Kate Zeller is nearly thirteen, with hair like a rat’s nest and the temperament of a dog chained up against its will: moody and likely to bite you. She lives in the small town of Brookford with her twenty-two year old brother Teddy and her grandfather, Tony, an acclaimed graphic novelist. As summer turns to autumn, two things barrel uninvited into Kate’s life: one is Raleigh, a strange new girl with a head full of Shakespeare and a secret knowledge of ghosts. The other is the Alzheimer’s that sneaks itself into her grandfather’s head and begins to steal it away, piece by piece. The history and tragedy of the Zeller family begins to unwind as reality blurs with fantasy, creator with creations, all being watched by a man who lives deep in the forest that connects Kate’s house to Raleigh’s. A man with eyes that tick. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This ethnographic project examines sexual communication and negotiation in the context of the political economy of migration. Using participant observation as well as in-depth and life history interviews and secondary sources, the research goals are to explicate the meanings and practices related to gender and sexuality among the transnational population of mid-life heterosexual Mexicans in New York; map ideologies and practices regarding family size and family planning, including histories of negotiation within the context of relationships and couples, embedded within processes of sexual socialization and historical-political-economic structures in the selected population; map experiences with accessing health care services, in the context of this community of low-wage, undocumented, uninsured workers; and explicate the relationships between gender, sexuality, reproduction, parenthood, and labor migration, within the political economy of Mexican migration to New York. The research population consists of Mexican-born women and men in Queens, New York City, ages twenty-two to forty-five. This project aims to contribute to our understanding of how culture changes through interactions between agents and structures; to contribute to an area of sexuality research that has received insufficient attention, which intersects the fields of gender, migration, demography, and health; to increase our understanding of sexual communication among mid-life cohabiting adult migrants; to identify gaps between service needs and utilization; and to offer suggestions on how to improve health programs and services for this emerging immigrant population.

Quais as concepções e discursos que se apresentam nas instituições educativas a respeito da adoção? Como se articulam, nas práticas realizadas, o trabalho entre as instituições educativas e a família? Como os materiais didáticos trazem estas ideias? Levando em conta as mudanças legislativas em torno da adoção (Lei nº 12.010, 2009), bem como as discussões a respeito das ideias de família, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo estudar e conhecer diferentes discursos e ações presentes em instituições educativas em relação ao tema adoção. Buscamos os desafios que o tema adoção traz para o ambiente escolar, bem como as práticas e invenções que pode produzir. Como metodologia de trabalho, realizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas com profissionais de duas escolas particulares e duas escolas públicas de uma cidade do interior paulista. Também participamos de alguns encontros dos Grupos de Apoio à Adoção, bem como realizamos entrevistas com algumas de suas membras, muitas das quais possuíam famílias constituídas pela adoção. Inspirados na pesquisa-intervenção e nos autores que desenvolvem o modo de pensar cartográfico, ao analisar as entrevistas procuramos processos, movimentos, além dos conteúdos. Desta maneira, as falas das entrevistadas e os encontros dos quais participamos foram utilizados como cenas disparadoras de problematizações e questionamentos a respeito do tema adoção na escola. Discutimos que o trabalho de preparação dos pretendentes à adoção, previsto como obrigatório na legislação atual, procura fortalecer as novas relações instituídas nas famílias adotivas, bem como evitar situações de devolução. Nesse sentido, pensamos a respeito de maneiras de escrever e orientar famílias, problematizando situações em que podemos reforçar preconceitos com relação à adoção, quando nossa intenção inicial era enfraquece-los. Analisamos elementos constituintes das normas de família que possuímos e a forma como essas aparecem em instituições educativas. De maneira geral, percebemos que a adoção não se configura nas falas das profissionais entrevistadas como justificativa frequente para eventuais problemas de aprendizagem e/ou comportamento, mas a forma como a família lida com a ideia de adoção sim. Entramos em contato com projetos que procuram fortalecer o tema da diversidade com as crianças e adolescentes nas escolas. A adoção foi associada como mais uma forma de se trabalhar diferentes configurações familiares e maneiras de se relacionar. Também percebemos mudanças nos trabalhos escolares em datas comemorativas e no uso de materiais didáticos, procurando se adequar às diferentes configurações familiares que seus alunos possuem. Problematizamos a ação do psicólogo nas instituições formativas e com as famílias, destacando a importância do questionamento constante a respeito do que estamos fortalecendo em nossas intervenções / What are the concepts and discourses that are present in educational institutions about adoption? How is articulated the work between educational institutions and the family in the practices carried out? How do teaching materials bring these ideas? Taking into account legislative changes about the adoption (Law No. 12,010, 2009), as well as discussions about the family ideas, this research aimed to study and learn different discourses and actions present in educational institutions on the topic \" adoption\". We seek challenges that the adoption issue brings to the school environment, as well as the practices and inventions that it can produce. As a working methodology, we conducted semi-structured interviews with professionals from two private schools and two public schools in a city near São Paulo. We also participate in some meetings of one Adoption Support Group, as well as conducted interviews with some of its members, many of whom had families formed by adoption. Inspired by the interventionresearch and the authors who develop cartographic thinking, we analyzed the interviews seeking processes, movements, besides its content. In this way, the speeches of the interviewees and the meetings in which we participate were used as triggering scenes of problematizations and questions on the subject \"adoption\" at school. We discussed that the preparation work of the pretenders to adoption, provided as required in current legislation, seeks to strengthen the new relationships established in adoptive families, as well as aims to avoid return situations. Thus, we think about ways of writing and guiding families, discussing situations in which we can reinforce prejudices regarding the adoption, when our initial intention was to weaken them. We analyze constituents of the family standards that we have and the way these appear in educational institutions. In general, we find that adoption is not represented in the speeches of the professionals interviewed as one frequent justification for learning and / or behavior problems, but the way the family deals with the idea of adoption is. We got in touch with projects that seek to strengthen the theme of diversity with children and adolescents in schools. The adoption was associated as another way of working different family configurations and ways of relating. We also noticed changes in schools activities on holidays and teaching materials, seeking to adapt to different family configurations that their students have. We problematize the action of the psychologist in educational institutions and families, stressing the importance of constant questioning about what we are strengthening in our interventions

The purpose of this study was to compare the attachment process of mothers with and without a handicapped infant and to examine the effects of stress and the social support network on this process. The research was a prospective, longitudinal study comparing two different mother-infant groups on the dependent variable, maternal attachment. The independent variables handicap-nonhandicap, maternal characteristics, perinatal events, and other stressors were analyzed for their effect on maternal attachment. The social support network was examined to determine its direct and indirect effect on the attachment process. The sample was composed of 36 mother-infant dyads. Data were gathered in the home at one, six, and twelve months postpartum using interviews, questionnaires and observation. Upon completion of data collection, comparisons were made between those mothers having a handicapped infant (n = 15) and those having a nonhandicapped infant (n = 21). Quantitative and qualitative techniques were employed to answer the study questions. The results indicate that there were significant differences in maternal attachment at one month postpartum with the mothers having a handicapped infant exhibiting fewer attachment behaviors. When the effects of prenatal support were partialled out, the handicap-nonhandicap variable no longer correlated significantly with maternal attachment suggesting that support was buffering the effects of having a handicapped infant. The results of the qualitative analysis also indicated that mothers having a handicapped infant were having problems with attachment. The support variables, affect and affirmation, were positively associated with maternal attachment for those mothers having a handicapped infant, while aid support was negatively correlated with maternal attachment. The qualitative analysis found that the mothers having a handicapped infant gained new support members and that more professionals became part of their support systems. In spite of gaining new support members, these mothers felt that they had less aid. At one year postpartum, mothers with a handicapped infant were experiencing more stressors than mothers with a nonhandicapped infant. Furthermore, stressors were negatively correlated with maternal attachment.

The goal of this paper will be to further explore the use of Gestalt therapy in the Parent-Education Program and to find a way in which its effectiveness in freeing parents of emotional barriers to growth can be evaluated. Our specific objectives will, therefore be to (1) review the literature and present our own assumptions on parental responses to having a handicapped child, (2) explore the basis of Gestalt therapy and relate it to the needs of parents who have handicapped children. (3) describe the setting in which the Parent-Education Program and its Gestalt component takes place, and (4) suggest the use of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) as an appropriate tool for future use in evaluating the effectiveness of the Gestalt component of this program.

No description available.

No description available.

As there were few studies of older husbands’ experiences associated with providing care at home for spouses with dementia, the researcher designed a two-stage study to examine their experiences, In stage one, a qualitative paradigm guided one-to-one interviews with sixteen care giver husbands to examine their care giving experiences. Analysis of the interview data guided the identification of four models of care giving related to the past, present and future and an overall model over time. In stage two, a comprehensive questionnaire was developed and questionnaire items were identified from multiple sources. In stage two the researcher utilized a quantitative approach to identify to investigate husbands’ experiences. A representative sample of 71 care giver husbands participated by completing the questionnaire and standardized measures of burden and depression along with other measures of husbands’ characteristics and experiences and levels of wives’ illness and associated behaviour. Predictive models of care giver burden were care giving seen as a ‘job’, effects of care giving on the husband-wife relationship, and use of avoidant-evasive coping strategies by husbands. The best predictive models of care giver depression were use of avoidant-evasive coping strategies and changes in husbands’ emotional health status related to care giving. / Doctor Of Philsophy (PhD)

Parents’ presence and participation in their child’s care in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is now commonplace. Despite parents expressing a deep need to be with their child particularly during periods of crisis, it is precisely at these times that they are often prevented from staying. The growing debate regarding family presence during a cardiopulmonary (CPR) resuscitation attempt continues to be controversial and conflicting. Current knowledge is mostly derived from quantitative studies conducted in the adult intensive care or emergency environments. The experiences of parents of children in the PICU, and the nurses caring for them are unknown. Using van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study describes the phenomenon of parental presence during resuscitation of a child in PICU for eight Australian parent couples and six nurses. Experiential descriptions, obtained in tape-recorded unstructured interviews were subjected to two layers of analysis. Thematic analysis provided the phenomenological description in seven themes. Four themes refer to the parents’ experience in Being only for a child; Making sense of a living nightmare; Maintaining hope: facing reality and Living in a relationship with staff. Three themes describe the nurses’ experience: Under the parents’ gaze; Walking in their shoes and Holding parents in mind. A second layer of hermeneutic analysis revealed parents’ and nurses’ collective experience to have their being in four elements of the phenomenon. These elements are Being in chaos; Struggling to connect; Being for another and Being complete. The final description of the parents’ and nurses’ experience of parental presence during resuscitation in PICU as Sharing and surviving the resuscitation is drawn from the findings from each of these layers of meaning. The findings from this study conclude that the parents’ inherent need to be with their child overrode their anxieties of the resuscitation scene, curbing their feelings of chaos. Parental presence however, was a complex and dynamic concept that required a new relationship between parents and nurses. Implications of this study include recommendations for improving staff knowledge and education, as well as practical interventions for enhanced support for both parents and nurses / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study was a small survey of three single parent families with ten children who had experienced separation within the last six months. The sample was homogenous in so far as each family had been separated for under six months and the children were of a similar age range and each family was mother headed. The aims of the study were to explore the experience of separation for the adults and children by means of interviews both before and after attending the "After Separation Program" and to find out whether the experience of attending the Program had an effect upon intra- familial relationships. While the study could not be said to be large enough to be representative of all populations of single, newly separated families in general, some common themes emerged which correspond with other studies referred to in the literature. These include the sense of loss children feel with the absence of a parent, the breakdown in generational boundaries which often accompanies separation and a sense of loneliness and isolation. From the study identifiable themes emerged and it became clear that the group experience had made an impact. It would appear that following attendance of the program appropriate parenting is restored with mothers' more able to respond to the needs of the children. It was noticeable that better access arrangements were in place for the children. There was also an increased understanding of the feelings associated with the separation process.