<p> In higher education, adjuncts are employed at higher percentages than are full-time instructors. These teachers are vital to colleges because they form such a large contingent of teachers, especially in community college systems. At rural community colleges, adjuncts fill the greatest percentage of teaching positions; but, because of factors associated with small rural communities, qualified adjuncts are difficult to recruit and to retain. One factor that leads to higher levels of retention, more positive teaching experiences, and better perceptions of fitting in the career is having positive professional self-identity. The problem addressed in this study was that adjunct instructors often are not perceived to be professional teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover and describe the perceptions of professional identity among adjunct instructors at a small rural community college, adding both to theory and to understanding of how this group identifies itself as professionals. A generic qualitative research approach was utilized throughout the research process. Data were collected during semi-structured, one-on-one, interviews with 10 adjunct instructors at one campus of a larger 11-campus system. The results indicated that these adjunct instructors could be studied through the lenses of three professional identity theories. First, classical professionalism theory provided the framework for showing that these adjuncts have created their professional identities through the attributes of knowledge and training, autonomy, calling and service, and ethicality. Second, self-categorization was the scaffolding for determining identity by perceptions of belonging, or not belonging, to a group. Ninety percent of the adjunct instructors came to SRCC identifying as a member of professional teachers, previously created through experiences and self-assignation. The third theory germane for this group of adjuncts was psychosocial identity development, the theory under which these adjuncts found themselves at a developmental stage where they could achieve their own life&rsquo;s goals while at the same time helping their students attain their goals. Future studies could be conducted at other campuses within the same college system, at other small rural community colleges, and colleges in general to determine similarities or differences in results due to context.</p>

The thesis focused on acquiring a sufficient level of understanding of how and to what extent tourism is implemented in livelihoods of the indigenous people (Maya and Garifuna) of Belize and if it truly benefits their lives. The research provided an assessment of actual and perceived economic, social and other effects of tourism on the livelihood of two communities in southern Belize - the inland community of Laguna and the coastal community of Hopkins Village. The study was approached from the pragmatic perspective and included the multiple case study framework, literature review, semi-structured interviews and observations. The research was conducted from January to February 2015. The results of the study demonstrated that the communities of Laguna and Hopkins are at different stages of integration into the tourism industry. The research revealed that the economic, social and cultural effects of tourism and its importance for local livelihoods varied between both villages and was dependant on a number of factors – geographical, cultural, social etc. The issues of preserving cultural heritage, problems of marginalization, lack of skills, exclusion and other were all identified as significant factors. A number of recommendations were made based on the results of the study. / May 2016

Peer multiple victimization (PMV) predicts a range of negative behavioral, psychosocial, and school-related sequela. The processes through which an adolescent who experiences PMV develops negative outcomes has received attention, but processes that mitigate the impact of these negative outcomes are largely unknown. A lack of school connectedness has been robust predictor of subsequent negative developmental outcomes, and has been demonstrated to be associated with victimization. However, competencies from the social and emotional learning framework have been linked with developing positive social connections for adolescents. This study uses a series of multilevel models to investigate whether PMV is associated with school connectedness, and whether social and emotional learning competencies affects this relation. Participants were 6,401 (47.3% Female; 36.2% White) 9th through 12th grade students from 15 schools across a large urban public school district in a southeastern state. Results suggest that PMV is associated with a lack of school connectedness and that although social and emotional competencies are particularly relevant for adolescents who experience PMV, they do not significantly buffer this relationship. Thus, adolescents who experience PMV may benefit from social and emotional competencies in spite of overwhelming evidence of associations with negative outcomes. Research, theoretical and applied implications for this vulnerable group are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Harrington / This research examines the intersections of sexuality and gender identity and how differing socio-cultural networks are important to how we can begin to address multiple issues affecting rural America. The overarching question of the research was: How do sexuality and gender identity minorities living in rural areas experience or perceive where they live and the community networks that they navigate? Subtopics included the factors that contribute to an LGBT individual living in the Flint Hills, whether individual sexual and gender identities and perception affect concepts of location and community, and how one’s sexuality or gender identity affects the lived experience in a rural region. A multi-disciplinary approach based on Geography and LGBT Studies, using interviews and surveys of distinctive rural populations in the Flint Hills of Kansas, was applied. Five focus groups and 31 individual interviews yielded information about LGBT community concerns in the Flint Hills. A broader region was represented through an electronic survey which accessed a large population anonymously through a variety of social networking sites. The survey yielded 119 complete responses. Discrimination was a concern and sense of community was important. Many individuals acknowledged that they had a system of navigation of rural environments: where to go, to whom to speak openly, how to blend in to the larger population. Despite fears that were expressed, there was a sense of resilience among participants related to living in a relatively rural region. A sense of queer community and an acknowledgement of a rural community were important. Community connections are a major factor contributing to the individual’s lived experience and perception of the Flint Hills. For most of the participants, identity as a rural LGBT person or as part of the (relatively) rural queer community is important. There is a strong affinity to what individuals view as rural, and they view rural as being different from urban landscapes and communities.

The general aim of this study was to provide an in-depth exploration of the experiences of a group of 30 women who planned home births. This was to expand on the small amount of qualitative research in the field and suggest avenues for further research. With this general aim, I analysed the women's experiences in relation to the contexts in which they planned home births in order to provide a useful account for the women in the study, those who may plan home births in the future, as well as clinicians, managers and policy-makers involved in maternity services. I considered some of the wider political, social and historical discourses, which underpin the present situation in Scotland regarding home births. While I acknowledged that these are unstable reference points, they were useful in gaining insights into the current situation. This was particularly the case when looking at home birth as part of a complex interplay between dominant and subordinate ideologies, which were partially played out through gender relations symbolised by the male doctor and the female midwife. A postmodern reading of feminisms provided the conceptual tools to examine diverse belief systems around birth in relation to women's narratives. Suspending "truth" enabled diverse knowledges to become more visible. This validated women's experiential knowledge which could then be placed alongside other knowledge systems, and examined in terms of dominant and marginalised ideologies. The project became one of conflicts and silences, searching out and listening to, and making visible "other" voices. This raised issues of power, control, autonomy and resistance. In most cases I interviewed each woman twice before her baby's birth and twice following the birth. Interviews were usually 1 Y2 to 2 hours in length, taped and transcribed. A qualitative software program, NUD*IST was used to assist with analysis, but the conceptual framework for the analysis remained rooted in a postmodern feminist approach using a relational voice methodology. The main findings were that National Health Service (NHS) community midwifery services were based on an attenuated technocratic model of birth. This imposed a philosophy and structure of care that prevented women and midwives from developing alternative ideologies based on their own knowledges. It prevented women and midwives from forming trusting, supportive relationships, which stand at the core of holistic philosophies of birth. Women and midwives were often obliged to draw on subversive techniques to use their knowledge and skills in order to make the best of a system which by definition could not be woman-centred or holistic. The main conclusion was that birth requires to be socialised rather than medicalised, so that technology and medical practices can be developed and used to support women and babies, and midwifery practices when necessary, rather than birth being technocratised and social practices used to humanise an essentially inhumane system of care.

No description available.

Sexual minority women experience a number of physical and mental health disparities compared to their heterosexual peers. This three-paper dissertation addresses the ways in which stigma and access to care explain outcomes in sexual minority womenâs physical and mental health. The first study is a qualitative examination of sexual minority womenâs experiences of stigma, particularly related to healthcare settings. The second study is a close examination of demographic predictors of access to care among sexual minority women. The third study is an analysis of the relationship between access to care and physical and mental health outcomes among sexual minority women. Findings include in-depth information about the lived experiences of stigma within and related to healthcare settings that participants reported, identification of factors that predict access to care within this population, and models explaining a significant amount of variation in physical and mental health of sexual minority women. Together, these studies shed light on the ways in which stigma explains significant differences in wellbeing via access to adequate and effective healthcare. The findings from this dissertation can inform practice related to addressing healthcare needs of sexual minority women, policy related to health of sexual minority groups, and future research on stigma, health disparities, and access to care for sexual minority women.

This paper investigates the relationship between student-led consulting teams and community organizations as one part of Eller Social Innovation (ESI). The research conducted to analyze the relationship between these entities is most similar to program evaluation. Program evaluation has become commonplace in the nonprofit sector and it is important method for these organizations to establish the value of all of their activities (Carman, 2007). Through data collected from interviews and surveys of community organizations, this article seeks to understand the efficacy of student-led consulting projects and determine the effect that they have on these organizations. The answer to this question will inform stakeholders in ESI about the potential value that further collaboration with community organizations could create for both parties.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the use of participatory research in community development settings. Participatory research, which is normally referred to by the abbreviation PR, is a relatively new social research methodology that arose out of a general sense of dissatisfaction with the way that traditional research was being conducted in development. Participatory research consists of a large variety of related research methodologies that emphasize participation, social learning and action. Epistemologically it is founded on the metatheories of critical theory and to a lesser extent phenomenology and feminism. It is primarily based on the idea of allowing people to participate as full researchers in their own research process so as to create knowledge about their own social reality with which they can initiate change. By creating their own social knowledge, which they use to address and change their social reality, participants become part of a continuous cycle of analysis - action - reflection. By participating as full co-researchers, participants become part of their own dialogical process of social praxis that allows them to enter into a continuous cycle of social learning, capacity building and conscientisation that gives them an increased sense of empowerment which in turn makes them able to engage in their own selfreliant sustainable development initiatives. Both community development and participatory research are grassroot level development initiatives. They both form part of the people-centered, participatory and social learning process - approaches to development. Both share a commitment to: realizing concrete and abstract goals, a social learning process, participation, empowerment, conscientisation, and sustainability. Both these development initiatives are orientated around operating in small homogenous groups as opposed to working with the whole community. In both participatory research and community development the person from outside the community who is initiating the development is required to fulfil the role of guide, advisor, advocate, enabler, and facilitator. Community development and participatory research share a similar research cycle that consists of the following stages: contact making, formal need identification, planning or analysis, implementation or action, and evaluation or reflection. Both research cycles are also committed to the same objectives namely: creating a community profile and need and problem profile, to draw up strategies to address some of the needs and problems, and to monitor and evaluate the strategies that were implemented. Both community development and participatory research therefore share a number of similarities in their objectives and goals, the most important of which is their shared commitment to development in which participation leads to an increase in social learning, capacity building and conscientisation that in tum results in participants experiencing an increased sense of empowerment which allows them to undertake their own self-reliant, sustainable development initiatives. Consequently this study concludes that participatory research is suitable for and beneficial to the practice of research in community development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die gebruik van deelnemende navorsing in gemeenskapsontwikkelling. Deelnemende navorsing, wat alom bekend staan as PR, is 'n relatief nuwe sosiale navorsingsmetodologie wat ontstaan het uit "n algemene gevoel van ongelukkigheid met die beoefening van tradisionele navorsing in ontwikkeling. Deelnemende navorsing bestaan uit "n wye verskeidenheid navorsingsmetodologieë wat klem lê op deelneming, sosiale leer en aksie. Epistemologies is dit gebaseer op die metateorieë van kritiese teorie en tot 'n mindere mate fenomenologie en feminisme. Dit is primêr gebaseer op die idee dat mense volledig moet deelneem as navorsers in hulle eie navorsingsproses sodat hulle, hul eie kennis kan skep van hul eie sosiale realiteit waarmee hulle dan sosiale verandering kan meebring. Deelnemers in hierdie proses word deel van "n aaneenlopende kringloop van ontleding-aksie-refleksie. Deur hulle plek vol te staan as navorsers word deelnemers deel van "n proses van eie dialogiese sosiale praxis wat hulle toelaat om deel te hê aan 'n aaneenlopende siklus van sosiale leer, kapasiteitsbou en psigologiese bewuswording wat hulle "n groter gevoel van selfbemagtiging gee wat hulle dan toelaat om hul eie selfonderhoudende ontwikkelingsinitiatiewe te loods. Beide gemeenskapsontwikkeling en deelnemende navorsing vind plaas op grondvlak. Dit vorm altwee deel van die mensegesentreerde, deelnemende en sosiale leerprosesse van ontwikkeling. Beide is gemik op die realisering van konkrete en abstrakte doelstellings, 'n sosiale leerproses, deelname, selfbemagtiging, psigologiese bewuswording, en selfonderhoud. Beide hierdie benaderings tot ontwikkeling geskied in klein homogene groepsverband. In beide deelnemende navorsing en gemeenskapsontwikkeling is dit 'n persoon van buite die gemeenskap wat die proses inisieer en "n rol speel as voog, adviseer, advokaat, daarstelIer en fasiliteerder. Gemeeskapsontwikkeling en deelnemende navorsing deel "n navorsing siklus wat bestaan uit die volgende stadiums: kontak maak, die identifisering van behoefte, beplanning of ontleding, implementering of aksie, en evaluering of samevatting. Beide hierdie ondersoeksiklusse deel die volgende doelstellings, naamlik: die opstel van 'n gemeenskapsprofiel sowel as "n behoefte en probleem profiel, die optrek van "n strategie!:! om behoeftes en probleme aan te spreek, en laastens om die strategie!:! wat geïmplementeer is te monitor en evalueer. Beide gemeenskapsontwikkeling en deelnemende navorsing deel "n verskeidenheid ooreenkomste in terme van hulle doelstellings, waarvan die mees belangrikste 'n gedeelde toewyding tot ontwikkeling is waarin deelname lei tot "n toename in sosiale leer, kapasitieitsbou en psigologiese bewuswording wat tot gevolg het dat deelnemers "n toenemende sin van hulle eie selfbemagtiging kry wat hulle toelaat om hulle eie selfonderhoudende ontwikkelingsaksies te loods. Hierdie studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat deelnemende navorsing geskik is en bevorderend is vir die proses van navorsing in gemeenskapsontwikkeling.

The association between neighborhood-level racial segregation and low birth weight among Black infants was systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed. Seven major databases (e.g., PubMed, PsycINFO) were searched, and ten additional search strategies were performed. After scanning and coding search results, a random effects meta-analysis using the log odds ratio metric was performed for studies with comparable effects sizes, and a systematic review comparing articles addressing this association was written. Heterogeneity, moderators, publication bias, and sensitivity were assessed. Quality indicators for each article were discussed in the narrative review. A total of 6,212 articles were retrieved yielding seven articles included in the systematic review. Three articles featuring eight independent studies were eligible and included in the meta-analysis. The mean effect size was statistically significant (OR = 1.13, 95% CI [1.07, 1.19], p = 0.00) and represented a positive association between low birth weight and Black isolation. These results lacked heterogeneity (Q=8.34, df = 7, p = 0.30, I2 = 16.1%; Ï2 = 0.00) and thus no moderator analysis was conducted. There was no evidence of publication bias, and results from sensitivity analyses substantiated the robustness of the findings. Racial isolation appears not only to be statistically significantly associated with low birth weight after individual and neighborhood-level adjustments but also may explain racial differences in low birth weight at the neighborhood level. Results suggest Black isolation is positively associated with low birth weight for Black infants. Future research must endeavor to understand racial isolation as a process and how it shapes health.