Divorce causes personal and cultural distress and to date there have been no cultural rituals to ease this transition. This study examined the effect of a therapeutic ritual with separated or divorced persons in therapy at FSU Marital and Family Therapy Center. The subjects included on separated family in which the parents wished reconciliation (A), one divorced individual (B), one separated individual (C), and one separated individual wishing reconciliation (D). / The hypothesis stated that a therapeutic ritual with a clinical separated or divorced couple or individual would have positive impact on specified measures of personal and interpersonal functioning. The ritual was designed by therapist and client(s) based on clinical assessment, presenting problem, client's goal, and abstract symbols presented by the client. / The research utilized single system design (AB) and after a stable baseline was established using self-report measures, a ritual was prescribed and performed at an appropriate time. Weekly tests were continued at least five weeks post-ritual, with a two week follow-up testing. For each subject, some of the following measures were selected: Attachment Scale, Divorce Reaction Inventory, Index of Clinical Stress, Index of Marital Satisfaction, Index of Family Relations, Index of Self Esteem, Clinical Anxiety Scale, Generalized Contentment Scale, Index of Sexual Satisfaction, Child's Attitude Toward Father, Child's Attitude Toward Mother, Index of Parental Attitude and an idiosyncratic measurement. Analysis was by visual inspection of the graphs of weekly scores. Individuals C showed improvement in all measures, B showed improvement in most measures, and D showed improvement in half of the measurements. Family A scores did not show improvement in the self-report tests but did improve their scores on idiosyncratic measurement and reconciled after the ritual. The hypothesis supporting the effectiveness of ritual was demonstrated in three and possibly four of the cases. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0630. / Major Professor: Craig A. Everett. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76218 |
| Contributors | Copeland, Madge Clare Holmes., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 212 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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