Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-178). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-130). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ43417.

The United Nations Population Fund has identified gender inequality and gender-based violence as two of the main threats to women's reproductive health. In fact, researchers have estimated that between one quarter and one half of all women with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, have abusive partners. Given the pervasiveness and far-reaching effects of these phenomena, it is essential to take steps to mitigate the possible negative consequences on women's reproductive health, including HIV status. This exploratory qualitative research study was designed to gain further insight into the contextual factors and personal experiences of HIV positive African immigrant women, with the goal of informing the development of contextually-tailored HIV risk reduction strategies. This study, guided by a theoretical framework based on Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power, utilized in-depth interviews with six HIV positive African immigrant women. Narrative analysis was used to explore the women's narratives on the role of gender-based violence and inequality on their disease status. The main overarching theme revealed in the women's narratives was that marriage is a vulnerable status that can actually put women at risk for contracting HIV. This vulnerability is based on social norms that state once women are married, they: 1) should not say "No" to sex with their husbands, 2) should not ask their husbands to use a condom, and 3) should not divorce husbands for having concurrent sexual partners. The women's narratives showed how the gender norms and decision-making process they observed in their families of origin, and in the larger community, affect their sexual decision making in their intimate relationships. Their narratives also introduced us to their experiences of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. Finally, listening to the narratives of HIV positive African immigrant women educated us on the stigma and silence around HIV in their community, in addition to paving the way for recommendations on preventing the spread of HIV in their communities in the United States, as well as abroad. Implications for social work practice and policy, as well as future research are discussed. / text

Survivors of intimate partner violence often suffer from a number of serious aftereffects, but current prevalent treatments lack effectiveness for this population. Along with typical trauma symptoms such as avoidance and constriction, other common challenges unique to survivors include a loss of sense of self, negative self-appraisal, and a lack of self- efficacy. Therapeutic Assessment is well-suited to this population due to its potential for helping clients to replace distorted beliefs about the self with more adaptive ones, engaging clients as equals, and helping clients to form cohesive life narratives. The proposed study will measure the effectiveness of this approach with three to five subjects using a time-series design. Subjects will provide daily ratings of their personal experiences evaluating five areas of concern, three to be shared across subjects and two tailored to the priorities of each specific participant. The resulting indices will be tested using Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA), controlling for autocorrelation using the Lag 1 correlation, to see whether statistically significant changes occur in the desired directions. / text

Mokytojas yra svarbiausias švietimo paslaugų teikėjas. Nuo jo kvalifikacijos, sociokultūrinio pasirengimo priklauso ne tik teikiamų paslaugų kokybė, bet ir konkrečios švietimo institucijos realios galimybės deramai atlikti savo funkcijas. Niekas kitas taip gerai nejaučia ir nemato, kuo gyvena, kaip auga, vystosi ir bręsta mokinys mokykloje, kaip jo mokytojas. Todėl mokytojo vaidmuo šiuo atveju yra labai svarbus. Deja, gyvenime yra ir kita pusė, kuri tiesiog šaukte šaukia, kad šiandien mokytojai nesijaučia saugūs dirbdami mokykloje. Šio baigiamojo magistrinio darbo tikslas buvo išsiaiškinti smurto prieš mokytojus ypatumus šiuolaikinėje mokykloje, išnagrinėti kaip ir kodėl pasireiškia smurtas prieš mokytojus. Tikslui pasiekti buvo iškelti tokie uždaviniai: pateikti smurto sampratą ir išanalizuoti sociologines nusikalstamo elgesio teorijas, aptarti smurto pasireiškimo formas, aptarti smurtą prieš mokytojus skatinančius veiksnius, aptarti smurto prieš mokytojus atsiradimo ir gyvavimo prielaidas švietimo institucijoje bei remiantis atlikto tyrimo duomenimis nustatyti mokinių, tėvų ir mokytojų požiūrį į smurtą prieš mokytojus ir galimas prevencines priemones. Darbe buvo iškeltos tokios hipotezės: 1. Mokinių smurtas prieš mokytojus yra realiai egzistuojanti socialinė problema. 2. Mokytojai bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose patiria smurtą iš mokinių ir nesijaučia saugūs savo darbo vietoje. 3. Tėvai toleruoja vaikų smurtinį elgesį prieš mokytojus. 4. Dauguma moksleivių smurtą prieš... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / A teacher is the main source of education services. Quality of such services and actual abilities of particular educational institution to function properly depend on teacher’s qualification and social-cultural readiness. No one else can feel and see what makes schoolchildren tick or how they grow, develop and mature at school but their teacher. Hence the role of teacher is of extreme importance in this case. However, there is a dark side of life, which rants and raves that teachers do not feel safe working at school today. The aim of the MA thesis was to find out peculiarities of violence against teachers in modern schools, analyze how violence against teachers expresses itself and why it is so. The following tasks were put in order to achieve the abovementioned goals: to present a conception of violence and analyze sociological theories of criminal behaviour, discuss expression forms of violence, subject factors stimulating violence against teachers, scrutinize premises of origin and existence of violence against teachers in educational institutions and, based on survey data, gathered by the author of the thesis, ascertain attitudes of schoolchildren, their parents and teachers towards violence against teachers and possible preventive measures to be taken. The following hypotheses were raised: 1. Schoolchildren’s violence against teachers is an actually existing social problem. 2. Teachers in secondary schools undergo violence from the part of schoolchildren and do not feel... [to full text]

Peer violence perpetration and victimization are the most common types of violence among youths (Swahn et al., 2008). This study determined the associations between peer violence attitudes and involvement in peer violence perpetration and peer violence victimization among boys and girls in high-risk urban community. Analyses were based on data from the 2004 Youth Violence Survey, administered to over 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N = 4131) in a high-risk urban community. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the associations between attitudes and involvement in violent behaviors after controlling for demographic characteristics and potential confounders (e.g., child maltreatment, substance use, weapon carrying, and efficacy to avoid violence). Results show that among all youths, attitudes supporting boys hitting boys significantly increased the odds of peer violence perpetration (AOR: 1.48; 95% CI = 1.13, 1.95). However, stratified analyses for boys and girls show that attitudes supporting boys hitting boys increased the odds of peer violence perpetration for girls only (AOR: 1.57; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.37). The findings demonstrate associations between attitudes and actual involvement in violent behaviors, but they need to be further explored. Additional research is needed to determine how attitude modifications can be incorporated into youth violence prevention programs.

<p>Violent crime has proven to have profound negative effects, particularly on those living within communities where violence is a dominant feature. The victims often tend to be adolescents, who, while striving for a better future, are often quite vulnerable to its effects. The present study addresses this important social phenomenon which faces the youth of South Africa. There is a growing need to understand the manner in which the ever-increasing exposure of adolescents living in communities which have high rates of violence affects its victims as well as determine those factors which could provide resiliency against those devastating effects. Moreover, this study focuses on adolescents&rsquo / sense of hope as a resiliency factor. The purpose of this research study was to ascertain adolescents&rsquo / understanding of and the meaning they give to exposure to community violence and the extent to which that exposure affects their sense of hope. In this qualitative study, data was collected by means of two, one hour focus groups comprising a total of 14 participants, 14-15 years of age, residing in a community with high rates of violence. The format of the discussion was semi-structured and conducted in English. Various theories were used in order to better describe the information, such as the social learning theory, feminist theory and Bronfenbrenner&rsquo / s ecological model, but the epistemological framework utilized was social constructionism. Ethical principles such as confidentiality and obtaining informed consent were strictly adhered to. The information received from the participants was analyzed using Braun and Clarke&rsquo / s (2006) thematic analysis and presented in two thematic categories with corresponding themes discussed accordingly</p>

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Violence in schools is one of the most challenging issue facing educators, policy makers, learners, parents and the community at large. Sometimes it takes place without educators and parents being aware of it and in most cases, learners specifically girls are reluctant to report their experiences of violence. Because the entire community is continually searching for ways to curb this problem in schools, it is hoped that this study may offer some general insights. The primary aim of this research was to explore the perceptions of violence of educators and learners of their school and the perceptions of learners of measures taken by educators to curb violence in their school. The secondary aim was to develop guidelines in the form of recommendations, which would be useful to policy makers, educators, parents, learners and the entire community at large. In this study qualitative design was used and the case study method was employed. Purposeful sampling technique was used in selecting the educators for interviews and the learners for focus group interviews. Groups of six learners were chosen for focus group interviews and in the case of educators, five were selected. In the process of data analysis the researcher applied Marshall and Rossman's approach. The results showed that only a few educators were able to describe the concept of violence and no learner was able to describe the concept violence. With regards to corporal punishment, the research revealed that some educators are in favour of corporal punishment while others are not in favour of corporal punishment. From the study, it was noted that the following forms of violence are experienced in the school namely, violence in the form of corporal punishment, physical violence in the form of bullying and fighting, sexual violence as gender-based violence, verbal violence and violence in the form of stealing belongings. Furthermore the research revealed that learners were not in favour of measures used by educators to curb violence in the school more specifically corporal punishment and suspension or expulsion. As a matter of fact, it is important for the entire community to address the problem of violence in the schools. Several recommendations have been made to encourage the community to curb violence in its schools such as the Government, Ministry 0f Education and Culture, educators training institutions, school management, educators and learners should address the problem of violence in order to curb its spread in the schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

This study sought to understand what the schools do to promote the culture of nonviolence. In asking the question, "How do school work to develop a culture of nonviolence?" I produced data through the exploration of the activities and practices implemented in school. The critical question and sub question posed in the study were, firstly, how do school work to promote the culture of nonviolence? Secondly, how does the SMT do to promote the culture of nonviolence? Thirdly, how do teachers manage their teaching and learning activities to promote the culture of non-violence? Fourthly, how do learners experience the different activities and practices that the school adopts to promote the culture of nonviolence? Using Satyagraha theory as the theoretical lens for the study, I offer an understanding on how the school as a site offers the potential to promote nonviolence. Using a participatory research approach, I used one secondary school in ILembe District to participate in this study. The data sources used to produce the data included the individual interviews, focus group interviews, photo voice, classroom conversations and observations. The findings of the study show that within the physical environment of the school, different stakeholders attempt to actively adopt non-violent ways within the particular and common spaces of the school to develop in learners the capacity to differentiate between personal and societal forms of violence. The findings signal the need of a stronger partnership with other systems of the society such as the family system, social service, police service, media and the public at large since learners learn different forms of personal and social violence from different spaces and through different relations. The school is one system of a larger system and the study shows that it can not predict, control or remove the forms of violence that play out outside of the school and in individuals who choose to think and act in violent ways. Learners and teachers also bring violence to school. This study promotes the perspective that there are activities and strategies needed to be done inside and outside the classroom to promote non-violence, but this can be easily undermined in the absence of support mechanisms and structures at multiple levels outside of the school. While the school, through different strategies and practices such as morning assembly and surveillance mechanisms can help learners to differentiate between personal and societal forms of violence although some learners and teachers within the school still act in a violent way. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.