Examining the influence of family support on diabetes education behavioural outcomes

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of family support on diabetes education behavioural outcomes, specifically in relation to diet, exercise, and blood glucose monitoring in adult individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Fifty-three individuals attending diabetes education for the first time were followed approximately 1 month. The findings for the influence of family support were mixed. Family attending diabetes class with participants had a positive influence with respect to diet. This is consistent with Carl Rogers (1969) who espouses setting a positive climate for learning and that learning new attitudes or information comes when external barriers are at a minimum. However family attending class with participants had no influence with respect to exercise or blood glucose monitoring. The family support action of encouraging with respect to diet overall did not influence healthy eating behaviours except for decreased skipped meals and scheduled snacks. In fact, in the areas of family willing to make healthy choices along with participant, the less the family was involved in encouraging, the better the participant did. Exercise on the other hand was influenced positively by family encouragement. This is consistent with Bandura's theory that enhancement of self-confidence and self-efficacy can lead to desired behaviour changes. Family encouragement however did not appear to influence blood glucose monitoring behaviours. This study has implications for practice in that diabetes education programs can encourage family to attend classes or get involved in encouraging the person with diabetes, so that it may help to increase healthy eating behaviours and exercise. As time is necessary to implement changes in behaviour, future research can look at the influence of family support over a 6-month, I-year, or greater period.

A needs assessment of public health professionals: supporting the implementation of Ontario 2010 revised elementary health and physical education curriculum

Based on the Comprehensive School Health framework, Ontario's Foundations for a Healthy School (2009) outlines an integrated approach to school health promotion. In this approach the school, community and partners (including public health) are fully engaged With a common goal of youth health. With the recent introductions of the Ontario Public Health Standards (2009) and the revised elementary health and physical education curriculum (2010), the timing for a greater integration of public health with schools is ideal. A needs assessment was conducted to identify the perceived support required by public health professionals to implement the mandates of both policy documents in Ontario. Data was collected for the needs assessment through facilitated discussions at a provincial roundtable event, regional focus groups and individual interviews with public health professionals representing Ontario's 36 public health units. Findings suggest that public health professionals perceive that they require increased resources, greater communication, a clear vision of public health and a suitable understanding of the professional cultures in which they are surrounded in order to effectively support schools. This study expands upon these four categories and the corresponding seventeen themes that were uncovered during the research process.

Aboriginal women in education : Honouring our experiences a vision of access to and success within the university

This thesis explores Aboriginal women's access to and success within universities through an examination of Aboriginal women's educational narratives, along with input from key service providers from both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community. Implemented through the Wildfire Research Method, participants engaged in a consensusbased vision of accessible education that honours the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical elements necessary for the success of Aboriginal women in university. This study positions Aboriginal women as agents of social change by allowing them to define their own needs and offer viable solutions to those needs. Further, it connects service providers from the many disconnected sectors that implicate Aboriginal women's education access. The realities of Aboriginal women are contextualized through historical, sociocultural, and political analyses, revealing the need for a decolonizing educational approach. This fosters a shift away from a deficit model toward a cultural and linguistic assets based approach that emphasizes the need for strong cultural identity formation. Participants revealed academic, cultural, and linguistic barriers and offered clear educational specifications for responsive and culturally relevant programming that will assist Aboriginal women in developing and maintaining strong cultural identities. Findings reveal the need for curriculum that focuses on decolonizing and reclaiming Aboriginal women's identities, and program outcomes that encourage balance between two worldviews-traditional and academic-through the application of cultural traditions to modern contexts, along with programming that responds to the immediate needs of Aboriginal women such as childcare, housing, and funding, and provide an opportunity for universities and educators to engage in responsive and culturally grounded educational approaches.

Emergence of conscious awareness of underlying verbal and visual rules over time in moderate closed-head trauma patients

Please consult the paper edition of this thesis to read. It is available on the 5th Floor of the Library at Call Number: Z 9999.5 E38 L64 2008

Understanding the Integration of Living Skills Through the Context of Health and Physical Education: A Case Study of Educators’ Experiences

The research presented is a qualitative case study of educators’ experiences in integrating living skills in the context of health and physical education (HPE). In using semi-structured interviews the study investigated HPE educators’ experiences and revealed their insights relative to three major themes; professional practice, challenges and support systems. Professional practice experiences detailed the use of progressive lesson planning, reflective and engaging activities, explicit student centered pedagogy as well as holistic teaching philosophies. Even further, the limited knowledge and awareness of living skills, conflicting teaching philosophies, competitive environments between subject areas and lack of time and accessibility were four major challenges that emerged throughout the data. Major supportive roles for HPE educators in the integration process included other educators, consultants, school administration, public health, parents, community programs and professional organizations. The study provides valuable discussion and suggestions for improvement of pedagogical practices in teaching living skills in the HPE setting.

Religious Diversity and Teacher Education: Experiences and Perspectives of Muslim Women as Teacher Candidates in Pre-service Programs

This qualitative research project explores the insights of Muslim women as teacher candidates completing pre-service programs in Ontario. Ontario schools cater to students from many ethnic, cultural and religious groups, including a sizable Muslim population. Muslims make up 4.6% of Ontario’s population with the highest concentration of Muslims in the GTA (Statistics Canada, 2011). The Muslim population in Ontario is of a significant enough number that, in a post 9/11 world, it has prompted discussion of how to integrate Muslim populations in Canada. In this research, I explore how Islamophobic sentiment is experienced in Ontario-based teacher education programs. I use Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) to analyse and deconstruct experiences of female Muslim teacher candidates in pre-service programs. I discuss how Muslims are a racialized group that experience racism as discussed by critical race literature; however, there is a marked difference between how Muslim men and women experience gendered Islamophobia. By using in-depth research-based interviews, I explore how Muslim women perceived diversity, education, accommodations and Islamophobia in pre-service programs. This study adds to the current literature on critical race theory and anti-racist practices in education. Furthermore, this study adds to the voice of Muslim women in the discussion of diversity and inclusivity in educational institutions.

Removing Oneself from the Shadows: A Heuristic Inquiry to Understand the Lived Experience of Epilepsy in Young Adult Women and their Epilepsy Disclosure

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures (Stein & Kanner, 2009). The purpose of this study was to understand the essence of being a young woman living with epilepsy using heuristic inquiry (Moustakas, 1990). The research was built upon the assumption that each experience is unique, yet commonalities exist. Five women aged 22 to 28 years living with epilepsy were interviewed. Additionally, the researcher described her life with epilepsy. Participants characterized life with epilepsy as a transformative journey. The act of meeting and interacting with another woman living with epilepsy provided an opportunity to remove themselves from the shadows and discuss epilepsy. Three major themes of seizures, medical treatment, and social relationships were developed revealing a complex view of an illness requiring engaged advocacy in the medical system. Respondents frequently make difficult adjustments to accommodate epilepsy. This study provides a complex in-depth view of life with epilepsy.

A Case Study of Doctoral Research Assistantships: Access and Experiences of Full-Time and Part-Time Education Students

Graduate students’ development as researchers is a key objective in higher education. Research assistantships provide distinctive spaces where graduate students can be nurtured and shaped as novice researchers as they develop theoretical and methodological knowledge. However, few scholars have investigated graduate student research assistants’ experiences and the ways these experiences are influenced by institutional regulations, informal practices, and social relations. The purpose of this case-within-a-case study was to explore the research assistantship experiences of full-time and part-time doctoral students in Education at an Ontario university. I present separate subcases for full-time and part-time students, and an overarching case of research assistantships in one program at a specific period of time. The main question was how do institutional regulations, informal practices, and social relations influence full-time and part-time doctoral students’ access to and experiences within research assistantships. My objective was to draw from interviews and documents to acquire a thorough understanding of the organizational characteristics of research assistantships (i.e., structures of access, distribution, and coordination of participation) to explore the ways institutional regulations, informal practices, and social relations promote, prevent, or limit full-time and part-time students’ legitimate peripheral participation in research assistantships. Although I devoted particular attention to the ways students’ full-time and part-time status shaped their decisions, relationships, and experiences, I was conscious that other factors such as gender, age, and cultural background may have also influenced doctoral research assistant experiences.