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<p>Environmental sustainability is increasingly threatened by large-scale changes to the natural environment that could significantly affect human and ecosystem health. In addition, changes to the social, political, economic and physical environment will impact populations globally.<strong> </strong>Sustainable behaviour change is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate related impacts, and develop the capacity to adapt to future climate and environmental changes. Towards these ends, it is necessary to understand how members of the public perceive and behave in relation to global environmental change. This research begins to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Canadians related to global environmental change and health. In particular, this thesis focuses on results from qualitative, semi-structured in-depth interviews (n=22) with adults (18+) in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. Participants were asked about individual and community health, knowledge and attitudes of global environmental change, actions taken to mitigate environmental change, and potential behaviour change mechanisms. Results indicate that although participants are environmentally aware and concerned about local environmental issues (eg. air pollution), detailed knowledge of specific causes, impacts and risks of climate change and global warming is limited. While the majority of respondents expressed concern about global environmental change, there was also skepticism around the causes and impacts in the Golden Horseshoe Region. Participants demonstrated a willingness to act in environmentally friendly ways, and respondents described possible environmentally-friendly activities such as recycling and reducing energy consumption. Decreasing cost, and increasing time, convenience, and enjoyment were described as incentives to undertake behaviour change. The main contribution of this thesis is the advancement of knowledge related to the public perception of climate change, global warming, and global environmental change as important emerging environmental health risks. Results are discussed relative to policy implications and directions for future research.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

This study explains the labor market outcomes of foreign-born Haitian women and men employed in the long-term care industry in Philadelphia, PA. The study is a feminist geographic analysis of their social networks related to migration and employment. This analysis is significant for two reasons. First it provides a more nuanced understanding of the linkages between the geography of networks, migration, and labor market outcomes than currently exists. Furthermore by exploring how people’s multiple social identities shape the geography of social networks, migration, and labor market outcomes, the study integrates geographic and intersectional analyses and brings feminist geography to the center of contemporary feminist debates. I engaged in an inductive qualitative research study consisting of interviews and participation observation fieldwork. I conducted in-depth interviews with 18 women and 12 men currently working in the long-term care industry, along the nursing occupational hierarchy. These interviews focused on explicating the relationships among the geography of place-based social networks, the dynamic and complex intersections of multiple social identities, and occupational mobility. Interviews examined the nature, spatial extent and significance of the social network connections that shaped their labor market, educational, and migratory histories, as well as their current daily activities. I interviewed six key informants from Haitian community groups and immigrant nonprofit organizations to gain additional information about the Haitian community in Philadelphia and the role of social network composition and use. I also interviewed seven key informants affiliated with nurse training and job placement organizations to gain more information about the trends in this field. Finally, I conducted participant observation fieldwork at three nursing program recruitment information sessions. This research is a timely intervention that brings together the academic literature of feminist geographic inquiry about urban labor markets, feminist geographic inquiry about migration, migration studies, and the feminist theory of intersectionality. The scholarship of each of these has developed along parallel but separate trajectories. By bringing them in conversation with one another, this research makes important contributions to a number of important theoretical and empirical debates within each of them. The project advanced migration studies by documenting the multiscalar geography of social networks and how the complex intersections of race, class, nationality and gender shape network composition. Furthermore the research linked co-ethnic social networks to occupational mobility within the long-term care industry. This study advanced feminist theory by integrating a Black Feminist approach to intersectionality with geographic concepts of mobility, space and place to develop a new methodological tool, the Social Relations Chart. This provides a new way to examine intersectionality in practice. Finally, this study advanced feminist geographic inquiry by documenting the complex intersections and operation of the power hierarchies of race, nationality, class and gender in the workplace in a manner not previously documented in the urban labor market literature. In sum, this research brings these bodies of scholarship together and extends collective knowledge about the mechanisms by which mobility, power, place and space are shaped by multiscalar social relations. / Geography

This twofold work first presents a state-of-the-art review of the roots and context for freight mobility barriers, and secondly investigates the key barriers to freight mobility in Canada from the perspective of stakeholders. The review provides a holistic approach to understanding the interconnected nature of mobility, spatial structure, congestion, supply chains, and the economy on generating, demanding, and hindering freight movements. The investigation develops a novel theory grounded in the experiences of stakeholders following the Strauss/Corbin extended Grounded Theory approach of symbolic interactionism. From interviews with 28 industry and government stakeholders, a total of 50 themes emerged as barriers. These barriers were grouped into four categories which frame the issue of freight mobility as being impacted by high infrastructure utilization, cost impacts of diminishing distribution reliability, rapidly growing regions and ineffective or absent policy support, and lacking a robust data collection, analysis, and sharing framework. The categories were considered in the frame of addressing goods movement barriers and were argued to be influenced by factors of cost, political risk, implement-ability, and maintainability. A framework was developed by integrating the emergent categories and factors, identifying four high-level interventions: data and knowledge mobilization; public-private collaborative freight evaluations; government funding and political support; and, capacity alterations: improvements and expansions. Overall, the key concepts of the emergent theory are to collect and analyze data to inform public-private stakeholder evaluations of policy interventions, with government funding to support both knowledge generation efforts, policy actions and capacity investments. There is a significant need to expand data collection and information sharing to enable firms and government to address physical and policy barriers which impede the effective goods movements, including infrastructure and land use planning. The theory is generally consistent with barriers identified internationally. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This twofold work first presents a state-of-the-art review of the roots and context for hinderances to the movement of freight, and secondly, investigates the key barriers to freight mobility in Canada as perceived by Canadian stakeholders. The review provides a holistic approach to understanding the interconnected nature of mobility, spatial structure, congestion, supply chains, and the economy on generating, demanding, and hindering freight movements. The investigation develops a novel theory grounded in the experiences of stakeholders in Canada. Emergent are categories which frame the barriers to freight mobility as high infrastructure utilization, diminishing reliability, rapidly growing regions, ineffective or absent policy support, and insufficient data collection and sharing. These categories are theorized to be influenced by cost, political risk, implement-ability, and maintainability considerations. The concepts are to collect and analyze data to inform stakeholder evaluations of policy interventions, with government funding to support knowledge generation, policy actions, and capacity investments.

No / There is now a body of research evaluating breastfeeding interventions and exploring mothers' and health professionals' views on effective and ineffective breastfeeding support. However, this literature leaves relatively unexplored a number of questions about how breastfeeding women experience and make sense of their relationships with those trained to provide breastfeeding support. The present study collected qualitative data from 22 breastfeeding first-time mothers in the United Kingdom on their experiences of, and orientation towards, relationships with maternity care professionals and other breastfeeding advisors. The data were obtained from interviews and audio-diaries at two time points during the first 5 weeks post-partum. We discuss a key theme within the data of 'Making use of expertise' and three subthemes that capture the way in which the women's orientation towards those assumed to have breastfeeding expertise varied according to whether the women (1) adopted a position of consulting experts vs. one of deferring to feeding authorities; (2) experienced difficulty interpreting their own and their baby's bodies; and (3) experienced the expertise of health workers as empowering or disempowering. Although sometimes mothers felt empowered by aligning themselves with the scientific approach and 'normalising gaze' of health care professionals, at other times this gaze could be experienced as objectifying and diminishing. The merits and limitations of a person-centred approach to breastfeeding support are discussed in relation to using breastfeeding expertise in an empowering rather than disempowering way. / British Academy. Grant Number: 37524

Yes / This article summarises the standpoint of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society regarding the current position of qualitative research in psychology in the United Kingdom. The article is in three parts. Part one documents the historical development of the section, outlining its rationale, remit, and current activities. These activities aim to champion and develop qualitative methods in psychology, supporting high quality work regardless of epistemological or ontological position. Part two considers the current context of our work, describing not only how qualitative methods are valued in the United Kingdom but also how this recognition is undermined, particularly through the operationalisation of our national research assessment (the Research Excellence Framework). We also consider the challenges that Open Science poses for qualitive researchers. Part three highlights some of the significant contributions of UK-based qualitative researchers to psychology, with a particular focus on feminist-informed research, discourse analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis, before pointing to future exciting possibilities based on research exploring the affordances of digital technologies and innovative synthesising across epistemologies and disciplinary boundaries.

Utilizing archival research from Berea College's Appalachian Sound Archives and Appalachian State University's Belk Special Collection, more than 45 survey results, 15 extensive interviews, and participant observations from 15 festival field sites, I examine bluegrass festivals as sites of identity production through feminist methodologies and a participatory ethnographic approach. This requires careful analysis of the nature of the genre's audience and audience members' investments in the process of framing the performance of bluegrass music's history through a shared historical narrative. More broadly, this analysis clarifies the nuanced role of bluegrass festivals in constructing generalizations about place-based identities, race, and gender within the performative space of festivals. In this assessment, the political and economic actions generated as a result of bluegrass performances are explored as temporal and spatial organizers for the (re)production and consumption of generalized ideals which are projected onto both literal and figurative southern stages. I perform this research utilizing the conceptual frameworks of theories of space and place, politics of culture, and feminist methods, combined through critical regionalism. My hypothesis is that bluegrass festivals serve as spaces to perform white patriarchal capitalist desires while relying on marginalized and hidden cultural productions and exchanges. My findings reveal that in order to gain a fuller understanding of politics culture, the stage must be subverted and the researcher's gaze must go beyond that which is typically traditionally framed to encompass the festival in its entirety. This requires seeking out not merely that which is intentionally framed but also narratives that create the stage or are omitted by dominant ways of interpreting the festival space. Ultimately, I find the significance of temporary physical sites for identity construction and the potential for dynamic social change within these spaces relies on the ability of scholars and participants alike to re-historicize and retell dominant narratives. / Ph. D. / The fantasized rural Appalachian region and greater south—a social construct, constantly created and recreated by social desires, political needs, and economic trends—has been a space of cultural production and experimentation, notably since the reconstruction era. One result has been the stereotypically regional genre of bluegrass music. This project asks how bluegrass music festivals began, for whom, and to what end. More importantly, it turns an eye towards research methods and power structures within the community. Research was conducted at Berea College’s Appalachian Sound Archives, at Appalachian State University’s Belk Special Collection, and through online surveys, participant observations, and interviews. In this dissertation, I carefully examine the role(s) of bluegrass festivals, specifically those envisioned and enacted by Carlton Haney (notably, in Fincastle, Virginia, in 1965). My findings illuminate how bluegrass festivals serve as sites where widely accepted generalizations about place (specifically, Appalachia and the rural American south) and specifically the bluegrass community are formed. Further, I address the role of gender within these spaces and the symbiotic relationship between female labor and bluegrass. The history of bluegrass festivals is approached with the intention of broadening discussions of gender, labor, and historical narratives beyond the festival grounds.

No / Purpose. This article contrasts community hospital and general hospital philosophies of care and examines how they relate to patients' and caregivers' experiences. Methods. Semi-structured interviews with 42 staff were used to produce care setting vignettes in six community hospitals and four general hospitals in the midlands and north of England. The vignettes were used with 26 patients and 10 caregivers in semi-structured interviews. Results. Community hospital and general hospital staff identified shared understandings of requirements for post-acute rehabilitation care for older people. Distinctive features were: general hospital – medical efficiency, helping patients get better, high standard of care, need for stimulation; community hospital – homelike setting, quiet, calm ambience, good views, orientated to elderly people, encouragement of social interaction, involvement of relatives in care. In the main there was symmetry between staff aspirations and patients' experience. However some concepts used and assumptions made by staff were not recognised by patients. These were characteristically reframed in patients' answers as if they were discussing subjective dimensions of care. Conclusions. There was patient and caregiver preference for the homelike environment of community hospitals. In care of older people, where the focus is rehabilitation, patient preferences are particularly pertinent and should be considered alongside clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

Yes / Health and care services for patients may improve or harm the wellbeing of their family carers. Formal consideration of these effects (also known as spillovers) in decision-making is advocated, but, to date, little is known about how they occur. This paper presents the first empirical study to determine the mechanisms by which health and care services affect family carers' wellbeing. The study focused on three major health conditions: dementia, stroke, and mental health. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 49 purposefully sampled care professionals and family carers in the UK between December 2016 and September 2017. Transcripts were coded and analysed thematically, using descriptive accounts and an explanatory account. The analysis generated six over-arching mechanisms by which health and care services affect family carers' wellbeing, through: (i) information (degree to which service delivery informs and trains family carers); (ii) management of care (shifts of responsibility for care between formal and family sectors); (iii) patient outcomes (services changing patient outcomes); (iv) alienation (feelings of alienation or inclusion created by service delivery); (v) compliance (barriers to patients complying and engaging with services); and (vi) timing or location (changes in the timing or location of services). Each mechanism was associated with sub-themes relating to both positive and negative spillovers on the family carers. The six mechanisms can be summarised with the mnemonic ‘IMPACT’. The IMPACT mechanisms may be useful in designing and evaluating services to optimise the wellbeing of carers as well as patients. / Hareth Al-Janabi is funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Career Development Fellowship (CDF-2015-08-025) for this research project. Mel Calvert is partially funded by the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre and the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham. This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Work structures our daily experiences across all spheres of life, including what we do outside of work. But our theories of work have largely sidestepped a deeper probe into the significance of leisure. This dissertation explores the process and consequences of turning leisure into labor. At the intersection of sport, technology, and entertainment, esports has created a market for professional gamers— those who make a living playing video games. My qualitative study draws on interviews with 75 esports professionals alongside digital ethnographic practices. Video gaming begins as a hobby, a self-driven pursuit undertaken purely for fun. Competitive gamers who take their play seriously find themselves not just playing but training with purpose and discipline. Professional gaming is more than a job; it is an immersive lifestyle that demands arduous work in exchange for fun. But in in getting paid to play, professional gamers enter an uncertain, unstable, short-lived career, with long demanding hours, limited future prospects, and sometimes little to no pay. In the end, some gamers choose to stay, some leave, while others push past the fun. The professionalization and commodification of professional gaming offers a unique take on the boundaries of work, and the meaning and value of our time, effort, skills, and selves. This dissertation presents two papers tracing the career arc of a professional gamer: becoming, being, and retiring. In the first paper I ask: what are the structures and practices of creating and sustaining consent to work? I examine consent through two perspectives: consent at work—high effort and productivity— and consent to work—opting into and staying committed to work itself. The second paper investigates how people balance their intrinsic motivations to work—passion, fulfillment, excitement—with the constraints of work—routine, obligations, necessity— and how this negotiation shapes their career paths. / 2026-05-21T00:00:00Z