Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Welfare Policies And Hardships On Participation Rates Among The Poor, Matthew W. Cain

Undergraduate Honors Theses

For several decades, a new political prospective has emerged in the Political Science literature - Policy Feedback Theory. Put simply, Policy Feedback Theory looks at the way public policy affects politics. Existing policies can define the political environment, shaping the capacities, interests, and beliefs of political elites and states, which in tum influence the next round of policy-making. However, does public policy only change the politics of elites and states? Can public policy also change the politics of mass publics? Recent Political Science researchers are now examining this question.

Even though much ground has been gained in examining this question, …

The Price Of A Healthy Diet: For Whom Is It Affordable?, Katheryn L. Harkleroad

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This exploratory study addressed the gaps that current research has ignored. What have been missing are studies that focus on tangible costs of realistic, practical, and healthy meal plans. This study was not intended to measure a national average cost of eating a healthy diet. Rather, its focus was to examine the cost of healthy diet in a specific location.

Improving Home Suitability For Aging In Place: A Review Of Programs To Assist Maine's Seniors Make Necessary Home Repairs And Energy Efficiency Updates, Andrea Westbye

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

With its median age of 42.7 years, Maine is the oldest state in the nation and it is getting older. The population 65 and older is growing at a rapid pace and this expansion presents many challenges to communities, particularly in the area of housing. Most seniors want to stay in their homes for as long as possible and adequate, accessible, safe, and affordable housing is a primary factor for successful aging in place. Low income seniors face additional difficulties when aging in place. This paper looks at the availability of home repair/modification and energy efficiency programs for Maine’s low …

An Assessment Of The Health Needs Of Maine Veterans And Their Access To Veterans Administration Health Care Services, Kristin Brawn

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

On a state level, only a few assessments have been conducted, which indicate that Maine veterans are also experiencing similar mental and physical health issues; however, it does not appear that the adequacy of Maine’s VHA services to meet the needs of Maine’s veterans has been comprehensively evaluated. It is unknown whether the physical and mental health needs of Maine’s veterans are currently being met. Therefore, this project proposes to determine if there is a similar problem among Maine’s veterans in regard to health issues and lack of access to VHA health services, as has been reported at the national …

2014 May, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May of 2014.

Psychometric Properties Of The New Patients’ Expectations Questionnaire, Ann Bowling Bsc, Msc, Phd, Gene Rowe Phd

Patient Experience Journal

The authors explore the development of the Patients’ Expectations Questionnaire (PEQ) and examination of psychometric characteristics it encompasses by reviewing surveys of primary care and hospital outpatients before and after their clinic visit. Three scales were developed for Pre-visit Ideal and Realistic expectations, and Post-visit Experiences (met expectations), based on literature review, semi-structured interviews, and subsequently piloted and refined. Patients completed the questionnaire about their ideal and realistic expectations before they saw the doctor, and were asked if their expectations had been met afterwards. The results show the scales met acceptability criteria for reliability (Cronbach’s alphas exceeded α 0.70), administration …

Editorial Comment: A Method For Identifying Positive Deviant Local Health Departments In Maternal And Child Health, Sharla A. Smith, Michael A. Preston, Marylou Wallace

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children is a vital public health initiative in the United States. Local health departments are designated agents for addressing maternal and child health outcomes. Klaiman and colleagues used a positive deviant (PD) framework in identifying the modifiable activities and approaches for LHDs that contribute to better MCH outcomes.

A Method For Identifying Positive Deviant Local Health Departments In Maternal And Child Health, Tamar A. Klaiman, Athena Pantazis, Betty Bekemeier

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Local health departments (LHDs) are under increasing pressure to improve performance with limited resources. While research has found that financial resources may be associated with better health outcomes, there are some LHDs that maintain exceptional performance, even with limited budgets. Our interest was identifying LHDs that positively deviate in MCH outcomes compared to their peers while taking into account local context including geography and finances. We found that our method for identifying positive deviants was effective, and that LHD expenditures may not be linked to MCH outcomes. The next step in our work is to conduct in-depth analysis with positive …

Assessing Impacts Of Time Use On Children's Physical Fitness In Relation To Risk For Obesity And Diabetes, Jessica Guo

PSU Transportation Seminars

Researchers from the transportation, planning and health fields share the common goal of promoting physically active lifestyle. One challenge that researchers often face is the measurement of physical activity, particularly among children. This is because the sporadic nature of children’s physical activity patterns makes it difficult to recall and quantify such activities. Additionally, children’s lower cognitive functioning compared to adults prevents them from accurately recalling their activities. This presentation will describe the design and application of a novel self-report instrument - the Graphs for Recalling Activity Time (GReAT) - for measuring children’s activity time use patterns. The instrument was applied …

Family-Farm Therapy: An Urban Therapy Clinic To Address The Multifaceted Needs Of Multi-Stressed Families And Their Surrounding Communities, Felisa M. Huene

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Family-Farm Therapy incorporates a therapeutic clinic within an urban farming community site, and focuses on multi-stressed family systems and the larger community system. The goal is for systemic change within the family and the community by creating positive relationships and personal acceptance. Farming has traditionally been a family endeavor which makes it a unique environment to be utilized as metaphors for family systems, their interactions, behaviors, and structure. Multi-stressed families have socioeconomic hurdles that complicate their ability to adjust to change and crisis in their family. Farming addresses such hurdles by offering economic sustenance, increased physical health, and community acceptance. …

Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands, Meagan Batdorf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May, Sheree T. Speakman, Patrick J. Wolf, Albert Cheng

School Choice Demonstration Project

The revenue study is based on Fiscal Year 2010‒11 (FY11) data for each of 30 selected states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.). Traditional school districts and public charter schools were analyzed and aggregated “statewide.” For each state, one to three “focus areas” were selected based on larger concentrations of charter students – most focus areas are large cities, some are metropolitan counties. Traditional school districts and charter schools were analyzed separately in each focus area. The analytic team collected and analyzed all revenues, public and private, flowing to traditional district and public charter schools. FY11 funding includes Federal, State, …

Little Emperors And An Army Of Orphans: The Government’S Control Over The Idea Of Family In An Overpopulated World, Corinna L. Miller

Honors College Theses

This research elaborates on the connection between governmental policies for population control and the psychological effects felt by its citizens. Governments enact laws to form and shape their country, but when plans to benefit society as a whole overspill into the personal rights of families, there can be unforeseen consequences that span across cultural, economic and physiological wellbeing. These side effects can have debilitating outcomes for countless generations to come, even after the policy has been abolished. In an age where exponential population growth is a severe problem, this study attempts to understand what happens when governmental policies influence the …

The Campus Kitchen At Umass Boston Student-Powered Hunger Relief In Boston, Office Of Student Leadership And Community Engagement, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Walter Denney Youth Center, Housing Opportunities Unlimited, St. Peter's Teen Center, John Winthrop Elementary, Project Alerta, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Camp Shriver, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Inc., Sodexo

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Campus Kitchen at the University of Massachusetts Boston (CKUMB) is a part of The Campus Kitchens Project. (CKP), a national network of student volunteers, works to rescue excess food to create meals for those in need. CKUMB opened in 2010 to provide meals for the Dorchester community. By taking the initiative to run a community kitchen, students develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills, along with a commitment to serve their community, that they will carry with them into future careers.

Politics Of Health: The 2013 Integration Policy’S Effect On Immigrant Access To Care, Amy Chang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In September of 2013, King Mohammed VI announced a regularization campaign, implementing a new policy of integration with respect to undocumented immigrants in the country. Deviating from former official discourse, the new measure allowed in principle for—among provision of residence cards and lifted criminalization of undocumented immigrants—greater immigrant access to healthcare services. The purpose of the following research was to assess whether the effects of this new provision are being positively felt on the ground in ensuring inclusivity of health services.Individual interviews on personal experiences with the Moroccan healthcare system were held with members of various immigrant sub-populations: refugees, asylum …

School Kitchen Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The school kitchen garden is an innovative curricular program based on school children planting a garden and then learning to cook with the foods they grow. The program teaches students many life skills, along with teaching them about nutrition, the environment, sustainability, and almost every school subject. Researchers have studied various aspects of school kitchen gardens, but few have focused on kitchen gardens’ influence on students’ nutritional habits, environmental knowledge, and sustainability practices in particular, like this study does. The popularity of the kitchen garden program in Australia is mostly due to the celebrity chef Stephanie Alexander, who started a …

“Nous Souffrons” Examining The Problems Facing Urban Refugees In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Morgan Walbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the product of a study that examines the experiences of urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Refugees around the world, often victims of unthinkable human rights abuses, are forced to rely fully on the hospitality and protection of the international community. This unique relationship between a refugee and his/her host state can present serious challenges to both parties. This research examined the resources available to refugees in Yaoundé, evaluated their effectiveness, and explored possibilities for improving the experience of these urban refugees. I utilized eighteen structured interviews with refugees and four follow-­‐up in depth interviews with three refugees …

Cultivating Rice In Import Dependent Cameroon: A Case Study Of The Successes And Challenges Facing Rice Farmers In Santchou, Cameroon, Kim Horwitz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cameroon is qualified as an import dependent country, meaning it relies on imported food to feed its population. Specifically, Cameroon imports over 80% of its rice consumption, spending 145 billion French CFA on rice imports yearly. But, Cameroon has sufficient untapped arable land and a large enough agriculturally centered population to produce adequate rice quantities to meet demand without relying on imports. This paper examines the challenges facing rice farmers in Cameroon in the context of import dependence and why local farmers cannot currently produce enough rice to meet local demand, focusing on the experience of the rice farming community …

Safety, Security, And Socio-Economic Wellbeing In Somaliland, Laura Hammond

Global CWD Repository

This report provides the findings of an extensive research exercise carried out in 12 communities in Somaliland in March 2013. The research aimed to determine:

1. Whether there had been an improvement or deterioration in people’s perceived levels of safety and security in their communities since DDG had first engaged with them, and if so, what was the evidence of improvement/deterioration.

2. Whether there had been an improvement or deterioration in people’s socio-economic wellbeing since DDG had first engaged with them, and if so, the evidence for either, and the reasons people associated with it.

3. Whether the trends identified …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Wpa News 93 (2014), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Spring 2014), number 93

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Aging In Boston: Preparing Today For A Growing Tomorrow, Jan E. Mutchler, Bernard A. Steinman, Caitlin Coyle, Hayley Gleason, Jiyoung Lyu, Ceara Somerville

Gerontology Institute Publications

Boston’s population is becoming older than ever before. The oldest Baby Boomer is approaching 70 and reinventing what it means to be a “senior citizen.” Waves of Boomers will forge a new path into later life, creating a population of seniors that is larger and more long-lived than previous cohorts, and diverse in new ways. In 2010, more than 14% of Boston’s residents were 60 years or older, representing 88,000 older people. By 2030, projected increases in the older population will result in as many as 130,000 seniors residing in Boston. How will Boston accommodate its growing older population? What …

Consumer Perceptions Of Child-Friendly Shaped Healthy Fruit And Vegetable Snacks, Selena Lauren Baker

Open Access Theses

Fruits and vegetables (FV) are widely recognized as healthful foods by the public, and most individuals are aware of dietary guidance recommendations to consume more FV. However, actual consumption of FV has been and continues to be low in the United States and many other countries, despite public health efforts to change this trend. The sub-optimal intake of FV among children and adolescents is of particular concern due to high nutrient requirements for proper growth and development during these life stages. Fruit and vegetable intake patterns in childhood have been shown to track into later life and may affect individuals' …

Community Engagement And Participation In Collective Impact Initiatives, Sarah M. Milnar

Professional Projects

There is no question that large social problems like poverty and educational inequality are difficult to solve. Many groups throughout the nation and world are adopting the framework of collective impact in efforts to solve these problems together, as opposed to working in individual silos yielding only isolated impact. However, the framework that is used to align high-level leaders and resources has been criticized for being too “top down” and perhaps leaving out the actual people who are directly affected by the interventions. This report examines whether and how collective impact initiatives foster the participation and engagement of the very …

Kajian Permasalahan Dan Potensi Perilaku Ibu Dalam Pemberian Makanan Bagi Anak Dalam Kaitannya Pada Kualitas Hidup Anak-Anak Yang Tidak Berkecukupan Gizi Di Keluarga Miskin Perkotaan, Getar Hati, Isbandi Rukminto Adi

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

This article discusses about child welfare issues in a community related to mothers’ behavior child welfare issues of a community related to children of age 6-24 months with insufficient nutrition condition. It also describes about the factors which influenced to this condition that would be base of intervention design to solve the problems. This is an descriptive research. This research stated that parents, especially mother has the most important roles in determining their children’s life quality.

Oral Health Promotion: Knowledge, Confidence, And Practices In Preventing Early-Severe Childhood Caries Of Virginia Wic Program Personnel, Lorraine Ann Fuller, Sharon C. Stull, Michele L. Darby, Susan Lynn Tolle

Dental Hygiene Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study assessed the oral health knowledge, confidence and practices of Virginia personnel in the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Methods: In 2009, 257 WIC personnel were electronically emailed via an investigator-designed 22-item Survey Monkey® questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Fishers Exact tests compared personnel demographics and oral health knowledge, confidence and practices at the p≤0.01 and 0.05 significance level.

Results: Response rate was 68%. WIC personnel were knowledgeable about basic oral health concepts. More than half of those reporting were not confident assessing for visual signs of dental decay and do not routinely …

Barriers To Successful Cervical Cancer Screening In Rural Kwazulu-Natal, Cato Manor, And Cape Town, Amanda Comai

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2000, the South African Department of Health produced a nationwide policy intended to combat the growing crisis of cervical cancer. Nearly fifteen years later, however, the disease remains a significant cause of death among certain female populations, especially those who are rural, poor, and HIV-positive. It is undeniable that challenges of access, awareness, resource demand, and stigmatization stand in the way of complete policy enactment.

In this study, I explore in detail the barriers that prevent successful implementation of the policy. My research combines interviews with a variety of individuals and participant observation at the Cancer Association of South …

Eating Disorders: Prevalence, Perceptions, And Treatments In Jordan, Brenda Gable

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the perceptions that young women in Jordan have regarding their bodies and eating disorders, in addition to their opinion regarding media and familial pressures to fit societal norms. The study further examines eating disorders as a mental disorder and the obstacles that individuals face when seeking treatment. This study was implemented by 95 surveys distributed to women in a first aid course at Jordan University and by interviewing professionals in the nutritional, mental health, and educational field. It was found that 86% of surveyed students believed that young women in Jordan struggled with body image and 72% …

Public Health Services Most Commonly Provided By Local Health Departments In The United States, Gulzar H. Shah, Huabin Luo, Sergey Sotnikov

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The primary purpose of this research is to identify the most commonly performed public health services by local health departments (LHDs) and highlight variation by LHD characteristics. Data were drawn from the 2008 and 2010 National Profile of LHDs, conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). The descriptive analysis aims to further the essential dialogue triggered by a recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report about the standard minimum set of services that all LHDs should provide. This study identified a set of 22 activities performed by LHDs that are common in jurisdictions of all sizes. …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 41, No. 1 (March 2014)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• PATHOLOGIES OF THE POOR: WHAT DO THE WAR ON DRUGS AND WELFARE REFORM HAVE IN COMMON? - Kalynn Amundson, Anna M. Zajicek, and Valerie H. Hunt
• GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SELF-EMPLOYMENT OF OLDER WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND NEW ZEALAND - Angela L. Curl, Deanna L. Sharpe, and Jack Noone
• INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF CHILDREN IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: A CASE OF PATH DEPENDENCY - Victoria Schmidt and Jo Daugherty Bailey
• THE FIRST FAITH-BASED MOVEMENT: THE RELIGIOUS ROOTS OF SOCIAL PROGRESSIVISM IN AMERICA (1880-1912) IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - Steven Stritt
• MASS SHOOTINGS AND MENTAL HEALTH POLICY - Jessica Rosenberg …

Healthy Eating And Savvy Saving: An Evaluation Of Action For Boston Community Development’S Food Dollars Program For Low-Income Elders, Ann Bookman, Susan M. Phillips

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report is an evaluation of an innovative community-based intervention – the Food Dollars Program. Funded by the AARP Foundation, this program was designed and delivered by Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) and their Elder Services staff in order to promote healthy eating and reduce food and economic insecurity among low-income elders in Boston. The impetus for creating this program arose from the challenges many low-income individuals face in purchasing and consuming healthy foods from the five food groups as recommended by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in their ChooseMyPlate model of healthy eating. The Food Dollars curriculum …