Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Translating Transformative Human Rights Education Through Visual Languages & Informal Spaces, Jazzmin Chizu Gota

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project examines methods, theories, and practices of translating human rights education through multiple vernaculars. Developed as a workshop in sociocultural syntax deconstruction and an educational human rights education website focused on the domestic population of the US, the project focuses on localizing human rights concepts to the public vernacular of the country. Human rights education (HRE) and media and information literacy (MIL) are expanded and redefined as social literacy, or the ability to navigate and decode the present, complex realities that both HRE and MIL were developed to address. Reframing media and visual arts as an archive of past …

Authoritarian Member States In International Organizations, Matt Barg

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates under which conditions do authoritarian Member States exist in International Organizations that require democratic governance in their treaty law. The European Union is used as a case study along with two of its Member States that are in the process of transitioning to democracy from previous authoritarian regimes—Hungary and Romania. This thesis employs stealth authoritarian theory to analyze how a democratizing Member State may violate these laws and revert to authoritarian governance. It also critiques international enforcement mechanisms to consider their effectiveness to enforce their laws and norms as well as prevent an authoritarian reversal. Finally, cultural …

Patient-Reported Outcomes Screening For Improved Patient Wellness: A Cancer Center Initiative, Alison Morris

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: People experiencing serious illness have significant unmet physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) requires patients to be screened for emotional wellbeing and pain by their second oncology visit. This project details one cancer center’s quality improvement initiative to (a) implement electronic screening of every cancer patient by their second oncology visit, (b) design processes for ongoing assessment and intervention of need(s), and (c) develop measurable and sustainable evaluation metrics to ensure that palliative care needs are met. Methods: In June 2015, we launched electronic collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) using the Patient Reported …

Dislocation And Adjustment Of International Student-Athletes, Thiago Brito Lopes

Master's Theses

One reason that attracts international student-athletes to American universities could be the interest in earning high quality education with the possibility of playing high performance sports. However, when compared to other international students, differences are seen: Other foreign students who look for a degree in the US desire not only an international education, but also potentially staying in the country. The University of San Francisco, where a cosmopolitan city meets education, fits it best. At USF, 82 countries are represented, reaching a number of 1708 students. Approximately ¼ of the whole student population is international. The ratio with student-athletes is …

Power, Subjectivity, And Life In Spain: A Continuation Of Elite Power, Matthew Mason

Master's Theses

On December 20, Spain will hold national elections to determine the new prime minister and national and local parliaments. These elections will be another crossroads in the long history of Spain. The elections come about in a political and social atmosphere of ‘change’ and ‘regeneration,’ marked by the rise of two new political parties, Podemos and Ciudanos. These parties are the new forces in the political scene in Spain. This atmosphere of change is the result of the 2008 economic crisis. The economic crisis of 2008 was not only an economic crisis in Spain, but it provoked a political and …

The German Army At A Crossroads Of Modernization, Sarah E. Liebig

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the German civil-military relationship and the challenges the country is facing amidst modernizing reforms to the German armed forces. Over the last quarter of a century, new international security threats have manifested and continue to transform requiring Germany to adapt its military and defense policies in order to effectively protect itself and serve as a capable ally to other member states of international organizations such as NATO and the EU. The adaptations and reforms required of Germany have led to concern that the cornerstone civil-military relationship concepts are at risk. In this thesis I identify the major …

Evolution Of A Nation After A Dictatorship: How Law, Politics And Society Of The 1973 Dictatorship In Uruguay And Of The Subsequent Return Of Democracy In 1985, Potentially Helped Evolve The Nation Of Today., Jonathan A. Fein Proaño

Master's Theses

In 1973, Uruguay’s president authored a coup d’état with the military and changed the history and fabric of Uruguay. Once democracy returned to Uruguay in 1985, it was a chance to see if an evolution of the law, politics and society would occur. This thesis aims to analyze and understand the patterns of change and de-evolution or evolution that happened during the dictatorship and then over the last 30 years. I break down the process of changes that happened legally and politically, how the dictatorship and its leaders used law to destroy rule of law, and how society changed.

This …

The Role Of The State, Multinational Oil Companies, International Law & The International Community: Intersection Of Human Rights & Environmental Degradation Climate Change In The 21st Century Caused By Traditional Extractive Practices, The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous People And Universal Jurisdiction To Resolve The Accountability Issue, Marcela Cabrera Luna

Master's Theses

Local, national and international conventions that protect indigenous sovereignty and their territories, where many of the resources are extracted from by multinational corporations (MNCs) particularly oil, the number one commodity of the world and cause of climate change, continue to be jeopardized because of the lack of a clear international legal framework that can protect them and potentially hold multinationals accountable for their actions. These practices are causing not only environmental issues to the indigenous and surrounding communities, but climate change is in fact, the real human rights issue of the 21^st century and it affects everyone. By using …

Improving The Patient Experience By Implementing Patient-Centered Care In A Community Hospital, Richard A. Billingsley Dnp, Mha, Rn

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Health care is a complex business currently undergoing extensive reform. These changes require new methods of care deliver and ways in which health care organizations are operating. At the forefront of this change effort is the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is transforming health care from a volume-based, fee-for-service process to the delivery of services that have value, improve quality outcomes, increase satisfaction, elicit greater efficiency, demonstrate improved safety outcomes, show cost-effectiveness, promote better access to services, and result in high reliability between providers and organizations. The goal of providing a more positive health care experience is …

Developing Inter-Professional Oral Health Education: An Evaluation Of Educational Resources, Jordan A. Jew

Master's Projects and Capstones

As healthcare continues to evolve, providers will need to uphold the quality of patient care provided to patients. Traditional healthcare holds many gaps that do not recognize the unmet needs that exist within today’s society. To maximize the abilities of healthcare services, inter-professional education introduces a collaborative approach that develops a network of shared knowledge and clinical skills beyond the primary scope of practice.

In this project, oral health learning modules developed for family practice residents were introduced to first-year dental students at the Dugoni School of Dentistry to improve their knowledge and confidence to both educate and practice with …

Social Emotional Learning And Mindfulness: Learning To Be Human, Jena-Lee Rogers

Master's Projects and Capstones

I am a teacher. I always have been and always will be. As a little girl, I developed a passionate need to see fairness and justice in my world, which of course outside of my family of origin revolved around my life at school. If one of my friends could not understand something, even if I was not totally sure about it myself, I would endeavor to help them learn it in a way that made sense to them. A small act of friendship helped me learn and develop my own a belief in the oneness that connects all of …

Europe’S Refugee Crisis: Assessing The Factors Preventing A Coordinated Eu Response, Ali Albassam

Master's Theses

In order to escape increasing political violence in the Middle East and Africa, many refugees are fleeing by sea to seek asylum in Europe. As a result, Europe has witnessed the highest influx of refugees since World War Two. European Union member states have scrambled for a solution, seemingly unable to form a collective response. The reemergence of nationalism amid the arrival of thousands of refugees not only clouds Europe’s moral compass, but also weakens the EU and its founding principles. In an effort to contribute to the protection of refugees and the EU and its values, this thesis aims …

Reducing The Risk Of Suicide On An Inpatient Acute Behavioral Health Unit, Thomas I. Coleman Mr

Master's Projects and Capstones

Evidence suggest for those who have successfully committed suicide in the form of asphyxiation inside locked facilities are more than likely due to patient bathroom doors. The current unit consists of 30 inpatient medical-psychiatric beds serving the adult and geriatric populations. The goal is to ensure patient safety by removing patient bathroom doors and replacing them with breakaway shower curtains for those exhibiting direct signs and symptoms of suicidal ideations with a plan. The specific aim is to improve patient outcomes by decreasing the number of deaths or attempted suicides. With great results, this type of project has been implemented …

A Work System Perspective On Adoption Entities, Adoption Processes, And Post-Adoption Compliance And Noncompliance, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This conceptual contribution responds to the invitation to the DIGIT 2015 Call for Papers “to reflect on and move forward from the dominant stream of research work on technology acceptance.” The dominant stream of research is basically about antecedents and correlates of adoption and continuation of use for hardware/software artifacts. This paper uses work system theory and several of its extensions to identify directions for adoption research that have been realized partially, but not nearly to the extent possible. It focuses on three general issues:

1) what adoption means in the context of work systems,

2) how adoption occurs, and …

Muslim Brothers Or Overstaying Guests? The Reception Of Syrian Refugees In Southeastern Turkey, Irem Karaçizmeli

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes the Syrian refugee issue in Turkey with an analysis of history and political discourse, and data drawn from a fieldwork conducted in Şanlıurfa, Turkey in 2015. The Islamist ruling party has staged a warm welcome for Syrian refugees. Their refugee regime, however, has remained weak in regards to law and policy. Retaining the geographical limitation stipulated in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Turks have attempted to locate the larger issue of hosting refugees into cultural notions of ‘guesthood’ rather than a developed refugee rights framework. The fieldwork discovers the lack of …

Postcolonialism And The Marshallese Diaspora: Structural Violence And Health In The Marshallese Community In Springdale, Arkansas, Alexander J. Hirata

Master's Theses

Despite moving to the United States for better healthcare, among other benefits, Marshallese Compact of Free Association (COFA) migrants residing in Springdale, Arkansas continue to face similar acute health problems as Marshallese living in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and often without access to health services. These problems include high rates of noncommunicable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and thyroid cancer, as well as rare conditions such as Hansen’s Disease.

To research this, I studied the limited texts surrounding the Marshallese diaspora, as well as relevant bodies of literature: postcolonialism, Pacific migration theory, and global health and …

Incentives To Incarcerate: Corporation Involvement In Prison Labor And The Privatization Of The Prison System, Alythea S. Morrell

Master's Projects and Capstones

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The United States accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Not only does the United States mercilessly incarcerate its own citizens, it disproportionately incarcerates African American and Latino men. This fact on its own is disturbing; however, when it is coupled with the fact that corporations profit from and lobby for an overly aggressive and ineffective criminal justice system, makes these statistics even more horrendous. Private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group admit …

The Books We Didn't Buy: Assessing What We Don't Have, Rice Majors, Erika Johnson

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco are leveraging patron-initiated borrowing data to create a deeper and more browse-able collection in certain subject areas where patrons have shown interest. This same ILL data has also been used to strengthen the meta-collection of our consortium (LINK+) through the intentional and coordinated diversification of approval plan profiles. When we began looking at our patron-initiated borrowing data, we could see that there are call number ranges where one or both universities borrow frequently. We will discuss both methodology and preliminary findings: how this data is being gathered, analyzed, and then used …

An Introduction To Scholarly Communication For Lis Students, Charlotte Roh

Charlotte Roh

This is an introduction to scholarly communication for graduate library students enrolled in Rahcel Onuf's Foundations of Library and Information Science class, through the Simmons College Library and Information Science program. Slides 3, 4, 9, and 11 of this work were originally created and revised by Stephanie Davis-Kahl on May 30, 2013. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of the license see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Mental Health Help-Seeking Intentions And Preferences Of Rural Chinese Adults, Yu Yu, Zi-Wei Liu, Mi Hu, Hui-Ming Liu, Joyce Yang, Liang Zhou, Shui-Yuan Xiao

Psychology

Purpose: We aimed to investigate mental health help-seeking intentions and preferences of rural Chinese adults and determine predictors of the intentions.

Methods: A total of 2052 representative rural residents aged 18-60 completed a cross-sectional survey by face-to-face interviews. The survey included seven questions asking about respondents' help-seeking intentions and preferences, and a series of internationally validated instruments to assess self-perceived health status, depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, mental health literacy, and attitudes towards mental illness.

Results: Nearly 80% of respondents were willing to seek psychological help if needed, and 72.4% preferred to get help from medical organizations, yet only 12% knew …

Practicing Ignatian Pedagogy: A Digital Collection Of Resources, Zheng (Jessica) Lu, Vicki Rosen

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

In the Spring 2015 issue of Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal, Kimberly Connor described building an Ignatian Pedagogy Faculty Learning Community at the University of San Francisco. One outcome of the FLC was to gather and make easily available a collection of resources on Jesuit education and the IPP (Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm). In this issue, two USF Gleeson Library/Geschke Center librarians, Zheng (Jessica) Lu, Digital Collections Librarian, and Vicki Rosen, Distance Learning Services Librarian, describe creating Practicing Ignatian Pedagogy: A Digital Collection of Resources, an openly accessible database available through the USF Library website, using the FLC resources …

Assessment Of Mental Health Literacy Using A Multifaceted Measure Among A Chinese Rural Population, Yu Yu, Zi-Wei Liu, Mi Hu, Xi-Guang Liu, Hui-Ming Liu, Joyce Yang, Liang Zhou, Shui-Yuan Xiao

Psychology

Objectives: The present study aims to assess mental health literacy (MHL) using a standardised multifaceted 20-item instrument called Mental Health Knowledge Questionnaire (MHKQ) developed by the Chinese Ministry of Health, among a rural Chinese population.

Setting: Four villages in Liuyang county of Hunan province, China.

Participants: This was a cross-sectional study. A multistage cluster-sampling method was adopted, leading to a final sampling frame of 2377 residents aged 18–60 years from four villages of Liuyang county. Included in the study were residents aged 18–60 years living in their village for at least half a year; excluded were those not living in …

Assessing The Needs Of Ihss Providers, Renesha M. Westerfield

Master's Projects and Capstones

San Francisco IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) Public Authority serves over 2,000 consumers and this number is growing daily due to the amount of people in need here in San Francisco. The consumers are in need of providers. Currently there is a lack of well-trained providers to aid in meeting the needs of the consumers. This has lead to consumers going back to hospital for injuries and other complications that could have been avoided if they had providers who were properly trained on their condition. This is not the purpose of IHSSPA, they receive funding to prevent hospital recidivism but …

The Food Education Project: Teaching Nutrition Through Environmental Awareness, Caren R. Pinto

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper examines a 300-hour fieldwork internship that took place during a summer semester at a local non-profit called the Food Education Project (FEP). FEP provided a practical and hands- on opportunity, which allowed for the knowledge gained over the past two years at the University of San Francisco’s Public Health Program to be put to public health practice. The experience was invaluable for the author’s professional and personal growth.

The paper will explore the prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes in the nation’s youth today. Second, a literature review will be conducted to examine the relevance of in …

The Human And Environmental Health Impacts Of Food Quality Among Emergency Food Providers, Alexina Cather

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Human health and environmental health are inextricably entwined, and the ways in which we grow, process, package, transport, market, and consume food are critical factors for both human and environmental health. The current industrial food system in the United States has numerous adverse effects on environmental and human health, which significantly impact the millions of food insecure Americans who receive their nutritional needs from emergency food providers (American Public Health Association, 2007). The widespread food insecurity in the United States and the increasing prevalence of obesity among adults and children have drawn attention to the role that emergency food …

Health Hub Program Evaluation, Natalie Macias

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper examines and evaluates the work of LIFT-Levántate a non-profit organization in San Rafael, California on their school-based nutritional education “health hub,” through health promotion interventions with adolescents. The James B. Davidson Middle School health hub educates students on topics related to nutrition and physical activity with the goal of providing access and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables while lowering students’ intake of high-fat and sugary processed foods. Through research and observations of the students and families in this community, the data seems to indicate apparent disparities which vary by ethnicity, socioeconomic status and access. Underserved populations, including …

Implementation Of A Debrief “Takeaway” Board, Carly A. Skeath

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

My original focus of my project was to implement Team STEPPS, to help improve the communication and teamwork within our entire perinatal service department. However, as I started I ran into barriers with time and with other projects put out by our management that needed to take president. It is then that I decided to narrow my focus on one aspect of Team STEPPS which we are already implementing, and that is debriefs. As a member of the Perinatal Patient Safety Program (PPSP), I was able to learn about all the takeaway’s we received from debriefs that had occurred, …

This Is My Protest: What Psychologists Can Add To Conversations About Ferguson, Joyce Yang

Psychology

In the United States, while deaths of Black individuals at the hands of the police occur at unbelievable rates, many continue to proclaim that we live in a post-racial society or that racism is an artifact of the past. Psychologists can, and indeed must, make a unique contribution to conversations about recent race-related events such as Ferguson and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. On the one year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, this letter briefly highlights several phenomena established in psychological literature on racial biases such as the Superhumanization bias and findings from Shoot, Don’t Shoot paradigms that may increase …

Microaggressions: Small Actions That Are A Big Deal, Molly Higgins, Charlotte Roh

Charlotte Roh

“Microaggressions” refer to those brief occurrences and encounters that subtly reinforce systems of power and privilege. The term can be applied across groups, including but certainly not limited to people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and individuals with disabilities. Libraries and information organizations are not immune to these microaggressions. They exist in our library catalogues, archives, research, professional organizations and interpersonal interactions. They have also garnered attention in the library world, through projects like the Microaggressions in Librarianship Tumblr, and a recent webinar on the subject put on by Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA). How do we create safe, affirming, …

Open Education At The Boston Library Consortium, Charlotte Roh

Charlotte Roh

This presentation was a lightning talk for the annual Boston Library Consortium (BLC) Networking Day. It discusses the Open Education Initiative (OEI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and open education movement around the country, including student involvement and assessment outcomes.