published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the components of women's domestic health work in networks surrounding poor Mexican American and Anglo households and compare women's experiences as domestic health workers. Women representing 10 Mexican American households and 10 Anglo households and their surrounding domestic networks were recruited for this study. Criteria for participation included the presence of at least one child in the household $\le$5 years of age and household income at or below the federally-defined weighted poverty threshold. Sources included, first, 66 interviews with women (n = 26) residing in the study households. Second, women kept 3-week daily health diaries on behalf of all household members. And third, women participated in an inventory of household medications. The study employed several analytic methods, including descriptive statistical analyses, phenomenological insight, taxonomic analyses of women's knowledge structures, life history analysis, thematic analysis, and narrative analyses. The results of the study emphasized several points, including the: (a) gendered but hotly contested nature of domestic responsibility for health, with responsibility negotiated between men and women in households, and disputed between households and social service agencies; (b) significant role played by women's informal networks in defining and evaluating the enactment of maternal responsibility; (c) workings of women's coalitions and cooperatives that protect women's threatened interests and redistribute resources among women; (d) influences governing the transmission of child health and illness knowledge and skills across generations of women; (e) double-edged nature of self-medication that appears as both a source of female autonomy and expertise, yet paradoxically and simultaneously can act as an inappropriate, self-palliating balm for the hurt incurred from inadequate accessibility to quality professional health care for poor women and children; and (f) cross-cutting influences of ethnicity and historical situation in each of the above domains. Women pieced together resources from their cultural background, femaleness, and sometimes their poverty; all these factors also entailed contradictory disadvantages in the production of household health. The health and social policy implications of this study were described in detail in the dissertation, as were the women's own visions for an approximation of utopia.

The poverty problem in China is highly stereotyped since it was perceived. It has been suggested that poverty alleviation be exclusively concerned with the revival of the regional economy by means of large-scale capital investment or the improvement of the livelihoods of the recipients by means of rural integrated development programmes. The strategy of sustainable development is regarded as an ideal meeting point in supporting environmental rehabilitation, while maintaining acceptable living standard. However, upon a broad review of poverty alleviation in China, the strategy has to be re-examined. On the one hand, since space is too widely defined, the integrative aspect has been overlooked, in that the political process connecting the region, the county, the township and the village is not explored adequately. On the other hand, since poverty is too narrowly pursued, the segregate aspect has been neglected, such that the spatial process connecting the county and the township has not been assessed. The purpose of this research is to expose the hidden agenda of poverty alleviation in China, in which economic growth and basic needs are made sub-regional issues, while the designation of poverty is a concern of national development. The Xihaigu Poverty Alleviation Project situated in the eight counties in the Southern mountainous District of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region during the period 1983 to 1992 was investigated. Both policy analysis and household survey were undertaken. It is found that, when space is more narrowly defined and when poverty is more widely pursued, a targetting mechanism emerges by involving the government more deeply in an inclusive approach. As such, mainstream thinking on poverty alleviation can be more critically reassessed by reinstating basic needs to the core of the inquiry on the poverty problem. / Ng Wing-fai. / "November 2000." / Adviser: Yeung Yue-Man. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-01, Section: A, page: 0281. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-359). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

In my research I use qualitative content analysis to determine if and how the hegemony of the capitalist class in the United States influences the content of news texts on poverty. I analyze messages from two contrasting historical eras, the War on Poverty era and the post-Reagan era.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013. / The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions on the causes of poverty amongst the people at Mavambe village. The need for this study was relevant and necessary because most studies conducted on poverty were done on a general scale without taking into account the views of the rural people, such as traditional, community leaders and also local women. Consideration towards the rural areas is very minimal when it comes to fighting poverty. According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, (1996), everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing, and the right to access health care services, including productive health care, sufficient food and water, social security. South Africa has had almost eighteen years of democracy; however most of those constitutional rights have not been adequately attained. Yet the Constitution suggests that those rights are guaranteed and that the state must take reasonable steps, to achieve the progressive realization of those rights. The study was qualitative in design. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents in line with qualitative studies. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with respondents The lack of houses, clean drinking water, adequate sanitation, and poor roads, in rural areas are major signs of poverty in rural areas. Because of lack of jobs and resources, majority people are in abject poverty. The study evaluated the scope and extent of poverty in the Mavambe village. The study further evaluated the perceptions of local, traditional and community leaders with regard to causes of poverty in the area. The study also solicited local people‟s perceptions and descriptions of poverty. The study highlights the multidimensionality of poverty. The study made the following key findings, there is lack of agricultural land and capital, the study recommends that every household should have little piece of land to grow crops and other productive uses and that those who want to do commercial farming should be assisted with capital. Another key finding is on income and social grant, the study recommends that the elderly and mothers who are not of school going age should be given social grant not school kids. The study also revealed that poor education system is a major cause of poverty and recommends that government must provide quality education, health, housing and sanitation. The study also revealed that there is lack of entrepreneurial development and thus recommends that entrepreneurial culture be natured as a viable option to deal with 6 issues of unemployment. The study also revealed that there is no infrastructure development in the rural areas and recommends that this should be given priority to change the economic set up of these areas. The study revealed that there is lack of values, respect and moral decay and recommends that families should cultivate and teach values to their children. The study concluded by providing recommendations on how poverty could be solved. These recommendations could also be of assistance for future policy development with regard to combating poverty.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions on the causes of poverty amongst the people at Mavambe village. The need for this study was relevant and necessary because most studies conducted on poverty were done on a general scale without taking into account the views of the rural people, such as traditional, community leaders and also local women. Consideration towards the rural areas is very minimal when it comes to fighting poverty. According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, (1996), everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing, and the right to access health care services, including productive health care, sufficient food and water, social security. South Africa has had almost eighteen years of democracy; however most of those constitutional rights have not been adequately attained. Yet the Constitution suggests that those rights are guaranteed and that the state must take reasonable steps, to achieve the progressive realization of those rights. The study was qualitative in design. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents in line with qualitative studies. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with respondents The lack of houses, clean drinking water, adequate sanitation, and poor roads, in rural areas are major signs of poverty in rural areas. Because of lack of jobs and resources, majority people are in abject poverty. The study evaluated the scope and extent of poverty in the Mavambe village. The study further evaluated the perceptions of local, traditional and community leaders with regard to causes of poverty in the area. The study also solicited local people‟s perceptions and descriptions of poverty. The study highlights the multidimensionality of poverty. The study made the following key findings, there is lack of agricultural land and capital, the study recommends that every household should have little piece of land to grow crops and other productive uses and that those who want to do commercial farming should be assisted with capital. Another key finding is on income and social grant, the study recommends that the elderly and mothers who are not of school going age should be given social grant not school kids. The study also revealed that poor education system is a major cause of poverty and recommends that government must provide quality education, health, housing and sanitation. The study also revealed that there is lack of entrepreneurial development and thus recommends that entrepreneurial culture be natured as a viable option to deal with 6 issues of unemployment. The study also revealed that there is no infrastructure development in the rural areas and recommends that this should be given priority to change the economic set up of these areas. The study revealed that there is lack of values, respect and moral decay and recommends that families should cultivate and teach values to their children. The study concluded by providing recommendations on how poverty could be solved. These recommendations could also be of assistance for future policy development with regard to combating poverty

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2012

The ability to extract meaning from text is an important skill. Yet many students struggle with effectively comprehending what they read. In comparison with research carried out with younger students, there is a lack of research in the reading comprehension of adolescents (Grades 4 – 12). The goal of this dissertation was to increase our understanding of the factors that underlie the poor reading comprehension abilities of this older group of students. This dissertation includes two studies drawn from a sample of 137 age 15 year old high school students. Study One utilized archival data from government mandated tests of reading achievement of 78 students administered in Grades 3, 6, and 10, and results from a commercially available test of reading comprehension administered in Grade 10. This longitudinal study examined the prevalence of the stability, cumulative growth, and compensatory models in reading comprehension development. Probabilities of later-grade reading achievement categorization conditioned on earlier-grade reading achievement were computed, the prevalence of developmental paths was estimated, and tests of regression to the mean were conducted. Overall findings suggest considerable stability across time. Study Two examined the specificity of the comprehension weaknesses of 15 year old readers whose comprehension skills are below those expected from their skill in word reading and nonverbal ability (unexpected poor comprehenders). Regression analyses identified unexpected poor comprehenders, and two contrast groups (expected average and unexpected good comprehenders). Characteristics of unexpected poor comprehenders are examined after controlling for word-reading accuracy, phonological decoding, reading rate, nonverbal ability, and vocabulary. Findings indicate a critical disadvantage of unexpected poor comprehenders lies in their weakness in vocabulary and that comprehension difficulties related to the identification of details and main ideas in summary writing remain when vocabulary is controlled. Implications for interpreting previous and informing future research are discussed. Results of both studies are discussed with respect to the nature of the reading comprehension construct, identification and remediation of reading comprehension difficulties, and the assessment of reading comprehension. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-28 13:32:25.641

The aim of the present thesis was to examine the cognitive and language profile in children with poor reading comprehension using a longitudinal perspective. Even though comprehension skills are closely connected to educational success, comprehension deficits in children have been neglected in reading research. Understanding factors underlying reading is important as it improves possibilities of early identification of children at risk of developing reading problems. In addition, targeted interventions may prevent or reduce future problems. Descriptions of the cognitive and language profile in children with different types of reading problems from an early age and over time is an important first step. The three studies included in this thesis have been conducted using data from the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS). In the ILTS, parallel data have been collected in the US, Australia, Sweden and Norway. Altogether, more than 1000 twin pairs have been examined between the ages 5 and 15 years using well known predictors of reading, along with decoding, spelling, reading comprehension and oral language measures. In the three studies, the Simple View of Reading has been used as a theoretical framework and children who exhibited different kinds of comprehension related difficulties have been identified at different ages. The studies include both retrospective and prospective analyses. The results across studies indicated a robust oral language deficit in all subtypes displaying comprehension problems. The oral language deficit was widespread and included vocabulary, grammar and verbal memory. In addition, the oral language deficit was manifested as compromised phonological awareness and print knowledge prior to reading instruction. Reading comprehension deficits were late emerging across studies in children with comprehension difficulties. / Syftet med avhandlingen har varit att undersöka den kognitiva och språkliga profilen hos barn med läsförståelseproblem i ett longitudinellt perspektiv. Förståelserelaterade problem är eftersatt del av läsforskningen, trots att denna typ av svårigheter har visat sig få stora konsekvenser för fortsatt framgång i skolan. Att förstå underliggande faktorer när det gäller läsning är viktigt för att kunna identifiera barn tidigt i utvecklingen och anpassa undervisningen efter deras behov. Att beskriva barnens kognitiva och språkliga profil från tidig ålder och över tid är ett viktigt första steg i detta arbete. De tre studierna som ingår i avhandlingen har baserats på data från the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS). I projektet har data samlats in i USA, Australien, Sverige och Norge. Sammanlagt har mer än 1000 tvillingpar testas vid upprepade tillfällen i åldersspannet 5 till 15 år. Testmaterialet innefattar ett stort batteri av språkliga och kognitiva tester, samt tester i läsning och stavning. Med utgångspunk i the Simple View of Reading har grupper av barn med olika typer av förståelseproblem identifierats vid olika tidpunkter i utvecklingen. Studierna innehåller både retrospektiva och prospektiva analyser. Resultaten visar en tydligt bred språklig nedsättning hos barnen med förståelserelaterade problem som visar sig tydligt i mätningar av ordförråd, grammatik och verbalt minne. Problemen är stabila över tid och visar sig tidigt i utvecklingen även som fonologiska svårigheter. Svag språklig profil påverkar inte läsförståelse förrän barnen gått i skolan ett antal år.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-277).