This study focuses on the meaning of the Fatherhood of God in the counselling of the adoptee. A study of relevant literature has shown that the metaphor "God the Father" is seldom incorporated in pastoral counselling. This study explores the possibility of successfully incorporating the concept "Fatherhood of God" in the counselling of the adoptee. In order to do so, the perspectives of the basis theory and metatheory have been investigated. The basis theory has been developed through an exegetical study of Old Testament verses that speak explicitly of the Fatherhood of God, as well as the three Abba-texts of the New Testament. This indicates that the covenant is closely related to the Fatherhood of God. The metatheory has been developed after studying literature regarding adoption from the perspective of other disciplines. The matters identity, rejection and loss have been shown as significant issues in the life of the adoptee. An empirical study has been done in addition to the basis- and metatheory. This investigation has brought to light that the adoptee does in general sense not connect the concept "Fatherhood of God" to his adoption. In order to develop an own model, different existing models have been investigated. Thus it was decided to use the model of Eyrich and Hines as guideline. A model has been developed and proposed that successfully incorporates the research findings of this study. It seems that the concept "Fatherhood" of God can be successfully utilised in the pastoral counselling of the adoptee, especially regarding the issues of identity, rejection and loss. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Background: Androgens are important in prostate cancer development but how circulating levels of androgens affect risk of prostate cancer of different aggressiveness is not clear. Being childless has been associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer, but it is not clear if this association is causal or a result of residual confounding. Fathering of dizygotic twins, a marker of high fertility, has not been studied in relation to risk of prostate cancer. Another marker of life-long hormonal exposure is height, which has been associated with increased risk of cancer and cancer death. However, the association to separate cancer sites has not been consistent. The aims of this thesis were to study hormonal factors (paper I), and proxies of hormonal factors (paper II and III), and risk of prostate cancer; as well as height and risk of cancer and cancer death by separate sites (paper IV). Methods: Study designs were i) case-control studies, nested within the Västerbotten Intervention Project (paper I), and in Prostate Cancer database Sweden 2.0 (PCBaSe 2.0) (paper II and III), and ii) cohort study, in the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can) (paper IV). Results, prostate cancer: In paper I, increasing levels of serum androgens were not associated with risk of prostate cancer overall or in tumor risk categories. In paper II, childless men had a lower risk of prostate cancer, overall and in all risk categories, compared to fathers, an association which was in part explained by differences in marital status and educational level.  In paper III, fathers of dizygotic twins did not have an increased risk of prostate cancer, either overall or in risk categories, when compared to fathers of singletons. Results, cancer overall: In paper IV, height was associated with an increased risk of cancer and cancer death overall in both women and men. The strongest association for cancer was to malignant melanoma in both women and men, and for cancer death to post-menopausal breast cancer in women and renal cell carcinoma in men. Conclusions: These studies indicate that hormonal factors, when studied as serum levels or when studied using proxies of fertility, do not have a major impact on the risk of prostate cancer. The association between height and an increased risk of cancer appears robust for total cancer and cancer death, as well as for several separate cancer sites.

Intresset till studien uppkom genom att en webbgemenskap upptäcktes i vilken fäder söker stöd från varandra i förhållande till socialtjänsten, det väckte vår nyfikenhet kring vad orsaken och syftet är till att fäder söker sig till webbgemenskapen. Syftet med studien är att söka förståelse för varför fäderna vänder sig till webbgemenskapen på internet, att beskriva vilka föreställningar som skapas kring socialtjänsten i webbgemenskapen samt hur föreställningar begripliggörs och förklaras av fäderna. För insamling av empiri har en kvalitativ observationsstudie på internet genomförts där empirin som legat till grund för resultatet är texter och kommentarer publicerade av personer som utger sig för att vara fäder. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts för att bearbeta den empiri som insamlats och bland annat tre övergripande teman har identifierats: föreställningar kring socialtjänsten, begripliggörande av föreställningarna samt mobiliseringens orsak och syfte. Studien har genomgripande ett genusperspektiv och resultatet av innehållsanalysen analyserades med hjälp av de teoretiska utgångspunkterna: kön som konstruktion – skapandet av genus samt homosocialitet. Resultatet i studien beskriver föreställningar kring att socialtjänsten bedömer fäder och mödrar olika utifrån kön samt reproducerar föreställningar kring traditionella föräldraroller och maskulinitet. Fäderna erhåller inget stöd och känner sig maktlösa utifrån att socialtjänsten privilegierar mödrar, detta leder till att fäderna söker sig till webbgemenskapen för att erhålla olika typer av stöd. Slutsatsen är att socialarbetare måste medvetandegöra föreställningar kring kön, maskulinitet och föräldraskap för att kunna motverka att föreställningar befästs och reproduceras. För detta krävs verktyg som direkt kan appliceras i det praktiska arbetet med fäder, men socialarbetare behöver också vara mer tydliga och lyhörda för att kunna identifiera behov hos fäder för att möjliggöra stödgivande. / The interest of this study were awakened when webcommunities whose purpose is to support fathers against the social services were found. This raised our curiosity about why such webcommunities are needed. The purpose of this study is to seek understanding for why fathers are turning to the webcommunity, also to describe conceptions about the social services which are created in the webcommunity and how those conceptions are understood and explained by the fathers. The method used for collection of data was a qualiatitive obervational study on the internet where the empirical base for the results are published texts and comments by people purporting to be fathers. A qualitative content analysis were used to process the empirical findings and three main themes were developed: conceptions about the social services, understanding of these conceptions and the cause and purpose of the mobilization. This study has a pervasive genderperspective and the result of the content analysis has been analyzed with the theoretical base of: ”doing gender” and homosociality. The result of this study reveals conceptions fathers have about the social services, that the social services assess fathers and mothers on different basis because of their sex. The fathers also claims that the social services reproduces conceptions about traditional parenting-roles and masculinity. The fathers doesn’t recieve the support they need and feel powerless because the social services privileges mothers, which instead leads fathers to seek support from eachother in the webcommunity. The conclusion is that social workers need to be more aware of conceptions they have on gender, masculinity and parenthood to be able to work against these conceptions. To do this social workers needs tools that can be applied in their daily practical work with fathers. But social workers also need to be more distinct and responsive to be able to identify fathers needs and thus offer support.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2008. / Department of Philosophy, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Peggy Zeglin Brand, Jason T. Eberl, Michael B. Burke. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. "November 2006" Includes bibliographical reference (leaves 143-147).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1992. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-252).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2003. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-191).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-214).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-62).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2003. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-191).