Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Well-being
This qualitative descriptive study described caregiver recognition of personal and social contextual resources guiding purposeful participation in self-care and well-being. This research builds on health empowerment theory, which conceptualizes health empowerment as an inherent, relational and ongoing process, expressive of health patterning of well-being (Shearer, 2009). By 2060, Americans 65 years and older will number nearly 98 million, more than double that in 2013. The number of older adults aged 85 and older will double from 6 million in 2003, to 14.6 million by 2040 (Health & Human Services, 2014). Sixty-five million adults serve as informal caregivers, many themselves suffering from chronic conditions (National Alliance for Caregiving & AARP, 2009). Current research has examined the burden of caregiving, but little is known about caregiver strengths and resources that foster personal self-care and well-being. Twenty-one older adult informal caregivers participated in focus groups or individual interviews. Length of time as caregivers ranged from one year to more than ten years; 24% of the participants were men. Seventy-six percent of the participants reported having one or more chronic condition. Themes generated from qualitative content analysis provided a basis for validating and extending the health empowerment theory among older adult informal caregivers. Across participants, empowerment reflected recognition of strengths and resources, as well as growth consistent with valued goals facilitating new health patterns and well-being. The health empowerment theory perspective provided a relevant basis for theory-based intervention focused on promoting strengths, abilities and potential among older adults, limiting vulnerability to diminished health and well-being.
Significant health inequalities exist between different castes and ethnic communities in India, and identifying the roots of these inequalities is of interest to public health research and policy. Research on caste-based health inequalities in India has historically focused on general, government-defined categories, such as “Scheduled Castes,” “Scheduled Tribes,” and “Other Backward Classes.” This method obscures the diversity of experiences, indicators of well-being, and health outcomes between castes, tribes, and other communities in the “scheduled” category. This study analyzes data on 699,686 women from 4,260 castes, tribes and communities in the 2015-2016 Demographic and Health Survey of India to: (1) examine the diversity within and overlap between general, government-defined community categories in both wealth, infant mortality, and education, and (2) analyze how infant mortality is related to community category membership and socioeconomic status (measured using highest level of education and household wealth). While there are significant differences between general, government-defined community categories (e.g., scheduled caste, backward class) in both wealth and infant mortality, the vast majority of variation between communities occurs within these categories. Moreover, when other socioeconomic factors like wealth and education are taken into account, the difference between general, government-defined categories reduces or disappears. These findings suggest that focusing on measures of education and wealth at the household level, rather than general caste categories, may more accurately target those individuals and households most at risk for poor health outcomes. Further research is needed to explain the mechanisms by which discrimination affects health in these populations, and to identify sources of resilience, which may inform more effective policies.