Little research has focused on street-involved youths’ social relationships. As some scholars have suggested that leisure is inherently social, my research sought to understand whether participation in structured and/or unstructured leisure activities influence street-involved youths’ social relationships with other street-involved youths as well with members of the mainstream community. Written in the publishable paper format, this thesis is comprised of two papers, both of which utilize Foucauldian theory. In the first paper, I examine the impacts of street-involved youths’ participation in Health Matters, a leisure program for street-involved youths in Ottawa, Canada. In the second paper, I examine street involved youths’ unstructured leisure activities (e.g., leisure in non-programmed settings) and their subsequent social impacts. Based on my findings, I argue that street-involved youths use both structured and unstructured leisure to form crucial social connections to make their lives more bearable.

This research is an in-depth look into a museum striving to put into practice qualities of a socially responsible museum by providing educational programs for an underserved audience. The purpose of this research is to study the qualities and characteristics of two Community Partnership programs for court-involved youth at the San Diego Museum of Art. Identifying the qualities and characteristics of this particular museum program could be utilized by other museums in creating similar programs. Detailed data collection in the form of observations, interviews, and documentation provided a comprehensive view of this program. The research concludes with recommendations for other museums implementing similar programs and is based on the findings from the San Diego Museum of Art's work with court-involved youth. / text

Background: The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to determine the prevalence of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) and to examine the role of survival sex in sexual risk among street-involved youth in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Methods: Between 1999 and 2003, 743 Winnipeg street youth were interviewed in three separate cohorts as part of a national multi-centred study by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Results: Among the 673 Winnipeg street youth who responded to questions relating to survival sex, 26.3% reported they had engaged in survival sex. Females and Aboriginal youth were at greatest risk for sex trade involvement. Youth engaged in survival sex were diagnosed with significantly higher rates of STBBI; experienced greater amounts of abuse; and were at greater risk for participating in high risk sexual behaviours compared to their non-sex trade counterparts. Conclusion: Gender specific, culturally appropriate, and youth oriented prevention and intervention strategies are urgently required to reduce the prevalence of STBBI and survival sex among this at-risk population.

Background: The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to determine the prevalence of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) and to examine the role of survival sex in sexual risk among street-involved youth in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Methods: Between 1999 and 2003, 743 Winnipeg street youth were interviewed in three separate cohorts as part of a national multi-centred study by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Results: Among the 673 Winnipeg street youth who responded to questions relating to survival sex, 26.3% reported they had engaged in survival sex. Females and Aboriginal youth were at greatest risk for sex trade involvement. Youth engaged in survival sex were diagnosed with significantly higher rates of STBBI; experienced greater amounts of abuse; and were at greater risk for participating in high risk sexual behaviours compared to their non-sex trade counterparts. Conclusion: Gender specific, culturally appropriate, and youth oriented prevention and intervention strategies are urgently required to reduce the prevalence of STBBI and survival sex among this at-risk population.

In this study, classic grounded theory is used to explore and explain the relationship between street-involved youth and the streets. The main concern of the youth in this study is negotiating duality, and at the heart of this negotiation process is seeking safety on the streets while struggling to emerge into mainstream society. Data was collected in a mid-sized urban Canadian city through semi-structured interviews, observation, conversations and photography with 52 current street-involved youth, 6 former street-involved youth, and 8 adults who work with this population. The study led to the development of a substantive theory of negotiating duality, the core construct which emerged as the means by which street-involved youth handle their need to both survive in the day-to-day context of the streets while simultaneously working their way off the streets and back to mainstream society. Four domains of duality emerged as significant: dual logic, dual space and place, dual identity, and dual normality. Additionally, three interrelated concepts (social processes) emerged from the data: seeking safety, struggling to emerge, and living outside normal. These processes were characterized by five bifocal strategies: escaping, provisioning, anchoring, routing, and using (in)visibility. This theory is a model of person-place interaction, explaining the dynamic relationship street-involved youth have with and between the street and mainstream society. The findings of this study enhance understanding about street-involved youth and their interaction with the streets and mainstream society and provide a framework that can be utilized to inform youth homelessness services, policy development, and future research. / Graduate

Cette thèse est le récit d’un cheminement où chaque étape a permis une nouvelle émergence. Nécessité de revenir dans l’après-coup pour expliciter les investissements qui ont été les nôtres dans les objets que nous avons explorés tout au long de cette aventure doctorale, et dans un double mouvement de « re-viens » et « sur-viens », je recouvre le passé d’un regard nouveau, ce déjà là inaccessible à la conscience. Jusqu’à ce jour où les mots ont livré leur secret : après trois années d’errances le « moment » doctoral s’est épanoui dans le lien vécu, perçu, conçu, invitation à laisser filer la ligne d’écriture pour dériver d’un dispositif-thèse qui fixait les conditions d’impossibilité d’une re-connaissance, et condamnait notre expérience de vie à rester le résidu de l’Univers-Cité. Oser la recherche impliquée. Rapport à l’écrit, écriture, les mots, le texte, le « récit qui fait thèse », à la croisée de la rencontre, de l’invention et de la découverte, se dévoile. Il fallait re-penser la thèse à la perspective d’une nouvelle nécessité : la Ligne, lien fécond qui tisse les ponts entre lignes de vie, lignes de fuite, lignes de partage, lignes de conduite, lignes d’écriture… hors lignes qui trace les soubassements de ce travail de recherche, dont le matériau biographique inscrit un corps à corps inédit avec les concepts. Cette ligne d’écriture nous perdra entre « correspondances », journal de recherche, journal d’étonnement et récits de vie. C’est ainsi que l’horizon de la thèse inscrira le pouvoir formateur de l’écriture, une écriture comme instrument d’objectivation de l’expérience, comme mode de pensée permettant la mise en discussion et l’appropriation de savoirs. / This thesis is the aftermath story of a journey. It relates how a doctorate has developed into an existential journey. To that end, I had to deviate from what a thesis usually stands for with its limiting terms, as they do not allow the identification of the subject as the object of the research. The "thesis story" presents how the discourse has taken over a life story in the process of the research. I had to re-think the thesis in light of the biographical materials as they emerged facing up to the concepts : daring implied research and facing up to one's own words. This line of writing will lead us into 'correspondences', a research diary, a diary of amazement and life stories. So much so, that the thesis will allow the shaping power of the writing to reflect a way of thinking, discussion and argumentation, as well as new knowledge.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Little research has focused on street-involved youths’ social relationships. As some scholars have suggested that leisure is inherently social, my research sought to understand whether participation in structured and/or unstructured leisure activities influence street-involved youths’ social relationships with other street-involved youths as well with members of the mainstream community. Written in the publishable paper format, this thesis is comprised of two papers, both of which utilize Foucauldian theory. In the first paper, I examine the impacts of street-involved youths’ participation in Health Matters, a leisure program for street-involved youths in Ottawa, Canada. In the second paper, I examine street involved youths’ unstructured leisure activities (e.g., leisure in non-programmed settings) and their subsequent social impacts. Based on my findings, I argue that street-involved youths use both structured and unstructured leisure to form crucial social connections to make their lives more bearable.

Research on factors that predict opioid cravings is lacking. Anhedonia may be a predictor of cravings and particularly relevant to cravings when people struggle to regulate emotions but has yet to be examined among justice-involved populations. This study aimed to examine the relationship between anhedonia, opioid cravings, and emotion dysregulation (ED) in this population. Participants completed several measures. The results showed that anhedonia and opioid cravings were significantly related at the bivariate level, but not in moderation models. The DERS-36 total score and ‘DERS Impulse’ subscale had a significant, positive effect on cravings in moderation models. In a higher severity sample of people who used heroin, there was a significant interaction wherein the relationship between anhedonia and cravings was positive at high levels of difficulty controlling behaviors when distressed. These findings indicate the need to understand how anhedonia and ED influence opioid cravings among justice-involved people with severe heroin use.

Using the universe of individual asylum cases in the United States from 2000–2004 and a difference-in-differences research design, we test whether Sept. 11, 2001 decreased the likelihood that applicants from Muslim-majority countries were granted asylum. Our estimates suggest that the attacks resulted in a 3.2 percentage point decrease in the likelihood that applicants from Muslim-majority countries are granted asylum. The estimated effect is larger for applicants who share a country of origin with the Sept. 11, 2001 attackers. These effects do not differ across judge political affiliation. Our findings provide evidence that emotions affect the decisions of judges.