Digital Commons Network^™

A Multiple-Case Study On How Fifth Grade Students Experience Reading, Tiffany Tate

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The research from this study provides information for teachers, leaders, and administrators to review and analyze how fifth grade students experience reading. It will be important to adjust or change the strategies to promote reading and / or the curriculum for fifth grade students. Fullan (2011), a noted change theorist, identified five characteristics of effective leadership for change: (a) moral purpose, (b) understanding the change process, (c) strong relationships, (d) knowledge sharing, and (e) coherence, or connecting new knowledge with existing knowledge that served as the theoretical framework from which the data was viewed. The information from this study is …

Stigma Perceptions Of Adolescents With Emotional And/Or Behavioral Difficulties, Camille Barraclough

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The current study sought to better understand how adolescents with serious mental health problems participating in inpatient psychiatric treatment experience self- and perceived public stigma, using demographic and clinical factors to help further explain adolescents' experience of self- and perceived public stigma. Participants reported moderate levels of both self- and perceived public stigma, though these adolescents did not report significantly higher levels of self- or perceived public stigma than community/outpatient based samples. Although neither the three demographic nor three clinical factors were able to account for a significant amount of reported self- or perceived public stigma, the current research examined …

Remembering Together: The Relationships Of Historical Loss, Social Support, Depression, And Resilience, Matthew Croxton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Colonization, genocide, boarding schools, and relocation programs have created complex psychological issues for Native American people. Although these events are rooted in the past, the resulting political, social, and economic situations continue to play a role in influencing the mental health of Native Americans. There are considerations to be given to social support as a protective factor that provides resiliency for Native Americans. Historical trauma (as measured by the Historical Loss Scale, HLS), social support (as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, MSPSS), depression (as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D) and resilience …

Supplementing Society: A Sociocultural Analysis Of Recreational Drug Use And Supplement Consumption Within The American Collegiate Environment, Kelli M. Bradley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the United States, reports within the last decade indicate college students are using dietary supplements at rates well above those reported for adult populations. Despite this prevalence, however, there continues to be a dearth of information examining behaviors related to this health phenomenon. This is problematic for many reasons, but especially because some research has found associations between use of these products and use of recreational drugs among this population.

Employing an integrated theoretical approach utilizing concepts from critical-interpretive medical anthropology (CIMA) and emerging adulthood, this research examined the ways in which supplement use related to sociocultural factors present …

Understanding Traditions And Practices Of Medicinal Plant Use In Carhuamayo, Junin, Peru, Anastasia Orkwiszewski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding and preserving Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practices (TEKP) are essential for the continued resilience and cultural diversity of humanity. TEKP faces a multitude of threats from habitat loss, growth of the market economy, globalization, and acculturation. Medicinal plant use in the high Andean town of Carhuamayo, Junín, was studied to assess the vibrancy of that particular branch of TEKP in that area, in what parts of the population it was held, and what factors influence its loss or growth. Gender, age, migrant status, and acculturation levels were not found to be statistically significant in predicting medicinal plant knowledge. Analysis …

Spiritual Practices Among Northern Plains Tribal Members As A Protective Factor In The Relationship Between Unexpected Deaths And Traumatic Grief, Ciara D. Hansen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Grief is an important and potentially misunderstood construct in Indian country. Past research has shown that the experience of unexpected deaths has been associated with intense and maladaptive grief responses. Active participation in religion or spirituality has been shown to buffer against the negative effects of bereavement. Given the well-documented premature mortality rates and generally lowered life expectancy in American Indian communities, this study examined the relationships between spirituality, unexpected deaths, and traumatic grief, as measured by the Inventory of Traumatic Grief – Revised (ITG-R). Method: A secondary multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that …

The Comet Mine: An Engendered Study Of Victorian Consumption Practices And Material Culture On A Small Mining Landscape, Ryan E. Wendel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Comet mine is an early 20th-century, largely undocumented mining

community that existed along the periphery of the Coloma Mining District in the Garnet Range of western Montana. During the summer of 2010, archaeological excavations occurred at multiple features at the site. Through an analysis of cultural material found in deposits at the Comet, this study interprets the way in which patterns of refuse can reveal information about consumption behavior and evolving gender roles in mining communities in Montana, during late Victorian era.

The Validity Of Self- Versus Other Reports Of Adhd Symptoms In College Students: Cognitive And Academic Achievement Outcomes, Eric Aune

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the abundance of studies investigating Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adults, little research has focused on ADHD and comorbid learning disabilities (LD) in college students. The dearth of research in this population is becoming increasingly important given that ADHD and LD are the two most commonly reported and diagnosed disabilities in higher academic institutions (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). As a result, clinicians' are continually faced with the difficult task of determining sensitive and valid assessment measures to use with this population. While some overlap exists between college students and younger and older counterparts, research has shown …

The Effects Of Intimate Relationship Education On University Students' Attachment Security, Meredith Hood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For several decades, a variety of interventions have been utilized in an effort to improve the likelihood that individuals will attain a stable and satisfying marriage. Historically, these interventions have taken place when individuals are already partnered and challenging relationship dynamics are already established. More recently, however, many relationship experts have established a more proactive approach to prevent marital decline. Adults with secure attachment feel comfortable with closeness and interdependence in relationships. Similarly, they believe they are worthy of love and see others as trustworthy and dependable. In contrast, adults with insecure attachment tend to struggle more in close relationships. …

Importance Of Leadership Competencies In College And University Staff Athletic Trainers: Perceptions Of Head Athletic Trainers, Janelle Lynn Handlos

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Importance of Leadership Competencies in College and University Staff Athletic Trainers: Perceptions of Head Athletic Trainers This quantitative study utilized a survey design to determine the level of importance head athletic trainers at the college and university level place on their staff athletic trainers displaying previously identified leadership competencies. Data were collected using a web-based questionnaire designed for the study. Participants were 326 college and university head athletic trainers closely resembling the characteristics of the population. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics to determine the level of importance assigned to each competency and the demographic responses of participants. Inferential statistics …

Commodity Or Dignity? Nurturing Managers' Courtesy Nurtures Workers' Productivity, Montana Rafferty Moss

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dignity is the measure of people's worth determined through social interactions (Neal, 2012). As people must enjoy core capabilities to possess dignity (Ward & Syversen, 2009), work is one activity through which core capabilities provide a sense of worth (Venkatapuram, 2013). Workplace managers must enact dignity affirming discourse so their workers perceive ownership of core capabilities that afford a sense of worth and fulfillment. Dignity disaffirming (or violating) discourse obstructs core capabilities, leaving work unsatisfying and workers physiologically, psychologically, and emotionally damaged. Not only do such people suffer, but so do their organizations (Ghoshal, 2005). This study reveals that women …

Yerba Mate (Ilex Paraguariensis) Production, Agricultural Change, And Livelihood Security In Southeastern Paraguay, Mason Robert Bradbury

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Smallholders in Southeastern Paraguay are threatened by the advance of mechanized farming, environmental degradation, and limited access to credit and inputs. Agroforestry initiatives have been proposed as a way to increase smallholder livelihood security in the face of such vulnerability. Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a tree crop native to Paraguay that may be grown in agroforestry systems. While prices paid to farmers for yerba mate have increased in recent years, spurring interest and adoption of yerba mate production among some farmers, to this date, there have been no analyses of the effects that yerba mate production may have on …

The Causes And Consequences Of Migration: How Displacement And Change Affect The Well-Being Of Humli Tibetans In Katmandu, Ruth Ann Guthrie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Humla, one of the most remote regions in the Himalayan nation of Nepal, has undergone tremendous upheaval due to the Maoist insurgency of 1996-2006. As a result, numerous groups from rural Nepal such as those from Humla, have been displaced or chosen to migrate to urban areas, seeking to improve their lives or simply to survive. Pressure from Maoists has caused the displacement of many individuals who make up the community of Humlis now living in Kathmandu. This study aims to understand these causes of displacement and migration, as well as its consequences for Humlis. As a consequence of displacement …

Prophylactic-Dysphagia Intervention For Patients With Head And Neck Cancer Receiving Chemoradiation Therapy, Shanna Lee Stack

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Many patients with head and neck cancer suffer from dysphagia caused by organ preserving regimens of chemoradiation therapy. However, intervention for this population varies in terms of timing, intensity, and types of treatments prescribed. This prospective study investigated swallowing-related quality of life, functional oral intake, and swallowing-related pain for patients who received two different types of preventative swallowing intervention before and during chemoradiation therapy. A total of eight participants who had undergone chemoradiation therapy participated in the study. Four participants completed direct swallowing exercises (exercises that require swallowing). The remaining four completed indirect swallowing exercises (exercises that do not require …

Public Power, Private Matters: The American Social Hygiene Association And The Policing Of Sexual Health In The Progressive Era, Kayla Blackman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 1914, a group of professionals chartered the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA), a private reform agency dedicated to the eradication of venereal disease. Over the next several years, the ASHA formed partnerships with other reform organizations and championed education and legal reform. In 1917, during World War I, the ASHA partnered with the federal government to set standards of sexual health for all American citizens. Chapter One explores the origins of the ASHA, focusing on the organization’s attention to international issues surrounding prostitution as well as its organizational partnerships with like-minded domestic reform agencies. By placing itself in dialogue …

An Anxious State: The Search For Identity And The Struggle For Peace In Irish And Palestinian Literature, Benjamin Patrick Sweeney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis works to connect the literature of two geographically and historically disparate people – the Irish and the Palestinians. One can observe patterns of disjuncture, identity crisis, and identity formation in the history of one people; one can then apply the principles learned to analogous historical situations. I argue that the Irish and the Palestinians share a kind of communal psychological trauma brought about by the experience of imperial/colonial domination, violence, and especially diaspora. Because of this shared trauma, Ireland’s historical experience can offer insight into that of Palestine. The situations are unique, but at certain human levels they …

Neuroplasticity, Dosage, And Repetition Priming Effects In Individuals With Stroke-Induced Aphasia, Jenna Ray Griffin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Intensity significantly impacts aphasia treatment efficacy, yet research protocols have not answered questions about optimal intensity and/or dosage. A single-subject ABA design investigated the influence of repetition priming on naming performance for four individuals with stroke-induced aphasia. The participants completed an intensive training protocol with repeated attempts to name pictures. Independent variables included training status and stimulus dosage. The dependent variable was response accuracy. Response accuracy increased for all participants during the training phase, and training effects persisted through the maintenance phase for all participants. Stimulus dosage did not consistently influence response accuracy for the participants.

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Free Markets: Alec's Populist Constructions Of "The People" In State Politics, Anne Sherwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, has been championing neoliberal and neoconservative bills relatively unnoticed in statehouses across the country for years. Using the populist frame, I contend that ALEC creates a new subject position for its corporate and legislative members as small business owners and virtuous entrepreneurs. This rhetoric is also on display in Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker utilizes populist rhetoric to constitute "the people" as workers.

Impacts Of Urban Land Use Change On Sources Of Drinking Water In Kumasi, Ghana, Michael Kofi Eduful

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Land use has a major influence on water quality, and the issue is of great concern in developing world urban areas where there are competing land uses. Kumasi, Ghana like most cities in the developing world, struggles to control and prevent urban water supply pollution through appropriate water resource protection measures that minimize or eradicate adverse impacts of land uses. Presently all rivers in the city are highly polluted, including the one where raw-water is obtained for treatment and supply of potable water. This study investigates how sources of drinking water are impacted by land use in Kumasi, the implications …

Hiatus Resolution In Tariana Pronominal Prefixation, Kate Hohenstein

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis provides an Optimality Theory (OT) analysis (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1995) of vowel alternations that occur upon affixation across pronominal prefix-verb root boundaries in Tariana (North Arawak; Colombia/Brazil). Previously, the vowel alternations observed in these environments have been described in terms of linear analysis, as independently-motivated processes under the cover term vowel fusion (Aikhenvald 2003). I propose that the vowel alternations occur as instruments of hiatus resolution. Three alternations, or hiatus resolution strategies, are observable in Tariana pronominal prefix-verb root affixation: no change (or diphthong formation), coalescence, and vowel elision. I propose that sonority sequencing …

A Phenomenological Study Of Leadership: Developmental Pathways Of Leaders With Disabilities, Mika Watanabe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research on leaders with disabilities is largely limited in scope to civil rights and disability rights leadership. This qualitative research investigated how individuals with disabilities transformed themselves into leaders in the disability field. This research focuses on the leaders’ perceptions of critical experiences and relationships that influenced them as leaders. A phenomenological approach was used to understand the lived experiences of six leaders with disabilities. Open-ended interviews with recognized leaders who had disabilities were analyzed by examining their narrative statements, resulting in a combined description of their lived experience.

The results of the analysis revealed that these leaders with disabilities …

Language Socialization, Revitalization And Ideologies In The Salish-Pend D'Oreille Community, Rebecca Jo Wood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The goal of this thesis is to examine the language socialization practices and ideologies of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille community in order to understand language and cultural change in this community. This cultural group has become predominately monolingual in the non-traditional language, English; yet as my research demonstrates, the traditional language, Salish, continues to convey important epistemological perspectives valued in traditional society. By analyzing instances of Salish language use and non-use, I define some of the social factors that influence language use, as well as how children are socialized to use the language in culturally significant ways. When Salish is used, …

The Politics Of Melancholy In Alfonso Cuarón’S Y Tu Mamá También, Children Of Men And The Possibility Of Hope, Jessica Anderson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines how three films directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men, and The Possibility of Hope, represent the impact of globalization on society and the environment. These films are thematically related, and intended to be considered in connection with one another, as indicated by both interviews with Cuarón, and by critical commentary informing audience reception of these works. Each film uses melancholy as a plot device, and as an ambient presence to elucidate Cuarón’s underlying message that we must re-examine the problematic social, economic and environmental consequences of neo-liberal capitalist models of globalization. Melancholy …

The Effect Of Health And Human Performance Department (Hhp) Activity Classes At The University Of Montana On Students’ Levels Of Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, Self-Compassion, And Attention, Anna Russell Zielaski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined the effect of University of Montana, Health and Human Performance (HHP) Department sponsored activity classes on college students’ levels of mindfulness, perceived stress, self-compassion, and attention. Participants: 96 college students enrolled in a spring 2013 activity class started the study, however only 41 completed the post-test survey. Methods: At the beginning and end of the semester, participants completed an online survey through SurveyMonkey, which assessed students’ levels of mindfulness, perceived stress, self-compassion and attention. Results: Students who participated in the mindfulness based activity class, Yoga and Meditation experienced the greatest increases in overall mindfulness levels over the …

Orphic Ecology: Melancholy And The Poetics Of Robert Duncan, Robert Nolan Knapp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the poetry of Robert Duncan and the political potential of melancholy. Relying on Judith Butler’s examination of the difference between “mourning” and “melancholy” in Precarious Lives, I argue that Robert Duncan enacts a condition of melancholia that he might respond to what Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands identifies in Queer Ecologies as “the psychically ungrievable”: homosexual desire and the environment. I contend in this thesis that one might enact an active experience of melancholy as both a preservative and rejuvenative force. In the first chapter of the thesis I explore Robert Duncan’s revisitation of a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses in …

An Assessment Of The Health Needs Of The Transgender Community In Montana, Anna Grace Von Gohren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The transgender community has been identified as a group at high risk for HIV transmission and increased possibility for poor quality of life. This paper represents the results of a qualitative research study using interviews and Photovoice as methodologies to explore the contextual factors that define and shape the lives of people in Montana who identify as transgender, and specifically to explore factors that influence their risk of infection with HIV/AIDS. Ten major themes emerged from the interviews as well as the discussions surrounding the photographs. Sense of self was identified as a core category related to the overall health …

Women And Horses: Three Centuries Of Patriarchal Control In British And American Literature, Kaitlynn Hanna Hirst

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Both literary representations of horsewomen and critical responses to such characterizations have largely failed to expose the full complexity of the cultural constraints brought to bear on women’s interactions with horses. In this thesis therefore I will argue that in response to feminist activity to dispel stereotypes of any group of women, the long development of strong, capable representations of women on horseback spanning the nineteenth through the early twenty-first century prove to be little more than repetitive archetypal images which serve to reaffirm patriarchal controls in western culture. If only threaded together by the ways the literary figure of …

Second-Dialect Acquisition In Southwestern Pennsylvania, Lisa Marie Sprowls

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents an analysis of second-dialect acquisition of Pittsburgh English phonological features. Pittsburgh English is the dialect spoken in southwestern Pennsylvania. There are two phonological features unique to the dialect: (i) the [ɔ] realization of the low-back vowel merger and (ii) monophthongal /aw/ (Johnstone et al. 2002). The current study is based on speech data collected from nine participants, native speakers of other dialects of English who now live in southwestern Pennsylvania. This analysis shows that these two phonological features can be acquired. This is the first study to examine Pittsburgh English as a second-dialect. Participants read a word …

Just Leftovers, Sarah Elizabeth Tancred

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Just Leftovers is intended to offer an understanding of the woman’s role within the domestic realm and its evolution over time in American society. My ultimate goal is to create an awareness of women’s inequality historically, but also to expose the inequality, biases, and double standards that continue to exist in our contemporary society. I choose to create this awareness through visual art with the manipulation of recognizable objects that the general public, stereotypically speaking, would associate with femininity and domesticity. I am fascinated by how these “feminine” objects and their historical content [e.g. bread pan] have been socially constructed …

Impacts Of Montana Public Wolf Hunting And Trapping On Tolerance And Acceptance Of Gray Wolves Among Rural Resident Ranchers, Trappers, And Big Game Hunters, Alia Winn Mulder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Public Trust Doctrine placed wildlife in trust, via state control and regulation, for the benefit of the people. Managing agencies that lose sight of the importance of public acceptance of predator policies and management actions may find themselves legislatively or judicially subverted. This study examines how the Montana public wolf hunting and trapping seasons have affected tolerance and acceptance of gray wolves (Canis lupus) among rural resident ranchers, hunters, and trappers. Twenty residents from the Blackfoot, Bitterroot, and Ninemile Valleys were qualitatively interviewed over the summer and fall of 2013. Potential participants were initially identified using purposive sampling, with …