No description available.

With increasing incidence of severe disasters, global policies and frameworks have been shifting towards an emphasis on collaboration and community resilience. The greater use of information systems to assist with disasters has prompted a need to examine how technology can support collaboration and resilience. Hence, this thesis aims to identify a set of requirements for a collaborative online asset mapping tool through a requirement engineering process. A multiple case study design was used with the objective of answering: (1) what are the functional, non-functional, and general system requirements of an online asset mapping tool for disaster preparedness; (2) is a standard “off-the-shelf” asset-mapping application feasible for community development and adaptive capacity building for disaster management; and (3) what are the potential designs that can address the requirements? The specific cases examined were The Region of Waterloo, Ontario and Truro, Nova Scotia. The data from the cases was used to perform qualitative content analysis combined with activity diagrams, to determine and analyze the requirements for an online asset mapping tool to aid in disaster preparedness. The findings of the research included shared requirements between the two communities that encompassed: system purpose, system functionalities, user characteristics, and system requirements. Furthermore, prototype user interface (UI) wireframes were developed using the requirements results to show a potential design of an online asset mapping application. This thesis research addressed the need to design a tool that facilitates all aspects of the asset mapping process. Ultimately, this research builds the foundation to which future research can examine the requirements to design and develop a citizen-oriented tool to enhance community disaster resilience.

In an increasingly complex world, there is a need for youth to address scientific issues both locally and globally. While interest and proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) decline, diverse methods to successfully engage, educate, and empower youth based on informal, learner-centric approaches are being tested. The factors potentially contributing to the success of a technology-supported civic engagement program were documented for 20 after school programs using qualitative methods. Using content analysis, the data was coded and tabulated and key variables were constructed. Univariate regression analysis revealed that four out of seventeen potential predictor variables proved to have a significant relationship with program success. The final multivariate regression model for predicting program success included youth-drivenness and total events (R-squared =0.58, p-value=0.0006), suggesting that encouraging participant ownership of the learning process is important to community and environmental problem awareness and the pursuit of solutions through STEM skills.

Using data gathered over the course of two months through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with health providers (n=19) and community members (n=20), this research analyzes patient access to health care resources and describes community members' and health care providers' perceptions of pressing health concerns in their area. The results of this research show the types of health care resources in the county, the similarities and differences between health providers' and community members' perceptions, and how the unique characteristics of this community influence health care access and health disparity.

abstract: Food deserts are defined as regions with low average income, low accessibility to grocery stores, and high adverse health outcomes. Food deserts have thus become an important area of public health research, and many actions are being taken across the country to "solve" the variety of problems food deserts represent. Despite the many solutions promoted to improve food security, healthy food access, and health outcomes among individuals living in food desert areas, not all activities have been critically assessed for their potential for sustained impact. Further, little research has been conducted in the state of Arizona regarding food-related ‘assets’ available to employ in solutions to food desert problems. This analysis gives a glimpse into the complex nature of food deserts, which are impacted by a variety of factors, from economics to public policy to culture. It further provides a current assessment of available assets for potential use in ameliorating the negative impacts of food deserts on Arizona citizens. A graphical asset mapping analysis offers specific consideration of farmers markets and food hubs to possibly aid food deserts in the state. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biology 2015

Disasters are prevalent worldwide and there is a need to engage high-risk populations in collaborative disaster management activities to improve resilience that is inclusive of the whole community (Enarson, & Walsh, 2007). It is clear from extant literature that awareness has a supportive influence on collaboration, however there is need for a better understanding of how this interaction activates action toward collaborative disaster management activities (Mendoza et al., 2014; Na, Okada, & Fang, 2009), especially for high-risk populations (Enarson, & Walsh, 2007). Thus the purpose of this study was to understand how awareness activated individuals to collaborate in the EnRiCH asset-mapping task, to engage high-risk populations in disaster management activities and improve community resilience in future disasters. In this study we used qualitative content analysis to analyze audio-recorded semi-structured interviews to identify concepts and emergent themes. Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) and the ED Model of Awareness (Kuziemsky & O’Sullivan, under review) were used as a framework for the study. Findings and elements of Self-Determination Theory were used to expand the ED Model of Awareness to demonstrate how awareness motivates collaborative action. This study concludes that awareness influences the psychological needs of competence and relatedness, both positively and negatively in different contexts, to motivate individuals toward collaboration and sustained action. This is depicted in the extended ED Model of Awareness and Action to demonstrate how awareness is situated in the interaction between the psychological needs, motivation, and collaborative action.

In recent years, there has been an enormous growth in the literature that has focussed upon assets, in other words emphasising the positive attributes of both people and communities; these include children and young people’s developmental assets, community asset mapping and public health, all of which have generated a wide range of literature. Although there has been some consideration of assets within a child health context, this is limited and no literature has previously documented the mapping of children’s assets at an individual level. It has long been recognised that wellbeing is an integral aspect of health. Children’s wellbeing has been the focus of much concern at both national and international levels; this has resulted in the publication of key documents by prominent organisations, as well as the undertaking of a range of research. Despite this, studies have not previously sought to map the assets underpinning children’s wellbeing – this research has addressed this deficit. This study was supported by a theoretical framework that was specifically developed to guide the study. An ethnographic approach and a photo elicitation method were drawn upon to facilitate the gaze through the lens of ‘Activities that I Enjoy’; this in turn enabled the mapping and emergence of assets that underpin children’s wellbeing. Two primary schools in the south-east of England were used to recruit twenty Year 5 children (aged 9-11 years of age). The participants, ten boys and ten girls, were given disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of the activities that they enjoyed. The children’s photographs were integral to subsequent individual semi-structured interviews that sought to gain insight into children’s wellbeing. ii A constant comparative analysis technique facilitated the mapping of assets that underpinned the children’s wellbeing; this process revealed one overall Stabilising Asset as well as eight internal and three external assets. Whilst some of the assets have been previously recognised, others have not; in particular, the study revealed ‘When I Have Got Nothing To Do: Resourcefulness’ as an internal asset that has not formerly been articulated. All of the assets are presented within the ‘I’m Good’: Children’s Asset Wheel [CAW], an original model that provides a new and important insight as well as being an integral component of the initial guiding theoretical framework. As its contribution to knowledge, the study offered a number of key insights including: The presentation of an innovative guiding theoretical framework that not only has the potential to inform future research, but also professionals in relation to the practicalities of asset mapping. Secondly, the study developed and documented a detailed original approach to asset mapping at an individual level; thirdly, the research facilitated the design of the CAW which encapsulates the assets underpinning children’s wellbeing. Appropriate dissemination strategies have been initiated, and will continue, in order to facilitate the study’s contribution to the existing body of knowledge.

Public health policy and practice principally acknowledge a needs-based approach when developing, implementing, and evaluating community health programs. This needs-based perspective receives criticism because it focuses too heavily on what is missing or wrong with communities as opposed to building on their strengths. As a result, community members are perceived as passive recipients, which is disempowering, and ultimately risks creating unsustainable and ineffective programs. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in achieving a balance between the needs-based approach and the asset-based approach, which accentuates positive capabilities. While the amount of literature discussing the benefits of this latter perspective has grown substantially, accompanying evaluation required to sustain continued investment has been limited. Compared to needs-based research, there is less literature on asset-based evaluation. Emphasis on such research could contribute to the progression of evaluation methodologies and theories, ultimately encouraging their use. The purpose of this study is to apply an existing public health evaluation framework – the RE-AIM model (Glasgow, Vogt, and Boles, 1999) – to asset-based community health interventions and to examine the utility of such an evaluation structure across a variety of asset-based health projects. A multiple case study design facilitated comparison of the applicability of the RE-AIM model dimensions – Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance across three cases in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom. These included the Local Links Asset-mapping project, the Healthy Early Years Project, and the Good Moves project. The RE-AIM framework is additionally guided by principles of the Realist Evaluation approach (Pawson and Tilley, 1997). This research study contributes to asset-based research by providing a guideline and conceptual framework to support asset-based intervention evaluation theory and practice.

No description available.

The eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequality remains one of the biggest global challenges in the 21st Century. In the last two decades the democraticg overnment of South Africa still grapple with rising levels of poverty and inequality. The aim of this research was to facilitate a roots-driven community intervention that would allow the community members from the rural village of Lubisini (Eastern Cape, South Africa) to create opportunities that will help reduce their inherent levels of poverty and inequality. In order to achieve this 132 community members were workshopped through a community asset mapping programme (CAMP) to identify their inherent human, social, environmental assets, they were then assisted to develop ideas for small businesses, their own measures of success in overcoming poverty and inequality and the improvement in their own quality of life. The CAMP process is documented, and the intervention was followed by monitoring and evaluation of challenges and successes over an 18 month period. The research concluded with various recommendations that will enable rural communities to drive their own indicators of successful sustainable development. / Geography / M. Sc. (Geography)