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Bmi Screening Tool To Identify Elementary School Children At Risk For Obesity, Talia S. Thompson-Jones Jan 2022

Bmi Screening Tool To Identify Elementary School Children At Risk For Obesity, Talia S. Thompson-Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is a public health epidemic and is as relevant in the pediatric population as it is in adults. The purpose of this DNP project was to develop a clinical practice guideline (CPG) that would use existing evidence to support the development of body mass index (BMI) screening in primary schools for the early detection of childhood obesity. Globally, more than 41 million children were obese or overweight by 2018. Due to incidence rates, developing an effective strategy to address childhood obesity is critical. The practice-focused question asked whether the evidence supported the development of a CPG for implementing BMI …


Clinical Nurse Experts' Experience Of Transitioning To The Novice Nurse Educator Role, Crystal Toll Jan 2020

Clinical Nurse Experts' Experience Of Transitioning To The Novice Nurse Educator Role, Crystal Toll

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Clinical nurse experts are often recruited into educator roles based solely on clinical expertise. Without support and mentorship, clinical nurse experts struggled with transitioning into the educator role. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of new nurse educators’ transition from a clinical nurse expert to novice nurse educator and to examine the perceptions of supports and barriers. Transitional theory provided the conceptual framework and informed the development of the interview protocol. The research questions focused on the experience of transitioning from expert to novice and on identifying supports and barriers that influenced transition. Using a case …


Wright's Competency Model And Quality And Safety Competencies, Staci Shanks Jan 2019

Wright's Competency Model And Quality And Safety Competencies, Staci Shanks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Competent nurses are instrumental in assuring that a patient receives safe patient care of the highest quality. Patient care that lacks quality places patients at risk of poor health outcomes and results in negative financial impacts for the organization. The purpose of this staff education project was to develop nurse competency education for a facility's competency program, which merged the Wright competency model with quality and safety education for nurses' competencies. The nurse competency staff education program was evaluated by the organization's stakeholders for inclusion in the competency program. The whole-part-whole model, Knowles's adult learning theory, and Lewin's change theory …


Guideline Development For An Adjunct Faculty Orientation In Prelicensure Nursing Programs, Pamela Ann Nehring Jan 2019

Guideline Development For An Adjunct Faculty Orientation In Prelicensure Nursing Programs, Pamela Ann Nehring

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A research study conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing noted adjunct faculty educators have significant learning requirements and that nursing education throughout the United States has not met the basic needs of novice adjunct faculty educators. Adjunct faculty at a local community college noted a deficit in the orientation process for new clinical faculty. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop a guideline for new clinical faculty orientation. The sources of evidence were a literature review and a survey using the Delphi process with an expert panel comprising a group of 7 interested …


The Effect Of Mindfulness Techniques On Teacher Resilience As Moderated By Conscientiousness, Aundrea T. Harris Jan 2019

The Effect Of Mindfulness Techniques On Teacher Resilience As Moderated By Conscientiousness, Aundrea T. Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Unmanaged stress in teachers often triggers burnout, which leads to a rise in healthcare costs and absenteeism. Therefore, teachers' resiliency needs improvement to lower the risk of burnout. The purpose of this cross-sectional design study was to examine the relationship between mindfulness techniques and resilience in high school teachers. An additional purpose of this study was to examine if the personality trait, conscientiousness, moderates the relationship between mindfulness techniques and resilience. The frameworks for this study were based on the self-awareness, -regulation, and -transcendence (S-ART) framework, theory of planned behavior, and the concepts of resilience and job burnout. Four surveys …


Promoting Nurses Management Of Night Shift Sleepiness, Sunday Iken Okundolor Jan 2019

Promoting Nurses Management Of Night Shift Sleepiness, Sunday Iken Okundolor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurses are largely unaware of the problems of night-shift-nurse sleepiness and available strategies to manage night-shift sleepiness. The purpose of this project was to examine nurses' self-perception, awareness of sleepiness, and current strategies to manage this problem in the emergency medicine department of a major academic hospital in the western United States. The validated de-identified Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) was used to measure the prevalence and intensity of night shift nurses' sleepiness prior to the development of an educational program on strategies to manage sleepiness. Of the 164 registered nurses surveyed, 72 (43.9%) reported sleepiness greater than 7 on the …


Contributors To The Development Of Intercultural Competence In Nursing Students, Esther Zazzi Jan 2019

Contributors To The Development Of Intercultural Competence In Nursing Students, Esther Zazzi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurses deal more effectively with cultural diversity when they have an ethnorelative orientation toward cultural difference and commonality on the Intercultural Development Continuum, which was the theoretical framework of this study. Scholarly literature shows limited knowledge on what fosters nurses' intercultural development. Thus, this quantitative, retrospective study was the first investigation in health care in Switzerland conducted on nursing students' orientation on the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and the relationship to student demographic variables. The sample for this secondary data analysis consisted of the IDI results from nursing students enrolled between 2010 and 2016 at the largest nursing college in …


Perceptions Of Higher Education Health Science Faculty On Debriefing After Simulation-Based Activities, Maureen Ellen Johnson Jan 2019

Perceptions Of Higher Education Health Science Faculty On Debriefing After Simulation-Based Activities, Maureen Ellen Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health science faculty striving to be academically competitive can adopt debriefing after simulation-based activities to help transition occupational therapy and physical therapy students from classroom skills to clinical competence. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the perceptions and experiences of health science faculty during and after their adoption of debriefing after simulation-based activities. The theory of diffusion and experiential learning theory were used as a conceptual framework. The research questions related to the perceptions and experiences of faculty from their training sessions and implementing debriefing sessions after simulation-based activities in their courses and how these experiences related …


Bedside Nurses' Perceptions Of Pursuing An Academic Career As Nursing Faculty, Suzanne Lynne Benfield Jan 2019

Bedside Nurses' Perceptions Of Pursuing An Academic Career As Nursing Faculty, Suzanne Lynne Benfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a nursing faculty shortage at a Mid-Atlantic associate degree nursing program. In response, program administrators have hired adjunct faculty with bachelor of science in nursing degrees (BSNs), hired full-time faculty with master of science in nursing degrees in areas other than education who also are not certified nurse educators, and reduced its minimum requirement for nursing faculty clinical experience. The nursing faculty shortage combined with the resulting gaps in practice are problematic because they may (a) negatively influence the program's ability to produce degreed nurses; (b) increase faculty workload; (c) decrease the quality of student education, which may …


Education Plan To Empower Wound Care Nurses For Evidence-Based Practice, Patricia Stevenson Jan 2018

Education Plan To Empower Wound Care Nurses For Evidence-Based Practice, Patricia Stevenson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Non-healing wounds can claim thousands of lives and costs billions of dollars each year, and nurse-led wound clinics are becoming necessary to fill a gap in care for patients with wounds. Even among certified wound nurses using evidence-based clinical protocols, key considerations of care are being missed. Therefore, this project was focused on developing and validating a new biofilm education module for certified or certification eligible wound care nurses. The aim of the module was to boost clinical assessment knowledge and improve patient outcomes. Benners skill acquisition model informed the development of this project. The design of the project also …


Education Models For Teaching Adults About Modifying Dietary Carbohydrate And Controlling Weight, Vincient Cleamons Jan 2018

Education Models For Teaching Adults About Modifying Dietary Carbohydrate And Controlling Weight, Vincient Cleamons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of diabetes and other pathophysiological conditions has been correlated with the incidence of obesity. A large portion of an adult community in the northwestern United States suffers from excessive weight that has been linked to premature mortality rates and certain forms of diabetes. Excess calories from carbohydrate have been shown to increase weight. Therefore, diets that are modified in carbohydrate and calories may help mitigate weight and obesity comorbidities. This qualitative, single case study's purpose was to explore the methods health care professionals use for teaching adults about controlling weight. Altheide and Johnson's analytic realism theory, in which …


Counselors' Knowledge And Attitudes Of The Recovery Paradigm, Kathleen Ruscitto Jan 2018

Counselors' Knowledge And Attitudes Of The Recovery Paradigm, Kathleen Ruscitto

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2014, an estimated 18.1% or approximately 43.6 million adults, 18 years of age or older in the United States experienced a form of mental illness. Professional counselors subscribe to a wellness or holistic paradigm; however the recovery paradigm, using collaborative strategies and unique treatment planning is the directed approach of mental health services in the United Stated. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand what factors contribute to counselors' knowledge and attitudes of the recovery paradigm. Survey methodology was used to examine whether, among professional counselors, years of experience, gender, professional setting, and licensure status, as …


Effect Of Augmented Reality On Anxiety In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Sarah Ball Jan 2018

Effect Of Augmented Reality On Anxiety In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Sarah Ball

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prelicensure nursing students experience high anxiety as they enter the clinical setting, which can have a negative impact on learning care performance and critical thinking. Nursing faculty are faced with the challenges of limited time for clinical experiences, meeting the needs of learners who are technologically astute, and engaging students in the clinical environment to meet learning outcomes. The purpose of this pretest posttest quasi-experimental study, guided by the discovery learning theory, was to determine the effect of augmented reality (AR) 360 photosphere on prelicensure nursing students' level of anxiety as they entered a new clinical environment as compared to …


Special Educators' Perceptions On Effective Preparation And Practice For Student Success, Anne Brackney Liese Jan 2018

Special Educators' Perceptions On Effective Preparation And Practice For Student Success, Anne Brackney Liese

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Alternative school settings are success prospects for students at risk of school failure. However, research on the daily experiences of the special educators in alternate school settings tasked with educating the at-risk population, is limited. The purpose of this phenomenological study was (a) to recognize the perceptions of special educators concerning their preparation to advance the success of SEN students who are at risk of school failure; (b) to determine how to improve special educator preparation programs in alternative school settings. Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, focused on student success provided the study's framework. Twelve semistructured interviews were conducted to …


Implications Of An All Bsn Workforce Policy, Mary Clifford Jan 2018

Implications Of An All Bsn Workforce Policy, Mary Clifford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Discussion continues about requiring a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) as the minimum requirement for entry into registered nursing practice. A Magnet-® recognized hospital located in the Northeast United States is requiring all registered nurses without a BSN (n=284 or 28%) to obtain their BSN by 2022 as a condition for employment. The purpose of this project was to quantify the potential number and rationale of nurses who are not planning to return to school. The 2 practice focused questions are (a) What is the rationale for nurses who do not plan to pursue their BSN degree and (b) …


Graduate Nurse's Perspective Of Simulation To Address The Theory-Practice Gap In Nursing, Joset Elaine Brown Jan 2018

Graduate Nurse's Perspective Of Simulation To Address The Theory-Practice Gap In Nursing, Joset Elaine Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Graduate nurses are being employed to provide care in high acuity care areas, and this becomes a problem of significance as the literature suggests that graduate nurse's experience a deficit in integrating theoretical concepts in the clinical environment, described as the theory-practice gap; which can result in a risk to patient safety and the potential for negative outcomes. Cognitive constructivism was the conceptual framework that guided this study. A qualitative phenomenological design was used to explore the lived experiences of 13 graduate nurses employed at a community hospital in northern New Jersey. After recruiting the participants through purposive sampling, semi-structured …


Perceptions Of Nursing As A Career By African American College Students Attending Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Brenda Marie Owens Jan 2018

Perceptions Of Nursing As A Career By African American College Students Attending Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Brenda Marie Owens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous studies and official organizations have indicated that African Americans are underrepresented in the healthcare workforce and that patients belonging to minority groups feel they are treated slightly differently in healthcare settings. Limited research examines perceptions of the nursing profession among a variety of demographic groups, and exploratory investigations into the perceptions of nursing as a career by African Americans are limited. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to explore perceptions of nursing as a career by African American students who attend an undergraduate program at a historically black college or university (HBCU) in an attempt to further …


Nurse Practitioners' Experiences With Role Transition: Supporting The Learning Curve Through Preceptorship, Viktoriya Y. Pleshkan Jan 2018

Nurse Practitioners' Experiences With Role Transition: Supporting The Learning Curve Through Preceptorship, Viktoriya Y. Pleshkan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The nurse practitioner (NP) role transition is difficult and ill-supported before and after graduation. Although preceptorships are essential in supporting a NP's role transition, there is a paucity of data on student and novice NPs' experiences with their role transition and how it is supported through preceptorships. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand and describe the meaning of NPs' role transition experiences while in a preceptorship before and after graduation. Schlossberg's transition theory and the cognitive apprenticeship models were used to guide the exploration of concepts of role transition and preceptorship. One face-to-face, 3 Skype, and …


A Diabetic Child's Impact On An African American Family, Silvanus Okeke Jan 2018

A Diabetic Child's Impact On An African American Family, Silvanus Okeke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diabetes, a chronic disease with devastating but preventable consequences, is common in the United States, especially within African American communities. Earlier research has indicated that 21.7% of African American parents have children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the Mississippi Delta Region. Researchers have examined coping, stress, and behaviors of African American parents of children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes; however, there is a gap in literature regarding how African American parents can cope with stress and how changes in health behavior due to Type 1 diabetes impact African American families. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to …


K-5 Educators' Perceptions Of The Role Of Speech Language Pathologists, Dr. Karmon D. Hatcher Jan 2017

K-5 Educators' Perceptions Of The Role Of Speech Language Pathologists, Dr. Karmon D. Hatcher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Rarely is a school-based speech language pathologist (SLP) thought of as an active contributor to the achievement of students or to the learning community in general. Researchers have found benefits for students when members of the learning community collaborate, and the SLP should be a part of this community collaboration. This qualitative case study examined elementary school teachers', administrators', and reading specialists' perspectives related to knowledge of and the inclusion of the SLP in the learning community at a local elementary school in central Georgia. Schon's theory of reflective practice and Coleman's theory of social capital provided the conceptual framework. …


Faculty Perspectives On Effective Integration Of Simulation Into A Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum, Linda Jane Howell Jan 2017

Faculty Perspectives On Effective Integration Of Simulation Into A Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum, Linda Jane Howell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows that use of high fidelity simulation (HFS) as a teaching strategy requires extensive amounts of faculty time and financial resources for faculty development and equipment. This project study addressed the challenges encountered in the integration of HFS into a Midwestern metropolitan baccalaureate nursing program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of nursing faculty about best practice elements for successful integration of HFS into undergraduate nursing programs. Guiding questions were developed using Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model and focused on faculty perceptions related to successful implementation of simulation in their programs. Purposeful sampling was used to …


Higher Education Leaders' Transformative Learning And Leadership Experiences Responding To Student Drug Abuse, James Vernon Battin Jan 2017

Higher Education Leaders' Transformative Learning And Leadership Experiences Responding To Student Drug Abuse, James Vernon Battin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Today's academic and social environment creates uncertainties, new roles, frequent changes, and challenging situations for student affairs academic leaders. The purpose of this study was to explore how student affairs academic leaders described their recent challenging experiences in addressing student drug abuse in higher education. The conceptual framework was based on adult transformative learning theory and applied transformative leadership perspectives. An interview format with open-ended questions was used to explore the experiences of 8 student affairs leaders who had faced challenging situations in the context of student drug abuse. A qualitative interpretive analysis was used that involved open coding of …


Development Of A Guideline For Hospice Staff, Patients, And Families On Appropriate Opioid Use, Trenika Alexander-Goreá Jan 2017

Development Of A Guideline For Hospice Staff, Patients, And Families On Appropriate Opioid Use, Trenika Alexander-Goreá

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an identified problem with patients receiving suboptimal pain management at a hospice agency in the northwestern United States. At this agency, undertreatment of pain is prevalent. Evidence indicates that this may be a result of a lack of guidelines, education, and knowledge of appropriate prescribing. Known barriers to the correct prescription and administration of potent opioids in the hospice setting include prevailing beliefs, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, all of which can impact care negatively. Contextually, hospice principles mandate patient comfort and caregiver involvement in continuous quality improvement, which includes adequate and informed pain management. Moreover, hospice metrics demand …


Fall Prevention In A Neurological Care Unit, Claudeth Jeffrey Jan 2017

Fall Prevention In A Neurological Care Unit, Claudeth Jeffrey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient falls are an ongoing concern for health systems in the US and in the setting where this project took place. Inpatient falls affect consumers and health providers because falls often result in patient morbidity and mortality, legal risk, increased length of stay, and increased costs. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the existing fall prevention protocol at the site where this project took place and to make recommendations for an evidenced-based fall prevention protocol. The professional practice model was the conceptual model that guided the exploratory descriptive project. A review of the site's fall prevention policies and …


Challenges To Augmentative And Alternative Communication Interventions With Autism Spectrum Disorder Students, Kristy Jane Singer-Macnair Jan 2017

Challenges To Augmentative And Alternative Communication Interventions With Autism Spectrum Disorder Students, Kristy Jane Singer-Macnair

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have challenges with communication, social interactions, and behavior, which can limit their functioning in school settings. They need to have functional communication skills to access the curriculum and have their needs met across all social environments. Special education teachers often experience barriers to successful implementation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions appropriate for these students. The purpose of this case study was to understand how special education teachers experience AAC intervention processes, and illuminate the conditions for effective AAC implementation. A qualitative case study was conducted using interviews from 6 credentialed special education …


The Effects Of Structured Health Policy Education On Connecticut Registered Nurses' Clinical Documentation, Rosale Lobo Jan 2017

The Effects Of Structured Health Policy Education On Connecticut Registered Nurses' Clinical Documentation, Rosale Lobo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Registered Nurses use clinical documentation to describe care planning processes, measure quality outcomes, support reimbursement, and defend litigation. The Connecticut Department of Health, guided by federal Conditions of Participation, defines state-level healthcare policy to include required care planning processes. Nurses are educated in care planning process standards, however no policy-required competency verification processes in academia or employers exists. Guided by the advocacy coalition framework, the purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine if the quality of nurse coalition actors’ clinical documentation, a relatively stable parameter, would increase after attending policy-centered structured education. Data were extracted from 272 electronic medical …


A Case Study Of Student Success In Physical Therapist Assistant Programs: A Systems Approach, Penelope Lescher Jan 2017

A Case Study Of Student Success In Physical Therapist Assistant Programs: A Systems Approach, Penelope Lescher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Graduating sufficient numbers of healthcare providers to fill the needs of an aging population in the United States is a major social concern. To address this problem physical therapist assistant (PTA) programs need to improve their graduation rates to keep up with the demand for qualified personnel. Applying Senge's theory of effective systems, 1 medium-sized community college with an average pass rate of over 90% on the National Physical Therapist Assistant Examination (NPTAE) was selected to address the research question: What are the systems factors and how do they operate together to support student success in an associate degree PTA …


Facilitating Environmental Enrichment In Senior Care Activities With Professional Development, Celia Mary Ross Jan 2017

Facilitating Environmental Enrichment In Senior Care Activities With Professional Development, Celia Mary Ross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little known about the current state of professional development and continuing education practices for empowering activity professionals to better enhance environmental enrichment in long term care. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the activity professional's perceived role and best strategies for professional development to enrich the long-term care environment. The study used social cognitive theory as its theoretical framework to develop research questions focused on the views of activity professionals concerning professional development and continuing education to support care for long-term care residents. Using a narrative approach, 9 activity professionals were recruited through networking at …


Differentiating Successful And Unsuccessful Nursing Students, Trilla Mays Jan 2017

Differentiating Successful And Unsuccessful Nursing Students, Trilla Mays

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Administrators of nursing programs in community colleges are aware of the need to retain and to graduate students to meet the growing demand for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). High attrition in a 2-year nursing program in South Carolina affected the number of students either graduating as a LPN after completing the third semester, or continuing in the program to become a registered nurse (RN). Guided by Jeffreys's nursing undergraduate retention and success model, this causal comparative study investigated the differences between students who were and were not successful in the initial 3 semesters of the program. Archival student records for …


Relationship Between Educational Leisure Motivation And Recovery From Mental Illness Among Members Of Clubhouse International, Dianna Rene Pearce Jan 2017

Relationship Between Educational Leisure Motivation And Recovery From Mental Illness Among Members Of Clubhouse International, Dianna Rene Pearce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) exhibit low motivation to participate in educational leisure activities at Clubhouses accredited by Clubhouse International (CI). This correlational study examined the relationship between each of 4 motives, intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance, to engage in leisure activities, and the perception of recovery from SMI. Knowles's theory of andragogy supported the concept of informal self-directed learning, which occurs with leisure activities. Literature indicates that participating in leisure activities such as those offered at Clubhouses aids in the recovery from SMI. Quantitative data were collected from a convenience sample of 75 individuals at 4 CI clubhouses …