Digital Commons Network^™

Sport Injuries And The Impact On Athlete Mental Health, Chloe Crompton

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

Over the last decade, there has been an increased focus on athlete mental health (Wiese, 2010). More studies have focused on why athletes struggle with mental health and how mental health can significantly impact athletic performance. According to research, “Across mental health disorders, injury is frequently identified as a sport-specific risk factor for mental health conditions and is one of the most frequently researched risk factors for mental health concerns in elite athletes” (Haugen, 2022, p.4). Considering the inherent risk of injury with athletic participation, the impact of sport-related injuries on individual athletes’ mental health remains an important area for …

Marketing Plan For Community Service Initiative L.A.C.E.S. (Limitless Accessibility For Children To Experience Sports), Grace Bryant

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

I. Executive Summary

L.A.C.E.S. (Limitless Accessibility for Children to Experience Sports) is a community-based initiative focused on increasing access to youth sports for children in underserved communities. The mission of L.A.C.E.S. is to ensure that every child can experience the joy and benefits of sport by addressing barriers such as cost, transportation, lack of resources, and limited awareness. While youth sports are widely known to support physical health, mental well-being, and social development, access to these opportunities is not equal. Research shows that participation rates are significantly lower among children from low-income households and marginalized communities, largely due to structural …

Facility Development And Its Effect On Performative Outcomes In Ncaa Division I Hockey, Luke Bodeis

Master of Education in Applied Human Development Graduate Projects

This study was designed to compare the performative outcomes two years before the construction of a new facility against the outcomes 2 years after the opening for NCAA Division 1 Men’s Ice Hockey Programs. Using historical performance records of wins, losses and ties, a Chi-Square test of independence was chosen to analyze and determine if there was a significant relationship between new construction facilities and the on-ice performance of 15 programs. Facility quality is often cited as a key factor in the decision-making process for high performance athletes when determining school of choice. This study found that when looking at …

Introduction, Elizabeth G. Clark, Elizabeth Ziemba

Visions in Leisure and Business

No abstract provided.

Conflicted Assumptions: India's Medical Value Travel Marketing Messages, Irving Stackpole

Visions in Leisure and Business

The chronology of the Indian government’s marketing communications rhetoric about medical services exports (commonly referred to as “medical tourism”) from 1990 to 2024 reveals a clear evolution from basic economic liberalization to global leadership positioning. These marketing messages have progressed through distinct phases, consistently emphasizing cost advantages, quality claims, and international competitiveness. It has also become increasingly sophisticated in its use of branding, digital platforms, and systematic promotional frameworks. The evolution from simple "cost advantage" claims to comprehensive "medical hub of the world" positioning demonstrates an evolving promotional narrative, growing ambition, and overestimation of value and demand. This article reviews …

Challenges And Opportunities For India As Well As Wellness Destinations, Michael Wallace

Visions in Leisure and Business

India has emerged as a globally recognized wellness destination, grounded in 5,000 years of traditional healing systems such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Naturopathy. Supported by rich cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, and a reputation for spiritual authenticity, India continues to attract international wellness travellers seeking holistic, transformative experiences. This article examines the opportunities that strengthen India’s competitive position—such as government-backed initiatives (including the AYUSH Visa), expansion of high-end wellness resorts, and rising global interest in sustainability and authentic cultural immersion—as well as the challenges that threaten its long-term leadership in the global wellness economy.

Drawing on generational analysis, the …

Formulating A Strategy To Drive Indian Medical Tourism In 2026 And Beyond, Naresh Trehan

Visions in Leisure and Business

Global demand for cross-border health, wellness, and medical services has accelerated in the postpandemic era, driven by rising healthcare costs, long waiting times, and greater patient willingness to seek treatment abroad. India—already home to internationally accredited hospitals, highly trained clinicians, competitive pricing, and strong aviation connectivity—holds a distinctive competitive advantage. This article analyzes India’s current medical tourism strengths and presents a strategic roadmap for expanding the sector in 2026 and beyond through coordinated collaboration between the Government of India (GOI) and the private medical sector.

Drawing on market projections that position global medical tourism to exceed USD 250 billion by …

Enhancing Patient Experience In Indian Healthcare: A Key Component For Successful Medical Tourism, Elizabeth G. Clark, Elizabeth Ziemba

Visions in Leisure and Business

Post-pandemic, Indian hospital chains have been increasingly expanding their bed capacity, either by constructing new hospitals or acquiring existing healthcare infrastructure in select markets. (1, 2,) A frequent strategy cited for attracting both domestic and international patients is “medical tourism” or “medical value travel.” This paper examines the concept of patient experience and argues that, for India to become a competitive medical tourism destination, hospital operators must prioritize the development and enhancement of patient experience initiatives. By focusing on the quality of patient interactions and care, Indian hospitals can better attract patients from abroad while ensuring sustainable growth and improved …

Nontoxic Paints Using Cornstarch As Binders, Maile Prater

Honors Projects

For this project, paints were created using different metal compounds which interacted with cornstarch and pectin to determine whether the metals would coordinate with these polysaccharides to create new types of watercolor paints. The paints that were created were ran through an RGB analysis to determine how much of each RGB color is present in a solution and then were ran through a rheometer to determine how the viscosity differed between each solution.

A Play-Based Stoic Intervention: Preventive Pedagogy For Childhood Resilience, Ross William Podyma Mr

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Rates of reported childhood mental health difficulties have risen markedly in recent years, prompting a policy emphasis on early identification and rapid referral to clinical services. While such responses are vital for acute and complex presentations, there is growing concern that they may contribute to an over-pathologising of normative developmental experiences. Everyday challenges that once functioned as opportunities to build resilience are increasingly framed as early symptoms of mental disorder. This risks undermining children’s ability to cope adaptively with adversity, inadvertently fostering reliance on external intervention.

Since its inception in 2012, Sporting Communities CIC has been embedded in schools and …

Teachers’ Views About School Playtime: A Systematic Literature Review, Misbah Khan, Cathy Atkinson

International Journal of Playwork Practice

School playtime exists in varying forms across the world, and there is an extensive evidence-base pointing to its beneficial effects on children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) recognises these benefits and provides clear guidance to international organisations, including schools, on protecting children’s right to play. However, legislative and societal pressures have led to teacher practices which facilitate the erosion of school playtime. Teachers’ beliefs and their practices are considered to be interlinked and therefore the aim of this systematic literature review is to consolidate existing research on teachers’ views about playtime and consider how …

Donne Buck: All Work, All Play, William Newton

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Donne Buck (1934-2023) was a New Zealand-born pioneer of British adventure play. He recorded his work, including on some of the earliest London playgrounds, in exquisite detail, resulting in an exceptional archive of his achievements now held by the V&A Museum. This article offers a brief summary of his career as a play practitioner and highlights his influence on the field of playwork.

Expanding Epilepsy Representation: On Education And Awareness, Aliyah Wise

Honors Projects

The present-day American public education system has evolved to try to teach young students about more cultures and people of different lifestyles. However, despite these reforms to push for an inclusive education system, there is still minimal effort to teach students about disabilities and the people who live with them. As a student living with epilepsy, I have observed a lack of education or conversation about this disability. The purpose of this research project is to ask: How does miseducation on epilepsy contribute to harmful stereotypes and lead to real issues for people living with this disability? How should neurotypical …

The Impact Of Parking Services On Mental Health At Bowling Green State University, Callie Oyster

Honors Projects

The current research investigates the effects of parking on daily stress and emotional stability and perceptions of equity at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). It draws from the perspective of students, faculty, and staff via a quantitative survey of over 500 respondents that assessed parking behaviors, mental health indicators, and institutional trust. The results indicate that unpredictability, rather than simply lack of space, is the largest source of stress related to parking. Commuter and resident students reported arriving at least 20-30 minutes earlier than expected. Faculty, staff, and students reported feelings of anticipatory anxiety about driving to BGSU, with emotional …

Prosodic Comparisons Between Speech And Music For Different Emotions, Reagan Brothers

Honors Projects

This study compares the prosodic acoustic characteristics between different emotional expressions in speech and clarinet playing and evaluates the similarities in prosody between these two domains. The prosodic features analyzed include pitch, loudness, and duration, which are the psychoacoustic terms referring to fundamental frequency [f_o], intensity, and rate of time. The American folksong “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” was both spoken and performed with three emotions: neutral, sad, and happy. The first comparison was how each prosodic characteristic compared across the three different emotions within each domain, and then prosody was compared across the two domains …

The Timing Of Pubertal Onset Affects Adults Anxiety Behavior In A Sex-Specific Manner, Evan Raubenolt

Honors Projects

This study aims to look at the relationship between the timing of pubertal onset and its long-term effects on adult anxiety behavior in rats. Though the topic of pubertal onset has been frequently discussed in developmental research, its exact effects have been inconsistent. Human models have shown that early and late maturing males are associated with a notable increase in adult anxiety behavior, while in rat models, similar sex-specific effects regarding anxiety have been demonstrated, though those studies focus on a causal relationship between exposure to stress and age of pubertal onset. This study first aims to examine that relationship …

Ideology, Issue Consistency, & Rationality In Political Preferences Among Bgsu Students, Cassidy Kroggel

Honors Projects

Affective polarization — negative feelings toward the opposing political party — is increasing in the United States. As partisanship becomes weaponized, an individual’s ideological consistency becomes an important determiner for their negative feelings toward other individuals with different beliefs. This concern reaches beyond mere disagreement, and has serious implications for the future of our democratic principles: open dialogue, compromise, and policy making. Rationality and the ability to change one’s mind seems to be at the forefront of this issue, acting as a bottom-up driver for policy preference formation. This research analyzes the connection between ideological consistency, rationality, and affective polarization …

Artificial Intelligence In Insurance Fraud Detection: Applications And Implications For Internal Audit, Maria Davis

Honors Projects

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used in accounting and the insurance industry to assist with auditing and fraud detection. The Big Four public accounting firms have invested heavily in AI implementation efforts. Across these firms, AI has been used to reallocate auditors’ time from mundane tasks to more complex tasks that require human judgement. Within the insurance industry, machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing, among other AI tools, have proven helpful in fraud detection efforts. While the positive impacts of AI usage are clear, concerns surrounding the replacement of human jobs, a lack of transparency in auditing, heavy …

From Collision To Coexistence: Data-Driven Approaches To Reducing Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Intakes, Alice Anastos

Honors Projects

This project investigates the primary anthropogenic drivers of wildlife admissions at Lake Erie Nature and Science Center using a quantitative analysis of 10,172 intake records from the WILD-ONe database. Window collisions were by far the leading cause of admission, accounting for 54% of all intakes. Orphaning represented 12%, followed by vehicle collisions (5%) and domestic cat attacks (4%). By integrating findings from current wildlife rehabilitation research, this study identifies evidence-based strategies, such as bird-safe window treatments, public education on natural animal behavior, and targeted urban planning, that can substantially reduce preventable injuries. These results underscore the need for context-specific outreach …

Primary Care Provider Communication Barriers With College-Aged Students, Mckenna Mahakian, Sharon Schaeffer, Rachel Immel

Honors Projects

As both a researcher and a college student, I’ve noticed that my peers and I share a common negative sentiment toward scheduling and attending routine doctor’s appointments. There are unique barriers in place for the age demographic; college students encountering the medical system and Primary Care Providers (PCPs) seem to have unique challenges in communication. I released a qualitative, anonymous survey to Bowling Green State University students to gauge opinionated responses on sentiments regarding how they felt about the level of communication between themselves and their provider, how the pediatric switch to a regular doctor impacted their inpatient care, how …

Explainable Ai For Liver Transplant Survival Prediction: Integrating Immunological Mismatch Features, Sourab Shaik

Honors Projects

Liver Transplantations are crucial treatment for end-stage liver disease. However, a persistent deficit of donor organs necessitates maximizing the utility of each available graft to minimize failure rates. We evaluated whether donor–recipient molecular immunogenicity metrics - Electrostatic and Hydrophobic Mismatch Scores (HMS/EMS) and eplet-based counts - improve post–liver-transplant survival prediction. The analytic cohort comprised adult, first time, single-organ deceased-donor transplants drawn from Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients; follow-up was truncated at five years, and the endpoint was all-cause graft failure (earliest of graft failure or death; otherwise, censored). HLA variables were derived via high- resolution conversion and molecular mismatch computations …

The Rising Age Of The First-Time Homebuyer: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Barriers For Emerging Adults, Stephanie Miller

Honors Projects

The average age of a first-time homebuyer in the United States was 38 years old in 2024. This is a significant increase compared to previous generations, who often achieved homeownership in their late twenties. This project examines structural, economic, and sociological barriers that prevent emerging adults, particularly recent college graduates, from entering the housing market. Through an analysis of national data from the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and Freddie Mac, this paper examines how inflation, limited housing inventory, stagnant wages, restrictive zoning policies, and increasing debt amounts have had disproportionate effects on young buyers. Regardless …

Compensation Transparency In The U.S. Healthcare Workforce, Brandon Perkins

Honors Projects

This study investigates how perceptions of pay transparency among U.S. healthcare workers relate to work engagement, burnout levels, and intentions to stay with their current institution. A quantitative survey was conducted of 200 clinical and non-clinical employees across academic, nonprofit, for-profit, and government healthcare organizations. Self-reported views of transparency were evaluated in relation to validated measures of work engagement, burnout, stay intentions, and pay secrecy. The results showed that increased perceived compensation transparency was highly connected with greater work engagement and lower levels of burnout. Both engagement and burnout appeared as major indicators of the employees' intentions to stay with …

Shaping Smarter Supply Chains With Robotics And Automation, Daniel Delucio

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study is to analyze how companies operate their logistics processes from the procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the final product to customers. By examining current methodologies, the study identifies best practices, emerging trends, and challenges shaping modern supply chain management. Specifically, this research investigates how artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation can be integrated to improve efficiency, transparency, and resilience.

The Bg News November 19, 2025, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. November 19, 2025. Volume 105-Issue 12.

Seeking Kairos: Creating Oases Of Rest Through Contemplative Practice In The Elementary Classroom, Kaisu Aldom

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Seeking Kairos: Creating Oases of Rest through Contemplative Practice in the Elementary Classroom

This article introduces rest and restfulness as contemplative practice in the context of elementary schooling. As a Canadian elementary teacher, I have been researching ways to introduce contemplative practices of education to support children in their well-being. Children struggle under the pressures of expectations to achieve and excel, to conform and perform, which just as well applies to their teachers. Schooling in a burnout society prioritizes achievement, productivity, and always doing something: “No time to waste” and “keep busy” are mandatory. Not incidentally, the etymological meaning of …

A Qualitative Study Of College Student-Athletes Using The Job Demands-Resources Model: A Case For Understanding Student-Athletes As Employees, Michael Spooner, Asia Eaton, Anthony Weems, Tiffany Munro

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

This research conceptualizes the NCAA Division I student-athlete position as similar to a position of employment utilizing the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model developed by Bakker & Demerouti (2017) from the field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. We utilize qualitative methods to conduct an exploratory study that assesses the characteristics of student-athletes through analysis of perceived role demands, role resources, and personal resources using a sample of using a sample of 30 student-athletes (15 men, 15 women) at mostly large Division I universities across the U.S. Data were analyzed utilizing thematic analysis and revealed the various demands that student-athletes faced, as well as …

From Isolation To Integration: The Influence Of Community Engagement With Special Olympics On Ncaa Athletes Experiencing Role Conflict, Grace Fetherstonhaugh, Kirsten Hextrum

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Role conflict is prevalent for college athletes across varying competitive levels, sport types, and identities. Recent reform to the collegiate athletic model, such as enabling college athletes (CAs) to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness, may create additional demands and conflicts for participants. Despite the plethora of research into college athletes’ experiences with role conflict, few studies examine possible solutions. This study offers a novel intervention to role conflict through a community engagement (CE) program. Short, immersive, contributions to one’s local environment can improve social connections, limit negative mental health effects, and generate a higher sense of purpose, all …

“People Need To Hear More About This Esports Team”: Exploring Esports College Athletes’ Transition Experiences, Kibaek Kim, Rhema Fuller, Nick Davidson

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

With the increase of attention towards esports in both industry and academia, volumes of research have been conducted to support professional esports athletes and esports college-athletes (ECAs). Although studies exploring professional esports athletes' transition experiences were available, little to none was known about this experience for ECAs. Based on Schlossberg’s transition theory and previous studies exploring the transition experiences of traditional sports student-athletes, this study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of ECAs’ transition experience. This study conducted three focus group interviews with four ECAs in each group who played the same game. The result of this study showed there …

Navigating Intersections: How Stereotypes And Oppression Shape Black Women Student-Athletes’ College Journeys, Tomika Ferguson, Cherese Fine

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Black women college athletes navigate intersections of race, gender, and athletic ability within predominantly White institutions (PWIs). They can face stereotype threat, racialized academic expectations, and pressures to conform to dominant institution norms. This qualitative study explores the college experiences of Black women college athletes at a predominantly White institution (PWI), focusing on how intersecting oppressions and stereotypes influence their academic, social, and athletic lives. Guided by Black feminist thought (BFT) and stereotype threat theory, the research addresses two questions: What are the college experiences of BWCAs, and how do stereotypes affect these experiences? Findings reveal that pre-college experiences in …