This thesis uses Foucaults conceptualization of power to examine power dynamics in two health and human service organizations. Foucault suggests that power should be observed by assessing relationships, cultures, and ideologies. Recognizing power processes that inform individual agendas, culture, and structure is vital for understanding how organizations function and potentially create sustainable change. However, there are few academic studies that focus on organizational power. Moreover, when investigating power in organizations, research has tended to: 1) compartmentalized power; 2) classify its definition as a human capacity; or 3) privilege collective efforts to exercise power. Findings based on an analysis of interviews, focus groups, participant observations, and organizational artifacts indicate the presence of power at multiple organizational levels. Results also reveal varying and often contradictory expressions of power as well as informal power dynamics. Given these outcomes, I present a model based on Foucaultian themes to simultaneously observe power at multiple organizational levels. Lastly, theoretical and practical implications for organizations, policy, and organizational change are discussed.

Adolescent substance abuse continues to be a public health concern. Certain vulnerable populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, females, and rural residents, still contend with disparities in access to health care. The purpose of this study is to examine disparities in utilization of substance abuse treatment among minority, female and rural adolescents enrolled in Mississippi's (MS) Medicaid program. This secondary data analysis used eligibility and claims data from adolescents aged 12-17 years enrolled in MS Medicaid in 2005. Utilization was examined in two ways. The first considered probability of substance abuse treatment. For these analyses, the sample was the statewide population of adolescent Medicaid enrollees in 2005 (n = 37,047). The second utilization measure examined the age at which the first substance abuse service was received. For the first-use analyses, the sample consisted of adolescents who had a substance abuse service paid for by Medicaid in 2005 (n = 267). Minority and female adolescents were less likely to use substance abuse treatment than white and male adolescents, respectively. Minority, female, and rural adolescents did not significantly differ with their respective counterparts on age of first substance abuse service. Disparities are still present and should continue to be examined in this context.

Social ecological theory, adapted from natural ecology, aims to understand the connections between people, groups, cultures, and the natural environments that they inhabit. Following psychologists ecological adaptations in the 1930s and Kellys (1968) landmark adaptation of ecological processes into community psychology (CP), community researchers have attempted to attain ecological validity without a systematic methodology to guide and test their efforts. This has often resulted in theories and methods that do not fully reflect researchers ecological intentions. This paper explains the scientific evolution of ecological epistemology and creates an evaluative framework to test ecological validity. Then a sample (n = 26) of published research articles in CP is gathered from the 3 major CP journals using ecological search terms and then evaluated within the framework to determine the fidelity of the application of ecological theory. Total adherence to ecological principals by CP is somewhat less than half of potential (43.54%.), although a breakdown of scores reveals a trend toward traditional over action research (68.16% compared to 18.91% of potential) and preference or knowledge of some levels, processes, and methods over others including a high amount of individual level research. New additions to the ecological analogy correlated well with existing concepts, indicating acceptable construct validity for suggested elements of ecological validity.

Family involvement in mental health treatment has been shown to positively influence child outcomes, but families often are difficult to involve in treatment. We investigated the influence of child, caregiver, service system, and community factors on family involvement in mental health treatment for children with severe emotional disturbances using in-depth interviews and case review ratings gathered in a previous study. One hundred thirty-six children and adolescents, who received Medicaid coverage for mental health treatment in Mississippi and Tennessee, were the focus of this six month longitudinal study that assessed child and caregiver characteristics at wave one, and service system factors at follow up. Results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the quality of the service system had the most influence on family involvement in treatment. Previous research has overlooked the influence of the service system and attributed the level of family involvement to child and family characteristics.

How are characteristics of communities associated with the degree to which systems of care (SOC) are implemented within them? This study uses multiple regression with a stratified random sample (n=225) of U.S. counties to explore predictors of three implementation factors of the System of Care Implementation Survey (SOCIS). A model composed of community predictors accounted for at least 12 percent of the variation in: (1) Family Choice and Voice, (2) Outreach and Access to Care, and (3) Interagency and Cross-Sector Collaboration. Significant predictors varied between factors, though rurality tended to be negatively associated with SOC implementation, while residential stability tended to have positive associations. Surprisingly, availability of a community health center was not significantly related to any factor. Given the limitations of the study, results should be interpreted with caution. Further research is needed to clarify these relationships which could inform intervention and assistance efforts directed at promoting SOCs.

In China, rapid but geographically uneven development has led to massive migration from rural to urban areas. The hukou residency registration system has traditionally limited the rights of migrant families, and although public education is now technically available, associated fees often lead children to enroll in alternatives, such as private or migrant schools. Using survey data from rural parents who were working in Chinese urban areas as part of the China Ministry of Educations 2006 project, The Transition of Chinas Rural Labor to Urban Areas, I use parents social capital to predict type of school enrollment for migrant children. Results indicate that parents attachment to their urban community and neighborhood social interaction feature prominently in the ability of children to attend public schools; reliance on neighborhood resources to the exclusion of other support, however, may be associated with attendance at less desirable schools. Implications for labor, migration policy, education, and conceptualizations of social capital in the Chinese context are discussed.

Recent studies have highlighted the religious prejudices that plague communities across the United States and act as social, political, and economic barriers for many religious minority groups. These studies have noted the pervasive negative attitudes towards such American religious minorities as Muslims, atheists, Mormons, and Jews. Further, these prejudices appear to be more pronounced in the American South, a phenomenon that remains underexamined. The present study suggests the importance of and takes aim at uncovering and analyzing the social processes undergirding religious prejudices in the U.S., and of religious prejudices in the American South specifically. The study draws on qualitative data collected from eight communities across the state of Tennessee over a period of three years. My analysis of these data, first, adds indepth qualitative insight in an area of research where experimental and quantitative methods predominate. Building from threatbased theories of prejudice, I utilize critical discourse analysis to delve more deeply into the ways in which prejudices are uniquely framed and expressed by social actors within a specific sociohistorical milieu. Specifically, I pay attention to the common idioms, stories, and caricatures that are part of the discursive lexicon mobilized by residents as they encounter the religious other. Finally, I suggest that this analysis has important implications for dialogue and interventions surrounding religious differences and conflicts. The concept of the dialogic community will be highlighted as a particularly promising response to these conflicts.

Faith-based community organizing groups (FBCOs) have a well-established record of engaging citizens on issues of local concern. These groups increasingly recognize the need to engage with political structures beyond the local level, a process most often accomplished by forming federations of individual organizing groups. The geographic distances which separate groups within a federation present a formidable challenge to building solidarity and thus political power. This study examines participation data from two FBCO federations which reflect patterns of interorganizational collaboration at the scale of the metropolitan area. Using a set of longitudinal network analytic techniques, this study seeks to determine the relative impact of geographic distance on the likelihood of interorganizational collaboration. After controlling for such factors as denominational homophily, racial/ethnic homophily, and the overall activity level of each congregation this study finds that distance has a differential impact on relationship formation depending on the strength of relationship. For lower-intensity collaboration, distance plays only a very minor role in determining which groups work together; denominational and racial/ethnic homophily each have a large and positive impact on these sorts of relations. For higher-intensity collaborations, race and denomination appear to be insignificant while geographic distance plays a very strong (and negative) role in shaping which groups tend to work together.

Sociopolitical development (SPD) offers a promising approach to work with marginalized youth to help them negotiate ecological factors in their development. SPD refers to ones consciousness of and engagement in action to change inequitable structures, and consciousness and engagement are often theorized to develop dialectically. However, research suggests that there is not a natural relationship between them. The present study draws on several empirical antecedents of SPD to examine how they affect the likelihood of an individual having high sociopolitical consciousness and a high level of sociopolitical engagement. Results corroborate the disconnect between consciousness and engagement found in previous studies. However, a multinomial logistic regression model shows that sense of community, psychological empowerment, and social attribution all increase the likelihood that one simultaneously possesses high levels of both.

Every week in America thousands of children who are at risk of suffering abuse and/or neglect are removed from the homes of their caregivers and placed into their states foster care system. The individuals responsible for investigating the allegations of abuse and/or neglect to these children, and for ensuring they are kept safe, work for local Child Protective Services (CPS) units, or their states equivalent. Unfortunately, an examination of CPS units today reveals notoriously high employee turnover. This lack of continuity among caseworkers puts additional strain on the minority of employees who remain on the job and, most importantly, places already traumatized children at risk of suffering further harm. This study examines this issue in-depth. We begin with a consideration of the historical evolution of CPS in America, its federal legal parameters, a procedural description of how children today become wards of the State, the potential harm high CPS turnover poses, and prior research on the issue. We conclude with an in-depth, qualitative examination of the lives of CPS employees within a state urban unit.