CityU Scholarly Work (Restricted)
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Contains access-restricted scholarly work from City University of Seattle students, faculty, and staff.
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Item The Impact of Sexual Violence on the Sexual Well-Being of Adult Survivors of Sexual Assault(2025-12-15) McKibbon, ChelseaThis literature review seeks to answer the question: how does sexual violence impact sexual well-being in survivors of sexual assault? Sexual assault has wide-reaching impacts on sexual well-being, and it is important for clinicians to know how to best support this population (Dworkin et al., 2017). Despite its pervasiveness, research on sexual well-being of survivors of sexual violence is limited by inconsistent definitions and emphasis on biological outcomes of sexual health (Mitchell et al., 2021; Pulverman et al., 2018). This paper will review and synthesize recent literature findings which explore this question, and summarize the themes derived from recent studies. From doing so, additional clinical implications and therapeutic recommendations will be explored as they are currently suggested in the literature. Relevant studies were collected from various databases, including the City University library, Google Scholar, and ProQuest. A review of the literature generated significant themes through thematic analysis, and examined key studies for methodological strengths and limitations. Significant findings from this thematic analysis note that the intersection of biological, social, and psychological impacts can impair sexual well-being in a myriad of ways. Recent literature explores behavioural responses to sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and cognitive and affective components of sexual well-being. Through this review, it is clear that there is a paucity of research on the positive and affective components of sexual well-being, such as sexual self-determination, agency, safety, trust, and pleasure. Clinicians can help support survivors of sexual assault through awareness of the intersections of biological, psychological, and social impacts which impair sexual well-being, providing psychoeducation, and engaging in the supported interventions for addressing sexual concerns in survivors of sexual assault.Item How Does Parental Rejection Impact Relational Dynamics in Same-Sex Relationships?(2025-12) Lowe, CharleneEarly parental rejection in childhood influences attachment, romantic satisfaction, and resilience for 2SLGBTQ+ couples. This study aims to bridge the gap in current research and address the needs of minority populations by integrating developmental, emotional, and sociocultural perspectives to understand how family relationships influence adult intimacy. This literature review seeks to answer the guiding question: How do early parental acceptance or rejection experiences affect adult attachment and romantic satisfaction in 2SLGBTQ+ populations? This study employed thematic analysis to code the qualitative data, which supported the development of a conceptual framework and the identification of emergent patterns related to attachment and relationship outcomes. Because thematic coding is a qualitative method, the focus was on interpreting themes rather than on identifying variables, as is characteristic of quantitative research. Research has shown that insecure attachments are associated with reduced relationship satisfaction and well-being, while family acceptance, secure attachment, and resilience promote more positive relational outcomes. Integrating Attachment Theory, Interpersonal Acceptance–Rejection Theory (IPARTheory), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Queer Theory provides a multidimensional understanding of how early family experiences and societal factors interact to shape adult relationships. The research shows that therapeutic approaches focused on the 2SLGBTQ+ community need to be implemented into clinical practice that are gender affirming and all-inclusive. The findings highlight the importance of addressing both developmental and sociocultural contexts in promoting resilience and relationship satisfaction among 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.Item Recontextaulizing Cannabis Research(2025-11-19) Theriault, MichaelCannabis is widely consumed among Canadian emerging adults, yet research examining its risks has been fundamentally decontextualized. While studies link specific use patterns to cognitive deficits, psychosis, and cannabis use disorder, they cannot explain why these patterns emerge, for whom they are most harmful, or how life circumstances influence use trajectories. This decontextualization reflects a deliberate historical trajectory spanning colonial epistemologies, racist drug policies, and restricted research paradigms. This literature review traces cannabis history from Ayurvedic medicine through British colonization, which displaced traditional knowledge with Western empirical science, to 20th-century American prohibition and the War on Drugs, which weaponized cannabis policy against minority populations while constraining research to focus exclusively on harms. Contemporary quantitative research successfully identifies risk factors but isolates variables from lived realities. Qualitative research reveals that cannabis use is embedded in personal motivations (self-medication, stress relief), social roles (student, parent), and environmental factors (legalization, COVID-19), yet examines static contexts rather than how these evolve over time. This review argues that understanding how emerging adults' cannabis attitudes and behaviours develop requires a narrative approach capturing use as a dynamic, contextualized process. The proposed study will conduct semi-structured interviews with 20 emerging adults in Calgary, exploring how use patterns emerge and change through shifting contexts. This approach has significant clinical implications, enabling counsellors to situate client cannabis use within lived contexts and develop effective, context-sensitive harm reduction interventions.Item Discrimination within the Queer Community(2025-09) Loo, Tse LynnAs a microcosm of society, the queer community is one that experiences unique forms of discrimination due to the dominant scripts and social values of the larger society. This capstone explores how these dominant norms manifest in the queer community, focussing on racism. This paper reviews current literature on the ways in which racial identities are navigated and received from an intersectional lens, and explores how history has always been rooted in the prioritization of white identities over other racial and cultural identities. The capstone then concludes with a proposed workshop to educate future counsellors who wish to be socially just allies to the queer community and those who are further marginalized within the queer community.Item The Efficacy of Therapeutic Factors Associated with Memory Reconsolidation in Trauma Therapy(2025-12-08) Pellatt, SeanIn this capstone, I examine the efficacy of therapeutic factors from memory reconsolidation (MR) research that can be applied in trauma therapy. In this context, trauma therapy includes only the treatment of memories affectively encoded in fear. Furthermore, this capstone focuses on behavioural interventions as opposed to drug interventions and on clinical trials in human populations as opposed to animal studies. Primary studies are synthesized and analyzed to explore the efficacy of specific therapeutic factors that induce MR through behavioural intervention. I elaborate upon an emergent understanding of how to theoretically access MR in trauma therapy for fear-based memories by exploring four inductive themes from this topic. Firstly, MR itself is briefly introduced. This introduction is followed by an inductive thematic analysis, which describes prediction error, taxing working memory, emotional schemas, and timing considerations as the four therapeutic factors that can theoretically elicit MR, as measured by symptom reduction, in clients who are experiencing trauma symptoms connected to fear-based memories.