This study explores, through observations and interviews. the rough and tumble play of young children in early childhood settings. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how early childhood educators, parents, and young children interpret rough and tumble play. The study also identified the extent to which rough and tumble play is included or not included within early childhood settings. Participants in this study included 11 educators, 16 parents, and 16 children from four settings. Observations of the play of children and the responses of the educators to rough and tumble play were made at two settings. During 30:25 hours of observation, 110 incidents of rough and tumble play were recorded. Twenty-seven distinct rough and tumble play behaviours were exhibited during the observation period. Behaviours included components that had been identified as rough and tumble play in previous research and also additional behaviours that were not previously identified as elements of rough and tumble play. Results of the interviews of adults indicate that there is perceived value in rough and tumble play: the play needs to be supervised; the play is more acceptable at home rather than at daycare: adults are unaware of formal policies or guidelines for the play: and adults reject the notion that the play may be linked to aggressive behaviour. Results of the interviews with children indicate that adults place restrictions on the play; it is important that no one is hurt; there are gender differences: and while all the children were observed engaged in the play, 60% of the children stated that they do not engage in rough and tumble play at daycare. The results of this study will have implications for the understanding of child development. It may be that rough and tumble play evolves as children age; that children move into more, or less, complex play behaviours as they mature. This study might also have implications for early childhood education. The parents and educators conceded a lack of knowledge about rough and tumble play. This finding highlights the need for the development of teacher and parent education resources.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to develop a clearer understanding of how involvement with the Association of Graduate Education Students (AGES) at the University of Victoria effects students' experiences of graduate school. Participants included graduate students who belonged to the AGES committee between 2001 and 2005 and faculty members who interacted with those members and supported program initiatives. Faculty participants were purposefully selected following the student interviews as important influences on the development of AGES. AGES records, including meeting minutes and a growth plan were accessed during the research. Key findings included the effect of short-term leadership on the development of the organizing committee; the important role that faculty members played in the health of a student organization, and the importance of social events when you leave your career cloak behind to become a full-time graduate student.

The author began her inquiry asking: where are the feminists in Child and Youth Care (CYC)? With the expertise of three self- identified feminist CYC practitioners, she explores their meaning making of feminist identities. Employing post structural and social constructivist lenses, punctuated by poetry, she and her consultants explore a wide range of feminist discourse including the performance, resistance and evolution of feminism, personally and professionally.

Rhythmic arm cycling is known to suppress the Hoffmann (H-) reflex in the soleus muscles of stationary legs; however, it is still unclear if this suppression is modulated by the phase of movement in the cycle path. In the present study we investigated phase-dependent modulation of the Sol H-reflex induced by rhythmic arm cycling. Modulation of the Soleus H-reflex was examined at 12 phases of the cycle path in 4 conditions; static arm positioning, as well as 3 arm cycling conditions, bilateral, ipsilateral and contralateral. H-reflexes were evoked and recorded at constant motor wave amplitudes across the conditions. Suppression of Sol H-reflex amplitude was dependent (main effect p<0.0001) upon the phase of movement during arm cycling, but not during static positioning. Results suggest that locomotor central pattern generators may contribute to the phasic reflex modulation observed in this study.

More than 70% of First Nations youth feel pushed out of the mainstream public school system because their ways of being. knowing, and doing are not reflected in the curricula. This issue is compounded by the disconnect known as deculturation that exists between Indigenous culture and Indigenous peoples. This thesis addresses two questions in an effort to find an alternative curriculum that works for First Nations youth. The questions include: 1.What are traditional knowledge and teaching methods that can serve as the basis for the expression of an Indigenous philosophy and environmental ethic within an urban environmental education program? 2. What themes can be identified that could aid in the creation of a framework for an environmental education program based on traditional ways of teaching and learning? This study used a hermeneutic phenomenology and Indigenous research methodology. Six First Nations educators were interviewed and four major themes were synthesized during the analysis of the textual data: the importance in Aboriginal education of discovering one's identity; placing the human being at the centre of education: relationship (including spirituality): and community involvement. The resulting curriculum is not designed to meet provincially prescribed learning outcomes, but outlines a way to deliver an Indigenous education that is rooted in Indigenous epistemologies, ontologies, and methodologies.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether child behaviour characteristics and parental attachment are predictive of quality of friendships in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Participants were 30 children aged 8 through 12 with ADHD from local schools in Victoria and one primary care-giver for each child. Based on multiple regressional analyzes were three predictors. Anger/Alienation. Trust. and Social Problems explained unique variation in children's quality of friendship. Results provide support that the more children characterized their attachment to primary caregivers by Anger/Alienation, the lower they rated their quality of friendship with peers. In addition, the more children characterized their attachment to primary caregivers by Trust. the higher they reported their quality of friendship with peers to be. Finally, the more social problems parents reported their children experiencing the lower the children reported their friendship quality to be.

Chronic pain among children is poorly understood and few studies attempt to elicit and portray the experiences of the sufferers and their families. This qualitative case study used art inquiry and narrative methodologies as a means to understand the participants' stories of chronic pain. The participating family has a child aged 6 who has been experiencing unexplained chronic pain for over 2 years. Data were gathered through five art making sessions. The first stage of analysis occurred during the art making sessions as participants and researcher worked together to understand the messages and meanings within their creations. The researcher then compiled the debriefing transcripts into stories that capture the core of these messages and meanings. Finally, the researcher pulled together themes and points of interest in terms of satisfying the purpose of this inquiry and responding to the guiding research questions.

The purpose of this thesis is to seek to understand how parents of preschoolers having difficulty complying to social-conventional rules perceive their role in helping develop self-regulation. My work as a graduate research assistant with Dr. Boyer enabled me access to a large grounded theory study entitled, Foundational Measures of Early Childhood Self-Regulation from which the parents were chosen. Since I endeavoured to capture the parent's perspective, as they reflect on the development of self-regulation, this study is designed within a qualitative paradigm particularly, a multiple case study design. In keeping with the qualitative case study tradition this study employed a demographic sheet and interview questions which were used in the larger study. Themes which surfaced include: parental frustration, feelings of ineffectiveness or success, concern for their child's future, birth of siblings and their child's ongoing development. In addition, parent's perceptions of strategies they used included reasoning, staying firm, staying calm, warnings, in advance, empathy negation and removal.

Divorce affects approximately four out of ten marriages in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2001). Most researchers and clinicians agree that parental divorce and the ensuing process of a family's restructuring is a very stressful time for everyone, especially children. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the research on the effects of divorce has largely focused on how it impacts upon them (Amato, 2001). And while research, albeit to a lesser degree, has explored the impact of divorce on mothers (Demo & Acock, 1996) little attention has been given to the experience of fathers (Nielsen, 1999). Joint custody is awarded in approximately 40% of settlements; however, mothers are typically given primary care and residence (Statistics Canada, 2001) with fathers restricted to two weekend "visits" every month (Fathers 4 Justice, 2004). Over time this amount drops to where many fathers end up seeing very little of their children. For some contact is lost altogether. Just how many lose contact altogether is unknown, but it is suggestive that their numbers may be significant (Nielsen, 1999). How they are affected by that loss of contact is largely unknown as research into the experience of such fathers is missing. Given most parents would agree that losing one's child is perhaps one of the worst things that could happen to them, research into this experience is warranted. This study is an investigation of the lived experiences of fathers who have lost contact with their children. Four such fathers were interviewed. Through a hermeneutical process of "mindful-reflective" listening thirteen salient themes emerged from their stories and are conveyed to the reader. In particular, the concept of "becoming childless" is introduced as a way of understanding how these fathers dealt with the long-term consequences of losing contact with their children. Implications for further research and social change regarding fathers' rights are addressed.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of using intermittent hand cooling during high intensity, intermittent training on measures of thermoregulatory, performance and psychophysical variables in elite level swimmers in warm pools (30.50.5°C). Following a standard warm-up, ten male swimmers (20.3±3.2 yrs) were instructed to maintain the fastest average 100m time for an 8x 100m freestyle swimming set separated in a cool pool (CP), warm pool with cooling (WPC), and warm pool with no-cooling (WPNC). Time at 50m and 100m, core temperature (Tc), and heart rate (HR), as well as the rate of perceived exertion (RPE), thermal comfort (ThC) and thermal sensation (ThS) were recorded following each repetition. Participants were cooled during the 90 second rest interval between repetitions using the Rapid Thermal Exchange (RTX) [AVAcore Technologies Inc., Ann Arbor, MI]. There was a significant increase in performance when comparing the second 50m split time (1.16 ± 1.58s ) and 100m time (1.50 ± 1.98s) for the final repetition in the WPC condition compared to the final repetition in the WPNC condition (p<0.05). FIR, ThC and ThS were lower in the CP condition than the WPC and WPNC conditions (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in Tc and RPE between conditions. It was concluded that the results may be due to a placebo effect and at this time there appears no physiological or psychophysical advantage in using the RTX during high intensity, intermittent training of elite swimmers.