The purpose of this dissertation was to undertake a conceptualization and empirical "mapping" of the ethic-of-care domain - often characterized as self-referential and lacking in rigor. The current focus is upon conventional forms of care, involving notions of moral "goodness" as self-silencing and -sacrificial. Employing a "super" circumplex as a prescriptive and descriptive tool, projected item analyses were undertaken as a theoretico-structural clarification of existing scale items, along with a provisional pool of additional items generated as part of Study 1. Based in part on proposed circular criteria, the Conventional Care Scales (CCS) were developed and submitted to a conjoint principal components analysis along with the battery of other care/dependency scale items. An examination of item circular distributions, factor loadings, alpha-contribution plots, and thematic content revealed several factors expressive of two "faces" of conventional care, submissive and ingenuous. These two forms were shown to have unique correlates with measures of adjustment, interpersonal competencies, other factors of the Five-Factor Model, false-self beliefs, and reported distress in narrated accounts of rejected care giving. Gender differences in the association between indices of adjustment and conventional care were also found. The range of conventional care was also extended through the development of scales reflecting other-directed and socially prescribed dimensions of conventional care. The factor structure for the CSS was also replicated in a second sample (Study 2). Participants for Studies 1 and 2 were composed of undergraduate students (N = 302 in both samples) who completed a battery of questionnaires in the first study and the CCS alone in the second study. Anticipating future clinical directions, secondary analyses using structural equation modelling were conducted on an existing data set (N = 92) which included measures of conventional care and perfectionism, along with indices of psychological adjustment and eating disordered attitudes. Results indicated that conventional care, for which there is little research, was more predictive of adjustment and eating disordered attitudes than perfectionism, for which there exists a large clinical literature. This research contributes to an understanding of ways in which an ethic of care can "go awry," as well as proposes a research platform upon which the clinical implications of morality and self-ideals can be investigated. These findings speak to both the constraints and prescriptions that can inform a philosophical ethic of care. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / This study presents the possible contribution that self psychology might make to understanding, and guiding the treatment of; childhood functional faecal retention. A discussion of self psychology's theoretical perspective on childhood development is provided, including specific reference to the central theoretical issues 0 f optimal responsiveness and mutual- and self-regulation and how these manifest within the psychotherapeutic process. A case study provides the vehicle for the discussion ofthe applicability and relevance of the central self psychological tenets to the psychotherapeutic treatment of functional faecal retention in childhood. It tentatively concludes that self psychological theory may be useful in informing and structuring the treatment of children with retentive encopresis, and may be especially useful in conjunction with potentially invasive medically and surgically based interventions

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-102).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-118).

Thesis (MBus) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2005. / Also held in print (vi, 82 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 658.4092 WU)

Thesis (M.V.A.)--University of Sydney, 2008. / "Printmedia"--T.p. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Visual Arts to the Sydney College of the Arts. Degree awarded 2008; thesis submitted 2007. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-73).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-68).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-51).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, December 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.