<p> This study focused on the perspectives of ten licensed mental health practitioners regarding the resilience of African American women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) who permanently leave male perpetrators. A generic qualitative methodology guided the exploration using individual face-to-face interviews. Data collection included individual semi-structured interviews using open-ended questions, which harmonized with the postmodern worldview and constructivist-interpretive paradigm that undergirded the study. After multiple cycles of data analysis cycles, five major themes emerged. The emergent themes were hope, family influence, self-concept, empowerment, and turning points. Maslow's hierarchy and Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological theory provided the theoretical framework for the analysis of the themes. The study presented a discussion of the implications of the themes for understanding the resilience traits of African American women IPV survivors. Such implications are relevant to researchers, policy-makers, counselors, counselor educators, health care workers, and other human services professionals who affect the treatment of this cohort.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to create program to identify funding sources, and write a grant to fund a support group for veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the Department of Veterans Affairs of, Long Beach. The literature allowed this write to find the main causes of PTSD in this case being exposed to combat, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBO), and the consequences to PTSD (substance abuse, commit suicide, experience family conflicts). This writer also found Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to be effective intervention in treating veterans with PTSD. The proposed program is aimed at providing psychoeducation to veterans and to help improve the lives of our service men and women who suffer from PTSD. The program includes group counseling, and individual counseling for veterans, family counseling. Providing the proper training will help social worker better assess and serve our veterans who return from combat with PTSD. Actual submission and/or funding of the grant were not required for the completion of this project.</p>

In the developing countries of Africa, development endeavors are hindered by larger and still increasing numbers of children who are susceptible and deprived of parents due to HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases and violent conflicts (UNICEF, 2005). Children growing up without adequate adult care and facing economic and psychosocial hardship may miss out the opportunity to attend school and some of them may develop long lasting psychosocial disorders and problem behaviors that continue into adulthood, compromising the security of next generations (Foster, Levine & Williamson, 2005; Thurman et al., 2008). Recent studies in developing countries showed that family-oriented community interventions can help improve the emotional wellbeing of children with problem behaviors and increase school enrollment and retention as well as academic performances in school (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Grossman & Bulle, 2006; Huggings & Randell, 2007) This study uses secondary analysis of data from baseline and after-eighteen-months follow-up surveys of an operational study 'assessing the psychosocial benefits of a community-based mentoring program for orphans and vulnerable children' in the Southern Province of Rwanda. The purpose of this study was to extend current research to assess the effect of a community-based mentoring program on problem behaviors, depressive symptoms, and school attendance among children (6-12) and adolescents (13-18) living in youth-headed households in Rwanda The results highlight that problem behaviors and depressive symptoms in adolescents and children living in YHH are challenging not only for young caregivers but also for community adults willing to support them. The findings further demonstrate that despite their vulnerabilities, the school attendance is high and still increasing in school age children but many adolescents living in YHH are missing out the benefits of schooling. There is evidence that the mentoring program have positively improved depressive symptoms of adolescents living in YHH. However, there is no evidence of the program effect on problem behaviors or school attendance in either children or adolescents. Family-oriented interventions appear to be more appropriate to reduce and prevent serious psychosocial problems in both caregivers and other children and adolescents at high risk / acase@tulane.edu

<p>The research question answered by this qualitative, narrative design study is how some couples maintained continued marital intimacy and well-being after prostate cancer surgery. It was directed to a purposeful, critical, and criterion based sampling of 5 heterosexual participant couples between the ages of 52 and 65 years old, who had been married for an average of 29 years and who experienced the disruption in their marriage of prostate cancer and its surgical remedy. The research question created a frame for evaluating literature which provided a basic understanding of the physiology associated with prostate cancer and its treatment options, while recognizing and giving appropriate voice through semi-structured interviews to the compromising and potentially traumatic effects of that surgery on couples&rsquo; relationships. In addition to the stresses introduced by a prostate cancer diagnosis, a complexity of emotional and physical concerns is realized with existing treatments, often leading to difficult adjustments and long-term consequences. Although extensive volumes of research attest to the vexing interruption to marital intimacy after prostate cancer surgery, there is a lack of direct, narrative inquiry from long-term married couples addressing instead the question of how they prevailed over those profound challenges. This study subsequently positioned itself to the telling of the participants&rsquo; stories, before and after surgery, and to the positive inquiry of how they learned from their lived experiences and demonstrated that learning as resilience, resourcefulness, and a determination to maintain a mutually acceptable level of intimacy and well-being in their enduring marriages. Attributes of a fulfilling marriage were also explored as characterizing a committed and happy long-term relationship which supports wellness of mind, body, and spirit. In addition, inquiry was made into the transpersonal aspects and significance of marital well-being and shared practices which help to sustain it. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to explore the therapist&rsquo;s perspective regarding the clients and family who receive in-home therapy, their perspectives on the therapists practicing in the field, and the industry as a whole. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted in order to explore the emergent themes from transcribed audiotaped interviews of 12 participants. The participants were all licensed therapists working with child and adolescents and their families within the home. The participants were recruited through a purposive snowball sample.</p><p> Seven major themes emerged from the study, these themes were as follows: (a) home and environment; (b) clients and their families; (c) treatment; (d) time; (e) the therapists; (f) experience; and (g) competency. Additional findings were presented, the developmentally disabled, burnout, and the work of psychologist in the in-home therapy field. This study also presented conclusions, recommendations for future research and a summary of the work as a whole.</p>

<p> Ethnic discrimination stress (EDS) in the workplace among high-achieving Adivasis is a problem that has received little attention in research literature. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates the above problem by using Giorgi's descriptive psychological method. The method, selected due its scientific rigor, applies Husserlian concepts of phenomenological reduction, intentionality of consciousness, and imaginative variation, to identify and describe the psychological structure of the lived experience of EDS. The 15 participants in the study, selected on the basis of the scores of General Ethnic Discrimination Scale, were currently employed high-achieving male Adivasis above the age of 24. The saturation of the data was achieved with the analysis of 272 pages of interview transcripts of 10 participants. The study found that the participants had to face overt ethnic discrimination and microaggressions that were endemic and not just aberrant. The lived experience of EDS involved being constantly judged by negative stereotypes, and being exposed to marginalizing behaviors from the upper caste people. The participants believed that ethnic discrimination, in spite of their academic and career achievements, was meant to perpetuate upper caste hegemony. The resultant feelings of dehumanization, disillusionment, anger, combativeness, and helplessness from silencing led to demoralization. Coping with EDS involved an initial period of resentful submission with negative coping behaviors and a gradual movement toward change-oriented proactive responses. The findings point to a relationship between resilience and career achievement as well as to the need for both structural and paradigmatic changes in order to create a discrimination-free work environment. The findings reflect the tenets of critical race theory and call for paradigmatic changes in the caste mindset and the dominant discourse that is embedded with dehumanizing stereotypes of Adivasis that promote silencing and upper caste hegemony. The findings may be significant for mental health workers and educators to understand the inner world of discrimination and to find effective strategies for coping with EDS. By giving a scientific voice to the Adivasi struggle against discrimination, the study can support the efforts of the marginalized and the governments for the creation of a discrimination-free work environment.</p>

<p> This thesis is a heuristic exploration of the psychological death and rebirth women may experience during initiation into motherhood within American culture. Guided by the author&rsquo;s personal experience, dreams, and myths, this thesis examines the initiatory process and requirements of mothers-to-be and the cultural support typically available during the transformation occurring throughout pregnancy and childbirth. Evidence suggests that too little cultural awareness and structured support of new mothers&rsquo; psychological initiatory needs may adversely influence the onset of, and prolong, postpartum depression, a prevalent concern in the United States. In the absence of cultural support, archetypal motifs describing the symbolic and historic transition from maiden to mother may assist initiates through the complex psychological process of becoming mothers. Therefore, depth psychology may provide clinicians and laypeople with awareness of the important and timeless transition new mothers may face, as well as the language to both guide and witness maidens becoming mothers. </p>

<p> Using Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological psychological method, the written accounts of three heterosexual men who described their experiences of grief and mourning in relation to spousal bereavement were analyzed, individually and then collectively, so that general meaning units common among them might be revealed. Though interrelated, the general meaning units for grief and mourning were segregated. The seven general meaning units of grief were encountering Death; homeworld alienation; embodied suffering and loss of self-integrity; negative affects; social alienation and disaffection; agnizing losses; and yielding or enduring. The seven general meaning units of mourning were reflecting; remembering; reorienting; renewing; releasing; recovering; and integrating Death. These 14 general meaning units were compared to contemporary thanatological descriptions and approaches to grief and mourning as well as several depth psychological theories. The contemporary descriptions were reasonably consistent with the authored descriptions, but the rubrics used to organize the contemporary descriptions shared no similarity to the names or descriptions of the general meaning units. This study affirmed many of the contemporary criticisms of structured approaches and identified a few more. Contrary to contemporary criticism, classical psychoanalytic theory was reasonably consistent with some of the results of this study, but it lacked comprehensiveness. The descriptions in this study were consistent with attachment theory's concept of an internal working model, but they did not consistently affirm the manifestation or relevance of yearning or pining. Self psychology provided a reasonable theoretical foundation for the interpretation of phenomena related to the self; however, it lacked comprehensiveness with regard to other general meaning units that emerged in this study. Unlike other depth psychologies, analytical psychology assigns meaning to the experiences of grief and mourning (individuation) and its approach to the imaginal dimensions of grief and mourning are unique and valuable. Unfortunately, there is currently no integrated and coherent application of analytical psychology to grief or mourning. Archetypal psychology offers a rich and useful foundation for interpreting several of the general meaning units and descriptions in this study. The value of alchemical psychology is most evident in its explication of the nigredo. Unexpectedly, the importance of Nature became evident during the study.</p>

<p> The goal of this project was to create a grant proposal and identify a potential funding source to develop a holistic mentoring program for foster youth in one non-profit organization in Long Beach, California. A thorough literature review identified risk factors for foster youth and identified evidence-based mentoring programs that the grant writer used to design a holistic mentoring program for foster youth. The Foundation Directory's on-line database at the Long Beach Non-Profit Partnership identified the Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation as the best funding source for this project. A grant was then written to support a holistic mentoring program at Power 4 Youth in Long Beach, California. The actual submission of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant for a mentoring program for HIV youth in foster care ages 12- 20 called "Positive Change." The mentorship program will provide guidance and emotional support to these youth who face the unique challenge of their diagnosis as well as being part of the child welfare system. Potential funding sources were reviewed and evaluated to determine which would best match the proposed project. An extensive literature review was performed to examine the topics of HIV related issues such as stigma, disclosure, health disparities, mental health problems, barriers faced by foster youth, and the efficacy of mentorship programs.</p><p> The program aims to enhance the lives of HIV youth in foster care by connecting them to mentors that can provide emotional support and help them achieve their dreams and hopes. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project. </p>