Theses (Social Work)
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Item Coloniality of pain and decolonial pain care: Examining the effects of colonial violence on chronic pain through Kwakwaka’wakw women’s experiences(2025) Sakai, Hiroko; Moosa-Mitha , MehmoonaRecently, pain studies have begun to acknowledge the biopsychosocial nature of chronic pain with an increased emphasis on the social and structural factors contributing to pain. In particular, studies have identified relationships between chronic pain and intersecting structural oppressions such as systemic violence and racism created by heteropatriarchal settler-colonialism. However, few research studies on pain have examined how systemic colonial violence affects Indigenous women’s experiences of chronic pain, and its correlation to pain care inequities. Centring the experiential knowledge of five cisgender Kwakwaka’wakw women participants and situated within Indigenous decolonial feminist theories, this qualitative community-based participatory research study addressed the questions: how does colonial violence and trauma interact with physical pain? What were participants’ recommendations for decolonizing pain care? The participants described reciprocal interactions between pain and colonial violence and trauma; emotional pain; fatigue; and substance use. Their stories illustrated how their experiences of systemic gendered and racialized violence were closely connected to the onset and development of chronic pain. Participants also explained how chronic pain experiences were exacerbated by anti-Indigenous racism and the white-centric healthcare practices that discredited and pathologized their narratives of pain. Participants recommended decolonizing pain care by addressing structural injustices and care inequities. Cultural revitalization was considered foundational to decolonizing pain care by fostering healing that affirmed Indigeneity and the right to self-determination at multiple levels, while enhancing relational approaches to health and healing. Addressing anti-Indigenous racism is an urgent step towards decolonial pain care. Finally, decolonial pain care should encompass biopsychosocial as well as cultural and spiritual aspects through multidisciplinary care provisions.Item Reclaming body and spirit: A Bear's journey home(2025) Blomberg, Carmin; Allan, Billie; Hackett, V. C. RhondaThis thesis considers how ceremony and cultural reclamation support self-determination and wellness for urban Indigenous people who, like me, have experienced disconnection through interactions with colonial systems in Canada, including the child welfare and health care systems. Through a mixed-ancestry urban Indigenous lens, I engaged in arts-based practices and (re)connection to land and teachings from kêhtê-aya (Elders) and analyzed my experiences of healing stuck trauma due to colonial policies in the Canadian child welfare system. My research was conducted as part of Kinship Rising, an Indigenous arts- and land-based research project on Indigenous youth resurgence and wellbeing at the University of Victoria. Following the Kinship Rising ethical research framework, the Indigenous and arts-based methods I used to process my experiences included ceremony, storytelling, beading, dreamwork, and creating. Through these methods, I was able to process the impacts of colonization on my mind, body, emotions, and spirit through cultural practices of visiting with kêhtê-aya and community members and creating art to illustrate my story of healing and transformation. My art creations include a moose hide jacket that represents my connection and reconnection to the Néhiyaw Bear family from Opâwikoscikanihk (Narrows of Fear) and a cedar round that illustrates the Transformation (often known as transition out of care) ceremony I had to honour my resilience as a ward of the state and the passing of my late French, Scottish, and Kwakwaka'wakw Mother, Qwikilag (meaning high standing in the big house), also known as Therise Leroux, Johnson, Blomberg. Alongside another Indigenous youth in care artist, Dorothy Stirling, I also co-created a mural entitled “Spiritual Garden” which is dedicated to Indigenous children and youth in care. As relationships are the ways we identify ourselves, my research speaks to how family and community hold an integral role in my sense of belonging, mikâsowin (finding one’s belonging), reconnection to culture, and healing for self-determination and wellness (Wilson, 2008). My thesis is written in the form of arts-informed reflections, while also integrating an analysis of key themes from both published and grey literature from Indigenous scholars. My bundle/gathered gifts (i.e., my data) are composed of arts-based creations, reflections, poems and stories. My meaning-making methods included an Indigenous approach to thematic analysis. The themes identified through this analysis suggest that the process of cultural reconnection through ceremony is like an ancestral tree with many branches of interconnected processes of kinship, relationships, dreaming, gathering, creating, healing, and knowledge transmission and translation. Making sense of my bundle/gathered gifts through reflection and ceremony is essential to my self-determination and wellness as an urban Indigenous womxn with a tree-like mixed ancestral pathway. I use the “x” in woman as a way of reclaiming myself, resisting sexism and recognizing gender beyond binary definitions.Item Learning from 2SLGBTQ+ Youth who have experienced homelessness in Sudbury, ON(2025) Bolt, Vincent; Wallace, BruceThis study is focused on the knowledge shared by 2SLGBTQ+ youth and adults who have experienced homelessness in Sudbury, Ontario and their recommendations to improve services. A total of 7 participants ranging in age from 19 to 38 were interviewed about their experiences with homelessness and accessing shelters and housing programs. Each participant was asked about their experiences of homelessness and seeking housing and shelter services in Sudbury Ontario and their recommendations for change to improve service for 2SLGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness. This is a qualitative study, and I used thematic analysis to determine the themes that developed in the research. All the participants had both negative and positive experiences with the services that they accessed, and challenges with services that further disadvantage people accessing them. Each participant shared recommendations that would improve shelter and housings services for 2SLGBTQ+ homeless youth. Overall, participants described how there are policies and procedures in place that work, however, more needs to be implemented to meet the unique needs of 2SLGBTQ+ homeless youth.Item MASKIHKÎY-WATIKWÂ: TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS MEDICINES FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN PEACE-ATHABASCA DELTA COMMUNITIES(2025) Poitras, Amanda; LaVallee, Amanda; Green, Kundoqk Jacquie LouiseThis thesis investigates the role of Traditional Indigenous Medicine (TIM) among the Mikisew Cree, Athabasca Chipewyan, and Metis communities of the Peace-Athabasca Delta region in northeastern Alberta, focusing on its contribution to health and cultural resilience. Using community-based and Indigenous research methods, including storytelling, land-based experiences, and thematic analysis, this study highlights TIM’s holistic approach to physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being. Findings reveal the impacts of colonial disruptions on TIM knowledge and emphasize the community’s active efforts in revitalizing these practices for future generations. The research also identifies access barriers to TIM and explores pathways for integration into healthcare systems, aiming to support culturally relevant health practices that foster holistic wellness. By centering community voices and honoring traditional protocols, this work contributes to preserving TIM knowledge and strengthening ongoing cultural health initiatives in Indigenous communities.Item Do children raised on income assistance develop "poverty scar" lifelong behavioural patterns and coping strategies that adversely affect their adult decisions?(2025) Lavallee, Brenda; Carriere, Jeannine; Jeffery, DonnaMy research explored if income assistance, its accompanying policies and the associated poverty contributed to the development of “poverty scars” in children: lifelong behavioral patterns and coping strategies that adversely affected them in adulthood. Using photovoice methodology that employed visual and participatory qualitative methods, four participants were recruited who agreed to take part in a six-week research project, which included a community gala to present their experiences of living on income assistance through photographs. One participant withdrew without notice at the end of the second session. The literature review examined the income assistance program, highlighting how it is intentionally designed to be challenging for its users and only provides basic financial support. It is this level of financial support that induces “poverty scars” it forces children to develop coping strategies to manage their limited resources. In addition, it appears to create a sense of scarcity, and lowered self-esteem for its users. The research of Urie Bronfenbrenner (2014) proports that for children to thrive, effective public policies and practices must provide opportunities that include essential resources and sufficient parenting time. The literature review uncovered that children’s experience with poverty causes problems in all areas of their life. The findings of the research uncovered that the participants in my study, now adults, shared characteristics I define as “poverty scars” that manifested in longing from the necessities of childhood – particularly popular toys of the time, lack of opportunities and adequate food. This deep-rooted scarcity persisted into adulthood, resulting in acting out behaviors of lack, developed in childhood.Item Our bodies are sacred: The lived experiences of Indigenous People who have faced weight discrimination(2024) Potskin, Kristy; Aro, CherylMuch has been said in recent academic research about the discrimination and abysmal treatment Indigenous people experience when interfacing with large social systems. Likewise, there has been a burgeoning interest in anti-fat bias in recent years within social justice circles. I seek to discover the intersection of these two factors through the stories of those who have lived within an Indigenous body marginalized by both racial identity and size. Through four courageous conversations with research participants, captivating themes around family trauma, fear, shame, strength, and resilience present themselves. Discrimination and poor treatment in the health care system is a consistent and recurring theme, and participants provide guidance on how these interactions can become more positive and effective. Ultimately, this research is guided by the belief that Indigenous people in large bodies deserve care that is respectful, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate. Our bodies are sacred, and we demand care that honors this simple truth.Item wâcîkowiyinînâhk: Indigenous identity resurgence and land connectedness(2024) Buffalo, Blaire Star; Allan, BillieThis thesis aims to shed light and support healing through an Indigenous story-sharing methodology. It is the re-searching of deeper knowledge and history to make known the identity and ancestral teachings specific to Plains Cree worldviews. Each nation has its own unique and distinguished identity; the people of Day Star were once called the Blue Hill people. This name was given to the people by the first signatory Chief and Prophet named Kīsikāwacāhk (Day Star). The knowledge gathered through this study will be used to modify a land-based healing initiative for women, children and families. The scope of the research is to revive kinship practices, cultural continuity, and Indigenous resurgence for myself, community members and future generations. As a member and re-searcher of the nation, I had become interested in knowing our identities and kinship practices by reconnecting to the people and land as an urban member. In this research, I had carried out a story-sharing methodology to do the research by gathering knowledge through my own experiences, interviews and witnessing to be applied in a decolonial approach. Through this research I intended to incorporate nêhiyawewin, ceremony and practices as much as possible while adhering to our traditional protocols.Item "Not something I would sit down over a beer and talk to a guy about!" : male medical social workers, the lived experience(2003) Young, Martin AllanMen in social work, is a topic that has been little theorized and largely ignored. The small number of men in the field and the tasks mainly identified as feminine, categorize it as a non-traditional occupation for men. In this study the experience of being male and a medical social workers is explored. The role is considered to be multifaceted where on one hand men are afforded more opportunities and cooperation than their female colleagues. On the other hand there are disadvantages associated with it. This study supports previous studies, which identifies male social workers as ' different,' including how the work is interpreted and conducted. Findings indicate that the experience is all encompassing, paradoxical, and difficult to talk about. Identifying this experience informs and challenges existing theories regarding men in non-traditional occupations.Item Child neglect from the standpoint of mothers(1997) Weller, Fay ElizabethThis study documents the standpoint of mothers in relation to the child welfare system using institutional ethnography as the research method. Specifically this research explores the contradiction between the crucial role mothers play in protecting children and the absence of their standpoint in child welfare, an absence exemplified in the recent Gove Inquiry. The literature reveals that management tools, such as risk assessment and mandatory reporting organize the child protection process to ensure accountability without incorporating the experience of mothers. This study focuses upon why mothers' standpoint is left out, what happens when it is left out, and how mothers experience systems in which there is little or no acknowledgment of their work in caring for children. The starting point for the research is the mothers' stories. As consistent with the methodology, these stories provide a starting point for illuminating how documents, forms, legislation and policies impact mothers' experiences with the child welfare system. I argue that the knowledge held by mothers, which provides insight into the prevention of child neglect, is silenced through the official child welfare process. According to the findings, the official process of responding to reports of child neglect textually construct 'neglectful mothers' without including the context of mothers' lives, nor their knowledge. This unintentionally leads mothers to isolation, distrust and hopelessness. This research turned the official way of understanding neglect around, to hear about it from mothers themselves. As mothers with limited resources describe their daily work in caring for children, new definitions of the problem of so-called child neglect are highlighted from their stories. Associated with these definitions are potential responses to the issue of child neglect. I conclude that, including the standpoint of mothers in conceptualizing the problems underlying child neglect provides a greater depth of understanding and more effective response to so-called child neglect.Item How professional systems instruct mothers recovering from substance misuse(1998) White, Linda LorraineThis study uncovers social relations which penetrate the everyday life of a mother recovering from abuse of alcohol or other drugs I explore ruling practices of our society, as they organize the relationships between mothers with addiction problems, and professionals in the child welfare and addiction treatment systems. The problematic for this research originates in my confusion as an in-home counsellor about the instructions provided by the two institutions to mothers in the early stage of recovery. Adopting the methodology of institutional ethnography, I sought to uncover how mothers' experiences unfold as they do, by exploring the "institutional" framing of their experiences. Institutional ethnography begins from a standpoint of those who are subject to ruling relations to uncover the social relations which determine, shape and organize everyday life. From interviews with mothers, I traced their experiences to legislation governing child welfare work, and social work education and training. I found that mothers received contradictory instructions from the two institutions about how to conduct themselves in relations of power. The instructions of the addiction treatment system encourage the use of personal power, or their own authority, in order to be successful in recovery, in contradiction to the instructions of the child welfare system to surrender, submit and comply. In the cases I studied, mothers accepted the authority of a child welfare worker and attended addiction treatment in order to regain custody of their children. However, when they attained sobriety, their child welfare workers did not begin a course of action toward reunification, as the mothers expected. Instead, I found that workers continued to work from an adversarial frame, and suspected mothers as manipulative. Mothers attributed the eventual reunification of their family to judicial and professional opinion, not to their own efforts. Using the methods of institutional ethnography, I discovered ways m which relations of ruling govern worker-client relationships. I found that workers' rejection of mothers' opinions, expertise and authority parallels child welfare legislation; the legislation renders mothers invisible - their mothering work, their relationship with their children, and their opinions about the situation. The embeddedness of child welfare work m the court system creates adversaries of mother and worker. I found that the entanglement of authority and helping in the legislation, where 'help' ss provided in the form of "protective services", contributes to adversarial worker-client relations. My findings show that child welfare workers' limited professional knowledge of the power relations of their work, and of addiction, arises from the organization of social work education and child welfare training. I suggest that workers lack effective strategies for intervening with mothers with addiction problems, and for managing adversarial relationships with clients. I recommend changes at several levels to facilitate the recovery of mothers who have been misusing substances, which will improve service delivery within the current organization of child welfare work within a legislative framework. However, my analysis concurs with that of other authors in suggesting that separating child welfare work from the legal system will be required to enact a new vision of social relations - where women's work of mothering is claimed as feminist territory, and where egalitarian, respectful relationships with clients are practiced.Item The Silencing of abortion experiences : an institutional ethnography(1998) Walsh, DianeThis thesis explores abortion experiences from the perspectives of a small group of women who have had them. The writings of Dorothy Smith (1987) have shaped the methodology of this study. In stark contrast to theoretical accounts that frame women's responses in intrapsychic terms, my analysis claims that the problems that arise in women's lives are due primarily to the social organization of people's understanding of abortion as a moral issue. Despite the legally-sanctioned protection of abortion services, women confront the painful stigma that the decision carries with it socially. Persistent negative social attitudes still prevail in the culture, teaching women that abortion is evil and is tantamount to murder. These moral claims are organizing features of abortion experiences that directly impact the way women are silent because of the fear of condemnation. The decision not to speak about experience is not really a "choice". It is a learned way of living with the abortion decision and is a social product of a particular "culture" that, in effect, intimidates women. This study reveals that no matter how women rationalize their abortions to themselves (whether they are content or bothered by their decision), they tend to keep their experiences secret. This thesis provides an in-depth analysis of the practices of ruling that help to explain this silence in women' s lives.Item Child protection as support(1994) Wallace, SheilaThis study explores the practice of child protection as it is accomplished in a particular Family and Children's Service office in Victoria, using institutional ethnography as the research method. Generally, both investigative and supportive services can be offered to families where there is a concern about childrens' well-being. In this office the claim is made that support service is the preferable way of working with families in most instances. In the current work setting of the Ministry of Social Services workers in this office find support practice very necessary but also very difficult. The research problematic explores this difficulty. This study explores what workers actually do to be supportive to families in protecting children and how the difficulties in providing support arise as a feature of the work. Participant observation and other ethnographic methods provide the qualitative data for the study. Data about workers' experience was considered the entry point of the analysis, providing a window to the social organization of the practice of child protection within the institutional structure of the Ministry. Specific incidences of the difficulties of supportive child protection practice within this investigative environment are described and their origin traced through the social relations of the Ministry to locations outside the day to day experience of the workers to the extra-local sites where these experiences are determined. I argue that workers do practice a supportive form of child protection which relies on a distinctive set of work practices. While attempting to carry out child protection with a supportive orientation within the existing Ministry organization, however, workers experience definite limitations in what they can do to be supportive. These limitations can undermine their support efforts and create frustration and stressful conditions for all workers. My analysis offers some insights into how the current environment in which the team practices establishes investigation as the central way or expected way of doing child protection work. It appears that investigative work is privileged by the practices and organizational structures put in place by the official policy and legislation governing child protection work. To the extent that the policy and coordinating practices are general across Ministry offices, my conclusions about investigation versus support in this child protection office can also be claimed to be generalizable. I conclude that for supportive child protection practice to occur, there are several important preconditions: a supportive team environment in which team members share a common vision and philosophy about the work, an awareness of power relations in the work, and a skilled, experienced and credible supervisor. These conclusions speak to the need for policy development processes within the Ministry which embrace the knowledge and experience of frontline child protection workers.Item Social work practice and the spiritual needs and resources of elderly clients in extended care facilities(1994) Tracy, MyrnaIt is important to understand spiritual needs and resources of institutionalized elderly clients in an effort to provide holistic care. In this study the research questions were: 1. Do social workers assess spiritual needs and resources of elderly clients ( 65 years and over) in an Extended Care setting? 2. If spiritual needs and resources are assessed, how are they assessed? 3. If this information is collected, what is done with it? Spirituality was defined as an individual's meaning in life, their experience of forgiveness, and their experience of hope. This definition encompasses both religious, and nonreligious belief systems. This study used two methodological approaches: l) an archival chart review of Extended Care residents' social histories, and 2) a qualitative descriptive design using face-to-face interviews with five social workers who wrote the social histories. Social histories of fifty-three (n=53) residents in an Extended Care facility were reviewed using a chart review form. Five social workers who wrote the histories were interviewed using a structured interview with closed and openended questions. Quantitative data from the review of social histories was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS). Data obtained from interviews was recorded using a word processing program (Word Perfect 5.1). Themes were noted, and analyzed as units where common themes emerged. The study found that social workers do collect some information in a social history format about a client's spirituality. However, this information is not thoroughly or consistently collected, and therefore is not methodically acted upon. Spiritual information was acted upon in a plan recorded in the social history only 42% of the time. Social workers routinely recorded the religious affiliation of the client ( 92%) • Social workers reported in interviews that information about a person's spirituality that was perceived to be more in-depth (i.e. internal resources, experience of hope and experience of forgiveness), was either not explored, or only discussed after a relationship had developed. This research concludes that social workers need to collect information in a standardized way, and that they not only assess, but plan to meet spiritual needs and utilize resources. Implications for practice were drawn from the conclusions. Social workers need to increase their awareness about the importance of clients' spirituality since elderly people state that spirituality is important to them. The practice of social work must include attention to the spiritual needs and resources of their clients so that this integral part of every person is acknowledged. Also, organizations need to implement a policy of spiritual assessment on admission. Recommendations for future research were made. These recommendations include considering: a) the practice of social workers from a broader population (eg. different races, both sexes, and from different facilities); b) other variables such as the relationship between the informant and the client; c) whether the client is demented, and; d) social workers studied first of all design their own definition of spirituality. It is important to understand spiritual needs and resources of institutionalized, elderly (65 years and over) clients in an effort to provide holistic care. An individual's spirituality is a source of strength which social workers do not identify or draw upon, and one which they may well want to draw on in the future.Item No pilot on board, just a woman : sexual harassment experiences of Canadian women pilots(1994) Taylor, Roberta EllenThis study focusses on the sexual harassment experiences of women pilots in Canada. Most of the sexual harassment research to date has focussed on the incidence and nature of harassing behaviours, rather than the personal lived experiences of the women who have been harassed. Studies to date on women who have been harassed in male-dominated occupations have focussed primarily on blue collar workers. There has been very little exploration of sexual harassment of women aircraft pilots. Using feminist interview research methodology, I interviewed six women pilots in depth about their experiences in the workplace. The participants were women who have been employed in Canada in a variety of flying roles, including airline pilot, charter pilot, bush pilot, flight instructor, and military pilot. The participants' stories were analyzed and the data organized into themes. This analysis was informed by feminist thinking. In particular, concepts related to occupational power, sex role deviancy and the organizational context of the aviation workplace were explored. The themes that emerged are interwoven, revealing that sexual harassment of women pilots involves a complicated and inter-related set of behaviours that extend beyond those discussed in the literature about female blue collar workers. Findings show that the participants work within an environment that is hostile, in which they receive messages that they are invading an elite male domain and are unwanted. Portrayed as sex role deviates and token women pilots, they experienced a wide range of hurtful and demeaning harassing behaviours. They experienced an erosion of their sense of self, and became overburdened with the struggle for acceptance while having to simultaneously perform their flying duties. The aviation industry is hierarchal and emphasizes status. Pilots derive occupational power from society's perception of their role as prestigious, complex and mysterious. Women who assume this role are a threat to this occupational male power. This study reveals how the unique characteristics and organizational context of the aviation industry are conducive to harassing behaviours, thus complicating the issue of sexual harassment for women pilots. Implications for the industry and areas for further research are discussed.Item The illusion of inclusion : an analysis of participation, empowerment and community-based decision-making in mental health planning(1993) Tate, Mary ElizabethThis study explores how participation, empowerment and community-based decision-making materialize in the everyday world of consumers and community members seeking to be involved in policy and planning for publicly-funded government mental health services. Using a method of inquiry called institutional ethnography and working within a participatory framework, data was collected through participant observation , documentary analysis and interviews over a period of 10 months. Using the experience of those with less power (consumers, family members and a community advisory group) as the entry point to the study and then linking those experiences to the larger organizational and political context provided an examination of the activities and social relations that construct "participation" "empowerment" and " community-based decision-making". The analysis revealed two sets of practices arising from two different paradigms of action that worked together to create compliance and an acceptance of non decision-making by the community group. Facilitative practices, designed to create opportunities for inclusion, worked in conjunction with the set of decision-making practices that dominate government bureaucracies to create an environment where community members began to organize themselves to have less involvement in decision-making. This "knitting together " of the apparently contradictory sets of practices as ruling relations served to keep community members feeling good , viewed as competent contributors to community planning processes, but disempowered, and created the illusion of participation and inclusion.Item The relationship of perceptions of interaction and learning style to learner satisfaction in distance education.(1996) Stuart, Iain JosephThis study consists of two components. The first is a replication of Fulford and Zhang's (1993) Perceptions of interaction: The Critical Predictor in Distance Education study. In that study student perceptions of overall interaction were found to be the critical predictor of learner satisfaction. The present study was undertaken in the context of a real-time, full-motion, two-way, interactive television delivery of a Child and Youth Care course using fiber optic technology to link classrooms at the University of Victoria and the University College of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. The effect reported by Fulford and Zhang (1993) is not observed in the present study, and difficulties with obtaining adequate numbers of subject responses, similar to those experienced by Fulford and Zhang, were encountered. Changes were made to the statistical analysis methods to better fit with the data that was collected. The analysis indicated that in spite of high levels of perceived interaction, some learners had lower scores for satisfaction. The second part of the study investigates what relationship Learning-Style, as measured by the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (1984), has to learner satisfaction. The distributions of learning-style types show that the majority of learners in Child and Youth Care programs are likely to be Divergers who appear to have the highest satisfaction levels with an interactive television course delivery. The Accomodators are the second most common learning style type while Assimilators were the third. The Converger learning style was consistently the least represented learning style type. Chi square tests were performed to determine if the observed distributions of learning-style types deviated significantly from the expected distribution. The results were mixed, with some cohorts showing statistically significant deviation while others appeared to be consistent with what was expected. The results obtained in the study, while not producing results consistent with those obtained in the original Fulford and Zhang (1993) study, are suggestive. Further research is indicated to explore what factors might help explain the differences in learner satisfaction and perceptions of interaction noted.Item The evaluation of distance education technologies used in the delivery of an introductory university credit course in child care(1985) Strong, Ralph Wilfred KeithAn evaluation of a distance education course, Child Care 200 (A & B), was conducted and focused on developing a profile of who took the course, when and why students dropped out, the impact of the tutor on the educational experience, and the effect of teleconferencing. Eighty-three students served as subjects in four treatment conditions: the control group which received all technologies in both halves of the course (A & B); two groups which received the same technologies as the control group but were denied access to the tutor in either the first or second half of the course; and a fourth group which consisted of Independent Learners who because of geographical isolation received only the print package. Results indicated that students who took the course via distance education were older than on-campus students and demonstrated characteristics expected of an older population ; specifically because of employment, family, and other obligations they were unwilling to travel to centres of higher education. The majority o£ students who dropped out cited these same obligations, or outside pressures as causal factors for dropping out. Results also indicated that the absence of a tutor bad a negative effect on student satisfaction and completion rates but no effect on content mastery, student motivation, or course material utilization . Although other studies indicated the contrary, teleconferencing was found to he intrusive and had a deleterious effect on the students' learning experience. As addenda to the e valuation project report discussions of distance education, technologies of distance education, and a criticism of the present evaluation, are included.Item Social work ethics and regulation in British Columbia : a feminist discourse analysis.(1999) Strega, SusanrSocial work is a profession historically and currently concerned with both public and private dimensions of morality and ethics, yet its own ethical foundation and practices are rarely studied. This study analyzed the discourse of social work ethics and discipline as it is embodied in the regulatory procedures of The British Columbia Board of Registration for Social Workers. The documents and experiences of two social workers, one of them the researcher, were examined through a hermeneutically-influenced discourse analysis. This study suggests that social work ethics and discipline reproduce the existing ruling relations of heteropatriarchal capitalism, questions the use of juridical discourse in social work ethics and regulation, and creates an oppositional discourse which shows where and how the prevailing discourse might be resisted.Item Anything but casual : the worklife experience of casual nurses(1998) Simpkin, Myfanwy LynneThis study explored the worklives of nine casual nurses who were employed in home nursing care and acute care in the Capital Health Region. Recent statistics indicated that casual staffing in these areas can be as great as 50% of the total (Staff Scheduling, C.H.R., 1997) In the province of British Columbia, nurses who work as casuals constitute approximately 25% of the workforce (Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia, 1997) yet in published nursing research there was almost no mention of casual nurses. The research question explored in this study was: What is the worklife experience of casual nurses? In three audiotaped group interviews, five acute care nurses and four home care nurses described their worklives and their concerns. Through a qualitative analytic process, the themes that emerged fell into three areas of influence: the workplace; relationships with colleagues; and the effect of and influence on personal and family life. The effect of marginalizing a large group of the nursing workforce has implications for the members, the employing organization, and the profession of nursing. The intent of this study was to increase the visibility of a group that has had little attention from their own professional bodies, their employers, and researchers in nursing.Item Ruling relations in the intake assessment of a pregnancy outreach program(1998) Siga, VaidaThis thesis uses Institutional Ethnography to examine how intake assessment in a British Columbia Pregnancy Outreach Program organizes worker-client interaction. The Pregnancy Outreach Program targets service to "high risk prenatals". The study argues that the epidemiological based intake assessment process creates a barrier to participation of the very clients it seeks to serve and limits the extent to which staff can establish a relationship with the client. It argues that classifying the client as "at risk" owing to social disadvantage is experienced negatively by the client, and constitutes social difference between staff and client. At odds with the scientific model that population health brings into the program is a community development approach that has been included in its organization. It is expected that this would allow clients to feel more comfortable with the service, and thus, the program to be successful. Inclusion of a community development approach, however, sets out two distinct and conflicting work processes within the program. The formal work as organized by the intake assessment is textualized and provides accountability measures. Specific work practices based on community development ideology organize the informal work of the program. Though these support staff/client relationships and client participation , the latter are subordinated to the formal work process. The study argues that because formal work practices are part of the management technologies of the Ministry of Health, they are dominant and supercede informal work practices. This creates troubles both for client participation and for workers.