Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Critical Care Nurses’ Stories Of Eol Care Obstacles, Robin Grigg, Beckstrand Renea

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to discover critical care nurses’ perspectives of obstacles in providing end-of-life (EOL) care to patients. Because 20% of Americans die in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (CDC, 2011), EOL care is a vital component of critical care nursing. Therefore, discerning and overcoming obstacles to EOL care is necessary in order for critical care nurses to provide quality EOL care. Additionally, The National Institute of Nursing Research’s strategic plan lists five areas of focus, the third being EOL care, emphasizing the need for EOL care research (NINR, 2014).

Effects Of Poverty Simulation: Perceptions Of Medical Sociology Students, Mike Mcneil, Gaye Ray, Rn, Ms, Fnp-C

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Poverty affects 46.7 million people in the United States. The U.S. Census data show that poverty rates have increased 2.3% from 2007 to 2014 (DeNevas-Walt and Proctor, 2015). It is shown that poverty has become a major social determinant of health. Beckles (2011) states that the socioeconomic circumstances of individuals and the places where they live and work strongly influence their health. In the United States, the risk for mortality, morbidity, unhealthy behaviors, reduced access to healthcare, and poor quality of care increases with decreasing socioeconomic circumstances. Evidence indicates that students benefit remarkably from classroom and clinical learning experience in …

Get Moving: Motivating Sedentary Young Adults, Rebecca Edmunds, Neil Peterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Obesity and sedentary behavior are increasing in the United States and the world. On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website recent statistics put over one third of the American adult population as obese and over half as overweight (2015). This epidemic has contributed to a drastic increase in disease and cost. Obesity and the accompanying diseases are not only expensive to treat but also decrease quality of life. Prevention is essential. Many companies are working to find devices that help motivate people and encourage physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. This research project focused specifically on the …

Understanding Performance Improvement In A Post-Surgery Unit, Lindsey Shaw, Bret Lyman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this study was to discover how a health system, specifically a hospital unit, learned to improve patient and hospital outcomes. This study builds upon previous research in which the Learning History research method was used to discover and describe the pathway by which a critical care unit learned to achieve and sustain excellent outcomes. The previous study focused on hospital unit situated in a regional medical center that was part of a large, not-for-profit health system. That hospital unit’s history of learning improvement extended over 10 years, and included several distinct developmental eras, progressing from creating staff …

The Healer’S Art Learning History, Lisa Cowan-Echols, Bret Lyman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A primary purpose of this study was to discover new insights related to organizational learning in a college of nursing that may guide nursing faculty and administrators as they strive to improve outcomes in their own colleges.

Organizational learning is highly context-dependent process through which organizations progress toward achieving their desired outcomes. For a college of nursing, desired outcomes may relate to student achievement, faculty productivity, leadership in the profession, etc. Although organizational learning has been studied in a variety of business and industrial settings, it has not been studied in colleges of nursing. Understanding organizational learning in colleges of …

Immunization Rates Of Nicu Infants, Emily Gardner, Janelle Macintosh

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to determine the vaccination rates of infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of various hospitals throughout the Wasatch Front in Utah. We collected data related to possible reasons why infants may not receive their immunizations during their stay at the facility. Many are uninformed of the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) which states that that preterm and low birth weight babies should receive all immunizations at the same chronological age as full term infants. Yet, many pre term infants fail to be immunized. Preterm infants are at an increased …

Predicting New Graduate Rn Success Through Pre-Hire Simulation, Brooke Holman, Katreena Merrill, Rn, Phd

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Decisions about which new nursing graduate to hire can be difficult. Pre-employment testing and assessments have shown to aid in this process. Pre-employment testing, including both medical tests (drug screening) and psychosocial testing (simulations), are well known in both the health care field and other industries. Simulation is often used in healthcare for employees to teach and assess critical thinking. With the implementation of simulation in healthcare, however, little information is available related to how simulation can help us in the pre-employment process, especially when deciding which new nursing graduate to hire. The purpose of this paper is to discuss …

Parent Perspectives Of Their Child’S Diagnosis With Type 1 Diabetes, Elizabeth Kerr, Dr. Donna Freeborn

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the beta cells of the pancreas stop secreting insulin. Insulin is the hormone that delivers blood sugar to the body tissues. This life changing diagnosis affects not only the newly diagnosed child—It affects the whole family.

Although research has previously been done on parent experiences raising a child with type 1 diabetes, no research has been done from the perspective of a parent who has raised their child to adulthood. This unique outlook provides greater perspective and insight on the experience as a whole. The purpose of this project was to increase …

Sedentary Behavior Research Network (Sbrn) – Terminology Consensus Project Process And Outcome, Mark S. Tremblay, Salomé Aubert, Joel D. Barnes, Travis J. Saunders, Valerie Carson, Amy E. Latimer-Cheung, Sabastien F.M. Chastin, Teatske M. Altenburg, Mai J.M. Chinapaw, Neil E. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Background

The prominence of sedentary behavior research in health science has grown rapidly. With this growth there is increasing urgency for clear, common and accepted terminology and definitions. Such standardization is difficult to achieve, especially across multi-disciplinary researchers, practitioners, and industries. The Sedentary Behavior Research Network (SBRN) undertook a Terminology Consensus Project to address this need.

Method

First, a literature review was completed to identify key terms in sedentary behavior research. These key terms were then reviewed and modified by a Steering Committee formed by SBRN. Next, SBRN members were invited to contribute to this project and interested participants reviewed …

Nursing Perceptions Of End Life Care Obstacles In Critical Access Hospitals, Rebekah Leavitt, Renea Beckstrand

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Death is an unavoidable occurrence. Nurses are on the front lines when it comes to caring for dying patients. When providing end of life (EOL) care for critically ill patients, nurses frequently come across obstacles (Beckstrand, Giles, Luthy, Callister & Heaston, 2012). The purpose of this study is to identify the largest and the most frequent obstacles when providing EOL care to rural critical care patients. Our intent is to use the data to improve EOL care for rural patients and their families.

One quarter of community hospitals in the United States are critical access hospitals (CAH) and 19 percent …

Rural Critical Care Nurses’ Suggestions For Decreasing End-Of-Life Care Obstacles, Lisa Smith, Renea L. Beckstrand

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Our research focused on gathering a rural cross-sectional, survey which will help determine the direction to move to improve the End-Of-Life care given by rural critical care nurses. The first step of our research was looking up over 1,300 rural hospitals names, addresses, phone numbers, and number of nursing staff at each hospital across the United States. I and another teammate were assigned to this task, and spent most of our research time completing it.

Critical Care Nurses' Experiences Of Family Behaviors As Obstacles In End-Of-Life Care, Caitlin Brook Mallory

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Critical care nurses (CCNs) frequently provide end-of-life care for critically ill patients. CCNs may face many obstacles while trying to provide quality EOL care. Some research focusing on obstacles CCNs face while trying to provide quality EOL care has been published; however, research focusing on family behavior obstacles is limited. Research focusing on family behavior as an EOL care obstacle may provide additional insight and improvement in care. Objective: What are the predominant themes noted when CCNs share their experiences of common obstacles, relating to families in providing EOL care? Methods: A random geographically dispersed sample of 2,000 members …

Perceptual Analysis Of Children's Adaptation To An Electropalatography Sensor, Kasey Marie Duffield

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to observe childrens adaptation to an electropalatographic (EPG) sensor. Sound recordings of six children between the ages of 7;0 and 9;11 sampled at 30-minute intervals over a two-hour period of wearing an EPG sensor were perceptually evaluated to quantify the children's adaptation over time. Twenty native speakers of American English evaluated the pronunciation of a series of words with embedded stops and fricatives produced with and without an EPG sensor in place. When collapsed over speaker and stimulus type, listener ratings decreased significantly after inserting the EPG sensor. Ratings then increased significantly after the …

Perceptual Analysis Of Children's Adaptation To An Electropalatography Sensor, Kasey Marie Duffield

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to observe childrens adaptation to an electropalatographic (EPG) sensor. Sound recordings of six children between the ages of 7;0 and 9;11 sampled at 30-minute intervals over a two-hour period of wearing an EPG sensor were perceptually evaluated to quantify the children's adaptation over time. Twenty native speakers of American English evaluated the pronunciation of a series of words with embedded stops and fricatives produced with and without an EPG sensor in place. When collapsed over speaker and stimulus type, listener ratings decreased significantly after inserting the EPG sensor. Ratings then increased significantly after the …

Effect Of Speaker Age And Dialect On Listener Perceptions Of Personality, Brittni Elizabeth Bergstrom

Theses and Dissertations

The association between dialect and perceived personality traits has been studied for a number of years. The purpose of this study was to examine how the dialect, the gender of both the speaker and the listener, and the perceived age of the speaker affected the listeners' perception of the speaker's personality. The spontaneous speech samples were drawn from existing corpora. There were 48 speakers, 24 New Zealanders and 24 Utahns. Each dialect group was stratified into three age groups (young, middle, older), and within each age group there were an equal number of males and females. The listener group included …

Physiological Attunement And Influence In Couples Therapy: Examining The Roots Of Therapeutic Presence, Julia Campbell Bernards

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive interdisciplinary common factor research has identified the therapeutic relationship as a consistent factor influencing therapeutic outcomes. We use Polyvagal and Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) theories to guide an examination of the physiological mechanisms at work in the therapeutic relationship. Both Polyvagal and IPNB theories provide understandings about how humans are neurophysiologically wired for social connection. Each points to a sense of safety as being essential for meaningful connection to occur and clarifies that physiological attunement is an observable indicator of interpersonal connection. In this study, we use these theories to guide an examination of therapist physiological influence on clients in …

Parents Advising Parents: Raising A Child With Type 1 Diabetes, Becky Jean Rasmuson

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Purpose: Children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes face significant challenges in the day to day management of their disease. Parents play an important role in supporting children at every stage of their lives and helping them transition to independence in the management of T1D. The purpose of this study was to learn from parents who have raised their children with T1D to adulthood and identify strategies for parents who are currently raising a child with T1D. Methods: Using a biographical method, a qualitative design, two in-depth interviews with open-ended prompts were completed with purposively selected parents of children …

Quantifying Lingua-Palatal Contact Patterns Of Fricative Productions By Non-Native Students Enrolled In A University German Language Course: An Electropalatography Study, Kate Erin Lester

Theses and Dissertations

Electropalatography (EPG) is a computer-based tracking system designed to provide real-time visual biofeedback of articulatory contacts occurring during speech production. Historically, EPG technology has proven functional within the treatment and assessment of speech disorders however, application of EPG technology to assist in second language learning has remained limited. The present thesis is part of a larger study examining the effectiveness of using EPG as an advanced instructional tool for assisting second language (L2) learners of German. Fricative productions ([ç], [x], /s/, and /∫/) within real words were gathered from 12 native English speakers enrolled in a second semester university level …

Using A Social Communication Intervention To Increase Emotion Word Use In Children With Language Impairment, Breeana Lee Bell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to increase the production of emotion words in five children with language impairment. Participants were between the ages of 5;11 (years; months) and 11;3 (at the onset of enrollment in treatment) and had been identified with language impairment. Each participant completed between three and six baseline sessions, 20 twenty-minute intervention sessions, and three follow-up sessions. Tasks included story reading, story enactment, and journaling. Each session was recorded and then coded for emotion category (sadness, anger, fear, and surprise), errors made, type of production, and valence agreement. Total …

Opioid Prescription And Use After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Valynn Christina Haslam

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Opioid abuse has become a serious public health issue. While adequate pain management is an ethical responsibility for health care providers, responsible stewardship of controlled substances is of equal concern. Opioids are often prescribed for treatment of acute pain post-operatively. The purpose of this study is to examine opioid prescription practices and use of opioids after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods: A convenience sample of 42 patients scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled in the study. Using a descriptive study design, patients were interviewed by phone 6-10 days post-operatively using a scripted questionnaire. The average number of excess prescribed opioid medication …

Knowledge, Perception, And Use Of Medications During Pregnancy In Hispanic Women In Utah County, Ut, Jessica Martinez, Gene Cole

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this study was to research, primarily, how Hispanic view and respond to prescription drugs during pregnancy. The study’s population was Hispanic women in Utah County who are/were pregnant and their adherence to prescription drugs versus home remedies. We conducted our research at the Mountainlands Community Health Center in Provo, Utah. We sought to understand the opinions and perceptions Hispanic women have towards use of prescription and alternative medicine during pregnancy.

Activity Trackers: Are They The Answer, Connor Ogden, Neil Peterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Physical inactivity in young adults leads to a 40% greater chance of cancer mortality, 50% greater risk of dementia, 60% greater risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a number of other health related issues1. In our country in which sedentary jobs have increased by 83% since 1950, and 69%2 of all adults are obese or overweight, these health related factors due to inactivity become a real concern. Many companies have created these activity trackers as a solution to solving physical inactivity. The purpose of this project was to evaluate what aspects of the Microsoft Band that young adults …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) In The Veteran Population: An Education Simulation For Nursing Students, Deven Jennings, Stacie Hunsaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The veteran population receives health care in various locations outside of Veteran Affairs facilities. Current research supports that 18-30% of veterans suffer from PTSD. Census records show that in 2013, 19.3 million veterans living in the US, this means that nearly 3.5-5.8 million American veterans suffer from PTSD currently (Census.gov, 2014). The need for nurses to become more familiar with PTSD and specific nursing care related to PTSD is necessary to care for the diverse population we find in many health care settings. The purpose of this project was to create a simulated educational experience for nursing students in order …

Git R Done: Analysis Of Motivation In Relation To Exercise And Determining Factors, Britton L. Rice

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Exercise provides many physical, emotional and mental health benefits (Facts about Physical Activity, 2014). Despite this, only 21% of American adults exercise regularly. One way of increasing this is to encourage better understanding of motivation and how to control it. Since intrinsic motivation towards exercise is not easily created or changed, most of the focus is placed on extrinsic motivation in its varying degrees. This summary isolates a few factors in exercise that play crucial roles in deciding motivation such as:

• Climate and Goal Orientation

• Influence of peers and teammates

• Influence of coaches

Response Time Scores On A Reflexive Attention Task Predict A Child's Inattention Score From A Parent Report, Erica Suh, Katherine Christensen, Sarah Kamhout, Kahala Thompson, Yoojin Kim, Cooper Hodges

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

● Children with attention deficits have problems with sustained and reflexive attention tasks

● Few studies measure reflexive attention as a component of day-to-day attention in children

● Parents also have valuable insight into children’s behavior

● We want to identify associations between computer-based reflexive attention task performance and parent-rated attention-related problems.

Infant Siblings Of Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder Have Higher Perseveration, Katherine Christensen, Allison Garner Kotter, Rachel Nuttall, Bread Iverson, Taylor Bayles

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

● Children with ASD have difficulty with social cues, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests

● Many of these signs show up after a diagnosis and many children remain undiagnosed until school-age

● We want to demonstrate the utility of a screening tool to identify infants at risk for ASD

● This tool could enable earlier identification and treatment for those who have unknown risk for ASD

The Effects Of Extracurricular Activity And Physical Activity On Academic Success: A Literature Review, Braden Tanner

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Due to an ever-increasing importance of education, it is important to understand how to foster an environment conducive to academic success. Extracurricular activity is one of many factors that influences the academic environment. This review examines literature published since 2010 concerning extracurricular activity's effect on academic success. Seeing that sports make up such a large portion of the extracurricular spectrum, the review also examines studies analyzing the effects of physical activity on academic performance.

Expectations And Memory: Positive And Negative Expectations Of Memorizing The Armenian Alphabet, Micah Wood, Madeline Hoyt

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Studies suggest that expectations may have an effect on various cognitive functions, including memory. To this point, no studies have exclusively investigated the effect of expectations on short-term memory. This study tested the effect of positive and negative expectations on short-term memory, utilizing the Armenian alphabet as a test of memory. N=45 undergraduate students (23 men, 22 women), ranging in age from 18-26 years were divided equally into three groups: Group 1 was a control group, Group 2 was manipulated to have positive expectations before testing, and Group 3 was manipulated to have negative expectations before testing. All groups were …

Perceived Perfectionism From God Scale: Development And Initial Evidence, Kawika Allen, Kenneth T. Wang, Hannah I. Stokes, Han Na Suh

Faculty Publications

In this study, the Perceived Perfectionism from God Scale (PPGS) was developed with Latter-day Saints (Mormons) across two samples. Sample 1 (N = 421) was used for EFA to select items for the Perceived Standards from God (5 items) and the Perceived Discrepancy from God (5 items) subscales. Sample 2 (N = 420) was used for CFA and cross-validated the 2-factor oblique model as well as a bifactor model. Perceived Standards from God scores had Cronbach alphas ranging from .73 to .78, and Perceived Discrepancy from God scores had Cronbach alphas ranging from .82 to .84. Standards from God scores …

Rural Emergency Nurses’ Suggestions For Improving End-Of-Life Care, Renea L. Beckstrand, Kelly E. Smith, Karlen E. (Bethy) Luthy, Janelle L. B. Macintosh

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Many patient visits to emergency departments result in the patient dying or being pronounced dead on arrival. The numbers of deaths in emergency departments are likely to increase as a significant portion of the U.S. population ages. Consequently, emergency nurses face many obstacles to providing quality end-of-life (EOL) care when death occurs. The purpose of this study was to identify suggestions that emergency nurses have to improve EOL care, specifically in rural emergency departments.

Methods: A 57-item questionnaire was sent to 53 rural hospitals in 4 states in the Intermountain West, plus Alaska. One item asked nurses to identify …