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The Cost Of Negative Perceptions Of The Work Environment Among Intermediate Intensive Care Unit Nurses, Joselyn Peralta Dec 2006

The Cost Of Negative Perceptions Of The Work Environment Among Intermediate Intensive Care Unit Nurses, Joselyn Peralta

Master's Projects

This descriptive study assessed the perceptions of the work environment and the retention plans among registered nurses (RNs) who worked in the Intermediate Intensive Care Unit at a tertiary university hospital. Results from the Moos Work Environment Scale found that nurses perceived high levels of work pressure and low levels of clarity, coworker cohesion, and supervisor support. Results indicated that the intent to leave the unit was dependent on the nurses having other options in nursing, desiring further education, an undesirable scheduling process and unsafe patient care. The direct and indirect costs to hospitals could be offset by developing strategies …


Minority Adolescents At Risk For Obesity: Health Behaviors And Perceptions, Linda D. Jones Dec 2006

Minority Adolescents At Risk For Obesity: Health Behaviors And Perceptions, Linda D. Jones

Master's Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine behaviors related to nutrition and physical activity of inner-city minority adolescents, and their perception of normal weight and overweight. The research study used a descriptive, non-experimental design which had a convenience sample of thirty-seven 8th grade minority adolescents who attended a chartered urban K-8 grade school in Northern California. There were no statistically significant differences in the results, however, over 50% of the students reported not eating the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Another 68% reported participating more than 30 minutes in exercising or playing sports during physical education class. …


Stress Reduction: A Neighborhood Introduction, Barbara D. Johnson Dec 2006

Stress Reduction: A Neighborhood Introduction, Barbara D. Johnson

Master's Projects

Responding to reported health concerns a stress reduction program was developed for residents of an urban Latino neighborhood struggling with poverty, crime, and limited access to healthcare. The revised Health Promotion Model (HPM) was used as a framework (Pender, 1996). A qualitative study testing a 5-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention was imbedded into the program 18 months after its implementation. Utilizing a pre/post test design participants were predicted to demonstrate significant reductions in post-intervention mean scores for 3 self-report measures, the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale, General Sleep Disturbance Scale, and a modified Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale. A 91% drop …


Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Humor Workshop On The Perceived Stress Of Nurse Practitioner Students, Stephanie A. Emerson Aug 2006

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Humor Workshop On The Perceived Stress Of Nurse Practitioner Students, Stephanie A. Emerson

Master's Projects

A quasi-experimental one-group pretest posttest design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a humor workshop on the perceived stress of a sample of nurse practitioner students (n = 9) at a major university. Testing aimed at measuring perceived stress, was completed before and after participation in a" orkshop focusing on the application of humor skills in the healthcare environment. For the total sample, the mean pretest score was 15.22, SD = 5.42 and the mean posttest score was 1 0.33, SD = 3.90. A dependent samples !-test revealed a statistically significant difference (t = 4.55, p < .002). Results indicate that participation in a humor workshop of this type may be associated with lower levels of perceived stress.


An Added Dimension To The Faculty Role: The Accelerated Student, Lisa Rauch, Deborah Nelson May 2006

An Added Dimension To The Faculty Role: The Accelerated Student, Lisa Rauch, Deborah Nelson

Master's Projects

Nursing faculty work hard at helping students achieve academic success by utilizing a variety of support services. The question guiding this study is: Do accelerated and traditional BSN students have different characteristics or different valued support services? The characteristics of accelerated and traditional BSN students were obtained from a larger longitudinal study (N=93). The Support Services Questionnaire collected data from a convenient sample of two groups of BSN students: accelerated (n=26), traditional (n=49). The results presented accelerated students as primarily female, financially supported, and holding a variety of college degrees. Traditional students were represented as female, younger, working and not …


The Relationship Between Perceived And Ideal Body Size And Body Mass Index Among 9th Grade Students In An Urban High School, Irma Orozco May 2006

The Relationship Between Perceived And Ideal Body Size And Body Mass Index Among 9th Grade Students In An Urban High School, Irma Orozco

Master's Projects

This study examined the perceptions of actual and ideal body size and how it related to body mass index in 82 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse 9th-graders from an urban high school. The height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated for each of the 82 participants. Using the Childress Silhouette Scale (CSS), each student self-reported Perceived Actual Self Image (P ASI) and Perceived Ideal Self Image (PISI). The CSS was modified to offer 7 figure drawings that illustrated various examples of underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese. Results showed that 54% ofthe students had a healthy weight, 21% were …


Self-Efficacy And Grade Point Average In Relationship To Academic Success In Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Cynthia Miller May 2006

Self-Efficacy And Grade Point Average In Relationship To Academic Success In Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Cynthia Miller

Master's Projects

Academic success, defined as the completion of a nursing program and passing the National Council for Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), is the goal of all nursing programs. The identification of specific variables related to academic success could identify students at risk of failing early. The purpose of this research study was to explore the relationship of two variables related to academic success, self-efficacy and grade point averages (GPA), in accelerated and regular BSN students. The results of this study suggest that a statistically significant, positive relationship exists between prerequisite GP A and self-efficacy of BSN students. In addition, …


Cultural Identity Of Labor And Delivery Nurses In The Assessment Of Pregnant Patients For Interpersonal Violence, Ramona Nichols Smith May 2006

Cultural Identity Of Labor And Delivery Nurses In The Assessment Of Pregnant Patients For Interpersonal Violence, Ramona Nichols Smith

Master's Projects

Objective: Identification of barriers to assessment of interpersonal violence (IPV) in pregnant women. Design: An exploratory descriptive study Setting: The labor and delivery department of a public county hospital Participants: 34 nurses, representing 8 cultures and 13 native languages, completed the survey, and 34 laboring patient's medical records were reviewed. Main Outcome Measures: Any specific barriers, identified by nurses, to assessing for IPV in laboring patients Results: Medical record review revealed 50% assessment rate in labor triage patients. Survey results revealed that cultural identity (85 %) was not a significant barrier. Approximately 65% of nurses agreed that in their culture …


Multigenerational Nurses' Perceptions Of Their Work Environment, Rukhsana Syed May 2006

Multigenerational Nurses' Perceptions Of Their Work Environment, Rukhsana Syed

Master's Projects

Objective: To examine the differences in multi-generational nurses' perceptions regarding their work environment. Background: Today's nursing workforce is comprised of individuals of many generations. Individuals of different generations share some values and beliefs, but they also vary in their perceptions regarding their work environments. It is a challenge for managers to create environments in which all staff members feel welcome and appreciated, a situation. which ultimately leads to decreased turnover, increased productivity, and a high quality of patient care. Methods: Survey packets (n = 850) were distributed to all RNs employed at an acute care hospital. To assess RNs' perceptions …


The Relationship Between Health Beliefs And Adherence To Treatment Of Russian Immigrants With Hypertension, Michael R. Kolesnikov May 2006

The Relationship Between Health Beliefs And Adherence To Treatment Of Russian Immigrants With Hypertension, Michael R. Kolesnikov

Master's Projects

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) has been identified as a common health problem in every ethnic group in the USA. Due to the silent nature of the HTN, some cultures may not perceive this condition as being serious or potentially fatal. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the health beliefs of Russian-speaking immigrants with hypertension and their adherence to the prescribed treatment. Design: The study was a non-experimental exploratory survey and interview. Convenience sampling was used. The Health Belief Model (HBM) provided the theoretical framework. Sample: A total of 62 subjects (27% male and 73% female, ages from 51 …


Factors Affecting Nursing Students' Attitudes Towards Older Adults, Tracy Mccammon May 2006

Factors Affecting Nursing Students' Attitudes Towards Older Adults, Tracy Mccammon

Master's Projects

The purpose of this study was to measure nursing students' attitudes towards older adults and to determine, if possible, factors which affect nursing students' attitudes toward older adults. A convenience sample of 94 senior, pre-licensed, baccalaureate nursing students, at a metropolitan university school of nursing in community and acute settings participated in the study. This non-experimental, descriptive survey focused on nursing students' attitudes towards older adults using the Kogan's Attitude Towards Old People Scale (KOP). A researcher developed questionnaire was also used to collect demographic information, as well as academic and non-academic experiences of students. The findings of this study …


A Survey Of Perceived Job Satisfaction Among School Nurses, Warren Nelson May 2006

A Survey Of Perceived Job Satisfaction Among School Nurses, Warren Nelson

Master's Projects

Many studies have examined job satisfaction of nurses in various clinical settings, but few have focused on school nurses. This project was a follow-up to the study by Foley, Wilson, Lee, Young Cureton, & Canham (2004), who used a written questionnaire and convenience sample rather than the electronic means and random sampling employed here. Both studies, based on Stamp's Index of Work Satisfaction, analyzed six parameters to determine the degree of job satisfaction among members of a state school nurses organization. The results of this study substantially agreed with the prior study. School nurses were not satisfied with their jobs. …


Nurse Practitioners' Attitudes Toward Obesity, Teresa Cueba Dionne May 2006

Nurse Practitioners' Attitudes Toward Obesity, Teresa Cueba Dionne

Master's Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore if negative attitudes exist among nurse practitioners toward obese clients. Data Sources: Data sources included responses to a 23 item questionnaire and a 7 item demographic survey completed anonymously through the mail. 104 Nurse practitioner members of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (21% response rate) participated in the study. Participants were asked to respond to questions related to attitudes about obese persons and weight management.


Identifying Catholic School Teachers Attitudes And Perceptions About Death And Grief, Stephania Ann Higdon May 2006

Identifying Catholic School Teachers Attitudes And Perceptions About Death And Grief, Stephania Ann Higdon

Master's Projects

Death and grief are not frequently discussed with children as a normal part of life. Previous studies show that teachers are not comfortable discussing the subject in the classrooms. As a trusted source, school nurses are able to help school staff recognize potential signs and symptoms of death and grief with a student dealing with a loss, providing information, educational resources and support. The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes and perceptions about death and grief of Catholic School teachers working among elementary school age children kindergarten through eighth grades. A convenience sample of 47 teachers from …


The Influence Of Staff Nurse Ethnicity On Perceptions Of The Work Environment, Silvia Helena Martins May 2006

The Influence Of Staff Nurse Ethnicity On Perceptions Of The Work Environment, Silvia Helena Martins

Master's Projects

This study investigated the relationship among Registered Nurses (RNs) from different ethnic groups and their perceptions of the work environment in a community hospital in California. Moos' Work Environment Scale (WES) was used to examine three Dimensions of the work climate. Statistically significant differences were found in the way Caucasian and non-Caucasian RNs perceived Peer Cohesion and Work Pressure. These findings have implications for nurse leaders interested in transforming the work environment as perceptions of Peer Cohesion and Work Pressure are important factors influencing RN retention and quality of patient care.


Student Demographics With Changing Admission Criteria: Is Nursing Diversity At Risk?, Jung Yoon, Kimlin Mcdaniel Keith May 2006

Student Demographics With Changing Admission Criteria: Is Nursing Diversity At Risk?, Jung Yoon, Kimlin Mcdaniel Keith

Master's Projects

Schools of nursing are challenged with choosing from an increasing number of applicants and the need to prepare as many successful nurses as possible to meet the nursing shortage. Strategies have included increasing student enrollment, utilizing accelerated programs, and changing admission criteria. This study describes the demographic characteristics of three classes of nursing students admitted under different criteria to the same nursing school. The value of maintaining a high level of ethnic diversity is guided by Leininger's theory of cultural care diversity and universality. Although changes occurred in the demographic constitution of each nursing class, ethnic diversity was maintained as …


The Relationship Between Parental Physical Activity Levels And Their Child's Body Mass Index, Juracia Carbajal May 2006

The Relationship Between Parental Physical Activity Levels And Their Child's Body Mass Index, Juracia Carbajal

Master's Projects

This study compared the relationships between parental physical activity levels and their child's body mass index (BMI) using a convenience sample of volunteer parents at a school-based health clinic. Anonymously, parents completed a seven-question survey utilizing the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The data analysis indicated that parental physical activity did not have a significant influence on a child's BMI. Forty-two percent of the children were overweight or at risk for overweight, demonstrating the need for increased physical activity and improved nutritional guidance. The school nurse has a significant role in providing education about health, nutrition, and obesity prevention strategies …


Does Culture Influence The Needs Of Critical Care Families?, Naomi Alston May 2006

Does Culture Influence The Needs Of Critical Care Families?, Naomi Alston

Master's Projects

Purpose: This study explores ICU patient's family member needs, particularly Vietnamese and Latino families. Design: Convenience sampling at 24 bed ICU in acute care community hospital serving ethnically diverse population. Methods: Non-experimental survey with pretest-posttest design using Demographic sheet, Critical Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI), and Needs Met Inventory (NMI). Information pamphlets were distributed. Data analysis was by ethnic groups using measures of central tendency and descriptive statistics. Findings: CCFNI results indicate family members of all ethnicities experience the same priority of needs; support and information are top two needs. English, Spanish and Vietnamese pamphlets met information needs of the majority …


Addressing Student Nurses' Concerns In End Of Life Care, Tami Boroughf May 2006

Addressing Student Nurses' Concerns In End Of Life Care, Tami Boroughf

Master's Projects

Recently, there has been a great deal of attention to the fact that there are few learning opportunities regarding end-of-life (EOL) care in nursing undergraduate education. One purpose of this research study was to provide an educational seminar for nursing students with information necessary to communicate with patients at the end of life and their families. The educational intervention consisted of an interdisciplinary panel discussion, a brief segment of a video, a case study with small group discussion, and an optional reflective activity. A quasi- ~; experimental, pretest and posttest design was used in a baccalaureate-nursing program in Northern California. …


Academic Motivation: A Comparative Study Of Entry Level Baccaslaureate Nursing Students, Sharon Helene Davis May 2006

Academic Motivation: A Comparative Study Of Entry Level Baccaslaureate Nursing Students, Sharon Helene Davis

Master's Projects

Purpose: To examine academic motivation of students enrolled in an accelerated and a traditional baccalaureate nursing programs. Design: A convenience sample of30 (100%) respondents in an accelerated group and 37 (54%) respondents in a traditional group (54%) provided the data. A demographic survey and the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS C-28) were administered to both groups. Methods: This was a quantitative, correlational study. Analysis quantified item frequencies within the AMS C-28, and at-test was employed to evaluate the differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and amotivation between the groups. Findings: There was no statistical difference in any of the motivation results …


A Study Of Adolescent Depression Among Middle School Students, Cristina Lee May 2006

A Study Of Adolescent Depression Among Middle School Students, Cristina Lee

Master's Projects

Adolescent depression and teenage suicide should not be neglected and underestimated. While mental health is one of the ten health indicators that Healthy People 20 I 0 is focused on, and there are goals for the health community to work on, statistics are showing that teenagers in a county in Northern California were at high risk for mental health problem. This study was an introductory screening of the depression level of 7th graders attending middle school, and explored sources of adolescent perceived stress and routes of assistance. Results of the study show that almost one in every five 7th graders …


Evaluation Of A School Based Disaster Preparedness Program, Sandra Linebarger May 2006

Evaluation Of A School Based Disaster Preparedness Program, Sandra Linebarger

Master's Projects

This study evaluated a school based intervention designed to better prepare teachers and staff members in an elementary school to improve their knowledge and confidence of disaster preparedness. Participants included 19 teachers and I 0 staff members of an elementary school in San Mateo County, CA. With hundreds of schools scattered in the communities and the recent disasters in our country there is a growing awareness of the need for disaster preparedness in schools. A pretest-posttest was administered to measure changes in knowledge and confidence following a school based intervention of disaster preparedness education. There was a significant improvement in …


How Special Education Teachers Of High School-Aged Students Address Sex Education, Amelia Owen-Casillas May 2006

How Special Education Teachers Of High School-Aged Students Address Sex Education, Amelia Owen-Casillas

Master's Projects

In this qualitative pilot study, five special education teachers of high-school-age students responded to seven research questions regarding how they address sex education, a part of family living from the Health Framework for California Public Schools. The participating special education teachers taught either in special education programs for the emotionally-disturbed(ED) or severely handicapped (SH). An overall identified theme for both groups of teachers was family participation. Other themes were teachers needing to be expert at understanding students learning styles and the need to be an expert at modifying goals for students learning. School nurses can help support and provide accurate …


Concept Based Document Clustering Using A Simplicial Complex, A Hypergraph, Kevin Lind Jan 2006

Concept Based Document Clustering Using A Simplicial Complex, A Hypergraph, Kevin Lind

Master's Projects

This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of using a combinatorial topology structure (a simplicial complex) for document clustering. It is believed that a simplicial complex better identifies the latent concept space defined by a collection of documents than the use of hypergraphs or human categorization. The complex is constructed using groups of co-occurring words (term associations) identified using traditional data mining methods. Disjoint subsections of the complex (connect components) represent general concepts within the documents’ concept space. Documents clustered to these connect components will produce meaningful groupings. Instead, the most specific concepts (maximal simplices) are used as representative connect components to …


Bluetooth Security Protocol Analysis And Improvements, Chi Shing Lee Jan 2006

Bluetooth Security Protocol Analysis And Improvements, Chi Shing Lee

Master's Projects

Since its creation, Bluetooth has transformed itself from a cable replacement technology to a wireless technology that connects people and machines. Bluetooth has been widely adapted on mobile phones and PDAs. Many other vendors in other industries are integrating Bluetooth into their products. Although vendors are adapting to the technology, Bluetooth hasn’t been a big hit among users. Security remains a major concern. Poor implementation of the Bluetooth architecture on mobile devices leads to some high profiled Bluetooth hacks. Weak security protocol designs expose the Bluetooth system to some devastating protocol attacks. This paper first explores four Bluetooth protocol-level attacks …


Engineering Enterprise Software Systems With Interactive Uml Models And Aspect-Oriented Middleware, Paul Nguyen Jan 2006

Engineering Enterprise Software Systems With Interactive Uml Models And Aspect-Oriented Middleware, Paul Nguyen

Master's Projects

Large scale enterprise software systems are inherently complex and hard to maintain. To deal with this complexity, current mainstream software engineering practices aim at raising the level of abstraction to visual models described in OMG’s UML modeling language. Current UML tools, however, produce static design diagrams for documentation which quickly become out-of-sync with the software, and thus obsolete. To address this issue, current model-driven software development approaches aim at software automation using generators that translate models into code. However, these solutions don’t have a good answer for dealing with legacy source code and the evolution of existing enterprise software systems. …


Clustering High Dimensional Data Using Svm, Tam P. Ngo Jan 2006

Clustering High Dimensional Data Using Svm, Tam P. Ngo

Master's Projects

The Web contains massive amount of documents from across the globe to the point where it has become impossible to classify them manually. This project’s goal is to find a new method for clustering documents that are as close to humans’ classification as possible and at the same time to reduce the size of the documents. This project uses a combination of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) with Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) calculation as well as Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification. With SVD, data sets are decomposed and can be truncated to reduce the data sets size. The reduced data set …


Visualization Of Secondary Rna Structure Prediction Algorithms, Brandon Hunter Jan 2006

Visualization Of Secondary Rna Structure Prediction Algorithms, Brandon Hunter

Master's Projects

This chapter introduces the secondary structure prediction problem. It describes what the secondary structure prediction problem is and why it is important. Based on the importance of the algorithm it is essential to have a clear means to visually represent the problem. Therefore, this chapter details the high level goals of the visualization. It details how the visualization will visually represent the problem through several simultaneous representations. These visual representations will be tied together in order to increase the understanding of the algorithm.


A Meaningful Md5 Hash Collision Attack, Narayana D. Kashyap Jan 2006

A Meaningful Md5 Hash Collision Attack, Narayana D. Kashyap

Master's Projects

It is now proved by Wang et al., that MD5 hash is no more secure, after they proposed an attack that would generate two different messages that gives the same MD5 sum. Many conditions need to be satisfied to attain this collision. Vlastimil Klima then proposed a more efficient and faster technique to implement this attack. We use these techniques to first create a collision attack and then use these collisions to implement meaningful collisions by creating two different packages that give identical MD5 hash, but when extracted, each gives out different files with contents specified by the atacker.


Study Of Rna Secondary Structure Prediction Algorithms, Lisa Yu Jan 2006

Study Of Rna Secondary Structure Prediction Algorithms, Lisa Yu

Master's Projects

Dynamic programming algorithms such as Nussinov algorithm and Zuker algorithm define criteria to search the most stable RNA secondary structures. Stochastic Context-Free Grammar (SCFG) predicts the most possible RNA secondary structure using context-free grammar and a defined set of probabilities for each grammar rule. These algorithms form the base of using computer programs to predict RNA secondary structures without pseudoknots. In this report, we review these RNA secondary structure prediction algorithms and present our own software implementations of these algorithms. The Nussinov algorithm is easy to understand. But our results show that the Nussinov algorithm is overly simplified and can …