This dissertation describes and critiques the development of aging policy in Trinidad and Tobago over the past sixty years. Using a case study approach it examines the political environment (which is influenced by the political culture and the political economy with its style of governance) and the policy design (i.e., how the policy was crafted, and what it proposes) behind the drafting of a national aging policy. The draft aging policy was produced as a result of a series of government meetings, which commissioned some stakeholders ad omitted key “voices” of others. Apart from the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Retired Persons (TTARP) and the Tobago Institute of Elders, there were no organized groups of older persons that liaised regularly with the government and/or the private sector on aging issues.

The problem issue emerging from the study was the paucity of interest groups expressly concerned with aging in Trinidad and Tobago and the approach taken by the government.

The embedded case study relied on document review and archival records, media reports, and formal interviews with stakeholders (i.e., policy makers, aging advocates, concerned citizens) to examine the progress (or lack thereof) of establishing a national aging policy. Trinidad and Tobago’s political culture is shown to be at variance with its political systems and institutional structures and TTARP’s role to be ineffective in advancing the nation’s aging issue. Suggestions are offered on how Trinidad and Tobago’s development of a national aging policy might benefit from approaches taken elsewhere, most notably, in Jamaica.

Jennifer Alyson Rouse (2003)

Not much is known about “What Works” in correctional settings for substance-abusing female offenders. Programs designed specifically for female substance abusing offenders and quality evaluations of those few programs that exist are lacking. However, the number of incarcerated female offenders is growing and at a higher rate than male offenders.

To address this information gap, a true experiment was conducted to compare two treatment approaches for substance abusing female offenders: the Therapeutic Community (TC) and an innovative Heuristic System (HS). Two variations of the latter treatment approach-with and without dedicated housing- were tested.

This dissertation reports on the results of this experiment. The evaluation is a multi-faced one that includes a process component and an outcome component. The outcome component of this evaluation consists of two sets of survival analyses and three sets of dropout analyses. The dropout analyses were conducted to determine if there were differences among offenders who agreed to participate in the evaluation, who were released to the community, and who completed an episode of treatment, compared to those who did not.

Survival analyses were conducted to compare: 1) the HS with dedicated (HD) versus non-dedicated (HND) housing to assess the impact of the housing component within a single treatment philosophy; and 2) the HD treatment and the TC treatment to compare the impact of two different treatment philosophies, each with a dedicated housing component. Each survival analysis was conducted on all offenders ever assigned-an Intent-to-Treat analysis (ITT)- as well as on those offenders who completed at least three months of treatment- an Effect of Treatment on the Treated analysis (TOT).

The process evaluation determined that the program was implemented as designed with few exceptions. A number of barriers, problems, success factors, and suggested improvements were identified.

The dropout analyses found that offenders who were White were significantly more likely to participate in the evaluation than non-White offenders. Also, the older the offender and the longer the sentence, the more likely the offender was released to the community.

The results of the survival analyses did not yield any significant treatment effects. However, several covariates were found to affect recidivism rates. Specifically, in the HD-HND comparisons, the longer the offender’s sentence, the slower the rate of recidivism. In addition, severity of drug problems was significant in all four TOT HD-HND base model comparisons. In the HD-TC comparisons, the higher the PCL-R Factor 1 score, the slower the rate of recidivism. In the Base Model including all variables with arrests as failure event, the lower the PCL-R Factor 2 score, the slower the rate of recidivism in the ITT and TOT models. However, this was only significant at the 10% level.

Although none of the treatment variables had significant coefficients, it is premature to conclude that the Heuristic System is ineffective. The non-significant findings may be due to program and study limitations. Before discarding the HS as an ineffective treatment program philosophy, further research and evaluation are warranted.

Debra Michelle Kafami (2006)

Scholars and practitioners have increasingly paid attention to the changing nature of American suburbs, with emphasis on the decline in the nation’s older suburbs near central cities. The existing body of literature has not focused on the variation of change within and among these suburbs. In this study, I investigate how Baltimore’s first-tier suburbs have changed since 1970. I rely on U.S. Census place and tract level data and direct observation to: 1) develop a definition of first tier suburbs; 2) examine how the first tier suburbs changed between 1970 and 2000; and 3) identify and explain patterns of differentiation among and within Baltimore’s first tier suburbs.

In this study, I developed a definition of first tier suburbs using spatial and temporal criteria.

Suburbs had to share a border with the central city, or they had to share a border with a suburb adjacent to the city and have a housing stock with at least 50 percent of the units built prior to 1970. A descriptive spatial statistical analysis found evidence of suburban change in all of Baltimore’s 21 first tier suburbs. The patterns of change demonstrate that first tier suburbs declined on multiple indicators from the 1970 status, although the extent of decline varied among and within these places. Principal components and cluster analyses in 1970 and 2000 demonstrated that the transformation of the economic status, race, age, and labor force characterized Baltimore’s suburban changes.

Thomas J. Vicino (2006)