A child’s death evokes intense and long-lasting grief in parents. However, few interventions exist to address the needs of this population. This mixed methods project used secondary data to evaluate the impact of a four-day, grief-focused mindfulness-based retreat on bereaved parents.

A quasi-experimental design with two nonequivalent groups (intervention group n = 25, comparison group n = 41) and three observations (pretest and two posttests) was used. Mixed-model repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to assess change over time for the intervention group and relative to a no-intervention comparison group. Outcome measures were depressive and anxious responses, measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25); trauma responses, measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R); mindfulness, measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ); and self-compassion, measured by the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF). The intervention group was expected to show significant decreases in psychological distress and significant increases in mindfulness and self-compassion over time and relative to the comparison group.

The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews with nineteen retreat participants using a constructivist phenomenological approach in order to obtain a richer understanding of the retreat’s impact on participants’ lives.

There were significant time by condition interactions with small to medium effect sizes for the IES-R and its subscales, the HSCL-25 and its depression subscale, and three FFMQ scales (describe, act with awareness, and nonjudge), all favoring the intervention group. However, not all benefits were maintained at follow-up.

Psychoeducation and relationships emerged as key qualitative themes. Psychoeducation included benefits related to present-moment awareness, fully inhabiting grief, self-compassion, emotional equanimity, and reduced distress or judgment of distress. Relationships included benefits related to giving and receiving social support, emotional expression and sharing, validation and normalization of grief-related experiences, resonance and self-other awareness, self-appraisal, changes in relationships, and connection to a deceased child. Mindfulness seemed to be a key component in reducing trauma responses. Relationship factors, combined with psychoeducation and present-moment awareness, seemed responsible for increasing participants’ capacity for nonjudgmental acceptance of experiences.

The retreat may be an effective intervention for helping parents cope with and express their grief and warrants further study.

In response to the need to accurately define group home types, this dissertation focused on providing a clear and distinct definition of the types of group home care, an articulated understanding of the role of group home staff, and an awareness of the impact individuals working in group homes have on the lives of the youth they serve and their influence on the group home environment. Using the qualitative research method Grounded Theory, ten in-depth interviews were conducted with staff who both currently work in group homes, and staff who have left the group home environment. The research question was “What is the influence of group home staff on the ecological environment of the group home?” Ecological framework was the overarching theory, and participants were asked questions regarding their relationships with youth and their impressions of staff impact within the group home. Data analysis influenced by Grounded Theory produced 5 themes: Walking into the unknown, in loco parentis with two sub- themes consanguinity and group home as a home, engagement with two sub- themes of staff/staff engagement and staff/youth engagement, staff impact on youth, with three sub-themes, managing transitions, loss and boundaries, and the final theme of supervisor support. The results indicate that staff do have an impact on the group home, both positive and negative. Also, the group home operates as an intricate ecological environment containing relationships and interactions that influence multiple internal systems. Currently there is a gap in the literature as it relates to clarity within definition of care settings. This dissertation provided a clear definition for the chosen research environment, non-locked, non-therapeutic group home. The results of this dissertation have implications for group home agencies and more broadly child welfare agencies and child welfare social workers in regard to hiring practices, training and supervision. This dissertation provides a springboard for a future research on the ecological group home environment and the people who work there and are responsible for the care of vulnerable children.

The Yavapai-Apache Nation represents one American Indian tribe whose experiences of historical trauma and alternative responses to historical trauma is not fully understood. This study sought to explore the presence of historical trauma among individuals who did not directly experience events of historical trauma, and ways those individuals have dealt with the possible impact of historical trauma. The foundation of this research reflected that pathological outcomes may not be universal responses to historical trauma for a sample of Yavapai-Apache Nation college graduates, as evidenced by their academic success, positive life outcomes, and resilience. The study utilized Indigenous methodologies and conversational and semi-structured interviews with Yavapai-Apache Nation co-researchers and four central themes emerged. The first theme of Family indicated the Yavapai-Apache Nation co-researchers with a strong orientation toward the family. Families provided support and this positive perception of family support provided the encouragement needed to cope with various experiences in their lives, including school, raising their own families, career goals and helping to impart teachings to their own children or youth within the community. The second theme, Identity, indicated the co-researchers experienced the effects of historical trauma through the loss of language, culture and identity and that while losses were ongoing, they acknowledged the necessity of identity re-vitalization. The third theme, Survival, indicated that despite hardships, the co-researchers acknowledge survival as a collective effort and achieved by an individual’s efforts within the group. The co-researchers described their personal understanding of education and success. They also discussed how they contribute to the survival of the Yavapai-Apache Nation. The fourth theme, Intersection, indicated the co-researchers’ stories and experiences in which the themes of family, identity and survival intersected with one another. It was necessary to include this final theme to show respect for the co-researchers’ stories and experiences. Also discussed are the study’s strengths, limitations, and the implications for research with the Yavapai-Apache Nation and research with Indigenous Communities.

The Arizona legislature has enacted a number of anti-immigrant policies which negatively impact Latino immigrant families. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of Latino parents on how anti-immigration policies emotionally impact their children and how they believe they can protect their children from the harmful effects of such policies. Secondary data analysis was conducted based on in-depth semi structured interviews completed with a sample of 54 Latino immigrant parents residing in the state of Arizona. Grounded theory methods informed the analysis process. A constant comparative approach was used to complete initial and focused coding. Findings indicate that Latino immigrant parents observed a range of behavioral changes in their children following the passage of anti-immigrant legislature. Parents reported that the emotional impact they observed stemmed from children's social interactions in their home, school, and community environments as well as through their exposure to the media. Latino youth experienced emotional impact is summarized in the following themes, concern and sense of responsibility; fear and hypervigilance; sadness and crying; and depression. Findings further demonstrated that parents protected Latino youth from anti-immigration policies directly and indirect ways by focusing on children's safety and well-being (let children live their childhood, be prepared, send messages), building parents capacity (pursue education, obtain papers), and engaging in change efforts at the community level (be proactive). Parents indicated that by engaging in these efforts they could protect their children, and counter the negative effects of anti-immigrant policies. Implications for social work practice to better advocate and serve Latino youth at the individual, family, and community level are discussed.

This study uses the ontological lenses of discourse theory to conduct a critical mixed-methods analysis of state statutes related to prostitution and sex trafficking. The primary research question of the study was, "How do state laws communicate and reinforce discourses related to sex trafficking and prostitution and how do these discourses reinforce hegemony and define the role of the state?" A mixed methods approach was used to analyze prostitution and sex trafficking related annotated and Shepardized statutes from all fifty states. The analysis found that not all prostitution related discourses found in the literature were present in state statutes. Instead, statutes could be organized around five different themes: child abuse, exploitation, criminalization, place, and licensing and regulation. A deeper analysis of discourses present across and within each of these themes illustrated an inconsistent understanding of prostitution as a social problem and an inconsistent understanding of the legitimate role of the state in regulating or criminalizing prostitution. The inconsistencies in the law suggest concerns for equal protection under the law based upon a person's perceived deservingness, which often hinges on his or her race, class, gender identity, sexuality, age, ability, and nationality. Implications for the field include insights into a substantive policy area rarely studied by policy and administration scholars, a unique approach to mixed methods research, and the use of a new technique for analyzing vast quantities of unstructured data.

Using integrated threat theory as the theoretical framework, this study examines the impact of perceived realistic threats (threats to welfare) and symbolic threats (threats to worldview) on anti-immigrant sentiment among a nationally representative sample in the U.S. Analysis of the antecedents of prejudice is particularly relevant today as anti-immigrant sentiment and hostile policies toward the population have risen in the past two decades. Perceived discrimination has also become salient within immigrant communities, negatively impacting both mental and physical health. Using logistic ordinal regressions with realistic threat, symbolic threat, and immigrant sentiment scales, this study found that both realistic and symbolic threats increased participants' likelihood of selecting a higher level of anti-immigrant sentiment, suggesting both are predictive of prejudice. However, symbolic threats emerged as a greater predictor of anti-immigrant sentiment, with an effect size over twice that of realistic threats. Implications for social work policy, practice, and future research are made.

This study aimed to fill the gap in research with regards to how individuals who define themselves as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) and devoutly religious (either currently or in the past) manage the interaction between these two conflicting identities. The researchers conducted 8 semi-structured qualitative interviews to examine how these individuals manage this conflict and what affects these individuals experience internally and externally. To analyze the interviews, researchers used an open coding method to determine the common themes amongst the participants. Results indicated that these participants traveled a similar path when attempting to manage the conflict between their religion and sexuality and similar internal and external affects were experienced amongst the participants.

African American students are one of the historically disadvantaged groups by the public education system. Related to this phenomenon is the overrepresentation of African American children in special education due to disability diagnoses, which has been referred to as disproportionality. It has been hypothesized that disproportionality is due to poverty or a cultural mismatch between primarily white, middle-class teachers and African American students. Using a sample of African American children in special education from Memphis, Tennessee, this secondary data analysis explored the relationship between children's behavioral and educational outcomes and their environment, efficacy beliefs, and the impact of an intervention, the Nurse-Family Partnership. This study also explored differences in children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors by self-report, children's mothers and children's teachers. Using multiple imputation and regression analyses, the results indicated the following: 1) children's self-efficacy and number of hours in special education were associated with children's academic achievement, 2) mothers' and teachers' ratings of children's behaviors differed from children's self-report of their behaviors, 3) African American boys are more likely to experience acting-out behaviors, while African American girls are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, 4) children were less likely to experience anxiety and depression if their mother believed that she had control over circumstances in her life. These findings are discussed in light of Brofenbrenner's ecological systems theory and Bandura's social cognitive theory.

The current study sought to reevaluate Cass' Theory of sexual identity formation in terms of lesbian identity development over the past twenty years and how media acts as mediation in lesbian identity development. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with only nine useable transcripts analyzed for this thesis. This study is an explanatory investigation into linear stage theory, specifically Cass' theory, as well as the impact of media as a mediator during lesbian identity development. This study had three objectives 1) to gain an understanding of the theory and its components related to lesbian identity development 2) to understand the lesbian identity formation process and 3) to understand the impact and influence if any, media has had on lesbian self-reported identity development. Qualitative methods were used to obtain information and analyze the responses. Results indicate that the participants in this study believed that the coming out process was important. This study's results showed that several of the participants entered each stage of the theory, while others did not. Media had little influence on the identity development, and the participants had mixed reviews of medias portrayal of lesbians. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.