<p> Diagnosis of cancer found in a child impacts not only the child being diagnosed, but the siblings, parents, and family as a whole. The purpose of this thesis project was to write a grant in order to fund the development and implementation of a support group for parents who have children with cancer. In partnership with Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, the program would create a 6 week long support group that would provide parents with skills, resources, and interventions needed to parent a child diagnosed with cancer. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was selected as a funder because of the foundation's dedication to promote the health, happiness and well-being of children. This grant reviews the challenges parents have as well as the positive impact this program could have on the parents and their children. Submission and funding of this grant were not requirements of successful completion of this project. </p>

<p> Common themes that arise in working with adolescent mothers are the lack of involvement from incarcerated adolescent fathers and the scarcity of services available for them. This grant proposal targets incarcerated adolescent fathers and their families to establish healthy, long-lasting relationships through the provisions of educational and parenting skills. Children with adolescent fathers who are incarcerated suffer the most consequences. Thus, efforts promoting father involvement intent to also ameliorate child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment. Parenting Skills for Young Dads in Detention (PSYDD), provides psycho-educational and supportive services through a 10-week program, along with a father-child relationship-building component to focus on improving the quality of relationships between the fathers, their children, and the mothers of their children. The proposed program will promote the strengthening of family ties. The actual funding and submission of this grant proposal were not requirements for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> What often stands out in people's life stories is the presence of one person who seemed to change the course of their life. Although such life-changing relationships are portrayed in literature, and can be found all around us, there has been limited research on what makes these experiences possible. Many relevant studies have been conducted within the field of mentoring, however the transformational elements of such relationships have remained elusive. This study, through phenomenological qualitative research, involving semi-structured dyadic interviews, explores mentorships that have been identified as "transformational" and aims to discover the key attributes common in these relationships. Thirteen mentees, whose lives have been significantly changed by their mentorships, agreed to participate, along with their mentors. Several themes emerged from these narratives of transformational relationships: Commitment and Caring, Involvement, Affirmation/ Recognition of Mentee, the mentor being a Role Model and Contextualizing the Relationship, and the mentee having a Unique Experience. These common elements may provide a way to enhance mentoring efforts and facilitate life-changing relationships between adults and youth in need. </p>

<p> Auditory hallucinations or hearing voices is one symptom that individuals with schizophrenia may experience. Although the majority of people with schizophrenia may hear voices, the vast majority of voice hearers do not have schizophrenia. </p><p> This study interviewed 15 voice hearers residing in and around Long Beach, California. Each voice hearer participated in an in-depth interview to explore how they perceive their voices and to gather voice hearers' recommendations for mental health professionals.</p><p> The present study found that many voice hearers expressed a desire for mental health professionals and social workers just to "listen" to them without asserting opinions and judgment. This study also discusses social stigma as a treatment barrier to individuals who hear voices. The findings in this study suggest that more education on voice hearing is needed within the field of social work and mental health.</p>

<p> A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), their typically developing siblings (TDS), and parents. The literature was assessed for demonstration of evidence-based practice (EBP). A comprehensive search of the literature between 1998 and 2014 generated 87 studies; 54 articles were excluded, and 33 were included in the systematic review. Behavioral and psychosocial interventions for children with ASD most commonly demonstrated EBP in achieving optimal outcomes. Support groups, counseling, and parent-as-therapist interventions suggested EBP for increasing quality of life, but support groups for TDS did not. Parent-as-therapist interventions demonstrated EBP in achieving optimal outcomes for children with ASD, and improvements in quality of life and empowerment for parents. Interventions should therefore be created and studied for EBP most often in order to improve the quality of life for the whole family.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant for the funding of a program for significant others of sexual violence victims. Based on the literature review, individuals who interact with primary victims may be impacted by the sexual violence experience, making them secondary victims. A psychoeducational group will be developed to meet the needs of secondary trauma victims. This group will take place at Peace Over Violence, in Los Angeles, California. The selected funding source for this project will be the Marisla Foundation which takes a special interest in human services programs.</p><p> The project goals include networking with community organizations, engaging families or significant others who are experiencing challenges related to the sexual violence experience, and to reduce secondary trauma symptoms among secondary trauma victims. Actual submission and/or funding of the grant proposal was not required for successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant to fund a program designed for older adults who suffer from serious mental illness. In this program, the older adults would be using computerized activities to enhance memory. Another portion ofthe program would be dedicated to the prevention of falls through the use of rhythmic steps in music. The program would be held by the host agency, Life Sharing Health Care in the city ofNorwalk, California, once the Archstone Foundation approved and funded the grant proposal. Since memory loss and falls are prevalent in the older adult population, it is essential to create programs whose mission is to prevent these problems from occurring or at least reduce the impairment and frequency. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

<p> Coordinating care is of particular concern in Alaska due to expansive geography, difficulty of travel, and often limited behavioral health care resources. This study explored how individual, organizational, and systemic factors influence clinicians' use of video teleconferencing to conduct "live" discharge plans from urban psychiatric facilities to rural communities. </p><p> Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted, in person and by telephone, with urban clinical staff (n = 10), urban administrative staff (<i>n</i> = 6), and rural outpatient staff (<i>n</i> = 14). Two researchers analyzed the transcribed interviews in a recursive manner using a grounded theory methodology. </p><p> Participants described infrequent, but generally positive experiences with live discharge planning: connecting patients to providers, temporarily joining treatment teams, evaluating patients for appropriate placement, engaging patients in their own care, addressing medication issues, and coordinating with family and village resources. Providers recommended hiring interns or dedicated staff, installing equipment "on unit," or using wireless tablets. Rural participants ascribed a greater value to emergency psychiatric consultations at admissions than coordination at discharge. </p><p> Continued selective use of live discharge plans is indicated with patient length of stay being an important consideration in determining feasibility. Future implementation should involve dedicated resources and use video teleconferencing to formally enhance other transitional services. Once issues of organizational readiness are addressed, a Knowledge-Attitudes-Behavior framework may be useful for managing providers' underuse. Future research could evaluate rural, village-based intensive case management supported by consultation with the psychiatric hospital via video teleconferencing.</p>

<p> Holocaust survivors are a diminishing population, yet they share a wealth of knowledge, and their vast experiences, life stories, and perspective are relevant now and for future generations. The goal of this exploratory study was to elicit information about posttraumatic growth among Holocaust survivors and the factors that may come into play. The questions focused on the time before, during, and after the war. This study is about a positive change an individual may experience as a result of a traumatic event, posttraumatic growth, a term coined by Tedeschi and Calhoun. A total of 13 people (7 females and 6 males) were interviewed for this qualitative study. All of the subjects identified with suffering from PTSD at one point in their lives, and 10 (77%) indicated that posttraumatic growth has been prevalent, mainly in domains of greater sense of personal strength and more profound appreciation of life. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1989. Adviser: Dean Barry Ackerson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-133) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.