The purpose of this research was to investigate certain value orientations of adult women of low socio-economic status in Dallas, Texas. Central to the approach to values relied upon in this research project was a concern for cultural integration and change. Of interest was a partial description of the degree of cultural integration and an partial description of strains that exist within the social systems under analysis: a group of 50 Negro women and a group of 50 white women.

Background Multimorbidity, the co-existence of multiple health conditions in an individual, is a significant Public Health challenge. However, it has no consensus definition or measure, and its determinants and outcomes are not fully understood. Resilience may be a mechanism by which the experience of multimorbidity can be improved but there has been little study of this. Aim To define and measure the prevalence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity, to assess the role of mental health and childhood socio-economic status (SES) and to investigate the long-term outcomes. Objectives 1. To determine how multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity should be defined and measured in Public Health research 2. To assess the prevalence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity using the measures identified in objective one 3. To assess the role of mental health conditions and childhood SES in the occurrence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity 4. To assess the impact of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity on long-term outcomes Method Systematic reviews of the literature were conducted to address objective one. The analysis of two contrasting study populations was used to address objectives two to four. These were the Australian cross-sectional Diamond study and the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort study. Results Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of two or more conditions and was measured by patient self-report and healthcare administrative data. Resilience was the presence of good self-reported outcomes despite multimorbidity. Multimorbidity prevalence ranged from 3% to 38%. Mental health conditions led to an increased burden of multimorbidity and a reduced prevalence of resilience. Childhood SES and other SES factors were associated with multimorbidity. Childhood SES and other SES factors were associated with multimorbidity. Multimorbidity was associated with poorer outcomes. Conclusion The findings in this thesis can be used to improve consensus approaches to studying multimorbidity and resilience, and to develop interventions to tackle these.

As school choice opportunities have become more prevalent and information about schools more readily available, there is still a lack of understanding of how parents use information to evaluate schools. The discussion around school judgment-making predominately focuses on whether parents know about school choice and the constraints parents face which limit choice, but I investigate, using 91 interviews of parents living in a low socio-economic community, how parents make judgments and evaluate schools past the discussion of what schools are available to parents and the constraints those parents face. The results of this study are that parents use heuristics—specifically familiarity, endorsement, and representativeness—to help them make judgments about schools. Knowing that parents use heuristics, policy-makers and educators can better address these parents needs and provide information that is more beneficial to them for making judgments about schools.

This thesis focuses on the role of different psychosocial factors in the course of pain over time in a general population sample of women in Sweden. The main aim was to identify and quantify such factors as predictors of pain, pain-related disability and quality of life within a biopsychosocial framework for the understanding of the pain experience over time.  The studies were based on baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU) measures with 12 months apart among 2,300 women living in Sweden, and included physical and psychological health and socio-economic status. Study I investigated associations between socio-economic status (SES) at baseline and pain and pain-related disability at follow-up, and additionally a possible mediating role of depressive symptoms in such associations. The results indicated that educational level, financial strain and occupational level were associated with pain over time. Symptoms of depression were related to all pain-and SES factors, and might be understood as a mediating factor within this context. The results of Study II showed a link between symptoms of burnout at baseline and several pain-locations. Additionally, among women with pain, the characteristics of the pain experience and pain-related disability were associated with level of burnout over time. Study III focused on the sub sample of women reporting pain at follow-up, and examined possible predictors of their perceptions of quality of life (QOL). Several psychosocial factors were associated with QOL, and seemed to be more important predictors than the characteristics of pain in terms of intensity and frequency. These factors were burnout, emotional distress, and social support. Study IV was an attempt to sum up the results of the previous studies by analysing predictors of the course of pain, i.e. by comparing women that developed pain from BL to FU with those that remained pain-free and to compare women with sustained pain with those who recovered from pain during the assessment period. These analyses showed symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) to be associated with reporting emerging pain, while pain variables, educational level and social support were related to sustained pain. The results of the four studies in this thesis indicate that psychosocial factors and their interplay with the characteristics of pain can be identified and described in a female sample, with a broad definition of pain, and that these factors play a central role in the experience of pain and its impact on the everyday life of these women. There may be several possible paths leading to the development of persistent pain among women and the identification of risk factors is complicated by never-ending interactions between biological, psychological and social processes. At an early stage, prior to pain development, several risk factors may cluster together (e.g. SES, depression), and work as indicators of, e.g. dysfunctional coping in relation to pain. In the first contact with health care and among primary care personnel the identification of such indicators is crucial so as to find women at risk for prolonged pain conditions. General indicators might then be more easily distinguishable than certain individual behaviour characteristics widely accepted as risk factors for pain and disability (e.g. fear-avoidance). To spread the knowledge of general factors in the first line of health care is therefore of great importance in preventive work. Finally, the results demonstrated that many women report pain with characteristics that to a great extent affect their lives and through interactions with psychological and social health might have grave consequences for perceptions of quality of life.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Education, 1976.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Vita. Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1978. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 532-545).

Background Literature supports a relationship between low income status and poor diabetes control. However this relationship has not been assessed in Botswana. Aim To determine the relationship between socio-economic status and diabetes control in patients presenting to PMH. Objectives To measure the degree of glycaemic control; to determine the relationship between glycaemic control and monthly income as well as between glycaemic control and lifestyle modification factors;to describe the relationship between glycaemic control and core social welfare indicators. Methods A cross-sectional study, conducted over a 3 months in Gaborone, The questionnaire assessed self-care activities, monthly household earnings and core social welfare indicators among diabetes patients attending PMH. A total of 240 patients were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire. Routine HbA1c values were studied alongside questionnaire responses. Results A total of 58 (24%) participants with HbA1c between 4.0%-7.0% were well controlled, 96 (40%) of participants were poorly controlled (7.1%-9.0%) and 86 (36%) in the very poorly controlled category with HbA1c >9.0%. Of the well-controlled category, 59% lived on a monthly income between P0- P5000(the lowest income bracket). Only 3% participants in this category earned above P20000 monthly (the highest income bracket). Of the 40% poorly controlled participants, 69% fell in the lowest income bracket. No participants in this poorly controlled category earned above P20000 monthly. There were 40% participants in the very poorly controlled category. Of these, 63% earned between P0 - P5000. Only 2 participants with HbA1c values of 9.1 earned above P20000. Conclusion In this study high HbA1c percentages were associated with low monthly income levels and low scores in lifestyle modification factors. Participants with poor access to core welfare indicators also had poor glycaemic control. This study suggests that poor socio-economic status is directly related to poor glycaemic control in patients attending PMH diabetes clinic.

Magister Artium - MA / Recent advancements in child well-being research have shown an increased interest in the importance of subjective well-being. The development of instruments and scales to measure subjective well-being among children and adolescents is in its infancy. Furthermore, there are few existing cross-cultural studies with child and adolescent populations. Validation of existing measures and cross-cultural comparisons has been identified by a number of researchers as critical in contributing to the international dialogue. In the current study, two measures of subjective well-being (Student Life Satisfaction Scale and Personal Well-Being Index-School Children) are tested among a sample of children in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Noting the diversity of experience between children from different socio-economic status groups in South Africa, the study further aims to determine the extent to which the measures are comparable across socio-economic status groups. Data from the Children’s World Survey were used; and includes a sample of 1004 children randomly selected from 15 schools within the Cape Town Metropole. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the overall fit structure and multi-group factor analysis, with Scalar and Metric invariance constraints. The results show appropriate fit structure for the overall model, with Scalar and Metric factor invariance tenable across socio-economic status groups. The overall findings suggest that the two measures are appropriate for use with children from low and medium socio-economic status groups in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

This dissertation builds on and contributes to work in the field of parent-school collaboration and the funds of knowledge approach. In South Africa, policies have been developed to promote collaboration between schools and parents. These policies, however, do not fully recognise or aim to use parents’ funds of knowledge in this collaboration. In addition, numerous studies have examined the challenges associated with collaboration amongst working-class households, however, little attention has been given to the lower middle-class in South Africa in particular. This study therefore explores the funds of knowledge of lower-middle class parents, and ways in which schools and parents manage these ‘funds’ to enhance the literacy development of foundation phase learners. The dissertation draws strongly on the work of Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez (1992) whose funds of knowledge approach holds a transformative perspective on people with a lower socio-economic background. The data for this qualitative study was collected through 30 semi-structured interviews. I argue that parents accumulate various knowledge, skills and abilities through their life experiences that could significantly enhance the literacy development of their children. The findings suggest that, while parents possess these skills, there is a lack of transmission of the skills and knowledge amongst their children. Factors that influence the collaborative use of these funds of knowledge are discussed and explored in this study. I conclude with a discussion on the dynamics of a South African classroom and existing policies on collaboration and how this affects the collaborative use of parents’ funds of knowledge to enhance the literacy of foundation phase learners. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted