The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 created programs to promote gainful employment across the United States. Extant studies on WIA's effectiveness have not examined youth workers, however, and youths are excluded from federal and Texas employment measures. This study was designed to address a research gap regarding postprogram employment outcomes for WIA youths and the types of services received: remedial or remedial plus job training. The study was guided by the theory of experiential learning and examined prior work experience as a variable, using a quasi-experimental design and secondary data. Data were obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission's database and the Unemployment Insurance wage database for a 4-year period after program completion, covering all youths in Texas who completed the WIA program between July 2007 and June 2009 who could be matched on relevant demographics across service groups. No significant difference was found in the mean number of postprogram employment quarters with respect to services received; however, youths with work experience prior to program exit had significantly more quarters of employment afterwards compared to those with no experience. The study findings do not support a return on investment from job training in terms of future employment; however, post hoc nonparametric analyses suggest such services might be helpful to youths without prior work experience. Reexamination of the job training services have resulted in positive social change by identifying more effective use of funds to promote employment among youths, especially those without work experience. Also, this study suggests efforts to help youths obtain early employment experiences and to help them remain employed.

Adolescent girls of color (GOC) experience significant changes in social expectations during puberty based on gender and racial inequity. This divergence usually changes the trajectory for GOC relative to leadership development and may affect their career choices, life decisions, and overall directions for growth. This qualitative study explored the experiences of women of color (WOC) who hold senior leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies. Critical theory grounded this study as its aim is to identify marginalization of any kind and determine ways to free those who are oppressed. Research questions focused on the perceived challenges the participants experienced during adolescence and the intervention strategies that aided them in overcoming those challenges. A qualitative case study used purpose-driven semi structured interviews of 4 WOC who hold senior leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies. Data were coded, categorized, and analyzed to uncover themes. The study results revealed four themes based on data analysis of the participants' responses: (a) lack of representation, (b) lack of direction, (c) racial and gender discrimination, and (d) lack of collaboration. Identifying strategies that aid GOC in overcoming gender and racial inequity relative to leadership development may support policy creation that helps provide funding for nonprofit leaders whose mission is to prepare adolescent GOC for leadership. This study may also initiate conversations about how the intersection of gender and race adds additional barriers for adolescent GOC as they are shaping their identities.

In the past decade, weather disasters have claimed thousands of lives and resulted in billions of dollars in damages. Awareness of a storm threats can occur hours or days in advance, but disaster assessments indicate many people do not heed storm warnings. This problem is old. Despite 50 years of research, and new technologies and training to improve responsiveness, the basic issue– understanding how people interpret and respond to weather warnings–persists. An exploratory study that incorporated human behavior theories and communication models not traditionally associated with severe weather analysis was conducted to learn how weather risks are perceived by nonscientists. Emergency management personnel, a group consisting of emergency managers, support staff and law enforcement telecommunicators from two Midwestern states, were asked to read tornado warnings issued for storms that occurred in 2013 and 2014. Individuals were then interviewed to learn (a) how they perceived the risk and (b) their response to information conveyed by the warnings. Data analyses software was used to examine perceptions of severity, susceptibility, and response efficacy. Findings indicated that perceptions of risk and response depend upon relationships: trust in the source of the message, job responsibly, knowledge of risk, personal experience, and the type of threat perceived. Benchmarks, that did not previously exist, were established for perceptions of severity, susceptibility, and response efficacy to severe weather warnings. This study is one step in the process of positive social change to improve the warning process and save lives. The tangible impact of positive social change will be demonstrated by warnings that increase public responsiveness and result in fewer weather related fatalities.

Traumatic death survivors are an at-risk population that could benefit from social work interventions. This action research study explored social work perspectives on crisis practice with traumatic death survivors in acute medical settings. The research questions focused on whether early crisis interventions by social workers would benefit traumatic death survivors, which interventions were recommended in crisis practice with this population, the potential effects of repeated trauma exposure on the social workers providing the crisis interventions, and recommendations to manage this professional exposure to trauma. The purpose of the study was to explore social work perspectives on potential benefits of crisis interventions with traumatic death survivors and potential effects of crisis practice on the social workers providing the services. Crisis theory and family systems theory informed the study. Participants were selected from a convenience sample of licensed social workers, and data were collected in 1 focus group and 3 in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic analysis. Findings supported the benefits of social work crisis interventions for traumatic death survivors and the need for self-care, self-awareness, and support to reduce the risks of negative effects of crisis practice on social workers. Specific crisis interventions recommended for practice include the roles of advocate and guide, grief support, viewing of the body, and explanation of next steps. An increase in knowledge and recommendations for future practice based on study findings might promote positive social change by raising awareness about the problem and improving social work practice with traumatic death survivors.

Research has suggested that behaviors beginning in childhood or adolescence may play a mediating role in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and involvement in prostitution. It is currently unknown how poor self-concept and low self-efficacy play a mediating relationship in this association. The primary purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate early youth problem behaviors such as poor self-concept and reduced self-efficacy as possible mediators in the association between childhood abuse/neglect and participation in prostitution during young adulthood. The central research questions explored the association between childhood maltreatment and involvement in prostitution, as well as how self-concept and self-efficacy mediate the association between childhood maltreatment and engagement in prostitution in young adulthood. The Eco-developmental theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data consisted of 4,882 adolescents in Grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-1995 school year from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 61 of whom self-reported activity in prostitution. Results from Pearson correlations and Structural Equation Models indicated a relationship between childhood maltreatment and prostitution during young adulthood; self-efficacy and self-concept did not mediate this relationship. Childhood abuse was not a significant predictor of self-efficacy and self-efficacy was not significantly related to prostitution. Childhood maltreatment was a significant, negative predictor of positive self-concept. By demonstrating that childhood maltreatment is linked to prostitution in young adulthood, this research can foster positive social change, by showing the value of creating intervention programs that target childhood abuse in order to reduce involvement in prostitution in young adulthood.

This study is a qualitative examination of twenty current and former users of marijuana, using in-depth interviews as the units of analysis. The relationship between the participants’ perceived costs and rewards, type and amount of linguistic accounts used, as well as frequency of use are explored using Homans' exchange theory and Lyman and Scott’s theory of accounts. Reasons for continuation, regulation, and cessation of use are also studied. It is found that the participants use marijuana for a varied amount of reasons; these reasons directly influence how they account for their behavior as well as their frequency of use, particularly whether or not they use marijuana on a daily basis.

Known colloquially as “purewater”, sachet water has outcompeted all alternatives to Ghana’s unreliable government water infrastructure and serves as the cheap, portable, omnipresent solution for narrowing the safe water access gap. Each single-use sachet holds 500 ml of filtered potable water and is heat-sealed in a high-density polyethylene bag. Insufficient and often skeptical scholarship exists surrounding the state of sachet water in Ghana, and almost no research incorporates qualitative data into analysis and future recommendations. In the face of incomplete and decontextualized research on sachet water, this study aims to use qualitative data concerning Ghanaian viewpoints to showcase the recent positive developments in the lifecycle of sachet water. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with dozens of sachet water producers, regulatory parties, consumers from all over the country with diverse backgrounds, and members of the formal and informal waste management sectors over the summer months of 2013 and 2014. Although viewed as a problematic water alternative from a number of health and environmental viewpoints, this thesis demonstrates that sachet water is becoming more potable and better recycled. Results suggest that registered sachet water producers continue to raise water quality, private market waste management solutions are starting to curb the number of inappropriately discarded sachets, and Ghanaians generally are satisfied with sachet water’s role in increasing reliable potable water coverage.

In my thesis I interviewed female chefs and asked them to share their pathway to becoming a professional chef and/or restaurateur. I found in my research that women's experiences within the domestic kitchen have been documented and recorded, as they are seen as the gatekeepers of that space within the home. However, though women have moved into working in commercial kitchens the stories that the media highlights and records are of women and cooking within the domestic kitchen. I want to begin to build a second volume of stories, of women’s lives, work and experience around cooking within the professional sphere. In my project I explored and investigated why female chefs believed commercial kitchens are still dominated by men, and how these women who I interviewed believe their gender has hindered or helped them achieving their executive position in their restaurant. I argue that the lack of personal accounts and publications highlighting women’s accomplishments within the professional sphere are causing commercial kitchens to remain to be structured within a patriarchal framework. By collecting these stories, and documenting the unique pathways these women took to holding executive jobs in the restaurant industry I hope that the stories will begin to dismantle the patriarchal framework that dominates the commercial kitchen by adding a feminine narrative to the discourse.

This research study was divided into three phases. Phase I included 157 university undergraduate students. It was designed to assess the content (face) validity of the Leisure Exercise Efficacy Scale (LEES). Phase II consisted of 240 university undergraduates. This phase investigated the internal consistency, factorial structure, and construct validity of the LEES. Phase III was the main study, a total of 331 university undergraduate students were involved. It has three objectives: 1) to examine the theoretical relationships among the variables of "leisure exercise efficacy", "leisure exercise motives", "leisure exercise barriers", and "leisure exercise behaviours" of university students using Social Cognitive Theory as the framework; 2) to assess the effect of a required physical education program, with interventions based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, on the leisure exercise behaviours of university students; and 3) to examine the role that the Hong Kong environment plays and identify possible ways to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise. Path analysis results showed that leisure exercise efficacy was a significant and direct predictor of leisure exercise behaviours 3 months after the commencement of the semester. The re-specified Model of University Students' Leisure Exercise Behaviours was found to be tenable. However, repeated measures analysis of variance results showed that there were no significant 3-way interaction effects (Group x Gender x Assessment Time) or 2-way interaction effects (Gender x Assessment Time) (Group x Assessment Time) for all variables. Qualitative results showed three perceived leisure exercise barriers: 1) time; 2) attitudes towards exercise; and 3) structural. Three general dimensions emerged from the qualitative data to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise: 1) reinforcement of leisure exercise efficacy; 2) enhancement of leisure exercise motives; and 3) encouragement of a university sports culture. Practical implications of the research findings and recommendations for future research are given in this study.

Government social interventions hold considerable power over what choices and opportunities impoverished households have available to escape the oppressive socioeconomic trappings of poverty. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service's Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is one such program. While there are many positive mission statements of social governance, this study focused on the regressive potential for oppressive institutional policies and practices. Theoretical frameworks guiding the study were Pierce's 1979 model of oppression and Crenshaw's 1989 intersectionality theory. The quantitative design's hypothesis and research question focused on whether significant relationships exist between LIHTC project placement and highest concentrations of six commonly recognized socioeconomically oppressive conditions, each separately defined by U.S. Census demographics and American Housing Survey (AHS) structured-interview data. Mann-Whitney U tests showed non-significant differences between the two source dataset's separate identification of socioeconomically oppressive conditions across Minnesota's Twin City metropolitan area. Spearman's rho and Cohen's standard show similarly significant results from both pairings of AHS and Census data with the LIHTC project database. Results support conclusions that LIHTC project placement most often maintains external socioeconomic oppressors in the lives of program residents. Implications for positive social change hinge on the realization that social interventions may not be entirely anti-oppressive. In such cases, these conclusions should lead policymakers to change or replace programs so that interventions are not an accessory to the subjugation of service users to oppressive circumstances.