Discusses the growth of university programs aimed at bridging the transition of women from home to the labor force or to further education and training in the United States. (SK)

Analysis of Al-Anon and Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) organizational literature shows women's articulation of and responses to the problems of codependence from the 1950s to the 1980s. Progressive appropriation of feminist ideals, a critique of the family, and a disease-based model of family dysfunction characterize understanding of…

The Discover program is a program for women who want to become self-sufficient and self-supporting. Clients of the program may be separated or divorced, single mothers, or married to an underemployed spouse. The Discover program involves career exploration in the hope that its graduates will enter an occupational training program. The goals of the…

This description of a weight reduction program, based on generalizations derived from eight years of work with overweight persons, discusses the clients' rationalization of overeating behaviors. In this behavior modification program, the client is required to permanently give up one high calorie food and to write down all foods eaten before actual…

Despite differential gender findings in the epidemiology of substance use, only a limited amount of research focuses on the differences in initiation into drug use and antecedent conditions. As part of the awareness of the need for mutual support among African American women, the National Black Women's Health Project, in conjunction with the…

An eating disorder prevention program was completed with middle school, high school, and college females. Some successful outcomes included: (1) facilitating an acknowledgement of pressures to attain a model skeletal look; (2) changing attitudes about standards of beauty; and (3) altering the participants' current and future intentional use of…

Using the perspective of sociology and social welfare, the report focuses on issues and concerns by considering the concepts and underpinnings of personal development, social development, community development, women's issues, rural social welfare, and self-help. Contexts are the social development and social welfare of total societies as well as…

This paper describes the displaced homemaker, defines her plight, and delineates the successful Displaced Homemaker Program conducted by the Fort Wayne area (CETA) consortium. The emphases of the program focus on the fundamental concerns of the displaced homemaker, i.e., the establishment of a new identity, the resolution of financial problems,…

A qualitative study examined how formal and informal social and cultural learning for political action was incorporated into two women's organizations in Colombia: the Association of Daycare Mothers and the Community Mothers. Research was guided by the historic hermeneutic method, which identifies experience through the narrative testimonies of…

A non-profit program based in Washington State that promotes access to college for low income groups/welfare recipients is described, along with results of research on the program. The H.O.M.E (Helping Ourselves Means Education) program is designed to help welfare recipients leave the welfare system by entering educational institutions. Additional…

The Confidence Clinic at Clackamas Community College was designed to help women on welfare to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. The need for such a program was evidenced by the fact that 11% of the county's population were women heads of households who had below median family incomes, and by the apparent increase of such situations. The…

Self-help education and self-help literature is important in the lives of African American adults, but the basic models of learning, development, and program planning in adult education have often been developed with little concern for the unique needs of African Americans. In addition, current theories of adult learning often lack understanding…

The training manual provides self-help in six areas of leadership development for American Indian and Alaska Native women. Following an introduction describing how to use the manual are six chapters focusing on the theories and development of leadership skills, the vulnerability of Indian women to poverty, nontraditional careers for Indian women,…

This document is a leader's guide for conducting a course in improving self-esteem for mature middle- and upper-class women. After a section on characteristics needed by group leaders and pointers on conducting group discussions, the document contains lesson plans for eight discussion-group lessons. Topics covered during the eight sessions include…

A study examined the ways a group of people experiencing poverty, poor housing, and stress assessed the impact of these factors on their health through participating in a course called "Health Issues in the Community." It involved people from a range of socioeconomically excluded areas and groups throughout Scotland in identifying and…