Solution-focused therapy is one of the models of brief family therapy that has come into prominence during the 1980s and 90s. Whereas earlier forms of family therapy concentrated on problems and the behaviors that maintained them, solution-focused therapy places its emphasis on "exceptions" to the problem--times when it is not happening--and seeks to elaborate on and amplify these exceptions. A solution-focused therapy model has been used with individuals, couples, and groups of individuals, but a search of the relevant literature revealed no information on its use with couples' groups. The purpose of this study was to develop a solution-focused treatment plan for a couples ' group and to test its effectiveness. A single-case research design was used with a multiple baseline assessment strategy across subjects. Participants' improvement on measures of overall marital satisfaction and specific goal achievement was considered in evaluation of effectiveness. Five couples completed the program. Marital satisfaction was measured using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMS) . On both measures 7 of the 10 participants showed improvement between baseline and intervention scores. Two participants showed little change in scores and 1 subject recorded a decline in score. A self-report goal sheet utilizing a 0-10 scale was used to record progress toward individual and couple goals. Eight participants reported progress, 1 no change, and 1 a decline on both types of goals. The results of this study lend support to the supposition of positive out comes from solution-focused couples ' group work and suggest the need for further study.

This study sought to examine the relationship between ethnic identity and the grade and gender of the subjects. Changes in ethnic identity over time were also analyzed. Students attending grades four through eight of the Nyssa Migrant School summer program participated in this study. One hundred twenty-four participants completed the pretest, eighty-nine completed the posttest, with a total of seventy-nine completing both the pretest and posttest. Students responded to the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, which examined the subcategories of belonging and exploration to comprise the overall ethnic identity level. Scores were compared by grade and by gender at pretest and at posttest. Scores were also examined in those same subgroups for a change over time in the 79 subjects completing both the pretest and posttest. Though not statistically significant, results indicated a trend for males as a whole to show a greater increase in overall ethnic identity over the course of the summer school program than their female counterparts. Results also showed an increase (although not statistically significant) in ethnic identity for the group as a whole over the course of the six-week program, warranting further investigation into the summer program's effectiveness for enhancing ethnic identity. This aforementioned increase was more pronounced in children in the older grades, supporting a developmental progression of ethnic identity. At both the pretest and posttest, adjusted means for belonging were statistically significantly higher than those for exploration, F(l, 77) = 171.03,p = .000; F(l, 77) = 141.12,p = .000, respectively. Implications of these findings for future programs and future research are discussed.

Thesis (M.Dev)--University of Limpopo, 2007. / This study is the first of its kind in the Limpopo Province, consequently, much of its literature focus on Strategic Planning in general. The researcher was motivated to undertake this study due to the manner in which departments were producing Strategic Plans. Different formats were used in departments, Strategic Planning was treated as an add-on activity to personnel, and there is also the lack of alignment and integration between the Strategic Plans and PGDS. The objective of the study is to asses the existing capacity of departments to perform Strategic Planning functions that will inform growth and development in the province; to asses the level of compliance with the Medium Term Strategic Framework; and to recommend strategies to enhance Strategic Planning capacity in departments, thereby ensuring alignment with PGDS. This study, thus examines the capacity of all departments, including the Office of the Premier, to implement the objectives of the PGDS, with specific focus on the Strategic Plans, the type and number of human resources available to perform the duties of Strategic Planning. The researcher follows a qualitative approach. Questionnaires, which comprised both closed and open–ended questions, were e-mailed to 11 provincial department in Limpopo Province and the target respondents were planners, Chief Financial Officers and workstudy officers. Discussions and interviews were conducted with Heads of Departments and Planners, respectively. The results from the SPSS reconciled with the qualitative analysis on open-ended questions show that there is limited planning capacity in the majority of provincial departments in the Limpopo Province. Further research is required with regard to project-specific strategic planning that supports the achievement of the PGDS. / Office of the Premier (Limpopo Government)

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms that guide and shape the development of nervous systems within the human body is paramount not only from the perspective of developmental biology, but also from a medical viewpoint concerning the palliative and curative treatment of congenital birth defects, as well as for engineering potential treatments for degenerative diseases. Our focus was to first study a relatively simple model of nervous system development and then progress to a more complex system for analysis The sympathetic nervous system (SNS), a subdivision of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), is a relatively simple system to study, particularly the development of the sympathetic chain ganglia (SCG). We sought to discover whether the powerful morphogen sonic hedgehog (Shh) is involved in the migration, patterning, or specification of the developing SNS. Our results indicate that Shh is essential for migration and patterning, but not for neural, glial, or catecholaminergic specification of the SNS We next studied the enteric nervous system (ENS) as a complex model of nervous system development. The ENS is the largest and most complex division of the PNS, containing many striking similarities to the brain. Recently, the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Hand2 has been shown to be involved in neuronal phenotype selection in embryos with a neural crest specific deletion of Hand2. Unfortunately, these embryos die due to cardiac defects by 12.5 dpc. By attempting two distinct methods to rescue Hand2 mutant embryos until birth, we were able to successfully analyze how the loss of Hand2 effects the development of the ENS. Our results demonstrate that Hand2 plays a key role in migration, patterning, neuronal and glial specification, as well as neuronal phenotype selection within the developing ENS Together, the studies of these two nervous systems add to the cumulative research and contribute toward the search for a complete understanding of nervous system development that is essential in the treatment of a number of congenital disorders affecting the PNS such as neuroblastoma, Hirschsprung's Disease, hyperganglionosis, and intestinal neuronal displaysia type B, as well as the in treatment of other diseases including hyperthyroidism, heart failure, chronic arterial hypertension, anxiety, and irritable bowel syndrome / acase@tulane.edu

Research on parenting is increasingly being studied from a biological perspective. An understanding of the biological mechanisms leading to individual differences in maternal behaviors can help direct research toward more focused intervention resulting in closer mother-infant attachment relationships, and therefore, positive child outcomes. This research was a preliminary study that tested mothers' ability to taste a harmless chemical, 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), in relation to their responses to a questionnaire about the emotional investment they experience towards their infant. Although research attempting to relate these two variables together has not been carried out before, individual studies show potential links between these two. The model underlying this research is that the hormones involved in parent investment, such as oxytocin and estrogen, are mediated on a cellular level by second messenger systems which vary in individuals, and that the ability to taste PROP, a chemical that some people can taste and others can not, has genetic connections to this second messenger system. Although the lack of previous research limited strong predictions, it was expected that tasters of PROP would possess a hormonal milieu that would relate to more invested parenting, compared to non-tasters. This study tested 220 low-income mothers of one-year-old infants enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Early Head Start (EHS) program for their ability to taste PROP, and correlated their taste sensitivity with parent investment as measured by a questionnaire. Additional questionnaires assessed adult attachment, breastfeeding, and close physical contact as possible mediators and moderators in the association between parent investment and PROP taste sensitivity. Findings were statistically significant, although in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Non-tasters of PROP, rather than tasters, had higher overall parent investment responses than tasters. Non-tasters also rated higher than tasters in secure adult attachment attitudes. Close physical contact related to increased parent investment. There was no relationship between taste sensitivity and duration of breast feeding or between taste sensitivity and close physical contact.

Adolescent parenting research has typically focused on the mother and ignored the father . Researchers have suggested that adolescent fathers are disregarded as the child's other parent because their parenting role is devalued. An emerging body of literature indicates that adolescent fathers are excluded from the pregnancy and parenting services provided to adolescent mothers because they are viewed as unnecessary to the parenting process and unimportant to the child's development. Moreover, researchers have alleged that service providers treat adolescent fathers as outcasts based on stereotypical beliefs that they are uncaring, irresponsible victimizers who disappear at the first mention of pregnancy. However, there is no empirical evidence to support these claims. The purpose of this thesis is to question these allegations and provide some evidence to either support or refute them. A survey of northern Utah agencies and the personnel who provide pregnancy and parenting services to adolescent mothers was conducted as the means to investigate this issue. The results of the survey do not provide conclusive evidence although they do suggest that the participating agencies and their personnel do not have policies or attitudes that intentionally exclude adolescent fathers from receiving services. Those surveyed consider fathers to be important to the pregnancy experience and the child's development. However , they do not make a deliberate effort to encourage adolescent fathers to take advantage of their services, nor do they employ effective strategies for making adolescent males aware of their services.

The purpose of this study was to examine the types, frequency, and meaningfulness of connection rituals and the relation ship between these items and marital satisfaction. Past research has shown that rituals correlate with marital satisfaction. Three research questions guided the study: ( I) What connection rituals do couples participate in and with what frequency? (2) How meaningful are the connection rituals to the husband or wife? and (3) Are some connection rituals more strongly associated to marital satisfaction? The research questions were tested with data from eighty couples who completed a survey designed specifically for this study. The top three reported rituals in each category among men and women were obtained. Results found that men and women participate in many different types of rituals, with daily greeting being used most often and love rituals having the most meaning on ave rage for participants. A modest relationship was reported among husbands' report of meaningfulness in regular talk time, religious/spiritual activities and other categories and marital sat isfaction. A modest relationship was also reported among wives' report of meaningfulness in regular talk time and love rituals and marital satisfaction. Implications and suggestio ns for future research are also presented.

This research examined husband and wife attitudes toward menstruation and how these attitudes related to certain behaviors within marriage. The sample consisted of 48 Married couples, some living in Davis, California and some living in Salt Lake City, Utah . Specifically, four objectives were persued: Assess husbands' and wives' perceptions of how behaviors within marriage vary over the wives' menstrual cycles. Assess husbands' and wives' attitudes toward menstruation. Examine how husband's and wives' attitudes toward menstruation might be associated with perceptions of how behaviors within marriage vary over the wives' menstrual cycles. Examine how wives' perceptions of differences in behavior over the menstrual cycle are associated with their reporting of perceived menstrual symptomology. It was discovered that husbands and wives had varying attitudes toward menstruation and these attitudes were related to their reporting of the occurrence of certain male and female behaviors within marriage. Husbands and wives who had more stereotypic attitudes toward menstruation reported greater behavior change in themselves and their spouses due to menstruation within marriage than those who had less stereotypic attitudes . In addition. the wives' reporting of menstrual symptomotology was related to their reporting of behavior change in marriage due to their menstrual period. Women who reported the greatest menstrual symptomotology also reported the greatest amount of behavior change within marriage due to menstruation.

The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first intention was to identify a group of debtor characteristics that predicted discharge among Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers in the district of Utah from 1997. The second objective was to use that same set of characteristics to predict the likelihood of dismissal at three critical stages of the bankruptcy process. Those stages were identified, first, as the period before the 341 hearing or meeting of creditors (n = 115 or 12.7%), second, before confirmation of the debtor's repayment plan (n = 267 or 29.4%), third, the period after confirmation of the plan and before discharge (n = 286 or 31 .5%). Once the best group of characteristics was discovered, the effects of demographic characteristics were compared against those of economic debtor characteristics as predictors of the outcome of the Chapter 13 cases. The results of the study show that demographic characteristics were, in general, better predictors than economic factors of the disposition of the Chapter 13 cases within the sample. Discharged and dismissed debtors were found to have statistically significantly different levels of certain types of debts based on pairwise t-test results. Although limited to one district, this study was the first to examine the likelihood of dismissal at three stages of bankruptcy prior to discharge. The study concluded that single debtors, debtors with children, debtors with previous bankruptcies, and those with higher levels of mortgage arrears were the most likely to be dismissed before completion of their repayment plan. Plan completion was generally achieved by those with higher job tenure and debtors with a mortgage. The results of the study support arguments against changes in current bankruptcy law and warrant further investigation of low Chapter 13 repayment plan completion rates in the district of Utah.

Participants for this investigation were 146 kindergarten teachers and 436 parents of kindergarteners in Davis and Weber School Districts. Self-administered questionnaires were utilized, 1) to determine if teachers, mothers and fathers believe that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten, 2) to delineate what each group believes parents can do, 3) to investigate what mothers and fathers have done in preparing their children for kindergarten, 4) to explore what skills teachers, mothers and fathers credit as most important for children to possess upon kindergarten entry, and 5) to examine what skills these three groups feel should be emphasized in the kindergarten curricula. A variety of statistical analyses were used to compare teachers', mothers' and fathers' responses to the above questions. Major findings suggest that teachers differ significantly from do mothers and fathers in believing that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. Additional differences were found in the nature of what the three groups felt parents could do, with parents mentioning intellectual skills significantly more often than teachers. Results also suggest that mothers more than fathers indicate that they take an active role in preparing their children for kindergarten. Teachers, mothers and fathers generally agree about which skills children should possess when they go to kindergarten. Listening, feeling confident, and following directions were found to be ranked highest in importance with writing and reading skills perceived as least important. All three groups held similar attitudes toward the kindergarten curricula, holding that a wide variety of skills are important and should be emphasized in kindergarten programs. The implications of current findings for parents and teachers are discussed.