Why I am not a teacher: a self-study examining why I made the decision to exit the teaching profession /

A good teacher was once described as being like a candle; consuming itself to light the way for others (Author unknown). But as Knox (2005) says, far too many yoimg flames flicker out before they ever get the opportvmity to bum their brightest. This self-study explores the phenomenon of teacher attrition through the stories and lived experiences of one elementary teacher. I strive throughout this self-study to delve deeper into the significance of my story and lived experiences in order to enhance our understanding of why teachers exit the profession. As a result, the guiding question throughout the study is, "Why do teachers, particularly those who have only taught for a few years, leave the classrooms they worked so hard to enter?" Through the writing of a narrative entitled Sarah 's Story, I was able to identify and give voice to a story openly sharing the feelings of despair; disappointment, frustration and disillusionment. This study has identified areas of tension that lead to dissatisfaction, discontent, and teacher disillusionment. It confronts the issues of complexity, uncertainty, and conflict that are experienced in teaching. It discusses the puzzling, powerfiil and upsetting experiences, highlighting the importance of talk between all members of the education system.

Invisible disability, visible people: a closer look at the experiences of teachers with learning disabilities /

Throughout their schooling experiences, students with learning disabilities (LD) face numerous academic and socioemotional challenges. Some of these individuals rise above these obstacles to obtain a postsecondary education and become professionals. Recently, there have been a number of individuals with learning disabilities who have chosen a career in teaching. There is a lack of research that documents the experiences of teachers with learning disabilities. The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain an understanding of the challenges that the teachers with learning disabilities strive to overcome and the supports that they receive ^^^ch facilitate their inception into teaching. Four teachers with learning disabilities were the participants in this collective case study research. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. These data were coded, collapsed into themes, and the results were presented in a narrative form. The resultant 9 themes are: (a) Perspectives on School Experiences, (b) Identification and Effective Accommodations, (c) Isolation, Frustration, and Support, (d) Awareness of Learning Disability at Age 18, (e) Disclosure of Learning Disability, (f) Negative Impact of the Learning Disability Label, (g) Desire, Drive, and Obstacles, (h) Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Concept, and (i) Critical Views of Colleagues. The themes reflect the common experiences among participants. The discussion brings forth new information that is not found in other research. The impHcations of this research will interest teacher federations, parents of students with LD, teachers, and educational researchers.

Exploring the effects of change on nursing practice in acute ambulatory care settings : a qualitative study

As a result of the current changes taking place in the delivery of acute care services, the emergence of acute ambulatory care (AAC) settings is expanding. According to a literature review, the volume, acuity, and complexity of patient care in these settings is increasing while the time the patients spend under the care of nurses is decreasing. Two forces, hospital downsizing and advancing technology, are identified as the major contributors to the shift in acute care delivery. The effects that these changes are having on the clinical nursing practice of registered nurses working in AAC settings are not known. Given that AAC settings are rapidly expanding, it can be anticipated that the delivery of nursing care will continue to be compressed into a shorter time frame. Therefore, the following qualitative research question was formulated: What are the problems and issues related to clinical nursing practice in acute ambulatory settings? The purpose of this study was to explore the problems and issues associated with change and clinical nursing practice including the educational needs of nurses working in MC settings. Specific objectives of the study included the following: (a) to explore the problems and issues related to nursing practice in select AAC settings; (b) to explore the similarities and differences in perspectives related to role expectation between nurse managers, nurse educators, and staff nurses; and (c) to develop a conceptual framework that will guide the construction of an instrument needed for further research. This study used semistructured individual interviews and focus group sessions to collect data from the three categories of registered nurses. More specifically, data were collected from one nurse manager, two charge nurses, two nurse educators and fifteen staff nurses, working in three different MC settings of a major teaching hospital. Collected data were separately analyzed by the researcher and an external rater following grounded theory methodology. By using open and axial coding, the problems and issues identified by nurses were grouped into several major and minor themes. In final analysis, by using selective coding, the four core themes (intensification, moderation, frustration, and adaptation) were extracted. Each core theme was presented and discussed in relation to hospital downsizing and advancing technology. The relationships among the four core themes were discussed and depicted in a model termed the "Impact and Consequence Model on Nursing Practice in MC Settings." Implications for further research are discussed and research hypotheses, based on the research findings, are presented.

The effects of language complexity in a counterattitudinal appeal to laypeople : an application of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion to a legal issue

The effects of a complexly worded counterattitudinal appeal on laypeople's attitudes toward a legal issue were examined, using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion as a theoretical framework. This model states that persuasion can result from the elaboration and scrutiny of the message arguments (i.e., central route processing), or can result from less cognitively effortful strategies, such as relying on source characteristics as a cue to message validity (i.e., peripheral route processing). One hundred and sixty-seven undergraduates (85 men and 81 women) listened to eitller a low status or high status source deliver a counterattitudinal speech on a legal issue. The speech was designed to contain strong or weak arguments. These arguments were 'worded in a simple and, therefore, easy to comprehend manner, or in a complex and, therefore, difficult to comprehend manner. Thus, there were three experimental manipulations: argument comprehensibility (easy to comprehend vs. difficult to comprehend), argumel11 strength (weak vs. strong), and source status (low vs. high). After listening to tIle speec.J] participants completed a measure 'of their attitude toward the legal issue, a thought listil1g task, an argument recall task,manipulation checks, measures of motivation to process the message, and measures of mood. As a result of the failure of the argument strength manipulation, only the effects of the comprehel1sibility and source status manipulations were tested. There was, however, some evidence of more central route processing in the easy comprehension condition than in the difficult comprehension condition, as predicted. Significant correlations were found between attitude and favourable and unfavourable thoughts about the legal issue with easy to comprehend arguments; whereas, there was a correlation only between attitude and favourable thoughts 11 toward the issue with difficult to comprehend arguments, suggesting, perhaps, that central route processing, \vhich involves argument scrutiny and elaboration, occurred under conditions of easy comprehension to a greater extent than under conditions of difficult comprehension. The results also revealed, among other findings, several significant effects of gender. Men had more favourable attitudes toward the legal issue than did women, men recalled more arguments from the speech than did women, men were less frustrated while listening to the speech than were ,vomen, and men put more effort into thinking about the message arguments than did women. When the arguments were difficult to comprehend, men had more favourable thoughts and fewer unfavourable thoughts about the legal issue than did women. Men and women may have had different affective responses to the issue of plea bargaining (with women responding more negatively than men), especially in light of a local and controversial plea bargain that occurred around the time of this study. Such pre-existing gender differences may have led to tIle lower frustration, the greater effort, the greater recall, and more positive attitudes for men than for WOlnen. Results· from this study suggest that current cognitive models of persuasion may not be very applicable to controversial issues which elicit strong emotional responses. Finally, these data indicate that affective responses, the controversial and emotional nature ofthe issue, gender and other individual differences are important considerations when experts are attempting to persuade laypeople toward a counterattitudinal position.

A phenomenological approach to understanding the psychological response to chronic low back pain

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a complex health problem of psychological manifestations not fully understood. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted to help understand the meaning of the lived experience of CLBP; focusing on the psychological response to pain and the role of depression, catastrophizing, fear-avoidance behavior, anxiety and somatization. Participants characterized CLBP as persistent tolerable low back pain (TLBP) interrupted by periods of intolerable low back pain (ILBP). ILBP contributed to recurring bouts of helplessness, depression, frustration with the medical system and increased fear based on the perceived consequences of anticipated recurrences, all of which were mediated by the uncertainty of such pain. During times of TLBP all participants pursued a permanent pain consciousness as they felt susceptible to experience a recurrence. As CLBP progressed, participants felt they were living with a weakness, became isolated from those without CLBP and integrated pain into their self-concept.

Relation of temperament and authoritative parenting on subtypes of adolescent behaviour

Over the years, researchers have investigated direct, conditional, and meditational pathways of adolescent aggression in relation to both temperament and parenting behaviours. However, no study to date has considered these relations with respect to a measure of aggression differentiated by form (e.g., overt, relational) and function (e.g., proactive, reactive). The present study examined the differential association of adolescent temperament and authoritative parenting on four subtypes of aggression. Participants included mothers, fathers, and one adolescent (between the ages of 10-19) from 663 families, recruited through random digit dialing. Parents reported on their child's temperament and occurrence of aggressive behaviours in addition to the perception of their own authoritative parenting. Adolescents reported on their own temperament and aggressive behaviours as well as on both their mother and father's authoritative parenting. Multiple regression analyses confirmed predictions that some aspects of temperament and authoritative parenting provide motivation towards the engagement of different aggressive behaviours. For example, higher negative affect was related to reactive types of aggression, whereas a strong desire for novel or risky behaviours related to proactive aggression. However, differences in effortful control altered the trajectory for both relationships. Higher levels of self-regulation reduced the impact of negative affect on reactive-overt aggression. Greater self-regulation also reduced the impact of surgency on proactive-overt aggression when age was a factor. Structural equation modeling was then used to assess the process through which adolescents become more or less susceptible to impulsive behaviours. Although the issue ofbi-directionality cannot be ruled out, temperament characteristics were the proximal correlate for aggression subtypes as opposed to authoritative parenting dimensions. Effortful control was found to partially mediate the relation between parental acceptancelinvolvement and reactive-relational and reactive-overt aggression, suggesting that higher levels of warmth and support as perceived by the child related to increased levels of self-regulation and emotional control, which in tum lead to less reactive-relational and less reactive-overt types of aggression in adolescents. On the other hand, negative affect partially mediated the relation between parental psychological autonomy granting and these two subtypes of aggression, supporting predictions that higher levels of autonomy granting (perceived independence) related to lower levels of frustration, which in tum lead to less reactive-relational and reactive-overt aggression in adolescents. Both findings provide less evidence for the evocative person-environment correlation and more support for temperament being an open system shaped by experience and authoritative parenting dimensions. As one of the first known studies examining the differential association of authoritative parenting and temperament on aggression subtypes, this study demonstrates the role parents can play in shaping and altering their children's temperament and the effects it can have on aggressive behaviour.

The form and function of aggressive subtypes: Relations with the goodness of fit between adolescent temperament and parent personality

The current research investigated whether the interaction between adolescent temperament and parent personality, consistent with the goodness of fit perspective, differentially predicted overt (e.g., kicking, punching, insulting) and relational (e.g., gossiping, rumour spreading, ostracising) forms of reactive (e.g., provoked, a response to goal blocking, unplanned and emotional) and proactive (e.g., unprovoked, goal-directed, deliberate and relatively unemotional) aggression. Mothers, fathers and their adolescent child (N = 448, age 10-17) from southern Ontario, Canada filled out questionnaires on adolescent temperament (i.e., frustration, fear, and effortful control) and aggression. Parents reported on their own personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability). The form and function of aggression not encompassed by the subtype under investigation were controlled in each regression analysis. Consistent with the hypothesis, results indicated that a poor fit between adolescent temperament vulnerabilities and lower parent personality traits, including agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability, was predictive of greater levels of differentiated aggression. For instance, lower father conscientiousness strengthened the relation between higher frustration and reactive overt aggression. Unexpectedly in some cases, temperament risk factors were more strongly associated with aggression subtypes when personality scores were at higher levels, particularly agreeableness and conscientiousness, traits normally considered to be at the optimal end of the dimension. For example, higher father agreeableness strengthened the relation between higher frustration and reactive relational aggression. At the main effects level, low fearfulness was significantly associated with only the overt subtypes of aggression, and unexpectedly, higher frustration and lower effortful control were related to both proactive and reactive subtypes of aggression. A temperamentally vulnerable adolescent was also at greater risk of displaying aggressive behaviour when the father lacked emotional stability, but not the mother. These results are broadly consistent with the prediction that temperament risk factors are more strongly associated with aggression subtypes when an adolescent predisposition does not fit well with parent personality traits. Mechanisms pertaining to stress in the family environment and the fostering of self-regulation abilities are discussed with respect to why a poor fit between temperament and parent personality is predictive of adolescent differentiated aggression.

Parent and Peer Factors Relating to Adolescent Antisocial Behaviour: Investigating the Moderating Role of Temperament

The purpose of this study was to examine whether certain temperament characteristics (fearfulness, surgency, frustration, and effortful control) moderate the association between authoritative parenting dimensions (psychological autonomy granting, acceptance-involvement, and monitoring knowledge) or friends' antisocial behaviour, and self-reported antisocial behaviour among adolescents. Questionnaires on adolescent temperament and authoritative parenting were completed by 484 mothers and their adolescent children (54.8% female). In addition, the adolescents responded to measures regarding friends' antisocial behavior and their own antisocial behaviour. Adolescent participants ranged between 13 and 17 years of age (M = 14.96 years, SD = 1.39) and lived in a region of southern Ontario. As predicted, the results indicated that effortful control moderated the association between parental monitoring knowledge and adolescent antisocial behaviour. Also, as predicted, effortful control moderated the relation between friends' antisocial behaviour and adolescents' self-reports of antisocial behaviour although the relation was sex-specific to girls. Unexpected results included a significant monitoring knowledge by frustration by sex interaction, and a significant friends' antisocial behaviour by age interaction. In general, the findings were consistent with the expectation that the relation of parenting and peer factors to antisocial behaviour would depend on adolescents' temperamental predispositions. However, effortful control, which contributes to individual differences in self-regulation abilities, served this moderating role to a greater extent than the measures of temperamental reactivity, including fearfulness, surgency and frustration-proneness. Implications of these results are discussed with reference to parenting or classroom-based interventions that may be especially helpful for adolescents with poor self-regulation abilities.

Coping with a Learning Disability: A Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand a child’s experience with a learning disability (LD) through the way that they cope with it, and how self-esteem, self-efficacy, attribution style, and social support contribute to this process. Qualitative interviews were conducted with one child, his parents, and his teacher, accompanied by a content analysis of the child’s psychosocial assessment report. It was found that the child copes well with having a learning disability, employing a problem-focused/approach coping style by seeking help and practicing for skills he struggles with, an emotion-focused coping style by implementing strategies to alleviate frustration, and compartmentalizing his disability. Further, self-esteem, self-efficacy, attribution style, social support and sports and leisure engagement were found to contribute positively to the coping process. These findings offer useful implications for parents, teachers, and practitioners to support other students with LD.

The Dynamic Interplay of Attachment and Temperament in Relation to Dimensions of Aggression

The current study examined whether overt and relational forms of reactive and proactive aggression were differentially related to adolescents’ temperament and attachment security. Measures of adolescents’ temperament, attachment security, and aggression were completed by 211 adolescents, ages 10–14, and their caregivers. Attachment security was consistently associated with all four dimensions of aggression, whereas proneness to frustration was found to be uniquely associated with reactive-overt aggression. Additionally, it was found that at lower levels of effortful control more secure attachment was related to lower levels of reactive-relational aggression. Results also indicated that, for girls, the relation between attachment and proactive-overt and proactive-relational aggression was only significant when effortful control was low. Conversely, for boys, the relation between attachment and proactive-overt aggression and proactive-relational aggression was significant when effortful control was high. Implications of these findings and limitations to the current study are discussed.

Investigation of Frustrated Quasi-One-Dimensional Quantum Spin-Chain Materials

Copper arsenite CuAs2O4 and Copper antimonite CuSb2O4 are S=1/2 (Cu2+ 3d9 electronic configuration) quasi-one-dimensional quantum spin-chain compounds. Both compounds crystallize with tetragonal structures containing edge sharing CuO6 octahedra chains which experience Jahn-Teller distortions. The basal planes of the octahedra link together to form CuO2 ribbon-chains which harbor Cu2+ spin-chains. These compounds are magnetically frustrated with competing nearest-neighbour and next-nearest-neighbour intrachain spin-exchange interactions. Despite the similarities between CuAs2O4 and CuSb2O4, they exhibit very different magnetic properties. In this thesis work, the physical properties of CuAs2O4 and CuSb2O4 are investigated using a variety of experimental techniques which include x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility measurements, heat capacity measurements, Raman spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, neutron diffraction, and dielectric capacitance measurements. CuAs2O4 exhibits dominant ferromagnetic nearest-neighbour and weaker antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbour intrachain spin-exchange interactions. The ratio of the intrachain interactions amounts to Jnn/Jnnn = -4.1. CuAs2O4 was found to order with a ferromagnetic groundstate below TC = 7.4 K. An extensive physical characterization of the magnetic and structural properties of CuAs2O4 was carried out. Under the effect of hydrostatic pressure, CuAs2O4 was found to undergo a structural phase transition at 9 GPa to a new spin-chain structure. The structural phase transition is accompanied by a severe alteration of the magnetic properties. The high-pressure phase exhibits dominant ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbour spin-exchange interactions and weaker ferromagnetic nearest-neighbour interactions. The ratio of the intrachain interactions in the high-pressure phase was found to be Jnn/Jnnn = 0.3. Structural and magnetic characterizations under hydrostatic pressure are reported and a relationship between the structural and magnetic properties was established. CuSb2O4 orders antiferromagnetically below TN = 1.8 K with an incommensurate helicoidal magnetic structure. CuSb2O4 is characterized by ferromagnetic nearest-neighbour and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbour spin-exchange interactions with Jnn/Jnnn = -1.8. A (H, T) magnetic phase diagram was constructed using low-temperature magnetization and heat capacity measurements. The resulting phase diagram contains multiple phases as a consequence of the strong intrachain magnetic frustration. Indications of ferroelectricity were observed in the incommensurate antiferromagnetic phase.

The Effects of Magnetic Dilution and Applied Pressure on Several Frustrated Spinels

The effects of magnetic dilution and applied pressure on frustrated spinels GeNi2O4, GeCo2O4, and NiAl2O4 are reported. Dilution was achieved by substitution of Mg2+ in place of magnetically active Co2+ and Ni2+ ions. Large values of the percolation thresholds were found in GeNi(2-x)MgxO4. Specifically, pc1 = 0.74 and pc2 = 0.65 in the sub-networks associated with the triangular and kagome planes, respectively. This anomalous behaviour may be explained by the kagome and triangular planes behaving as coupled networks, also know as a network of networks. In simulations of coupled lattices that form a network of networks, similar anomalous percolation threshold values have been found. In addition, at dilution levels above x=0.30, there is a T^2 dependency in the magnetic heat capacity which may indicate two dimensional spin glass behaviour. Applied pressures in the range of 0 GPa to 1.2 GPa yield a slight decrease in ordering temperature for both the kagome and triangular planes. In GeCo(2-x)MgxO4, the long range magnetic order is more robust with a percolation threshold of pc=0.448. Similar to diluted nickel germanate, at low temperatures, a T^2 magnetic heat capacity contribution is present which indicates a shift from a 3D ordered state to a 2D spin glass state in the presence of increased dilution. Dynamic magnetic susceptibility data indicate a change from canonical spin glass to a cluster glass behaviour. In addition, there is a non-linear increase in ordering temperature with applied pressure in the range P = 0 to 1.0 GPa. A spin glass ground state was observed in Ni(1-x)MgxAl2O4 for (x=0 to 0.375). Analysis of dynamic magnetic susceptibility data yield a characteristic time of tau* = 1.0x10^(-13) s, which is indicative of canonical spin glass behaviour. This is further corroborated by the linear behaviour of the magnetic specific heat contribution. However, the increasing frequency dependence of the freezing temperature suggests a trend towards spin cluster glass formation.