Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Broken Promises: Prolonged Diminished Quality-Of-Life Among Liberian Ebola Survivors Half A Decade After The 2014-16 West African Outbreak, Jessi Hanson-Defusco, Decontee Davis, Meghana Bommareddy, Zainab Olaniyan

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak left thousands of Liberian survivors with severely diminished quality of life. Applying a social determinants framework, this mixed method study investigates to what extent Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors suffer long-haul psychosocial stress, diminished quality-of-life factors, and the impact of EVD-related service provisions on their ongoing healing. We present the results of a quantitative analysis survey of data collected from 19 Liberian EVD survivors in 2022 using snowball sampling. Additionally, a qualitative analysis of survivor statements helps triangulate key statistical findings and inform causal mechanisms. Survivors report experiencing 5.25 of a total of 7 ongoing stressors …

#Dusomething! A Qualitative Exploratory Study To Identify Challenges And Opportunities For Improvement In Du's Response To Sexual Harassment And Assault, Alejandro Cerón, Amanda Cali, Briana Cox, Camille Cruz, Camryn Evans, Cyndal Groskopf, Ashley Joplin, Clayton Kempf, Kēhaulani Lagunero, Jayvyn Jakai Lewis, Aili Limstrom, Gray Messersmith, Cal Quayle, Yadira Quintero, Michael Sze, Aaron Toussaint, Sami Zepponi

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

The purpose of this course-based research project was to identify where DU has made progress in its response to sexual harassment, identifying challenges and opportunities for improvement, with the hope that the results will support the DU community’s efforts to prevent, address, and eradicate sexual harassment.

Review Of Poverty, By America, Linda Plitt Donaldson

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Reimagining A Caregiver-Friendly Society, Jodi L. Southerland

Journal of Appalachian Health

Demographic aging is accelerating in the Appalachian Region, resulting in a growing proportion of caregivers living in areas that lack services to support their needs. Strategies are urgently needed in Appalachia to address deficiencies in the region’s long-term supports and services for older adults and their caregivers. Strengthening equitable access to care and community supports for family caregivers is a policy priority for state and community leaders in Appalachia.

Harnessing The Power Of Storytelling And Storylistening: Fostering Challenging Conversations In Coastal Communities, Holly E. Parker Phd

Maine Policy Review

As sustainability practitioners we often spend our time in vibrant echo chambers. We’re invigorated by debates about how to support just and sustainable communities and environments. But what happens outside that echo chamber? What happens when we meet a neighbor, a colleague or a decisionmaker who doesn’t share our urgency for action? Do we go it alone as we seek to make change? Or do we need to build new, unexpected partnerships? In a time when technology and political and social divisiveness make it easy to dismiss the other, it is vital that we build pathways to understanding opposing points …

White Politics, Black Lives, & The Cost Of Being Green: Environmental Racism In Emelle, Alabama, Laura M. Wilson

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In the 1970s, Emelle, Alabama welcomed the establishment of a new corporation and the promise of new economic opportunities. The small settlement, almost exclusively African-American (94%) and in poverty (67%) was selected by Waste Management, Inc., after lobbying by Governor George Wallace to create the largest hazardous waste landfill in the US. When a state policy change significantly increasing costs, production slowed, jobs dissipated (from 430 to 250), and destitution returned. At the same time, other problems began to the surface, including water contamination and increasing rates of childhood cancers, attributable to the toxic seepage. The dump still operates, but …

Intersectionality Analysis Of The Impact Of Anti-Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Policies In Indonesia And Egypt, Nadiah Atsil Gustina, Laras Ayu Nareswari

Jurnal Politik

Indonesia and Egypt are the two countries with the highest prevalence rates of Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting (FGM/C) in the world. Several policies have been issued in order to reduce the number of cases of female circumcision, but they have not shown significant results. Therefore, the authors want to explain why the implementation of the anti-FGM/C policy has not succeeded in reducing the number of female circumcisions in Indonesia and Egypt. The authors argue that the leading cause of these problems is that the anti-FGM/C policies in both countries neglect the socio-cultural aspects of society, and both countries share …

A Statewide Study Of Disparities In Local Policies And Tobacco, Vape, And Cannabis Retail Environments, Georgiana Bostean, William R. Ponicki, Alisa A. Padon, William J. Mccarthy, Jennifer B. Unger

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

The current study: (1) assesses sociodemographic disparities in local policies related to tobacco and cannabis retail, and (2) examines the cross-sectional association between policy strength and retailer densities of tobacco, e-cigarette (vape), and cannabis retailers within California cities and county unincorporated areas (N = 539). We combined (a) American Community Survey data (2019 5-year estimates), (b) 2018 tobacco, vape, and cannabis retailer locations from a commercial data provider, (c) 2017 tobacco and vape retail environment policy data from American Lung Association, and (d) 2018 cannabis policy data from California Cannabis Local Laws Database. Conditional autoregressive models examined policy strength associations …

The Disposal Mode Of Maine’S Waste Governance, Travis Blackmer, Brieanne Berry, Michael Haedicke, Cindy Isenhour, Susanne Lee, Jean Macrae, Deborah Saber, Erin Victor

Maine Policy Review

Maine’s materials management system is stuck in a disposal mode of waste governance. Despite significant investments in programs and policies designed to reduce the amount of waste the state buries each year, recent shocks and uncertainties have resulted in increased waste generation and disposal. This paper analyzes specific ways through which materials management in Maine has become locked in to a disposal mode of waste governance. We build a framework to help understand various forms of lock-in and how they might be unlocked. This framework is applied to the extended producer responsibility packaging law that is presently under the rule-making …

Unaccompanied Migrant Children And Adolescents’ Rights In Colombia: Between Invisibility And Incapacity, Linda María Urueña Mariño

Master's Theses

This thesis centers on an analysis of the situation of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents transiting through and settling in Colombia, from a children’s rights perspective. These children are being invisibilized, which is causing their unprotection and multiple violations of their rights. Through a critical policy analysis, with a review of Colombian migration and child protection policies, and interviews with governmental and nongovernmental representatives working with migrant children in the country, the study aimed at contrasting policies with the real practices of migrant children protection.

The analysis recurred to Bauman, Butler, Crenshaw, among other authors to show how the Colombian …

Seeing Beneath The Surface: Using Critical Race Theory To Uncover Racial Inequities In The U.S. Public School System, Lauren Harkins

Montserrat Annual Writing Prize

Many policies and practices perpetuate racial inequities and stereotypes, harming and neglecting the young people in American schools. This paper uses Critical Race Theory as a lens or framework to understand the circumstances in which educational inequities are exacerbated and what systemic barriers and beliefs maintain them.

Review Of The International Play Policies And Their Contribution To Supporting A Child's Right To Play, Fiona Armstrong, David Gaul

Articles

Play is recognised as a fundamental children's right protected by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite legal and constitutional requirements for ensuring children's right to play, there are few international policies dedicated to play. This paper seeks to use a critical discourse analysis lens to compare the current international policies dedicated to play and identify examples of good practice and perceived barriers to the successful development and implementation of play policies.

“An Institution Can Have Good Intentions And Still Be Atrocious": Transgender And Gender Expansive Experiences In Social Work Education, M. Killian Kinney, Darren Cosgrove, Tayon R. Swafford, Richard A. Brandon-Friedman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Educational settings have been found to be challenging arenas for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) youth and young adults due to misgendering, lack of affirming bathrooms, systemic exclusion (e.g., legal names and lack of inclusive gender identity demographic options), and frequent silence or avoidance related to TGE issues. Though studies of TGE adult experiences in higher education are emerging, most explore disaffirming experiences. Social work education focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with how to promote social justice, which suggests more affirming environments for TGE individuals. However, little is known about the experiences of TGE students and even less …

Reshaping The Narrative, Crystal Little Owl

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Multi-Dimensional Relationship Between Immigration Policies And Mexican Migrant Women: A Cycle Of Violence, Vulnerabilities, And Sobreviviencia, Jasmine Perales, Jasmine Perales

CMC Senior Theses

Thousands of migrants have died at the United States/Mexico border. This paper analyzes how the current crisis at the border came to be, specifically focusing on the experiences of Mexican migrant women. An analysis of race, racial scripts, and illegality shows how these inform immigration policies and negatively impact migrants. Decades worth of draconian immigration policies have militarized the border and continued to reinforce negative racial scripts of migrants. By centering the testimonies of Mexican migrant women, their structured vulnerabilities come to the forefront as a direct result of immigration policies. Reform of the immigration system needs to occur to …

Connecting The Dots: Immigration Policy And Access To Higher Education For Refugees In France, Isabella Amaro Varas

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Since 2016, the increasing number of refugees in Europe accelerated the development of national and regional policies to determine their rights and access to resources. Against this backdrop, the strong politicization of migration, and the recent financial crises, refugees' access to welfare has “become a key area of concern across European democracies” (Lafleur et al. 2020). Considering public education programs as a pillar of social policy agendas in this region, this study examines French policy in order to answer the following questions: How do French immigration and education policies converge to determine refugees’ access to higher education in France? What …

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 …

The Erasure Of Sex: The Global Capture Of Policies On Sex By Gender Identity Activists And The Effects On The Rights Of Women And Girls, Feminists From Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, And Africa

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article reviews the goals, history, and impact of the new gender identity politics. Based on the Yogyakarta Principles, these new ideas and policies will profoundly affect the rights of women and girls worldwide. The Principles are a document from an international meeting about sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. In 2017, the document was updated to the Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10. The Principles recommend legal changes by states worldwide, resulting in the erasure of sex as a legal and cultural category. These principles have been widely used to lobby for legal changes resulting in profound structural …

Affordable Housing: A National Crisis Fueled By The Coronavirus • A New Jersey Perspective, Latino Action Network Foundation

Center for Urban Policy Research

The Latino Action Network Foundation [LANF], its sister organization the Latino Action Network [LAN] and longtime ally, the Fair Share Housing Center [FSHC], have collaboratively monitored affordable housing issues in New Jersey for more than a decade. As part of its ongoing work, LANF sponsored a housing roundtable on September 10, 2021, to assess the affordable housing situation in the state and offer policy recommendations. At that time, a coalition of advocates, including the three organizations named above, were fresh from a legislative victory that safeguarded tenants unable to pay their rents during the pandemic and gave them a degree …

A New Lens: Using The Policy, Systems, And Environmental Framework To Guide Community Development, Caroline Backman, Clea Rome, Laura Ryser, Rebecca Sero, Debra Hansen

The Journal of Extension

Extension is uniquely positioned to deliver data-driven solutions to complex community issues with University applied research, particularly through crises like COVID-19. Applying the Policy, Systems and Environmental (PSE) framework to community development is an effective, innovative approach in guiding Extension leaders to create, document, and share long-term transformative change on challenging issues with stakeholders. Beyond the public health sector, applying a PSE approach to community development provides leverage points for population-level benefits across sectors. This article describes current public health approaches, methodologies, and how the PSE framework translates to other programs with four examples of high-impact, systems level Extension projects.

Justifying Injustice: How Caricatured Depictions Of African Americans Impacted Worldwide Perception, Jaida Noble

Global Honors Theses

Despite racist depictions of African Americans in art seeming to be behind us, the consequences of such representation, including the baggage of stereotypes alongside them, live on. This paper will argue that the racist caricaturing of Black people throughout history has been used as a form of propaganda, affecting the overall perception of African Americans and influencing policies that have determined them as belonging to the lower levels of the American caste system.

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

Unveiling The Mask Of Post-Race Legitimacy: Preserving White Supremacy Through The Use Of Colorblind Racism In Policy Preference, Vanessa Gonzalez

Senior Theses

Recent literature has brought attention to an avoidance of race-talk among Whites that not only attributes social inequalities to non-racial factors, but challenges the existence of racism at all, and reinforces the power of white supremacy in a way that is hard to detect. The paradigm shift from Jim Crow to colorblind racism simply demonstrates a practice of oppression that has been redefined and reshaped, but the foundation of our society that has been built on white supremacy and racial inequality has yet to change. In order to preserve this foundation, colorblind ideology has been used to implement coded language …

Why Does Equality Matter Anyway? How Indifference To Inequality Relates To U.S.-Born White, Latino, And Black Americans' Attitudes Toward Immigration Policy, Trisha A. Dehrone

Masters Theses

Research on attitudes towards immigration policies typically considers the economic and cultural threats that compel many Americans to favor exclusionary policies that curb immigration. Less is understood about how indifference to inequality shapes Americans’ attitudes towards immigration policies—that is, how ‘not caring’ about the unequal conditions faced by immigrants likely has detrimental consequences for their safety and wellbeing. The present research examines indifference to inequality as a predictor for policies that impact opportunities for immigrants to come to the U.S., and who are otherwise undocumented and/or at great risk for exploitation. Using survey data from the American National Election Studies …

Political Exclusion: Examining Anti-Lgbt+ Movement Results In Tennessee, Symantha K. Gregorash

Masters Theses

Social movement theory and research has produced ample works on national movements and progressive movements, but gaps persist in our understanding of conservative advocacy as social movements and the ways in which groups which hold power organize to identify and address challenges to their positions. Through analyzing state-level conservative social movements, we can examine the marginalizing legislation which continues to be passed at the cost of LGBT+ groups and the ways in which conservative social movements form coalitions and support action on conservative issues. While national-level funding analyses have called attention to the ways class connections maintain power, there is …

Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, Rachel A. Ponder

Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced numerous unprecedented political, social, and economic challenges that resulted in unprecedented responses by policy makers. As result, existing inequalities and injustices rooted in a dense history of structural and institutional violence were uncovered and exacerbated. As of June 2021, at least 398,627 people in prison tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 2,715 had died (The Marshall Project 2021). In the United States, the inmate population is disproportionately made up of poor, people of color. This is a pattern that is rooted in the country’s long history of racism and white supremacy. This cycle continues as …

Culturally Inclusive Curriculum: Policy Recommendations To Address Racial Academic Achievement Gaps In Secondary Education, Brian Holihan

Community Engagement Student Work

The educational system in the United States is a profoundly difficult structure to navigate, adjust, and comprehend. The system, comprised of nearly 100,000 public schools, interacts with millions of students each school year. For the 2021 – 2022 school year, the estimated total of students is 56.4 million. Each student brings individualized experiences and backgrounds to school that play an integral role in helping them form their identity. The 56.4 million students also create a plethora of diverse cultures and beliefs. The nation’s public school system becoming increasingly more racially diverse is exemplifying how minority populations are trending away from …

Structural Violence & Small Victories: Political Epidemiology Of Hiv Among Msm In Nigeria, 2000-2010, Debbie A. Dada

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

No abstract provided.

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Trans Women In Sports, Marissah Banuelos

Sociology Student Work Collection

Americans are split on the idea of Trans Women participating in sports that align with their gender identity. These perspectives and exposure in the media has driven policies in organizations and new laws. It is important to get a fuller scope of what is being said and what can be done to combat the negative consequences.