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Displaying (1 - 10 of 10)
- Title
- Aiming to Fully Understand How We Heal: Treatment and Assessment Protocol Development for Clinical Research on Performance-Specific Social Anxiety Disorder
- Contributor
- Stephanie E. Hall (author), Richard Bradshaw (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Bill Acton (third reader), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- The purpose of this project was to develop assessment and treatment protocols for clinical research on performance-specific Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The treatments used were Observed and Experiential Integration (OEI; a trauma-root-focused therapy), and Breathing, Relaxation, Autogenics, Imagery, and grouNding (BRAIN; a trauma-symptom-focused therapy). Similarities between trauma and anxiety symptoms suggest a traumatic cause of SAD. Both trauma-root-focused and trauma-symptom-focused treatments resulted in improvements in: (a) narrow-spectrum symptoms of speaker confidence and public speaking behaviour. In response to trauma-root-focused treatment: (a) broad-spectrum symptoms of general anxiety and depression improved, and (b) psychophysiological reactivity to past traumatic social experiences was reduced. Diverse types of measurements (self-report, behaviour sampling, and psychophysiological measures) will be helpful for understanding (a) broad-spectrum, (b) narrow- spectrum, and (c) psychophysiological symptoms. Results of descriptive analyses supported the existence of traumatic origins of performance-specific SAD.
- Publication Year
- 2017
- Title
- Critical factors influencing paternal involvement : fathers’ experiences of negotiating role responsibilities
- Contributor
- Marvin Bravo (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution), Richard Young (external examiner), Marvin McDonald (second reader)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- This qualitative study uses the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT) to explore incidents fathers report to be helpful or hindering to their parental engagement. Eight fathers were interviewed with 206 reported incidents. From the 206 incidents, 132 were identified as helpful (HE); 47 as hindering (HI); and 27 as wish list (WL) items. All incidents were assigned to one of the following categories (a) positive and negative role models, (b) Mother-Father Relationship (d) Father's Religion/Spirituality (e) Responsibility (f) Attachment (g) Personal Decision (h) Characteristics of Children (I) Reflective Parenting (j) Societal Influence (k) Father's Characteristics, and (l) Extended Family Influence. Fathers also provided 29 recommendations for effective paternal engagement. Research findings indicate major themes of responsibility, engagement, and father-mother dyad as important factors determining paternal involvement. Additionally, participants frequently referred to a confluence of factors impacting their involvement, which they navigate within a myriad of social roles.
- Publication Year
- 2013
- Title
- Integrating Ego Identity in an Adult Third Culture Kid with Lifespan Integration Therapy: A Reflexive Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design
- Contributor
- Sharon M Macfarlane (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Jose Domene (external examiner), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Research findings support the presence of psycho-social challenges for third culture kids (TCKs) given their characteristic lifestyle. Structured as a self-experimentation Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (auto-HSCED), I investigated the use of Lifespan Integration (LI) therapy in addressing ego identity fragmentation as conceptualized through an Eriksonian and neo-Eriksonian model. This project sought to answer: Can LI be efficacious in addressing ego identity fragmentation in an adult TCK? Initial outcomes did not meet HSCED standards for significance, however, further investigation revealed evidence of decontextualization and reductionist therapy formulations and analysis processes. These were remediated through intersectional analysis with the use of metasynthetic principles which enabled a re-interpretation of results within a broader intersectional framework. The subsequent proposed refinement of study conclusions argued that outcomes met the threshold for significance and for demonstrating LI efficacy in producing client ego identity change. This project also provided a first-hand account of my therapeutic journey.
- Publication Year
- 2019
- Title
- Intensive family therapy with at-risk youth : a preliminary critical incident study
- Contributor
- Giselle Tranquilla (author), Robert Lees (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Faith Auton-Cuff (external examiner), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Multisystemic Therapy (MST) has been established as an effective treatment approach to working with at-risk youth. The Intensive Family Therapy Project followed the basic tenets of MST and adapted them to a rural community setting in British Columbia. The Project was designed to work with young offenders and their families in addressing delinquent behavior from a holistic perspective. This study used the Critical Incident Technique to examine what clients found helpful and unhelpful about the treatment program. Nine interviews were conducted involving six families. Data from the interviews was classified into seven categories, 26 subcategories. Results indicate participants found involvement in the project was more helpful than hindering, as indicated by the higher rate of positive incidents. Clients' voices identified Intensive Family Therapy as a valuable treatment approach and results indicate the potential for adapted forms of MST to be applicable, relevant and effective in working with these families.
- Publication Year
- 2013
- Title
- Intergenerational voices : exploring body image transmission in the mother-daughter dyad
- Contributor
- Hillary Lianna Sommers McBride (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Marla Buchanan (external examiner), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Due to the prevalence of body-dissatisfaction and disordered eating among North American women, this study was designed to better understand the development of young women’s healthy body image, and how their mothers may have contributed to their embodiment. Five motherdaughter dyads were selected for inclusion based on the young adult daughter’s healthy body image. In order to best understand the participants, and empower them through the telling of their own stories, the qualitative feminist method the Listening guide was employed. Through participants’ narratives, voices were identified which spoke of the body (voices of idealized femininity, silencing, functionality, acceptance, embodiment, and resistance) and of relationship (voices of comparison, differentiation, and connection). In these voices, the mother participants spoke about their mothers, themselves and their daughters, while the daughter participants spoke about their mothers, themselves and the daughters they had or imagined they may one day have. The daughters spoke most in the voices of embodiment and resistance, demonstrating how they had come to love their bodies and resist dominant cultural narratives. Mothers were found to have taught their daughters about health and stewardship of the body. The mothers were able to do this in spite of their own body-dissatisfaction. Through relational safety and connection mothers non-judgmentally supported their daughters in non-appearance related domains, while also celebrating their daughter’s beauty.
- Publication Year
- 2014
- Title
- Lifespan Integration Efficacy: A Mixed Methods Multiple Case Study
- Contributor
- Monica Hu (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Attachment theory and neurobiological research have much to say about the etiology and dynamics of psychological distress. Lifespan Integration (LI) therapy was developed by Peggy Pace (2003/2012) through years of treating adults with histories of childhood abuse and trauma. Since 2003 over one thousand clinicians have been trained in LI worldwide. Growing anecdotal reports of success call for research into LI's efficacy. A rigourous, adjudicated case study research design (Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design, HSCED, Elliott, 2001, 2002) was expanded to accommodate three cases. In addition to the question of efficacy, whether and how LI protocols would be linked with the underlying theory via support in the data was also investigated. The results indicate that each of the three participants experienced significant clinical change and that there was alignment with theory supporting the claim that LI works to foster integration and other markers associated with higher functioning and mental health.
- Publication Year
- 2014
- Title
- Lifespan integration therapy with trauma-exposed children : a hermeneutic single case efficacy study
- Contributor
- Christian Rensch (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Susan Stephen (external examiner), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Trauma in children is a devastating reality with immense psychological impact on the child. Numbers indicate that millions of children experience trauma every year. Outcome research therapy with trauma-exposed children is scarce and mostly focuses on cognitive and behavioural changes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Lifespan Integration (LI) therapy integrates traumatic experiences into other life experiences leaving them feeling more congruent and renewed. In this research study, we investigate the efficacy of Lifespan Integration with children by means of careful examination of one participant. We applied Robert Elliott’s Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Research Design (2002, 2014), which uses quantitative and qualitative data to argue for and against therapy efficacy. The 12-year-old research participant received 8 sessions of LI over three months, and data was collected before, throughout, and after therapy. The extent of the client’s change over the course of therapy was investigated, as well as LI’s contribution to the change, and what parts of LI were most helpful in bringing about change. Findings indicate that the client changed substantially over the course of therapy with lasting effects at follow-up, LI was substantially responsible for this change, and the timeline as an LI specific modality helped to bring this change. Details about trauma-exposed children, the theoretical underpinnings of LI, a detailed description of the HSCED procedure, as well as further directions of LI and HSCED are discussed.
- Publication Year
- 2015
- Title
- Til We Have Voices: A Feminist-Relational Approach to Understanding the Process of Healing and Becoming Whole Through Lifespan Integration Therapy
- Contributor
- Elizabeth J Chan (author), Janelle L Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Mihaela Launeanu (third reader), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- This study opened up avenues for exploring the dismembering effects of trauma and the “re-membering” process of healing. Six participants engaged in a 60- to 90-minute semi-structured interview modelled after Elliot’s Change Interview. Utilizing the Listening Guide, the research team identified voices speaking about trauma and recovery. The voices were grouped into three categories: the voices of trauma’s dismembering effects, the voices of turning towards the pain, and the voices of healing. Among the voices of trauma’s dismembering effects were disconnection, dissociation, impasse, and pain. Voices of turning towards the pain included the voices of active acceptance and of mourning. Voices of healing included the voices of personal essence, integration, astonishment, agency, and calm and peace. Examining these voices, we traced patterns of shifting from fragmentation, aloneness, and numbness to wholeness, connection, and presence. This progression highlights the fulfilled potential of personhood through the transformational process of healing in therapy.
- Publication Year
- 2017
- Title
- Voices in Relationship: The Significance of a Father’s Influence on Women’s Development
- Contributor
- Jillian M. Schmidt-Levesque (author), Janelle Kwee (thesis supervisor), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Chuck Macknee (third reader), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- Although literature acknowledges that fathers are critical figures in women’s lives, and the daughter-father relationship is crucial for women’s development of self, this understanding has been paired with a focus on negative developmental consequences instead of emphasizing the positive aspects found within the daughter-father relationship. This study was designed to combine two controversial and impactful areas of research, daughter-father relationships and women’s development of empowerment. Four daughter-father dyads were selected for inclusion based on the daughters’ self-reported positive relationships with their fathers. All four daughterfather dyads identified as Christian and active members of Evangelical culture. Throughout the narratives spirituality was hugely influential in supporting daughters’ identity development.. In order to capture the essence of the inner experiences daughters and fathers have voiced in relationship with one another, the qualitative feminist method the Listening Guide was employed. Through participants’ narratives, voices were identified which spoke of relationship (voices of autonomy, silencing, empathy, yearning, acceptance, approval, attunement, parental guidance, connection, and resistance). Through experiences in connection with their fathers, the daughters were able to begin to organize their sense of self.
- Publication Year
- 2015
- Title
- Youth as Mindfulness Trainers: Educators' Views
- Contributor
- Jerlyn J. Chan (author), Marvin McDonald (second reader), Robert Lees (second reader), Christine Slavik (external examiner), Trinity Western University SGS (Degree granting institution)
- Discipline/Stream
- Counselling Psychology
- Abstract
- This thesis project explored educators’ views of a mindfulness program that was delivered to elementary school students by high school students. This youth-led approach to delivering mental health literacy was evaluated as part of a pilot project that intended to connect both older and younger students and pass down mindfulness education. The method, the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, was selected and involved conducting in-person interviews with each of the participants. The participants consisted of six educators, who offered diverse perspectives by their first-hand knowledge and experience of the program or familiarity with the program’s development. Participants included the elementary school and high school teachers, the elementary school principal and community agency staff. The findings of this study showed a consensus whereby educators viewed the program favourably and believed it to be valuable to their students and their larger community. The youth-led approach was shown to demonstrate the youth’s capacity to act as positive role models and lead the mindfulness training. The feasibility of the program was supported with reference to key partnerships and its possible application to additional community settings. An enthusiasm and keen interest to continue and expand the program were also captured in the results. The educators’ views of this program, the Youth-led Mindfulness Program (YLMP), were investigated to answer the following research question: What are educators’ views about what helps and hinders school-based mental health literacy programs that are delivered by youth as mindfulness trainers?
- Publication Year
- 2018