<p>This dissertation examines the potential of information-provision in motivating behavior that reduces human exposure to arsenic in drinking-water in Bangladesh. In chapter 2, the longer-term effects of the countrywide arsenic-testing and information-program are examined by tracking tube-well switching behavior of households over a five-year period. Chapter 3 focuses on the effects of arsenic information communication formats on tube-well switching behavior, by employing a randomized field experiment. In chapter 4, an instrumental variables approach is used to understand whether a household's decision to switch sources is affected by its proximate neighbors' decisions to switch sources. To answer these questions, primary data was collected by the researchers through field-work in Bangladesh. The results suggest that arsenic-testing and information-provision programs produce persistent behavioral changes that reduce exposure to arsenic, with their impact increasing over time. Comparing the impacts of risk-communication formats, we find that quantitative formats do not significantly increase source-switching behavior, in comparison to that generated by qualitative formats. Lastly, despite econometric identification issues, our data suggest that households gather information about source-switching by observing the actions of their neighbors. In sum, the results presented in this dissertation suggest that the provision of information to rural households can motivate health-improving behavior that reduces households' exposure to arsenic in Bangladesh. This dissertation contributes to the use of information disclosure as a policy instrument to reduce exposure to environmental contaminants.</p> / Dissertation

Despite the plethora of strategies used to educate urban foresters, many of the training programs offered are not being evaluated for effectiveness, regardless of the entity offering the training, which limits important information on whether the programs were worth the dollars spent. This study evaluates the effectiveness the Municipal Forester's Institute (MFI) had on its participants. The MFI was developed as an in-depth leadership institute to train municipal foresters in both the managerial and leadership aspects of urban forestry. The research subjects in this study were the participants of the 2006 MFI. The satisfaction survey measured the participant satisfaction rate on a 5-point Likert scale (1= Not at all, 2 = Slightly Satisfied, 3= Somewhat Satisfied, 4= Mostly Satisfied, 5=Completely Satisfied), and yielded an overall score of "Mostly Satisfied" (4.56). A five point Likert scale online evaluation was used to measure the behavior change, and change in knowledge of the study (1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Somewhat Agree, 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4 = Somewhat Agree, 5 = Strongly agree). The behavior change and increase in knowledge portion of the survey was divided into categories that mirrored the objectives of the study. These results had statistically significant increases, which were determined not to have happened by chance. The final section of the survey included three openended questions that participants identified as overwhelmingly positive impacts that the trainings had on their position, career, and personal life. Overall, the stakeholders of the Society of Municipal Arborists can be assured that the participants of the 2006 Municipal Forester Institute were satisfied with the training; had a substantial increase in knowledge; and positive change in behavior, which acknowledge this as an effective training program that had a positive impact on its participants.

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention Initiative (HTAPI) participants and the theft prevention practices used in Texas. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the educational effectiveness of the HTAPI on the first three of Kirkpatrick’s levels, namely learner satisfaction, knowledge acquired, and change in behavior. The third purpose was to examine relationships between the rate of adoption of HTAPI recommended practices and the following demographic variables: gender, age, equine discipline, number of horses owned, and size of investment in the equine business. Survey instruments were used to gather data. Due to sampling constraints, the Solomon four step research design method was modified by removing one group following Seger’s (1998). The sample groups consisted of a pre/only test group, pre/post test group, post/only test group minus the control pre/post test group. The pre/only sample group data was collected in Denton and Montgomery Counties and yielded 56 usable instruments. Using Dillman’s (2000) procedures, data from participants of the HTAPI programs were collected using two mailed survey instruments. One hundred ninety two participants of the 2004 Mare Foal, Basic Horse Management 101, and the Performance Horse workshops were mailed a post/only instrument; 96 were returned for a 49% response rate. Thirty two pre-test instruments were administered in Hopkins and Polk County and thirty days later these participants were mailed a post/only instrument. A response rate of 66% and 63% in the respective sample groups. The sample population can be described as mainly women (68.3%) 43 years of age who owned 7.3 horses each. The average investment in horses totaled $31,658. The most frequently owned breed was the Quarter Horse (f=133), and the most frequently listed discipline was for breeding purposes (f=121). There were no relationships detected between gender or age and theft prevention practices or innovativeness. Positive relationships were found between the breeds of horses owned and the type of permanent identification of horses and the theft prevention practices used. Additionally, positive relationships were detected between breeding and riding discipline of horses, the types of permanent identification, the theft prevention practices used, and owner innovativeness.

Effective policymaking requires understanding the causal effects of competing proposals. Relevant causal quantities include proposals' expected effect on different groups of recipients, the impact of policies over time, the potential trade-offs between competing objectives, and, ultimately, the optimal policy. This dissertation studies causal inference for public policy, with an emphasis on applications in economic development and education. The first chapter introduces Bayesian methods for time-varying treatments that commonly arise in economics, health, and education. I present methods that account for dynamic selection on intermediate outcomes and can estimate the causal effect of arbitrary dynamic treatment regimes, recover the optimal regime, and characterize the set of feasible outcomes under different regimes. I demonstrate these methods through an application to optimal student tracking in ninth and tenth grade mathematics. The proposed estimands characterize outcomes, mobility, equity, and efficiency under different tracking regimes. The second chapter studies regression discontinuity designs with multiple forcing variables. Leading examples include education policies where treatment depends on multiple test scores and spatial treatment discontinuities arising from geographic borders. I give local linear estimators for both the conditional effect along the boundary and the average effect over the boundary. For two-dimensional RD designs, I derive an optimal, data-dependent, bandwidth selection rule for the conditional effect. I demonstrate these methods using a summer school and grade retention example. The third chapters illustrate the central role of persistence in estimating and interpreting value-added models of learning. Using data from Pakistani public and private schools, I apply dynamic panel methods that address three key empirical challenges: imperfect persistence, unobserved student heterogeneity, and measurement error. After correcting for these difficulties, the estimates suggest that only a fifth to a half of learning persists between grades and that private schools increase average achievement by 0.25 standard deviations each year. In contrast, value-added models that assume perfect persistence yield severely downwardly biased and occasionally wrong-signed estimates of the private school effect.

Bullying is a serious and common problem in Canadian schools. Despite three decades of comprehensive research on this complex behavioural problem, much remains to be understood. The general purpose of the current studies was to comprehensively examine bullying from an ecological perspective and the roles that school climate and peer processes play in the development of this behaviour, in order to elucidate mechanisms for intervention. The first study was a multilevel analysis of the relative importance of individual and school characteristics in bullying in Canadian schools. In a second study, we examined the experiences of peers who witnessed bullying incidents in order to investigate whether there were factors that predicted a decrease in witness behaviour. Finally, we conducted an evaluation of a peer-mediated bullying prevention program using a pre/post controlled study design. We assessed the impact of this program on behaviour, socioemotional skills, and school climate. Overall, our findings were consistent with the view that bullying is a problem of destructive relationships that needs to be addressed from this perspective. We found that relationships among peers and adults at school contributed to the overall climate of a school, and an overall climate of peer connectedness was associated with less bullying. Provictim attitudes and emotional supportiveness predicted change in bystander behaviour, although the nature of these changes differed for boys and girls. Finally, we did not find evidence of an effect of the prevention program on bullying behaviour or school climate, and we discuss the lack of findings with regard to program implementation and future program evaluations. This research has implications for understanding the influence of peers and peer group processes on the development of bullying. It is our hope that these studies will contribute important information to the bullying literature to expand our knowledge of the ways in which school climate and peers affect and are affected by bullying and victimization. In turn, this information may help to inform intervention efforts and encourage future program evaluation research and research examining the mechanisms by which we might mobilize peers to behave in ways that could help to stop bullying and victimization. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-21 11:33:00.394

Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)

Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)

Theory-based evaluation studies have long been promoted as increasing stakeholder knowledge of the program and improving decision-making (Bickman, 1987; Chen, 2004; Suchman, 1967; Weiss, 1998), but such advocacy has little empirical research support. This paper helps to redress this deficiency by reporting on an empirical study which investigated the relationship between the use of program theory as the basis for an evaluation study and the nature of the evaluation information generated and its utility. The investigation followed three program evaluation studies through their term and focused on the extent of theory use and the nature and influence of the information from each evaluation. A model of factors which it has been suggested influence the use of program evaluation information was developed and investigated (Alkin, 1985; Cousins & Leithwood, 1986, 1993; Cummings, 1997; Leviton & Hughes, 1981; Hudson-Mabbs, 1993; Pawson & Tilley, 1997; Preskill & Torres, 1997). Structural equation modeling was used to test and further explore the model, while qualitative data were used to gain further insight into the study findings. The investigation was not able to confirm that a greater use of program theory in an evaluation study improves the usefulness of evaluation findings. The study does, however, identify interactions between program theory and other predictor variables, such as the characteristics of the evaluation study, related to increased information use. It also provides further evidence regarding the importance of stakeholder involvement in an evaluation study on the extent to which they use and are influenced by evaluation information. Furthermore, this research provides insight into perceptions developed by many evaluators through experience and practice, such as the vulnerability of an evaluation study to contextual factors which typically are outside the control of the evaluation team.

Although group treatment is often advocated for survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), few studies have examined the effects of such treatments, particularly with adolescents. Yet adolescence is an important time for survivors of CSA as this is when they may truly begin to process what it means to have been sexually abused as a child (Berliner, 1991; Thun, Sims, Adams, & Webb, 2002). Consequently, this study sought to evaluate and develop best practice evidence for group treatment of adolescent girls who have experienced sexual abuse. The study used both a developmental intervention research approach to guide the development of a best practice intervention; and an action research, mixed methods program evaluation to achieve detailed examination of a small number of client cases so as to ethically assess the effectiveness of the intervention. In keeping with the intervention research approach and with the aim of providing specific knowledge about treatment for CSA survivors that was unattainable through reviewing treatment outcome studies, an initial study was undertaken which retrospectively and prospectively assessed a locally available treatment program for adolescent girls. This study found the locally available treatment approach was unlikely to have been effective at alleviating distress associated with CSA but that past participants and their mothers felt that such a program is important. Recommendations were made on the elements necessary to construct a more clinically responsive and effective treatment. A 16 week Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural group treatment program was then developed. This pilot treatment program was evaluated in Study 2, using both formative and summative program evaluation methods with four adolescent girls (aged 13-18). The summative findings support the utility of the treatment program and positive benefits were noted for each group participant, including reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. The formative findings indicated that the treatment program was in need of further refinement. This included altering some session content, placing more focus on group process and including parents in the treatment. The recommendations of Study 2 were subsequently implemented and the revised treatment program was evaluated by experts in the field to enhance its content validity. The treatment program was then further evaluated in Study 3 using similar evaluation methods with five girls aged 12-15. Clinically significant changes were obtained for four of these five participants, as indicated by triangulation of data from the participants, their parents and group facilitators. Formative findings indicated that the program used in Study 3 was a significant improvement on the program used in Study 2. The major curative factor for participants appeared to lie in the group process and attendance at the program. Treatment was found to have a high degree of acceptability according to participants, parents and facilitators and was implemented with integrity, although flexibility and individualisation were important. The benefits of the research approach in terms of critical reflection, functionally relevant data, within and across case analysis and contextualisation are discussed. As the findings of this series of studies highlight, positive benefits were apparent for each participant and thus it is concluded that group treatment is a viable option for adolescent survivors of CSA.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1946.