Digital Commons Network^™

Collaboration Of Board Certified Behavior Analysts And Special Education Teachers In Transition, Amelia Ruth Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Transitions occur at many points in a child's educational journey. For children with disabilities, these changes in routine, service providers, and setting may be especially difficult and result in problem behavior. Special education teachers are expected to facilitate a smooth transition from one setting to another, teaching appropriate skills and addressing problem behavior as it arises. Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), who have an expertise in problem behavior and skill generalization, are currently under-utilized in schools and could work collaboratively with special education teachers and other stakeholders to make it easier for students with disabilities experiencing a school transition. As …

The Effects Of Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams In A Self-Contained Elementary Classroom For Students With Emotional Or Behavioral Disorders, Peyton Ann Johnstone

Theses and Dissertations

Class-wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a classroom management intervention that incorporates positive behavior support (PBS) principles by teaching students specific classroom behavioral expectations during instructional time and providing students feedback on their behavior and use of social skills throughout the day. Students who are at risk for or are classified with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD) often struggle more both academically and socially than their peers. Because of the serious challenges that students with EBD face, it is important to find effective PBS interventions to help them be successful, both socially and academically. Researchers examined the effects of CW-FIT …

Perceptions Of Violent Content And Their Relationships On Aggressive Behavior: The Effects Of Implicit Beliefs On Aggression In Relation To Video Content, Logan Mccombs

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research shows that consuming violent media can lead to increased aggression in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Several other factors also contribute to such behaviors but have not been thoroughly studied including implicit beliefs about aggression in relation to media content. This two-part study consists of (1) an exploratory iterated principal-factor method to create an implicit belief measure about consuming violent media in conjunction with correlational analyses and (2) between subjects hierarchical linear regression models to determine what effects implicit beliefs have on subsequent aggression after participants view either a violent of nonviolent video, while controlling for violent media consumption …

The Influence Of Religious And Political Discrepancies On Parent-Adolescent Social Cohesion, Emily De Schweinitz Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

American youth are leaving organized religion at historical levels. Given that religious and political similarity (consensual solidarity) tends to strengthen affectual solidarity (emotional connection) in parent-adolescent dyads, decreasing adolescent religiousness and increasing political disagreements may threaten family social cohesion. However, during adolescence, youth empathy skills tend to increase and adolescents’ conflict with their parents tends to eventually subside. Based on principles outlined in intergenerational family solidarity theory, I hypothesized that adolescent empathy skills and authoritative parenting style would buffer the negative relational effects of religious and political discrepancies within the parent-adolescent relationship. I used Waves 2-4 (referred to as Times …

The Role Of Instructors In Fostering A Sense Of Belonging For Native Hawaiian And Pacific Islander University Students, Kehaulani Oleole Malzl

Theses and Dissertations

An alarmingly high level of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students in the United States end up dropping out of secondary education institutions. One important predictor of academic success and retention at the secondary level is student sense of school belonging. This thesis explores NHPI college students' perceptions of how their university instructors foster or undermine their sense of school belonging. A snowball sample of 97 NHPI students participated in 18 focus groups that included students from various islands and ethnicities in Oceania who were attending one U.S. university in the Pacific Rim. Focus group data were transcribed …

Creating A Role-Based New Intern Training, Kalib Taylor

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

The purpose of this project was to create a role-based training for new interns in the Online Learning Division of the Seminaries and Institutes department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before the creation of this training, resources for training new interns were difficult to find and incorporate into their training. Backwards design theory and case-based learning strategy were utilized to create a cohesive, holistic, spiritually edifying training experience for new interns.

Associations Between Young Children's Problematic Media Use And Physiological Regulation -- Does Temperament Act As A Mediator?, Noah Alexander Chojnacki

Theses and Dissertations

Given the ubiquity of media use, especially among young children, the current study examines the impact of problematic media use (PMU) on children's (N = 418, M age = 53.62 months, SD = 3.38 months, M and SD are taken from the full sample of 418 children) physiological functioning. With previous studies reporting relations between media use, temperament, and physiological regulation, it was hypothesized that children with greater levels of PMU would have lower levels of baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; a measure of physiological regulatory capacity). It is further hypothesized that, higher levels of negative affect, and lower levels …

Exploring How To Reduce Ethnocentrism Through Critical Analysis Of Foreign News Reports In Foreign Language Learning, Rosemarie Jensen Bybee

Theses and Dissertations

In today's globalized world, more interaction exists among people from diverse cultural backgrounds. It is essential to be open-minded about cultural diversity to prevent speculative assumptions about others and to be able to interact positively with various people--one approach to addressing this problem might be through language teaching and learning. This exploratory study focused on critically analyzing foreign news reports to improve students' understanding of other cultures and reduce possible ethnocentric views. Results from the revised Generalized Ethnocentrism (GENE) scale pre-post survey indicate a slight decrease in students' ethnocentrism scores from the beginning to the end of the semester. Also, …

The Embodied Experience Of Adult Educators, Heather Drew Francis

Theses and Dissertations

This interview study investigates the embodied experiences of adult educators, exploring how they perceive and utilize bodily knowledge in their instructional practice. Through interviews and observations with five adult educators, the study highlights challenges in articulating the role of physical experiences in teaching. The study reveals four major themes: (a) participants perceive or approach instruction as a performance, engaging with various performance tools like voice, sound, proximity, and posture to impact content delivery and classroom management; (b) bodily knowledge informs the educator's improvisational skills as they receive sensory input and adapt to student and environmental cues during teaching; (c) while …

Therapeutic Benefits Of Psychedelics: Effectiveness For Addiction Treatment, Mental Health Issues, And End-Of-Life Care, Emma Roberts

Student Works

As more research is done, psychedelics are increasingly recognized as a viable option for addiction treatment, mental health issues, and end-of-life care. Studies have hit roadblocks in the past due to the stigma surrounding psychedelics that formed in the 1960s. Since then, regulations have loosened, and psychedelic therapy has become a possible alternative for those who do not find their current treatments effective (Al-Harbi, 2012, as cited in Gardner, 2019; Gardner, 2019). Psychedelics can help individuals abstain from addictions (Sharma et al., 2023). Additionally, psychedelics can be a viable treatment for mental illnesses (Nygart et al., 2022) and can be …

Efficacy Of An Online Mindfulness Training To Improve Well-Being In K-12 Teachers: A Randomized Waitlist Controlled Trial, Katelyn Naomi Jackman

Theses and Dissertations

Concerns about the mental health and well-being of K-12 schoolteachers have never been more urgent, with stress levels, burnout, and rates of attrition reaching historically high levels. Mindfulness-based interventions may be a professional development option for teachers to better meet the demands of their career with skills such as mental flexibility, emotion regulation, resilience, empathy, compassion, and interpersonal skills. This study examines the efficacy of the Mindfulness for Humans (MfH) course, an online, self-directed mindfulness curriculum that is grounded in evidence-based practices, is easily accessible and scalable, relatively brief, and requires little or no work on the part of the …

Trauma-Informed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction To Increase Family Quality Of Life For Mothers Of Children With Autism: A Pilot Study, Carol May Vaughn

Theses and Dissertations

Mothers of children with autism have a higher rate of stress than mothers of neurotypical children and mothers of children with other disabilities. This impacts their family quality of life. This study aimed to show that by teaching mothers trauma-informed mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques they were able to switch their perspectives and feel that they had increased the relationships with their child with autism and increased the rating they give their family quality of life. The participants were recruited using word of mouth and through distribution of posters to autism communities following approval of the experiment through the institutional review …

Distinguishing Between Symptom Presence And Severity Using A Two-Part Sequential Model, Luiza Ferreira Pradera

Theses and Dissertations

Most symptom measures either implicitly or explicitly distinguish between symptom presence and symptom severity. For example, item 2 on the PHQ-9, a commonly used measure of depressive symptoms, asks respondents to rate how much they have been 'feeling down, depressed, or hopeless.' The response options are 0 (Not at all), 1 (Several Days), 2 (More than half the days), and 3 (Nearly every day). Answering 0 indicates that the symptom is not present, and any response greater than 0 suggests the symptom is present. Higher values indicate higher severity of the symptom. Although the response options distinguish between symptom presence …

Quality Of Life Outcomes Among Female Student-Athletes: Exploring The Role Of Coach-Athlete Relationships, Ashley Renee Kernan

Theses and Dissertations

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) first integrated into collegiate athletics in 1906 with the goal to govern burgeoning sports activities. More than 1,098 colleges and universities participate in the NCAA and have sports teams on their campuses. Although NCAA athletics has gained popularity through the years, much of the research and education has focused on men's sports in the NCAA, thus ignoring the sharp increase of women participating in NCAA. This increase came after Title IX was implemented and now almost half of student-athletes in Division I sports are female. While some conducted research includes female student-athletes in the …

"Hey, Guys": How Youtubers Attempt To Fix Their Mistakes With Apologies And Transparasocial Relationships, Callie Day Tenney

Theses and Dissertations

YouTube apology videos from social media influencers offer a compelling perspective on personal accountability, the intricate bond between creators and viewers, and a way to take a closer look into them. This study employs the situational crisis communication theory and expands upon the trans-parasocial relationship model to elucidate how YouTubers leverage these theoretical frameworks in their apology videos. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of 30 videos spanning the last eight years on YouTube, this research seeks to identify common apology strategies, linguistic patterns, nonverbal cues, and technical aspects to uncover recurring themes and consistencies. The analysis found strong themes of …

Developing An Artistic Self In Preservice Elementary Teachers: A Studio Art Curriculum To Promote Art Integration, Karilee D. Park

Theses and Dissertations

With the continual use of standardized testing, teaching art in schools, particularly elementary schools, often falls to generalist teachers with little to no experience in art. While art can be integrated into daily curriculum for deeper and lasting learning, without the proper training or support, generalist teachers are left to implement art as they encountered it in the past, if at all. Artistic anxiety and culturally misappropriated artistic experiences result in the arts being used inefficiently or avoided completely. Creating a curriculum for preservice elementary generalist teachers, I explored art integration through developing artistic confidence, skill, and identity for 16 …

Sometimes Windows Break, Samantha Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

The sensation of detachment and reclusion frequently gives rise to an uncanny and dreamlike space. Enveloped within this dimension, the quirks of memory become a fragile lifeline to bygone, intangible ideas of reality. Fixated on this threshold, my artistic explorations in print, collage, and assemblage navigates these elusive realms, rendering fragmented and distant shapes and figures in stark contrast to elements that evoke an eerie sense of familiarity. In this manner, my work invites viewers to embrace the disconcerting and unsettling aspects of the in-between, all the while establishing an unsettling connection to reality through the lens of nostalgic objects …

The National Basketball Association Communications Strategy For The 2019-20 Season Restart, Trevor Dale Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the NBA's communications efforts from June 4 to July 30, 2020 as it prepared for an unprecedented season restart in the early days of a global pandemic. While scholars have examined the media's framing of the NBA in this period, there is a gap in the literature when looking at the official NBA communications strategy of the organization itself. As the first study to use risk communication theory in a sports scenario while also employing corporate social advocacy as the second theoretical basis of analysis, this qualitative study is a thematic and textual analysis of 14 NBA …

Validating Boyness: How Art Education Allows Male Adolescent Students A Space For Authenticity, Vulnerability, Empathy, And Connection, Stephanie Behlke-Mcfarland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines societal norms and unwritten rules for boys as they mature. It is hypothesized that most boys deal with emotional suppression or dissociation in varying degrees of severity due to traumas during their developmental years. This dissociation creates an inability to express their own emotions adequately and therefore affects their ability to empathize with others. A lack of vulnerability may also be a common challenge among boys society still considers vulnerability weakness. This pattern continues into adulthood and is then perpetuated through posterity and future generations. This thesis explores through a qualitative case study how using art integration …

Neural Correlates Of Emotion Word Processing In Bilinguals: An Fnirs Study, Daniela Andrea Ortega Manchego

Theses and Dissertations

Despite increasing interest in the interface between emotion word processing and bilingualism, the representation of valence during emotion word processing in the bilingual brain remains unclear. In the present study, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the neural correlates of written emotion words in a first (L1) and a second (L2) language. Native English (16) and native Chinese (16) bilingual participants rated emotion words in their first and second language while we recorded their brain activity. Our results show distinct neural processing patterns between L1 and L2, with the former eliciting increased overall activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal …

Application Of High-Deflection Strain Gauges To Characterize Spinal-Motion Phenotypes Among Patients With Clbp, Spencer Alan Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a nonspecific and persistent ailment that entails many physiological, psychological, social, and economic consequences for individuals and societies. Although there is a plethora of treatments available to treat CLBP, each treatment has varying efficacy for different patients, and it is currently unknown how to best link patients to their ideal treatment. However, it is known that biopsychosocial influences associated with CLBP affect the way that we move. It has been hypothesized that identifying phenotypes of spinal motion could facilitate an objective and repeatable method of determining the optimal treatment for each patient. The objective …

Comics About Organs: Social Support And Graphic Medicine In The Awkward Yeti, Jacob Gibb

Theses and Dissertations

Comic strips have always been a medium for more than humor. Many comic strips published on social media sites address mental health issues. Despite their popularity, the field of graphic medicine, which examines the intersection of health care and comics, has seen little to no examination of how these comics function on social media. Utilizing the popular comic The Awkward Yeti, this research examines how the rhetorical devices of comics make them an ideal medium for communicating about mental health issues and providing social support to social media users. This study conducts a content analysis of 15 Instagram posts from …

Can Podcasts Reduce Affective Polarization By Combating Contextomy Via Long-Form Discussions?, Luke D. Hartvigsen

Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing concern regarding political polarization in the United States, most notably the phenomenon of affective polarization, which is when polarization increases negative feelings toward those who differ politically. The current dissertation project sought to address this issue by testing a media intervention using podcasts. Podcasts allow speakers to talk for hours uninterrupted through long-form discussions, whereas other media often edit political discussions to the point of contextomy (editing and framing a quote out of its proper context). Podcasts were created for this dissertation which differed on the political message of the podcast guest (conservative vs. liberal), and …

Cmv And Brain Volume, Scott Maclean, Ashley Catchpole, Ethan Coulter, Elijah Davis, Bethany Richmond, Thomas Farrer, Dawson Hedges, Shawn Gale, Lance Erickson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

In a sample of UK adults aged 40-69, we conducted multivariable regression analysis on the relationship between cytomegalovirus (CMV) and brain volume accounting for several health covariates. Although no main effects emerged, we found that socioeconomic status moderated the relationship, such that in low socioeconomic groups, CMV predicted lower thalamic and hippocampal volumes.

Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Religiosity: Implications For The Parasympathetic Nervous System, Sydnee Bond, Hannah Hornberger, Parker Mckasson, Patrick Steffen Phd

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Background

Intrinsic religiosity is a deeply rooted connection to one's faith. Individuals with high intrinsic religiosity find purpose and meaning through their spiritual connections. Extrinsic religiosity is primarily driven by social or other superficial factors. Intrinsic religiosity has demonstrated associations with lower self-reported stress, however, associations between intrinsic/extrinsic religiosity and baseline heart rate variability (HRV), a proxy measure of the parasympathetic nervous system, have not been studied. We hypothesize that higher self-reported stress will be associated with a lower baseline HRV, higher intrinsic religiosity will be correlated with higher baseline HRV, and intrinsic religiosity will serve as a buffer, such …

Inservice Professional Development For Educators In A Democracy: Moving From Theory To Practice, Rachel Lynn Wadham

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents research that addresses the question of how professional development influences inservice teachers' professional identity. In three journal articles, specific inquiries address research questions drawn from this broader conversation. In article one, we answered the question of what unifying characteristics democratic educators exhibit in their pedagogies and methods. By conducting an integrative literature review, we find that those who indicate that they are democratic educators used four major pedagogical categories including inquiry methods, artistic methods, oral methods, and student-centered methods. In the second article, we addressed the question of how professional development influences teachers' professional civic identities. In …

Instructional Readership: A Narrative Case Study Examining How Books Influence The Professional Practices Of School Principals In One Rural/Suburban School District, Jeffrey D. Hamm

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To explore what books school principals are reading and to determine how those books influence principals’ professional practices. A comprehensive literature review was cross-referenced with in-depth interview (IDI) results from 20 currently practicing building principals conducted at both the elementary and secondary levels. Methods: This qualitative study might be best described as a census in which 20 of the 24 principals employed in a hybrid rural/ suburban school district during the 2022–23 school year participated in the IDI process utilizing a pre-interview checklist and a semi-structured interview protocol. The data were analyzed according to Saldaña’s (2021) Codes to Theory …

Psychotherapy Client Termination Patterns And Outcomes: A Large Follow-Up Study, Including Zero-, One-, And Two-Session Cases, Adam Victor Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical research examining psychotherapy clients' post treatment outcomes for all case lengths and their reasons for discontinuing treatment is limited in the literature, particularly for shorter case lengths. Research indicates that clients with zero-, one-, and two-session case lengths are the most common in psychotherapy (Howard et al., 1986; Nielsen et al., 2016; Phillips, 1985; Phillips 1987); and yet, little is known about these clients. The purpose of this study is to better understand these termination patterns and outcomes for the most common case lengths. Outcomes were measured with the Outcome Questionnaire-45 total score (OQ-45; Lambert et al., 2004). Client …

Standardizing The Volunteer Experience: Mtc Interpretation Volunteer Onboarding Course, Parker Whitelock

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

This project report outlines the development and implementation of an onboarding course for volunteer interpreters at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC). Aimed at standardizing the introductory experience, the course covers areas such as MTC campus navigation, interpretation equipment use, and volunteer policies, alongside instilling a spiritual foundation for the volunteers' service. The course was designed to accommodate a diverse range of volunteers, emphasizing clear, accessible instructions and practical application through self-paced modules on the Canvas platform. Feedback from initial implementation indicates high relevance, clarity, and satisfaction among volunteers, with suggestions for further enhancement. This endeavor not only enhances operational …

Thriving As Educators: A Study On Cultivating Joy And Longevity In Teaching, Stephanie Anne Wilkinson Witt

Theses and Dissertations

This instrumental case study explored the phenomenon of long-term teachers of a school district in the Western United States who continue to enjoy teaching. They were asked about their well-being at work, using the elements of the PERMA theory of well-being--positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments--and how those impacted their enjoyment and their choice to continue teaching. The case consisted of seven teachers who each had at least 10 years of experience teaching. Each participant was interviewed about what they do to enjoy and continue teaching. Through analysis, clear strategies and actionable steps that teachers can take to continue …