The rise in cases of child abuse and neglect over the past two decades has overwhelmed the nation’s dependency court and child welfare agencies. While multiple factors are associated with child abuse and neglect, it is indisputable that substance abuse plays a significant role. The families that come into the dependency system with substance abuse issues are substantially more difficult and challenging to serve. Consequently, the families experience low levels of reunification and high levels of child welfare recidivism. In response to the increase in dependency cases involving substance abuse and the inability of the traditional dependency courts (TDC) to handle these cases, Family Dependency Drug Courts (FDDC) were created. The study utilized Therapeutic Jurisprudence Theory to examine differences in child welfare outcomes between substance abusing individuals served in a traditional dependency court system versus the therapeutic jurisprudence driven Family Dependency Drug Court system. Logistic regression, ANOVA and Chi-square were performed on a non-random sample derived from court systems in two Central Florida counties to examine two child welfare outcomes, specifically reunification rates and child welfare recidivism. The findings indicate that substance using participants in the FDDC have much higher rates of reunification than comparable substance using participants processed through the traditional dependency court. Also, of the individuals who attended FDDC, iv those who graduated were reunified at a significantly higher rate than those that didn’t graduate. In regards to child welfare recidivism within a one year time period, there was not a statistically significant difference when comparing the FDDC participants and the TDC participants. When comparing the FDDC participants who completed the program versus those that failed to complete the program, while the child welfare recidivism rates were not significantly different, there is some evidence that the participants that completed the FDDC program experience less child welfare recidivism than those that don’t have the full experience of therapeutic jurisprudence. This research lends some support for both the FDDC program and the explanatory power of Therapeutic Jurisprudence Theory. Theoretical and policy implications, as well as further research, are proposed and discussed

The terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax mail attack have forced health care administrators and policy makers to place a new emphasis on disaster planning at hospital facilities--specifically bioterrorism planning. Yet how does one truly "prepare" for the unpredictable? In spite of accreditation requirements, which demand hospitals put in to place preparations to deal with bioterrorism events, a recent study from the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that most hospitals are still not capable of dealing with such threats (Gonzalez, 2004). This dissertation uses computer simulation modeling to test the effectiveness of bioterrorism planning at a local hospital facility in Central Florida, Winter Park Memorial Hospital. It is limited to the response plan developed by the hospital's Emergency Department. It evaluates the plan's effectiveness in dealing with an inhalational anthrax attack. Using Arena computer simulation software, and grounded within the theoretical framework of Complexity Science, we were able to test the effectiveness of the response plan in relation to Emergency Department bed capacity. Our results indicated that the response plan's flexibility was able to accommodate an increased patient load due to an attack, including an influx of the "worried well." Topics of future work and study are proposed.

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect work environment has on occupational commitment and intent to leave the profession for bedside registered nurses. Subscales of autonomy, control over the practice setting, nurse-physician relationship, and organizational support were incorporated into the analysis to determine which aspect of work environment most directly effects occupational commitment and intent to leave the profession. The research was undertaken in order to help administrators determine the ways in which work environment can be improved upon in order to retain bedside registered nurses in the profession. An explanatory cross sectional survey was distributed to 259 direct care bedside registered nurses employed at a rural, system affiliated hospital in Central Florida. Human subject protection was assured through the University of Central Florida Institutional Review Board. A 77 item questionnaire containing 9 demographic questions, 57 questions from the Nursing Work Index- Revised (NWI-R), 8 questions from Blau's occupational commitment scale, and 3 questions from Blau's intent to leave scale was distributed to all direct care nurses. Subjects were also given the opportunity to complete 3 short answer questions. A 32.8 percent response rate was achieved for a total of 85 complete and usable surveys. Data analysis showed that the work environment is positively related to occupational commitment and negatively related to intent to leave. In addition each of the four subscales (autonomy, control over the practice setting, relationship with physicians, and organizational support) were also positively related to occupational commitment and negatively related to intent to leave the profession. Implications for organizations, public policy and future research are discussed.

Volunteers have been present in healthcare settings for centuries, however there is little empirical evidence supporting the impact that volunteers make on hospital performance. Since the 1990s, hospitals in the United States have had a great deal of pressure to produce high quality care at minimum expense. With the pressures of managed care and accrediting agencies, the benefits of using volunteers in a hospital setting are multiplied. Furthermore, as the population of the United States grows and the aging population creates more healthcare needs, the need for volunteers in hospitals may increase. This study utilized multiple regression analysis to explore the belief that the volunteer workforce is cost effective and can greatly enhance quality in a hospital setting. Hospitals throughout the state of Florida were invited to participate in the study by completing a brief questionnaire about their volunteer programs. Performance indicators of profit margin, volunteer cost savings, and patient satisfaction scores were analyzed using American Hospital Association and Agency for Health Care Administration data sets along with data obtained from the questionnaire. Results indicate that the use of volunteers offer significant cost savings to hospitals. Furthermore, the assignment of volunteers in patient settings can enhance a hospital's patient satisfaction scores. It also suggests that there is a need to further explore the impact of volunteers on other performance measures. Future research opportunities and policy recommendations are suggested.

Risk has emerged as a defining feature of punishment in the United States. Feeley and Simon (1992) note that contemporary punishment is increasingly moving away from rehabilitation (the old penology) and moving toward the management and control of offenders (the new penology), often though actuarial techniques. While the profusion of risk assessment instruments, now entering their fourth generation, provides some support for the assertion that risk is indeed an important element in corrections, it was previously unknown if the risk model applied to all offenders, particularly female offenders. This dissertation addressed that gap by examining whether the risk model applied to female offenders in the community corrections setting. This dissertation surveyed 93 community corrections officers employed by the Orange County Community Corrections Department. The findings suggest that the department has incorporated many elements of the new penology into the classification and supervision of offenders in each of its units, though several gender differences were noted. Classification overrides, the perceived level of risk to the community, supervision decisions, and the perceived importance of risk and need factors were all examined in this study. The results indicate that some elements of classification and supervision function uniformly for offenders and operate irrespective of gender, but some areas, such as the perceived level of risk to the community and the perceived importance of risk factors, are influenced by gender.

The Turkish National Police converted its 9-month Police Training Schools to 2-year college degree programs in 2001 in their pursuit to improve the quality of police officers' job performance, police job preparedness levels, and the police service as a whole. The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual benefits of this higher education policy by empirically measuring and comparing the job preparedness and job performance of police officers with higher education and police officers without higher education. This study consists of two quantitative parts. The first part measured the job performance construct with multiple indicators, including performance evaluation scores, numbers of received official awards, and appreciation letters. The second part of the study measured the perception of officer's job preparedness levels through a self-report survey. The structural equation modeling technique was utilized to evaluate the latent constructs. A response rate of 55.5% was attained--500 out of 900. The study found that there were statistically significant positive relationships between police officers' level of education and job preparedness, as well as between police officers' level of education and job performance. Statistically significant relationships between jurisdiction sizes, assignment type, and perception of job performance with job performance and preparedness were also found. However, no significant relationships between gender, age, and marital status were identified with job performance and preparedness. Among the variables, education had the strongest influence on officers' job performance and preparedness. In addition, a negative relationship exists between officers' perception of self-performance ratings and observed job performance ratings, suggesting that officers that rated their job performance levels higher were actually the ones with lower observed job performance ratings. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on criminal justice and public policy not only in Turkey, but also internationally.

Working within the field of domestic violence can result in the occurrence of vicarious traumatization. The literature supports that collegial support and supervision are effective tools organizations can implement to assist in minimizing vicarious trauma. This study, guided by constructive self development theory and feminist theory, examines whether the level of vicarious trauma is impacted by knowledge base, collegial support, and supervision. Staff within certified shelters in the state of Florida were surveyed using a research designed instrument and the Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale. A total of 112 participants were recruited using the Tailor Design Method of surveying. Findings indicate that uniquely none of the independent variables significantly impacted vicarious trauma symptoms. However, collectively knowledge base, collegial support and supervision did impact minimizing vicarious trauma. Further, five of the ten subscales of vicarious trauma showed a statistically significant relationship with the independent variables. Implications for domestic violence agencies, practitioners, and future research are drawn.

The prevalence of mental health disorders among the nursing home population is well recognized. However, providing adequate mental health services for nursing home residents who need them remains a challenging endeavor. The social support of family has long been recognized as a key resource for older adults with a mental health history and older adults residing in nursing homes. The purpose of this study is to examine the quality of mental health care provided for nursing home residents with a mental health history and to determine if family support influences the quality of their mental health care accounting for other facility resident and facility organizational characteristics. The study utilized a retrospective, cross-sectional design with 2003 national Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) facility data merged with the resident-level Minimum Data Set (MDS) resulting in N=2,499 nursing homes. Guided by the convoy model of social support and socioemotional selectivity theory, descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were used to create a profile of facility level data of nursing home residents with a mental health history, explore the role of family support, and determine if items within the OSCAR and MDS databases could respectively be used to measure mental health care quality and family support. Overall, it was found that families have a positive relationship with their relatives and are involved in their lives. Additionally, items within the OSCAR and MDS databases could be used to measure mental health care quality and family support. Finally, facility organizational characteristics explained more variation in the quality of mental health care than did facility resident, family support, or market characteristics. In sum, to enhance the quality of mental health care in nursing homes, partnering with families may be an important tool to meet resident needs.

Substance use, such as alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana, is a threat to the health and well-being of the youth, their families, and society as well. Government supports and implements several programs to protect youth from substance use. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of social capital on youth behavior and to suggest evidence-based policy interventions. Social capital refers to individual embeddedness in web of social relations and their behaviors guided by social structure. Therefore, adolescents' social interactions with their peers, parents, and community were investigated. The substance use was measured by the usage of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants in the past year. The type of activities adolescents participate in, the time and type of intra-familial interactions between parents and adolescents, and the type of peer groups adolescents interact with were employed as indicators of social capital. In other words, this study focuses on the relationship between youth substance use and the impact of parents, peers, and youth activities. Moreover, the study examined not only the correlation between social capital and substance use, but also the variation in substance use among youth by age, gender, ethnicity, income level, and mobility. The data, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2005, 2006, and 2007), was collected by the United States Department of Health and Human Service, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Applied Studies. The sample size for each year was around 17.000. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized. The results of the statistical analysis supported the research hypothesis. Findings show that there is a relationship between youth substance use and social capital. All three dimensions of social capital (peer impact, family attachments, and youth activities) were found to be statistically significant. While peer influence is positively correlated with substance use, family attachment and youth activities have a negative relationship with substance use. The impact of social capital however varies by age, gender, ethnicity, mobility, and income level. The study also contributes to the social capital literature by integrating different perspectives in social capital and substance use literature. Moreover, it successfully demonstrates how social capital can be utilized as a policy and intervention tool.

This study was undertaken in an attempt to present a current account of certain political aspects of California's struggle with the problem of alcoholic beverage control, with, emphasis on the work of members of the state legislature and others who, by their Intense interest in the subject, have been instrumental in the shaping of state policy. A review of past events and personalities outstanding in this field has been Included to show their interrelation to the present situation.