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Deaths Of Despair In The United States, Amin Etemadifar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Life expectancy is one of the most important indicators of public health and is an indication of overall health status in a population. Thanks to public health and medical advancements over recent decades, the life expectancy of all nations has significantly increased, and that is more true for developed nations like the United States. However, the most recent data shows the longevity of Americans has become stagnant since 2010. So the first question that comes to mind is why that is happening, and the main goal of this dissertation is to answer that question.

In order to address that question, …

A Study On The Beliefs Of Juvenile Justice Practitioners On Youth Behavior And Treatment, Chase S. Christenson

Masters Theses

The following study was conducted to determine the beliefs juvenile justice practitioners (police officers, juvenile probation officers, and youth specialists) have about youth behavior through the lens of Wolfe’s (1998) Entitlement Theory. The four beliefs explored between juvenile justice practitioners are: (1) beliefs about why youth act out, (2) what changes youth behavior, (3) an expectation of youth obedience to authority, and (4) attachment relationships influencing youth behavior. The researcher used a 43-item survey measured with a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions that were administered to West Michigan’s juvenile justice practitioners through Qualtrics. Responses were analyzed using an ANOVA …

Lessons Learned In Abruptly Switching From In-Person To Remote Data Collection In Light Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Crystal M. Walker, Loretta Alexia Williams, Trimika Bowdre

The Qualitative Report

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a research study that utilized in-person focus groups to collect qualitative data was abruptly shifted to videoconference focus groups to minimize risk to subjects. Protocol amendments consisted of using an online scheduling tool to arrange focus groups by Zoom, providing electronic versions of consent forms and demographic surveys, and highlighting security features of the videoconference software. Lessons were learned from making an abrupt switch from in-person to remote focus groups. Making this type of shift is not simply a matter of switching for researcher convenience but includes determining the appropriateness of an abrupt switch …

Keeping Each Other Safe: Who Checks On Their Neighbors During Weather Extremes In Summer And Winter?, Lisa Reyes Mason, Christine C. Ekenga

Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship

Objective:

Weather extremes are increasing with climate change and associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Promotion of social connections is an emerging area of research and practice for risk reduction during weather extremes. This study examines the practice of checking on neighbors during extreme summer heat and extreme winter weather. Objectives are to (1) describe the extent of neighbor checking during these extremes, and (2) examine factors associated with neighbor checking.

Methods:

We analyze survey data (n = 442) from a primarily low- and moderate- income study sample in a Southeastern U.S. city, using descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

Results: …

Addressing Diabetes Distress In Self-Management Programs: Results Of A Randomized Feasibility Study, Ranjita Misra, Samantha Shawley-Brzoska, Raihan Khan, Brenna O. Kirk, Sijin Wen, Usha Sambamoorthi

Journal of Appalachian Health

Background: West Virginia ranks 1st nationally in the prevalence of hypertension (HTN; 43.8%) and diabetes (16.2%). Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are distressed over physical and psychological burden of disease self-management.

Methods: This study investigated the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce diabetes distress and outcomes [glycemic control, blood pressure (BP)] among T2DM adults with comorbid HTN. Participants were randomized to a 12-week diabetes and hypertension self-management program versus a 3-month wait-listed control group. Trained health coaches and experts implemented the lifestyle program in a faith-based setting using an adapted evidence-based curriculum. Twenty adults with T2DM and HTN …

From Exposure To Violence Between Mother And Her Intimate Partner To Suicidality Experienced By Urban Adolescents In Chicago’S Southside, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Although the relationship between exposure to intimate partner violence and youths’ psychological and other wellbeing has been widely studied, there is limited research about how youths’ exposure to violence between mother and her intimate partner may be related to youth psychological wellbeing. The study used a sample of urban adolescents in Chicago Southbound to examine whether youths’ exposure to verbal conflict between mother and her intimate partner is related to their suicidality and whether youth depression and aggression may be in between such a linkage. Our findings indicated that one-third of the youth had suicidal thoughts or suicidal/self-hurting attempts. Youths’ …

Ethnic Identity, Self-Esteem & Intra Group Conflicts Amongst Latinos, Christian Arevalo

McNair Research Journal SJSU

Unlike Salvadorans, Mexican/Mexican Americans have long established communities revolved around their culture. They have advanced in social class, education and political representation. On the other hand, Salvadorans have only just recently begun migrating and settling in predominantly Mexican/Mexican American communities. Competition over resources and the preservation of Mexican/Mexican American culture has caused continuing conflicts among Salvadorans and Mexicans/Mexican Americans. Additionally, inter-ethnic and in-group conflicts are also affected by generational differences (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd generation, etc.). Due to acculturation, Latinos/as struggle to retain their cultural heritage and parents often lose the ability to influence their children’s …

Throwing Pebbles While Waiting: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Mental Health And Colonialism, Kelly Limes Taylor, Rita Sørly, Bengt Karlsson

The Qualitative Report

In this article, three scholars jointly investigate questions of Western colonization and mental health. While their areas of interest and experience vary, the authors discuss oppression as a common thread connecting their ideas about mental health and its medicalization. In line with Toyosaki et al. (2009), the researchers did a community autoethnography, performing written dialogue as a dynamic research method. Using a sequential model, Kelly Limes Taylor wrote about her experience, passed it on to Rita Sørly and Bengt Karlsson. Karlsson added his story to the previous writing, and he passed it on to Sørly for further addition of stories. …

Childhood Disadvantage, Social And Psychological Stress, And Substance Use Among Homeless Youth: A Life Stress Framework, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We used a life stress framework to examine linkages between distal or primary stressors (e.g., child abuse) and proximal or secondary stressors (e.g., street victimization) and their association with substance use among 150 youth experiencing homelessness in the Midwestern United States. Results revealed that numerous primary stressors such as number of times youth ran from home and number of foster care placements were associated with secondary stressors, such as anxiety, total duration of homelessness, and street victimization. Only street physical victimization (e.g., been beaten up since leaving home) was associated with greater substance use. Our findings provide a more holistic …

Longitudinal Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) Acceptability, Initiation And Adherence Among Criminal Justice-Involved Adults In The Usa: The Southern Prep Cohort Study (Specs) Protocol, Katherine Lemasters, Carrie B. Oser, Mariah Cowell, Katie Mollan, Kathryn Nowotny, Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein

Sociology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: HIV prevalence among criminal justice (CJ)-involved adults is five times higher than the general population. Following incarceration, CJ-involved individuals experience multilevel barriers to HIV prevention. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a widely available, daily medication efficacious in preventing HIV. Little is known about PrEP knowledge, acceptability, initiation and sustained use among CJ-involved persons or about how these outcomes vary by multilevel factors. The Southern Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Study (SPECS) will investigate barriers and facilitators for PrEP initiation and sustained use among CJ-involved adults, building a foundation for PrEP interventions for this underserved population.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: SPECS uses a mixed-methods sequential …

Research Beyond The Ivory Tower: A Book Review Of Researching With: A Decolonizing Approach To Community-Based Action Research, Wesley D. Cohoon

The Qualitative Report

This is a book review of Researching With: A Decolonizing Approach to Community-Based Action Research by Jessica Smartt Gullion and Abigail Tilton. The authors are both university professors and Deans who respectively specialize in Sociology and Social Work. The book uses qualitative research as it seeks to merge academia with the professional world. Researching With teaches academics to come alongside their study participants and apply research in professional contexts. I offered a critical analysis of Researching With by identifying themes and concepts that will benefit both expert and beginner researchers. The book will help readers frame research questions and understand …

Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury

The Qualitative Report

While volumes of procedural guidelines are available on how to conduct fieldwork, in practice a researcher encounters various challenges and dilemmas in the field. This paper presents a holistic view of the puzzles this researcher encountered in gaining access, negotiating positionality, application of the pre-determined methodology, and ensuring ethics during his fieldwork with microfinance program participants in a non-Western setting. This paper contributes to the fieldwork literature by enhancing a researcher’s understanding of the unanticipated challenges.

Drug Testing Policies And Practices: Predicting Successful Outcomes Among Juveniles Participating In Pretrial Diversion Programs, Chelsea W. Harris, Lindsey E. Wylie

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Drug testing is a frequent condition of juvenile justice programs, although research on the effects of drug testing juveniles – especially early system-involved youth – is scarce. The risk-needsresponsivity (RNR) model suggests drug testing would only be a beneficial intervention if substance use contributes to a youth’s criminal behavior and has a rehabilitative component. We examined drug testing policies and practices in one Midwestern state utilizing interviews with 27 diversion program managers and a statewide sample of 665 youth referred to pretrial diversion. Analysis tested whether drug testing juveniles with and without a substance use need predicted successful completion of …

Religious Leadership: Agents Of Social Change, Jacqueline Carter

Dissertations

Historically, churches in the United States acquired respect as institutions that cultivated spiritual maturity and advocated for social equality in Black communities. Religious leaders represent the voice of reason for communities facing complex social problems, then and today. How educational attainment influences religious leaders’ social action strategies and decisions to engage or disengage in social activism is under explored. Additionally, it is unclear what strategies religious leaders use for social advocacy in their communities. Using andragogy and social cognitive theory as theoretical frameworks, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the educational experiences of religious leaders to understand …

Incarceration And Suicide: Do The Risk Factors Differ For Civilians And Veterans?, Rheannon Gail Ramsey

Dissertations and Theses

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in United States jails and prisons. Many researchers have looked at suicides in prisons and what can potentially cause suicidal ideation but there are conflicting findings among civilian incarcerated populations and United States military veteran incarcerated populations.

The intent of this study is to examine which risk factors are most prevalent among adults in custody, with a focus on mental health and substance use or abuse and how these risk factors differ between incarcerated civilians and incarcerated veterans. Using survey data from the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails conducted …

Navigating Services & Supports In South Central Oregon: Community Uplift Family Voice Journey Maps, Callie H. Lambarth, Kate Normand, Ron Joseph

Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services Publications

The Home Visiting Systems Coordination (HVSC) project aims to create coordinated home visiting systems that strengthen and benefit all home visiting models as part of regional birth-to-5 early childhood systems in southern Oregon and northern California.

The project’s long-term goal is to improve outcomes for families and expand each region’s capacity to serve more families through homebased early childhood supports.

Integrating Empathy Pedagogy With Feminist Thought And Social Justice Praxis, Ashlyn Elizabeth Brown

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis outlines the need for empathy pedagogy in higher education. It will examine how empathy pedagogy can be integrated with feminist thought and social justice praxis. I argue that when we integrate empathy pedagogy with feminist thought and social justice, we are building the capacity for students to understand others’ lives in oppression. Furthermore, an integrated modality of teaching empathy will allow students to foster the traits of empathy within themselves; students are then better able to act as agents of social change by utilizing the traits of empathy to actively listen, self-reflect, and mindfully engage with other lived …

Identity Transformation Through Substance Use Disorder Recovery: Introducing The Six Stage Model, Naomi Watkins, Austin Mcneill Brown, Kayce Courson

The Qualitative Report

Narratives of substance use disorder recovery experience can provide useful qualitative conceptual categories and novel theories about the way in which recovery is experienced by individuals. This information can better inform definitions, concepts, and supports for recovery processes. The current study reviewed 30 written personal recovery biographies which were contained within student applications to the collegiate recovery program housed in the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery at Kennesaw State University. Using grounded theory methodology, common benchmarks, or topographic recovery features were revealed involving the evolution of identity as an inter-negotiated process throughout the addiction and recovery biographies (Charmaz, …

Vulnerability To And Protection Against Covid-19 Fear, Threat, And Worry, Marsha Kim Huh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from a sample of 10,368 adults living in the U.S., the current study examines the role of social and psychological resources in lowering COVID-related fear, threat, and worry, controlling for a number of social vulnerabilities (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, and presence of children). The impact of social location, particularly in regards to race, and how one accesses and/or utilizes social and psychological resources is also examined through disaggregated regression models. Results demonstrate that some social and psychological resources impact COVID-specific distress (fear/threat/worry), but depending on the resource, relationships vary in direction and significance. The strength of social ties and mastery …

Childhood Trauma And Substance Use: Differences By Race And Sex In Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs In Nebraska, Sophie Holtz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study seeks to analyze whether demographic factors such as gender and race have a relationship to the reporting of trauma symptoms in juveniles. This study also examines whether higher substance use has a relationship to higher reports of trauma symptoms. To gather this data, surveys were administered to juveniles involved in juvenile justice prevention programs across the state of Nebraska. Overall, we found that juvenile girls reported significantly higher amounts of trauma symptoms than boys do. There was also a significant difference in how much juvenile girls report using cannabis compared to juvenile boys. Furthermore, there was not a …

Communicating With Muted Groups: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Amy Matzke-Fawcett

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The problem of human trafficking is global, affecting men and women, adults, and children, with exploitation of various forms including (but not limited to) sex work, hospitality and entertainment, labor, agriculture, soldiering, forced begging and organ removal. While it has been the focus of movies, news articles, documentaries, legislation and research, the discussion of the communication surrounding human trafficking is still in the formative stages. What is the messaging about human trafficking in legislation, both historically and in the present day, and how did news and popular media help to frame the discourse around trafficking in the United States? Using …

Indian Doctoral Research In The Field Of Sociology: A Mixed Method Approach, Jyotshna Sahoo, Nrusingh Kumar Dash Librarian, Basudev Mohanty, Santosini Mundhial

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The very purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic analysis of the doctoral research works produced by Indian Universities in the discipline of Sociology during the period from 2004 to 2017. The study is based on the secondary data, compiled from the authentic Indian data source on doctoral research known as “University News”. It aims to find out the developmental trends of Sociology research, the productivity of states, universities, and supervisors as well as languages and gender-wise productivity of Sociology doctoral research. It also aims to find out the most frequently occurred key words and the research areas …

The Crimcon Controversy: An Essay Addressing Irb Approval, Informed Consent, And The Interpretation Of Results, Kevin Buckler, Eryn O'Neal

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In “COVID-19 and academia: Considering the future of academic conferencing,” Reinhard, Stafford, and Payne (2021) present findings based on an analysis of video and audio-recorded CrimCon presentations. The study’s ethics are questionable. A concern is that the investigators did not seek the informed consent of participants. In this essay, we discuss the federal human subjects regulatory definition of “human subjects,” and explain how it substantiates our concern in light of the facts.1 Key among them is that a coinvestigator, Payne, was also on the board that organized the conference, the Criminology Consortium. As such, he was involved in the development …

Sort And Sift, Think And Shift: Let The Data Be Your Guide An Applied Approach To Working With, Learning From, And Privileging Qualitative Data, Raymond Maietta, Paul Mihas, Kevin Swartout, Jeff Petruzzelli, Alison B. Hamilton

The Qualitative Report

The Sort and Sift, Think and Shift qualitative data analysis approach is an iterative process where analysts dive into data to understand its content, dimensions, and properties, and then step back to assess what they have learned and to determine next steps. Researchers move from establishing an understanding of what is in the data (“Diving In”) to exploring their relationship to the data (“Stepping Back”). This process of “Diving In” and “Stepping Back” is repeated throughout analysis. To conclude, researchers arrive at an evidence-based meeting point that is a hybrid story of data content and researcher knowledge. To illustrate core …

Plotting The Literature On Learning Outcomes And Academic Performance In Higher Education From 2001 To 2020: A Scientometric Analysis, Muhammad Shoaib, Nusrat Ali, Behzad Anwar, Bilal Shaukat

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper aims to evaluate the teaching skills, learning skills, learning outcomes, and academic performance using scientometrics analysis from 2001 to 2020. The scientometrics method and a total of 7536 published documents were found. The results reveal that the topic of academic performance and article as a type of published document was highly used. The high majority of these published documents are published in the English language and gradually increased in the number of published documents in terms of the year. Further, the author Chamorro-Premuzic T is the top author with 1139 citations and Univ. Grandada at top of twenty …

Federal Policy Has Failed To Protect Indigenous Women, Sheena Gilbert, Emily M. Wright, Tara Richards

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Teen Dating Violence Prevention For Queer And Questioning Youth, Whitney Reek

University Honors Theses

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a prevalent problem among queer and questioning youth, yet research on TDV has not addressed how best to serve this population and current prevention programs do not directly target this population. This literature review compiles information on current TDV prevention programs recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); risk factors for TDV among queer and questioning youth; and social factors that indicate what type of prevention methods may be the most helpful for queer and questioning youth. These risk factors and social factors are then compared to the current TDV prevention programs …

Colorism In Mexico: An Examination Of Inequality And The Psychological Impact In The Form Of Depression, Ana K. Kinzie

University Honors Theses

Mexican society is engaging in racism in the form of colorism; while colorism is widespread, it is not acknowledged by the population. As a previous Spanish colony, the effects of the social caste system affect how Mexicans view themselves and others, creating a preference for lighter skin tones. The idea of Mexicans being a hybrid race (Mestizo) prevails in the country, which affects racial minorities as they are often ignored. Skin tone in Mexico can affect the socioeconomic status of their population and the chances of social mobility. While research on how colorism affects the mental health of Mexicans is …

Plotting The Literature On Precautionary Measures Of Covid-19: A Scientometric Analysis Of Web Of Science, Muhammad Shoaib, Nusrat Ali, Abeel Naseer

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study attempted to evaluate the scholarly publications on COVID-19, social distance, physical distance, social isolation, and self-isolation employing the scientometric analysis technique from 2020 to 2021. The main purpose was to consolidate the published scholarship on the COVID-19 in the Web of Science indexed documents. A total of 635 publications were found. The results indicated that social distance and COVID-19 was the top topic along with the article as a type of document, and the majority were published in the English language in 2021. The name of Gimenez-Llort L was at top of the list of authors, along with …

Pregnant Women With Substance Use Disorders Deserve Plans Of Safe Care, Alexandra E. Punch, Monika Taylor

Population Health Research Brief Series

Substance use among women who are pregnant is a growing U.S public health issue. Approximately 340,000 infants are affected by prenatal exposure to illicit drugs annually, leading to an increase in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), and Child Protective Services involvement. This issue brief describes the current state of prenatal substance use and provides guidance on the use of federally mandated Plans of Safe Care to help mothers prepare for the arrival of their baby while navigating their substance use disorder.