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Care To Walk In My Shoes? Repairing Trust After Violations Of Benevolence, Luke Aaron Langlinais

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation examines how perceived perspective taking relates to trust repair, specifically in the context of a benevolence-based violation. I draw on perspective taking theory, attribution theory, and the integrative model of organizational trust to explore a model of interpersonal trust repair. The extant literature on trust repair primarily focuses on violations of ability and integrity, leaving the third dimension of trustworthiness, benevolence, largely unexplored. Yet, research suggests as many as 96% of workplace employees have been victims of benevolence-based offenses, such as disrespect, condescension, or degradation. The present research expands the theoretical bounds of the extant trust repair literature …

Sleep And Cardiovascular Reactivity To An Acute Virtual Stressor, Alaina Grace Tiani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Inappropriate response and magnitude of cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress is a proposed mechanism through which environmental stressors are linked with poor cardiovascular health outcomes (Chida & Steptoe, 2010; Krantz & Manuck, 1984). Studies of reactivity to various laboratory tasks commonly control for factors known to influence CVR such as smoking, medication use, caffeine intake, and BMI; however, few have considered the influence of sleep on CVR. In order to determine whether sleep characteristics need to be assessed and considered in studies of CVR, this study aimed to examine the association between indices of sleep quality and the magnitude and …

Analysis Of Forensically Relevant Evidence Using Electrochemistry, Spectroscopy, And Mass Spectrometry Tools, Colby Edward Ott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Forensic science relies on the use of multiple techniques in the assessment of evidence to increase the accuracy and reliability of the results. However, with the rapidly changing drug landscape due to the introduction of novel psychoactive substances, many traditional screening methods are no longer sensitive or selective enough for use. Additionally, many screening methods such as chemical color tests are prone to false positive and negative results and are subjective. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation was to develop a novel analytical scheme that can provide a more efficient, rapid, and sensitive method that will facilitate adoption in the …

Examining The Spatial Relationship Between Maternal Morbidity, Access To Health Care, And Community Characteristics In West Virginia, Sarah E. Woolard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Maternal-related morbidity rates in the United States have risen almost three fold since the early 1990’s. Issues related to rurality, socioeconomic disparities, and pre-existing health conditions increase the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes and introduce barriers to accessing advanced maternal health care. West Virginia (WV) has higher maternal morbidity rates than many other states in the United States (US), and is considered to be driven by all 55 counties being classified as Appalachian, possessing the highest prenatal smoking rate in the US, and having disparities in access to health care. Despite this, no previous studies have evaluated maternal morbidity in …

A Monte Carlo Simulation Of Rat Choice Behavior With Interdependent Outcomes, Michelle A. Frankot

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Preclinical behavioral neuroscience often uses choice paradigms to capture psychiatric symptoms. In particular, the subfield of operant research produces nested datasets with many discrete choices in a session. The standard analytic practice is to aggregate choice into a continuous variable and analyze using ANOVA or linear regression. However, choice data often have multiple interdependent outcomes of interest, violating an assumption of general linear models. The aim of the current study was to quantify the accuracy of linear mixed-effects regression (LMER) for analyzing data from a 4-choice operant task called the Rodent Gambling Task (RGT), which measures decision-making in the context …

Age As A Moderator Of Health Outcomes And Trust In Physicians And The Healthcare System, Emma Katz M.S.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Trust is an integral part of the healthcare experience. Patient trust is associated with treatment adherence, patient satisfaction, patients engaging in follow-up care, shared decision-making, and positive health-related outcomes (e.g., Gupta et al., 2014; Mohseni & Lindstrom, 2007; Musa et al., 2009; Tam, 2012; Thom, et al., 2004; Trachtenberg et al., 2005). There are several levels of trust discussed in the literature, including interpersonal trust and institutional trust. The current study examined two levels of trust: interpersonal trust in the form of trust in the physician and institutional trust in the form of trust in the healthcare system. The study …

Implementing Trauma-Informed Care Through A Multi-Agency Learning Collaborative: A Theory-Driven Analysis Of Outcomes And Sustainability, Mira D H Snider M.S.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Learning collaboratives (LCs) are often used in large-scale implementation initiatives to promote evidence-based practice across provider networks. Although the outcomes and stakeholder perspectives of many LCs have been documented, support for the effectiveness of LCs is equivocal, and the means by which LCs achieve long-term improvements in clinical care are not understood. The current study investigated outcomes and sustainability of a multi-agency LC for implementing trauma-informed care in 23 rural Pennsylvania counties. Changes in outcomes (i.e., trauma symptom screening, trauma-informed care training attendance, clinician confidence with using trauma informed-care, utilization of trauma-related diagnostic codes, retention in service, service unit density) …

A Multi-Method Examination Of The Effects Of Students’ Unconscious Biases On Student Evaluations Of Instructors, Brittany M. Kowalski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this dissertation, I complete three studies to evaluate potential reactions to target role congruity, especially gender role congruity, through an examination of Student Evaluations of Instructors (SEIs). Target role congruity refers to assessments an observer makes of whether or not the various roles a target person fills “fit” with one another. For example, a woman surgeon may be perceived as being in an incongruent role due to the masculine characteristics associated with the occupation and the continued dominance of men in the field. Researchers utilizing congruity theories has shown that both women and men in roles that are incongruent …

Covid-19: Examining Adherence Through The Health Belief Model, Leah Ashton Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Over 6.4 million individuals have died due to COVID-19. Although the vaccine has been distributed and made more accessible, it is important for individuals to continue adhering to guidelines that prevent the spread of this deadly virus. The current study explored adherence to COVID-19-related health behaviors (wearing a mask, social distancing, properly washing hands, and receiving the COVID-19 vaccine) in a U.S. sample (recruited through Amazon MTurk) and examined the role of interactions among various identities. The study was informed by the Health Belief Model (HBM) and participants completed questionnaires that assessed COVID-19 health behaviors, constructs comprising the HBM (perceived …

Love At First Profile: An Experiment Exploring If Previously Incarcerated Individuals Are Less Desirable While Online Dating, Carina L. Perrone

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Incarceration is a rapidly increasing occurrence in the United States with more than 1.4 million people incarcerated and more than 2 million on some form of restricted confinement. While men are incarcerated at a much higher rate than women, women are still at a steady incline of incarceration as well. Also, people of color disproportionately make up a large number of those incarcerated while accounting for a small percentage of the general population. Previous research on people who have been incarcerated focuses on it affects education, employment, and marriage. Little research has attempted to explore how incarceration effects dating, a …

Replication Of A Nonsequential Renewal Model And Investigation Of Extinction Cues For Attenuating Renewal, Brianna G. Sarno

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Laboratory models of renewal are critical to inform clinical practice to reduce the occurrence of relapse and facilitate the maintenance of treatment gains. Nonsequential renewal is a modified procedure developed by Sullivan et al. (2018) that provides an alternative arrangement to study operant renewal in a manner more consistent with clinical experience. Experiment 1 replicated the procedure of Craig et al. (2019) to compare renewal of target responding in rats that were exposed to the nonsequential or sequential renewal procedure. Experiment 2 investigated the use of an olfactory extinction cue in mitigating renewal. In Experiment 1, the Nonsequential Group displayed …

First Responders’ Assumptions: An Exploration Of Emergency Medical Technicians’ Secondary Traumatic Stress And Perceptions Of Substance Users, Glenn Noble

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Emergency medical technicians (EMT) and firefighters respond to critical incidents and provide emergent care. As the opioid crisis continues and drug overdose rates increase, first responders administer first aid to substance users, including Naloxone, more frequently. This study examined the influence of repeated exposure to drug-related critical incidents and provision of care to substance users on EMTs' and firefighters' secondary traumatic stress (STS) level, world assumptions, and substance use stigma. First responders' world assumptions, STS, burnout, and exposure to drug-related overdoses were analyzed for their power in predicting substance use stigma. Results suggest that occupational burnout, rather than STS, is …

Assessment Of Electronic Cigarette User Terminology And Knowledge Using Mixed Methods, Margaret G. Childers-Kakos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) have evolved rapidly over the past several years, and it is unclear if terminology used when assessing ECIG knowledge and use behavior has objective and well-understood definitions between consumers, as well as between consumers and the research community. The purpose of this study was to use semi-structured interviews to obtain a better understanding of ECIGs from the perspective of regular ECIG users. One-hour interviews consisted of both open- and closed-ended questions. Questions probed the terminology used by participants to describe both individual and combination device features, as well as ECIG use behaviors. Qualitative data was used to …

“Where Did Your Christ Come From”? Exploring The Significance And Prevalence Of The White Jesus Phenomenon Among Black Baptist Women And Men, Stephanie Marshelle House-Niamke

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Berger's theory of religion and world construction fails to consider the critical issue of power and who is allowed to construct their own reality and thus, does not adequately capture the experience of Black Christians and the Black religious experience. I use White Jesus as a case study to analyze this process. Though the White Jesus phenomenon has been more readily explored in theological and historical fields, very little sociological research discusses this phenomenon. I argue that a Europeanized Jesus has had harmful sociocultural effects on Black Christians and Black people, in the form of cultural trauma. Yet, the White …

Validity Evidence For The Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (Mdrs-22) In Younger And Older Adult Males, Montgomery T. Owsiany

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Men are two times less likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder than women. However, suicide rates are nearly four times higher in men than women, increasing to six times when comparing older men to older women. Given that affective disorders are present in most individuals who die by suicide, investigators have begun researching the possibility that depression presents differently in individuals who adhere to traditional masculine norms, leading to the conceptualization of masculine depression. Presently, one assessment for masculine depression shows strong reliability and validity evidence: the Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (MDRS-22). Despite burgeoning validity evidence for the …

It’S A Bleed: Pediatric Hemophilia And Length Of Stay, Rural Vs Urban Hospitals, Daniel G. Liedl

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Hemophilia is a rare genetic disorder that requires specialty care and treatment. Pediatric patients with hemophilia have unique medical issues that may lead to permanent disability or death if not properly diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. Due to lack of resources and proper training of staff, rural hospitals are not equipped to properly treat pediatric hemophilia patients. Utilizing the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Kids´ Inpatient Database (KID) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. I have found, across all hospital types, pediatric hemophilia patients have longer lengths of stay, 2.7 days for rural hospitals, 4.6 …

Assessment Of Quechers Extraction Protocol For The Lc-Ms/Ms Detection Of Emerging Fentanyl Analogs In Biological Specimens For Clinical And Forensic Purposes, Kylea M. Morris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Drug abuse within the United States is a dynamic and pervasive issue that affects the quality and life expectancy of our society. One of the major drug classes that are constantly utilized is opioids. Opioids are prescribed for pain management in patients suffering from cancer and other medical illnesses. Long-term use of opioids could lead to tolerance in humans, which poses a risk of reaching fatal overdose levels. Unfortunately, opioids are abused recreationally, and in some instances, individuals are unaware of the presence of dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl, hidden in materials such as heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, and methamphetamine. Recent …

Investigating The Marketing Language Among Online Retailers Of Violin Strings To Determine The Implied Aesthetic, Kira Kay Browning

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The aim of this research is to determine if language in the advertising of violin strings is acting as an exclusionary tool in favor of a Western art music “sound” produced by “classical” violinists. It posits that the marketing of strings to violinists is a topic laden with unacknowledged biases and values of musicians within Western art music. The aesthetic values attached to playing Western art music for the violin in the United States are passed on through pedagogic practice and acculturation of language. Product descriptions for strings in the United States employ language which adheres to these cultural values …

Three Essays In Public Economics, Joylynn Michelle Pruitt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation presents three chapters related to each other in their application to public economics. In the study of how utility-maximizing or goal-seeking units achieve economic outcomes, this dissertation presents results for a diverse range of agents including prosecutors and liberal arts colleges. Co-authored with Dr. Bryan McCannon of West Virginia University, the first chapter examines an interesting feature of prosecutor elections, where the pool of potential challengers to an incumbent comes primarily from subordinates within the office. We develop a signaling model that analyzes whether entry into the political race by a subordinate provides voters with useful information. In …

Three Essays In Healthcare Economics And Policy Analysis, Tuyen Pham

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation research consists of three essays on healthcare economics and policy analysis. Chapter 1 investigates and explains the failure of a proposition on limiting dialysis clinic profits in California in 2018. The proposition would have required dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or their payers for revenue that exceeds 115% of the direct cost of treatment. In this chapter, a conceptual framework of how voters weigh costs and benefits is developed and two different empirical approaches, simple OLS and Double Post LASSO, are employed to identify key determinants of the voting outcome. The empirical results suggest that counties …

Short-Term International Sport For Development And Peace Programs: A Retrospective Analysis And Critique Informed By Stakeholders’ Perspectives In A Two-Year Follow-Up, Adam Hansell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) programs are a popular approach to promoting positive development throughout the world, spanning health, education, peace, and social issues. However, scholars have identified critical shortcomings of SDP work, including the potential to reinforce neoliberalist tendencies and values imposition from the Global North to the Global South. Deporte y Cambio Social was a short-term SDP program established through partnership between American and Mexican constituent groups with aims to empower girls and women through soccer. Through six semi-structured, two-year retrospective interviews, the purpose of the present study was to explore cross-cultural understandings of power and intercultural …

The Process And Case Study Approach To Implementing A Nutrition-Specific Dissemination And Implementation Science Training In Appalachia, Ayron E. Walker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Introduction: Nutrition professionals face implementation challenges due to their lack of knowledge to incorporate D&I science into intervention design. To improve intervention outcomes, nutrition professionals must be trained in D&I science, which are currently absent in the field.

Aims: To identify and assess nutrition educators and practitioners perceived motivations, self-efficacy, and attitudes in using D&I science to inform the educational design and strategies of a nutrition-specific D&I curriculum for nutrition educators. Then to test feasibility of the nutrition-specific curriculum in increasing knowledge, self-efficacy, and attitudes by a case study approach, pre/post intervention design.

Methods: First, scoping review methodology involved the …

Gun Culture 3.0, Andrew Phillip Stover

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

There exist a criminology of firearms and an epidemiology of firearms use, but little in the way of a sociology of U.S. firearm ownership. Most social science study of firearms concerns illicit gun use and the harm that use produces. Compared to this body of work, little has been done to explore the culture of legal gun ownership. A few social scientists have attempted to change this by contributing their own interpretations of what a sociology of U.S. gun ownership might look like. Professor David Yamane, in doing just this, has posited a cultural model of contemporary gun ownership he …

U.S.-Ukraine Relations And The Concept Of Strategic Partnership, Khrystyna Pelchar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

A strategic partnership has become particularly relevant in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine. Most studies focus on the historical perspective of particular special relations leaning toward the long-standing nature and stability of those relations. Others describe interstate partnerships as dynamic developments rather than static phenomena. Conventionally, strategic partnerships are multifaceted, including the spheres of economic cooperation, military assistance and partnership, and democracy promotion. Scholars also single out cultural proximity as an important factor facilitating mutual trust and feasibility of strategic partnership.

This thesis will discuss the historical background of the U.S.-Ukraine economic, socio-political, and military cooperation and …

“I Lost Everything I Owned… Now I’M Growing That Back”: Narratives Of Redemption After Meth Immersed Lives, Danielle M. Stoneberg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

There is a lack of knowledge on how the process of desisting (i.e., maintaining abstinence) works for those leaving immersed drug lifestyles, leaving a need for a better understanding of the role and impact of identity in drug desistance. Through secondary analysis of interview data from a sample of 33 former methamphetamine manufacturers, this study examines the applicability of Maruna’s (2001) redemption narrative framework and identifies other aspects featured in their narratives that signaled identity change. Results found all participants discussed at least one component of the framework in their interviews. Their narrative identities changed over time to recognize that …

Essays In Urban And Health Economics, Allyssa Ann Wadsworth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Chapter 1 analyzes the impact new hospital construction has on neighboring residential real estate prices. In 2017, the Oishei Children’s Hospital was built in downtown Buffalo, New York, representing a new era for women and children’s medical facilities. Individuals working at the old facility now faced the decision of whether to move closer to the new hospital or have a longer commute. Using property sales data, I analyze how Oishei impacts residential property prices with a difference-in-differences hedonic price model while utilizing three unique time treatments and two distance treatments. The opening of Oishei generated a statistically significant percentage increase …

Associations Between Self-Reported Awe And Heart Rate, Laura E. Bernstein

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Fredrickson’s (1998, 2013) broaden and build theory states that positive emotions can expand our social and cognitive awareness and provide health benefits. Some positive emotions, such as awe, may operate differently. We sought to understand how subjective reports of awe, induced through videos, correlate with HR. We know that HR tends to decrease with age (Umetani et al., 1998), individuals have less physiological reactivity as they age (Blanchard-Fields, 2007), and older adults report more positive emotions than negative emotions (Mroczek & Kolarz, 1998). Given these findings, we were interested in understanding whether there were age differences in self-reported awe and …

Freeze! The Impact Of A Guided Imagery Intervention On Looming Vulnerability And Subclinical Contamination-Ocd Symptoms, Amber Lynn Billingsley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Looming vulnerability (LV) refers to the tendency to appraise and perceive potential threats as dynamic and increasing in risk. Research suggests that contamination-fearful individuals may have an increased tendency to interpret contamination as growing or spreading (i.e., “looming”), which may hinder habituation to contamination and play a role in the maintenance of contamination-OCD symptoms. Studies have shown that engaging in imagery in which one mentally freezes contamination in place decreases state levels of fear, though little is known about its longer-term effects (e.g., after one week). The present study aimed to experimentally manipulate LV using freeze imagery in a subclinical …

Evaluating Dro With Asymmetrical Magnitude Of Reinforcement, Lindsey M. Hronek

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is a reinforcement schedule used in behavior analytic procedures aimed at decreasing various forms of challenging behavior. DRO commonly includes a reinforcement component and an extinction component; a reinforcer is delivered on an interval-based schedule dependent on the omission of a target behavior and the reinforcer is withheld following the occurrence of the target behavior (i.e., extinction). Although interventions using DRO can be effective for challenging behavior, procedures that include extinction can at times be impractical or lead to undesirable side effects. A DRO schedule can be implemented without extinction, but previous research has …

Embodied Energy Geographies: An Exploration Of Fracked Landscapes In The Ohio River Valley, Rachael L. Hood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Methane gas production has boomed across the United States as a result of the development of fracking technology and its associated infrastructures, including pipelines. This production has provoked resistance over a litany of environmental and social concerns at both global and local scales. These concerns are compounded by a history of extractive economies and degradation in the Marcellus shale region of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley. To date, there has been limited research at the intersection of extractive industry and emotional geography, especially around pipelines. This research draws on feminist, emotional, and energy geographies and uses semi-structured interviews and …