Community-Based Research Commons^™

Offline Social Relationships And Online Cancer Communication: Effects Of Social And Family Support On Online Social Network Building, Namkoong Kang, Dhavan V. Shah, David H. Gustafson

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

This study investigates how social support and family relationship perceptions influence breast cancer patients’ online communication networks in a computer-mediated social support (CMSS) group. To examine social interactions in the CMSS group, we identified two types of online social networks: open and targeted communication networks. The open communication network reflects group communication behaviors (i.e., one-to-many or “broadcast” communication) in which the intended audience is not specified; in contrast, the targeted communication network reflects interpersonal discourses (i.e., one-to-one or directed communication) in which the audience for the message is specified. The communication networks were constructed by tracking CMSS group usage data …

Rural Reality: How Reality Television Portrayals Of Appalachian People Impact Their View Of Their Culture, Ivy Jude Elise Brashear

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Appalachian people have faced stereotyping of their culture and region in popular culture, news media, and art for generations. For more than 150 years, images of the region have been extracted by outside media makers and disseminated widely, solidifying the “hillbilly” stereotype in the national lexicon. This study focuses on such images in reality television shows about Appalachia, and seeks to determine whether or not those images, and the proliferation of them, has an impact on the ways in which Appalachian people understand and accept their own culture.

Gender Matters: Masculinities Among African American Men Farming In North Carolina, Marcus K. Bernard

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The residue of racism, institutional discrimination, and class warfare continue to displace constructions of masculinity for African-American men in farming by shifting the drive for success onto the sidewalk of survival. The shifting focus migrates from goals of economic and political gain to simply shielding masculinity through acts of providing for and protecting the family. African-American men’s failure to acknowledge these quandaries in Western society’s social structure entraps their masculine identity by keeping their focus on issues of race and social class which overshadow the broad gender transformations. The deceptive social forces underlying this social structure hurl African conditions are …

Agriculture Of The Middle Participation In State Branding Campaigns: The Case Of Kentucky, Alicia M. Hullinger, Keiko Tanaka

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

In the past decade, statewide agricultural branding campaigns have blossomed. Examining the case of the Kentucky Proud™ (KyP) program, this paper investigates the potential benefit of a state-level marketing strategy for the declining class of midsize farms, referred to as Agriculture of the Middle (AOTM). First, we discuss why AOTM farms are important to maintaining a viable agriculture structure. Second, we introduce the context of state branding and explain how KyP developed as part of the transition from highly tobacco-dependent agriculture. Using recent agricultural census data and a survey of KyP members, we compare the key characteristics between three sets …

Building The Capacity For Community Food Work: The Geographic Distribution Of Usda Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program Grantees, Keiko Tanaka, Erica Indiano, Graham T. Soley, Patrick H. Mooney

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

Projects Competitive Grants Program, or USDA CFPCGP, supports community efforts to address food system issues. Over the last 15 years the program has funded diverse community-based projects across the nation, including youth education programs on healthy eating, farm-to-table initiatives, and community food assessments. In this initial study, we endeavor to understand the contribution of the CFPCGP in building a community's capacity to address its own challenges for food security. To analyze funding patterns of the CFPCGP program between 1996 and 2012, we used the websites of the CFPCGP and the WhyHunger Network to identify 420 competitive grant applications successfully funded …

Chess Improves Cancer Caregivers' Burden And Mood: Results Of An Ehealth Rct, Lori L. Dubenske, David H. Gustafson, Kang Namkoong, Robert P. Hawkins, Amy K. Atwood, Roger L. Brown, Ming-Yuan Chih, Fiona Mctavish, Cindy L. Carmack, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Informal caregivers (family and friends) of people with cancer are often unprepared for their caregiving role, leading to increased burden or distress. Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) is a Web-based lung cancer information, communication, and coaching system for caregivers. This randomized trial reports the impact on caregiver burden, disruptiveness, and mood of providing caregivers access to CHESS versus the Internet with a list of recommended lung cancer websites.

METHODS: A total of 285 informal caregivers of patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer were randomly assigned to a comparison group that received Internet or a treatment group that …

Needed Research On The Englishes Of Appalachia, Bridget L. Anderson, Jennifer Cramer, Bethany K. Dumas, Beverly Olson Flanigan, Michael Montgomery

Linguistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Ehealth System Supporting Palliative Care For Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Randomized Trial, David H. Gustafson, Lori L. Dubenske, Kang Namkoong, Robert Hawkins, Ming-Yuan Chih, Amy K. Atwood, Roberta Johnson, Abhik Bhattacharya, Cindy L. Carmack, Anne M. Traynor, Toby C. Campbell, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, Joan H. Schiller, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In this study, the authors examined the effectiveness of an online support system (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System [CHESS]) versus the Internet in relieving physical symptom distress in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS: In total, 285 informal caregiver-patient dyads were assigned randomly to receive, for up to 25 months, standard care plus training on and access to either use of the Internet and a list of Internet sites about lung cancer (the Internet arm) or CHESS (the CHESS arm). Caregivers agreed to use CHESS or the Internet and to complete bimonthly surveys; for patients, these tasks …

21st Century Crofting: Strengths And Opportunities For Community Development, Bryan J. Hains, Ronald Hustedde, Kristina G. Ricketts

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

Scotland has one of the most uneven land ownership patterns in the world. In a country of 5.2 million people, about 969 people control 60% of the land. Over 20% of privately owned land in Scotland is held in some form of offshore or beneficial ownership (Committee on the Inquiry of Crofting, 2008). This land ownership pattern has a unique expression in the northern and western parts of the Scottish Highlands and Islands with a 300-year-old system of tenant farmers known as crofters. Unlike other tenant farmers across the world, crofters have gained legal rights to stay on the land …

Predictors Of The Change In The Expression Of Emotional Support Within An Online Breast Cancer Support Group: A Longitudinal Study, Woohyun Yoo, Ming-Yuan Chih, Min-Woo Kwon, Junghwan Yang, Eunji Cho, Bryan Mclaughlin, Kang Namkoong, Dhavan V. Shah, David H. Gustafson

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: To explore how the expression of emotional support in an online breast cancer support group changes over time, and what factors predict this pattern of change.

METHODS: We conducted growth curve modeling with data collected from 192 participants in an online breast cancer support group within the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) during a 24-week intervention period.

RESULTS: Individual expression of emotional support tends to increase over time for the first 12 weeks of the intervention, but then decrease slightly with time after that. In addition, we found that age, living situation, comfort level with computer and the …

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

Youth And Adult Perceptions Of Their Relationships Within Community-Based Youth Programs, Kenneth R. Jones, Daniel F. Perkins

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

This study examined perceptions and experiences of youth and adults engaged in various types of community-based youth-adult relationships. Involvement and interaction rating scales were completed by 108 participants involved in community groups from 12 communities in 10 states. The rating scale measured three constructs: youth involvement, adult involvement, and youth- adult interaction. Significant gender differences in participants’ perceptions were found on all three constructs, with females being more positive. Rural participants were found to be significantly more positive than urban participants on the construct of youth involvement. Finally, significant differences were found between all participants within categories of the youth-adult …

Local Ghanaian Stakeholder Perceptions After One Year Of A New School Feeding Program In Adjeikrom, Ghana, Monica E. Fowler

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

The objective of this qualitative longitudinal study was to assess stakeholder perceptions after one year of a new school feeding program to contrast and compare to pre-program expectations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using questions reviewed by an in-country collaborator for cultural sensitivity and appropriateness. Follow up questions were determined from participant response. The interviews were analyzed by performing content analysis using open and axial coding to find key concepts in the data. The results showed the school feeding program met stakeholder expectations regarding reduction in absenteeism and truancy, improving classroom behavior and increasing enrollment as well as relieving short term …

The Writing On The Stall: Graffiti, Vandalism, And Social Expression, Brett Wolff

Kaleidoscope

Graffiti and vandalism are everywhere in the modern city; they seem to be part of the typical urban background. While graffiti are usually associated with concrete walls, bridges and train cars, one particular area of focus of vandalistic writing is the walls and stalls of public bathrooms. This area, for both obvious, and sometimes unclear reasons, is a popular forum for anyone wanting to write. This project was conducted with the intent of better understanding these somewhat ubiquitous and seemingly mundane scribbles. As the first step toward this goal, a literature review of approaches to vandalism was conducted. This theoretical …

Factors Influencing Community Response To Locally Undesirable Land Uses: A Case Study Of Bluegrass Stockyards, Terry Logan Lunsford

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Community development is an ongoing issue that faces communities as they develop. This is a case study where two communities where faced with an identical development proposal involving Bluegrass Stockyards. Bluegrass Stockyards a prominent livestock marketing business, located in Lexington, KY needed to relocate its facility and looked at communities in Lincoln and Woodford County Kentucky as possible new locations.

By looking at the case of Bluegrass Stockyards this study is able to use Conflict Theory, Growth Theory and Frame Analysis to look at the development process and issues that was associated with this development proposal. With the two communities …

The Science And Art Of A Community Development Short Course: An Approach To Design, Teaching, And Evaluation, Michael Louis Geneve

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Community developers are often solicited to teach essential core concepts and strategies in the field but lack the consensus among their peers on which theories constitute the fundamentals. This study examines leading community development theories, concepts and approaches to establish the essential elements for a weeklong short course. In addition to content research, leading teaching theories were also explored to establish the core methods for teaching such a course. Active learning techniques were utilized to increase student participation in the learning process while building solidarity and capacity in the class. Finally, the short course was taught to a group in …

Dams And People: Geographic Impact Area Analysis, Vance E. Arnett, Sue Johnson

KWRRI Research Reports

This report attempts to determine the efficacy of using geographic impact areas as analytical sub-groups for the assessment of the impact of multi-purpose reservoir projects on target communities. The impact areas utilized are: the take area; the below-the-dam area; the urban area; and, the adjacent area. Each area is described in detail and each is analyzed for differences in knowledge, previous experience, and perception of impact on community and family.

Data for this study originated from structured and open-ended interviews in Johnson County, Kentucky. Information was collected during two field efforts, the first in February, 1974, the second in August …

Social Costs And Benefits Of Water Resources Construction, Rabel J. Burdge, K. Sue Johnson

KWRRI Research Reports

This report analyzes and describes the process of relocating individuals and families who must move due to reservoir construction in Kentucky utilizing data collected in previous research. These data come from four separate studies: a study of community attitudes toward reservoir construction (Johnson county where the Paintsville reservoir is to be constructed), interviews with people who are slated for relocation when the Taylorsville reservoir is constructed, and two sets of interviews with people who have already been relocated due to reservoir construction (Cave Run and Carr Fork).

Psychological, social, economic and material costs and benefits associated with forced relocation are …

Anticipations Of Change: A Socio-Economic Description Of A Kentucky County Before Reservoir Construction, Charles Robert Smith

KWRRI Research Reports

In the past the construction of large reservoirs in the United States has been evaluated largely in terms of the economic benefit they bring to the area where they are constructed and to the nation. Where human populations are involved, however, a host of social changes occur, many of which fundamentally alter the way of life of a people.

This report is part of a larger study which aims at analyzing the social costs and benefits of reservoir construction. The project is long range in that studies are to be carried out before, during, and after construction. This report concentrates …

Evaluation Of The Social Impact Of Reservoir Construction On The Residential Plans Of Displaced Persons In Kentucky And Ohio, Richard L. Ludtke, Rabel J. Burdge

KWRRI Research Reports

The states of Kentucky and Ohio have numerous reservoir projects at various stages of planning and construction. Each of the projects produces substantial social impact for the residents of the area and particularly for those persons affected by a loss of property and homes. This impact is not uniform in that people respond differently to displacement and the methods of adjusting relocation are known to differ among people.

This research was initiated to develop and test a model for explaining migration under such conditions. The model includes a consideration of people's potential for transferring existing statuses to new residences, the …