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Thousands of Chinese women from the People's Republic of China (PRC, or commonly known as Mainland China) come to the united states hoping to be re-united with their husbands and to support them in finishing their education. They all face similar kinds of experiences on arrival. They mayor may not have had some contact with Western culture, but most of them grew up in a culture different from the West. Willingly or not, they left their families, friends, and careers to take up this odyssey in a completely strange land. The joy of reuniting with their husbands is often clouded by uncertainties and a sense of loss. In the area of counseling and student personnel services, there is little research on the adjustment experiences of these sojourner Mainland Chinese women who accompany their spouses to the united states. As a result, the higher education community is often taken by surprise when families or couples experience such situations as marital discord and domestic violence where remedial actions are expected of them. They also do not know how to plan effective programs for spouses of Mainland Chinese students. The purpose of this study was to examine the sojourner adjustment experiences of Mainland Chinese women in the United states from their own perspective, and to explore the factors that affect their adjustment. This study identified adjustment to new settings, documented processes of adjustment, and examined the means used processes of to deal with adjustment. A longitudinal design was used with both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. In-depth individual interviews, phone interviews, questionnaires, daily activity record forms, and participant observations were used to collect data over a 9 month period. Eleven women were studied in depth. The study showed that most Mainland Chinese women do not choose to come here in the first place. After their arrival, they have great language difficulties which limit their daily activities and hinder their choice of career and/or further education. As a result, they experience an identity crisis. Language ability, attitude toward coming to the united states, and life events are the most significant factors that affect their adjustment to life in the united states. There is a lack of coordination in the programs offered by the university and the community in which this study was conducted. Most of these programs do not meet the needs of these Chinese women. Due to cultural differences and the lack of knowledge of Western professional counseling, they do not turn to professional counselors for help. Instead, they mainly rely, upon other Chinese students in the community. If major problems occur, they turn to the administrative staff or faculty of the university, counterparts of their work unit leaders in China. A systems approach aiming at different facets of their problems in various levels seems to be the key in helping these Chinese women. / Ed. D.

The focus of this study was domestic violence in a faith-based setting. The researcher utilized the constructivist approach in building a subjective understanding of the research topic and possible interventions.

This study outlines the results of an evaluation of programmes through a developmental quality assurance process within shelters for abused women and their children in Gauteng Province. The survey obtained the attitudes and opinions of the social workers/social auxiliary workers and shelter managers towards their services. The study reflects empirical findings as well as strengths and developmental areas within these shelters. The results from the study indicate that shelters for abused women and their children are functioning well. However, the Minimum Standards for Shelters are not fully adhered to. Therefore, internal and external evaluations should be used by shelter managers to evaluate their own performance and to improve service delivery. / Social Work / MA(SS) (Social Work)

This study outlines the results of an evaluation of programmes through a developmental quality assurance process within shelters for abused women and their children in Gauteng Province. The survey obtained the attitudes and opinions of the social workers/social auxiliary workers and shelter managers towards their services. The study reflects empirical findings as well as strengths and developmental areas within these shelters. The results from the study indicate that shelters for abused women and their children are functioning well. However, the Minimum Standards for Shelters are not fully adhered to. Therefore, internal and external evaluations should be used by shelter managers to evaluate their own performance and to improve service delivery. / Social Work / MA(SS) (Social Work)

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

The special needs domain has long been recognised as problematic and adversarial. Much research has focused on areas of contention, such as the relationships between parents and practitioners, especially in educational settings, or on problems within the structure and operation of the domain. This study adopts a whole system approach in combining discussion of the structural basis of tension within the domain with an investigation of how both parents and practitioners describe, experience and respond to tensions within the special needs domain; such tensions being viewed as facets of the 'struggle' and 'fight' metaphor. Whole systems approaches are derived from the systems discipline, which developed initially out of the nineteenth century interest in organic and engineering systems, but more recently has focused on organisational and inter-organisational arrangements, including the part people play in enabling or disabling such arrangements. It is a strongly interdisciplinary approach more commonly found in organisational studies than in the social sciences more generally. Fifteen practitioners, from health and education settings, and twelve parents of children and young people with diagnoses of high functioning autism spectrum conditions participated in the study. The participants' stories of their experiences of the special needs domain were collected using a narrative inquiry approach. The data was analysed using concepts and theoretical frameworks derived from the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Uri Bronfenbrenner and Charles Wright Mills. An exploration of the influences shaping the special needs domain revealed a number of areas of unresolved tension, some of which result in tensions for those involved in the domain such as can be described as 'fight', and some of which might be addressed by structural changes to the systems comprising the special needs domain such as those envisaged in forthcoming legislation. However importantly the empirical study found that many tensions and struggles experienced by both parents and practitioners did not emanate from the structures of the domain and therefore were unlikely to be amenable to structural changes. Parents 'struggle' to maintain their identity as 'good' parents, to acquire information and to navigate the system in order to access services and resources. Practitioners experience conflict as they seek to access information and training, engage in the complex choreography of cooperating and collaborating in interagency and interprofessional working and endeavour to harmonise their professional practice with agency and public policy priorities. The thesis concludes with a brief discussion of the relationship between whole system approaches and other interdisciplinary approaches to investigating complex problems in the human sciences. It is suggested that systems diagramming techniques such as systems mapping and rich pictures are useful additions to the sociologist's toolkit.

The comparative experiences of the nineteenth-century British and American Army officer's wives add a central dimension to studies of empire. Sharing their husbands' sense of duty and mission, these women transferred, adopted, and adapted national values and customs, to fashion a new imperial sociability, influencing the course of empire by cutting across and restructuring gender, class, and racial borders. Stationed at isolated stations in British India and the American West, many officers' wives experienced homesickness and disorientation. They reimagined military architecture and connected into the military esprit de corps, to sketch a blueprint of female identity and purpose. On the physical journeys to join their husbands, and post arrival, the feminization of formal and informal military practices produced a new social reality and facilitated the development of an empowered sisterhood that sustained imperialist ambitions. This appropriation of symbols, processes, and rankings facilitated roles as social functionaries and ceremonial performers. Additionally, in utilizing dress, and home decor, military spouses drafted and projected an imperial identity that reflected, yet transformed upper and middle-class gender models. An examination of the social processes of calling and domestic rituals confirms the formation of a distinct and influential imperial female identity. The duty of protecting the social gateway to the imperial community, rested with a hostess?s ability to discriminate ? and convincingly reject parvenus. In focusing on the domestic site it becomes clear that the mistress-servant relationship both formulated and reproduced imperial ideologies. Within the home, the most intimate of inter-racial, inter-ethnic, and inter-class contact zones, the physiological trait of a white skin, and the exhibition of national artifacts signaled identity, status, and authority. Military spouses, then, generated social power as arbiters, promoters, and police officers of an imperial class, reaffirming internal confidence within the Anglo communities, and legitimizing external representations of the power and prestige of empire.

本研究旨在探討隨著臺灣的民主化進程，不同年代間的夫妻權力關係所受影響之因素與改變情形，尤其是社會情境（文化脈絡）方面的影響。擬採用家庭決策模式為指標，並根據資源論、交換論與與文化規範的論點，討論個人特質與其所握有的資源對家庭決策模式的影響。焦點包括臺灣的民主化進程會否導致夫妻間共同決定的比例增加？以及夫妻所擁有的資源對影響夫妻權力分配的影響程度，是否隨著臺灣的民主化進程而增加？ 研究者採用「華人家庭動態調查」資料庫中第一年計畫（RI-1999）與第五年計畫（RI-2003）兩筆資料當中有關「家庭決策與支出」的部分進行分析。研究結果發現不論何者皆是以夫妻共同決定的情況為主，隨著時間的變化並未有顯著的增加，甚至略為減少。另外，研究結果顯示隨著臺灣的民主化進程，夫妻所擁有的資源對影響夫妻權力分配的影響程度的確有所增加。根據研究的結果而知，隨著臺灣的民主化進程，教育的普及與兩性平權概念的提升，的確造成夫妻權力間的變化受到相對社經資源影響增加，反而使得共同決策的情形略減。此外，過去一些認為會影響夫妻權力關係的個人特質因素，像是族群的部分，所呈現的結果反而和過去的研究不一致。究竟民主化對於影響夫妻權力關係的其他因素將會帶來何種變化，可做為將來研究的方向。 / The purpose of this research is to understand the power relationship between husbands and wives, including the factors and the transition during 1999-2003 within the process of Taiwan’s democratization, especially the context of culture. Researcher adopts family decision-making as an important index. Base on the resources theory, the exchange theory and the theory of resources in culture context, the main questions of this research are: 1. Does the proportion of family decision-making change? 2. The situation that the more resources one has, the more power in making decision one has would increase. The results are as follows. The proportion of family decision-making does not change significantly, however, the situation that one has more resources would have more power in making decision does increase. Nevertheless, the research tells us that some personal characteristics like one’s ethnic group, do not have the same result as research in past. How will Taiwan’s democratization influence these factors, or change their nature in the process of decision-making? That could be a good research direction in the future.