Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Vacation, All I Ever Wanted?” A Qualitative Analysis Of Travel Narratives From Interabled Families, Mary Heather Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study researched and investigated the travel narratives of 13 interabled families through qualitative research methods of thematic and contrapuntal analysis. Participants were parents who have at least one dependent with a disability in their family unit. Theories used to guide this study include narrative theory, family systems theory, and relational dialectics theory. Narrative theory laid the groundwork for understanding how stories function to communicate and construct identity. Family systems theory provided definitions and terms for how to understand dynamics within families. Relational dialectics theory guided the understanding for what tensions are at play for interabled families and how …

On-Campus Mental Health Service Use Among College Students With Autism: A Case Study Applying The Andersen Behavioral Model Of Health Services Use, Estella C. Lilyquist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unique set of impairments and limitations presented by students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make the accessing of campus-based nonacademic resources more difficult and complicated than their typically developed peers. Each year, the rate of students entering college with disabilities continues to grow, but their mental well-being is relatively poor. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to apply the conceptual framework of the Andersen behavioral model of health services use (ABMHSU) to the experiences of college students with ASD to understand and predict their utilization of campus-provided mental health resources. The participants were seven college students with …

Gender And Disability: An Exploration Of Reflective Practice For Protection And Access Amid Complex Emergencies, Lindsey A. Mandolini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender and Disability: An Exploration of Reflective Practice for Protection and Access Amid Complex Emergencies is a qualitative research project exploring under what conditions and in what ways disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) effectively protect and provide access to women and girls with disabilities amid complex emergencies. The study upheld a participatory approach and rights-based framework, emphasizing that authentic inclusion requires centering disabled voices in research. Drawing on extant research, grey literature, and data collected from online practitioner questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study conducted a multi-phased reflexive thematic analysis. The research findings culminate in a composite narrative that brings to …

Ableism, Ableist Microaggressions, And Psychological Thriving: A Mixed-Methods Study Of College Students With Physical Disabilities, Tonya Barnhill Dawsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microaggressions are daily insults to individuals that communicate messages of exclusion, inferiority, and abnormality. The term microaggression was originally used to explain the experiences of racial minorities. This term has also been used to explain the experiences of other individuals with oppressed identities. More recently, the term ableist microaggression has been used to describe these types of experiences for individuals with disabilities. Like other oppressed groups, individuals with disabilities experience ableism through interpersonal discrimination which is often delivered in a subtle, ambiguous, and unintentional manner that is difficult to address. Qualitative studies in the field of education and disability studies …

Tabletop Role-Playing Games As Autism Psychotherapy: A Video-Cued Multivocal Clinical Ethnography, Adina Rubin-Budick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study is a video-cued multivocal ethnography that analyzed the clinical reasoning and perspectives of psychotherapists using Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TRPG) as a therapeutic treatment for children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum conditions. With a growing number of TRPG therapists nationwide using this modality in their clinical practices, this study aimed to develop a clearer understanding of the ways in which their therapeutic orientation, gaming practices, and knowledge of Autism Spectrum Conditions informs their use of TRPG psychotherapy with Autistic clients.

Research that focuses on clinical decision-making and the knowledge that informs clinical interventions and technique generally refers …

Exploring The Motivations Of College Students With Adhd To Disclose Their Disability And Use Accommodations, Carol M. Haynes-Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College enrollment numbers reflect that the admission rates of students with disabilities are increasing as time progresses (Newman et al., 2020). Despite this spike in college attendance, degree completion rates of students with disabilities (SWD) are significantly lower than their nondisabled peers (DuPaul et al., 2018). This disparity was addressed via laws and regulations geared towards higher education institutions to level the playing field for SWD through providing services and support. This study aimed to explore what motivates SWD to disclose their disability and to accept or decline accommodations in the university setting. Students and faculty at a Texas private …

Showcasing Strengths Of People With Disability To Stimulate Social Change, Kelly Carr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to understand the potential to stimulate social change through exposure to strengths-based contexts where people with disabilities displayed their skills. Through the intentional dismissal of a traditional, deficits-based approach to disability-related research, this dissertation highlighted the strengths of people with impairment as a means to resist disabling assumptions. As such, the actions of people with disability within these studies exist outside of imaginable possibilities produced by dominant social structures, and possess the capacity to shape the social world. By examining the impact of exposure to these three contexts, this dissertation sought to …

The Norms Are More Guidelines Than Actual Rules: Applying Isomorphism To Disability Accommodations In The Catholic Church., Jonathon Holland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the role of isomorphism as it pertains to disability accommodations in the Catholic Church. Isomorphism is the concept articulated by DiMaggio and Powell (1983) that organizations are becoming more similar. They do this in three ways: mimetic (when one organization copies another organization), coercive (when one organization or cultural practices pressure another organization to perform an action or adopt a policy), and normative (when organizations adopt similar actions because their leaders are following a common set of norms established through professional or educational processes). Sacraments that address disability issues in the Catholic Church are unique because they …

Examining Communication Patterns And Identity In Families With Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Amber L. Alvey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Deafness in the context of the hearing family attacks the backbone of the family structure, namely communication” (Ahlert & Greeff, 2012, p. 402). There is a link between communication and identity, specifically the role of communication on identity (Jung & Hecht, 2004). The purpose of this study is to better understand the experiences of families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing by investigating the relationship between family communication patterns and identity. In this study, I conducted in-depth interviews with the parents of children who are hard of hearing to investigate family communication patterns and identity. Using Family …

Children Of A One-Eyed God: Impairment In The Myth And Memory Of Medieval Scandinavia, Michael David Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the lives of impaired individuals catalogued in the Íslendingasögur as a narrative framework, this study examines medieval Scandinavian social views regarding impairment from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Beginning with the myths and legends of the eddic poetry and prose of Iceland, it investigates impairment in Norse pre-Christian belief; demonstrating how myth and memory informed medieval conceptualizations of the body. This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference, in the Norse world, was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that …

Determinants Of Well-Being Among Military Caregivers, Ludwig Marcello Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although the current body of research in the field of informal caregivers is extensive, this research focuses on the experiences of civilian caregivers. This focus contributes to limited knowledge regarding factors that influence the experiences of individuals who provide care to ill and/or wounded service members. Although limited, this research suggests that military caregivers often experience higher levels of distress when compared to the national average. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the veteran’s level of disability and dyadic stress on the military caregiver’s overall sense of well-being. Additionally, this study examined the moderating effects of attachment …

Development Of The Ableist Microaggression Scale And Assessing The Relationship Of Ableist Microaggressions With The Mental Health Of Disabled Adults, Shanna Katz Kattari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 20% of U.S. residents are currently living with a disability. Ableism values a specific type of physical, mental and/or emotional capital as well as supports socially constructed expectations of ability, valuing these expectations over different types of ability and disability. One way in which ableism is perpetuated is through microaggressions, at the more interpersonal, or micro level. Microaggressions are everyday interactions that perpetuate inequalities and stereotypes against people who belong to marginalized communities. Experiencing multiple microaggressions has been referred to as death by a thousand paper cuts, indicating the severity of the sum total of these casual types of …

Engaging The Brave And The Bold: Exploring The Discourses Of Disability Through Life Stories, Brian L. Grewe Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the meaning making of having an acquired physical disability still remains a mystery today. With more than 20 percent of our total population experiencing some form of disability, this study explores discourses of disability that emerge from participants' life stories. This study interviewed 20 participants using a modified version of McAdams' (1993) Life Story Interview Protocol. Utilizing Relational Dialectics Theory and a thematic discourse analysis, two primary discourses emerged from participant talk. (1) the biomedical discourse of disability and (2) the disability discourse of normalcy. The latter discourse can be broken down even further into (1) the sociolinguistic discourse …

Factors Associated With Medication-Overuse Headache In Patients Seeking Treatment For Primary Headache, Kelly Reed Peck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a number of risk factors for medication-overuse headache (MOH) have been identified within the general population, limited research exists examining clinical samples of headache sufferers. Further, prior studies have not assessed the relative influence of risk factors or their utility in combination. As part of an online survey, 164 headache patients completed a demographic questionnaire, a diagnostic interview for headache, a measure of headache-related disability, measures of psychiatric symptoms, and measures of medication use and substance use. Standardized mean differences were used to quantify differences between patients who met diagnostic criteria for MOH and those who did not across …

The Role Of Fear Of Pain In Headache, Anna Katherine Black

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recurrent headache sufferers are often fearful of pain, which disrupts cognitive thought processes, interferes with daily activities, and may maintain headache-related disability through avoidance and associated negative reinforcement. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to 1) examine differences in fear of pain between headache sufferers and non-headache controls; 2) examine differences in fear of pain across primary headache diagnostic groups; 3) assess the extent to which fear of pain predicts headache variables (e.g., severity, frequency, disability); and 4) determine whether fear of pain mediates the relationship between pain severity and headache-related disability. The sample consisted of 908 young adults …

Moderation And Mediation Of Headache-Related Disability: The Roles Of Self-Efficacy And Headache Diagnosis, Kelly Peck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Primary headache disorders such as migraine and tension-type headache are some of the most frequently-diagnosed health disorders in the world and can be extremely disabling. However, disability resulting from these disorders varies substantially across individuals. Although headache severity has been identified as the strongest predictor of headache-related disability, the relationship between the two variables is non-linear, suggesting that other mechanisms may be involved. Self-efficacy mediates relations between pain and impairment associated with other chronic pain conditions, but this relationship has not been evaluated in a sample of individuals with primary headache disorders. Therefore, the present study sought to examine whether …

Provider Perceptions Of Ableism And Social Support Networks In The Healthcare Setting, Darcey Mccampbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to investigate ableism and social support networks in the healthcare setting. Social support networks play an important role in combating emotional distress in healthcare. They provide disabled patients a method for defending against the negative effects of ableism among other stressors. By definition, ableism refers to perceptions that disability is abnormal and undesirable. Ten healthcare providers in central Florida (i.e., in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and primary care offices) were interviewed, using in-depth face-to-face qualitative interviewing. Participants were asked questions relating to the effects of ableist language on patients with disabilities as well as …

Deconstructing Disability, Assistive Technology: Secondary Orality, The Path To Universal Access, Tara Prakash Tripathi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When Thomas Edison applied for a patent for his phonograph, he listed the talking books for the blind as one of the benefits of his invention. Edison was correct in his claim about talking books or audio books. Audio books have immensely helped the blind to achieve their academic and professional goals. Blind and visually impaired people have also been using audio books for pleasure reading. But several studies have demonstrated the benefits of audio books for people who are not defined as disabled. Many nondisabled people listen to audio books and take advantage of speech based technology, such as …

I Think I Can: Identity And Social Experiences Of Adolescents With Physical Disabilities., Amy Sorensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An online survey was completed by 40 adolescents and young adults (ages 12 to 22) with physical disabilities for the purpose of exploring their social experiences. The survey focuses on key variables associated with individual identity, group identity, social relationships and activities, and future aspirations. Positive outcome variables were explored including: self-esteem, self-efficacy, body satisfaction, cultural identity, relationship quality, activity participation, and future orientation. Independent variables included sex, population size, ability level, and proximity to disability. Ability level proved to be the most predictive of positive outcomes. Sex, population size, and proximity to disability exhibited small associations to some of …

The Impact Of Service Delivery Models On Non-Disabled Peers Intent To Include Their Peers With Disabilities, Michael Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In much the same way as the racial integration movement, advocates for students with disabilities (SWD) have cultivated an active and vocal lobby seeking to establish and then implement legal mandates to integrate classrooms in the hope that social acceptance would follow. Through federal mandates such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), conceptually initiated in 1975 and revised in 2004 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) along with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, these students have a voice to cry out for access to the experiences of work, conversation and play with …

Employability Of Individuals With Varying Disabilities And Costs Of Needed Workplace Accommodations., Bram Cassidy Bevins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between an individual's disability and needed workplace accommodations and employability. The participants for this study were businessmen and businesswomen in Southwestern Virginia who possessed the ability to hire employees. Results indicated that an individual with a physical disability was thought of as more employable and favorable than a nondisabled individual, a blind individual, and an obese individual. Results also indicated that a physically disabled individual would be hired before a blind individual and an obese individual when workplace accommodations were needed. One possible explanation for these findings is that it is desirable to hire …