Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Descriptive Study Of Therapists And Their Work With Socially Isolated Female Victims Of Sexual Violence Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Iris Lazette Saldivar

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to assess the experiences of therapists and the descriptions of their navigation processes while working with female victims of sexual violence who were socially isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Texas. The theory that guided this study was the theoretical framework of loneliness, social isolation, and associated health outcomes. The research study focuses on two research questions that sought to examine the experiences and navigation of virtual treatment of therapists who provided counseling during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to March 2022. This study sought to find a …

Evangelicals As Zionists And Peacemakers In Arab And Israeli Peacemaking Through Track Ii Diplomacy, Johnnie Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study contributes to the literature at the intersection of religion and foreign policy by focusing on one of the modern era's most protracted and relevant foreign policy issues (the conflict between Israelis and Arabs), the influence of one of America’s most powerful religious constituencies (evangelicals), and one of the most widely used tools of non- governmental diplomacy (Track II diplomacy). It provides original research related to the relevancy of Track II diplomacy by evangelicals, specifically pro-Israel or “Zionist” evangelicals, in Israeli and Arab peacemaking. The study analyzes three relevant case studies to answer the research question: “How are …

Banyamulenge Immigrants' Perceptions Of Police In The United States: A Qualitative Study, Fidele Nkomezi Sebahizi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Banyamulenge are Congolese from South Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While research on different minority groups worldwide is prominent, research on the Banyamulenge remains scarce. This study attempts to close this void in literature. The Banyamulenge's ill-treatment was evident during the colonial period, before the DRC’s independence. It stemmed from various ideologies, including the Banyamulenge's denial of being native Congolese. The DRC is a country inhabited by numerous tribes linked to neighboring countries, sharing languages and cultures. Like many other Congolese, the Banyamulenge were on the Congolese territory before the Western colonizers' arrival before 1885. …

Impact Of Leadership Decisions On Police Officer Well-Being: A Covid-19 Response, Jason N. Spencer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative dissertation research project is to determine the impact that law enforcement leaders, their leadership styles, and decision-making processes have on the well-being of police officers. This study sought to understand this impact by focusing on the perspectives of frontline police officers, detectives, and first-line supervisors from various law enforcement organizations in the Central Virginia Region and within the context of leadership decisions made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the constructivist grounded theory approach to research design, 12 participants responded to an initial qualitative questionnaire, followed by a semi-structured interview to gain the rich, …

Perceptions Of Leadership From Hispanic, Latino, And Spanish Employees In The Department Of Defense, Howard D. Thevenin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to identify the satisfaction levels within the Department of Defense (DOD) of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish (HLS) employees. The Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) 2020 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) is used to identify the perspectives and attitudes of HLS employees as they pertain to organizational and leadership satisfaction. These perspectives are conceptualized using the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, which points to the relationships among these workplace actors as a principal characteristic of workplace satisfaction and intentions to leave an organization. The sample size acquired from the 2020 FEVS, administered from September 16th, 2020, …

A Red Awakening: An Analysis Of China’S Quest For Global Dominance Through Economic Alternative Warfare Methods, Sarah Beddingfield

Senior Honors Theses

In the 2023 annual meeting of China’s parliament, Chinese President Xi made it clear to his political leaders and the world that he was preparing for war. This should come as no surprise after analysis of China's grand strategy points clearly to the intent to surpass the U.S. as the premier global superpower in all respects. China has been building towards this goal for years through untraditional methods of warfare, forcing the national security community to reevaluate its own strategy and assess the Chinese threat through a different lens. This thesis seeks to address one specific area in which China …

Conflict In The Congo: A Critical Assessment Of Section 1502 Of The Dodd-Frank Act, Rodney Ford

Senior Honors Theses

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the poorest and most troubled nations in the world. With a convoluted and often tragic history, a significant cause of economic underdevelopment and political instability in the Congo has been the illicit expropriation of the country’s vast reserves of high-value minerals. In the early 2010s, Congress attempted to address the “conflict minerals” dilemma through the enactment of Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act. The conflict minerals rule aimed to break the supposed link between the illegal exploitation of minerals and the perpetuation of violence. Drawing upon books, journal articles, research …

Employee Engagement In Public Sector Organizations, Rhonda Isler Dent

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Public Administrators recognize Employee Engagement (EE) as a significant component in fostering effective work environments in public sector organizations. EE is a recently established concept on Public Administration's agenda and the mantra for today's workplace, leading organizations to recognize the vested interest in measuring, observing, and increasing employee performance. Evidence suggests EE is vital to an organization's thriving in a competitive global market. The research study evaluated and measured the influences that affect EE in public-sector organizations. A quantitative method using the quasi-experimental design was used to answer the research question and address the corresponding hypotheses. The researcher used the …

An Exploration Of The Elderly And Disabled Participation Rate In The Medicaid Home And Community-Based Service (Hcbs) Program In The State Of Alabama, Arnita Hicks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation explored elderly participation rates in the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Service (HCBS) program in the state of Alabama. This descriptive quantitative study explored the factors that impact elderly participation rates in the Alabama Medicaid HCBS program. This study identified the primary barriers preventing elderly participation in the Medicaid HCBS program, as well as presented the limitations of participation in long-term care services. This study found that as the largest source of healthcare in Alabama, the elderly and disabled populations have not utilized the Medicaid HCBS program to its potential.

Mass Incarceration In America: Where's The Church?, Michael J. Wing

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Due to mass incarceration, correctional facilities in America are dealing with unprecedented levels of overcrowding, staff shortages, violence, suicide, and widespread mental illness among inmates. Budget cuts and the corresponding loss of vocational, educational, and treatment programs have exacerbated such problems. Mass incarceration and its deleterious consequences are challenging the very soul of America, and the church has largely stood by and watched this tragic situation unfold over the last fifty years. This research project has explored some of the barriers that have precluded churches from taking a more intentional, active, and impactful role in doing something about the national …

Introducing Just Competition Theory: Christian Realist Strategic Risk Management In Great Power Competition, Jason A. Byrd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

How can a Christian Realist approach shape United States security policy to manage strategic risk during Great Power Competition? This work finds that Just War Theory, in particular jus in bello (behavior in war), is a common method used by Christian Realists to determine actions and manage consequences in war; however, it is not optimal for the challenges posed in Competition. A complementary structure uniquely applicable to actions below the threshold of armed conflict is needed. This argument is manifested through Just Competition Theory or jus in contentione. In a complex environment of Great Power Competition, principles of jus in …

Res Communis Omnium V. Res Nullius In U.S. Space Mining Law & Policy: A Multilevel Theoretical Analysis Of U.S. Public Policy On Space Minerals Mining Under Title Iv, §51301- §403, U.S. 2015 Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (Public Law 114-90) & Its Implications For International Space Law Under Articles I & Ii, 1967 Outer Space Treaty, Samuel Chuks Japhets

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The outer space territory and celestial bodies are unfathomably rich in strategic mineral resources worth trillions of dollars such as water ice, helium-3, platinum, iron, cobalt, and ammonia. These space resources, distinct from their space territorial and celestial bodies loci, need to be located, characterized, captured, processed, concentrated, and transported to points of use in-situ or on Earth by capable state and private space investors, stakeholders, or national agencies, for private benefits. Investors in this embryonic space mining industry need legal certainty and predictability under unambiguous legal and policy frameworks that guarantee property interests over extracted minerals. The Problem is …

Cognitive Machine Individualism In A Symbiotic Cybersecurity Policy Framework For The Preservation Of Internet Of Things Integrity: A Quantitative Study, Gary C. Wong

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study examined the complex nature of modern cyber threats to propose the establishment of cyber as an interdisciplinary field of public policy initiated through the creation of a symbiotic cybersecurity policy framework. For the public good (and maintaining ideological balance), there must be recognition that public policies are at a transition point where the digital public square is a tangible reality that is more than a collection of technological widgets. The academic contribution of this research project is the fusion of humanistic principles with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that alters our perception of the machine from an …

A Perfect Storm: Exploring The Impact Of The 2020 Sociopolitical Climate And Covid-19 On Police Attrition, Cullen Marshall Duncan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The spring and summer of 2020 created new challenges, related to strain, for the law enforcement profession. These challenges were precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the “defund the police movement.” The purpose of this study was three-fold: 1) to understand if the events of 2020 were responsible for increased police turnover, 2) to analyze retiree data pre- and post-spring of 2020, and 3) explore ways in which strain and turnover can be mitigated following critical events. The research design utilized in this study was a mixed method design. Bayesian modeling revealed support for the null hypotheses pertaining to the …

A Descriptive, Multi-Site Case Study To Discover The Inclusion Of Disability Competencies In Undergraduate Public Health Program Curricula In California-Based Public Universities, Jacqueline Suzanne Siukola Tompkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Nearly one in four adults and one in six children in the United States (U.S.) have a disability. Despite the evidence documenting health differences, public health professionals receive inconsistent or little-to-no disability education in graduate public health curricula. Undergraduate public health (UGPH) programs have an expanding role in building the future public health workforce, including the U.S. governmental public health workforce. However, the inclusion of disability-related content within UGPH program curricula is currently unknown. The purpose of this multi-site case study was to conduct preliminary research to describe how disability-related curricula are or can be included in UGPH program curricula …

The Relationship Between Leadership Transparency And Accountability On Public Rural Basic Education In Amenfi Central District, Western Region Of Ghana, Emmanuel Osei-Kissi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation assessed the relationship between leadership, accountability, and transparency in basic public rural schools in the Amenfi Central district of Ghana. Over the past decade, leadership, transparency, and accountability measures have addressed developmental failures in the educational sector. However, most of these studies are done in isolation. The problem is that studying the concepts (leadership, accountability, and transparency) in an isolated manner does not provide a holistic examination of the effect of these concepts in the educational sector, especially in basic rural schools. The dissertation sought answers to whether the leadership style, accountability, and transparency techniques affect school management …

A Qualitative Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Unarmed Police Officers, Thomas A. Egan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of unarmed law enforcement officers managing workplace violence while performing their duties in New York City at various agencies. The three research questions asked, how do unarmed police officers describe their experiences performing their job duties without a lethal weapon? How do unarmed police officers describe their expectations regarding their likelihood of experiencing workplace violence? How do unarmed police officers describe how they navigate workplace violence? The theory guiding this qualitative descriptive study was prospect theory, a concept that was originally used to study how the bias of money …

A Quantitative Study Exploring The Perceptions Of Body-Worn Camera Use In The Texas Department Of Juvenile Justice, David Dean Stender

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Social justice issues led to the implementation of body-worn cameras (BWC) in police departments throughout the United States. This widespread implementation provided research results to assist other police agencies in considering implementation; however, no similar criminal justice solution for adult and juvenile corrections has been implemented with the same level of practicality. BWCs have the potential to protect inmates according to the Prison Rape Elimination Act’s (PREA) requirements and represent the most critical social justice issue in corrections: advocating civil rights. The former Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was re-branded as the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) due to a history …

Reforming Illinois K-12 Public Education Through A Four-Pronged Approach, Seth Brooks

Senior Honors Theses

Public education in the United States has produced lackluster results in the past decades. Various forms of school choice have emerged in recent years to combat the poor results seen in the public education system, but these private schools are financially unattainable for many Americans. Bureaucratic overload, city corruption, inequities in funding, and frequent teachers’ strikes have certainly contributed to the destitute state of Illinois’ public education. In this thesis, the attainability of fiscal relief for Illinois families who choose alternative education and the necessity of the state in permitting such alternatives is discussed.

Current school choice policies in the …

Law Enforcement Cardiovascular Health: A Qualitative Study On Law Enforcement Officers' Risk Awareness And The Targeted Mitigation Of Cardiovascular Disease, Gretchen Sue Harvey Lapp

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Cardiovascular disease-related deaths and injuries are prevalent among law enforcement officers (Han et al., 2017; Keeler et al., 2021), with attribution pointing to the strong associations between the inherent stressors of police work directly impacting the psychological and physical health of police officers (Santa Maria et al., 2018; Violanti et al., 2017). As such, several researchers have studied the associations between police officers' perceptions of stress and the presence of cardiovascular disease risk factors. However, there is a current gap in the literature on information examining the relationship between law enforcement officers' cardiovascular disease risk perceptions and their utilized health …

Bigger Is Better? Re-Evaluating Nato Enlargement In The Post-Cold War Period, Matthew Mccracken

Senior Honors Theses

Since the end of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance has grown substantially from its pre-1990 boundary between the two Germanys to encompass 15 new members with its border pressing eastward toward the former Soviet states and up to Russia proper. At the same time, East-West relations have sunk from a high point in the 1990s to a new low unseen since the Cold War culminating in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Top-ranking officials on both sides of the Atlantic cautioned successive U.S. administrations against heedlessly seeking to admit new members into NATO for fear that it …

Are Ems Prepared To Respond To A Pandemic Or Bioterrorist Attack?, Douglas Howard Schneider

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic increased America’s awareness of the amount of death and damage to the economy that pandemics and bioterrorism can cause. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant shortfalls in national preparedness for a pandemic or bioterrorism event. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current preparedness level of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel in the United States to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from a natural or manufactured pandemic across the United States. The significance of this study is an accurate picture of preparedness for pandemic and bioterrorism events by American EMS systems. …

The Impact Of Law Enforcement Training On The Ability Of Officers To Recognize Human Trafficking Situations In West Tennessee, Marie Angelena Garrett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

No one knows the true extent of human trafficking in America today, yet law enforcement officers may encounter victims during routine assignments. There exists a growing body of research associated with law enforcement officers and human trafficking. However, few researchers have explored the connection between human trafficking training and officers’ ability to recognize human trafficking situations. Grounded in schema theory, this quantitative study surveys law enforcement officers in West Tennessee. Survey questions assess officers’ awareness of human trafficking generalities, their ability to recognize possible locations of human trafficking, and training related to human trafficking. Questions then describe potential human trafficking …

Defelonization And Police Decision-Making: A Phenomenological Study Of Policing Behaviors In Los Angeles County Post-Proposition 47, Stephen William Bell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore how law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County described their lived experiences of engaging in discretionary enforcement behaviors when policing narcotics crimes. Rational choice theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. The two research questions asked the following: 1) What does Proposition 47 mean to law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County in relation to their self-efficacy to police narcotic offenses? 2) What do law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County share as challenges when policing narcotic offenses in their communities after the ratification of Proposition 47? Purposeful sampling …

The Impact On Crime Rate During A Period Of Covid-19 Induced Jail Booking Restrictions, Nathan A. Jendrick

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

COVID-19 has become a catalyst for profound changes not just in public health but in criminal justice as well. To reduce the close-quarters populations of correctional facilities in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus, law enforcement administrators in the Pacific Northwest have significantly limited the opportunity to make custodial arrests of criminal suspects. The effect on crime rate by not booking suspected criminals for misdemeanor and felony crimes alike remained largely unstudied. To assess this intervention, a paired samples t-test was used after acquiring call volume data for 13 crime types from the dispatch communications center of …

Determining The Impacts Of Exercise Participation On Disaster Response, Tanya Jean Hockett

Masters Theses

There are many opinions surrounding the importance and effectiveness of emergency exercises and their influence on the response phase of emergency management. Understanding how exercises affect emergency response operations can help training and exercise programs enhance the structure and implementation of meaningful, strategic exercises. However, there is limited research available to validate this. This qualitative study analyzed the responses of 106 survey participants and found that exercise participation positively impacted the ability of individuals to respond to incidents and disasters. By analyzing and categorizing a series of open-ended responses, it was determined that the most important benefit of exercise participation …

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …

Should Crime Scene Photos Ever Be Deleted?, Jonathan Pelletier

Faculty Publications and Presentations

There are two general opposing positions regarding deleting photographs of a crime scene. In a recent laboratory update (internet based because of COVID-19), the Virginia Department of Forensic Science raised an issue that warrants discussion: “DFS position - Best (and most transparent) practice - any image captured in the course of processing a crime [scene] should be retained, no matter the quality or the intent (or lack thereof, such as an accidental shutter depress [sic])” [1]. With conventional film, this was never an issue. There was no option to delete an image. With digital images, however, the option exists and …

The Philosophical Underpinnings And Negative Consequences Of The Indian Child Welfare Act, Elizabeth Sharon Morris

Masters Theses

This paper will examine the philosophical underpinnings of current federal Indian policy and its physical, emotional, and economic consequences on individuals and communities. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission found in 1990 that “[T]he Government of the United States has failed to provide civil rights protection for Native Americans living on reservations” (W. B. Allen 1990, 2). As Regan (2014) observes, individuals have been denied full title to their property – and thus use of the property as leverage to improve their economic condition (Regan 2014). Tribal executive and judicial branches have been accused of illegal search and seizures, denial of …

Crusaders, Sellswords, And Separatists: The Russian State’S Use Of Paramilitaries, Separatists, And Irregular Armies, Bruce Schlesman

Masters Theses

Russia currently supports various paramilitaries around the world whether in the guise of separatists, mercenaries, or irregular armies. Using their own military and intelligence operatives and different tactical and religious-ideological means of asserting control over these paramilitaries and the territories they inhabit, Russia seeks to expand the scope of its global dominance and regional influence. Consistent with its long-term goal of weakening NATO and the EU, Russian strategy under Putin has sought to exploit Russian Orthodoxy and the Russian culture as instruments of solidarity binding many of these paramilitaries to Russia in a kind of pan-Slavic religious-nationalist mission. No passive …