<p> The development of identity occurs and evolves throughout one&rsquo;s life. Major life events contribute to the shaping of one&rsquo;s identity, such as the life event of becoming a mother. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on the identity development of adoptees when they became mothers through adoption. Previous research on adoptees becoming adoptive mothers was not found as this research study commenced. Therefore, this study was ground-breaking in beginning to understand the complexities inherent for adoptees adopting. The literature review focused upon areas relevant to this topic, including a history of adoption, the development of motherhood, stages of adoptee development throughout the lifespan, an understanding of adoptive mothering, meaning-making through a narrative lens, and historical perspectives on identity development.</p><p> The present study used a qualitative research design in which the researcher interviewed five female adoptees who had become adoptive mothers. Each participant had adopted a minimum of five years before the start of this study. Participants engaged in an appreciative inquiry interview consisting of open-ended questions about their experiences of becoming an adoptive mother.</p><p> The results of this study reveal two large categorical themes and eight subcategories. The large categorical themes are (1) a growing awareness of the impact motherhood had upon identity development for adoptees and (2) an understanding that the experience of adopting could affect the adoptee&rsquo;s sense of self. The subcategories include the following: the impact being an adoptee had upon the experience of becoming a mother; the ways in which the experience of adopting stimulated memories of growing up as an adoptee; the manner in which adopting generated memories of their own mothers&rsquo; mothering, as well as creating the new shared experience of both being adoptive parents; the surprises that arose when the adoptee became a mother; the new experience of motherhood influenced by growing up as an adoptee; the deepening of self-understanding through the process of becoming a mother; the ways that becoming an adoptive mother brought both healing and pain; and loss and gain revisited through the lens of new motherhood.</p><p> These themes are discussed within the context of the literature reviewed in Chapter II. Limitations of the present study, clinical implications, and recommendations for future research are also addressed.</p>

<p> This qualitative phenomenological study explored the research question: What is the lived experience of hearing adults of Deaf parents who acted as language and cultural conduits for their parents during their formative years? Interviews captured recollections of 12 hearing adults, of culturally Deaf parents, where American Sign Language was the primary language in their home of origin, and who experienced interpreting for their parent(s). Recollections of lived experiences and perceptions of influence on personal development served as the research data. Open-ended questions stimulated self-directed responses of interviewee perceptions of desirable and challenging experiences. Interview data examined through Moustakas&rsquo; phenomenological analysis schema, provided a sense of the whole, ascertained meaningful units for psychological concept application, captured distinct descriptions, and composite essence of findings. Giorgi&rsquo;s three-stage analysis via bracketing, description, and essence articulation through the use of intentional journaling, secondary researcher scrutiny/agreement, along with manual and electronic analysis, supported objectivity. Nuance appreciation emerged using Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s bio-ecological Process-Person-Context-Time model. Composite themes included: being a Child of Deaf Adults (Coda) is a privilege; parental interpreting expectations/preferences were influenced by era, sibling chronology, gender, personality, fluency, and technology; language brokering dynamics beyond the child&rsquo;s level of comfort or understanding; transient resistance to signing during one&rsquo;s tween/teen years; influence on one&rsquo;s own parenting style; personal identity development within the Deaf and Hearing cultural milieu; pride and appreciation for their parents&rsquo; achievements; and overt certainty that personal career choices directly stemmed from being a Coda.</p>

<p>The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if there is a relationship between the constructs of authentic leadership and scores on the WFS-DMC in a state in the Southeastern United States of America. It is not known if or to what extent there is a relationship between authentic leadership traits and scores on the Willingness to Foster Scale-Disabilities and Medical Conditions, which has been linked to positive outcomes in foster parents. Authentic leadership was the theoretical framework for this study. Authentic leadership has been shown to lead to improved morale, job performance, job satisfaction, and other positive attitudes. This quantitative study was guided by the following five research questions: Is there a relationship between one?s overall level of authentic leadership and scores on the WFS-DMC? Is there a relationship between self-awareness and scores on the WFS-DMC? Is there a relationship between internalized moral perspective and scores on the WFS-DMC? Is there a relationship between balanced processing and scores on the WFS-DMC? Is there a relationship between relational transparency and scores on the WFS-DMC? The study population consisted of 44 participants from the target population of foster parents who licensed at the time of study with a public or private agency in a Southeastern state in the United States of America. This study used a quantitative methodology with a correlational research design. Spearman?s rho was used to analyze the data. Results from the study showed no significant statistical findings but pointed out areas for further research and practice.

<p> This project looked at the experience of 14 interracial couples who are connected with Fort Lee Gospel Church and a second multiethnic church. The question being addressed was whether or not a multiethnic church was better positioned to minister to an interracial couple than a mono-ethnic church. The questions were organized around the topic of general opposition, or failure to belong, experienced by interracial couples, how interracial couples experienced various churches, and how they experienced belonging in a multiethnic church. The experience of belonging was organized around five constructs: verbal affirmation, sense of commonality, feelings of inclusion, feelings of positive regard, and absence of prejudice or racism. On each of these constructs it was determined that an ethnically diverse church is a better setting for interracial couples to experience belonging. In addition, the transcultural experience of interracial couples uniquely equips them to help overcome racial differences that naturally occur within a multiethnic church.</p>

<p> Children placed in out-of-home care experience challenges while in foster care. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between children placed in out-of-home care and the bond and closeness with their caregivers. Secondary data from the Midwest Study About the Crime During the Transition to Adulthood: How Youth Fare as They Leave Out-of-Home Care in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin was used to develop a quantitative study on related variables. Findings indicated no significant relationship between outcomes for children in foster care and caregiver closeness.</p>

<p> This qualitative phenomenological study explored the various experiences and understandings of the key differentiators that predict family-owned businesses&rsquo; success from the first generation to the third generation. The sample used in this study consisted of ten public family-owned businesses and ten private family-owned businesses. The study utilized open-ended interviews and empirical research to identify relevant themes, trends and relationships. Three clusters of themes emerged: growth, entitlement and differentiation. The study identified those concepts that would explain the historical trajectory of the public and private family-owned companies. Leadership continuity drives succession planning, and leadership is the starting point for successor training, education, and development. The continued survival and growth of the organization depend on employing the right people, in the right position, at the right time. The future of succession planning is an important issue for all firms due to demographic factors, such as the rising number of employees reaching retirement age and the dwindling number of younger workers replacing them.</p>

<p> The qualitative multiple case study adds to the previous research regarding the orientation thoughts, context, and understandings of teachers, parents, and prekindergarten administrators when investigating parental involvement in prekindergarten. Teachers in preschools are encouraged to find ways to involve parents for higher levels of student achievement. To address the needs of improving parent participation in prekindergarten, teachers and administrators need parent information on their willingness to participate or not. In order for a school to change strategies, staff members of the organization need to understand the problem which may motivate the need for change. In this study, teachers, parents, and administrators among three prekindergarten programs share their thoughts, beliefs, and views to define the problem of parental involvement in prekindergarten. The research questions asked: Why are some parents more involved than others with their children in prekindergarten? How do parents perceive influencers which invoke their involvement? How does prekindergarten curriculum drive parent engagement? The qualitative multiple case study will aid in understanding parent perceptions about effective actions taken by schools to improve the performance of prekindergarten children. The prekindergarten stage for children includes emotional and developmental challenges that can impose hardship during kindergarten entry and beyond. </p><p>

<p>Parents and speech language pathologist (SLP) typically establish and maintain hierarchical relationships which ascribe excessive authority to the therapist, thus limiting the possibilities for dialogue and mutual learning. The SLPs discussions of children?s communication development often fail to acknowledge the contributions that parents can make, based on their knowledge and experiences with children at home. Neglecting parents? voices in communication intervention means the parents? critical role in supporting children?s communication development is overlooked. By investigating with parents their perspectives on children?s communication facilitation and social interaction experiences in and out of the home environment, this study sought to understand the relationships between parent?s beliefs and practices for communication facilitation and to model processes by which parents and SLP?s develop a reciprocal dialogue. This study draws insights into how parent initiated communication facilitation and social interaction for children with complex communication needs (CCNs) in a rural rehabilitation center in Kerala can be improved through examining a collaboratively created communication partner training program for parents and used a participatory action research approach centered on cooperative inquiry. Six parents of children younger than 6.5 years with CCNs, joined me in a six-month long co-investigation. Individually and collectively we raised questions, observed, documented, and reflected on communication facilitation strategies in and out of the homes. Weekly meetings were held involving all the participants and occasionally with individual families. Data sources included research diaries written by myself about parent?s experiences, audiotapes of meetings, participants? reflective journal entries, and children?s communication profiles constructed jointly by parents and the researcher. When children?s communication was documented based on children?s communication at home, we observed a wide variety that was not assessed in the standard communication assessments. The study?s findings provide evidence that parents can be a rich resource for SLPs and researchers. The data reveal the perceptions and practices of parents for communication facilitation. It also shows some of the real-life challenges for communication and interaction facilitation. Parents raised issues about current practices in communication interventions, misunderstandings about speech therapy, and training/teaching and learning relationships. This suggests that organizing parent training programs based on western models would be inappropriate. Through the parent practitioner research process, we were able to develop and introduce `conversation books? as a way for viewing the child as a communication partner and to provide more interaction opportunities for the children viewed as `sick child.? This process provides further evidence for the importance of including parents? knowledge and experience in the design of effective learning contexts for their children. These findings suggest that beyond the currently existent routine clinician-parent meeting (5 minute or lesser sessions, of giving instructions to parents), alternative structures for dialogue with practitioners are needed that allow for parents? critical reflection and substantive contributions to the children?s communication intervention plans.

<p> Altruistic behavior has been conceptualized from a variety of perspectives. One approach to understanding altruism involves understanding the contextual factors that influence it. Parenting style is a source of early learning that greatly influences a child&rsquo;s social functioning. The flexible connectedness offers three potential mechanisms by which parenting may influence altruism: perspective taking, empathic concern, and psychological flexibility. The current study examined perceived parenting style as a predictor of altruism and the flexible connectedness factors as potential mediators of this relationship. In the context of decision-making tasks involving monetary allocations (i.e., dictator and reciprocity tasks), authoritarian parenting predicted increases in altruism, and permissive parenting predicted decreases in altruism. In the context of a volunteer form, parental care predicted decreases in altruism. Parenting style was consistently associated with only psychological flexibility of the flexible connectedness factors, such that parental care was associated with increased flexibility and parental overprotection was associated with decreased flexibility. None of the flexible connected factors predicted altruism alone, but psychological flexibility moderated the relationship between empathic concern and altruism on the reciprocity task such that increases in psychological flexibility were associated with a stronger negative relationship between empathic concern and altruism. The current study&rsquo;s results suggest that inflexible parenting (i.e., authoritarian parenting and permissive) may influence how we treat others in unexpected ways, sometimes benefiting society at a cost to the individual.</p><p>

<p> The Small Circles program was developed as a prevention and intervention demonstration project. It was designed as a new approach to meeting the needs of a vulnerable population with barriers to necessary services, teen mothers and their infants. The goals of the program are the reduction of child abuse and/or neglect and fostering typical development in the infants. Teen parents face gaps in and barriers to services including lack of time as well as paucities of available mental health care, parent child development groups, and dependable transportation. Small Circles is designed to fill those gaps and overcome those barriers by placing the program within shelters for teen parents and their children in Massachusetts. The program has two interacting modalities: dyadic therapy with the teen and her infant and a parent child development group. Each component takes place once a week for four weeks. The program goals would be met through a focus on the development of a positive and flexible attachment relationship through a parallel process with the therapist and teen and the teen and her infant. The demonstration project was developed through an extensive review of the literature and a survey of currently available programs that serve this population. It was evaluated by four expert reviewers, each with a particular area of expertise. The reviewers&rsquo; feedback was overall favorable with relevant suggestions for revision. Feedback was provided that the program would be improved by an emphasis on developing the precursors to attachment that are measurable, a focus on intervention alone rather than a combination with prevention, and by highlighting interventions that are evidence based. These suggestions for revision will move the initial effort to a measurable, flexible program that works to meet the criteria for its targets and goals, and ultimately provides the best services and outcomes for the teen families.</p><p>