No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of teacher preparation experiences, collegial support, and principal support on new teachers' decisions to remain in the teaching profession. Quantitative research was conducted using data from an electronic survey to examine the impact the three predictor variables had on the likelihood of a new teacher remaining in the profession beyond five years. Research explored the precipitating theory based on scholarly literature, that teachers who are well prepared with practical experiences, and who feel supported and valued by their colleagues and principals, reflect the highest level of job satisfaction and potential to remain in the teaching profession. Five findings emerged from this study. Two findings indicated that collegial support and principal support, both had a statistically significant influence on new teacher retention. In addition, the study found that nearly 75% of new teachers showed some level of job satisfaction with the teaching profession. Participants in the survey included one hundred and eighty-four teachers with 0-5 years experience, representing teachers from 21 secondary schools within one school district. Participants were asked to respond to questions based on their personal experiences and feelings related to the teaching profession and their overall satisfaction level. / Ed. D.

No / Aims and objectives. The current study sought to identify how many mothers from 149 visits carried out by seven health visitors identified support as a feature of the visit, whether this type of support was unique to the health visitor and what support meant to them. These responses were then compared with the taxonomies of social support from the social support literature. . Some studies of client perceptions describe support as an element of home visits by health visitors. However, the importance, relevance and impact on the client of this support are not described in detail. Social support theory suggests that there are tangible benefits to people's well-being and their ability to cope with various challenges that may arise from individuals' perceptions of receiving support. Design. Qualitative study using semistructured interviews. Methods. Seven volunteer health visitors recruited 149 women into the study. These clients were interviewed by the researcher, usually within one week of the home visit by their health visitor. The discussions were audio-taped and the resulting transcripts analysed using content analysis. Findings. Thirty-seven women identified receiving support which they said was only available from the health visitor. The relevance of this support to the mother and the impact on her well-being varied within the group suggesting differing perceptions of support by clients according to their personal situation. There was a correspondence between the descriptions of support given by the women and the taxonomies of social support from the social support literature. Conclusion. For some interactions between clients and their health visitors the existing theory of social support may provide an explanation of how health visitors contribute to clients' perceived ability to cope and well-being. Relevance to clinical practice. Social support may be defined as a possible outcome of health visiting. This concept will have use within educational programmes to demonstrate to students how health visiting can have an impact on clients' well-being. Similarly, the concept could be used to investigate and record health visiting practice.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between physical and emotional peer victimization, parental and peer support and depressive symptoms. The moderating role of parental and peer support and gender differences in such moderation were the focus of the study in examining the association between peer victimization forms and depressive symptoms. Two hundred and sixty one youths (ages 10-14) completed self report measures of parental and peer support and depressive symptoms and were interviewed about their victimization experiences. Physical victimization rates were higher for boys whereas girls reported higher emotional victimization experiences and higher peer support than boys did. Correlations indicated that the experience of physical and emotional victimization by peer is linked to depressive symptoms. For boys, but not for girls, a significant moderation effect indicated that physical victimization was significantly related to depressive symptoms among youths with low peer support whereas physical victimization was not related to depressive symptoms among youths with high peer support. There were significant main effects of parental and peer support for both genders suggesting the importance of such support against depressive symptoms. The study's findings contribute to the literature regarding peer victimization's effects on mental health by illustrating the beneficial effect of parent and peer support during adolescence. / Master of Science

Yes / Aims: To determine who provides bereavement support in the community, what sources are perceived to be the most or least helpful and for what reason, and to identify the empirical elements for optimal support in developing any future compassionate communities approach in palliative care. Design: A population-based cross-sectional investigation of bereavement experiences. Sources of support (informal, community and professional) were categorised according to the Public Health Model of Bereavement Support; most helpful reasons were categorised using the Social Provisions Scale, and least helpful were analysed using inductive content analysis. Setting and participants: Bereaved people were recruited from databases of funeral providers in Australia via an anonymous postal survey (2013–2014). Results: In total, 678 bereaved people responded to the survey. The most frequently used sources of support were in the informal category such as family, friends and funeral providers. While the professional category sources were the least used, they had the highest proportions of perceived unhelpfulness whereas the lowest proportions of unhelpfulness were in the informal category. The functional types of helpful support were Attachment, Reliable Alliance, Social Integration and Guidance. The five themes for least helpful support were: Insensitivity, Absence of Anticipated Support, Poor Advice, Lack of Empathy and Systemic Hindrance. Conclusion: A public health approach, as exemplified by compassionate communities policies and practices, should be adopted to support the majority of bereaved people as much of this support is already provided in informal and other community settings by a range of people already involved in the everyday lives of those recently bereaved. This study has provided further support for the need to strengthen the compassionate communities approach, not only for end of life care for dying patients but also along the continuum of bereavement support. / Health Department of Western Australia.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Donald A. Saucier / Research on contemporary sexism suggests that sexism has many different forms and they influence women differently. Evidence shows that women who experience subtle forms of sexism (e.g., modern and benevolent sexism) feel anxious and less competent, yet are less likely to identify these forms of sexism as prejudice against women. Because research suggests that social support is related to better psychological outcomes, we hypothesized that higher levels of perceived social support would be associated with better psychological outcomes among female participants who experienced sexism. In addition, receiving a supportive message after experiencing sexism would buffer the negative psychological effects of sexism, and thus the participants would perform better on a problem-solving task. However, the results only partially supported the hypotheses. Higher levels of perceived social support were indeed associated with better psychological outcomes, but participants who experienced sexism did not differ significantly from those who did not experience sexism regarding psychological outcomes. Further, receiving social support after experiencing sexism did not produce significant improvements on the problem-solving task, though participants who experienced modern sexism did report an increase in hostile affect if they did not receive social support. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed.

“The only true voyage…would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to see the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them sees, that each of them is…” (Proust, 2003, p. 343). This wonderful quote from Proust seems like a fitting place to begin because I wish to take you on an autoethnographic journey of discovery so that you can see for yourself what it was like for the participants and me as we found ourselves in strange and sometimes frightening territory. We realized that we were, sometimes unexpectedly, in positions of support to our friends or lovers who were uncomfortable with the sex they were assigned at birth. Most of us would describe ourselves as lesbian and, when our partners began to explore the possibility of sex reassignment, struggled with our established identity. My friend Christopher was the inspiration for this exploration. We were domestic partners before and during his early transition from female to male. Both Christopher and I were public figures in the small town in which we lived and our lives were somewhat on display. Christopher founded an organization called Trans Connect to provide support to those who present their gender in alternate ways and to provide education to service providers as well as to schools with regard to transgender issues and is well known in that town as well as in the larger gender diverse community as a trans man. Because of this, he has agreed to waive anonymity. The body of this work includes the entire texts of three papers I have written during the course of my studies as I navigated the path to this research. All of these papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals. I have used these papers to illustrate my autoethnographic journey toward the discovery of diverse gender presentations, to describe the state of knowledge in the discipline of nursing regarding this issue, and to demonstrate how autoethnography works. The centre of the work is the novel I have written based upon the stories the participants and I have shared with one another. The novel is written in everyday language and aims to show, rather than tell, the stories of ten women who love and support trans men. In many parts of the dissertation I have used dialogue, both internal as well as conversation among created characters, as a way to bring to life concepts under discussion. This is in keeping with an autoethnographic style. The dissertation is organized into three parts. Part one is a description of the process and methods I undertook in order to arrive at the novel. It consists of eight chapters that are placed in a more or less linear way, although the process was not at all linear, from the beginning of my exploration, to a discussion of the overall voyage. Part two consists of the novel, which is the story of experiences of women living with trans men during their transition or consideration of transition, disguised as having been experienced by fictional characters. Part three contains four chapters that are the analysis, a description of how I managed the information gathered, a discussion of evaluation for such a work as this, and some consideration as to the distribution and future for the study. My research questions were: • What is it like to be in loving relationship with an FTM during and after some of his transition? • What are the effects on the relationship for the female partner during this time? • What happens to the supportive partner’s ideas of her own identity? • Does the balance of power shift during this transition, and if so, how? The novel poignantly addresses all these questions. To be in a loving relationship with a trans man in the early stages of transition can be very challenging, and for the participants and me, often ended in a breakdown of the relationship. It can be a difficult time for women supporters because their adjustments and struggles with identity and sense of self and community are frequently overshadowed by the enormity, and for some, curiosity of sex reassignment. Often the relationship shifts from egalitarian to one that resembles more of a male-female binary where the male exerts power over his partner. Half of the participants in this study said they would not enter into another relationship with a trans man. That leaves the other half who said they would. The novel might serve as a help to those considering such a relationship as well as to those already walking the sometimes slippery, sometimes exhilarating road of partnership with a trans man. There are no easy answers to these questions. My aim is to reveal a glimpse into the lives of people about whom not much is known. / Graduate / 0569 / merryfeather@shaw.ca

This research critically examines school support staff’s perceptions of strategic change within a post ’92 higher education institution. The need for effective communication as well as valuing and empowering employees during any change process is discussed. The research uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained from questionnaires and emerging themes identified. Further qualitative data are gathered from diary logs, interviews and focus groups. This research represents the opinions of school support staff at a particular moment in time within a particular educational context. The results suggest some limitations to the change capabilities of the post ’92 institution, but also some areas of good practice. The production of a change framework and the change competencies workbook provides both the institution and its employees, with an opportunity to explore further the prospect of improving their ability to manage change. Both the framework and the competencies require an environment of trust for them to work effectively. The subject headings of identity, perception and communication are utilised in the change framework and the change competencies. The subject headings were chosen in order to assist the researcher to categorise various data covering areas of concern raised by research participants. This thesis suggests that the post ’92 institution has yet to establish a corporate change policy or embed a continuous change culture within its organisation. This thesis concludes that incorporating the following could assist the institution’s management of change: * create a culture of change by utilising the change framework and implement a corporate change strategy based on Kotter’s (1996) eight steps for change; * create an environment of trust through excellence in two-way communication by promoting Perkins (2008) supportive communication and listening skills; * create empowered and change sophisticated people by improving their change competencies using the workbook and regular targeted staff development.