Community-Based Research Commons^™

Assessing Louisiana State University College Of Agriculture Faculty Members' Cultural Intelligence And Kenyan Workshop Participants' Knowledge And Attitude Towards International Development Projects, Cristina Cossich

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The main objective of this dissertation was to assess Louisiana State University College of Agriculture Faculty Members' Cultural Intelligence and Kenyan Workshop Participants' Knowledge and Attitude towards International Development Projects. The study examines key aspects that contribute to the implementation of international development projects: describing the landscape of what is known about international development projects in Kenya; assessing perceptions of faculty members of a southern United States land-grant university who are in charge of the development and implementation of international development projects; and evaluation of program impacts on selected local participants of a project in Kenya.

The overall findings of …

Engaged Communication Scholarship For Environmental Justice: A Research Agenda, Chad Raphael

Communication

As a discipline of crisis and care, environmental communication needs to address questions of environmental justice. This article argues that the most appropriate approach to studying environmental justice communication is engaged scholarship, in which academics collaborate with community partners, advocates, and others to conduct research. The article reviews prior engaged communication scholarship on environmental justice, and proposes four streams of future research, focused on news and information, deliberation and participation, campaigns and movements, and education and literacy.

Examining Protective Factors That Promote Resilience Among Children With An Incarcerated Parent, Celeste A. Jackson

Dissertations

Children of incarcerated parents (CIP) represent one of the most vulnerable, at-risk populations in the United States (Johnston, 1995). Best estimates suggests there are 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parents and African-American children are disproportionately represented at a figure of 1 in 9 children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Much of the research attempting to understand this population and guide intervention efforts has employed a deficit-based approach, highlighting the plethora of adverse risk factors and negative outcomes associated with being the child of an incarcerated parent. This approach fails to acknowledge the presence of resilience inherent in these youth. The …

Psychosocial Well-Being And Efforts To Quit Smoking In Pregnant Women Of South-Central Appalachia, Brittney Stubbs, Valerie Hoots, Andrea D. Clements, Beth Bailey

ETSU Faculty Works

Introduction: Psychosocial well-being variables from the Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers (TIPS) study, a longitudinal smoking cessation study in South-Central Appalachia, were investigated as potential predictors of smoking status.

Methods: A sample of 1031 pregnant women participated in an expanded 5A's (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) program, from 2008 to 2011. Measures of stress, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating collected by interview during the first trimester, or during the third trimester in a combined interview if participants began prenatal care late, were hypothesized to differ among three groups of participants: pregnant women who never smoked, pregnant women who smoked …

"They Shamed Me": An Exploratory Study On The Vulnerabilities Of Street-Involved Boys To Sexual Exploitation In Manila, Philippines, Jarrett D. Davis, Glenn M. Miles

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This exploratory study is one of a series of research projects interviewing survivors of sexual exploitation in Southeast Asia. It assesses the risk factors and vulnerabilities of street children in Manila. This research study assesses the risk factors and vulnerabilities of street children in this context. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to participants to gain a holistic view of the lives of 51 street-involved (street-living or street-working) boys from the Manila area. The survey consisted of a series of questions about demographics, family background, prejudice and discrimination, sexual risk factors, substance abuse, sexual violence and abuse, income generation, spirituality, and …

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

Examining Resilience In The Lives Of Black Women, Laurellé C. Warner

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Challenges and adversity are ubiquitous, but there is differential distribution by sex and social location. Women have an increased likelihood of experiencing social and biological challenges with an even greater probability among Black women because of the enduring historical context of oppression, devaluation, and inequality. As a result, Black women experience stressful and chronic strains over their changing life course, requiring early and greater adaptation and evolving regulatory processes that can lead to stress proliferation and allostatic load. Despite hardships, however, many have demonstrated historical and contemporary patterns of adapting and flourishing. This is suggestive of resilience. Yet, the extant …

Kids These Days: Increasing Youth Engagement In Community Heritage And Social Justice Through The Implementation Of A Youth Participatory Empowerment Model, Melanie Canaday-Talley, Lindsay Clemens, Amanda J. Dworak Rowland, Mary Gillis, Curlinda Mitchell Blacksheep, Jancarlos Jose Romero

Dissertations

The purpose of this co-authored, qualitative, action research study was to examine how to empower youth to become active participants in their communities. Citizen engagement in community and public life is vital to a healthy democracy and young people have a unique place in community citizenry, but are often dismissed or excluded from decision-making. The research team developed a model, the Youth Participatory Empowerment Model (YPEM), to guide youth through a process of identifying and engaging a community heritage or social justice need in their community. The team assembled a guidebook of activities to engage groups in difficult self, group, …

The Influence Of Gambling On The Immigrant And Refugee Community, Tamika Harvey

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The state of Pennsylvania approved new gambling activities, such as internet gambling and “Play at the Pump” to increase revenue in effort to support special populations. Forming partnerships with community leaders the City of Philadelphia learned how former and new gambling activities has impacted the special population group involving the immigrant and refugee community. The discussion will consist of gambling related activities commonly practiced in their culture and the challenges faced when attempting to access services for problem gambling.

Dilemma And Knowledge - Book Review Of Re-Imagining Utopias: Theory And Method For Educational Research In Post-Socialist Contexts, Jessica Zychowicz

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

No abstract provided.

Character, Leadership, And Community: A Case Study Of A New Orleans Youth Program, Candace Colbert

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Youth outreach programs use innovative and community-based activities to fill in gaps of education, provide creative outlets, create access to opportunities, and empower youth.¹ This research investigates, records, and compares the ways in which staff and youth participants perceive the experience at a New Orleans youth program. The purpose of the research is to provide insight towards potential program improvement. The participants of this study are from Compassion Outreach of America’s summer program Project Reach NOLA in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. There are twenty-nine participants, between the ages of fourteen and fifty years old. The …

Collaborative Research For Justice And Multi-Issue Movement Building: Challenging Discriminatory Policing, School Closures, And Youth Unemployment, Ronald David Glass, Brett G. Stoudt

Publications and Research

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation …

The Caged Bird Still Sings: The Poetics Of Peace, Sofia Diane Skavdahl

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although poetry has been used as a method of peacemaking since Homer’s Iliad, little research, theory, or analysis has been done evaluating precisely what role poetry holds in the realms of peacemaking and conflict resolution. Poetry, along with other arts-based practices of peacemaking, is beneficial because of its ability to encourage personal autonomy and emotional communication, while offering an open and creative space to heal from violent conflict. In terms of the arts, poetry is especially unique because it holds the ability to transform relationships between adversaries and the relationship with the self. This paper seeks to analyze both the …

Bringing Research To Life: A Review Of Leavy’S Research Design, Alexandra Ch Nowakowski

The Qualitative Report

In this review, I examine the contents, themes, and possibilities of Patricia Leavy’s Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods, Arts-Based, and Community-Based Participatory Approaches. Specifically, I outline the (1) contents of the book in relation to its development of research methodology and potential for use in research methods classes, and (2) the usefulness of this text for bettering and diversifying pedagogical approaches to social research methods. Further, I discuss limitations in the work in terms of possibilities for future additions or expansions teachers may add to the use of this book in courses. In conclusion, I offer overall thoughts …

How Internalized And Externalized Behaviors In Adolescents Impact Academic Achievement In Faith-Based Institutions, Subira Brown, Chioma Tait, Jade Callahan, Deyana Cox

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

The purpose of this literature review is to address how internalized and externalized behaviors in adolescents impact academic achievement in faith-based institutions. This research intends to bring awareness to the prevalence of mental health concerns faced by adolescents, as well as the need for mental health services in the education system. This research will also identify the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and academic achievement. Based on the findings, the next steps will be to evaluate the deficits within the Adventist school system and begin developing programs and resources necessary to support the mental health needs of children and …

Indigenization Of Genocide Healing: A Grounded Action Of Culturally And Contextually Relevant Educational And Psychosocial Strategies To Reduce Impacts Of Societal Toxic Stress In Rwanda Post-Genocide, Jean Pierre Ndagijimana

Master's Theses

Sixty percent of the current Rwandan population were born after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and those born since or who were young at the time of the genocide have remained among those affected most. Although Western trauma theorists and interventionists have played the role of experts in the genocide healing, the exclusion of the indigenous population’s experiences, knowledge, and wisdom has limited them from meeting local needs. The post-genocide situation raises various issues, genocide ideology, and increasing family homicides; however, locals do not want to seek counseling services, or run the risk of being labeled as mentally ill. …

Teacher Perceptions Of Environmental Science In Rural Northwestern New Mexico Public Schools, Marie Quiahuitl Julienne

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

In this study, I explored what teachers perceive as the factors that impact their teaching of environmental science in rural secondary level schools in northwestern New Mexico. I adapted Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological systems model, based on four environmental subsystem levels (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem), as the conceptual framework to address the major research question of this study, and developed 18 interview questions to explore teachers’ perceptions of factors that influence their teaching of environmental science. I investigated the perspectives science teachers have about environmental science topics and the influences they perceive that affect how they teach environmental science, and …

With A Little Help From My Friends (And Their Friends): Influence Neighborhoods For Social Recommendations, Avni Gulati, Magdalini Eirinaki

Faculty Publications

Social recommendations have been a very intriguing domain for researchers in the past decade. The main premise is that the social network of a user can be leveraged to enhance the rating-based recommendation process. This has been achieved in various ways, and under different assumptions about the network characteristics, structure, and availability of other information (such as trust, content, etc.) In this work, we create neighborhoods of influence leveraging only the social graph structure. These are in turn introduced in the recommendation process both as a pre-processing step and as a social regularization factor of the matrix factorization algorithm. Our …

Affecting Social Change For Transgender And Gender-Expansive Children: Exploring Advocates' Perspectives, Cortny Stark

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This interpretive case study explored the experience of advocates as they pursue social change for transgender and gender-expansive children (ages 4-12). The aim of the study is to improve current understanding of the process of advocacy for this population, as well as the context in which advocacy efforts occur. Data consisted of hour long interviews, advocacy artifacts as recommended by participants, and the researcher’s field journal. Participants included 12 advocates from a variety of backgrounds and geographic locations within the United States, to include educators, community advocates, and helping professionals. Implications of this study may include increased understanding of the …

Public Safety Trends In Map Communities And Matched Comparison Areas. Map Evaluation Update Number 3., Sheyla A. Delgado, Richard A. Espinobarros, Gina Moreno, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

This is the third of six updates presenting interim findings from the evaluation of the NYC Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). As part of an evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice collaborated with survey specialists from NORC at the University of Chicago to track key outcomes in MAP developments and matched comparison sites. Using the NYC Open Data portal and data from NYPD and SPARCS, the research team looked to see if the presence of MAP showed initial impacts in crime and victimization …