This dissertation conceptualized and evaluated the moderating effect of the treatment group on treatment responsiveness and recidivism among a sample of drug-involved offenders who received in-prison substance abuse treatment. Few studies of drug treatment simultaneously consider individual level variables and the context of group treatment. Those that have typically operationalize the treatment context with organizational indicators such as attributes of the staff, staff perceptions of the program, therapeutic orientation, and program accreditation. In contrast, the current work operationalized context from the perspective of the participant using as indicators client-based measures of treatment progress and satisfaction. The study expands existing theoretical models and extends what is known about treatment effectiveness by considering how the social group - the collection of individuals that constitute the prison unit in which the inmates received their 12 months of substance abuse treatment - may or may not moderate the influence of psychosocial functioning and treatment process variables and later outcomes. Such moderating impacts have theoretical implications for understanding the connections between treatment context, individual differences, and outcomes. Moderating impacts also have implications for the ways practitioners monitor treatment group climate and processes, thereby potentially improving service delivery. Finally, the present study contributes to the treatment literature by examining group influences of treatment on measures of recidivism - reincarceration and rearrest - that are of particular interest to practitioners and policymakers. The research was guided by three central questions: 1) Do significant differences on recidivism exist between treatment groups? 2) Does the treatment group moderate the impacts of psychosocial and treatment process variables on recidivism? 3) Does treatment modality have an effect on recidivism? To examine these questions, data from an evaluation of the treatment programs at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Chester, PA, were used (Welsh, 2006). The sample consisted of 618 adult male offenders who were randomly assigned to either the therapeutic community (TC) or the less-intensive group counseling treatment modality, each of which was 12 months in duration. A multilevel framework was applied to the data, as the offenders (level-1) were nested within 12 treatment units (level-2) in a single prison. The level-2 grouping was the prison unit where the offenders were housed and where they participated in the 12 months of treatment, and these units can be considered self-contained treatment programs. The predictors of primary importance were treatment responsiveness measures that were collected in the last month of the treatment experience. These included second-order factor analysis scores of measures of depression, anxiety, hostility, therapeutic engagement, trust in the treatment group, and peer support among others. Each was theoretically and empirically related to group functioning and later outcomes. Controls for other factors related to reoffending included time at risk, prior substance abuse and criminal history, age and race/ethnicity of the offender. These variables were all entered at level-1. A single level-2 variable was entered to examine and control for the effect of the type of treatment received (TC or group counseling). The data were analyzed using hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM). This was the appropriate method because the data were nested and the outcomes were the binary measures of reincarceration and rearrest. Notably, multilevel models revealed significant variation on the reincarceration outcome across treatment units (level-2), controlling for treatment modality. This supported the first hypothesis that treatment effects could be attributed to something other than individual level variables or type of treatment received. A similar significant finding across treatment units (level-2), however, was not detected for the rearrest variable. Further, this method allowed for the examination of treatment group impacts on the individual psychosocial functioning and treatment process measures controlling for the type of treatment received. The second hypothesis stated that the treatment group would differentially affect the impact of these variables on recidivism. To reduce the number of individual-level predictors, the various subscales were entered into a second order principal components factor analysis. Three factors emerged: negative affect, positive attitude, and treatment satisfaction. Controlling for the composition of the group, the negative affect factor had a significant, positive direct effect on reincarceration. When the slopes of the three factors were allowed to vary, the model with treatment satisfaction and positive attitude as random effects fit the model best, as the treatment group significantly affected the impact these variables had on reincarceration. With regard to the third research question, in no analyses conducted did the treatment modality have a significant effect on the outcome. The third hypothesis that stated TC participants would have lower rates of reincarceration and rearrest, therefore, was not supported. This was a surprising result, as TCs have been found to be effective at reducing recidivism in previous research. In none of the existing studies, however, did the comparison group receive professional treatment services as the group counseling participants at SCI-Chester received. Several findings have implications for treatment research and policy. First, reincarceration significantly varied across the treatment units, even when controlling for the treatment modality and time at risk in the community. Second, the analysis of level-2 group impacts on individual level variables and recidivism were new contributions to the research in this area. These findings have implications for both theory (macro-to-micro theoretical effects of substance abuse treatment) and treatment delivery to those in prison. This research supported the first and second hypotheses that the group-level dimensions of prison-based substance abuse treatment have not been adequately considered in prior studies. This study takes an important first step in the direction of a more complete view of treatment experiences and outcomes that considers individuals nested within treatment groups. / Criminal Justice

Achievement goal theorists have long argued that individuals’ goal orientations are situated and contextual and can thus be manipulated and shaped by their social learning context (Ames, 1992; Brophy, 2004; Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002; Pintrich, Conley, & Kempler, 2003). However, despite the proliferation of group-based learning in classrooms today and the assumption that cooperative learning promotes student mastery goal orientation for developing competence, “there has been a neglect of the research on motivational processes in group learning contexts within the field of achievement motivation” (Pintrich et al., 2003, p. 329). This dissertation used a mixed methods approach to investigate cooperative groups as subcontexts (Pintrich et al., 2003) within an undergraduate course that incorporates cooperative learning as an instructional tool. From this sample, I investigated whether and how student- and group-level factors were associated with the type of goal orientations that students adopt within and outside their group context by measuring students’ social academic goal orientations (Kim, Kim, & Svinicki, in press) for their cooperative group work and their achievement goal orientations for their general coursework. A total of 96 students agreed to allow their responses to all online course surveys to be used for research purposes. In addition, 2 of 8 groups in which all group members provided consent were selected to participate in individual interviews. In this embedded mixed methods design (Creswell & Clark, 2007), the quantitative data were the primary focus of analysis and the qualitative data were used to enrich and explain the quantitative findings. Multilevel modeling results indicated that both student- and group-level factors significantly and positively predicted students’ social academic goal orientations in their cooperative group work and students’ subsequent achievement goal orientations in their general course. Furthermore, the qualitative findings indicated that students tend to focus on extrinsic and mastery-oriented goals in addition to individual roles within their cooperative groups. The findings from this dissertation lend promising implications for future researchers and practitioners interested in understanding when and how cooperative group work enhances or hinders students’ achievement motivation. / text

En graviditet är en fysisk och psykisk utvecklingsperiod i livet. Det är individuellt hur graviditeten påverkar hälsan, men upplevelser av oro och bäckenrelaterad smärta är vanligt förekommande. Då det framkommit att yoga potentiellt genererat ökat välmående samt trygghet vid graviditet, var syftet att beskriva gravida personers upplevelse av gravidyoga med inriktning på dess hälsoeffekter och komponenter. En kvalitativ deskriptiv design tillämpades med induktiv ansats. Personer som utövade gravidyoga på ett privat center rekryterades för att medverka i individuella telefonintervjuer. Databearbetning utfördes med tematisk analys. De identifierade temana belyste en mångfacetterad upplevelse av gravidyogan. Det framgick att den praktiska och miljömässiga utformningen samt gruppsammanhanget hade betydelse för upplevelsen. Likaså beskrevs gravidyogan generera varierande fysiska och psykiska hälsoeffekter samt förberedning inför barnafödandet. Efter en avvägning av fynden relaterat till tidigare studier blev konklusionen att gravidyoga potentiellt skulle kunna tillämpas i större utsträckning inom barnmorskans förebyggande och hälsofrämjande arbete. Studien har bidragit till ett ökat kunskapsunderlag för gravidyoga och därmed till evidensen gällande traditionell och komplementär medicin. Dock behövs troligtvis mer forskning för en ökad implementering. / A pregnancy is a period of physical and mental development in life. It varies between individuals how pregnancy affects health, but experiences of anxiety and pelvic-related pain are common. Since it has emerged that yoga may generate increased wellbeing and security during pregnancy, the aim was to describe pregnant people's experience of pregnancy yoga with a focus on its health effects and components. A qualitative descriptive design was applied with an inductive approach. People who practiced pregnancy yoga at a private center were recruited to participate in individual telephone-interviews. Data analysis was performed with thematic analysis. The identified themes highlighted a multifaceted experience of pregnancy yoga. The practical and environmental design and the group context was shown to be important for the experience. Pregnancy yoga was also described as generating varying physical and mental health effects and preparation for childbirth. Considering the findings in relation to previous studies, it was concluded that pregnancy yoga could potentially be applied to a greater extent in the midwife's preventive and healthpromoting work. The study has contributed to an increased knowledge base for pregnancy yoga and to the evidence regarding traditional and complementary medicine. However, more research is probably needed for increased implementation.

This study reveals the impact of an exemplar narrative arts learning programme on the self-concept of Grade 9 learners in the Life Orientation classroom. The episodic narrative arts learning programme was designed in response to a suggestion in the government guidelines for Life Orientation and merged the outcomes for Arts and Culture and Life Orientation. The aims of narrative counselling were employed to allow the learners to tell their stories to themselves and others. The arts component, based on the arts therapies, allowed the learners an opportunity to give visual substance to their individual and collective narratives through arts activities that occurred within a small group. Brief video recordings were made of each group’s interactions during the narrative arts episodes in order to compile an edited video overview of the process that could be screened for the learners on completion of the programme. The aims of positive psychology were embedded in the structure and design of the arts episodes and activities. This is an interpretive study with a phenomenological focus, because the lived experiences of the participants and the teacher-researcher are paramount and the narrative element in the study necessitates the inclusion of the postmodern paradigm. This qualitative arts-based research project is based on a two-month Life Orientation learning programme that occurred during school hours on the grounds of a faith-based school. Forty-seven learners were divided into six small groups of approximately eight learners each in which they remained for the duration of the programme and were assigned to a specific teacher-facilitator. Fourteen learners volunteered to participate in four rounds of interviews, which were conducted with each participant to determine the impact of the narrative arts activities on the self-concept over the course of the programme. The transcribed interview responses were interpreted and classified according to five predetermined self-concept domains established by an examination of literature. Data analysis occurred in four cycles which align with the four rounds of interviews. Two data analysis approaches were employed and the data triangulated: a scientifically-accountable and a more intuitive approach. Findings based on the interpreted interview responses of these 14 participants indicate that the exemplar narrative arts programme primarily impacted on two self-concept domains, namely the social and personal-emotional domains. The participants’ self-descriptors revealed that the small group arts activity context allowed them to become gradually more other focused and stimulated varied measures of self-insight and self-growth. Once the limitations are recognised, the study could contribute to the inclusion of more arts-based assignments in Life Orientation programmes to aid the development of self-concept, the inclusion of this particular exemplar approach in more educational settings, openness to “team teaching” in the high school and more innovative applications of video recording within an educational or research setting. The exemplar narrative arts approach is a means for strengthening psychological support services in the school, because it reinforces the formulation of identity by allowing learners an opportunity to become actively busy writing and living their life stories / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted