This thesis examines household characteristics as determinants of formal savings accounts in rural Malawi. The main questions answered in this paper include the effects of household characteristics on the probability of having formal savings, the amounts saved in these accounts, and the probability of adopting formal savings. The central discussion aims to identify the initial adopters of formal savings accounts, using a marketing approach previously unapplied to this area of research. This paper also contributes to the dialogue of the household composition by considering three untried variables: number of adults, number of children, and literacy of all household members. Results show that households are most likely to adopt formal savings, when provided access, if they have a head who can read Chichewa, a functional cellphone, more adults who can read Chichewa, and are close to the bank service. The field evidence comes from research conducted over a two year period 2008-2010 in sampled regions of Central Malawi.

The present thesis is a study of the economic consequences of declining real wages in the United States. It proposes that, when the real wages of the majority of the U.S. workforce declined in the 1970s, 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, household labour supply increased. Consequently, real family income in the bottom eighty percent of the income distribution rose. Wage-earning households were not only struggling to maintain their acquired standard of living as real wages were declining, but they were also, perhaps more importantly, trying to raise their standard of living. It was precisely when household labour supply hit a ceiling in the second half of the 1990s, that household debt exploded. Surging household debt from the late 1990s until 2007 – driven primarily by home mortgage debt – suggests that the culturally powerful “American Dream” motivated wage-earning households to seek and expect a continuously rising standard of living via home ownership even in the face of topped out work hours and historically low real wages.

This thesis examines the economic and time barriers to dietary adherence for T2D patients living in Edmonton by using utility theory, household production theory and the concept of health capital. Socio-demographic, food consumption, food purchase and time use information was obtained by administering a questionnaire and a food record; collecting grocery receipts and a blood sample; conducting a telephone interview, and taking measurements. Multivariate regression analysis and correlations showed a negative association between fruit and vegetable expenditure and A1c. Diet quality was negatively associated with A1c and total food expenditure but had an inverted U-shaped association with income. While working time was negatively correlated with diet quality and positively correlated with A1c, regression analysis showed a negative association between working time and diet quality only among higher income participants. Budget constraints and time constraints appear to be the barriers to dietary adherence among low-income and high-income patients, respectively. / Agricultural and Resource Economics

An evaluation of BioSand Filters, a method of Household Water Treatment, was conducted in Posoltega, Nicaragua, with objectives of determining the long-term filtration efficiency and the rate of sustained use. Field methods included microbial and turbidity water quality testing and interviews with filter users regarding the operation, maintenance and perceptions towards the filters. Of the 234 BioSand Filters installed in 1999 and 2004, only 24 were found to still be in operation. The average filtration efficiency was found to be 98% for total coliforms, 96% for E. coli and 88% for turbidity. Statistically significant effects on filtration efficiency were detected for the source contamination, the inverse of the flow rate, and the standing depth of water over the sand. A follow-up laboratory QA/QC procedure was undertaken to validate the field methods, which consisted of membrane filtration (MF) with m coliBlue24 growth media, and SolarCult dipslides. It was found that MF with m coliBlue24 produced useful reproducible results, and is an appropriate method for conducting field water quality testing. The dipslides were found to be an appropriate tool for testing source water quality and assessing the applicability of BioSand Filters, and may be an appropriate tool for local health representatives to promote safe water practices within the community. However, the dipslides should not be used as a presence / absence test for drinking water due to the high limit of detection. The low rate of sustained use (10%) is mostly a result of the structural failure of the concrete walls of the filter, in particular for those filters from 2004. Anecdotal evidence suggests insufficient quality control during the construction. The filtered water and the stored post-filtered water did not meet the WHO guidelines for safe drinking water on account of the presence of E. coli. Also identified were improper maintenance practices and unsafe storage of post-filtered water. These problems could have been addressed through the development of a holistic water system approach, such as the World Health Organization Water Safety Plan.

There was growing concern in New Zealand in the 1990�s that Food Security: access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy life, was not being achieved, despite an abundant food supply. A study of a convenience sample of 40 families with children (58 adults and 92 children) whose sole income was a government welfare benefit was undertaken. Two-thirds of these households regularly relied on a limited variety of food; one-half did not have a sufficient amount of food because of lack of money and outstanding debts. Over the previous year two-thirds had sourced food from a food bank and one-third had been gifted food from friends or relatives. Women�s intakes were compromised regularly but not children�s. All of the women experienced worry about feeding their household. One-fifth were overweight and over 40% obese despite low reported daily energy intakes (median (SE) 5.7 (0.5) MJ) compared to national data. Six repeated 24-hour diet recalls collected randomly over a two-week period enabled calculation of usual daily intake and the prevalence of inadequate intake for eight micronutrients which were disturbingly high. The children�s growth patterns compared favourably with US population percentiles. The National Nutrition Survey (NNS97) allowed the adaption of eight questions--developed by Reid using qualitative methods--to eight indicator statements about food security to be addressed by each participant on behalf of them or their household. Prevalence was significantly higher (p<0.05) for females compared to males for the majority of indicator statements among New Zealand European and Others (NZEO) and Maori. NZEO reported the most food security; Pacific people reported the least and Maori fell between the two. There was a significant increasing linear trend of food security with age (p<0.001) after adjusting for gender. Rasch analysis was performed on 1868 households where participants reported some food insecurity. The responses were ranked according to the proportion and ordering of their positive responses to eight indices of food security, achieving reliability (Cronbach�s Alpha) close to the conventionally accepted level of 0.7. The eight indices were ranked on the same scale; the minimum score -1.66 was achieved by the index �use special food grants/banks� (the index least reported and most severe) and the maximum score 1.86 was achieved by the index �variety of foods eaten limited� (the index most reported and least severe). Categories of food security were assigned using scale cut points: �fully/almost fully food secure�; �moderate food security�; �low food security�. Category status was associated with consumption of recommended number of daily serves of fruit, vegetables, fruits and vegetables, consumption of leaner meats, fatty meats and daily serves of bread. By ANOVA and controlling for sex, ethnicity, Index of Deprivation, urban/rural location, age, level of education, income, and household size, category of household food security was associated with the level of daily intake of total fat, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, cholesterol, glucose, fructose, lactose, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and vitamin C. Dietary data were from the primary 24-hour diet recall of respondents. Participants in the fully/almost fully food secure category of households had a mean BMI of 28.7 compared to those moderately secure (29.2) and of low food security (29.5) (p=0.015 for difference among categories). In the Children�s Nutrition Survey 2002 (CNS02) data set, the same eight indices were used and food insecurity was experienced significantly more often by children in the largest households, those in the most deprived areas of residence (NZDep01 Quintile) and those of Pacific and Maori ethnicity compared to NZEO children. Rasch analysis was performed on responses for 1561 households with children which reported some food insecurity. Subject reliability was close to 0.7 (the conventionally acceptable level). The distribution of the eight indices on the Rasch scale was similar to that observed among the NNS97 households and almost identical to the sub-set of households with children, from that dataset. Categories of food security status were assigned as in the NN5S97 and they predicted daily nutrient intake levels of children: total sugars, lactose, vitamm A, β-carotene, vitamin B12 and calcium. A more rigorous assigning of categories at the low/moderate scale cut-off, resulted in a further association with level of intake of glucose, fructose and folate. Mean BMI across categories of food security did not differ. Collectively these data provide unequivocal evidence that food insecurity exists in New Zealand, that it can be quantified and associated with nutrition outcomes. It has a negative impact on the nutrient intakes of both adults and children and a negative impact on the body weight status of adults. These data have implications for nutrition and health professionals and policy makers in New Zealand. They also add to the world-wide body of knowledge of the experience of, and the measurement and predictive potential of food security in populations where the food supply appears plentiful.

Drawing on Weber’s rationalisation theory and feminist critiques of the consumption-production literature, this thesis describes the impacts and changes in dietary practices that have occurred in households as a result of limited or constrained time available for family food provisioning, and how these changes can be understood as a product of contemporary Australian policy, cultural and food landscapes. It adopts feminist ethnography and household food strategies as important methodological innovations to forge a culturally informed account of convenience-orientated dietary practices in family households within contemporary Australian society. The data were collected from 15 Brisbane family households between January 2002 and August 2006. The thesis argues that dietary practices observed in ‘time-poor’ households have evolved as solutions to the problem of time scarcity by women whose role has traditionally been to feed families. The ‘solutions’ are shaped by the resources to which households have access, and ideas and traditions about family care, food and its responsibility, and available alternative options. Change is observed in diets, menus, source of prepared meals and prepared ingredients, but also organisation of food provisioning and distribution of workload. Also being reshaped is the role of food in the expression of cultural identity, commensality and, in the family setting, the transmission of food skills and knowledge. An analysis that critiques the usefulness of ‘speeding up’ domestic food provisioning as a viable and sustainable solution to the retention of the family meal is drawn, highlighting the problematic nature of persistent nostalgic interpretations of commensal eating patterns in culinary, food activism, sustainability and nutrition discourses. In the absence of a coherent moral philosophy for guiding current public health policy and practice, Kittay’s public ethic of care is proposed as a suitable model. A key challenge for future research is to ensure that household level sociocultural analysis continues to enrich broader debates in food policy and public health.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Demography))--Mahidol University, 2008. / LICL has E-Thesis 0044 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 135 p.; also includes maps, graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-135). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-96).