This thesis presents a secondary analysis of findings from a larger community-based participatory research (CBPR) project with the Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) First Nations reserves in Northern Saskatchewan. Initiated at the request of BATC, a three year CBPR project, entitled: “Resilience to Offending: Listening to Youth On-Reserve,” aimed to identify, analyze and disseminate local knowledge about on-reserve youth resilience. This larger project intended to capture the perspectives of First Nations youth, Elders and community stakeholders who work with youth at risk of offending, by identifying culturally specific aspects of resilience. Using arts-based and mixed methods, the focus of this larger study was on personal, relational and environmental risks faced by the youth and the impact of formal and informal services on reserve on youth resilience. Guided by a postcolonial and anti-oppressive framework, this thesis provides a secondary analysis of the in-depth qualitative interviews with the fourteen stakeholders and Elders who work with youth. Using a constructivist grounded theory, this thesis explores the stakeholder’s and Elders’ perceptions of formal and informal services in First Nations communities as well as issues related to First Nations governance. The emerging framework brought to light the continued impact of the colonization process on the federal government’s interactions with First Nations’ members, communities, Aboriginal leadership and governance structures. The research questions for this thesis were: How is the colonization process at play in the federal government’s interactions with First Nations’ members, communities, Aboriginal leadership, and governance structures?”, “What are the impacts of the colonization process in terms of the lived experience of individual First Nation members?”, and “What are the impacts of the colonization process in terms of community life on reserve?”. With these questions in mind, interpretation of the stakeholder interviews resulted in three general themes including: the continued impact of historical and systemic issues on the wellbeing of youth, adults and entire communities; colonized identities, which stakeholders referred to as the internalization of colonization through experiences of othering, and the resulting loss of self-esteem, lack of sense of belonging, and disconnection from traditional culture; and continued oppression through contemporary institutional means, most notably the relationship of control that exists between First Nations communities and the federal government. This thesis concludes that colonialism and neocolonialism, or the processes of domination and control by one group over another, and the continued control of colonized groups, respectively, are still very prevalent within the lives of Aboriginal people, coming to effect their social environments, their lived realities, and the policies and discourses pertaining to them. The institutionalized racism that constituted the colonial process, and continuing neocolonialism, influences the policies, programming and relations regarding Aboriginal people. This control is solidified through the contriving of Aboriginal identity and governance: the federal government still has the ultimate control over legal Aboriginal identity through delegation of titles (such as status Indian or non-status Indian), and the rights and disadvantages associated with each title. Despite the establishment of Aboriginal self-government, community stakeholders and Elders shed light on ways First Nations people on BATC reserves are still answerable to the federal government while they continue to suffer marginality related to housing, employment, socioeconomics and racialization.

abstract: Native American communities face an ongoing challenge of effectively addressing cancer health disparities, as well as environmental racism issues that may compound these inequities. This dissertation identified the shared cultural knowledge and beliefs about cancer in a southwest American Indian community utilizing a cultural consensus method, an approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was applied at all stages of the study. The three phases of research that were undertaken included: 1) ethnographic interviews - to identifying the themes or the content of the participants' cultural model, 2A) ranking of themes - to provide an understanding of the relative importance of the content of the cultural model, 2B) pile sorts - identify the organization of items within specific domains, and 3) a community survey - access whether the model is shared in the greater community. The cultural consensus method has not been utilized to date in identifying the collective cultural beliefs about cancer prevention, treatment or survivorship in a Native American community. Its use represents a methodological step forward in two areas: 1) the traditional ethnographic inferences used in identifying and defining cultural meaning as it relates to health can be tested more rigorously than in the past, and 2) it addresses the challenge of providing reliable results based on a small number of community informants. This is especially significant when working with smaller tribal/cultural groups where the small sample size has led to questions concerning the reliability and validity of health-related research. Results showed that the key consultants shared strong agreement or consensus on a cultural model regarding the importance of environmental and lifestyle causes of cancer. However, there was no consensus found among the key consultants on the prevention and treatment of cancer. The results of the community survey indicated agreement or consensus in the sub-domains of descriptions of cancer, risk/cause, prevention, treatment, remission/cure and living with cancer. Identifying cultural beliefs and models regarding cancer could contribute to the effective development of culturally responsive cancer prevention education and treatment programs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2011

Environmental justice communities in the US are located at a nexus of social justice, political and corporate interest, and public health. This paper explores how resident activists, primarily those who identify as Latinx and female, simultaneously inhabit roles of resident and activist. In doing so, they create a space of equitable knowledge exchange, and support community members in realizing their own agency. Additionally, their efforts include, but are not limited to, collaboration with researchers in a way that promotes emancipatory education and culture-centered research models. The author spent over a year as a staff member of an urban EJ organization in Massachusetts, participating in and observing community meetings, fundraising efforts, municipal and state level environmental impact hearings, and organized protests. These community activists wrestle with the tension of simultaneously depending on and disrupting systems that have historically burdened their community.

Thesis advisor: Samantha Teixeira / Residents and activists in neighborhoods undergoing gentrification have been raising alarm bells about its impact for decades. The promises that state and private funders and developers make about the benefits of neighborhood redevelopment are often overemphasized and/or unmet according to many in the communities who have experienced this change. The literature on the effects of capital reinvestment and urban renewal programs has shown mixed results, suggesting that poverty and crime rates tend to decrease as higher-income and educated residents move into these neighborhoods. However, evidence suggests that this may be the result of displacement of original residents and an influx of middle- and higher-income residents. Much of the existing research into the effects of gentrification follows from a political economy perspective, which often leaves out the personal and communal effect on residents’ psychological well-being. Though some recent work incorporates resident perspectives of the gentrification process, the field of social work has only recently begun engaging in understanding the impacts of gentrification This dissertation aims to address this key gap in the literature by exploring gentrification and associated neighborhood processes in partnership with residents from a Boston community undergoing gentrification. This dissertation is a predominantly qualitative study with an embedded quantitative analysis using ethnographic methods to understand how residents of the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts perceive their neighborhood. Specifically, the dissertation explored 1) the perception of individual and individual impacts of gentrification-related impact amongst long-time residents, 2) how residents make meaning of social control in the neighborhood as it relates to gentrification, and 3) the neighborhood-level spatial indicators of gentrification that contextualized residents’ perceptions. This overarching approach relied on community-level input and participation through four methods: 1) an ethnography, 2) walking interviews, 3) photovoice, and 4) geospatial analysis of gentrification-related indicators using administrative data in order to use a rich array of data to better understand how community members communicate their experiences in their neighborhood as it gentrifies. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

While community gardens (CG) have emerged as a popular public health strategy to improve fruit and vegetable access and consumption, few studies provide evidence-based principles to inform the initiation and maintenance of CG. Grounded in Community-based Participatory Research and guided by the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework, this mixed methods case study explores the potential public health impact of CG in the DRR. Six CG completed harvest logs during the 2011 season. Following the growing season, CG leader key informant interviews (N=6) and CG participant focus groups were conducted (N=21) using a semi-structured script, guided by RE-AIM dimensions. The five RE-AIM dimensions and associated components were used to develop a coding matrix and identify emerging themes. Three researchers coded the transcribed interviews using a deductive approach, which included coding raw data into meaning units. The six CG yielded 811 pounds of produce. The majority of focus group participants (95%) stated they would continue CG participation. From qualitative analysis, themes emerged such as increased the number of residents participating in CG, increased consumption of produce, key characteristics of successful CG leaders and locations, programs associated with CG, and adequate funding and resources necessary for maintenance. This study provides important insights to promote the potential public health impacts of CG in the DRR. Findings provide best-practice opportunities to promote the successful adoption, implementation, and maintenance of CG in similar communities. / Master of Science

Subaltern persons continue to be most negatively impacted by the hegemonic practices of institutions. Subaltern populations are the furthest removed from political agency, not only by the insecurities of their lived experiences, but also by academic and agency discourses that recreate the subaltern political citizen-subject in modes representing the “Other” through lenses of elite scholarship and high theory. The subaltern agent is not present in her own political making. The considerations of social justice require both the underpinnings of a global ethics of caring and a commitment to center the subaltern citizen subject’s account of herself as corresponding privileged record. This paper explores the marginalizing outcomes in the historiography of subaltern studies and defends both ethical cosmopolitanism and participatory democracy as modes that better respect diverse worldviews outside of neoliberal constructions. Advocacy on behalf of subaltern groups must include Community-Based Participatory Research and eco-cultural analysis that give priority to positive near stakeholder goals and outcomes for their communities. Subaltern self-representation is the needed checks and balances for 21st century policy making

Det finns betydande skillnader i hälsa beroende på utbildning, socioekonomisk status, etnicitet, ålder och kön och det har konsekvenser för människors livslängd, livskvalitet och hälsa. Ojämlikheter i hälsa blir särskilt tydliga när man jämför olika geografiska områden, där vissa områden har hög koncentration av fattiga och socialt utslagna människor med dålig hälsa, arbetslöshet och låg utbildning. Att vidta åtgärder mot de utbredda hälsoskillnader som finns mellan människor med vitt skilda förutsättningar är en viktig utmaning för hälsofrämjande arbete. En strategi för att minska skillnader i hälsa mellan människor är att arbeta med områdesutveckling i prioriterade bostadsområden. Ett svenskt samarbete, Partnerskap för Hållbar Välfärdsutveckling, bildades 2003 mellan Helsingborg, Norrköping, Västerås och Örebro, kommunala bostadsbolag i dessa städer, flera nationella parter samt forskare vid Örebro universitet. Det centrala i partnerskapet var att genom erfarenhetsutbyte, metodutveckling och kunskapsspridning arbeta för en hållbar välfärdsutveckling i prioriterade bostadsområden (ett område från varje stad valdes ut). Integrerat i detta arbete var forskningsprogrammet ”Den hälsosamma staden - social integration, nätverkspolitik och hållbar välfärdsutveckling”, som följt partnerskapet vetenskapligt mellan åren 2003 och 2010. Det är av stor betydelse att integrera politik, praxis och forskning för att få kunskap om förutsättningar för en hälsosam utveckling i utsatta bostadsområden. Detta är en unik del av det nästan sjuåriga partnerskapsarbetet. Avhandlingens övergripande syfte har varit att inom ramen för Partnerskap för Hållbar Välfärdsutveckling studera folkhälsostrategier och lokalt utvecklingsarbete i kommuner och bostadsområden med särskild betoning på boendes deltagande för en hälsosam utveckling. Avhandlingens första studie syftar till att beskriva och analysera strategiskt folkhälsoarbete och lokalt områdesutvecklingsarbetet i fyra svenska kommuner samt den tidiga implementeringsfasen av Partnerskap för Hållbar Välfärdsutveckling. Datamaterialet består av dokumenterade intervjuer med folkhälsosamordnare och områdesutvecklare, deltagande observationer och skriftliga dokument. Resultatet visar att det redan i början av partnerskapsperioden fanns formella strukturer för folkhälsoarbetet i kommunen, till exempel ett folkhälsopolitiskt program, en utsedd samordnare, ett kontor och administrativa resurser samt politiker med särskilt ansvar för folkhälsofrågor. I uppbyggandet av de formella strukturerna var också de svenska nationella folkhälsomålen ett viktigt underlag. Vad gäller det lokala bostadsområdes arbete kan det ta sig olika uttryck även om målet är det samma. I partnerskapet fanns också tidigt höga förväntningar KARIN FRÖDING Public Health, Neighbourhood Development, and Participation I 83 att det skulle fungera som en sammanhållande kraft för ömsesidigt lärande och en positiv utveckling av prioriterade bostadsområden. Avhandlingens andra studie syftar till att analysera vad som karaktäriserar människor som deltar i områdesutveckling. Boende från tre av partnerskapskommunerna svarade på en enkät och resultatet visade på att människor som försökt påverka politiken i kommunen på olika sätt i större utsträckning deltar i områdesutveckling. Denna påverkan kan ske genom att kontakta en politiker eller lämna in ett medborgarförslag. Högt engagemang och aktivt deltagande var oberoende av individens sociodemografiska faktorer såsom utbildning eller inkomstnivå. Det var endast personer födda utanför Norden som i mindre utsträckning deltog i områdesutveckling. Avhandlingens tredje studie syftar till att undersöka en områdesbaserad interaktion mellan professionella (anställda), boende och forskare i en av partnerskapets utvalda stadsdelar. Baserat på deltagande observation under två år visar studien ett entydigt resultat: för att processen skall fungera krävdes att deltagarna öppet diskuterade enskilda situationer, personliga åtaganden och ömsesidiga förväntningar. Vidare var det viktigt att demaskera makt och auktoritet bland dem som deltar i processen för att inte några skulle ha mer inflytande på arbetet än de andra. Tiden visade sig vara viktig, att processen fick ta den tid det tog med konsensus som ett ledord. Slutligen var det viktigt att acceptera olika nivåer av deltagande. Allt detta bidrar till att skapa en gemensam känsla av engagemang och demokratisk dialog som är så viktigt i ett interaktivt samarbete. I avhandlingens fjärde studie är syftet att studera utvecklingsprocesser för att nå hållbara strukturer för lokalt områdesutvecklingsarbete i de fyra partnerskapsstäderna. Arbetet i Partnerskap för Hållbar Välfärdsutveckling har liksom kommunerna och det lokal områdesarbetet följts mellan åren 2003-2009. Genom en serie studier inom forskningsprogrammet med intervjuer, enkäter, deltagande observation och dokumentanalys har det utformats en databas för fallstudier. Resultatet visar att det under partnerskapsperioden fanns byggstenar i form av politiskt stöd, lokala partnerskap och boendes deltagande i områdesarbetet. När Partnerskap för Hållbar Välfärdsutveckling upphörde fanns dock få hållbara strukturer för områdesutveckling kvar. Det politiska stödet för områdesutveckling var under partnerskapstiden konstant högt men cykliskt, vilket innebar att prioriteringar ändrades. I samtliga fyra studerade stadsdelar hade områdesarbetet delvis avstannat och politiskt stöd och resurser lagts på andra områden i respektive kommun. I ett lokalt partnerskapssamarbete mellan kommun och kommunalt bostadsbolag finns dock möjlighet att bilda hållbara strukturer när såväl det strategiska som det lokala involveras i den praktiska delen av områdesutveckling. Medborgarnas deltagande verkar också utgöra en viss hållbar struktur för områdesutveckling, trots minskat politiskt stöd och resurser. Sammanfattningsvis visar denna avhandling att ett partnerskap för lokalt folkhälsoarbete kan fungera som en sammanhållande länk för lärande och utveckling bland alla inblandade aktörer. För ett fungerande områdesutvecklingsarbete är den lokala kontexten av största vikt liksom formella strukturer och ett nationellt stöd. Det är dessutom nödvändigt att beakta alla boende som potentiella deltagare i områdesutveckling oberoende av utbildning, kön eller inkomstnivå. När ett projektbaserat partnerskap avslutas måste det dessutom finnas strukturer som kan ta vid efter projekttidens slut. Avslutningsvis visar avhandlingen att ett områdesbaserat samspel med deltagande av professionella, boende och forskare ställer krav på en öppen, jämbördig dialog med ett accepterande förhållningssätt till olika nivåer av deltagande samt stort tidsutrymme. / Efforts to combat the widespread health disparities are an important challenge in public health and health promotion. A partnership between four Swedish cities was constituted to face this challenge. Within the context of that partnership, the overall aim of this thesis is to study public health strategies and local development work in municipalities and neighbourhoods, with a special emphasis on residents’ participation. Study I analyses strategic public health work, neighbourhood development, and the early implementation phase of the partnership. Interviews, participant observation, and documents were used as data sources. The study shows that a partnership for local public health work can serve as a connecting link for development and learning among stakeholders involved. Formal structures and national support are crucial preconditions for success in neighbourhood development. Study II analyses what characterizes people who participate in neighbourhood development. A cross-sectional study with a random sample of 1,160 participants from three of the partnership cities was analysed. Citizens who had previous experience of trying to influence policy in the municipality in some way were more likely to be active in neighbourhood development than those who had no such prior experience. Study III analyses a community-academic partnership and a communitybased participatory research process through participant observation. It shows that a community-academic partnership requires an open, equal dialogue, an accepting attitude toward different levels of participation, and a lengthy period of time. Study IV uses a case-study database to analyse the development processes for achieving sustainable structures in neighbourhood development in the four partnership cities. A partnership has the potential to allocate resources on a area-based level, but in this case few resources remained when the partnership ended.