In 1981/82 there was renewed interest in the concept of a regionalized form of health service delivery in British Columbia. A discussion paper which outlined a proposal for regionalizing those services funded directly by the Ministry of Health was circulated to the senior managers in the Ministry in August of that year. In this paper it was suggested that regionalization would encourage the integration and co-ordination of health services at a regional level, thereby increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the health delivery system. This study considers strategies for planning health service delivery at this regional level, with the model of regionalization outlined in the 1981 proposal used as a basis for discussion. Every effort has been made to develop an approach to planning that is feasible, given the context within which health policy decisions are made in British Columbia in 1982. To do this the changing trends in health care management in B.C. have been considered, and relevant planning and organization theory reviewed. Evaluations of regional planning systems in three other jurisdictions are also described. The potential difficulties a Regional Manager might face in developing an integrated approach to regional planning are identified, and strategies to deal with these possible conflicts outlined. It would seem from this analysis that the degree to which authority is decentralized to the region is central to any decision about planning at the regional level. A model based on normative centralization, and operational decentralization is suggested, with needs assessments, and prioritization of needs taking place at the region. Support for integrated regional health planning by both the government and the provider groups seems to be necessary if good regional plans are to be developed, and if implementation of the plans and policies that evolve from the process are to be successful. It is suggested that introducing the structures and processes for planning at the regional level should involve two stages. During the first, the administrative functions for direct services would be decentralized, and a general review of health services and health care in the region undertaken. The development of a regional identity and liaison among the many subgroups operating in the region would be an important aspect of this first stage. The second stage, which would be implemented after one year, would see the development of a Regional Advisory Council and multidisciplinary, multiagency, Service Development Committees formed along service or functional lines. More authority would be transferred to the Regional Manager during this time in the areas of hospital budget review, and physician manpower planning. This is the most important stage as it has the potential to make the health care system more efficient and effective. In this model support is built into the structure for planning and there are regional wide coordinating and integrating mechanisms. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

The quality of health and hospital care is usually measured by one of three basic approaches. Structure measures assess the inputs used or available for use in the treatment of patients. Assessments of process look at "how" patients were treated. Outcomes measures are concerned with the end-results of care. Outcomes have considerable intuitive appeal to consumers and it is assumed in this thesis that quality is defined in terms of outcomes; providers (e.g. physicians) however may have preferences for hospital structure for its own sake. Structure and process measures are generally regarded as proxies for outcomes measures. They are used because they are easier to measure than outcomes, but the relations between the proxies and outcomes have not been completely tested. This thesis is concerned with the empirical verification of the relationship between two types of measures, structure and outcomes of hospital care at the aggregate level, and a possible link between provider preferences for structure and observed "excess" structure. The outcomes measures are based on adjusted hospital death rates. The adjustment factors draw on detailed diagnostic and demographic information available in the British Columbia hospital reporting system. Several possible adjustment factors (proxies for severity) are considered. The structure measures include measures of inputs per case, and measures of the facilities and services offered by a hospital. The discussion centres on three hypotheses. The first two concern the empirical relation between structure and outcomes. The first hypothesis that the two types of assessment are equivalent was tested using correlation analysis of alternative outcomes measures and structure measures. The results indicate that structure cannot be substituted for outcomes measures in the evaluation of quality. The second hypothesis is that there is ineffective or "excess" structure. This is demonstrated if the impact of incremental structure on outcomes is not positive. The results generally support the existence of excess structure. Extensive regression analysis and exploration of possible weakness did not result in the modification of the basic conclusion. The third hypothesis is that such "excess" structure arises and persists because providers value structure for its own sake, and are able to impose their preferences on hospitals. The discussion is essentially theoretical and considerable evidence supporting the hypothesis is provided, although no formal proof is offered. Physicians value structure because it enables them to increase their income and/or leisure, and also to satisfy their professional desires with respect to their working environment. Arguments are presented to support the claim that physicians get some of the structure they want because of imperfections in real-world agency relations and the institutional features of the health care system. Given the basic premise of the thesis (that consumers would define quality in terms of outcomes), the results of both the empirical and theoretical investigations have implications for policy. Policy changes suggested in the discussion that concludes the thesis are concerned with resource allocation within the hospital system, quality measurement, monitoring of policy changes, and incentives and programs to modify provider preferences. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The primary objective of this thesis is to examine the opportunities and constraints for transforming "contested" public space into "shared" place in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. This examination is informed by: a literature review of public space theory; a review of City of Vancouver policies pertaining to public space conditions in the Downtown Eastside; a case study of community-driven public realm initiatives in Pioneer Square in Seattle, Washington; personal experience both working in, and observing conditions in the Downtown Eastside, and a review of current initiatives in the area that are working towards improving the public realm in the area while building consensus between opposing community groups. This research indicates that public spaces play an important role in the everyday lives of city dwellers, particularly for those who, due to homelessness and poverty, rely on public space for recreation and socialization, and in many cases, to live. However, as the central city is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live for middle and upper income households, conflicts can ensue over who has the "right" to use the public realm. What often occurs is the exclusion of the poor and marginalized segment of the population to "make way" for amenities that serve higher income residents and visitors. Conditions in the Downtown Eastside have deteriorated, yet at the same time, development both within and around the area has created distrust and hostility between different community groups. However, recent initiatives are working to make improvements while building trust between different, often hostile community groups. Ideally, planning for the public realm should have a significant amount of community involvement and control. The case study of Pioneer Square indicates that this is possible, although a sufficient amount of trust and consensus is needed from the outset. While the Downtown Eastside possesses many attributes which provide opportunities for public realm improvements, planners from outside the community should play a significant role in any initiatives, due to the lack of consensus and tension between community interests. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis provides empirical evidence to assess the long term contribution of the B.C. forest industry to the provincial economy. Estimates of resource rent are constructed to measure the direct contribution of the resource to provincial income and growth. Measures of rent are constructed for a firm level sample (1906-76) and at an industry level (1918-92). The figures for rent are used to generate estimates of the share of provincial income measures directly attributable to the industrial exploitation of the province's forests. While there were periods during which the direct contribution to provincial income and its growth was nontrivial, in general the growth of forest industry rent did not drive overall economic growth but rather lagged behind. Rent was low on average and volatile during the years before W.W.II, rose rapidly from roughly 1940-51, then declined unevenly. To investigate the forces which underlie both the broad trends and the variability in rent, a stylized model of the forest industry is applied in an empirical analysis. Broad changes in aggregate rent were the result of changes in rent per unit of B.C. timber. The rapid increase in rent coincided with a marked rise in the price of forest products. The secular decline resulted from the combination of a falling output price and rising costs. An investigation of real harvesting costs indicates that depletion played a role in this increase. The variability of rent is also explored and found to be most strongly influenced by factors reflecting market risk which the B.C. industry could not diversity away from. The rent measures may not capture the full impact of the forest industry, so the industry's potential role as a leading export sector is also examined. The possibility of a stable long term link between forest exports and provincial income is investigated using cointegration tests. B.C. forest exports and G.D.P. are not cointegrated; their levels axe not linked in a deterministic way in the long run. A bivariate VAR, is used to examine the short run interaction between the growth of forest exports and provincial G.D.P. The results do not strongly support the view that the forest industry acts as a leading export sector in the provincial economy. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Greater Vancouver has experienced a dramatic influx of international immigration in the past three decades. This demographic change has two major implications for sustainable development in this region. First, the increase of population is placing great pressure on the environment and maintaining the current quality of life. Second, while it is critical to include the rapidly-growing immigrant population in the Greater Vancouver region's sustainability initiatives, the increasing ethnic diversity of this region raises issues of communication and cross-cultural understanding. This exploratory study examines Chinese immigrants housing preferences and explores their implications for sustainable community development in Greater Vancouver. This study focuses on Chinese immigrants because they have an increasing influence on the region's physical, cultural and political landscape. Through 30 in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrants of qualitatively different backgrounds, this study examined preferences for home location, attributes of dwelling, and its proximal space. The study employed grounded theory approach assisted with picture comparison and trade-off game techniques. Results indicate that Chinese immigrants' housing aspirations are strongly influenced by a desire to assimilate into mainstream culture in North America. Further, considerations of traditional Chinese v housing form and style are not a priority among the study group. However, an array of social and economic constraints and priorities inform their housing choices. Amenities that are important to Chinese immigrants are identified for various aspects of a community. A number of recommendations are drawn from these priorities and preferences, which may be applied by planners, policy makers, designers and developers of sustainable communities for Chinese immigrant populations. Additional observations on language barriers, civic involvement, and community outreach programs suggest challenges and opportunities to promote sustainable living among Chinese immigrants. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate

This dissertation examines the characteristic features and problems of a party/movement as they pertain to the Family Coalition Party of British Columbia (FCP). The FCP is a minor provincial political party in British Columbia that was founded in 1991 to provide a formal political voice for pro-life and pro-family supporters in the province. After years of frustrated activism within the pro-life and pro-family movements and ineffectual political representation, the founders of the FCP sought to establish a political access point that could provide a more direct route to the province's political decision-making process. The result was the formation of the Family Coalition Party, a conservative political organization that supports social policies which are resolutely pro-life and promote a vision for the restoration of what is understood as the traditional family. The primary goal of the party is the advancement and implementation of such policies, with electoral success pursued as a secondary goal. This agenda renders the FCP an organization that uses a political party form to perform social movement work or functions. In this regard, the FCP exhibits the hybrid duality of a party/movement in the tradition of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the Green Parties of Canada and Germany. In developing a sociopolitical and ideological profile of the Family Coalition Party and its politics of the family, its historical roots are traced back to the conservative political writings of Edmund Burke and brought forward to the current era of late twentieth century neoconservatism. The pro-family movement (PFM), of which the FCP is a part, is examined comparatively in the United States, where it exists in its most mature form under the auspices of such Christian Right organizations as the Christian Coalition, and in British Columbia, where the movement remains in a state of relative political infancy and organizational disunity. Despite the disparities in organizational maturation, the movements in both countries share a high degree of ideological resonance concerning their opposition to feminism, abortion, euthanasia, and reproductive technologies, and their support for increased parental control in education, programmes that will promote the traditional family, and a minimalist state. To understand the duality of the Family Coalition Party as a party/movement, it is first analyzed as a social movement organization (SMO) and then as a minor party in Canadian politics. Using contemporary social movement theory, the Family Coalition Party is found to exhibit the same traits and problems as those typically characteristic of the New Social Movements, despite the ideological disparities between the two. To this end, the FCP can be understood as a sub-type of New Social Movement, a Resurgence Movement, as it attempts to simultaneously resist one type of social change while promoting another by working to re-establish a diminishing set of normative cultural beliefs. As a minor political party of protest, the FCP, with reference to relevant political science research, is seen to embody the motivations, features and difficulties of minor parties as evidenced in the Social Credit League, the CCF, and the Green Party. In this regard the emergence of the FCP is symptomatic of a cadre party system that fails to adequately represent issues important to an aggrieved segment of the population and also experiences the institutional obstacles of the Westminster parliamentary model of political representation. In examining the FCP as a party/movement, four ways of analytically relating political parties and social movements are reviewed before a fusionist perspective is used to identify the characteristic features and problems of party/movements. Three sources of tension (organizational, institutional and cultural) are subsequently identified. These tensions are one of two types: they are either difficulties unique to party/movements, created by the deliberate fusing of party form with movement function; otherwise, they are problems common to every SMO or minor political party striving to achieve political legitimacy and potency. For party/movements, the challenge of resolving this latter set of problems is exacerbated beyond the level of difficulty experienced by single identity organizations precisely because of their dual identity. The experience of other party/movements, such as the CCF and the Green Parties of Canada and Germany, suggests that their specific tensions make it difficult to maintain a dual identity, with a drift towards either political institutionalization or dissolution likely, if not inevitable. While the Family Coalition Party is presently maintaining its party/movement nature, its future as such is in doubt unless the tensions of fusion that it now faces are effectively managed. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis was the result of a study conducted for the call-centre at the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia (WCB). The management at WCB wanted to understand the nature and pattern of calls at their newly opened call-centre. The purpose of this was to provide an efficient customer service while streamlining the flow of calls coming to the call-centre. An extensive data collection exercise was undertaken at the call-centre and two other units of WCB with which the call-centre interacts. The data analysis revealed that a high proportion of calls were related to transfers to these departments. There were also calls related to routine inquiries on claim payment cheques and forms that could potentially be handled by a well designed IVR system. Based on this understanding the development of an effective IVR system was proposed to address the problems that were discovered through documenting the nature and pattern of calls. An extensive review of literature was undertaken to design a new system according to the standard industry guidelines suggested by the best practices and customized to WCB's business needs. Two alternate scripts were developed after analysing the source and purpose of calls to WCB. One was 'person specific' and the other was 'task specific'. The two scripts were tested on students at WCB through a computer-based IVR simulation. The results of the student survey provided evidence that introducing additional options and use of simple and clear instructions in the new scripts could potentially in fact address the problems discovered in the study and they were preferred over the existing WCB script. The IVR simulation is reconfigurable and can be used in future studies to gather further evidence in support of the results obtained in this thesis as well as refine scripts before putting them in a production mode. / Business, Sauder School of / Marketing, Division of / Graduate

The Oyster River Research project begins by exploring the meaning of agriculture, the definition, the history, the cultural context of agri-culture, as well as the role of agriculture in our present day. An overview of the Agricultural Census 1992 is given to outline the Agricultural Industry past and present within Canada, and the major issues and constraints with regards to Agriculture in British Columbia are identified. Elements of farmland conservation, BC's ALR, as well as case studies and precedents regarding farmland conservation strategies are also discussed. From this research exploration, an understanding of the role and scope of UBC, the Oyster River Farm, and the surrounding community, locally and regionally is met, and programs capable of linking these issues are developed. These programs, in conjunction with the overall farm and community site design, exhibit the most beneficial means of defining and developing the relationship of UBC, the farm, and the community, while maintaining the integrity of agricultural land and the practice of farming for local food security. Ultimately, this design thesis offers a solution that attempts to serve UBC, the Oyster River Farm and the local / regional community in a manner most sensitive socially, ecologically, and economically to issues presently facing the Research Farm and the larger community of the Comox-Strathcona Regional District. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between aboriginal and anthropological discourses of tradition and cultural performance. Specifically, I examine some ways in which concepts of tradition and culture are invoked in British Columbia's First Nations communities in order to negotiate, validate, and contest contemporary transformations to cultural practice. Two case studies of recent controversies within Kwakwaka'wakw communities are presented, one surrounding the bestowal of the Hamat'sa Dance on the pan-tribal American Indian Dance Theater for use in public presentations, the other involving the performance of the Hamat'sa— customarily a male prerogative— by women. This study addresses both local Kwakwaka'wakw dialogues about history and contemporary values, and the larger public, academic, and political environments in which those dialogues occur. This thesis takes as its broadest context these dialogues and shifts in the scale of identity and representation: between different native communities and different voices within them; between contests for local privilege and global control over "national" heritage; between indigenous peoples and the discipline of anthropology. I argue that tradition is best approached as a critical value emerging from these discourses, a concept which is intentionally used as a marker of present identity through strategic appeal to the past. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This study investigates the reporting and grading, as well as the meaning of letter grades, of students in Science 9 from the perspectives of teachers, students, and parents in five schools from two British Columbia school districts, one urban and one rural. To that end, four research questions guided the data collection and analyses: (1) What reporting methods do teachers use to communicate information about student learning in Science 9 to students and parents, and what are teachers', students', and parents' opinions of those reporting methods? (2) What grading components do teachers incorporate into Science 9 letter grades, and what grading components do students and parents believe teachers incorporate into Science 9 letter grades? (3) What meanings do teachers, students, and parents attribute to Science 9 letter grades? and (4) What are students' and parents' perceptions about some possible effects of student progress reports in Science 9? A mixed-methodology design was employed to collect the data. Quantitative data, collected via self-administered written questionnaires from the five Science 9 teachers, 43 students, and 21 parents who volunteered to participate in the study, were used to identify participants' practices and perceptions about grading and reporting. Qualitative data, collected via individual, audio-taped interviews conducted with a subset of the people who completed questionnaires (all five teachers, 16 students, and seven parents), were used to verify, clarify, and expand the questionnaire data. Observational notes and collected documents (e.g., report card forms) also served as data sources. The results of this study show that most of the participants in the study were generally satisfied with most aspects of the reporting of student progress in Science 9. However, individual teachers consider different kinds of assessment information when they assign Science 9 letter grades, teachers are not always clear and consistent about what they intend letter grades to mean, and students' and parents' beliefs about the grading components and meanings of Science 9 letter grades vary widely. The results pf this study also indicate that the information communicated by a letter grade is not always clear and consistent. That the meaning of a letter grade is not always clear has implications for the ways in which letter grades are used by students and parents. The results of this study indicate that some students' attitudes, behaviours, and decisions could be affected by the grades they receive in Science 9. However, in order for students' attitudes, behaviours, and decisions to be appropriate, their interpretations of the meanings of letter grades must be appropriate. Given the multiple meanings attributed to a Science 9 letter grade, it is likely that peoples' inferences and actions based on a letter grade will not always be appropriate. This study raises a number of issues. Two classes of issues are discussed: those arising from the research findings, and those arising from the methodology of the study. An example of an issue arising from the research findings is that the process of assigning letter grades is problematic. An example of an issue arising from the methodology is that participants do not always interpret questionnaire items in the way they are intended. This study contributes to our understanding of teachers' grading practices with respect to the assignment of Science 9 letter grades, and it provides information about students' and parents' understandings of those grading practices. The study also provides insight into teachers', students', and parents' understandings of the meaning of letter grades. In addition, the results of this study help us understand some possible consequences of reports of student progress from the perspectives of students and parents. Another contribution is a direct result of the methodology of the study — by interviewing a subset of the questionnaire respondents after they had completed the questionnaires, it was possible to learn more about how different people interpreted the questionnaire items; that is, it was possible to explore the internal validity of the study. As a result, this study offers evidence about the value of employing more than one data collection method when conducting research. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate