Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

This dissertation investigates the impact of digitalization on teachers' perceptions of their professional subjectivity and relationships within K-12 education in the United States. Assuming schools are political and ideological spaces, this project explores how digitalization informs teachers' identities, agency, and pedagogical values through a narrative inquiry approach. I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight teachers from five high schools in the Midwest, utilizing narratives analysis to examine their personal and professional stories. These interviews provided insights into how teachers navigate the tensions between digitalization's promises, impacts, and realities. By analyzing the narratives, I uncovered underlying values of relational democratic aims and ethics in education. Grounded in two central questions: how have teacher identity, subjectivity, and agency been challenged and uniquely developed within the digitalization of education and how teachers perceive its potential for fostering participatory agency – I utilize critical pragmatism and narrative analysis to highlight the tensions between the promise of digitalization and its practical realities that structure subjectivities. Teacher participants expressed frustration over students' struggles with technology, revealing a disconnect between the anticipated benefits and actual implementation. This project contributes to the literature by addressing the ethical implications of digitalization, arguing that while it has the potential to enhance educational practices, it often perpetuates ideologies that prioritize convenience and efficiency over relational values. Ultimately, this research advocates for more critical inquiry into digitalization, emphasizing the need for educational stakeholders to embrace the complexity and ambiguity to foster environments that uphold democratic educational values and relational ethics

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Chair); Kate Rousmaniere (Committee Member); Lisa Weems (Committee Member); Thomas Misco (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Teaching

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2024, Education

Beginning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education experienced a sea change in reduced enrollment, altered course delivery models, and increased need for student support. While observing staff's actual impact on the student experience during this time, this study will address the question, “How do professional staff in small private universities a) perceive their contributions to the retention of students and b) perceive their overall value to the institutions they serve?” Owing to gaps in research on professional staff experiences, the literature review synthesizes current trends related to enrollment, retention, and persistence, focusing on small, private, non-profit 4-year institutions; discusses the disparate impact of these trends; examines the context of academic staffing trends; reviews the experiences of professional staff, focusing on critical connections between student and institution, student learning within liminal spaces, gender, and relational practice; and, examining social justice leadership in postsecondary education staffing. This qualitative study employs a constructivist grounded theory method using an initial anonymous questionnaire and interviews with volunteers for a deeper exploration of themes. The pool of nine interview participants comprises mid-level professional staff with at least three years of experience in student-supporting roles from five private universities with under 5,000 students. Potential implications relate to improving student retention practices and eliminating barriers by rethinking staff structures, resource allocation, and investment in student support areas. Further implications are related to staff role satisfaction, socially just models for professional development, and training of the next generation of professional staff. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Emiliano Gonzalez Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Douglas Judge Ph.D. (Committee Member); Cristy Sugarman Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Ethics; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

Family Achievement Guilt (Piorkowski, 1981) is a term that refers to the guilt first-generation college students experience leaving their family behind during the transition to academia. Though family achievement guilt has been examined critically by scholars (Covarrubias & Fryberg, 2015; Covarrubias et al., 2020), little research exists examining family achievement guilt, and further, support for first-generation college students during their transition to academia through a clinical lens. The aim of this study was to examine the experience of family achievement guilt through a Contextual Family Therapy lens (Boszormenyi-Nagy, 2013). A mixed-methods approach was used to examine family achievement guilt in relation to measures representing the four dimensions of contextual family therapy theory: facts, transactions, individual psychology, and relational ethics. 121 first-year students from a large, research institution in the Midwest completed a survey examining family achievement guilt (Covarrubias et al., 2020), depressive and anxiety symptoms (Kroenke et al., 2003; 2007) and additional family relationship-oriented variables of interest. Additional variables included relational ethics (Hargrave et. al, 1991), family distance regulation (Draper & Lee, 2001; Levine, Green & Millon, 1986) and attachment (Fraley et al., 2006). Phase one survey results indicated a positive relationship between two domains of relational ethics—trust/justice and entitlement, and family achievement guilt, as well as first-generation status and family achievement guilt, as expected. In addition, depression and anxiety scores were found to be positively related to family achievement guilt and mediated by family achievement guilt in their relationship with trust/justice, entitlement, and first-generation status. Phase two case study analysis added depth to survey results by highlighting themes of family achievement guilt from a focal student perspective and examining them in conjunction wi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Bartle-Haring (Advisor); Autumn Bermea (Committee Member); Kelly Purtell (Committee Member) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Higher Education Administration; Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

Infidelity is considered to be one of the worst forms of relational betrayal. This breach of trust is rarely contained within the couple sub-system, and often affects the quality of relationships in the system (Kawar, Coppola, & Gangamma, 2019; Lusterman, 2005). Relational ethics is the hallmark dimension of the contextual theory, and it refers to the relational balance of trust and justice, loyalty and entitlement between members of a relationship within and across generations (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark, 1973). The aim of the current dyadic study was to examine whether the relationship between parental infidelity and the participant's own infidelity is mediated by relational ethics. Similarly, if the relationships between parental infidelity and relationship satisfaction, and between participant's own infidelity and relationship satisfaction are mediated by relational ethics. In the current dyadic study, data were collected from 80 heterosexual couples, between the ages of 18 and 70. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that both males and females' knowledge of parental infidelity was negatively associated with their horizontal and vertical relational ethics. Furthermore, regardless of gender, their horizontal relational ethics predicted the participant's history of infidelity. The vertical relational ethics predicted the male's history of infidelity, but the same pathway was not significant for the female participants. The results showed no significant indirect effects, which indicate relational ethics is not a significant mediator between these variables. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) revealed a mix of actor and partner effects. The male participant's own past infidelity was negatively associated with vertical and horizontal relational ethics (actor effect), however the female's own past infidelity was negatively associated with only their horizontal relational ethics (actor effect). Similarly, the female participant's horizontal (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Bartle Haring (Committee Chair); Anastasia Snyder (Committee Member); Gilbert Greene (Committee Chair); Deborah Steward (Other) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

Romantic relationships continue to be a challenge to many and the break-down of these relationships impacts partners and offspring in many negative ways. Relationship cycling is a relatively common phenomenon, where couples will separate and reconcile their romantic relationship. There is a lack of information on the way that relationship history in general, and relationship cycling in specific, interacts with relational ethics on predicting relational satisfaction and adjustment. According to contextual theory, the perception of fairness and ethical relating in a relationship are connected to couple satisfaction (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Krasner, 1986). Two samples were collected, including an individual response sample (n = 125) and a couple response sample of 68 couples (n = 136). All participants were newly married or engaged heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 35. Data were collected using on-line recruitment and surveys. A new instrument measuring relational ethics was used and found to highly correlate with the Relational Ethics Scale. A description of cycling couples was generated, with cyclers most frequently cycling a single time, with the male partners more frequently considered to be responsible for the problems and cycling in the relationship. Differences in relationship satisfaction, vertical relational ethics, and horizontal relational ethics based on cycling status were explored using a MANOVA, with multiple independent t-tests. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the association between relationship cycling and couple satisfaction, and whether relational ethics accounts for this association. Results suggest that cycling couples are less satisfied with their relationship, and have lower levels of horizontal relational ethics. An SEM model demonstrated that cycling did negatively predict relationship satisfaction, but this association disappeared when relational ethics were introduced. An SEM model was estimated based on contextu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Bartle-Haring (Advisor); Keeley Pratt (Committee Member); Anastasia Snyder (Committee Member) Subjects: Individual and Family Studies; Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy

This quantitative research study investigated forgiveness in adult sibling relationships. The goal of this study was to investigate forgiveness in adult sibling relationships and the role of relational ethics and relational satisfaction. A thorough review of the literature on Contextual theory and forgiveness in the MFT field is presented. One hundred and seventy-eight participants were included in the study to address the hypotheses, which include: (1) higher levels of relational ethics in sibling relationships are positively and significantly correlated with higher levels of forgiveness; (2) relational satisfaction in sibling relationships is significantly and positively correlated with forgiveness in sibling relationships; (3) relational ethics in sibling relationships is significantly and positively correlated with relational satisfaction in adult sibling relationships; and (4) relational satisfaction mediates the relationship between relational ethics and sibling forgiveness, such that higher levels of relational ethics will in turn lead to higher levels of relational satisfaction, which would in turn lead to higher levels of forgiveness. A discussion of the findings, limitations of the study, research and clinical implications, and direction for further research are addressed after the conclusion of the study.

Committee: Karin Jordan PhD (Committee Chair) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Families and Family Life; Individual and Family Studies; Personal Relationships

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2015, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Despite a general agreement across health care disciplines that Advanced Care Planning (ACP) and Advanced Directives (ADs) add important elements to a patient's end-of-life care desires, and can inform their loved ones and advocates, help create ease of mind, and enhance quality of care, they continue to remain significantly underused. More than half of Americans transition to chronic and terminal illness without having completed them. The aim of this study was to increase the frequency and enhance the quality of communication about Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning within the clinical relationship. The resulting Interdisciplinary Relational Model of Care (IRMOC) can help clinicians engage in more frequent and effective communication about ADs and ACP. This ontological hermeneutic study considered scholarly and professional, practice-based health services literature, along with juridical, legislative, policy, and philosophical texts that have informed previous models of care. Tacit and explicit phenomena, conditions, and practices of communication about ADs and ACP in the patient-clinician relationship were identified. In response to the phenomena, conditions, and practices identified in this study the IRMOC was formulated and applied to communication about Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning in the patient clinician relationship. The IRMOC was then expanded, made more nuanced, and contextualized within the overall philosophical, theoretical, and practical frameworks that informed the model. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Philip Cushman PhD (Committee Chair); Mary Wieneke PhD (Committee Member); Judith Gordon PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Clinical Psychology; Communication; Counseling Psychology; Gerontology; Health Care; Health Education; Health Sciences; Medical Ethics; Medicine; Oncology; Philosophy of Science; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Public Health Education; Therapy

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2012, Philosophy

This thesis argues that “person” is not a natural kind—it is not a kind at all. Instead, personhood is a mode of experiencing each other rooted in the structure of our consciousness; personhood is fundamentally relational. I begin with a survey of the prevailing theories of personhood, giving special attention to the history and development of the concept of genetic personhood. Next, I bring insights from developmental psychology, ethnography, and evolutionary anthropology to elucidate the connection between intersubjectivity and personhood. To further develop and support a concept of relational personhood, I combine these insights with a philosophical approach that includes feminist philosophy, phenomenology, and philosophy of mind. With the help of philosophers including Annette Baier, Beata Stawarska, Christine Korsgaard, and Jean-Paul Sartre, I show how the second-person experience is the experience of intersubjectivity, and how it informs our intuition that beings exist that can be wronged. I conclude by examining the implications of a relational understanding of personhood for bioethics, with special attention to questions involving the moral status of human fetuses and non-human animals.

Committee: Madeline Muntersbjorn PhD (Committee Chair); Benjamin Grazzini PhD (Committee Member); Ammon Allred PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Medical Ethics; Philosophy; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, Human Development and Family Science

Relational ethics is one of the four dimensions in the contextual approach to therapy. Though its concepts have been widely endorsed (Goldenthal, 1996), very little research exists on its influence on relationship variables. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of relational ethics on relationship satisfaction among couples in therapy. A time-series design was adopted and data were collected at intake and end of each session until session six. A total of 39 heterosexual couples from The Ohio State University s Couple and Family Therapy clinic were included in the sample. At the end of six sessions, a total of eleven couples remained. Results showed a positive correlation between relational ethics and relationship satisfaction at baseline for both male and female partners. Multilevel Linear Modeling (MLM) using HLM6 showed significant variance in relationship satisfaction at baseline and over time within and between couples. At baseline, female partner s perception of unfairness in both horizontal and vertical relationships, and male partner s perception of unfairness in horizontal relationship emerged as significant predictors of lower relationship satisfaction among couples and between partners. Significant variance was also noted in relationship satisfaction over time between and within couples. While the baseline predictors also explained variance between couples, there was a difference in the predictors of within-couple variance. Here female partner s perception of unfairness was indicative of lower relationship satisfaction in both partners, and perception of unfairness among male partners was indicative of higher relationship satisfaction levels among female partners across time points. Longer duration of relationship emerged as a predictor of lower relationship satisfaction among couples at baseline and a slower rate of change in satisfaction levels over time. While more research is needed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the complex na (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Bartle-Haring PhD (Advisor); Julianne Serovich PhD (Committee Member); Amy Bonomi PhD (Committee Member); Steven Beck PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Mental Health

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Communication Studies

This dissertation (auto)ethnographically explores Muslim women's identity formations and negotiations within an American context. A relational examination and application of the Communication Theory of Identity is used to describe and challenge the ways in which scholars understand cultural identities in discursive webs of contestation. Fifteen Muslim women from Northwest Ohio share their stories and experiences to demystify their often misunderstood and misrepresented identities. They speak of women's rights and empowerment that they achieve through and with Islam. Through their voices, I challenge hegemonic notions of Islamophobia, nationalism, an immigrant sociological narrative, citizenship, and bullying. I advocate Braidotti's nomadic subjectivity as we reframe and grow in our becoming together as more socially aware, culturally accepting, and understanding the diversity that exists even within our own communities.

Committee: Sandra Faulkner Ph.D. (Advisor); Ellen Gorsevski Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joshua Atkinson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Khani Begum Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Communication; Ethics; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Islamic Studies; Peace Studies; Personal Relationships; Religion; Rhetoric; Social Research; Social Work; Sociology; Spirituality; Theater; Theater Studies; Womens Studies