Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Religion In Mitigating Cancer Disparities Among Black Americans, Samar Hennawi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The long history of racism has created cultural barriers that prevent some Black Americans from seeking cancer treatment. Fatalism, physician mistrust, low levels of social support and self-efficacy, are the most cited cultural barriers in the literature. Black Americans’ religious beliefs and church involvement have historically helped them in their struggle against racism. A quantitative and a qualitative comparison studies examine the role of Black cancer survivors’ religious beliefs in their fight against cancer. The quantitative comparison study finds no difference in the cultural attitudes between Black and White cancer survivors. However, the qualitative comparison study between the same two …

Analysis Of Managerial Decision-Making Within Florida’S Total Maximum Daily Load Program, Justin Barthle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water quality has evolved legislatively from protection of navigation routes and quantity of sources to more emphasis on impairments on water quality for surface and groundwater sources. Nonpoint or diffuse sources of impairments represents a major challenge for management due to the complexity of its sources and difficulty in tracking.

The most cited sections on public policy analysis focuses on the overall process agencies employ to understand the results the program yields. Often overlooked are finer details and mechanisms, such as decision-making and priority setting, which have a great impact on the overall process. To investigate these factors, we need …

An Information And Communication Technologies For Development (Ict4d) Decision Framework For Building An Information Economy In Developing Countries: The Case Of Palestine, Hasan Nuseibeh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Building a thriving information economy is a goal for many developing countries. This research helps identify the factors (inhibitors and motivators) that can be used to leverage the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in a developing country to build a sustainable information economy that benefits other sectors of the economy. This is done by studying the current literature on this topic and then synthesizing the theoretical models to create a unified decision framework to help developing countries set their path to building a sustainable information economy.

Drawing on past literature and extant theory, a novel ICT4D decision framework is …

White Teachers’ Experiences Of Working With Black Students Within A Response To Intervention Framework: The Role Of Racialized Deficit Thinking, Sujay Sabnis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a data-based decision-making framework of service delivery that has the potential to improve educational outcomes for all students. Preliminary data appear to bolster this claim. However, it is as yet unclear whether RTI will be able to close the gap in educational outcomes that exists between students of different racial groups. Drawing on theories such as culture of policy (Stein, 2004) and deficit thinking (Valencia, 2010), this study explored the experiences of six White elementary teachers using RTI while working with Black students receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 instructional supports. Using theoretically driven constant-comparative …

Where Is The Survivor’S Voice? An Examination Of The Individual And Structural Challenges To The Reintegration Of Immigrant Human Trafficking Survivors, Michelle Cristina Angelo Dantas Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is one of the top destination countries for human trafficking, and Florida has the third highest number of reported cases of human trafficking. Despite the severity of this issue, Florida anti-trafficking legislation, reintegration programs, and awareness campaigns tend to contribute to the invisibility of the victims and undermine their recovery and reintegration into society, especially when the victims are immigrants. This project uses a multi-method approach including content analysis of anti-human trafficking campaigns to argue that portrayals of a “perfect victim” only amplify stigmatization and discrimination against immigrant victims. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation highlighting the …

Science, Policy, And Decision Making: A Case Study Of Deliberative Rhetoric And Policymaking For Coastal Adaptation In Southeast Florida, Karen Patricia Langbehn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the process of regional climate adaptation planning and the role of stakeholder deliberation in decision making about adaptation actions. It employed a case study approach based on one of three total study sites of an international, multidisciplinary grant titled, “METROPOLE: An Integrated Framework to Analyze Local Decision Making and Adaptive Capacity to Large-Scale Environmental Change”. The purpose of the case study of this project was to analyze stakeholder deliberation at two workshops at the grant’s Broward County, Florida site regarding two adaptation options: elevation/floodproofing and voluntary buyouts. Analyzing stakeholder deliberation …