published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Economics

The goal of this report was to assess current prevention strategies that attempt to reduce HIV prevalence among female sex workers (FSW) in Honduras. This analysis was based on the difference between behavioral change and structural approaches; that is, while behavioral change theories are based on risk reduction through promoting individuals’ change, the structural approach addresses the factors in the environment that make individuals vulnerable to HIV. In order to analyze prevention strategies in Honduras, I carried out an analysis of the structural conditions at the country level and, at the sex workers population level. The structural factors that make Honduras a country vulnerable to HIV are political instability, migrations, poverty and socio-economic conditions, and gender inequality. As a consequence of those macro-environmental conditions, sex workers face the following micro-environmental factors that increase their vulnerability to HIV: violence and male domination; large families and single parenthood; low income and poor education; and public policies against sex work, such as police abuse and closure of brothels. This report is based on an analysis of the Sonagachi Project in India, 100% Condom Use in Thailand, and the intervention in the Dominican Republic, programs that successfully address structural conditions and decrease women’s vulnerability to HIV. This report showed that in Honduras, the prevention strategies currently implemented are limited because they are based on behavioral change theories, failing to address environmental barriers that increase vulnerability to HIV among FSW. I give some specific recommendations about how to improve prevention strategies in this country reducing women’s vulnerability by addressing the structural factors they face. / text

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars the U.S. government has relied heavily on military contracting companies and their employees to carry out military missions in Middle East. Since 2001, high salaries and the call to serve the country have persuaded many people to take the risk of working in war zones. Yet the many individuals who have been injured while performing such duties now find themselves caught between their insurance companies and the U.S. Department of Labor, as they fight for the workers’ compensation and healthcare coverage they were promised. / text

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The independence of the health and social care agencies makes the coordinated delivery of inter-related and inter-dependent services very difficult. Collaboration in health and social care has been a goal of policy makers for many decades, but it has not been achieved to the degree or to the extent of the aspiration. This thesis examines collaboration in the context of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990, which marked a new stage in the development of community care policy and in collaborative working between health and social services. The thesis takes the form of a case study set in Sunderland during 1990-1994, from the passing of the Act to the first anniversary of the implementation of its community care elements. It considers firstly, collaboration at a strategic planning level between Sunderland Health Authority and the Local Authority Social Services Department in the development and implementation of community care policy; secondly, the evaluation of a collaborative project at an operational level, in the attachment of a social worker to a general medical practice; and thirdly, the evaluation of a project which tried to strengthen collaborative working within the health service, among district nurses, health visitors and general practitioners. The thesis sets these three pieces of work in a number of contexts: the political setting of the NHS and Community Care Act and the changes it introduced; the literature of collaboration; and a description of Sunderland and its need for health and social care. The case study showed how difficult it is for organisations to work together. Relationships between individuals tended to be more collaborative than relationships between corporate bodies, but it is important to see the relationship between those individuals in the context of relationships between organisations. The study also found that for the success of joint projects to be sustainable and generalisable, collaboration needs to be present at all levels of the organisations. The thesis also showed that there is as much need for collaboration within the health service as between the health and social services. The thesis used as a measure a framework of factors which promote collaboration, and found that many elements were lacking in Sunderland. However, in the real world it is necessary to settle for a notion of "pragmatic collaboration" in which joint working is possible even when full collaboration is absent.

There are several diverse types of employment discrimination in China’s labour market. Two of the most significant are differentials in employment opportunity and differentials in earnings by gender and household registration system (hukou). Thus, female migrant workers are doubly disadvantaged as victims of discrimination against both rural people and women. This thesis uses mixed research methods (both quantitative and qualitative approaches) to explore four questions related to this dual disadvantage: First, in the public sphere, are those with higher socioeconomic status (i.e., urbanites in China) willing to allow equal opportunities and rights for female migrant workers? Second, in the labour market, is there any evidence to demonstrate that gender and household registration system interact to shape female migrant workers’ employment opportunities and earnings? Third, still in the labour market, if a significant interaction is found between hukou and gender, the female migrant worker group will be compared to the members of three other groups: male migrant workers, urban males, and urban females. The following question will then be investigated: Do female migrant workers experience double (additive assumptions), less than double or more than double (intersectional assumptions) jeopardy in employment discrimination (opportunities and earnings) in 2003 and in 2006? Last, what are the trends in employment discrimination against this group over time? In an exploration of these four questions, this thesis offers theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to an understanding of female migrant workers’ experiences in urban China. It is found that Chinese urbanites indeed do not want to share social goods, attributes and services with female migrant workers. This hostility and intolerance in the public sphere have affected female migrant workers’ access to employment opportunities and earnings. In most cases, they have suffered more than double jeopardy with respect to employment opportunities and earnings. The trends in these two types of employment discrimination are mixed. Employment discrimination against these female migrant workers both in public sphere and in the labour market not only points to the social exclusion based on ascribed features (i.e., hukou and gender), but also reveals the nature of China’s transitional economies that involve both institutional and socio-cultural barriers to social equality.