Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-192, D-17--D-18).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Harding Graduate School of Religion, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-149).

The divorce rate in society today seems to be reaching alarming proportions. Every individual has experienced the effects of divorce in some way or another, either through relatives, friends, parents or through their own marriages ending in divorce. Social workers and other social service professionals need to find new and creative ways to address the problem of maintaining and sustaining marriages. Marriages need support in order to survive. This support is essential and necessary as healthy marriages form the basis of healthy families and healthy families help to create a healthy society. The implication thus is a need for a proactive and preventative approach to assist married couples. Marriage enrichment (ME) provides a solution to helping couples maintain marital happiness and satisfaction. ME focuses on sustaining, nurturing, strengthening and enriching marriage relationships. It is an approach that generally refers to weekend retreat programmes and other group settings in which married couples with reasonably healthy marriages learn how to improve their marriage and increase pleasure and success. Marriage enrichment uses an educational and skills training perspective that encourages and enhances good communication and interpersonal relations between spouses. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the content of a marriage enrichment programme. The objectives of the study are as follows: to explore the need for a marriage enrichment programme by means of the perusal of available literature and an empirical study; to explore the elements that will comprise the content of an enrichment programme by means of qualitative research using different focus groups; to provide themes and guidelines for the development of an enrichment programme; to formulate conclusions and recommendations based on the results obtained from the study. The study was conducted with 12 social workers from two different government organisations in the Johannesburg area. The research findings provided positive results. Themes and guidelines on the content for a marriage enrichment programme were identified. / Dr. Emmerentie Oliphant

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

An inquiry was carried out into the effects of involvement in decision-making, related to how to perform a given task, on the productivity of three-man laboratory groups. One of the possible explanations for the wealth of contradictory findings in the literature is that the "motivational" effects of being involved indecision-making and the efficacy of decisions made appear to be two logically separable effects, although both are often treated as one. As a consequence, an attempt was made to control the effectiveness of the strategy used between the two treatment conditions. The theoretical basis for the experiment was McGregor's (I960) adaptation of need theory for the organizational context and Lowin's (1968) analysis of the potential effects of participative decision-making on productivity. The three hypotheses, derived there from, which guided the investigation were: (1) groups involved in decision-making would be more productive than groups which were not; (2) would implement the strategy designed to accomplish the task more faithfully, and; (3) given the choice, subjects in the experiment would choose to perform in a situation in which they were involved in decision-making rather than one in which they were not. The task involved the assembly of matrices from component pieces. The measure of productivity was time to successful completion. Results did not agree with predictions. In all three cases the hypotheses were not confirmed. Additionally productivity and choice results were significant in the opposite direction to that predicted by the experimenter . The experimental procedures, assumptions concerning the nature of the test population and the theory itself were re-examined in an attempt to offer possible explanations for these findings. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study emerged from an awareness of the critical role that learning plays within social movements and from a belief that adult education can learn much from examining the learning activities of the Women's Movement. Using a comparative approach, the similarities and differences between feminist consciousness raising and Freire's conscientization method were explored. The process of analysis involved studying Freire's written works available in English and the literature resources available through the University of British Columbia library on feminist consciousness raising. The comparison began with presentation of the historical, political, social, and economic factors which led to the development of consciousness raising and conscientization. This included an examination of the historical background of Brazil, of biographical information on Freire, and of the events which led to the development of Freire's conscientization method. In a similar way, this study explored the historical background of the Women's Movement, with particular emphasis on its re-emergence during the sixties and those factors which led to the creation of consciousness raising groups. The next step in the analysis was the comparison of consciousness raising and conscientization using the following categories: the themes or content within each process, the nature of the interaction, the presence and role of teachers or coordinators, the phases in each process, and the changes in consciousness expected as a result of each process. The study concluded with discussion of the differences between these two processes, which appear to be closely linked to the different contexts and factors, such as the different kinds of oppression being fought against, which led to the development of each learning activity. As the similarities were identified, it became evident that a number of important elements were common to both learning activities despite the very different contexts. These common elements were presented as principles of the consciousness raising method found within liberating social movements. Comparing these two learning activities indicated the liberating power of allowing people to tell their own story. Implications for practice focused on the need for a contextual sensitivity when working with or studying the learning activities of social movements. It was argued that awareness of the similarities (suggested principles) and differences between consciousness raising and conscientization could prevent application of either method as simply recipes for liberation. Many recommendations were made for further research which stressed the utility of comparative analysis for continuing examination of learning within social movements. Recommendations were made for examination of the relationship between the nature of learning activities and the kind of oppression, either gender-based or class-based. Further collaboration between the Women's Movement and adult education was suggested. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this research practicum is to present the development, implementation, and evaluation of a model for teaching small group skills. This model was designed for a class in small groups that the authors of this paper taught at Portland State University in the School of Social Work. In designing this class, the authors were concerned with goals somewhat different than the more traditional goal of imparting knowledge about groups to the learner. The main goal of this class was to teach to students skills in working with small groups. This approach required developing a knowledge base about small groups as well as a way for translating this base into teachable skills. Thus, it became imperative that the class would deal with both cognitive awareness and performance abilities. In order to achieve this, the method of laboratory education was employed. Through the laboratory method, students were given a chance to not only develop a knowledge base in small group theory, but also to practice identified group skills in the classroom. An evaluation was conducted via a pre and post-questionnaire which focused on two areas. The students evaluated the laboratory according to their level of satisfaction with the learning experience. Also, they were evaluated according to their levels of small group skills and any changes in these levels during the laboratory sessions. These changes were measured by a self-perception Likert scale and a simulated group response instrument called the Group Situation Questionnaire (GSQ). The results of the Likert scale show that thirteen of fifteen students indicated a positive change in their skill. On the GSQ, only nine students were identified by the instructors as experiencing positive skill change.

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For the past 10 years, thousands of refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) have crossed into Cameroon and settled in villages along the border.  Refugee influxes can produce ecological and social challenges to host communities.  While conflict is often a result, there is also an opportunity for collaboration and successful integration.  Agroforestry, the intentional incorporation and management of trees in agricultural systems, provides a tool that can respond to both social and ecological challenges by providing conservation farming techniques and increasing diversified home production of many needed products.  This research sought to understand the needs of community members for specific practices as well as preferences for social implementation of practices, using a frame of identity to help inform on integration and collaboration potential in agricultural projects.   The participatory research collected demographic data, employed a 20 point oral questionnaire, and utilized illustrated visual ranking and storytelling tools to gather information on 8 agroforestry practice and implementation preferences, identity, and social arrangement preferences among community members.  Agroforestry practices were divided between product-oriented and service-oriented practices.  We collected data from 122 individual interviews evenly divided between men and women, and CAR refugees and host community Cameroonians.   Results show that there are significant differences in agroforestry practice and implementation preferences across the sample, and between refugees and Cameroonians.  Most people felt that refugees and Cameroonians had similar traditions and needs, and that most areas of life should be integrated, however agriculture was an area that the people were more hesitant about mixing, demonstrating that arrangements and implementation of agricultural projects should be carefully designed and executed.  Those who preferred mixing of refugees and Cameroonians in fieldwork included members of all demographic groups, signifying the potential for integrated collaboration on community agricultural projects.  Results demonstrate that agroforestry projects have the potential to provide important valued resources to communities, create an opportunity for knowledge transfer and improved agricultural systems, and be the scene for positive contact between refugees and Cameroonians, leading to successful integration. / Master of Science

No description available.