More specifically, this study focused on wilderness therapy's potential to act as a transformative experience for adolescents with histories of trauma. For use in this research, the phenomenological term, transformative experience, corresponds to a decrease in trauma symptomatology, an increase in psychological resilience, …

Stuck In The Sibling Relationship : Growing Up With A Sibling With A Serious Mental Illness And How Intimate Relationships Later In Life May Be Affected, Laura Pereira Jacinto

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This theoretical study examines the experience of growing up with a sibling with a serious mental illness and how this phenomenon may then affect intimate relationships later in life. Theoretical perspectives of both trauma theory and object relations theory are applied to this phenomenon and how it affects the well siblings. Findings of the current study suggest that individuals internalize aspects of this early relationship and also internalize aspects of the relationship with their parents who are focusing so much care and attention on the mentally ill sibling. Patterns of maladaptive relationships may then continue to occur in the future. …

Juvenile Sex Offenders' Therapeutic Alliance : The Intricate Dynamics Of Alliance In Relation To Attachment, Trauma, And Religion, Rian Michelle Bovard-Johns

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Therapeutic alliance is the most influential predictor of successful treatment with trans-theoretical capacity. Alliance is directly influenced by client variables which are unique to clinical context. Initial research has evidenced the effectiveness of alliance with adult sex offenders and delinquent youth. The present study extends research, incorporating variables unique to juvenile sex offenders in corrections facilities. Predominant client variables of trauma symptoms and attachment patterns are measured for 332 adjudicated male sex offenders' alliance with staff. The results reveal a significant relationship (F =8.7, DF =171, p <.000) between youths' attachment to peers and communication with fathers that positively predicts alliance and that anxiety based on trauma negatively predicts alliance. Implications future research and treatment are provided.

Trauma, Attachment, And Family Therapy With Grandfamilies: A Model For Treatment, Deena D. Strong, Roy A. Bean, Leslie L. Feinauer

Faculty Publications

Population estimates indicate that approximately 1.5 million children are in grandparent-headed households without any parents present. This type of grandfamily is often created when biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children. Trauma is often experienced as a precursor to, or a consequence of, the biological parents' inability or unwillingness to care for their children. The well-being of both grandparent and grandchild may be affected in grandfamilies. A treatment model is presented that integrates trauma, attachment, and family systems theories and proposes that healing is facilitated through the emerging attachment between the grandparent and grandchild.

The Impact Of The Holocaust In America, Zev Garber

The Jewish Role in American Life: An Annual Review

The contributions to this volume consider topics such as the immigrant experience in coming to America after the trauma of the Holocaust; how the Shoah has shaped more recent interpretation of the Hebrew Bible; the role that survivors have fulfilled in educating American youth not only about the Holocaust itself, but also about how values - especially in regard to tolerance - can and must be shaped by eye-witness testimony on the Shoah; the impact of Holocaust in film, especially in "third-generation" cinema; the issues and difficulties of presenting the Shoah in children's literature; the dialogue between Christians and Jews, …

Eye-Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing: Implementation And Utilization Of Emdr As A Treatment For Trauma, Kelly Medeiros

Undergraduate Review

Trauma is a pervasive global issue that affects both children and adults. It is officially defined in the most recent Diagnostic Manual as an event that threatens death or serious injury, and that elicits a response of fear, helplessness, or horror (American Psychiatric Association, 2002). Other respected definitions include a “sudden, unexpected, overwhelmingly intense emotional blow....[that] quickly becomes incorporated into the mind” (Terr, 1992, p. 8), and something that makes “both internal and external resources...inadequate to cope with external threat” (Van der Kolk, 1989, p. 393). Literature suggests that people who have experienced trauma may present with symptoms including depression, …

Reconciliation And The Therapeutic Impulse: What Does It Mean To “Heal”?*, Elizabeth S. Dahl

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Amnesty after Atrocity? Healing Nations after Genocide and War Crimes. By Helena Cobban. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2007.

and

Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground. By Erin Daly and Jeremy Sarkin. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Healing is widely seen as an essential component of socio-political reconciliation, helping to promote a more peaceable future after violent conflict. At the same time, however, little is known about what exactly “healing” means to traumatized people and whether particular reconciliation efforts do indeed constitute healing. Instead, social healing is described usually in metaphorical terms, compared to the way …

An Analytical Understanding Of Administrative Practices Minimizing Vicarious Traumatization In Domestic Violence Organizations I, Katharine Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Working within the field of domestic violence can result in the occurrence of vicarious traumatization. The literature supports that collegial support and supervision are effective tools organizations can implement to assist in minimizing vicarious trauma. This study, guided by constructive self development theory and feminist theory, examines whether the level of vicarious trauma is impacted by knowledge base, collegial support, and supervision. Staff within certified shelters in the state of Florida were surveyed using a research designed instrument and the Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale. A total of 112 participants were recruited using the Tailor Design Method of surveying. Findings …

Psycho-Sexual Politics Of Life On The Streets: Narratives Of Homeless Women And Women Who Experienced Homelessness As Children, Jane Stallcup Rampona

Theses and Dissertations

Eleven homeless women and eleven providers of homeless services were administered qualitative surveys asking about the experience of homelessness for women. Both groups were asked, “Is it possible for a woman to be safe while on the streets?” Most homeless women emotionally and vehemently answered, “No!” Most providers also answered, though less passionately, that it was impossible for women to be safe on the streets. When asked, “What was the worst thing that happened to you while on the streets?” Most of the women spoke of rape and gang rape. The other eighteen per cent became suddenly uncommunicative regarding the …

An Investigation Of Violence-Related Trauma At Two Sites In The Pickwick Basin: Dust Cave (1lu496) And The O'Neal Site (1lu61), James Harvey Turner Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Osteological evidence for violence has only in recent times been thoroughly investigated. Several kinds of traumas indicative of violence have been identified in human skeletal remains worldwide. Such traumas include scalping, embedded and/or associated projectile points, cranial fractures, parry fractures and defensive injuries, decapitation and dismemberment, and evidence of cannibalism. Analysis of traumas at Dust Cave (1LU496) and the O?Neal site (1LU61), two sites in northwestern Alabama with Middle and Late Archaic occupations, was undertaken. Violence-related traumas were observed at both sites. A highly significant difference exists in trauma patterns between the sites. Results were compared to research done on …

The Psychological Effects Of Exposure To Wartime Trauma In Bosnian Residents And Refugees: Implications For Treatment And Service Provision, Sandina Begic, Theodore Mcdonald

Public and Population Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

It has been widely reported that exposure to war-related trauma leads to psychological distress in human beings, and it has been hypothesized that this psychological distress may be compounded when people leave their war-torn countries and begin their lives as refugees in a new country. In this study, we explored whether a systematic relationship existed between the level of traumatic wartime events experienced by Bosnian residents and refugees living in the western United States and their levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. We also explored whether differences in levels of these mental health problems existed between Bosnian …

Suicide And Community Traumatic Events: Is There A Connection?, Regina T. Praetorius

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between community traumatic events (CTEs) such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the temporal distribution of suicide in a metropolitan Louisiana parish (county) in the Southern United States over the period of January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2004. The researcher used data on suicides (homicides and accidental deaths were used for comparison) in the selected parish to describe the distribution of suicides over the 11 year period. A procedure was developed for identifying and categorizing CTEs sustained by the selected parish (county). A spectral analysis …

Addiction And Recovery Experiences Of African American Women: A Phenomenological Study, Patricia Diana Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, substance abuse research has for the most part excluded African American women. The small body of existing substance abuse research regarding African American women does not examine gender and socio-cultural issues from African American women's perspectives. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to develop a deeper, contextual understanding of the experiences and perspectives of this marginalized population of women. The major goal of the study is to examine the perspectives of African American women about their substance abuse, treatment and recovery. The knowledge gained from this research with African American women regarding their experiences and specific needs in …

Homelessness: A Qualitative Genogram Analysis Of Trauma And Addictions, Lorraine K Moss

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study conducts a qualitative analysis of genograms based from a homeless population sample. The purpose of the study is to illustrate a pattern within the homeless population of a generational history of the conditions of traumatic experiences and addictions during childhood and young adulthood, prior to becoming homeless. This study is not intended to show causal relationships between the two conditions of homelessness, rather, a prior pattern of the two conditions; The data was collected by graduate students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, during the student's advanced practicum/internship classes occurring in the final year of the master …

The Child Sexual Abuse Literature: A Call For Greater Objectivity, John E.B. Myers

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Accusations of Child Sexual Abuse by Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager., The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War by David Hechler., On Trial: America's Courts and Their Treatment of Sexually Abused Children by Billie Wright Dziech and Chales B. Schudson.

Trauma And The Use Of Formal And Informal Resources In The Deaf Population: Perspectives From Mental Health Service Providers, Stephanie W. Cawthon, Bentley W. Fink, Paige Johnson, Sarah Schoffstall, Erica Wendel

JADARA

Using grounded theory analysis, the current study identifies the perspectives of therapists and counselors regarding the nature of informal and formal resources supporting the treatment of deaf individuals with trauma. Nineteen counselors and therapists were interviewed, and accessibility, formal support, informal networks, and gaps in resources were identified as salient themes. Subsequent analysis identified concerns with confidentiality as a strong theme. This study emphasizes the need for counselors and therapists to become mindful of utilizing resources to support the treatment of trauma while being concerned with confidentiality.