Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationMental health professionals are in a unique position to understand the effect of social injustices on individuals and groups in society. Furthermore, counselors can intervene to disrupt injustices and promote social justice. Scholars have suggested that providing social justice training to graduate level trainees could significantly expand mental health professionals' social justice agenda to better advocate for macrolevel changes. The social justice literature provides some understanding of how to train graduate students in social justice interventions. However, little is known about a) what components of training facilitate trainees' development and b) how trainees are shaped by these practical experiences of engaging in social justice work. This study centered on how trainees develop due to their training at the Women's Resource Center (WRC) at the University of Utah, a feminist multicultural, social justice-oriented training site. A grounded theory qualitative design employed the use of interviews, focus groups, follow-up interviews, and feedback groups with prior trainees from the WRC. Of the 65 prior trainees from the WRC, 20 women participated, representing a diversity of academic training backgrounds, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic class identities. Trainees experienced three distinct and overlapping growth processes: (a) doing your own work, (b) honoring your voice and others' voices, and (c) challenging power to affect change. This growth occurred through the interaction of three tensions: (a) trainees' fit with the WRC's intentions, (b) trainees' reactions to contradictions of the WRC training, and (c) trainees' experiences external to the WRC. These tensions facilitated growth during the training year, and women who participated in the WRC training experienced continual growth, specific to: (a) maintaining their commitment, (b) building collaborative relationships in their contexts, and (c) personalizing their social justice commitment. Based on findings, implications for social justice training programs include the need to: (a) bridge theory and practice, (b) address the paradox of social justice training, (c) grow as a social justice training program, (d) provide developmentally appropriate training, and (e) prepare trainees for social justice training

Master of Science

thesisThe purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual model of women's experiences of participating in qualitative research on a traumatic topic, namely sexual assault. Prior literature addressed participants' motivations to participate in a study, their experience of participating, and the effects of participating. However, this research does not connect to provide a holistic understanding of participants' experiences. Research questions were the following: 1.) How did research participants who participated in personal interviews on traumatic events experience the research process? 2.) What motivated women who had been sexually assaulted to agree to participate in an interview-based study of their experiences of trauma? 3.) How did these women experience their participation in the research from their first awareness of the study, throughout the study, and after the study ended? 4.) What benefits or harms did these women identify as a result of participating in the study? Women who participated in an interview-based study on sexual assault disclosures participated in individual interviews and follow-up interviews about their experience of participating in the prior study. Using a feminist paradigm and grounded theory design and analysis, the results indicated two core themes: (a) Safety and (Dis)comfort; (b) Relationships (including the subthemes of the participant's relationship with herself, her relationship to the researcher, and her relationship to other women, both those who participated in the prior study and those who are affected by sexual trauma). These two themes influenced five different segments of the Temporal Process of Research Participation: (a) Decision to Participate; (b) The Interview; (c) After the Interview; (d) The Write-up; (e) Long-Term Growth and Challenges. Based on these results, there are implications for conducting qualitative research on sensitive topics and for clinicians working with trauma survivors who may participate in a research study on their experience of trauma. For example, researchers should consider informed consent an ongoing process and help participants navigate unexpected reactions to participating. Researchers should provide a diversity of ways for people to participate in ways that feel comfortable to them. Researchers should engage in multiple follow-up contacts with participants as the effects of participating may occur over time

(re)claiming History And Visibility Through Rhetorical Sovereignty: The Power Of Diné Rhetorics In The Works Of Laura Tohe

This dissertation investigates the intricate intersections of code switching, trickster discourse and rhetorical sovereignty in the scholarship of Diné author Laura Tohe, as Tohe operationalizes survivance and alliance in complex ways, ways that “actuate a presence” in the face of ongoing attempts to render American Indian peoples absent from American rhetorical, literary, and geographic landscapes. Existing research in American Indian literatures and rhetorics often focus on the need for reclaiming rhetorical sovereignty. Yet, little work has been done to emphasize connections between the use of code switching, translation, and trickster discourse in order to give visibility to past and contemporary Diné peoples and to decolonize the Diné history. This dissertation uses decolonizing methodologies to demonstrate that Tohe’s writing is an action to regain the sovereignty and visibility that has been torn from the tongues and bodies of American Indian peoples, specifically the Diné, after years of colonization, oppression, and resistance. Chapter one provides the necessary historical context of the Diné and the Navajo Long Walk, and chapter two presents an explanation for the various theoretical and critical frameworks for this dissertation. Chapter three provides an explanation about the lens through which the visibility and voice of the Diné is exacted through Tohe’s use of rhetorics of survivance and alliance, as well as her attempt to decolonize the Diné history. Chapter four further explores Tohe’s decolonization of the Diné history and the reclamation of her rhetorical sovereignty through her use of trickster and trickster discourse, as she attempts to decolonize representations of the Diné and provide her own representation of what it means to be Diné. The dissertation ends with a reevaluation of the discussions surrounding the use of American Indian texts in an introductory American literature course. Chapter five guides educators in how using a text, such as Tohe’s, is beneficial to not only the promotion of American Indian texts in the classroom, but the necessity of disrupting, adding to, and maintaining our students’ acknowledgment, awareness, and understanding of the significance of rhetorical sovereignty and the power of those voices of American Indian authors in claiming that sovereignty and resisting colonial attempts to silence them

A Survey Of The Study Habits Of The Freshman Class Of 1959-1960 At Appalachian State Teachers College

The purpose of this study was to make a survey of the study habits of the members of the freshman class of 1959-1960 at Appalachian State Teachers College (1) to gain information that would help students to understand better their strengths and weaknesses, their obligations, and their needs in the matter of study; (2) to describe and report the information gained in such a manner as to be helpful to the faculty of Appalachian State Teachers College in understanding the needs of the students; and (3) to present the material for further study and use by those students who may be training for the teaching profession as well as others who may be interested in such a study

THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF DOMESTIC CO-CURRICULAR ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK (ASB) EXPERIENCES ON PARTICIPANTS’ LATER CIVIC BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand the potential role that domestic alternative spring break experiences, as a particular co-curricular service-learning initiative within the larger framework of civic engagement, may have on participants’ later civic behaviors and attitudes. The research question pursued was, “What is the potential role (if any) of the domestic co-curricular alternative spring break (ASB) experience on a participants’ later civic behaviors and attitudes?� The 15 research participants represented seven different institutions. The participants were removed six to nine years from their ASB experience which meant they participated in at least one ASB experience between 2005 and 2011. The interview questions focused on what participants learned about the community, social issues, themselves, and others as a part of their ASB experience. Other questions concentrated on the participants’ current community involvement and community service since the participants graduated three to nine years ago. Break Away’s Active Citizen Continuum was chosen as the conceptual model to guide this research study. The Active Citizen Continuum frames lifelong active citizenship as a developmental process for participants as they progresses from the member phase towards the active citizen phase. The four phases that comprise the Active Citizen Continuum which are (a) member, (b) volunteer, (c) conscientious citizen, and (d) active citizen. In the final phase, called active citizen, the individual chooses to make the community a priority in the values and life choices he or she makes in his or her life. Creswell’s (2007) Recommended Interview Procedures, Yin’s (2009) sources of evidence for data preparation, and Creswell’s (2007) Data Analysis Spiral were utilized to gather and analyze the data. The five themes that emerged from the research were: (a) continued service, (b) performance of ASB (c) personal development gains, (d) relationships, and (e) social justices. Findings from this study suggest that domestic co-curricular ASB trips can play an important role in a participant’s later civic behaviors and attitudes. Future research is needed to continue examining the long-term role that the ASB experience may or may not play in a participants’ civic behaviors and civic attitudes