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The current opioid epidemic has had grave financial and mortal costs for our nation, and the numbers continue to climb despite our best efforts. In spite of attempts to limit the prescription of opioids and implementation of harm reduction strategies, it is clear that we are not doing enough for people struggling with drug addiction. There are many voices present in the war on drugs, however one that is noticeably absent from the conversation is that of people who inject drugs. It is clearly time to try something new which requires a fresh approach and a new point of view. Confronting the current crisis using a public health approach addresses the associated moral challenges faced in the past and provides a new lens to view potential challenges and solutions. With this new approach arises the need for a public health ethical framework to make ethically informed, community engaging, evidence based decisions on a societal, public health, and everyday level. In addition to this new public health ethics framework, the engagement of the community of people who inject drugs is no longer negotiable in order to develop more effective harm reduction interventions and policies. / Urban Bioethics

Our future is more uncertain than ever as a result of myriad environmental problems that require communal responses. In order to build resilient communities and to increase the effectiveness of planned changes to built environments, it is crucial to involve local communities throughout the decision-making processes. However, in Romania, the traditions of top-down governance from its communist period still hold sway among elected leaders - and, in some cases, its citizens. This is problematic because scholars have argued that top-down approaches to environment-related projects are more likely to fail than bottom-up initiatives that are more inclusive of community interests. This begs the question: How can we more meaningfully involve and empower the citizens in Romania? In order to help address that question, I examined four factors that might affect the place-related actions that individuals are willing to take in the post-communist state of Romania: the amount of social capital a place has (Predescu 2020; Lewicka 2005), the quality of participation infrastructure available to the place (Nabatchi and Leighninger 2015), the levels of trust in local authorities at that place (Badescu and Uslaner 2004), and the perceived levels of political efficacy they have (Manzo and Perkins 2006). Using Photovoice methodology, I heard from 22 individuals who feel a connection with the town of Targoviste, Romania about their experience with place-related actions in Targoviste and how historical traditions and legacies from communist times have constrained their ability to be involved in place-related decision-making actions. The results illustrate that the lack of participation infrastructure, the low quality of social capital, the lack of trust in the local authorities, and the feelings of low political efficacy were identified by highly-attached study participants as major barriers to taking place-related actions in the town of Targoviste, Romania. Participants expressed a desire to have a more meaningful role in decision-making processes related to the town’s-built environment, and contended that involving the community in such processes would benefit the overall quality of life in the community.

This study explored the meaning of community engagement of older adults, within a social capital framework, in a community noted for its relatively high concentration of active, older adults. The multiple meanings of community engagement within the creation of a place of age were investigated using concepts derived from a social capital framework. A place of age is where older adults are integral to family life, participate in community life, and bring collective life experiences and wisdom to civic life. This research addresses gaps in the current literature about suburban places and the meanings of community engagement for an aging population within these places. The importance of this research lies with expanding the understanding of the multiple meanings of community engagement and the potential for reinforcing, through public policy, these meanings through the development and support of the social capital created by older adults in places of age. The research methodology was an in-depth case study analysis of West Saint Paul, Minnesota. In-person, semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 individuals, aged 65 years and older, who had been residents of West Saint Paul for at least 25 years. Findings of this study revealed multiple meanings of community and community engagement for study participants, but all had a strong sense of community relative to their neighborhoods and the city of West Saint Paul. All had well-developed social networks that involved family members, friends, and neighbors. Nearly all engaged in neighboring behaviors of helping out when needed and generally looking out for one another. All participants expressed a feeling of trust of others within their own neighborhoods, and most did not feel trusting of others beyond their neighborhoods. All participants had consistently voted, and all engaged in formal civic activities at some point in their lives. All participants, lifelong volunteers, were members of a Christian church, and much of their volunteer time was given to church activities. The key finding from this study was the important role of neighboring behaviors, faith-based affiliation, and family in the meaning of community engagement within each participant's life. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to deconstruct how and to what extent white faculty members resisted upholding white supremacy culture (WSC; Okun, 1999) during a critical event (Mertova and Webster, 2019) in their service learning and community-engaged (SLCE) practice. There are many critiques of SLCE practices, especially due to the perpetuation of colonization (Hernandez, 2017), assumptions based in racism and classism (Green, 2003), Whiteness (Applebaum, 2016; Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999). These topics have received more attention over the past decade, but there is still significantly less research on actions taken by SLCE faculty to actively resist perpetuating them (Mitchell et al., 2012). Guided by critical event narrative inquiry (Mertova and Webster, 2019) and framed by both first- and second-wave Critical Whiteness Studies (Jupp and Badenhorst, 2021), six participants were engaged in two empathetic interviews to answer the following research questions: 1. What impact has the examination of their own Whiteness had on white faculty members' SLCE praxis? 2. How did white faculty members resist upholding Whiteness (Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999) during critical events in their service learning and community-engaged (SLCE) practice? 3. How do white faculty members continue to resist Whiteness and WSC in their SLCE praxis despite barriers, challenges, and tensions they have faced on their campuses and within their communities in doing so? Critical narrative analysis (Langdridge, 2007) was used to deconstruct the faculty members' experiences during these critical events (Mertova and Webster, 2019) in their SLCE practice. Findings relate to the importance of considering the setting, context, and impact of action taken within specific academic fields as well as the field of service learning and community engagement more broadly. / Doctor of Philosophy / Service Learning and Community Engagement (SLCE) describes the ways in which faculty and students engage with off-campus community organizations for the supposed benefit of all involved. The assumption is that students explore and experience topics they learn about in their classes, faculty members can have more direct impact with their teaching and research, and community partners reap the benefits of this student involvement and faculty engagement. There are many concerns, however, about the presence and perpetuation of colonization (Hernandez, 2017), assumptions based in racism and classism (Green, 2003), Whiteness (Applebaum, 2016; Leonardo, 2002) and characteristics of white supremacy culture (Okun, 1999) through SLCE. These topics have received more attention over the past decade, but there is still significantly less research on actions taken by SLCE faculty to actively resist perpetuating them (Mitchell et al., 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore the ways that white faculty members addressed these topics in their own teaching, research, and service work. Through two interviews each of the six participants shared more about their own identities and the impact these had on their development and experiences. They also provided context about their academic fields, the relationships they have with their community partners, and the ways in which they have taken action to address the topics of Whiteness and the characteristics of white supremacy culture in their SLCE. The findings of this study relate to the importance of considering the setting, context, and impact of action taken within specific academic fields as well as the field of service learning and community engagement more broadly.

No / This evidence review was commissioned as part of the Joint Research Programme project ‘Working Together to Adapt to a Changing Climate: Flood and Coast’ (2018 to 2021). The project is a response to concerns about the impacts of climate change and the likelihood of significantly higher levels of risk to communities due to increased flooding (including inland) or coastal erosion. It aims to produce new learning about, and enhanced guidance for, community engagement practice in situations where this might be particularly challenging, for example, in situations where there is a low likelihood of building or maintaining flood defences in the medium to long term. / Environment Agency / The publisher requests that no file be uploaded. However, the latest version of the full file is available on the Government website on the link above.

This dissertation investigates how the process, politics, and impacts of culturally-framed redevelopment balance growth and equity within inner-city neighborhoods experiencing change. Redevelopment programs that draw upon existing arts and cultural assets have been supported and identified by planners as a strategy of local economic development. However, critiques of cultural preservation as a form of economic development argue that the norms and goals of such planning efforts and their impact on existing residents require further evaluation. For example, planning scholars find that cultural preservation may reinforce both existing spatial divides and forms of social exclusion. At the same time, the recognition of ethnic and minority heritage by non-local forces has been identified by some scholars as an opportunity to further the multicultural transformation of public history as well as locally sustainable community development that benefits the neighborhood's original inhabitants. I employ an extended case study research design and ethnographic methods to analyze how the process of producing authenticity contributes or impinges on development and market potential as well as social preservation efforts in a historic African American neighborhood, U Street/Shaw, within Washington, DC. An analysis of the implementation of the guiding vision for the neighborhood's cultural redevelopment, The DUKE Plan, occurs on three scales: neighborhood, anchor institutions, and individual (residents and visitors). Pro-growth strategies that bolstered the marketable "Black Broadway" place brand were supported at each scale rather than opportunities to preserve the neighborhood's identity through the retention of long-term residents and interpretation of the breadth of the community's identity. As a result of culturally-framed redevelopment, the U Street/Shaw neighborhood continues to gentrify causing a loss of belonging and ownership of cultural heritage among long-term residents. Solutions to ensuring that social equity provisions are delivered in culturally-framed redevelopment requires the adoption of accountability measures defined by existing residents during the planning process that commercial and government stakeholders must continually adhere to throughout and after implementation. / Ph. D.

- / Communities play an increasingly significant role in their own health and social care, and evidence demonstrates the positive impact of this work on a range of health outcomes. Interest is building regarding the application of the principles of the new public health approach to those facing the end of life and their families and communities. To review the evidence relating to the impact of a new public health approach to end-of-life care, specifically as this applies to efforts to strengthen community action. Design: A systematic review employing narrative synthesis. Both meta-ethnography and the use of descriptive statistics supported analysis. Data sources: Eight databases (AMED, ASSIA, BiblioMap, CINAHL, Cochrane Reviews, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO) were searched from the earliest record to March 2015 using set eligibility criteria. Results: Eight articles were included in the analysis. Three main themes emerged from the meta-ethnography: making a practical difference, individual learning and personal growth and developing community capacity. The quantitative findings mapped to the meta-ethnography and demonstrated that engaging communities can lead to improved outcomes for carers such as decreased fatigue or isolation, increase in size of caring networks and that wider social networks can influence factors such as place of death and involvement of palliative care services. Conclusion: Evidence exists for the impact of community engagement in end-of-life care. Impact assessment should be an integral part of future initiatives and policy makers should recognise that these approaches can influence complex issues such as carer support, community capacity, wellbeing and social isolation.

Yes / This study aims to build on the understanding of social commerce in the emerging markets and how it influences online community engagement. The conceptual model was proposed using theories including the social support theory, the trust theory, the social presence theory, the flow theory and the service-dominant logic theory. Using Facebook online community, the data were collected from 400 respondents from Jordan and analysed using AMOS based structural equation modelling. Results revealed that social commerce constructs positively influence social support, community members’ trust and social presence. Furthermore, it was found that social support and social presence positively affect community members’ trust. We also found that community members’ trust positively influence flow whereas both community members’ trust and flow positively influence community engagement.

Yes / BACKGROUND: Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis allows rapid, accurate inferences about the sources, location and timing of transmission. However, in an era of heightened concern for personal privacy and science distrust, such inferences could result in unintended harm and undermine the public´s trust. METHODS: We held interdisciplinary stakeholder discussions and performed ethical analyses of real-world illustrative cases to identify principles that optimise benefit and mitigate harm of M. tuberculosis WGS-driven TB source investigations.RESULTS: The speed and precision with which real-time WGS can be used to associate M. tuberculosis strains with sensitive information has raised important concerns. While detailed understanding of transmission events could mitigate harm to vulnerable patients and communities when otherwise unfairly blamed for TB outbreaks, the precision of WGS can also identify transmission events resulting in social blame, fear, discrimination, individual or location stigma, and the use of defaming language by the public, politicians and scientists. Public health programmes should balance the need to safeguard privacy with public health goals, transparency and individual rights, including the right to know who infects whom or where.CONCLUSIONS: Ethical challenges raised by real-time WGS-driven TB source investigation requires public health authorities to move beyond their current legal mandate and embrace transparency, privacy and community engagement.