Digital Commons Network^™

Targeting The "Absence" In A Desistance Framework : Balancing Risk And Rehabilitation In Mandated Criminal Background Check Employment Decisions, Megan Denver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Recent research efforts have documented resistance from employers in hiring individuals with criminal records. In response, advocates and policymakers have implemented strategies ranging from grassroots movements that delay criminal record inquiries to federal guidance that directs decision makers to conduct “individualized assessments.” However, it is not clear precisely what information employers actually are (or should be) seeking when they conduct criminal background checks. Furthermore, there may be a catch-22: while employment might promote desistance, applicants may need to demonstrate that they do not pose an undue risk before being able to secure a job or license (Maruna 2009). Since desistance …

Protection And Empowerment For Indonesian Female Migrant Domestic Workers, Rosita Tandos

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the issue of transnational domestic work. There are three main points discussed: first, factors influencing the women’s decisions to work overseas; second, six stages of transnational domestic work including the recruitment process, training program, placement and signing the employment contract, working overseas, finishing the contract, and travelling back home); third, the women’s perspectives on solutions to the problems. Using a human capabilities approach, empowerment and feminist theoretical frameworks, the study examined whether being a migrant female domestic worker contributes positively to a woman’s and her family’s life.

Essays On Health Disparities And Income-Related Health Inequality In Sub-Saharan Africa, Marshall Makate

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation comprises of five empirical essays. Essay one assesses the impact of prenatal care quality and its components on child mortality using nationwide data from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys (ZDHS), 1999-11. Results indicate that increasing prenatal care quality by one unit improves neonatal, infant and under-five survival by about 42.33, 30.86, and 28.65%, respectively and all statically significant at the 1% level.

A "Default Option" While Online Grocery Shopping To Enhance Nutrition Within A Food Insecure Population, Jaime Ashley Coffino

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is a need for sustainable interventions that improve diet-related health within the food insecure community. We examined if use of a “default” prefilled online grocery shopping cart, compared to nutrition education, would result in the purchase of healthier food items. Fifty participants (M age = 46.4 ± 12.46 years; M body mass index = 28.59 ± 6.48 kg/m2; 74.0% male) were randomized to: (1) read a brochure containing nutrition information (n = 23) or (2) be presented with a “default” prefilled online shopping cart containing groceries that meet nutritional guidelines to which they could freely make changes before completing …

Factors Asociated With Mental Health Help-Seeking Attitudes Among University Students In South Korea, Hee Chul Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current study investigated factors associated with mental health help-seeking attitudes among university students in South Korea. In particular, the study examined the moderating effects of culturally relevant factors (religiosity, social support, social stigma, and self-stigma) on the relationship between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes and the mediating effect of stigma (social and self) on the association between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes. A total of 240 students at 4 universities in South Korea completed in-class surveys in Spring 2016. Data was analyzed using a series of multiple regressions, hierarchical moderated multiple regression, and 3-step mediation regression. Results indicated that …

Queer Youth Activism : Generational Change In The Us Lgbtq Movement, Megan K. Murphy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The past several decades have witnessed rapid social and cultural change around LGBTQ individuals and sexual politics in the United States. As a result, LGBTQ youth are coming of age in a socio-historical context characterized by increasing normalization and visibility of LGBTQ people and less overt homophobia where LGBTQ individuals live their lives largely beyond the closet. In this dissertation, the unique characteristics of this post-closet movement generation are explored. I identify three core tensions faced by the post-closet generation: navigating restrictive at risk/victim frames, negotiating identities in the context of growing ambivalence about traditional gay/lesbian categories, and carving out …

Understanding The Working Alliance And Alliance Ruptures In Online Psychotherapy From The Therapist's Perspective, Laura Kortz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Online psychotherapy using text-based technologies has become increasingly popular in the last two decades, and a burgeoning literature attests to its efficacy as a treatment for a variety of mental health concerns. Moreover, evidence suggests that the working alliance is rated as highly online as it is in face-to-face therapy, yet little is known about how psychotherapists develop strong alliances with their clients in text-based environments. This qualitative study was conducted to investigate psychotherapists’ experiences forming therapeutic relationships with their clients in online environments, identifying and repairing alliance ruptures, and their perceptions of differences and similarities between these processes online …

Faith, Education, And Choice : A Study Of The Educational Choices Of Catholic Parents In The Roman Catholic Diocese Of Albany, N.Y, Christopher Bruce Bott

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Fighting For Protections : Challenging The 21st Century Sweatshop In New York State, Jacqueline Hayes

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines how neoliberalism and immigration enforcement between 1980 and 2010 changed the nature of ‘sweated’ work in the U.S. This dissertation focuses on the particular case of Latino undocumented workers in New York State and the organizations fighting to win them protections. In order to answer my research questions, I conducted 30 semi-structured interviews over the course of 2 years (2013-2015), examined immigration enforcement data, and analyzed U.S. immigration and welfare policies between 1980 and the present. Research interviews made clear that both the lack of social and legal protections alongside the threat of immigration enforcement have a …

Latino/A Artist Educators (Laes) And Their Role In Creating And Sustaining Alternative Democratic Spaces In Miami, Deborah Therese Woeckner Saavedra

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This exploratory study utilizes a qualitative, ethnographic approach to locate and contextualize Latino/a Artist Educators (LAEs) in Miami, Florida. Foundational and cutting-edge, it brings together many distinct perspectives to illuminate the power and promise of a newly imagined yet group of individuals to build and sustain alternative democratic spaces. Building on critical educators Paolo Freire, bell hooks, Henry Giroux and Howard Zinn, as well as extending the framework of critical theorists Gloria Anzaldúa, Cornel West and others, this research begins to sketch the influence of the LAEs interviewed in Miami from 2003-2013. As a sociocultural ethnographic study positioned at the …

Impact Of Substance Use And Overweight Status On The Relationship Between Domestic Violence And Bullying, Marcie Fraser

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Domestic violence has been shown to increase the risk of bullying behavior among youth. Substance use and excess weight have also been linked to bullying behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine what anti-bullying interventions have been implemented throughout the United States, and to identify the role of three risk factors (domestic violence, excessive weight or substance use) on bullying behaviors. For this study domestic violence will be defined as experiencing domestic violence or witnessing inter-parental domestic violence. A literature review (Study 1) was conducted to identify studies and summarize interventions aimed at reducing bullying behaviors among middle-school …

State Adoptions Of Racial Profiling Laws : Exploring Functional, Social, And Political Determinants, Dean William Weld

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In recent decades, racial profiling has been one of the most controversial issues in American policing. Estimates using national survey data reveal that approximately 32 million Americans report being victims of racial profiling. Federal legislation to prohibit racial profiling has been repeatedly introduced in Congress, but has not yet been enacted. In the absence of federal law to prohibit profiling, many states have adopted laws to address concerns about racial profiling within their borders. These laws encompass a variety of approaches to the problem, including prohibiting profiling, collecting data on the race and ethnicity of stopped drivers, and establishing procedures …

Hepatitis C Status Awareness And Test Results Confirmation Among People Who Inject Drugs In Ukraine, Olena Iakunchykova

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity is frequently found in people who inject drugs (PWID). The prevalence of HCV in this population in Ukraine is estimated at 71%. As treatment for HCV infection becomes more available, it is important to know what modifiable factors are related to testing, linkage to care and treatment.

Mexican-American Professionals : An Oxymoronic Concept Or New Reality?, Edelmira Reynoso

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation is a socio-demographic analysis of the Mexican-American professional population. Scholars argue the Mexican-American population represent a unique case (Bean and Stevens 2003; Portes and Rumbaut 2001), and their lived experiences are distinct from many of the other Latino groups studied. The Mexican-American population interconnects with new and old waves of migration. Missing from the literature is the impact Mexican-Americans professionals have in the United States’ economy.

Having A Black Male Mentor Matters: A Review Of The Mentoring Study’S Results, Regina Dixon-Reeves

Center for Cultural Development: Staff Scholarship

Previous studies of the mentoring experiences of black graduate students and recent PhD’s have reported that this population of early career academics has limited access to mentors, and, when they do, white males provide more career-enhancing supports than mentors of other gender and racial/ethnic groups. These studies have relied on data collected from small subsamples, including those of prestigious scholarship recipients. This article argues that the experiences of prestigious scholarship recipients are not representative of the mentoring experiences of the vast majority of black graduate students and junior faculty in Sociology. The Survey of the Characteristics and Dimensions of Mentoring: …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (Agep): Evaluation—Round 4 Update, Karen Austrian, Paul C. Hewett, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Jean Digitale

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To assess the impact of the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) on mediating and longer-term demographic, reproductive, and health outcomes, Population Council researchers designed and implemented a longitudinal, cluster randomized controlled trial across all program areas. A baseline survey was conducted in 2013 prior to program implementation and data have been collected annually. A third round of data collection in 2015 produced the midline findings, measuring the program effect immediately at the end of AGEP. Details of the midterm results were published in a full technical report, executive summary, and brief. The focus of this brief is to provide an …

Fp-17-14 Variation In Birth Spacing By Maternal Characteristics, Karen Benjamin Guzzo

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Advocating Corporate Policy Change On Women's Health And Family Planning: Lessons From The Environmental Movement, Matthew Mcfall, Carolyn Rodehau, David Wofford

Reproductive Health

This brief presents key lessons from the environmental movement on effective strategies for driving changes in corporate policies and practices and creating new mechanisms for holding businesses accountable for environmental impacts. Corporate policies and voluntary and “soft law” standards may be unfamiliar to many women’s health advocates, but they are likely to have increasing importance in the years to come. The global health community can learn from the experience of environmentalists on how to engage businesses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards and corporate practices around women’s health. The brief offers six recommendations for moving forward.

Vantage Point: Using Narrative And Discourse Analysis Of Jesus' Sermon On The Mount To Improve Discipleship Outcomes, David J. Swisher

Doctor of Ministry

When the narrative and discursive aspects of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (SOTM) are divorced from their cultural and rhetorical context, traditional historical-critical methods of exposition miss important contextual applications. Originally delivered as a live discourse to an audience of first-century Jews, the text and circumstances of the SOTM are recorded in Matthew 5-7 by one of Jesus’ followers as an embedded discourse within the larger framing narrative of the first gospel.

However, the dynamics of interactive discourse are quite different than what contemporary readers experience with printed text on a page. Absent that live exchange and its embedded cultural …

"A Choice Of Weapons": The X-Men And The Metaphor For Approaches To Racial Equality, Gregory S. Parks, Matthew W. Hughey

Indiana Law Journal

The authors explore The X-Men comic as a metaphor for both racial discrimination in the United States and strategies for addressing such discrimination. In consideration of the recent rise in the shooting of people of color, particular African American men and women, at the hands of law enforcement officers, an increasingly vocal and aggrieved segment of the white populace in the form of the “alt right,” and a presidential candidate that both implicitly and explicitly deploys “law and order” and racist appeals for particular social and political changes, we appear to once again stand at an important crossroads in American …

Christian Service: Learning To Serve And Serving To Learn, Bill Kuhn, Scott Moats, James Zapf

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

Small, private higher educational institutions have played a significant role in American society. Historically, these institutions have emphasized the role of teaching and service. With this in mind, this article reports on the effects of service-learning embedded in an existing course at an institution with an extensive co-curricular service-learning program. This research reveals the results of a creative partnership between Student Development leadership and faculty to investigate the effects of service-learning on students when embedded in an existing class. Using in-depth interviews, the researchers seek to discover the student experience of making a co-curricular program curricular. Results indicate students showed …

Developing Online Communities For Librarian Researchers: A Case Study, Lili Luo, Marie Kennedy, Kristine Brancolini, Michael Stephens

Faculty Publications

This study examines the role of online communities in connecting and supporting librarian researchers, through the analysis of member activities in the online community for academic librarians that attended the 2014 Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL). The 2014 IRDL cohort members participated in the online community via Twitter and a Facebook group page. A content analysis of their posts and an online survey among them identified different patterns of engagement and four primary types of content—posts related to completing the IRDL research project required for each cohort member, announcements about research-related resources and opportunities, posts reminiscing about the …

A Survey Of Sexual Minorities Who Attend Faith-Based Institutions Of Higher Education, Mark A. Yarhouse, Janet B. Dean, Stephen P. Stratton, Michael Lastoria, Emma K. Bucher

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

This research considers the intersection of sexual identity and religious/spiritual identity in the context of faith-based institutions of higher education. One hundred and sixty students identifying as sexual minorities from fifteen Christian colleges and universities with Association for Christians in Student Development affiliations provided information on their experiences in these unique settings. The findings suggest sexual minorities on faith-based campuses are navigating religious/spiritual aspects of their identity as well as same-sex sexuality and sexual identity development. Both sexuality and religiosity/spirituality are two salient, interacting and multilevel variables for these students, particularly as they relate to doctrinal matters and policies at …

Ecological Sanitation Opportunities In Rural Panamá: Effectiveness And Social Implications Of Intrinsic Ammonia-Based Treatment For Pathogen Inactivation And Incorporation Of Ferrocement Technology, David Kierys

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the United Nations created more than 15 years ago established a global developmental framework that set a precedent for many governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs.). With the deadline having come and gone many of the objectives set out in the original eight MDGs have come to fruition (Joint Monitoring Program, 2015). One exemplary achievement by the global community, specifically to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector was providing 91 percent of the world’s population with access to improved sources of drinking water (UNICEF/WHO, 2015). But, as the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) – the …

A Tricky One: Barriers To Non-Opioid Pain Management In University Healthcare, Alexandra C.H. Nowakowski, Kaitlyn E. Barningham, Charlyn D. Buford, Martin Laguerre, J. E. Sumerau

Florida Public Health Review

We explored palliation practices and experiences among providers at university campus health centers to assess the availability and viability of non-opioid options for student patients. We interviewed 10 healthcare providers at the campus health center for a large research university in the southeastern United States. Data were collected via semi- structured interviews. Analyses of interview transcripts were performed via content analysis with open coding. We identified multiple barriers to non-opioid pain management. Non-opioid modalities were more likely to receive no insurance subsidy, and thus, to go unused even if clinically indicated. Providers also reported high levels of concern with potential …

Records Of The American Society Of Criminology, Division On Women And Crime Finding Aid And Container List, Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections And University Archives

Finding Aids and Container Lists

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya: Health And Life Skills Audio Training Script, Wajir, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Initiative project-Kenya (AGI-K) helps young, vulnerable adolescent girls build their social, health, and economic assets. AGI-K tests combinations of interventions in health, violence prevention, wealth creation, and education to determine which package of interventions delivers the most impact and at what cost. The project was led by Population Council and implemented in two marginalized areas 1) Kiberain Nairobi and 2) Wajir County in Northeastern Kenya by Plan International and Save the Children, respectively. This scripted guide was designed to support the delivery of the health, life skills, and nutrition sessions in Wajir in response to challenges with …

Adolescent Health: Priorities And Opportunities For Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (Rksk) In Uttar Pradesh [Hindi], Sapna Desai

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Government of India in 2014 signaled its commitment to adolescent health through introduction of a national strategy, Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK). Targeting adolescents aged 10–14 and 15–19, the program aims to ensure universal coverage of health information and services for all adolescents—those in and out of school, married or unmarried, and in vulnerable groups. Envisaged as a paradigm shift to address adolescent health beyond sexual and reproductive health, RKSK spans six domains: nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, injuries and violence including gender-based violence, substance misuse, and non-communicable diseases. This policy brief presents evidence on adolescent health …

Empowering Women And Addressing Marital Violence Through Self-Help Groups: Evidence From Rural Bihar—Policy Brief, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In recognition of the need to reverse gender disparities, India has instituted numerous policies, laws, and programs intended to empower women and to protect women from violence. However, evidence on what works and what does not work to change notions of masculinity and femininity, reverse the widespread acceptability of marital violence at community level, and reduce women’s experience of intimate partner violence remains limited in the country. The Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore (Two Steps Towards Equality) was implemented among married women who were members of self-help groups (SHGs) and their husbands. The Population Council together with partners implemented the …

Ensuring Adolescents In Uttar Pradesh Stay—And Learn—In School, Sapna Desai, Neelanjana Pandey

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Government of India has invested in improving education through two key programs for universal access to, and retention in, secondary education. In Uttar Pradesh, the Population Council found high levels of enrollment among younger adolescents, with limited gender disparity. Retention beyond elementary school, however, was low, and learning outcomes—literacy and numeracy—were poor. This policy brief focuses on two challenges to preparing Uttar Pradesh’s adolescents for the future: universal enrollment and retention in secondary school. The brief outlines recommendations that the government invest in secondary schooling, improve school facilities, support and evaluate quality teaching inputs and curriculum changes, remove economic …