Child abuse and neglect are significant issues facing our communities today that can lead to devastating consequences. Multiple risk factors can lead to instances of child maltreatment, including those related to the parents or guardians, the child, and the situational circumstances of families. In order to prevent child maltreatment, effective...
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DavidRothwell, Committee Member, representing Human Development and Family Science
Definitions of child poverty and measurement approaches are directly linked to poverty reduction strategies. The definition determines the measure and the measure, in turn, informs policies, which can subsequently reshape measurement approaches. Applying human rights approach and using method of document analysis, this research explores how the conceptualization and measurement...
The goal of my thesis is to (a) help reveal to the Corvallis community who comprises this local population and (b) to share with local resource agencies what potential gaps are present from the perspectives of the homeless individuals who call Corvallis home. We interviewed eight (8) individuals who have...
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DavidRothwell, Committee Member, representing Human Development and Family Sciences
The enactment of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 marked a critical moment in American healthcare history. The ACA introduced Medicaid expansion, a policy designed to extend healthcare coverage to a larger population of low-income Americans. This policy quickly became a topic of debate and led to...
The number of children entering foster care is rising, making foster parent retention a critical concern. Significant stressors accompany the role of a foster parent, which may be exacerbated by the current context (e.g., COVID-19). Although stress may influence foster parents’ decision to continue fostering, formal social support may act...
The family context is an important aspect of a child’s environment that can provide helpful resources for fostering positive development or can be a source of risk. One risk factor that is present in an overwhelming number of families is low income status (Child Trends Databank, 2019). Children growing up...
The veteran population, about 18.5 million Americans in 2016 (US Census Bureau, 2018), is particularly at risk for mental health problems. As an example, the suicide rate of veterans is about one and a half times higher than the general population (US Department of Veteran Affairs [DVA], 2018b). Another group...
Preschool outdoor play environments (OPEs) are unique spaces that, when carefully designed, can encourage child-initiated play resulting in jumping, chasing, and exploration of materials and natural spaces (Moore, 1996). Specifically, elements of the OPE can facilitate movement and increase physical activity (Baek et al., 2015) through engaged, child-initiated play. Children...
Individuals who are parents and students on TANF experience challenges accessing and persisting in higher education. This study explored the experiences of TANF recipients who are navigating a return to higher education and the impact of college on how they construct a future self. Two theoretical frameworks were used to...
The COVID-19 pandemic was thought to be especially difficult for older adults, with high risks for social isolation due to the lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic. This study sought to understand the extent to which these community-residing older adults were receiving and providing social support. Further, we sought to disentangle...
This dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy addresses two main research questions. On a macro-level it aims to answer how gender ideologies, as seen in attitudes towards the gendered division of labor, develop over time in the context of changing family policy regimes. On a...
Academic success is a salient domain of youth development and is related to positive lifelong outcomes among youth in foster care. However, youth in foster care experience compounding adversities, including maltreatment and foster care placement itself, which put them at risk of academic disengagement and underachievement. Despite these adversities, academic...
In August 2012, Oregon began enrolling Medicaid beneficiaries in coordinated care organizations (CCOs), a unique mandatory-enrollment accountable care organization (ACO) model with payment methods strongly tied to preventive care; care coordination; and integration of physical, mental and dental health care through patient-centered medical homes. This dissertation, consisting of two studies,...
Self-regulation in early childhood encompasses higher-order executive function processes and lower-order emotional responses that enable children to navigate the classroom environment. Although self-regulation and executive functions are overlapping constructs, self-regulation represents a broad assessment of children’s ability to call upon executive function processes in order to meet contextual demands. Prior...
Weight-based stigmatization (WBS) exists in healthcare and can be categorized as direct, indirect, or structural. WBS is harmful to individual’s health and contributes to worse healthcare engagement, including reduced care satisfaction, patient-centered communication (PCC), and utilization of services. Little is known about young adults’ experiences of WBS in healthcare. Young...
Under the label “Supported Employment,” services that promote competitive, integrated employment (CIE) for working-age adult with intellectual and developmental disabilities have been federally funded since the 1980s, alongside other more traditional day habilitation and segregated or sub-minimum wage employment services. However, since the early 2000s, over 30 states have adopted...