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Youth Offending In Denver: The Increasing Trend And Essential Elements To Successful Intervention, Olivia Crimaldi

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Recent years have witnessed an alarming increase in youth offending across Denver, necessitating a thorough analysis of factors influencing the surge, as well as areas of improvement for current intervention methods. Juvenile delinquency is largely affected by complications associated with the transition to adulthood, such as the development of personal identity or a decrease in parental supervision. A full understanding of at-risk individuals must consider risk, promotive and protective factors, as well as the interaction between these three components. Past successful prevention and intervention methods have included relationship-building implementation, therapeutic strategies, and consistent measures of quality and accountability. Despite many …

Social Media And Mental Health: The Public Health Impact And Future Policy Directives, Renae A. Merrill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between social media use among young people and the increasing concerns of mental health problems in the U.S. and globally is on systemic agendas. Furthermore, research on social media use and mental health indicate reasons to suspect a causal relationship, but more work needs to be done. Therefore, this three-article dissertation seeks to explore (1) associations between social media use, personality, and depression; (2) associations between social media emotional support, anxiety, and personality; and (3) the relationship between social media use and mental health using Deborah Stone’s causal stories framework. Findings from this study provide an improved understanding …

Public Policy And African American Victims Of Inner-City Violence, Michael Andrew Benson Sr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The effects of being victimized or being a witness to a violent traumatic event without the support of public institutions, such as criminal justice, social service agencies, and mental health care clinics has led to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and success factors for victims of inner-city violence as it related to access to public administration institutions to address their victimization. Self-efficacy theory was used as the theoretical foundation, and the study’s research question focused on victimization and access to public policy institutions. The study used a qualitative design with 10 …

Public Participation In Georgia’S Environmental Permitting Process, Joyce A. Stanley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is no meaningful way for Georgia residents to participate in the environmental decision-making process before environmental permits are approved. As a result, hazardous waste facilities are disproportionately placed in African American communities, exposing them to poor air quality and a higher prevalence of heart and respiratory diseases than Whites. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and better understand how African American residents living in Stonecrest, Georgia felt about the hazardous waste site being placed in their community without an opportunity to provide input into the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (GEPD) decision-making process before a decision …

Public Policy And African American Victims Of Inner-City Violence, Michael Andrew Benson Sr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The effects of being victimized or being a witness to a violent traumatic event without the support of public institutions, such as criminal justice, social service agencies, and mental health care clinics has led to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and success factors for victims of inner-city violence as it related to access to public administration institutions to address their victimization. Self-efficacy theory was used as the theoretical foundation, and the study’s research question focused on victimization and access to public policy institutions. The study used a qualitative design with 10 …

Three Essays At The Intersection Of Child Welfare And Public Policy, Mattie Mackenzie-Liu

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is comprised of three essays which examine policy relevant issues in the child welfare system. In the United States the goal of the child welfare system is to protect the well-being of children by ensuring their safety and promoting permanency. Children typically become involved with the child welfare system due to an allegation of neglect or child maltreatment. If the allegation is substantiated, the government can take custody of the children, remove them from their homes, and place them in foster care. All three of these papers examine foster care outcomes. Removing a child from their family is …

Monitoring Sars-Cov-2 Risk With Co2. The Importance Of Ventilation, Masks, And Vaccinations., Preston Betz

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

To assess airborne pathogen infection risk, concentrations of interior carbon dioxide and changes in relative humidity serve as proxies for human respiration products. Yanes and Yapp, 2010, demonstrated that interior air carbon dioxide concentrations and ¹³C/¹²C ratios display a two-component mixing relationship between respiration carbon dioxide which is highly concentrated (>100x atmospheric) in respiration air CO₂ at >40,000 ppm compared with ambient air (~410 ppm). In the absence of combustion carbon dioxide, the concentration of carbon dioxide, in an interior space, depends on the rate of respiration CO₂ addition relative to the amount of …

Impacts Of Immigration Detention On Sub-Saharan Africa Asylum Seekers In The United States, Felix Vescovi Ogunsuyi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Detaining asylum seekers has become an established practice in many countries. There is a large body of research suggesting that immigration detention causes asylum seekers harm. However, the focus of these studies has been on diagnosable disorders and mental health, with no descriptive understanding of how detention and resettlement are experienced and conceptualized by asylum seekers. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how formerly detained asylum seekers from sub-Saharan African countries perceive the impact of detention on their resettlement experience in the United States. Ager and Strang’s conceptual framework of refugee integration was used as the study’s …

Legislative Efforts And Community Change To Combat Female Genital Mutilation In Egypt, Maryam Berkshire

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Female genital mutilation is recognized as a violation of human rights as it violates the bodily rights of young girls by cutting part of their bodies without their consent and leaves long term psychological, physical and sexual harm to women who were exposed to the practice. The World Health Organization estimates that 130 million girls and women are subjected to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in African and Middle Eastern Countries. According to a UNICEF 2020 report, Egypt will not meet the SDG goal of eradicating FGM as the decrease in the practice is too slow despite the policy and community …

Retaining Foster Parents In San Bernardino County: Identifying And Accessing Resources And Support Services Since California’S Continuum Of Care Reform, Charles A. Varadin

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Foster care is a vast social justice issue that impacts nearly every local community. Yet, it receives relatively little attention due, in part, to the low social constructs of many of the most affected groups (Schneider and Ingram 1997). Thus, it should come as no surprise that foster care and the child welfare system in California, and the United States in general, is in a crisis as more children enter the system than there are foster parents to care for them. Retention of quality foster parents reduces the need for recruitment and increases the likelihood of more stable placements with …

The Role Of Social Media In Policy Formulation Improvement In California, Khoi Minh Nguyen

Master's Projects

How could staff members of California Assembly members use social media to improve policy formulation? The purpose of this study is to assess the role that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook could play in the formulation and evaluation of policies in the state of California, given the increasing application of big data in decision making in the private sector. This study further evaluated how emerging technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence could be used to determine the attitudes and perceptions of the citizens of California, specifically on policy issues, and analyze how these technologies could …

The Eviction Landscape In South Carolina, Ethan Magnuson

Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the South Carolinian eviction crisis from the perspective of radical geography. South Carolina was chosen for the severity of its crisis and the lack of research at a sub-state level. Court records of eviction filings from 2019 were geocoded and tested for spatial clustering, which was clearly visible. Plaintiff names were used to identify the most frequent filers and distinguish landlords by type. At the census tract level, eviction filing counts were compared with neighborhood characteristics using negative binomial regression, and most were found to be significant in South Carolina. …

Gendered Entrepreneurship Contextualization In Egypt: An Empirical Study On Policies For Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment, Sarah El-Fiky

Theses and Dissertations

The proportion of women entrepreneurs has increased dramatically over the past decade, not just in the developed world but also in developing countries. This led to a significant increase in the governments’ attention towards designing and implementing female-focused policies to allocate adequate resources for empowering women entrepreneurs in Egypt. This paper examines one main question: How does the Egyptian government empower women entrepreneurs through key policy interventions? This is only possible through testing the proposed research hypotheses and investigating Egypt’s publicized policies and governmental interventions. Based on a gender-lens perspective, this research tries to close the gaps in previous research …

Canadian Policymaker Experiences On Reducing Syndemic Stigma For Hiv And Substance Use Disorder, Nickolas James Cherwinski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

People living with HIV (PLWH) and substance use disorder (SUD) experience highly stigmatized lives fraught by influences such as criminal law and stigmatizing public policies. Despite free access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and mental health services for all Canadian citizens, suboptimal adherence to ART and administratively cumbersome mental health interventions still exist. Many researchers have found the health services for both HIV and SUD to be dynamic, costly, and difficult to maintain; as such, the purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge gap related to the policy implications of syndemic stigma experienced by PLWH and SUD in Canada. …

Skin Bleaching Among Female University Students, Adegboyega Abayomi Adewoyin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Nigeria, skin bleaching, a practice that can create significant health problems, represents a persistent social issue. The behavior has become widespread due to unfettered access to various brands of bleaching creams. The purpose of this study was to gather data to (a) seek an understanding of the deeper motivations underlying the decision to engage in skin bleaching or skin whitening among female tertiary students and (b) examine the awareness among such students of public policy on skin bleaching creams. The case study qualitative research design was employed to enable skin bleaching cream users to share their motivations and experiences. …

Perceived Employment Barriers Involving Program Managers Assisting Unemployed Young African American Males, Michael P. Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For unemployed, young, African American males who face significant barriers to jobs, public employment training centers have become a critical last option. For 2016, the U.S. federal government appropriated more than $6.9 billion to states for Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act programs and approximately $3.4 billion in federal formula funding for partner programs. The research problem in this study concerns the lack of adequate employment-based policies and programs that guide the workforce employment process between program managers and recipients, in particular, young, African American males. Guided by Ingram, Schneider, and DeLeon’s theory of social construction and policy design, this study examined …

Older Adults' Access To Medicaid's Home-And Community-Based Services, Joe Henry Horton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the U.S. population ages, the need for public policies regarding long-term care increases, as the need is unequal to demand. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the role of senior service providers (SSPs) who have dealt with health policies from being responsible for the decision-making processes of implementing federal and state guidelines in Michigan on access and wait-listing of older adults for home and community-based services (HCBS). The theoretical foundation for this study was the social construction and policy design theory. The central research question sought perceptions of SSPs as to their ability to …

Seeking Success: A Case Study Of African American Male Retention At A Two-Year College, Richard Latroy Moss

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a problem in higher education in the United States. African American students, specifically males, are not being retained and graduating. This problem is even more evident for students that attend two year colleges. African American male students lag behind white males, Hispanic males and African American females, in retention and graduation rates. This problem has caught the attention of many leaders. Policy makers and college leaders are among those who seek to understand the why and find solutions to the challenge of African American male student retention at two year colleges, as two year colleges are becoming the …

The Political, Economic, And Social Determinants Of Child Poverty: The Case Of Windsor, Ontario, Paul J. Przytocki

Major Papers

In 1989, the federal government mandated to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. This paper explores the political, economic, and social determinants of persistent and high rates of child poverty in the Windsor-Essex region of Ontario eighteen years after the stated deadline for this mandate. By asking the question of what social, political, and economic factors contribute to the stable and high rates of child poverty in Windsor-Essex, this paper argues that child poverty in the Windsor CMA is due to (1) a lack of political leadership and investment; (2) the lack of economic diversification; (3) a flawed support …

Elder Abuse In Illinois: A Two–Pronged Approach To Assessing The State's Response, Angelique Marie Pass

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Adult Protective Services Program is tasked with enforcing the standards and policies created at the federal level relating to how provider agencies should respond to elder abuse. What has yet to be explored is whether the Adult Protective Services Program is efficiently responding to the issue of elder abuse through its monitoring and evaluation protocols, which are based on the current policies. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the 13 planning and service areas in their response to elder abuse. The response to elder abuse is guided by the current policies and funding strategies …

Perceptions Of Homeland Security Policing In An Urban Midwestern Community, Sukeena Stephens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the terrorist attacks on the United States of America on September 11, 2001, approach to policing has observably been shifted across the country. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, this study explored the perceptions of community members from a Chicago, Illinois community regarding the shift in policing style post 9/11. Cooley's theory of the looking glass self, coupled with a phenomenological approach to understand the deeper meaning associated with the perceptions of the residents and the shift in policing styles in Chicago communities. The data were obtained from participants who were at least 40 years old and held a residence for …

Underrepresentation Of African American Female Community College Presidents In The United States, Nicole N. Tanner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women are significantly underrepresented in the role of community college presidents in the United States. Insufficient research has been conducted related to the reason behind the underrepresentation of African American female community college presidents in this nation, warranting an investigation that led to this study. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of 7 current and former African American women who are, or have held, the community college presidency role to gain an in depth understanding as to why, from their perspective, an underrepresentation of African American female community college presidents exists in …

Having Or Serving: Perceptions Of Hsis, Rebecca Gates

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite substantial growth within the Latinx population and its access to higher education, there are still significant gaps with regard to degree attainment. In 2015, 36% of U.S. adults aged 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree. However, only 15% of those adults were Latinx, the lowest percentage amongst any racial/ethnic minority (NCES, 2016). While 67% of non-Hispanic White students entering four-year colleges complete their degree in six years, only 47% of Latinxs do so (Carey, 2009). These gaps represent an attainment disparity within higher education based upon population demographics. The purpose of this study was to address …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Implications For Public Policy Regarding Gay Seniors Living In Suburban Florida, Brian Fuss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In less than 20 years over 6 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals will be over 65 years old designated as seniors according to the Older Americans Act. When public policies for the aging population are implemented, LGBT individuals are forgotten, especially those living in nonmetropolitan areas. Using a purposeful convenience sample and a phenomenological approach 7 gay seniors residing in Florida suburban areas were interviewed to explore their lives as they age. Aging policies were investigated through the social construction of deservedness lens to ascertain individual political power while exploring (a) the challenges of living in suburban …

The Role Of Social Media In Millennial Voting And Voter Registration, Elesia Glover

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The millennial generation has become the largest generation in the United States. Yet as more members of this generation reach voting age, their propensity to vote remains stagnant. For instance, in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, less than 50% of eligible millennials voted, in comparison to the 69% of baby boomers and 63% of Generation X. Voting is a civic duty essential to a successful democracy; therefore, it is imperative to find solutions to increase millennial political engagement. As millennials represent the largest proportion of users of social media, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationships …

Increasing Employee Retention Within The Georgia Division Of Family And Children Services, Santoria Lushell Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Walden University

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by

Santoria Lushell Williams

has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects,

and that any and all revisions required by

the review committee have been made.

Review Committee

Dr. Hilda Shepeard, Committee Chairperson,

Public Policy and Administration Faculty

Dr. Clarence Williamson, Committee Member,

Public Policy and Administration Faculty

Dr. Anne Hacker, University Reviewer,

Public Policy and Administration Faculty

Chief Academic Officer

Eric Riedel, Ph.D.

Walden University

2018

In Fulton County, Georgia, the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) child-welfare workers …

Almost Home: An Interim Solution To Homelessness, Daleen M. Pearse

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In 2015 there were 4,627 homeless individuals unsheltered in Santa Clara County (Home Not Found, 2015). With very few housing options available many homeless individuals are forced to camp illegally in conditions that are unsafe and inhumane. The Gilroy Compassion Center has addressed the need for an interim solution to homelessness with its Almost Home Camping Program. This program provides stability to individuals who participate by providing transitional housing in a campground setting as an alternative to camping illegally. Participants address their own personal barriers whether it is substance abuse, mental or physical health, as well as other barriers identified …

The Impact Of The Universal Basic Education Program In Addressing Rural Secondary School Drop Outs, Chinwe Anwuli Mordi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) was designed to address the social problem of drop outs in secondary schools, but dropout rates in secondary schools are still at a 42% high in Enugu State, Nigeria. This study sought to understand teachers' perceptions of the program, the ways the UBE impacted the dropout problem, and what could be done to the UBE program to make it more effective. This study provided an important contribution to the literature, as it examined an often neglected perspective: the input of teachers in the field, as opposed to those of policy planners at the top. The …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Sustainable Value And Water Conservation: A Case Study Of Social, Environmental, And Economic Concerns In The Rookery Bay Estuary, Bruce Victor Lilyea

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Stakeholders’ perceptions of social, environmental, and economic concerns in the Rookery Bay Estuary were examined through this research. The purpose of this study was to discover the shared value and common resolution responses for the people of the Rookery Bay area that can extend to other local environmental management scenarios. Using Stakeholder Theory, Rational Choice Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Systems Theory as theoretical foundation, the following research questions were considered: RQ1) What are the points of shared value of community stakeholders facing environmental management issues? RQ2) How do the perspectives of the community stakeholders toward the social, environmental, and economic …