Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Between The Educational Experiences Of Senior Dental Students And Their Attitudes Towards Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Alya Sarkhouah

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This research explores final year dental students’ knowledge and attitudes towards the treatment and management of patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) as related to variations in the dental practices in Special Health Care Needs (SHCN) training they received. A quantitative, non-experimental study was conducted, employing survey data collection methods, to address descriptive, comparative, and correlational questions. One cohort, Class 2020, attended extramural rotations in specialized clinics for patients with I/DD and in-person lecture concerning this topic. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its health-related restrictions, another cohort, Class 2021, did not have the same opportunity as rotations …

Oral Health Care: An Autoethnography Reflecting On Dentistry's Collective Neglect And Changes In Professional Education Resulting In The Dental Hygienist Being The Prevention-Focused Primary Oral Health Care Provider, Maureen Patricia Mcweeney Harrington

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Many factors influence poor oral health among disadvantaged populations including socioeconomic circumstances, knowledge of disease prevention strategies and ability to implement those strategies, public policies, insurance status, insurance policies, dental providers and other challenges to accessing dental care. Often these issues converge and result in early disadvantages to achieving good oral health (Horton & Barker, 2010). Addressing even some of the factors that contribute to poor oral health may provide ways to change the dental health status of historically underserved populations. The purpose of this research is to explore my role as a practitioner and researcher in the creation of …

Saudi Arabian Students In Postgraduate Dental Programs: Investigating Factors Associated With Burnout, Asiri Amal

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Burnout related to emotional and physical study or work demands affects an individual’s performance and well being. This study focused on Saudi Arabian dental residents studying in the United States and the United Kingdom who are faced with many challenges in pursuit of a higher education degree. A survey including demographic and MBI questions was distributed to assess this population’s level of burnout. The Maslach Burnout inventory (MBI) was has been widely used in the literature to assess three components of burnout: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DEP), and (diminished) personal accomplishment (PA). Potential predictors of burnout level, tested for statistical …

Fragment-Based Excitonic Coupled-Cluster Theory For Large Chemical Systems, Yuhong Liu

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Accurate energetic modeling of large molecular systems is always desired by chemists. For example, ligand-protein binding simulations and enzymatic catalysis studies all involve with a small energy difference. The energetic accuracy depends largely on a proper handling of electronic correlations. Molecular mechanics (MM) methods deliver a parameterized Newtonian treatment to these problems. They show great capability in handling large calculations but give only qualitatively good results. Quantum mechanics (QM) methods solve Schrödinger equations and exhibit much better energy accuracy, though the computational cost can be prohibitive if directly applied to very large systems.

Fragment-based methods have been developed to decompose …

Possible Interference By Common Odoriferous Foodstuffs In The Determination Of Breath-Alcohol Content Using The Intoxilyzer 4011as, Gail Eileen Jones

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

However, interferences by inhaled volatile compounds are not the aim of the present study. The objective of this report is to determine if common food stuffs would cause an interference with the CMI Intoxilyzer. It has been theorized that if one has been eating while drinking alcoholic beverages, the food might cause an elevated breath-alcohol test result. Odorous foods were chosen on the theory that if it could be smelled on one's breath, it would perhaps elicit a reading on the instrument. The list of foods was further narrowed to those commonly found in eating and drinking establishments (i.e. pizza …

The Stress Buffering Effects Of Positive Life Events And Personality (Hardiness) In Undergraduates With Dental Anxiety, Janette Louise Seville

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have independently identified positive life events and the hardy personality as variables that reduce the influence of life stress on physical or paychological disturbance. The present study investigates the possible stress buffering effects of hardiness and positive events. Seventy-five undergraduates, identified as having dental anxiety, were randomly assigned to one of five film groups. Groups viewed either a positive film, a negative film, both films (in one of two sequences), or no film. Dependent measures of dental anxiety. positive affect, negative affect, and heart rate were observed. Multiple tests of a priori hypotheses yielded partial support for the …

Visually Displayed-Emg Biofeedback : Training Muscle Relaxation In Hearing Impaired Children :A Thesis ..., Cheryl Renee Bene

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to test the use of visually displayed EMG biofeedback as a means for training hearing impaired adolescents to reduce anterior temporalis or frontalis muscle tension . Five male and four female hearing impaired students between the ages of 13 and 15 were chosen from the California School for the Deaf, Fremont, CA to serve as participants. Each participant was randomly assigned to either an experimental or control condition. Participants in the experimental groups were given five 15 minute EMG biofeedback training sessions. An additional group of 4 adolescents with normal hearing from Marshall …

Use Of Feedback To Improve Institutional Staff Performance, Sue E. Crawford

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The following study assessed the effectiveness of two simple and inexpensive performance feedback conditions in improving the job performance of institutional staff. Participants were care staff employed at a large center for the developmenta1ly disabled. During two 3 week sessions participants from two separate treatment units received publicly posted feedback graphs with either their own personal names or self-chosen anonymous codes to designate whose graphs were whose. These graphs were posted in each unit's training room and depicted participant performance (use of rewards and prompts) during behavioral training sessions with developmentally disabled clients. These two conditions were investigated to determine …

Care During Death, Grief And Loss: The Effects Of A Workshop And Clinical Experience On Student Nurses' Attitudes And Actions, Lynda Armstrong Wilson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Problem. Nurses, members of a society which tends to avoid and deny death, grief, and loss, are frequently in situations where they must interact with persons experiencing grief from death or loss. Often educational experiences have done little to prepare student nurses to cope in positive and supportive ways. Student nurses need to develop self-awareness of their attitudes and anxieties toward death, loss, and grief; modify negative attitudes; and develop a repertoire of interpersonal skills to support persons experiencing grief. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine if academic, and experiential learning could influence the clinical performance of …

A Proposed Mechanism For The Thermotropic Effects Of Pipradrol In The Rabbit, Stephen Franklyn Small

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, the influence of various drug pretreatments will be investigated in the rabbit in an attempt to (a) define the pharmacological mechanism of action of pipradrol in its mediation of hyperthermia and (b) observe the effects of these pretreatments on the behavioral effect of pipradrol. Although pipradrol is no longer of clinical utility, it is hoped that the results of this study may provide more information for its use in future studies as a pharmacological tool.

Children's Responses To Medically Induced Discrete, Acute Pain, Brenda D. Ballard

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Three experiments were carried out with children in a private office on the measurement of distress caused by allergy treatment injections and on a behavioral technique to alleviate this treatment-induced distress. In Experiment 1 a rating scale to measure observable indices of distress with children receiving injections was developed and its construct validity and reliability determined. In Experiment 2, norms were derived for the sample of children studied and the nature of the expression of distress according to age and sex was examined. In Experiment 3 two treatments for alleviating the treatment-induced distress, (a) sensory information, and (b) systematic reinforcement …

Increasing Children's Self-Initiated Compliance To Their Dental Regimens, Susan Claerhout

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the separate effects of an educational program, feedback, and a token economy on the rate of brushing and flossing in the home environment.

Application Of Clinical Pharmacy In The Rural Community : The Livingston Project, Gregory Paul Matzen

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

During the past few year's the health care delivery system of the United States has come under increasingly close scrutiny and attack by citizens concerned over the illogical distribution and cost of receiving adequate health care. Outcries for changing our current standards of health care delivery have reached the attention not only of consumer groups but also influential individuals in various levels of state and federal government. One need only look at proposed legislation (1-3) recently introduced in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives , concerning enactment of some form of national health insurance, to grasp …

The Development Of A Course Of Study In Fda Drug Regulatory Procedures, Robin Adele Wills

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is the purpose of this thesis to develop a course of study for pharmacy schools on drug regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A summarization of the history of the development of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and of pharmacy education reveals a lack of interface between the two. The necessity for the interface of pharmacy education and the agency which has significant control over the products forming the basis of the pharmacy profession will be made apparent. A period of residency through which the course of study on drug regulation by the FDA was to …

Perception Of Patterned Vibratory Stimulation: An Evaluation Of The Tactile Vision Substitution System, Lawrence Allyn Scadden

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Sensory substitution--The replacing of an impaired sensory channel by a properly functioning one--is possibly best manifested today in attempts to provide visual aids for the blind. The tactile vision substitution system (T.V.S.S.) is an example of one such visual aid. The system presents patterned tactile stimulation to the skin of the observer provided by the output of a closed-circuit television system. Research conducted with congenitally blind Ss in evaluation of the T.V.S.S. has provided useful information concerning the potentialities and limitations of the prototype systems, similarities and differences between tactile and visual perception, and the development of "visual" perception in …

Representative Personality Dimensions Characteristic Of Different Occupational Choice In The Paramedical Field, Priscilla Bernadette Campos

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if there are similarities and differences that differentiate one paramedical group from another in the realm of non-intellectual characteristics. Senior students and successful practitioners in four paramedical groups selected were Registered Nurse. Licensed Vocational Nurse, medical Assistant, and Dental Assistant.

Oral Stereognosis And Two-Point Discrimination Ability Of Anterior Tongue Thrusters And Normal Swallowers, Lawrence Jay Friedman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine whether differences exist between frontal tongue thrusters and normal swallowers on tasks or oral stereognosis and two-point discrimination.

The Health Services Of Six Public Junior Colleges : Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento, Taft, Bakersfield, And Fresno, Wilma Agatha Smith

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

School health programs, composed of activities and services, are organized to meet the health needs of the students in the college environment. The type and extent of the program varies with each educational institution according to its own specific resources. The factors determining the scope include (1) the size, location, and financial resources of the college; (2) the type and composition of' the student body; (a) tile number of students including dormitory and apartment type on-campus living; (4) the professional health personnel; and (5) the community health resources.

Biological Factors Involved In The Absenteeism Of Children From Stockton Public Schools, Fae-Belle Coudeyre

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Every state has a compulsory school attendance law, and yet at any time during the school year approximately 12 percent of the children will not be in school - cannot very well be in school, because of some physical, mental, or emotional handicap, either temporary or permanent.

These absentees are what are now often called the “exceptional” children, including the blind and partially-blind, the deaf and hard-of-hearing, the speech-defective, the crippled, the delicate, the epileptic, the mentally deficient, those with serious social maladjustments, together with those who are temporarily out of school because of a disease or accident. The total …

Survey Of The Play Therapy Clinic At The College Of The Pacific From February, 1948 To February, 1949, Donald Leong Fong

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this historical survey is to present a well organized statement of the activities of the play therapy clinic at the College of the Pacific and to analyze and evaluate the findings . One year after the origin of the clinic , there was felt the need for a survey. The writer has had many opportunities to observe the functions and the operation of the clinic, and he has felt that the activities and objectives of the clinic should be defined clearly in writing so that the beginning students at the clinic may have a more adequate approach …

A Study Of The Mental Attitudes Of Lodi Union High School Girls Toward The Physical Education Program, Elvera Giorgi Melby

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the mental attitudes of Lodi Union High School Girls toward their physical education program, and to arrive, on the basis of the findings, at constructive recommendations. The study was particularly concerned with; (1) The mental attitudes of the girls toward the general organization of the program: (a) attitudes toward activities offered, (b) attitudes toward requirements - costume, participation, showers, etc.; (2) An evaluation of the program: (a) physical, social, psychological development, (b) carry-over value into adult life; (3) Suggestions for betterment of programs

A Syllabus Of Techniques For Correction Of Speech Defects, William O. Pugh

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The problem is to survey the significant reference materials in the field of speech correction in order to ascertain and compile in digest-form those explanations of corrective techniques that are most valid with respect to consistency, both intrinsic and comparative.