Peers are an invaluable resource for students at undergraduate universities. Many factors can impact how students form connections, some of which are tied to the students’ identities. While social networks have been studied in the context of universities, little research has been done specifically about peer collaboration and even less in the context of computer science classes. Our research aims to gain an understanding of how peer networks form in computing classes and the effect of being involved in one on students’ academic performances. We collected survey data (n = 139) about students’ peer collaborative behaviors in computer science classes. Several patterns were observed. Students were more likely to collaborate with students with their same demographic identity, including gender and ethnicity. A student’s demographic identity had no predictive quality on their participation in a peer network. Students who participated in a peer network had a higher grade performance in the class compared to students who did not.

No / Plagued by bloody wars and armed conflicts, political instability, communal violence and displaced persons, and at the mercy of natural catastrophes such as drought and famine, it is not surprising that the Western press has long dismissed Africa as the 'hopeless continent'. In the face of these challenges, Africa today is faced with a stark choice: either unite or perish. The debate on why and how the continent should unite in terms of co-operative peace, security and development is more urgent than at any other time in Africa's post-colonial history. Moving forward from the failure of the earlier, typically idealistic Africa unity project, David Francis demonstrates how peace and security challenges have created the imperative for change. He argues that a series of regional peace and security systems are emerging, and that states that have participated in practical experiments in regional peacekeeping, peace support operations, conflict stabilization/management and preventive diplomacy are building de facto systems of peace and security that could be institutionalized and extended.

Mental health in young adults can vary significantly with a large proportion struggling with clinical disorders. Despite the high prevalence of psychopathology, many do not receive help. Relevant barriers to help-seeking include self-reliance, lack of awareness of symptoms or sources of help, and stigma. Measurement Feedback Systems (MFSs) and self-monitoring are potential avenues to assist in treatment engagement. In this study, Bi-Weekly Monitoring with Informational Feedback (BWM) was implemented in a college student population (N = 74) where students were asked to report on their overall psychological functioning and set goals every other week. BWM was evaluated for feasibility, effects on help-seeking overall, and mechanisms of self-monitoring were explored. BWM was determined to be feasible in this population; although, help-seeking attitudes did not change over time as a result of BWM. Ancillary analyses explored the effects of BWM and mental health symptomatology. Participants reported on their attitudes towards BWM which were generally in favor of BWM. Some promising results emerged; however, they were largely statistically insignificant. Limitations of this study include a large drop-out rate in the control group, which left unequal groups. As such, analyses should be interpreted with caution. Future studies should evaluate BWM on a weekly basis with a larger sample to better understand the effects of BWM on self-monitoring mechanisms. / Master of Science / Mental health in young adults can vary significantly with a large proportion struggling with clinical disorders. Despite the high prevalence of psychopathology, many do not receive help. Relevant barriers to help-seeking include self-reliance, lack of awareness of symptoms or sources of help, and stigma. Measurement Feedback Systems (MFSs) and self-monitoring are potential avenues to assist in treatment engagement. In this study, Bi-Weekly Monitoring with Informational Feedback (BWM) was implemented in a college student population (N = 74) where students were asked to report on their overall psychological functioning and set goals every other week. BWM was evaluated for feasibility, effects on help-seeking overall, and mechanisms of self-monitoring were explored. BWM was determined to be feasible in this population; although, help-seeking attitudes did not change over time as a result of BWM. Attitudes towards BWM were variable, yet largely favorable. While some promising results emerged, there has yet to be concrete support for BWM. This study is limited due to a large drop-out rate in the control group, as such the results should be interpreted with caution. Future studies should evaluate BWM on a weekly basis with a larger sample to better understand the effects of BWM on self-monitoring mechanisms.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the price of advertising space affects the demand for help-wanted advertising. To do so, this thesis develops and estimates an econometric model to explain and predict the demand for help-wanted advertising placed in a newspaper. For the most part, economic theory and the literature suggest that basic economic and demographic factors explain the demand for help-wanted advertising. The literature and empirical studies confirm an inverse relationship exists between unemployment rates and help-wanted advertising. This thesis confirms these findings using firm specific data for a major metropolitan newspaper. Surprisingly few other studies explore whether the price for advertising is also an important determinant of demand. My model includes both unemployment data and average price of help-wanted ads and finds that price is an important determinant for the demand for help-wanted advertising. Closer scrutiny of these relationships should remove some of the uncertainty associated with what now appears to be a volatile demand. / Master of Arts

Approximately 30% to 60% of children experience a behavioral health problem such as picky eating, toileting, or sleep difficulties; however, less than half of those individuals receive the necessary services to improve their symptoms and functioning. Examining the pathway through which children access behavioral health care is crucial to understanding the gap between the need for services and actual service use. Help-seeking process models suggest that for a child to receive care, caregivers must go through a series of linear stages: problem recognition, decision to seek help, and service selection. This help-seeking process has not been previously examined for sleep, picky eating, and toileting challenges, which leaves a gap in our knowledge about how children receive access to important behavioral health care. The current study aimed to fill gaps in the literature regarding help-seeking for behavioral health concerns. Survey data was collected through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants were 151 caregivers of children ages 5 to 10 years who provided information about help-seeking and child behavioral health symptoms. Rates of caregiver problem recognition for children who exhibited clinically significant concerns were 39% for sleep, 70% for picky eating, and 52% for toileting. When caregivers identified a problem, rates of help-seeking ranged from 53% (sleep) to 69% (toileting). The severity of the child’s problem predicted caregiver problem identification and help-seeking across all concerns. Caregiver past experience with mental health predicted problem identification and help-seeking for sleep and for picky eating. Family disorganization also predicted identification of picky eating problems. Caregivers demonstrated low knowledge of treatment options for behavioral health, and specialty behavioral health services were underutilized across problem areas with 69% to 75% of caregivers in the sample indicating that they had or would seek help from a pediatrician and only 11% to 19% indicating that they had or would seek help from a therapist or psychologist. Caregivers also reported low rates of pediatrician screening for these behavioral health concerns, and results suggest that caregivers are not fully satisfied with how pediatricians address their concerns. Overall, results support and add to the findings in the literature that suggest child behavioral health problems are under- recognized and under-treated. Future research is needed to close the gap between the need for services and service use.

Yes / Purpose Perinatal depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in the general maternity population but whilst the prevalence is thought to be much higher in asylum seeking and refugee (AS&R) women, it is less frequently identified and diagnosed by health care professionals. Method A systematic review was undertaken to address ‘what factors influence help-seeking behaviours in asylum seeking and refugee women with symptoms of perinatal depression’. The review focussed on women accessing care in high income countries. 12 studies met the eligibility criteria and a narrative synthesis was undertaken resulting in two main themes: women's perceptions of depression and access to healthcare and support services. Results Findings indicated that many of the influences on help-seeking were also present in the general population and women from ethnic minority populations, with the exception of migration experiences; but that women from a AS&R may experience more of these barriers, exacerbating inequality in access to and engagement with healthcare. Conclusion Further research is needed to provide more detailed insight into the experiences of asylum seeking and refugee women to identify ways that barriers in help-seeking can be addressed.

This study was designed to investigate 1) the cultural factors involved with Mexican citizens' attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help and 2) Mexican citizens' explanatory models of mental distress. Questionnaire data from 110 Mexican college students indicate that those who report a higher tolerance for stigma report lower endorsement of both the construct of personalismo and the machismo. Respondents who reported more interpersonal openness also reported a lower endorsement of the machismo construct. Participants from a large city reported significantly more stigma tolerance than those from a small city. Regression analyses reveal machismo as a significant predictor of stigma tolerance. Qualitative data was collected to provide additional in-depth information. Study results could be used to provide culturally appropriate mental health services.

To provide empirical basis for mental health interventions in the deprived sub-Saharan African region, this study explored the perspectives of the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria on four dimensions of mental illness: causal beliefs, attitudes towards sufferers, preferred treatment pathways and perceived barriers to accessing formal psychiatric care. Mixed sampling methods were used to select participants who completed quantitative questionnaires. The number of participants varied between 200 and 706 in the exploratory studies but remained constant (n = 1127) in the confirmatory studies. The study found mixed endorsements of the supernatural, biological and psychosocial causal explanations with supernatural causations being significantly more endorsed. The study also found mixed treatment preferences with formal psychiatric care being significantly more preferred to the spiritual pathway which was in turn significantly more preferred to the traditional pathway. Significant negative attitudes and desire for social distance from persons with mental illness were observed across groups. Barriers to accessing mental healthcare were also significantly perceived with ideological barriers being significantly more perceived than instrumental barriers. Systematic associations were found between causal beliefs and treatment preferences: supernatural causal belief predicted preference for the spiritual and traditional treatment pathways while psychosocial causal belief predicted preference for both formal psychiatric care and the traditional treatment pathway. Mixed causal attributions and treatment preferences reflect holistic view of health and healing and calls for the evolution of complementary model of care that would incorporate people's spiritual and cultural needs. The prospect is supported in psychosocial causal beliefs being associated with preference for the traditional treatment pathway. Significant negative attitude is a contradiction in the traditionally communitarian and predominantly Christian culture, and is deserving of intervention in the context where the solidarity of the social network should compensate for the inadequate mental healthcare. Significantly more ideological than instrumental barriers have crucial policy implication; improved conceptualizations of mental illness should precede improvement of facilities and services or else these could be underused. Demographic correlates of causal beliefs, negative attitudes, pathway preferences and barriers to accessing formal mental healthcare care were determined for targeted interventions.

Enligt forskning ökar alkoholkonsumtionen bland personer som är 65 år och äldre. Detta antas innebära att hemtjänstpersonal kommer att stöta på alkoholberoende allt oftare i arbetet. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till en ökad kunskap om hur arbetet kring äldre vårdtagare med problematisk alkoholkonsumtion bedrivs inom hemtjänsten. Som teoretisk grund för studien användes makt, ålderism, synen på människan som objekt/subjekt samt synsätt på alkoholmissbruk. En kvalitativ metod bestående av åtta intervjuer med hemtjänstpersonal genomfördes. Resultatet visar att respondenterna tycker det är viktigt att vara värderingsfri i arbetet. De beaktar även vårdtagarnas rätt till privatliv. Enligt socialtjänstlagen ska verksamheter inom socialt arbete bygga på respekt för människors självbestämmanderätt och integritet, något som respondenterna beaktar i sitt arbete. Svårigheter som respondenterna stöter på i arbetet löser de bland annat genom att diskutera med kollegor, något som nämndes som strategier. Det framkom också att respondenterna anser att de ibland inte har de förutsättningar som krävs för att möta den berörda gruppen. / According to research, alcohol consumption among people aged 65 and over increases. This is supposed to mean that homecare staff will encounter alcohol addiction more and more frequently at work. The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased knowledge of how work on elderly patients with problematic alcohol consumption is conducted within homecare. As a theoretical basis for the study, power, ageism, the view of man as object / subject, and approach to alcohol abuse were used. A qualitative method consisting of eight interviews with homecare staff was conducted. The result shows that the respondents find it important to be value-free at work. They also take into account the patients’ right to privacy. According to the Social Services Act, activities within social work must be based on respect for people's self-determination and integrity, something that the respondents consider in their work. Difficulties encountered by the respondents in the work are solved, among other things, by discussing with colleagues, something that was mentioned as strategies. It also emerged that the respondents believe that they sometimes don’t have the conditions required to meet the relevant group.

Evaluating the attitude of African American clergy toward parishioners seeking professional mental health services for mental illness has important treatment implications. Religion and spirituality are equally important determinants of mental health and can affect African American clergy's attitudes toward professional care for mental illness. Utilizing the health belief model (HBM), this quantitative study examined the role of theological beliefs, education, and personal experience with mental illness as they correlated with clergy's attitudes toward seeking professional mental illness services. Approximately 98 African American Protestant Clergy in the states of Georgia and South Carolina participated in this study. Data were collected using self-administered surveys via e-mail and mailings using the religious attitude scale (RAS) and the attitude toward seeking professional psychological help scale (ATSPPHS). A multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the correlation of independent variables. The results of this study indicated that theological beliefs (p = 0.025) but not education (p = 0.084) or personal experience with mental illness (p = 0.078) had a direct effect on the African American clergy attitudes toward parishioners seeking professional mental health services. This research supports the idea that conservative African American pastors' attitudes toward congregants seeking professional mental health services are positive. The results of this study can influence social change by increasing access through clergy's pivotal role as the gatekeeper for parishioners who seek help for mental illness.