Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Therapist, Heal Thyself? A Study Of Self-Care Practices Among Therapeutic Service Providers, Ashton H. Mcmullan

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Missoula, Montana, is the largest city in western Montana and a social service hub for more than 110,000 residents of the surrounding county and beyond. Whether nonprofit, government agency, or individual provider, each social service offering has its own model of change and form of therapeutic services designed to ensure the best life possible for its clients— but how do the leaders of these organizations also try to make the best lives for themselves and their staff? In this research project, I will investigate this question, analyzing and comparing the self-care practices—formal and informal, public and private, personal and institutional—of …

The Effectiveness Of The Foreign Student Orientation, Jo Ann Choong

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

International students making the transition to a new cultural environment need some time and guidance to adapt. At the University of Montana, international student advisors prepare the Foreign Student Orientation to assist these new students in their adjustment process. It is shown that international students benefit from attending the Foreign Student Orientation. This study looks at how effective the orientation at the University of Montana is as perceived by international students from the fall 2016 semester.

“Are There Any Girls There?” Empowering Excursions And Gender Role Subversion In Dungeons And Dragons, Rachel M. Just

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In this article, the author examines the gendered experiences of twelve women who play Dungeons and Dragons, a popular roleplaying tabletop game. The author utilizes Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s concept of the excursion to analyze how participants use roleplay in Dungeons and Dragons to achieve empowerment. Many of the women interviewed described being subjected to gendered behavioral expectations both in their everyday life and during gameplay. With an empowering gaming group, however, roleplay allowed the participants to challenge, and subvert, those gendered expectations. The author concludes that roleplay provides an empowering excursion from everyday life that allows women participants …

Effects Of Priming The Concept Of Luck On Task Persistence, Koryn R. Haight

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Does feeling lucky influence the way we perform? Do we try harder and persist at tasks if we think luck is involved, or are we more prone to give up? To help answer these questions, this research examines the effect of priming the concept of luck on persistence. In particular, some participants completed a word descramble task designed to prime luck; others completed a neutral word descramble task. All participants then completed a set of reasoning puzzles, one of which they were told was ‘difficult’ but in reality was unsolvable. Persistence was measured by (a) the amount of time participants …

Defining The Problem Of Consent Education In High School Across The United States, Julia Read

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Sexual education is generally thought of as something that is mentioned once in middle school, and possibly addressed in more depth in high school. Many recall a “scared straight” approach, involving an STI and STD slideshow, and countless statistics about the ineffectiveness of birth control. Some picture a more liberal approach, involving things like learning to put condoms on bananas, or learning how to obtain birth control and STD testing at Planned Parenthood. However, when many people think about their high school and middle school sex education, they do not necessarily recall explicit consent training. Why is that? Is it …

Comanagement Between Federal Agencies And Native American Tribes: Applications And Lessons, Rachel Grabenstein

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Badger Two Medicine Area in the Lewis and Clark National Forest has faced conflict over management since the 1980s due to leasing of what is considered sacred land. Recently those leases were cancelled. However questions about how to manage the land still remain. This paper explores examples of comanagement between the federal government and Native American tribes in an effort to understand what options and obstacles the Blackfeet tribe will face in future management of the Badger Two Medicine Area. I examined the National Bison Range and Badlands National Park efforts at comanagement in depth and additional current comanagement …

Slam Poetry: An Online Intervention For Treating Depression, Spencer J. Ruchti, Mercedes Becker, Cara Mckee, Austin Herron, Alex Swalling

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Given that depression is the “leading cause of disability worldwide,” and that less than 50% of people suffering from depression receive treatment, this study aims to provide support for a globally accessible depression treatment (WHO, 2012). The study conducted implemented an internet-based treatment for depression in which users were provided an opportunity to watch slam poetry videos related to mental health issues and write free responses regarding the content of the videos and their subjective experience of depression. Numerous studies provide support for the effectiveness of expressive writing, online mental health interventions, and slam poetry in particular for reducing symptoms …

Gender Nonconformity, Psychosocial Stressors, And Psychopathology: Looking Beyond Sexual Orientation, Kathryn M. Oost

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

LGBT individuals experience disproportionately more victimization than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. Within these populations, perceived gender nonconformity predicts even higher rates of victimization. The current investigation examined relationships between gender nonconformity, experiences with victimization, and psychopathology among 671 students from the University of Montana, including 64 LGBT-identified individuals, who took part in an online study as part of course requirements. Hierarchical regressions were calculated to examine the relationships between gender expression, victimization, and psychopathology while controlling for sexual orientation, gender identity, and ethnicity. Gender nonconformity was a significant predictor of reported victimization, beyond sexual orientation and ethnicity (ΔR …

A New Home: An Empirical Analysis Of Pull Factor Influences On Eu Asylum Applications, Dawson Reisig

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

As Europe continues to face the largest flood of immigration since World War II, the foundational solidarity of the European Union (EU) is being severely strained under the burden of allocating such a massive population influx and the subsequent issues resulting from complex and divisive notions of national responsibility, cooperation, and integration. In struggling to find a cooperative solution to this refugee crisis, a greater understanding of the destination country characteristics that shape the asylum application preference would be highly beneficial for policy makers and EU citizens. In examining the relative influences of these pull factors I implement a fixed …

Little Rebecca, Rebecca Collins

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Santiago de Compostela, a city in Galicia, Spain, has been said since the 8th century to hold the remains of St. James, an apostle and the patron saint of Spain. Old walking routes, still in use, fork all throughout the European continent toward this singular destination, with the collective label of the “Way of St. James,” (the Camino de Santiago in Spanish, Le Chemin du St. Jacques in French). For nine months of this past year, the Camino de Santiago and the study of pilgrimage was my singular destination as well. I studied the history of pilgrimage, European pilgrimage literature, …

The Burn Issue, University Of Montana--Missoula. School Of Journalism

Montana Journalism Review

Montana: Scoring the Dolezal Debrief -- Billing the Bereaved -- Digging Deeper by the Week -- The Language of Gender and Sexuality -- Records Go Online -- Mugshots and the Right to Know -- Montana Brings Shield Laws Online

The West: Good Cop, Bad Press -- Bucking Censorship of Student Speech -- East Coast Story Shakes Local Press -- The Reluctant YouTube Sensation -- New App Prospects for Tourists -- Using Analytics to Negotiate Contracts

Cover Story: Journalists on the Wildfire Beat -- Extra: Crowdsourcing Fire Science -- Extra: Fire, Weather and Climate -- Extra: Burnt Budgets -- Extra: Politicians …

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Eukaryotic Dna Extraction From Burial Soil Samples, Ariane Thomas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

DNA is a valuable resource as a unique identifier of physical characteristics at both the population and individual levels. Due to a variety of factors that contribute to genetic decay, forensic and bioarchaeological investigators have limited outlets in which to extract viable DNA after most of a body’s organic materials have fully decomposed. This preliminary research focused on extracting DNA from the soil surrounding buried Sus scrofa domesticus cadavers to confirm the presence of viable and analyzable DNA. After a decomposition period of five months in Montana, soils were collected at incremental distances above the remains and sequenced to identify …

Bicycle Mobility In Glacier National Park: Assessing Going-To-The-Sun Road Travelers' Attitudes, Knowledge, And Perceptions Of Bicycling, Brian G. Battaglia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The central aim of this thesis assessed whether Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR) travelers have a positive or negative association with roadway bicycling and the degree of public support for GTSR bicycling in Glacier National Park (GNP). Secondarily, this thesis tested a control and treatment group’s knowledge of roadway cycling laws to determine the effectiveness of a “Bicycles May Use Full Lane” sign and brochure, which both reflected Montana’s cycling laws. Finally, an analysis of the necessity of GNP’s partial bicycle restriction on the GTSR was conducted by comparing the characteristics of two road segments using GIS, and by assessing the attitudes, …

Beyond Blood: Examining The Communicative Challenges Of Adoptive Families, Mackensie C. Minniear

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined how adoptive families discursively create family identity through their communication. Building on theories of discourse dependence and family communication patterns, this research examined how families whose identity does not meet a bio-genetic view of family must re-define family using communication. Often times, families that are created outside biological means must renegotiate family identity both within the family, and outside the family, from those who feel comfortable commenting and questioning their family composition. Communication becomes a tool that adoptees must use to understand their family identity, as well as their own adoptive identity. Furthermore, this study looked to …

Empowerment And Subjective And Emotional Well-Being In South Africa, Erik Kappelman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Potential For Geographic Transportation Modeling To Improve Food Assistance: A Case Study Of The Missoula Food Bank, Mary Buford French

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Over the last ten years, the Missoula Food Bank has seen a greater need for its services leading to funding shortfalls. To meet the needs of an increasing number of clients with a limited budget, the Missoula Food Bank must look for ways to modify its operations while increasing efficiency of its services. As the Food Bank budget is used to acquire food and currently also transport it from warehouse locations to the food pantry in a crowded space, reducing distances and transport cost of hauling food would in turn free up funds to obtain more food. At the same …

Knife River Flint Distribution And Identification In Montana, Laura Evilsizer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An examination of the spatial, temporal, and functional distribution of Knife River flint in Montana, and a study in misidentification of Knife River flint in archaeological assemblages. Lithic sourcing has the potential to provide a plethora of information to archaeologists: resource procurement strategies, mobility patterns, trade networks, and the preferencing of particular lithic material types. However, without proper identification it is impossible to study the distribution of lithic materials from their source. Knife River flint, a brown chalcedony, is a particularly fascinating material, geologically occurring in a small area, but culturally distributed over a large area. I analyze the distribution …

Another Day In The Oil Patch: Narratives Of Probation Work In Montana, Ally Guldborg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Job stress has been linked to several negative outcomes for workers in human service professions. Despite a wealth of knowledge on job stress in social service occupations, relatively little is known about the job stress of probation officers. In eastern Montana and western North Dakota’s Bakken region, a recent oil extraction boom and bust cycle has caused rapid socio-demographic change. Researchers have found that oil extraction in the Bakken region has led to several challenges for social service and police agencies in the area. In this study, I use qualitative interview methods to examine the stresses and challenges involved in …

Exploring Park Support: A Study Of Philanthropy And Other Support For Yellowstone National Park, Geoffrey G. Havens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Support for charitable causes has long been a topic studied in the hopes of uncovering the reasons for donations and other support behaviors. However, holistic examination of support for places, such as parks, has been relatively untouched as an area of research. One such place where understanding such support is important is Yellowstone National Park, the first designated National Park and one of the most visited parks in the United States. A lack in adequate government funding to meet increasingly heavy visitation has led the park to increasingly rely on outside support for the park.

The purpose of this study …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Belonging In Communities Of Practice: Exploring Transformative Organizational Elements Within The Choral Arts, Aubrielle J. Holly

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A qualitative analysis was conducted with a community choir as an exemplar of a community of practice. Semi-structured, collaborative interviews with eighteen of the choir’s members and eleven hours of field observation were conducted. The socialization process was briefly examined and discussed as it informed membership experiences in the choir. Four research questions were proposed to examine the ways in which the defining characteristics of communities of practice were communicatively enacted within the choral context. The construct of belonging was examined as an addition to Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework. Data analysis followed the grounded theory methodology of Strauss …

Knowledge And Resistance: Feminine Style And Signifyin[G] In Michelle Obama’S Public Address, Tracy Valgento

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the public discourse of the first African American first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. I argue that Michelle Obama uses the double-voiced discourses of feminine style and African American Signifyin[g] to negate post-race and post-gender mythologies that suggest that American society is “beyond identity”. Looking at three of Obama’s speeches: Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech, The Remarks by the First Lady at Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou, and Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address this thesis argues that Michelle Obama performativity interrogates and questions gender and race relations …

Living With Hiv: A Potential Source Of Trauma In Children And Adolescents, Kaitlyn P. Ahlers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Due to advances in medical treatment for HIV/AIDS, individuals infected with HIV are living longer. HIV is now considered a chronic illness, and there has been limited research into the mental health problems that can arise from living with HIV, particularly among children and adolescents. Past research has demonstrated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can result from experiences related to chronic illness. Importantly, HIV could affect children and adolescents in a distinct way when compared to any other incurable, chronic illness. The present study examined the mental health issues faced by children and adolescents who are infected with HIV as …

The Effect Of Terminology Relating To Mtbi On Symptom And Recovery Expectations, Meredith K. Reynolds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The terms mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion may evoke different expectations for people who sustain such an injury. Expectations are important because previous researchers have demonstrated that expected symptoms at the time of injury were the best predictors of actual symptoms post-injury. The current study investigated the effect of terminology on various outcome expectations. Participants also reported their familiarity with the terminology. Participants read a vignette depicting a person sustaining an mTBI in a motor vehicle accident. A relevant diagnosis – concussion or mTBI – was relayed at the end of the vignette. No diagnosis was relayed for …

Oregon Tribal Historic Preservation Offices: The Problems And Challenges Of Starting And Maintaining A Thpo, Karly R. Law

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As of December 31, 2015, of the 567 federally recognized tribes, 167 have established a THPO (at the time of this writing) that is recognized by the National Park Service (NPS). To manage a federally recognized THPO, a tribe must officially enter into agreements with the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior. There are a total of nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon, of which six have a federally recognized THPO. Two of the Oregon THPO’s were interviewed: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Indian Community and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of …

40 Trees: The Quest To Save Whitebark Pine On The Flathead Indian Reservation, Andrew S. Graham

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

When it comes to managing natural resources in the face of global climate change, sometimes localized action is best. Rick Everett spent a lot of time in western forests - first as a ski patroller and logger and then as an ecologist - before landing as a professor at a tribal community college on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Now he faces a challenging new question: How do you save a tree species that is ecologically valuable to the forest and culturally valuable to Native American tribes, but is being pushed toward extinction by forces varied, deadly and driven by climate …

A Comparison Of The Utility Of Craniometric And Dental Morphological Data For Assessing Biodistance And Sex-Differential Migration In The Pacific Islands, Brittney A. Eubank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Genetic analysis of maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA and the paternally-inherited Y-chromosome yield contrasting pictures of movement of peoples into the Pacific Islands. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is a matrilocal residency pattern practiced by early Pacific settlers, in which Melanesian men were brought into settler communities to intermarry with local women, yielding a higher intrapopulation variance and lower interpopulation variance exhibited in males compared to females. This research investigates the possibility of sex-differential migration in the Oceanic populations of Easter Island, Fiji, Guam, Mokapu, and New Britain through analysis of biodistance based on dental morphological trait frequencies and craniometric measures …

Cyber-Victimization And Delinquency: A General Strain Perspective, Ian D. Greenwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examines juvenile delinquency and cyber-victimization from a general strain perspective. General strain theory provides a model where strain is experienced through the (1) loss of something valued, (2) the presentation of noxious stimuli, or (3) the inability to achieve valued goals. As a coping mechanism for strain, some juveniles react through criminal or delinquent behavior. This thesis predicts that cyber-victimization increases the likelihood of physical fighting, weapon-carrying, and truancy at school. Using the 2013 National Crime Victimization Survey: School Crime Supplement, the hypotheses are analyzed using multivariate logistic regression models that include other known correlates of delinquency. Marginal …

The Sacrificial Ram, Charles Ebbers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Every January and February, Montana and other western states auction tags to hunt big horn sheep, moose, mountain goats, bears and other big game species to the highest bidder, at a series of hunting shows in Nevada. Some states call them “governor’s tags,” while others like Montana call them auction tags.

The purpose of the auctions is to raise funds for state conservation programs meant to keep wildlife populations healthy. In Montana, the funds raised are species specific, meaning that the proceeds from a bighorn sheep tag must be used to help bighorn sheep. Yet, the revenue from these tags …

Efficacy Of Three Backward Masking Signals, Robert David Sears

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Increased backward masking has been correlated with Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). An efficacious test of the backward masking function that is compatible with naïve listeners could have clinical utility in diagnosing APDs. In order to determine an appropriate probe for such a test, three 20-ms signal-types were compared for ease-of-task. Response times (RT) were taken as a proxy for ease-of-task. Seven participants used a method-of-adjustment to track threshold in the presence of a 50-ms broadband-Gausian-noise backward-masker. The signal-types yielded two comparisons: Linear rise-fall on a 1000Hz sine-wave versus a “chirp” (750 Hz-4000Hz); Linear rise-fall vs Blackman gating function on a …

Conservation Genetics On The Frontline, Kenneth W. Rand

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Conservation genetics stands out as an effective tool for discovering and monitoring rare, endangered or invasive populations of plants and animals. Particularly when compared to traditional search and capture methods, it provides more holistic studies to preserve the disappearing biodiversity of the American West and the world.

Three stories highlight the work done to preserve biodiversity through the use of conservation genetics:

1. Trout Rescue: A new hope for westslope cutthroat in Montana How to save a disappearing westslope cutthroat trout through genetic rescue by adding genetic diversity to ensuring future survival in increasingly warming waters more harm than good. …