Digital Commons Network^™

Antipsychotic Medication Administration In Oregon Assisted Living/Residential Care Settings: Analyzing An Action Situation, Sarah Dys

Dissertations and Theses

Antipsychotic medication use (APU) in assisted living and residential care (AL/RC) settings is an under-studied and controversial health policy issue. APU in older adults with dementia is associated with an increased risk of falls, hospitalizations, and early mortality. I operationalize the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework using a situational analysis approach, an extension of grounded theory methods, to explore the APU in Oregon AL/RC settings. Regulatory deficiency citations, Oregon AL/RC population data, and semi-structured interviews suggest that staff role clarity, organizational characteristics, and perceived agency influence decision-making around APU. AL/RC providers and caregivers are forced to simultaneously balance and prioritize …

Association Between Teenage Pregnancy And Family Factors: An Analysis Of The Philippine National Demographic And Health Survey 2017, Kozue Tabei, Erlinda Susana S. Cuisia-Cruz, Chris Smith, Xerxes Seposo

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Adolescence is a key developmental period in one’s life course; health-related behaviors of adolescents can be linked to lifelong consequences, which affect their future health. Previous studies highlight the role of family and its significant association with adolescents’ health. In East Asia and the Pacific, the Philippines is the only country that is showing an upward trend of teenage pregnancy while other countries in the region have declining teenage pregnancy rates. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the association between teenage pregnancy and family factors, specifically parent structure. Data for the study were extracted from the Philippine National Demographic and …

New Orleans During A Pandemic: Engaging African American Community Stakeholders On Covid-19 Information, Prevention, Testing And Vaccination, Anthony Thompson

XULAneXUS

This case study examines how the Louisiana Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (LA-CEAL) worked to engage African American residents in New Orleans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on research interviews with Black physicians, pharmacists, and community health providers, along with field notes collected during 12 months of project assistance, the study addresses four research questions concerning African American hesitancy toward COVID-19 treatment and vaccination, strategies for community engagement, clinical trial recruitment, and inclusive research practices during a pandemic. Findings indicate that vaccine hesitancy and research mistrust among Black New Orleanians are rooted in a long history of scientific racism …

Racial Attitudes And Criminal Justice Policy, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Amanda Graham

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Empirical research on public policy preferences must attend to Whites’ animus toward Blacks. For a quarter-century, studies have consistently found that Kinder and Sanders’s four-item measure of “racial resentment” is a robust predictor of almost every social and criminal justice policy opinion. Racial animus increases Whites’ opposition to social welfare policies that benefit Blacks and their support for punitive policies that disadvantage this “outgroup.” Any public opinion study that fails to include racial resentment risks omitted variable bias. Despite the continuing salience of out-group animus, recent scholarship, especially in political science, has highlighted other racial attitudes that can influence public …

Changes In Body Image, Eating Behaviors, And Exercise During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan Gressley

Honors Projects

The Covid-19 pandemic transformed many different aspects of life as many individuals were sent home from school or work and were confined within their homes. Within restricted life, individuals experienced changes in their social lives, eating habits, and day-to-day routine. Within this research study I chose to examine how individuals' lives changed directly from the year before the Covid-19 pandemic to the first year of domestic shutdown. A sample of BGSU undergraduate students responded to a survey questioning them on their behaviors, feelings, and attitudes among these time periods. Results showed that individuals experienced significantly more disordered eating within the …

Identity Formation Of Black Surinamese Dutch Women, Ashley Melcherts

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the self-identification of young Black Surinamese Dutch women in the racialized context of Dutch society, how family and school contribute to identity formation, and how identity shapes the everyday lives of young women of color in predominantly white institutions in the Netherlands. Eight online in-depth interviews were conducted with Black Surinamese Dutch college women in the Netherlands about how they understand their identities, how they perceive the process of learning about their identities, and how their identities shape their everyday experiences in Dutch society. Findings illustrate the influence of family in shaping ideas about identity, the …

Urban-Rural Differences In Lifespan Variation In The United States, Benjamin H. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Since the mid-1980s, mortality rate improvements in urban areas have outpaced those in rural areas, leading to substantial urban-rural disparities in mortality. Research on urban-rural mortality disparities has focused exclusively on differences in mortality between urban and rural areas and has not examined differences in the amount of inequality in the length of life within these areas. Lifespan variation is an important dimension of health inequality that complements traditional metrics of mortality (i.e., mortality rates and life expectancy) by indicating the amount of inequality of lifespans within a population. This dissertation provides several contributions to our understanding of urban-rural differences …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Influence Mechanisms And Network Density On Societal Polarization, Justin Mittereder

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

I present an agent-based model, inspired by the opinion dynamics
(OD) literature, to explore the underlying behaviors that may induce
societal polarization. My agents interact on a social network, in which
adjacent nodes can influence each other, and each agent holds an array
of continuous opinion values (on a 0-1 scale) on a number of separate
issues. I use three measures as a proxy for the virtual society’s “po-
larization:” the average assortativity of the graph with respect to the
agents’ opinions, the number of non-uniform issues, and the number
of distinct opinion buckets in which agents have the same …

Motivation To Move Out Of The Community As A Moderator Of Bullying Victimization And Delinquent Behavior: Comparing Non-Heterosexual/Cisgender And Heterosexual African American Adolescents In Chicago’S Southside, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

A growing body of research documents that bullying victimization is associated with delinquent behavior. There is an increasing need to better illuminate the factors that might moderate this relationship. This study examined whether the motivation to move out of low-resourced neighborhoods and sexual orientation/gender identity moderated the relationship between bullying victimization and delinquent behavior among a sample of 450 heterosexual and 91 non-heterosexual/cisgender African American youths. Measures considered were bullying victimization, delinquent behavior, sexual orientation/gender identity, motivation to move out, and family demographics. Sexual orientation/gender identity was not associated with youth delinquent behavior after controlling for covariates. Being motivated to …

Educational Pandemic Impacts In Applied Behavior Analysis (Aba) Classrooms: Qualitative Outcomes From Board Certified Behavior Analyst (Bcba) And Registered Behavior Technicians (Rbt) Perspectives, Chana S. Josilowski-Max, Nicole Lambright

The Qualitative Report

The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented changes in how Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services are provided to students/clients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and scant literature is available from which to determine the best course of action for providing safe services during a pandemic. The research question for this study is: What is the essence of experiences of parents, teachers, and Board-Certified Behavior Analysts of students with ASD who are now receiving ABA services remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic school closures? Generic qualitative design was used to analyze the responses of nine participants who are either Board …

Eyewitness Identification, Alley Chan

Honors Theses

Eyewitness identification often plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system. It can be used to make an arrest, both exonerate and convict suspects, fuel police interrogation, and influence a plea bargaining decision. In the meantime, eyewitness misidentification has contributed to approximately 69% of the wrongful convictions, making it the leading factor in wrongful convictions nationwide. Hence, the central question that will be explored in this thesis is: Why eyewitness testimony is so powerful despite it is prone to error? To answer this question, this thesis will examine the role of eyewitness identification played in the criminal justice system …

Finding A Home Through The Screen: A Glimpse Into Student Experiences In A World Of Remote Admissions Processes, Megan Carmen

Honors Projects

The college search process is an important time in the life of any student, and feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion through the admissions process is vital to ensuring student success in higher education. With COVID-19 forcing all admissions communications online, student connections were changed and student’s perception of belonging was altered. This confidential survey project used demographic, quantitative, and open-ended questions to understand student perceptions of belonging and inclusion during the online admissions process. Of 750 students contacted, 57 students responded to the demographic questions, 50 to the quantitative questions, and 17 students left in-depth responses about their …

Community-Based Rehabilitation's Effectiveness In Reducing Singapore Juvenile Recidivism, Denzil Neo, June Hyuk Lee, Mervin Xin Hong Chew, Munisraj Sarfoji, Timothy Prakash

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

Singapore's juvenile recidivism rate has climbed by around 5% since 2013, putting the country at risk of increased youth crime. With several mandatory rehabilitative programmes classified into two categories, Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and Institutional-Based Rehabilitation (IBR), it is unclear whether the mandatory individual rehabilitative programmes for offenders were actually effective in achieving their corrective goals. This proposal would undertake a regression analysis to compare the effectiveness of CBR and IBR programmes utilizing secondary data gathered by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and primary data from a survey. The survey will provide previously unstudied insights into the offender's …

Litigation, Legislation, And Love: The Comparative Efficacy Of Litigation And Legislation For The Expansion Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Civil Rights, Mallory Harrington

Honors College Theses

This research examines the comparative efficacy of federal appellate court decisions and federal legislation with regards to the furtherance of civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation. The research examines efficacy based upon the number of measures which have been implemented as well as the content of each measure. The research examines federal appellate and Supreme Court decisions, as well as adopted pieces of federal legislation since 1950. It also examines the likely causes of the disparities in efficacy that are indicated in this analysis. The findings of this research indicate that litigation has been much more effective at …

Sexual Minority Rights Are Not Just For The West: Health And Safety Considerations In Africa, Robert Scott Stewart Ph.D., Dionne Van Reenen Ph.D., Richard Watuwa Ph.D.

Journal of Health Ethics

In a recent article, C.O. Akpan argues that it is “unnatural for a man to sleep with a man as with a woman, and the idea of marriage in this sense is an abomination” (“The morality of same-sex marriage: How not to globalize a cultural anomie,” Online Journal of Health Ethics, 13(1), 2017, p. 9). Arguments in favor of same sex marriage, he claims, are “driven and motivated by the human right fad” (p. 9) that is inappropriate for African countries.

We argue that the specific arguments Akpan employs against the morality of homosexuality and same-sex marriage are flawed. Our …

Evaluation Of Essential Oil Products On Performance, Intestinal Permeability, Bone Mineralization, And Oxidative Stress Parameters On Broiler Chickens Under Heat Stress Conditions, Jared Ruff

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to show how dietary supplementation of three different formulations of essential oils (EO) affected the performance of broiler chickens during heat stress (HS). Day-of-hatch Cobb 500 chicks (n = 500) were randomly divided into four groups: 1. HS control + control diets; 2. HS + control meals supplemented with 37 ppm EO of Lippia origanoides (LO); 3. HS + control diets supplemented with 45 ppm LO + 45 ppm EO of Rosmarinus officinalis (RO) + 300 ppm red beetroot; 4. HS + 45 ppm LO + 45 ppm RO + 300 ppm natural betaine. …

Ua45/6 Commencement Program, Wku Registrar

WKU Administration Documents

Commencement program for fall 2021.

Community Perceptions And Aesthetic Valuation Of Remediation Gardens, Rachel Bechtold

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Creating successfully remediated landscapes may rely on both natural resources and human perception in landscape design. Urban areas present a dynamic environment wherein communities and nature compete for resources and space. This dissertation study was designed to better understand aesthetic perceptions of native plants capable of land remediation in midwestern communities. Findings from this study show the importance of aesthetic perceptions of stakeholders towards rehabilitated landscapes and the importance of organizing indicators for future design decisions in an interdisciplinary fashion. Recommendations include continued evaluation of aesthetic perceptions for plant species in urban landscapes and modeling a more consistent framework for …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Research Motivations At The University Of Nebraska Omaha (Uno), Afrah F. Rasheed

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Undergraduate research provides unique experiences and skill sets that are applicable in various careers. However, there has been an increasing need for greater diversity among researchers, namely undergraduate researchers, and the motivations behind undergraduate research participation need to be further explored. The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic information of undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and what motivations were the most prevalent in undergraduate research at UNO. A mixed-methods approach was utilized through a quantitative portion and a qualitative portion. The quantitative portion was a web-based survey which gauged for 22 independent …

Is It A Boy Or A Girl? Constructing A Gendered Identity For Our Companion Animals, Jennifer Ann Wellman

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

A qualitative study of the differences in how we gender our cats and our dogs. Fifty women between the ages of 18 and 50 were interviewed, who kept cats, dogs, or both cats and dogs. Differences were found in how naming cats, with cats being given less humanized gendered names. It was found that cats are treated more as an extension of the self while dogs were given more of a gendered identity of their own.

Childhood Sexual Abuse Disclosure And Mental Health Outcomes: The Relationship Between Gender, Parental Style, And Masculinity Norms, Kayla E. Hall

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The current study aims to investigate social reactions to childhood sexual abuse disclosure (CSA) in adult men and women. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between conformity to masculinity norms and perception of parental style on timing of disclosure and resulting internalizing and externalizing symptoms and substance abuse.

Method: Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 299 adult men and women residing in the U.S. (M_age = 35.9, SD_age= 10.5; 53% female; 78% European American) completed an anonymous online series of survey items pertaining to childhood sexual abuse, internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms, substance abuse, social reactions …

Implementing 2nd Milk’S Use Of The World Health Organization Standardized Growth Charts To Better Track The Growth And Development Of The Malnourished And Orphaned Infants In Their Supplemental Nutrition Program In Malawi, Allie Wycoff

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This article considers the history and implications of the World Health Organization (WHO) standardized growth charts as well as the significant impact that growth chart utilization may have on 2^ndMilk’s ability to understand and track the nutritional status of the malnourished orphaned infants in their formula program. Specifically, this literature review examines whether or not the WHO growth charts are a meaningful tool for 2^ndMilk to adopt into their monthly baby assessments. The WHO growth charts are calibrated to express an accepted international “norm” for what an adequately nourished child looks like. In a recent service-learning …

Gender Identity And Mental Health Among Undergraduate Students In The United States, Mckenzie Mcnamara

All Theses

This study explores the relationship between gender identity, challenges experienced by students, psychological distress, and suicide behavior for undergraduate students in the United States of America. The quantitative analysis utilizing the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment from Fall 2019, Spring 2020 and Fall 2020. The sample consisted of 78,296 undergraduate participants of which 65.9% identified as female, 30.5% identified as male, and 3.6% identified as non-binary students. The statistical analysis consisted of a multiple regression model controlling for variables of institution type. The major finding of this study is that non-binary undergraduate students had greater psychological distress …

Blue Lives Matter: Public Perception In Texas, Nohely Karyme Lozano

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Blue Lives Matter, a pro-policing movement, was established across the United States. The movement sheds light on the attacks and killings of police officers while on the line of duty. Also, it raises awareness of the dangers and risks law enforcement agents face while on duty and off duty. Throughout the years, the movement has gained many supporters across the nation. However, it has been controversial, and many considered it as a countermovement to Black Lives Matter. To bridge the gap in the literature, the researcher investigated the perception of Texans towards the movement. Moreover, the research …

Livelihood And Happiness In A Resource (Natural And Cultural)-Rich Rural Municipality In The Philippines, Rosalina Palanca-Tan, Sheila Bayog

Economics Department Faculty Publications

This paper looks at the economic and welfare conditions of residents in Lake Sebu, a largely rural but natural and cultural resource-rich municipality in Southern Mindanao in the Philippines. Two notions of welfare are used in the study: economic welfare, measured in terms of household income and vulnerability to hunger; and social welfare, measured in terms of self-reported happiness. The study uses primary data collected through a household survey and analyzed with statistical and econometric procedures (tests of difference between sub-populations; and ordinary least squares, binary probit, and ordered logistic regressions). The results suggest mixed implications of abundant natural and …

In The Balance: Perceptions Of Work-Family Balance For Women In Higher Education., Aubrey Radford Woolley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Striking a balance between paid work and family work is hard for many individuals. Previous research has focused on the availability and effectiveness of family friendly policies and demonstrated a need for continued research. I examine work-family balance among women working in higher education. My study asks what are the determinants for work-family balance? I draw on institutional data from the fall 2017 Campus Climate and Diversity Survey which in part focuses on work-family balance. My regression analysis shows that faculty have a lower perception of work-family balance than non-faculty. For both non-faculty and faculty, support from supervisor/chairperson and to …

Effects Of Abstinence-Based Sexual Education Compared To Evidence-Based Sexual Education In K-12 Schools, Lily Probst

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background: Historically, sexual education in the United States has been abstinence-based (ABSE), meaning that sexual education is centered around encouraging adolescents to abstain from sexual activity outside of wedlock. On the other hand, evidence-based sexual education (EBSE) includes abstinence in its curriculum but does not emphasize it, instead highlighting contraception and prevention strategies. Additionally, EBSE teaches adolescents about healthy relationships, attitudes towards sexuality, gender roles, and provides resources for sexual and reproductive health services. Supplying adolescents in K-12 schools with access to evidence-based sexual education may not only decrease teen pregnancy rates and incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) but …

Hybridity, Ecocriticism, And Feminist Perspectives In She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power, Sarah Warso

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children’s cartoons are growing increasingly nuanced in the twenty-first century. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) is an animated television series targeted towards young girls that includes themes of ecocriticism and feminism. The show does this by introducing cyborg, or hybrid, characters. My research explores how cyborg identities in children’s media and their feminist, ecocritical meanings in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The cyborg, as a feminist mythic hero, breaks down binaries and recodes communication between opposing forces. The She-Ra is filled with characters that inhabit multiple identities. The main character, Adora, identifies as both a former Evil …

Cultural Impact On Identity And How It Is Expressed Through Dress, Jenifer Thao

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examined how students at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Arkansas incorporate their cultural background into their clothing as a form of self-expression. The study included an online survey platform, Qualtrics, created with a series of Likert-type and open-ended response questions to gather data regarding student opinions on clothing impacts. Results indicated that there were no significant associations when it comes to cultural influences on identity and how it is expressed through dress.

Socio-Economic And Environmental Issues: Implications For Food Security In Nigeria, Isaiah O. Olurinola, Evans Osabuohien

Economic and Financial Review

Socio-economic activities within the agricultural sector have witnessed significant changes in recent times. Two major factors account for this recent development. Available evidence shows that over the last four decades, environmental challenges (such as pollution, extreme weather, fire disaster and deforestation, among others) have been on the increase in Nigeria. This is complicated by a weak institutional framework to stem the tide (Egbetokun et al., 2018; 2020). Also, the information from Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) shows that the annual mean climatic conditions (that is rainfall and temperature) in Nigeria have witnessed huge variation (NIMET, 2020; Egbetokun et al., 2020), which …