Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Gross-Motor Fluency Training On Physical Activity Levels In Young Children, Allison Jayne Womack

Dissertations - ALL

Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the most important factors related to good health. Encouraging and promoting physical activity in young children aids in preventing overweight and obesity, promoting health, preventing disease, and supporting bone and overall growth development. However, physical activity levels in young children are low, and efficient and effective interventions to increase physical activity in young children are unclear. One creative method to increase physical activity in young children is gross-motor fluency training. A multielement single-case experimental design was employed to assess the effects of fluency training in six gross-motor skills on children’s levels of …

You Can’T “Nudge” Nuggets: An Investigation Of Late Night Dining With Behavioral Economics Interventions, Samuel Bevet, Lizzy Pope, Meredith Niles

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate and improve the “Late-Night Dining” options in a university dining hall. Surveys assessed student desires around Late-Night offerings, and evaluated students’ habits and motivations during Late-Night. Two interventions based on the principles of behavioral economics were implemented to see if students could be “nudged” into making healthier choices. In the first, a “veggie-heavy” entrée was added at the beginning of the entrée line, so that students would substitute a healthier entrée for the less healthy alternatives. In the second, a healthy snack-food bar was set up to cater to students who didn’t want …

Social Engagement And Health: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis Of Downstream Links To Health Outcomes Among White-Collar Professionals, Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq Bin Mohd Nazan

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND HEALTH: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING ANALYSIS OF DOWNSTREAM LINKS TO HEALTH OUTCOMES AMONG WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSIONALS

by

Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq bin Mohd Nazan

The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2017

Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Amy E. Harley

High level of social engagement has been associated with improved health outcomes. Its capacity to influence one’s health has led to the conception of Berkman’s social relationship model which hypothesizes that health is impacted by social relationship through a series of causal processes that begin at the macro-social level (upstream factors) to micro-psychobiological processes (downstream factors). Social engagement …

Healthy Teeth: Building Dental Health Awareness Among Head Start Parents, Marisol Cruz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In the U.S and state of California, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease and concerning health issue among children. The Head Start program in Monterey County serves about 1, 245 children annually from birth to five years of age. One requirement is that children obtain dental health checkups every six months, and receive dental treatment, if needed, as part of adhering to California's dental periodicity schedule. Over the past years, an increase of failed dental health assessments was observed among many children enrolled in the program. Obtaining and following through with treatment was an obstacle. The purpose of …

Rekindling The Flame: An Exploration Of The Relationships Between Health, Culture And Place Among Urban First Nations Men Living In London, Ontario, Cindy Smithers Graeme

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation, I present the findings of a community-based participatory research project with the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC). Embracing a decolonizing methodology that draws upon strengths-based and intersectional approaches, I qualitatively explore the relationships between health, culture and place among urban First Nations men living in the city of London, Ontario.

Indigenous cultures are broadly defined as a “systems of belief, values, customs, and traditions that are transmitted from generation to generation through teachings, ecological knowledge and time-honoured land-based practices” (McIvor & Napoleon, p. 6). Culture is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of Indigenous health …

Racial Microaggressions And Health Status: The Moderating Effect Of Emotion Regulation, Kristin C. Davidoff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current study seeks to explore the relationship between racial microaggressions and physical and mental health. Significant racial disparities in health status persist in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). Previous research asserts that racial discrimination negatively impacts physical health (Williams, Neighbors, & Jackson, 2003), and studies of subtle discrimination support an inverse relationship with mental health (Borrell et al., 2006). The immediate process following the commission of a microaggression and the target’s internal response may have significant consequences for physical and mental health. The purpose of the current study is twofold: (1) to examine …

The Structure Of Resilience: An Empirical Examination Of Resilience Factors, Matthew R. Grossman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although most researchers agree that resilience is defined as the extent to which an individual bounces back and recovers from stress and adversity, the field has not yet settled on the underlying structure of the resilience construct; its lower-order factors remain in dispute and undefined. In this study, five of the most prominent resilience measures (i.e., Ego Resilience, Block & Kremen, 1996; The Resilience Scale, Wagnild & Young, 1993; The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Connor & Davidson, 2003; The Resilience Scale for Adults, Friborg, Hjemdal, Rosenvinge, & Martinussen, 2003; The Brief Resilience Scale, Smith, Dalen, Wiggins, & Tooley, 2008) were administered …

Identifying Nodes Of Transmission In Disease Diffusion Through Social Media, David Sebastian Lamb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The spread of infectious diseases can be described in terms of three interrelated components: interaction, movement, and scale. Transmission between individuals requires some form of interaction, which is dependent on the pathogen, to occur. Diseases spread through the movement of their hosts; they spread across many spatial scales from local neighborhoods to countries, or temporal scales from days to years, or periodic intervals. Prior research into the spread of disease have examined diffusion processes retrospectively at regional or country levels, or developed differential equation or simulation models of the dynamics of disease transmission. While some of the more recent models …

Three Essays On Returns To Education, Health And The Spatial Wage Curve In Turkey, Haci Mevlut Karatas

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation comprises three papers on wage and health returns to education and spatial wage curve in Turkey. The second and third chapters make use of the exogenous variations generated by the 1997 Eight-Year Compulsory Schooling Law and the accompanying middle- school class openings to estimate economic and health returns to education. The findings suggest that the reform and the intensity of the reform substantially increased the educational attainment. The second chapter investigates the wage returns to education. Results show that one additional year of schooling increases individual wages by around 9 percent. The third chapter examines the causal impact …

Deconstructing Rape Culture Through An Exploration Of Consent, Desire, And Pleasure, Yael Rosenstock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Desire and pleasure based education combats the notion of passive consent by prioritizing positive experiences for all members involved in sexual activities. A focus on desire requires that we learn and listen to our partner’s needs and respect their boundaries. It questions a patriarchal script of sex in which male pleasure, specifically when penetrating a partner, is the critical part of the sexual act. Sex motivated by mutual desire and pleasure forces us to step back and learn, not just about our partners but ourselves, so that we may communicate our wants and needs effectively.

To understand how to navigate …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Context In The Association Between Educational Attainment And Morbidity And Mortality, Jennifer Brite

Dissertations and Theses

Although the association between educational attainment and health is one of the most studied in the social science, little is known about the role of social and economic context. Fundamental Cause Theory suggests that the education-health gradient will be weakest in contexts where the better educated are unable to leverage their resources to achieve better health. This dissertation tests several different factors that may moderate the association between educational attainment and morbidity and mortality: 1. Demographic characteristics, including race, immigration status, and gender, 2. Status consistency (defined as education equivalent to that required for current occupation), 3. Unemployment rates at …

The Impact Of Housing Insecurity On Community Health Outcomes: Exploring Collective Community Solutions And Housing Models In The Western Addition, Jacqueline V. Brown, Jacqueline Victoria Brown

Master's Projects and Capstones

In a city where housing is scarce and prices continue to rise, the lower income residents of the Western Addition are in panic. Historically, the Western Addition/Fillmore is ground zero for Urban Renewal. This community is still bouncing back from the negative effects of the out migration of Black residents, Japanese internment, and rapid gentrification. For twenty years, this part of the city was known as Harlem of the West due to its world-renowned Jazz and Blues composers, and is informally known as “Tha ‘Mo”. San Francisco has set the tone nationally for public, mixed income, and private housing that …

Building A Theory Of Adaptive Neuroticism, Sara Jo Weston

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neuroticism is widely believed to be detrimental to health, but the evidence is mixed. Many large-scale studies find null or positive effects of neuroticism on mortality and health. A theory of “healthy neuroticism” was generated to explain these discrepant results. According to this theory, neuroticism can lead an individual down one of two paths: an anxiety and stress-ridden path of maladaptive coping and poor outcomes, or a path of vigilance and proactivity. Trait conscientiousness is thought to be the defining feature of healthy neuroticism, although studies substantiating this claim are few and far between. Meanwhile, other important factors - notably, …

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Appalachia: Proposed Methods To Analyze And Solve Social And Medical Issues Surrounding The Disorder, Alexis Rae Prillhart

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Volunteer Tourism: Fulfilling The Needs For God And Medicine In Latin America, Erin Howell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand how short-term medical missions fulfill health needs for their recipients in Honduras, and how in turn, mission participants experience need fulfillment as well. By using the theoretical concept of co-construction of health to see how health needs are or are not met, I conducted a thematic analysis of the Baptist Medical and Dental Mission International (BMDMI) resulting in the following themes: 1.) Mission workers receive fulfillment from their experiences in the mission field. 2.) Mission recipients receive partial fulfillment of needs from the mission. 3). Through a calling, missions are a means to an end. …

(Not) Everything Is Good And Easy: Language-Related Healthcare Experiences Of Two Groups Of Low-Income Latina Mothers, Aria Anna Walsh-Felz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional, comparative, qualitative study explored language-related issues experienced by low-income Spanish-speaking mothers navigating pediatric care for their children in Hillsborough County, Florida. Hospitals, pediatric clinics, specialists, and dental care have differing degrees of linguistic accessibility and accommodations for limited English proficient families. Two groups of mothers were interviewed: bilingual (n=9) and Spanish-speaking limited-English proficient (SSLEP) mothers (n=21). These groups perceived the effect of language on navigating pediatric healthcare differently, creating tension in perceptions and experience between them. Such tensions included SSLEP mothers expressing satisfaction with pediatric care simultaneously with shortcomings in communication. SSLEP mothers said that everything was easy, …

Longitudinal Effects Of Adolescent Dating Violence Victimization: Social, Psychological, And Physical Health Consequences In Adulthood, Jennifer Marie Pierce

Wayne State University Dissertations

Romantic relationships are important developmental milestones for adolescents; yet negative experiences within them, including adolescent dating violence victimization (ADV), can contribute to poor health. The present study explores the impact of ADV on psychological and physical health as mediated through physical intimate partner violence victimization, perceived relationship quality, and submissive behavior in romantic relationships in adulthood using a subsample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Participants were assessed across three timepoints (n = 591; 61.1% female). Participants were required to have reported at least one romantic relationship during adolescence, and to have been in …

The Relationship Of Assimilation On The Health Behaviors, Health Beliefs, And Use Of Health Care Services Of The Samoan Immigrants In The United States, Miliama Bracken

Wayne State University Theses

This study accepts the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between assimilation and the health behaviors, health beliefs, and use of health care services of the Samoan immigrants in the United States. The target population included Samoans who immigrated from Samoa or American Samoa and were 18 or more years of age. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed and 126 respondents were included in the study. The respondents were asked how often they visited the doctor during the year. Would they seek the help of a medical doctor if they were sick, or a Samoan healer? They were …

A Study Of The Influence Of Branded Messages On Non-Branded Food Items When Presented To 10 To 14-Year-Old Children, Cassandra J. Chinn

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Children are more likely to create bonds with foods based on the environmental, socioeconomic and familial influences in their lives during early development stages. They gravitate to foods that are familiar to them and that are positioned with familiarity, creating an opportunity for branded food items to create more of a space in their psyche as part of their identity. Current research looks to reposition those energy-dense foods (commodity vegetables) that can often times be left unbranded, to see if immediate interest in the food items changes. Results found no significance to confirm nor deny a positive correlation in interest …

The Adequacy And Perceived Impact Of Nigeria's Health Policy, Kennedy Magoma Ongwae

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

From 2004 to 2015, the health sector in Nigeria was substantially underfunded despite the existence of a federal health policy committing 15% of the national budget to health care financing. The purpose of this narrative and phenomenological study was to explore the nature and significance of economic claims made in this policy. The central research question examined the extent to which these economic claims were perceived to be realistic, attainable, and successful in meeting their intended policy objectives and impact. The study's conceptual framework combined Kingdon's ambiguity and multiple streams theory, Roe's narrative policy analysis, and Skocpol's policy feedback theory. …

Walking In Beauty: Responsive And Responsible Health And Healing Among Virginia American Indian People, Amy J. Prorock-Ernest

Theses and Dissertations

Little is systematically known about the collective health and well-being of Virginia American Indian people. This study sought to explore the meaning of health and healing among Virginia American Indian people in the context of a reservation-based, non-federally funded health clinic. Using an emergent approach to qualitative research grounded in a constructivist inquiry paradigm and guided by Indigenous research principles, a total of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 American Indian service-users of the Clinic. Through an inductive thematic analysis of participant stories, a framework for understanding responsive and responsible health and healing was derived. The framework includes …

The Effects Of Where You Grew Up On Your Future Opportunity, Christopher Josiah Lockwood

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Neighborhoods effect developing children from several areas. The influence that a community possesses can either bolster socioeconomic status or inhibit it. Some experiments have been done in the US to aid struggling families in disadvantaged neighborhoods that have produced significant results. This purpose of this senior project is to analyze and discuss the varying ways in which neighborhoods can affect its inhabitants (i.e. education, health/nutrition), the experiments aimed to helping poor families, and offer a possible solution to mitigate these issues.

Impact Of Caregiver Depression On Health Of Family Caregivers Of Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease, Poonam Aryal

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examines the health consequences of being a caretaker of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia and is a significant public health problem that will intensify as the population ages. Caring for an individual with Alzheimer’s disease is more stressful than caring for a person with a physical disability; they need increased levels of supervision and personal care as the disease progress. The majority of care is provided at home by family caregivers. Caregivers often help people with Alzheimer’s to manage various issues from activities of daily living to financial management …

Service Before Self: The Health Consequences Of Working In Public Child Welfare, Austin Garrett Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Child welfare workers respond to human tragedy and the job stresses associated with their positions that may result in their own trauma, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Workers continue to leave their positions at alarming rates, influencing service quality and the ability to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. Decades of research have attempted to solve this national crisis by identifying salient factors found to influence the child welfare worker's experience and intention to leave their position. However, the problem prevails.

Addressing a major gap in the literature, this mixed methods study took a unique approach …

Workers' Perceptions Of The Effect Of Three-Tier Shift Schedules On Community Functioning, Jillian Leigh Wallace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Shift work is commonplace in many fields that require around-the-clock employee coverage. There is ample evidence that two-tier shift work can detrimentally affect health and functioning. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of three-tier shift schedules on physical and mental health and community functioning, a concept which refers to activities and behaviors performed by individuals or groups within a system. This study used a qualitative phenomenological design, and community functioning and recovery theory were central to the conceptual framework. In-depth interviews were used to explore the perceptions of three-tier shift workers on their functioning, relationships, mental …

Mindfulness Meditation Practice By Individuals With Substance Dependent Behavior, Quyen Ho

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many people in the United States suffer from substance dependence, which leads to depression, anxiety, work impairment, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, crime, and health care problems. Mindfulness meditation has been applied in many aspects of mental health treatment and all belief systems. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore substance dependents' experiences related to their mindfulness meditation practice of at least 6 months and up to 3 years. A constructivist conceptual framework, which states that human beings create systems for understanding reality based on their individual beliefs, emotions, and interpretations, was used for this study. Research questions focused …

Rural Haitian Women's Experiences With Poor Health Through Poverty, Geralda Felix

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

People living in rural Haiti lack access to basic health care services due to poverty. Rural poverty in Haiti particularly affects women's health because Haiti has had the highest maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in the Americas, in addition to some of the worst health statistics in the Western Hemisphere. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to cultivate a greater understanding of the poverty factors that affect access to health care services specifically among poor women living in rural Haiti. This study was based on the social ecological model for population health development, theorizing that a person's health …

Essay On Incentives, Economic Conditions, And Human Capital Formation, Masayuki Onda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer three independent studies. The first examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on entrepreneurial activities over the period 1996-2008. We find that FDI has no discernible effect on entrepreneurial activity in probusiness states identified by the existence of Right-to-Work (RTW) states. In non-RTW states, however, we find that an increase in FDI decreases the average monthly rate of business creation and destruction. The second study assesses the impact of breastfeeding on early childhood outcomes. Using Birth Cohort of Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS-b) data and employing a recently developed econometric technique, I estimate the …

The Effects That War Has On Children And Child Soldiers, Breanna V. Kingsley

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The focus of this research is to help explain the effects that war has on children and child soldiers. The effects being researched include those of psychological, physical, emotional, economical, and educational effects. The type of war being analyzed in this research is civil war with case studies of countries such as the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, South Sudan, and the lraqi war. These cases are among the most violent, oppressive, cases involving children and/or child soldiers. The ultimate goal of this research is to discover and better understand what these children experience and how that will …

Effects Of Cumulative Risk On Asthma Outcomes In Urban Children And Adolescents, Samantha A. Miadich

Theses and Dissertations

Pediatric asthma disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minority children and children living in low-income, urban areas. Many families living in low-income, urban areas experience a number of stressors that can place children/adolescents at risk for worse asthma outcomes. This study examined the impact of a cumulative risk model of stressors (e.g., ED visits, quick-relief medication use, lung function, asthma control, QOL) in urban children (7-12 years) with persistent asthma. This study further aimed to examine both the original cumulative risk model and an adolescent-specific cumulative risk model as predictors of asthma outcomes in a sample of 60 adolescents (13-17 years). Asthma-related caregiver …