Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-155).

Continuing high maternal mortality ratios, especially in Africa, and high discrepancies between richer and poorer households in relation to access to maternal health care and maternal health status have focussed attention on the importance of reducing financial barriers to skilled care. This PhD compares the findings of two evaluations of national policies exempting women from user fees for deliveries, conducted in Ghana in 2005-6 and in Senegal in 2006-7. The detailed findings from each evaluation are presented as well as the broad lessons learnt from what are similar (but not identical) policies with similar goals, both of which were implemented in poorer regions initially but then scaled up, using national resources.  Both demonstrate the potential of fee exemption policies to increase utilisation.  The cost per additional associated delivery was $62 (average) in Ghana and $21 (normal delivery) and $457 (caesarean section) in Senegal. However, despite reducing direct costs for women (from $195 to $153 for caesareans and from $42 to $34 for normal deliveries in Ghana), in neither country were delivery fees costs reduced to zero.  This was linked to a number of important factors, including inadequate budgets (in Ghana) and failure to adequately reimburse lower level providers (in Senegal).  The study also highlights the need to address quality of care and geographical access issues alongside fee exemption. While there has been a lot of debate over the relative merits of different targeting approaches and design of policies to reduce financial barriers to health care (maternal and general), the Ghana and Senegal evaluations suggest the details of implementation and their interaction with contextual factors can be more significant than design of the policy per se.

No description available.

The study examines the work of the coroner. The thesis is sociological in orientation and method, drawing where necessary from other disciplines, e.g. law, philosophy. The study concentrates upon the nature of coroners' categorisations and the production of the socially recognised 'facts of sudden death'. While detailed consideration is given to the inquest and inquest verdicts, the whole range of coroners' work is examined. Differing but complementary research methods are employed to yield essentially qualitative material. Existing sociological studies, e.g. of 'official statistics' and of suicide, are evaluated. Coroners' methods of ascribing meaning to sudden death are examined. An important aim is to render processes of construction 'visible' for sociological study.Part One (Chapters One and Two) opens with a review of theoretical issues in sociology. The methodology of the study is 'located' within sociological theory. Part One continues with an historical discussion of the office of coroner, and an outline of legislation and formal medico-legal procedure.Part Two (Chapters Three, Four and Five) forms the largest section of the study, consisting of material collected by field research, i.e., interviews with the coroners of five counties, systematic observation of inquests, and unpublished/published statistics. Provisional conclusions are discussed as the study progresses, covering topics which include, inter alia: discretionary authority; the inquest as court of law; the differing perceptions of individual coroners; the relevance of historical factors; the Press; methods of constructing the verdict; the roles of doctors, pathologists and police; social control; official statistics; and historical and geographical statistical variations.Part Three (Chapters Six and Seven) draws overall conclusions about coroners' accounts of sudden death. It places coroners work within bureaucratic and ideological contexts. The work of the coroner is situated in terms of the ways society conceives of and deals with death as a whole.Two short appendices add further statistics and further methodological details.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science, June 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-66) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed 30 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine. Degree awarded 2006; thesis submitted 2005. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Senior Honors thesis--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 6, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1992.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 360-372).