Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons^™

An Assessment Of The Financial Literacy Of Undergraduates At One Community College In Texas, Melissa J. Weathersby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in high school differed from students who had not. The purpose of this study was to obtain formative data regarding students' needs for financial literacy education and to examine whether the knowledge of financial literacy for college students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in …

A Program Evaluation Of A Preadolescent Girls' Youth Development Program, Linda F. Weekley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Programs that include skills to help girls successfully navigate the difficulties of preadolescence have been shown to be beneficial. One such youth development program in the southeastern part of the United States began in 2014 but has had no formal evaluation completed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to conduct a utilization-focused process evaluation, asking questions that addressed the perceptions of a school leader (n = 1) and volunteers of the program (n = 8). Their input was solicited concerning successful implementation strategies used, and recommendations for adaptations, recruitment, and volunteer training. Semistructured interviews were conducted using predetermined open-ended, …

Nurse Practitioners' Experiences With Role Transition: Supporting The Learning Curve Through Preceptorship, Viktoriya Y. Pleshkan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The nurse practitioner (NP) role transition is difficult and ill-supported before and after graduation. Although preceptorships are essential in supporting a NP's role transition, there is a paucity of data on student and novice NPs' experiences with their role transition and how it is supported through preceptorships. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand and describe the meaning of NPs' role transition experiences while in a preceptorship before and after graduation. Schlossberg's transition theory and the cognitive apprenticeship models were used to guide the exploration of concepts of role transition and preceptorship. One face-to-face, 3 Skype, and …

The Experiences Of Sailors With Antiterrorism Force Protection Training At Off-Installation Sites, Jessica Harrison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Enhancing antiterrorism force protection (ATFP) training at off-installation sites to allow employees to survive a life threatening situation is a necessity after recent events at such military installations. However, little is known about how service members perceive their current ATFP training experiences and how those experiences impact their self-confidence for responding to a threat. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how current training experiences impact confidence levels in learning basic security fundamentals to respond to a threat, as well as possible training changes that might improve confidence levels. This study used social constructivism, andragogy theory, heutagogy, and …

Critical Thinking And Clinical Judgment In Novice Registered Nurses, Sheila Tyne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The health care field has become increasingly more complex, requiring new nurses to be prepared upon graduation to respond to a variety of complex situations. Unfortunately, many graduates from associate degree nursing (ADN) programs are not able to think critically upon entering the work force. This presents a major problem for the nurse and for the employer. The purpose of the study, therefore, was to gain a deeper understanding of the graduates' perceptions of their ability to critically think during their first year of clinical practice, and if they believed their program prepared them to be critical thinkers. The key …

Measuring Self-Perceived Clinical Preparedness With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Clients, Kimerly D. Patterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counselors and counselor educators must serve clients regardless of culture, race, disability, sexual orientation, and age. Counselor educators have attempted to stay abreast of new methods to enhance counselor competencies to adequately counsel lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent of the relationship between self-perceived clinical preparedness of working with LGBT clients and self-perceived attitudinal awareness towards LGBT clients as moderated by levels of religious commitment of licensed professional counselor (LPC) using a feminist and multicultural theory framework. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) quantitative analysis software program …

Counselors' Knowledge And Attitudes Of The Recovery Paradigm, Kathleen Ruscitto

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2014, an estimated 18.1% or approximately 43.6 million adults, 18 years of age or older in the United States experienced a form of mental illness. Professional counselors subscribe to a wellness or holistic paradigm; however the recovery paradigm, using collaborative strategies and unique treatment planning is the directed approach of mental health services in the United Stated. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand what factors contribute to counselors' knowledge and attitudes of the recovery paradigm. Survey methodology was used to examine whether, among professional counselors, years of experience, gender, professional setting, and licensure status, as …

Education Plan To Empower Wound Care Nurses For Evidence-Based Practice, Patricia Stevenson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Non-healing wounds can claim thousands of lives and costs billions of dollars each year, and nurse-led wound clinics are becoming necessary to fill a gap in care for patients with wounds. Even among certified wound nurses using evidence-based clinical protocols, key considerations of care are being missed. Therefore, this project was focused on developing and validating a new biofilm education module for certified or certification eligible wound care nurses. The aim of the module was to boost clinical assessment knowledge and improve patient outcomes. Benners skill acquisition model informed the development of this project. The design of the project also …

Admissions Criteria And First-Year Completion Rates In An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Allison Divine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students in associate degree nursing (ADN) programs in the United States experience high attrition rates in the first year. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between preadmission factors and first-year ADN program completion rates at one college in the south central United States. Constructivist theory provided the framework for the study. Archival data for 228 students from one ADN program were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Results indicated a statistically significant association between prerequisite grade point average (GPA) and first-year program completion. An increase in the number of incoming students ages 25 years and …

Exploring Nontraditional Learner Engagement And Motivation Through Music Integration, Jessa Rae Hershner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The increase in population of nontraditional adult learners paired with a demand for multisensory learning created a need for further research in best pedagogy in higher education. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the central question on how the integration of music, lyrics, or music videos into higher education classrooms affected the motivation and engagement levels of nontraditional adult learners. The conceptual framework was based upon self-determination theory, andragogy, multiple intelligences, and visual literacy. A multiple case design was used to collect data from 8 nontraditional higher education students. Data were collected via telephone interviews …

Community College Professors' Engagement And Perceptions Of Professional Development In Remote Environments, Norma-Jean J. Nielsen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows that consistent, supportive, and relevant professional development (PD) is an action that empowers educators to change. In the east central region of Canada, the sustainability of community colleges had been linked to program collaboration and internationalization which requires implementation of high-quality PD for its professors. Guided by Mezirow's adult transformative learning theory, the purpose of this study was to understand the PD practices of full-time professors by investigating the connections between professors' level of engagement in PD and their perceptions of the resources and processes that may improve their instructional practices. This single-phased, concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted …

Inclusion Teachers' Perspectives On Coteaching, Allison Nunes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The coteaching classroom has grown with the influx of special needs students in general education classrooms. New state and federal laws mandated the need for collaboration when instructing special education students, and middle school teachers in a Northern New Jersey school district are experiencing challenges with the implementation of coteaching in inclusion classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of collaboration challenges that resulted from coteaching in the classroom. The key research question of this study involved general and special education teachers' lived experiences in relation to the inclusion classroom and their attitudes and …

Graduate Nurse's Perspective Of Simulation To Address The Theory-Practice Gap In Nursing, Joset Elaine Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Graduate nurses are being employed to provide care in high acuity care areas, and this becomes a problem of significance as the literature suggests that graduate nurse's experience a deficit in integrating theoretical concepts in the clinical environment, described as the theory-practice gap; which can result in a risk to patient safety and the potential for negative outcomes. Cognitive constructivism was the conceptual framework that guided this study. A qualitative phenomenological design was used to explore the lived experiences of 13 graduate nurses employed at a community hospital in northern New Jersey. After recruiting the participants through purposive sampling, semi-structured …

Effects Of Entertainment-Education Versus Elearning On Pharmaceutical Sales Ethical Decision-Making, Brian G. Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ethics and compliance training of sales managers in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry showed little evidence that eLearning interventions developed to address employees' (a) awareness of unethical sales practices, (b) ability to judge a selling practice as unethical, and (c) intentions to speak up about unethical sales practices have had the desired effects. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of an entertainment-education video to an eLearning course, to improve ethical issue awareness, ethical judgment, and speaking-up behaviors in the pharmaceutical sales profession. Social cognitive theory and the extended elaboration likelihood model provided a theoretical framework for studying …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Gun Violence Perpetrated By Young Men, Birda Garrett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In three low socioeconomic urban communities of Greenwood (pseudonym), young men's lack of education provides dim prospects of employment, possibly causing the young men to turn to gun violence. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of concerned clergy, law officials, and members of a Neighborhood Watch organization regarding the factors that contribute to gun violence in the southern communities in the United States. The conceptual framework for this study was Bandura's modeling theory. The central research question addressed how the community stakeholder groups described their perceptions regarding gun violence among young male adults. For this qualitative …

Perceptions Of Faculty Using Mymathlab In Traditional, In-Seat Math Classes, Kathleen Gromilovitz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

MyMathLab, an online interactive and educational system by Pearson Publisher, was implemented in 2 lower-level, traditional in-seat algebra courses to provide supplemental, instructional support to students in the fall of 2015 at the college under study. After the first year of use, no significant change in student success was reported, although more students passed intermediate algebra without first taking elementary algebra. The problem addressed in this study was that student results suggested there might be benefits to using MyMathLab that should be investigated. Knowles' theory of andragogy was used in this qualitative case study to gather perceptions of 7 2016-2017 …

Understanding E-Learning As Professional Development For Rural Child Welfare Professionals, Linda S. Kingery

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ongoing professional development is an integral part of a child welfare agency's strategy toward the provision of services to children and families involved with a child welfare intervention. Electronic learning (E-Learning) is popular as a fiscally responsible and flexible way to deliver such trainings. There is a gap in the research addressing the problem of how child welfare professionals are motivated to engage in the E-learning process. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of child welfare professionals regarding their motivation to use an agency provided E-learning program. Eight child welfare professionals employed by a …

Psychosocial Impacts On Young Adult Haitian Immigrant Students In The United States, Lucien Eugene Pierre, Ph. D.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Many young adult Haitian immigrant students (YAHIS) move to the United States

hoping to achieve better lives. This growing population faces many challenges when

acculturating to a new country and educational system. Some obstacles include

inadequate family and social support, language barriers, limited education, distinct

cultural values, a lack of academic materials, a shortage of Haitian teachers, and

inadequate educational programs. These psychosocial factors often prevent Haitian

immigrants from succeeding in U.S. schools. This study explored YAHIS' experiences of

acculturation and education as they relate to these psychosocial factors. Qualitative

phenomenological techniques, guided by Adlerian theory, revealed the assumptions, …

Factors Affecting Employee Persistence In An Online Management Development Certificate Program, Todd D. Chester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An important approach to prepare new managers for increased responsibility is participation in online management development programs; however, there is a lack of information about the factors that affect employee completion of these programs. This study addressed how chief executive officers (CEOs) can implement these programs to rapidly develop new managers who are qualified to serve in the leadership roles left behind by many retirees. This qualitative descriptive case study explored employees' perceptions about persistence in an online management development certificate program at a U.S. nonprofit organization. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Rovai's composite persistence model provided the conceptual framework for …

Employee Perceptions Of Effective Training Strategies, Stephen Lindsay Satterfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The following study was undertaken because there was a need to establish whether training information at a local guarantor was relevant to employees and clients. Utilizing transformative learning theory, the purpose of this case study was to explore what the guarantor's employees and management require for new account advisors by conducting open-ended interviews with the guarantor's employees. The guarantor's director secured collections contracts and a long-term enrollment advising contract with a new online university. For the guarantor to have trained account advisors, managers must know what kind of training is necessary. Secondly, the university enrollment is growing, and that could …