This paper depicts a U.S. veteran and graduate student’s experience using meditation, artmaking, and journaling to target the effects of trauma and its symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociation. This is a self-study utilizing art as the main method for communication and knowing. The data was gathered by using a combination of Pat Allen’s Open Studio Process and elements of the Art Therapy Trauma Protocol using bilateral artmaking in a five-session process conducted in a local art studio in San Diego. The meditation was conducted as a contemplative practice with attention and intention focusing on traumatic experiences. Fragmented memories and phenomenological experiences were stimulated during the research process through metaphoric content in the art and archetypal visualizations during meditation. These were explored through the multiple phases of meditation, artmaking, observing, and journaling. This process allowed for integration and healing through meaning making, bilateral stimulation, and somatic experiencing.

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.

The Introduction to Equine Assisted Family Therapy course offered at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) provides Master’s and Doctoral level student therapists the opportunity to learn how to conduct an equine session and how to utilize horses as part of the therapeutic process. Students learn about the underlying theories and framework behind the equine activities and methodology, as well as participate in the equine activities themselves. For the purpose of this study, classroom discussions centered around processing the students’ experiences and were further enriched by viewing photographs and videos that had been taken of the students conducting the equine activities. The researcher utilized IPR as a qualitative methodology to create an improved perspective where students reflected on their experience and made connections with their professional and personal developments. The findings of this grounded theory study document how students reflected on their personal and clinical development. More specifically, the transcripts of the conversations that took place during class discussions and interviews from students who took the course a year earlier showed that students reflected on their personal awareness, created changes in their relationships, developed their self of the therapist, honed in on their clinical skills and started viewing therapy differently. This study confirmed the transformative nature that the Introduction to Equine Assisted Therapy course has on the students.

This project is an exploration of 20th century dystopian literature through the lens of germ theory. This scientific principle, which emerged in the late 19th century, asserts that microorganisms pervade the world; these invisible and omnipresent germs cause specific diseases which are often life threatening. Additionally, germ theory states that vaccines and antiseptics can prevent some of these afflictions and that antibiotics can treat others. This concept of a pervasive, invisible, infection-causing other is not just a biological principle, though; in this paper, I argue that one can interpret it as an ideological framework for understanding human existence as a whole. Particularly, I believe that authors of prominent 20th century dystopian novels applied the tenets of germ theory in order to explore the potential “pathogens” that furtively exist within the human mind. These pseudo-germs are various human tendencies that, when left “untreated” by governments, create nonnormative members of society. In the eyes of dystopian regimes, it is precisely this nonnormativity that poses a lethal threat, in that it challenges the continued existence of society with the current ruling body at the helm. In this paper, I trace love (both sexual and familial) and individuation (as a function of social hierarchy, recreational activities, and the use of language) as social disease-causing pathogens in George Orwell’s 1984 and in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Bakgrunden till denna studien är baserad på tidigare forskning som har hittat specifika riskfaktorer för att utveckla en förlossningsdepression. En förlossningsdepression klassas som den vanligaste komplikationen av en graviditet och förlossning och påverkar välbefinnandet hos både den drabbade och familjen. Syftet var att belysa nyblivna mammors upplevelser av välbefinnande i relation till föräldraskapet samt att ta reda på hur dessa mammor tycker att ett förebyggande arbete mot nedstämdhet och förlossningsdepression kan se ut. Metoden i studien är en kvalitativ metod i form av två enskilda semistrukturerade intervjuer och tre fokusgruppsintervjuer. Analysmetoden som använts i studien är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade tre huvudkategorier som var ”yttre riskfaktorer som påverkar mammans välbefinnande”, ”individuella riskfaktorer som påverkar mammans välbefinnande” och ”förebyggande arbete ur mammans perspektiv”. Dessa visade att förväntningar, bristande socialt stöd och bristande information var tre huvudresultat som bidrog till nedstämdhet hos de nyblivna mammorna i studien. Konklusionen visar att huvudresultaten spelar stor roll för nyblivna mammors välbefinnande och sjukvården har ett stort ansvar i arbetet kring de nyblivna mammornas välbefinnande. Ämnet behöver mer forskning för det fortsatta preventiva arbetet mot nedstämdhet och förlossningsdepressioner bland nyblivna mammor. / The background to this study is based on former research that has found specific risk factors to develop a postpartum depression. A postpartum depression is classified as the most common complication of a pregnancy and birth and affect the well-being of both the mother and her family. The purpose was to investigate the experience of well-being among mothers that recently give birth in relation to parenting and to find out how the mothers think a preventive work against postpartum depression should be. The used method is a qualitative method with two individual semi-structured interviews and three focus group interviews. The analytical method used in the study is a qualitative content analysis. The result three main categories named “external risk factors that affect the mothers’ well-being”, “individual risk factors that affect the mothers’ well-being” and “preventive work from the mothers’ perspective”. These main categories showed that expectations, lack of support and lack of information were the main results that could affect the mothers’ well-being. The conclusion shows that the main results play a major role for the well-being of mothers who recently gave birth and that the healthcare have a major responsibility in the preventive work of the well-being among them. To continue the preventive work against postpartum depression the subject needs further research.

Les changements climatiques constituent l’un des enjeux les plus importants en santé publique du XXIème siècle. En effet, une hausse des températures provoquera une hausse de la mortalité attribuable à la chaleur. En outre, certaines populations et territoires sont particulièrement vulnérables aux effets de la chaleur. Il est donc nécessaire de les identifier clairement ainsi que les impacts futurs pour orienter avec équité les politiques publiques aujourd’hui et à l’avenir. L’objectif de cette thèse est de documenter les facteurs de vulnérabilité à la chaleur dans le présent et les éléments permettant leur prise en compte pour l’avenir dans le contexte des changements climatiques. Quatre étapes ont été menées pour répondre à cet objectif : a) Mener une revue systématique et une méta-Analyse des facteurs de vulnérabilité face aux risques de mortalité en lien avec la chaleur ; b) Analyser si l’exposition chronique à la pollution atmosphérique modifie la relation entre la chaleur et la mortalité dans un contexte urbain (Paris) et explorer la double interaction avec la défaveur sociale ; c) Développer une méthode de quantification des impacts liés à la chaleur en lien avec les changements climatiques en intégrant une grande diversité de simulations climatiques ; d) Estimer les inégalités d’années de vies perdues attribuables à la chaleur et leurs projections futures dans deux contextes distincts (Montréal et Paris) et comparer ces inégalités. Cette thèse a permis de mettre en évidence sur la base de la littérature épidémiologique les groupes de population qui sont les plus vulnérables face aux effets de la chaleur et de montrer qu’il y a plusieurs divergences par rapport aux recommandations émises par les institutions de santé publique vis-À-Vis de l’identification de populations vulnérables. Cette thèse a permis également d’identifier l’exposition chronique à la pollution atmosphérique comme nouveau facteur de vulnérabilité à la chaleur et que cette vulnérabilité était encore plus prononcée lorsqu’il s’agissait de populations défavorisées socialement. Puis, une méthode permettant de quantifier l’impact des changements climatiques sur les décès attribuables à la chaleur et ses sources d’incertitudes a été développée, et a permis de mettre en évidence que la probabilité que les changements climatiques conduisent à une augmentation de la mortalité en lien avec la chaleur est très forte. Cette méthode a ensuite été utilisée pour estimer que l’augmentation de la température conduira à une augmentation des inégalités sociales d’années de vie perdues à la fois à Montréal et à Paris, l’effet des changements climatiques sur l’accroissement de ces inégalités étant plus fort à Montréal qu’à Paris. Cette thèse, en se basant sur diverses méthodes épidémiologiques, a permis dans l’ensemble de clarifier quelles populations étaient particulièrement à risque face aux effets de la chaleur et de questionner les recommandations émises par les organismes tels que l’OMS. Elle a également permis de montrer l’effet des changements climatiques sur l’évolution de vulnérabilités face à la chaleur pour inciter dès aujourd’hui la mise en place de politiques publiques équitables et limiter l’impact des changements climatiques sur l’accroissement des inégalités de santé. / Climate change is one of the biggest public health threats in the 21th century. An increase in temperatures will lead to an increase in mortality attributable to temperature. In addition, some populations and territories are particularly vulnerable to the impact of increases in heat. It is thus necessary to identify these populations and territories as well as examine future heat-Related health impacts in order to recommend equity-Oriented policies today and in the future. The general objective of this thesis is to document current and future heat-Related vulnerability factors in the context of climate change. In order to address this general objective, the thesis involved four components: a) to conduct a systematic review and a meta-Analysis to assess the heterogeneity in the heat-Mortality associations with respect to individual and contextual population characteristics; b) to identify whether and how the magnitude of mean temperature effects on all-Cause mortality were modified by chronic air pollution exposure, social deprivation, and a combination of these two dimensions; c) to develop a method to quantify the climate change impacts on heat-Related mortality using climate modeling; d) to assess historical and future social disparities in years of life lost caused by ambient temperature in Montreal and Paris, and compare these estimates as well as the impact of climate change on social disparities between the two cities. This thesis highlights which populations are more vulnerable to heat and shows that several differences exist with regard to guidelines from international public health institutions for the identification of vulnerable populations. This thesis also identified chronic air pollution exposure as a new vulnerability factor in heat-Related mortality and that it has a double interaction with social deprivation. Furthermore, in this thesis a novel method to quantify future heat-Related mortality was developed which emphasized the strong evidence of an increase in heat-Related mortality under climate change. This method was then applied to estimate the increase in daily years of life lost social disparities in both Montreal and Paris under climate change which showed that this increase would be greater in Montreal compared to Paris in the future. Thus, this thesis which used a variety of epidemiologic methods has clarified which populations are particularly vulnerable to heat impacts and challenges guidelines for the identification of vulnerable populations from international public health institutions. It has also highlighted the climate change impacts on health inequalities and aims to reorient equity-Focused policies.

As gerontologists may know, there are a great deal of studies and a variety of academic literature on the misuse of alcohol and prescription medication amongst the elderly population. While there is a plethora of information on alcohol and prescription misuse, there is little reported data about the prevalence of other substance misuse experienced by this population. This study aims to help to fill that gap in the data by using quantitative methods to describe the scope of substance abuse of individuals 55-years or older. This study utilizes data from the Treatment Data Set Admission (TEDS-A). The TEDS-A is a public data set which includes admissions data from multiple substance abuse treatment facilities associated with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA). This is a regional study, therefore this study focuses only on individuals 55-years or older who have been admitted into substance abuse treatment facilities in the state of California in the year 2014. The TEDS-A is a data set that is supported and conducted by members of SAMHSA. Most of their public data sets, including the TEDS-A, can be accessed on their website (https://www.datafiles.samhsa.gov/study/treatment-episode-data-set-admissions-teds-2014-nid16949). The data available in the TEDS-A involves a number of admission questions, including demographic data, reasons for intake, primary through tertiary substance concerns, questions regarding social status, information on medical insurance, and more. This study looks at the descriptive frequencies of the use of alcohol, crack/cocaine, marijuana/hashish, heroin, other opiates & synthetics, methamphetamine, and other substances. The study includes 13,512 cases, of which 9966 (73.8%) of cases were male, 3539 (26.2%) were female, and 7 (0.1%) were missing and/or invalid. The results of the data suggests that, while alcohol abuse is a problem, those over 55 are admitted into substance abuse clinics for many other reasons, not just alcohol abuse.

No description available.

The thesis is aimed on the role of seniors in the society of the west type with the stress on the society in the Czech Republic. In the theoretical part there is discussed the problematic of active life-conception in old years as the important condition of social health of both senior-ladies and senior-men. In next section there are presented myths having the base in the oldness and there are outlined the possibilities that seniors have in this area in the Czech Republic. Further, in the work there are discussed main problems that seniors have in recent society preferring youthfulness and sexual activity.In the practical part of the thesis there are presented some significant results of the research ``Senior-women in Roman Catholic Church{\crqq} that surveys the active life-conception, life style and life-contentment of its members older than sixty five years. There is discussed the influence of dissimilarities having the base in the difference in education or social status of senior-women or whether they live in the city or in a small village.

Same-sex couples are affected by the social and political climates in which they live, as these create the difference between acceptance and legalization, and discrimination and prohibition, of their relationships. This contingence is made increasingly impactful by the privileges and protections afforded to married couples by the federal government; same-sex couples, along with other couples that choose not to, or cannot, marry, are excluded from these benefits. Following the June 26, 2013 ruling that Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional, same-sex couples were given access to over 1,100 federal protections and benefits and supported legally for the first time. My research explored the lived experiences of same-sex couples following this milestone in order to develop an understanding of the psychological and relational effects of the DOMA repeal on same-sex couples. This understanding may assist therapists working with these couples by increasing comprehension of their context and the effects of the DOMA repeal on their internal and relationship functioning. By understanding these aspects, therapists may work more capably and sensitively with same-sex couples, and be more informed regarding potential problems these clients may bring to therapy. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed in order to gather comprehensive data on the topic, utilize the strengths of both methodologies, and enhance the results of each method with the other. A single instrument, an online survey, was utilized. The quantitative paradigm provided numerical data on the experiences of same-sex couples following the DOMA repeal, as well as differences in experiences based on variance in state laws. Under the qualitative paradigm, phenomenological methodology was utilized to explore and convey participants' experience of the repeal in their own words. Responses were collected via survey to allow for more anonymity for participants, as well as a more representative sample of same-sex couples across the country. Qualitative and quantitative questions were included on the survey; responses were analyzed separately, and then merged during interpretation. Implications for clinical practice derived from this study are reviewed, as well as implications for advocacy work and directions for further research. It is hoped that this study will provide a better understanding of same-sex couples' lived experiences following the repeal of DOMA's Section Three, and provide implications for therapists working with these couples.