Using the qualitative methodology of grounded theory, decision-making about health and illness situations was studied in a sample of six women members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). The purpose of the study was to identify the process used by Mormon women in deciding when to use available healing alternatives, namely self care, the laying on of hands, biomedical practitioners expertise, and social support networks. The identified process, called the "Mormon Woman's Decision-Making Road-Map to Health," is composed of the categories of Protecting Health, Diagnosing a Problem, Considering Possible Treatment Actions, and Evaluating Treatment Effectiveness. The process described in the Road Map to Health model is helpful to health care professionals who seek to understand and influence the health care decision-making of their clients.

This thesis is a study of the attitudes of employed Latter-day Saint mothers and non-employed Latter-day Saint mothers toward the homemaking role and outside employment. Two general hypotheses were tested. They were (1) employed Latter-day Saint mothers will have a more favorable attitude toward the homemaking role than non-employed mothers; and (2) employed Latter-day Saint mothers will have a more favorable attitude toward outside employment than non-employed mothers.

Thesis advisor: Gustavo Morello / This qualitative study aims to understand how Mormon religious practice and individual family upbringing shape faithful Mormon women’s goals for marriage and motherhood. The sacred canopy (Berger, 1967), which provides the theoretical context for this study, asserts that those who practice religion seek to act according to a religious worldview. This study examines the roles of personal faith, Church teachings, peer culture, and family upbringing in these women’s lives to determine how the sacred canopy is maintained. The analysis reveals how religious perspective has a slightly different role in the women’s lives than family upbringing, yet both work together to maintain the sacred canopy. This research is important for better understanding a demographic of a growing religious subpopulation and contextualizing their experiences. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.

The purpose of this paper was to define and discuss the early Mormon women's newspaper, Woman's Exponent, and its editors in developing a literary culture among Mormon women. Woman's Exponent served as the primary source of research to show through its literature that the women of Utah were encouraged to express themselves freely, and present their way of life to a world that held a grossly distorted view of them. The Exponent provided the forum for skilled writers to polish their craft, and new writers to develop their talents. The literary influence of the Exponent encouraged the women writers to publish individual volumes of poetry, biography, and histories. The writers acknowledged the Woman's Exponent as their platform for expression, their window-on-the-world. It faithfully recorded their history and served as the cradle for literary culture among the mormon women.

Missionary work has long been an important aspect of Christianity. At least as early as the 1870's, Protestant women began journeys to foreign lands to work as missionaries and teach people about Christianity, both the spiritual dimension and the lifestyle. These were primarily independent women who sought to enlarge the women's sphere from the confined, domestic life to which they were accustomed and because of its decline by the 1930's, historians have often labeled these missions as a "feminist movement." Meanwhile, in 1898, their counterparts from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also began filling missions, but with a different purpose. These women, known as "Lady Missionaries," did not seek out the new role, but were assigned by Church leaders to share the Mormon message and to show that Mormon women were something other than the stereotypical downtrodden, polygamous wives often portrayed by the media. The greatest evolution of the Lady Missionary program occurred during its first three decades as the LDS Church defined the role of the Lady Missionary and established guidelines for all to follow. Three women of this period are Inez Knight, Stella Sudweeks, and LaRetta Gibbons. Knight, the first Lady Missionary, labored in England from 1898-1900, where she stood on corners as an example of a "real, live Mormon woman" and faced religious persecution from non-Mormons. Sudweeks filled her mission in the mid-West from 1910-1912, where she had been motivated by anti-Mormon sentiments, but faced less difficulties than Inez while sharing her message and also had more training and established expectations than those previously. Finally, Gibbons worked form 1933-1935, mostly in Colorado, where she spent comparatively more time among new converts teaching them their role within the Church and encouraging them to share their religion with neighbors. Their accounts and experiences show that women have long had a steady and significant role in the LDS Church's missionary program, which has long gone unnoticed and offers a new perspective on Mormon women.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Family Sciences. / Bibliography: leaves 141-154.

Thesis (M.A.) -- Brigham Young University. Dept. of Philosophy Education, 1942. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-231).

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Hitsory, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-193).

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of selected physical socio-environmental variables on total percent body fat. The sample population consisted of single, LDS, white women attending Brigham Young University (BYU) and California State University at Fullerton (CSUF). Significant data as well as trends that appeared were included in this paper.From the data collected, it was concluded that the sample populations at BYU and CSUF were the same. The incidence of obesity was determined only among individuals attending both universities. The entire sample population mean was 22.19 percent. This percentage did not meet the obesity criteria.Analysis of data indicated a high correlation at the 0.05 level of confidence between total percent body fat and the variables of age, height, and weight.

Research suggests that disaffiliation from a religious organization brings a myriad of positive and negative consequences to those who choose to disaffiliate. This is the first study to examine the specific impact of disaffiliation on how women who have disaffiliated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conceptualize womanhood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 women who voluntarily chose to disaffiliate from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenology, informed by hybrid identity theory. Findings suggest that women who disaffiliate from the church undergo an intense and painful identity reconstruction where they create a hybrid identity that includes their Mormon identity and other identities they have chosen to embody. Findings outline the limitations participants felt as women in the church, the pain and mourning experienced throughout the disaffiliation process, and the empowerment and expansion of their self-concept of womanhood felt post-disaffiliation. Limitations of this study, future research, and clinical implications are discussed. / Master of Science / People are choosing to disaffiliate from religious organizations in highly increasing numbers. Individual experiences of disaffiliation vary and often bring a combination of both positive and negative consequences. This study examines the experiences of women who were raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how their choice to step away from the church impacted their self-concept of womanhood. The results of this study confirm that the disaffiliation process prompts an intense and painful identity crisis in which participants had to reconstruct how they viewed all parts of their identities. Findings outline how women felt limited by church teachings, the intense pain and mourning they experienced as they left the church, and how their ideas of womanhood expanded and felt more empowered post-disaffiliation. It is important for therapists to create space in-session for women, at any point in the disaffiliation process, to process feelings of grief and resentment, explore their identities, and reclaim themselves in an empowering and strengths-based environment.