<p>This research examines the economic well-being of nonmetropolitan low-income households through an analysis of their objective economic outcomes and subjective experiences of poverty. Despite a large body of scholarship aimed at urban poverty, comparatively little research examines economic hardship among impoverished nonmetropolitan families. This research contributes to existing work through an analysis of nonmetropolitan low-income households' employment experiences and short-term economic trajectories. Additionally, this research uses fine-grained longitudinal data to address how families subjectively experience poverty and economic im/mobility. The analyses use ethnographic data from a sample of households (n=71) in the Family Life Project, a multi-method, longitudinal study conducted in six counties within Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The analyses reveal that families across these two regions experience a high level of constraint with respect to their employment choices and economic mobility outcomes. The analyses also present alternative metrics for job quality and job satisfaction which explicitly include criteria from the perspectives of low-wage nonmetropolitan workers. Most households experience little or no upward economic mobility throughout their participation in the study, and family members express conservative expectations for their long-term economic well-being. The study concludes with suggestions for continued research in the nonmetropolitan U.S. This work contributes to existing scholarship in the areas of economic mobility, work and poverty. These analyses reveal scholarly assessments of work, poverty and the decisions of economic actors can be improved through the inclusion of subjective household perspectives. Additionally, these analyses should motivate scholars to reevaluate the effectiveness of employment for promoting upward economic mobility, especially among contemporary nonmetropolitan low-income households.</p> / Dissertation

Background Although Pressure ulcer is common in high and middle income countries it is rarely researched in low income countries. Evidence based interventions of pressure ulcer prevention are developed but the gap between the evidence and the clinical practice is wide. Aim Describe the nurses‟ knowledge about pressure ulcer prevention at a provincial hospital in Ghana. Design An empirical qualitative approached was used and semi-structured interviews were made with nurses at the Kwahu Governmental Hospital in Atibie, Ghana. A content analysis and a deductive content analysis were used to analyze the material. The evidence based interventions suggested by the North American Nurses Association (NANDA) was used as a theoretical framework. Result / Conclusion The themes Pressure ulcer prevention and Nurses‟ knowledge were found. Most of the evidence based interventions were mentioned by the participants. However, the participants explained massage as a preventive intervention although the evidence advice against massage. The participants did not mention any interventions considering documentation and nutrition. Further the nurses explained that they achieved their knowledge in school by practical demonstrations and examinations. The nurses‟ opinion was that their knowledge is enough to prevent pressure ulcers. / <p>Röda Korsets sjuksköterskeförening stipendium 2011</p>

An individual’s housing situation can have a significant impact on their well-being and overall health. Low-income individuals and those on social assistance often have little choice in housing. Increased housing satisfaction can have an immediate impact on quality of life and can also have influence in the longer-term. This case study examines the satisfaction and well-being of tenants in a Winnipeg, Manitoba low-income housing project. The buildings that are part of the Kikinaw Housing Project were renovated using green building strategies, a tenant-centred management model is being implemented, and there are several social supports available exclusively to tenants. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with tenants, support staff and management. The practicum concludes that tenants are more satisfied with their living conditions at Kikinaw compared to their previous residence. Residents generally feel better about their health, have more social ties, and take pride in their homes. This improvement in tenant’s lives in turn strengthens the community. The practicum concludes with eight recommendations for housing providers, policy makers, and government bodies. These are divided into three categories: delivery of services, funding provisions and policy, and green and community enhancements. Recommendations include: i) more tenant involvement, ii) improving people’s ability to deal with stress, iii) flexible funding and support, iv) consistent funding and cooperation, v) enhancing social interaction and community, vi) green housing for all incomes levels, vii) resident education about the project, viii) healthy housing policy and healthy public policy.

In recent decades, there has been a seemingly inexhaustible rise in the use of caesarean section (CS) worldwide. The overall aim with this thesis is to explore the effects of and reasons for an increase in the CS rate at a university hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Study I, we analysed time trends in CS rates and maternal and perinatal outcomes between 2000 and 2011 among different obstetric groups. In Study II, we documented the occurrence and panorama of maternal ‘near-miss’ morbidity and death, and analysed their association with CS complications. We also strived to determine if women with previous CS scars had an increased risk of maternal near-miss, death, or adverse perinatal outcomes in subsequent pregnancies. Studies III and IV explored women’s and caregivers’ in-depth perspectives on CS and caregivers’ rationales for their hospital’s high CS rate. During the study period, the CS rate increased from 19% to 49%. The rise was accompanied by an increased maternal mortality ratio (odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.2–1.8) and improved perinatal outcomes. CS complications accounted for 7.9% (95% CI 5.6–11) of the maternal near-miss events and 13% (95% CI 6.4–23) of the maternal deaths. Multipara with previous CS scars had no increased risk of maternal near-miss or death compared with multipara with previous vaginal deliveries, and a lower risk of adverse perinatal outcomes (adjusted OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.33–0.80). Both women and caregivers stated they preferred vaginal birth, but caregivers also had a favourable attitude towards CS. Both groups justified maternal risks with CS by the need to ‘secure’ a healthy baby. Caregivers stated that they sometimes performed CSs on doubtful indications, partly due to dysfunctional team-work and a fear of being blamed by colleagues.  This thesis raises a concern that maternal health, interests, and voices are overlooked through the CS decision for the benefit of perinatal outcomes and caregivers’ liability. An overuse of CS should be seen as a sign of substandard care and preventing such overuse needs to be among the key actions when formulating new targets for the post-2015 era.

A sharp rise in house prices became a political issue in Korea in the late 1980's. It opened a heated debate among scholars and experts on the causes of house price rises. In the debate, a common belief was that high land prices had been one of the main causes of high house prices. In fact, the proportion of land cost in new house prices has steadily increased as the latter has risen in Korea during the past two decades. This research calls into question the notion underlying that common belief that land prices exist independently of housing development. Most policy measures are sought on the basis of this notion. This research argues that land prices are an outcome of conflicts between landowners and developers in the process of housing development. In exploring the idea that the determination of land cost for housing is a result of conflicts between landowners and developers, the research came to the question of what the source of conflicts is, a question of why and how the two actors enter into conflictive relations. It was a suggestion of Marx's concept of rent that surplus profits are the material source of conflicts; the ability of developers to create higher surplus profits provides possibility of landowners to demand more payments for their land; landowners' appropriation of increasingly larger portions of surplus profits then conditions the way developers produce housing; thus both enter into a conflictive and contradictory relationship. It was thus hypothesised that the rising land cost for housing has been primarily a result of that conflicting and contradictory interaction, which is permanently operating in housing development. However, how far and in what forms the conflict affects housing development and the determination of land cost are affected by social mediation of the interaction. Thus the research, the test of the above hypothesis, comprises two parts: the identification of the material aspect of the process by which landowners and developers entered into conflicting relations resulting in increasing land prices for housing as suggested in Marx's concept of rent; and the examination of political and economic circumstances in which social relations between the two actors were conditioned to leave that material process unregulated. This hypothesis was tested with reference to the case of housing development in Seoul during the 1970's and 1980's. The empirical examination disclosed that the rising land cost for housing in Korea has been due to the conflictive nature of the relationship between landowners and developers. Developers have created large surplus profits by exploiting rapidly growing speculative demand for housing and government housing programmes relying on private development; this have provided room for landowners to raise land prices such that increasingly larger portions of new house prices have been allocated to land cost; increasing government intervention have been unsuccessful in controlling this conflictive and contradictory process and the consequent spiral rises in land cost and house prices because of its inability to break from its self-financing housing development strategy; this inability has been due to historical circumstances which, characterised by strong state and weak labour relations and the subordination of finance to industrial capital, have conditioned housing development to be driven by the private appropriation of development gains.

This research explored the efficacy of the Volunteer Return Preparation Program (VRPP) for low-income taxpayers. VRPP facilitates free tax return preparation assistance to low-income taxpayers through partnering organizations in local communities across the United States. The project consisted of the following objectives: 1) to examine the demographic and tax filing characteristics of taxpayers that use VRPP and how they compare to a random sample of non-users, 2) to identify the extent to which VRPP users and non-users claimed select tax credits and the extent to which the utilization is explained by profile characteristics, and 3) to assess neighborhood level factors that influence VRPP participation. By focusing on a government program that is structured to provide assistance to individuals that are economically disadvantaged, this research sheds light on the efficacy of the program, while explaining participation.

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.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 24, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 290-304).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-249). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.