No description available.

No description available.

In the past twenty-five years there has been a marked increase in the number of women in the paid labour force, especially among women with young children. Time studies have shown that when a woman has a young family plus a position in the paid labour force, she works a very long day and has little time for recreational or leisure pursuits. This thesis therefore poses the following questions: 1. Do women who participate in the paid labour force report poorer health status than their counterparts who are homemakers? 2. Do women who participate in the paid labour force exhibit lifestyle patterns significantly different from their homemaker counterparts? 3. Do women in the paid labour force exhibit health care utilization patterns significantly different from their homemaker counterparts? and 4. Do women's lifestyles, reported health status and health care utilization patterns differ from those of their male counterparts in the paid labour force? Data from the 1978-79 Canada Health Survey (C.H.S.), which had asked a wide cross-section of Canadians about their lifestyle, health status and use of the health care system, were used to explore these questions. A model was then developed for this study which linked health risk behaviours, health status and health care related behaviours, and which used the variables available in the C.H.S. data base. Multiple Classification Analyses were carried out to determine the best predictors of women's health risk behaviours, health status and health care related behaviours. The three study groups were then standardized using the top two predictors and the rates of the various states and behaviours were compared. First, in the prediction of women's health risk behaviours, the demographic variables included in the model were not effective as only 3-4% of the variance in the scores could be explained. Secondly, in the prediction of health status scores, the composite health risk scores developed for each subject plus the demographic variables were able to explain 4 - 11% of the variation. Thirdly, in the prediction of women's health care related behaviours the composite health risk scores, the health status scores and the demographic variables were together able to explain 14 - 27% of the variance. When the standardized rates for high health risk behaviours were compared, there were significant differences between the three groups but no group was consistently better or worse than any other. The men's group however, consistently reported better health and less use of the health care system. The women's groups reported similar health states but women in the paid labour force reported a higher use of medications and fewer days in hospital. The C.H.S. was designed to address issues which affect the whole population. The questions therefore, were not always sufficiently specific to describe the special circumstances of women, especially for example in their childbearing and nurturing years. The rapidly changing social and economic circumstances of women and their families, as women enter the paid labour force, plus the need for more information on their health risk behaviours - what these behaviours are, and what predisposes women to engage in them - point to the need for more research focused specifically on this section of the population. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

Aboriginal people in Canada experience disproportionately high rates of family violence, suicide, substance abuse, and mental health problems such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, although culturally based healing resources for aboriginal people are inadequate to meet the need, available mainstream mental health services are underutilized by aboriginal clients. Therefore, while building on previous research looking at the problems faced by mainstream services and non-aboriginal counsellors in engaging and helping aboriginal clients, this research assumed there have been successes and examined aboriginal experiences of successful engagement and healing within such contexts. The methodology for this study is a narrative based approach that meets the mandates for ethical and appropriate indigenous research as described by those of authority in the field of indigenous research, and answers the question: How do aboriginal clients develop, experience, and maintain successful healing relationships with non-aboriginal counsellors in mainstream mental health settings? Narrative analysis of interviews with seven aboriginal mental health clients who believed they had a positive counselling experience in a mainstream setting produced findings that suggest common themes of interaction and discovery mark successful counselling relationships. Generally clients described an increased sense of connection and belonging, harmony, integration of traditional aboriginal and non-aboriginal practice and beliefs, self-acceptance, understanding, and balance as critical. However the defining characteristic of a successful counselling experience was expressed as the capacity of the counselling relationship to increase each client's clarification of how aboriginality is meaningfully and uniquely understood. These findings have implications for mainstream mental health services and indigenous research in general. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate