This thesis attempts to explore the mental image that a sample of juvenile delinquents have of the recreational and informal educational agencies with which they have been associated. It is concerned with the problem of the subjective picture held by a sample of delinquents regarding these agencies - their staff, their members and their activities. A great deal has been written in the past decade or more by various interested groups in the community offering interpretations of the nature of delinquency, its causes and programs for its prevention and cure. None of these studies, however, has at tempted to elicit from the delinquent himself his interpretation of his experiences at recreational and informal educational agencies.

In this study, two parallel themes will be explored. One is the counsellor's understanding of their own cultural identity and how this affects their practice with people of similar or different cultures than their own. Secondly, the study attempts to discover counselling skills that are most useful in working with members of the non-dominant culture. Data was collected from eight participants using two interview formats--a semi-structured interview guide and an unstructured interview design. Examination of this data yielded the following major themes: issues of counsellor's self identity, client's perceptions of counsellors, common practice issues, and cultural matching of counsellor and client. Important insights about counsellor's cultural self-identity and its relationship to practice were presented. No definitive cross-cultural practice skills were articulated, although many strategies for working with difference were addressed.

This paper investigates whether or not the experience of survivors of the Holocaust through the dying process follow the stages and tasks of dying as defined in the theoretical literature and the ramifications this has for the social worker serving these individuals and their families. The methodology employed was a library search to overlay the literature on death and dying upon the literature concerning Holocaust survivors. The study concludes that, for the most part, there is little congruence between the theories of dying and the coping mechanisms of the Holocaust survivor and that a different model of death and dying is required for this population. In order to provide a preliminary model and guide workers who might encounter terminally ill survivors and their families as patients and clients, approaches for engagement, assessment, and intervention are proposed and analyzed.

The foundation for this thesis was extrapolated from a case study of a male with Dissociative Identity Disorder. This study explores one man's journey of survival and the recurring issues that have deterred his complete healing. Sexual abuse is examined in its social and political context as well as issues related to male victimization. The myths and stereotypes surrounding males who have been sexually abused are addressed. The notion that only women are sexually abused and that men abuse, is challenged. / This case is analyzed by focusing on the trauma, the immediate effects, the immediate adaptation and the long term consequences. The long term effects are addressed in-depth and focus on issues such as grief and loss and attachment related difficulties. The theory that links attachment in infancy and attachment-related trauma to later dissociative symptoms is addressed. Also, the notion that abuse is often symptomatic of the system of caregiving within the family is argued. The nature and duration of the abuse is not random, but systematically related to the family's functioning. In this respect, Dissociative Identity Disorder is viewed as an adaptive technique resulting from an abusive situation, rather than a pathology. / The importance of incorporating a loss model in treating these individuals is emphasized by addressing non-bereavement losses and attachment related issues.

This qualitative study presents findings from interviews with ten front line social workers employed at a small, eastern Ontario Children's Aid Society. The interviews explored the implementation of the Ontario Risk Assessment Model at this agency from the perspective of these social workers. The findings of this research identify perceived impediments as well as supports to organizational change within this context. Analysis of the data revealed that both the manner in which ORAM was implemented and the content of the model itself resulted in confusion, frustration and anxiety on the part of the workers. The research also sought to determine the potential fit between effective child protection organizational change endeavours and strategies inherent in the action research model. Implications for change management policy, practice and future research within child protection systems are also discussed.

Children with an intellectual disability may significantly affect families in ways that have implications for other sibling's adjustment. In this thesis, 40 siblings of intellectually disabled children are compared to 40 siblings of healthy children. The goal is to determine (i) if a child with an intellectual disability affects the other siblings in the family, and (ii) if they are functions of siblings' age, grade, gender, ordinal position, age gap with the disabled child, sibling number, disabled child's severity of impairment, parental educational background, etc. / The findings did not confirm that siblings of children with an intellectual disability have poorer adjustment than that of healthy children. However, the older sisters and older siblings of children with intellectual disability were found to have poorer adjustment in some of the area. Age gap and father's educational background is positively correlated to the adjustment of siblings of children with an intellectual disability. Then and other findings are discussed in the thesis.

The thesis seeks to explore the challenges faced by unaccompanied refugee minors when seeking refugee protection. It will examine the way in which discourses and policies, both in Canada and internationally, undermine unaccompanied refugee minors accessing refugee protection or being successful in their claim. Relying mainly on post-colonial theory, the thesis will address the historical context that created the phenomenon of forced migration of children, and the role the Global North plays in perpetuating it. Further, the thesis questions and problematizes knowledge that it is taken for granted. It relies mainly on postcolonial theories and Foucault's concept of power to understand how human subjects, especially those from the Global South, have been constructed. It also examines how this population of children became constructed as "problems" and the role of discourses in assuming the nature of these problems. The thesis also provides an in depth analysis of policy concerning unaccompanied refugee minors. Three international protection instruments will be focused on: the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee and UNHCR 1997 Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in Dealing with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum, and two Canadian protection instruments, the Child Refugee Claimants Procedural And Evidentiary Issues and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This thesis aims to shift and alter popular beliefs and perceptions about the issue of unaccompanied refugee minors in the hope of bringing about cultural-philosophical shift in attitudes. / Ce mémoire étudie les défis auxquels les enfants réfugiés non accompagnés d'un adulte sont confrontés dans leur démarche de recherche d'une terre d'accueil. On y examine comment les discours et les politiques tenus tant au Canada qu'ailleurs dans le monde, minent les efforts des enfants réfugiés non accompagnés d'adulte dans leur tentative d'accéder au statut de réfugier et d'obtenir une réponse positive à leur requête. En se basant principalement sur des théories post colonialiste, ce mémoire rappelle le contexte historique à la base du phénomène de l'immigration forcée des enfants et souligne le rôle que les pays du nord continuent de jouer en perpétuant cette réalité. On questionne également, dans ce mémoire, les lieus communs qui sont généralement accepté par le plus grand nombre. En plus des théories post colonialistes, l'argumentaire s'appuie principalement sur le concept du pouvoir de Foucault pour comprendre le conditionnement que les hommes, principalement ceux des pays du sud, subissent. On y étudie aussi comment on en est venu à percevoir ces enfants comme « un problème » et le rôle qu'à joué l'argumentaire dans la construction de cette perception. Ce mémoire propose également une analyse en profondeur des politiques concernant les enfants réfugiés non accompagnés d'un adulte. On n'y étudie trois mécanismes international de protection: the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee and UNHCR 1997 Guidelines on Policies and Procedures in Dealing with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum, ainsi que deux mécanisme canadiens: the Child Refugee Clai

The phenomenon of female teenage violence within the last decade has been receiving rapid social interest and concern. The present study is concerned with exploring causes for teenage girl violence. Specifically, this qualitative study seeks to explore and describe teenage girl violence from the experiences and perspectives of girls aged 16 to 19 years of age whom have been in the past arrested and/or incarcerated for violent crimes. Data was collected using a semi-structured interviewing format. Five teenaged girls having current or past involvement with the Child Welfare system were interviewed. Despite the study's limitations, findings indicated several variations on similar common themes. These themes are discussed using three main categories of findings: (1) entrance into the legal system, (2) social aspects and (3) cultural presence. The need for describing and understanding why teenage girls act out violently in the ways they do was evident from the perspective of the girls themselves.

Building on the limited foundation of asset-based research in Aboriginal communities, this study explores how Aboriginal peoples living off reserve experience and perceive resilience. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Aboriginal members of a small, non-native community. Themes emerging from the interviews highlight the importance of connections to family, culture, community, land, and public services, as well as to a sense of life purpose. These results support and expand existing resilience theory, and relate to social determinants of health and social capital theories. Implications of the study demonstrate the importance of a holistic approach to personal well-being, responsibility for which is balanced between the individual and society, and which requires careful negotiation between Aboriginal and mainstream cultures. / Puisque la plupart des études sur les questions autochtones se concentrent sur les problèmes et les conflits, on oublie souvent d’examiner la force caractère et la persévérance démontrées par les peuples autochtones. Le sujet de cette recherche est le bien-être et la réussite des personnes autochtones qui habitent hors-réserve. Les entrevues ont été faites avec cinq individus autochtones dans une petite communauté au Québec. Les thèmes qui en ressortent démontrent l’importance des liens avec la famille, la culture, la communauté, la terre, et les services sociaux, ainsi que l’importance d’avoir une ‘raison d’être’. La théorie de résilience est à la fois soutenue et élargie par ces résultats, qui se rapportent aussi aux théories sociologiques comme le capital social. Cette étude démontre la valeur d’une approche holistique au bien-être, et souligne l’équilibre de la responsabilité entre l’individu et l’état. Elle souligne aussi l’importance qu’il faut porter aux négotiations entre les différentes cultures.

Bibliotherapy is an innovative therapeutic technique that uses reading as a helping process for dealing with stress. It has been proposed as a mental health approach for individuals facing social, psychological or developmental problems. As reading tends to be a non-threatening method of sharing problems, a bibliotherapy group was implemented for 12 weeks with eight alert elderly people who had difficulties coping with their current life situation in a long-term care institution. The effectiveness of a bibliotherapeutic approach with this population is evaluated and implications for social work policy, practice and research are discussed.