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The legal gambling industry in Alberta has rapidly expanded over the last three decades. One of the main justifications that the Alberta government uses for this expansion is that gambling provides increased revenue to governments and community groups which is then used to fund public programs. However, critics argue that the social costs of legal gambling offset these benefits. One particularly controversial social cost of gambling is the impact that gambling has on crime. The academic literature is split with as many studies showing an increase in crime due to gambling as those that show no impact. The current study investigated how increased legal gambling availability has affected crime in Alberta. Four different sources of data were examined: the self-reports of gambling-related crime among problem gamblers in population surveys, mentions of gambling-related crime in police incident reports, uniform crime statistics from Statistics Canada, and information supplied by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC). The most unambiguous findings of this study are that gambling-related crime constitutes a very small percentage of all crime; crime that is gambling-related tends to be non-violent property crime; and increased legal gambling availability has significantly decreased rates of illegal gambling. In terms of the impact of legalized gambling on overall crime in Alberta, the evidence would suggest that legalized gambling likely has a minor or negligible impact. / x, 123 leaves ; 29 cm

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This empirical study explored the relationship between teacher efficacy and each of school level organizational conditions and teacher demographic characteristics in order to provide information which could be used in school improvement planning. Teacher efficacy, the extent to which teachers believe they have the capacity to affect student performance, has two components as defined in this study: teaching efficacy, and personal teaching efficacy. Teaching efficacy, considered to be a general measure of teacher efficacy, describes the teacher's belief in the ability of teachers, as a group, to influence learning. Personal teaching efficacy, considered to be the more specific and important measure of the two, describes the belief that the individual teacher has the skills and abilities to bring about student learning. The teacher's sense of personal teaching efficacy is believed to have the most potential for affecting the teacher's motivation and future behaviour. A teacher's sense of efficacy is believed to be affected by several variables including school level organizational conditions and teacher demographic characteristics. Nine school level organizational conditions and five teacher demographic characteristics were selected for study from the literature because they had been positively related to good schools. A volunteer sample of 339 school-based teachers in one Alberta school district were surveyed and the principal of each of 15 schools was interviewed. Quantitative analyses were used with the teacher as the unit of analysis; these findings were verified and amplified using a qualitative analysis with the school as the unit of analysis. The main conclusions were: (1) teacher sex and teaching grade level were significantly related to teacher efficacy, while teacher age and experience were not; and (2) teachers' perceptions of student behaviour and horizontal communication were significantly related to teacher efficacy. The study suggests seven implications for school administrators and others interested in enhancing teachers' sense of efficacy. These include: (1) providing opportunities for teachers to discuss instruction-related topics; and (2) implementing a school discipline policy aimed at improving student behaviour. Ten implications for further research include the consideration of a secondary school focus and also the use of research methods with the potential to establish a causal relationship between teacher efficacy and school level organizational conditions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

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This thesis was designed to explore and describe the beliefs and behaviours of young adults (parents or future parents) in relation to immunization. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 36 young adults (current university students) that resulted in more than 600 pages of documnetation for detailed analysis. Nursing and non-nursing student informants were compared under the categories of young adults who delay or refuse immunizations due to alternative health practices, vaccine concerns or religion. What emerged from the study was that young adults displayed lack of knowledge and disinterest about the immune system, immunizations and communicable diseases. This display of apathy towards disease prevention could subsequently contribute to a decrease in the population's herd immunity in the next generation. A review of more than 300 published journal articles and books was completed and integrated into a mosaic of Canadian immunization practice. Policy recommendations based on these findings are presented. / x, 223 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

A total of 259 educators participated in a survey to assess whether substitute teachers in Southern Alberta enjoy the same professional regard and the same wages, benefits, and professional development opportunites as regular classroom teachers. The finding indicated that: substitute teachers are professional in that they are certificated teachers with Education Degrees; substitute teachers are not in accordance with other educators in their assessmentd of the reality of equal professional status of substitute teachers in matters of professional regard; principals and teachers do not agree that substitute teachers should be given equal wages, benefits, and paid professional development opportunities; the defintion of equal professional status as it pertains to substitute teachers needs to be redefined; and substitute teacher must understand their professional responsibilites so they can take control of their own professionalism. Within the framework of the sociology of professionalism the results of the study help to explain why stubstitute teachers should be taking control of the work they do in order to define their professional role. Workshops for educators on substitue issues and concerns will help alleviate the contradiction of the concept of the professional status of substitute teachers. Substitute teacher involvement in their professional associations may ease the conflict between substitutes and other educators in matters of professionalism and economic parity. A follow-up study on student perception of substitute authority in the classroom is needed. / ix, 231 leaves ; 28 cm.

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This thesis examines anti-Semitism in the Alberta Social Credit Party under the Aberhart and Manning regimes. It is based on various archival sources from the Glenbow Archives-Institute in Calgary, Alberta, the Premiers' Papers at the Provincial Archives of Alberta in Edmonton, contemporary press reports, and the Social Credit Party's national organ, the Canadian Social Crediter. It argues that anti-Semitism in the Alberta Social Credit Party was not the purview of a marginal, extreme wing of the Party, but that it was an integral element of Social Credit ideology. This ideology was espoused by most Social Crediters, including premiers Aberhart and Manning. When Ernest Manning purged the Movement of its anti-Semites in 1947-1948, he was attempting, unsuccessfully, to eradicate the very essence of Social Credit ideology. The consequence of thirty-six years of Social Credit rule is the persistence of an Albertan political culture which breeds provincialism and intolerance.

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