This research explores the question of what role medical family therapists play on a health care team when working with serious pediatric illness. Seven participants from three different health care settings were interviewed. Results were organized within the ecological systems framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) according to the various ways participants became a part of the family's illness experience. Participants identified roles directly with the family, with the health care team, and within the larger health care system. Clinical implications are identified concerning the preparation of the health care system for the continued growth and evolution of the field of medical family therapy. / Master of Science

Achieving long-term conservation gains through conservation incentive programs on agricultural lands requires a deep understanding of landowner needs and interests. However, social science research related to private lands conservation programs authorized by the United State farm bill lags behind biological research, limiting our knowledge about how to best design these programs to ensure they are effective. Given this need to better understand the human dimensions of habitat conservation on agricultural lands, we used two research projects to investigate landowner considerations related to land management decisions as well as how to effectively engage landowners in the conservation process. First, using two landowner-led workshops, we looked at what factors ranchers in the Intermountain West consider in deciding to continue or discontinue flood irrigation, an irrigation practice that sustains historically flooded wet meadows across the region. We also evaluated these landowner-led workshops as a form of participatory research. Our second project included three focus groups of landowners currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, the largest private lands conservation program in the United States, and a survey of landowners with fields currently enrolled or no longer enrolled with expiration dates from 2011 to 2017. Our results highlight the role of agricultural landowners in habitat conservation and the complex social-ecological considerations that they face in making management decisions. Many landowners are interested in conservation programs that meet the context of their specific operation. Our findings suggest the need to better incorporate landowner needs into conservation program design and implementation that promote both operation and habitat sustainability. / MS / Agricultural lands across the American West play a critical role in conserving both agricultural operations and wildlife habitat. Conservation programs that provide incentives to landowners for various conservation efforts are available to aid in the protection of these lands and communities. Gaining a deeper understanding of the considerations of agricultural landowners for their land management decisions can help inform conservation programs and policy to more effectively meet the needs of landowners. We used two research projects to investigate landowner considerations related to land management decisions as well as how to effectively engage landowners in the conservation process. First, we looked at what factors ranchers in the Intermountain West consider in deciding to continue or discontinue flood irrigation, an irrigation practice that sustains historically flooded wet meadows across the region. We also evaluated these landowner-led workshops as a form of participatory research. Our second project included three focus groups of landowners currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, the largest private lands conservation program in the United States, and a survey of landowners with fields currently enrolled or no longer enrolled with expiration dates from 2011 to 2017. Our results highlight the role of agricultural landowners in habitat conservation and the complex environmental and social considerations that they face in making management decisions. Many landowners are interested in conservation programs that meet the needs of their specific operation. Our findings suggest the need to better incorporate landowner needs into conservation program design and implementation that promote both agricultural and environmental conservation.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosopy (PhD) / An environmental history approach is used in this thesis as a foundation for the analysis of the social and environmental changes that have occurred from the ancient past to the present within the Paterson Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The study examines the biophysical basis of the valley’s ecological processes and then describes the influence of the activities of Aboriginal peoples and subsequent European colonisation on the landscape. The study makes use of the various methodologies within social and ecological systems to assist with the analysis. It demonstrates the value of concepts such as complex adaptive systems, the adaptive cycle, panarchy and ecosystem health as ways of conceptualising complex transdisciplinary issues to reach conclusions based on temporal and spatial evidence. The complex relationships that the Aboriginal peoples had with the environment are compared with the various and rapid phases of colonial influences and processes. The social dimension of the changes over time is examined particularly with respect to the Indigenous and European institutions and infrastructure that influence the landscape. A significant issue identified in the study was the changing influence of Western institutions on the ecosystem health of the Valley; from local to global. The implications of this on ecosystem health are discussed. The Valley’s landscapes are divided into alluvial and non-alluvial, with the latter receiving the most attention in the study primarily due to its more extant nature whereas the alluvial rainforest has been virtually eliminated through extensive land clearing. The analysis of the non-alluvial landscape shows how important the Indigenous land management practices were in the maintenance of a complex mosaic of vegetation types specifically influenced by fire. The impact of the removal of the Indigenous influences on the landscape and the imposition of European practices and processes have seen a major reduction in the Valley’s ecological complexity. The study identified processes and factors external to the Valley which are increasingly influencing it. Not all of these are detrimental but they result in the Valley’s ecosystem health being more dependent on global events and processes. The study demonstrates the value of the ecosystem health framework for conceptualising the Valley’s ecosystems and the adaptive cycle for analysing and understanding their changes over time. These approaches provide an opportunity to identify pathways for future management of the Valley’s resources.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosopy (PhD) / An environmental history approach is used in this thesis as a foundation for the analysis of the social and environmental changes that have occurred from the ancient past to the present within the Paterson Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The study examines the biophysical basis of the valley’s ecological processes and then describes the influence of the activities of Aboriginal peoples and subsequent European colonisation on the landscape. The study makes use of the various methodologies within social and ecological systems to assist with the analysis. It demonstrates the value of concepts such as complex adaptive systems, the adaptive cycle, panarchy and ecosystem health as ways of conceptualising complex transdisciplinary issues to reach conclusions based on temporal and spatial evidence. The complex relationships that the Aboriginal peoples had with the environment are compared with the various and rapid phases of colonial influences and processes. The social dimension of the changes over time is examined particularly with respect to the Indigenous and European institutions and infrastructure that influence the landscape. A significant issue identified in the study was the changing influence of Western institutions on the ecosystem health of the Valley; from local to global. The implications of this on ecosystem health are discussed. The Valley’s landscapes are divided into alluvial and non-alluvial, with the latter receiving the most attention in the study primarily due to its more extant nature whereas the alluvial rainforest has been virtually eliminated through extensive land clearing. The analysis of the non-alluvial landscape shows how important the Indigenous land management practices were in the maintenance of a complex mosaic of vegetation types specifically influenced by fire. The impact of the removal of the Indigenous influences on the landscape and the imposition of European practices and processes have seen a major reduction in the Valley’s ecological complexity. The study identified processes and factors external to the Valley which are increasingly influencing it. Not all of these are detrimental but they result in the Valley’s ecosystem health being more dependent on global events and processes. The study demonstrates the value of the ecosystem health framework for conceptualising the Valley’s ecosystems and the adaptive cycle for analysing and understanding their changes over time. These approaches provide an opportunity to identify pathways for future management of the Valley’s resources.

Cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish is a social-techno-ecological system (STES) that is currently vulnerable due to changing social, technological and ecological conditions. In addressing ways to increase the adaptive capacity of cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish, I used a multiple, mixed method approach grounded in a critical constructivist framework. Constructivism is the idea that our relationship to facts is constructed by our social context. It is these perceptions that shape people’s actions. By looking at these perceptions through an emancipatory frame I was able to understand multiple interpretations of meaning, consciously address them, consider how they may have shaped our actions, and then alter those meanings and power relationships. In an effort to increase the adaptive capacity of cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish, my research focused on actions, why people perform those actions, and how to change them. This research connected the physical landscape of the marshes, the individual landscape of perception, and the conceptual landscape of resilience. If resilience is the ability of a system (cattle ranching in vermilion parish) to recover after a disturbance, adaptive capacity is when the actors within the system can influence that system’s resilience. I explored the history of cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish from three different, but overlapping perspectives – environmental, social, and technological. These perspectives compliment the information from interviews and 3CM sessions. These 15 interviews revealed the perception of 11 types of threats facing cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish. The body of literature surrounding resilience theory identifies traits of highly adaptive systems. The recommendations and suggestions outlined in Chapter 6 exist at the intersection of the actors’ perception of specific threats and the decidedly generalized traits of highly adaptive systems. These suggestions were geared towards increasing the adaptive capacity of cattle ranching in Vermilion Parish. Given these layered landscapes and their complexity, my recommendations were subject to feedback loops and long periods of integration. These recommendations contribute to the theoretical foundation detailed in Chapter 3 by identifying specific ways that the actors of this particular system may be able increase their own adaptive capacity. / text

This research reports on the use of the resilience assessment approach to evaluate the social-ecological systems (SES) at the NWU (Vaal) for a nine month period from March 2013 to November 2013. The research aims to determine the merits of the use of a resilience assessment approach to determine the resilience of the NWU (Vaal) in respect of social-ecological systems. Objectives of the research include the identification of disturbing events to environmental resilience, to construct a conceptual social-ecological systems model of the NWU (Vaal) in order to determine thresholds relevant to resilience and to determine if the resilience assessment approach can be applied at the NWU (Vaal). Data was collected in the form of a literature review, which aided with the construction of a time line for the focal social-ecological system; document reviews, interviews with relevant role players, observation by the researcher and the use of the assessment approach to construct the social-ecological system model. The research findings include identification of possible disturbances and thresholds relevant to resilience of the social-ecological system of the NWU (Vaal). The construction of a social-ecological system model of the NWU (Vaal) aids with proposals to incorporate a stewardship approach which enhance resilience of the focal social-ecological system. / M (Environmental Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Social workers are responsible for rendering services to children and families who have experienced sexual abuse. These services are to a large degree guided by legislation and organisational policy, but the question arises whether all social workers perceive child sexual abuse in the same way. This is significant since the possibility that a social worker perceives child sexual abuse differently from legislation and existing policies, could lead to having an adverse effect on the rendering of services to children and families exposed to sexual abuse. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of social work students regarding child sexual abuse by way of a descriptive qualitative research design. For the purposes of this study the non-probability sampling technique of purposive sampling was used to obtain participants. Fourth-year social work students at a specific higher learning institution were allowed to volunteer for this study and ten students agreed to participate. Unstructured in-depth individual interviews were conducted in order to explore their perceptions of CSA (Child Sexual Abuse). The data was coded into six main perceptions with their categories and subcategories. These perceptions were the following: (1) Child sexual abuse is caused by factors within the child’s ecological environment; (2) Description of the sexually abused child; (3) Description of the perpetrator of child sexual abuse; (4) Child sexual abuse is pervasive and can be characterised by the presence of specific aspects; (5) Child sexual abuse affects the child in specific ways; and (6) Children do not disclose sexual abuse. These results were presented in the format of an article with conclusions, recommendations as well as the limitations of the study. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This research reports on the use of the resilience assessment approach to evaluate the social-ecological systems (SES) at the NWU (Vaal) for a nine month period from March 2013 to November 2013. The research aims to determine the merits of the use of a resilience assessment approach to determine the resilience of the NWU (Vaal) in respect of social-ecological systems. Objectives of the research include the identification of disturbing events to environmental resilience, to construct a conceptual social-ecological systems model of the NWU (Vaal) in order to determine thresholds relevant to resilience and to determine if the resilience assessment approach can be applied at the NWU (Vaal). Data was collected in the form of a literature review, which aided with the construction of a time line for the focal social-ecological system; document reviews, interviews with relevant role players, observation by the researcher and the use of the assessment approach to construct the social-ecological system model. The research findings include identification of possible disturbances and thresholds relevant to resilience of the social-ecological system of the NWU (Vaal). The construction of a social-ecological system model of the NWU (Vaal) aids with proposals to incorporate a stewardship approach which enhance resilience of the focal social-ecological system. / M (Environmental Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Social workers are responsible for rendering services to children and families who have experienced sexual abuse. These services are to a large degree guided by legislation and organisational policy, but the question arises whether all social workers perceive child sexual abuse in the same way. This is significant since the possibility that a social worker perceives child sexual abuse differently from legislation and existing policies, could lead to having an adverse effect on the rendering of services to children and families exposed to sexual abuse. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of social work students regarding child sexual abuse by way of a descriptive qualitative research design. For the purposes of this study the non-probability sampling technique of purposive sampling was used to obtain participants. Fourth-year social work students at a specific higher learning institution were allowed to volunteer for this study and ten students agreed to participate. Unstructured in-depth individual interviews were conducted in order to explore their perceptions of CSA (Child Sexual Abuse). The data was coded into six main perceptions with their categories and subcategories. These perceptions were the following: (1) Child sexual abuse is caused by factors within the child’s ecological environment; (2) Description of the sexually abused child; (3) Description of the perpetrator of child sexual abuse; (4) Child sexual abuse is pervasive and can be characterised by the presence of specific aspects; (5) Child sexual abuse affects the child in specific ways; and (6) Children do not disclose sexual abuse. These results were presented in the format of an article with conclusions, recommendations as well as the limitations of the study. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

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