Digital Commons Network^™

Women Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury, Wendy N. Gomez

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study is to determine the effects of traumatic brain injuries on the lives of women, based on self-report. This research consisted of face to face interviews with five female head injury survivors. The interview schedule, a structured list of open-ended questions, focused on issues of family system, social, physical, cognitive and emotional changes, effects on employment and experience with formal and informal community services. As theoretical frameworks I discuss Kubler- Ross's theory of grief and loss, the ABC-X model of stress and adaptation, and the body of head injury research which has focused largely …

Self-Reports About Homelessness: Single Women With Children, Kristen J. Pederson

Theses and Graduate Projects

The number of homeless families is on the rise. ln 1989 more than 60,000 families nationwide, four times the number recorded in 1984, were in homeless shelters. Seventy to ninety percent of homeless families are headed by women. To better understand the causes of homelessness this study obtained self-reports from 16 women with children residing in a metropolitan homeless shelter. An exploratory study was conducted using a questionnaire that gathered quantitative and qualitative data regarding demographics, reasons for homelessness, and preventative measures. Consistent with other research, the findings indicate varied reasons for homelessness including: circumstantial events, lack of relational support, …

Empowerment Of Patients In Health Care And Its Impact On Their Behavior, Laurie Dahley

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study is to determine if the lack empowerment in health care is demonstrated in overt negative behavior in patients. Previous research demonstrated increases in perception of pain, depression, and noncompliance with the medical regime to be common responses to the lack of empowerment. As the incenter hemodialysis population has a highly restricted medical regime, they were utilized as the subjects for this study.

An exploratory study utilizing existing data was conducted at Dakota Hospital Medical Center in Fargo, North Dakota. Nursing care plans were screened to identify the negative behavior in question for all patients currently …

An Exploratory Study Of The Similarities And Differences Between Special Care Units (Scus) For People With Dementia And Non-Scus With Recommendations For New Scus, Susan Ann Manning

Theses and Graduate Projects

Special care units for people with dementia are a relatively new phenomenon within the long-term care setting, having evolved as a way to meet the special needs of individuals with dementia. The numbers of people who will be affected by dementia is projected to rapidly increase in the future. The literature reveals that special care units are very heterogeneous in their physical characteristics, program designs, and therapeutic approaches, yet most appear to be based on common theoretical conceptual frameworks. This exploratory study examined the current nature of special care units designed for people with Alzheimer's disease/dementia in the Minneapolis/St. Paul …

Treatment Foster Parents' Perceptions Of Their Role With The Primary Family Of Foster Youth, Sheila M. Schmaltz

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study provides a description of treatment foster parents' perceptions of their role with the primary family of foster youth. This study also identifies a baseline measure of treatment foster parents' perceptions which can be utilized for agency program planning, policy and administration. The study sample includes 98 treatment foster parents licensed by the state of North Dakota, and supervised by Professional Association of Treatment Homes (PATH). A mail survey explores different levels of involvement between the treatment foster family and the foster child's primary family, whether or not treatment foster parents believe they can impact the primary families of …

Client Satisfaction In Home Healthcare, Leslie Throne

Theses and Graduate Projects

No abstract provided.

Resiliency In Children: Identifying And Nurturing Coping Skills Through Outpatient Mental Health Services, Sharon Michel

Theses and Graduate Projects

Resiliency is the ability to adapt successfully despite living in adverse conditions. It involves negotiation between risk and protective factors. Researchers have found that resiliency is not necessarily constant but rather contextual. Therefore, characteristics of resiliency, once identified, can be nurtured and to some extent taught. This research study attempts to identify characteristics of resiliency in children who are brought to an outpatient mental health center for behavioral difficulties and assess whether treatment services nurture such characteristics Problem and competence scales were collected from the parents about their children at intake and again for this study. A comparison was made …

How Do Older Citizens Perceive Community Needs And Define The Roles Of Senior Volunteers In Meeting These Needs?, Twyla R. Busse

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to explore older adults' perceptions of community needs in education, basic human needs, the environment, and public safety and to define the role(s) older volunteers might play in addressing these needs. It was hypothesized that if older adults were given the opportunity to speak about their perceptions, they would be willing to address the identified needs through volunteerism. Data were gathered through 3 focus groups involving 20 Greater St. Cloud Area RSVP participants between the ages of 60 and 7O.

Findings indicate that older adults do perceive a number of needs in the community …

The Impact Of Collaborative Writing Lessons On Individual Attitudes And Specific Writing Skills Of Mainstream High School Students In The English Classroom, Barbara B. Swenson

Theses and Graduate Projects

The impact of specific collaborative writing skill lessons on individual writing skills and attitudes of mainstream students in two Chaska High School English classrooms was the focus of this study. Students in the control class and the experimental class studied the same literary selections and skills; however, the process of the writing skill lessons was different. The experimental class received additional instruction in the collaborative process by learning group roles, writing collaboratively, and evaluating progress after each group skill lesson. In order to assess the impact of collaboration in the experimental class, a pretest and posttest were administered to both …

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Hearing Conservation Program For Fourth Grade Students, Dianne R. Olson

Theses and Graduate Projects

This thesis documented the need for and effectiveness of an educational hearing conservation program, Play lt By Ear, which Was developed by the study's author to alert students to the dangers of loud sounds. This program was presented in four sessions of 60 minutes each to a class of fourth grade students in an elementary school in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. The program included information in the areas of anatomy of the ear, causes of hearing loss, measurement of hearing, types of hearing loss, safe and unsafe noise levels, and good hearing health care. Lecture, films, audio tapes, hearing screening demonstration, …

The Roles Of Stress And Self-Esteem In Families At Risk, Kay E. Nelson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Stress levels can have a profound effect on the individual's level of self-esteem. If there are many stresses in an individual's life and self-esteem is low, then how can o person help himself or herself to reduce stresses in their life? Lower levels of self-esteem con contribute to feelings of depression and hopelessness. When an individual has higher levels of self esteem, one con deal with life events more effectively and do the work necessary to make permanent changes to reduce stress levels. This thesis reports the results of a study addressing the interaction between stress and self-esteem for the …

Exploring The Impact Of Funding Source On The Provision Of Family Preservation Services, Debora L. Heider

Theses and Graduate Projects

In an effort to contain costs and increase accessibility to health care coverage, Minnesota has begun to transfer medical assistance recipients into Health Maintenance Organizations. This research project explores this change in funding and its impact on the provision of family preservation services. This project focuses on the characteristics of family preservation programs, their effectiveness at teaching families the skills needed to stay together, and the limited mental health care coverage provided under group health plans and its impact on service utilization. Twenty-three family therapists and mental health practitioners, along with three program administrators representing three family preservation programs in …

Orientations Toward Leadership--Youth Views On The Roles, Responsibilities, Characteristics, And Behaviors Of Service-Oriented Leadership, David Mcgill

Theses and Graduate Projects

Approximately 540 statements about youth leadership were collected through the use of focus group interviews. These statements were tape recorded and transcribed. From the transcriptions, 71 statements were selected on the basis of their relevance to the research questions. From these statements, 49 Leadership Expectations concerning service-oriented leadership were identified. These 49 Leadership Expectations were then categorized into 11 Role, 10 Responsibility, 15 Characteristic, and 13 Behavior Expectations. Then, each of the four sets of Leadership Expectations was condensed into central Leadership Themes, resulting in 5 Role Themes, 4 Responsibility Themes, 5 Characteristic Themes, and 3 Behavior Themes. A questionnaire …

Implications Of Play Behavior In Relation To Time Designated In The Kindergarten Curriculum, Marilee Mowry

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study investigated the relationship between the duration of free play periods and the social and cognitive levels of play in kindergarten. The play of forty-one children in an elementary school in Saint Paul, Minnesota was observed during fifteen minute and thirty minute play sessions over a four week period using Rubin's social-cognitive scale. It was hypothesized that the children would exhibit a higher percentage of mature play categories, an increase in social cognitive play behaviors, and a higher percentage of positive affect, relative to other forms of play during the longer play periods than during the shorter play sessions. …

Parent Preference Of Time Allocations For Academic Skills, Functional Skills, And Social/Friendship Development For Students Who Are Moderately Or Severely Impaired, Lois Denise Fischer Cranston

Theses and Graduate Projects

Parents of students with moderate and severe/profound impairment were asked to indicate preferences of how educational time should be allocated to the skill clusters of academic skills, functional skills, social/friendship skills, and other educational activities. This study is a replication of two studies conducred by Dr. Susan Hamre-Nietupski at the Universiry of Iowa in 1992 and 1993. The 1992 study was conducted with Dr. John Nietupski and Marlene Srrathe, and rhe 1993 study with the cooperation of the State Department of Iowa. The parents were asked to complete a survey consisting of three components. The components included demographic data, a …

Ascertaining The Long-Term Effectiveness Of Interventions For At Risk Students Using Follow-Up Study Data Of Mounds View Area Learning Center Graduates, Beth A. Dixon

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study examined data to determine the long-term effectiveness of interventions at the Mounds View Area Learning Center (MVALC), an alternative school for at risk students in Shoreview, Minnesota. Interventions, structural, curricular, and personnel modifications to traditional educational approaches, are designed to retain and graduate at risk students. Two questions were posed: l) Have at risk students been able to make a successful transition frorn high school to post-high; and 2) Were the interventions used in helping them succeed in high school helpful after high school? Questionnaires were administered to subjects who graduated between September 1990 and June 1993, having …

Effective Leadership Styles And Methods: A Survey Of Opinions Of Faculty And Management At Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, Judith A. Sanchez

Theses and Graduate Projects

The hierarchically structured Wisconsin lndianhead Technical College, New Richmond, Wisconsin, is considering implementing Total Quality Management/Continuous lmprovement Process (TQM/CIP) districtwide. The purpose of this study was to determine opinions held by faculty and management employed by that district regarding what constitutes effective leadership methods/styles and to assess whether differences existed between faculty and management groups regarding these opinions. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to all full-time district faculty and management. Two-hundred fourteen questionnaires were distributed, and 1 54 were returned for a return rate of 71 .9 percent. The questionnaire included 24 semantic differentiated items on a seven-point scale, …

An Analysis Of The Ethical Climate Of An Army Reserve Command Using The Integrity Audit Survey, Cornelius K. Hetherington

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to measure the ethical climate of a major Army Reserve Command (ARCOU). This is a significant study in light of the recent changes the Army Reserve, and the military in greneral , has been reguired to make. The study looks to determine whether or not changes such as downsizing, unit inactivations and cutbacks in personnel and funding have influenced the ethical climate of the organization. The Integrity Audit Survey was the instrument used in the study. Nine subordinate companies of 382 soldiers were surveyed. The results were measured against the six factors of the …