Digital Commons Network^™

The Lived Experiences Of Counselors-In-Training Completing Practicum And Internship During Covid-19, Shelby Lauren Dillingham

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

COVID-19’s classification as a pandemic in March 2020 changed numerous professions as they adjusted to social distancing expectations. Mental health providers particularly encountered transitions that included higher acuity caseloads, working different hours, and increased exposure to COVID-19. Counselors-in-training (CIT) faced the dilemma of earning their clinical hours in a safe manner, especially CITs working within integrated healthcare settings, such as hospitals or clinics. Despite some research with licensed professional counselors, limited research exists examining CITs' experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to understand the lived experiences of CITs who completed their clinical hours in an integrated behavioral …

Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Vaccination Rate Among The Latino Population In South Carolina, Brynn E. Lynagh

Senior Theses

It is common knowledge that COVID-19 disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Furthermore, these sects of the population exhibit increased vaccine hesitancy and lower vaccination rates as compared to the aggregated population of the United States, furthering the risk posed by COVID-19 to these communities. In particular, this study focuses on the Latino population in South Carolina, the vaccination rate among this community, and the perspectives which contributed to their vaccination decision. Two hundred Spanish and Portuguese speaking residents of South Carolina were interviewed using a paper survey conducted by pre-trained interviewers. The survey gathered data …

The Lived Experiences Of Icu, Med-Surg, And Er Nurses In The United States Attempting To Breastfeed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amy Seay

Dissertations

Breastfeeding is important to promote the health of both mothers and babies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Many mothers experience workplace barriers and stress which negatively impact breastfeeding duration (McCardel & Padilla, 2020; Nagel et al., 2022). However, a gap in the literature exists surrounding specific barriers and the impact of stress on U.S. nurses who breastfeed. Specifically, workplace challenges and stress among nurses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic lack exploration.

This interpretive phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of ICU, Med-Surg, and ER nurses who attempted to breastfeed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Roy’s adaptation model was …

Implications Of Twitter During Its Use In Public Health Practice Involving The Distribution Of The Covid-19 Vaccine, Mia Casingal

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction – There were 4.89 projected billion social media users in 2023. Social media platforms such as Twitter have allowed public health organizations to spread information regarding COVID-19 vaccines to the public. Twitter permits government organizations and public health agencies to release accurate information as a primary level of rapid communication.

Purpose – The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of the social media platform, Twitter, on public health information throughout the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the spread of information involving COVID-19 vaccine distribution to the public.

Methodology – This study utilized a literature review with a semi-structured …

Evaluating U.S. Household Telemedicine Use In Primary Care Settings, Robert Osobase

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic's arrival in the United States restricted access and use of telemedicine in primary care providers (PCPs) settings. Addressing this issue is crucial since telemedicine is a confirmed method of encouraging patients and PCPs to promote quality health care. This quantitative study investigated the association between age, gender, and race, and PCPs offering telemedicine and U.S. household adults using telemedicine during COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The Donabedian framework, which considers aspects of an organization's structure, process, and outcome, served as the study's foundation, incorporating age, race, and gender as independent variables, and PCPs and US adults as dependent …

Experiences And Attitudes Regarding The Availability And Usage Of Telemedicine Services Among Providers During A Pandemic, Keya Gaston Brooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Telehealth became a prominent fixture in the way healthcare was delivered during COVID-19. Providers were forced to offer telehealth as an optional mode of care. Although little research was available, studies about the experiences and attitudes of providers regarding their intention and willingness to use telemedicine before the pandemic was exiguous. The purpose of this study was to understand providers perception and use behavior patterns regarding the acceptance and adoption of telemedicine during the pandemic. Data collected from the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition Telehealth Impact Survey was used to help characterize the experiences and attitudes of providers regarding telehealth utilization during …

Evaluating U.S. Household Telemedicine Use In Primary Care Settings, Robert Osobase

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic's arrival in the United States restricted access and use of telemedicine in primary care providers (PCPs) settings. Addressing this issue is crucial since telemedicine is a confirmed method of encouraging patients and PCPs to promote quality health care. This quantitative study investigated the association between age, gender, and race, and PCPs offering telemedicine and U.S. household adults using telemedicine during COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The Donabedian framework, which considers aspects of an organization's structure, process, and outcome, served as the study's foundation, incorporating age, race, and gender as independent variables, and PCPs and US adults as dependent …

Improving Glycemic Control During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Quality Improvement Project, Megan Henderson

Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects, 2020-current

Diabetes is a costly, chronic health condition. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the delivery of health care and exacerbated chronic health conditions, such as diabetes. Diabetes is one of the most significant comorbid conditions associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes (Cariou et al., 2020). Control of blood glucose levels during the COVID-19 pandemic has proved challenging to maintain. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to identify gaps in diabetic self-care and then implement a diabetic toolkit to improve self-efficacy of diabetes self-management. According to the American Diabetes Association (2022), self-management of diabetes, education, and support from providers is …

Self-Reported Covid-19 Diagnosis And Severity And Its Association With Utilization Of And Delays In Needed Medical Care, Mohammad Hesam Alavi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Covid-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The pandemic-related disruptions and the pursuant lockdowns have adversely impacted every aspect of people’s lives including access to medical care, cancer care, preventive medicine, mental health, and dental care in an already imperfect healthcare system in the US. This study utilized the 2020 self-reported data from quarters 3 and 4 of the National Health Interview Survey, a cross-sectional interview survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to determine the possible association of self-reported COVID diagnosis, test positivity, and …

Nurses In New Mexico: Their Awareness Of Safe Harbor As Reflected In A Survey During A Time Of Covid-19, Ashley R. Gonzales

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

The healthcare industry is highly regulated to ensure patients receive safe, high-quality, patient-centered care. Even with these regulations, patient outcomes remain poor, given the high expenditure and percentage of the gross domestic product that healthcare comprises in the United States. Nurses make up the largest proportion of the healthcare field and are often overlooked when it comes to policies to ensure their practice remains safe and licenses protected. Nurses are the eyes and ears of their board-certified providers and detect subtle changes in a patient’s condition. However, such attention to detail can be executed only when the nurses can care …

Design And Development Of The Urban Population Health Observatory To Improve Disease Surveillance And Response, Whitney Brakefield

Doctoral Dissertations

Chronic and infectious diseases have a profound impact on the quality and length of life of populations that suffer from these conditions. Scientists, physicians, and health officials are seeking innovative approaches to decrease the morbidity and mortality of deadly diseases. Incorporating artificial intelligence and data science techniques across the health science domain could improve disease surveillance, intervention planning, and policymaking. In this dissertation, we describe the design and development of the Urban Population Health Observatory (UPHO), an explainable knowledge-based multimodal big data analytics platform. A common challenge for conducting multimodal big data analytics is integrating multidimensional heterogeneous data sources, which …

The Financial Effect Of Covid-19 On Children's Hospitals Without Pediatric Psychiatric Units, Patricia Tran

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction: Boarding of pediatric psychiatric patients in emergency departments and inpatient medical units while awaiting placement in psychiatric facilities was common before the COVID-19 pandemic and was associated with significant hospital cost. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a mental health crisis in the pediatric population. This study looked at the how the COVID-19 pandemic affected pediatric psychiatric boarding and the effects of pediatric psychiatric boarding on hospital finances.

Methodology: The methodology of this study utilized a literature review with semi-structured interviews of local subject matter experts. The literature review analyzed the effects of the COVID-19 precipitated pediatric mental health …

Covid-19 Financial Consequences In United States Hospitals, Hannah T. Osburn, Murat Mert Solakoglu, Gretel Toloza Alvarez

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction: Since the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, United States (U.S.) hospitals have struggled to stay financially afloat amid the constant battle with unprecedented circumstances and financial consequences from the pandemic. The purpose of this research was to analyze the financial consequences of COVID-19 for U.S. hospitals to determine the impact on the number of inpatient cases, length of stay (LOS), surgeries performed, and operating expenses. The hypothesis was that U.S. hospitals were financially affected by the consequences of COVID-19, having more inpatient cases, increased LOS, fewer surgeries performed, and higher operating expenses.

Methodology: The methodology for this …

Effects Of Covid-19 On Maternal And Child Health In Haiti, Abbi M. Lee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Haiti has a history of natural disasters that have played a part in the country’s weak infrastructure, poor quality health care, and short life expectancy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the experiences of health care professionals providing prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum health care services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti to gain an understanding of the gaps in disaster response in reproductive health care. The theoretical bases for this study were community resilience theory and reproductive justice theory. Data were collected from interviews with 10 health care professionals working in Haiti providing reproductive …

Nutrition And Physical Exercise Prevention Strategies To Reduce Obesity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Carmesha Vajill Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity has reached an epidemic level of 75 million obese adults and 15 million obese children in the United States. The research problem addressed in this study is the lack of information on how obese people manage their weight-loss strategies to prevent or reduce obesity during shut-in place restrictions for the COVID-19 Pandemic. This study included the Prochaska and DiClemente Trans-Theoretical Model of Behavioral Change and the Stage of Change Theory. The phenomenon approach using phenomenology described participants' lived experiences of being obese. The researcher completed data collection and evaluation among sixteen participants using email questionnaires to analyze participant's responses …

Relationship Between Nursing Staffing Hours (Rns & Lpns) And Covid-19 Mortality In Indiana Nursing Homes, Chirag Chandrakant Patel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many nursing homes struggled to meet the needed staffing levels, compromising service delivery in health institutions across the United States. The disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on various health care institutions and staff-patient ratios rejuvenated discussions on the longstanding workforce challenges on quality care and outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the relationship between registered nurse (RN) staffing hours and COVID-19 deaths in Indiana private and public nursing home residents based on the data obtained in the Care Compare database and Indiana Department of health COVID-19 portals. The independent study variables were RN …

California’S Urban And Rural Asthma Healthcare Access And Asthma Management During Covid-19 Pandemic, Stacey R. Varga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A lack of adequate healthcare access can negatively affect asthma management. The purpose of this study was to understand whether there was an association between source of care and asthma management. This study provides important insights concerning the changing landscape of how individuals receive asthma treatment and manage their asthma during a pandemic. Asthma management and asthma care have been studied; however, results have been inconclusive in relation to the barriers to health that are experienced among various adult age groups. Identifying additional subgroup characteristics could provide insight into where health practitioners, practice management, and policymakers direct healthcare resources. The …

An Analysis Of The Special Focus Facility Program And Nursing Home Quality, Annie S. Rhodes

Theses and Dissertations

The Special Focus Facility Program is an intensive program meant to rapidly support 88 of the lowest quality nursing homes in the United States, as determined by the Five-Star Quality Ranking system. There are also 435 facility candidates which are similarly low performing but not enrolled in the program. Academic literature has largely ignored this program, and the existing grey literature is more than a decade old and does not include COVID-19 data. Applying a political economy of aging framework and using a case matching methodology, Special Focus Facilities (SFF), Special Focus Facility Candidate (SFFc) nursing homes, and 5-star nursing …

Chosen Family: One Woman’S Fight To Become Her Best Friend’S Next Of Kin, Yessenia M. Moreno

Capstones

Nearly 70,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the state of New York. For the queer community, this time of death and mourning has highlighted how complicated things can get at the end of someone’s life.

This audio documentary, “Chosen Family, ”is the story of one woman’s fight to overcome the legal system and become her best friend’s health care proxy in the final battle of his life .

Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@yessimoreno/7b3d96691b9f

Responding To The Pandemic: A Multicountry Study On Social-Political Factors And Health Outcomes Of Covid-19, Lan Yao

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a major global threat to human beings, which has caused devastating consequences of population health, political, and economic crises in many countries. This dissertation was composed of three research activities to study the following aims: (1) review the existing literature focusing on political factors and health outcomes of COVID-19; (2) assess the relationship between democracy and case fatality rate of COVID-19 by controlling for the effect of age, comorbidity, health expenditure, healthcare workforce, and population density; and (3) identify the trajectory pattern cases peak days, deaths peak days, and peak periods.

Methods. We accessed …

Administrator Training At The Laurels Of Mount Vernon Skilled Nursing Facility, Lance Stambaugh

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The job duties of a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator exist in a great multitude, and require those aspiring to obtain the position to complete training in all areas of focus. The focus of this practicum is to gain exposure to the job duties of a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, while also gaining experience in a multitude of departments that function within a skilled nursing facility. This practicum was completed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore emphasis was placed on infection control and procedures that allow for a safe environment for those residing in this nursing facility. This increased emphasis is …

Exploring The Influence Of Self-Efficacy And Autonomy On Outdoor Recreation Behaviors During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katheryn E. Carpenter

MSU Graduate Theses

Outdoor Recreation (OR) provides the benefits of physical activity and traditional leisure along with the addition of the benefits associated with an outdoor environment. Self Determination Theory (SDT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) state that self-efficacy (SE) and autonomy can increase depending on the physical and social environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and autonomy on OR behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized there would be a correlation between individuals who participate in OR activities and self-efficacy as well as autonomy. The research also explored barriers and facilitators to OR via …

The Utilization And Effectiveness Of Telemedicine In The Wake Of Covid-19, Maxwell Sharawy

Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the world, in every industry. Almost none were hit as hard as the healthcare system. Through the use of telemedicine, healthcare providers were able to care for their patients without rise of infection. Through a review of published literature and interviews conducted with three practicing physicians of various specialties, a diagnosis was developed to determine if the care provided through telemedicine was as effective as in-person care. It was hypothesized that when used properly, telemedicine can be used as an effective replacement for in-person care across a wide range of specialties. After review of the literature …

Disparities In The 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic And Covid-19: A Literature Review, Yusuf Amawi

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to identify causes of disparities in affliction (infection) and mortality for minority populations (Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives) during the Swine Flu (H1N1) and COVID-19 (Sars-Cov-2) Pandemics. A literature review was conducted gathering peer-reviewed journal articles related to racial and socioeconomic disparities in affliction and mortality during both pandemics. The model of Blumenshine et al. (2008) was used as a guide for the analysis of this thesis, and measures of exposure, susceptibility, and treatment were hypothesized as causes for the disparities experienced by the minority populations during the two pandemics. Ultimately, it …

Understanding The Significance Of Virtual Support During Global Pandemic In Young Adults Diagnosed With Hepatitis C, Veronika Arkhipova

Master's Projects and Capstones

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that attacks the liver and leads to inflammation. In recent years, the prevalence of hepatitis C infections among 20 and 30 years of age has increased by 300 percent, and between 30 and 39 years by 400 percent. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, people diagnosed with Hepatitis C have lost access to mental health services and resources, including in-person meetings with support groups. Since most states enforced stay-at-home order, many community centers, non-profit organizations that work with Hepatitis C patients and the affected population provide limited to no access to support group meetings …

Financial Consequences Of Covid-19 For U.S. Hospitals, Laura Petty, Trevor Mullins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic has caused many financial issues for many businesses including putting a substantial strain on hospitals in the U.S. The impact of COVID-19 on the financial well-being of hospitals has been evaluated and the severity is still being measured as the pandemic is ongoing. The purpose of this research was to assess the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for hospitals in the United States.

Methodology: A literature review with a semi-structured interview with an expert from a local hospital was used for the methodology of this qualitative study. Five government websites and five databases …