Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005. / Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Prepared for: School of Social Work. Bibliography: p. 168-182.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Addiction has seen to be an illness that not only affects the individual but the holistic well-being of the family. Primary caregivers form an integral part of the family system. The caregivers take on roles that might stagnate their own development and coping methods, which if used, could affect the entire family system. There are in-conclusive research on the effect of the coping method of the primary caregiver on the well-being of himself/herself and the family system as a whole. The aim of the research was to quantitatively, through making use of Orford’s Coping questionnaire, explore the different coping methods employed by the primary caregiver of an adult substance dependent and thereafter to qualitatively, through utilizing a narrative approach, explore the experience of the different means of coping. The study design was a mixed method study. Quantitative research was the dominant approach followed by qualitative research. The population was the primary caregivers of adult substance dependents who have sought treatment and who resided in the Mitchell’s Plain area. Eighty participants completed the coping questionnaire and four narratives were done. Quantitative research results was analyzed using SPSS and the qualitative research was analyzed by making use of narrative analysis whereby the interview was analyzed Labov and Waletzky’s structural model of narrative. The theoretical framework from which the researcher addressed this study was collaboration between the family systems theory and the disease model of addiction. Quantitative findings indicated that there more caregivers make use of tolerant coping than engaged and withdrawal coping. There is a distinction between the coping methods that males and females make use of. Qualitative findings indicated that there is no ‘correct’ way of coping with being the caregiver of a substance dependant. Caregivers take on coping methods that they are comfortable with.

The word ‘addiction’ has been receding from official vocabularies, replaced most often by ‘substance abuse’. Despite this, the term remains common in colloquial speech and has increasingly spread to describe excessive consumption not only of substances but of the Internet, clothing, and slot machines, to name just a few. What do we mean when we speak of addiction? Most often it is invoked as a defense against accountability, a fact at odds with the massive resources devoted to the criminalization of drug use in the United States. Treating ‘addicts’ as fully responsible for their actions seems unfair, but so does imaging them to have no role in their predicament. This paper seeks to explore how two authors — Gary Watson and Gerda Reith — have rejected the notion of addiction as irresistible compulsion. The result is that a reliable methodology of determining individual accountability seems implausible and so, drawing on Aristotle, I propose that we redirect our efforts, resources, and mindsets with regard to treating addiction.

This paper aims to explore and discuss the points found in published research articles addressing cellphone usage and addiction. The articles vary in their emphasis, methods, and conclusions, but all focus in one way or another on how the advent of cellphone usage has caused addiction in many cellphone and smartphone users. Many of these studies involve looking at college students and teenagers to see how addiction and cellphone usage has affected younger generations. The articles at hand include studies from many different parts of the world. Some of the studies focus on which smartphone activities are the most addictive, while some of the articles focus on addiction as a whole and its impact on the users. Many of the works done on this subject focus on how addiction to these devices compares to a traditional substance abuse. While cellphones and smartphones have had many positive impacts, these improvements do not come without psychosocial hazards and addiction potential. Society places a premium on the ability to better communicate and utilize cellphone technology, but do they truly know what costs these benefits come with?

Hypoactive sexual desire is one of the most prevalent psychosexual problems seen by clinicians, yet there is little consensus as to its etiology, maintenance, appropriate therapeutic intervention or prognosis. Sexual disinterest is considered to be difficult to treat due to severe intrapsychic and/or interpersonal conflict. Few empirical studies exist, however, regarding intrapsychic or interpersonal dynamics in couples where one spouse is assigned the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire (HSD). The purpose of this study was to develop a clearer understanding of the intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics of the clinical group diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire. Individual and interactional data was collected from both diagnosed individuals and spouses. The sample consisted of three groups of subjects and their partners. Twenty-two subjects assigned a DSM-III-R diagnosis of lifelong or acquired, generalized Hypoactive Sexual Desire (HSD) and their spouses were compared on intrapsychic and interpersonal variables with two groups consisting of twenty-one sexually dysfunctional subjects displaying a DSM-III-R arousal or orgasm disorder (SDys) and their spouses, and 19 couples with no reported sexual dysfunction (NSD). Only subjects free from other Axis I disorders, medical illness, or substance abuse were selected. Control subjects met similar criteria but had no reported sexual dysfunction. All partners were sexually functional. Subjects were administered: the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI), the Sexual History Form (SHF), the Medical History Questionnaire (MHQ), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Affect Balance Scale (ABS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) over a three week period. Statistical procedures used to analyse the data included Canonical Correlation, ANOVA, Profile Analysis, Hotelling's test (T²) and Student-Newman-Keuls test procedure. The test results measuring intrapsychic phenomena revealed that although all groups had normal MMPI profiles, the affect/anxiety variate was significantly elevated in the HSD and SDys groups. In addition, self concept as measured by the SASB introject was significantly more negative in the HSD and SDys groups as compared to the control group. No significant intrapsychic differences were found between partners in the three groups. The interpersonal measures indicated that HSD subjects and SDys subjects perceived their relationships as less nurturing and affirming than did control subjects. Additionally, HSD subjects and their spouses perceived their relationships as measured by the SASB to be more hostile. The study provides some evidence to support the view that HSD subjects have lower self concepts and higher relationship conflicts than do subjects with arousal or orgasm problems or control subjects. Similar to much of the previous research conducted on nonmedical aspects of human sexuality, the study design was exploratory and descriptive in nature thus removing any possibility of drawing cause and effect conclusions. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

Since 1963, the Narcotic Addiction Foundation of British Columbia has been administering Methadone, a synthetic drug, on a prolonged basis to a selected group of heroin addicts. For the purposes here, those addicts receiving Methadone on a continuous day to day basis for an indefinite period of time will be called prolongeds. Those addicts receiving Methadone in decreasing dosage over a twelve day withdrawal period will be referred to as regulars. Ingeborg Paulus, Research Associate at the Foundation, assessed the effectiveness of Methadone by comparing a group of addicts given the drug on a prolonged basis to a group of addicts undergoing regular twelve day withdrawal. The findings of her study showed that prolongeds committed fewer crimes than the regulars. The addicts in the prolonged group were significantly older than those in the regular group. Paulus found that age was the most important factor in the addicts' decreased use of narcotics. This tendency to use less drugs as the addict becomes older is known as the "maturing-out" process. Therefore, a decrease in crime by the prolonged group may not be solely attributable to Methadone, but to the age of the addict. The purpose of the present study is to test the causal relationship between the prolonged administration of Methadone to heroin addicts and their criminal behaviour. To carry out this study, the following two hypotheses were developed: (1) Heroin addicts commit fewer crimes when maintained on prolonged Methadone, and (2) Heroin addicts maintained on prolonged Methadone commit fewer crimes than heroin addicts who are given regular withdrawal. The research method used involved a retrospective, follow-up study utilizing all of the addicts in Paulus' sample who were between the ages of twenty-five and forty years. This was done in an effort to make the two groups more comparable in their age distribution. To test hypothesis one, a 'before and after' design was proposed that will allow investigation of the addict's criminal activity prior to and after his exposure to prolonged Methadone. To test the second hypothesis, the criminal behaviour of the prolongeds will be compared to the criminal behaviour of the regulars. Additional analysis are suggested to assist in assessing the comparability of the two groups. After considering the numerous and unexpected problems a researcher faces, it is concluded that, while it may be feasible to conduct this study using the sample available, one cannot depend on the reliability or validity of the findings to test the hypotheses conclusively. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The present study examined various psychosocial variables that may influence success in a stop smoking program (QuitSmart) used by the North Texas Veterans Health Care Service (NTVHCS). The QuitSmart program utilizes the Stages of Change Model, with its focus on the last three stages (preparation, action, and maintenance). It was proposed that factors including shame-proneness, guilt, anger/hostility, depression, self-efficacy - both global and smoking situational, neuroticism, and level of nicotine dependence might individually or in combination predict attrition from the NTVHCS smoking cessation program. Results indicate that shame-proneness, guilt, anger/hostility, and depression did not individually predict attrition. Persons with high levels of smoking situational self-efficacy tend to utilize self-change strategies leading to greater success in smoking cessation. Participants with a psychological diagnosis, when combined with neuroticism and shame-proneness, appear to have more difficulty with cessation than those with only a medical diagnosis. Clinical implications and suggestions for change to the NTVHCS smoking cessation program are discussed.

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