No description available.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the psychological effects on adult mental health of former young caregivers who provided primary care in youth; specifically, the positive and negative aspects of caregiving in youth and how childhood memories and experiences of caregiving affect the former child caregiver's adult mental health. Background: Caregiving is a rapidly emerging public health concern and the incidence of being a young caregiver is on the rise. Research shows the caregiver role effects both the physical and mental well-being of the caregiver; however, there is a paucity of information on the long-term effects of youthful caregiving on adult mental health and its impact on their psychological, social, and emotional development. Research suggests that providing primary care has both positive and negative consequences on children. ` Method: To gain a further understanding into the experiences of former young caregivers, three nurses, a Telemetry nurse, a Nephrology nurse, and a Nurse Practitioner were interviewed to form the case study. A content analysis of the interview data was performed to identify commonalities, emotional memories, past and current triggers, and reflections to provide a deeper insight into the perspectives of each participant as they shared their views on the positives and challenges experienced as a young caregiver, in addition to the impact caregiving has had on their adult mental health. Findings: Common positive experiences shared between participants included benefit finding, social support, and influence of self-identity and career choice. Common challenges experienced involved lack of education and resources, impact on school performance, impact on friendships, impact on physical health, unresolved anger, and depression. Their experiences were dependent on several factors such as their age and gender, school status, gender of the care recipient, progression or severity of the illness/disability, and family closeness; however, the three common variables having the greatest influence on mental health was parentification, social support, and becoming a wounded healer. Implications and Conclusion: The data from this qualitative descriptive study broadens our awareness into the importance of identifying this hidden population and the need for development of effective services aimed and preventing and treating depression.

MPH / Department of Public Health / Pregnancy can be a great experience. However, for some, it is not, especially when they are still students. Pregnant students experience many challenges, which include dropping out of school. Pregnant students thus need support from family members and friends to cope. The purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of pregnant students at the University of Venda, Limpopo Province. The study was conducted at the University of Venda (UNIVEN), situated in the scenic Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province. A qualitative approach, using a phenomenological design, was used for this study. A sample size of 20 pregnant students was selected from the target population through convenience sampling and data were collected through a semi-structured interview. An interpretative phenomenological approach was used to analyse the data. The study findings show that pregnant students encounter countless experiences, such as maternal stress and anxiety, inability to cope, poor concentration, low self-esteem, absenteeism and poor performance. In addition, pregnant students relied on the social support they received from friends, family and partner to cope. The study recommends that the institution should offer adequate services to pregnant students, such as attending Antenatal Care (ANC) at the University Clinic to reduce the likelihood of absenteeism and dropout rate amongst pregnant students

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore teachers? experiences working with children impacted by adverse childhood experiences. As a dissertation in practice, this qualitative study was intended to examine the lived experiences of educators in regard to how trauma presents itself in the classroom setting and to explore their perceptions on the greater impact of trauma towards curricular outcomes, the classroom environment, and implications with regard to their role as educators. Data were collected from 12 interviews with six female middle school educators, employed within a school district that serves a medium sized community and the surrounding rural communities. Colaizzi?s (1978) phenomenological data analysis strategy was used for data analysis and coding. Four major themes emerged in the findings to describe teachers? experiences working in their classroom settings with students with trauma histories: the overall impact of trauma, trauma impacts on educators, trauma impacts on classroom practices, and needs identified by educators. An Executive Summary and Recommendations are included as an actionable response to the complex problem of practice that underpinned this dissertation in practice.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, South Africa, 2003. / The purpose of the study was to uncover and understand the experiences of inmates in prisons. The study involved 10 inmates who had served at least two years of their sentence. In this study, the researcher used purposive sampling in selecting the research participants. Data was collected using an essay, where participants were asked to respond to three open ended questions. All interviews were conducted in Zulu in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Qualitative data analysis was used to analyze the thematic content of the essays. The following conclusions were drawn from the study: • Being in prison is not fulfilling. • Prisoners experience helplessness, hopelessness, loss of dignity, boredom. There is also a lack of respect which dominates prison life. Lack of facilities also formed part of their experiences. Paying attention to these issues is important as they can contaminate any rehabilitation process and hinder inmates from rebuilding their lives

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts (Counseling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2011. / The major objective of the study was to document the experiences and meaning attributed to the divorce of one’s parents. The results emerged from this study undoubtedly pointed out that the majority of the experiences of children of divorce are negative experiences and had negative impacts to their well being (personally, psychologically, economically and even socially). The meaning attributed to these experiences, is mostly negative attributions and there were few positive. Some of the participants have benefited from their negative and painful experiences. That was by changed their thought orientation to be more focused and being responsible individuals, whereas, it has changed other’s personality and self perception for the bad. Based on the findings of this study and evidence from consulted literature on the experiences and meaning attributed to the divorce of one’s parents entails pain, abuse, development, loss, despair, responsibility, deprivation and lot more. Most of the literature reviewed concurred with findings of this study.

<p> This thesis is an attempt to defend the somewhat outrageous view that the only things we need consider to be real are experiences. A serious objection to this view is that we seem to talk of things other than experiences, and that such talk is apparently unavoidable. But in Chapter One it is argued that if non-experiential talk can be interpreted in what is called a 'non-representational' way, then the apparent reference to non-experiential entities can be considered illusory. In Chapter Two a method of doing this is outlined. The key concept here is that of the 'acceptability of a sentence relative to a set of experiences.' Roughly, it is proposed that a semantic theory be a system of rules that determines this property for any assertoric sentence and any set of experiences. In Chapter Three the concept of truth is discussed in terms of the ideas already introduced. It is argued that we should recognize two kinds of truth - what are called 'redundancy truth' and 'empirical truth'. Empirical truth is more inportant for our purposes, but we have to recognize that there may be some sentences that are neither empirically true nor empirically false. Although this might be thought to necessitate a revision of classical bgic, it is argued that this is in fact not so.</p> <p> The last chapter contains an evaluation of the traditional empiricist conception of experience and attempts to defend the following: the epistemological priority of experiences; the withholding of ontological status from physical things; and the rejection of solipsism. There is also a comparison (though only a limited one) between the present theory and the verificationisrn of M.A.E. Dummett.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)