A day treatment program is an important component on the continuum of care for young people with moderate to severe mental health issues. The aim of this research was to investigate whether adolescents who participate in a structured day treatment program demonstrate greater mental health gains than adolescents receiving less intensive outpatient treatment. In addition, the research investigated whether mental health gains were related to intake diagnosis and whether parents reported higher levels of mental health gain than the client in their self-report ratings. The setting for the research was The Cottage, an adolescent day treatment program, run by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the Australian Capital Territory. The program provides intense multi-faceted treatment within a therapeutic milieu environment for clients aged 12-18 years with moderate to severe mental health issues. The study involved a Day Program group of 22 clients from The Cottage and included a comparison group of 20 outpatient clients from CAMHS. Results indicated that individuals in both treatment approaches had statistically significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptomology and improvements in outcome measures, but there were no significant differences between the two treatment groups. The data indicated a statistically significant difference in return to school rates, whereby approximately 82% of individuals in the day treatment program had returned to school/employment, whilst only 30% of individuals in outpatient treatment had returned to school/employment within three months post treatment. The results did not demonstrate that the degree of mental health gain was dependent upon intake diagnosis and although not statistically significant, parents rated their children as more severe in terms of psychopathology than the client.

This thesis explores the construction of technological expertise amongst a heterogenous group of New Zealand teenagers, specifically in regard to their home computer use, which for many of them is their primary site of leisure. This thesis explores the field in which these teenagers are positioned, and explains the practice constituting that field. In this field, the trajectories towards expertise are explained including the time, experimentation, and pleasure evident in their praxis. The qualitative study involved observations and interviews with eight teenagers aged 13 – 17. Five boys and three girls participated and each attended one of various secondary schools located within a provincial city in New Zealand. All of the participants considered themselves to be technological experts, and their peers and/or their family supported this comprehension. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural theories, the capital (cultural, economic, social) and habitus of the teenagers are described (habitus being what makes them who they are, and continues to define who they are in the future). Chapter five centres on explaining the field the teenagers have positioned themselves in, namely the field of out-of-school leisure and home computer use. It also explores the construction and performance of technological expertise within the field. Chapter six examines traditional views of schooling and expertise, and contrasts these views with what the teenagers think about their learning and expertise. This gap is specifically explained with regard to differences between the concepts and value of learning, expertise, and technology, and how they are recognised and valued differently between generations. Chapter seven explores the praxis that the participants exhibit, which is arguably misrecognized by those whose interests are in the established order (e.g. institutional, societal structures). The field they are placed in is arguably part of the broader field of education, yet the findings suggest their capital is misrecognized by digital newcomers, and therefore not legitimated. This thesis concludes that the gap between teenager and adult understandings of expertise is exacerbated in the digital world in which the teenagers position themselves. Their schooling is mainly positioned in the print culture of previous generations and consequently, in the lives of these teenagers, schooling has had little influence on the development of their technological expertise. Additionally, gender has had little impact in their development of expertise; therefore stereotypical notions of female underachievement as computer experts are contested.

Drug use and misuse among young people in Australia has caused concern throughout the community and has prompted nationwide action to address the problem. One component of intervention strategies with young people is drug education. Drug education in Australia represents an international philosophy of prevention and takes a harm minimisation approach to intervention. One strategy that has had international success in the area of drug education with young people, and that has been used effectively in health education in Australia since the 1970s, is peer education. Peer drug education involves young people conducting drug education sessions with their peers. An example of peer drug education in Australia is the Teenagers Teaching Teenagers' (Triple T) program, conducted in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Evaluations and descriptions of peer drug education programs tend to focus more on outcomes pertaining to program recipients and fail to explore in detail the specific experience of peer leaders. Existing research on the experience of peer leadership does not explore in detail the personal experience of leaders, that being the effect of peer leadership training and duties on leaders' personal perceptions of drugs, their behaviour with drugs and their own feelings and skills. This thesis explores the personal experience of a group of peer leaders who participated in the Triple T program in 1994. It considers their perceptions of the program at the time of training and then goes on to explore the impact of this experience on their formulation of ideas about drugs to the present day. The thesis is a qualitative project which utilises in-depth interviewing and focus groups to gather data and then presents a thematic analysis of participant response. The thesis asks two research questions, 1. What do young men and women involved in the Triple T program take from the experience of peer leadership training and duties? 2. In what way does the Triple T' experience appear to contribute to the development of drug related ideas of these young people in the two years following involvement in the program? The findings suggest that the participants gained information, skills and personal development from the training and generally found it to be a positive experience. However, participants distanced themselves personally from a substantial amount of the training content and did not personally reflect on the training content to any great extent at the time of training. Training processes and some aspects of leadership duties more personally affected them, although again there was personal distancing from this part of the program. In exploring the findings there was difficulty determining the influence of the training experience due to participant reluctance to attribute influence to any one source on the formulation of ideas. Instead, participants describe a complex interaction of influences on the formulation of ideas about drugs and a process which involves maintaining control, upholding the notion of informed choice and incorporating ideas about drugs into the formation of an adult identity. Influences on these ideas include the training, actual experiences with drugs and observations of others. The thesis exploration suggests that being involved in peer drug education does impact on peer leaders but this experience was not personalised to any great degree at the time of training. However, in the following two years, participants called on the training information as well as other influences as they formed their ideas about drugs. The thesis raises some issues of how to maximise leaders' personal connection to the peer drug education process, if this is in fact a desired outcome of peer education. It also suggests the need for further research into the experience of peer leaders who seem to have remained the least considered party in the peer education movement.

Thesis (M. Th.(Practical theology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-92)

Thesis (M. Th.(Practical theology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-102)

Much-needed research on Thai adolescents (age 15-19), the fastest growing group of AIDS victims in Thailand, this study differentiates risk behavior among classes, unlike most AIDS research in Thai society, and focuses on how gender and economic factors among adolescents influence their risk-behavior patterns leading to the contraction of HIV/AIDS. Using ethnographic methods focusing on class and gender, I identified several risk-taking behaviors. Each class in Thai society tends to be at-risk from a different level of sexual relationships and drug use. The lower class seems to be the most at risk because of having many sexual partners, having unprotected sex, and sharing needles while, those in the middle class use only personal screening for their sexual partners and also sharing needles. Although the higher class is less at risk compared with other classes, a few do visit prostitutes and consume drugs. Class is also correlated to the level of knowledge and education about AIDS. Although each received the same health education provided through the same source and same health text, adolescents in each class catch the message differently. My research data showed that adolescents of the higher class showed a more complete knowledge about AIDS. There are also many patterns of HIV/AIDS risk-taking behaviors that correlate to cultural gender differences. Although all classes appear to adhere to the ideal norm of virginity being the best sexual-practice, in reality, this only applies to members of the upper class. The middle and, especially, the lower classes do not apply this norm to themselves at all: They practice premarital sex, even though they may verbalize the ideal norm. Other studies have focused on gender relations according to this ideal Thai norm; however, this ideology does not match the reality. In conclusion, with the lack of research in this area, Thai adolescents are being placed at greater risk. Thus, I make recommendations for further research and prevention methods. For example, health education should be more up-to-date and explain to adolescents the connection between sexual relationships and AIDS rather than focusing primarily on the reproductive process. Further, parents, schools, and teenagers themselves can visit with health professionals at the hospitals and anonymous clinics to learn more about STDs, especially, HIV/AIDS. If put into practice, these recommendations will positively reduce the spread of AIDS in Thailand. / Graduation date: 1999

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed January 5, 2010). PDF text: v, 187 p. : ill. ; 807 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3360289. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-227).

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-117, 139).

Thesis (M.A. (Maatskaplike Werk))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-232).