The Republic of Cyprus is often thought of as a tourist destination and hot spot for sun thirsty expats. Hidden from plain sight amongst holiday homes and blue waters, it may thus seem counterintuitive that Cyprus is home to a toxic ethno-nationalist political conflict that has mandated one of the longest running United Nations peace interventions to date. Still, life in Cyprus does not resemble a conflict zone. This beckon the conceptual debate of peace as more than the absence of war and raises questions of how peace is perceived by involved actors and subsequently, how it is influenced by subjective ideas. With negotiations stuck in a cycle of stalling and reassuming, the peace process is often described as the Cypriot deadlock. The cause of the deadlock is debated without consensus, but frequently boils down to disagreements over policies and issues of intercommunal mistrust. Looking to nuance these notions, this thesis aims to explain the deadlock ideationally by analysing ideas of peace as expressed by political elites and assess how they influence the peace process. The research presents a typological method for mapping ideational biases corresponding to meta-ideas of International relations theory. The central argument of this thesis is that the Cypriot peace process is deadlocked due to divergent ideational biases of political elites, rendering the rationales and strategies (the ideational underpinnings) behind the peace process ideationally unviable. This desktop study of Cyprus is based of primary data from the official websites of the Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and the United Nations, published between January of 2019 and April of 2021.

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Baal teshuvas are traditionally observant Orthodox Jewish individuals who were previously not religiously observant and chose to become observant at a later juncture in their lives. This population is at risk of psychosocial dysfunction, particularly in the area of marriage, but little or no research has been conducted with this population. The purpose of this study was to study how 1 factor, the laws of family purity, an ancient set of Jewish laws governing sexual behavior between husbands and wives, may have an effect on marital satisfaction among baal teshuvas. Areas of marital satisfaction were measured by the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Triangular Love Scale, and New Sexual Satisfaction Survey. Relational-cultural theory and relational spirituality were used to describe how spirituality affects individual well-being and the quality of one's relationships with others. A sample of 44 male and 59 female baal teshuvas completed the surveys. MANOVAs and 2-factor ANOVAs were conducted to compare the effects of gender and level of observance of family purity laws on marital satisfaction survey results. Results indicated a significant difference only by gender on the sexual satisfaction measure, although it is not known how much of a difference there was between the genders. This study reinforces indications from past research that studying sexual satisfaction in marriages is an increasingly important area of study and clinical practice. This study may lead to positive social change by identifying methods to improve marital satisfaction in the newly religious population. In addition, the results may provide further evidence supporting the already known positive psychological benefits of the laws of family purity.

Researchers have indicated that mindful teaching approaches support students and educators throughout the learning process. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of counselor educators with a daily mindfulness practice in the classroom with culturally diverse students. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) was the conceptual framework. Relational cultural theory concepts of relational connections and disconnections were used to explore the participants' lived experiences implementing a mindful teaching approach. Purposeful sampling yielded 10 participants who participated in semi-structured interviews. Using an inductive approach, the data were analyzed to identify essential themes. Thematic analysis was conducted by hand using literature-based codes and lean coding. Findings extracted from the literature review were used to pinpoint level one themes. Lean codes, or emergent themes, were then placed under each literature-based theme. The literature-based themes included: mindfulness practices, contemplative practices and the experience of educators, mindfulness competencies, interconnectivity, treatment outcomes, therapeutic presence, relational empathy, awareness and acceptance, self-care, and critiques. The emergent subthemes included: a mindful attitude, evaluation, modeling for students, creativity in the classroom, mindful orthodoxy versus personal experiences, authenticity, and cultural awareness. Findings may be useful for counselor educators who seek a greater capacity for awareness, acceptance, empathy, self-care, creativity, and presence when working with diverse students in the classroom. Implementing a mindful teaching approach can contribute to counselor educators meeting the needs of their diverse students.

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