From large-scale agriculture and farming to concentrated fishing discards, garbage dumps, game carcasses and bird feeders, human action has been increasingly affecting natural systems and animal species through the deliberate and unintentional provisioning of food resources. Anthropogenic food sources (AFSs) are often more spatially concentrated, easily accessible, abundant and stable than natural food sources. The common raven, Corvus corax, is a behaviourally flexible and ecologically adaptable species that has managed to thrive in human transformed landscapes by exploiting these anthropogenic sources of food. The aim of this research was to investigate how raven individuals vary in their use of different AFSs through space and time. I used data from a long-term GPS tracking initiative in the Upper Austrian Alps to investigate (1) the space-use of non-breeding raven individuals across this landscape to answer the questions: (2) what types of AFSs are most extensively used by ravens in this landscape, and what factors predict individual variation in AFS use (i.e., apparent reliance on and access to resources), specifically (3a) the number of AFSs visited and (3b) the probability of being at AFSs at any given point in time. Movement patterns can reveal information on the foraging decisions made by individuals, including how they use different AFSs. Non-breeding raven individuals exhibited great variation in how they moved around and used the landscape. The number of AFSs visited, but not the probability of being at an AFS (at any given point in time), varied among individuals with different ranging behaviour and of different age class (i.e., juvenile and adults) and origin (i.e., captive-bred-released and wild-caught), suggesting that experience affects AFS-use. Non-breeders differed in their use of AFSs by season, visiting the highest number of AFSs but having the lowest probability being present at an AFS in winter, potentially indicative of high foraging competition under stressful environmental conditions. They were also found to extensively exploit resources in spring, both visiting high numbers of AFSs and having a high probability of being present at an AFS, perhaps due to decreased competition (e.g., from breeders) and increases in food availability. The category (i.e., wildpark, refuse site, hut) of AFSs also influenced the probability of an individual being present at the site, likely because of differences in resource quality, quantity and replenishing rate. A very few foraging sites were highly popular, while over half attracted less than 5 individuals throughout the study. By exploiting AFSs, raven population numbers have increased across their range, raising conservation concerns (i.e., predation on threatened species and human-wildlife conflict). With a better understanding of the patterns of AFS-use and the factors influencing these patterns, I suggest that strategies to manage ravens in this semi-transformed, alpine environment should focus on controlling the supply of food at AFSs at a regional scale.

This study aimed to gain insight into the clinical practices and attitudes of currently practicing play therapists working with children with a parent with a substance use disorder. Participants in the study were play therapists credentialed by the Association for Play Therapy, either as a Registered Play Therapist™ or Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™. A total of 198 play therapists participated in the study. Results demonstrated that variables including prior education, caseload of children affected by parental substance use, and the number of years since obtaining a mental health licensure explained 16% of the variance in participant attitude scores on the Drug and Drug Problems Perceptions Questionnaire (DDPPQ). Specifically, education (β = -.335, rs2 = .884, p < .001) was found to be a significant predictor of play therapist attitudes towards substance users as it explained 88% of the variance accounted for in the effect. Additionally, although not found to be significant, caseload (β = -.134, rs2 = .325, p = .058) was found to explain 33% of the variance accounted for in the effect. This initial exploration of play therapists' attitudes towards substance users provides strong evidence towards the importance of education and training in substance use disorders. Further exploration of play therapists' educational backgrounds in substance use and clinical experiences of working with children affected by parental substance use.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a chronic relapsing disease that afflicts 10% of the US population. Recidivism rates for SUD treatment in the United States (US) remain high. Couple therapy has be shown to be an effective treatment modality for SUD, and research consistently indicates that couple therapy is more effective than individual therapy in treating SUD. Still, most US treatment centers do not use couple therapy as a primary treatment modality. To explore the underuse of couple therapy and the barriers that prevent its use, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty (N = 20) clinical directors of SUD treatment centers across the US. A theoretical thematic analysis was used incorporating Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory to assess barriers that hinder the use of couple therapy to treat SUD in addiction treatment centers. Issues related to observability, compatibility, and complexity of couple treatment were found to severely impede the implementation of couple therapy in addiction treatment centers. Recommendations include ongoing research to determine influences on agency programming, fostering pro-research environments in universities and agencies, removing barriers to access to evidence-based practice information, and promoting the federal initiative of technology transfer in SUD treatment. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The smoking rate of low-income pregnant women is almost 4 times the rate for higher-income women. A better understanding of smoking within the low-income population is needed. The purpose of this dissertation was to study smoking and related factors for pregnant and postpartum women living in poverty. The first component used Rodger’s evolutionary concept analysis method and uncovered three attributes, four antecedents, and three consequences for smoking cessation. The second (N = 1,554) and third (N = 71,944) components were a secondary data analysis of first-pregnancy Medicaid-eligible women enrolled in the Nurse-Family Partnership program from 2011-2016. The second component explored patterns of smoking and depression and their associations. Eight distinct patterns of smoking and depression were found. Smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to have depressive symptoms at the end of pregnancy (OR = 1.37 [1.04, 1.81] and 12 months post-delivery (OR = 1.93 [1.47, 2.51]. The third component investigated covariates present during early pregnancy and their relationships with smoking status and sought to find best fitting predictive models. Multivariable logistic regression showed cigarette use in the 3 months prior to pregnancy and at program intake were significant predictors for smoking status at the end of pregnancy and 12 months post-delivery. Interactive Matrix Language, Structured Query Language, and iterations of logistic regression identified 5 covariates (high school education, cigarette use prior to pregnancy, smoking status at pregnancy baseline, depression, and self-mastery) for the best fitting model at the end of pregnancy and three additional covariates (post-secondary education, marital status, and race) for the 12 months post-delivery model. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.9681 for the end of pregnancy model and 0.9269 for 12 months post-delivery model, indicating excellent prediction ability of the models. Results can be integrated in smoking prevention education, screening, and cessation intervention programs.

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The illicit drug overdose crisis is an ongoing epidemic that continues to take lives at unprecedented rates and British Columbia, Canada has been identified as the epicenter in Canada, where approximately five deaths per day are linked to unregulated substances most often including fentanyl (Service, 2022). In Victoria, British Columbia, community drug checking sites have been implemented as a public health response to the ongoing overdose crisis and the unregulated illicit drug market through a community-based research project called the Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project. In addition to providing anonymous, confidential, and non-judgmental drug checking services with rapid results, the project has conducted qualitative research aimed to better understand drug checking as a potential harm reduction response to the illicit drug overdose crisis and the unregulated illicit drug market (Wallace et al., 2021; Wallace et al., 2020). An analytical framework was utilized to understand the impact substance use stigma has on those accessing drug checking services, as well as those who avoid accessing these services as a direct result of substance use stigma. This study found that the risk of criminalization and the anticipation of being poorly treated appear to be the most significant barriers related to stigma, rather than actually experiencing stigma. Further, it appears the implementation of community drug checking creates tensions that need to be navigated as sites and services balance a hierarchy of substances and stigma; differing definitions of peers; public yet private locations; and, normalization within criminalization. The findings suggest the solution to substance use stigma and drug checking will not come from continuing as we are, but through making changes at all levels (individual, interpersonal, and structural) and thus for all people who access community drug checking. / Graduate

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