The National University System Repository exists to increase public access to research and other materials created by students and faculty of the affiliate institutions of National University System. Most items in the repository are open access, freely available to everyone.
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Item Mental Health Practitioners Who Work With Immigrant Clients and Interpreters(2024-11)Developed countries such as Canada have a growing number of immigrants, many of whom encounter mental health challenges and usually face barriers to accessing mental health services because of their limited English proficiency, which necessitates the use of interpreters. In this study the author addressed the impact of the presence of interpreters on the therapeutic process in working with immigrant clients. Utilising the Campinha-Bacote model of cultural competency as a framework, the author conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) and drew on seven electronic databases (EBSCO, JSTOR, Francis Online Mental Health and Social Care Collection, Google Scholar, Mendeley Taylor, ProQuest, and PubMed) to identify relevant journal articles from 2017 to 2024. A total of 19 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria. The findings are organised into five major themes: communication, interpreter role, therapeutic alliance, emotional impact, and training and support. The results indicate that the presence of an interpreter significantly impacts the therapeutic process and presents both opportunities and challenges. Interpreters can enhance communication and cultural understanding and facilitate therapeutic alliances, but they can also present complexities related to communication challenges, role dynamics, triadic relationship challenges, and emotional burdens. The study underscores the need for psychotherapists and interpreters to receive training and support to address these challenges effectively. Furthermore, psychotherapists must have cultural-competency skills and adopt culturally sensitive approaches in their interpreter-mediated psychotherapy. The recommendations include future research to focus on standardised training for practitioners and interpreters and further investigate the long-term effects of interpreter-mediated psychotherapy on treatment outcomes.Item The Lived Experiences of South Asian Adult-Child Caregivers to Parents with Dementia Living in Western Nations(2025-12-01)This capstone has found that while there are some positive elements to providing care to a parent with dementia within South Asian communities in Western countries, it is also a role that comes with many challenges. The caregivers face various systemic barriers related to medical systems, culture, religion, and language when trying to access external support. A cultural expectation of filial duty to care for one’s parent in old age without help can also act as a barrier to seeking support. These barriers leave adult children in a position of taking on most of the care on their own. Minimal awareness of dementia within South Asian communities leaves caregivers struggling to learn about it while trying to adopt a new way of life. Caregivers often do not open up because of the ignorance, stigma, and shame surrounding dementia and the social pressure to be self-sufficient. This can prevent them from opening up to family and friends about what they are going through. The hardships ultimately result in decreased mental wellbeing for South Asian adult-child caregivers which warrant the need for mental health support specific to these populations.Item Sexual Health Education in Canada and its Societal Impacts(2025-01-31)This capstone explores the significant gaps in comprehensive sexual education across Canada and the impact of inconsistent and patriarchal influences on adolescents. The research delves into how these deficiencies disproportionately affect subgroups such as girls, LGBTQ+ individuals, and boys, highlighting the ways systemic gaps expose young people to physical and emotional harm, as well as heightened vulnerability to online sexual predators. Building on these findings, the capstone examines what a truly comprehensive sexual education program should encompass, using a feminist theoretical framework. This approach emphasizes the importance of an inclusive, equitable curriculum that challenges traditional gender norms, acknowledges diverse sexual identities, and empowers youth to make informed decisions about their sexual health. Additionally, the capstone emphasizes the crucial roles of counsellors, educators, and parents in mitigating the harms caused by inadequate sexual education. By breaking down stigmas surrounding sexual health and equipping key stakeholders with effective tools and resources, this study advocates for fostering open dialogue and informed support systems. Through its exploration of these interconnected elements, this capstone aims to provide a roadmap for advancing sexual education in Canada, ultimately creating safer, more equitable environments where young people can navigate their sexual health with confidence and autonomy.Item Clients' and Therapists' Attachment Styles: Do They Influence the Alliance?(2024-12-15)This capstone answers two questions related to attachment styles and the working alliance: does the client's attachment style matter and does the therapist's attachment style matter? While the research is mixed regarding the ways that attachment styles interact within the alliance, the consensus is that secure attachment styles enable the strongest alliances. Clients and therapists with insecure attachment styles can nevertheless develop secure, relationship-specific attachments. Therapists with insecure attachment styles can learn to meet clients' needs for safety and security through the core caregiving behavioural system functions of attunement, responsiveness, and emotional regulation.Item Father-Daughter Attachment: The Evolving Understanding of Fatherhood and Its Relevance in Raising Daughters(2024-10-31)Parenting today can be a stressful endeavour, yet the literature has demonstrated limited expansion of our understanding of the importance of fatherhood. Gender-specific insights have begun to distinguish specific outcomes for parents and children that support an evolving understanding of the implications of fathering daughters. This paper, therefore, relies on a literature review to answer the question, "What are the implications of our evolving understanding of fatherhood for raising daughters?" This research paper evaluated recent literature and identified an historically negative perception and neglectful social attitude toward the significance of fathers. Through the lens of attachment theory, the researcher found that prioritising healthy and secure father-daughter attachment patterning enhances the social benefits to individuals and families. In addition is the need for better-informed support for future and established fathers to improve the mental health of fathers. Overall, this literature review illuminates our understanding of fatherhood and masculinity as it pertains to raising daughters within an attachment perspective. Equipped with this knowledge, clinicians can promote gender equality in parenting outcomes by advocating for policy changes such as guaranteed and dedicated paternal leave that supplements current maternal and parental leave structures and accommodates flexible work arrangements for fathers. Promoting engaged fatherhood and parenting equality is shown to be especially impactful in marginalised families. Recommended clinical supports include exploration through an attachment lens of abandonment wounds and insecurities while promoting secure relationship patterns for fathers and daughters. A framework for an attachment-focused group support for fathers and daughters is also offered.
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