The incidence of food insecurity coupled with poor management of illnesses poses a public health challenge. Poor adherence to medication regimens is a contributor to poor health outcomes, especially among the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Food insecurity is a global health and nutrition problem that affects approximately 50 million people in the United States. The number of food-insecure households in the United States has increased by 12% since 1995, and so has the burden of management of illnesses. The cost of healthcare has risen from 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1960 to 20% of the GDP currently. This quantitative study used responses from questionnaires from a sample size of 130 to assess the impact that food insecurity has on the management of illnesses in families in Wayne County, Ohio. The social-ecological model was used as a theoretical framework to understand the various levels of influence of food insecurity on the management of illnesses. Results showed that people who were food insecure were 4 times more likely to skip medication (OR = 4.174; p = 0.0096), and people who used food assistance programs were more likely to skip medication (OR = 4.305; p = .0088; OR = .351; p = .0288). These results suggest that food insecurity is associated with the management of illness. To promote social change, solutions at the individual, healthcare, community, and policy levels are necessary to improve management of illness and prevent health complications. Providing communities with sustainable methods to empower them to supplement food and support consumption of balanced meals.

Worldwide expenditures on international development in the form of assistance or “aid” have continued to increase as developed countries look to both help and influence developing countries. In 2011, more than $140 billion in development aid was distributed globally, more than double the amount expended for international development aid in 2003. Many of the countries that are in need of aid have governments that do not have the resources, the experience, political stability, or well-functioning institutions to effect long-term structural change to bring their people out of poverty. Ethiopia is a country receiving large amounts of development aid, and one of the poorest regions in Ethiopia is the Borana Plateau in the Oromia state. The people are semi-nomadic pastoralists who live off the livestock they raise. Climate change, as well as overgrazing and population growth, has reduced the amount of land available for pasture. Additionally, drought conditions can cause huge livestock losses due to death and the pressure to sell animals during droughts to generate money to buy food. The pastoral system is in constant danger of overstocking and suffering a system crash when drought events occur. Linear programing was used in this study to test various “scenarios” that shed light on how drastically drought and overpopulation impacts livestock numbers and overall livelihoods of the Boran pastoralists. How well livestock survive through droughts determines, in large measure, the need for food aid in the Borana Plateau and, with climate change increasing the frequency of drought events, the system struggles to rebound following droughts. These scenarios examined in this study tested the economic incentive the Boran have to clear land, and what impact clearing land has on livestock numbers, especially during drought years. The analysis also tested how keeping livestock in the system, as a result of drought mitigation strategies such as brush clearing, reduces the need for food aid during droughts and also reduces the rebound time for livestock numbers following a drought. The results determined that brush clearing provided the forage needed to keep cattle alive through a drought at various stocking levels up to and including estimated full capacity. This suggested that brush-clearing activities created an environment where people could return to pre-drought production levels without any rebound time following a drought if enough brush clearing and/or kalo development is undertaken. Kalo(s) serve as forage reserves, created from land cleared of brush and produce much more grass than from brush clearing alone and do it at a lower household cost.

The newspaper industry, among other forms of journalism and media, has changed rapidly and fundamentally in the last 15-20 years due to technological and economical transformations as well as a shift in media consumption among the general public. The aim of this study is therefore to examine to what degree and how these changes and developments have affected journalists, to the extent that they exit the profession, as well as whether or not the ex-journalists still identify with the profession's ideals and democratic role in a society. The analysis is based on qualitative, semi structured interviews with eight Swedish ex-journalists, all who at some point in their journalistic careers have worked for a daily newspaper. To analyze the results, a theoretical framework consisting of parts of the role exit theory, push-pull-factors, theories of the professionalization of the journalism profession and theories of the democratic role of journalism, has been applied.    One main finding in this thesis is that the main driving force in leaving journalism, for the majority of the interviewees, was based on the economy of the newspapers they were working for and that some of the newspapers were forced to shut down or slim their production. This led to job insecurity for the journalists, less employees having to do more work and, for some, even being laid off. One other finding is that all of the interviewed ex-journalists state that they still identify with the way of working and the democratic ideals in the journalism profession to a high degree, despite working in other professions outside of journalism. This result indicates that the journalism profession, at least for the interviewed ex-newspaper-journalists, consists of shared ideals, behavior and ways of conducting the work.

No description available.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Background: Food insecurity is a phenomenon affecting many developed countries, among them susceptible to food insecurity are tertiary students. Food insecurity affects the livelihoods of students and is a global problem. This causes doubt and anxiety which affects the educational outcome of students and losing focus on academic excellence. This study focuses on student food security and the role of campus food aid programs at the University of the Western Cape. Food security is an important aspect of people’s lives globally. While food insecurity is a significant challenge experienced by many South Africans nationally. Thus, necessary to shed light on the challenges of food among tertiary institutions and the relevance of food aid programs. Methods: The present study employed a mixed-method which has provided both significant elements of quantitative and qualitative research methods. A comprehensive review of the literature was employed, this includes both academic literature and grey literature on student food insecurity globally, nationally, and at UWC. Primary data and secondary data were collected to answer the research questions. The quantitative element of this study was conducted through an online questionnaire with thirty postgraduate students. While the qualitative element was conducted semi-structured with ten postgraduate students. Results: Students from low socio-economic backgrounds, without funding, covid 19, and expensive food on campus are some of the main causes of food insecurity. Students experiencing food insecurity have lost interest in their academics, performed less than their potential in academic assessments, some have failed the academic year and dropping out before time. The discontinuation of some food aid programs has increased the demand for food and the need for more food initiatives to be established. The role of food aid programs provided positive results in the alleviating of food insecurity during covid 19 and have proven consistency in the provision of food. Conclusion: This study aimed to bring awareness about the existence of food insecurity among postgraduate students. Stakeholders of the university, policymakers, and researchers must take into consideration the various effects of food insecurity and investigate the alleviation strategies. This prevents the increase in dropping out, students repeating the academic year, and getting an improvement in academic excellence and graduation rates

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Pregnancy brings numerous physiological and psychosocial changes and conditions, which can include gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and mental health conditions, including anxiety, and mood disorders such as depression. Food insecurity, or not having access to a diet that meets needs and preferences, may make management of pregnancy complications more challenging. I examined whether or not food insecurity was associated with a greater prevalence of mental health conditions, or GDM during pregnancy. I used the biocultural and syndemics approaches to the investigate the relationships among these conditions and to understand their interactions with the larger environment. The main questions are: (1) Does pregnancy increase the risk of developing or worsening food insecurity? (2) Are there positive associations between food insecurity during pregnancy and GDM as well as mental health conditions? (3) How does food insecurity impact the management of above-mentioned issues? (4) What are the experiences of individuals who have had GDM during pregnancy? To answer these questions, I undertook a mixed methods approach that involved quantitative analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey, as well as a survey administered to pregnant people in the city of Hamilton. I also quantitatively analyzed pre-existing focus group transcripts and conducted one-on-one interviews with pregnant and postpartum people in Hamilton. This study found that there is a syndemic interaction between food insecurity, GDM, and mental health conditions in Canada. Analysis of focus group and interview transcripts provided further insight into the complex environments that shape risk for developing one, or more of these conditions during pregnancy. These results indicate how the pregnancy experience is impacted by a multitude of factors, which can lead to increasing complication risk. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Tryggheten i Malmö var ett av kommunfullmäktiges målområde 2016. Enligt målsättning ska Malmö vara en trygg och tillgänglig stad för alla men vid revisionens granskning av målområdet framkom att det trygghetsskapande arbetet bättre måste följas upp (Malmö stad 2016a). Vidare är å andra sidan trygghet ett brett begrepp vars definition inte är självklar och inom kriminologin är specifikt barns perspektiv av trygghet föga utforskat. För att fördjupa bilden om trygghet i Malmö syftar därmed denna studie att undersöka kommunfullmäktiges målområde 6 utifrån hur trygghetsupplevelsen ser ut för barn i Malmö. Studien är ett uppdrag utfärdat av stadsområde Norr, Malmö stad. Barnens trygghet tolkas dels utifrån resultatet i Folkhälsoenkäten Barn och Unga i Skåne 2016 samt också genom fokusgruppsintervjuer med ett urval av elever för att se hur de tolkar begreppet trygghet. Resultatet enligt den statistiska analysen visade att faktorer som utsatthet för mobbning och brott har en negativ påverkan på barns trygghet. Detta samband stärks dock ytterligare beroende på om barnet är en flicka och var barnet bor i Malmö. När det kommer till intervjuerna med barnen visade resultatet att barnen definierar otrygghet främst utifrån rädslan att bli utsatta för brott alternativt rädsla för obehagliga händelser. Tryggheten tolkas därmed utifrån en affektiv känsla eller emotionell trygghet. I diskussionen framhävs även att barnen generellt känner sig trygga i Malmö men där staden inte upplevs som en enhetlig trygg stad. Ambitionen att Malmö ska vara en trygg och säker stad för alla invånare varierar därmed när det kommer till barnens perspektiv i denna studie. / Security in Malmö was one of the city's target areas in 2016. Malmö aims to be a safe and accessible city for all residents, but in the audit's review of the target area it emerged that the work regarding safety has to be better evaluated (Malmö stad 2016a). On the other hand, security is a broad and not self-evident concept, particular, the child's perspective of security has been little explored in criminology. In order to deepen the knowledge of security in Malmö, this study aims to investigating the city council target area regarding children’s safety. The study is a commission issued by the urban area North, Malmö stad.The study is based partly on the results in “Folkhälsoenkät Barn och Unga i Skåne 2016” and through focus group- interviews with a selection of students to see how they interpret the concept of security. The result of the statistical analysis showed that factors such as vulnerability to bullying and crime have a negative impact on children safety. However, this correlation is further enhanced depending on whether the child is a girl and where the child lives in Malmö. In terms of interviews with the children, the results showed that the children define uncertainty primarily based on fear of crime or fear of unpleasant events. Security is thus interpreted by an emotional sense of security. The discussion also emphasizes that the children generally feel safe in Malmö, but the city is not perceived as a unified safe city. The ambition that Malmö should be a safe and secure city for all residents varies according to the children's perspective in this study.

Economic pressure and concomitant financial stress have been associated with mental and physical health problems, conflict, and poorer education and employment outcomes. Moreover, financial stress can be seen in specific hardships (e.g., food insecurity) and lead to maladaptive attempts to regulate emotions stemming from financial stressors. Women may be more vulnerable to consequences of food insecurity and attempts to regulate emotions with eating than men. Thus, the current study examined the impact of a randomized financial stress induction on affect and snack food choice while accounting for the influence of food insecurity and gender. Participants included 269 validly responding individuals. Participants completed a measure of implicit affect prior to as well as following random assignment to one of three possible financial stress inductions with varying levels of stress. Participants then predicted the food items they would eat and their overall desired for a specific food from an array of unhealthy snack foods items. Food insecurity was associated with higher stress response to the stress induction, which was experimentally shown to increase negative affect. Positive affect after the stress induction associated with increased desire for snacks among females but not their male counterparts. Additionally, female participants with difficulties with emotion regulation reported higher desire for snacks as compared to their male peers. Future research should include examination of emotion regulation, food insecurity, and gender differences.

Arbetsrelaterad stress är ett utbrett samhällsproblem. Som en konsekvens av den flexibla arbetsmarknaden ökar tidsbegränsade anställningar, vilket kan orsaka arbetsrelaterad stress. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som kan predicera att människor upplever generell arbetsstress, och om stressen skiljer sig utifrån anställningsform. Arbetsrelaterad stress mättes flerdimensionellt genom generell arbetsstress, krav-kontroll-stöd-modellen och anställningsotrygghet. Enkäten besvarades av 181 deltagare varav 69% var kvinnor och 31% män, 76% hade en visstidsanställning och 27% hade en tidsbegränsad anställning. Resultatet visade att de med tidsbegränsade anställningar hade högre anställningsotrygghet än tillsvidareanställda. Vidare framkom att anställningsotrygghet, krav, stöd, och kön kan predicera generell arbetsstress, men inte anställningsform, kontroll och ålder. Krav förklarade störst andel variation i generell arbetsstress, därefter stöd, anställningsotrygghet och kön. Totalt förklarades 44% av variansen av generell arbetsstress. På grund av högre anställninsgotrygghet riskerar anställda med tidsbegränsad anställning mer negativa hälsoeffekter än tillsvidareanställda. Eftersom stöd har en dämpande effekt mot stress, kan det vara anledningen till att resultatet inte visade en skillnad mellan anställningsformerna gällande generell arbetsstress.