<p>The narratives of university graduate students with learning disabilities (LDs) are for the most part absent in the development of a life course perspective and analysis of LDs, yet an in depth qualitative study of individual stories and experiences with schooling or transition from high school to post-secondary education at this age can inform what we know about employment rates, income, and other markers of adult adjustment in the context of LDs. An insider perspective of this group may help to uncover patterns of discrimination in the dispersal of resources that lead to lower educational attainment and socioeconomic status and mental health problems, as is seen in this group.</p> <p>Specifically, this thesis aims to examine two research questions: a) What are the experiences of graduate students with LDs in a university setting?; and b) What are the implications of such experiences for policy and services for this group? I am interested in exploring the unique narratives amongst graduate students with learning disabilities from their own perspectives and understanding the implementations of such policies as the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) in light of these students' experiences.</p> <p>Two female graduate students from two different universities in the south-western Ontario area were interviewed using open ended questions. Literature of empirical studies was compared to the spirit of our government legislation for analysis of its potential effectiveness at ensuring equal opportunity for this group.</p> <p>The undergraduate experiences of the participants in this study are consistent with international literature on undergraduate experiences, adding to data that suggests that individuals with LDs who manage to gain admission to a postsecondary institution continue to be subjected to disparaging attitudes and interactions similar to the ones they endured as children. The attitudes of teachers and staff betrayed ignorance of facts regarding LDs, leading to judgments such as that they are intellectually inferior, lazy, and unworthy of attention or of accommodations that are their legal right.</p> <p>Participants discussed their more recent graduate experiences, the context of which sometimes differed in noteworthy ways from that of their undergraduate experiences. As graduate students they emphasized their belief that the most worrisome and discriminatory experiences were those related to unreasonable delays in the provision of accommodations, the delivery of financial aid, and the delivery of technological aids. This included problems such as vague, complicated, and excessively time consuming rules and processes, as well as rules that seem to be structured so as to disqualify individuals with LDs from receiving resources or help, rather than, as might reasonably be hoped, identifying those who should be granted help, and policies and procedures that work to create a substantially larger financial burden.</p> <p>It is suggested that the AODA has not been effective as a tool for disseminating truth and knowledge and eradicating discrimination against individuals with LDs, and that interactions with individual staff members may not only evidence the discriminatory beliefs of that individual, but of the system or department that he or she represents as well. Suggested changes include: mandatory education and awareness training for post secondary instructors; the implementation of Universal Design of Instruction and needed infrastructure; and the implementation of clear procedures and penalties for non compliance that do not place the onus on the student to report incidents or secure and provide proof.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Despite the vast research available in child welfare services, little has been written about the fit between clinical social work practice and child welfare work. When the field emerged from the prescriptive and intrusive practices of the Ontario Risk Assessment Model (ORAM) , it ushered change towards Differential Response (DR), a strengthbased, client-inclusive model that relied heavily on the skills of clinical social work practice, thus making it necessary for the field to reevaluate service delivery and the philosophy surrounding risk and protective services to children and families.</p> <p>Through the use of qualitative interviews, this study examines the experiences and perspectives of five child welfare supervisors as they support the implementation of clinical practice through competing demands and a child welfare mandate whose mission is to protect children.</p> <p>An analysis of the participants interviews reveal experiences mixed with successes and obstacles as it examines factors which are likely to increase or decrease the engagement of clinical practice in a child welfare agency. The main areas identified include case load management, delivery of services, support for front line workers and philosophy of the agency.</p> <p>The study supports the need for further research in this area to inform policy development, training considerations and service delivery processes in effort to further support the implementation of clinical practice in child welfare work.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>There are times during a person's adult life that one may require the services of a social worker. The journey through the social services system is often arduous and tedious for clients trying to navigate their way. This experience gets complicated when it is a social worker who requires social work services.</p> <p>What do we do when we, as professionals, find ourselves requiring those very services that we support or within which we work? How supportive is our system for social workers who require social work services? How does the experience of being a client influence and shape our own practise?</p> <p>This study endeavours to untangle the positions of social workers as clients within the social services system. In broadening our understanding of how these social workers have chosen to situate themselves in the discourse, we explore how they engaged with these various systems as clients and then journeyed back into the professional realm as social workers. This work includes data collected via online anonymous questionnaires as well as confidential personal interviews exploring social workers own accounts of their experiences when navigating the social services system.</p> <p>I examine how this experience impacts social workers on a personal and professional level. Expectations and typical ways of practising are deconstructed when social workers tell their stories of being on the other side of the desk, including look at how our profession supports colleagues or classmates who require services within the social services system.</p> <p>Encouraging our own clients to seek out services or to be comfortable with the process is often part of our professional discourse. However, when the tables are turned and it is a social worker who requires services, the experience and support they receive as a <em>professionally informed</em> client leaves much room for further study, and has implications for social work education.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Utilizing an Institutional Ethnographic framework, the aim of this research project is to make visible the interconnected, often complex forms of work that transsexual men in Ontario do in order to access trans specific health care. The forms of work were made visible beginning from the experiential standpoint of transsexual men. This work was mapped onto the specific sites of health care access and traced up through the discourses and practices that socially and institutionally shape this work. The originating texts of these discourses were illuminated. This was accomplished by interviewing four transsexual men who had accessed health care services in Ontario during their process of transitioning. Findings indicated that much of the work that transsexual men complete is linked to their knowledge of the discourses that have directly informed what is deemed a credible transsexual identity and transsexual trajectory in Ontario. Findings suggest that further exploration of these texts and the specific institutional sites and processes where these discourses circulate would illuminate how trans specific health care is socially organized to unfold in Ontario.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Racism within the criminal justice system is a serious concern. Yet, despite the unfortunate circumstances and injustice confronting racialized inmates, there are very few studies, which critically examine the rampant racial discrimination that they experience on a daily basis in Ontario's jails and detention centres.</p> <p>This exploratory study describes a qualitative investigation of racism from the perspective of racialized ex-inmates who have been through the Ontario criminal justice system. Based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews, the purpose of this project is to open up the debate about what is missing when we examine racism in institutions. In bringing this new knowledge forward, the analysis is based on major themes such as: everyday racism, racial profiling, dual and intersecting oppressions, whiteness, and solutions and barriers.</p> <p>The results exemplify the subtle yet deliberate attempt to subdue any discussion of everyday racism and to downplay incidents of racist behaviour. This study emphasizes that efforts to contribute to the elimination of racial injustice in correctional social work practice must not be on conflated notions of cultural differences or on theoretically driven anti-oppression models but rather on the everyday reality of racism.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Human rights are fundamental rights that belong to all human beings. They include the right to life, liberty and equality. Upholding human rights is the most universal form of social justice. International human rights legislation and humanitarian law have been established to protect the security and dignity of all people. Increasingly, International Human Rights Organizations are working to enhance human rights norms across the globe.</p> <p>Using the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as a case study, this thesis aims to provide a better understanding of international human rights work, the ways in which this work is addressed, and the experiences of individuals involved in human rights work. In-depth interviews with four individuals working in Canadian-based organizations strive to identify their challenges and successes as they engage in advocacy and grassroots activism.</p> <p>My intention in undertaking this research project was to develop an understanding of the work of International Human Rights Organizations in Canada that are promoting Palestinian human rights. What I found was another story: a story of the perceptions and meanings assigned to this work by those engaged within Canadian human rights organizations.</p> <p>Three important findings emerged from data collected during the interview process: 1) individuals are engaged with International Human Rights Organizations to reinforce their own personal and political beliefs; 2) there is little decision-making power nor meaningful participation of the Palestinian community in the work of lnternational Human Rights Organizations; and, 3) there is a need for International Human Rights Organizations to consider the local implications of the international conflict.</p> <p>Information resulting from this research contributes to our understanding of how International Human Rights Organizations can most effectively engage in social change work to promote social justice in Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine, and whether that is best accomplished through advocacy and activism locally or internationally.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Research shows that a considerable number of young people in care have mental health diagnoses (Building Bridges, 2008, 9). An article in the Globe in Mail (2007) reported that 47% of youth in care were on psychotropic medication [for mental health, emotional or behaviour issues] (Philp, 2007).</p> <p>As a worker within the child welfare system, working with crown wards, my own case load reflects these numbers quite accurately. Some of the youth I work with have seen psychiatrists, psychologists or family doctors, and their diagnoses have changed with each assessment -which subsequently affects or changes how the case is managed.</p> <p>This research sets to show how we arrive at a diagnosis, using institutional ethnography to map the diagnostic process. Using my experience as a children's service worker, I map the types of information gathered and by whom, as they contribute to the diagnosis a child receives.</p> <p>This study provides a detailed examination of the text-action interplay in the child welfare system, showing the nature and volume of information created by various actors in the system and submitted to the assessing practitioner (i.e. psychologist, psychiatrist). The study also shows how action within the system is often prompted by liability, accountability and worker knowledge.</p> <p>Recommendations are made to explore our responsibility to youth in care around child welfare documenting practices, emphasizing the importance of youth contributing to the text that defines them within the child welfare world.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>In the past few decades, health care costs for the elderly population due to their complex medical needs has increased dramatically, such that hospitals and community-based service providers are struggling to deal with this matter. Research is beginning to address how elderly caregivers cope and adapt to the ongoing changes related to their spouses' dementia.</p> <p>The purpose of this research study is to gain further insight into how four elderly female spouses, who have had to place their husbands into a long term care facility, are still <em>caring for </em>(in a practical sense), <em>caring about</em> (showing love and affection) and <em>caring with</em> (reciprocity with the marriage) their husbands. Qualitative research methods were utilized to highlight their experience. The data was analyzed using a critical feminist perspective and institutional ethnography.</p> <p>The findings of this study noted the incredible changes elderly wives have to endure as their husband's health and cognition continues to decline, within a long term care facility. The elderly women noted that their ability to <em>care for</em> their husbands was often unrecognized and in direct conflict with nursing home staff. Furthermore, the women discussed how they continue <em>care about</em> their husbands by showing love and affection. The women also noted that their husband's ability to <em>care with </em>them was predominantly non-existent. In addition, they discussed a change in their personal identity; married but living as a single person in the community. Finally, they commented on the lack of physical intimacy and the impact on their marriage. This study offers valuable insight into the ever changing experience of a few female spouses who continue to <em>care for, about</em> and <em>with</em> their husbands and provides suggestions for social workers to work them during this process.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Social workers who are employed in a medical environment function in a situation that presents unique challenges to the profession. Currently the medical field in general and hospital settings specifically are experiencing extreme pressure to modify the manner in which they provide services. One manifestation of the current pressures that especially affects hospital social workers is alternative level of care (ALC). This thesis will examine the interplay of contemporary pressures on healthcare organizations, and social workers' professional practices. I will explore hospital social workers' perceptions of the transformation of their roles resulting from the intersection of organization and professional expectations using ALC as a back drop.</p> <p>Although previous research has examined this concern from a more theoretical approach, little attention has been paid to the day to day experiences of front line workers. This study, based on a focus group with hospital social workers; extends our understanding of the impact of organizational influences on the role social workers occupy within health care organizations.</p> <p>The changes in social work practice were understood in a range of ways by the focus group participants. In the most positive framing, any changes that were acknowledged were seen to be "instrumental." At the same time, group participants identified many potentially problematic changes in the actual practice of social work associated with ALC. Focus group members provided some insights as to how organization influences impacted on social work's apparent change in focus and practice.</p> <p>It is my contention based on this study that contemporary organizational influences fundamentally change the manner in which the profession operates. If these organizational pressures are left unchallenged, social workers risk losing the ability to serve either the individual or greater good, making moot the debate surrounding our most appropriate role.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>Resilience research forms the basis of this study examining first person accounts of youth in and alumni youth from care. Resilience opportunities are strengthened when the various systems supporting children and youth work in interconnected and cross-buttressed ways to promote positive coping and healthy development post adversity. It can be challenging to cull meaningful child welfare interventions from the literature's complexity that are not overly simplified or reductionist. This study is predicated on the idea that making adjustments to an existing practice of compiling life books for children and youth in care could be a forum for translating the complexities of resilience research into a therapeutic storytelling intervention. A narrative approach is taken to examine, explore, listen to and learn from a collection of resilience themed stories produced by Youth in Care Canada. Analysis includes an examination of the personal and political implications of identity formation; the empowerment and emotional healing potential in storytelling; and the power of the stories to alter social discourses. The study finds that a storytelling process has the potential to palliate healing in identities that transform from victims of adversity to persons of agency in recovery. Resilience research's main message that sustained supports strengthen opportunities for resilience is upheld. Resilient youth reconfigure the neo liberal ethos of individuality and self reliance into a stance of self determination dependent on the ongoing support of others. The stories are persuasive in widening discourses with the ideas that youth in and from care can meet the criteria for mainstream membership; and, further, youth do not have to overcome their harm to function well - halm and healing can co-exist. The study ultimately supports the recommendation that a storytelling process be implemented in the child welfare system to foster increased opportunities for resilience.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)