The health of pregnant women is a major concern to health care providers. This grounded theory study of 40 women examined the health of pregnant women and the special threat that poverty and violence posed to their capacity for health. Pregnant women experienced their health as an integrated part of their daily lives; that is, they reported that their health was affected by 'everybody and everything." Women's main concern during pregnancy was to have a healthy newborn and, to this end, they engaged in the process of creating a healthy pregnancy by engaging in health-enhancing behaviours. In this process, the woman focused primarily on ensuring the birth of a healthy baby. Three conditions were essential to a woman's capacity to create a healthy pregnancy: (1) the acceptance of the pregnancy, (2) adequate financial resources, and (3) supportive relationships (especially having a supportive partner). Pregnancies invariably carried with them some uncertainty, and this caused the 40 women in this study to experience a state of vulnerability which, in turn, triggered attempts to create healthy pregnancies. This led to a cycle of improving health: the more energy women had to carry out health-enhancing behaviours the better they felt physically and mentally; the more able they were to conduct their daily activities; and, consequently, the better their health. However, living within a context of poverty and/or violence increased pregnant women's vulnerability and decreased their capacity for creating a healthy pregnancy, leading to extreme stress and the experience of threat. Male violence threatened the women's ability to be connected to those who were important sources of emotional, financial, task-oriented, and knowledge-oriented support, and, thus jeopardized their ability to meet their fundamental needs. Furthermore, the lack of sufficient financial resources limited women's abilities to leave their abusive partners. In order to survive, women in these circumstances sometimes reverted to previous, often harmful, ways of coping in an attempt to reduce their high levels of stress. These coping strategies usually took the form of behaviours that required little energy, such as smoking, not eating properly, and consuming alcohol. Having financial support and a safe place to go were crucial with regard to enabling women to decide to leave abusive partners. Regaining control of their lives in this way allowed women to refocus their energy on health-enhancing behaviours. The women in this study showed incredible strength as they met the challenges imposed by poverty and abuse. They did not remain victims but took hold of their lives with courage and conviction. In order to promote the adoption of health-enhancing behaviours by childbearing women, health care providers must recognize poverty and violence as factors that significantly threaten women's capacity for health. Further to this, special efforts must be made to render culturally sensitive care to First Nations women (i.e., recognizing their cultural identity and heritage, their connection to nature, and the importance of the elders of their community). To this end, we must recognize the connections between racism, colonization, poverty, and violence. For until we have eradicated poverty, and the cycle of violence and degradation that is its legacy, we will not have succeeded in doing all we can to ensure the health and well being of our citizens.

The health of pregnant women is a major concern to health care providers. This grounded theory study of 40 women examined the health of pregnant women and the special threat that poverty and violence posed to their capacity for health. Pregnant women experienced their health as an integrated part of their daily lives; that is, they reported that their health was affected by 'everybody and everything." Women's main concern during pregnancy was to have a healthy newborn and, to this end, they engaged in the process of creating a healthy pregnancy by engaging in health-enhancing behaviours. In this process, the woman focused primarily on ensuring the birth of a healthy baby. Three conditions were essential to a woman's capacity to create a healthy pregnancy: (1) the acceptance of the pregnancy, (2) adequate financial resources, and (3) supportive relationships (especially having a supportive partner). Pregnancies invariably carried with them some uncertainty, and this caused the 40 women in this study to experience a state of vulnerability which, in turn, triggered attempts to create healthy pregnancies. This led to a cycle of improving health: the more energy women had to carry out health-enhancing behaviours the better they felt physically and mentally; the more able they were to conduct their daily activities; and, consequently, the better their health. However, living within a context of poverty and/or violence increased pregnant women's vulnerability and decreased their capacity for creating a healthy pregnancy, leading to extreme stress and the experience of threat. Male violence threatened the women's ability to be connected to those who were important sources of emotional, financial, task-oriented, and knowledge-oriented support, and, thus jeopardized their ability to meet their fundamental needs. Furthermore, the lack of sufficient financial resources limited women's abilities to leave their abusive partners. In order to survive, women in these circumstances sometimes reverted to previous, often harmful, ways of coping in an attempt to reduce their high levels of stress. These coping strategies usually took the form of behaviours that required little energy, such as smoking, not eating properly, and consuming alcohol. Having financial support and a safe place to go were crucial with regard to enabling women to decide to leave abusive partners. Regaining control of their lives in this way allowed women to refocus their energy on health-enhancing behaviours. The women in this study showed incredible strength as they met the challenges imposed by poverty and abuse. They did not remain victims but took hold of their lives with courage and conviction. In order to promote the adoption of health-enhancing behaviours by childbearing women, health care providers must recognize poverty and violence as factors that significantly threaten women's capacity for health. Further to this, special efforts must be made to render culturally sensitive care to First Nations women (i.e., recognizing their cultural identity and heritage, their connection to nature, and the importance of the elders of their community). To this end, we must recognize the connections between racism, colonization, poverty, and violence. For until we have eradicated poverty, and the cycle of violence and degradation that is its legacy, we will not have succeeded in doing all we can to ensure the health and well being of our citizens. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

This is a study of political change in a small Canadian province. At its centre is the tension between rational plans for economic development and political demands grounded in existing attitudes and interests. This must be resolved for plans to be realised in new behaviour, and some elites will extend participation in planning, (which stimulates, informs, and commits participants to implement them), while minimising its effective impact on plans. In 1940, New Brunswick was under-developed and typically peripheral, with regional political structures that coincided with economic clienteles based in primary production. Its political evolution is traced primarily through detailed studies of three exercises in development planning. These rely on newspapers, interviews, government documents both published and unpublished, and archival material. Public participation was first conjoined with planning for post-WWII reconstruction. State spending, however, continued to support established regional elites. In the 1950s, New Brunswick's Electric Power Commission planned infrastructure for foreign investors in heavy industry. This case illustrates expertise's growing influence, the importance of implicit organisational goals, and the accommodation of interests by active organisations: these were relevant to the state as a whole after power was centralised in the 1960s. Then, a comprehensive plan for one region was designed, but the extensive participatory structures implanted facilitated resistance to an imposed plan rather than its implementation. As development proceeds, ineffective participation in planning - involvement - becomes insufficient to generate consent. It is shown that individuals' political action is unlikely to be effective, so plans must be formulated, and consent secured, through interest-organisations. Provincial interest groups are explored, through their incorporation records and a sample survey. Their relations with the state (itself treated as a purposeful organisation) are analysed. It is found that the working classes, rural inhabitants, and francophones are organisationally under-represented and lack an effective part in planning. The implications of their disaffection are briefly discussed.

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Transportation networks provide a means of physical access between places which is becoming increasingly more important. As places are brought relatively closer together, or more accessible to one another, greater localized specialization of economic activity is made possible. Cities are not isolated economic and social units. [...]

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Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-122). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Acadia University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-143). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Education, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 24, 2010) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 334-379). Also issued in print.