陳小玲. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院社會工作學部. / (Reprint cops. 2 &3) of manuscript. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 269-278). / Chen Xiaoling. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan she hui gong zuo xue bu. / 鳴謝 --- p.(i) / 提要 --- p.(iii) / 內容綱目 --- p.(vii) / 圖表目錄 --- p.(xv) / Chapter 第一章 --- 前言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章 --- 概念與理論架構 --- p.10 / Chapter 第一節 --- 精神健康（mental Health）的定義　 --- p.10 / Chapter 第二節 --- 精神健康問題之成因──家庭方面的理論 --- p.22 / Chapter I --- 有關家庭關係的見解與理論 --- p.23 / Chapter II --- 有關家庭交互過程(Family Interaction Process)的理論 --- p.32 / Chapter 第三節 --- 生活事件之壓力(Life Event Stress)、社會支持與精神健康 --- p.40 / Chapter I --- 生活事件壓力與精神健康　　　　　　　　 --- p.42 / Chapter II --- 社會支持與精神健康的理論與研究　　　　 --- p.45 / Chapter III --- 社會支持的概念與定義　　　　　　　　　 --- p.54 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究的假設　 --- p.67 / Chapter 第一節 --- 研究的目的　 --- p.67 / Chapter 第二節 --- 研究的假設 --- p.70 / Chapter 第三節 --- 研究的變項 --- p.72 / Chapter 第四章 --- 研究的方法 --- p.90 / Chapter 第一節 --- 研究的對象與樣本 --- p.90 / Chapter 第二節 --- 預試研究(Pilot Jest)　　　　　　　　　　　　 --- p.97 / Chapter 第三節 --- 資料的搜集 --- p.100 / Chapter 第四節 --- 資料分析 --- p.104 / Chapter 第五節 --- 信度(reliability)與效度(Validity)　 --- p.108 / Chapter 第五章 --- 一般的結果 --- p.113 / Chapter 第一節 --- 問卷收集的比率 --- p.113 / Chapter 第二節 --- 量表的信度(reliability) --- p.118 / Chapter 第六章 --- 研究結果──研究對象的剖象(subject profile) --- p.123 / Chapter 第一節 --- 個人資料 --- p.123 / Chapter 第二節 --- 研究對象的家庭情況 --- p.133 / 總結 --- p.140 / Chapter 第七章 --- 研究結果──知己支持、家庭支持、同儕支持、生活事件壓力與精神健康 --- p.141 / Chapter 第一節 --- 知己支持 --- p.142 / Chapter 第二節 --- 家庭支持與同儕支持 --- p.147 / Chapter 第三節 --- 生活事件壓力　 --- p.165 / Chapter 第四節 --- 精神健康 --- p.169 / 總結 --- p.184 / Chapter 第八章 --- 研究結果──個人情況，家庭情況與社會支持，生活事件壓力與精神健康的關係 --- p.186 / Chapter 第一節 --- 性別組別 --- p.187 / Chapter 第二節 --- 年齡組別 --- p.189 / Chapter 第三節 --- 年級組別 --- p.193 / Chapter 第四節 --- 學校類型組別 --- p.196 / Chapter 第五節 --- 家庭人數的組別 --- p.200 / 總結 --- p.204 / Chapter 第九章 --- 研究結果──社會支持、生活事件壓力與精神健康的相關 --- p.206 / Chapter 第一節 --- 社會支持，生活事件壓力與精神健康的相關 --- p.210 / Chapter 第二節 --- 不同情況下，社會支持，生活事件壓力與精神健康的相關 --- p.220 / Chapter 第三節 --- 社會支持、生活事件壓力對精神的獨立效應(independent effect)及互動效應(interaction effect) --- p.229 / Chapter 第四節 --- 社會支持，生活事件壓力與精神健康的多項相關 --- p.235 / 總結 --- p.238 / Chapter 第十章 --- 摘要(summary)與總結(conclusion)　　 --- p.241 / Chapter 第一節 --- 研究結果的摘要 --- p.241 / Chapter 第二節 --- 討論 --- p.251 / 總結 --- p.255 / 附錄 --- p.257 / 參考書目 --- p.269

This research comprises three linked projects stemming from the first project which aimed to define “long-term” pupil absence from school and discover the principal reasons for such absence. The second project focussed on the area of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), an issue emerging from the first project. The CAMHS 4-Tier Strategic Framework (or “CAMHS Concept”), including links between CAMHS providers were examined and referral pathways investigated and measured against published criteria. The third project explored the new CAMHS Strategic Framework and considered whether implementation problems were to blame for its lack of transformational impact.

Thesis (M.A. in human development)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-63).

Wilderness therapy is an emerging treatment modality that integrates nature with evidence-based therapeutic treatments (Russell, 2001). A growing body of literature continues to support its effectiveness with adolescents and young adults (Bowen & Neill, 2013; Curtis et al., 2018; Hoag et al., 2013); however, little research has been conducted on the experiences of its LGBTQIAP+ (“queer”) participants. Such an absence is noteworthy because the percentage of queer wilderness therapy students might be as high as 18% (Wright et al., 2017) and given that queer individuals experience minority stress (Meyer, 2003), which is correlated with negative psychological outcomes (Baams et al., 2015; Mereish et al., 2019; Tebbe & Moradi, 2016). This dissertation fills the gap in the literature by using pre-existing data collected by the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBHC) and the National Association for Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) to examine the mental health outcomes of young adult (ages 18-25) wilderness therapy students using the Outcomes Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ 45.2; Lambert & Burlingame, 1996). With a sample of 379 queer and non-queer wilderness therapy graduates, this study found that queer young adults’ intake OQ 45.2 scores were statistically similar to those of straight young adults. It was also found that queer young adults’ OQ 45.2 discharge scores were statistically significantly lower than their intake scores, indicating a reduction in psychological distress. This dissertation also examined preliminary post-wilderness therapy data, interpreted all results as they relate to clinical work and research, and concluded by offering next steps for treating queer young adults enrolled in wilderness therapy programs.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

The purpose of this participatory research was to gain the perspective from the youth of a plains tribe Native American community about their concept of mental health and wellness, and to discover how youth participants related these ideas and narratives to their life processes and experiences. This study also investigated the methodological use of participatory photo-elicitation for talking about mental health and using grounded research theory to explore what types of themes and testimony are most common. This participatory research was done in partnership with an American Indian-operated health promotion and disease prevention program that is tackling inequity in mental health youth outcomes. Forty-one children ages 9 to 17 participated in this qualitative study. Semi-structured one-one-one interviews using the participatory photo-elicitation method generated conversation and formed the basis of the raw data. Grounded theory was employed in both data collection and analysis. A “zig-zag” pattern of data collection defined basic subgroups of children by age, allowing for a saturation of themes. The five major themes that emerged were: strategies for mental health, ecology and mental health, identity and mental health, social support/loss of social support and mental health, and, ambivalent feelings/thoughts about mental health. Categories within themes held across the three age groups and overlapping themes held theoretical importance. Photo-creation followed by photo-elicitation resulted in a rich relay of diverse testimony including literal translation, metaphor, analogy, shadowed data, and personally recounted lived experiences, often shared via expository dialogue. The saturation of themes showed fidelity to developmental groupings. Identity, particularly Native identity overlapped with themes of strategy and ecology. This study heightens awareness that most older children in this sample identified loss of a loved one as part of their lived experience of mental health. A majority of children spoke of mental health and wellness strategies that included finding balance, healing, seeking social support and inhabiting at least one positive ecology. Finally, many children related their concept of mental health to their natural surroundings and the sky. Some children used visual and verbal metaphors such as the medicine wheel, a Native quilt, the undulation of a landscape, and the tipi to help describe their concept of mental health and wellness.

Homeless youth are typically defined as a group of adolescents and young adults (ages 12-24) who do not have stable dwellings, but instead live on the streets, in shelters or abandoned buildings, or in other unstable situations (e.g., doubling up with friends). Given the myriad of hardships, stressors, and marginalization faced by youth as they navigate life on the streets, it is encouraging that researchers have begun examining well-being among youth experiencing homelessness. However, the few studies examining well-being among homeless youth have produced inconsistent results. Furthermore, little is known about the components of well-being that are both relevant to and valued by homeless youth, as well as which factors predict differences in well-being among youth. This study examined psychological well-being and its associations with demographic characteristics (race, gender, and sexual orientation), intrapersonal factors (mental health, optimism, and self-esteem), and social-contextual factors (social support, sense of community, and empowerment) among 100 homeless youth utilizing services in Portland, Oregon. Quantitative results indicated that the intrapersonal and social-contextual variables were all significantly associated with psychological well-being among homeless youth at the bivariate level. However, in a full hierarchical regression model containing all study variables, only self-esteem and psychological distress were significant predictors of well-being. Thematic analysis of qualitative data revealed 11 categories of factors that impact youth's well-being, including Self Care, Social Support, and Personal Outlook. Collectively, findings have practical implications for program development at homeless youth service centers while also informing future research in this area.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-167).

Traditional approaches for enhancing the mental health of youth have focused on remedying problems and disturbances. Positive psychology, however, focuses on building strengths and resources to promote mental health and well-being. Strengths-based assessment, an area of exploration within positive psychology, aims to identify individuals’ strengths and resources and how those protective factors are drawn upon to cope with adversity. The current study used a single-subject, multiple baseline across participants design to explore the effects of strengths-based assessment (SBA) with seven seventh grade students. The SBA was hypothesized to be an intervention that might positively affect youths’ self-perceived strengths, hopeful thinking, and ego strength through concentrated feedback about their individual strengths. The study also explored how SBA affected teachers’ recognition of participants’ resilient behaviors, participants’ school grades, and school attendance. Results suggested that participants’ recognition of their strengths increased after the SBA, including a significant increase in participants’ self-reported hope. Participants indicated in social validity interviews that participating in a strengths assessment was helpful and meaningful to them. Significant changes were not found for the other outcome variables. This study offers a cogent framework for a SBA that would be practical for use by clinical child and school psychologists and demonstrates the potential of SBA to serve as a therapeutic intervention for youth. / text

Immigrant youth face uncertainty in many aspects of their lives. Most have little control over their family’s decision to immigrate and once they arrive, many encounter challenges. The Navigating Multiple Worlds project worked with a group of youth researchers to explore the relationship between stress, resilience and expressions of subjectivity among immigrant youth. Moving beyond the negative conceptualizations of stress and acculturative stress that dominate the literature, this research gathered youth perspectives on stress and what could be done to enhance supports for immigrant youth in Victoria. Through our participatory approach, the youth research team was involved in the design and implementation of interviews, focus groups and finally a photovoice exercise. Our methodology sought to highlight narrative complexities and the fluidity of experiences, with the research team reflecting on their own experiences while gathering perspectives on stress from other immigrant youth. The benefits and challenges of working in participatory paradigms with youth and the value of arts based methods for capturing youth voices and creating ‘thinking spaces’ for community engagement are highlighted. Historically, research has problematized immigrant youth identities. A focus on immigrant youth perspectives reveals that while many youth face challenges after immigration, they also emphasize the value of flexibility in self-definition. The combination of our methods, participatory approach, our focus on youth voices and taking an ethnographic approach to documenting experiences of stress, contributed to the distinctiveness of our findings. Considering stress as an idiom of narrative expression rather than an index of negative experience, acknowledges its place as part of the worldview of the participants, who use the term in multiple ways. The physicality of stress, the spatial and temporal dimensions of stress and ‘everyday stressors’ emerged from our analysis as thematic categories that describe the ways that youth experience ‘stress’. The findings of the Navigating Multiple Worlds project speak to the value of conceptualizing stress as a narrative idiom. Over the course of our research it became apparent that youth were talking about stress in ways that allowed them to discuss and normalize negative experiences, re-framing experiences of ‘stress’ in positive terms. For many, this facilitated fluid movement from a focus on challenges to a focus on coping and resilience. Our research suggests that while conflicting expectations in the lives of immigrant youth are sources of ‘stress’ for many, they can also be understood as key ‘sites of flexibility’. The processes of negotiation that occur in these ‘sites of flexibility’, as youth use the language of stress to name challenging experiences and overcome them, contribute to the resilience of youth. Although our findings are specific to a small group of immigrant youth in Victoria, BC, considering stress as an idiom of resilience as well as distress creates opportunities to recognize and enhance the strengths of immigrant youth and the supports available to them. Recommendations from our research in terms of service provision, supports, and participatory research with youth are provided, as well as suggestions for future research in anthropology related to immigrant youth and stress. / Graduate / 0339 / 0326 / 0347 / sarah.fletcher@gmail.com