2,829 research outputs found
More Than âJust a Friendâ: Exploring the Therapeutic Needs of Adult Survivors of a Suicide Loss of a Friend
Individuals who are bereaved by the suicide loss of a loved one (also known as âsuicide survivorsâ) face high rates of complicated grief, mental illness, social isolation, experiences of stigma, and suicide attempts. While suicide loss therapy (or âpostventionâ) attracts many individuals grieving familial suicides, those impacted by the suicide loss of a close friend are underrepresented in both individual and group therapies, despite indications that friend suicide survivors are impacted at an equivalent level and frequency to family members. Using a constructivist grounded theory method, this study aimed to investigate the lived experiences and therapeutic needs of 8 adults who identified as suicide survivors and attended psychotherapy to address grief after the suicide loss of a friend. Findings suggest that friend suicide survivors benefit from both individual therapy and suicide loss support groups; specifically, friend suicide survivors view therapy as a space to process complex emotions, challenge self-blame, obtain education about grief, and connect with group members. However, friend suicide survivors also desire to receive more specialized care from individual therapists with experience and training in suicide bereavement. While friend suicide survivors may experience challenges to help-seeking, including stigma and a perceived lack of social permission to grieve friends, they may feel motivated by the âwake-up callâ of friendsâ suicides and existing relationships with therapists. Outside of therapy, friend suicide survivors appear to benefit from social support from other suicide survivors and engaging in meaning-making activities. Results of this study have implications for training of mental health professionals and best practices for working with suicide survivors
Threats and Opportunities to Critical Thinking Development Students Encounter in a Christian College Environment: A Case Study
The purpose of this single unit case study was to describe the efforts of Small Christian University (SCU) to develop critical thinking skills and dispositions amongst its students. The theory guiding this study was Fowlerâs stages of faith theory, which explains the role of experiences and crises in developing faith, a process which parallels closely with the process of developing critical thinking skills. This study examined interviews with students, a focus group with faculty and documents recording assessments of completed student assignments to describe how effective SCUâs efforts were in developing students who could think critically and were disposed to do so regularly. Data on these key experiences were then coded to discover common themes that influenced studentsâ critical thinking skills development. The results support the idea that students do learn to think critically at SCU, although three conditions need to be met for this to take place. First, students should persist until graduation so that they go through the development Fowler predicted was needed to strengthen their faith and develop their critical thinking skills. Second, students should choose to engage with others who hold different viewpoints so they can learn from a diversity of different perspectives. Third, students should risk challenging the long-held beliefs they brought with them to SCU
CONTESTING LIMINALITY: A COUNTER ORAL HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICAN ADOPTED PEOPLE
ABSTRACTAndrew J. Garbisch: CONTESTING LIMINALITY:A COUNTER ORAL HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICAN ADOPTED PEOPLE(Under the direction of Xue Lan Rong) Asian American transracial adoption is a phenomenon where an Asian child is adopted by non-Asian parents. There are an estimated five million adopted people in the United States affecting one out of every 25 U.S. families (Adoption Network, 2022). Nearly 60% of internationally adopted children were adopted from Asia and 95% of parents were White (Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2002; Park, 2012). Additionally, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group rising to 22.4 million in 2019 and projected to surpass 46 million by 2060 (Budiman & Ruiz, 2021). Existing research on Asian American adopted people (AAAP) is largely outcome-based focusing almost exclusively on adoptive parents and adopted children (Raible, 2006). The problem is outcome-based studies fail to account for the lifelong negotiation of racial identity development in a historically racialized society. The purpose of this project is to explore the experiences of two Asian American adopted people in relation to their racialized sociohistorical context and examine the ways in which the participantsâ build culture by contesting, interrogating, and undermining their liminal social locations. To accomplish this, I conducted oral history interviews. From these case studies, I constructed counter narratives underpinned by Critical Race Theory and Asian Critical Theory (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002). The findings indicate participantâs unique experiences are sites of knowledge that when analyzed through frameworks that decenter Whiteness can go beyond the limits of a White and Asian binary and reframe the exploration of social location to in between historically racialized norms and liberal notions of the U.S. democratic promise. This study has important implications for policy makers, teacher educators, and curriculum specialists on the necessity of contesting liminality for AAAPs and the frameworks that may best create new ways to accomplish it. Keywords: liminality, contesting, Asian American adopted person, social locationDoctor of Philosoph
âThe future is blurryâ: The (hydro)power relations of the Muskrat Falls Project
The Canadian Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project (MFP) has presented social, political, economic and wellbeing challenges to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador for over a decade. Despite significant public discussion on the economic issues associated with MFP, the lived experience of Inuit from the affected area has received less attention. This research aims to share Inuit perspectives in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, the community anticipated to be most affected by the project, to inform health and social responses by government and grassroots organizations. Through a sociological approach guided by Indigenous research methodologies, this research employed culturally responsive and creative methods including semi-structured interviews, surveys, and participatory photography. The research found that participants positioned the MFP within the social and historical context of a previous (1960s-70s) hydroelectric project, the Upper Churchill Falls project, which shapes their contemporary questions and concerns. Participants also associate implementation of MFP with colonialism, as they feel they have not been adequately consulted or informed, a continuation of colonial hierarchies of knowledge. Rigolet residents also expressed uncertainty about the social, cultural, and health impacts of potential methylmercury contamination and wider environmental changes the project may cause. The power relations associated with the hydroelectric project has resulted in a âsilencingâ of concerns over time, with some participants changing their diet because of contamination concerns for traditional foods critical to local diets, cultural practices, and connections to the land. Results of this study have important implications for public health and health risk communication strategies, as traditional foods and associated land-based activities are known to benefit Inuit physical, mental, and cultural health and wellbeing. Overall, the dissertation demonstrates how the MFP fits within a settler colonial structure within Canada, especially as Indigenous communities have been and continue to be sites for resource extraction. This system of exploitation contrasts with Inuit perspectives on the role and importance of the land and environment in social life and relationships. The research makes several recommendations for improving health risk communications, including the importance of: improved health risk communication; the delivery of clear scientific data; facilitating access to traditional foods; supporting safe ice and water travel; and improved consultation and environmental assessment processes
The Memory of Meanings : The Images of Jewish-Catholic Relations in Interwar Lublin in Oral Histories
This work explores narratives of Jewish-Catholic relations in interwar Lublin, as recalled by its Jewish and Catholic inhabitants by the end of their lives. Thus, it concerns both memory and intergroup relations and seeks to understand the attitudes towards the religious Other. The main body of sources for this qualitative study is a collection of oral histories from the Grodzka Gate â NN Theatre Centre in Lublin, which were analyzed thematically focusing on the memory of everyday interactions between Jews and Catholics. Particular attention is paid to the link between memory and identity. The analysis of the narratives draws extensively from theories regarding intergroup contact (Gordon Allportâs intergroup contact theory later developed by i.a. Linda R. Tropp and Thomas Pettigrew), the relation between personal agency versus social structures (Margaret Archerâs morphogenetic sequence), as well as the theory of communication based on context (Dorota Kuncewicz et al.). The latter, combined with an adaptation of Erwin Panoffskyâs iconology, provides an insight into the meaning of the stories â how the religious Other is perceived, why it could be so, and what consequences it has on intergroup relations decades after the recalled events took place. The findings are grouped into two analytical parts of the dissertation: one dedicated to identity, and another concentrating on relations, which are described on three levels â spatial, interpersonal and interreligious. On the one hand, the study indicates sensitive points in intergroup relations such as the role of social class and gender relations, which can be used to strengthen existing intergroup separation. On the other hand, it points to instances of overcoming separation and segregation through affective ties, especially of friendship, common socio-economic background, education and personal values. It points to (inter)religious literacy fortifying prejudice. The main finding, however, is the fundamental difference in perceiving the same past by the minority and the majority group, which has dire consequences for the relationship between these two groups until today. The study suggests the need for further research on how this memory gap can be addressed to find constructive ways of producing inclusive collective memory in both groups, recognizing the experience of the Other
Examining the Relationships Between Distance Education Studentsâ Self-Efficacy and Their Achievement
This study aimed to examine the relationships between studentsâ self-efficacy (SSE) and studentsâ achievement (SA) in distance education. The instruments were administered to 100 undergraduate students in a distance university who work as migrant workers in Taiwan to gather data, while their SA scores were obtained from the university. The semi-structured interviews for 8 participants consisted of questions that showed the specific conditions of SSE and SA. The findings of this study were reported as follows: There was a significantly positive correlation between targeted SSE (overall scales and general self-efficacy) and SA. Targeted students' self-efficacy effectively predicted their achievement; besides, general self- efficacy had the most significant influence. In the qualitative findings, four themes were extracted for those students with lower self-efficacy but higher achievementâphysical and emotional condition, teaching and learning strategy, positive social interaction, and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, three themes were extracted for those students with moderate or higher self-efficacy but lower achievementâmore time for leisure (not hard-working), less social interaction, and external excuses. Providing effective learning environments, social interactions, and teaching and learning strategies are suggested in distance education
Donna in guerra, uomo in crisi : familial roles and patriarchal legacies in Dacia Maraini and Natalia Ginzburg
In this study of Dacia Maraini and Natalia Ginzburgâs literature, which is the first to offer an in-depth comparative analysis of the two authors, I consider their views on patriarchal legacies such as rape, violence, and abortion and how they depict their characters fulfilling familial roles within Italian patriarchal society. In my Introduction, I outline briefly the major changes affecting women and the family in post-war Italy and present Maraini and Ginzburgâs reactions to such legal and social changes. I also consider the influence of Fascism and Catholicism on social expectations and behaviour. Then, in the first chapter, I look at the authorsâ opinions on womenâs position in Italian society, considering issues such as violence and rape, which are used by patriarchy to control women and their bodies. I then turn to examples of characters in the authorsâ fiction who attempt to break the chain of patriarchal legacies and strive for personal independence, with varying success.
In the next four chapters, I examine in turn the presentation of husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers in Maraini and Ginzburgâs fiction, looking at socio-historical influences that affect characters in these familial roles and expanding on and adding to previous critical evaluation of their characters. I will judge how the pressures placed on individuals by social expectations shape the charactersâ behaviour and how familial labels constrict the movement of men and women, as they struggle to find an identity that is independent of their familial duties. Throughout this study, I will consider differences and similarities in Maraini and Ginzburgâs writing, offering original readings of their characters and novels. I will focus in particular on how their different priorities regarding their literature results in diverse writing styles and choice of subject matter, which make a comparison of their work valid and compelling
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