As cities expand globally, researchers must clarify how human activities and institutions shape biodiversity and conversely, how ecological processes shape human outcomes. Two features of contemporary cities motivate this thesis. First, urban residents, and especially children, are spending less time in nature and consequently, miss out on healthy and formative experiences with biodiversity. Second, residents with the least access to biodiversity tend to be those with the lowest socioeconomic status (SES). Together, these patterns convey a multi-layered environmental injustice: not only might urbanites become increasingly estranged from biodiversity, disinterested from its conservation, and disconnected from its benefits, but these outcomes may be most acute in communities already suffering from inequality in terms of exposure to hazards or limited economic opportunity. The first chapter explores how children’s behaviors and interests change after learning about animal habitats first-hand in an environmental education program. I conducted an evaluation of the ECOS program in Springfield, Massachusetts, in which I surveyed elementary school students about their memories of ECOS and their related environmental behaviors. Students with parents or peers that had participated in ECOS were more likely to repeat or discuss program activities after the program’s end. Findings will aid educators in Springfield and beyond in improving program impacts and sustainability. The second chapter explains under what conditions socioeconomic inequality becomes linked with biodiversity. I conducted a meta-analysis of published research that assessed SES-biodiversity relationships in 34 cities using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. I evaluated the contributions of study design and city-level conditions in shaping SES-biodiversity relationships for various taxonomic groups. The meta-analysis highlighted the contributions of residential and municipal decisions in differentially promoting biodiversity along socioeconomic lines. Further, we identified circumstances in which inequality in biodiversity was ameliorated or negated by urban form, social policy, or collective human preference. Findings will aid researchers and managers in understanding human drivers of biodiversity in their cities and how access to biodiversity may be unequally distributed. In sum, this thesis advances our knowledge about how biodiversity is structured in cities, who gets to experience it, and how such experiences influence our behaviors and interests.

Orientador: Cristina Maria Garcia de Lima Parada Parada / Resumo: O programa de uso da imunoglobulina palivizumabe teve início em 2007 no Estado de São Paulo e em 2013 estendeu-se nacionalmente, sendo destinado a crianças com maior risco para a infecção pelo Virus Sincicial Respiratório (VSR). Desde seu início, o programa permanece sem avaliação sistemática. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar o programa de uso da imunoglobulina palivizumabe no Estado de São Paulo. Foram avaliados os 16 locais de aplicação: cinco Centros de Referência para Imunobiológicos Especiais (CRIE) e 11 postos de aplicação existentes no Estado de São Paulo, seguindo o referencial de avaliação proposto por Donabedian. Dados de estrutura e processo foram obtidos por entrevista com os responsáveis pela aplicação da imunoglobulina; para avaliação de resultado foram entrevistadas as mães das crianças do programa, visando identificar a associação entre falha na tomada do palivizumabe e a necessidade de hospitalização em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva por doença ou sintomatologia respiratória no período de sazonalidade do VSR. Participaram desta pesquisa 693 crianças/responsáveis (85,1% da população elegível), que ingressaram no programa entre março e agosto de 2014, sendo a coleta de dados realizada entre março e setembro do mesmo ano. Para análise de resultado foi utilizado o odds ratio pontual e intervalar com intervalo de confiança de 95%, considerando-se associações estatisticamente significativas se p < 0,05. Para avaliação de estrutura foram consideradas 30 variáveis... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

Background: Ballad Health participates in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model. The AHC model is evaluating if universal screening, referral, and navigation services for health-related social needs (HRSN) can improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary utilization and costs of health care services. To ensure the evaluation of the model has sufficient statistical power, navigation services are expected to be provided to a minimum number of individuals. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of Ballad Health’s AHC navigation services that could be modified to improve opt-in rates. Methods: The primary outcome measure was identified as whether a beneficiary contacted via telephone opted-in or –out of the navigation program. Andersen’s Behavioral Model for Health Service Use was used as the conceptual framework for selecting covariates of interest. Enabling factors were of primary interest because alternate interventions may be designed around them. Data was pulled for the time period of November 17, 2018 through February 14, 2019. Where possible, covariates were associated with data from CMS’ AHC Data Template v3.1 to accommodate replication for all AHC bridge organizations, though additional internally-collected data, which may not be available for all bridge organizations, were needed for some variables. Chi-squared tests were performed for each covariate. Results: No statistical differences were found for the primary covariates of interest. Opt-in rates by Navigator were lowest for Navigator 5 and highest for Navigator 4 (67.53% and 88.24%). Opt-in rates by weekday of decision were lowest on Thursdays and highest on Wednesdays (64.91% and 77.42%). Opt-in rates based on time of day were lowest between 8:00am and 9:59am, and highest between 12:00pm and 1:59pm (62.50% and 100%). Opt-in rates were lowest when the decision was made six days after the screening and highest when made the same day (53.57% and 83.33%). Opt-in rates were lowest when there were five weekdays between screening and navigation decision, and highest when there were three weekdays between the screening and decision (60% and 90%). Other non-process covariates of interest that were statistically significant for opt-in rates were the presence of either food, safety, or utility needs. Conclusions: Several groups had higher opt-in rates that were not statistically significant; small sample sizes may have impacted the significance of these differences. For example, opt-in rates were higher when made the same day as the screening than when made one day after (83.33% and 74.79%). However, only 18 beneficiary decisions were made on the same day, while 119 were made one day after. Increasing the number of same-day phone call attempts may be a method to improve opt-in rates. Importantly, date and time data for contact attempts before a beneficiary decides to opt-in or opt-out were unavailable as of the time of the analysis. These data are captured and will be added to the analysis when available, which could provide more insight into whether a beneficiary is more likely to opt-in or opt-out.

<div>The purpose of this research was to develop and validate an instrument designed to assess programming of youth development organizations. The instrument can be used by leaders of youth development organizations to monitor the organization’s performance in developing productive and engaged citizens. This research viewed youth development organizations as a microsystem that youth interact with (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). A complete review of the literature on youth development organizations was conducted to determine the components of positive youth development organizations. The resulting conceptual framework consisted of project, skills and knowledge, community contribution, high-density experiences, environment, non-parental adult, and near-peer role models.</div><div><br></div><div>An item pool was developed based on the literature available on youth development organization programming. This item pool was reviewed by experts in youth development organization programming and inclusion. Then the items were entered into two tools to assess grammar and concise language. Third, the items were administered to a small sample then analyzed for correlations and contributions to reliability. Items were eliminated if they correlated too highly with other items and if they did not contribute to the reliability of the scale. Fourth, the items were administered to a broader sample and correlations and reliability measures were analyzed again with more items removed. Finally, the items were administered to another sample and analyzed for multicollinearity and reliability. The final sample took the survey a second time and responses were compared based on paired t-tests to establish test-retest reliability.<br></div><div><br></div><div>The 15-item instrument exhibits appropriate measures of validity and reliability to recommend its usage by youth development organization leaders to evaluation programming. The instrument is parsimonious so leaders can add program-specific questions while avoiding participant fatigue. A complete version of the instrument is available in the appendices.</div>

As a mega-city and the most populated city in Africa, Cairo is characterised by a high birth rate, escalating rural-urban migration and where the socio-economic services are centralized and overwhelmed, these generally poor migrants have no choice other than to create and develop their own informal shelter in the outer city areas that lay farthest from the reach of the authorities and from where they then search for better job opportunities. The expansion of these slum areas places an extra burden on the already deteriorated natural and unplanned urban environments. No government or public sector mass production housing units . inherited from the former socialist system . have been able to cope with the magnitude of housing demand nor is the private sector interested in investing in a non-profitable market. At this juncture there is an urgent requirement for new ways of thinking that address the realities of the situation and consider integrated socioeconomic long-term solutions for the informal settlements. Under the Egyptian-German Cooperation, GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit) proposed the Participatory Urban Upgrading Program as a possible means of addressing the problem which is based on stimulation, promotion and effective participation of local communities in the upgrading process. The Participatory Urban Upgrading Program operates at two levels, (i) the local level: through .Demonstration projects. to be applied to a limited geographical area. Ezbet Bekhit Demonstration Project is the case of the present study and (ii) the national level: the experiences gained through several .Demonstration Projects. will give substance, and thereby prominence to the participatory approach, so that the Program has an increasingly beneficial impact on the national policy. The experiences gained from Ezbet Bekhit Upgrading Project will offer the opportunity to examine the main concept expressed by the Program and increase the prospects of having an impact on the urban upgrading policy at the national level. The current study attempts to develop and assess the overall Participatory Upgrading Programme and Ezbet Bekhit Project within a framework of benchmarks extracted from the program concept. At the Project level, the focus of thesis analysis is based on aspects that explain the Project’s approach to solving basic problems. Attention is placed on the involvement of local inhabitants in the solutions at the planning and implementation levels. A Model of Community Participation is proposed for application in a selected upgrading component. The Model is based on the .Community Action Planning., which has been developed by Hamdi and Goethert as an appropriate planning tool that can stimulate and organize a non-cohesive community type. At the Program level, recommendations are presented in this study, which have been extracted from the main pillars of the Program concept and characterized the driving forces influencing the main objectives and orientating the goals of the upgrading projects. It is contended that an in-depth understanding and analysis of the specific socio-economic conditions and the community profile of the selected informal settlements; together with an explicit governmental policy supporting the Participatory Urban Upgrading Approach will enhance the success of Participatory Projects.

The Caribbean University's Pre-College Program (PCP) served as the conduit for the nation's academically underprepared high school graduates to matriculate to university and earn a degree. The PCP student enrollment increased annually since 2010; however, less than 70% of the total PCP students matriculated to an associate degree. Without a formal program evaluation, the empirical evidence into the factors that influenced PCP students' progress remained unknown. The purpose of this participatory-summative logic outcomes program evaluation was to measure stakeholders' perspectives of the ways in which the PCP's purpose, structure, and outcomes were manifested in the practices at the Caribbean University. A purposeful sample of 9 PCP students from the 2010 to 2015 PCP cohorts volunteered and received a 31-item Likert-scale College Persistence Questionnaire (CPQ) on-line survey to garner insights into the factors influencing the PCP learners' outcomes. Nine PCP faculty members and the deputy registrar completed separate versions of an online questionnaire. The PCP students' responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The open-ended responses were coded and analyzed. The PCP faculty members and deputy registrar's open-ended responses were coded, and thematically analyzed. Participants' responses identified institutional, curricular, and admissions criteria issues that influenced PCP students' low academic performance while supporting the PCP's program continuation. Findings and recommendations were included in an executive report for the study site. Providing the outcomes of this research to the leadership at the study site may lead to positive social change by supporting a second chance for this Caribbean nation's academically underprepared high school graduates who seek a college degree.

A community college developed a diversity and inclusion training program, Maximizing Our Strengths as an Inclusive Community (MOSAIC), to address the lack of diversity training for students and staff. However, the program had not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to learn about students' perceptions and experiences of the MOSAIC program. Guided by theories of constructivism and components of critical race theory related to critical studies in Whiteness, social identity theory, and best practices for diversity and inclusion training, this study explored how students described the effectiveness of the program. Interview data for this responsive program evaluation using a case study design, were collected from 9 students and analyzed using a systematic inductive method of data analysis. Data deconstruction revealed codes and themes across the codes, that resulted in the identification of 3 major domains, fostering diversity and inclusion consciousness, fostering intergroup relationships, and fostering positive social change. These findings were the basis of a program evaluation report for stakeholders that emphasized how students improved their communication skills and gained a greater sense of belonging and intergroup friendships through participation in the MOSAIC program. This report further revealed how social change was supported through student involvement in the program because of increased awareness of self and others and the development of diversity and inclusion skills to combat discriminatory behavior.

In order to serve its nontraditional students, a university piloted a competency-based program as alternative method for its students to earn college credit. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to conduct a summative program evaluation to determine if the program was successful in order to make decisions about program revision and expansion. The conceptual framework for the study was grounded in Knowles's adult learning theory and Bandura's social learning theory as they relate to adult learners being self-directed and self-motivated to complete their educational goals. The pilot program involved 60 students taking 12 different courses over 3 semesters. Quantitative research questions focused on student completion and pass rates, pacing of assignment submissions, and achievement of course competencies. Qualitative research questions explored perceptions of students, faculty, and advisors regarding the program through individual interviews and student surveys. Transcribed interviews were analyzed and summarized using structural and pattern coding methodology. Quantitative findings show an 83% completion rate, 60% passing rate, 32% of students falling 2 weeks or more behind, and differences in competency achievement between pilot students and traditional students. Qualitative findings revealed 5 themes: good for some but not for all, student success factors are self-motivation and professional experience, attainment of competencies, student support by faculty, and peer-to-peer interaction. This study has potential to add to the growing research on competency-based education, which can ultimately affect social change by moving higher education to more innovative alternative delivery models that can better serve the needs of nontraditional students.

Peer-mentoring experiences in higher education have been largely effective largely effective, however institutions implement them differently. The focus of this program evaluation was a peer-mentoring program at a medical school in the southeastern region of the United States, which had not previously been evaluated. Guided by Kolb's experiential learning theory, the purpose of the evaluation in this study was to examine whether the peer-mentoring experience was perceived as helpful to new students and how students thought the program could be improved. The sequential mixed-method design consisted of a survey of 179 students and interviews of 8 students. A thematic analysis of qualitative data was completed using a constant comparative approach. The qualitative data revealed that students perceived the program as having had a positive effect on their confidence in succeeding in school. They felt more committed to completing school, were more likely to use resources, and reported that peer-mentoring positively affected their learning. The findings also provided recommendations for program refinement related to the selection process, increased opportunities for individual mentoring, systematic documentation for study strategies, and additional group activities. These recommendations were included in the evaluation report. Evaluation results have important implications for positive social change at the local college of medicine that include peer support to ensure retention, facilitated discussion on coping strategies and sources of support, and academic success for students.

Entrepreneurship is significant to the production process for economic growth and development. The Nigerian government supports entrepreneurial development by providing business training for entrepreneurs across the country; however, the impact of such programs in current entrepreneurship in Nigeria has not been researched. This study was designed to examine the impact of the training on entrepreneurial outcomes such as profitability, revenue, and access to finance using the social construction framework and the theory of external control of organizations. Based on a quantitative quasi-experimental design involving a posttest comparison group, the impact of government support on randomly selected beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries with the FCT was tested using an independent samples t test and binary logistic regression analysis. The results showed no significant relationship between business training and entrepreneurial outcomes. Additionally, it was not likely that an unemployed beneficiary would start a new business after the training, and trainees had difficulty accessing business loans. The social change implication of this study is that public sector institutions engaged in entrepreneurship development in Nigeria need pragmatic interventions that translate into positive entrepreneurial outcomes. They also need to focus on areas that cater for different categories of entrepreneurs such as age groups, educational level, business experience, and nature of the business to enhance effectiveness. Periodic assessment of the intervention programs is necessary using experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Therefore, this study can contribute to the data that public sector institutions can use to develop better interventions for entrepreneurs.