<p> This study focused on the perceptions of K-12 school counselors on learned helplessness in children and families in rural areas. There has been research on learned helplessness, children in rural areas, and studies on school counselors; however, there is a lack of research on the counselor's perceptions of learned helplessness in children and families in rural areas. Therefore, this study was different than previous studies on learned helplessness, and it fills a gap in the literature. This study used the interpretive-constructivist approach. The experiences and perceptions of participants provided answers to the central research question, by providing their subjective observations of learned helplessness in the children and families in their rural areas. Data was collected for this study through face-to-face interviews with volunteer participants privately to ensure protection and confidentiality of participants. Bracketing was used to reduce the impact of research bias in this study, along with note-taking techniques and audio tapes, transcribed by the researcher using NVIVO software. Transcripts were reviewed, patterns were identified, and themes were categorized using codes as the researcher looked for connections among the themes. Themes that emerged included parental involvement, generational cycles and patterns, grandparents raising grandkids, poverty, helping agencies, cultural and community norms and lifestyles, beliefs and value systems, and drugs and substance abuse. The theme most discussed by the eight participants was in relation to parental involvement in the child's life, both positive and negative. Parental involvement was discussed by participants 70 times during the eight hours of face-to-face interviews. According to participants of this study, both the positive and the negative involvement by the parent is the number one influence of learned helplessness in the child's life.</p><p>

<p> The advocacy of parent involvement, specifically by k-8 (elementary and middle school) administrators will be examined through the use of qualitative research method which will entail a thorough and immense review of the body of literature on this subject matter. The body of literature will cover the significance of parent involvement in various settings, such as in the home and in the classroom, and the significance to teachers, administrators, and students. The political components of parent involvement advocacy will be introduced and discussed in detail and additionally, the relationships between administrators, teachers, parents, and students will be examined and discussed. The data collection for this study will be conducted through the lens of a phenomenological approach. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect and impact that k-8 school administrators have on the implementation of parent engagement programs. Therefore, this will determine the success of parent involvement initiatives to promote parents as leaders in children&rsquo;s academic careers. explained. It will be explained through the examination of administrators who are or are not advocating for the implementation of parent engagement programs that will essentially allow parents to be involved in their children&rsquo;s academic careers in and outside of the classroom environment. The study will seek to discover the strategies used by administrators, challenges they face, and how success is measured. Administrators will also be asked for anecdotal recommendations for others in the field looking to implement similar programs.</p><p>

<p> Little published research exists about individuals who decide to start their families while enrolled in graduate school. The purpose of this study was to explore with a qualitative methodology the experiences of first time parents in graduate study programs. Graduate student parents were defined as women or men either currently enrolled in a Master&rsquo;s or doctoral level graduate program, or recent alumni who graduated within the past five years. Participants had to have had their first child while in graduate school, either through childbirth (self or spouse), surrogacy, or infant adoption, and that child must be listed as a dependent. All graduate programs were located in the greater Boston area. Through semi-structured interviews, twelve participants detailed their experiences as student parents with newborn children. Interview data were categorized and coded, which led to the identification of five meta-themes, each of which was then divided into several sub-themes. </p><p> Meta-themes included the decision-making process to have a child while a student, which was broken down to age, fertility risk factors, and the academic timeline. The theme of logistical challenges included compounding financial costs, childcare issues, and scheduling conflicts. Physical and psychosocial challenges was another meta-theme regarding the experience of extreme sleep deprivation, cognitive changes, challenges with breastfeeding or pumping, the guilt associated with trying to balance school and family, negative experiences with faculty or the administration, and the social isolation of not knowing other student parents in their programs. Additional meta-themes revolved around the availability of social supports, and adaptations and classroom accommodations they developed in order to complete their degrees. Lastly, student parents outlined suggestions for changes in institutional policies and procedures to ensure basic educational rights, and to prevent future marginalization and discrimination for this largely invisible population.</p><p>

<p>Throughout American history, parental involvement has been a ?hot topic? in American education. Parents have great influence on their children?s schooling. Chinese immigrants are one of the largest populations in the United States, which introduces new challenges for American teachers. Along with the increasing numbers of Chinese in the United States, many American teachers have limited knowledge and resources to help them. Using Joyce Epstein?s six types of parental involvement and Grolnick and Slowiaczek?s three dimensions of parental involvement as a theoretical framework, this study investigated 10 Chinese immigrant parents in northwest America. The purpose of this study was to explore how Chinese immigrant parents? heritage, culture, and beliefs affect their understanding of American education. In addition, this study explored the factors that affect Chinese immigrant parents? participation in their children?s cognitive development.

<p> In the United States, approximately 400,000 children reside in foster care, and most have been exposed to caregiver abuse, neglect, or abandonment. A majority of foster children suffer the effects of damaging circumstances including poverty, violence, inferior health care, and substandard housing. Consequently, young foster youth frequently struggle to accomplish developmental tasks such as establishing secure attachment relationships, cultivating pre-academic skills, and acquiring social-emotional competence. The purpose of this research was to determine the impact of Peace4Kids, a nonprofit community-based organization, on young foster youths&rsquo; social-emotional development and pre-academic skills. Data collected from parents, teachers, and administrators during semi-structured interviews documented children&rsquo;s experiences as they attended the organization&rsquo;s Saturday Core Program. Participants noted that as foster children participated in a variety of curricular and co-curricular experiences at Peace4Kids, their social, emotional, and academic development were positively impacted. Parents, teachers, and administrators reported that the organization&rsquo;s culture of consistency, trust, and accountability promoted secure attachment relationships among foster youth, staff members, and peers at the Saturday Core Program. Participants iterated that secure relationships provided a foundation for foster children to subsequently acquire social and emotional capacities, including persistence, conflict resolution, self-regulation, and autonomy. As youth in foster care developed social-emotional competencies, pre-academic skills such as literacy and numeracy emerged. This study&rsquo;s findings indicate that a comprehensive approach is necessary to address the unique needs of foster children who have experienced prior trauma. Additionally, this research study contributes to a growing body of work that explores the role of attachment relationships in group and organizational settings.</p>

<p> This dissertation focused on understanding the perceptions built around autism in the Turkish context through an inquiry of lived experiences of individuals who have close contact with individuals on the autism spectrum. The nature of the experiences of two main groups of the participants, a group of experts working with individuals with autism and the parents of children who are on the spectrum, is explored employing an interpretive phenomenological analysis, which is a method of qualitative inquiry. The perceptions of participants show divergences and similarities regarding the nature of autism, the intervention, and the role of the family as well as regarding issues about diagnosis, collaboration, and conflict among experts and between all participant groups. For all groups of participants, the variation in the manifestations of autism symptomology and the overall severity level emerged as one crucial factor shaping the perceptions around the condition. The understandings of the majority of the participants seems to be informed by a theoretical basis that is mainly built around behavior control and behavior modification. The emphasis on behavior modification, in turn, shapes the education practices, which is considered to be the sole intervention for autism by all participants, leading to efforts to eliminate unwanted behaviors rather than seeking the possible underlying factors that trigger them. The focus on behaviors also leads to a particular understanding of what constitutes a successful outcome of therapy in which the evaluation of functional use of skills acquired during intervention can be overlooked. </p><p> The informational inaccessibility and the knowledge inequality that currently exists in Turkey appears as one major implication of this investigation. This is indicative of the need for greater collaboration on the part of the professionals as well as a service delivery system that is oriented to providing parents and experts working with children on the ASD spectrum with the most recent data-based knowledge.</p>

<p> There has been a rash of divorce among Nigerian Igbo immigrants. This was unheard of several years ago in a community whose culture frowned upon divorce. While some have examined factors affecting divorce, this study investigates those couples who remained married in the whirlwind of the divorce around them. </p><p> This phenomenological study reports the lived experience of nine Nigerian Igbo immigrant couples who live in the Houston area metropolis and who have been married for 20 years or more. Data from two clergymen who also live in the Houston metropolitan area and who have ministerial duties for the Nigerian Igbo community were utilized. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Giorgi&rsquo;s psychological phenomenological method (1985) was used to analyze data. </p><p> The analysis of the data from participating couples yielded the following 15 essential structures: successful navigation of problems related to extended family, understanding that every marriage is unique with no comparison, mutual trust and understanding, appreciation of the marriage experience, communication, living within ones means, ability to be flexible and dynamic, team work, eliminating interference from others, infidelity, involvement in spiritual and religious activities, seeing marriage as a learning process, finances, raising of children , and acculturation issues. Participating clergy identified these six structures: ability to forgive and to tolerate, preference to go to the priest or religious leader, awareness of unacceptability of divorce, effective management of issues surrounding sex, being constantly aware of the love element in marriage, and managing the over inflated image of a cozy life in the US. </p><p> This study&rsquo;s finding did not differ greatly from other studies on long-term marriages. The results support the conclusion that there may be cross cultural similarity in structural factors fostering marriage longevity. The results did, however, indicate some uniqueness germane to the acculturation of this immigrant population in the areas of extended family, upbringing of children, gender roles, and male patriarchal hegemony. This underscores the need for counselors to consider cultural context when looking at marriage longevity. The Nigerian couples in this study also acknowledged that the above listed structures may have either a positive or negative impact on marriage stability.</p>

<p> The epitome of psychoanalysis is the process of psyche integration&mdash;making the unconscious conscious. As such, the unconscious material holds that which is feared most, the unknown. Buried within the unconscious, the shadow is born; an eerie abyss of repressed emotions, unwanted memories, and forgotten fantasies. Accessing this material can be wearisome, even distressing, without skillful clinical support. This dissertation postulates using literature as conduit in a therapeutic setting to facilitate psyche integration and healthy psychological development. The foundation of depth psychology lends a perfect lens through which to view a literary work because of the emphasis for considering the presence of the unconscious. A hermeneutic research methodology and imaginal approach are used to discuss unconscious material derived from the textual themes and characters in selected works of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe&rsquo;s works provide an appropriate framework to hold shadow material as he utilized and personified psychological affects directly correlated to the shadow, and they still possess the ability to connect to their reader a century and a half after conception. The selected works for this dissertation analysis include: &ldquo;Ligeia&rdquo; (1838), &ldquo;The Fall of the House of Usher&rdquo; (1839), and &ldquo;William Wilson&rdquo; (1840). </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Edgar Allan Poe, shadow, literature, textual hermeneutic wheel, imaginal, depth psychology.</p>

<p> Type I Diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic illnesses in childhood. Supports can play a pivotal role in aiding families affected by chronic illness to cope (Gerhardt, Walders, Rosenthal, &amp; Drotar, 2006; Gavin and Wysocki, 2006); however, when attachment figures become unreliable and unsupportive, it can interrupt child outcomes (Charuvastra &amp; Cloitre, 2008; Feeney, 1999; Mikulincer, Shaver, &amp; Horesh, 2006; VanIjzendoorn, Goldberg, Kroonenberg, &amp; Frenkel, 1992).</p><p> Seven sibling-parent dyads of children affected by T1D were studied using the PedsQL to evaluate Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), the CRIES-13 to evaluate post traumatic stress symptoms, the BASC to evaluate behavioral and emotional functioning, the LEAP to evaluate perception of caregiver availability, the MSPSS to evaluate the parent self-reported level of support, and the BSI to evaluate the parent social-emotional functioning. This pilot studied evaluated whether siblings mirrored past study results (Alonzo, 2000; Droter, 2006; Gerhardt, et al., 2003; Hollidge, 2001; Kenney, 2010; Landolt, et al., 2003; Lombardo, 2005; Newby, 1996; Sharpe &amp; Rossiter, 2002), and then proceeded to evaluate how HbA1c and parent-child factors may have impacted the sibling results.</p><p> This sample did not appear to be impacted by the level of HbA1c control or mirror prior chronic illness study demographics. Further, neither the parent's reported support level nor the siblings' perception of parental availability appeared to impact sibling outcomes. However, there was a significant relationship between sibling CRIES and mother's LEAP scores, as well as a post-hoc analysis relationship between the Child Total PedsQL score/PedsQL Family Impact score and siblings' qualitative indication of felt loss of attention to the T1D child and desire for more sibling support groups. Taken together, this study suggests that parent support variables may not be core to sibling outcomes for the T1D population; however, it is important to remember that significant results may have been masked due to the relative health of this particular sample and the low N, especially given the post-hoc analysis results. Future research on parent-child factors impacting sibling outcomes should occur, as it could generate new treatment protocols to better the lives of families impacted by T1D.</p>

<p> Research has shown that there can be a positive impact on the child&rsquo;s academic achievement when parents are closely involved with the child&rsquo;s schooling. When parents are involved in the school, they understand what is being taught in the classroom and are usually encouraged to extend the learning at home. When parents value education, students succeed. When parents are invested and show an interest in their child&rsquo;s school, they develop a sense of pride for the school and tend to support the school and teachers in their decisions. This cooperative attitude allows for better, open communication and a team attitude to develop amongst the school community. When children see parents, teachers, and administrators working together, they feel more positive pressure to do well. </p><p> When parents are not involved in their child&rsquo;s schooling, miscommunication, misunderstandings and problems arise. Parents do not understand or value what the school is teaching students, and children see the conflict as a barrier. Children typically mirror their parents&rsquo; beliefs and actions. Therefore, if a parent does not see the value in education, does not know what is being taught, and does not respect the school, administrators, or teachers, the child is likely to mirror those behaviors and attitudes. When this happens, students suffer academically. </p><p> The concern about parent involvement is not new. Many schools understand the importance of parental involvement, but struggle to find the time, resources, and activities to involve parents. Oftentimes, urban areas contain families that have unique obstacles that prevent such involvement. Many strategies need to be utilized in order to ensure that parents are not left out of activities or opportunities. </p><p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the actions taken by one particular charter school district that led to intense parental involvement participation in an urban, metropolitan area. Understanding the obstacles that parents face when becoming involved was a starting point for the research. Understanding how the school utilized particular strategies to form solid relationships with families was vital to the study. Comparing administrator, teacher, and parent perceptions about the school&rsquo;s parental involvement concluded the research.</p>