As the need for community care increases, complete and up-to-date information about organizational structure is crucial to making appropriate decisions about the expansion of adult day services. The absence of uniform national policies results in states and communities being relegated to balancing limited funds with the demand for adult day services, and in many areas, the lack of adult day care centers altogether. This study provides an overview of the types of state reimbursement, the availability of different funding sources, and the utilization of the sources in various states.

Hierarchical regression was used to determine if high school community type is an effective predictor of academic success when controlling for demographics, prior academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and current commitment or work habits for students entering Austin College in 1992,1993, and 1994 . Findings revealed that there is a relationship between attending high school in community types of rural and independent town controlling for the effects of SAT scores, high school rank, sex, and late application deposit on first semester grade point average.

This study is an investigation of the relationship between selected structural characteristics of the community and innovation among cities. Four major Structural characteristics were chosen to serve as independent variables. These independent variables were community differentiation, community poverty, community maturity and type of local government. Innovation, as measured by applicant status to the federal Urban Development Action Grant Program, served as the dependent variable. Analysis of the data indicated support for several of the postulated hypotheses. The structural characteristic community differentiation was found to be significantly related to applicant status. For the structural characteristic community poverty no significant relationship to applicant status was observed. Community maturity revealed a significant relationship to applicant status. Finally, for the structural characteristic local form of government a significant relationship with applicant status was observed. Based on the interpretation of the findings, an original typology of innovation was developed. This typology included planned revitalizing innovation, social enhancing innovation, entrepreneurial stimulating innovation, and needs inducing innovation.

The primary purpose of this thesis is a description of some of the major changes which the population of Texas has undergone, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. Other approaches are possible. For example, it is both possible and important to develop the relationship of population change to social problems. However, it is not the purpose of this thesis to investigate these relationships. It is the purpose here to view the population problem in almost entirely a factual sense, basing observations and interpretations on strictly demographic data.

This study is a secondary analysis of survey data collected in fall 2000 from patients of a safety-net hospital and its eight community health outreach clinics in Fort Worth, Texas. The study examined three objectives. These include explaining the utilization of Pap smear tests among the sample who were low-income women, by ascertaining the determinants of using these services. Using binary logistic regressions analyses primarily, the study tested 10 hypotheses. The main hypothesis tested the race/ethnicity/immigration status effect on Pap smear screening. The remaining hypotheses examined the effects of other independent/control variables on having a Pap smear. Results from the data provide support for the existence of a race/ethnicity/immigration status effect. Anglos were more likely to have had a Pap smear, followed by African Americans, Hispanic immigrants, and finally, by Hispanic Americans. The persistence of the race/ethnicity/immigration status effect, even when the effects of other independent/control variables are taken into account, may be explained by several factors. These include cultural differences between the different groups studied. The race/ethnicity/immigration status effect on Pap smear screening changed with the introduction of age, usual source of care, check-up for current pregnancy, and having multiple competing needs for food, clothing and housing into the …

Structural differences between communities which exhibit a tendency toward innovation and communities which fail to exhibit this tendency are studied. The Model Cities program is used as a test case for the tendency toward innovation, and two samples (applicants and non-applicants) are matched on the basis of population size. Four structural elements are examined as related to applicant status: community differentiation, community poverty, community social-human resource commitment, and the centralization of local governmental structure. Each of the structural elements is further refined by operationally defining specific measures. Community differentiation is measured by occupational and racial/ethnic differentiation. Community poverty is reflected by economic and educational poverty. The variable of community social-human resource commitment is developed using the following measures: per capita community fund goals, per capita amounts raised, per cent of goal raised, and the number of private social agencies in a community that are devoted to social-human resource needs. The centralization of local governmental structure is measured by the presence or absence of the city manager form of government, the presence or absence of non-partisan election, the size of city councils, and the per cent of the city council elected at-large.

This study of adoption procedures in Tarrant County, Texas provides evidence with which the program in Tarrant County may be evaluated. In addition, the study outlines a general idea of the adequacy or inadequacy of the adoption statutes of Texas.

This study evaluated the relative association of socioeconomic, minority group and housing characteristics of census tracts with the racial composition of residential areas within one southwestern city between 1950 and 1980. The unit of analysis was the census tract; the data were taken from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing 1950-1980 for the Fort Worth, Texas SMSAs. The Index of Dissimilarity compared racial segregation in the Fort Worth urbanized area for blacks with all others (1950-1980) and for Spanish and non-black minorities with all others (1960-1980). The data show little change in the extent of residential segregation over 30 years. The multiple regression showed that the degree of segregation in census tracts became increasingly predictable based on past minority concentration in the same neighborhood. Lagged social status and minority group variables significantly predicted the percent of the population that was black or Spanish in census tracts ten years later. Beta weights for percent black or percent Spanish were always the strongest in each tract regression and largely determined the level of segregation that existed in tracts ten years later. This paper asserts that social status characteristics must approach more equal levels between minority and majority groups before integrated neighborhoods …

This study examined changes between 1950 and 1970 in women's aggregate occupational position in 168 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Specifically, the research was designed to study three aspects of women's occupational position. First, women's distribution across occupational categories (absolute position) was examined. Absolute position was defined as the percent of working women in professional and managerial occupations. Second, women's occupational position compared to men (relative position) was examined. This involved women's share of the total jobs in each occupational category. Third, the statistical relationship between women's occupational position and their labor force participation rate was investigated using zero-order correlations.

This research expands on recent sociological studies which maintain that environmental contaminants in America are disproportionately placed in neighborhoods inhabited by minorities and the poor. Prior studies have focused on the predictor variables which identify areas of contamination near residential neighborhoods, yet fail to explore the socio-political and historical factors which contribute to these phenomena. The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory 1990 database, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission's Annual Report of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Program for 1992, and the U.S. Census Bureau's 1990 Census Data for Dallas County were utilized in pinpointing industries violating toxic release standards. Socio-historical data was obtained from government and historical records and reports, books, and newspaper clippings on Dallas County. Maps and data were obtained from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and the cities of Dallas and Garland. Chapter I discusses the synergetic forces of capitalism, urban growth, uneven development, and settlement patterns resulting in the distribution of environmental contaminants. Chapter II reviews the literature and presents evidence that race and class are strong predictors of where environmental contaminants are located. Chapter III outlines the data and methods employed. Chapter IV traces the historical development of Dallas County. Chapter …

This research investigated physician and emergency room use among representative samples of children in the Dallas metropolitan area (N = 1606) and among patients who used Children's Medical Center of Dallas' First Care services (N = 612). Through telephone interviewing, caregivers to children under fifteen years of age were asked about an array of health service use behaviors, social-psychological issues related to acquiring health care for their children, and demographic characteristics as outlined by the Andersen & Newman model of health care service use. Children's use of physician services is best predicted by whether or not they have medical insurance, their level of income, and whether or not they have medical homes. Although having commercial managed care and fee-for-service Medicaid insurance consistently predicted increased physician use, neither independently reduced reliance on emergency rooms for non-emergent care. Managed care insurance and Medicaid did, however, significantly improve the odds that children would have medical homes, which significantly decreased emergency room use for non-emergent care. Further, increasing physician use and reducing reliance on hospital emergency rooms for non-emergent care will require ensuring that children have medical homeseither private physicians or community health centersat which they can readily and consistently receive sick and well …