Domestic violence is a continuing public health problem. Immigrant women facing domestic violence have additional challenges in dealing with domestic violence and accessing services. Hopeful thinking has been identified as a strategy for intervening and surviving beyond domestic violence. The purpose of this multiple descriptive case study was to explore hopeful thinking in Haitian immigrant women domestic abuse survivors' (HIDAS) conceptualizations of the future beyond domestic abuse. The framework for the study was resilience theory, which emphasizes the individual's ability to bounce back from stressful situations. This framework was used to investigate how HIDAS in the United States experience hopeful thinking and the role hopeful thinking plays in how they perceive the future. Four women participants were recruited from a Haitian community in Florida, and data were collected through interviews. Findings from content analysis showed that while each woman had a different strategy for how to get out of the abusive relationships, they became independent by hoping that things would change for the better. Although the interpretation of findings clarified these survivors' experiences of domestic abuse, the findings are not meant to solve the larger problem of domestic abuse. The study results may influence social change by informing development of operational hope-based community and trauma intervention services for HIDAS and other groups of immigrant women.

Crisis communication systems (CCS) in educational settings have been challenged by mass casualty events including shootings, natural disasters, and health outbreaks in the United States. The U.S. federal government and the U.S. Department of Education have created safety and security instructions to manage these complex and diverse security issues, yet they do not address the role of school leaders within a CCS. Using complex adaptive systems as the theoretical construct, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine CCSs utilized by school leaders within a single public school district in the United States. The research questions are focused on the influence of components in a CCS, CCS influence on safety and security, and the school leader's role. Data were collected through interviews with 20 school principals and assistant principals of the school district. Interview data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis. Findings indicate that approximately 40% of interviewees believe that communication behavior was the most critical component in a CCS. Methods of communication are varied and include a combination of technologies and behaviors. In addition, the majority of participants reported that internal decision making used by human agents in a CCS influences safety and security in an educational environment. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to the school district to enhance communication systems with both human and nonhuman methods, which may contribute to creating safer educational settings for students, faculty, and communities.

Health care disparities are U.S. national public health concerns that disproportionately affect minority populations. The focus of published studies on the health of larger immigrant populations from Europe, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean has revealed a knowledge gap on the health of African and other minority immigrants. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore disparities in access to maternal and child health (MCH) care as well as the causes and effects of such disparities to care-seeking experiences of recent African immigrants. Andersen's behavioral model of health services use provided the theoretical lenses to interpret study findings. Eleven recent African immigrant mothers living in metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, participated in semistructured questions that generated data used in this study. NVivo 11 was used to manage data, which enabled convenient use of Colaizzi's data analysis technique to identify themes and subthemes that were synthesized into final findings. Study results indicated that although participants used MCH care services, factors such as racial/ethnic discrimination, insurance differences, immigration, and socioeconomic status marred the process of seeking care, with notable access disparities that negatively affect MCH care experiences. The field of health for African immigrants is ripe for research. Other researchers could replicate this study elsewhere in the United States and other traditional immigrant-destination countries. Study findings could benefit health care providers, public health professionals, researchers, and immigrant populations. Actions for sustainable positive social change may result in the form of improved health care access and health outcomes for minority immigrants in the United States and beyond.

For women in recovery from complex trauma and substance abuse, the lack of posttreatment family reunification services such as family engagement, service delivery, and aftercare planning increase the likelihood of parental relapse and children reentering foster care. A primary caregiver's continued relapse can lead to longer out of home placement for minor children and a loss of parental rights, with a negative impact on both children and parents. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of women in recovery, their sobriety practices, and how they reunified their families. The theoretical framework was Herman's trauma and recovery model. The research question focused on gaining a broader understanding of the complexities of substance abuse recovery among single-parenting women with trauma histories and their efforts to achieve and sustain family reunification. Data were obtained from interviews of 10 participants using an audio recording device and open-ended interview questions. Five themes emerged through analysis using open and axial coding: (a) choosing to remain sober, (b) cultivating and connecting, (c) trust and discovery, (d) trauma histories, and (e) aftercare and maintenance. Results indicated a possible connection between foster care recidivism and outdated aftercare services and practices. Improved aftercare practices could increase sustainability of reunified families and decrease the likelihood of relapse among caregivers in recovery. This study impacts social change by informing policy makers on state and federal levels of the needs of recovering parents and their families.

Conflict in higher education is inevitable and theoretically driven processes in conflict resolution can be employed to help in managing conflict or mediating issues. Students often are not a part of the well thought-out process that may exists in certain institutions, and the way in which conflict is handled could lack theoretical support. In conflict resolution theory, the process to resolve a conflict is often just as important as the outcome. Students may not be fully satisfied with the outcome of a mediation process when a conflict arises. However, if the mediation session was facilitated properly and a student's input is recognized, then this may lead to overall satisfaction and empowerment of the student throughout the process. The relationship and reputation of a university can be salvaged with the appropriate conflict resolution approach and limits negative publicity by students. This study conducted a detailed assessment of the conflict resolution processes and systems of two universities. The study adopted a qualitative case study approach, conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with key university personnel as well as examined the current systems that are in place in the respective institutions. In addition, the researcher recommended a theoretically-supported system for handling student disputes/issues that takes the real-world challenges of these institutions into account. Theories from the fields of mediation and conflict resolution were applied in the context of the higher education setting to help support the process.

A field survey was conducted to investigate differences in attitudes toward religious changes in a population of church-going Roman Catholics. An attitude scale comprising twenty items referring to changes in the Catholic Church was prepared during pilot studies. Half of the items referred to changes already occurring, and half to proposed or possible future changes. The attitude scale was administered to a sample of parishes in the Roman Catholic diocese of Baker, Oregon. It was administered during regular Sunday services to take advantage of the saliency effect of group membership. A response to an item of the scale indicating the subject's agreement with the change was operationally defined as a liberal response. A response indicating disagreement with change was considered a conservative response. It was hypothesized that churchgoing Catholics would be more liberal or accepting of changes already instituted in the Church than they would be of merely possible changes. The results supported this hypothesis. Total scores on the scale were correlated with the age and education of the respondents. The results support the hypothesis that attitudes toward religious changes covary with age and education much like other social attitudes, as the younger and more educated respondents showed more liberalism or acceptance of change than did older and less educated respondents. A detailed analysis of several items shows a wide divergence between parishoners' attitudes and ecclesiastical dogma. The results of the research also indicate that in the population surveyed there was a great deal of intragroup variation in attitudes toward religious changes.

En el siguiente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo elaborar una propuesta de implementación de una PMO apoyándose en un framework Lean - Agile para una empresa de servicios compartidos, el cual brinde el soporte en la Gestión de Proyectos en el área de TI de la empresa, debido a la cantidad de proyectos que se reciben en el área de TI; por lo cual esta propuesta permitirá mejorar el desempeño en la gestión de los proyectos en la empresa. Basado en los principios Ágiles, acompañado de las buenas prácticas Lean, el framework propuesto estará compuesto por los servicios que brindará la PMO, de acuerdo con el análisis de interesados que se realizó como parte del diagnóstico para la identificación de los mismos. Cada servicio contará con la organización necesaria a partir de entregables y lineamientos ágiles que permita a la empresa obtener una mejor planificación, desarrollo y ejecución para la realización de proyectos y lograr la concreción de los objetivos trazados y metas propuestas para cada uno de ellos. Todo esto de acuerdo a un plan de implementación de esta propuesta, así como también se realiza una evaluación financiera donde se indicará los beneficios financieros y no financieros, el cual mostrará la viabilidad de la propuesta. / The following research aims as main objective to develop a proposal for the implementation of a PMO based on a Lean - Agile framework for a shared services company, which will provide support in Project Management of the IT area of ​​the company, which is due to the several projects received by the IT area. This proposal will allow to improve performance in project management of the company. Based on Agile principles, followed by good Lean practices, the proposed framework will be composed of services that the PMO will provide, in accordance with the stakeholder analysis that was carried out as part of an identifying diagnosis. Each service will have the necessary organization, based on deliverables and agile guidelines that allow the company to obtain better planning, development and execution to carry out projects and achieve the objectives stated and goals proposed for each of them. All this according to an implementation plan for this proposal, as well as a financial evaluation is carried out indicating the financial and non-financial benefits, which will show the viability of the proposal. / Trabajo de investigación

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In one of his letters to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul sets forth as one of the basic facts of the primitive Gospel that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. "l In the same passage, he asserts that it is by this Gospel that men are saved - that is that there is a definite relationship between the death of Christ and the salvation of men. To define this relationship has been a task that has occupied the thinking of some of the greatest minds of the ages since the day that Jesus of Nazareth hung on the cross on Golgotha's hill. The writers of the New Testament deal with the question from a Variety of viewpoints. Consequently, practically every theory of Atonement that has been developed during the centuries since the close of the apostolic age can find some Scriptural support. In the consideration of this subject, we shall begin with a consideration of the subject-matter which, at least in theory, lies at the foundation of all the views of Atonement that have been developed: the New Testament teaching. We shall then devote a chapter to each of the three main types of theories of the Atonement. These we may define as the classic or patristic theory, the satisfaction or Anselmic theory, and the subjective or exemplary theory. A fifth chapter will deal with some of the modern views that have been expounded by modern scholars. We shall endeavor in the concluding chapter to draw from our study some pertinent conclusions regarding the significance and the understanding of that bedrock truth of the ChristIan Gospel - that Christ dIed for our sins according to the Scriptures.

Peter L. Berger's conception of agency in his earliest writings (c.1954-1960) is logically and empirically inadequate. At the root of this inadequacy is an idealism that prevents him from providing a compelling account of actual empirical agency. Chapter 1 asserts that Berger's earlier works warrant analysis. Chapter 2 discusses Berger's earliest influences, particularly Max Weber and The Swedish Lund School of motif research. Chapter 3 identifies a unique commitment to Christian Humanism at the base of Berger's conception of agency. Chapter 4 clarifies how Berger's Christian humanism interacts with his Weberian, and Parsonian-inspired functional analysis of the American religious establishment. The thesis concludes (Chapter 5) by identifying more specifically how and why Berger's Christian humanism undermines his attempt to empirically ground human agency.