<p> </p> <p>Though literature on the influence and efficacy of service dogs as a complementary and integrative health intervention option for a variety of needs (e.g., medical, mobility, psychiatric) continues to emerge, a focus on how service dogs are integrated into the everyday lives of their handlers remains understudied. This dissertation offers new insights to this previously understudied area by first comparing the expectations versus lived experiences of veteran service dog handlers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and then focusing in on the influence of service dogs beyond the handler, looking at the influence of service dogs on spouses, family members and caregivers. Using a rigorous multi-modal approach, both qualitative and quantitative insights emerge regarding the integration of a service dog for the handler and their families. Findings suggest that understanding the similarities and differences between expectations and experiences may help to inform practitioners and interested recipients about the service dog intervention and help to set realistic expectations about the integration process. Additionally, in populations of psychiatric assistance dogs for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in populations of mobility and medical alert assistance dogs, findings suggest that the benefits and challenges of the intervention reach beyond the service dog recipient and handler, extending to affect the wellbeing of their families and caregivers. Researchers and practitioners should work together to develop programs that integrate these findings to provide family-focused educational interventions where both positive and negative experiences are shared alongside strategies to overcome the challenges associated with integrating a service dog into a home prior to pairing. Providing this opportunity enables setting realistic expectations for this complementary and integrative intervention option which in turn may affect its efficacy and success throughout and beyond the integration process. </p>

A secret service agent returns home to reconcile with his wife just as the Rapture begins. His scramble to reunite with her becomes all the more urgent when a violent cult begins terrorizing the city in its final hours

Brain injury has become the signature wound of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF), based on estimates that 10% of all returning warriors may have sustained a brain injury secondary to blast exposures. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects the lives of survivors as well as their loved ones, and the consequences associated with TBI inform well-being for all involved. This research uses grounded theory to understand contributing factors of female spousal well-being, specifically the female partners of servicemen who have sustained mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mMTBI) during combat in OIF/OEF. Through the use of sequential interviews and transcript analysis, the Combat Related Traumatic Brain Injury (CoRTs) Model of Spousal Well-Being emerged illustrating the dynamic relationships among supports, role engagement, the process of redefining self, perceptions of personal empowerment and subjective wellbeing. Four key conclusions were identified from these findings: a) mMTBI affects the life of the surviving service member as well as the life of his partner, b) the myriad consequences of combat-related mMTBI on the female spouse prompted these women to engage in a journey of redefining self, c) communities of influence became the centerpiece from which participants could move forward with their lives or remain in their current state, and d) successful engagement in roles of choice provided study participants experiences from which to establish their new self, fostered perceptions of empowerment, and informed well-being. The CoRTs Model of Well-Being and conclusions provide a framework for future programming designed to target the needs of veterans and family members whose lives have been disrupted by brain injury sustained in combat. / Ph. D.

The need for research in the marital attitudes of Air Force couples is immense. The Air Force marital counselor requires knowledge of the attitudes of the couples coming to him for aid in saving their marriages., The counselor looks for empirical data on Air Force couples as a guide in counseling procedures only to discover that such data does not exist. Much data on the marital attitudes of civilian couples can be found, but this civilian data is applied to Air Force counseling with a doubt that it fits the Air Force situation. This research is an attempt to provide data useful in counseling Air Force couples in the Air Force setting. The purpose of this investigation is to present any variance of marital attitudes in four Air Force status groups. The research has both theoretical and practical import. There are two theoretical aspects: It is generally thought that marital roles are played differently in one status group than they are in another. If this generalization is true for the four Air Force status groups; unlike responses to marital questions will be the result. If it is not true for the four groups, like responses will be evident. Another generalization is that there are differential value systems of male and female marriage members. If in answer to marital questions, the male and female responses of Air Force couples are variant by rank, the generalization for these four groups is demonstrated. If the responses are not variant, the value systems for the sexes within the four groups are alike and the generalization is not proven. The practical aspects flow from the theoretical. If it can be demonstrated that the four Air Force status groups display different marital roles and have various marital responses, Air Force counselors can prepare four types of marital counseling procedures. These counseling refinements could be of great value, making for maximum effect in marital counseling. If such could not be demonstrated, then other studies and refinements would be required. In either case, some knowledge and understanding would be added to the general body of knowledge and understanding now extant.

Bakgrund: Alzheimers demens är idag den vanligaste sorten av demens med succesiv försämring av minne, orienteringsförmåga och kognitiv svikt. Effekterna av Alzheimers demens har negativ inverkan på anhöriga kring den drabbade. Syfte: Belysa anhörigas upplevelser av att leva med och vårda en partner som har Alzheimers sjukdom i dagligt liv. Metod: Litteratursökningen gjordes i databaserna MEDLINE och CINAHL och de vetenskapliga artiklarna som valdes ut var baserade på det valda syftet. Efter en genomgång av 111 artiklar valdes till slut 13 artiklar ut. En litteraturöversikt med kvalitativ ansats gjordes baserat på Fribergs (2017) femstegs modell. Resultat: Översikten genererade tre huvudteman och åtta subteman: Upplevelsen av förändrig (frustration och strategier); Osäkerhet kring framtiden (oförutsägbar framtid, försämrad ekonomi, skuld och skam); Förändrade relationer (från livskamrat till främling, isoleras och övergiven, att få hjälp från vården). Slutsats: Det är inte lätt att ta hand om en partner med Alzheimers sjukdom och känslan av frustration och otrillräcklighet är mycket vanlig. Relationer förändras och framtiden man innan kunde planera är nu fylld av oro och osäkerhet. Vi inom vården har en skyldighet att bemöta och stötta de anhöriga med empati, och därigenom visa förståelse för att de ska känna sig sedda. / Background: Among the various forms of dementia Alzheimer's disease is the most common with successive degeneration of memory, orientation and cognitive ability. The effect of Alzheimer disease har a negative influence on the spouse and family member of the patient. Aim: The purpose of the study was to highlight the experience of spouses living with a partner that har Alzheimer disease. Method: The literature search was performed in the databases MEDLINE and CINAHL. The scholarly articles that were selected were based on the purpose of the review. After reviewing 111 articles, 13 articles were selected. The review was a qualitative literatur review which was based on Friberg (2017) five stages model. Result: It generated three main caegories and eight subcategories: The changed experience (frustration and strategies); Uncertainty about the future (unpredictable future, deteriorated economy, guilt and shame); Changed relationship (from life partner to stranger, isolated and abandoned, helg from healthcare). Conclusion: It's not easy taking care of a partner with Alzheimer's. Experiences of frustration, changes in relationships, and feelings of uncertainty about the futur as a result of the disease. The helthcare partitional have a responsibility to meet and support the relatives and patients with empathy, understanding and compassion.

Many American farmers have faced financial stress in the early 1980s unprecedented since the Depression. Simultaneously, farm wives have joined the off-farm labor market at rates exceeding urban women. Since prior research has found different correlates of family functioning and of external employment for rural and urban families, this descriptive study of Virginia farm wives (N = 128) investigated the impact of farm wives' external employment on the functioning of the farm and the farm family. While the sample did not represent the total Virginia farm population, it did appear to represent the financially stressed farm population. A comparison of employed farm wives (E = 57) and non-employed wives (N = 71) was analyzed to determine differences. Dependent variables affecting farm functioning included the farm's debt-to-asset ratio indicating the financial _ stress level, the wife's mental strain due to economic pressures, and lifestyle satisfaction. Dependent variables affecting family functioning were the wife's marital adjustment, psychological well being, and overall life satisfaction. The results indicated that the wife's external employment had a significantly negative impact on farm functioning. Wives working off the farm were more likely to come from farms with greater financial stress and were less satisfied with the equity factor of their lifestyle satisfaction. While mental strain was not significantly higher, more than one-third of employed wives experienced high mental strain. A significantly negative impact on family functioning was not found although employed farm wives reported lower marital adjustment and overall life satisfaction with proportionately fewer employed farm wives than nonemployed wives reporting positive psychological well-being. / Master of Science

Yes / Objectives: Qualitative research has suggested that spousal experiences of discontinuity in their relationship with a person who has dementia (i.e. the relationship is experienced as radically changed) may contribute to heightened feelings of burden, entrapment, isolation, guilt and intolerance of behaviours that challenge. By contrast, continuity in the relationship may contribute to a greater sense of achievement and gratification from providing care. The present study served as a quantitative test of these suggestions. Method: A convenience sample of 71 spouses of people with dementia completed three questionnaires - the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), the Positive Aspects of Caregiving measure (PAC) and the Birmingham Relationship Continuity Measure (BRCM). Results: In accordance with the hypotheses, the experience of greater relationship continuity (higher BRCM scores) was correlated with fewer negative emotional reactions to caregiving (lower ZBI scores; rho = −.795) and more positive emotional reactions (higher PAC scores; rho = .764). Conclusions: The study provided some quantitative support for suggestions arising from qualitative research about how perceptions of continuity/discontinuity in the relationship may impact on the caregiving spouse's emotional well-being. Helping couples to maintain a sense of continuity and couplehood may assist their emotional adjustment to dementia.

The purpose of this investigation was to critically examine differences in the perceived levels of marital satisfaction among Nigerians living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A realistic appraisal of this group's perceived levels of marital satisfaction provided the basis for this pragmatic and academically useful study which is especially valuable to professionals involved in cross-cultural counseling.

Maintenance between spouses, maintenance between former spouses, maintenance between civil partners Abstract The diploma thesis deals with maintenance between spouses during marriage and after divorce and maintenance between civil partners. The maintenance duty and right for maintenance is recently a discussed topic, particularly due to high divorce rate. It is not a novelty that a divorce of a marriage or termination of a civil partnership strongly influences all of the partaking not only emotionally, but also economically. Exactly in these cases, the law provides a protection to the economically weak members of a family in a form of maintenance institutes. The biggest attention is usually dedicated to the maintenance and support of a minor. The other kinds of maintenance are not mentioned very often. The aim of this work is to analyse current legal regulation of the above mentioned institutes in the Czech legal order and compare it to the already repealed Family Act. After the recent Civil Law recodification, most of the relevant provisions were integrated to The Civil Code. Nevertheless, its content was not fundamentally changed. The thesis is basically divided into four main parts. The first and the most important part deals with the substantive regulations of all the above mentioned institutes. It...

Au moment de l’élaboration du projet de la loi de la protection de la famille en 2007, il semblait exister un consensus général parmi les politiciens, les religieux, les universitaires et les activistes des droits de la femme, sur la nécessité de réformer les dispositions légales iraniennes concernant la famille. Pourtant, en dépit des attentes, la nouvelle L.P.F. a totalement maintenu la même structure de rapport entre les époux que celle qui avait été régie par les dispositions antérieures. Ces inégalités étant fondées sur le droit imamite, ont été justifiées depuis la fin des années 1960, par la théorie de non similitude exposée par Ayatollah Motahari. Selon la théorie de non similitude, du fait de leur différence de nature, l’homme et la femme ne peuvent pas avoir le même rôle : à la femme, le rôle de reproduction de la vie au sein de l’instance familiale, à l’homme la reproduction de la richesse afin de subvenir aux besoins de la famille. A travers l’étude des inégalités dans rapports personnels et patrimoniaux des époux, l’étude montre que cette division du travail n’assure pas une vie conjugale pacifique, digne et équilibrée. L’étude montre aussi que la protection matérielle de l’épouse dure uniquement durant la vie du mari. Par ailleurs, les mesures matérielles de protection théoriquement accordées à l’épouse, sont, en pratique, très difficiles à percevoir. En outre, cette compensation matérielle n’est pas suffisante pour réparer le dommage moral subi par celle-ci / At the time of drafting the family protection bill in 2007, there seemed to be a general consensus among politicians, religious, academics and women's rights activists on the need to revise the Iranian family law legislation. However, despite the anticipations, the new family protection law, has totally maintained the same structure of relation between the spouses as that which had been enacted in previous legislations. These inequalities, based on imamite law, have been justified since the end of the 1960s by the theory of non-similarity between man and woman, set forth by ayatollah Motahari. According to the theory of non-similarity, because of their difference in nature, men and women can not have the same tasks. To woman, the role of reproduction of life within the family; to man, the reproduction of wealth in order to provide for the needs of the family. But, the fact that several pecuniary relations between the spouses were affected by the new family protection law proves that from the point of view of the Iranian legislator, the balance which was supposed to dominate the relation between the spouses was disturbed. The study of inequalities in the personal and patrimonial relations of the spouses, the study shows that this division of task does not ensure a peaceful, dignified and balanced married life. The study also proves that the material protection of the wife lasts only during the life of the husband. On another note, the materiel protection measures that are theoretically granted to the wife, are practically very difficult to perceive. Furthermore, such material compensation is not sufficient to recompense for the non-pecuniary damage suffered by her