Thesis (D.C.P. / M. Sc.)--School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed 13 January 2009). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology/ Master of Science to the School of Psychology, Faculty of Science. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Food insecurity is associated with increased stress, symptoms of mental illness, and persistent health disparities. Women caregivers (referred to as mothers) may be at an increased risk because they often compensate for food shortages by reducing their own intake and make household food decisions. The current literature on the relationship between food security status and mental health in the U.S. lacks a clear framework for the relationship between these two phenomena. This dissertation describes three studies that aimed to explore the relationship between food security and mental health for mothers with low income in Virginia: (1) understanding differences in mental health outcomes by food security status (n=1,029), (2) a path analysis of a conceptual framework of the relationship (n=1,029), and (3) a thematic analysis of mothers' lived experiences with this relationship (n=29). An explanatory, sequential mixed methods design was employed with a cross-sectional survey informing semi-structured interviews. The survey (administered August-October 2021) was developed with previously validated measures of food security status, physical and mental health, symptoms of mental illness, behavioral food coping strategies, and social support. The interview guide was developed based on the findings of the survey and administered in May and June 2022. Collective findings of this series of studies suggested lower food security status was associated with negative mental health outcomes. However, there were no direct pathways from food security status to mental health outcomes. Social support and behavioral food coping strategies mediated the relationship between food security status and mental health outcomes. Mothers reported experiencing managing a variety of stressors associated with food insecurity. Mothers also indicated that stressors and coping strategies associated with managing food insecurity impacted their mental health. Future research should explore additional factors impacting household resiliency and strategies to reduce stigma associated with resource utilization. These findings can be built upon to develop screening tools and interventions to help improve food security and mental health status mothers with low income. / Doctor of Philosophy / Household food insecurity, where a household has insufficient access to safe, nutritious foods, is associated with a number of negative physical and mental health outcomes, including stress for members of the household. Food insecurity is not necessarily felt equally by all members of a household. Mothers may be at a greater risk because they often are responsible for household food decisions. Despite an association between food insecurity and mental health being discussed in the existing literature, there was little evidence to support how that relationship works and the other factors that may affect this relationship. This dissertation details three studies that were conducted to better understand the relationship between food security and mental health for Virginia mothers with low-income: (1) understand differences in mental health outcomes by food security status, (2) develop a framework for how factors are related in this relationship, and (3) explore mother's experiences with the relationship. A survey was developed and administered (August-October 2021) using previously tested measures of food security and mental health. The survey also included measures of factors that may have impacted the relationship, including physical health, social support, and behavioral food coping strategies, which are strategies used by people to stretch their available food resources. Interviews were conducted in May and June 2022. Findings suggest food security acts indirectly on mental health outcomes through social support and behavioral food coping strategies. Mothers reported managing multiple stressors associated with the experience of food insecurity that impacted their mental health. In the future, research should explore strategies to encourage resource utilization and identify ways to improve maternal mental health. Ultimately, interventions to improve food security and mental health for mothers with low income should be developed and implemented.

Community forestry as an approach to forest management has gained popularity in recent decades as a response to the failures of top-down, centralized forest policies. The shift from state-controlled forests to community forestry was aimed at achieving desired environmental and socio-economic outcomes in the forest management process. Community forestry is frequently posited as a promising forest management model for achieving ecological sustainability and community well-being. Although extensive literature exists that covers various aspects of community forestry, studies on the performance of community forestry programs in the face of unpredictable events such as climate change impacts and earthquakes are limited. In Nepal, for instance, community forestry programs have been implemented since the late 1970s and flourished after the adoption of the Forest Act of 1993. However, the impacts of these programs on the resilience of communities to various drivers of change have received little attention. To address these gaps, this dissertation employed a mixed methods approach in analyzing the impact of Nepal’s community forestry program on the general resilience of forest-dependent communities, as well as their specified resilience to the 2015 earthquake. Data for the qualitative component of the study were generated through the review of documents, as well as interviews with 27 purposively sampled key informants from two rural communities in the Gorkha district of Nepal, whereas quantitative data were generated through the administration of a survey questionnaire to 237 households who were selected using the systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected from November 2019 to March 2020.The results from the community level analysis revealed that the shift towards the community forestry program in both communities was triggered by the perception of ecological crises and facilitated by the existence of enabling policy conditions as well as the role of external forest organizations. The analysis of the impacts of the community forestry program on community resilience outcomes revealed variations across different forms of capital assets, with similarities and differences between the two communities. While natural capital, social capital, human capital were reported to have increased in both communities, the effect of community forestry on physical capital was found to be moderately positive. Regarding economic capital, the implementation of the community forestry program resulted in positive and negative outcomes on both communities, but the overall effect seemed to be moderately positive. Regarding specialized resilience outcomes, the community forestry program had a positive impact on community resilience to the 2015 earthquake. The community forestry program played various roles in community earthquake resilience, including enhanced access to timber for housing construction, and enhanced linking social capital for the mobilization of external resources. The results from the household level analysis showed that ethnicity and household’s prior involvement in forest organizations were significant predictors of household participation in the community forestry program but past household assets did not predict participation. Ethnicity and participation in the community forestry program were also the most important predictors of outcomes of the program, as measured by current levels of assets. Each of the past household assets and socio-demographic variables was a significant predictor of at least one of the current assets, but prior involvement in forest organizations did not predict any of the current assets or changes in assets. Regarding household resilience to the 2015 earthquake, household participation in the community forestry program also had a significant positive effect on two of the three dimensions of earthquake resilience, whereas past bridging capital and past physical capital each had a significant positive effect on the three earthquake resilience dimensions. Consistent with the community resilience framework, the results lend some support to the hypothesis that capital assets and institutions, coupled with the role of various community attributes, are important predictors of the process and outcomes of community resilience to drivers of change. Participation in community forestry programs provides an important mechanism for building general and specified resilience in forest-dependent communities. As global climate change policy has shifted towards community-based adaptation in recent decades, this study shows the potential for community forestry to serve as an entry point for global climate change policy through its contributions to community capacity for adaptation to various drivers of change.