Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Measurement Invariance Of The Kidney Disease And Quality Of Life Instrument (Kdqol-Sf) Across Veterans And Non-Veterans, Karen L. Saban, Fred B. Bryant, Dominic J. Reda, Kevin T. Stroupe, Denise M. Hynes

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background

Studies have demonstrated that perceived health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients receiving hemodialysis is significantly impaired. Since HRQOL outcome data are often used to compare groups to determine health care effectiveness it is imperative that measures of HRQOL are valid. However, valid HRQOL comparisons between groups can only be made if instrument invariance is demonstrated. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF) is a widely used HRQOL measure for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) however, it has not been validated in the Veteran population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the measurement invariance …

Notch-1 Activates Nf-Кb Activity In Cervical Cancer And Estrogen Receptor Negative Breast Cancer, Yin Peng

Dissertations

Breast and cervical cancer are two common cancers that severely endanger women's health. The fatality rates of breast and cervical cancer are ranked first and fifth, respectively, in cancer related deaths in women worldwide. Continuous dedication to cancer research is urgently required to elucidate the cancer cell survival mechanism that is responsible for disease aggressiveness and poor prognosis.

Emerging data indicate that Notch-1 is aberrantly regulated in human cervical and ER- breast cancer and inhibiting Notch-1 sensitizes cancer cells to apoptosis. However, the mechanism by which Notch-1 promotes cell survival is not known. NF-КB is also deregulated in these two …

Digging Below The Demographic Level: Examining The Effects Of Internalized Racial And Social Attitudes On White Physicians-In-Training Self-Reported Cross Cultural Competency, Sha'kema Maigre't Blackmon

Dissertations

The racial and social attitudes of White physicians-in-training were explored in relation to aspects of self-perceived cross cultural competence. Specifically, internal motivation to respond without prejudice, ethnocultural empathy, color-blind racial attitudes, and general just world beliefs were examined as possible predictors of patient centered attitudes toward patients of color and skillfulness in providing cross cultural care. Multivariate multiple regression analyses found that internal motivation to respond without prejudice was significantly associated with patient centeredness toward patients of color. Global ethnocultural empathy was significantly associated with patient centeredness and skillfulness in providing cross cultural care. General just world beliefs attitudes had …

Quality Of Life And Health Outcomes In Overweight And Non-Overweight Children With Asthma., Amy Becker Manion

Dissertations

Over the last two decades the number of children and adolescents who are overweight has more than doubled. Currently, an estimated 18 percent of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years are overweight. Following this trend in childhood overweight, there has been an alarming increase in the number of children with asthma who are overweight. The increasing trend in both asthma and overweight has led to the suggestion of a causal relationship between the two. Childhood overweight has been found to have a profound negative impact on quality of life (QOL), yet there is a dearth of research regarding the impact …

Depressive Symptoms In Women Being Screened For Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Suzanne Marie Savoy

Dissertations

Background: Depressive symptomology is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Over 15% of persons with cardiovascular disease have depressive symptoms, and women are twice as likely to experience these symptoms as men. Depressive symptoms in women “ at risk ” for cardiovascular disease has not been well studied.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms, health-promoting lifestyle behaviors, heart disease risk awareness, cardiac risk, and quality of life in women at risk for cardiovascular disease. Whether the effect of depressive symptoms on quality of life was mediated by cardiac risk and/or health-promoting lifestyle behaviors was also examined. …

Moral Distress And Avoidance Behavior In Nurses Working In Critical Care And Non-Critical Care Units, Mary Jo De Villers

Dissertations

Significance: Nurses facing impediments to what they perceive as moral practice may experience inner turmoil, frustration, and moral distress. These scenarios may culminate in resignation from employment at the individual level, increased attrition at the systems level, and poor patient outcomes, including increased morbidity and mortality.

Purpose: To explore the relationships between moral distress and avoidance thoughts and behavior between nurses currently practicing in critical care and non-critical care settings.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional comparative design was used. The sample was comprised of a randomized subset of 370 critical care nurses, a convenience sample of 87 nurses from a nursing …

Using Matching Methods From Both Fisher's Experimental Design And Rubin's Causal Model To Compare Between Two Medical Facilities With Extremely Skewed Number Of Subjects, Gideon D. Bahn

Dissertations

The present study deals with the problem of comparison between a two medical facilities' with extremely skewed sample sizes from non-experimental study. The data came from a study of rehabilitation interventions with patients diagnosed with cardiac and pulmonary issues who received treatment either in inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) or in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Due to inclusion and exclusion criteria, however, the study had failed to recruit sufficient number of participants between two comparison groups: 319 from IRFs and 27 from SNFs. As a result, the main hypothesis of the study was not tested due to the disparity of the …

Morphological Development Of The Axial Skeletons Of Esox Lucius And Esox Masquinongy (Euteleostei: Esociforms), With Comparisons In Developmental And Mineralization Rates., Amanda Maria Burdi

Master's Theses

Developmental morphology of the axial skeleton of Esox lucius (i.e., northern pike and type species) and E. masquinongy (i.e., muskellunge) was investigated. More than 1,000 specimens were examined ranging in size from approximately 10 mm notochordal length (NL) post-hatching juveniles to over 80 mm standard length (SL) foraging sub-adults. Results show that regardless of individual variation, the relative sequence of bone formation and mineralization is consistent between the two species. This consistent developmental pattern enabled construction of an ontogenetic staging scheme of eight developmental stages, each characterized by one defining criterion. The first appearance in cartilage and/or first sign of …

Anti-Nogo-A Immunotherapy Facilitation Of Environmental Enrichment's Effects On Recovery From Stroke In The Aged Rat, Sarah Jane Hein

Master's Theses

Stroke and traumatic brain injury are devastating disorders that often lead to permanent neurologic deficits, with few available treatment options once injury has occurred. In previous work, Anti-Nogo-A immunotherapy has been shown to neutralize the neurite inhibitory protein, Nogo-A, and to promote neuronal plasticity and improve functional recovery after stroke in the rat. Furthermore, other reports have demonstrated that environmental enrichment improves functional recovery in rodents following stroke. Our previous work demonstrated that anti-Nogo-A immunotherapy also helps promote cortical plasticity in the rodent. In the current project, we examined two methods to promote recovery after brain injury, a stroke model …

Pushing On: A Grounded Theory Study Of Maternal Perinatal Bereavement., Patricia Wright

Dissertations

Over 1 million American women experience the unexpected loss of a pregnancy each year (Ventura, Abma, Mosher, & Henshaw, 2009). The care and support they receive from family members, friends, and health care providers is often inadequate. Despite nearly 3 decades of research, very little is known about women's experiences of loss and the trajectory of perinatal bereavement. This classic grounded theory study was undertaken to discover a substantive theory of maternal perinatal bereavement, which was empirically derived from the words of the participants.

Data were collected from interviews with 19 women who had experienced the loss of a pregnancy, …