Theses (Educational Psychology)

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Mastering proximal goals: The interplay between self-evaluation of past goal experiences, goal self-efficacy, and timely goal attainment in self-regulated learning
(2025) Liu, Weiyi; Hadwin, Allyson
This study investigates the role of proximal goal self-efficacy as a mediator between self-evaluation processes early in the semester and timely goal attainment late in the semester within the framework of self-regulated learning and social cognitive theory. Using a path analysis design, the study examines how self-evaluation of past goal experiences (self-evaluation of goal attainment, accuracy of goal difficulty evaluation, and accuracy of time estimation evaluation early in a semester) predict current timely goal attainment (late in the semester), both directly and indirectly through goal self-efficacy. Data were collected from first-year undergraduate students enrolled in a learn-to-learn course. Results revealed that prior goal attainment predicted goal self-efficacy late in the semester, which in turn significantly influenced timely goal attainment late in the semester. Additionally, the accuracy of goal time estimation early in the semester directly predicted timely goal attainment late in the semester. However, none of the hypothesized mediation paths through goal self-efficacy were significant, suggesting that goal self-efficacy is not the sole mechanism through which goal evaluative accuracy impacts future goal attainment. Instead, other pathways— such as direct feedback effects on timely goal attainment late in the semester, task-specific strategies, goal challenges, or variations in goal types—may play a more significant role in influencing outcomes. This research addresses critical gaps in SRL literature by focusing on subjective evaluations and timely goal attainment in self-directed learning context, offering insights for educators to design interventions that enhance students’ goal-setting and self-regulation skills.
Exploring the intersection of weight and disability stigma in Canada: An intersectionality-informed approach
(2025) McSweeney, Tara; Nutter, Sarah
Weight stigma is a pervasive social justice issue negatively affecting the physical and mental health of higher weight individuals across various contexts, including healthcare, education, and the workplace. Similarly, disability stigma entails dehumanizing attitudes and discriminatory practices directed at disabled individuals, leading to social exclusion and reduced quality of life. When intersecting, these stigmas may compound, amplifying negative health outcomes and marginalization. This research explored how the intersection of weight and disability stigma uniquely impacts higher weight individuals identifying as disabled, using an intersectionality-informed approach to illuminate the experiences of marginalized communities that are often overlooked in Canadian stigma research. Enhanced Critical Incident Technique methodology was utilized to explore stigmatizing incidents, their impact, and participants’ wish list items for navigating stigma. Participants (n = 191) described experiencing weight and disability stigma across their lifespan and in various social environments, with profound mental health consequences such as internalized stigma, emotional distress, and social withdrawal. Furthermore, systemic barriers such as inaccessible environments and weight-centric healthcare approaches intensified participants’ feelings of societal exclusion. Despite these challenges, participants identified social support and advocacy as critical foundations for resilience and recovery. Participants highlighted accessible environments, bias training for healthcare providers, and holistic care models as crucial wish list items to reduce stigma and promote inclusive practices. By examining how weight and disability stigma intersect, this study provides actionable insights to inform future research and stigma-reduction advocacy. Future research should continue to address these intersecting stigmas to dismantle barriers and create inclusive environments across Canadian society.
Tracking early literacy development and COVID-19 learning loss
(2025) Boulet, Lila Anne; Harrison, Gina Louise
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted global education, amplifying the need to understand its long-term effects on literacy development. This multi-study dissertation examines the impact of COVID Learning Loss (CLL) on foundational reading skills in early elementary students. Paper 1 investigates a cohort of students who were in Grade 1 during the 2020 pandemic school closures and who were assessed one year after regular instruction resumed. Results revealed that 74% of students remained at risk in on or more foundational reading skills, such as vocabulary, phonological awareness, and decoding, performing comparably to peers with no prior English instruction, suggesting an enduring floor effect. Paper 2 extends the analysis, tracking 247 students through Grade 4. While recovery from CLL was ongoing, most students had not regained pre-pandemic achievement levels by Grade 4. Notably, typical protective factors, such as SES and vocabulary, had limited influence on recovery rates, indicating a broad, systemic impact on learning during critical developmental phases. These findings emphasize the urgent need for comprehensive academic recovery plans, as resilience alone is insufficient for spontaneous recovery, raising concerns about future academic and societal outcomes without targeted interventions.
Contribution of English oral vocabulary knowledge to reading development in grade 1 French immersion students
(2025) Coppard, Margarita; Harrison, Gina Louise
Understanding the role of oral language skills both within and across languages in supporting reading comprehension is critical. However, few studies have assessed the generalizability of the Simple View of Reading to early French Immersion using a complex measure of French listening comprehension. Additionally, most research on the cross-linguistic influence of English vocabulary knowledge on French reading development has focused on word-reading skills. The present study sought to examine how French listening comprehension, as an integral measure of oral language skills, contributes to reading development in Grade 1 French immersion students. It also examines the role of English oral vocabulary knowledge in supporting reading at both the word- and text-levels, and the mechanisms underlying cross-linguistic transfer. A sample of 61 Grade 1 French immersion students completed a battery of standardized French measures assessing listening comprehension, word reading, pseudoword decoding, reading comprehension, as well as English receptive vocabulary. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the contribution of French listening comprehension and English vocabulary along with word reading and pseudoword decoding to French reading comprehension. The analyses revealed that French listening comprehension did not make a statistically significant contribution to reading comprehension, though, both word reading and pseudoword decoding were significant predictors. While English vocabulary was a significant predictor of French reading comprehension when it was alone in the model, its contribution lost statistical significance, when French word reading or pseudoword decoding were added to the models.
“I was labeled as fat and anxious rather than in need of care”: Understanding experiences with weight stigma among 2S/LGBTQIA+ people in Canada
(2025) Esterhuizen, Rochelle; Nutter, Sarah
Weight stigma is a widespread and socially accepted form of discrimination, particularly in Western contexts, that negatively impacts health equity. For individuals within the 2S/LGBTQIA+ community, its impact can be compounded by additional stigmas, such as homophobia and transphobia. This study investigated how 2S/LGBTQIA+ individuals in Canada experience weight stigma and how intersecting forms of discrimination, including homophobia and transphobia, may influence these experiences. Methodologically, this research was informed by the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT), with an adapted approach to ECIT guiding the development of specific qualitative survey questions and data analysis procedures. Findings indicated that weight stigma is prevalent in interpersonal relationships, healthcare environments, workplaces, and public areas. Participants described encountering body surveillance, exclusion from social settings due to weight norms, medical discrimination, and the intertwining of weight stigma with biases based on gender identity. They also reported internalizing weight stigma, which led to selfstigmatization, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating patterns. These findings highlight the potential mental health impacts of weight stigma, as well as barriers to accessing healthcare and social connection. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on weight stigma. It showcases the necessity for inclusive healthcare practices and community-based advocacy to address the challenges faced by 2S/LGBTQIA+ individuals experiencing weight stigma.
Bodies of work: Exploring anti-violence counsellors’ embodied experiences of trust
(2025) Smith, Cassidy; Woodend, Jon; Lawrence, Breanna
Community-based anti-violence counsellors provide vital support to survivors of gender-based violence. In this phenomenological qualitative study, I explored anti-violence counsellors’ embodied experiences of trust, and how these experiences of trust contribute to the sustainability of their working roles. I conducted five individual interview sessions with community-based anti-violence counsellors, incorporating the arts-based method of body mapping to focalize embodied experience. In analyzing collected data, I employed reflexive thematic analysis, in the tradition of Braun and Clarke (2006, 2022). Four central themes emerged, framed within the greater pattern of Trust and Sustainability as Relational and Related. In the first theme, Trust, as Connectedness, as Safety, trust was presented as an interactive process that is rooted in safety, involving relational connection between the body and the mind, and the self and others. The second theme, The Trustworthy Counsellor: Self-Trust and Sustainability through Role Affirmation, highlighted how affirmation of one’s role through one’s felt sense of competency and trustworthiness contributes to role sustainability. In Sustainable Trust as Connected Assurance, trustworthiness was explored as being built through knowledge, connectedness, and intentions that are aligned between self and others, including one’s colleagues and employing organization. The final theme, Self-Trust as Reflexive Realism, emphasized the importance of reflexivity, attunement, and relational care in creating sustainability in anti-violence counselling work. These findings indicate that trust, as a process occurring both within and beyond the self, played a substantial role in the sustainability of community-based anti-violence counsellors’ working experiences. This study identified a need for a multifaceted approach to bolstering trust, which involves embodied connection, reflexivity, relational safety, and organizational support, in order to encourage sustainable working practices for anti-violence counsellors.
Shaking in the wings: Creating a drama-based curriculum derived from actor education to address music performance anxiety
(2025) Flanagan, Kara; Prest, Anita
This study examines the ways post-secondary curriculum in British Columbia (BC) supports, or fails to support, musicians in managing performance anxiety, and investigates how curriculum derived from actor education can be effective in educating musicians to successfully manage music performance anxiety and enhance music performance delivery. The purpose of this study was to create curriculum based on actor education as an educational intervention for managing music performance anxiety, and to investigate the impacts of this curriculum from the perspectives of participants from a variety of musical backgrounds. The curriculum was workshopped in a twelve-hour weekend course at the University of Victoria in 2023. The curriculum and course assessments were based on exit interviews, consisting of a collective case study of 14 BC-based musicians with music performance anxiety. Most participants found that the acting-based curriculum and course were effective for them in managing music performance anxiety and enhancing their performance delivery.
The art of social consciousness: An exploration of the impact of formal education, non-formal adult education and informal learning on international students
(2024) Dzulkifli, Suriani; Clover, Darlene E.
Being an international student comes with its own unique set of challenges and privileges. While many studies explore the difficulties associated with being international students, there are only a few that look at the positive implications of pursuing education and living abroad, and certainly almost none that focus on the pedagogical impact international students experience as far as their awareness regarding social issues is concerned. This study aims to bridge that gap. This study, the first of its kind to combine the fields of adult education and higher education, seeks to investigate the role of adult education and learning approaches – formal, nonformal, informal – to the development of critical consciousness amongst international students in the context of complex social issues. This study also seeks to gain a better understanding of the various ways of ‘how’ international students become cognisant of injustices from their standpoint. The data for this study was collected through one-on-one interviews as well as a three-day arts-based workshop utilising visual-based methods namely images, collage and photovoice. This study found that students benefitted from their formal education when they were exposed to diverse knowledge and perspectives in terms of their awareness on social issues, but the learning that was most effective and transformative for them was experiential and informal. The majority of the students were engaged in a variety of nonformal activities outside of their classroom and gained valuable insights on social issues. The results suggest that universities should facilitate the integration of Indigenous and excluded peoples' knowledge into its curricula, as well as the amalgamation of non-formal adult education and informal learning approaches into formal higher education amongst other things.
Self-regulated learning, stress mindset, and mental health in post-secondary learners
(2024) Husband, Alyssa; Miller, Mariel
While mental health in young adult populations has received significant attention in current research, the prevalence of mental health problems among post-secondary students necessitates investigation from an educational perspective. Self-regulated learning (SRL) and stress mindset have each been linked to mental health outcomes, such as psychological well-being, but few studies have investigated their relative contributions to students’ mental health outcomes. This study aims to fill that gap by examining the contributions of SRL practices and stress mindset on psychological well-being among 141 undergraduate students enrolled in a learning-to-learn course at a western Canadian university. Specifically, it seeks to answer (1) to what extent engaging in SRL practices, including motivation appraisal, metacognitive control, and academic social engagement, predict students’ psychological well-being and (2) whether stress mindset contributes to psychological well-being beyond the effects of SRL practices. Regression analysis revealed that academic social engagement, a key SRL practice, significantly predicted mental health outcomes. Moreover, stress mindset demonstrated an additional predictive effect on mental health, independent of SRL practices. These findings highlight the importance of addressing both SRL strategies and stress mindset to offer comprehensive mental health support for students. Implications for practice include the need for educational institutions to foster SRL and cultivate a positive stress mindset, enhancing academic performance and psychological well-being.
Latent insights into measurement of academic challenges: An examination of perceived academic challenges scale
(2024) Rostampour, Ramin; Hadwin, Allyson
Background: Students often face diverse challenges throughout their educational journey that can significantly impact their learning process. While extensive research has explored self-regulatory perceptions and behaviors that promote student success, there remains a notable gap in understanding and measuring the specific challenges students encounter during their studying. Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive psychometric examination of the Perceived Academic Challenges scale, a self-assessment and diagnostic tool which measures six dimensions of perceived academic challenges: motivation, initiating and sustaining engagement, goal and time management, cognition, metacognition, and social and emotional challenges. These dimensions correspond to key self-regulatory areas linked to success in self-regulated learning. Methods: Four university student samples from six Canadian institutions (total N= 3293) were used. The psychometric process employed both item-level and scale-level analyses, including polytomous item response theory (IRT) and advanced structural equation modeling techniques. Multidimensionality was explored using bifactor and second-order measurement models, and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). A complementary person-centered study examined intraindividual profiles of challenges. The scale's predictive utility was examined through associations with criterion constructs: students' GPA expectations, self-efficacy for GPA, and actual end-of-semester GPA. Results: IRT analyses confirmed the precision of individual items in assessing various levels of the intended constructs and flagged imprecise items for potential revision. A bifactor ESEM approach demonstrated the best fit to the data, revealing a general factor underlying responses, with cross-loadings enhancing construct interpretability. The general factor and metacognitive factor were found to be highly overlapping, leading to modifications on the measurement model to anchor the general factor to metacognitive challenges. Findings confirmed the measure's adequate psychometric properties, the adequacy of its total score, and its relevance to the criterion constructs. Conclusion: The Academic Challenges scale was found to represent constructs as intended and to be reliable for assessing students' academic challenges across the six dimensions. This dissertation underscores the critical need to refine self-reported measures of students' experiences, emphasizing their unique insights into subjective experiences that other types of data cannot capture. Recommendations for further improvements of the scale are provided, emphasizing the need for continuous refinement of measures in educational research.
IBPOC youth perspectives on anti-racist and mental wellness programming in schools
(2024) Mai, Irene S.; Chou, Fred
IBPOC youth in the Canadian settler colonial context face mental health concerns related to experiences with racism and discrimination. The school setting can be a space where IBPOC youth are exposed to racism and discrimination, which can be associated with mental health conditions (i.e., anxiety, depressive symptoms, etc.), feeling alienated, a lack of safety, disempowerment, low self-concept, and low collective self-esteem. Conversely, the school setting can empower IBPOC students and address mental health concerns by employing anti-racist approaches. However, research focused on addressing racism and IBPOC youth mental health within the school setting are minimal in the Canadian settler colonial context. To help address this gap, this study is situated in a critical race theory approach (Crenshaw, 1995, 2011, 2019; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002; Thomas, 2009) and employs qualitative methodology to inquire about IBPOC youths’ recommendations for programming. Using a needs assessment approach and reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), I constructed seven themes from the semi-structured interviews with five individuals: (a) Recognize that Mental Wellness for IBPOC Youth is Deeply Connected to Culture and Identity, (b) Need for an Intersectional Approach, (c) Understand that Family and Cultural Community are Central, (d) Make Programming Accessible for IBPOC Youth, (e) Importance of IBPOC Representation, (f) Need for Various Hands-on and Experiential Activities Focused on Identity and Mental Wellness, and (g) Implement IBPOC Programming and Schoolwide Intervention. These findings add to the burgeoning research on anti-racism, IBPOC youth mental health, and school-based programming.
Examining early reading skills in native Ewe-speaking children in Cape Coast metropolis of Ghana
(2024) Korsah, Princess; Harrison, Gina Louise
This study aimed to adapt the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to assess reading abilities in Ewe and English among young learners in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. Using a correlational research design, first-grade students (n=42) from two Ewe community schools completed a collection of early literacy measures in English and Ewe. Results from the paired samples t-tests revealed that at one-minute of administration, students performed higher in English Letter Naming Fluency than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency. Yet, no significant differences were found in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency for both languages. At overall minutes, students’ performance in English Letter Naming Fluency was still higher than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency, with no differences in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency. Ewe Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy was significantly higher than English Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy. Again, the correlation matrices at both time scales revealed that there were some associations between different fluency measures. However, these relationships varied in strength and significance across languages and tasks. Finally, English Phonemic Segmentation Fluency explained 15% of English Oral Reading Fluency, with Letter Naming Fluency contributing an insignificant 6%, and Word Reading Fluency significantly improving the model by 27%. Ewe Phonemic Segmentation Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency did not significantly explain Ewe Oral Reading Fluency variance, but Ewe Word Reading Fluency explained 12% over a one-minute interval and 39% overall.
Introducing the Let’s Face It! Scrapbook app: Social eye processing training for improving face-to-face social interactions in autistic youth
(2024) Sung, Andrew; Macoun, Sarah; Tanaka, James William
Interpreting facial expressions, establishing and maintaining eye contact, and following the eye gaze of others are key social eye processing abilities. Deficits are associated with social dysfunction, clinical disorders, and particularly with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A critical question is whether social eye processing abilities can be trained for improving face-to-face social interactions. The current study utilized a pre-test/post-test control group switching replications design. In active training, 12 autistic youth received 4.5 hours of Let’s Face It! Scrapbook app: Social Eye Processing Training (LFI - SEPT) over 3 weeks. Active training included participation in weekly small group learning sessions where research facilitators introduced and modeled social eye processing abilities. The research assistants then facilitated autistic youth to record their own social eye processing abilities into the Let’s Face It! Scrapbook app. Over the remainder of the week, autistic youth played from the Let’s Face It! Scrapbook app games in designated gameplay sessions. In Control Training, autistic youth completed weekly small group learning activities and engaged in social gaming using educational apps. The results revealed that relative to Control Training, autistic youth improved significantly after completing LFI - SEPT. Autistic youth experienced significant gains in interpreting subtle changes in facial expressions. In addition, autistic youth were shown to engage establishing and maintaining more eye contact in a story reading and conversation assessment. Parents reported further enhancements in social competency for understanding faces in the home environment. Collectively, the results provide optimism that social eye processing abilities can be improved through direct training using a mobile app.
Educator resilience: Experiences of inclusive education educators during the COVID-19 pandemic
(2024) Stewart, Catriona E.; Roberts, Jillian
In a study focused on the experiences of inclusive education educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, six inclusive educators participated in phenomenological interviews. Interview data and other research studies provided insight into the lived experiences of participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, including social isolation, loneliness, wellness, and resilience. Responses were analyzed using a descriptive phenomenological approach, resulting in four meta themes, and nine themes. Findings indicate that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the participants’ experiences, roles as educators, and overall resilience have significantly altered alongside the support and communication from administrators and community members. Recommendations for education administrators by the participants were also discussed.
Into the light : understanding how feminism informs counselling psychology
(1994) Yanishewski, Roxanne Koren
In order to understand how feminism informs counselling psychology, the feminist perspective and the relationship between theory and practice are first investigated using a modified version of the framework developed by science philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. He suggests that theories are one dimension of a paradigm or the perspective through which we view our world, and that paradigms determine our behavior or practice. Paradigms consist of at least four dimensions: theories and laws, methods and their underlying values and presuppositions, exemplars or the solved puzzles training us in the values and theories of the paradigm, and models, demonstrating how the phenomena of interest to that perspective function. His framework is expanded to include our socio-cultural norms of behavior, thereby allowing us to explore the demographic qualities of the people creating knowledge, and the political goals inherent to any perspective. This framework is then used to examine the differences between and commonalities among several approaches within feminism. The various schools of feminism are found to differ in models and political goals, yet share common theories, values, exemplars, and socio-cultural norms. Feminism as a paradigm is found to present a radically different perspective from the patriarchal paradigm along all of its dimensions, providing for the argument that feminism represents a paradigm shift. Counselling psychology is then explored along the six dimensions in order to understand the results of a paradigm shift from the patriarchal to the feminist paradigm. Four central theories are described: revalorizing the feminine, un-covering the dominant subordinate structuring of relationships and society, celebrating diversity and conflict, and recognizing sociocultural, political and historical factors. Two models, the self-in-relation and the self-in-context are identified. Empathy, consciousness-raising, and political activity are discussed as three methods of therapy based upon the principle of relationality. A set of ethical guidelines are presented. Two different visions of change are presented and evaluated for their potential to transform our world from a male-centered (androcentric) to a women-centered (gynocentric) society Finally, the importance of presenting the feminist paradigm in counselling training programs is discussed.
Families with children with special needs in urban China : stress, functioning, and social support
(1998) Xu, Lingr
The purpose of this study was to investigate stress, functioning and social support of families rearing children with special needs m urban China. Fifty-six parents of elementary school children without disabilities and 62 parents of elementary school children with hearing impairments, visual impairments, or mental retardation m Shanghai, China participated in this study. The participants provided family demographic information and completed three questionnaires. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were used to examine family stress, functioning and social support with regard to group (parents of children with and without handicaps), child's gender, and disability type. The results are as follows 1) As a whole, parents of children (regardless of child gender) with special needs report statistically significant higher levels of stress than their counterparts whose children do not have special needs, 2) parents of children with mental retardation, in particular, indicate substantially higher levels of stress than parents of children with hearing or visual impairments, 3) there is no evidence to indicate that families with children with special needs function differently from families with children without special needs, 4) Chinese parents received most help from spouse, grandparents of the children, school and school teachers. Chinese parents, especially those of children with special needs, value school and teachers highly in helping raise their children. Implications for social support are drawn and some limitations of the study also discussed.
The effects of computer science 12 programming experience on mathematical problem solving
(1991) Wyeth, Margaret Helen
The mathematical problem solving of senior high school student programmers is explored in this study with the intent of identifying possible knowledge or skill transfers between programming and mathematics. Related literature was reviewed and interpreted to produce a list of eight potential transfer items. These items overlapped with mathematics and showed evidence of improvement or development specifically related to programming. Two separate areas of mathematics, combinatorics and algebra, were investigated for the appearance of programming language syntax, constructs and problem solving processes. Written tests were used for the combinatorics and individual interviews for the algebra problems. The experimental group consisted of Computer Science 12 students and the control group came from Algebra 12 and Physics 12 classes. The basic design was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest, with testing at the beginning and end of one school semester. The combinatorics tests each contained two problems and were written by complete classes (n=23) from a single school. The same problems were used in both tests disguised in different contexts. The algebra problems were administered through interviews containing three problems, to individual volunteers from two other schools (n=13). Only the first of the three problems was the same in each interview. The remaining two came from related pairs assigned randomly between the first and second interviews. Using the techniques of Exploratory Data Analysis the combinatorics data was analysed descriptively and then statistically. No evidence of transfer was uncovered. Differences were observed but appeared to have more to do with initial differences between the programmer (experimental) and nonprogrammer (control) groups. Similar observations were made from the algebra interview protocols. There was a poor match between the experimental and control group on mathematical and academic background with the programmers taking fewer science and mathematics courses and obtaining generally lower grades. In addition some questions were raised as to the effectiveness of testing for transfer through test performance. The study should be considered inconclusive. Although it did not provide the desired direction for further more detailed investigations neither did it suggest that other such studies would necessarily be fruitless.
Using computer delivery to examine interactive and non-interactive response modes to programmed material
(1993) Wong, William
A computer authoring program called Think Fast was used to deliver 90-frames of programmed instruction, teaching the elementary concepts of operant conditioning. Forty undergraduates progressed through the program. A group experimental design was used to compare the effect of reading frames, reading frames with blanks and answers, thinking the answers, saying the answers aloud, and typing answers to program blanks. Results indicated that typing answers to frames produced the largest increase on a 25-item fill-in-the-blank test. Moderate posttest achievement was produced by subjects who responded by saying, thinking, or reading the frames with answers. Subjects who were instructed to read frames without blanks scored lowest. Also, subjects assigned active response modes identified more written examples of operant behavior than those in the non-active condition on an application test. These results are discussed in relation to educational implications.
Counselling women on helping behaviour
(1984) Witwicki, Cynthia Gayle
The care and concern that women express towards others (women's helping behaviour) was conceptualized as a strength of women. It was suggested that, when women's experience is examined within the context of their relationships with others, women's helping behaviour contributes to the development of both the self and others. Cognitive-behavioural therapy is one counselling approach that addresses the interaction between the self and others. Donald Meichenbaum's version of cognitive-behavioural therapy was therefore examined for its utility in representing the nature and intent of women's helping experience. It was found that Meichenbaum's theory, in general, is compatible with developing women's helping behaviour into a strength. A counselling manual was developed based on Meichenbaum's theory. The manual details a cognitive-behavioural approach to counselling women's helping behaviour as a strength, emphasizing the interaction between the self and others using feminist therapy principles.
The use of a pressure garment for a child having ataxic cerebral palsy
(1996) Witoski, Mary Louise
An A-B-A-B single subject research design study was used to examine the effects of wearing a short-sleeved pressure garment on the quality of upper motor control for a male child six years of age having ataxic cerebral palsy. In this 10 week study four instruments were administered. At the end of each phase the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test (DeMatteo, Law, Russell, Pollock, Rosenbaum & Walter, 1992) was administered to the child for a total of four assessments. Across each phase five functional items, such as Stacking Cubes and Inserting Pegs were administered to the child for a total of 30 sessions. The 30 sessions were used to evaluate the child's level of goal attainment (GAS) and the frequency of occurrence of atypical motor characteristics (AMCS). Supplementary information including specific daily activities were easy or difficult to perform wearing the garment were collected using Parent / Child Observation Logs. When the child was wearing the garment the QUEST Summary Scores for Grasps and Protective Extension and the QUEST Total Scores yielded significant increases in the child's quality of upper motor control. The child's GAS changes in mean scores indicated that only Stacking Cubes yielded significant changes in the child's level of goal attainment. The child's AMCS changes in percentage scores showed that only Stacking Cubes yielded significant decreases in the frequency of occurrence of atypical motor characteristics. However by the end of the study all of the functional items except Inserting Pegs suggested significant increases in percentage scores. Visual inspection across the child's functional items' suggested AMCS characteristics that involved precise motor actions, such as grasping and reaching showed the greatest decreased frequency of occurrence. Using the same instrument, the child's results of Walk-a-Line indicated there were no significant changes in the frequency of occurrence. When the child was wearing the garment the Parent / Child Observation Logs narrative comments suggested the child was willing to try more fine motor activities. However the impact the garment had on specific daily activities was inconclusive due to scoring procedural difficulties. The findings and recommendations of this study provide additional support to further investigate the therapeutic use of pressure garment with this population and other individuals having motor incoordination difficulties.

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