This qualitative study examined three areas of social service provision through the experiences of non-English speaking older Hispanic immigrants. These three areas included availability and accessibility of services and culturally competent practices of service providers. The qualitative approach of phenomenology was used to interview ten participants in order to explore their experiences with service provision. An analysis of the interviews pointed to the following themes: (a) experiences with services were deeply connected to issues of immigration and adaptation; (b) language barriers were especially difficult to overcome in services; (c) the role of families as primary supports needed to be reconsidered in order to offer better quality of services; and (d) culturally competent practices needed to be reinforced at the organizational level of workers, agencies and government in order to become more effective. From these themes, recommendations and implications for social work and services for non-English speaking elderly Hispanics are detailed.

This dissertation study examined and gave voice to the experiences of a group of street involved youth, those who had received special education support and services during their school years. They are not spoken about in the literature. Special education is complex, diverse, and encompasses many exceptional pupils for whom services and supports are provided in the school system. Many street youth belong to this group with exceptionalities such as learning disability, mild intellectual disability or behaviour. Using narrative analysis and structuration theory frameworks, the life history narratives of fifteen street youth who were in special education classes were co-constructed and analysed. In addition, a survey question gathered how many new in-takes at a drop-in for street youth self-identify as youth who were in special education. Furthermore, data was gathered from service providers in education and social services through semi-structured interviews and two focus groups. Youth participants considered citizenship in special education as exclusionary and actively resisted it because of the social connotations such as ‘being stupid’ which were attached to it. Youth emphasized that teachers and support staff seemed unaware of the complex environmental factors that impacted on their ability to be successful in school. They reported that once they were formally identified and placed in special education, they were put in a holding pattern that often did not lead to graduation. Special education was focused on classifications according to deficit discourses rather than engaging these students in learning or in having their identified learning needs met. Although study participants dropped out of school a number of times, they kept returning either to complete secondary school or enroll in college, mostly without special education designation and supports. Service providers, educators and special services staff should mentor such youth, provide opportunities for addressing learning problems, and deliver quality instruction for students with identified learning difficulties and needs. There is a dearth of alternative and transitional post-secondary programs to meet the specific needs of these students.

During the past decade, significant public concern has focused on the use of the Internet to access child pornography and other legally objectionable material. Media reference to individuals involved in such activity typically portrays them as socially isolated ‘paedophiles’, ‘perverts’ and ‘sexual predators’ whose offence behaviour is encouraged by on-line associations with others who share their interest in this material. Although academic literature does not tend to adhere to the sensationalism of these views, it too suggests that on-line networks may be important in understanding the behaviour of individuals who seek to gratify an interest in legally objectionable material.A major aim of this thesis was to examine the relationship between involvement in Internet based social activity and involvement in accessing legally objectionable material via the Internet. As such, data collected during the investigation of a sample of 145 individuals identified as using the Internet to access legally objectionable material was subjected to a series of explorative analyses. These analyses revealed significant associations between individuals’ use of Internet applications facilitating directed, two way communication (eg. Email and ICQ) during the process of accessing legally objectionable material and indicators of increased personal investment in offence related activities.A second goal of this thesis was to identify variables associated with offenders’ decisions to engage in on-line social interaction during the process of accessing legally objectionable material. In turn, criminological and communications theory and research pertaining to the interpersonal behaviours that individuals engage in during criminal actions, and the characteristics of individuals who make use of socially facilitative Internet applications, was reviewed. Based on the findings of this review, it was hypothesised that offenders who engage in regular interaction with others outside of the Internet environment would be more likely than those who did not to seek out opportunities for interaction in the Internet environment. In line with this hypothesis, further systematic and detailed analysis of the data revealed an association between opportunities for interpersonal interaction in an offender’s home or work environment and the likelihood that offenders would make use of Internet applications facilitating online social interaction.

The Canadian Incidence Study on Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (Trocme, 2001) found that structural factors such as poverty, poor housing and substance misuse contribute to the over-representation of First Nations children in child welfare care and yet there is very little information on the experiences of First Nations and Non-Aboriginal children after they are placed in care. The When Everything Matters study tracks First Nations and Non-Aboriginal chlidren removed from their families between 2003-2005 in Nova Scotia to the time of reunification or to the time of data collection if the child remained in care. The characteristics of children and their families are compared to the primary aims of child welfare services provided to children and their families. Results indicate that poor families living in poor housing are graphically over-represented among all families who have their children removed. Poverty-related services were not provided to families in proportion to its occurrence. Caregiver incapacity related to substance misuse was most often cited as the primary reason for removal and although substance misuse services were provided there is a need for further child welfare training, policy and services in this area given the scope of the problem presenting in both First Nations and Non-Aboriginal families. Study findings are nested in a new bi-cultural theoretical framework founded in First Nations ontology and physic's theory of everything called the breath of life theory. Implications for theoretical development as well as child welfare research, policy and practice are discussed.

Many children and their families who seek assistance for childhood behaviour disorders experience comorbid disorders, namely the presence of two or more disorders. Although comorbid disorders are recognized as a frequent clinical complication, minimal direction exists within the literature about the risk factors for comorbid conditions and how best to provide intervention services. In this study an ecological framework was used to compare the individual, family, and community environmental contexts of young girls who presented at intake at a children’s mental health centre with comorbid externalizing and internalizing disorders, and girls who presented at intake with externalizing disorders only. The treatment response to a cognitive-behavioural intervention for externalizing behaviour disorders was examined, by comparing externalizing scores over time between girls with comorbid externalizing and internalizing disorders and girls with externalizing disorders only. Additionally, internalizing scores over time for girls with comorbid disorders were examined. Results indicated that a history of abuse and a cluster of individual characteristics placed girls at higher risk to present with comorbid conditions. The results also indicated that girls with comorbid disorders experienced a reduction of both externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Only 1 in 7.4 girls, however, scored below the clinical range for both externalizing and internalizing disorders at the end of the treatment phase, in comparison to 1 in 5 girls scoring below the clinical range for externalizing disorders in the noncomorbid group.

Concerned with the question of why governments display varying degrees of success in implementing social reforms, (judged by their ability to arrive at coherent policy outcomes), my dissertation aims to identify the most important factors responsible for the stagnation of social benefits reform in Russia, as opposed to its successful implementation in Kazakhstan. Given their comparable Soviet political and economic characteristics in the immediate aftermath of Communism’s disintegration, why did the implementation of social benefits reform succeed in Kazakhstan, but largely fail in Russia? I argue that although several political and institutional factors did, to a certain degree, influence the course of social benefits reform in these two countries, their success or failure was ultimately determined by the capacity of key state actors to frame the problem and form an effective policy coalition that could further the reform agenda despite various political and institutional obstacles and socioeconomic challenges. In the case of Kazakhstan, the successful implementation of the social benefits reform was a result of a bold and skilful endeavour by Kazakhstani authorities, who used the existing conditions to justify the reform initiative and achieve the reform’s original objectives. By contrast, in Russia, the failure to effectively restructure the old Soviet social benefits system was rooted largely in the political instability of the Yeltsin era, and a lack of commitment to the reforms on the part of key political actors. And when the reform was finally launched, its ill-considered policies and the government’s failure to form the broad coalition and effectively frame the problem led to public protests and subsequent reform stagnation. Based on in-depth fieldwork conducted in Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006 and 2008, my study enriches the literature on the transformation of post-communist welfare regimes, and contributes important insights to the central question in the literature on public policy, that is, when, why and how policies change. It also enhances our understanding of political and public policy processes in transitional and competitive authoritarian contexts.

Reform as a social process is underresearched in the case of Tibet. This study addresses this gap using Social Movement Theory, which sees social change as a complex process involving various Tibetan social groups and external reformers, the Communist Party of China (CPC). This approach was applied by comparing recruitment and mobilization efforts of several key internal and external reform movements in 20th century Tibetan history. Findings include that internal reform failures can be explained by their narrow social and geographic basis and limited mass appeal. Moreover, initial CPC reforms succeeded through recruitment and mobilization across Tibetan regions and social groupings. Subsequent reforms failed due to decreased attention to recruitment and mass mobilization of Tibetans. A major implication of the study is that understanding social reform in today’s Tibet requires a SM Theory approach, which currently is lacking among scholars of the Tibetan question and political representatives of both sides.

This study uses institutional ethnography (IE) to address the question of how young women, considered to be “at risk” youth, make decisions about their working lives. Based on interviews with young women and program workers in housing, employment, young mothers’ and girls’ programs, field observations, and document analysis at Gen-Y (pseudonym for a women’s community-based social services agency), young women’s provisioning experiences are used to critique current program and policy models that feature notions of choice and risk. Provisioning is a concept that captures a wide range of work and work-related activities that young women perform for themselves and people they feel responsible for. IE is applied to understand how institutional processes and practices give rise to the conditions under which young women participants at Gen-Y make career and life decisions.

The impetus for this study came from my own history of being a single mother while completing my undergraduate degree and the struggles that entailed. The research uncovers both the barriers and facilitators experienced by single mothers in undergraduate programs in a Canadian context and utilizes a framework of access and equity in education. The co-participants belonged to diverse social and political identities in terms of age, race and ethnicity, sexuality, (dis)ability, and countries of birth. All the women attended universities in Southern Ontario. Twenty-five women agreed to be interviewed in either a group or individual interview. Co-participants were encouraged to contribute to the design and analysis of the study wherever possible. Previous research based in the United States conceptualized single mother students as social assistance recipients and explored their difficulties within this context. This study suggests using a wider lens to include other experiences identified by co-participants and the literature review. The study locates barriers both within the university as well as in the larger society such as interpersonal violence, stress, financial insecurity, racism and other forms of discrimination. However, it also identifies supports and strengths single mothers encountered such as family, friends, children as motivation, professors, on-campus supports, and critical pedagogy, all of which were largely missing from previous research. Many women challenged the often pathologizing dominant discourse and instead described single motherhood as empowering, independent, and liberating as compared to being a part of a traditional nuclear family. Co-participants also identified feeling isolated, discussions around which engendered a social group outside of the research project. By creating awareness of the needs of diverse single mother students, this project aims to disrupt the still-prevalent notion of the “traditional student” and accompanying policies and practices in institutions of education and the wider community. While much has been documented in Canada about the need for access, equity, and inclusive schooling, single mothers in particular have not been a main focus and included among other intersections of identity. The findings from this study address this gap and contribute to the literature.

Families who are dissatisfied with the nursing home care of their family member may supplement their care by hiring a private companion. Families who have the financial resources pay for extra care, while families who cannot afford a private companion receive the current standard of care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that private companion use has increased over time. However, there is no research that examines private companions. The goal of this mixed methods study was to provide empirical evidence about who private companions are, what they do, and why they are needed. Andersen and Newman’s Health Service Utilization Model was used to understand private companion use. This study used both survey research and grounded theory. A mailed survey was completed by 280 of 432 family members of nursing home residents in a Toronto nursing home, yielding a response rate of 65 percent. Grounded theory principles were used to conduct interviews with 10 family members to understand why private companions were hired. Almost two-thirds of nursing home residents had a private companion. Family members reported that they paid about $475 per week for private companions who provided about 40 hours of care per week. Private companions were mostly women and immigrants. Private companions performed many activities including assisting with activities of daily living, toileting, feeding, escorting to activities, and providing social support. In the survey, family members reported hiring a private companion for reasons related to families’ needs (e.g. quality of care concerns), residents’ needs (e.g. deteriorating health); and staff recommendations. The family members reiterated these reasons in the interviews. Quality of care was the overarching theme that captured the reason for private companion use, which encompassed the following themes: inadequate staffing, unmet residents’ needs, overburdened family members, and suboptimal nursing home environment. The qualitative data emphasized the importance of building relationships with nursing home residents. The predictors of private companion use in the multivariate analysis were longer duration of nursing home stay, higher resident dependency, and family members’ concerns with quality of care. This research is among the first to study private companions, and has implications for research, policy, and practice.