Using the lens of a community-based childhood obesity intervention, it is possible to examine the role of non-profit organizations in community development and to deconstruct the “community” in community-based research and identify the many competing interests within a community. This contextual understanding includes how the community is formed, how a community’s agenda is set, and who will complete the tasks outlined in that agenda. In applied anthropological settings and public health interventions that are community-based, it is essential to understand the context of community and which community (or communities) the researcher is working with to ensure that the data you collect reflects the community you wish to impact. The data collection for this dissertation occurred across phases. In Phase One, the focus was on collecting baseline data for a childhood obesity intervention using participant observation, unstructured interviews, and a community canvassing survey conducted with community volunteers who collected data going door-t- door. A midcourse review of results led to a shift in the research focus from the evaluation of a community-based intervention to an analysis of how community is conceptualized, with its various competing interests, in this particular context. To examine community membership, agenda setting, and how the community seeks to achieve its goals, this project utilized participant observation, unstructured interviewing, and semi-structured interviewing. Phase One data revealed that the community had limited interest in a childhood obesity intervention; additionally, local and county level data was ambiguous about the actual need for such an intervention. As a result, Phase Two data was collected to shed light on the role of community. There are three actors that make up “the community” at this project’s research site: 1) long-term residents, 2) short-term residents, and 3) the non-profit service providers, who work in the community. The extent to which the service providers are members of the community is somewhat contested, and honorary membership may be exchanged for other forms of capital. The agenda in the research setting appeared to be set by the local non-profit service providers, but data collection showed the importance of long-term residents (and, to a lesser extent, short-term residents) in guiding the focus of the non-profit agencies. To accomplish the goals of the agenda set in the community, a group of women emerged as key actors. In this dissertation I use the termed “Wonder Women” to connote an archetype of a resident in this community context; these women are residents who are committed to the agenda of the community and, through volunteering, are tested for their ability to work often exorbitant hours to achieve the goals of the community. The Wonder Women are worked until a breaking point, at which time they typically leave their post as key players in the community. This research not only contributes to identifying and operationalizing the concept of “communities” in community-based research but presents a new cultural phenomenon: the emergence of “Wonder Women.” Further research into this phenomenon is required to determine if they are occurring elsewhere and to what extent. Moreover, this dissertation informs the work of non-profit organizations working in the United States. The importance of true community participation and ways to prevent volunteer burnout are emphasized in the lessons learned from the research.

Negative health effects on an unborn fetus have been related to cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Very little research examines stress, self-esteem, depression, and disordered eating in pregnant women who smoke. A study, Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers (TIPS), recruited pregnant women from five prenatal practices to help them quit smoking before giving birth. Using an expanded 5A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) model and motivational interviewing, the intervention was implemented by trained health educators over the course of 4 prenatal visits. Women in the study who successfully stopped smoking before delivery had significantly healthier infants than the women who did not. A subset of the sampled 1063 pregnant women with complete data on measures of interest will be analyzed for the current study. We hypothesize that the following factors will differ significantly among pregnant women who never smoked, women who smoked but quit prior to birth, and women who smoked and did not quit prior to birth: stress, as indicated by the stress subscale of the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile (PPP); self-esteem, as indicated by the self-esteem subscale of the PPP; depressive symptoms, as indicated by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10); and disordered eating, as indicated by the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). Additionally, we hypothesize that the odds of pregnant women quitting smoking prior to birth will be predicted by stress, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests will be conducted to compare scores on respective measures for the three groups based on smoking status. A logistic regression will be conducted to assess the degree to which aforementioned variables predict odds of smoking cessation in pregnant smokers. The implications of this research can be used to improve future intervention programs to reduce the adverse health effects of children born to mothers who smoke.

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Abstract available through the Developmental Psychobiology.

Introduction: Psychosocial well-being variables from the Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers (TIPS) study, a longitudinal smoking cessation study in South-Central Appalachia, were investigated as potential predictors of smoking status. Methods: A sample of 1031 pregnant women participated in an expanded 5A's (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) program, from 2008 to 2011. Measures of stress, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating collected by interview during the first trimester, or during the third trimester in a combined interview if participants began prenatal care late, were hypothesized to differ among three groups of participants: pregnant women who never smoked, pregnant women who smoked but quit prior to birth, and pregnant women who smoked and did not quit prior to birth. Smoking status was measured throughout the study. Whether or not a participant quit smoking was assessed at delivery. Results: Non-smokers were lowest in stress F(2,1027) = 46.38, p < .001) and depression (F(2,1028) = 39.81, p < .001), and highest in self-esteem (F(2,1018) = 29.81, p < .001). Only self-reported stress and self-reported self-esteem predicted quitting. Higher reported stress levels were related to a slightly lower likelihood of quitting (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.92, 0.98, p = .003) and higher reported self-esteem predicted a slightly higher likelihood of quitting (OR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.02, 1.08, p = .001). Conclusions: Findings may lead to improved intervention programs and reduction of adverse health effects in children attributable to prenatal smoking. More research should be conducted on smoking cessation in rural pregnant women.

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This thesis addresses food security and road development in Tuktoyaktuk (population 995), a primarily Inuvialuit (Indigenous, Inuit) community in the western Canadian Arctic. Initially, I had hoped to conduct interviews in Tuktoyaktuk to better understand how the new Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH), opened in 2017 (the first highway to the Arctic Ocean) had affected food security in Tuktoyaktuk. This plan was interrupted. // INTERRUPTION \\ --THIS THESIS HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED \\ What do we do when our plans are forced to change? How do we react, adapt, and overcome these changes? How do we reflect on such interruptions? These questions are the underlying essence of this thesis and they reflect my experience of engaging in Arctic community-based research during the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis presents two articles that are a result of many interruptions. The first (1) is an econometric evaluation of the cost of food before and after the opening of the ITH and the subsequent rescission of the Nutrition North Canada federal food subsidy program to the now road-accessible community of Tuktoyaktuk. The results suggest a significant increase in market basket prices which can be attributed to the opening of the highway and the subsidy loss (+CAD$44, SE = 16.77, p = 0.02). This research is the first to document the impacts of highway development on food prices in Arctic Indigenous communities. The second (2) is a co-authored methods piece about friendship, reciprocity, and reconciliation between two young women; a 17 year old Inuvialuit journalist and myself, a 25 year old Québécoise Master’s student, navigating research for the first time and during the pandemic. In the process, we reflect on what reconciliation means to us and provide recommendations for Arctic community-based research in a post-pandemic world. // BREAK. BREAK. THIS THESIS IS AN INTERRUPTION \\ In form and content, this thesis offers a reflection on the process of conducting and writing about research, juxtaposing qualitative (at times creative) and quantitative methods under a community-based research framework for working with Inuit.

The subject of this thesis is dope dealing in marijuana. However, the main interest in this topic is not centered on unique behavior patterns of persons engaged in this illegal activity nor is it much concerned with the activity itself. Rather, this study was designed to investigate empirically claims of labeling theorists and deviance theory. Through focused interviews with dealers of marijuana, an inquiry was made into deviant self-concepts on the part of those persons. More specifically, attention centered around the variables of type of dealer (lid or small quantity pound); length of time in dealing business; and contact with formal sanctioning agencies as possible conditioning or influencing factors in self- concept formation. The research was intended to examine, in a field situation, concepts that have to this point received more theoretical explication and discussion then empirical scrutiny.

The research reported here was intended to consider in an exploratory fashion the impact of a community based treatment program, Services for Problem Drinker Drivers, (SPDD), for persons convicted of driving while under the influence of liquor on: (1) the self-concept, (2) consequences for public identity, and (3) the careers or changes over time in both self-concept and public identity of clients in the program.