The improving prognosis for pediatric leukemia patients requires that involved professionals increase attention to the emotional adjustment of these children. This study was designed to determine (a) how mothers of leukemia patients perceived their children's personalities in order to identify any specific emotional difficulties which these children may experience and (b) if their perceptions differed from either mothers of cystic fibrosis and diabetes patients or mothers of healthy children. Subjects included 24 mothers in each of three groups: leukemia, other illness, and healthy. Children in both illness groups received higher scores than healthy children on Adjustment, Achievement, Somatic Concern, Depression, Psychosis, and Social Skills scales as measured by the Personality Inventory for Children; however, only the leukemic children were rated higher in areas of Anxiety and Withdrawal. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.

published_or_final_version / Pathology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

This interpretive consumer research study interrogates the idea that people turn to consumption as a means of self-determination. Proceeding from the understanding that the consumer enacts the development of their identity within the marketplace, it takes as its subject those in transition. Its context is a support group community of people brought together by an illness - multiple myeloma. Here, through a phenomenological approach designed to explore the lived experience of illness, the thesis discovers community to be the enabling context for the consumer’s negotiation of both selfhood and the market. Conclusions are drawn about the incremental, complex nature of identity work, and the collective practices that empower it. It is found that the marketplace requires significant mediation, but that the social resources of the community can equip the consumer to navigate its challenges. This transformation is manifested in the newly-diagnosed patient’s journey from dislocation and passivity to the empowered status of ‘skilled consumer’. The importance of the often-overlooked emotional texture of exchange within consumption communities is highlighted. In conclusion, it is offered that this study extends the concept of communities of practice into the field of consumption.