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Clergy Experiences and Challenges of Self-Care in the Church of the Nazarene
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to listen, describe, interpret, and make meaning of the lived experiences of clergy members of the Church of the Nazarene in the practice and pursuit of self-care. In particular, this study explored the types of self-care used and the benefits and challenges experienced as a result of those practices, as well as delving into the range of challenges and obstacles that prevent pastors in the Church of the Nazarene from pursuing and maintaining active and holistic self-care practices. In-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted with 18 participants from the Philadelphia district of the Church of the Nazarene, encompassing southeastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, and southern New Jersey.
The study utilized descriptions of each participant’s lived experiences in physical, spiritual, and psychological self-care to gain deeper understanding of self-care among clergy in this particular denomination and district. Study participants revealed a deep understanding of self-care, with the exception of psychological self-care, and rich descriptions of their self-care practices, as well as the benefits of self-care and the consequences of its absence. In addition, participants shared their experiences of the obstacles they believed impacted their practice of self-care. There was an organic exploration of the holistic nature of self-care throughout the interviews. Most of the participants shared their belief that resources to support clergy self-care were available; however, there was a concern about the accessibility of those resources for pastors. Results of this study offer insight into the vital importance of self-care among clergy in the Church of the Nazarene and revealed a gap in the emphasis on self-care by the Nazarene denomination and the actual experience of the clergy in the Philadelphia district. Clergy may benefit from additional resources and education concerning psychological self-care, as well as increased support and access to available resources to support on-going self-care practices
The Lived Experience of American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Responders on MCI - Mass Shooting Deployments
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative study was to listen, describe, interpret, and make meaning of the lived experiences of American Red Cross (ARC) Disaster Mental Health (DMH) responders who were deployed to Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs), specifically mass shootings, between 2008-2018. This study sought to produce an understanding of the lived experience of mental health professionals who deployed to these mass shootings, determine the motivation they experienced to assist repeatedly, and ways in which they found meaning in their work. A qualitative, phenomenological approach was employed to gather a deep understanding and the rich details of descriptions of the lived experiences of the responders. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed. Gaining an understanding of how this work impacted responders may support disaster relief organizations in the development and provision of proper training, debriefing and resources. Additionally, the study findings have provided information regarding volunteer recruitment and provided areas of discernment that will assist those considering deployment to determine their preparedness. Lastly, with the understanding of the role DMH responders have in providing assistance to this unique group of traumatized individuals, this study has offered insight into additional ways DMH responders can provide support to disaster survivors
An Investigation of Premature Discharges from Residential Addiction Treatment Centers in Two Mid-Atlantic States of the United States
No full textThe purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the length of stay in patients prematurely discharged from residential addiction treatment facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Furthermore, this study sought to provide a more in-depth understanding regarding which patients may be at a greater risk for shortened length of stay and to help fill the gap in the literature pertaining to length of stay and related variables in prematurely discharged patients. The research methodology for this study was quantitative, non-experimental design using pre-existing, secondary data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administrations Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharge (TEDS-D) from the year 2014. The Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharge is a collection of data reported on a national level regarding discharges from substance abuse treatment facilities (TEDS-D Codebook, 2014). The data presented in the TEDS-D represent discharges and not individual patients and/or clients, as those individuals may have been admitted to and discharged from facilities multiple times in any given year (TEDS-D Codebook, 2014). Data analysis included an examination of the relationship between the predictor variables, the number of times a patient has been admitted to treatment, admission wait time, gender and age, with the criterion variable, length of stay. The data was ex post facto; therefore, this was a non-experimental design that utilized secondary analyses of pre-existing data to answer the five research questions. Regression analysis of the predictor variables, previous admissions, admission wait time, age and gender was performed to see if a significant relationship exists between them. A correlation of all the variables was performed to see what if any of the variables had a significant correlation. This study contributed to solving the problem of premature discharge by examining variables that may or
may not be predictive of length of stay in patients who prematurely discharged from residential addiction treatment facilities under the premise of having been administratively discharged or in the event that the patient left treatment against professional advice. This study also provided recommendations regarding the importance of spirituality and religion in examining the current population, as such variables, while missing from the data set, may serve as valuable in understanding what may contribute to length of stay in the realm of short-term residential addiction treatment
Implementation of a Family Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program in the School Setting and its Effects on Family Functioning and Wellbeing
No full textFamilies today are impacted by a multitude of stressors. Despite these stressors, families are seeking tools to assist them in achieving a sense of balance in their lives. Mindfulness promotes the acceptance of thoughts, emotions, memories and sensations in the present moment without judgment. Mindfulness greatly improves the potential to increase psychological flexibility and openness to undesirable thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than instinctively avoiding them. Mindfulness practices are receiving increased focus within the scientific community for their capacity to foster wellbeing by reducing stress and promoting positive psychosocial health as well as improve interpersonal relationships. There is a growing interest in utilizing mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions in schools; however, limited research examines family mindfulness practices within the school community. This quantitative study investigated the effects of parents and their children engaging in a family mindfulness-based stress reduction program in their neighborhood school on overall family well-being and functioning. A pre-experimental one group pretest posttest design was utilized in this study to investigate two quantitative measures of mindfulness and well-being in parents and their children: The Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale and the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire. Thirty-four parents and thirty children participated in a one hour per
week family mindfulness intervention program conducted over four consecutive weeks. Twenty-four families participated in the study. Results showed significant growth in child wellbeing, joy of learning, interpersonal mindfulness in parenting, parental non-reactivity, parental non-judgment and overall family wellbeing. Findings of this study provide additional support for the benefits of mindfulness and offer school psychology and school counseling practitioners an emerging promising practice to utilize with families in schools. Further implications of this study include enhancing family engagement in schools, promoting family resilience and wellbeing, cultivating transformative parent and child relationships, fostering home and school connections and reducing overall stress within the family system
College Students, Stress and Nature: Undergraduate Perceptions of the Effect of the Natural Environment on Coping
No full textThe current study used a qualitative approach to study the lived experiences of college students in relation to environmental connection and its helpfulness in dealing with stress. This study explored whether students identified a connection to the environment and whether that connection served as an aid to coping with stress. Additionally, this study identified types of environmental connection students engaged in. The benefits of connecting to natural systems and elements have been studied in a variety of settings and suggests benefits to emotional well-being. While some that research includes impacts on student well-being, no studies have been done explicitly identifying environmental connectedness with student coping strategies. This study addresses that gap in the literature by directly engaging students in a discussion of the natural environment as a source of strength for coping.
Students were recruited for two focus groups in each of three post-secondary settings. Each focus group discussion was recorded and transcribed providing thick, rich data describing the kinds of stressors students identified, their preferred coping strategies and the role, if any, that the natural environment plays in their coping processes. The students identified emotion-focused coping as their preferred coping style and reported forms of environmental connection that provided distraction and distance from stressors.
Students in this study needed assistance to connect coping with environmental connection but once prompted, identified multiple ways environmental connection supports coping. This study contributes to the current discussion of how to support students’ success by suggesting that increasing students’ recognition of the value of environmental connection for coping with college stress may be useful as an additional tool. Results of this study have implications for how colleges and universities address student awareness of the environment as a health resource for coping and points to a need for further education on the high school and elementary levels to prepare students to engage productively with the natural environment given the research supporting the emotional and physical benefits of such engagement
A Comparative Study of High School Perceptions of School Climate between Students, Teachers, and Parents
No full textSchool climate collectively reflects the perspectives of school stakeholders in addition to influencing them. However, the existing body of knowledge regarding school climate does not clearly indicate to what extent the perception of distinct stakeholders affects the school climate. Despite the widely recognized impact of school climate on students, teachers, and parents; population’s current literature on school climate does not simultaneously address climate-related preferences in the three different populations. This study focused on examining the perceptions of these three groups regarding school climate across multiple educational constructs in order to produce a three-dimensional perspective on school climate, identify the strongest factors shaping those perceptions, gain a better understanding of school climate, and contribute to enhancing school climate policy in secondary education. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology under a positivist philosophical approach to investigate the variances in teacher, student, and parent perceptions based on nine educational constructs. Utilizing a comparative case study research design, a sample of 763 respondents from the three groups considered was selected from two school districts using purposive sampling technique. A survey was conducted in which participants provided primary data through a structured questionnaire. The research data obtained was analyzed descriptively and inferentially in which an analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique was utilized for inferential analysis. The results indicate the perceptions of students, teachers, and parents regarding school climate were significantly different across the nine constructs considered, which included achievement motivation, collaborative decision-making, equity and fairness, school leadership, order and discipline, school buildings, school parent relations, staff dedication to student learning, and staff expectations. Based on these findings, to make informed decisions regarding the school climate, it is essential to create policies focusing on all three stakeholder groups rather than making collective policies that may only work for a particular group. The findings presented inform further research and practice in the field of organizational culture and curriculum development
A Mixed Methods Study of Why Black Educators Stay in K-12 Publicly Funded Schools
No full textThis mixed methods study examined why Black teachers and principals stayed in publicly funded K-12 schools after five or more years of teaching or supervising schools. The participants for this study were 37 Black teachers and 16 Black principals from Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Berks, Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania, and New Castle County in the state of Delaware. The quantitative data came from survey data that were slightly modified for the teacher and principal participants. The qualitative data came from semi-structured interviews. The theory informing this study was Maslow’s (1954) theory of motivation with insights from critical race theory (CRT).
This study had several findings for both the teacher and principal participants. The study found that Black teachers and principals stayed in the profession because of their students, being involved in their communities, and needing and receiving support. The participants stayed in the profession when they perceived they had made a difference in their students’ lives and became their role models. They also were involved in their communities by serving as teachers, principals, or in upper administration. The participants expressed the importance of being actively involved and establishing positive relationships with their students’ parents. The teacher and principal participants discussed receiving and giving support through mentoring, recruiting and increasing the number of Blacks in the profession, being resilient against discrimination, and receiving an adequate v salary. The principals discussed their legacies that included stepping aside to make room for other educators when they retired while the teachers expressed sharing their family values to their students. Teachers reported heavy workload or uneven work distribution from their principals, as reasons for them and others leaving the profession. Principals perceived that some educators left the profession for child rearing purposes.
Keywords: Retention, Recruiting, Black teachers, Black principals, and Publicly Funded K-12 School
Self-Compassion and Midlife Women: A Phenomenological Discovery
No full textSince the introduction of Self-Compassion as a theory (Neff, 2003a) significant attention has been given to exploring the benefit of self-compassion with consistent findings that indicate greater self-compassion is associated with reduced psychopathology (Bernard and Curry, 2011; MacBeth & Gumley, 2012). Although extensively research (Germer & Neff, 2013), limited qualitative research exists that examines self-compassion and midlife women. Additionally, existing literature has referenced a need for expanded research on midlife women (McFadden & Rawson Swan, 2012; Brown et al., 2015a; Brown et al., 2015b). Midlife often presents circumstances that include life event transitions (Pierett, 2006) that can negatively affect life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to discover how midlife women, ages 40 to 60, experienced self-compassion during emotionally distressing midlife experiences. The study aimed to expound on the existing self-compassion research from a phenomenological perspective by examining self-compassion and the lived experiences of ten women and responded to the question, “How do women, 40 to 60 years of age, women experience self-compassion?”
As a precursor to the study, the women in this study participated in a Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills course. The 12-hour training provided education on the components of self-compassion and offered strategies designed to cultivate self-compassion. The participants received take home self-compassion materials with exercises that they could use after the training to continue to enhance their capacity for self-compassion. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were purposely scheduled six weeks after the training. The researcher transcribed then analyzed the data. The process of phenomenological reduction led to the unfolding of segments of meaning. The following six themes emerged: (1) Understanding Self-Compassion, (2) Compassion for Others Versus Compassion for Self, (3) Lack of Self-Compassion and Negative Cognitions, (4) New Insight, Practices, and Self-Care, (5) Midlife: A Time of Change, Evaluation, and Discovery, and (6) Self-Compassion, Religious Influence, and Human Connectedness. The results of this study consistently suggest that midlife women experience a lack of self-compassion and that cultivating self-compassion serves as a resource that supports midlife women. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and therapeutic considerations
The Lived Experience of Christian Parents of Transgender Children
No full textThis qualitative study employed family systems theory to explore the processes that occur in family relationships when Christian parents discover they have a transgender child. This study explored the role of faith in how parents approach the parenting challenges associated with having a transgender child, and also explored the impact that parenting such children has on a parent’s faith. In addition, this study identified words of scripture that Christian parents find helpful and unhelpful as they search for spiritual guidance on parenting. Much research has revealed the critical role parents play in the well-being of transgender persons, yet very little research has focused on how parents of faith are coping with, and responding to, the phenomenon of having a transgender child. This study addresses that gap in literature by providing insights into the lived experience of 16 Christian parents of transgender children.
Data collection was conducted in two parts. First, respondents were given a questionnaire to gather demographic and faith data. Second, all participants were interviewed individually using a semi-structured, open-ended interview process.
This research resulted in rich, thick data describing the emotional, relational, and spiritual experiences of these parents. Parents reported experiencing deep feelings of love, grief, fear, confusion, isolation, and anger. In addition, this study revealed that faith influences how Christian parents relate to their transgender children, and, that parental faith is deepened as a result of having a transgender child.
This study contributed valuable data to the existing body of knowledge for mental health professionals who work with transgender persons and their families. This study found that some Christian parents are deeply committed to loving and supporting their transgender children, and desperately desire to help their children reach a place of physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual peace. Results of this study have implications for the treatment of transgender children, teens, and young adults. Findings indicate that although Christian parents of transgender children face many unique needs and challenges, they may still be regarded as a valuable resource and support system for their transgender children
Effectiveness of the Schools to Watch Process in Identifying High Functioning Middle Schools
No full textThe purposes of this quantitative nonexperimental causal-comparative study were to explore the relationship between Pennsylvania middle schools designated as a Pennsylvania Schools to Watch and non-designated schools in academic achievement and the perception of teachers on the fidelity of implementing middle level education characteristics stated in This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (AMLE, 2010). The study focused on the results of seventh-grade math and ELA PSSA scores because most middle schools include a seventh-grade. Through the comparison of seventh-grade 2017 math and ELA PSSA data and 2017 SPP scores between designated schools and non-designated schools as of January 2017, this study investigated if there was a relationship between designation status and academic success. The results of this study indicated that designated schools did have a statistically significant higher percentage of students earning proficient scores and a statistically significant lower number of students earning below basic scores on the seventh-grade 2017 math PSSA compared to non-designated schools. Similarly, the results of this study indicated that designated schools did have a statistically significant higher percentage of students earning advanced scores and a statistically significant lower number of students earning basic scores and below basic scores on the seventh-grade 2017 ELA PSSA compared to non-designated schools. In addition, the results from this study indicated that several of the sections on the Middle Level Concept Implementation Survey, including Middle School Concept and Professional Preparation, School Environment and Expectations, and Curriculum and Instruction, showed a statistically significant positive correlation to the 2017 SPP scores of both designated schools and non-designated schools. In contrast, the results from the study failed to show if there was a relationship between designation status and 2017 SPP scores. Lastly, the results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the responses of teachers from designated schools and teachers from non-designated schools on the Middle Level Concept Implementation Survey, with teachers from designated schools responding more favorably to the survey questions compared to teachers from non-designated schools