Socio-emotional (or psycho-social) well-being, established through nurturing relationships and community experiences, enable children and adults to evolve into caring, non-violent, emotionally-healthy citizens. As globalization, social changes and political unrest have—in recent decades—led to increased levels of “socially constructed uncertainty” (Marris, 1991), they put a squeeze on social support networks and caretaking relationships, and jeopardize the prospects for the constructive satisfaction of fundamental psychological needs across diverse segments of human societies. This dissertation evaluated purposefully-selected development texts' tendencies to make socio-emotionally conducive—or neglectful—program recommendations, by proposing and applying a socio-emotional capacity building framework that draws from research produced in the areas of developmental psychology, peace psychology, and sociology. A mixed-methods text-analytical approach was deployed that combines ideological and critical discourse analyses, as well as quantitative/qualitative content analyses for determining the extent to which development texts acknowledge the relevance of socio-emotional well-being for human and social capital development. The study followed an expertise-based evaluation model called “connoisseurship and criticism” (Eisner, 2002), by first describing and analyzing policy texts, and subsequently engaging in a critical text evaluation. The study found that UN conference reports indirectly acknowledge the relevance for socio-emotional enablement and protection, in the context of discussions related to human and children's rights, education, or women's empowerment. However, they only marginally discuss the need to foster socio-emotional well-being as a human capacity development rationale per se. The IMF, while acknowledging responsibility for the social conduciveness of macro-economic development interventions, does not discuss issues related to socio-emotional capacity development. The World Bank's strategic plan and other strategy papers touch on issues of socio-emotional capacity development only tangentially. The study concludes that the discourse communities that have authored the development texts analyzed in this study largely ignore the question of socio-emotional well-being for human and social capital development. Their discourse “backgrounds” discussions about the kind and nature of social structures necessary for nurturing socio-emotional enablement and well-being. Developmental psychologists are challenged to “infect” socio-economic development discourse by calling for the effective integration of the theme of socio-emotional well-being into socio-economic development publications.

In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. This paper explores the implications of these new healthcare policies in the United States, given that a universal healthcare system has already being put in place. More specifically, it explores the question "Does the new 'universal healthcare' system bring with it obligations for citizens participating within the system to be more conscientious about their health and lifestyle choices? And if so, on what grounds?". I argue that individuals have strong social and moral obligations within a universal healthcare system to take the minimal provisions required for staying healthy (eating healthy, exercising, getting vaccinations, smoking cessation, and attending routine "check-ups" in order to not burden others with easily avoidable healthcare costs. These new obligations are grounded in the duty of fair play stemming from the fact that health insurance is a cooperative scheme. Furthermore this paper will show that when a universal healthcare scheme is in place, the healthcare resources become a 'common good' which is susceptible to a collective action problem known as 'the tragedy of the commons', and thus also give recommendations for its solution. The solutions that I endorse, although designed to address the free-rider problem recognized David Winkler, shows that Winkler's solution goes too far by indiscriminately punishing every unhealthy individual within a universal healthcare system. / Master of Arts

2025 / Medicaid is the primary payer for almost half of all US births. Medicaid enrollment can enable access to timely prenatal care. Yet only 68% of Medicaid-covered pregnant people attend prenatal visits during the first trimester. Late receipt of prenatal care may in part be driven by delayed Medicaid enrollment. Understanding timing of Medicaid enrollment may illuminate a path to increasing equity in accessing timely prenatal care. Enhancements to prenatal care can improve maternal health outcomes. Timely Medicaid enrollment may help enable access to such enhancements, including Medicaid-financed benefits that support maternal health. Perinatal doula care can help reduce cesarean delivery and preterm birth rates, and reduce racial inequities among PPP. This has prompted growing interest by Medicaid to support doula services. The goal of this dissertation is to improve our understanding of Medicaid as a policy lever to improve maternal health. I seek to achieve this by characterizing 1) timeliness of Medicaid enrollment prior to and during pregnancy, as well as at delivery hospitalization; (2) the research landscape on doula care policies in Medicaid programs; and (3) the policymaking process related to Medicaid support of doula care services. This dissertation includes three studies. In the first, An Assessment of Medicaid Enrollment Timing Among Medicaid-Covered Deliveries, I use the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System — a national database of Medicaid claims — to measure timing of Medicaid enrollment among Medicaid-covered deliveries, and associations between sociodemographic characteristics and timing of enrollment. In the second, Medicaid Reimbursement for Doula Care: Policy Considerations from a Scoping Review, I distill key policy considerations related to the inclusion of doula care as a Medicaid-covered benefit. In the third, Access to Perinatal Doula Services in Medicaid: A Case Analysis of 2 States, I conducted semi-structured interviews with key policy informants to explore facilitators and barriers to Medicaid reimbursement of doula care in Oregon and Massachusetts. Given the value of maternal Medicaid coverage and the significance of doula care, there is an urgent need to better understand patterns of Medicaid enrollment and the evolution of state Medicaid policies on doula care. / 2027-01-17T00:00:00Z

<p>This dissertation examines the interplay between school district assignment and reassignment policies and the elementary public school parents select for their children. The sample in all chapters includes the third and fourth grade students in a subset of growing North Carolina school districts from 2003/04 to 2010/11. The data are derived from historical, longitudinal secondary data sources containing student, school, and district records. All chapters employ quantitative longitudinal data analysis methods. Chapter 1 identifies the groups of students who do not comply with their school assignments. Chapter 2 identifies the groups of students who are reassigned to different schools, and to schools of varying quality, when school districts enact reassignment plans. Chapter 3 identifies the groups of students who do not comply with school reassignments. Together, the chapters demonstrate the interplay between residential decisions, school choices, and the resulting educational opportunities of observably different students. Consistent with existing bodies of literature, the findings demonstrate unexplored processes through which advantaged families maintain the most desirable educational opportunities for their children. Policy implications of these findings are also discussed.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis looks at how parental leave and early child care policies in the U.S. can reshape our understanding of the role of government, parental responsibility, and gender within paid labor in order to dismantle the systems of oppression and domination that lead to motherhood inequality. The United States is the only developed economy without mandated paid parental leave, and privatized child care costs can be greater than tuition at public universities. As a result, mothers, still overwhelmingly the primary caregivers in families, are forced to juggle the responsibilities of paid and domestic labor in a way that leads to employment discrimination. Because policies have a unique power to incentivize behavior and change socially ingrained biases, I propose that Congress institute paid parental leave through the FAMILY Act and revives the Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971 to establish public child care.

The disenfranchisement of felons follows a long American tradition of selectively granting the most coveted democratic tradition - voting. As a collateral "civil" consequence to criminal conviction that is legally deemed as non-penal, felon voting prohibitions have been used as an exclusionary tool for certain otherwise eligible voting populations. Current research finds that African-Americans individually and collectively may experience diminished voting power due to felon voting laws (Uggen & Manza, 2002; Manza & Uggen, 2004; King & Mauer, 2004). The purpose of this research is to examine opinions toward felon voting prohibitions in a state that has one of the most restrictive laws in this area. Kentucky is the only state that absolutely restricts all convicted felons from voting and maintains the same voting rights restoration process regardless of offense type, whereas other similarly restrictive states have legally, though not practically, streamlined this process for some offenders. The sample consists of predominantly African-American college students that live and learn as students in Kentucky. It utilizes a modified version of the national survey instrument created by Manza, Brooks & Uggen (2004) - which measured attitudes toward felon enfranchisement based on variations of the correctional status of a convicted criminal and the crime committed by an individual. The data collection instrument was modified to include questions to examine respondent demographic characteristics and moderator variables that may impact opinions toward felon voting prohibitions. The analyses examine the interactions between socio-demographic characteristics, level of knowledge, attitudes towards rehabilitation, and opinions towards the restoration and retention of voting rights. The findings suggest that the majority of respondents favor restoration and retention, though subgroup differences among respondents and subcategory differences among the dependent variables, such as offense type and offender correctional status, determine the level and strength of support for felon voting rights. The implications of the findings are contextualized by examining the importance of voting in a democracy; the significance of examining the attitudes of young African-Americans; the impact of socialization on political opinions; and the effect of legal status and offense type on opinions towards felon voting rights.

Stereotypes continue to be present and impact the assessment of women’s leadership effectiveness. Using a data set of senior executives in the public sector from The Leadership Circle multi-rater assessment tool, research supports the theory that gender influences how bosses rate their direct reports on leadership effectiveness. Survey data identifying leadership characteristics in the assessment as communal or agentic substantiate role congruence theory that women are still penalized for behaving contrary to the feminine stereotype. Role congruence theory seeks to explain the barriers that prevent women from rising into leadership positions. Representative bureaucracy explains the consequence in public policy when women are not in the senior executive positions of authority.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks redefined the federal approach to disaster planning. Prior to 9/11, disaster and emergency management meant preparedness for and response to natural and man-made emergencies such as floods, hurricanes, fires, and civil discord. The post-9/11 paradigm shift, a multi-pronged approach called "homeland security" strategy, now incorporates a multitude of man- and nature-made disasters to include border and transportation security; emergency preparedness, response and recovery against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats; as well as information analysis and infrastructure protection. These new priorities were communicated to the state and local governments. The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional study is two-fold: to analyze the post-9/11 federal homeland security (FHS) priorities' acceptance among the Virginia's local public emergency-management practitioners; and, explore the factors that explain the degree of adoption. The degree to which Virginia localities have adopted the FHS priorities is investigated through an opinion survey of Virginia's local practitioners. The survey is designed to shed light upon two key research questions: (1) Have the priorities of the new federal homeland security strategy been accepted as the local priorities? (2) Is population a factor whether or not the federal HS priorities were accepted? It is hypothesized that (1) localities have paralleled the federal government in expanding their approach to disaster management; and, that (2) larger localities (population greater than 50,000) have done so to a greater extent than the small ones (population up to 50,000). Each research hypothesis is tested through operationalization of five federal HS priorities. This study's survey instrument replicates California's August 2002 survey questionnaire, administered less than a year from the terrorist attacks. While California findings show local practitioner's acceptance of the federal priorities in general, crime and economic concerns reported to be the officials' top two concerns over the homeland security-related threats. This study also explores the probable theoretical explanation of the overall FHS priorities acceptance or lack thereof, by analyzing the two likely explanatory concepts: path dependence and bureaucratic management. It is hoped that operationalization of these explanatory models will facilitate the development of future surveys to allow for a greater understanding of local responses.The questionnaire was mailed to Virginia's all 141 local practitioners to collect their perceptions regarding the FHS strategy's five priorities: (1) homeland security as the primary mission for local emergency management; (2) increased level of HS-related planning and preparedness; (3) increased intergovernmental cooperation; (4) increased citizen participation; and, (5) increase in HS-related spending. The findings were used in evaluating: (a) the localities' acceptance of the federal priorities; and (b) localities' comparison based on the two populations groups: small (up to 50,000) and large (over 50,000). Because California's survey instrument was replicated to determine Virginia officials' perceptions, a comparison of Virginia and California officials' opinions was conducted to compare similarities and differences between the two states over a three-year gap. The overall findings of this study will help expand the existing knowledge concerning localities and homeland security. They will also help with policy decisions at state and local levels, particularly in matching homeland security needs with scarce federal resources. While the evolution of homeland security and emergency management policies before and after 9/11 suggest that path dependence and bureaucratic management played a critical role in persuading the localities to follow federal policies and guidelines, the survey questions do not directly answer why the new FHS priorities were accepted. Future researchers may benefit by modifying the existing survey instrument by adding a couple of questions to get at the "why" question more effectively. For example, practitioners may be asked the degree of their compliance to federal requirements.

The report, A Crucible Moment, published in 2012 by the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement described a crisis in higher education surrounding the lack of civic learning and engagement opportunities for students. This crisis has led to decreased political participation and a general lack of knowledge in civics education (National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 2012). Educating students for citizenship in America’s colleges and universities will assist with sustaining the country’s democracy by engendering a sense of civic responsibility in young adults that will last throughout their lifetime. This qualitative case study examined the relationship between two institutions of higher education (IHEs) and AmeriCorps programs to determine how the partnerships operated and whether they addressed the recommendations for higher education cited in A Crucible Moment. IHEs are using A Crucible Moment as a guiding document to think about civic learning and democratic engagement. While many are in the process of creating new initiatives and programs to address those issues, this study focuses on two existing programs that may provide a framework for strategically integrating civic engagement into higher education using a readily available government resource—AmeriCorps. With recent budget cuts impacting education, it is difficult for many IHEs to obtain additional funding to support initiatives directly related to student learning. As a result, finding resources to implement civic learning and democratic engagement opportunities that are often perceived as tangential to the education process is nearly impossible. AmeriCorps, now in its 20th year of implementation, has had a steady stream of funding and bipartisan support from the government over the years. IHEs that sponsor an AmeriCorps program have the potential to civically engage students and promote mutually beneficial community partnerships. Using inteorganizational collaboration theory as a framework, I examined two different models of IHE-AmeriCorps partnerships. Based on the levels of collaboration, I was able to assess the degree to which these types of partnerships could be feasible at distinctly different IHEs given their organizational structure and resources. Although the findings of this research are not generalizable, they provide insights into how IHE-AmeriCorps partnerships operate and demonstrate that, in the cases examined, they do implement the key recommendations of A Crucible Moment. As a result, an IHE-AmeriCorps partnership could be an effective and relatively inexpensive way for an IHE to enhance their civic engagement opportunities.

Magister Artium - MA / Youth unemployment has become a national crisis in South Africa. The South African government has put policies in place to combat this challenge. Among the policies that have been implemented to address the problem of unemployment, is the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS). The purpose of this study is to analyse the implementation of the NSDS by using the Department of Correctional Services (DSC) as a case study. The study explores the importance of public policy monitoring and evaluation within the DCS. This study analysed the implementation of the NSDS by looking at the Five C’s approach to implementation. The Five C’s (content, context, commitment, clients and coalitions, capacity) which also formed part of the literature review and theoretical framework. The Five C’s will form the basis of selection and assessing the implementation of the NSDS in the DCS and its subsequent monitoring and evaluation. The researcher used a triangulation approach as a research technique, which means that the researcher utilized different methods in collecting data. The research used DCS as a case study, and also made use of academic journals, government reports and policies.