The purpose of this study was to design and test-out a workshop to help fathers of special needs children with their transition to fatherhood. The workshop was evaluated to ascertain how effective it was in helping the fathers to understand and feel more engaged and open to their experience of fatherhood. Also of importance was the positive impact that the workshop had on men's sense of isolation as fathers, self-esteem as fathers, and their ability to see their experience from a larger, more self-accepting and positive perspective. This is an unexplored area of study and this was a pilot project focused on developing a new resource. In the dissertation specific components of the study and workshop process, such as interviews, leadership style, as well as, specific workshop exercises (the sharing of personal stories, photography, collage making, guided imagery and infant massage) were examined to evaluate how they contributed to the over-all effectiveness of the workshop. In the dissertation a model of intervention is proposed by which fathers of young special needs children could more fully align themselves with their own creativity, and, thereby, empower themselves to take on the challenges of new fatherhood in a way that enriched and supported their personal growth. It was a model that supported men to more fully engage their experience of fatherhood and claim its richness and power. It was a model based on men supporting men, and in this regard, it provided men with models of male caring, and it supported men to experience themselves as nurturers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-8880 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Baer, Ron |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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