Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing The Cost, Quality, And Effectiveness Of Local Government Training Methodologies, Michael Dean Norman

Dissertations

Two significant factors are present in our current environment: constrained resources and increased globalization. Training is widely recognized as an imperative to increasing productivity, improving economic conditions, and exploiting global opportunities. But what is the most effective learning modality that should be applied in an environment of constrained resources and increased globalization? This study examines that question by comparing, contrasting, and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of traditional learning vs. e-learning in local government organizations. The variables used in the analysis are cost, quality, and effectiveness.

The results indicated that there are several factors in the analysis of the advantages …

A Pilot Study: Identifying The Characteristics Of Postsecondary Offices Of Disability Services Associated With High Graduation Rates, Tiffany B. White

Dissertations

Students with disabilities are entering postsecondary education at higher rates than ever before, but they are graduating at lower rates than their peers without disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act have made it possible for students with disabilities to avail themselves of services in higher education to maximize their potential. To implement laws and provide equal access to students with disclosed disabilities (SWDD), many higher education institutions use central offices to serve students with disabilities. The survey in this study collects information from disability office directors regarding services provided and office characteristics.

The …

Stigma Mitigation Through Fine Arts, Kendall Owens

Honors Theses

Social stigma has plagued our society for centuries. It isolates groups of people based on erroneously defined characteristics causing stigmatized persons to be viewed as socially “abnormal”. This debarment from full social acceptance results in poor population health and well-being. Fine arts have been an integral component of society since the beginning of civilization; current and past research have found involvement in fine arts to improve health and well-being in many ways. In this project, relevant studies related to stigma, fine arts, and population health will be reviewed to support the argument that “fine arts combat and mitigate the …

It’S Like I Have An Advantage In All This: Experiences Of Advocacy By Parents Of Children With Disabilities From Professional Backgrounds, Sarah Taylor, Amy Conley Wright, Holly Pothier, Chellsee Hill, Meredith Rosenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Supports and services for children with disabilities are not distributed equitably. There are disparities in access to and quality of services for children with disabilities from low-income and ethnic minority groups. There are likely many contributors to these disparities, but one factor may be barriers to access that require parents to advocate to obtain services for their children. This qualitative study explores advocacy experiences of parents of children with disabilities (n=40) who have a high level of education and/or professional achievement. Parents described relying heavily on their professional and educational backgrounds in advocacy, and some commented upon the “advantage” they …

Myth Or Reality? Exploring Intergenerational Social Assistance Participation In Ontario, Canada, Tracy A. Smith-Carrier, Amber Gazso, Stephanie Baker Collins, Carrie Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Is there an intergenerational causal link in social assistance (SA) participation? There is a dearth of research addressing this question, yet the discourse of ‘welfare dependency’ is hegemonic. The limited research that does attempt to tease out a causal link in intergenerational SA participation remains equivocal. Qualitative research is largely absent in welfare scholarship; research that might provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying SA receipt. We employ an inductive qualitative analysis, using procedures from grounded theory, to understand SA participants’ experiences and perspectives on intergenerational SA usage. We find that the two causal mechanisms underlying intergenerational SA …

Social Construction, Knowledge Utilization, And The Politics Of Poverty: A Case Study Of Washington State’S General Assistance Reform, Yu-Ling Chang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper addresses a gap in welfare reform literature by investigating the social constructions of poor people in state policymaking within the context of diminishing General Assistance (GA) after the Great Recession. Using Social Construction and Policy Design Theoryand thematic content analysis of Washington State’s legislative archives, I found that the negative constructions of GA recipients as deviants with undesired psychological and behavioral problems were associated with the reform direction toward a regulated, punitive model. These constructions, intersecting with the ideologies of personal responsibility and work ethic, contribute to the dismantling of the social safety net for the Washington’s poorest …

Three Essays On The Impacts Of China’S Monetary Policy, Shen Chen

Dissertations

China has experienced high speed of economic growth, trying to catch up with the developed countries. Monetary policy has played a more and more important role in China. This dissertation studies the impacts of China's monetary policy on China's housing market, stock market, and China's economic growth.

The first essay examines macroeconomic determinants of China's housing price by constructing a VAR model. Granger Causality tests, impulse response functions and variance decompositions are used to analyze the impacts of macroeconomic factors on the housing price. By using the monthly data from 2005 to 2015, the results show that a contractionary monetary …

Stakeholder Perspectives: Implementation Of Local School Wellness Policies In The Kent Intermediate School District, Adrienne A. Wallace

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes and perception of stakeholders (teachers, principals, nutrition service directors, nutrition service supervisors, school nurses, nutrition specialists and administrators) toward the implementation of the local school wellness policy in public schools within Kent County, Michigan. The subjects of interest were stakeholders from more than 300 schools and 20 public school districts within the Kent Intermediate School District. Subjects responded to a survey assessing their perspectives regarding the implementation of the local school wellness policy pursuant to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 an Obama-era policy, the results were then examined using …

Sustainable Energy Transitions: Changing The ‘Business As Usual’ Trajectory In Sub-Saharan African Urban Areas, Mark Borchers, Megan Euston-Brown, Simon Bawakyillenuo, Alex Ndibwami, Simon Batchelor

International Journal of African Development

This paper describes a novel approach to helping municipal authorities address the sustainable energy challenges associated with rapidly growing urban populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Population in Africa is expected to double between 2010 and 2040, and substantial urban growth is expected in small and medium-sized cities where local government capacity constraints are most serious. A long-term partnership between municipal authorities, NGOs, and academics can build capacity, and a prescribed strategy can lead to progress on the ground. In order to contribute to future action, the paper argues for a greater role of local government in sustainable energy transitions, and presents …

Kinship Diversion In The District Of Columbia: A Review Of Local Practice To Inform National Policy, Marla P. Spindel, Beth A. Stekler, Stephanie Ridgway Mcclellan

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

This article addresses a practice commonly known in the child welfare community as “kinship diversion,” where a child welfare agency informally places children with relatives as an alternative to foster care. While evidence predominantly shows that abused and neglected children have better outcomes when they are placed with relatives when they cannot remain safely at home, serious concerns about these children’s safety and well-being arise when the placement with relatives is informal. Indeed, it is often not understood that these same relatives can be approved as foster parents and can receive essential financial assistance and supportive services to help safely …

The Effects Of Gateway Width On Driver Yielding To Pedestrians: A Systematic And Parametric Analysis, Jonathan M. Hochmuth

Masters Theses

The gateway in-street sign treatment has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective method for increasing driver yielding behavior at crosswalks. In the present study, wide and narrow gateway widths were compared at two sites to determine if there was a differential effect on driver yielding behavior. Then, the relationship between width and yielding was refined with a parametric analysis at one of these sites. Gateway width was varied in two-foot intervals from 12ft to 18ft. The results indicated an inverse relationship between gateway width and driver yielding behavior. There are likely two variables related to this effect. First, because drivers …

The Catholic Church And Its Impact On Public Policy In Contemporary Democracies, Dawid Tatarczyk

Dissertations

The overarching aim of this dissertation was to examine the extent to which the Catholic Church is still a significant public policy actor in 35 economically developed democracies. The research design used in this project draws on three distinct approaches, each addressing a different puzzle but when integrated together they provide an answer to the main question. Taken together these three approaches show that the Catholic Church continues to be an important political institution with considerable influence even in economically developed democracies.

The rational choice institutionalism paradigm is used to explain the political behavior of the Catholic Church. The paradigm …

A Comparison Of Alternative Route Alignments For The North Country Trail Through Calhoun County, Mi, Whitney K. Lambert

Masters Theses

Recreational hiking trails are a popular destination for local residents and tourists, offering health, educational, and social benefits. The North Country Trail (NCT) provides a unique hiking experience because of the many landscapes through which it travels. Because it spans across seven states in the Midwest, a hiker can travel through the mountains of New York, the hardwood forests of upper Michigan, and the plains of South Dakota along one route. When completed, the NCT will be about 4,600 miles; however, there are currently 1,900 miles of undeveloped connector routes during which the route is often located along the road. …

Social Workers And Politics: Direct Political Involvement And Encouragement Of Client Involvement In Politics, Amnon Boehm, Neveen Ali Saleh Darawshy, Esther Boehm-Tabib

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The research focused on two aspects of political involvement among social workers. The first was the direct political involvement of social workers on behalf of their clients, and the second, the social workers’ encouragement of their clients’ involvement in political activity. The main purpose of the research was to identify the factors that explain these two types of political involvement among social workers. The data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from a research sample of 165 social workers in 50 social services departments in Israel. The findings indicate that the factors of the community (as opposed to …

Age Stereotypes And Attitudes Towards Welfare State Arrangements For The Old: A Multilevel Analysis Across Twenty-Nine Countries, Ferry Koster

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study investigates whether and how support for welfare state arrangements for the old relate to the stereotypes of the young and the old within society. It is hypothesized that the social status that these groups have in society affect these attitudes through different mechanisms, relating to the deservingness criteria that citizens apply. An empirical analysis of Round 4 of the European Social Survey (including 50,009 individuals from 29 European countries) shows that: (1) the social esteem of people over 70 predicts support for welfare state arrangements for the old; and (2) the social esteem of people in their 20s …

Defective Federalism And The Emergence Of Domestic Terrorism In Nigeria, Temitope Peter Ola

International Journal of African Development

The extremist Islamic sect Boko Haram is now feared for its ability to mount both low-scale and audacious attacks in Nigeria. This study attempts a consensual explanation of the defects of Nigerian federalism to facilitate the emergence of Boko Haram terrorism. The study is descriptive and data was obtained from secondary sources. It was found that the insurgence is a manifestation of frustration on account of the national political, religious and economic systems. The paper concludes that Boko Haram insurgence is part of the cycles and trends of unrest in Nigeria; responding to the same broad families of national fixations …

Evaluation Instruction In Council On Education For Public Health Accredited Master Of Public Health Schools And Programs, Kristin Ann Hobson

Dissertations

Despite the increasing role of evaluation in public health practice and research (Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health [ASPH], 2006; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 1998; Public Health Functions Steering Committee, 2008; United States Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2012), as well as Henry and Mark’s (2003) assertion of a need for systematic evidence on evaluation training and education, the literature continues to lack studies on evaluation instruction in Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited Master of Public Health (MPH) schools and programs. As such, this study explored evaluation instruction in CEPH-accredited MPH schools and programs in the following …

Findings From A Systematic Review Of Key Public Administration Membership Associations’ Journals, Ruth M. Bates-Hill

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

This poster illustrates findings from a systematic review of articles published in 2015 and 2016 in four key public administration journals. Findings highlight patterns of authorship, research funding, and citations.

Research Methods In Public Administration: A Systematic Review, Adel Hasan Ahmed Aladlani

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

This poster includes findings from a systematic review conducted during a doctoral methods course at Western Michigan University. The systematic mixed methods review covered key public administration membership association journals. The review indicated differences in the research methods and types used with a strong preference for using quantitative research.

Authorship Revealed: Findings From A Systematic Review Of Key Public Administration Membership Associations' Journals, Ruth M. Bates-Hill, Daniela C. Schroeter, Adel Hasan Ahmed Aladlani, Hussein Chalabi, Gregory D. Greenman Ii, Mike Mendenhall, Diane Thompson

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

This poster illustrates findings from a systematic review of articles published in 2015 and 2016 in four key public administration journals. Findings highlight patterns of authorship, research funding, and citations.

A Corporate Model: Aligning National Nonprofit Expectations With Regional/Local Efforts To Serve The Mission, Emma A. Powell

Dissertations

This study seeks to provide a body of knowledge and application of research to the national nonprofit audience. The focus is to study conditions that could lead to better alignment between regional staff understanding and implementation of the national expectations, by identifying alignment behaviors in five indicator areas. These indicators are fundraising, mission delivery, volunteer engagement, HR/operations, and PR/external communications.

Research in the areas of nonprofit structure design, motivation, and mission alignment continue to be significant to the sectors maturity and distinction. Corporate model nonprofit organizations structure is unique to other nonprofits within a local community. Understanding the corporate model …

Veterans’ Satisfaction With Veterans’ Administration Healthcare Systems, Dale Arnold

Masters Theses

There are currently over 600,000 veterans in the State of Michigan served by only five Veterans’ Administration Medical Centers. These medical centers are not evenly distributed throughout the state with the majority located in the southernmost portion of the state. There necessarily will be a number of veterans for which it is unreasonable to travel to these medical centers to receive care to which they are entitled. This research will investigate the number of veterans that are currently required to drive excessive distances to receive adequate care under the present system, and to possibly suggest solutions to the current situation.

Impact Of Short Lifetime Limits On Child Neglect, Vicky N. Albert, William C. King

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Great Recession that officially began in December 2007 nationally resulted in a loss of income on the part of many families with children who in turn, relied on a variety of safety nets, including cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Loss of income has been recognized as a major risk factor of child maltreatment, in particular child neglect. During its 2007 recession, Arizona shortened its TANF lifetime limits substantially which resulted in transfer income losses for many families with children on TANF. Using time-series analysis, the present study determines the relative impact of TANF’s shorter …

Are Older Adults Who Participate In The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Healthier Than Eligible Nonparticipants? Evidence From The Health And Retirement Study, Jin Kim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research examined the impact of participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on the health of older adults. The study used panel data from the 2004-2012 Waves of the Rand version of the Health and Retirement Study to estimate regression models of self-reported health and the number of doctor-diagnosed conditions, controlling for individual characteristics and time fixed effects. The findings revealed that program participants did not maintain or improve their health status relative to non-participants during the study period. Thus, the study confirms that program participation confers negligible benefits in maintaining and improving the health status of older adults.

When ‘Places’ Include Pets: Broadening The Scope Of Relational Approaches To Promoting Aging-In-Place, Ann M. Toohey, Jennifer A. Hewson, Cindy L. Adams, Melanie J. Rock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Aging-in-place is a well-established concept, but discussions rarely consider that many older adults live with pets. In a ‘pet-friendly’ city, we conducted semi-structured interviews to explore perspectives of community-based social support agencies that promote aging-in-place, and those of animal welfare agencies. Applying a relational ecology theoretical framework, we found that pets may contribute to feeling socially- situated, yet may also exacerbate constraints on autonomy experienced by some older adults. Pet-related considerations at times led to discretionary acts of more-than-human solidarity, but also created paradoxical situations for service-providers, impacting their efforts to assist older adults. A shortage of pet-friendly affordable housing …

Mixed-Status Families And The Threat Of Deportation, Eloisa P. Haynes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article offers a description of deportation, explores the effects of deportation in the lives of mixed-status families, as well as, outlines the social and economic cost of deportations to American communities. This article argues that the toll imposed on U.S. citizens, both relatives of those deported and members of the community, renders deportation, in most circumstances, an unfavorable policy that does more harm than good. A policy which is intended to protect Americans and curtail unauthorized migration, instead creates injustice, fragments families and communities, and creates a significant negative impact on the U.S. economy.

Guest Perspective: U.S. Secretary Of Education John B. King Jr., John King Jr.

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Campus Violence Threat Assessment Policy Implementation At Michigan Community Colleges, Russell T. Panico Jr.

Dissertations

This dissertation evaluated campus violence threat assessment policy and procedure implementation at the community college level of higher education. The importance of this topic was to provide a manageable and collaborative initiative for leadership at institutions of higher learning to identify, develop, implement, and evaluate a policy that can effectively prevent acts of campus-related violence. A mixed-methods study approach using a Likert-scale survey with supporting open-ended questions was used to guide the exploration. Bardach’s (2016) Eightfold Path for Policy Analysis was the framework used by Michigan community colleges to apply to their own unique situations. This method determined the prevalence …

Giving Back To The Military, Lauren Martin

Honors Theses

This paper will cover the development and growth of the non-profit student organization Broncos for Heroes. The mission statement of Broncos for Heroes is to support our servicemen and women both past and present. This paper will cover the main event for Broncos for Heroes: Care Package Drives.

Leadership In Re-Accreditation Of The Mpa Program, Udaya Wagle

Academic Leadership Academy

A professional graduate program (Master of Public Administration) with concentration in:

• Healthcare, Human resources, Law, Nonprofit, and Public Management

Accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA).

• The only international accrediting body in the discipline.

Each accreditation is for seven years.

SPAA MPA program will go through reaccreditation in 2017-2018.

Self-study process, reporting, and site visit are essential components of accreditation.

The mission of the M.P.A. Program is to improve the quality of public service by developing professionals and leaders equipped with knowledge and skills in theories, methodology, and innovative practice in the interdisciplinary field …