<p> The conditions that allowed early MFTs the freedom to creatively explore different interventions and theories of change are no longer available in today&rsquo;s mental health care system. Although there are many benefits to the structure of managed behavioral healthcare organizations, a thorough review of the literature demonstrates that many therapists working in managed care agencies struggle with maintaining their theoretical creativity, claiming third-party payers&rsquo; service requirements and paperwork a barrier to their creativity. A phenomenological transcendental research method was utilized to understand the phenomenon of successfully combining creativity and accountability in the practice of marriage and family therapy from the perspective of six creative MFTs who have effectively incorporated creative therapeutic techniques into their work, while adhering to the structured requirements of managed care. </p><p> The findings and themes of the study were organized into two categories. The themes in the Textural / Content Category (description and purpose of therapeutic creativity at a managed care agency) are: (1) Creatively combining the needs of the clients, the different professional entities, insurance companies and you as a therapist, (2) Translating post-modern information into the medical model language that meets the third-party payers&rsquo; requirements, (3) Completing documentation with clients, (4) Incorporating technique from a range of therapy models, (5) Keeping clients engaged through a variety of resources and activities, and (6) Utilizing metaphors and themes to uncover patterns of relational dynamics and behaviors. The themes in the Structural / Supportive Conditions Category (factors that allow the balance of creativity and accountability to occur) are: (1) Systemic understanding of how the therapeutic and business systems of managed behavioral healthcare interact together, (2) Having a supportive network of colleagues, (2a) Supportive group of coworkers within the job setting, (2b) Supportive network of MFT colleagues outside of the work setting, (3) Desire to make a difference in peoples&rsquo; lives, (4) Continuous education on all aspects of the mental health field, (5) Employers&rsquo; support of creative therapy, (6) Self-reflection, (7) Self-care, and (8) Organization and time management.</p>

<p> Listening to music is an activity that provides a range of physical and psychological benefits (e.g., tension relief, decreased depression) for people across cultures and age groups. Adolescents, specifically, are among the most active consumers of music, and music appears to be a natural coping strategy for this age group. Research suggests that both music and the family context play important roles during the developmental phase of adolescence. Family transitions such as divorce have become increasingly common experiences for adolescents and may have long-lasting negative effects on an adolescent&rsquo;s emotional well-being. However, research regarding music-based interventions for use with adolescents experiencing family conflicts or transitions is limited. Thus, this project involved the creation of a resource manual designed to help mental health professionals implement music-based interventions in their work with adolescents coping with family conflict or parental divorce. The development of the manual was informed by a review of the literature about music therapy, adolescents, and families, as well as by questionnaires completed by three certified music therapists, and this author&rsquo;s own clinical experiences. The data was then integrated and synthesized into a comprehensive resource manual, which was evaluated by three clinicians who are not trained music therapists for its efficacy, relevance, and user-friendliness. Feedback for the manual was collected via an evaluation form. Results indicated that the manual may be a useful supplemental tool for mental health professionals. Strengths, weaknesses, and suggestions for improvement are also discussed. </p>

<p> There is an ample amount of research that documents the positive effect of self-esteem on a child established through an affirmative parental or mentoring relationship, verses a specific parent-mentoring approach designed with a curriculum to enhance the positive self-esteem of African-American daughters based on the relationship with their maternal parent. The purpose of this qualitative study was to answer the following research questions: what strategies and behaviors are used by parents in African-American families to affect the self-esteem of female children and adolescents and, how can strategies and behaviors exhibited by African-American parental mentors be organized in a teachable format for African-American families? By utilizing a portraiture research design to study specific parental mentoring techniques and behavior exhibited by five female parents in African-American families which are intended to affect the self-esteem of their biological African-American female children and adolescents. The project focused on a unique group of African-American parents who had been recognized by the court system as <i>parental mentors </i>. They had been trained to use specific strategies and behaviors to assist their daughters in developing confidence in their ability to think and to cope with the basic challenges in life: success, happiness, self-worth, self-esteem, and efficacy. Overall, the results of the study showed supporting evidence of the importance of parenting African-American females in a diverse format which would allow the elements of self-love, confidence, and historical pride to aid in the comprehension of effective coping procedures. The emerging strategies that were a commonality among the mothers throughout the entire process were consistency, behavior representation, love, historical teachings, communication, processes, and involvement. The mentoring component demonstrated by the mothers exposed them and their truths in a transparent form to all that were involved in a Rites of Passage process. This exposure allowed daughters to view them from a humanistic perspective without the authoritative title of mother, which also allowed them to relate more based on gender and cultural commonalities.</p>

<p> Approximately 65,000 undocumented immigrants graduate from American high schools annually, among them valedictorians and salutatorians. Only about 6,500 of these prospective future leaders go on to college. There are 50 different state-level immigrant-tuition policies, most of which severely limit undocumented students&rsquo; college/university and financial aid options. This study is situated in the state of California, whose Master Plan for Higher Education aims to grant college access to all Californians and whose favorable immigrant-tuition policies work toward that end; it could serve as a model for U.S. states with restrictive or neutral immigrant-tuition policies. To date, there is limited discussion of undocumented student college choice in the higher education literature. To explore how undocumented students navigate college decision-making in the U.S., this study uses the conceptual constructs of Perna&rsquo;s (2006) contextual college choice model, Hossler and Gallagher&rsquo;s (1987) foundational choice model, and single-element models (chain enrollment and proximity). These frameworks and Dervin&rsquo;s Sense-making Theory (1999-2014) helped me retrospectively explore the college choice of seven undocumented men and women attending a Bay Area Cal State University campus in 2013. </p><p> The study&rsquo;s purpose warranted a qualitative research design and case study approach. I connected with interested students, shared my background, answered questions, and sent them my IRB-approved Study Information Sheet and demographic survey. We developed rapport over several months, engaging in a series of in-person interviews and other interactions. I kept field notes and journaled reflexively. I transcribed all 14 interview recordings via Dragon speech software, coded the transcripts and analyzed the data via MaxQDA data analysis software. </p><p> The findings revealed overarching themes related to: parental expectations and encouragement, habitus (e.g., gender &amp; cultural traditions, birth order &amp; responsibilities, home life), financial situation, K-14 context, higher education context, social context, and policy context. What distinguishes this study is the exploration of undocumented students&rsquo; college choice, inclusion of student voices, and implications for public policy and college enrollment professionals&rsquo; practice. It provides insight into how undocumented youth choose a college located in a state whose country values the common good and economic success yet is torn on its people&rsquo;s higher education rights.</p>

<p> In this theoretical dissertation, the author identifies social problems that arise from patriarchy and that are attributed to what is called <i> gender culture</i>, which exists as a consequence of the gender polarization required for patriarchy. The dissertation demonstrates how beliefs and attitudes that emanate from gender culture, and are transmitted through patriarchal mythology, provide a template that shapes maladaptive decision-making in ways that warp the relational capacity of individuals and reinforce and perpetuate social injustice. Using examples from her own and others&rsquo; research investigating egalitarianism in the parenting and relationship dynamics of heterosexual couples, the author discuses how, despite the potential of egalitarianism in heterosexual relationships to subvert the patriarchal paradigm, unrecognized internalized patriarchal mythology acts as a force to pull egalitarian-minded couples back into traditional marital structures. Drawing on her own research (Ballantyne, 2004) exploring the effect of the romantic myth on women in same sex intimate partner relationships, and the realization of egalitarianism as exemplified by a couple in her research (Ballantyne, 2011), the author discusses the role of outcasts and misfits as way showers, who, as a result of their rejection from or inability to conform to the prevailing mythology of mainstream norms, have the potential to create alternatives that benefit society at large. Finally, the dissertation provides evidence of emerging mythology that is already visible, offers suggestions for imagery and storylines to sow into our culture, and proposes a framework for a new mythology that is requisite to the cultivation of egalitarian imagery in the internal psychological landscape of the collective. Cultivating a new mythology will support what the author believes is the evolutionary movement away from systems of oppression and towards democracy, not only for the sake of gender justice, but for the sake of earth justice and peace as well.</p>

abstract: Children removed from methamphetamine laboratories are a severely understudied population despite the widespread deprivation parental methamphetamine abuse has on children, particularly in homes where methamphetamine is produced. Arizona's children are uniquely affected by the use and manufacturing of methamphetamine due to the geographic location and landscape of the state. A sample of 144 children removed from their homes during the seizure of methamphetamine laboratories, as part of the Arizona Drug Endangered Children program between 1999 and 2003, was investigated. Results indicate that younger children were more likely to be reported by Child Protective Services as high or moderate risk of further abuse, test positive for methamphetamine, and have maternal alleged perpetrators of abuse. Older children were more likely to be reported as low risk for further abuse, test negative for methamphetamine, and have paternal alleged perpetrators of abuse. Results also show that children initially placed in foster care were more likely to remain in foster care at the final assessment than to be living with a parent or kin. These findings have implications for individuals working with children removed from methamphetamine laboratories, including Child Protective Services case workers, medical personnel, temporary and permanent child caregivers (i.e., foster care, kin care, adoptive parents, and shelters), and community members (i.e., teachers). Recommendations based on study findings are offered to child and family advocates and interventionists. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Family and Human Development 2011

abstract: The current study is the first qualitative investigation aimed solely at understanding what it means to communicate conditional forgiveness in serious romantic relationships. Conditional forgiveness is forgiveness that has been offered with the stipulation that the errant behavior cease. It is a provocative topic because some argue genuine forgiveness is not conditional, but recent discoveries that have associated its use with severe transgressions and relational deterioration suggest it is a critical site for investigation. This inductive analysis of open-ended data from 201 anonymous surveys identified both distinctions between and intersections of conditional forgiveness, forgiveness, and reconciliation. A relational dialectics analysis also revealed that reconcilable-irreconcilable was the overarching tension for conditional forgivers and six additional tensions also were also discovered: individual identity-couple identity, safety-risk, certainty-uncertainty, mercy-justice, heart-mind, and expression-suppression. Of particular intrigue, the current analysis supports the previous discovery of implicit conditional forgiveness--suppressing conditions, sometimes in response to physical and substance abuse. Ultimately, the current analysis contributes to the enduring conversation aimed at understanding the communication and pursuit of forgiveness and reconciliation. It addresses one of the basic instincts and paradoxes of existing with others--the balance between vulnerability and protection. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication Studies 2011

<p> Although there has been a decline in teen pregnancy in White, African American, and Hispanic teens, American Indian teen pregnancies have stayed relatively stable. According to Indian Health Services (2014), young women under the age of 24 years old account for 80 percent of births in the American Indian population. With a high percent of young mothers in this population and the stigma associated with young parenting, it is important to explore American Indian young mothers&rsquo; satisfaction and efficacy associated with parenting. It is also important to see how American Indian communities can support young mothers. The present study examined how attachment to parents, grandmothers, and peers and intimate partner violence impacts American Indian young mothers parenting satisfaction and efficacy. There were 134 American Indian young mothers who participated in this study. Results of the simple linear regression analyses revealed significant positive relationships between attachment to a mother figure, attachment to a father figure, and attachment to friends. However, attachment to father figures seems to have more of an impact than other attachments. Intimate partner violence was shown to have a negative impact on parenting satisfaction and efficacy. In this study community support was not a significant moderator on parenting satisfaction and efficacy, but when examined alone had a negative impact on parenting satisfaction and efficacy. Further analyses suggested that young mothers with high levels of attachment to father figures (and perhaps mother and grandmother figures) perceived or received less community support. This study shows that having a positive attachment may help young mothers to feel more satisfied and efficacious as parents and also shows that intimate partner violence can have a negative impact on American Indian young mothers&rsquo; satisfaction and efficacy as parents. The results of this study can be used to inform programs about the impacts of attachment, community support, and intimate partner violence on American Indian young mothers&rsquo; parenting satisfaction and efficacy. </p><p>

abstract: American families have been coming to South Korea accompanying active duty service members or Embassy employees since before the Korean War. While their numbers were originally smaller, they continue to increase as South Korean assignments undergo "tour normalization", a transition from a location intended for service members to come alone for one year to a location where service members come accompanied by their family and stay for longer periods of times. The U.S. maintains a large presence in South Korea as a deterrence against possible threats from North Korea. Despite establishment of an armistice at the conclusion of the Korean War, a constant state of potential threat was created. This paper will examine what affect the recent rise in tension between North Korea and South Korea has on the American children living in South Korea with their active duty service member parent(s). / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education 2012

abstract: This study drew upon a bioecological framework to empirically investigate the relations between environmental chaos and preschoolers' language across time, including the potentially mediating roles of children's effortful control and parenting. Child sex also was examined as a moderator of these relations. For this study, the following data were collected at 30, 42, and 54 months of age. Household chaos and (at 30 months) socioeconomic status (SES) were reported by mothers. Children's effortful control (EC) was rated by mothers and nonparental caregivers, and was observed during a number of laboratory tasks. Maternal vocalizations were assessed during free play sessions with their children (at 30 and 42 months), and supportive and unsupportive parenting behaviors and affect were observed during free play and teaching tasks at each age. Mothers also reported on their own reactions to children's negative emotions. Finally, (at 54 months) children's expressive and receptive language was measured with a standard assessment. Structural equation modeling and path analyses indicated that SES at 30 months and greater levels of household chaos at 42 months predicted not only poorer language skills, but also deficits in children's EC and less supportive parenting in low-income mothers at 54 months, even when controlling for stability in these constructs. Children's effortful control at 42 months, but not parenting, positively predicted later language, suggesting that EC may play a mediating role in the relations between household chaos, as well as SES, and preschoolers' language abilities. Child sex did not moderate the pattern of relations. Post-hoc analyses also indicated that the negative relation between chaos and language was significant only for children who had low EC at 42 months. This study represents a much-needed addition to the currently limited longitudinal research examining environmental chaos and children's developmental outcomes. Importantly, findings from this study elucidate an important process underlying the links between chaos and children's language development, which can inform interventions and policies designed to support families and children living in chaotic home environments. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Family and Human Development 2012