Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gender And Disability: An Exploration Of Reflective Practice For Protection And Access Amid Complex Emergencies, Lindsey A. Mandolini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender and Disability: An Exploration of Reflective Practice for Protection and Access Amid Complex Emergencies is a qualitative research project exploring under what conditions and in what ways disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) effectively protect and provide access to women and girls with disabilities amid complex emergencies. The study upheld a participatory approach and rights-based framework, emphasizing that authentic inclusion requires centering disabled voices in research. Drawing on extant research, grey literature, and data collected from online practitioner questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study conducted a multi-phased reflexive thematic analysis. The research findings culminate in a composite narrative that brings to …

Unheard Victims Of Covid-19: The Impact Of Mask Use On Communication For D/Deaf And Hard Of Hearing People, Kym Couch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Masks are effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19, but they also impact communication for d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people. This research is a mixed methods approach to analyzing the impact that the widespread use of masks in response to COVID-19 has had on DHH people. Building on the allowance for nuance and paradox presented by Deborah Stone in her book Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making (2012) and holding to the Social Model of Disability, this research involves the qualitative and quantitative analysis of a survey of one-hundred and ninety-eight (198) DHH people, interviews with …

Parent-Child Attachment When Parenting A Child With A Disability, Giulianna Zocchetti

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parent-child attachment is a commonly researched topic, but parent-child attachment when a child has a disability has received limited attention in the literature. This study seeks to examine the impact of parenting a child with a disability on parent-child attachment. This study was conducted on a Facebook forum that posts about parenting with children who have developmental disabilities.

This research study used a variety of methods and procedures. First, this study was conducted using quantitative methods. The research used a self-administered survey on the platform SurveyMonkey. The study used snowball sampling to recruit participants. To analyze the data, descriptive and …

Assessing Professionals Working With Latinx Families With Special Needs In Monterey County, Jose Francisco Hernandez Rivera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Special Kids Connect (SKC) is a nonprofit organization serving children with disabilities and their families in Monterey County. This capstone project concentrated on the professionals working with children as part of SKC’s Early Start Intervention Program. The project’s objective was to discover local agencies' professional development training needs that serve Latinx families with disabled children between 2 to 8 years. Seventy-five child-care providers, early intervention service professionals, regional center staff, and school district personnel responded to the survey. They indicated an overall 60 % needed an understanding of systems related to IEPs, Early Start Services, Developmental Screenings, Social-Emotional Screenings, Regional …

The Moderating Effects Of Disability On The Relationship Between Job Embeddedness And Turnover Intention Among Veterans, Beverly Maier

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Nearly 26% of American adults have a disability. The goal of vocational rehabilitation for individuals with disabilities is to participate in the labor market and improve their quality of life. Employment is an excellent community reintegration. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that in 2020, a total of 4.7 million veterans received a rating of the service-connected disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the U.S. Department of Defense. The unemployment rate for veterans with a disability is 6.2%, which is not a significant difference from the unemployment rate of 7.2% for veterans without a disability. According to …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

Women Veterans’ Benefit Application Experiences In South-Central Texas, Wendy B. Yeldell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Female veterans are increasing and are anticipated to make up 20% of all veterans; however, they are less likely to apply for and use their veterans’ benefits, such as medical, mental health counseling, educational, and other programs that can benefit warriors and their family. South-Central Texas Veteran Service Organization (SCTVSO) has outreach initiatives to reach female veterans and assist during the veterans’ benefits application process. The study’s overarching question centered on obtaining insights from female veterans on their familiarity with SCTVSO and experiences with the benefit application process. This study focused on the largest population of women veterans in the …

The Debate On Physician-Assisted Death In The United States: A Narrative Analysis Of Formula Stories, Rebecca Blackwell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public policy discussions can be viewed as empirical windows into broadly shared culturalvalues and emotions of the social contexts in which the policy discussions take place. This project is a narrative analysis of the public debate on physician-assisted death (PAD), drawing from three data sources: newspaper articles, the websites of social movement organizations, and testimonies from a state legislative hearing. This analysis explores ways in which social actors deploy personal stories that contribute to shape the policy-making process by appealing to cultural beliefs and broadly shared emotions. The findings of this project constitute a contribution to the study of emotions …

Instructing Normalcy, Anna R. Derosa

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

The Lived Experiences Of People With Disabilities And Their Families: Transitioning To Adulthood And The Role Of Independent Facilitation, Emily Christine Tang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Objective

Emerging adulthood can be a stressful life stage due to the many life choices available and is especially challenging for emerging adults with disabilities (EADs) who face additional barriers in accessing supports and information regarding adult opportunities. This qualitative study investigated the experiences of transitioning to adulthood, and the role of a person-directed facilitation service, for EADs and their families.

Methods

Fourteen participants were recruited through purposeful and convenience sampling. Data collection procedures consisted of background questionnaires and one-on-one semi-structured interviews which were then thematically analyzed. Field notes, member checks and triangulation were used throughout the analysis process …

The Effect Of Disability On Unemployment Claim Duration In Kentucky And The Surrounding States, James Tatum

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The duration of unemployment insurance claims in Kentucky are over 30% longer on average than unemployment claims in the surrounding states. This study uses a time-series regression to compare data from Kentucky and the surrounding states to find correlations between unemployment insurance claim duration and the percentage of a state’s population that reports having at least one disability. No significant correlation was found between a state’s population with a disability and unemployment claim duration but there was a significant negative correlation between unemployment claim duration and the total amount of Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income payments people …

The Working Public’S Perceptions Of Service Dogs: A Phenomenological Investigation Of Gatekeepers’ Experiences, Angela M. Dial

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The purpose of this study was to capture the essence of the working public’s experiences with, and perceptions of service dogs. The population for the study was the working public of Kentucky, who through their employment, have experienced first-hand the phenomenon. A phenomenological framework informed the research design. In-depth, unstructured interviews were conducted to obtain data. Interview transcriptions were analyzed according to suggestions from Moustakas (1994) and Hycner (1985) regarding phenomenological research. The results of this research study naturally formed into five themes. Findings showed prevalent misunderstandings, confusion and lack of knowledge regarding service dogs, including how to identify a …

Readiness For Assisted Decision-Making: An Exploratory Qualitative Study, Kay Cronin

Theses

Background: Ireland has recently enacted the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. The enactment of the legislation has allowed Ireland to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2008). The convention obliges all member states to assist people with disabilities to make their own decisions, with their will and preference taking precedence over what others deem to be in their best interests. Implementation of this legislation requires a change in working practice among health and social care providers to promote autonomy and decision-making among service users. To date, this topic has not been researched in Ireland. …

Reliability And Stability Of The Six Question Disability Measure In The Current Population Survey: What The Data Can And Cannot Tell Us About Disability And Labor Force Participation, Jeffrey Joy Dr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Current Population Survey (CPS) has been a major source of disability data for public policy and research. The aim of this study was two-fold. First, the study examined the six disability measures added to the CPS in 2008 to determine if they are both a reliable and stable method of describing disability over a period of two survey administrations in a 12-month period. Second, this study then assessed the impact of disability upon labor force participation. This research used a subset of the respondents to the longitudinal CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement; it included (N=11,721) respondents …

Alignment Of Standards, Assessment, And Compliance For A Residential Support Provider Organization, Monique Day

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although Code of Maryland policy mandates multidisciplinary, integrated teams for residential service provider organizations (RPOs) for an intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) population, alignment criteria to identify and evaluate the functional characteristics of such teams do not exist. This ambiguity has resulted in potential conflict in the goals of service delivery, as well as misaligned quality assessment and policy development criteria. The intent of this general qualitative study was to use complex adaptive systems theory and Vitkiene's work on corporate ethos to determine whether the services provided by a single RPO were consistent and aligned with the regulatory mandate set by the …

A Study In Diversity Management Of Local Governments In: Mecklenburg County, Nc; City Of Atlanta; Cobb County; Fulton County; Dekalb County And Gwinnett County, Joyce Yung

Master of Public Administration Practicums

This paper studies different diversity training programs and diversity policies employed in managing an increasingly diverse workforce of six jurisdictions that are comparable in size and in diversity. It asked what level of support do these public administrators receive from the leadership team in promoting diversity and inclusion and how do they evaluate and measure the diversity programs’ performance? What are the challenges of public administrators in establishing and cultivating an equitable and supportive diverse workforce that is reflective of the diverse public that they serve? This paper also examines how well the employee demographic representing the public of each …

Student Service Members/Veterans Programs In Erie County Colleges And Universities: Analyzing Programs For Removing Barriers And Facilitating Identity Transitioning, William E. Langer

Public Administration Master’s Projects

Student Service Members/Veterans (SSM/Vs) served their nation in times of peace and in war and in doing so, are eligible for various educational benefits. To assist the SSM/V in adapting to their new role as a student and civilian, most postsecondary educational institutions offer services specifically tailored to the SSM/V population in order to support and assist them in completing their academic program. These services could include navigating benefit programs, financial aid, orientation programs and disability services as needed. In this transformative mixed methods study, a content analysis of the public websites of the schools was first conducted to determine …

Out Of Reach, Benjamin Tenerella-Brody

Capstones

Months after the city agreed to make half of its taxi fleet accessible to people in wheelchairs, 219 West takes a look at the issue of subway accessibility, which has changed little since 1984. One disability-rights advocate takes us through the system, running into several obstacles. Others tell us why they think it is both immoral — and illegal.

Perspectives On Disability And Community Engagement In Albania: Developing Mutual Understanding Through The Sharing Of Individual Narratives, Lucia Murillo

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores current perspectives on disability in Albania by bringing into discourse the voice of families and community members in order to learn how history, tradition, and family values influence individual or community response to having or being in community alongside children with special needs.

Research Theory and Protocol

I carried out this research using critical hermeneutic theory. The protocol followed an interpretive approach as outlined by Ellen Herda (1999). This orientation brought the researcher and participants together and used narratives as a medium for participatory inquiry.

Research Categories

The critical hermeneutic concepts of narrative identity, mimesis, and communicative …

It's Not So Simple: Understanding Participant Involvement In The Design, Implementation, And Improvement Of Cash & Counseling Programs, Erin E. Mcgaffigan

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

For more than three decades, the United States federal government and the states have worked to restructure the long-term care system to be more community based and responsive to personal preferences. Some argue that those who seek such services should be actively engaged in their design (Morris, 2008; Priester, Hewitt, & Kane, 2006). While many who design and implement home and community-based services may believe that participant engagement could be beneficial, most plans move forward with little to no provision for such engagement. The existing literature provides very little insight into the implications of such decisions.

The Cash & Counseling …

The Shape Of Grief: A Generational Legacy Of The Vietnam War, Benjamin A. Quick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A well-known memoirist once said that a true war story never seems to end, that it just keeps going and going. The question begs: If the war story never ends, then how does it manifest in future generations? In my case, as the first-born son of a Vietnam veteran, the war story has played out physically, within my body, in the form of an Agent Orange-related disability and a resulting set of limitations and adaptations. Fortunately, for me the limitations have been few and the adaptations many. But despite this, I’ve known, since a relatively young age, that I am …

Self-Determination Realized? Consumer Direction: A Case Study Of Virginia, Parthenia Dinora

Theses and Dissertations

Consumer direction, a model of long-term care service delivery where service recipients and their families/advocates have enhanced control and choice over the services that they receive, is a growing phenomenon in United States. As it becomes greater utilized, it is important to understand the model and study its impacts. This dissertation details the history of the consumer direction movement, describes the current landscape of consumer direction in the United States, and presents a comparison study of users of consumer-directed (CD) services in three of Virginia Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid Waivers. Self-determination theory is provided as a theoretical …

The Impact Of Service Delivery Models On Non-Disabled Peers Intent To Include Their Peers With Disabilities, Michael Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In much the same way as the racial integration movement, advocates for students with disabilities (SWD) have cultivated an active and vocal lobby seeking to establish and then implement legal mandates to integrate classrooms in the hope that social acceptance would follow. Through federal mandates such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), conceptually initiated in 1975 and revised in 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) along with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, these students have a voice to cry out for access to the experiences of work, conversation and play with …

Nursing Home Ownership And Public Policy: An Historical Analysis, K. R. Kaffenberger

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

In the early days of the United States, care of the disabled elderly outside the home meant the public almshouse. By the 1920s, private, nonprofit homes for the aged were prevalent. More recently, private, for-profit facilities have grown to dominate the field.

For-profit ownership has been controversial. Underlying the controversy is the concern that quality might be lowered in order to enhance profit.

This study asks why most nursing homes are privately owned and why most privately owned nursing homes are operated for profit. It does so with reference to The Nonprofit Economy, in which Burton Weisbrod describes a …