Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Exploring Couple and Family Therapist Involvement in Social Justice Praxis(2023) Golojuch, Laura; Mittal, Mona; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As the nation becomes more diverse, multicultural competence and social justice are being increasingly recognized as essential components to effective therapy practice (Hays, 2020; Ratts et al., 2016; Vera & Speight, 2003). While some scholars in the field of Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) have urged the importance of infusing social justice into training and clinical practice for years (see Hardy, 2001; Knudson-Martin et al., 2019; McDowell et al., 2019; McGoldrick, 2007), this topic is understudied and underprioritized by the field at large. Recent CFT scholars also acknowledge the importance of advocacy as an accompaniment to therapy (J. M. Goodman et al., 2018, Jordan & Seponski, 2018a, 2018b). Counseling and social work fields have prioritized social justice advocacy and codified it into mission statements and ethical codes (Ratts et al., 2016; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018; Toporek & Daniels, 2018). Although CFTs are trained systemically, and may be enacting micro-level advocacy intervention in the therapy room, they do not always view themselves as advocates or enact macro-level advocacy interventions (J. M. Goodman et al., 2018; Holyoak et al., 2020; Jordan & Seponski, 2018b). This study utilized a sequential transformative mixed methods design to assess multicultural competence, social justice commitment and self-efficacy, and advocacy competence in a nationally representative sample of CFTs (n = 101) using survey methods. A subsample of 22 participants were interviewed to further explore their practices as multiculturally competent and socially just clinicians. Three complementary frameworks were utilized to ground the study: The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC), critical consciousness, and Public Health Critical Race praxis. Overall, multicultural competence, social justice commitment, and social justice self-efficacy scores were high in this sample, while advocacy competence scores were lower. Results showed that identifying as Black or African American and completing additional training in multicultural competence and social justice were associated with multicultural competence. Results also showed that working in an agency setting vs. other settings was associated with lower levels of multicultural competence. Results showed that identifying as female compared to male, having a higher level of oppression, a higher level of civic engagement, and more additional training in multicultural competence were all associated with social justice commitment. Results showed that being older, completing more additional training, and having a higher level of oppression were all associated with higher levels of social justice self-efficacy. Finally, results showed that identifying as non-binary compared to male, completing more hours of additional training, and experiencing higher levels of oppression were all associated with advocacy competence. Additionally, receiving more post-graduate hours of training in multicultural competence, social justice, and advocacy competence was associated with higher multicultural competence, social justice, and advocacy competence. Qualitative findings revealed ways in which CFTs developed and embodied socially just clinical practice and explored recommendations for training.Item Perceptions of the Transition to Adulthood for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Young Black Men(2015) Golojuch, Laura; Roy, Kevin M; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The transition to adulthood has drastically changed in the last half century, with more young people delaying and remaking traditional markers of adulthood. Young Black men from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts, due to experiences of early trauma and adultification and sociostructural barriers to these markers, such as limited job opportunities and racial discrimination, are uniquely situated and may have very different pathways to adulthood than their middle class peers. The present study utilized semi-structured interviews to explore the lived experiences of young Black men (n=21) in the transition to adulthood. Drawing on a life course perspective and utilizing a modified grounded theory methodology, the study examines how early experiences of trauma and adultification, as well as individual’s perceptions of adulthood, shaped the transition to adulthood. Implications for policy and future directions are explored.