Thesis (M.A. in human development)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 20, 2010). "Department of Human Development." Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-42).

The Mexican American population is the largest and fastest growing Latino subgroup in the United States. Research has indicated Mexican Americans experience as many, if not more, mental health problems as other ethnic groups, including anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, simple phobia, drug and alcohol abuse, and increased rates of suicide. Mexican Americans, however, are among some of the most underserved by the mental health community. Little research, however, has focused on parents’ beliefs about their adolescents’ mental health, their utilization of mainstream mental health services, or their use of alternative resources for addressing their adolescent’s problems. This is particularly troubling given Mexican American youth have disproportionately high rates of substance abuse, delinquency, depression and suicide. Mexican American youth’s utilization patterns mirror those of adults, with lower rates of utilization than their peers of other ethnicities, and higher rates of early termination of treatment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a number of topics related to Mexican American mothers’ perspectives on adolescent mental health, including factors that contribute to problems, steps parents would be willing to take to help their adolescent, their beliefs about the use of mental health professionals, and their use of alternatives such as curanderos, priests, or family reliance to address their adolescent mental health problems. Participants were 27 mothers of adolescents who identify themselves as being of Mexican descent (Mexican; Mexican American). Mothers who agreed to participate were interviewed in person using a semi-structured interview format. The results revealed considerable consistency in the participants’ views regardless of family history, adolescent problems faced, language spoken, and their generation in the U.S. The results of this study indicated that the Mexican American mothers who participated were attuned to adolescent functioning, with a keen sense for determining whether their adolescent is experiencing problems. The participants were able to navigate a complex system that involved considering other resources in their surroundings to address their adolescent’s problems. Overall, participants indicated positive regard toward the use of family, church, schools, and professionals in helping their adolescent, while the use of traditional folk healers, such as curanderos, was only minimally indicated. / text

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. S.)--Texas Tech University, 2005. / "August 2005." Title taken from title screen (viewed October 23, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-71) and appendices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2010. / Includes abstract. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 19, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Young children who are Hispanic, from low-income homes and have developmental delays are at a disadvantage for not having the basic early literacy foundation to become successful readers later in school (Ballantyne, Sanderman, D‘Emilio, & McLaughlin, 2008; Hammer, Farkas, & Maczuga, 2010; Ezell & Justice 2005; McCardle, Scarborough, & Catts, 2001). These challenges can be addressed in several ways. Early intervention including parent education and collaboration along with shared book reading are considered best practices and critical to improving child outcomes (NELP, 2008). In addition, children who have a solid foundation in early literacy skills including vocabulary development in their native language will later transfer to the development of vocabulary in English (Ballantyne et al., 2008). Yet, research on shared book reading practices within the home of Hispanics is minimal (Hammer and Miccio, 2006). It is necessary to expand the literature on how to adapt best practices to meet the needs of Hispanic families who are economically disadvantaged. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of parent training and coaching of dialogic reading strategies in Spanish on mothers‘ implementation of the strategies and total vocabulary expressed by the child during shared book reading within the home environment. In addition, the researcher explored parent receptiveness towards shared book reading strategies. The research design for the study was a single-subject multiple baseline across three motherchild dyad participants. The independent variable was the intervention which consisted of parent training video on dialogic reading, parent handouts, and researcher coaching. The dependent variables were the mother‘s implementation of dialogic reading strategies and the children‘s total expressed words during shared book reading. The mother-child dyads, originally from Mexico, lived in settled migrant community in central Florida. The three children regularly attended a iv local federally funded preschool and received services for speech and/or language. The results indicated that the mothers‘ implementation of dialogic reading increased after training and coaching and the children‘s expressed total vocabulary words also increased. Dyad‘s interests in the selected books, mother responsiveness during shared book reading, and duration of shared book reading may have impacted some of the variability in the results. Furthermore, mothers were unaware of the dialogic reading strategies prior to the intervention and reported positive feedback and a desire to learn more ways to help their children at home. Implications for research and practice include the need for parent education to support caretakers of young children with speech and/or language delays, involvement of parents in the intervention planning process including coaching options, adaptation of intervention to expand upon parent‘s funds of knowledge, complexity of code-switching and language differences, and greater collaboration between school and home.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-234).

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2007. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2779. Adviser: Theresa Byrd. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-10, Section: B, page: 6566. Adviser: Steven H. Kelder. Includes bibliographical references.