Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Legitimacy In Three Forms Of Probation Supervision For People With Serious Mental Illness, Sophia Sarantakos, Emily Claypool

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the context of criminal-legal community supervision, standard and specialized probation officers are often tasked with coordinating services for adults diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) on their caseloads. The coordination of services varies across different programs including traditional probation, specialty probation, and mental health court. Given the proliferation of programs focused on mental health in the criminal-legal system, the perspectives of front-line workers or street-level bureaucrats in criminal-legal agencies are a rich source of information about what is happening on the ground and could provide insights into the potential translational barriers of policy to practice. A deeper examination of …

A Content Analysis Of The Sutherland Address, 2001-22: A Qualitative Exploration, Phillip Shon

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Previous indicators of scholarly influence have been primarily quantitative, measuring a scholar’s influence through citation counts. This body of literature has overlooked the reflections of distinguished scholars, such as the recipients of the Sutherland Award, in the discipline as a form of scholarly influence. The current paper examines the Sutherland Address from 2001 to 2022. The key findings indicate that the majority of Sutherland Addresses reproduced existing sociological canons, while a minority of Sutherland Award winners explicitly rejected Sutherland’s sociological assumptions and their influence on criminology. Such findings suggest that Sutherland exerts a hidden influence on the recipients of the …

A Plea For Open Access To Qualitative Criminology: With A Python Script For Anonymizing Data And Illustrative Analysis Of Error Rates, Scott Jaques, Andrew Wheeler

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Qualitative researchers are expected, sometimes required, to publish their data open access (OA). This is for the sake of science, impact, and social justice. Yet, understandably, qualitative criminologists are worried about what this means for their workload and their ability to protect subjects’ confidentiality. To be solutions-oriented, we developed an open-source Python script for anonymizing qualitative data. It uses named-entity recognition and fuzzy-rule based merging to identify and replace personally identifiable information (PII) with unique pseudonyms. This tool doesn’t eliminate the need for manual work, but it reduces the cost and associated risk. In this article, we describe and explain …

Balancing Our Capacity To Serve: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Black Women Navigating Personal, Professional, And Community Leadership Roles, Shemeka K. Brathwaite

Student Theses

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of Black women community leaders as they navigate a balance between their professional, personal, and community leadership roles. The research design uses the theoretical frameworks of Black Feminist Intersectionality and Role Theory, specifically addressing the cultural burdens imposed by the Strong Black Woman archetype, which adds additional role strain. The study began with a questionnaire completed by 54 Black women community leaders, followed by 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews selected from this pool. The study’s key findings are illustrated in a Black Women’s Sustainable Community Leadership Framework. Black women community leaders exude high self-efficacy, …

How Disability Inclusion Shapes Student Experiences In Egyptian Public Universities, Ramez Maher

Theses and Dissertations

The inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education is a critical aspect of equity, social justice, and human rights, particularly in Egypt, where systemic barriers continue to hinder access to education for this demographic. Despite the enrollment of approximately 19.4 million students in 2018, only 38,135 students with disabilities were admitted, highlighting the significant challenges they face in accessing higher education.   Through a qualitative approach employing reflexive thematic analysis, this study explores the interplay of institutional policies, cultural attitudes, and accessibility challenges that affect the educational experiences of students with disabilities in Egyptian public universities. The analysis of 21 …

The Experiences Of College Students Facing Housing And Financial Insecurity, Nora Shaheen

University Honors Theses

Housing and financial insecurity among college students continues to be a growing crisis, yet their lived experiences are often overlooked. This thesis utilizes qualitative research to investigate the emotional, social, and academic experiences of students navigating housing and financial instability. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with six current/former college students who have experience with housing and financial insecurities. During the analysis, recurring patterns were grouped into themes, including the triggers of instability (familial abandonment, rent increases, relationship dissolution, etc), social stigma and internalized shame, emotional and mental health costs, social isolation, survival strategies, food insecurity, work-school balance, disrupted …

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview As A Mechanism For Social Capital In School Libraries, Jessica M. Lilly

Learning Hub

Building Bridges: The Reference Interview as a Mechanism for Social Capital in School Libraries

Abstract

School librarians occupy a unique position within schools, interacting across all stakeholder groups and serving as a conduit between students, teachers, administrators, and the broader learning community. This article examines the reference interview not merely as a transactional information-retrieval tool but as a relational practice through which school librarians generate, sustain, and distribute social capital. Drawing on the foundational theories of Putnam (2000), Coleman (1988), and Bourdieu (1986), and on the reference transaction model grounded in Jesse H. Shera's foundational work (Coleman et al., …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

The Contentious Politics Of Abortion: Understanding The Black Protests And Women’S Strikes In Poland, Taubie Sanders

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In 1993, the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, passed a law called ‘The Abortion Compromise’ permitting abortion only in cases when there is a serious threat to the life or health of the woman, pregnancy is the result of a crime, or prenatal tests show the fetus to be severely or incurably damaged. The current abortion laws in Poland are the most restrictive in all of Europe. Poland’s abortion laws have undergone much contestation in recent years. In 2016, the Black Protests erupted across the country in opposition to a proposed total ban on abortion. In 2020, the Women’s Strikes commenced …

Trans And Gender Diverse Experiences With Healthcare Professionals, Victor N. Soto

University Honors Theses

There is a history of state powers working against the interest of Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) people, but since the second Trump election attacks on TGD have reached a new precedent; this suggests the state is engaging in necropolitical actions to gain and maintain power. To better understand how the current climate is impacting TGD people, and add to discussions about TGD-centered healthcare research, this thesis interviewed 15 TGD students from the Portland metro area about their experiences with healthcare providers. All fifteen of the interviews were transcribed and coded. Four primary themes were found: 1) bad provider experience; …

Digital Bodily Autonomy: Consent Issues, Labor Displacement, And Legal Understandings Of Ai Generated Deepfake Pornography, Mariah Barrett

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In the United States, nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem as AI deepfake creation software improves and becomes widely available. Despite this, patchwork legislation across the country is inconsistent and conflicting regarding this issue. In this paper, I explore the background of pornography and obscenity laws and demonstrate how these frameworks are not properly constructed to apply to the digital sphere. Then, I address major themes within deepfake literature such as consent issues, bodily autonomy, labor displacement, and verifiable identity as a commodity through the case study of OnlyFans. I explore current and proposed legislation within the …

Welsh, British, And Argentine: Identities Of Convenience In The Welsh Colonies Of Patagonia, Benjamin Welch

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In this thesis, I examine the Welsh colonies in Patagonia (in Welsh, Y Wladfa) and how the Welsh negotiated their complex identity. Founded in 1865 as a nationalist project intended to preserve Welsh language, culture, and religion, the colony faced extreme hardships and was forced to ask for help. Drawing on British, Welsh and Argentine sources, I argue that Welsh colonists adopted a pragmatic approach to identity, emphasizing their Welshness, Britishness, or Argentinity as needed. While this flexibility was necessary for the colony to survive, it undermined the original goal of a Welsh homeland free of outside influence. Ultimately, the …

Making Sense In Trump's America: How Material Concerns And Affective Reactions Are Used To Construct Motivated Realities, Benjamin E. Southworth

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Tracing The Flow Of Value In Ecotourism: A Case Study Of Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos, Nigeria, Queen Oluwatobi Olafadehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the flow of value in ecotourism at Lekki Conservation Center (LCC) in Lagos, Nigeria, using a political ecology framework to analyze how economic benefits, participation opportunities, and environmental impacts are distributed among different community groups. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 16 community members, participant observation, and photographic documentation, the study investigates how surrounding communities perceive and experience ecotourism, how revenue is understood to be distributed, and in what ways communities are included in or excluded from conservation decision-making. The findings reveal that ecotourism at LCC generates benefits that are unevenly distributed, that community participation in governance remains …

Who Tells Our Stories?: An Analysis Of Lgbtqia2s+ Community-Museum Collaboration In Northeastern Wisconsin, Frances Kerkhof

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, histories of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals have been excluded from mainstream conversations and censored from public records. This exclusion was evident in how LGBTQIA2S+ history is retold in museum spaces. Over the past few decades, public institutions have shifted how LGBTQIA2S+ histories are communicated, with efforts to include more diverse histories and perspectives. During the summer of 2025, I conducted a museum ethnography of the Neville Public Museum’s Telling Our Stories: LGBTQ+ Voices of Northeastern Wisconsin to answer the research question: How does community engagement enhance the representation of the LGBTQIA2S+ community in a local museum in Northeastern Wisconsin? Through this …

Picturing Africa: Critical Reflections On The Importance Of Imagery In Textbooks, Amber R. Reed, Bailey A. Brown

Essays in Education

While many social studies teachers in the Atlanta metro area are working to combat stereotypical and racist images of Africa, our analysis of three commonly used textbooks demonstrate these are exactly the types of images that tend to get reproduced. This essay draws on an analysis of three commonly used textbooks in Georgia as well as interviews with teachers in the area. We show how stereotypes of Africa as filled with wild animals, primitive, and poverty-stricken are often upheld in publications despite teachers’ fervent desire to dismantle them. Because these images are often decontextualized, it is difficult for teachers and …

Differentiation Of Self As A Therapist Effect In Couple Therapy, Nathan D. Knebel

Theses and Dissertations

Murray Bowen proposed that a therapist's level of differentiation of self influences therapeutic effectiveness, particularly in clinically distressed relational systems. Although existing literature has demonstrated that therapist effects account for a meaningful portion of variance in couple therapy outcomes, differentiation of self has received limited empirical attention as a therapist-level predictor. The present article proposes a framework for empirically examining Bowen's hypothesis by investigating whether therapist differentiation predicts trajectories of couple relationship quality across treatment. Additionally, the article explores theoretical pathways through which therapists may increase their level of differentiation, assuming Bowen's hypothesis is supported.

Examining Data Access Gaps For Tribal Epidemiology Centers: Qualitative Interviews And A 50-State Syphilis Data Audit, Kathleen P. Conte, Ashley Hoover, Levi Mattoon, Brigg Reilley, Jessica Leston

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Context: Federal law establishes American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) as public health authorities with rights to state data to conduct public health activities. Tribal authorities, however, struggle to access public health data.

Objectives: To examine TECs’ access and barriers to public health surveillance data, and using syphilis as a case study, to assess data availability and timeliness nationwide.

Design: In-depth qualitative interviews and a desk audit of syphilis data by states.

Setting: All 12 TECs who collectively provide epidemiologic and public health support to 574 Tribes and 41 Urban Indian Centers nationwide.

Participants: Sixteen …

Determinants Of Corporal Punishment And Severe Physical Punishment In Egypt: A Mixed-Methods Analysis For Child Protection Policy, Marwa Moustafa Nassef

Theses and Dissertations

Corporal punishment (CP) and severe physical punishment (SPP) remain a major public health, child rights, and child protection policy concern. In Egypt, despite legislative reforms, survey-weighted analysis of the 2021 Egypt Family Health Survey (EFHS) 2021 (CAPMAS, 2022) reveals prevalence rates of 60.5% for CP and 27.4% for SPP among children aged 1–14 (author’s calculations using EFHS-2021, n=7623), yet evidence distinguishing the determinants of routine corporal punishment from escalation to severe physical punishment remains limited in low- and middle-income contexts. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this mixed-methods study identifies key drivers of CP and its escalation to SPP among Egyptian …

Breaking The Silence: A Content And Expert Analysis Of The 2025 Ramadan Series Lam Shamseya's Framing And Subversion Of Child Sexual Abuse Discourse In Egypt, Maya Abouelnasr

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how the 2025 Egyptian TV series Lam Shamseya served as a sociocultural intervention and awareness platform for reframing and subverting the typical child sexual abuse (CSA) discourse in Egypt. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study triangulates framing theory and two complementary tools of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the circuit of culture model through a scene-level content analysis of 304 scenes across all 15 episodes of the series and ten semi-structured interviews with media experts, media practitioners, and psychologists. Key findings include reported corroboration of subversion of traditional tropes and archetypes, as well as reframing of …

Seeing A Future Where I Exist As Myself: An Exploration Of Suicidality As A Response To Sociopolitical Oppression In Transgender And Gender Expansive Populations, Alexander Ray Sequoia

University Honors Theses

Suicide is often considered a mental health issue alone. For Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people, suicide can be a response to erasure of self and living under oppression conditions. The sociopolitical climate in the United States (U.S.), has become more hostile for TGNC people, along with legislative action that criminalizes their existence. This project explores the intersections of identity and nuances of suicide and death. The present study consists of 14 semi-structured interviews. This study examined the intersections of gender and culture on suicide responses, highlighting the importance of culturally relevant and community-led support for Transgender and gender expansive …

The Politics Of Recognition: Charismatic Authority And The Restoration Of Male Purpose, Gabriel A. Brigham

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

This thesis examines how three prominent charismatic figures, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, and Jordan Peterson, convert experiences of epistemic dislocation into ideological belonging among a specific subset of men experiencing status anxiety, social isolation, and institutional distrust. Drawing on social identity theory, epistemic injustice theory, affect control theory, and Weberian charismatic authority, the study develops a theoretical model called the Epistemic Pathway to Digital Belonging, which describes radicalization-adjacent persuasion as a sequential process of epistemic and emotional repair. Through this framework, perceived identity threat produces interpretive instability and negative self-sentiments, instability produces recoil from mainstream discursive spaces, recoil produces an …

The Welfare System To Prison Pipeline In America: How Media, Policy, And Surveillance Extend The Reach Of Mass Incarceration Through Child Welfare Practices, Delaney A. Painter

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Scholarship across youth social policy, child welfare, media studies, and criminology has documented media driven moral panic, racial disproportionality in child welfare involvement, and foster-care-to-prison pathways as related but individual, distinct phenomena. Similarly, critical frameworks by Alexander and Ritchie trace how mass incarceration unfolds across marginalized communities, yet often begin analysis at points of formal criminal legal contact.

This paper builds on an integrated framework that identifies child welfare as a distinct and underrecognized branch of mass incarceration operating at an earlier stage of the life course. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, this analysis demonstrates how fear based media narratives shape …

Emotion Work In Emergency Communication Workers: A Mixed-Methods Analysis On Well-Being, Katherine Luann Sweeney

ETDs from 2020-2029

Emergency communication workers play a vital role in public safety and healthcare, but they are frequently an overlooked population when studying well-being. With a survey sample size of N=336, and an interview sample size of N=24, this dissertation utilizes a mixed-methods approach to explore what kind of factors influence dispatcher well-being. The mixed-methods findings lead to three important outcomes. First, there are detrimental consequences of shift work on dispatchers’ overall health. Second, dispatchers report high levels of emotional exhaustion, stress, and trauma exposure. The qualitative findings suggest that the rewards associated with helping people outweigh the mental health consequences. Lastly, …

Testing The Moderating Effect Of Self-Compassion On The Relationship Between Perfectionism-Related Discrepancy And Perceived Social Support From Family, Marinne Hammond

Theses and Dissertations

Perfectionism involves an insistence on outstanding performance on tasks to an extreme level. More specifically, perfectionism-related discrepancy is when one subjectively sees a gap between their performance and their expectations for how they should perform. Perfectionism may be linked to mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and social disconnection. The perfectionism social disconnection model asserts that perfectionism can also lead to social withdrawal. Self-compassion involves the acceptance of imperfection; it has been associated with higher perceived social support and has also been shown to attenuate the relationship between perfectionism and psychological distress. This study aimed to further …

Living Through Misinformation: An Autoethnography Of Autism In Chinese Communities, Joy Lu

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This critical autoethnographic essay examines how misconception, misinformation, and disinformation shape understandings of autism within Chinese communities and produce tangible harm for autistic individuals and their families. Drawing on lived experience, advocacy work, digital observation, and cross-cultural analysis, it explores how language, medical practices, social media, and professional authority sustain persistent misrepresentation.

The essay argues that this misinformation is not merely the result of ignorance, but a socially reinforced and institutionally supported system of knowledge. By situating personal encounters within broader cultural and structural contexts, it highlights the interconnected roles of language, power, and exclusion in shaping autistic lives. It …

Pretty Much From Scratch: A Braided Essay On Autistic Diagnosis, Creativity, Identity, And Community, Jenée Stanfield

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This braided essay uses memoir and research to explore autistic diagnosis, creativity, identity, and community. It examines how the misinformation around these topics harm and “other” autistics: the fallacy of diagnostic objectivity/neutrality, the dual myths of autistic hyper- and hypo-creativity, and autism as an identity defined solely by medical professionals. The memoir sections play with point of view and genre.

Jenée is a late-realized autistic with ADHD and OCD, who identifies as neurodivergent and neuroqueer. She lives in Washington state with her spouse and dog. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and is currently a Master …

When Distress Is Misread: Autistic Credibility And The Politics Of Interpretation, Katrine Callander

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Misinformation about autism is often understood as a problem of inaccurate facts, stereotypes or public misunderstanding. This essay argues that misinformation also operates through dominant interpretive frameworks that shape how autistic experiences are recognised, understood and believed. Drawing on participatory narrative research with autistic women, the essay examines how institutions frequently reinterpret experiences of harm as personality dysfunction, emotional instability or individual deficit rather than recognising them as relational and socially produced. Autistic forms of communication and storytelling are often treated as signs of unreliability, shaping whose accounts are considered credible within clinical and institutional contexts. By reframing these patterns …

Digital (In)Justice? Evaluating Procedural Justice In Online Crime Reporting, Nazmy Natia

Dissertations and Theses

Online Crime Reporting portals (OCR) have become a routine entry point for non-emergency police services, fundamentally redefining how the public initiates contact with law enforcement. Although these portals are presented as efficient and accessible, little attention has been paid to whether their design and communication serve the people who use them. Prior research on procedural justice (PJ) has largely examined face-to-face police encounters, while latest studies of OCR systems emphasize victim experience and usability. However, the existing literature offers limited guidance on how PJ principles translate from in-person encounters to digital reporting platforms. This prompted the current study, drawing on …

Parent Cultural Wealth: How Beliefs, Curriculum Familiarity, And Community Awareness Facilitate Home-Based Cs Conversations, Nicol Howard, Leiny Y. Garcia, Jean Ryoo, Julie Flapan, Michelle Choi, Paula Nazario, Wei Wei

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Parents are critical influences on children's computer science (CS) pathways, yet families’ involvement remains understudied. Guided by parental involvement and community cultural wealth frameworks, this work-in-progress examined survey data from 53 parents representing families historically underrepresented in computing within California (71% women; 54% Hispanic/Latin/x/e). Findings revealed that CS school curriculum familiarity and awareness of CS community events significantly predicted parent-child CS conversations, while parent CS confidence and attitudes did not, suggesting that curriculum transparency and community connections can promote equitable involvement. Future work will integrate qualitative interviews to examine how families draw upon their cultural wealth.