Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Research Brief: “Homelessness And Trauma Go Hand-In-Hand: Pathways To Homelessness Among Women Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a grounded description on women's veterans experiences which can lead to pathways into experiencing homelessness.

Research Brief: "Evaluation Of A Family-Centered Prevention Intervention For Military Children And Families Facing Wartime Deployment", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of the Families Over Coming Under Stress (FOCUS) project for families experiencing deployment. These benefits included education and skills training, with an emphasis on minimizing psychological and emotional distress for the service-people, their spouses, and their children. While this study analyzed families who were a part of the FOCUS group, future research would best serve to include an additional control group, which would allow for comparison between families in FOCUS and families not currently enrolled.

Research Brief: "Transitions In Dual Care For Veterans: Non-Federal Physician Perspectives", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about non-federal physicians' perspectives on the organization and delivery of dual care for veterans. In policy and practice, patients should tell non-VHA physicians when VHA physicians change the patients' medications, and veterans should keep track of their health records, appointments, tests, treatments, and medications to support communication between dual care physicians; non-VHA and VHA physicians should improve communication between each other and adopt Electronic Medical Records. Suggestions for future research include improving survey response rates, using electronic surveys, carefully constructing the survey questions, and looking at the availability and compatibility of Electronic Medical Records between VHA and …

Research Brief: "Partnering With Communities To Address The Mental Health Needs Of Rural Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research focuses on veterans in rural communities who have less access to mental health providers. The Yellow Ribbon Task Force program promoted and encouraged engagement in mental health care for veterans in rural communities, although future policies should enhance already existing clinical practices to increase standards for care. For further study, researchers should focus on evaluating initial program implementation and pilot testing in a variety of states and rural populations.

The Effect Of Public Policy On Health Service Providers, Marier Allison

Economics - Dissertations

Chapter 1

Low-income, publicly insured admissions historically cost more to treat than the average patient. To ensure that hospitals are reimbursed an adequate amount for care of indigent populations, Medicare reimburses hospitals an additional percentage amount according to federally set financial schedule. The reimbursement cutoff is discrete: at fifteen percent of a disproportionate patient percentage, a hospital is reimbursed an extra 2.5 percent of the standard prospective payment rate. I extend a simple model of hospital quality as a function of insurance reimbursement increases to determine that under certain circumstances there exists a positive relationship between quality and reimbursement. I …

A Tribute To William D. Duncombe, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Achieving Justice Through Public Participation: Measuring The Effectiveness Of New York's Enhanced Public Participation Plan For Environmental Justice Communities, Alma L. Lowry

Social Science - Dissertations

Public participation is at the heart of democracy and of the environmental justice movement. Most state-level environmental justice policies and regulations focus on improving public participation within administrative processes to ensure that communities have a voice in the environmental decisions that affect them. New York has adopted an environmental justice policy that follows this model and requires enhanced notice, accessible comment opportunities, and improved access to technical information for new major environmental permits issued to facilities proposed in low-income or minority communities. However, New York's policy, like other state participation-focused environmental justice policies, has yet to be evaluated.

To address …

Heteroskedasticity And Non-Normality Robust Lm Tests For Spatial Dependence, Badi H. Baltagi, Zhenlin Yang

Center for Policy Research

The standard LM tests for spatial dependence in linear and panel regressions are derived under the normality and homoskedasticity assumptions of the regression disturbances. Hence, they may not be robust against non-normality or heteroskedasticity of the disturbances. Following Born and Breitung (2011), we introduce general methods to modify the standard LM tests so that they become robust against heteroskedasticity and non-normality. The idea behind the robustification is to decompose the concentrated score function into a sum of uncorrelated terms so that the outer product of gradient (OPG) can be used to estimate its variance. We also provide methods for improving …

Fathers Now: Participant Evaluation, Erica Walker Maltby

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Introduction: This study reports the findings based on the results of three surveys implemented to determine the effectiveness of the Fathers Now program. The aim of the report is the gage if the program is meeting its goals for current and past participants.

Methods: The data provided in the report was collected from both in-person surveys as well as phone surveys. 25 participants were surveyed in the pre-survey, 16 in the post-survey, and 25 in alumni phone interviews.

Findings:

Pre-Survey

1. 56% of respondents heard about Fathers Now by word of mouth. (N=25)

2. 76% of participants say job search …

Research Brief: "A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Supported Employment Among Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief focuses on some analyses of veterans with PTSD concerning supported employment programs, the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program, and the evidence-based IPS program. This study's results showed IPS programs to be almost three times more effective than the traditional VRP, and they have a significant impact on employment outcomes for veterans with mental health diagnoses. Suggestions for future research include using a diverse, national sample of veterans to examine the success of the VRP program with different criteria.

Research Brief: "The Impact Of Veterans' Preference On The Composition And Quality Of The Federal Civil Service", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which analyzes the impact of the federal government having a preference for veterans' within its ranks, and further examines the demographics of veterans who choose to have careers in federal civil service.

Research Brief: "Where Did You Serve? Veteran Identity, Representative Bureaucracy And Vocational Rehabilitation", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines the link between veteran status of program counselors and veterans’ views of the VA vocational rehabilitation programs. Researchers interviewed 11 veteran rehabilitation counselors (VRCs), and examined a sample of veterans who had utilized veteran rehabilitation and employment services. In practice, Veterans appear to associate more positive attributes with veteran counselors, including more positive counselor behaviors and more satisfaction with the rehabilitation program overall. In policy, VA administrators may wish to observe common practices among vocational rehabilitation counselors to identify any systematic differences in behavior between these two populations. Suggestions for future study include going beyond investigating the …

Research Brief: "Battlefield Compassion And Post-Traumatic Growth In Combat Servicepersons", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the compassionate acts that come out of post-traumatic growth among veterans after serving. For policy and practice, the research shows that military values, bonding experiences, and maturation through military service allows for positive personal growth and that the VA should provide programs for discussing this growth. Suggestions for future research include taking into account variations in specific experiences when analyzing post-traumatic growth and including a representative random sample.

Research Brief: "Family And Couples Treatment For Newly Returning Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which analyzes how veterans readjust post-deployment during OEF/OIF when they come back home to their families.

Research Brief: "Cognitive Behavioral Treatment For Post-Traumatic Nightmares: An Investigation Of Predictors Of Dropout And Outcome", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the cognitive behavior treatment outcomes and drop outs of Vietnam veterans with PTSD who experience nightmares. In policy and practice, various socialization strategies should be implemented by clinics based on veterans' levels of traumatic history, and veterans' families should work to create a positive view of therapy; policymakers should provide support for these therapies and the training of clinicians to provide them. Suggestions for future research include having a more generalizable population in the study, examining the impact of the study's exclusion criteria, and the impact of psychotropic medicines on treatment outcome.

Research Brief: "A Prospective Study Of Ptsd And Early-Age Heart Disease Mortality Among Vietnam Veterans: Implications For Surveillance And Prevention", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is a summary of PTSD being prospectively associated with HD mortality among veterans free of HD at baseline.

Palliative Care And The Health Care Crisis In The United States: A Candid Conversation With Dr. Diane Meier, Diane E. Meier

Center for Policy Research

This paper is a synthesis of the 2012 Lourie Lecture, framed as a series of questions and responses, and supported by images used in the lecture. I’m going to focus on the growth of this new field called palliative care and will make the connection that the crisis afflicting healthcare in the United States cannot be addressed without widespread scaling and implementation of palliative care across the system. My subject is not end-of-life care, but rather care during serious illness. A serious illness is something a person can live with for many years, such as emphysema, or end-stage renal disease …

Pathways To Tax Reform Revisited, Leonard E. Burman

Center for Policy Research

The U.S. income tax badly needs reform. It is complex, unfair, and inefficient. It doesn’t come close to raising enough revenue to finance government expenditures, and won’t any time in the foreseeable future unless it is revised. Raising tax rates could increase revenues, but it wouldn’t lessen the complexity and would magnify the unfairness and efficiency costs. Not surprisingly, proposals for reform abound. Income tax reform proposals would virtually all trim so-called tax expenditures, the 200 or so exclusions, deductions, and credits that are designed to provide subsidies for particular activities or groups. This would surely make the late Stanley …

The Annual Employment Situation Of Veterans: 2012, Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This data brief summarizes the demographics and trends in veteran employment from 2012.

Research Brief: "How Are Iraq/Afghanistan-Era Veterans Faring In The Labor Market?", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

In this study, researchers found significant differences in employment among recently returned veterans based on age, health, and service era. The Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans, ages 18-24, were more likely to have higher earnings if employed, while older veterans, ages 37-64, had higher odds of unemployment. In practice, veterans may be experiencing an employment divide in which those who can find work command high wages, while others are not able to find work at all. In policy, policymakers may wish to revisit these issues by increasing the availability of programs and services for older veterans and those from previous eras who are …

Research Brief: "Risk Of Incarceration And Other Characteristics Of Iraq And Afghanistan Era Veterans In State And Federal Prisons", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief examines data from The Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) to compare the risk of incarceration of veterans in order to identify socio-demographic and clinical characteristics in incarcerated veterans. OEF/OIF/OND veterans appeared to be at lower risk of incarceration than veterans of other service eras, but those who were incarcerated had higher rates of PTSD and would benefit from policies that fund accessible programing aimed at increasing vocational training and increasing educational opportunities. In future studies, researchers should focus on the implementation of PTSD treatment services for the incarcerated veteran population, including the success rate of various programs …

Research Brief: "The Role Of Social Support In Exposure Therapy For Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans: A Preliminary Investigation", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which evaluates the impact of social support on veterans undergoing exposure therapy for symptoms of PTSD from the OEF/OIF conflicts.

Research Brief: "An Examination Of Family Adjustment Among Operation Desert Storm Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study focuses on the readjustment of veterans of Operation Desert Storm (ODS) and the impact of PTSD on their familial readjustment, particularly for women veterans. The future research proposed for this study includes bringing a stronger focus on women veterans with PTSD and also non-military stressors which might affect the study results.

Expected Efficiency Ranks From Parametric Stochastic Frontier Models, William C. Horrace, Seth Richards-Shubik

Center for Policy Research

In the stochastic frontier model we extend the multivariate probability statements of Horrace (2005) to calculate the conditional probability that a firm is any particular efficiency rank in the sample. From this we construct the conditional expected efficiency rank for each firm. Compared to the traditional ranked efficiency point estimates, firm-level conditional expected ranks are more informative about the degree of uncertainty of the ranking. The conditional expect ranks may be useful for empiricists. A Monte Carlo study and an empirical example are provided.

Research Brief: "Veteran Status, Extramarital Sex, And Divorce: Findings From The 1992 National Health And Social Life Survey", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes an examination of the associations between veteran status, extramarital sex, and divorce among ever-married persons aged 18 to 60 years.

Research Brief: "Accommodating Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms In The Academic Setting", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examined specific barriers to education in a sample of seven student veterans, which included veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and found some professional adjustment issues, social interactions, behavioral and emotional challenges, and life changes. In practice, student veterans expressed impairments in developing close relationships, concerns about feelings of isolation, and heightened anxiety when asked insensitive questions about their military service. In policy, educational policies regarding course transferability may need to be revisited so that veterans seeking to further their education can take steps to do so both during and after their military service without repeating coursework. Suggestions …

Research Brief: "The Influence Of Combat And Interpersonal Trauma On Ptsd, Depression, And Alcohol Misuse In U.S. Gulf War And Oef/Oif Women Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief summarizes a scholarly article of the same name. It reviews research which evaluates the impact of PTSD on women veterans, and the implications for alcohol misuse which might accompany such traumas.

Research Brief: "Combat Exposure And Suicide Risk In Two Samples Of Military Personnel", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the relationship between suicide risk and combat exposure among veterans who are receiving mental health care and those not receiving mental health care. For policy and practice, veterans who are not receiving mental health care should be monitored for depression and PTSD; mental health professionals should understand the relationship between risk factors and suicide, and the VHA should encourage post-9/11 veterans to use their mental health care benefits provided to them by the VA. Suggestions for future research include using a more representative sample, analyzing the sample over time, and relying on methods other than self-reporting.

Effects Of Increased Variety On Demand, Pricing, And Welfare, William C. Horrace, Rui Hang, Jeffrey M. Perloff

Center for Policy Research

We use order statistics to analytically derive demand functions when consumers choose from among the varieties of two brands—such as Coke and Pepsi—and an outside good. Soft-drinks have no price variability across varieties within a brand, so traditional demand systems (e.g., mixed logit) are not identified. In contrast, our demand system is identified and can be estimated using a nonlinear instrumental variable estimator. Our demand functions are higher-order polynomials, where the polynomial order is increasing in variety. Because these demand curves have convex and concave sections around an inflection point, firms are more likely to respond and make large price …

A National Veterans Strategy: The Economic, Social And Security Imperative, Nicholas Armstrong, J. Michael Haynie

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This publication details the foundational logic supporting a call to action, related to a broad-based effort to articulate and institutionalize a National Veterans Strategy.