Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of Conceptualizations, Peer Interventions, And Principles And Standards In Approaches To Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv), Sara Fister

Counselor Education Capstones

Intimate partner violence (IPV), a type of domestic violence, is a human rights issue that is considered a global health concern. The daunting statistics outline the immense need for principles and standards for approaches to IPV. The overarching goal of this review is to explore peer support and peer mentorship as a potential adjunct service to a comprehensive service program for IPV victim-survivors. Conceptualization, theory, and frameworks; social support and peer support; the self-identity of IPV victims; single versus integrative services; service enhancement; evaluation; and advocacy and interventions are investigated in relation to IPV services, in general, and peer support, …

The Economics Of Altruism: An Exploration Of Self And Collective Identity, Catherine Krempasky

Honors Projects

There is a belief that students in college often pursue an undergraduate business degree due to the money that comes with the industry. Whereas students pursuing an undergraduate degree in health and human services are believed to be more altruistic, pursuing jobs such as social work, nursing, criminal justice, and other careers that give back to communities despite their often lower-than-average salaries. While this difference in altruism is a common belief, it has rarely been a proven one. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the difference in altruism between students from the Schmidthorst College of Business and the College of …

Utilizing Interprofessional Collaboration To Support And Broaden Perspectives Of First-Generation, Low-Income Students, Taylor Stratman

Social Work Masters Capstone Projects

First-gen, low-income students face significant barriers when it comes to postsecondary education. In order to be successful, professionals working with this population has utilized value-led programming and provided expansions of their cultural perspectives.

Clark/Floyd Crisis Intervention Team Capstone Project, Troy L. Mansfield

Social Work Masters Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Discipline Strategies, Gender, And Disabilities That Impact The High School Graduation Rates Of African American Students With Special Needs., Danielle Corbie-Archey

Dissertations (2016-Present)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if discipline strategies, gender, and disabilities impact the successful cohort graduation of African American students with special needs. While much research has been conducted to investigate the achievement gap and discipline gap, there is a paucity of research on how discipline affects the graduation rate of this population. Furthermore, this research is also to expose the inequities within the special education system. A quantitative research design was selected to study the graduation rates of African American students over the past years from 2017 to 2020. For this study, data regarding Five-Year …

Evaluation Of The Legal And Historical Perspectives On Piracy In The Gulf Of Aden, Diana Slobodian

Public Administration & Policy

This paper will consider piracy in Somalia, focusing on the two emerging perspectives that define the way that research and counter-piracy efforts are planned and executed. Through an examination of Somalia’s political and legal history, the violence which has occurred in the Gulf of Aden will be deconstructed and understood using socio-economic reasoning. The piracy for protection narrative will provide the groundwork for understanding the causes for piracy. The piracy for profit narrative will distinctly show why some researchers believe that piracy in the Gulf of Aden persisted for so many years. This paper will review certain counter-piracy measures, which …

Mental Health And Education Staff Perspectives Of Occupational Functioning Of Court-Involved Youth With A History Of Substance Use, Mikel Stone, Otd, Otr/L, Adam Kantor, B.S., S/Ot, Bailey Bowen, B.S., S/Ot, Hope Moore, B.S., S/Ot, Jacob Dobrowolski, B.A., S/Ot, Morgan Delong, B.S., S/Ot

Occupational Therapy Research Projects

This mixed-methods descriptive survey study investigated the occupational functioning of court-involved youth with a history or risk of substance use, from the perspectives of mental health and education staff, within a rural, Mid-western county. Millions of Americans suffer from some form of substance use disorder (The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2017). According to The National Survey on Drug and Health, 23% of the youth population have reportedly tried and illicit drug (SAMHSA, 2016) and as little as 10% of the youth population are receiving treatment (NIDA, 2014). The purpose of this study was to implement a mixed-methods …

Reparations For The Wrongly Convicted, Gillian Trost

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Wrongly convicted persons should be offered reparations in instances where they have suffered or faced harm as a result of their wrong conviction. Harms can include, but are not limited to, losing physical time, mental health damages, monetary harm, and damages to the person’s reputation. Harms are anything that has diminished a person's quality of life throughout the conviction process and even after exoneration. Failure to offer reparations to these persons is unethical and reparations are a necessary consequence when the judicial system convicts the wrong person. Failure to offer reparations also lessens the judicial system’s accuracy and reliability when …

The Real Face Of Borderline Personality Organization Within Intimate Partner Violence, Adriana Isabel Patino

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study tests the relationship between IPV perpetration and victimization with BPO. Results indicate that, as predicted, BPO is positively associated with both IPV perpetration and victimization and is more prevalent in female perpetrators and victims than in male perpetrators and victims. However, contrary to what previous literature says, self-control does not show enough significance to state that it is one of the leading causes of IPV perpetrated by those who present traits of BPO. In addition, results also indicate that having suffered from physical abuse during childhood diminishes the probability of perpetrating IPV. To fully understand these results, future …

Where's The Beef? How Chicago Gang Members Utilize Social Media To Promote Beefs And Incite Gang Violence And Gang Murders, Alejandra Ruiz

University Honors Program Senior Projects

This is a literature review about how gang members utilize social media to incite gang violence offline to assist in the creation of a new special unit of the Chicago Police Department that will work together with gang violence prevention/gang violence reduction organizations to assist in reducing gang conflict/gang violence created on social media. There are studies that focus on how gang members use social media. The literature focuses on different aspects of how gang members and gangs use social media. “Internet banging” or “cyber banging” is a form of gang banging but on social media platforms. “Internet banging” or …

Good Faith: Surveillance And Evaluation Of 911 Good Samaritan Laws In The United States, Shane W. Reader

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

To fight soaring overdose mortality rates in the United States, lawmakers adopted a variety of harm reduction tools. Among these, 911 Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs) derive their name from the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, a bystander who broke cultural convention to come to the aid of a man beset by thieves. These laws provide limited criminal immunity for bystanders in possession of controlled substances to encourage them to report drug overdoses. While previous studies associate GSLs with a modest reduction in opioid mortality, analyses often model them as equivocal or divide them coarsely across individual provisions. Evaluating these …

Reparations For The Wrongly Convicted, Gillian Trost

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Wrongly convicted persons should be offered reparations in instances where they have suffered or faced harm as a result of their wrong conviction. Harms can include, but are not limited to, losing physical time, mental health damages, monetary harm, and damages to the person’s reputation. Harms are anything that has diminished a person's quality of life throughout the conviction process and even after exoneration. Failure to offer reparations to these persons is unethical and reparations are a necessary consequence when the judicial system convicts the wrong person. Failure to offer reparations also lessens the judicial system’s accuracy and reliability when …

The Cultic Lifecycle: A Thematic Analysis Of Fulfillment And Fear In Cult Membership, Shaelen Grant

Student Theses

Prior research on susceptibility to cult recruitment has focused predominately on psychopathological risk factors, such as a prior personality disorder diagnosis and psychiatric and addictive disorders (Feldman & Johnson, 1995; Rousselet et al., 2017). While such studies contribute valuable information, they also inadvertently pathologize cult members. Furthermore, this focus has led to the overlooking of a more crucial question: what basic human desires does cult membership fulfill that cult leaders and recruiters exploit, to recruit and keep members in cults? To address this dearth, research team members interviewed 52 former cult members (N=52) from a variety of groups (e.g., Christian-based, …

Identifying & Addressing Barriers To Child Care For Formerly Incarcerated Mothers, Joanne Bird

Capstone Experience

As women’s incarceration rates have risen significantly in recent decades, gender-specific programs are needed to meet the needs of formerly incarcerated mothers (FIM). Although child care can be difficult to access for many families, this marginalized population faces unique obstacles to accessing child care. In order for FIM to be employed and reintegrate, they must be able to access child care; however, FIM experience unique barriers to securing child care services. This policy brief aims to identify the special considerations FIM face, as well as to explore why existing programs are not meeting their specific needs. A literature review was …

Crime Across The Ages: An Examination Of Intergenerational Crime And Recidivism Among Serious Juvenile Offenders, A'Maiya Brown

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

Although prior research has studied whether parents and their criminal histories impact a juvenile’s likelihood to commit crime, there has been little examination of whether the criminal histories of family members impact the likelihood of rearrest for juveniles who have already committed serious crimes. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance study (Pathways), this study examines the relationship between the criminal history of family members (i.e., mother, father, and other family members living within the home) and rearrest rates of participants. Results from negative binomial regressions reveal that the arrest records of the mother and father do have a significant …

A Quantitative Examination Of The Influence Of Social And Structural Communication Variables On The Social Connectedness Of People Experiencing Homelessness, Shawn Michael Evans

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the influence of social and structural communication variables on the perceived social connectedness of people experiencing homelessness in the Northwest Arkansas (NWA) and Joplin, Missouri areas. This study employed the ecological perspective of communication infrastructure theory (CIT; Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001) and a communication perspective which envisions communicative interaction as constitutive of social experience. Using survey data from 166 participants, this study examined 11 research questions and hypotheses drawn from extant literature on homelessness, social connectedness, and CIT. ANOVAs, t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a complex relationship between individuals and the communicative environment. This study …

¬¬Challenges And Solutions In The Implementation Of Devops Tools & Security (Devsecops): A Systematic Review, Gautam Bollieddula

Culminating Projects in Information Assurance

DevOps (Development & Operation) is a set of practices that combine software development (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process by providing Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployments (CD). The effort to increase Security in DevOps has resulted in the DevSecOps paradigm. Which is a set of practices, cultural approaches, and tools that bring together software development (Dev), IT Operations (Ops), and security (Sec) to increase an organization's ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity securely. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review of 54 peer-reviewed studies. The Thematic analysis …

Correctional Career Pathways: A Reentry Program For Incarceration, Taylor M. Dula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past several decades, the United States led the world in incarceration rates. With nearly 2.3 million people being held in state or federal prisons or local jails in 2019, incarceration rates in the United States are over four times higher than in other developed countries. Disparities exist by gender, race, ethnicity, and other special populations. Males are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated than females. Additionally, black males are 5.7 times and Hispanic males are 2.8 times more likely to be incarcerated than white males. Individuals who experience incarceration have poorer mental and physical health outcomes. People …

A Comparison Of The Mental Health Of Police Officers And Correctional Officers In Rural Appalachia, Sierra Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of mental health among police officers and correctional officers within rural Appalachia. The main goal of this research was to better understand how the occupational demands of working in the criminal justice field can impact one’s mental health over time. Several research questions were explored, including the prevalence of various mental health problems, associated stressors, the structure of support among officers, and the perceptions of mental health treatment services. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 21 police and correctional officers located in rural Appalachia. Results provided a better understanding of …

A Frayed Edge: A Qualitative And Poetic Inquiry Analysis Of White Antiracist Protest In 2020, Emily Katt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This multiphasic study explored the narratives of five first-time Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrating during the historic confluence of conflicts in 2020 America. After positioning the liminal 2020 circumstances within an antiracist research lens, the author analyzed, first through grounded theory and then secondarily through poetic inquiry, how these five participants described their protest experiences. The grounded theory phase yielded an overarching theory that first-time protestors experienced a dual process of unsuturing and of calling-out, with three subthemes categorized within each of these two processes. The author moved into analysis with the poetic inquiry phase, crafting poems guided by six …

K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. …

Borderline Personality Disorder And Violent Crime: The Moderating Role Of Sex And Race, Genevieve Allison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People receiving treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) are at risk of justice involvement. Although it is well-established that borderline personality disorder (BPD) increases risk for criminal involvement, it is unclear whether this relationship exists among people with SUDs. Furthermore, prior research has found sex and race differences in the relationships between BPD and justice involvement as well as violence, but these moderators have not been explored within a substance using sample. The current study utilized a sample receiving SUD treatment to examine whether BPD is associated with prior violent charges and, if race and sex moderated this relationship. Results …

Through The Disciplinary Looking Glass: Examining The Impact Of The Adultification Of Black Adolescent Girls Through The Perspectives Of New York State School Administrators, Caron F. Cox

Education Doctoral

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of school administrators regarding the impact adultification bias toward Black adolescent girls has on their overrepresentation in disciplinary data. Data were analyzed through 10 semi-structured interviews of principals and assistant principals. Social reproduction theory, intersectional theory, and Black feminist thought framed this study’s findings, which suggest that Black adolescent girls experience adultification bias regularly, contributing to their negative schooling experiences. These adverse experiences are often the result of a subjective interpretation of district policies through a biased lens.

The findings suggest that building leaders are often willing to facilitate …

The Politics Of Sexual Assault On The Theatrical Stage: How Theatre For Social Change Challenges Systems Of Oppression, Gerry Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The critical introduction analyzes how theatre has been used as a tool to directly address politics and influence social change. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed has been of particular importance and influence in contemporary theatre which directly mirrors the failures of society by representing the people who are most affected. The purpose of theatre for social change is to accurately represent oppression within communities and inspire audiences to play an active role in finding solutions for these oppressive systems once they leave the comfort of the theatre. The critical introduction is followed by the full-length play, Victim Does Not …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …

Conscious Discipline For Parents Of Preschool Aged Children, Claire Seabock

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on the benefits of conscious discipline for both the parent and the child. Conscious parenting is a type of parenting style that asks the parent to consciously look into the way they interact and respond to their child’s behavior. The relationship between the parent and child from two to five years old sets the foundation for a secure attachment between a parent and child during the middle childhood, teenage and early adulthood years. Conscious parenting is a parenting style that helps the parent understand the needs of their children to better help them regulate their emotions. …

Law Enforcement Efficacy In Domestic Violence Calls Based On The Responding Officer’S Experience, Training, And Scholarly Level, Idilio Moncivais Pinedo

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide insights into whether law enforcement officers (LEO) have been able to produce positive outcomes based on their responses when the victims have called 911. Law enforcement officers in this sample were grouped into three clusters based on the number of years of patrol experience (10 years or less versus more than 10 years), the education level (less than a bachelor’s degree versus at least a bachelor’s degree), and training (advanced training versus basic training). The key findings were A) The three clusters of law enforcement officers were well distinguished. The first cluster …

The Role Of Female Offenders In Sex Trafficking Rings, Caroline Johnson

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the role of female offenders in sex trafficking rings. Using the Human Trafficking Study database, I found 502 cases that had clear information coded about convictions, sentences, and genders. It was hypothesized that women typically receive a lower sentence than men do. Bivariate analysis revealed that to be true. In addition, I compared conviction rates between the two genders, finding that women are more likely to plead guilty in comparison to men.

Using a smaller sample with additional information, I also isolated the roles that women play in a sex trafficking ring. I found that 48% were …

Destroying The Myth Of The Monolith: A Historical Observation Of The Black Conservative From Then To Now, Jessica Reese

Honors Theses

Although it is not often reflected at the ballot box, Black America has a wide variety of political thought processes mostly rooted in socially conservative backgrounds. There has been a false, and frankly disrespectful, narrative that all Black Americans affirm to the same political ideology, vote in similar patterns, and align with the same political party. The uprising of Black Americans, specifically within the young electorate, who hold political conservative thought processes is the inspiration of this thesis. Starting with the 1780s and progressing through the 2020s, this thesis will observe the historical shifts and expansion of Black conservatism in …

Exploring Change And Stability In Counterterrorism Policy, Prosecution, And Sentencing Of Terrorists In America Over The Last Three Decades In The United States, Georgianna Grace Bettis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of legislation changes on how terrorists are adjudicated in American federal courts. The overarching question is: how have prosecutorial and sentencing outcomes changed in response to homeland security policy shifts over the last few decades? The project examines the impact of policy on changes to terrorists’ sentencing in three time periods, marked by three major events: The 1993 World Trade Center Attack, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, and the attack on the Twin Towers (9/11/2001). In addition to terrorists’ demographic and background attributes (i.e., gender, age, terrorism category), the …