This study is part of a survey of the wards of the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, B. C. who were not in foster homes on October 31, 1954. Fourteen wards, ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen years, were resident in commercial boarding homes. Agency policy recommends the limiting of the use of commercial boarding homes to the occasional placement of a boy or girl over the age of eighteen years who is self-supporting and sufficiently mature to meet the responsibilities of such a setting. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine why the commercial boarding homes were being used for these particular wards and to what extent the needs of these wards were being met. Information gathered from the records of the children and their parents was summarized and tabulated for the purpose of study and description. This material was examined to determine whether there was any correlation between the children's pre-admission care and their subsequent adjustment in foster and group homes and their later placement in commercial boarding homes. Case illustrations of three of the wards were used In order to elaborate on their developmental experiences and adjustment in various settings. These cases were typical in illustrating the unsettled early lives experienced by most of this group and the effect of these experiences in preventing them from adjusting to the demands of a foster home and, in some cases, of group homes. Further emphasis was given to the harmful effect of continued foster home replacement. In summary, the study of this group of wards pointed out the great need for a receiving home for all children on admission to care for the purposes of familiarization, diagnosis and planning. In order to avoid the use of commercial boarding homes arid to meet the needs of those children who are unable to adjust in foster homes, a variety of group-living residences should be developed. A treatment home is an urgent necessity to assist disturbed children while they are still young enough to be helped. In general, greater resources are required for preventive work with children while still in their own homes as well as for the improvement of the services to the children after their admission into care. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to compare a tour-based preadmission preparation programme for young children to a video-tape-based programme. Subjects were 30 English speaking children who were admitted to Surrey Memorial Hospital, a community general hospital in Surrey, B.C. The children were admitted for elective surgery which required an overnight stay. The children and their parents participated in the programmes three days to two weeks prior to the child's scheduled surgery. Half of the children and their parents were taken on a tour of the paediatric ward and laboratory. The other group was shown a video-tape made at the Surrey Memorial Hospital, which depicted the hospitalization of a boy and girl for tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Both treatments were followed by a discussion and play period. The two groups were not found to differ on sex, previous hospitalizations, types of surgical procedure, length of stay, length of anaesthesia, or prehospital personality as measured by a modification of the Post-hospital Behavior Questionnaire (Vernon, Schulman, & Foley, 1966). However, the tour group was found to contain more younger children (under 6 years of age) than the video group. No significant differences were found between the two groups on the self-report, behavioural, or physiological outcome measures, except for incidence of postoperative vomiting. The video group vomited less than the tour group. Questions concerning the validity of the Hospital Fears Rating Scale and the modified Posthospital Behavior Questionnaire for this age group are raised in the discussion. Complicating factors, such as small sample size, lack of a control group, and lack of control over physiological data collection are addressed in this chapter. Confounding factors, such as a preoperative teaching class and the discussion groups, are also addressed. Finally, the impact of Preadmission Programmes and practical considerations in choosing a programme are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Paediatric Dentistry / Master / Master of Dental Surgery

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Newcastle, 2000. / Faculty of Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-286). Also available online.

Text in Afrikaans / A significant percentage of adolescents in children's homes are depressive in consequence of multiple experiences of loss. There is a possibility that experiences of depression are maintained in a systems context. Group therapy using an ecosystemic approach was embarked upon in order to study and to alter within a systems context the phenomenon of depression, the accompanying negative experiential and meaning-assignment worlds of the depressive adolescent girl in a children's home and the interactional behavioural patterns. It was hypothesised that behavioural change brought about in the group therapy context would extend to systems beyond the therapy system. A group of five adolescent girls in a children's home, of whom two were severely depressive, were taken for eight group therapy sessions. The principles of ecosystemic epistemology as a paradigm for family therapy were applied in the sessions. These principles stress inter alia the use of metaphor. Circular questioning was employed in order to explore the relationships within the group. Moments of depression were observed and recorded directly and indirectly according to both linear and circular approaches, and the therapeutic process was described. The manner in which the therapeutic group changed metaphorically by the group itself. A decrease in girls' level of depression was observed during therapy. Their cognitive, affective and normative functioning also changed, and alterations affecting relationships, self-concept and self-realisation could be perceived in the therapeutic process. These changes in relationships and the decrease in the level of depression were confirmed quantitatively. The transfer of these attitudes and relationships to the children's home system was confirmed by interviewing the children's home "parents" of the adolescents involved. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work