Digital Commons Network^™

Chronic Pain Acceptance: Optimism Mediates The Relation Between Dispositional Mindfulness And Pain Acceptance, Kelli Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Chronic pain is associated with many indicators of maladjustment. We expected that five individual components of dispositional mindfulness would be positively associated with pain willingness (Hypothesis 1) and activity engagement (Hypothesis 2). A mediational hypothesis was tested, whereby dispositional mindfulness would be positively associated with optimism and optimism would in turn be positively associated with both pain willingness and activity engagement (Hypothesis 3). Both Hypothesis 1 and 2 were partially supported. Acting with awareness and nonjudging were the only mindfulness components that were positively associated with pain willingness. Other components of mindfulness were either negatively associated with pain willingness …

Coaching Nurse Leaders In Conflict Management And Team Building To Improve Retention, Jeanette Black

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Problem: Retention of assistant nurse managers (ANMs) was identified as a concern from interviews with executive leadership and ANMs employed at a large hospital within a Northern California integrated health system. The nurse leader orientation training was reviewed, with gaps identified in conflict management and team building.

Context: The attrition rate of U.S. nurse managers in 2010 was 8.3%, higher than executive nurse leaders, with replacement costs equal to 75% - 125% of a nurse manager’s salary (Loveridge, 2017). Employee turnover and dissatisfaction due to conflict can have detrimental effects on retention, productivity, morale, and quality of patient care. …

A Desire Fulfillment Theory Of Digital Game Enjoyment, Owen M. Schaffer

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Empirical research on what makes digital games enjoyable is critical for practitioners who want to design for enjoyment, including for Game Design, Gamification, and Serious Games. But existing theories of what leads to digital game enjoyment have been incomplete or lacking in empirical support showing their impact on enjoyment.

Desire Fulfillment Theory is proposed as a new theory of what leads to digital game enjoyment and tested through research with people who have recently played a digital game. This theory builds on three established theories: Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory, Theory of Basic Human Desires, and Flow Theory. These three theories are …

The Design Of Tiny Homes And Their Significance To Simplistic Living, Monica Garcia-Guzman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines the design of tiny homes and the importance they play in the lives of those that would usually have not been able to afford a house. The research will also focus on designing a tiny home with the use of design software to fully understand the extent of the characteristics of a tiny home. The design of these small dwellings, usually about 400-500 square feet, allows for a minimalist lifestyle that can be very low cost. The same materials that are used in traditional constructed homes are used for tiny homes because it makes them more durable …

Examining The Effect Of Interruptions At Different Breakpoints And Frequencies Within A Task, Sarah Anastazia Powers

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Research on the effects of interruptions shows that they can be either costly or beneficial depending on which aspects of an interruption are manipulated. One important aspect that contributes to these conflicting results concerns when an interruption occurs. The present study explored how event segmentation theory (EST) can be used to determine optimal moments for an interruption relying on hierarchical task analysis (HTA) to identify coarse and fine event boundaries. Utilizing a 2 X 3 mixed design, undergraduate students completed a trip planning task divided into three task trials. The within-subjects factor was interruption timing, which had three levels: none, …

The Effect Of Differing Degrees Of Automation And Reliability On Simulated Luggage Screening Performance, Molly M. Liechty

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present work examined the effects of two types of decision support systems in a simulated luggage screening task: An input aid and an output aid. An input aid supports an operator’s information gathering. An output aid supports decision making and action selection. A Time-Accuracy Function (TAF) analysis was applied to isolate processing time from performance asymptote, which conventional performance measures such as sensitivity and response time do not distinguish one from the other. Sixty participants performed a luggage screening task unaided (manual condition), with the assistance of an input aid (spatial aid), and with the assistance of an output …

The Effect Of Task Interruptions And Reliable Cues On Detection Changes Within Dynamic Scenes, Kimberly N. Perry

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Interruptions are a common problem for attention and pose a threat to visual task performance. The Memory for Goals (MFG) theory suggests that strongly and accurately encoded cues can assist the ability to resume a primary task after an interruption (Altmann & Trafton, 2002). Encoded cues can undergo an activation decay during an interruption and become forgotten. Currently, there has been limited research on how visual interruptions affect cued recall within a dynamic environment. Thus, the goal of the present study was to examine the effect of cuing and task interruptions on change detection within dynamic scenes. Undergraduate students watched …

The Effects Of Vehicle Automation Level And Warning Type On Responses To Vehicle Hacking, Wyatt D. Mcmanus

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Modern surface transportation vehicles often include different levels of automation. Higher automation levels have the potential to impact surface transportation in unforeseen ways. For example, connected vehicles with higher levels of automation are at a higher risk for hacking attempts, because automated driving assistance systems often rely on on board sensors and internet connectivity. As the automation level of vehicle control rises, it is necessary to examine the effect of different levels of automation have on the driver-vehicle interactions. In addition, auditory warnings have been shown to effectively attract a driver’s attention while performing a driving task, which is often …

Development Of The Mate Expulsion Inventory, Nestor Maria

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Although humans engage in committed, long-term pair bonds, many romantic relationships end because one partner no longer desires to be in the relationship. Much of the literature on romantic relationship psychology and behavior has focused on mechanisms related to maintaining a partner. Mate retention behavior functions to deter romantic partners from defection and fend off potential alternative partners. However, when individuals are in a relationship where the costs of remaining in the relationship outweigh the benefits of leaving the relationship, mate expulsion, not retention, may be the desired goal. The present thesis examines mate expulsion behavior and psychology with the …

Human Intervention In Maritime Safety Accidents, Qinyan Sun

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Characterizing The Familiar-Voice Benefit To Intelligibility, Beatriz Ysabel Domingo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Everyday listening often occurs in the presence of background noise. Listeners with normal hearing can often successfully segregate competing sounds from the signal of interest. To do this, listeners exploit a variety of cues to facilitate the separation of simultaneous sounds into separate sources, and group sequential sounds into intelligible speech streams. One of the cues that has been shown to be an effective facilitator of speech intelligibility is familiarity with a talker’s voice. A recent study by Johnsrude et al. (2013) measured speech intelligibility of a naturally familiar voice (i.e., that of a long-term spouse) and showed a …

Resilience Among Survivors Of Adverse Childhood Experiences In Appalachia, Bridget Jeter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The empirical investigation of adverse childhood events (ACEs) and their relationship with health and well-being outcomes in later life is increasing. Less is known about factors that may promote resilience for those who have survived such challenges, such as how resilience may be facilitated for those with ACEs residing in a marginalized region such as South Central Appalachia. Multidimensional spirituality, social support, stigma related to ACEs, and Appalachian acculturation may serve as both valid cultural factors and potential indicators of resilience. Cross-sectional, simultaneous multiple regression analysis was performed on data collected from 272 adult patients of a South Central Appalachian …

Factors In Refugee Resilience Building During Humanitarian Response, Rachel Starner

Capstone Collection

If countries hosting refugees want to build resiliency and reduce dependency on foreign relief, humanitarian response and local development need to be addressed simultaneously, and collaboration at all levels of stakeholders needs to take place in planning and decision making. Additionally, innovation and strong leadership are strong factors in creating and leading new ideas as funding and world leadership dynamics change, especially with traditional leaders such as the US and the UN losing influence. Observations made at the Mahama Refugee Camp in Rwanda as well as existing document analysis reflect these traits by active efforts of camp administrators and humanitarian …

Effects Of Focal On Driver Calibration Of Attention Maintenance Performance Using Normalized Difference And Brier Scores, James Richard Unverricht

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Young drivers are specifically poor at maintaining attention to the forward roadway while driving. Additionally, drivers are poorly calibrated to their own abilities, often overestimating their driving skills. The current research examines the effect of FOCAL on a young driver’s calibration using two different measures, normalized difference scores and the Brier score. Thirty-six participants received either FOCAL or Placebo training program, immediately followed by driving simulator evaluation of their attention maintenance performance. In the evaluation drive, participants had driven through four scenarios in a driving simulator with their eyes tracked. Participants were asked to perform a mock visual search task …

The Effects Of Automation Transparency And Reliability On Task Shedding And Operator Trust, William Everett Lehman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Because automation use is common in many domains, understanding how to design it to optimize human-automation system performance is vital. Well-calibrated trust ensures good performance when using imperfect automation. Two factors that may jointly affect trust calibration are automation transparency and perceived reliability. Transparency information that explains automated processes and analyses to the operator may help the operator choose appropriate times to shed task control to automation. Because operator trust is positively correlated with automation use, behaviors such as task shedding to automation can indicate the presence of trust. This study used a 2 (reliability; between) × 3 (transparency; within) …

Religion And Spirituality In Clinical Practice: An Exploration Of Reluctance Among Practitioners., David Drew, Jessica Banks

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Across the United States, an overwhelming majority of the population claim that religion and spirituality beliefs shape their worldview and assist in coping with life stressors. Yet, the literature has shown that mental health practitioners reported discomfort integrating religion and spiritually in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to explore whether license-holding mental health professionals in Southern California develop reluctance toward addressing religion/spirituality with their clients. Through snowball sampling, 52 clinicians composed of social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists were recruited across Southern California (N =52). The participants were measured descriptively based on …

Empowering The Plus Size Body Using Dance As Therapy, Ashley Sampson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In Western society, having the “ideal” body image and size is a societal issue. It is advertised throughout media outlets that the “ideal” body is what should be desired, and any other body type is “abnormal”. This capstone thesis focused on the effectiveness of dance as therapy and changing the perspectives of all body types, to support and empower all bodies including plus-sized bodies. The use of individual interviews, in an open dialogue model, with a select few members (3) of Soul thru Sole, including the CEO of the dance company; which focuses on empowering women no matter their age, …

Threatening Instructions During A Hurricane Influence Risk Perceptions: The Case Of Fear Appeals And Changing Hurricane Projections, Daphne Whitmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to examine the effectiveness of persuasive language in the protective action recommendation of an emergency warning, which instructs people how to prepare and stay safe. Study 1 was a pilot study, which suggested that participants were able to make distinctions between hurricane categories. In study 2, the presence of fear language and second-person personal pronouns (i.e., "you") in a recommendation was manipulated. Overall, fear language was more influential than a pronoun on risk perceptions. To understand how context influences risk perceptions, participants in study 3 made decisions after each piece of information received. The …

Perceived Workload In High School Students, Emmaly Baker

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

The proposed study extended the findings of Laurie-Rose and her colleagues (2017) examining workload in children. The goal of the study was to effectively use an interactive technology—Mentimeter—to assess workload. The study employed two cognitive tasks, the Symbol-Digit Substitution and the d2 test of attention to determine whether or not students can discriminate the demands of tasks with objectively different workload profiles. The study further examined the role of Executive Function with these cognitive tasks. Workload ratings were consistent with objective demands of the task, suggesting that Mentimeter may be a valuable tool to administer workload assessments in the classroom.

Professional Impressions And Experiences Of The Complex Needs Of Human Trafficking Survivors, Jackie Klock, Kelsey Haynes

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Abstract Human trafficking is a monumental and pervasive human rights issue, and one that carries immense physical, psychological, and psychosocial repercussions to its survivors. This project explores the complex needs and service gaps that exist for survivors of human trafficking. Through a qualitative study, with six in-person interviews of professional providers in Maine, we gain access to important information regarding complex needs of human trafficking survivors. Using thematic analysis we analyze common themes throughout the interviews in relation to previous literature. Recommendations for practice are also presented.

Redefining Burnout: Exploring Common Conceptualizations And The Neurophysiology Of Chronic Stress To Establish An Integrated Allostatic Model, Danny A. Guzzi

Dissertations

Burnout is a widely researched stress-related phenomenon associated with numerous adverse outcomes for employees and organizations. Unfortunately, burnout is not well understood and research to this point has been flawed due to a lack of consensus on the definition, dimensionality, and context of the construct. Prevalent conceptualizations of burnout have been criticized for being arbitrarily developed without solid theoretical foundation and for failing to clearly distinguish burnout from depression or other work-related conditions such as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatization, and vicarious traumatization. The current project first examines relevant literature to identify commonalities among prevalent burnout conceptualizations. Then relevant stress research …

Effects Of Control Device And Task Complexity On Performance And Task Shedding During A Robotic Arm Task, Shelby K. Long

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The use of robotic arms across domains is increasing, but the relationship between control features and performance is not fully understood. The goal of this research was to investigate the difference in task performance when using two different control devices at high and low task complexities when participants can shed tasks to automation. In this experiment, 40 undergraduates (24 females) used two control devices, a Leap Motion controller and an Xbox controller, to teleoperate a robotic arm in a high or low complexity peg placement task. Simultaneously, participants were tasked with scanning images for tanks. During the experiment, participants had …

Identifying The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Over-The-Shoulder Attack Resistant Prototypical Graphical Authentication Schemes, Ashley Allison Cain

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Authentication verifies users’ identities to protect against costly attacks. Graphical authentication schemes utilize pictures as passcodes rather than strings of characters. Pictures have been found to be more memorable than the strings of characters used in alphanumeric passwords. However, graphical passcodes have been criticized for being susceptible to Over-the-Shoulder Attacks (OSA). To overcome this concern, many graphical schemes have been designed to be resistant to OSA. Security to this type of attack is accomplished by grouping targets among distractors, translating the selection of targets elsewhere, disguising targets, and using gaze-based input.

Prototypical examples of graphical schemes that use these strategies …

Painting Intimacy: Art-Based Research Of Intimacy, Michal Lev

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This art-based research explores whether — and, if so, how — the process of painting, together with witnessing and reflection on the process and imagery, further an understanding of intimacy. The research also examines the conditions that favor intimacy, the obstacles to intimacy, and the particular features of artistic media, processes and reflection, through the editing of video footage, that can further the intimate experience. The participants in the study were five adults (including the researcher) between the ages of thirty and eighty who were familiar with the creation of visual art. Among them were three women and two men …

Subjective Measures Of Implicit Categorization Learning, Audrey Zlatkin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The neuropsychological theory known as COVIS (COmpetition between Verbal and Implicit Systems) postulates that distinct brain systems compete during category learning. The explicit system involves conscious hypothesis testing about verbalizable rules, while the implicit system relies on procedural learning of rules that are difficult to verbalize. Specifically from a behavioral approach, COVIS has been supported through demonstrating empirical dissociations between explicit and implicit learning tasks. The current studies were designed to gain deeper understanding of implicit category learning through the implementation of a subjective measure of awareness, Meta d', which until now has not been validated within a COVIS framework. …

The Art Of Caring: Increasing Empathy Through Conversation, Joy Harlynking

Honors Program Theses

In our every day lives we use empathy more than we would assume, however a current empathy deficit has led us to wonder how we can increase our empathy. The present study aimed to find a way to increase one’s empathy, specifically through an emotional conversation with another individual. There were 61 participants who were separated into either an emotional or factual conversation group. They first took surveys including the IRI, closeness questions, and the pre Revised Eyes Test and then engaged in conversation with another participant. They then took a post Revised Eyes Test after their conversation. The results …

Defining The Relationship: Intentional Decision-Making And Sexual Risk In Adolescent And Young Adult Romantic Relationships, Kayla Knopp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents three manuscripts addressing different sets of findings related to the "defining the relationship" (DTR) talk in adolescents' and young adults' romantic relationships. Paper 1 describes descriptive results from two studies, one utilizing a college undergraduate young adult sample (N = 341) and the other using a nationwide online sample of 15 to 17-year-old adolescents (N = 248). Key findings from Paper 1 indicate that DTR talks were used frequently in the relationships of young people, and were associated with relationship commitment and sexual behaviors. Paper 2 describes more in-depth analyses testing associations between having a …

Storytelling Study, Samantha Irene Pepe

Honors Theses and Capstones

Expressive prosody (i.e., a manner of communication that is characterized by lively rhythm and tempo) and inexpressive prosody (i.e., monotone speech) present different environments for listening to a story during a read-aloud session. This study aims to assess whether there are visual attention differences for preschoolers in these varied prosodic environments and how this affects comprehension.

Ground Vehicle Driving Aids: Assessing Driver Workload And Performance In Degraded Visual Environments, Kayla Riegner

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With degraded visual environments being a current priority to the Army, several research programs have been initiated to develop a complete sensor-to-soldier systems to allow operators to see through DVE conditions while conducting ground vehicle tactical operations. To enable indirect-driving maneuverability and threat detection in degraded visual environments (DVEs), CCDC’s ground DVE program developed and tested a range of sensors and driver aid display systems. Six candidate driving aids were identified and tested in three simulator studies and two field tests to examine the effect of driving aids on driver workload and performance in different visibility conditions. The simulator-based testing …

Evaluation Of Wildland Firefighter Leadership, Rebecca Rose

All Master's Theses

There has been growing research evaluating hazardous occupations to gain a better understanding of how crisis leaders and followers, such as wildland firefighters make decisions in high-stress environments. In this study, wildland firefighters were examined to assess their decision-making skills using a wildland fire simulation computer game called the Networked Fire Chief (NFC). These results were compared against both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Big Five personality traits using Saucier’s abbreviated Mini-Markers. Only a small sample of wildland firefighters was available to participate due to the intense 2017 fire season. Additional participants were recruited through CWU Sona system. Results …