Digital Commons Network^™

Barriers To The Use Of Palliative And Hospice Care Among The Latino Population, Diana Ramirez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Patients suffering from irreversible and terminal illnesses may benefit from the services provided by Palliative and Hospice Care to control any symptom burden and assist in navigating complex medical decisions. Many patients may express hesitation in accepting and enrolling to this service due to misconceptions. Language barriers may add an additional layer of complexity. This study explored the challenges Palliative Care providers encounter when introducing concept of hospice to Spanish-speaking patients their families for the first time. This study implemented qualitative research methods by using semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Ten members of an In-patient Palliative Care Team at a University Hospital …

Digital Manipulation Of Human Faces: Effects On Emotional Perception And Brain Activity, Martin Knoll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of human face-processing has granted insight into key adaptions across various social and biological functions. However, there is an overall lack of consistency regarding digital alteration styles of human-face stimuli. In order to investigate this, two independent studies were conducted examining unique effects of image construction and presentation. In the first study, three primary forms of stimuli presentation styles (color, black and white, cutout) were used across iterations of non-thatcherized/thatcherized and non-inverted/inverted presentations. Outcome measures included subjective reactions measured via ratings of perceived “grotesqueness,” and objective outcomes of N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) measured via encephalography. Results of subjective …

“I Can See The Forest For The Trees”: Examining Personality Traits With Trasformers, Alexander Moore

All Dissertations

Our understanding of Personality and its structure is rooted in linguistic studies operating under the assumptions made by the Lexical Hypothesis: personality characteristics that are important to a group of people will at some point be codified in their language, with the number of encoded representations of a personality characteristic indicating their importance. Qualitative and quantitative efforts in the dimension reduction of our lexicon throughout the mid-20^th century have played a vital role in the field’s eventual arrival at the widely accepted Five Factor Model (FFM). However, there are a number of presently unresolved conflicts regarding the breadth and …

Careless Responding In Survey Research: An Examination Of Individual, Situational, And Cultural Characteristics, Michael William Mcferran

Theses and Dissertations

Careless responding is the act of responding to measures with low or little motivation in the form of not properly complying with survey instructions, interpreting survey items, or providing accurate responses (Huang et al., 2012; Meade & Craig, 2012). Careless responding is a concern for all researchers that implement any form of self-report survey methodology within their research as it can have varying effects on data quality and overall data interpretation (Credé, 2010; DeSimone & Harms, 2018; Huang et al., 2015; McGonagle et al., 2016). A comparatively large proporiton of research has examined response bias, whereas a limited, but growing, …

So I Was, 'Like', Totally Buggin’ – Evidence For The Role Of Attention On Entrainment From Discourse Particles, Rachel L. Williams

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study, we investigated the role of attention for entrainment during production and comprehension using the discourse particle like. We tested two main hypotheses – that entrainment to discourse particles, even if relatively implicit, requires some attentional resources, versus that it requires little (if any) attention. In two experiments, participants read a short story and retold it (baseline retelling phase), then read another short story and listened to a recording of it (priming phase), and then read and retold a third story (target retelling phase). In Experiment 1, half of the participants simultaneously navigated a busy pedestrian zone in …

Validation And Measurement Invariance Of A First-Generation College Student Identity Scale, Kelsie K. Allison

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (FGCS) comprise approximately 56% of the U.S. post-secondary institution population, yet they face substantially more academic, financial, and additional unique issues than continuing-generation college students. Research on FGCS has been steadily growing in recent years, however, literature on identity for this population is sparse. To address these gaps in the literature, the aim of the current study was to adapt, validate, and establish full factorial measurement invariance across Black and White FGCS for a multidimensional quantitative measure of first-generation college student identity. The final sample included 425 current FGCS (81.2% female; M_age = 24.4 years, SD …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of School Counselor Antiracist Social Justice Practices, Stephanie Deonca Smith-Durkin

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Decades after the landmark United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, the push continues to make schools a safe and welcoming environment for Black and Brown students. Black students in particular are continuing to be oppressed and marginalized in PK-12 educational settings. Accounting for approximately 15% of public PK-12 students, Black students comprise 13.7% of all students who receive out-of-school suspensions in 2017, are 16% of the special education student population, and are more likely to attend a school with less resources (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2021; Ramsey, n.d.). …

Bullied Because Of Their Teeth: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study On The Impact Of Oral Health On Bullying Victimization Among Australian Indigenous Children, Md Irteja Islam, Verity Chadwick, Tuguy Esgin, Alexandra Martiniuk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Making life better for Indigenous peoples is a global priority. Although bullying and oral health have always been a topic of concern, there is limited information regarding the impact of this problem on the general population, with no evidence in this regard among the Australian Indigenous population. Thus, we aimed to quantify the relationship between bullying victimization and oral health problems by remoteness among 766 Australian Indigenous children aged between 10–15-years using data from the LSIC study. Bivariate and multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression analyses were employed. Findings indicated children self-reported bullying more than parents reported their children were being bullied …

Examining The Association Between Fictive Kin Care, Parental Attachment And Emotional Distress In College Students, Roxanne Watts

Master's Theses

Having a supportive and secure relationship with parents can predict less emotional distress in college students. In addition to parental support, many families leverage fictive kin caregivers to provide support. This is especially true in communities of racial and ethnic minorities. The present study investigated the association between fictive kin care, parental relationships, and emotional distress in college students. One hundred fourteen (N = 114) college students completed measures that assessed parental and fictive-kin relationships, social support, and emotional distress. A COVID-19 pandemic-related distress measure was also administered. Three hypotheses were tested. First, it was hypothesized that fictive kin …

Falling For Moses: The Role Of Stroop Inhibition And Language Expertise, Isabella Holmgren

Honors Theses

When presented with the question, “How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the Ark?”, people often respond “2”, despite knowing that Noah is the Biblical figure who is said to have taken animals on the ark. This phenomenon where people fail to detect inaccuracies in text has come to be known as the Moses Illusion (Erickson & Mattson, 1981). The current study was designed to investigate Moses illusion rates in a multiple-choice format. Further, participants were assessed on two cognitive constructs: language experience and cognitive inhibition. Results showed robust rates of the Moses illusion using the multiple-choice …

Anti-Immigration Policy And Mental Health: Risk Of Distress And Trauma Among Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals Recipients In The United States, Luz M. Garcini, Melanie M. Domenech Rodriguez, Alfonso Mercado, Michelle Silva, German Cadenas, Thania Galvan, Manuel Paris

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined the association between immigration legal status and distress from the announcement of the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program among individuals affected by this potentially traumatic event (PTE), along with identifying relevant risk factors.

Method: Participants (N = 233) affected by the termination announcement provided cross-sectional self-reports on distress from the announcement that was measured using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised.

Results: Of the participants, 40.7% met the clinical cutoff for distress from the PTE indicative of posttraumatic stress disorder. DACA recipients had significantly higher levels of distress from the PTE …

Counseling Experiences In Physically Disabled Individuals, Leah Schulze

Honors Projects

This pilot study covers the effects that counseling has on the physically disabled community. 5 individuals were interviewed on a mid-sized college campus about their experiences.

Predictors Of Therapy Response In Chronic Aphasia: Building A Foundation For Personalized Aphasia Therapy, Sigfus Kristinsson, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Chris Rorden, Roger Newman-Norlund

Faculty Publications

Chronic aphasia, a devastating impairment of language, affects up to a third of stroke survivors. Speech and language therapy has consistently been shown to improve language function in prior clinical trials, but few clinicially applicable predictors of individual therapy response have been identified to date. Consequently, clinicians struggle substantially with prognostication in the clinical management of aphasia. A rising prevalence of aphasia, in particular in younger populations, has emphasized the increasing demand for a personalized approach to aphasia therapy, that is, therapy aimed at maximizing language recovery of each individual with reference to evidence-based clinical recommendations. In this narrative review, …

Identity Formation And The Immigrant Experience, Renne Cabacungan

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Immigration history is an especially prominent aspect of an immigrant’s identity. Immigration creates psychosocial changes which can impact how an individual is viewed by themselves and others. Immigrants develop a dual identity, drawing from both their new country and their country of origin. Navigating this binary lies at the heart of an immigrant’s identity development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the personal processes one undergoes during immigration in forming one’s new identity. Qualitative interviews were conducted with two participants of different nationalities. A life course theory approach structured the two interviews to create a comprehensive timeline of …

The Caregiver's Conflict: The Toll Of Death And Dying On Nurses' Mental Health And Wellbeing, Madison Brown

Student Works

A major responsibility for nurses is caring for patients during the end-of-life process, as well as helping families and patients cope with the death and dying process. It is well known that death and dying greatly impacts families, but little holistic research has been done on how death and dying impacts nurses’ mental and emotional wellbeing. Using databases Google Scholar, Web of Science, and EBSCO, 14 articles were analyzed regarding the impact of death on nurses’ mental health. Results show that the age of a patient plays a bigger role on death impact than nursing specialty does, as younger patients’ …

Consideration Of Sex And Gender In Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Disorders From A Global Perspective, Michelle M. Mielke, Neelum T. Aggarwal, Clara Vila-Castelar, Puja Agarwal, Eider M. Arenaza-Urquijo, Benjamin Brett, Anna Brugulat-Serrat, Lyndsey E. Dubose, Willem S. Eikelboom, Jason Flatt, Nancy S. Foldi, Sanne Franzen, Paola Gilsanz, Wei Li, Alison J. Mcmanus, Debora Melo Van Lent, Sadaf Arefi Milan, Elizabeth C. Shaaban, Shana D. Stites, Erin Sundermann, Vidyani Suryadevara, Jean-Francoise Trani, Arlener D. Turner, Jet M. J. Vonk, Yakeel T. Quiroz, Ganesh M. Babulal

Social and Behavioral Health Faculty Research

Sex or gender differences in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) differ by world region, suggesting that there are potentially modifiable risk factors for intervention. However, few epidemiological or clinical ADRD studies examine sex differences; even fewer evaluate gender in the context of ADRD risk. The goals of this perspective are to: (1) provide definitions of gender, biologic sex, and sexual orientation, and the limitations of examining these as binary variables; (2) provide an overview of what is known with regard to sex and gender differences in the risk, prevention, and diagnosis of ADRD; and (3) discuss …

Improvising: A Grounded Theory Investigation Of Psychology Students' Level Of Anxiety, Coping, Communicative Skills, Imagination, And Spontaneity, Olga Temezhnikova

The Qualitative Report

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the phenomenon of improvisation, how it is manifested in communication, and to conceptualize the process of improvisation in general. I aimed to construct a model for use in teaching and further analysis of training programs that target and develop improvisation skills in communication. The ability to communicate is part and parcel of psychologists’ work. I develop and supervise interactive classes and training programs to promote improvisation and communication skills, using the grounded theory of improvisation in communication under conditions of high uncertainty. The improvisation sessions were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed. …

Manipulating Image Luminance To Improve Eye Gaze And Verbal Behavior In Autistic Children, Louanne Boyd, Vincent Berardi, Deanna Hughes, Franceli L. Cibrian, Jazette Johnson, Viseth Sean, Eliza Delpizzo-Cheng, Brandon Mackin, Ayra Tusneem, Riya Mody, Sara Jones, Karen Lotich

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Autism has been characterized by a tendency to attend to the local visual details over surveying an image to understand the gist–a phenomenon called local interference. This sensory processing trait has been found to negatively impact social communication. Although much work has been conducted to understand these traits, little to no work has been conducted to intervene to provide support for local interference. Additionally, recent understanding of autism now introduces the core role of sensory processing and its impact on social communication. However, no interventions to the end of our knowledge have been explored to leverage this relationship. This work …

Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Adulthood: The Often Overlooked Subdivision Of Individuals In The Autism Community, Kayla L. Piacquadio

Honors Student Research

Awareness surrounding the increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome has become much more widespread in recent times. Children are diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum more than ever. However, the key here is the word “children.” We focus on the behavior, development, and well-being of our children for good reason.

While the oversaturated focus on children is entirely justified, this focus overshadows a minority within the autism community that deserves the same attention and recognition. This minority group consists of the adults who have gone years without a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or Asperger …

A Monte Carlo Analysis Of Seven Dichotomous Variable Confidence Interval Equations, Morgan Juanita Dubose

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Department of Psychological Sciences Western Kentucky University There are two options to estimate a range of likely values for the population mean of a continuous variable: one for when the population standard deviation is known and another for when the population standard deviation is unknown. There are seven proposed equations to calculate the confidence interval for the population mean of a dichotomous variable: normal approximation interval, Wilson interval, Jeffreys interval, Clopper-Pearson, Agresti-Coull, arcsine transformation, and logit transformation. In this study, I compared the percent effectiveness of each equation using a Monte Carlo analysis and the interval range over a range …

It Won’T Be Easy, Allison Arkush

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Interdisciplinary artist Allison Arkush engages a wide range of materials, modalities, and research in her practice. In It Won’t Be Easy, Arkush places and piles her multimedia sculptures throughout the gallery to create installations that overlap ­with her writing and poetry, sometimes layering in (or extending out to) audio and video components. This approach facilitates the probing exploration of prevailing value systems through a flattening of hierarchies among and between humans, the other-than-human, and the inanimate—though no less lively. Her work meditates on and ‘vendiagrams’ things forsaken and sacred, the traumatic and nostalgic. The exhibition title acknowledges that the …

The Effect Of Creative Art Therapy On Trauma Victims Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sophia Swiatek

Senior Honors Theses

When confronted with a traumatic situation, individuals’ brains often face difficulty in storing and/or processing such experiences. Unfortunately, this presents challenges for accessing those memories later in life, especially if the individuals are solely using speech-based techniques to do so. This fact has spurred research on whether various other therapeutic techniques, such as Creative Art Therapy (CAT), can produce better results in improving the mental health of a trauma victim suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study attempts to uncover whether age, gender, and/or type of therapy play a significant role in the improvement of CAT clients’ mental health …

Effects Of Pre-Literacy On High School English Learners (Els) In The Rural Upper Midwest, Maciah L. Lorang

Honors Thesis

The purpose of this research is to catalog the observed effects of pre-literacy on high school English learners (ELs) in the rural Upper Midwest and propose solutions on a local level. A phenomenological research design was implemented for this study. Participants were high school teachers who teach English learners in their classes. Participant demographics include four teachers, one who teaches an EL English course, one who teaches an EL algebra course, one who is an EL teacher, and one who is a Spanish teacher. Participants were interviewed until saturation was reached. The interviews were then transcribed as de-identifiable data (if …

The Effects Of Therapist Attachment On The Process And Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Kristin Elizabeth Roberts

Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated that therapist attachment is associated with therapeutic relationships and client outcomes (Steel et al., 2018). Yet, results have varied and, at times, seemed contradictory. This study explores how therapist attachment might influence the working alliance and symptom change throughout psychotherapy and uses the recently validated, transcript-based Therapist Attunement Scales (TASc; Talia & Muzi, 2017). The TASc was developed to measure in-session attachment-related verbal behavior. The third session from each pair of 23 therapists-in-training and their clients was transcribed and coded. Clients completed the OQ-45.2 and the Working Alliance Inventory prior to each session.

Growth curve modeling was …

Using Item-Response Analysis To Evaluate The Task-Demands Of A Pictural-Response Based Test Of Word Reading, Michael Eason

Theses and Dissertations

While some children’s reading difficulties are a consequence of socio-economic factors and inadequate instruction, other children have extreme difficulties learning to read despite having adequate educational opportunity and adequate levels of intelligence. These children are classified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as having a learning disability specific to reading (SLD-R). The identification of children with SLD-R is costly on time, personnel, and other school resources, and due to an insufficient number of resources generally available to schools, the methods implemented for identifying children are alarmingly inconsistent. The aim of the current study is to investigate the task …

The Mental Noise Hypothesis: A Relation Between Neuroticism And P3 Latency Variance In A Stroop-Style Reaction Time Task, Jeremy Lawrence

All NMU Master's Theses

Neuroticism is a relatively stable personality dimension characterized by tendencies to experience negative thoughts and affect. Its empirically related outcome measures range from anxiety and mood disorders to increases in mortality. Traditional theories of neuroticism, link the construct to greater threat sensitivity, however, these conceptions fail to account for certain salient features of neuroticism, such as negative affect in threat benign environments. The mental noise hypothesis posits that neuroticism results from a more variable mental control system, with support coming from behavioral, psychometric, and neuroimaging paradigms. To assess whether this more chaotic mental control system would variably disrupt the stimulus …

Associations Between Child Characteristics And Maternal Mental Health In Families Of Children With Autism, Fragile X Syndrome, And Autism Associated With Fragile X Syndrome, Tiffany Nicole Worley

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the association between various child characteristics and maternal mental health concerns in three high-risk groups of mothers ± those of children with non-syndromic autism spectrum disorder (NSASD), mothers of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), and mothers of children with fragile X syndrome and autism (FXS+ASD). Research has shown that mothers of children with NSASD and FXS are thought to share a degree of genetic vulnerability to mental health concerns it is key to examine the various other factors that may contribute to difficulties within the family system and maternal stress, depression, and anxiety.

Participants for …

Cultural Adaptation Profiles Among Mexican-Descent Latinxs: Acculturation, Acculturative Stress, And Depression., Mark W. Driscoll, Lucas Torres

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives: Person-centered analysis was used to examine profiles of acculturation and acculturative stress among Mexican-descent adults in relation to depression. It was hypothesized that identified profiles would support multiple acculturation styles, that acculturation profiles would differentially relate to acculturative stress dimensions, and that those profiles with greater Latinx acculturation and lower acculturative stress would report less severe depression. Method: Mexican-descent Latinx adults (n = 230) completed self-report measures of Latinx and Anglo acculturation, acculturative stress, and depression symptom severity. Latent profile analysis was used to derive acculturation–acculturative stress profiles. Results: Three distinct profiles emerged. One profile was notable for …

Promoting Inclusion And Career Equality Through A Targeted Formal Faculty Mentoring Program, Shanna Stuckey, Kathleen S. Grove, Shanna M. Stuckey, Etta M. Ward

Dismantling Bias Conference Series

No abstract provided.

Hello Graduates: An Examination Of Women Leaders' Experiences Of Delivering Commencement Addresses, Courtney Masterson, Jennifer Parlamis, Linda Henderson

Dismantling Bias Conference Series

No abstract provided.