It is widely accepted that the home environment may act as a socio-geographic focus of both disease transmission and of learned health behaviour. Households also appear to be units of convergence for factors identified in the literature as relating to the utilization of health services. This thesis is devoted to an examination of the role of the home environment, as well as of personal characteristics and accessibility, in the utilization of health services in Grenada, West Indies. The theoretical framework that informs this work is a holistic systems-orientated Socio-Ecological Model of Utilization. The empirical analysis draws upon the results of a detailed household survey conducted in five communities on the western portion of the island. Visits to homes containing children less than eight years of age isolated socio-demographic characteristics and information pertaining to residential mobility, household physical and behavioural environment, accessibility, self-reported morbidity and self-reported utilization. Records of patient visits over the previous two years for non-trauma events were abstracted from the medical records of area clinics, hospitals and physicians attending to the sample communities. Bivariate analyses between components of variables were conducted at both household and individual service use levels. These indicated that 1) service utilization was highly clustered around "high user" households and individuals; 2) considerable discrepancies emerged between self-reported and actual utilization; 3) the complexity of relationships between elements of the home environment was highlighted; and 4) there was a consistency with which certain elements of the home environment were statistically associated with health service use across a wide spectrum of illnesses. These observations were further confirmed in multivariate analyses, in which a small number of variables were able to retrospectively predict the presence or absence of service use by both adults and children with a high degree of model specificity and sensitivity. The implications of this work for development and health care planning in Grenada is discussed. The meaningful application of this work in Grenada is seen to hinge upon the extent to which relevant variables are amenable to change or act as proxy variables whose underlying nature of association with utilization remains to be adequately explored. A number of suggestions are advanced concerning the manner in which the study of health service utilization might be approached in the future. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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This thesis explores visual representations of British West Indian sugar in relation to the African slave trade practiced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During this time, sugar played a vital role to the lives of both European and non-Europeans as it was a source of great wealth for many and became transformed into one of the most demanded and widely consumed commodity. From the earliest days of British colonization, the cultivation and production of sugar in the Caribbean has been inextricably linked with the trade in African slaves to provide free labor for plantation owners and planters. This thesis considers how European artists visually represented sugar in its various forms---as an object for botanical study, as landscape and as consumable commodity---and in so doing, constructed specific ideas about the African slave body and the use of African slave labor that reflected personal and imperial agendas and ideologies.

Many researchers of gender studies and colonial history ignore the lives of European women in the British West Indies. The scarcity of written information combined with preconceived notions about the character of the women inhabiting the islands make this the "final frontier" in colonial studies on women. Over the long eighteenth century, travel literature by men reduced creole white women to a stereotype that endured in literature and visual representations. The writings of female authors, who also visited the plantation islands, display their opinions on the creole white women through their letters, diaries and journals. Male authors were preoccupied with the sexual morality of the women, whereas the female authors focus on the temperate lifestyles of the local females. The popular perceptions of the creole white women seen in periodicals, literature, and caricatures in Britain seem to follow this trend, taking for their sources the travel histories.

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This thesis is a study of the changing way in which part of the British Empire was being governed during a period of far reaching developments both in Britain and in the plantation colonies. The colonies referred to are the old British West Indian islands -- Jamaica, the Leewards group, Barbados, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada and Tobago -- and those colonies conquered by Britain during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in which sugar planting was carried on by means of slave labour. The dates chosen do not denote precise limits to the period. The Colonial Office had its unintended beginnings in 1801, in 1834 slaves were emancipated in the plantation colonies, and the central years for this study lie between these dates, certain themes are followed beyond them. In this area and period an account is given of the changing of government. This concerns the institutions within the colonies and those in Britain which had a direct part in the conduct of colonial affairs; it involves the purpose of the institutions, their form and their interrelationships. At the end or the 18th century the traditional way of governing the old plantation colonies was to leave internal government to those resident In the colony and to maintain virtually only sufficient authority in Britain to ensure the preservation of the system of trade and navigation. Under the old representative system the governor, in theory, possessed wide powers, in practice his authority was narrowly confined and the regular conduct of administration was beyond his control. Colonists had developed and adapted their institutions and powers so that they largely governed themselves. In Britain there was no desire to intervene in the internal affairs of the plantation colonies, nor was there the machinery to enable the executive to do so. The institutions which existed matched the contemporary concern to maintain the system of trade and navigation. Such colonial business that there was was executed by the department with the responsibility for the relevant service: there was no department with a general responsibility for the area of the colonies, nor was there any adequate method of coordinating the activities of the different ministers and boards involved with administration in the colonies.

The tension between the leadership of technology and technology as a means of school improvement are still issues of debate. Researchers have argued that education management technology has yet to make a significant contribution to school improvement, while others have experienced small pockets of success. This study seeks to contribute to the debate by exploring the tension associated with the implementation of an education management information system (EMIS) in The Bahamas from the experiences of school leaders. More specifically, this thesis explores EMIS from the understanding of six principals in their schools and its contributions to their schools. This study develops a social constructivist view and relies on the case study approach. Among the major findings of the study was that EMIS was often perceived by principals to be associated with conflict and the primary uses of the technology were for generating report cards, facilitating school administrative tasks and monitoring. Principals' expressed concern for the lack of support from senior management and the impact of using the technology on their role as leader. As conflicts hindered the implementation of EMIS, principals adopted a shared leadership approach. This study offers pertinent information concerning the reasons why EMIS is underutilized and the important contributions of leadership to the successful implementation of the technology. Such information can be useful for understanding EMIS in education organizations.

This phenomenological study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of female West Indian immigrant students as they academically and socially acculturated while attending Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Snowball techniques were employed to select 11 female immigrant West Indian undergraduate and graduate students living in southeastern Florida and attending FAU. Data were gathered from two in-depth one-on one interviews with each participant. Stories emerged that highlight the immigrant experiences of these female West Indian students. Such narratives have been lacking in the higher education literature about how this population of women persists in colleges and universities in the United States (U.S.). Six findings emerged that constituted the acculturation and adjustment experiences of these women: 1) family influence, 2) financial difficulties, 3) emotional and physical challenges, 4) institutional support, 5) women’s empowerment, and 6) host society adaptation. In conclusion, female West Indian immigrant students are a valuable asset and provide a tremendous benefit to higher education institutions in the U.S. in terms of cultural and academic contributions that they offer. More attention needs to be paid towards better preparing university staff, administrators, and faculty. This can lead to increased retention and graduation rates. The study gives voice to these women whose lived experiences in higher education have been so seldom addressed. Analysis of their experiences suggests a plan of action that includes: family engagement programming, on-campus financial support, student health services outreach, healthier dining options, mentorship programs, immigrant student support services department, online community support, faculty, cultural awareness, and immigrant student programming. Recommendations for future research are also discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection