Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Experiences And Perspectives Of Clinical Supervisors In Cross-Cultural Supervision: The Impact Of Supervisor Race And Ethnicity, Masahiko Sato

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This qualitative study explored experiences of racial and ethnic minority supervisors in cross-cultural supervision in the counseling related fields in the U.S. or Canada. Five supervisors from different countries of origin participated. Both their general experiences in supervision and the ways in which the racial and ethnic minority supervisors managed cultural discussions and the supervisors' own needs were examined in supervision. The phenomenological study sought to describe the essence of the racial and ethnic minority supervisors in cross-cultural supervision and identified several themes grounded in their experiences: (a) distinct experiences as racial and ethnic minority supervisors; (b) managing diversity issues …

Developing Trauma-Informed Practice In A Community Mental Health Clinic: In The Child Welfare Context, Kelly Froehle

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

• This project provides direction for working with clients who present at First Street Center for mental health services with a trauma history.
• As child welfare staff work to develop trauma-informed practice, having similar procedures and services at First Street Center may complement services families are receiving from the county as a whole.

Sibley County Children’S Collaborative – Supporting Child Welfare Through Collaboration, Jade Blekestad-Kral

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Sibley County Children’s Collaborative meets the definition as a collaborative “organizational and interorganizational structure(s) where resources, power, and authority are shared and where people are brought together to achieve common goals that could not be accomplished by a single individual or organization independently” (Daka-Mulwanda, Thornburg, Filbert, & Klein, 1995, p. 219). Its functioning depends on members working together, sharing their time, skills, resources and the common goal of providing community support for children and families in Sibley County. However, effective collaboration does not come easily. In fact much of the literature regarding collaboration suggests that while collaboration is the …

Training And Burnout Among Paraprofessionals Who Work With Children With Emotional Behavioral Disorders, Jenna Robinson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

To assist the Waseca school district in addressing the training and self-care needs of paraprofessionals, keeping the overall mission in mind of empowering students to succeed in the academic environment, this project examined the training received and factors related to subsequent professional burnout among paraprofessionals in Waseca schools.

Symptom Severity, Treatment Acceptability, And Motivational Predictors Related To Patient Improvement For Insomnia, Shelby Marie Afflerbach

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

With the widespread presence of sleep disorders in the United States, especially insomnia, it is pertinent to investigate beliefs that patients have about insomnia, symptom severity, and treatment acceptability in order to assess patients' motivation for behavioral change. Participants in this archival study were thirty-one patients seeking help for sleep-related issues, whom were primarily from a Midwestern metropolitan area. Patients had completed pre-treatment measures that assessed insomnia symptoms, outcomes, treatment acceptability, and willingness to change and one post-treatment measure assessing insomnia outcomes. Because the purpose of the present study was to examine whether these variables predict patient improvement (higher scores …

"My Baby Is A Dog": Exploration Of Pet Parent Identity, Lacey Y. Boston

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This quantitative research examined dog owners (n = 100) regarding their relationship with their pets. After beginning to treat her own dog as a child she questioned what happens when a human child enters a family and what impact that has on the pet owners' identity. The researcher hypothesized that having children under the age of 18 in the home would impact dog owners' identity and salience based on their relationship with their pet. She created 13 questions for the survey which operationalized the concepts of identity salience and prominence. By surveying 100 dog owners and asking them about certain …

"All The Single Ladies:" Single College-Educated Black Women's Perceptions Of Marriage And Intimate Relationships, Brittany Henderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project, ""All the Single Ladies:" Single College-Educated Black Women's Perception of Marriage and Intimate Relationships," is an exploratory study that gathers single heterosexual college-educated Black women's perceptions of intimate relationships. Using semi-structured interviews, the women disclosed how their family structure, career and education goals, race, location and standards influence their perceptions of forming and obtaining intimate relationships. This particular cohort of women brings an interesting perspective, as they have experience in higher education and as career women, but maintain a "single" marital status. This research was done because there was a deficit in the research on Black women's perceptions …

The Roles Of Social Support And Job Meaningfulness In The Disturbing Media Exposure-Job Strain Relationship, Hung T. Hoang

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined the relationship between exposure to disturbing media and a number of strain outcomes. Past research suggests that individuals exposed to disturbing media report symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and burnout (Perez, Jones, Englert, & Sachau, 2010). This relationship was further explored in the current study. Additionally, the current study explored the roles of social support and job meaningfulness in the work place, as past research suggests that support and meaningfulness may help to mitigate the negative outcomes typically found among workers exposed to traumatic stressors (Britt, Adler, & Barton, 2001; Halbesleben, 2006; Morales, 2012; Stephens & Long, …

The Influence Of Religiosity On The Attitudes Towards Homosexuality Among College Students, Anastasiia Kuptsevych

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This is a descriptive study of the influence of religiosity on the attitudes towards homosexuality. The hypothesis for this study was that the degree to which one is religious influences the attitudes one has towards homosexuality. Data was analyzed by using regression analysis. Results show that students who attend church often and interpret Bible as true and correct tend to have negative attitudes towards a homosexual person, homosexual behavior between same sex partners as well as same sex unions. On the other hand, the degree to which students view God as active and angry in their life is not a …

Wheelchair Bound Not Sex Bound: Reconstruction Of Self And Sexual Identity After Spinal Cord Injury, Elisabeth Mumford

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Wheelchair bound not sex bound explores how individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI) create a new sexual self and identity after their injury. Graduate student Elisabeth Mumford in the Sociology and Corrections Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato examined how individuals reconstruct a new sexual self. Physical disabilities have become more prevalent with the increase of sport injuries. Most of these disabilities are often result in SCI leaving individuals in a wheelchair. In the hospital, individuals receive information on how to live with this new injury, but often rehabilitation programs ignore the aspect of sexuality. Without this aspect being covered …

"It's Not About You": Exploring The Liminal Experiences Of Graduate Forensic Coaches, Christopher Paul Outzen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The following document is a capstone thesis project focusing on the unique experiences of graduate forensic coaches through lens of liminality, a performance theory used to describe a sense of being between social identities when going through a rite of passage. The author contends that this liminal experience has unique characteristics which are important to consider in the context of identity and forensic culture. In order to gather data, the author utilized qualitative, semi-structured interviews with current graduate forensic coaches. The resulting interviews were interpreted using a process of open coding to determine key themes of the experience. The author …

Landscape And Impervious Surface Mapping In The Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Using Feature Recognition And Decision Tree Techniques, Philipp Nagel

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) and Impervious Surface Area (ISA) are important parameters for many environmental studies, and serve as an essential tool for decision makers and stakeholders in Urban & Regional planning. Newly available high spatial resolution aerial ortho-imagery and LiDAR data, in combination with specialized, object-oriented and decision-tree classification techniques, allow for accurate mapping of these features. In this study, a method was developed to first classify LULC using an object-based classifier, and then use the resulting map as input for a decision-tree model to classify ISA in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in Minnesota. It was …

The Influence Of Father-Child Relationship On Adolescents' Mental Health, Yea Seul Pyun

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There is a lack of studies focused on fathers despite of the growing attention on the importance of father's role in children and adolescents' mental health. The current study examined the influence of father-child relationship on marginalized adolescents' internalizing problems and inattentive/hyperactive behaviors. Participants were 48 adolescents recruited through the Youth Voice community program, who completed self-report questionnaires. The results indicated that adolescents who had better relationships with their fathers had lower levels of internalizing problems and inattentive/hyperactive behaviors. Older adolescents had higher symptoms of internalizing problems than younger adolescents. However, age was not associated with internalizing problems and inattentive/hyperactive …

An Outreach Program Case Study: Assessing And Imparting Social Capital, Autumn Lynn Thompson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

College outreach programs have been on the rise in the past couple of decades. They hope to help historically underrepresented students (first generation, low income, and minority) aspire to and prepare for higher education. However little research has been done on the effectiveness of these programs and more specifically which components are most effective for increasing student enrollment and retention. This study addresses this lack studying the effectiveness of social capital in college outreach programs, in an effort to move towards more evidence based research and practice. The study uses qualitative methods and in-depth interviews to directly investigate social capital …

The Initial Response And Behavioral Patterns Exhibited By An Officer To A Weapon Being Drawn In A Traffic Stop Simulation, Samantha Josephine Tupy

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Traffic stops are one of the most frequent forms of interaction between law enforcement officers and civilians. The traffic stop has been referred to as a "routine traffic stop" when it is not a known felonious traffic stop; however, routine would imply that there is a predictable, unchanging, and safe standard that could be systematically applied to every stop. Traffic stops may present many unforeseen dangers, highlighting the importance of thorough training. Ninety-four officer volunteers completed a traffic stop training simulation included in this archival study. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the initial response, as well as …

The Effects Of Geriatric Sexual Orientation On Caregiver Reactions To Resident Sexual Behavior Within Long-Term Care Facilities, Andrew Jonathan Ahrendt

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Within the paucity of literature regarding older adult sexuality, a larger dearth exists concerning biases of long-term care facility staff toward gay and lesbian older adult residents. Prior literature has documented that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals' perceive that they do not receive the same quality of care as that of heterosexual individuals within long-term care facilities. Thus researchers aimed to evaluate whether these biases truly exist within care facilities that can prevent holistic care from being comprehensively provided to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. 153 residential care facility staff members from two separate facilities read one of …

A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of A Token Economy System, A Response Cost Condition, And A Combination Condition In Reducing Problem Behaviors And Increasing Student Academic Engagement And Performance In Two First Grade Classrooms, Britta Leigh Fiksdal

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Previous research has shown that token economy systems and response cost procedures are effective in reducing disruptive behaviors in classrooms and increasing academic engagement. Few studies have compared the effectiveness of combining these two classroom management techniques, examined academic performance, and directly observed academic engaged time. The current study compared the effectiveness of four conditions: baseline, response cost procedure, token economy system, and a combination condition among two, first grade classrooms in a small town in central Wisconsin using direct observation and permanent product of a three question quiz. Behaviors assessed included problem behaviors in the classroom, academic engaged time, …

Going Public: An Organizational Autoethnographic Exploration Of The International Public Debate Association, Adam Matthew Key

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Historically, a trend has been demonstrated in intercollegiate debate. Debate organizations begin with a focus on rhetoric aimed at a public audience and within an average of two decades devolve into a highly technical format marked by a high rate of speed, use of nuanced technical jargon, and an overreliance on evidence. The focus on competitive success, culture, and judges are examined as contributors to this trend. The International Public Debate Association was created to sociologically combat the excesses of its predecessors, though sixteen years after its creation it is beginning to show symptoms of the same disease that afflicted …

The Difference In Perception Of Gerotranscendence Between College Students And Healthy, Community-Dwelling Older Adults, Duc Viet Lai

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Within the field of gerontology, some notable attempts to explain the aging process include activity theory, disengagement theory, Erikson's eight stages model, and socioemotional selectivity theory. The theory of gerotranscendence, recently developed by Lars Tornstam (1989), incorporates some aspects of these theories, and seeks to provide an overarching theme to the process of aging. The theory of gerotranscendence explains a shift in meta-perspective that a person experiences as they live, from a more materialistic and pragmatic view of the world to a more cosmic and transcendent one. Corresponding with this shift, the gerotranscendent individual exhibits certain behaviors, some of which …

Geographic Analysis Of West Nile Virus In The Upper Minnesota River Valley: A Gis And Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Approach, Matthew Moore

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Throughout human evolution civilizations have been faced with implications from infectious diseases caused by various environmental factors. This connection was recognized as far back as the 5th century by Hippocrates and since several key advances have been realized and will be addressed in this an environmental and physical geography of disease. Arthropod or vector-borne viruses are among the most common pathogens introduced into the modern human population. West Nile Virus is considered endemic in most parts of the world and appeared in the United States in 1999 with 62 confirmed cases in an urban New York location. Since its first …

Managing Rapeability: Women's Perceptions And Negotiations Of The Fear Of Sexual Assault, Jessica Friton

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

For women, the fear of sexual assault and harassment is pervasive. This study examines women's perceptions and negotiations of such fear while emphasizing the gendered social structures within which such fears are learned and experienced. Open ended interviews were conducted with 13 women enrolled in a self-defense undergraduate class. The interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. Findings provide rich descriptions of women's fears of victimization, how they learn such fears, and how they cognitively and behaviorally managed fear in their everyday lives. The author argues that learning and managing fear of sexual assault and harassment is part of gender socialization …

A Study Of Refusal Strategies By American And International Students At An American University, Hiroko Tsuiki Moaveni

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Refusals are delicate speech acts for non-native speakers to negotiate because they require negative responses to an interlocutor's invitation or request. In addition to cultural variation, variables such as gender and modes of communication (e.g., emails) add dimensions to the complexity when performing refusals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the difference in refusal strategies between American and international college students as well as gender variation. Using a written Discourse Completion Task, six situations were developed and grouped in two stimulus types eliciting refusals to an invitation and a request. Each stimulus type involved an email refusal …

Perspectives Of Female Leaders In Athletic Training, Kyle Matthew Momsen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Previous research has found that women face barriers in athletic training and it appears that they are not represented in leadership positions in numbers equal to the demographics of athletic training. The purpose of this research was to explore the leadership experiences and perspectives of female athletic trainers who have earned a leadership position at the highest levels in athletic training. This qualitative investigation utilized semi-structured, open-ended interviews with 12 women that held national leadership positions in athletic training. The data from this investigation suggests that many of the barriers that previously faced women in athletic training have decreased or …

The Co-Occurrence Of Multiple And Overlapping Demands Among Women Leaving Prison, Jennifer Jo Schweitzer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The findings presented in this thesis result from an analysis of the experiences over a three-year period of thirteen women recently released from prison, all of whom simultaneously struggled with severe physical and mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction(s), and histories of trauma. The purpose of this study was to better understand the strategies women with these multiple and overlapping vulnerabilities utilized as they attempted to reintegrate into the community. This group of thirteen women is a subsample of a population of 41 women whose reentry experiences were the focus of a larger, longitudinal research project. The data consist …

Moved To Move: Socially Contextualizing Women's Exercise Motivations, Dusti Rae Werner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Using qualitative data from 11 interviews with women who exercise regularly, this research explores women's motivations to exercise, how they make social comparisons and how they self-evaluate their bodies through the social context of gender, socio-economic status and race. Women with intrinsic motivations to exercise find more positive, long term outcomes than those with extrinsic motivations. Women compare themselves to similar others, such as their peers to form self-evaluations more readily than they do media images. Respondents also indicated the importance of relationships in beginning and maintaining exercise regimes.

Attempting To Close The Digital Frontier: A Mixed-Methods Approach To The Study Of The Cyber Intelligence Sharing And Protection Act, Renee Lorene Pieschke

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A mixed-methods approach was taken to study the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), recent legislation that would have considerable effects on the digital landscape. The combined methods help to define the problems underlying the legislation by defining stakeholders and isolating views from various media sources. The theoretical examinations of landscape studies, communications geography and Panopticism combined with methodology in political geography, and media analysis helps to develop a multi-angled view of the current perspective on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Landscape studies, with roots in Sauer's seminal work, "The Morphology of Landscape," contributed to the narrative …

The Development Of A Teacher-Rating Measure Of Positive Behavior, Sara Ann Ebsen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a systems-level prevention model for problem behavior in K-12 schools. As the number of schools implementing PBIS continues to increase, so does the number of evaluations of its fidelity and effectiveness. After summarizing the test construction, purpose and function, and psychometric properties of commonly used measures in PBIS, the current study examines the development of a measure of positive behavior that can be used to evaluate outcomes of PBIS implementation. Research questions focus on (a) themes of positive behavior, (b) internal consistency of the measure, (c) correlation and reliability over time, and (d) …

A Dynamic, Distributed Hydrologic Model For The Blue Earth River Watershed, Minnesota With Implications Regarding Land Use And Water Quality, Michael L. Merlini

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Blue Earth River (BER) watershed covers approximately one million acres of south-central Minnesota and northern Iowa. Modern farming practices have led to the loss of over 90 percent of the watershed's original wetlands. Corresponding changes in runoff and stream flow have led to dramatically reduced water quality in the BER's main stem following most precipitation events. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships among precipitation, infiltration, base flow, and runoff in the Blue Earth River watershed basin.

This study developed a calibrated numerical hydrologic model for BER watershed using the distributed flow model, Vflo™. The model …

Implementation Of The Ready! For Kindergarten Program, Sharon Bonnett

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Research has shown that nearly 50 percent of Minnesota children entering kindergarten are not well prepared with the skills necessary to be successful in the kindergarten curriculum (MinneMinds, 2014 ). This gap in kindergarten readiness creates an achievement gap causing students to face significant hurdles to academic achievement (MinneMinds, 2014) which are hard to improve over time. Investment in parent-focused early childhood education programs has been shown to create the heftiest gains for children across a wide range of outcome measures and is a critical step in ensuring that children are prepared for success in school (Neville et al., 2013).

The Changes In Major Diagnoses From Dsm Iv-Tr To Dsm 5: How To Talk To Clients About Changes In Their Diagnosis, Abigail Malterer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

• Outline and present the changes in diagnostic criteria and diagnoses between the DSM IV-TR and the DSM 5.
• Discuss how to talk to and work with clients if their diagnosis has changed or been removed.
• Upon early research, it appears that there is little literature that focuses on how staff can talk to clients about diagnosis changes or elimination.
• Learn more about changes and talking to clients
• Present this information to staff so they have an awareness of this when the changes are made in October of 2015 and the DSM 5 is to be fully implemented.