Dyslexia: Success, Failure, and Self-Concept

The purpose of this study is to investigate the experience of college-aged students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. Research has shown that many people with dyslexia experience a variety of social and emotional struggles throughout their education. Using qualitative research techniques, this study provides a description of the experience common among college students with dyslexia. Specifically, the study examines the experience of dyslexic students as it relates to attributions of successes and failures, locus of control, self-concept, and how personal knowledge about the diagnosis impacts their experience.

Comparison of Couples' Normal Life Cycle Development and Intimacy Distance Regulation

When conceptualizing healthy couple relationships, it is tempting to use a simple framework as a panacea. Unfortunately, this desire for simplicity can lead to a narrow and naive perspective. Individuals interact and are influenced by a variety of factors (i.e., various social systems, multiple context memberships, complex interconnecting exchanges, etc.); consequently, it is necessary to guard against an overly narrow interpretation when examining healthy couple interactions. It is the purpose of this paper to develop one aspect of a complex perspective for healthy couple relationships by comparing couple life cycle development with couple intimacy-distance regulation.

Everyone Has Their Scars: Meaning Making In a Burn Survivor Support Group.

In the Burn Care literature, there is little on the lived experiences of burn support group members, the perceived benefits of burn support groups for the members, and even less on the meaning the survivors make of the support they receive. In order to provide effective services and to meet the psychosocial needs of burn survivors, it is important to understand the influence a support group has on its members as well as the personal experiences of those individuals who attend these groups. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning that burn survivors make in a burn survivor support group. A non-random, purposeful convenience sample of six self-identified burn survivors was interviewed using a guided in-depth interview technique to explore their experiences in the support group. Key informant interviews and group observations served to triangulate the data collected in the individual interviews. The experiences of the group's members coalesced around five main themes: acceptance of self, perspective change, value of community, reciprocity, and structural meaning making components. The findings demonstrated the overall positive impact the support group had on psychosocial recovery. Additionally, analysis suggested that the meaning making process experience included Post Traumatic Growth and highlighted the importance of community in psychosocial recovery. Burn survivors reported unique growth opportunities that allowed them to integrate their injury into their identity within an encouraging and safe environment. Certain factors, such as improving group attendance, were addressed and both survivors and support staff generated suggestions for reaching others in need of support.

Women Leaders Resolving Conflict in Higher Education: A Feminist Epistemological Perspective

In an American postsecondary context, conflict is inherent (Gianneschi & Yanagiura, 2006; Valian, 1999). Successful navigation of conflict in the academy is vital for those who aspire to leadership positions (Nadler & Nadler, 1987; Walters, Stuhlmacher, & Meyer, 1998). Presently, however, women face significant barriers to achieving success in higher education administration, including gender expectations for conflict resolution behavior (Bartunek, 1992; Bowles, Babcock, & McGinn, 2005; Gayle, Preiss, & Allen, 2002). While a considerable body of literature exists for understanding gender negotiation, it remains rooted in a masculine paradigm (Kolb & Putnam, 2006; Shuter & Turner, 1997), and, as such, established theories lack a feminist epistemological perspective. Consequently, my primary research question is, How do women leaders experience and perceive conflict in the higher education work environment? I conduct a qualitative study that examines workplace conflict experiences of 15 women leaders from diverse personal and professional backgrounds. Hartsock's (1983) three-tiered gender-sensitive analysis of power, updated to include multicultural perspectives, serves as my theoretical framework. It is a lens through which I evaluate theories, finding multicultural organizational, higher education conflict, and gender negotiation theories most applicable to this study. The framework also creates the foundation upon which I build my study. Specifically, I determine that a feminist research method is most relevant to this investigation. To analyze data obtained through in depth interviews, I employ a highly structured form of grounded theory called dimensional analysis. Based on my findings, I co-construct with study participants a Feminist Conflict Process Theory and Flowchart in which initially the nature of the relationship, and subsequently the level of risk to the relationship, institution, or self, is evaluated. This study supports that which is observed in the conflict resolution practitioner literature, but is unique in its observation of factors that influence decisions within a dynamic conflict resolution process. My findings are significant to women who aspire to serve in leadership positions in higher education, as well as to the academy as a whole, for it expands our knowledge of women's ontological and epistemological perspectives on resolving conflict in postsecondary education.

Is Diversity Inclusiveness?" A Personal and Empirical Exploration"

While psychology recognizes and celebrates multicultural diversity connoting the inclusivity of all, it seems to ignore sociopolitical and religious diversity. Within contemporary multiculturalism, conservative voices are often found wanting. In this study, a "liberal" privilege survey was developed to examine the inclusion and limits of conservative ideology within the multicultural paradigm of psychology training programs and workplaces. It was hypothesized that mental health professionals who identified as more conservative would express more oppression of views/values in their workplace than individuals who did not identify as being conservative and those who identified as more liberal would express bias and concerns against those holding conservative views. Results did not support an overall generalization of conservative bias or intolerance, but did provide some evidence of discontent among individuals holding more conservative religious and sociopolitical values. Overall, findings reinforce the need for gathering more data on sociopolitical and religious variables within the context of multiculturalism and broadening the dialogue on diversity issues surrounding sociopolitical views and bias among colleagues and in training programs.

Personal Reflections on Providing Psychotherapy in a Third Language

This paper reflects upon the increasing diversity of the United States and the subsequent necessity for mental health providers who can provide psychotherapy services in more than one language. Review of the current literature of clinicians who provide bilingual services highlight the challenges and rewards of working in a second language. The literature focuses on the experiences of those bilingual clinicians who are bilingual in English and Spanish. However, there is little to no research concerning clinicians who can provide psychotherapy in three languages. This writer speaks of her experience growing up in a bilingual Vietnamese-English household in Southern California and her journey of becoming fluent in Spanish. Lastly, she provides recommendations to training programs on how to support trainees who aim to provide psychotherapy services in multiple languages.