Public Policy Commons^™

2020 Adult Foster Home Resident And Community Characteristics Report On Adult Foster Homes, Paula Carder, Sheryl Elliott, Ozcan Tunalilar, Sarah Dys, Portland State University Institute On Aging

Institute on Aging Publications

This report is the sixth in a series prepared by the Institute on Aging at Portland State University for Oregon’s Department of Human Services (ODHS) and examines a sample of Adult Foster Homes (AFHs) throughout the state. This study has four objectives: 1. Describe AFH characteristics, including staffing types, policies and monthly charges and fees. 2. Describe current residents’ health-related needs, service use and demographic characteristics. 3. Compare current results with prior Oregon surveys to identify changes and current trends. 4. Describe characteristics that might affect access, quality, or cost. Oregon has licensed adult foster homes (AFHs) as a type …

What Happens When Cross-Sector Partnerships Are Mandated? Analyzing Trust Through A Transaction Cost Approach, Vanessa Hubbard Rastberger Dr

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-sector partnerships that combine the perspectives and needs of public, private, and nonprofit sectors have been used to address public policy challenges. Research has shown that trust and reputation among partners play an important role in the performance of partnerships. Trust has been positively associated with the reduction of transaction costs of partnerships, and therefore, this study used a Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) approach as the theoretical framework.

Some partnerships are volitional while others are the results of legal or other mandates. Does this volitional or non-volitional (mandated) status affect how collaboration is perceived? For instance, will collaboration and trust …

A Comparative Study Of The Influence Of Credential Attainment On Employment Outcomes In Rural And Urban Localities, Carrie S. Douglas

Theses and Dissertations

The significance of credentials has heightened considerably in recent decades with numerous federal and state policy initiatives aimed at increasing credential attainment. Various public workforce programs support these efforts, including the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which provided training to job-seekers from 1998 through 2015. Scholars point to human capital theory to explain how education investments yield economic gains. Screening, signaling, and credentialist theories provide a framework for examining the ways that credentials are used in labor markets. The literature on rural labor markets suggests that conditions are very different from their urban counterparts, with significant challenges existing in terms …

Social Learning Theory And Digital Piracy: Explaining Uploading Behaviors Of Digital Pirates, Cydney J. Lowenstein

Theses and Dissertations

Digital piracy has received significant attention in criminological research but almost no studies have explored illegal uploading and how it may differ from illegal downloading. It is important to examine what theories can explain illegal uploading behaviors and their related factors to develop more effective policies to address digital piracy. This dissertation examined whether Akers’ (1998) social learning theory could explain engagement in digital piracy, both illegal downloading and uploading behavior. Additionally, this research examined the relationship between reciprocity and digital piracy. Questionnaires were administered to 398 university students and 315 visitors to several online communities using a combination of …

A Sub-Sahara African Army's Perspectives Of Security Force Assistance Training Effectiveness, Richard Kemp

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Past research and government reports document that Security Force Assistance (SFA) provided by the United States to partner nations often failed to achieve the desired impact of developing the capacity and capability of the partner to defeat an insurgency and maintain security. A lack of research and available data inhibit the identification of reasons SFA programs fail. In this qualitative phenomenological study, the perspectives of recipients of training were explored to understand the factors that impact the development of capability and capacity as a result of SFA training. The agency theory was applied as the theoretical framework in the study …

An Examination Into Fusion Centers Impact On Information Sharing Post 9/11, Racquel Nicola Palmer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the United States resulted in the introduction of the National Fusion Center Network. This effort seeks to empower National Security by effectively sharing information between various law enforcement organizations. Since the establishment of the Network, information that addresses the Networks' standard operating procedures and existing barriers to share information effectively has been lacking. This caused many criticisms as to whether the network is in fact effective in fulfilling its mandate to effectively share information between the various law enforcement agencies. Utilizing Bandura's cognitive theory of behavioral change, this phenomenological study identifies the strategies …

Division Ii Football Players' Perceptions Of Ncaa And Finding Balance Between Athletics And Education, Morgan Laine Lehman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mandates and regulations from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have caused extreme reforms to take effect in the NCAA's education system. However, little is known about how these reforms have impacted student-athletes participating in college athletics. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how Division II football players from public colleges and universities view their ability to balance their education and athletics to create a well-rounded college life. Astin's involvement theory was used to frame this study. Open ended questionnaire data was collected from 12 college football players, enrolled in public, Division II colleges and universities. …

Leveraging Data To Reduce Gun Violence: The Cincinnati Experience, Matthew G. Hammer, Tamara D. Herold

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

The year 2020 has amplified demands for more equitable policing, more efficient government, and greater transparency. As police leaders around the world attempt to maintain order and safety during a period of large-scale civil unrest, they must also address criticisms that existing law enforcement practices include biased interventions and reinforce systemic racism. Many law enforcement agencies are also responding to increasing numbers of serious crimes that disproportionately affect society’s most vulnerable communities, while simultaneously facing calls to “defund the police” fueled by accusations that challenge the legitimacy of their policing tactics. The strategies used by agencies to manage protests and …

Crime Place Networks In Las Vegas: A New Violence Reduction Strategy, Tamara D. Herold

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

In 2017, the Las Vegas, Nevada, Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) adopted a series of interventions designed to reduce gang and gun violence across Las Vegas. In partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police/University of Cincinnati (IACP/UC) Center for Police Research and Policy and with evaluation funding provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the LVMPD implemented three violence reduction strategies: (1) focused deterrence (offender notification session); (2) hot spot patrols; and (3) place network investigations (PNI), also known as place-based investigations of violent offender territories (PIVOT), which is the focus here.

Towards A Resilient Future: Federal Policies For Adapting The U.S. Coasts To Climate Change, Samuel Horowitz

Pitzer Senior Theses

Climate change is projected to have a devastating impact on the American coast, yet coastal communities and states have largely failed to prepare for projected impacts. This is in large part due to a lack of resources. This thesis analyzes innovative federal policy mechanisms that will address the current gap between actions and forecasted impacts, and will make U.S. coastal communities more resilient in the face of climate change.

Attitudes On International Standards For Criminal Hacking In The Public And Private Sector, Melinda Shoemaker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a current gap in the literature regarding uniform and consistent standards and policies for addressing criminal hacking at the international level. The purpose of this quantitative dissertation was to explore the relationship between individuals in the public and private sectors and their attitudes toward the need for international law defining criminal hacking and the penalties associated with the act. Since the advent of information and communication technologies, there has been a need to address security holistically. The security and sustainability of evolving technologies are examined in light of the threat landscape of criminal hacking, privacy concerns, and policies …

Oligarchic Cartelization In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Bonifasius -. Hargens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A few ruling individuals from party organizations overpowered Indonesia's post-authoritarian, representative democracy. The legislative process of the 2017 Election Act was the case study employed to examine this assumption. The underlying thinking was that there was a contest between “wealth power” (oligarchy) and “participation power” (democracy). The power of wealth controls the party and government institutions. Notwithstanding the presence of participation power, there was, however, no balance between wealth power and participation power, because the formal control of politics was in the hands of party oligarchs. The study purpose was to bridge the gap in knowledge by exploring how the …

Battle Of The Sexes: A History Of Social Change And A Solution For Maintaining A Child’S Best Interest In Light Of The #Metoo Movement, Jackie Calvert

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Move Or Improve? Place, Policy, And Educator Labor Markets, Cory Curl

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

What is the role of place and policy in shaping educator labor markets during the decade following the Great Recession of 2008? This research leverages data on Kentucky students, educators, schools, and school districts from 2009 to 2018, with a focus on the rural, isolated Appalachian region. Many counties in the region have long struggled with poverty, low rates of labor force participation, lower educational attainment, and dependence on public transfers (Ziliak, 2019). Despite these challenges, the people of Appalachia demonstrate a strong attachment to the region. With this research, I enhance understanding of contexts and conditions, such as unique …

Evidence-Based Approach To Drug Crisis, Jiebing Wen

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

I am devoted to health policy research, especially tackling the opioid crisis, and evaluating marijuana laws and newly emerging issues associated with legal recreational drugs. Opioid overdose in the United States continues to jeopardize public health. Meanwhile, the majority of states have legalized medical marijuana and one third of them further liberalized recreational marijuana. Marijuana liberalization, although originally independent of the growing opioid crisis, may be a harm reduction approach to the crisis because marijuana may be a substitute for opioids in pain management at a relatively lower risk. However, marijuana liberalization may also lead to marijuana-related harms, such as …

Essays On Economic Development Policies, Hakyeon Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Tax increment financing (TIF) policy is the most popular economic development policy in the United States. Despite the popularity of research on TIF, only a few comprehensive reviews of previous studies on TIF policy tool have been conducted. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to review previous TIF studies relating to the controversy surrounding TIF programs. Specifically, previous studies do not provide clear answers about the efficacy of TIF and, indeed, raise more questions than answers. At the same time, this situation begs the question: why do local governments frequently use economic development policies? This is …

Examining The Effects Of Public Policies And Addiction On Purchase Of Tobacco Products With Causal Inference And Machine Learning Methods, Xueting Deng

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

My three essays explore the effects of tobacco policies and addiction on the consumption of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Recently, jurisdictions imposed taxes and other regulations on e-cigarettes, with the hope to raise tax revenues and address health concerns regarding e-cigarette use, especially youth addiction. My first essay in Chapter 1 focuses on the effects of e-cigarette taxes on sales of e-cigarettes. It compares the two types of tax policies on sales of e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and smoking-cessation products. This comparison provides information for lawmakers on decisions of taxes regarding the perspectives of revenue generation and tobacco control. Second, after …

Using Systems Archetypes And Generic Structures To Support Water Resource Management Studies : The Case Of Cropping Pattern Change In New Mexico State, Babak Bahaddin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A wide range of managerial problems are similar in nature, and yet they continuously appear in different forms and in different geographical locations. Compared to other sciences, it seems that in the field of management, managers have a hard time facing these similar problems. Part of this issues is caused by the extreme complexity of the systems and another part is caused by the lack of a universal language with which managers can communicate their lessons. This dissertation offers a set of tools that have been previously manufactured in systems science, and more specifically in System Dynamics.

Naral And The Art Of Playing Defense : How Interest Groups Act When They Seek To Protect The Status Quo Of Public Policy, Katherine Elaine Slye-Hernandez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Why do interest groups take certain actions in policy debates and not others? How do groups seeking to protect the status quo of policy act? These questions, and others, cannot be answered well by the current interest group literature, and this dissertation seeks to delve into this line of research with a case study of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). While certain aspects of the interest group literature, and a large part of the venue shopping literature specifically, can help scholars understand some actions of groups like NARAL, there are a whole host of actions NARAL took that …

Modeling An Open Data Ecosystem : The Case Of Food Service Establishments Inspection In New York State, Mahdi Mirdamadi Najafabadi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Open Government Data (OGD) is becoming an increasingly popular initiative around the world. OGD initiatives have a broad number of stakeholders from different sectors and are influenced by many political, societal, and technological factors. In this thesis, I used the notion of Open Government Data Ecosystem (OGDE) as a holistic perspective to the OGD phenomenon, which encompasses important actors, their reciprocal interactions, and their impacts on the OGD environment.

An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Geographic Mobility And Homeless Service Use In Northeastern New York State, Amanda Aykanian

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study used a mixed methods design to explore the geographic mobility of homeless service users in northeastern New York State and the relationship between mobility and homeless service use, engagement, and delivery. For the quantitative component, a sample of Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data—that includes adults accessing homeless services in 2017 across 21 counties in northeastern New York State—was used to describe service users’ mobility and the demographic, background, and service use characteristics associated with mobility. For the qualitative component, semi-structured interviews with homeless service providers in those same counties were used to understand providers’ views of mobility, …

Panel Discussion: The Right To Education: With Liberty, Justice, And Education For All?

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Big Data : Predicting Traffic Risk And Providing Early Warning Due To Adverse Weather Conditions, Sreekumar E. Nampoothiri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The proliferation of big data has allowed researchers to delve deeper into data and gain better understandings within almost every field. In the fields of transportation planning and traffic management, past research has shown direct relationships among weather conditions and traffic speed, volume, and congestion. However, these studies have mostly relied on static data that were spatially and temporally sparse or collected on a specific roadway for a specific time period for research purposes. With the need to address the impacts of climate change, including an increasing number of extreme weather events as well as an increasing intensity of such …

Nebraska School Violence Prevention Toolkit For K-12 School Threat Assessment Teams, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Denise Bulling

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Introduction

This toolkit provides guidance for school threat assessment teams to encourage the reporting of concerning behavior that may threaten safety and security of schools. Part I (“Reporting School Violence Before it Happens”) provides an overview of the importance of reporting school violence, and outlines specific barriers to reporting among youth, school staff, and parents/guardians. Part II (“Developing and Implementing a Reporting Process”) provides guidance on important features of a reporting process for potential or actual violence and other safety concerns. Part III (“Special Considerations”) discusses three particular problems affecting school youth: suicide, bullying/cyberbullying, and dating- related violence and abusive …

Understanding Community Members’ Perception Of Opioid Treatment Programs For Women In Westchester County, Erika Jean Pichardo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows a significant rise in opioid abuse that has led to an opioid epidemic. Although research has shown the importance and effectiveness of treatment programs for opioid users, there is a lack of research on understanding community members’ perception and role of such programs and their perception of women who are opioid abusers and enter programs. The purpose of this study was to understand community members’ perception of opioid treatment programs for women in New York State’s Westchester County, using the theoretical framework of Becker’s social labeling theory. The study employed a phenomenological design using interviews. Results of the …

Supporting Intervention For Adolescents Of Incarcerated Parents In Rural Areas, Jeanette Kathleen Loudy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was focused on the challenges experienced by children who had a parent incarcerated during their adolescence. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of adult child survivors of parental incarceration in a rural community and to describe the impact that parental incarceration had on children during adolescence and into young adulthood. The research questions were designed to examine the perceived challenges facing adult children of parental incarceration in rural areas and policy intervention programs that would be most effective at supporting children of parental incarceration during adolescence and the transition into adulthood. …

Decentralization And Good Governance In Angolan Local Governments, Nkosi Mankenda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective provision of public goods and services is among the common issues affecting local governments in Angola. Administrative decentralization is a well-known strategy to foster municipal governance, yet Angolan citizens perceive a lack of impact from this strategy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of leaders and followers in public administration regarding the lack of impact of administrative decentralization on Northern Angola, and to examine the role of public administration education to reverse this trend. The theoretical frameworks were Pierson’s path dependence theory and Cooperrider’s appreciative inquiry theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews …

Drug Control Officers' Perception Of Nigeria's Narcotics Control Policy, Olufemi Ajayi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Nigerian government’s cannabis prohibition policy has failed to achieve the suppression of supply and reduction of demand for drugs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the policy implementation experiences of Nigeria’s drug control officers regarding Nigeria’s drug control policies. The theoretical foundation was social construction theory. Data were collected from reviews of public documents and in-depth interviews with 15 active or retired drug control officers. Data were sorted, organized, and coded through directed content analysis to identify themes. The themes that emerged included defective nature and content of the policy, poor policy implementation, and unfavorable …

The District Of Columbia And Gun Control Laws: Homicides And Social Impacts, Richard Ghislain Mbakop

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

The District of Columbia has one of the toughest gun laws in the United States, yet the city has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation and much of this gun violence is concentrated in the southeastern part of the city. The framework for the study was comprised of (a) the psychological theory based on many arguments, such as labeling weapons as symbols of male superiority and power, and (b) the social contract theory. Finding the perceptions about the relationship between gun control laws and homicide rates in Washington D.C. was the essential aim of the study. …

Barriers To Mental Health Services Related To Stigma In Northern California, Kandalena Ary

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

California Senate Bill 1041 recognized mental health as a contributing barrier for individuals struggling to achieve independence from aid through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program to meet the needs of the state's low-income families while reducing barriers to self-sufficiency. As mental health illnesses continue to increase, the engagement and utilization of services have not increased. The purpose of this study was to explore county policy infrastructure addresses making mental health services known, accessible, and increase participation to decrease barriers in utilization of available resources. The research questions were used to examine the effectiveness of processes …