<p> The author presents conflict resolution as a problem in ministry for the 10 churches within the G. R.A.C.E. INC. organization that are scattered in various parts of the country. He created an intervention, which consists of pre and post evaluation after Leadership Building Blocks Seminar has been taught and implemented. The author recruited 20 participants from the churches. He used qualitative method to measure the pre and post interviews. He interviewed the 20 participants and searched for indicators of effective conflict resolution based on the Leadership Building Blocks Seminar criteria of Quality A, B, and C. The author discovered that after the training, the participants were more equipped to resolve conflict peacefully.</p><p>

<p> This study explored the parallels between psychological healing practice in the Cave of San Francisco and contemporary psychotherapy. Interviews were conducted in the Dominican Republic with seven individuals who had experienced healing effects as a result of participation in this healing system. A psychological phenomenological methodology was utilized to analyze the interviews resulting in a general structural account of the experience. Seven primary psychological themes operative in a tri-part sequence define the healing experience within this system. These themes include presenting problem, belief system, healing relationships, ritual actions, pivotal moment, setting, and outcome. The first part of the healing sequence appears to set up the healing response. The second part involves the pivotal moment and acts as a demarcation point between the experience of illness and first steps toward health. The third part of the healing sequence acts to cement already obtained healing gains. </p><p> The results of this research reveal (a) a psychological healing system which represents a form of psychotherapy, (b) a cultural healing system which stands as a portrait of healing for a certain segment of the Dominican population, (c) a healing practice related to a cave shrine which illuminates the potential healing effects of cave shrines worldwide. A significant finding relates healing response to setting, suggesting that the specific space of the cave is implicated in stimulating the innate, total healing response in the person. The holistic, cohesive nature of this system, highlighting the interaction between universal psychological healing ingredients, strongly suggests that psychological healing is a broader and more comprehensive operation than it is characterized by many current psychotherapies. Finally, through exploring the roots of psychological healing in the naturalistic setting of a cave, this research reminds psychotherapy of the archetypal healing power that is at its basis.</p><p>

<p> Voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counselling (VHTC) is one of the preventive measures used in many countries to decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS. Archived data from National HIV/AIDS Response Program&rsquo;s (NHARP) raw 2016 dataset were used to identify relationships and to assess significant differences between sociodemographic factors and selected sexual risk behaviours versus VHTC practices among adults 18 years and older who resided in Dominica. The health belief model was used as the framework for this cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 982 participants (40% [394] men and 60% [588] women). Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between sociodemographic and sexual risk exposure factors versus VHTC. Findings revealed that, as compared to age group > 65 years, participants in age groups 25&ndash;44 years were 5 times more likely&mdash;and 45-64 years were 2 times more likely&mdash;to have engaged in VHTC (<i>OR</i> = 5.11, 95% <i>CI</i> = 2.03, 12.8 and <i>OR</i> = 2.63, 95% <i>CI</i> = 1.07, 6.49, respectively). The odds not to engage in VHTC were 48% higher for participants from Grand Bay district (rural area) compared to Roseau health district (capital) (<i>OR</i> = .52, 95% <i>CI</i> = .29, .94). The odds of nonengagement in VHTC were 51% higher for participants not having vaginal sex, compared to those who reported having vaginal sex (<i> OR</i> = .49, 95% <i>CI</i> = .26, .92). The implications for positive social change include providing public health practitioners with data to plan and implement educational programs specific to the demographic characteristics in Dominica. This will enhance current efforts to raise awareness regarding HIV/AIDS and may increase VHTC practice among the population that may reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS.</p><p>

No description available.

<p> In 2016, over 277,000 pilgrims walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Of that number, 53,704 walked the Camino in August of that year. Very few of those pilgrims &ndash; 400 &ndash; came from Caribbean countries. Two of them were from Jamaica. I was one of them. This first-person Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological study interprets a Jamaican man&rsquo;s meaning-making before, during, and after walking the Camino pilgrimage. In the study, I explored meaning-making through a constructive-developmental lens. I explained how I made meaning, as a border-dweller, or as someone who lives in-between worlds and in the borderlands. I described and interpreted my spiritual-awakening experiences and transition. I conducted this study, partly, to add the voice of an Afro-Caribbean person to the bodies of literature on development of meaning-making and spiritual-awakening experiences. Data for the study consisted of journal entries, blog posts, and photographs that I wrote, published, and took before, during, and after my Camino pilgrimage. The results from the study revealed what I made meaning of, the meanings I made, and how I expressed those meanings. Findings from the study &ndash; Camino as metaphor, Being In-Limbo-land, Self in transition, and Trans-Afro spiritualization &ndash; could help Afro-Caribbean people validate their spiritual experiences. They could also inform professionals, such as educators, leaders, and developmental coaches, and parents about efficacious ways of supporting and serving Afro-Caribbean people.</p><p>

Postcolonial theorists tend to read metaphor generally as a trope of power that synthesizes its inherently binary structure of tenor and vehicle to produce totalizing meanings. Although some critics have emphasized the importance of metaphor in postcolonial and Canadian studies, theorists like Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak tend to approach metaphor either in exclusively structuralist or in predominantly deconstructivist terms. In contrast to these approaches, this study examines how texts from different postcolonial traditions of writing reconfigure metaphor for political and cultural reasons. It reads metaphor as a trope of cultural crisis that produces contiguous histories and crosscultural identities that contest clearly defined national boundaries. While it is impossible to resist metaphor's self-deconstructive tendencies, this project shows that we can resist and rearticulate its oppressive effects by conceptualizing metaphor's operative modes in performative and postcolonial terms. Performative metaphors generate, while keeping in suspense, the social and psychological constraints that impact on the construction of identity. The cultural significance of performative metaphors lies in their potential to replace the metaphoric binary structure of vehicle and tenor with metaphor's ability to reiterate and destabilize dominant discourses of race, gender, and nationalism. In the context of ethnic Canadian and Caribbean writing, performative metaphors foreground questions of naming, memory, and cultural translation; they also challenge those rhetorical and literary forms through which cultural and national identities are imagined and represented in “authentic” and “original” terms. A performative understanding of metaphor, as developed in this dissertation, articulates an ethical imperative that, first, accounts for the physical and representational violence enacted on the subaltern body and, second, acknowledges the ways in which subaltern subjects produce cultural knowledge with a difference. Methodologically, this study combines feminist theories of performativity with postcolonial theory, Caribbean and Canadian literary criticism. It discusses Judith Butter's theory of performativity in the context of ethnic Canadian historiographical writing, Caribbean performance and epic poetry. A critical examination of texts by Derek Walcott, David Dabydeen, Austin Clarke, M. G. Vassanji, and Sky Lee demonstrates that metaphor is one of the most important tools for a postcolonial critique of identity and nation formation. / Graduate

<p> The disruptive effects of social media are placing pressure on organizations to adopt or be left behind. There is little empirical research, however, regarding how social networking is used and experienced by adopting organizations. This dissertation is the outcome of an investigation of social media adoption and impact on businesses, and on traditional mass media, in a small and medium enterprise (SME) context. The character of social media adoption was examined, using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the theoretical framework. Thematic analysis of the data provided insights on the approach to technology integration and led to the conclusion that social media adoption is influenced by multiple factors including the ease of use, usefulness of the technology, critical mass, and the need to simply keep up with new technology. Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn emerged as the tools of choice. The potential positive effect of social networking on SME marketing opportunities, brand profile, and customer relationship management makes social media integration imperative for organizational leaders seeking to promote their businesses, grow their customer base, and reduce costs. To reap the full benefits, businesses must develop a collaborative, all-encompassing social media strategy, engaging their community of staff, suppliers, and customers in social networks. As social media force the movement of marketing and other content to open channels, the demand for traditional mass media services will continue to fall. The implications for traditional media organizations cluster around issues of new technology integration and the development of dynamic capabilities that facilitate the identification of new revenue streams and innovative business models to deal with the disruptive challenges presented by social networks. revenue streams and innovative business models to deal with the disruptive challenges presented by social networks.</p><p>

The purpose of this thesis is to explore various aspects of pastoral care and counselling in the black churches in Britain. The first aspect of caring that has been explored is acceptance. When people are genuinely accepted by others there is the possibility for personal growth and development to take place. Such acceptance can be therapeutic. It contains health-giving qualities and is a means towards greater self-acceptance, especially by those who may be affected by a sense of poor value in the way they see themselves. The second aspect is understanding. Part of what is discussed here is that people who are connected by and share similar life experiences, are equipped to care for each other in ways that those who are detached outsiders may not be able to. In other words, caring which is based on understanding is enhanced when the relationship is between persons who are party to the same difficulties. The third and fourth categories consist of an examination of pastoral care within the context of housing and unemployment conditions. Aspects of care which are featured are those that entail sharing, support, and the promotion of self-help endeavours such as repairs done to the homes of church members. There is caring through the personal presence of individuals in the form of visits to homes, prayers offered and encouragement given. Ways in which such responses contribute to the affirmation of worth and the empowering of individuals so that they are able to take control of the adverse circumstances which affect them, are caring factors which have been explored as well. The fifth area looks at the black family. Caring under the aegis of a network of support systems that nurtures and sustains individuals is featured. The sixth category is worship. Most of the ritual aspects and component features which combine to make worship a fulfilling and satisfying experience are assessed. Finally, the conclusion points to other related areas which might be looked at.

L'expérience de l'exil, telle que la littérature canonique en rend compte, a presque toujours pour effet de renforcer un sentiment d'appartenance hégémonique à un État-nation : une fois expulsé de son pays, l'exilé découvre à quel point il y était irrémédiablement ancré, ce qui le plonge dans un état de nostalgie profonde. Or, depuis le milieu du siècle dernier, la représentation de l'exil s'est éloignée d'une telle connotation, strictement négative. Cela est tout particulièrement vrai pour de nombreux auteurs québecois dits " migrants ", qui ont fait de cette forme d'expatriation une expérience positive, malgré les épreuves qu' elle comporte. Cette thèse analyse la conception de l'exil se dégageant de trois romans d'auteurs haïtiens du Québec. Dans Cette grenade dans la main du jeune Nègre est-elle une arme ou un fruit? de Dany Laferrière, la rencontre de l'exilé " nègre " avec les " Blancs " des Amériques s'effectue sous le signe du stéréotype. La Bruleri e d'Émile 011ivier confronte quant à elle le phénomène de l'exil à la multiplicité de la diaspora montréalaise. Enfin, l'échec du retour au pays natal au coeur du roman La contrainte de l'inachevé d'Anthony Phelps témoigne de l'indépendance de l'exilé vis-à-vis d'Haïti. Chez ces auteurs, l'expatriation n'équivaut pas à un déracinement. Les protagonistes y revendiquent en effet une appartenance souple et non-essentialiste à leur pays d'origine, de manière à re-faire leur vie selon leurs désirs. Il s'agira, dans une perspective d'analyse du discours, de voir comment ces textes littéraires contredisent les conceptions doxologiques et stéréotypées de l'immigration en général et de l'exil en particulier. L'évolution de la représentation littéraire du rapport des exilés à leur passé et à leur pays natal fera l'objet d'une réflexion théorique à la lumière de la phénoménologie sartrienne et du poststructuralisme derridien. Sera ainsi mise de l'avant une conception de l'exil riche et nuancée susceptible de mieux souligner les enjeux posés par les réalités diasporiques contemporaines.

This dissertation presents a study of the poetry of Jose Joaquin Perez. His writings formulate an aesthetic, national and social program. From this perspective, descriptive poetry and pro-Amerindian poetry are analyzed as poetic discourse which represents the founding of a nation and of a poetic art form for literature. These aspects are analyzed as a function of poetic agents which represent national themes and language. These themes and this language have been highlighted by critics as the factors which define these writings. At the same time, the progressive lyric of Perez is analyzed as a discourse which reflects a social program for a nation. This stems from the interpretations the poet makes of positivist doctrines of his time. The first chapter presents the literary enclaves which frame Jose Joaquin Perez's poetry. The study focuses on an analysis of Santo Domingo's Romantic lyric, paying close attention to its most recurrent themes. Here, the most representative writers of this type of discourse are also presented. In addition, the dissertation focuses on extant criticism on the poet's work and Perez's own literary criticism. Chapters two and three present the theoretical framework for analyzing the texts. Chapter two pays special attention to the tradition of foundational and programmatic characters of Romantic lyric of Spanish-America. Here, the concept of Romanticism, as it is used in this work, is defined. Also highlighted are the critics who have studied this tradition, followed by an explanation based on themes and ideas. This helps explain the foundational writing that descriptive and pro-Amerindian poets of this period have developed. Also in this chapter, the interpretations of the positivist doctrine in Spanish-America are presented, as well as the social character of Spanish-American Romanticism. The third chapter elaborates on the language factors that Angloamerican and Spanish-American criticism have determined to be agents in foundational writings. In chapter four, the poems of Jose Joaquin Perez are analyzed, based on that which has been proposed in this dissertation. Chapter five contains the conclusions of this work.