Access to health care is considered a basic right in Canadian society. However, health services are frequently inappropriate, unacceptable and thus inaccessible to immigrant and refugee women. The everyday concerns of immigrant and refugee women are germane to establishing appropriate, acceptable and accessible health care services. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the everyday life experiences of Somali, exploring how these experiences affect their. Grounded theory, a qualitative research method, in which data collection and analysis occur in tandem, was utilized, and enhanced by the perspective of feminism, in this study. This feminist perspective facilitated a non-oppressive, non-hierarchical, interactive and reflexive research process. 'Rebuilding' in Canada was identified as a central process. Two main categories were discovered in the process of rebuilding; (1) adjusting to the refugee reality & (2) finding a new safety in Canada. Running from flames reflects on the initial experiences of Somali women in Canada. Despite the fact that they are safe in Canada, coming to terms with their reality as refugees is not easy. Safe in Canada Somali women begin the day-to-day trials of dealing with intercultural communication in an unfamiliar Canadian system. The study finding encourage nurses and other health care providers to consider the context and history of clients ultimately broadening their conception, as health care providers, of health and the multiple factors that determine it. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Statistics indicate that women in management remain concentrated in junior levels while underrepresented in senior positions (Employment and Immigration Canada, 1992). Researchers have pointed to the effects of sex discrimination as responsible for women's slow progress into upper-management (Morrison & Von Glinow, 1990). Given this disadvantageous situation, the question remains: What activities do women managers initiative to improve their conditions in the organization? The purpose of the present study is to examine this issue while considering a significant situational factor: women's proportional representation. Moreover, the concept of relative deprivation was used to account for women's motivation to take an active role in the promotion of their personal and collective situation. Reactions from a total of 253 women managers were solicited. Univariate and multivariate analyses of variance uncovered four noteworthy findings: (1) greater personal deprivation was expressed among women managers who either perceived themselves as underrepresented or perceived the entrance of no new female recruits in their work group; (2) greater collective relative deprivation was reported among women who held high, rather than low personal relative deprivation scores; (3) the preferred group enhancement activity for women who expressed high, rather than low levels of collective deprivation was endorsement of employment equity programmes and (4) priority was given to the individual strategy, intention to leave, for women who expressed high, rather than low personal deprivation. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Dans notre these de mai trise (Les Strategies prospectives d'action de Nairobi pour la promotion de la femme: Quel role pour l'Etat?), nous soumettons a l'examen un point de vue couramment accredite par la science politique, selon lequel la centralite de l'Etat dans les relations internationales se trouveraient actuellement remise en cause - compromise meme. Il semble en effet qu'une certaine litterature recente sur le role de l'Etat, de meme qu'un examen attentif de l'actualite internationale, autorisent ce point de vue. Or il nous apparai t aussi que la majorite des Strategies prospectives d'action de Nairobi accordent a l'Etat un role important. Apres avoir verifie empiriquement cette propostion, nous nous demandons dans quelle mesure ces Strategies peuvent s'averer efficaces. Car elles se fondent sur le concept de la centralite de l'Etat au moment meme ou celui-ci se voit remis en question. Les Strategies prospectives d'action de Nairobi risquent-elles l'anachronisme? Dans l'espoir de contribuer a remedier a ce probleme, notre these de mai trise examine s'il est possible de relire les Strategies de Nairobi en y accordant un role plus important a des instances non-etatiques.

La presente recherche avait pour but d'explorer la relation entre les preferences typologiques des individus et les fonctions vocationnelles et psychosociales du mentor et ce, pour le groupe de repondantes en general puis pour la categorie de femmes cadres d'une part, d'autre part pour celle des stagiaires en gestion, enfin pour le groupe anglophone et le groupe francophone. De cette recherche se degagent deux elements probants: d'une part que le lien significatif qui emerge s'effectue le plus souvent a partir de la fonction dominante du profil de personnalite du groupe des repondantes, et d'autre part que ce lien significatif vise chez le mentor des fonctions complementaires a la fonction dominante de la protegee. Dans ce cas-ci, il s'agit de la fonction typologique dominante Pensee (T) chez la protegee, selon l'Indicateur typologique Myers-Briggs, et de fonctions psychosociales du mentor. On observe egalement que le lien significatif complementaire entre la fonction dominante du profil de personnalite et les fonctions privilegiees chez le mentor differe pour les deux groupes de femmes, femmes cadres et stagiaires en gestion. Cette difference correspond a des etapes vocationnelles differentes pour chacun des deux groupes. De plus, cette recherche confirme des similarites entre les deux groupes linguistiques de repondantes, c'est-a-dire un lien significatif complementaire entre la fonction rationnelle typologique dominante du groupe et certaines fonctions psychosociales du mentor. Enfin, les commentaires recueillis aupres des repondantes confirment en leurs propres mots l'importance et la valeur que ces femmes accordent a la relation de mentorat en milieu de travail.

Because of the high prevalence of childhood incest in therapy-seeking populations of women, it is important to determine the treatment approaches that are most effective in resolving the negative consequences of this traumatic event. Although there is a general consensus in the clinical literature that a group treatment approach offers unique therapeutic benefits for this population that are not available in individual therapy, there is little empirical evidence to support this contention. The purpose of the present study was to empirically assess the effectiveness of a group treatment program on intrapersonal symptomatology and interpersonal difficulties in a clinical population of women with a history of incest. Subjects for the study were drawn from participants in a group treatment program conducted by a community-based, mental health agency and developed specifically for women with a history of incest. Thirty-two women who participated in the 20-week group treatment program were compared to thirty-one women who were wait-listed for the program for a similar period of time on measures of intrapersonal symptomatology and interpersonal difficulties. In addition, the effects of the group treatment program across time were examined by assessing intrapersonal symptomatology and interpersonal difficulties in group participants six months following completion of the group treatment program. Results indicate that a time-limited group which focuses on the original trauma is effective in reducing intrapersonal symptomatology for women with a history of incest and that this improvement is stable over time. Although the women who received group treatment felt more support from friends following their experience in the group and appeared to see themselves in a more positive light in their relations with other women over time, interpersonal difficulties, in general, did not show as much improvement as intrapersonal symptomatology. Clinical implications of these findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

La socialisation, principale cause de l'universel phenomene qu'est la sous-representation des femmes dans les domaines scientifiques-technologiques, se fait a travers la famille, l'ecole et les medias. Cependant, malgre la soumission des enfants aux exigences des parents, imposee par la culture camerounaise, seulement deux recherches empiriques (Cooksey, 1982; Ndongko & Woodhouse, 1993) evoquent l'impact de ces premiers agents de socialisation sur l'orientation professionnelle des filles. Il en decoule que la classe socio-economique des parents, le lieu de residence et les supports des membres de la famille peuvent l'influencer. A partir d'une analyse de l'influence de la cellule familiale, la presente recherche vise a etablir un profil incitateur de l'orientatian des etudiantes camerounaises vers les carrieres scientifiques traditionnellement reservees aux hommes. Cinq sous-questions de recherche ont ete verifiees aupres des sujets inscrits en derniere annee du secondaire. Pour chacun des quatre lycees contactes, les echantillons retenus etaient composes de: cinq etudiants des techniques industrielles; cinq etudiantes des techniques administratives; toutes les etudiantes des techniques industrielles; et les parents ou tuteurs de ces dernieres. Une fiche de donnees personnelles pour chaque etudiant-e et deux entrevues semi-structurees, respectivement avec les filles des domaines non traditionnels et leurs parents ou tuteurs, ont ete adoptees comme instruments de mesure. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This study looked at the relations among optimism, perception of stress, coping, and adaptation in women over the age of 60. It was hypothesized that optimism in older women would be associated with lower levels of perceived stress, a greater propensity to appraise stressors as challenges rather than as threats or losses, more adaptive coping strategies, fewer symptoms of distress, and higher levels of life satisfaction. The study used a prospective correlational design. One hundred and thirteen women took part in two interviews, separated by a minimum interval of three months. Although optimism was found to be correlated with most of the dependent variables (DVs), hierarchical regression analyses revealed that it lost its predictive power when the effects of the covariates, particularly Time 1 measures of the DVs and neuroticism, were statistically removed. The most important predictors of coping, distress, and life satisfaction were initial measures of these variables, followed by neuroticism. The discussion of the findings revolved around the importance of clarifying the construct of optimism. It was concluded that more research is needed to determine whether it is best conceptualized as bipolar or two-dimensional; in the latter case, optimism and pessimism would be related but separate constructs. Furthermore, the relationship of these constructs with neuroticism and extraversion needs to be further clarified. The results raise the question of whether the constructs of optimism and pessimism are subsumable under one or more of the "Big Five" personality factors (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness).

Ce mémoire de maîtrise se veut une lecture critique des textes rediges par l'anthropologue francaise Nicole-Claude Mathieu sur une periode de 20 ans et reunis sous le titre L'anatomie politique publie en 1991. Il s'agit d'un examen de l'entreprise scientifique de Mathieu, c'est-a-dire sa deconstruction de la femme-nature contestant l'opposition structurale homme-femme, nature-culture par le biais des categories sexe-genere pour donne lieu a la conception d'une nouvelle epistemologie visant a rendre compte de l'asymetrie au niveau des rapports entre les sexes. Toutefois, l'orientation des travaux de Mathieu vers une theorie qui valorisait la specificite culturelle mene ultimement a l'occultation du biologique. La conclusion propose qu'a l'avenir, il vaudrait mieux s'abstenir de construire un discours feministe a partir des fondements de la valeur nature-culture. Les faiblesses de cette approche sont mises en evidence dans le questionnement sur l'efficacite operative de cette dichotomie.

The transition to motherhood is a transformative experience in a woman's life that has generated increasing interest as a subject of research. The majority of studies that have investigated the phenomenon of first time motherhood employ traditional research methods which tend to fragment the woman's lived experience of becoming and being a mother. Consequently, they provide little in-depth understanding of the meaning of new motherhood as lived by the woman. The present study explored the phenomenon of first time motherhood using a discovery oriented, phenomenological approach, which seeks to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature and meaning of phenomena as lived and experienced by human beings. The phenomenological method systematized by Giorgi (1985), and based on the phenomenological methods of both Husserl and Merleau-Ponty was used. Written and oral descriptions of four new mothers were analyzed and situated meaning structures as well as a general meaning structure of the phenomenon of becoming and being a mother were articulated. The findings of this study revealed the general meaning structure of new motherhood to include the following interrelated dimensions: (1) The emergence of a profoundly close and loving relationship with one's baby which includes a shared emotional world between the new mother and her baby, a deep and primordial need to protect her baby from harm, a sense of responsibility and commitment to care for her baby now and in the future, and feeling captivated by the very presence of her newborn; (2) Living with one's child as an enduring presence which includes a sense of responsibility and caring in the baby's presence as well as in his absence, experiencing her "self" as second to her baby, and a loss freedom for herself; (3) Experiencing an expanding horizon of interrelatedness that involves a new feeling of closeness in the mother's relationships with others, in particular with her spouse but also with other family members and new mothers generally, grounded in shared experience and mutual understanding.

The prototypical study of giftedness is the study of youth selected on the basis of the IQ score. Its counterpart, in the study of success, is the study of eminent men, particularly those who have achieved in the domains of science or mathematics. Though research concerning giftedness and success has been more varied than these models, they are reflective of research tendencies toward: the equation of giftedness with IQ; the focus on youth as a potential national resource; the measurement of success in product-oriented competitive terms such as vocational achievement or eminence; and the relative neglect of adult women in the study of success. To address areas disregarded in the above-mentioned research predilections, the present study was intended to explore more inclusive approaches to giftedness and success. More specifically, it was designed to address the following two concerns: (1) the need for research regarding gifted women selected and studied on the basis of definitions of giftedness which include developmental, creative, and emotional aspects of giftedness; and (2) the need for research concerning gifted women's perspectives on giftedness and success. The study was informed by a feminist perspective, and included a criterion-based selection of 13 Canadian adult women, ages 19-56, who were identified on the basis of their participation in ultrarunning events of 50-1300 miles in length. Two non-hierarchical interviews, of approximately two hours, were conducted with each woman. The data were analyzed qualitatively, and this iterative process was supported by the use of a reflexive journal, and by peer debriefing. A preliminary report of all findings was submitted to the participants in the study for member checking. The results of the present study indicate that gifted women's perspectives are consistent in some ways with the definitions of giftedness and success common in the research literature. Where they denote a difference is in these women's relative disinterest in product-oriented approaches and their emphasis on process-oriented approaches. Their definitions of giftedness focused on: the discovery and application of one's gifts, belief in self, compassion, and transformation. With regard to success, they emphasized: living consciously, inner recognition, and community. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)