Digital Commons Network^™

Decolonizing A Settler Colonial State: How Canada And The United States Have Approached Investigations Into Indigenous Boarding And Residential Schools, Holly Jacobs

Master's Theses

Indigenous boarding and residential schools were in use for over 100 years in both Canada and the United States. Grown from numerous policies aimed at assimilation, dispossession, and genocide of the Indigenous peoples of North America, these residential schools had a particular aim: to wipe away all cultural and familial ties of every individual and to replace them with beliefs and values of white settlers. Though the schools are no longer in operation, their legacy of erasure and pain continues to affect survivors, their descendants, and Indigenous communities across both nations. This thesis looks at what the federal governments of …

Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region, Sara J. Moriarty-Graves

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing fire size and severity in the western United States causes changes to ecosystems, species’ habitat use, and interspecific interactions. Wide-ranging carnivore and ungulate mammalian species and their interactions may be influenced by an increase in fire activity in northern California. Depending on the fire characteristics, ungulates may benefit from burned habitat due to an increase in forage availability, while carnivore species may be differentially impacted, but ultimately driven by bottom-up processes from a shift in prey availability. I used a three-step approach to estimate the single-species occupancy of four large mammal species: mountain lion (Puma concolor), coyote …

Examining The U.S. Disaster Management Program: A Case Study Of The U.S. Virgin Islands Hurricanes Irma And Maria Evacuation, Victoria F. Vachon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractWhether from natural or human causes, every global community is at risk for overwhelming, destabilizing incidents. Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands in late August and early September 2017, necessitating the urgent evacuation of hemodialysis patients over 1000 miles to the U.S. mainland. Because the damage and response to the U.S. territory were unprecedented, the public health implications of the government’s strategies on the evacuated population subset were unexplored. However, available information suggested that some evacuees sustained avoidable harm while in the protracted care and custody of the government. This qualitative case study, conceptually framed by Bronfenbrenner’s …

Improving Financial Resiliency To Provide Accessible Community Services During Emergency Conditions Through Strategic Planning, Maria Elisa Colmenares

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The study site organization lacked financial resilience to ensure the provision of social services to populations reliant on these services, including before, during, and after emergency conditions. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to provide strategic planning recommendations to increase financial resilience and describe the unique partnership between the client agency and the nonprofit arm. The study addressed strategies to increase the financial resilience needed to sustain the organization’s core mission, and strategies the agency can use to provide community services before, during, and after emergencies such as COVID-19, hurricanes, or severe storms. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and …

Puerto Rican Retired Teachers’ Perceptions About Their Financial Sufficiency, Rossana López León

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Puerto Rico, the Teachers’ Retirement System, which has a membership of around 36,000 retired public-school teachers, is currently facing major restructuring and budget cuts, as part of a larger restructuring of all government agencies to meet the economic emergency they were facing. The recent retirement system reforms were focused mainly on cutting benefits, such as medications, Christmas and summer bonuses, and the cost-of-living adjustment. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of retired teachers regarding their financial sufficiency, and to identify their attitudes, beliefs, and opinions/feelings in light of their socioeconomic profile. The research question focused …

Researcher Views On Changes In Personality, Mood, And Behavior In Next-Generation Deep Brain Stimulation, Peter Zuk, Clarissa E Sanchez, Kristin Kostick-Quenet, Katrina A Muñoz, Lavina Kalwani, Richa Lavingia, Laura Torgerson, Demetrio Sierra-Mercado, Jill O Robinson, Stacey Pereira, Simon Outram, Barbara A Koenig, Amy L Mcguire, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

The literature on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises concerns that these technologies may affect personality, mood, and behavior. We conducted semi-structured interviews with researchers (

Voices, Stories And Experiences Of Black Women: Informing The Establishment Of A Trenton-Based Maternal And Infant Health Innovation And Research Center, Tirzah R. Spencer Phd, Mph, Barbara George Johnson Mph, J.D., Consuelo Bonillas

Center for Health Policy Development

The establishment of a Maternal and Infant Health Innovation and Research Center is one of nine recommendations outlined by the 2021 Nurture NJ Strategic Plan to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and ensure equity in care and in outcomes for mothers and infants of all ethnic groups. The purpose of this environmental scan is to provide input for the design of a Maternal and Infant Health Innovation and Research Center within Trenton.

Building on the Nurture NJ Initiative, this project is a deeper dive in its focus on Black and Latina women living in Trenton and surrounding areas. …

Development Of A Web-Based Diabetes Prevention Program (Dpp) For Chinese Americans: A Formative Evaluation Approach, Ming-Chin Yeh, Wincy Lau, Zoey Gong, Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky, Ho-Jui Tung, Lin Zhu, Grace X. Ma, Judith Wylie-Rosett

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

Increasing evidence demonstrates that an online Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. However, little has been done for Chinese Americans. This study, using Community-Based Participatory Research and Intervention Mapping approaches, describes a formative research process in the development of a culturally and linguistically tailored online DPP program among Chinese Americans with prediabetes living in New York City. Using a triangulation approach, data were collected to inform the development of an online DPP curriculum through (1) a literature review, (2) three focus groups (n = 24), and (3) a community advisory board meeting among 10 …

A Community-Led Central Kitchen Model For School Feeding Programs In The Philippines: Learnings For Multisectoral Action For Health, Vanessa T. Siy Van, Carmina P. Siguin, Andrew C. Lacsina, Lean Franzl Yao, Zarah G. Sales, Normahitta P. Gordoncillo, Leslie Advincula-Lopez, Joselito T. Sescon, Eden Delight Miro

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

In devolved governments like the Philippines, local government units (LGUs) must be engaged to develop and coordinate responses to tackle the multisectoral problem of childhood undernutrition. However, current Philippine nutrition interventions, such as decentralized school feeding programs (SFPs), generally rely on the national government, public school teachers, or the private sector for implementation, with mixed results. The central kitchen model for SFPs was developed by 2 Philippine nongovernmental organizations and facilitated large-scale in-school feeding through community multisectoral action. This case study documented coordination processes in February 2018 for 1 urban city and 1 rural province-the model's earliest large-scale implementation sites-that …

Progress In Chaos: Cash Transfers And Women Economic Empowerment Amidst Climate Change And Violent Conflicts In West Africa, Jennifer Obado Joel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Do cash transfers shift gender norms of economic relations within households and communities during crises? This study explores the effect of social protection programs like cash transfers on women's economic empowerment in contexts where climate change and violent conflicts co-occur. Cash transfers have become a policy of choice for governments and development agencies seeking to alleviate poverty, address economic and political grievances, and build individual and community resilience to climate change. Due to the recent popularity of cash transfers, there needs to be more scholarship on its effect on women's intra-household economic agency and voice in communities. Therefore, this study …

Investing In The Future: A Case Study On Demographic Trends And The Policy Implications For Clark County School District, Joshua Alexander Padilla

Student Research

Clark County School District (CCSD) is the 5th largest school district in the nation. Through the use of the United States Census Bureau’s 2020 ACS 5-year survey, demographic trends will be analyzed for CCSD. This brief will focus on three demographic trends that have direct connections to educational success. Those three demographic trends are: internet access, poverty level (households on SNAP), and school enrollment. Potential policy interventions include technology device loan programs, adopting meal programs for students and their families, and new staff recruiting plans for CCSD.

Food For Harlem, Izania Gonzalez

Capstones

Food for Harlem is a resource guide for Harlem residents to find local food-focused organizations. It’s a list for you to find where you can get healthy affordable food in your neighborhood. This project was created after the feedback I heard in discussion during my time at a food market in Harlem. The final product includes a complete list of over 70 food-focused organizations in Harlem, an interactive map, some important information about the included resources, and a list of definitions.

The website can be found here: https://imgjournalism.wixsite.com/food-for-harlem

The Future Of Universal Basic Income: The Impact Of Organizational Strategies On Alleviating Poverty And Maximizing Outcomes, Anna Mathews

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Universal basic income is gaining traction, with pilot programs being conducted all over the world. These programs are all organized differently, from their sources of funding to their eligibility criteria. This research draws correlations between organizational strategies of UBI programs and the outcomes their recipients experience. Specifically, it analyzes three contemporary UBI programs within the United States: the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (APFD), and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians per capita payments (EBCI). The research assesses the physical health, mental health, and economic outcomes of the participants in each case study, in order to …

How Can You Call Her A Woman? Male Soldiers’ Views On Women In The Drc Armed Forces, Dostin Lakika, Ingrid Palmary

Peace and Conflict Studies

There has been a longstanding body of literature on women in the armed forces at least since the 1970s (Segal, 1999). This literature varies considerably in its approach, from feminist work that reflects on the forms of masculinity produced through military and militarization, to work that considers women’s role in the army and attitudes towards women in the army. Furthermore, policy efforts to increase women’s participation in the army (such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325) have explicitly called for the inclusion of women in peace and security efforts. In this paper, we contribute to this literature by assessing how …

Hardships, Motivations, And Resiliency: Case Study Of Health Implications Of 2022 Russian Invasion On Ukrainian Resistance Members, Jessi Hanson-Defusco

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine caused millions of Ukrainians to flee. Yet most citizens continue to reside in the country, playing critical roles in the Ukrainian resistance. Today the Ukrainian fighting force includes trained military and police as well as citizens who either were conscripted or volunteered to take part in national war efforts. This mixed-method study conducted in Spring 2022 presents data collected from 79 respondents in a semistructured survey, using snowball sampling. Data analysis examined individual self-reported motivations, attitudes toward the conflict, resilience, quality-of-life hardships, and scaled perceived stress. Results indicated that Ukrainian resistance members face …

Healthfulness Of Fast-Food And Full-Service Restaurants In 16 Georgia Counties After Mandatory Menu Labeling, Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, Donglan Zhang, Nicole Katapodis, Dana Alvin, Melanie Andrews

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Despite that the effect of menu labeling on consumer choices has been studied, there are gaps in the research on the healthfulness of the restaurant food environment post-mandatory menu labeling, specifically in the Southern United States. This study aims to assess the healthfulness of fast-food and full-service chain restaurant environments after compliance with mandatory menu labeling.

Methods: The healthfulness of 46 representative fast-food and full-service chain restaurants in 16 Georgia counties was examined using the Nutritional Environment Measures in Restaurants (NEMS-R) survey. The scores were compared between full-service and fast-food restaurants using t-tests across several healthfulness measures such as …

Tanf Work Policy Influences On Family Behaviors And Child Development, Robert William Sturgill Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There has been a lack of research on how work participation policies have impacted child development through their influences on family decisions. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the perspectives of families toward TANF work participation policies, discover how those policies have influenced family behaviors, and analyze how those policy-behavior phenomena have impacted child development. First, the literature review showed that families with chronic welfare dependency had negative impacts on child development. The research showed that when TANF work participation policies were unenforced or income limits were too low, some recipients worked less and persisted in …

Salus Populi: Educating Judges On The Social Determinants Of Health, Faith Khalik, Alisa Lincoln

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Racial Disparities In Physician And Non-Physician Health Professionals: Investigating Barriers For Pre-Professional Students, Emily Remer

Honors Projects

“Diversity” is a buzzword across today’s educational, professional, and office settings. With so many looking to “diversify” their fields, it is important to note the endless ways in which people are diverse. From culture to religion to age to gender to race, and the intersectionality of them all, there has been a push to increase diversity as a means to better serve individuals in minority groups. While all forms of diversity are important, as is their intersectionality, the purpose of this project is to focus on racial disparities. There is no question that racial disparities exist across many roles we …

Nexuscapes: A Landscape Approach For A Transdisciplinary Water-Energy-Food Nexus Decision-Making Process, Fortino Acosta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study develops a reliable transdisciplinary framework for complex ecological and social systems by characterizing, mapping, typifying, assessing, and testing enhanced water-energy-food nexus scenarios under critical time constraints, specialized skills, or sensitive data accessibility. Detached management of limited essential resources like fresh water, reliable energy from renewable sources, and nutritious food can jeopardize regional economies and governance. Using a novel landscape approach, this study recommends a decision-making the framework focused on the circular economy that induces collaboration among diverse sectors and brings strategic coordination, specificity, and magnitude to the proposed solutions. The study elaborates on a decision-making tool that integrates …

A Quantitative Examination Of The Influence Of Social And Structural Communication Variables On The Social Connectedness Of People Experiencing Homelessness, Shawn Michael Evans

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the influence of social and structural communication variables on the perceived social connectedness of people experiencing homelessness in the Northwest Arkansas (NWA) and Joplin, Missouri areas. This study employed the ecological perspective of communication infrastructure theory (CIT; Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001) and a communication perspective which envisions communicative interaction as constitutive of social experience. Using survey data from 166 participants, this study examined 11 research questions and hypotheses drawn from extant literature on homelessness, social connectedness, and CIT. ANOVAs, t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a complex relationship between individuals and the communicative environment. This study …

Identifying Dis/Misinformation On Social Media: A Policy Report For The Diplomacy Lab Strategies For Identifying Mis/Disinformation Project, Bethany S. Mcgowan, Matthew Hannah, Sofia Babcock, Katelyn Biggs, Lara Chuppe, Christina Galiatsatos, Jannine Huby, Michael Kuczajda, Bennet Miller, Stephanie Perun, Amanda Shie, Alicia Stevance, Andrew Yason, Charlotte Yeung

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Dis/misinformation was a major concern in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has only worsened in recent years. Even though domestic actors often spread dis/misinformation, actors abroad can use it to spread confusion and push their agenda to the detriment of American citizens. Even though this report focuses on actors outside the United States, the methods they use are universal and can be adapted to work against domestic agents. A solid understanding of these methods is the first step in combating foreign dis/misinformation campaigns and creating a new information literacy paradigm.

This report highlights the primary mechanisms of dis/misinformation: multimedia …

Clinical And Demographic Factors Contributing To Asparaginase-Associated Toxicities In Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Priyadarshani Dharia, Michael D Swartz, M Brooke Bernhardt, Han Chen, M Monica Gramatges, Philip J Lupo, Austin L Brown, Michael E Scheurer

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

A total of 548 patients (age range: 1-22 years, 60.4% Hispanic, 55.8% male) diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were reviewed for pegaspargase-associated hypersensitivity (14.8%), hyperbilirubinemia (9.7%), venous thromboembolism (VTE, 9.7%), and pancreatitis (5.3%). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) evaluated associations between clinical factors and each toxicity, cumulative number of toxicities, and toxicity clusters identified using k-mode analysis. Most (68.9%) did not experience any toxicity, 24.6% experienced one toxicity, and 6.3% two or more. Age >10 years was associated with hyperbilirubinemia (OR = 3.83; 95% CI: 1.64-8.95), pancreatitis (OR = 3.72; 95% CI: 1.29-10.68), VTE (OR = 4.65; …

Malnutrition Vaccines For An Imminent Global Food Catastrophe, Peter J Hotez

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Together with climate change, both the geopolitical events in Ukraine and social disruptions in supply chains from the COVID-19 pandemic could produce global food shortages or even mass starvation events. Promising new interventions include vaccines to prevent infectious causes of malnutrition or infections disproportionately causing death among the malnourished.

Proposed Alternatives To Decrease Private Tutoring In Egyptian Pre-University Education, Fatemah Abdel-Razek

Future Journal of Social Science

Private tutoring continues to exist in Egypt, even though it has been officially banned by the 2016 ministerial decree No. 53 and the 2018 ministerial decree No. 714. The current research reviews the relevant literature, provides a background on private tutoring, analyzes the current policy for dealing with private tutoring in Egypt, and it proposes three policy alternatives for decreasing private tutoring in Egyptian pre-university education. These alternatives are turning most educational curricula into educational games, lengthening the school day, and returning extra-curricular activities to Egyptian schools. These policy options are evaluated based on the criteria of equity and fairness, …

Deconstructing Saudi Arabia’S Foreign Aid Motives To Yemen, Ghita Fadhila Andrini, Taufik Hidayat, Dina Yulianti

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

This research assesses the motives of Saudi Arabia’s aid to Yemen. Saudi Arabia has been the most significant donor to the country whilst threatening humanitarian conditions in Yemen through its military intervention. Thus, this research aims to unveil the Kingdom’s reasons to provide foreign aid to Yemen whilst doing the military intervention. This research uses the seven foreign aid frames according to Veen (2011) to analyse possible interest implied in the Kingdom’s foreign aid delivery to Yemen. The method used in this research is a literature review by analysing the Kingdom’s official statements published on the government's official websites and …

Long-Term Care In The United States: History, Financing, And Directions For Reform, George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie

Upjohn Press

This book is a concise survey of the development of U.S. long-term care and its financing, with comparisons with other rich countries. It also includes a brief comparative account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and several other countries. The study finds much that is amiss with American long-term care and proposes three sets of progressively more ambitious reforms.

Older Adults On Snap Experience Gaps In Benefits, Colleen Heflin, Leslie Hodges, Irma A. Arteaga, Chinedum O. Ojinnaka, Gabriella Alphonso

Population Health Research Brief Series

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest food and nutrition assistance program in the United States. Burdens associated with SNAP recertification often lead to administrative churn, when a household experiences a gap in SNAP benefit receipt. Older adults are at risk of experiencing benefit gaps, which may negatively impact their health and nutrition. This brief summarizes results of a recent study that examined administrative churn among Missouri SNAP participants aged 60 years and older. The authors call for program changes that reduce the frequency and duration of churn among older adults.

Telerehabilitation: Future Of Phase Ii Cardiac Rehabilitation: Review Of Preliminary Outcomes, Mon S Bryant, Savitri E Fedson, Alexander Schutz, Lorraine D Cornwell, Amir Sharafkhaneh, Bandi Venkata

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

In this brief communication, we reported Telehealth Home-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) program structure and preliminary outcomes from patients that completed a 12-week program after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). We aim to advocate the use of Telerehabilitation as a Phase II CR in patients immediately after the CABG. This approach was innovative and encouraging because the patients were still in subacute phase. The program can serve as a continuation of care for the patients after being discharged from a hospital while regaining their functional ability at home. Our preliminary outcomes demonstrated improvements in resting heart rate, activity level, nutrition …

Whistleblowing As An Anti-Corruption Strategy In Health And Pharmaceutical Organizations: A Scoping Review Protocol., Taryn Vian, Brianna Agnew Mph, Keith Mcinnes Jr

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Whistleblowing can bring suspected wrongdoing to the attention of someone who is in the position to rectify the problem. Whistleblowing research can help improve effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts in the health sector.

Objective

The objective of this scoping review is to understand the extent and type of evidence on whistleblowing as an anti-corruption strategy in health and pharmaceutical organizations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods

This scoping review searched the PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE databases from 2005 to 2020, limited to English language. We also searched websites of multilateral agencies or international non-governmental organizations for policy documents, guidance …