Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Increased Emotional Intelligence On Information Technology Professionals, Reba Alexander Businsky

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Information technology professionals effectively manage complex, tactical processes and procedures for internal and external customers. At the time of this study there was a gap in the literature regarding the effects of emotional intelligence on information technology professionals. An organization's internal and external customers may become dissatisfied with the information technology professionals because of their communication style lacking an increased level of emotional intelligence. The purpose of this quantitative study was to research the effects of increased emotional intelligence by surveying 315 information technology professionals. Data were collected using 3 electronic surveys including a general questionnaire to collect demographic data, …

Relational Aggression Among Adolescent African American Females, Latoshia S. Daniels

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Relational aggression includes manipulative behaviors such as gossiping, spreading rumors, or practicing exclusion to intentionally destroy a peer's social reputation. Aggressive behaviors such as those found in relational aggression contribute to unsafe school environments. Research on relational aggression has increased in recent years, yet there is minimal research on relational aggression among African American adolescent females. The research questions were What is social workers' understanding of relational aggression? and How do social workers' cultural awareness and general understanding of African American females' relationships and interpersonal connections impact their ability to connect with their clients in the therapeutic relationship? The purpose …

Language Of Instruction And Puerto Rican First Graders' Ethnic Categorizations, Margarita Marichal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of subtractive bilingual models in Puerto Rico may influence children's construction of social categorizations. There is a gap in the literature related to linguistics, ethnicity, and systems of education and acculturation of a majority group. The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the influence of the language of instruction and teachers' communicative practices in private and public schools on first graders' ethnic identity construction in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The conceptual framework of the study was based on Markus's unified theory of race and ethnicity, Berry's bidimensional model of acculturation, Tajfel and …

Living With Muscular Dystrophy: Sexual Education, Leanne Beers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual pleasure and intimacy are fundamental and innate human needs. Individuals with physical disabilities often find it difficult to meet these needs because of such factors as impaired mobility and lack of knowledge about sexual health. People with physical disabilities are often seen as asexual and not capable of having sex, and sexuality is often not considered a concern among this population. These misconceptions can result in individuals with physical disabilities not receiving basic sex education or advice and guidance when issues arise. Not receiving this attention may impede disabled individuals' sexual potential and personal relationships. This study's focus was …

Psychometric Properties Of The Modern Homonegativity Scale In The Southern United States, John T. Gavlas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Modern Homonegativity Scale (MHS) is designed to measure a distinct modern form of prejudice against gay people. Based on the conceptual framework of old-fashioned and modern antigay prejudice advanced by Morrison and Morrison, the present study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the MHS as a measure of modern antigay prejudice in the southern United States a region where antigay prejudice appears to be particularly pervasive and damaging. This purpose was achieved by analyzing survey responses from 691 adult residents of 14 southern states. As hypothesized, MHS scores were correlated with political conservatism, contact with gay …

The Role Of Organizational Justice In Police Interaction Decisions With Citizens Post-Ferguson, Joshua Lee Adams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent negatively publicized police-citizen interactions in the media, followed by a subsequent rise in crime rates in the United States, has been named the Ferguson Effect. The Ferguson Effect has been explored by prominent scholars in the criminal justice community; however, little is known about how police officers in small police agencies perceive the Ferguson Effect. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of police officers regarding the Ferguson Effect in small police agencies, as well as police officers' perceptions of their own organizational justice. The theoretical framework for this study was …

Employee Motivation Strategies Of Faith-Based Organizations To Achieve Sustainable Organizational Leadership, Christalyn Bolling-Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employees may not give quality performance as the result of inadequately designed and poorly applied motivation programs. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies faith-based organizational leaders use to motivate employees to achieve sustainable organizational leadership. The population of the study was 11 leaders of a faith-based organization in western Birmingham, Alabama. The conceptual framework was the expectancy theory of motivation in which leadership styles and motivational strategies were explored. Data collection process involved semistructured face-to-face interviews, a focus group interview, and one policy and training manual. Data analysis process included mapping and coding by highlighting …

Low Health Literacy And Hpv Vaccine Uptake Of African American And Hispanic American Women, Peter Ntiamoah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cervical cancer incidence in the United States has declined for the past 40 years, yet the odds of developing cervical cancer is much higher among marginalized women, particularly African American and Hispanic American women. Although preventable through vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) prior to infection, uptake and completion rates of the vaccine among African American and Hispanic American women are low. The purpose of the study was to determine if a significant relationship existed between the health literacy levels of African American and Hispanic American women, ages 18-26, and the low HPV vaccination uptake. The integrated behavioral model, which …

Exploring Value Of Perceived Problem Resolution In Success Of Online Doctoral Students, Vanessa S. O'Neal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

How doctoral students view their institution's ability to resolve problems may be directly related to their overall satisfaction of the institution. Challenges such as barriers to communication could have a negative effect on the students' ability to be retained by the institution. Policies to address issues relating to retention; high default rates on student loans and student services are increasing and more constraining. While the literature indicates the formation of federal policies to monitor recruitment practices of for-profit online institutions, it is not known to what extent these policies have influenced the quality of postrecruitment services. Using the theoretical framework …

Social-Sexual Autonomy, Person-Centered Planning, And Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Earlie Simone Brown-Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Sexual autonomy is the right and capacity of each individual to decide and make choices

about whom, when, and how they express themselves sexually. Individuals with

intellectual disabilities have frequently been marginalized, oppressed, and left out of

discussions about sexuality placing them at risk of abuse, unsafe sex practices, and

unplanned pregnancies. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the

usefulness of person-centered planning techniques in the development of an individual

service plan that address the social-sexual needs of individuals with intellectual

disabilities. Purposeful sampling was used to select 8 participants for this study. Specific

participants were …

Online And Hybrid Graduate Student And Advisor Preferences, Melody Mayo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The focus of this study was the advising style preference of graduate-level students and advisors in online and hybrid programs at a university in rural Arkansas. Students and advisors will benefit from the results because the advisors will have a greater understanding of expectations during an advising session. The problem stems from the fact that graduate level advising is not considered important by administrators at the study institution. The purpose of this study was to determine how graduate level advisors can better serve students and to use the results as a tool for advisor training. The study was guided by …

Cultural And Environmental Determinants Of Dental Discoloration Among School-Aged Children In Nigeria, Ogbudu Gabriel Ada

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Dental discoloration from fluorosis is a global public health problem. In Nigeria, 11.4% of the population is impacted by this disorder. Dental discoloration is caused by successive exposures to high fluoride concentrations during tooth development in utero and it is linked to the development of a variety of psychological and physiological problems, from dental aesthetics to a reduction in intelligence and skeletal changes. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to examine the cultural and environmental determinants of dental fluorosis in children in a rural community in Nigeria. A multilevel theoretical model was used to develop possible fluoride exposure …

Black Lives Matter Members' Perceptions Of Police Attitudes Towards African Americans, Sergio Manuel Montolio

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The relationship between the police and African Americans has been fraught for some time. In the 2010s, amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the relationship between African Americans and the police was marked by serious tensions including racism, White privilege, and perceptions of police brutality. The purpose of this case study was to explore the current relationship between the police and the Black Lives Matter social movement and assess movement activists' perceptions of police actions. The theoretical framework for this qualitative case study was based on procedural justice and the reason of actions component of Derrick Bell's …

A Qualitative Case Study About Online Reflection For Elementary Mathematics Teachers, Michelle Mccabe Trofort

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers report that they rarely engage in reflection. Asynchronous forums have been used to foster reflection among prospective teachers, but there is limited research about the allocation of time for reflection in an asynchronous forum for practicing teachers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to (a) determine teachers' perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of the use of an online forum to allocate time for reflection and (b) to classify the levels of the teachers' reflections in the forum. A conceptual framework based on select writings by Dewey, Hatton and Smith, and van Manen was used to …

Balancing Internal Controls With Change Management In The Pacific Military Unit, Miriam Seveses Mefford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Federal government managers were advised to strengthen internal controls; the law dictates attestation of effective management controls, and the internal control program is used to detect risks. However, managers lacked preparatory training, with training being overlooked given the increased responsibilities. Managers are assigned the programmatic role regardless of the lack of program standards in knowledge, skill, and ability. The research questions addressed change management components, concepts, and core qualifications relative to program readiness. The purpose of this single case study was to identify and explore change management components contributing to the effectiveness of internal controls. The conceptual framework was based …

Employee Perceptions Of Leadership Styles That Influence Workplace Performance, Carla Wren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The leadership style found in government is usually diverse in nature, with the chain of command being top-down and focused on bureaucracy. There are some leadership styles that can adversely impact or vastly improve workplace performance. This descriptive phenomenological study was used to understand employee perceptions of leadership styles that affect their workplace performance. Bass's transformational leadership theory guided this study to explore how a supervisor's leadership style impacts an employee's workplace performance. The primary research question focused on positive and negative perceptions employees held related to supervisors' leadership behaviors and characteristics. The data collection was derived from in-depth interviews …

Chronic Care Management Services At A Clinical Medical Group, Sharon Guccione

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this project was to design a chronic care plan using the chronic care management (CCM) framework to improve health services at lower healthcare costs. The practice-focused question explored whether the operationalization of the CCM model would impact progress toward the management of chronic illness for the target population of Medicare beneficiaries with 2 or more chronic illnesses in an urban acute care agency located in the western United States. The middle-range theory, logic rational plan model, Lewin’s change theory, and the CCM’s coordination care and collaborative care concepts were used to guide the project. Data were collected …

Generational Homelessness In New York City Family Homeless Shelters, Deborah Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homelessness has been a problem in New York City (NYC) for decades. Part of the problem is children who grew up in the shelter system and then returned as adults, a phenomenon known as 2nd-generation homelessness. Literature indicates that no researchers have interviewed second-generation homeless adults about their experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of 2nd-generation homelessness from the perspective of homeless adults returning to the shelter system. The sample included 1 second-generation homeless adult and 10 case managers at Tier II homeless shelters. Interviews were conducted and data were analyzed using hand coding to …

Improving The Care Of Patients With Urinary Catheters Through A Quality Improvement, Ashley Nicole Holmstrom

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) significantly increases patient morbidity and mortality, length of stay, and organizational cost. In the 2 years prior to project implementation, the incidence of CAUTI increased by 15% in the local acute care, inpatient facility that served as the project site. Nursing leaders at the project site linked the increase in CAUTIs to a nursing knowledge deficit related to CAUTI prevention principles. The clinical question focused on the impact of CAUTI prevention staff training on the incidence of CAUTI, length of stay, and cost to the local acute care organization. After a review and critical appraisal …

Police Officers' Perceptions Of Body-Worn Camera Technology, Jonah E. Obasi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the past several years, police-community relations have received enormous scrutiny based on several high-profile incidents involving the use of deadly force. Politicians, civil societies, and victims' families have called for law enforcement agencies to equip local officers with body-worn cameras to increase transparency and accountability. The purpose of the study was to investigate how law enforcement officers in a Sheriff's office in the Southern United States perceived ease of use and usefulness of body-worn camera technology and to identify if gender and years of service related to police officers' acceptance of body-worn cameras as a component of their regular …

Perceptions Of Employees And Supervisors Of A Skills Training Program, Lincoln Calcavecchi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders know that training improves worker performance, but training is often initiated without considering employees' work task requirements. This instrumental case study was conducted to understand the perceptions of employees who completed a skills training program and those of supervisors. The conceptual framework was andragogy, emphasizing self-efficacy and self-direction, motivation, and goal setting for adult learners. The guiding questions addressed the perceptions of employees about their self-directed participation in the skills training program and its relationship to work tasks and supervisors' perceptions of employees' participation in that program. Semi-structured interviews with 8 individual employees and a focus group with …

Strategies Used By Women To Secure Sba's 8(A) And 504 Loan Financing, Valencia Y. Locust

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many woman small business owners lack strategies to obtain Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) and 504 Loan financing to start and grow their businesses. This exploratory case study explored strategies that 5 women business owners used to secure SBA's 8(a) and 504 Loan financing. The TPB and feminist theory were the conceptual frameworks used in this multiple case study. In-depth, semistructured interviews with purposively selected women small business owners supplemented a review of loan acceptances and certifications. Yin's 5-step analysis guided the coding process of participants' responses, and member checking verified the transcription accuracy and that emerging themes and inferences …

Work-Life Balance Of Women Employed Within State Government, Luisa Cunanan Martinez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women in the U.S. workforce have been a focus of scholars since the onset of the 21st century, when work-life balance skewed in favor of the term work-life integration because professional working mothers found that balance was an unachievable ideal in the fast pace of the contemporary world. Accordingly, this research study examined the work-life challenges and career choices of women working in the public sector through the framework of the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM). While research has been conducted on women in corporate America, there have been limited studies exploring the work-life challenges and career decisions of women working …

Spiritual Wellness As A Predictor For Moral Injury In Combat Veterans, Steve Zappalla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many combat veterans face difficulties coping with their personal lives, relationships, and families when they leave the service and return to civilian life. Most studies examining the effects of combat on veterans focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as a collection of related consequences. Interest in the term moral injury of military veterans as a related mental health construct has grown. Researchers have investigated the effects of spiritual wellness of combat veterans. However, there is a paucity of counseling literature on the relationship between spiritual wellness and moral injury when combat veterans return to civilian life. Investigating the …

Understanding Experiences Of The Bermuda Government's Youth-Serving Professionals In Transformational Coaching, Nicola Feldman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public administrators and civil servants working with vulnerable youth have the challenging yet critical job of supporting their young clients in overcoming adversity and achieving optimal life outcomes. Public administrators and civil servants work with vulnerable youth to help shift their trajectories toward positive life outcomes; however, if these professionals are not thriving in the workplace, they may not have the best possible positive influence on youth. Little was known about how to support the ability of professionals to experience professional thriving, defined as the experience of feeling energized at work and motivated toward professional growth and success. The purpose …

Strategies Small Construction Business Managers Use To Reduce Safety Incidents In Their Organization, Peggy Ann Mcknight

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Globally the construction industry struggles to prevent injurious and fatal safety incidents. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies used by construction business managers that had significantly reduced the occurance of safety incidents in a Northwest Ohio construction company. Data were collected from organizational records and interviews with 6 construction managers. The conceptual framework for this research was the concept of safety management systems. Data were compiled and organized, disassembled into fragments, grouped, and then interpreted for meaning. Methodological triangulation and member checking were used to enhance reliability and validity. Four themes emerged from the data: …

Frequency Of Cell Phone Texting And Social Competency In Adolescents, Anita Marie Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is no current research on the relationship between texting frequency, social competency development, and the moderating effect of gender in adolescents. A quantitative study involving a moderation design using multiple regression assisted in determining the relationship between cell phone texting and gender and whether or not the interaction of these variables predicted social competency development. The theoretical base that grounded this study was the taxonomic model of social competence, which identified the importance of examining social awareness abilities such as communication, an essential component for the development of social competency. The study included 74 participants. The participants were parents …

Police Culture And Decision-Making, Larry D. Anthony

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Decisions made by street-level police officers during encounters with the public have an immediate and long-lasting effect. Bad choices can cause a loss of trust, respect, and legitimacy for the police in a community and lay a foundation for violent confrontations between officers and citizens. Layers of culture that shape human decisions consist of social and institutional culture, including interactions that shape an individual's culture and beliefs and demographics and technology that affect cultural development. Police culture (which includes these layers of culture and factors like rank, units, and history) shapes attitudes and opinions about communities and people in a …

U.S. Corporate Energy Productivity, Greenhouse Gas Productivity, And Return On Equity, Terry Geonnie Tate

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Corporate leaders are expected to engage in corporate social responsibility by some stakeholders, but there is no consistent evidence that corporate social performance relates to financial performance. Grounded in instrumental stakeholder theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship among energy productivity, greenhouse gas productivity, and return on equity. The 2016 Newsweek Green Ranking U.S. 500 was the population for this study, which consisted of the largest companies in the United States with the highest corporate social performance scores. The secondary data were collected from Newsweek.com and Morningstar.com for this study. The multiple linear regression was …

The Underrepresentation Of Low Socioeconomic Status Children In Gifted And Talented Programs, Teresa Clark-Massey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem is children from low socioeconomic status households are often underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. Only a small percentage of these students is selected to participate in the district's gifted program. The purpose of the study was to help appropriately identify and include low SES children in the district's gifted program. The social constructivist foundation was applied for a better understanding of how the environment affects a child's learning and how social factors contribute to cognitive development, which could possibly alter the perceptions of how successful children can be. The guiding questions revolved around the teachers' perceptions of …