This study evaluated the effectiveness of the relationally based “Calm-Driven” Service (CDS) training program from the New World Kirkpatrick model perspective. The CDS training program is designed to help automotive professionals in sales and service to relate to their customers by (a) thinking in a different way about human relationships, and (b) realizing their own role in relationships and behavior. The CDS training program is based on the relational systems theory concepts of relational triangles, chronic anxiety, and differentiation of self from the Bowen Family Systems Theory. The results suggest that the participants had a positive reaction to the training program. Specifically they found the training favorable, relevant to their professional needs, engaging, comprehendible, and capable of creating change in educational experience through time (level 1: reaction). They gained the intended knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment to apply newly gained knowledge on the job (level 2: learning). Participants’ behavior changed in their ability to relate to their customers by being (a) able to think in defined ways, and (b) realize their own role in relationships and behavior. Notably, newly learned behaviors were maintained two months after the training program was complete due to a successful monitoring, reinforcing, encouraging, and rewarding system (level 3: behavior). The improvement of the associates’ relational skills indicates that the training helped the organization to move on track to their overall goal, which is to help the stakeholders to become the number one volume dealer (level 4: results). Evaluation results demonstrate that relational training based on the Bowen Family Systems Theory could be successfully implemented and show positive results for the organization and their associates. Therefore, it is recommended that marriage and family therapists, as specialists in relational systems thinking, would focus future research on development, application, and evaluation of relationally based trainings.

The main aim of this dissertation is to identify the importance of utilizing both a behavior analytic lens and systemic thinking lens when working with families with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Currently, the prevalence of ASD is on the rise, which means more families are in need of services. Services are typically available for the individual with ASD or the family; however, it is the researcher’s belief that services delivered utilizing a both/and lens are more impactful. Through the use of transcendental phenomenology, trained behavior analysts and marriage and family therapists were interviewed to gain insight into their experiences working with families with children diagnosed with ASD. Specifically, this dissertation focused on clinicians who implement both lens. The findings of the study revealed three central themes and two subordinate themes: Participants noted boundaries that influence a dual perspective, Participants found it useful to use a dual perspective, Participants noted this is a different approach not shared by others, Participants found it useful to apply ABA and systemic thinking in a specific order, and Participants found a larger systems perspective useful. The experiences of participants were captured through these themes. Their experiences suggest that the utilization of a dual perspective, while challenging, is more beneficial to families with children diagnosed with ASD. This demonstrates a large need for dual perspectives’ training in both ABA and systemic thinking fields.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Haitian immigrant population in the United States is the fourth largest immigrant group from the Caribbean after immigrants from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Cortes (2008) and the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) reported that 17% of children born from two-parent families in some Caribbean countries had a migrating parent at some time in their childhood (Cortes, 2008). Using a phenomenological study enlightened how Haitian adult children have coped with transnational separation, which is a term used to describe families who live in different countries while trying to maintain a collective welfare and unity across borders (Falicov, 2007). The goal of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the experiences of adult children who lived in Haiti and were raised by relatives while their parents lived in the United States. The saturation of theme was a maximum of six adult children (not gender specific). The primary data collection method was in-depth interviews with the adult children inviting them to recount their experiences growing up in Haiti while their parents lived in the United States. I attempted to explore the major stressors of financial, emotional, and psychological strains. For example, how did those children maintain a relationship with their parents and cope with family separation? The data was coded and analyzed according to the research questions. These conversations privilege the voices of adult children who have experienced this phenomenon.

This study is an attempt to develop, design, and implement procedures for better data collection in the future and for an evaluation of the services provided in the past. Conciliation Courts have developed across the country on the notion that case work services can, at best, save a marriage from divorce and, at least, can do no harm. Evaluation of the effectiveness of conciliation services is limited and contradictory. This practicum is an attempt to develop a research design which can measure the effectiveness of conciliation service. We consider the first priority to develop a work­able design which will insure response. A second priority, which will hopefully be developed next, is a value system which will give us data concerning what is effectiveness and which kinds of things need to be and can be measured by a client feedback system .

Sex Roles, A History. From Insects to humans, gender is associated with specific behavior. Below the mammals there are sex differences in dominance that are correlated with androgen function on the inside, and with certain types of stimulation on the outside. In higher forms, the increasing complexity of brain development means increasing capacity for modification through experience and learned modes of adaptation to the environment. By the time the primate level is reached, social influences have become so intricate and compelling as to clearly foreshadow culture. According to Elizabeth Janeway in her article Reflections on the History of Women, in all cultures maleness and femaleness are institutionalized as status and become the core of the psychological identities of most individuals.

This paper researches the effectiveness of art making, Bikram Yoga, and Personal Journaling as strategies for self-care among therapists. Literature indicates self-care is an important and essential practice for health care practitioners to best serve their clients. Literature on art making, yoga, and personal journaling are pro-active strategies in implementing self-care. The heuristic study involves a systematic process over three weeks, for the therapist to engage in all three of these activities. The data revealed immediate positive changes and a more balanced approach with clients. The techniques promoted feelings of being more present and grounded in the moment, enhanced levels of awareness, and released a sense of control in life’s daily happenings. The final art product served as a physical manifestation of the need for containment and detachment, cultivating emotional regulation. The research demonstrates the different activities that are imperative in supporting the practitioner in necessary practices of self-care.

This research investigates the therapeutic relationship in the treatment process of complex trauma with children under the age of five. The researcher was the subject of the research, based on her experiences in a practicum placement that was focused on early intervention for young children. This research was an art-based inquiry, and the majority of data was gathered from the researcher’s engagement in the art making processes in response, reflection and observation of the therapeutic relationship. Three different perspectives of data where analyzed for themes in order to aid the researcher in the treatment of complex trauma in three domains. The first domain was to further the researcher’s understanding of her clients’ symptoms. The second was the analysis of the researcher’s life experience and its influence on the researcher’s responses to treatment methods and the clients’ symptoms, therefore making up an analysis of the therapeutic relationship. The third domain was the implications for treatment gained from the understanding of the clients’ symptoms and the therapeutic relationship through the analysis of art making processes. The findings illuminated the value of art-based research to better understand the therapeutic relationship and trauma art therapy treatment planning.

This study explored the impact and trauma that a cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment can have on a women’s image and experience of her body. Focus group methodology was part of the qualitative art-based research approach. Since the research was focused on body image, the participants were asked to create art based on their experience of their body before and after cancer treatment. Content analysis was applied to the transcripts of the focus group sessio n to consider themes. The clusters were then correlated with the imagery in the participants’ artwork. The study results suggest that women who have undergone medical treatment for cancer have an altered view of their body image including fragmentation of the body, scarring and disfigurement, censoring of the body and feeling less feminine. The study asserts that the art process and discussion, in a therapeutic setting, provided a supportive environment for cancer patients to discuss sensitive information about their perspectives of their body, diagnosis and treatment.

This research utilized heuristic methodology to explore how the art process can facilitate resilient traits in the lived experience of a developing art therapist with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Anxiety. The protocol followed was based on the Moustakas model of heuristic research and followed the six steps in heuristic methodology. The Moustakas method of study was implemented to show how the nature of this study and the art process revealed the lived experience of the difficulties of adolescence. The art created during the immersion phase revealed the following six themes; (1) Conflict/Duality and conflicting relationships, (2) The notion of a central figure, (3) Framing/Blurring, (4) Progressive intricacy, (5) Identity/Lack of Identity, (6) Growth, Healing, and Resiliency. The art process was very effective in illuminating how resiliency was a part of the adolescent experience and assisted in assuring completion of the adolescent developmental process. It is evident that resiliency plays in important role throughout the process assisting with the navigation of the adolescent experience. The intentions of this study were to examine, reflect and explore the lived experiences of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety. The data exemplifies that even with expendable resources, supportive measures, and a loving, caring and supportive family the diagnosed adolescent can still be significantly affected. The results indicate an importance for further utilizing the art process in order to better understand and inherently inform the art therapist of the lived experiences and implications of resiliency on an adolescent living with mental illnesses. For youth at risk the resilience process is an important protective factor to be embraced, fostered, and promoted by individuals surrounding the adolescent.

This research is an archival case study examining Helen B. Landgarten’s art therapy practice as observed in a videotaped, early stage, art therapy session with a child with elective mutism. This art therapy session is transcribed, analyzed, and given context by research questions drawn from Landgarten’s 32 journal articles published between 1973 and 2001. These journal articles are chronologically presented in the literature review in a manner resembling an annotative bibliography, familiarizing the reader with Landgarten’s writings and art therapy practice as she progressed through stages in her professional life.