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This study explores how students in rural areas of Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau area perceive engineering as a future career. This area is a portion of the greater Appalachian region, which has historically, faced disproportionate economic struggles when compared to other areas of the United States. However, little research on career choice exists outside of the coal producing areas of Central Appalachia. This research, in contrast, focuses on rural counties without interstate access, situated along the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, an area with an economy historically based in manufacturing. This research focuses on understanding students' perceptions of engineering as a future career and on factors that support and inhibit the development of these perceptions. To understand these perceptions, the study used qualitative, semi-structured interviews, situated in a Social Constructivist worldview, informed by the Future Possible Selves framework. Participants include 27 high school students, 7 college engineering students, and 5 college students who had exposure to engineering through a formal program but are currently enrolled in another major. Results of the study show that without access to formal programs or professionals to expose them to engineering, participants did not have a clear perception of engineering, and were not likely to pursue this career. Exposure through a formal program seemed to spark the start of engineering future possible self development by aligning engineering with activities participants enjoy. However, these participants often also believed that they lacked some key "ability" needed to become an engineer. Participants who had access to both formal programs and professionals were able to provide a clear description of potential engineering careers, aligning such careers with activities they enjoyed and, importantly, with desired attributes of their future. In addition, participants typically described relationships with professionals as mitigating the fear that an engineering career was beyond their "ability." These results provide evidence, that in this study area, printed materials and programs are not enough; people clearly make the difference in helping students develop a clear perception of engineering as a viable future career choice. This result has multiple implications for engineering educators and industries interested in K-12 outreach. / Ph. D.

This study examines promotoras from the U.S.-Mexico border. Promotoras are women who live in colonias throughout the border area and who are employed by service provider and community development organizations to do health-related outreach and education with colonia residents. The role of promotoras can be seen from the perspective of culture brokerage; that is, they are mediators between local communities and external actors such as service providers and agencies of the government. As culture brokers, promotoras facilitate the relationship among the local communities, and the system of services and outside resources. The study proposes a conceptual framework through which programs of community health workers in general, and those involving promotoras in particular, can be understood, designed, and implemented.

The primary purpose of this thesis was to examine the work methods implemented by outreach workers in their interaction with at risk youths. The secondary purpose was to research the possible difficulties that may occur and the tactics to deal with these difficulties. In order to examine the purposes presented the authors produced a qualitative study with 5 semi-structured interviews with outreach workers. After conducting the interviews, the authors used thematization in order to illustrate the empirical data. The theoretical framework used to analyze the empirical data consist of three theories; the theory of communication, system theory and social bond theory. The results of the empirical material gathered from the interviews and from the analyzation of the interviews using out theoretical framework, provided multiple answers as it relates to the purpose. The results regarding the primary purpose showed that there is a lack of evidence-practice within the field of outreach work, which in turn leads to the fact that there is a vast variety of work methods applicable within their field. The results of interviews implied that outreach workers adapt their work methods depending on the situation and their personal expertise indicating that there are no specific set of methods that have to be used. As it pertains to the secondary purpose a clear correlation is shown between the vast variety of work methods and the many difficulties that may occur. Subsequently the occurrence of the different difficulties ensues based on the diverse established work methods. The study highlights the knowledge, communicational abilities and social skills of the individual outreach worker as way to reduce the probability of the conceivable diverse difficulties from occurring.

The thesis introduces many examples of outreach activities, primarily from the Czech Republic and other European countries. Various possibilities of measure- ments of factors of their effectivity are discussed in the thesis. The used methods were: literature review, conceptual assessment tests - pre- and post-tests (CCI, PPCI), questionnaires (IMI), data analyses of participants of activities, semi-structured interviews (for validation of concept inventories), and the work also has a glimpse of ethnography because the author has organised outreach activities for ten years. The individual chapters of the work are dedicated to: the overview of outreach activities, research methods, translation of the Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI) into Czech, the first steps for developments of the Particle Physics Concept Inven- tory (PPCI), loyalty of participants of competitions, and description of various metrics which can be used for statistical evaluation of events. 1

This thesis presents a reflection on directing There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by examining the relationship between the production and community engagement developed for it. It details the process of connecting theatre for young audiences (TYA) and community engagement and discusses how the project that resulted inspired a dialogue concerning bullying. This document addresses these questions: What is the relationship between TYA and community engagement and how can they be closely connected? How can community engagement inform the production of a play for young audiences? This document explores how collaborative partnerships with student audiences and teachers inspired dialogue and influenced production choices. It discusses how participation in multiple community engagement activities resulted in a rich experience for both actors and audience. It includes a discussion about how the work might be translated outside of the university and concludes with reflective practices for connecting TYA and community engagement. / text

The library on the beachThe library has been awarded special funding from the government. The goal for this outreach library is to support children in their leisure time and to encourage their reading. The aim has been to investigate the relationship between the purpose of outreach library activities and actual user behavior.The main purpose of the essay is how the relation is between the purpose of outreach library and how the visitors’ behaviors corresponds to the purpose. Is it possible to create a Library on the beach? How the relation is between the purpose of the outreach library and how the visitor’s behaviors corresponds to the purposes? Is it possible through the investigation to get an indication if it is the right way for people to build relations to library on their leisure time?The investigation was conducted through interviews with library staff, rooting the results of the research in theories.The assessment of the results of this study through observations and interviews is that the Beach Library is more than just playing with children.The children use the library for reading and participating in various activities that can provide knowledge. The beach library is a contact creating activity, and as the visitors express and their visits show, it is experienced as an appreciated meeting point. Jochumsen et al (2012) and their model fills all four rooms, indicating that the visitors and especially the children are given a richer leisure time where each individual possibly can grow and achieve empowerment. The result also shows that adults gather around the library and use it for conversations in a social aspect but also look at the contents of magazines, movies, books and borrow them. The study has a weakness since it does not answer the question whether the visitors think that the library's content and activities raise needs and require a continuation, or if they are just happy that something happens on the beach.

The purpose of this dissertation is to understand why individuals enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) fail to retrieve food vouchers, miss WIC appointments, and become inactive in program components. In Kentucky, mothers who fail to pick up food instruments for 60 days are automatically terminated from the program. The specific research questions that guided this study are: (1) Which segments of enrollees are at greatest and least risks of nonparticipation in the WIC program? (2) How do predisposing, enabling and need characteristics impact WIC nonparticipation among eligible mothers? (3) How do WIC enrollees describe their experiences using WIC? (4) What do WIC enrollees report as reasons for nonparticipation while still eligible? Addressing these research questions will inform the development of practical outreach solutions specifically tailored for the purpose of mitigating nonparticipation in WIC and contribute to our understanding of the factors that deter eligible families from using government assistance programs like WIC.

The purpose of this study was to determine the indicators of customer satisfaction and service success of a newly established paediatric outreach nursing service. Referring agents and care recipients were both consumers of the paediatric outreach nursing service. Both groups of consumers were surveyed to determine their satisfaction with the service delivery. Two satisfaction survey tools were developed to measure customer satisfaction. The tools were piloted and refined prior to distributing them. Both tools had a series of closed-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. Eight service indicators were developed. These were designed to test the effectiveness of the service provided. The service indicators were piloted over two periods of three months and then modified based on the findings of the pilot period. The Paediatric Outreach Service (POS) is a positive service model for health care delivery. The survey results indicated that stakeholders were generally satisfied with the service delivery. When measured against service indicators that were developed for POS, the service performance was above average, with some opportunity to improve practice. Underpinned by a family-centered framework, POS has the capacity to empower children and their families in the planning and implementation of a management plan for the child’s illness. Such empowerment may lead families to practice better healthcare, develop better health-seeking practices and ultimately lead to healthier children. The results from this study has implications for nursing practice. The data obtained from this study may be useful to service providers considering commencing a paediatric outreach nursing service. Data may also be useful for existing service providers to use in order to review the aspects that consumers value against the service they currently provide. Keywords ambulatory care; paediatrics; home-nursing; community; evaluation; satisfaction; success; indicators