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Small nonprofit organizations are faced with limited resources and budgets for setting and reaching their goals. Some are nevertheless able to mitigate these challenges and achieve success. This thesis examines how this can be done. Organizations with excellent public relations programs have been found to be successful in achieving their goals (Grunig et al., 2002). Through the lens of the excellence model, this thesis analyzes, using in depth, semi-structured interview data, how senior managers of seven successful small nonprofits account for their success and address challenges as well as how their practices reflect the excellence model. This thesis does not test the excellence model in the context of small nonprofits, but rather attempts to establish recommendations for communication and PR success for small nonprofits based on what is learned from a small group of successful organizations.

Research shows that there is an increasing number of international students studying in universities and colleges in Canada, with China a top source country of international students. However, Chinese students’ experience studying in Canada has been rarely researched. Taking University of Ottawa as a case, this study explores the experience of Chinese students in terms of their relationships with instructors through a relational communication lens. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with Chinese first year students studying at the University of Ottawa to explore their experience of student-instructor relationships, to understand their overall experience of the student-instructor relationship, to identify the contributors and hindrances to the development of positive student-instructor relationships, and to explore the impact of such relationship on the students. Findings indicate that Chinese students experience different education and acculturation which influences their overall experience of student-instructor relationships. Teacher immediacy, rapport and classroom justice are factors that affect the development of such relationships, whose impact include both academic and social outcomes.

This thesis investigated the experiences of children who have a parent with a mental illness, using qualitative methods. It is divided into three separate sections, the first two written as standalone journal papers. Paper 1 is a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies exploring children's experiences of having a parent with a mental illness. The review used specific databases, a search of qualitative journals and a general internet search to identify relevant studies, and the subsequent application of inclusion/exclusion criteria and a quality appraisal assessment. 14 studies meeting inclusion and quality criteria were identified exploring the experiences of 163 children and young people aged between 5 and 22 years, from a range of countries, with a variety of parental mental health diagnoses. The review then involved synthesising the findings of these studies to generate five overarching themes which were found to influence children's experiences. Children who had some knowledge and understanding of their parent's mental illness were more likely to use effective coping strategies, have a more positive relationship with their parent, and experience fewer negative effects on them as a child. Paper 2 is an original research study which explored the experiences of children who have a parent with bipolar disorder, to see how this might impact on the child's emotional wellbeing. This qualitative study used 'In My Shoes', a computer assisted interview tool, to explore the experiences of ten children from England aged between 4 and 10 years. Subsequent comparison with their parent's accounts enabled greater insight into family life. Child and parent interview data was analysed using thematic and content analyses. The four main themes that emerged from the child interviews were: knowledge and awareness of bipolar disorder; perception of parents; managing family life with a 'bipolar' parent; and living in a family with bipolar disorder. The study concluded that further research was needed to understand children's perspectives, which should be taken into account when developing appropriate services and interventions to support children and parents with mental illness, including bipolar disorder. Finally the third section of the thesis was a critical appraisal of the literature review, research study and research process as a whole, including methodological reflections, implications for future research and clinical practice, and the researcher's personal reflections in undertaking the research. The findings were deemed vitally important for the future of families in which a parent has bipolar disorder.

As produções científicas sobre adoção, especialmente no campo da Psicologia, em geral são estudos que avaliam as crianças adotadas, muitas vezes comparando-as com as crianças não-adotadas. A criança aparece como foco principal, porém poucos estudos investigam a adoção a partir da ótica da própria criança. Os estudos falam sobre a criança e não com ela. No entanto, enquanto parte constitutiva do processo de adoção, a criança está submetida a uma série de fatores que circunscrevem este processo; ao mesmo tempo em que ela se relaciona com eles, negocia e, até certo ponto, tem a possibilidade de modificar o percurso do seu desenvolvimento. Neste trabalho, defende-se a idéia de que para se compreender os processos de adoção, faz-se necessário conhecer as significações construídas sobre o processo de adoção por parte daqueles que o estão vivenciando. Deixando o âmbito individual da adoção, propomo-nos a investigá-la enquanto relacional, contextual, abrangendo aspectos sociais e culturais, dentro de uma visão de processo. Nesse sentido, interessa-nos conhecer a perspectiva da criança sobre seu processo de adoção, assumindo-a como colaboradora de nossa pesquisa. Para tanto, optamos por um referencial que contemple essa complexidade, daí o trabalho com a perspectiva teórico-metodológica da Rede de Significações. Conversamos individualmente com três crianças entre 6 e 7 anos, que vivenciaram uma adoção tardia, durante seis encontros domiciliares facilitados por um material de apoio. Os pais adotantes foram entrevistados durante uma visita. Todos os encontros foram registrados por meio de gravações em áudio, fotografias dos materiais produzidos pelas crianças e notas de campo. As gravações foram transcritas integralmente e revisadas. O corpus da pesquisa foi composto pelas narrativas produzidas durante as conversas com as crianças, entrevistas com os pais e notas de campo. Entendemos esse contexto de investigação como sendo dialógico, em que as narrativas são construídas e situadas na relação entre pesquisador e participante. Ao narrar, as crianças aprendem sobre si e constroem significados. A partir das perspectivas dessas crianças, aprendemos sobre a relação intrínseca e dialética existente entre o processo de adoção tardia e os outros contextos (o abrigo, a família biológica e o Sistema Judiciário). No entanto, ao mesmo tempo em que evidenciou-se a necessidade de valorizar a história de vida, também evidenciou-se um processo de silenciamento do passado dessas crianças circunscrevendo as práticas associadas ao processo de adoção. Dessa forma, essa ambigüidade presente no processo de adoção tardia nos sugeriu a necessidade de um programa de acompanhamento familiar pré e pós-adoção, em que tanto a criança como seus pais possam ocupar um lugar com direito à voz, e que suas histórias de vida venham a ser respeitadas e valorizadas, assim como as expectativas mútuas entre pais e filhos possam ser discutidas em diferentes momentos. / Research on adoption is usually characterized by studies that evaluate the children: they talk about the children but not with them. Few studies have investigated adoption from the children?s perspective. In this work, we highlight the idea that to be able to understand the adoption process, it is important to take into consideration the meanings attributed to adoption from those experiencing it. This research aimed at investigating the children?s narratives about their adoption process. A theoretical-methodological approach called Network of Meanings has guided the construction of this corpus and its analysis. We have talked with three children around 6 and 7 years-old, who have experienced late adoption. Six interviews were made with each child at their own home, having props as external cues. The adoptive parents were interviewed during one visit. The interviews were registered through audiotape, complemented by pictures of the children?s productions and field notes. The tapes were fully transcribed and revised. The analysis was based on the children?s narratives, parents?narratives, and field notes. We understand this investigation as a dialogic context where the narratives are constructed and situated at the relationship between researcher and participant. By narrating, the children constructed meanings about their life history and may have learned about themselves. From these children?s perspectives we found out about the dialectic and intrinsic relationship between the late adoption process and other contexts, such as foster-home institution, biologic family and Judiciary System. While the value of life history became evident, at the same time a past silencing process also became evident, constraining the practices related to the adoption process. Thus, by listening to these children, we recognized the necessity of pre and post-adoption family programs in which children and parents could have voice, respect and value for their life history, and in which their mutual expectations could be discussed at different moments.

Some behaviors in sport may be labeled: bad, unnecessary and distasteful. Sport psychologists have used concepts of aggression to understand and lessen these behaviors. To date, most research has conceptualized aggression as a product of individual cognition. Specifically, aggression is defined in the sport psychology literature as any behavior motivated by the intent to harm one's opponent (Baron, 1977; Bredemeier & Shields, 1986b; Husman & Silva, 1984; Kirker, Tenenbaum & Mattson, 2000). Consequently, sport psychology analyses of aggression tend to reproduce take-for-granted conceptions of aggression as male, physical and other-directed. To better understand sport aggression, it has been argued that symbolic interactionism has much to offer (Baird & McGannon, 2009). By utilizing symbolic interactionism we can reconceptualize aggression as a social construct given meaning in and through interaction with self and others. From this perspective, self notions and interactions with others are important "locations" of meaning making and are significant in the study of behavior. The present study used symbolic interactionism to explore female rugby players' experiences of aggression and how they interpret, define and structure experiences relative to self development. In conjunction with participant-observation, 12 semi-structured interviews with female rugby players ages 18-45 were conducted to explore: (1) how do women define themselves as ruggers/how do they (re)produce these identities in and out of rugby, (2) how do women define and experience aggression, and (3) how are these accounts used in the construction of self/identity? Data emerging from interviews and observations suggested that athletes defined and experienced behavior in ways challenging contemporary sport psychology conceptualizations of aggression. The participants often used the word aggression to describe forceful and physical play. In sport psychology literature, this is typically referred to as assertive behavior (Husman & Silva, 1984; Tenenbaum, Saks, Miller, Golden, & Doolin, 2000) and aggressive behavior is a label reserved for unacceptable behavior motivated by the intent to harm (Tenenbaum et al., 2000). According to the women in this study, unacceptable behavior was not defined by intent; rather, unacceptable behavior was a negotiated space that was constructed through notions of lack of control. That is, if a player was constructed as out of control, that player was seen as engaging in unacceptable behavior. In terms of self/identity construction, pain, contact and aggression emerged as important in the (re)production of self-related experiences within and outside of rugby. Within rugby these characteristics indicated a player's rugbyness. Outside of rugby these characteristics were often exhibited by non-rugby players as proof that rugby was a male sport. These participants both resisted and reinforced that notion. Rather than (re)define rugby by other female characteristics, these athletes used their rugby selves to say that pain, contact and aggression are not male only behaviors. The women used the bruises on their bodies to claim their rugby selves and prove, "I'm more than you think I am." This research offers a unique glimpse of female collision athletes' experiences of aggression and contributes a new conceptualization of "unacceptable" behavior to the existent sport psychology literature.

The power of peer-to-peer teaching and learning was explored in an interviewing assignment between upper and lower classes in Human Development and Family Life Education. The freshmen and sophomores participated in a Professional Perspectives in Family Science class, whereas the juniors and seniors were completing their practicum experiences. In both classes there is a focus on professionalism and career competence. The two groups of students were pair-matched and the upperclass Practicum students interviewed the underclass Professional Perspectives students as if it were a formal graduate school admission or an employment interview. Both participants had to prepare for the mock interview by partnering with the university career development center. After the interview the upperclass participant of the pair provided feedback to the underclass student. The metacognitive learning in this task was that upperclass students had to reflect on their own performance. By being in the interviewee role, they became aware of the parameters that could be explored in more formal real-life situations, and had an opportunity to enhance their competence for future interviews.

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Abstract Writing continues to be difficult for adolescents throughout the United States. There is little known about writing from the adolescent's perspective. This case study describes six 8th graders' thoughts and motivations on writing. The purpose of the current study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of struggling adolescent writers by taped participant interviews of six students, three male and three female, which scored below proficient on their state writing assessment. The conceptual theoretical framework for the current study is Bandura's social cognitive theory. The central research question of this study focused on the experiences of adolescents who struggle with writing on state assessments. Qualitative data were collected during a three week period and analyzed in two stages. Stage 1 was the analytical compiling of the data into categories; stage 2 examined the data for patterns, themes, and relationships. Thematic analysis revealed six themes. Analysis of data supported the theoretical framework that students who struggle with writing were low on morale and motivation on writing assignments. Results of the study included a desire in the students to excel on their writing assignments, but the eagerness was subdued by the challenges they faced in writing. The data showed that students struggle with the amount of knowledge they have on a given topic and the techniques used to write a coherent sentence. Students stated that they need guidance to gather information on a given topic and with organization of their writing. In response to the students' perceptive, teacher can plan, implement, and guide students towards success in writing. This study can contribute to social change as it will guide teachers of writing instruction strategies that will respond to the challenge of mastering a difficult and complex subject.

Making extensive use of oral interviews with the surviving children, this thesis is an biography of Oscar and Emma Swett and their children, who lived on a homestead in Greendale, Utah, (near Flaming Gorge Reservoir) from 1909 to 1970. The family is representative of a group of families who moved to Greendale and engaged in small-scale cattle ranching. The introduction of new technology changed their lifestyles and homestead economics, while simultaneously Greendale evolved from a rural agricultural environment to become part of a National Recreation Area.