The suicide rate in the United States continues to rise, and rates of Veteran deaths are 1.5 times greater than those of non-Veteran adults. Previous research demonstrates that higher rates of suicide acceptability are positively related to suicide planning, suicidal ideation, and attempts. Examining rates of suicide acceptability in a Veteran and non-Veteran sample may be one pathway to understand the process by which attitudes are linked to behaviors. Study 1: Study 1 included a preliminary examination of a pre-screening measure, the Veteran Verification Questionnaire (VVQ), which aims to increase the validity of a Veteran sample online and reduce possible misrepresentation. Results indicated that the VVQ successfully differentiated between Veterans and non-Veteran students. Additionally, participants that answered 8 out of 12 possible items correctly were more likely to be Veterans (89%) whereas a score of 7 or less indicated that the participant was more likely to be a student. Study 2: Study 2 first examined whether or not veterans and non-Veterans differed significantly on suicide acceptability when accounting for age and sex. Study 2 also examined whether Veteran status predicted suicide acceptability using the Attitudes Towards Suicide Scale in the sample after accounting for age, sex, suicide risk and exposure to suicide. The results demonstrated that suicide acceptability rates varied significantly between Veterans and non-Veterans such that Veterans endorsed higher rates of suicide acceptability. The results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicate that suicide risk, suicide exposure, and Veteran status accounted for a total of 25% of the variance in acceptability scores. The findings also demonstrate that Veteran status only accounted for 4% of the total variance whereas suicide risk accounted for 10% and exposure to suicide behaviors accounted for 11%. Interestingly, the direction of these predictions between suicide risk and exposure to suicide with suicide attitudes were opposite of expected.

<p> Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases known to human kind. This research focussed on this disease because of its historical and present-day significance in public health. Data were collected from the Hamilton Board of Health's Annual Reports from 1905 to 2000, the Hamilton Board of Health's Minutes from 1884 to 1949 and the Hamilton Health Association's Annual Reports from 1907 to 1974. Three movements of public health—sanitary, germ and "new"—were the frameworks for data analysis. Over the course of the public health eras, tuberculosis surveillance, treatment, prevention and responsibility were found to shift according to changes in ideas associated with public health. The Hamilton tuberculosis data were also found to support the ideas and theories associated with each epoch in public health, such as the sanitary movement's link between health and the environment, the germ era's "lifestyle" theory and the "new" public health's emphasis on community. The Hamilton tuberculosis experience also illuminated an intricate relationship between tuberculosis education, surveillance and responsibility. This study of tuberculosis in Hamilton is not only historically interesting but, as tuberculosis continues today as a public health issue, some of the efforts undertaken in Hamilton at the turn of the 20th century are being resurrected in Hamilton at the start of the 21st century. </P> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The International School Project (ISP) developed a culturally-relevant intervention entitled The Future Begins Today (FBT) to address the need for school-based substance abuse prevention in Ukraine. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with control group design, this study evaluated the effectiveness of this intervention in regards to impact on attitudes and refusal self-efficacy. The study hypothesized that exposure to the FBT intervention would significantly increase adolescents' perceived harm of substance use and perceived ability to refuse drug offers. Students from three schools in Drohobych (N = 173) participated in the study between September and December 2013, with seven classes (n = 124) enrolled in the FBT course and three classes (n = 49) in the control group. Both groups were tested in September and December. ANOVA results suggested that between September and December, students in the FBT program statistically significantly increased their perceived harm of occasional substance use and perceived ability to refuse drug offers. There was no significant change in students' perceived harm of frequent use. Moreover, the extent to which FBT supplementary materials were incorporated also related positively with program outcomes. Qualitative data from follow-up written interviews supported these findings. Regression analyses showed that older students were less likely to perceive substance use as harmful. There were no significant relationships between program outcomes and gender, positive family influence, or negative peer influence. Relevance to the existing literature and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Approximately one-third of all high school students in the United States fail to graduate. To address the problem of decreasing the dropout rate and subsequently increasing the graduation rate, the researcher looked at factors prior to high school that played a role in a student’s decision to drop out prior to completion. The purposes of this were to (1) investigate the published “best practices” literature pertaining to reducing student dropouts and (2) develop a model strategic plan for middle schools that would lead to improving graduation rates at the high school level. This project focuses on creating a model strategic plan for middle schools to help decrease the number of students dropping out of school prior to graduation. There are two research questions that guide the project. Key components of the model strategic plan are based upon best practices literature. These components include: student engagement, parental involvement, instructional strategies, teacher and student interaction, instructional strategies, interventions, gradual disengagement, special education, and response to intervention. This research project will help middle schools develop a specific plan that targets at-risk students and focuses on specific factors that cause a student to drop out of school. If used accurately, the plan will help high schools track at-risk students, which in the long run may increase graduation rates.

No description available.

No description available.

Background: Current social service prevention and interventions in suicidal distress follow a biomedical logic. Recently, critical suicidology and mad studies frameworks have criticized this single-fold approach for limiting the capacity of suicide prevention/intervention to respond to the range of human needs. Aims: The aim of this study was to uncover how people with history of suicidal distress understood their experience of distress, in particular the responses they find helpful and unhelpful. Methods: 4 participants were recruited for semi-structured interviews themed for conceptions of suicidal distress, the experience of ‘reaching out’, and mental health systems change. Results: The findings concluded that participants’ conception of suicidal distress differs from biomedical model paradigms. While practitioner’s responses rely on a notion of suicidal distress as discreet and de-contextual, participants explained suicidal distress as ongoing and based in life circumstances, advocating for a model of suicidal prevention/intervention highlighting the importance of relationships and empathy. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease comprising of respiratory-related and systemic effects, including impairments in balance. Balance impairments are especially problematic as they increase the risk of falling, potentially leading to negative outcomes such as hospitalization, disability, and death. The main objectives of this thesis were to 1. determine underlying balance impairments that distinguish between individuals with COPD with and without a history of falls and 2. explore facilitators and barriers of a home-based fall prevention program for people with COPD. The first study of this thesis was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data that showed that the stability limits/verticality and postural responses subcomponents of the Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest) distinguished between those with and without a fall history among 72 patients with moderate to severe COPD. The stability limits/verticality subcomponent also showed acceptable accuracy in identifying individuals with COPD at high risk of falls (cut-off score of 73.8%). In the second study, a qualitative analysis of interviews with 15 patients who completed a home-based fall prevention program, participants indicated that programs that are personalized and focus on providing support for older adults with COPD may help to improve adherence and reduce participants’ risk of falling. The findings from the two studies included in this thesis provide new knowledge for informing fall risk assessment and prevention for people with COPD. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This case study considers the relative costs of conflict prevention and post-crisis intervention for Sudan during the period 2004-2018.

yes / The evaluation was undertaken by Bradford University, Channel Research Ltd, the PARC & Associated Consultants. The Afghanistan Case study was carried out by Mr Jonathan Goodhand with Mr Paul Bergne. The work was conducted through fieldwork in Afghanistan (Kabul and Malaria Shari) where the team conducted interviews with a range of officials including staff from UK Embassy, GCPP projects, the Mazar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and UN, Afghan Government and NGO officials. The fieldwork was supplemented by further interviews in London and a review of the relevant literature and project documents.P7. The Afghanistan Case Study is one of six studies undertaken within the framework of the evaluation of the Conflict Prevention Pools. In accordance with the Terms of Reference (ToRs) and the Inception Report, the Evaluation placed maximum emphasis on the macro level: the policy processes in Whitehall by which decisions on allocations are made and implemented by the CPPs. Considerable attention has also been placed on the meson level: the degree to which CPP policies and activities in a given conflict form part of a coherent package of direct interventions by the international community and local actors to the problems of particular large scale deadly conflicts or potential conflicts. The microlevel of analysis (review of specific projects) confines itself largely to the way in which projects impact on the meson and macro levels. The Evaluation has not analysed systematically whether specific projects funded by the CPPs have been well managed and whether they have achieved their specific project goals. Single projects have been analysed to the extent that they reflect on the macro and meson levels. P8. The main findings of the evaluation, reflected in this Synthesis Report, are that the CPPs are doing significant work funding worthwhile activities that make positive contributions to effective conflict prevention, although it is far too early in the day to assess impact. The progress achieved through the CPP mechanisms is significant enough to justify their continuation.