Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Food Insecurity in the District of Columbia: Do Community Gardens Help?(2021) Sodergren, Cassandra; Roby, Dylan; Wilson, Sacoby; Health Services Administration; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)More than 10% of the District of Columbia’s residents have difficulty accessing affordable and healthy food, a number that is now projected to be over 16% because of COVID-19 (Sustainable DC, 2019; Food Security Report, 2020). Wards 7 and 8 experience the highest levels of food insecurity, with one grocery store per 60,000 residents versus other wards with one grocery store per 10,000 residents (Sustainable DC, 2019). Community gardens are sometimes referred to as part of the solution to food insecurity. This study explored if there was an intersection between community gardens and food security in Washington, DC. Through qualitative interviews and an inductive thematic analysis this study concludes that community gardens have a role in food security for those who experience food insecurity. The three core themes that emerged from studying community gardens were food security, relationships, and quality of life.Item FOOD SECURITY AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A MULTISECTORAL APPROACH(2018) Wambogo, Edwina; Sahyoun, Nadine; Nutrition; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently developed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and tested its latent dimensional structure and psychometric properties using the 2014 Gallup World Poll (GWP) data. However, the similarities in psychometric structure of FIES across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that would allow aggregation of food insecurity (FI) results for SSA was not tested. Aims: To, 1) assess the validity of FIES for use in SSA, determine the prevalence of FI by country, age group, and gender, and examine sociodemographic and economic characteristics of individuals with FI, 2) explore the association between FI and place of residence, and poverty in adults aged 50 years and older, and examine whether social capital (networks), social participation (volunteerism, donations, and helpfulness) and social support (emotional and instrumental) attenuate these associations, and whether such associations may differ by gender, 3) examine the associations between proximate factors (food security and physical health) and measures of Subjective well-being (SWB), and other distal risk factors independently associated with SWB, and 4) identify patterns of risk factors associated with SFI among older adults 60 years and above in SSA, and determine the bivariate and multivariate associations between the identified risk factors with severe FI (SFI). Methods: Rasch modeling, classification tree analysis, and logistic regression analyses were applied to SSA data on 57,792 respondents aged 19 years and above in the 2014 and 2015 GWP surveys. Results: FIES has acceptable internal validity for use in SSA. Older adults and women in SSA are at higher risk of FI, and compared to other older adults, urban-poor older men and women are at higher risk for SFI. A broad range of factors explain FI and SWB among older adults in SSA, including social capital, social support and social participation. Other less investigated factors, such as cost of housing and respect of women were also found to be major predictors of SFI among older adults. Conclusions: FI, as measured by FIES, continues to be highly prevalent and needs continued monitoring and multisectoral intervention strategies. Improvements in food security will lead to higher well-being in SSA.Item Using Quantitative Methods to Explore Political Leverage, Trade Policy, and Food Security: A Case Study of the Middle East(2016) Kishi, Katayoun Mirfendereski; Telhami, Shibley; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores why some states consistently secure food imports at prices higher than the world market price, thereby exacerbating food insecurity domestically. I challenge the idea that free market economics alone can explain these trade behaviors, and instead argue that states take into account political considerations when engaging in food trade that results in inefficient trade. In particular, states that are dependent on imports of staple food products, like cereals, are wary of the potential strategic value of these goods to exporters. I argue that this consideration, combined with the importing state’s ability to mitigate that risk through its own forms of political or economic leverage, will shape the behavior of the importing state and contribute to its potential for food security. In addition to cross-national analyses, I use case studies of the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Jordan to demonstrate how the political tools available to these importers affect their food security. The results of my analyses suggest that when import dependent states have access to forms of political leverage, they are more likely to trade efficiently, thereby increasing their potential for food security.