Children between the ages of birth and 5 years rely on adults for care, social-emotional relationships, safety, positive resilience building, and coregulation. Childcare workers and teachers may lack the educational background or access to the highly skilled continuing education of current evidence-based practice for mind, brain, and education connections (Whitebook et al., 2018). Occupational therapy (OT) practitioners traditionally support children with developmental delays or diagnoses and their specific caregivers through early intervention services. A comprehensive literature search showed limited documented and studied instances of using OT to support all children by supporting the childcare industry through education, training, and coaching (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2020; Bazyk et al., 2009; Jasmin et al., 2017; Marsh & Mathur, 2020; Shepley & Grisham-Brown, 2019). Knowledge sharing, interaction modeling, and coaching about topics such as self-regulation, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and trauma-informed interactions—and how these concepts interrelate—offer childcare providers and teachers support within the natural environments of their classrooms. The OT Coaching of the Childcare Provider in Early Childhood Mental Wellness is a professional development training and coaching program that aims to do that. Occupational therapists with advanced knowledge and experience in infant and early childhood mental health and wellness will deliver knowledge, education, coaching, and reflexive practices. This allows childcare providers with limited time and resources to advance their sensitive and responsive caregiving for the 6 million U.S. children in childcare. The program’s underpinnings are grounded in the action learning theory, coaching model, and situational learning theory (Cho & Egan, 2009; Revans, 2011; Rush & Sheldon, 2013). The program’s module-series topics are drawn from various theoretical frameworks, including mind–brain education science, the sensory-processing model, and sensory integration theory (Kuypers, 2011; Lane et al., 2019; Martini et al., 2016; Williams & Shellenberger, 1996).

The management and display of emotions has become a pervasive occupational role requirement for many workers in the service industry. Service workers’ interactions with clients or customers exposes them to occupational requirements where they must effectively display certain emotions, while at the same time internally suppressing other felt emotions—a type of work activity referred to by Arlie Hochschild (1983) as emotional labor. Despite a vast literature on the subject, there remain a number of knowledge gaps regarding the consequences of emotional labor. My dissertation addresses this issue by merging occupational-level data with a national survey dataset of American workers to examine a variety of consequences of emotional labor using a multidimensional approach. I reveal that emotional labor poses the greatest threat to well-being in resource deprived work contexts, and that occupations that have little job control are mostly occupied by minority women. I also find that high control beliefs serve as an important psychological resource for men that can buffer the strain that leads to customer/client conflict in emotional labor intensive occupations. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In Canada, one in five women can now expect to deliver their baby by caesarean section. For some women, this method of delivery creates little concern, but for others, birth by caesarean causes emotional trauma that can last for years. Childbirth was historically regarded as a natural event and was undertaken with little assistance from health professionals. However, with urbanization and medical advancements, childbirth soon became a medically managed process. During the Women's Health Movement of the 1970's, women reacted to the medicalization of birth by calling attention to the emotional reactions of women following childbirth, with particular attention paid to deliveries by caesarean section. This paper discusses interviews with five women who sought the assistance of a community support and awareness group following a negative emotional response to an unplanned caesarean section. Qualitative research methods were used in order to capture the participants' unique experiences during and after childbirth. The women described feelings of fear, failure, disappointment, and loss of control. They perceived that the medical staff was generally uncaring and dismissive of their concerns. Each participant felt that the support group was instrumental in helping them to recover from the trauma of their birth experience, but also reported that they would have appreciated the opportunity to speak with a social worker following the birth. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

The effects of intensity of the unconditioned stimulus (US) on the acquisition and extinction of the conditioned emotional response (CER) in rats were investigated. The US intensities studied were 0.28, 0.49, 0.85, 1.55, and 2.91 ma. Both acquisition and extinction of the CER were found to be monotonic functions of US intensity, with the higher US intensities producing more rapid acquisition and more resistance to extinction. The lowest shock intensity failed to produce suppression. The 0.49 ma. subjects typically showed a partial recovery of normal operant behavior after development of a fairly profound CER. The results were interpreted as consistent with the supposition that the CER is acquired in accordance with Pavlovian laws of classical conditioning. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

TESTIMONIALS, a novella and other stories, is set within the Bay Area — deep in the districts long removed from the municipal budget — and delves into the lives of men, women, and adolescents longing for acknowledgment, reinvention, and peace amongst the many spirits, past and present. In ‘Yard Range,’ a woman finds a surrogate in her Senator’s child and wonders what it would take to change one man’s vote. ‘Body Known’ follows a masseuse treating clients whose bodies archive stories, songs, jokes, and confessions. In ‘Height Marks,’ an elder passes on survival tips to a nephew ostracized from the family. ‘Spirit Per Capita’ chronicles one woman's desperate search for the woman who changed her life. In ‘Autofiction,’ a man must negotiate the cruelest of requests: tell us a story. And in the novella ‘The Snow,’ a child and a night janitor navigate the worst summer camp in San Francisco, where strange messes happen overnight, and where words must be stolen. Utilizing first, second, and collective narrations, these stories explore lives not defined by victimhood or race but by irretrievable and fleeting choices, unforgivable compromises, and loyalty to one’s people and one’s self. Here, history doesn’t repeat: it echoes, couplets, and yearns for you.

Kindergarten school readiness and the phenomenon of students entering kindergarten without the necessary personal and social skills they need to be successful in kindergarten was explored in this qualitative study. How this phenomenon impacts the school setting, including administrative support systems and classroom instructional practices implemented by kindergarten teachers, was explored. Elementary principals and kindergarten teachers who experienced this phenomenon were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Official documents relating to the phenomenon being studied were collected and analyzed to provide for triangulation of the data. Findings of this study provide insights into current classroom practices that are currently being implemented to solve the problem of students' personal and social skill deficits. Findings will assist division level leaders, elementary principals and kindergarten teachers to guide and shape classroom practices designed for enhancing and improving students' personal and social skills. Findings report what current resources are being used by kindergarten teachers to provide personal and social skill instruction and how teachers' instructional practices in this domain are being guided and directed by administrators. Division level leaders and school level leaders are provided with information about instructional practices for improving kindergarten students' personal and social skills. Findings of the study show how elementary principals' and kindergarten teachers' beliefs about kindergarten students' personal and social skill development are aligned to the Virginia Department of Education's Foundation Blocks for Early Learning for certain skills and how they are not aligned for other skills. / Ph. D.

Increasing physical activity and adopting a healthy diet have the goal to enhance consumer welfare. The goal of this set of studies is to contribute to a research agenda that tries to support and enhance the life of consumers, through the exploration of emotional intelligence as a new possible avenue of research related to consumer behavior and health. Four studies are proposed that look at the possibility to introduce emotional intelligence in decision making and performance related to health (i.e. adoption and maintenance of a healthy diet/weight). The findings suggest the salient role of emotional reasoning (i.e. understanding and regulation of emotions) on decision making and performance related to health. Training on emotional intelligence and health seems to activate mechanisms that help people to use their knowledge in the right direction in order to make better decisions and improve performance related to health (i.e. adoption/maintenance of healthy diet/weight). / Ph. D.

A recent focus on understanding emotions in organizations has resulted in increased attention to the role of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a type of intelligence that helps individuals to perceive, assimilate, understand, and manage emotions (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). The aim of this study is to understand the role of EI on individual attitudinal and performance outcomes. Specifically, this paper argues that EI may be an important determinant of employee job satisfaction, turnover intention, and performance. Further, these effects are expected to be most pronounced in job functions with higher emotional requirements. Data collected from 278 law enforcement and healthcare employees provide no support for these propositions. These findings, their implications, and potential future studies are discussed. / Ph. D.

Relationships in which one partner is transgender are disproportionately challenging compared to other LGBQ+ relationships (Gamarel et al., 2014; Pulice-Farrow et al., 2017). While research has yet to examine how transgender-cisgender couples experience emotional intimacy, it is theorized that this process may be critical for relationship health during gender transition. This study explored how transgender-cisgender couples experience emotional intimacy during their transition process. Symbolic interactionism was used to examine the questions: (1) How do perceptions of couple emotional intimacy influence how each partner assigns meaning to their experiences with transitioning? and (2) How do partners communicate about their emotional experiences during their transition process? Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyze individual interviews with 20 transgender and cisgender participants (ten couples) using group-level analysis. The process model that emerged from the data indicated that transgender and cisgender partners experienced emotional tensions internally and within their relationships as they created meaning from their experiences with transitioning. Tensions created pathways for partners to emotionally withdraw from or engage in communication about their experiences. Communication processes ebbed and flowed as partners created meaning for their relationship in transition. When couples engaged in communication, they created shared meaning about their experiences and strengthened emotional intimacy. Data revealed that these processes of building and sustaining emotional intimacy were interactional and iterative. Recommendations for research and clinical work with these couples are provided, in light of these findings. / Doctor of Philosophy / Relationships in which one partner is transgender are particularly challenging compared to other LGBQ+ relationships (Gamarel et al., 2014; Pulice-Farrow et al., 2017). Research has yet to examine how transgender (a person whose gender identity does not align with their assigned sex at birth) and cisgender (a person whose gender identity aligns with their assigned sex at birth) intimate partners experience emotional intimacy. However, emotional intimacy may be critical for relationship health during transition (a person's process of developing a gender expression that matches their gender identity). This study explored how transgender-cisgender couples experience emotional intimacy during their transition process. I explored how each partner emotionally experienced their relationship during transition and how partners communicated about their emotional experiences during their transition process. I analyzed individual interviews with 20 transgender and cisgender participants (ten couples) (Charmaz, 2006). The findings revealed that both transgender and cisgender partners experienced emotional tensions within themselves and within their relationships as they created meaning from their experiences with transitioning. While experiencing tensions, partners chose to either engage or withdraw from communication. Communication ebbed and flowed as partners created meaning for their relationship as they transitioned. Efforts to communicate brought couples closer and strengthened emotional intimacy. Recommendations for research and clinical work with these couples are provided.

The focus of this research is to examine the impact of emotional intelligence on consumer decision making. Several research goals are presented: 1) to develop and test a practical domain-specific scale of emotional ability, 2) to identify the influence of emotional ability on behavioral individual and group level performance in a consumer context, 3) and to identify how performance is further influenced by cognitive ability, cognitive and emotional confidence and calibration between perceived (i.e., confidence) and actual ability. Three studies were conducted to meet these goals. Study 1 involved the development and validation of a consumer emotional ability scale (CEAS), based on four underlying emotional abilities (i.e., perceiving, facilitating, understanding, managing). This instrument allowed for further examination of how emotional intelligence affected performance among consumer relationships. A proposed conceptual model was examined in an individual (study 2) and small group (study 3) context using the CEAS scale, along with additional items to assess the influence of cognitive ability, cognitive and emotional confidence, and calibration on performance in the consumer domain of healthy food choices. / Ph. D.