Department

Leadership

Date

2013

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Leadership (Ed.D.)

Type of Paper/Work

Dissertation

Advisor

Fr. Jean-Pierre Bongila

Second Advisor

Kathleen M. Boyle

Third Advisor

Chien-Tzu Candace Chou

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the community of support prospective adoptive parents create by way of blogging during the adoption process. This study used phenomenology and grounded theory strategies as they pertain to the qualitative method inquiry to collect data through in depth interviews of nine participants, field notes, blog reading and relating artifacts. In order to get a balanced view of the phenomenon, this study included both blogger and non-blogger adoptive parents, who all participated in subsequent open-ended interviews. To analyze data, I used the following analytical tools: servant leadership, narrative paradigm, social support, and care theories. Completion of this research created greater understanding of how social media invites interactions and connections that may not happen otherwise between people who shared the common purpose to adopt. Findings of this study revealed the following: blogging built a support community for adoptive parents; it offered a place to share information and process emotions; it became a medium for adoptive parents to tell their stories; in particular, writing blogs turned blogging parents into servant leaders whose experience pave the way for future generations. These findings suggest that future prospective adoptive parents could use blogs to research sources and to find support groups both online and otherwise whose help could guide them down the least stressful path of adopting a child.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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