Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Patriotic Are Albanians? The Comparative Study Of Patriotic Attitudes In Albania And The Albanian Diaspora, Anxhela Spahiu

Master's Theses

In today’s post-modern digital world, patriotism may not be as prevalent as in the past. In this thesis, my principal aim is to investigate to what extent Albanians, a nationality to which I belong, identify with a patriotic attitude toward Albania. I chose to focus not only on Albanians who live in the diaspora, like myself, but also on Albanians who live in Albania. I believe that to understand national pride to its fullest, you must study the attitudes of those who live in the country of origin as well as of those who live in the diaspora. Many people …

Articulated Indigeneity And Tourism In HawaiʻI, Erika Nielsen

Master's Theses

The guiding research question for this thesis asks how Hawaiian indigeneity and self-determination are articulated within tourism spaces in Hawaiʻi. This thesis research works to uncover the nuanced ways that Hawaiian indigeneity is employed to manage and regulate tourism activities in Hawaiʻi. I seek to question the narrative that Hawaiians consent to, and prosper from, the largely unregulated mass tourism complex that has become a focal point of the post-colonial state. Native Hawaiians have actively resisted the erosion of their culture, lands, and nation through strategies that employ multiple understandings of indigeneity. We should not assume that the tourism industry …

Planning Cities, Economically Or Communally: A Comparative Study Of Amsterdam And San Francisco, Raina Dawn Whittekiend

Master's Theses

Globalization has spun “community” off its axis. What once defined community is no longer the current state of the community. Increased economic transactions have led to the instability of communities that once depended on one another at the local level. These communities are now dependent on systems that do not know nor understand their actors. This lack of relationship between development and subject is witnessed and highly scrutinized in developing countries all over the world and has been intensely researched in academic literature. This thesis intends to better understand why in modernized global cities these same processes of development and …

Privileging Autistics Of Color: A Human Rights Approach To Applied Behavior Analysis (Aba) Therapy, Rebecca Rubey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project examines the social construction of autistic people of color through the pathology paradigm and the associated human rights violations. The purpose of the project is to disrupt the pathology paradigm by privileging voices of autistic people of color in professional development workshops for ABA therapy providers. The workshops aim to help ABA therapy providers understand the historical context of ABA, how it fits into the wider systems of white supremacy and ableism, and how these dynamics are re-enacted in every day practice with autistic people of color.

Gendered Impacts Of Community-Based Conservation Initiatives In Kimana/Tikondo Group Ranch Outside Of Amboseli National Park, Megan Clemens

Master's Theses

Community-based conservation has become a common solution to addressing local communities needs and concerns when it comes to conservation initiatives associated with, or outside the boundaries of national parks. Community-based initiatives associated with Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya mark one of the first attempts to include local communities in conservation initiatives and management as well as establish systems of benefit sharing between conservation and local communities. However, a critique of community-based conservation initiatives points out they often assume community homogeneity. Assumption of community homogeneity leads to inequities in benefits sharing, exclusion of subgroups (women, ethnic minorities) or even exacerbate …

Japan's Employment 'Catch-22': The Impact Of Working Conditions For Women In Japan On Japan's Demographic Population Crisis, Mary Perkins

Master's Theses

This thesis examines Japan’s aging population crisis and gender inequalities in the workplace. This topic presents an interesting and challenging phenomenon for Japan, as Japan’s economy and technology have developed more rapidly than almost any other country, establishing Japan as one of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Yet Japan still significantly lags behind other industrialized nations when it comes to women’s rights and opportunities for advancement in the workplace. This is in turn hampering efforts for Japan to address a population crisis, with an older population growth rate far outpacing the growth of demographic groups that would support the …

Life Being An International Student In The United States: Acculturation, Culture Shock, And Identity Transformation, Lai Yan Vivyan Lam

Master's Theses

The population of international students at community colleges in the United States has increased significantly over the past decade. International students play a big role in building the cultural diversity on campus by bringing over different cultures and sharing their global perspective to the local community. However, they often face challenges adapting into American culture due to cultural differences in education system, language, lifestyle, etc. By looking into the acculturation process of international students to analyze the culture shock and cultural identity changes they experienced, this paper intends to seek ways to help this group of students to ease their …

Afro-Latinx Transnational Identities: Adults In The San Francisco Bay And Los Angeles Area, Koby Heramil

Master's Theses

This paper examines the identity construction of Afro-Latinas/os/x in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles Area. Marginalized communities predominately Black and Latina/ o/x concentrated are at the epicenter of disenfranchisement caused by the globalization of neoliberalism. Neoliberal reforms to education restrain the various nuances of pluralistic teaching, focusing only on the performance of standardized tests thus pressuring schools to center their interest in securing funding. This has greater implications for low-income communities of color where multicultural pedagogy is limited. More importantly, this association of neoliberalism reforms to education affects Afro-Latinx individuals, because they are maligned in the conversation about …

Exploring Employment Equity: Diversity & Inclusion In Canada’S Legislation & Policy, Vanessa Toussaint Miller

Master's Theses

Multiculturalism is considered very much a part of Canada’s national heritage and identity, becoming the first nation to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy in 1971. Over the last 40 years, the Canadian population has undergone significant changes bringing in immigrants with different cultures, ideologies, religions and ways of life. Despite the various changes in society, the multiculturalism policies have remained the same. This thesis examines Canada’s Employment Equity-a policy intended to eliminate systemic discrimination in the workplace-and its effectivity at creating a diverse and inclusive workforce. The main research question is, in the past five years, has Employment Equity …

Urbanization, Land Rights And Development: A Case Study Of Waterfront Communities In Lagos, Nigeria., Gideon Olaniyi Omoniyi

Master's Theses

The aim of this study is to examine the root causes of forced evictions and displacement through the current urbanization process in Lagos, Nigeria. My particular attention is devoted to the legal complexities and how ethnolinguistic identities shape land laws, influence land tenure, and construct urban citizenship. Through this process, competing claims to land ownership provide fertile ground for forced evictions and displacement. Existing scholars suggest that poor urban residents lack rights to stay in their neighborhoods, while a powerful capitalist class has emerged and dispossessed the poor from their lands. Yet these existing approaches derived from the neoclassical and …

Small Arms: An Applied Approach To Children In Armed Conflict Prevention Initiatives In Africa, Tristan Burger

Master's Theses

For centuries, children have been used in times of war—serving as porters, cooks, spies, sex slaves, and soldiers. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is still pervasive today with an estimated 300,000 children involved in armed conflict as of 2015. This applied project examines a possible method for preventing the illegal practice of using children in combat by employing a new technology centered on community-based early warning theories. I seek to understand if implementing a text-based, mobile crowdsourcing platform in remote communities in Sub-Saharan Africa will be successful in predicting Lord’s Resistance Army raids, thereby reducing the number of children abducted and/or forcibly …

The Chinese Cultural Influence On Filipino Cuisine, Brandon Chase Lantrip

Master's Theses

This paper illustrates the impact of the Chinese cultural influence upon the Philippines with the primary focus being on Filipino cuisine. It examines how the Chinese cultural influence not only contributed to the development of Filipino cuisine, but how Chinese culture has also influenced the everyday life and culture of the Philippines through language and customary practices for over a millennium. The first section of the paper analyzes the cultural connection between China and the Philippines. The second section illustrates the Chinese language influence and it’s effect upon Filipino cuisine and culture. The third section explores the contested origins of …

Migrant Ridesharing Drivers In San Francisco: A Case Of Blocked Mobility?, Shireen Tofig

Master's Theses

Migrants have long turned to self-employment in host country labor markets due to not only racial and ethnic prejudices, but also issues of local language proficiency and lack of recognition of the academic degree from the sending country. The taxi industry, one particular occupational niche dominated by migrants, has long been studied by scholars. However, the industry has evolved into a newer and understudied form of transportation: ridesharing. This study argues that in the case of the ridesharing industry, drivers did indeed turn to the occupation because of factors such as insufficient English language level and foreign academic degrees, but …

Recreating Resistance: Rape Culture Resistance Through Human Rights Education, Hailey D. Vincent

Master's Projects and Capstones

Sexual violence and rape culture are substantial issues in our society and on our college campuses. The goal of this project is to provide research that investigates rape culture on college campuses as a human rights violation and ways to address it in an intersectional manner through human rights education. The research for this project, conducted through a literature review, provides the ability to look at rape culture through a human rights education lens. In response to the research conducted, Recreate Resistance was created as a pedagogical tool for educators in First Year Experience (FYE) programs on college campuses. Recreate …

Health Starts In The Home: An Assessment Of Efforts To Improve Occupant Health Through Healthy Building Materials In San Francisco’S Affordable Housing, Staci Hoell

Master's Projects and Capstones

Americans spend 90% of their lives indoors, and much of this time is spent at home, surrounded by building materials that typically have added chemicals like flame retardants, highly fluorinated compounds, and antimicrobials. Recent research has linked these chemicals to adverse health outcomes such as asthma, endocrine disruption, cancer, neurodevelopmental issues, and reproductive problems (Bayer et al., n.d.; Green Science Policy Institute). Furthermore, these chronic health conditions disproportionately affect low-income populations. Fortunately, substantial efforts in research, practice, and policy are working to reduce the use of these potentially harmful chemicals in building materials, particularly in San Francisco’s affordable housing sector. …

Fostering Strengths: Using Testimonios To Identify Community Cultural Wealth In Foster Youth, Katherine Mullin

Master's Projects and Capstones

Foster youth voices have been silenced in schools, work environments, and many other settings.There is very little research around what works well for foster youth and what their assets are. Foster youth have many skills and resources that they use to navigate systems that continually marginalize them. But these are often ignored or overlooked. This project uses youth voices through Testimonios and Community Cultural Wealth to create a training for group home staff.

"I Need Help" Recommendations For A Trauma Informed Care Training For Resource Parents, Jaspreet Kaur Bola

Master's Projects and Capstones

This report discusses the need for extensive trauma informed care training for resource parents (formerly known as foster care parents). A review of the literature and collection and analysis of data during group interviews with case managers and one-on-one interviews with resource parents was conducted. The review and data analysis found that resource parents are experiencing several challenging behaviors as a result of trauma from the foster child(ren) in their care and resource parents want more specific and detailed trauma informed care training that will help foster parents better address behavioral issues of the foster children in their care. Resource …

Developing A Peer Cancer Support Group Evaluation, Glenda Kith

Master's Projects and Capstones

Introduction: For many years, health care organizations have offered peer cancer support groups to cancer survivors, but peer cancer support group evaluation is not standardized. Without a clear and consistent evaluation, it may be difficult to understand the efficacy of and gain support for peer cancer support groups. In this paper, I discuss how an evaluation was created for a peer cancer support group called Cancer Awareness Resource and Education (CARE).

Methods: In-depth interviews with CARE participants were conducted and pre-survey and a post-survey were developed. The in-depth interviews included a convenience sample of eight individuals, two individuals from the …

Child Abuse Prevention Training: Introducing A Train-The-Teacher Manual For Child Safety Awareness, Kimmera Wilson

Master's Projects and Capstones

Introduction. In order for the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center community education department to extend the outreach of the Child Safety Awareness (CSA) curriculum, a training manual was created for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) K- 5th grade teachers. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a train the teacher manual for the child safety lessons.

Methods. A five question tool was developed to survey Kindergarten through 5th grade teachers working at elementary schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. The questions were designed to better understand the needs of the population before creating a resource for them …

On-The-Spot Mindfulness Based Practices For Addressing Behavior Challenges Among 3rd Graders, Christina Francis

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to introduce and implement a mindfulness based tool that will empower students to manage their stress which contributes to their classroom behavior and allow teachers to minimize the amount of classroom time spent addressing behavior challenges.

Methods: Observations of third grade classrooms, key informant interviews with third grade teachers and community observations were conducted at the Achieve Academy School while throughout the school day.

Results: Findings showed that students would benefit from the implementation of On-The-Spot Mindfulness Based Techniques and Practices by minimizing stress, increasing academic success and improving the overall behavior, …

Reduction In Delayed Patient Care On The Medical-Surgical Unit, Lina Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

The focus of this project is to improve daily bedside rounds through utilizing the BRT, which could enhance patient safety and satisfaction by reducing delayed patient care on 3 North medical-surgical department at CPMC. The data retrieved from nurses in the past 3 months has shown that 30% of the patients had delayed care due to daily bedside rounds. By utilizing late medication as an indicator, my goal is to observe a reduction in late medication documentation due to daily bedside rounds by 10% by the end of August 2017. CPMC Davies campus adult medical-surgical department holds 44 inpatient beds. …

The Imagine Project: Inspiring Vulnerable Adults Through Art And Mindfulness, Janelle Defiesta

Master's Projects and Capstones

The IMAGINE Project tackles the issue of stress reduction for a population that faces high stress levels due to environmental instability with co-morbidities of prior physical, cognitive, and social issues. Despite the need of stress reduction approaches in a population under these circumstances, external factors make it difficult to reduce the problem. Consequently, the lack of stress reduction skills can lead to the exacerbation of existing problems and the onset of many others. However, until basic needs such as housing and sustenance are met, stress reduction cannot be attempted effectively. Thus, the target population for this project focused on people …

Implementing For Success And Sustainability, Michele Paulo

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Nurses, including those with additional education and training as professional development specialists, face challenges to implementing evidenced-based practice changes effectively and efficiently. Nurse bedside performance can drift away from evidence-based practice (EBP) and revert to methods previously taught when the strategy, planning and implementation lacks resources to support sustainable change. While knowledge and skills attainment are important, they do not ensure the successful transition in practice change at the point of care. An intervention has been developed that integrates several evidence-based implementation concepts and frameworks into a single framework named the Identify and DRIVE framework. Additionally, the Identify and DRIVE …

Transnational ‘Interruptions’ In Eritrean Refugee Lives In The Bay Area, Meron Y. Semedar Mr

Master's Theses

For many refugees, the day they flee their home country is the start of the interruption of their life. For refugees, such interruption brings the absence of continuity and loss of vision for the future, that they have to be present in the current situation – not knowing their future. This interruption literally 'interrupts' the life plan of refugees. Many Eritrean refugees vocally state that, "Our body might be here, but our soul is all in Eritrea". Eritrean refugees, having fled an oppressive regime, continue to experience nonstop interruption to their lives in their new country. Due to both the …

Inentives And Education: Experimental Evidence From Medellin, Colombia, Theodore D. Wisinski, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

This research uses an experimental design to investigate how incentive structure influences goal achievement among disadvantaged high school students in Medellin, Colombia. Of particular interest is how treatment effects influence school performance as well as how this may vary with differing key characteristics of the participants. Medellin, Colombia, like much of South America suffers from high levels of inequality in the city proper. Improving educational outcomes in impoverished neighborhoods is essential for the growth of these neighborhoods and the greater community in which they are located. The model used in this experiment is inspired by the Family Independence Initiative (FII). …

Income Shocks And The Acceptance Of Intimate Partner Violence In Indonesia, Matthew N. Krupoff

Master's Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive issue affecting 1 in 3 women worldwide. Despite the negative welfare impacts, it is still seen as acceptable in some parts of the world, even amongst women. This paper examines how elastic these accepting attitudes towards IPV are to changing economic conditions. Specifically, this paper focuses on changes in intra-household resources from negative shocks to male-sourced income. The setting and context takes place in coastal communities in Indonesia, where fishing is a main source ofincome generated primarily by men. This paper uses satellite-derived fishing conditions to measure how women's attitudes towards IPV change …

Agricultural Technology Adoption And Adaptation Under Climate Change: Microevidence From Niger, Berenger Djoumessi Tiague

Master's Theses

Many regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are experiencing fast increases in human population pressure and urbanization. By 2050, feeding a planet of 9 billion people will require an estimated 50 percent increase in agricultural production. Farmers in in the Sahel are exposed to a highly variable weather over time, and to their limited adaptive capacity, therefore often use livestock as income generator, export earnings, and as insurance against weather risk. There is an increasing demand for livestock products, which increase pressure on crop residues use on the land. In this study, I use panel socio-economic data combined with village rainfall …

Do Marketing Strategies Impact Condom Sales In Uganda?, Meyhar Mohammed

Master's Theses

What attracts people to buy condoms? HIV/AIDS remain one of the biggest health dangers of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of efforts have been pursued in the past two decades to drastically reduce prevalence of HIV and increase awareness about preventive mechanisms. In order to prevent relapse of success achieved so far, it is important to recognize transformation of consumer behavior due to growth in social networks, education and awareness over time. There are a lot of behavioral triggers captured by social marketing interventions in the field of public health. In an attempt to investigate the role …

Goal Effectiveness In Achieving Educational Outcomes: Experimental Evidence From 9th Graders In Medellin, Colombia, Daniel Salicath, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

Does goal setting among low-income ninth graders leads to higher average goal achievements of educational outcomes? This question is explored by a field experiment motivated by the acknowledged California-based Family Independence Initiative (FII), to analyze the effectiveness of individual goal setting, incentives and self-help groups on the achievement of educational goals. By randomizing treatments and control with the cooperation of the Secretary of Education in Medellin, different classrooms were assigned to five different experimental groups that met systematically for five months. The results show that goal setting is a cost-effective method to help low-income students achieve educational outcomes. Setting a …

La Madre Competitiva: An Experimental Study Of Women's Competitiveness In Medellin, Colombia, Miranda I. Lambert

Master's Theses

Abstract: This project is a follow up to Cassar, Wordofa, and Zhang (2015), which aimed at testing whether extending incentives beyond cash would alter the estimated competitive tendencies of men and women. Here we extend this work to an urban Colombian setting. In the previous study conducted in China, men have proven more competitive than women; however, once the incentive changes to a child-benefitting voucher, women increased their likeliness to compete. This research uses statistical and regression analysis to test whether or not women become more competitive when competing for a voucher, which directly benefits their child as opposed to …