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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Meaning Making For Survivors Of Suicide : An Exploratory Study Of A Complicated Process, Lavange Elizabeth Barth
Meaning Making For Survivors Of Suicide : An Exploratory Study Of A Complicated Process, Lavange Elizabeth Barth
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study examined the ways that survivors of suicide make meaning following the death of a person they defined as a family member, intimate partner, or shared a close friendship with. Meaning making was conceptualized through the lens of postmodernism that assumed that meaning was not a fixed entity but an on-going process of evaluation and reinterpretation. Two frames of meaning were used to examine the process; the global understandings people use to organize and make sense of the world and the appraised meaning that people create around specific events. The appraised meanings are informed and shaped by the global …
Applying And Adapting Testimonial Psychotherapy To Address The Effects Of Race-Based Traumatic Stress On People Of Color In The United States, Amy Beth Basford
Applying And Adapting Testimonial Psychotherapy To Address The Effects Of Race-Based Traumatic Stress On People Of Color In The United States, Amy Beth Basford
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Testimonial psychotherapy, a socially and politically rooted theory, has been proven to be effective in alleviating symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder with populations of varying races and ethnicities from all parts of the world. All of the people who have participated in testimonial psychotherapy have also been victims of torture and persecution by oppressive governments in their countries of origin. However, testimonial psychotherapy has never been used with populations whose country of origin is the United States. Racism is a sociohistorical and political construct that affects the lives of people of color in the United States in adverse ways. Overt, …
The Living And Spiritual Experiences Of Gay Men With Aids : An Exploratory Study, Jerry Dale Beene
The Living And Spiritual Experiences Of Gay Men With Aids : An Exploratory Study, Jerry Dale Beene
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This research study will explore the experiences of ten gay men living with AIDS. Gay men with AIDS are a unique group in part because they are doubly stigmatized. Due to their sexual orientation, they have commonly experienced condemnation and marginalization, often from early on in their lives. My question for this study is: How does this particular group of men enduring this unique disease and treatment find and define their individual spirituality and sense of meaning as they face end of life issues? This qualitative research study used an exploratory, flexible methods design. I interviewed 10 gay men with …
"They Were Neither Typical..Nor Unique" : An Exploratory Study Of Enlistment Decisions Of American Veterans From Past To Present, Kelly Alexis Brogden
"They Were Neither Typical..Nor Unique" : An Exploratory Study Of Enlistment Decisions Of American Veterans From Past To Present, Kelly Alexis Brogden
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This is an exploratory study of American veterans' decisions to join the military. Nine veterans from various branches of the military were interviewed regarding their decision process and what factors influenced their decision to join, including how they decided which branch to join, peoples' reactions to their decision, and how they reflect on their decision now. They were also asked their opinion on whether veterans today are receiving the services or acknowledgement that they think they should be getting. Participants were from various war eras and ranged in age from 24 to 88. Major findings regarding the decision to join …
Understanding Male Juvenile Sexual Offenders : An Investigation Of Experiences And Internalized Masculinity, Adam Brown
Understanding Male Juvenile Sexual Offenders : An Investigation Of Experiences And Internalized Masculinity, Adam Brown
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Reoffense of nonsexual crime in juveniles is 3 to 4 times more likely than the reoffense of sexual crime (Burton and Meezan, 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate how the literature-based factors of experienced trauma, masculine beliefs, and substance abuse affect the commission of nonsexual violence in sexually offending juveniles. Three related quantitative articles were written in this investigation. The first article explores each factor separately among a group of sexual offenders to see how each explains their nonsexually violent behavior. Assumptions about trauma and masculinity in this group were not supported, but alcohol use was. Each …
Emotions In The Classroom, Elizabeth D. Burris
Emotions In The Classroom, Elizabeth D. Burris
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study explores the classroom emotional experience of five teachers. It is based on the assumptions that teaching is an emotional enterprise; that teaching necessarily involves "emotional labor," or the work of emotion management; that attending to and working through emotions (a form of emotion management) can influence how teachers teach; and that doing this emotional labor in a group setting can be useful to teachers. An additional assumption is that psychoanalytic concepts can help frame teachers' emotional experiences. The study looks specifically at how teachers' awareness and understanding of emotions affect their experience of teaching and what it is …
Male Obesity : A Qualitative Study Of Clinical Attitudes And Perspectives, Michael Joseph Carter
Male Obesity : A Qualitative Study Of Clinical Attitudes And Perspectives, Michael Joseph Carter
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study was undertaken to explore the clinical attitudes of mental health professionals towards obese men as well as the effects of these attitudes on mental health treatment. In addition this study contributes to the growing body of literature concerning the shifting role of men's body image in the United States and the ways in which this is understood in the mental health field. Interviews were conducted with 12 male and female mental health clinicians in an inpatient and outpatient setting. They were interviewed regarding their perspectives on obesity, gender and obesity, male body image, and assessment and evaluation of …
A Slight Schooling On Deaf Education, Kathryn L. Hayden
A Slight Schooling On Deaf Education, Kathryn L. Hayden
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
By comparing a residential school for the deaf and hard of hearing with a mainstream inclusion educational setting, the performance of school-aged children who are deaf is presented. Previous research within the area of education for individuals who are deaf was gathered and used as a historical basis for the subsequent investigation. With the study of Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages of development and Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, an analysis of education for individuals who are deaf was conducted and re-synthesized to provide a new understanding of education. Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages of development and Lev Vygotsky's Zone of …
Examining Our Worst Fears, Jennifer Elmassian Leszkiewicz
Examining Our Worst Fears, Jennifer Elmassian Leszkiewicz
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Fifty five graduate students in the 2008 class of Smith College School for Social Work, on average, seek symbolic immortality through existential themes, excluding religion. Additionally, the more students identify with themes that define meaning in their lives, the greater their fear of encountering threats to that meaning. Further, students reported that they daydream about existential fears that threaten symbolic immortality more frequently than they dream, or have memories of them; and that they dream about primal fears more frequently than they daydream, or have memories of them. This study tested the hypotheses that people fear what they imagine might …
Implications Of Frequent Online Social Network Use For Adolescent And Emerging Adult Social Experiences, Nora Anne Heins
Implications Of Frequent Online Social Network Use For Adolescent And Emerging Adult Social Experiences, Nora Anne Heins
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study explores the impact of frequent use of Online Social Network (OSN) sites on late adolescent and emerging adult social experiences. Information for this study was gathered using 12 in-person, semi-structured interviews with late adolescents/emerging adults about their OSN experiences. This study looks at the overall experience of socializing using OSNs and what this is like for youth in their late teens and early twenties. The study results support that OSN use can provide a sense of connectedness, as well as create difficulties, in relationship termination and provide opportunities for boundary violations by acquaintances and ex-partners. The data show …
The Double Bind Theory And Gender Non-Conforming Identity Development, Shannon Lydia Sennott
The Double Bind Theory And Gender Non-Conforming Identity Development, Shannon Lydia Sennott
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
The aim of this study was to qualitatively investigate the double binding effects of gender oppression on the lives of persons that self-identify as masculine-spectrum gender non-conforming. The qualitative interview used was designed to illuminate early memories of an individual's family of origin and the ways in which parents, siblings, and other primary support systems reacted to gender non-conforming behaviors in a child. The purpose of this study was to answer the following question: Is the identity development of a masculine-spectrum gender non-conforming person built on a relational foundation that is intra-psychically located within a double bind? The definition of …
How Do Single Fathers Construct A Parent Identity To Incorporate Nurturing?, Janet Saxe
How Do Single Fathers Construct A Parent Identity To Incorporate Nurturing?, Janet Saxe
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study explored how single fathers who had shared or sole physical custody of their children from a young age, thought and felt about their experience of nurturing. This qualitative, exploratory study aimed to broaden the knowledge of single fathers in this role, which has been largely unexplored. Heterosexual and gay fathers with shared or sole physical custody of their children from the age of four or under were recruited from New York and Massachusetts. Ten fathers participated in this study. Questions were grouped around topics such as: 1) the participants' experience of being parented; 2) the experience of being …
An Investigation Into What "Best Practice" Entails With Adolescent Survivors Of Prolonged Child Abuse, Lauren P. Mcevoy
An Investigation Into What "Best Practice" Entails With Adolescent Survivors Of Prolonged Child Abuse, Lauren P. Mcevoy
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study explored the differences between narrative therapy (White, 2007a) and the family contextual model (Gold, 2000) in the treatment of adolescent survivors of prolonged childhood abuse (PCA). The aim of this research was to contribute to defining "best practice" with this population. Narrative therapy and the family contextual model were selected for this research because they are primarily client directed and trauma responsive as opposed to trauma focused. These were important considerations given the differences between the treatment needs of survivors of long-term childhood trauma, which are inevitably intertwined with development and attachment, and those of single-incident trauma …
The Role Of Psychotherapy In The Age Of Medication : A Theoretical Analysis Of Biological And Psychodynamic Perspectives On The Etiology And Treatment Of Schizophrenia, Tessa Leona Hutchinson
The Role Of Psychotherapy In The Age Of Medication : A Theoretical Analysis Of Biological And Psychodynamic Perspectives On The Etiology And Treatment Of Schizophrenia, Tessa Leona Hutchinson
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study explores the role of psychodynamic psychotherapy in the treatment of schizophrenia in an era where biologically oriented psychopharmacological interventions are the dominant treatment model. The study was undertaken as an effort towards clarification, as a graduate student from a psychodynamic training program, of how my training might possess or lack efficacy or application in my future work with those living with schizophrenia. Psychodynamic and biological perspectives on schizophrenia etiology and treatment have, throughout history, remained predominantly in opposition to one another. Currently neither perspective is able to fully explain the origins of schizophrenia, nor is the biologically-based …
Difference In Perception Of Campus Climate Between White Students And Black And Latino Students At One New England Independent School, Nola-Rae Cronan
Difference In Perception Of Campus Climate Between White Students And Black And Latino Students At One New England Independent School, Nola-Rae Cronan
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study examined the perception of campus climate between White students and Black and Latino students at one independent school in New England. It was hypothesized that there would be differences in the perception of campus climate between the two groups, specifically as it relates to campus climate as defined by; students feeling safe, listened to, valued, and treated fairly and with respect. The study utilized previously collected data gathered with a survey addressing diversity. There were150 students surveyed, with 21 of those students self identified as Black or Latino. The responses of identified Black and Latino students were examined …
What Are The Factors That Influence Whether A Clinician Discusses Race In The Crossracial Therapeutic Encounter?, Anna Cristina Goett
What Are The Factors That Influence Whether A Clinician Discusses Race In The Crossracial Therapeutic Encounter?, Anna Cristina Goett
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study attempts to gain insight into cross-racial therapy from the point of view of the clinician. Engaging in dialogues about race is one method identified in the literature that is said to facilitate the cross-racial therapeutic process. The primary research question is: What are the factors that influence whether a clinician discusses race in the cross-racial therapeutic encounter? This researcher hypothesizes that certain clinician characteristics, such as race, years of clinical experience, and graduate training affect the ways in which clinicians address racial difference in the cross-racial therapy. A quantitative survey was used to collect the data, and 56 …
Do School-Based Mental Health Programs Have A Positive Outcome On Elementary, Middle And High School Aged Student's Functioning From The Perspective Of Teachers In Urban Public School Systems In New York City, Boston And Berkeley, Ca?, Mwaniki F. Mwangi
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This mixed methods, primarily quantitative study examined the perceptions of urban public school teachers about school-based mental health (SBMH) programs and services. The participants included public elementary, middle, and high school teachers from the urban areas of New York City, Boston, and Berkeley, California. Forty participants responded to an online survey, which included questions addressing the demographic characteristics of participants and ideas for improving the SBMH program at their schools. Twenty-five of the participants were from Boston, eight were from New York City, and seven were from Berkeley. Seventeen participants were teachers in elementary schools, ten were teachers from middle …
Vietnam Combat Veterans : Readjustment Through The Lenses Of Identity And Social Drama, Michael S. Slevin
Vietnam Combat Veterans : Readjustment Through The Lenses Of Identity And Social Drama, Michael S. Slevin
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This thesis asks whether Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and Victor Turner's theory of social drama can be usefully integrated to help social workers better understand the experiences and challenges of Vietnam veterans. Specifically, this thesis will apply Erikson's phase of identity consolidation and confusion that occurs in late adolescence. Turner's processual social drama will be applied to the rules, roles, and institutions of a changing society. The phenomenon is twofold: first, it comprises the social and ideological upheaval during the decade of the 1960s; second, it comprises the individual stories of challenge and change in the lives of …
Exploring Internalized Racism : A Critical Review Of The Literature And Implications For Clinical Social Work, Keshia Unika Williams
Exploring Internalized Racism : A Critical Review Of The Literature And Implications For Clinical Social Work, Keshia Unika Williams
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
In social work, like many of its allied disciplines, the effects of racism on the racially oppressed has tended to focus on overt manifestations like violence and discrimination (Pyke and Dang, 2003). Largely missing from the mainstream social work literature is a clear and consistent definition and framework for internalized racism. An understanding of the deleterious effects of internalized racism- the subtle, often unconscious, processes by which racial inequality shapes the way that the oppressed think of themselves and other members of their group- is often lacking in clinical social work literature. Internalized racism represents a harmful consequence of a …
The Subjective Experience Of Attachment For Children With Mothers Who Have Been Formally Diagnosed As Schizophrenic : An Exploratory Study Based On The Practice Wisdom Of Clinical Practioners, Richard Cabada
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This qualitative study explored what could be learned from the practice wisdom of clinical practitioners about the subjective experience of attachment for children that have been raised in a family where the primary caretaker was a mother formally diagnosed as schizophrenic. Most of the literature on this subject has addressed this mother-child dyad by focusing on the subjective experience of the mother. The sample was comprised of eight licensed clinical practitioners that generated nine cases with ten children for discussion. The mothers in all cases experienced multiple hospitalizations and most were single parents. The children in all cases experienced physical …
Attachment Style And Identity Construction : The Choice Of Profession As One Method Of Culturally Mediating, Locating And Fulfilling Attachment Needs Both Interpersonally And Societally, Gwendolyn Cutting Wishard
Attachment Style And Identity Construction : The Choice Of Profession As One Method Of Culturally Mediating, Locating And Fulfilling Attachment Needs Both Interpersonally And Societally, Gwendolyn Cutting Wishard
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This mixed method study was undertaken to determine if successful professionals who are away from home for extended periods for work due to long hours and travel have particular types of close relationships, coping skills and identities. Secondly, the study examined whether their attachment styles as assessed by the quantitative measure, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale -- ECR (Brennan, Clark and Shaver, 1998), revealed any relationships to their interview narratives concerning their professional successes, identities, close relationships in childhood and coping mechanisms. Using snowballing methods, successful professionals were recruited who had been in their careers for at least two …
Using Art Making In Cross-Cultural Clinical Therapy, Sara Ruth Schieffelin
Using Art Making In Cross-Cultural Clinical Therapy, Sara Ruth Schieffelin
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Literature in the field of multicultural counseling and therapy supports the need to develop effective theories and practical models for working cross-culturally. Literature in the field of art therapy provides strong evidence that art-making can be a successful tool for therapeutic use with a wide range of clients. Yet there is little research linking these two fields. This theoretical study aims to extend the limited research on this topic by looking at the literature from these two fields, and examining how art-making in therapy can be used as a tool to alleviate some of the problems that can occur when …
Social Work Practice With Latino Pentecostals : Applying Femininst Family Theory And Object Relations Theory, Angela Marie Baczewski Hakkila
Social Work Practice With Latino Pentecostals : Applying Femininst Family Theory And Object Relations Theory, Angela Marie Baczewski Hakkila
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study was undertaken to provide a framework for understanding the identity formation and experience of Latino Pentecostals. The exploration of Feminist Family Theory accompanied by Object Relations Theory provided two opportunities to appreciate the Latino Pentecostal experience. This study focuses on documenting the evolution of the Latino Pentecostal community in the United States and a description of the traditional aspects of this faith group in terms of practice of Spirit Baptism and traits as religious fundamentalists, collectivistic, and social activists. The application of a Feminist Family Theory lens provides a perspective on opening the conversation to dismantle the dominant …
"Do I Pull The Race Card?" : Middle-Class African American Parental Perceptions Of Racism In Their Children's Public Schools, Tamika M. Brock
"Do I Pull The Race Card?" : Middle-Class African American Parental Perceptions Of Racism In Their Children's Public Schools, Tamika M. Brock
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This qualitative study explored middle-class African American parental perceptions of racism in their children's public schools. Twelve African American parents with either a bachelor's degree or a total median household income of $48, 451(U.S. Census Bureau, 2007) were asked a series of open-ended questions regarding their personal experiences with individual, cultural, and institutional forms of racism, as well as their children's experiences. Participants were also given Phinney's (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure to assess their sense of ethnic group membership, one of many variables found to influence perceptions of racism. The major findings revealed an achieved ethnic identity status for …
Abstracts Of Master's Theses 1967-2006, Smith College. School For Social Work
Abstracts Of Master's Theses 1967-2006, Smith College. School For Social Work
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
No abstract provided.
Abstracts Of Theses 1920-1966, Smith College. School For Social Work
Abstracts Of Theses 1920-1966, Smith College. School For Social Work
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
No abstract provided.
The Economics And Ethics Of Executive Compensation, Annie Parker
The Economics And Ethics Of Executive Compensation, Annie Parker
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
No abstract provided.
No Place Like Home : Trans-Individuals' Search For Belonging In A Binary Gendered World, Leslie Catherine Kilpatrick
No Place Like Home : Trans-Individuals' Search For Belonging In A Binary Gendered World, Leslie Catherine Kilpatrick
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Subjective gender experiences for post-operative trans-individuals were investigated in this study to empirically assess participants' current sense of a match or a lack of a match between their present biological sex and their gender identity. Survey Monkey, an internet site for collection and analysis of responses to survey questions, was used to gather demographic information from 18 respondents and to answer the study questions about post-surgical congruence or incongruence. The responses generated themes of belonging or lack of belonging that lumped together in three categories through which the data was analyzed: A) the individual's relationship to self, B) their relationship …