published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This study was designed to examine the most common characteristics, best practices, and gaps in service delivery at Early Intervention (EI) centres across Canada. A 29-item survey designed to investigate services, funding, waitlists, satisfaction, and perceptions of success was completed by 184 service providers. Provinces and territories were grouped according to time zone and five resulting samples were compared. Samples were comparable in terms of waitlists, perception of success and government contributions. Significant differences were found in terms of the number of professionals working at the centre, with the Mountain and Eastern samples having the most multidisciplinary centres. In addition to making cross-province comparisons, Canadian findings were also explored. As the proportion of government funding decreased and private funding increased, ratings of satisfaction significantly increased. Findings were discussed in relation to the relevance to Canadian EI centres and directions for future research were explored.

The marketing of professional services is a relatively recent discipline driven by a changing political and social environment. The services marketing literature has evolved within this changing environment from an initial focus upon the distinction between products and services; to the importance of quality, relationships, interfunctional coordination and processes; and most recently to the contemporary marketing practices framework and the service dominant logic. In this thesis, secondary data were analysed to understand trends within the major forces affecting the attractiveness of the companion animal veterinary services industry in Australia. Case studies complemented this analysis by describing individual organisations operating within local environments, their marketing practices and performance. A survey of the industry was subsequently administered and analysed to describe the relative importance of industry forces upon incumbents, the range of contemporary marketing practices adopted, and to test relationships between environment, marketing practices and marketing performance. Whilst secondary data revealed that pet ownership and household demographic trends were leading to stabilisation of the number of potential buyers for companion animal veterinary services at a national level, this research has found that changing attitudes towards pets, pet care and the human animal bond, together with advances in technology and individual veterinary hospital marketing practices, had generally resulted in a positive impact on veterinary revenue within the last 10 years. For individual veterinary hospitals competing within this industry, external environmental and industry structural forces were of varying importance and both functional and process approaches to marketing were evident within the industry. Specifically with respect to the contemporary marketing practices framework, companion animal veterinary hospitals in Australia mostly related to their markets through interaction marketing but also employed transaction, database and network marketing practices. Network marketing practices were found to be effective for acquiring clients and interaction marketing practices were effective in driving revenue growth. This research has provided potential contributions to extant literature in the areas of industry analysis, services marketing and more specifically within the discipline of veterinary business management. Firstly, the framework combining external forces (political, economic, social, technological and natural) with industry structural forces analysis was an effective method for analysing the marketing environment affecting the companion animal veterinary services industry in Australia. Secondly, industry attractiveness was significantly related to industry profitability and transaction marketing practices were associated with less attractive environments. Thirdly, whilst secondary data defined the industry as mature, marketing practices adopted by industry incumbents have resulted in significant revenue growth in recent years. Finally, whilst the marketing literature has emphasised the distinction between transactional and relational perspectives, this research has highlighted the possibility of considering a functional and process approach to the marketing of professional services. Linked to this latter finding, this research has highlighted the value of the contemporary marketing practices framework for understanding the marketing of professional, high-involvement services, and integrating theoretical and empirical perspectives in marketing. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2005. / Thesis advisor: Jennifer Hedlund. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Criminal Justice." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-50). Also available via the World Wide Web.

M.A. / This qualitative study will research five children's experience of long-term play therapy, from the perspective of the child. In exploring and describing the children's experience, the study will be a tentative delving into the 'inner workings' of one approach to play therapy, developed by this researcher in her private clinical practice. The research will aim to begin to make explicit the 'sub-text' of play therapy; that is, to give a voice to the child patient's usually unarticulated experience of the helping process. By directly researching the child's experience of play therapy from the perspective of the child, the study will represent a departure from the emphasis clinicians and researchers have historically placed on their theories and professional roles in therapeutic practice and discourse: Gardner, (1993) for example, in his account of the development of play therapy techniques in the twentieth century, reviews a broad range of classical and contemporary texts, all of which promote the central role of practitioners and their theories. Further, as noted by Spinelli (1994:77), "somewhat amazingly, given the large amount of studies dealing with therapy and therapists, there exist very few exhaustive studies that focus exclusively on the client's experience of therapy.'

There is little research data available on the experience of unemployed youth and the effects of social supports in buffering or insulating their adjustment to this stressful life event. Fourteen unemployed youth, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, were interviewed utilizing a critical incident methodology. The aim was to identify the factors facilitating and hindering adjustment for these youth as well as isolate sources of support (ie. friends, parents, relatives, or other key others). The research findings yielded information on the specific needs of this particular group of unemployed young people, and identified sources that provided specific forms of emotional, material and informational support. Recommendations are offered for supportive services and programs needed by these youths. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This work contains a phenomenological analysis of blindness, providing a basis for the evaluation of rehabilitation practice in South Africa and the formulation of future objectives in the field. Stereotypes of blindness associated with the perspectives of consumerism, scientific research, and social casework are analysed. Theories of blindness proposed by Braverman, Carroll, Monbeck, Foulke, Jernigan, and Scott are critically examined. The findings give substance to the claim that professional workers with the blind are guided in their attitudes and actions by images and meanings originating from these sources. All such preconceptions are rejected in favour of a description of blindness in terms of actual experience. An in-depth study of experience reveals how the nature of perception determines the blind person's relationship with the physical environment, with other people, and with the welfare system. In each sphere limitations arise which are overcome by specific responses and appropriate techniques. These observations lead to the formulation of a set of basic principles of rehabilitation, stressing the importance of individualization, self-reliance, assertiveness, versatility, and a personal interpretation of blindness. The relevance of traditional modalities is explained, while the need to expand rehabilitation teaching to include assertive skills training and various types of vocational instruction is emphasized. Current rehabilitation practice in South Africa is evaluated, comparisons being drawn with programmes offered by Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv, Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind, and the Center for Independent Living of the New York Infirmary. South African training is characterized as fostering the independence of the individual. Negative features are the lack of an effective delivery system and failure to meet the priority needs of certain groups. This prepares the way for a case study in which the redevelopment of rehabilitation services for the blind in South Africa .is discussed, beginning with the establishment of a new national rehabilitation centre. Amongst other matters, the study deals with negotiations to circumvent restrictive legislation, funding through a system of corporate sponsorship, and purposeful architectural design. The rehabilitation centre is viewed as the first component of a broader strategy to provide rehabilitation training to all blind people in South Africa, incorporating national, urban, rural, and specialized services. The successful implementation of any action plan will require the participation of blind people themselves by way of a disability rights movement. Finally, attention is focused on the effect of South African racial policies on welfare work. The principle of equal opportunity cannot be practised under present legislation.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

This dissertation has explored the origins of the field of Behavioral Disorders via a qualitative approach. In order to collect data, interviews were conducted with respondents who were selected via purposeful sampling. All respondents have had a significant impact on the field of special education as evidenced by scholarship and leadership throughout their careers. Data analysis of the interview transcriptions was accomplished through the utilization of computer software. The data indicated six areas/topics that were seen among respondents as being significant to the development of the field of Behavioral Disorders.

This project describes a 12 week pilot program that was designed to offer further resources to the foster youth who are 'aged out' of the foster care system.