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Transformative Teaching: Enhancing Spiritual Growth In The I'M A Part Church Through Prison Ministry Program Insights, Arlen K. Parham Apr 2025

Transformative Teaching: Enhancing Spiritual Growth In The I'M A Part Church Through Prison Ministry Program Insights, Arlen K. Parham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The research project strived to equip the leadership of small churches with the tools to improve spiritual maturity among church members by utilizing a holistic, evidence-based curriculum developed with transformative teaching from prison ministry insights. The goal is to bring an evidence-based prison curriculum from a correctional setting and implement it in a church setting to improve spiritual maturity. The congregants of the I’m A Part Church agreed to be a test model. The curriculum will advance the church’s mission to invest in others by creating a vetted transformative teaching program. The addition of the transformative teaching curriculum is geared …


Teaching-Induced Emotional Distress: A Phenomenological Study, Elizabeth Paige White Apr 2025

Teaching-Induced Emotional Distress: A Phenomenological Study, Elizabeth Paige White

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study was to interpret the lived experiences of teaching-created emotional distress from secondary teachers in the Midwest. The theory guiding this study is Lazarus and Folkman’s cognitive appraisal theory, as it suggests how the body appraises the harm emotional distress can cause and how coping can limit it. The central research question is how do teachers describe their experiences of teaching with emotional distress? The qualitative research study was done through a hermeneutic phenomenology design. The data was collected through interviews, physical artifacts, and a focus group that includes 13 secondary teachers who have …


Perceptions Of Preparedness Regarding School Violence: A Qualitative Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study, Kirkham Moyle Burbidge Apr 2025

Perceptions Of Preparedness Regarding School Violence: A Qualitative Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study, Kirkham Moyle Burbidge

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to understand the school violence preparedness training perceptions of teachers in K-6 Utah schools. Bandura’s social cognitive theory guides this study by supporting knowledge via social connections and context-specific situations. The central research question was “What are the school violence preparedness training experiences of Utah K-6 school teachers?” Van Manen’s approach to researching lived experiences methodologically guides the qualitative study. Participants were K-6 elementary school teachers in Utah, recruited using purposeful and criterion sampling. Teachers were interviewed individually and in focus groups and invited to reflect on their training experience via protocol …


The Lived Experiences Of African American Males With Absent Fathers: A Phenomenological Study, Justin Danta Gravely-Strayhorn Apr 2025

The Lived Experiences Of African American Males With Absent Fathers: A Phenomenological Study, Justin Danta Gravely-Strayhorn

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the lived experiences of African American males who grew up with absent fathers and how this affected them in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods in the rural and urban areas of Chesapeake, Virginia. The theories guiding this study are Bandura's Social Learning Theory, Vygotsky's social learning theory and Bowlby’s attachment theory. These theories explain cognitive development and the influence of social interaction on children’s attitudes and emotional reactions. The theories also explain the role of observation in social interaction and cognitive development, as both explain how cognitive development is influenced by …


Predicting Parental Satisfaction From School Level And Parental Demographics For Private Christian K-12 Schools In The Southeast United States, William J. Monts Apr 2025

Predicting Parental Satisfaction From School Level And Parental Demographics For Private Christian K-12 Schools In The Southeast United States, William J. Monts

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, predictive correlational study was to investigate the relationship between parental satisfaction in private Christian K-12 schools, school level (primary or secondary), and multiple parental demographic variables. The multiple parental demographic variables include geographic location, ethnicity, gender, religious affiliation, education level, and parental income. This study is important because private Christian school enrollment has been on a decline and will help educational institutions to understand better how to appeal to prospective families. Students and parents of private schools tend to have a high level of stakeholder investment, and parent satisfaction is an outcome that indicates whether …


Teacher Attrition And Mobility In Public Schools In Rural America: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study, Lisa Marie Dunkelberg Apr 2025

Teacher Attrition And Mobility In Public Schools In Rural America: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study, Lisa Marie Dunkelberg

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of teachers who had previously taught at a rural public school in Northern New York State and had left those teaching positions. The problem communicated in this study was the high attrition, turnover, and mobility rates of teachers in rural public schools in the United States. The theory guiding this research is Ehrenberg and Smith’s economic labor market of supply and demand as it relates to the phenomenon of teacher attrition. The central research question of understanding the lived experiences of teachers who have left rural school districts …


A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Covid-19 Mental Health Influences On Post-High School Students And Educators, Melvin J. Thomas Apr 2025

A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Covid-19 Mental Health Influences On Post-High School Students And Educators, Melvin J. Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of post-high school students and educators located in the Northeastern Florida region of the United States. The theory guiding this study was Piaget’s theory on cognitive learning and development, as it assisted with highlighting the lived human experiences relating to the stages of cognitive development and mental health influences because of decreased physical and social interactions and changed learning environments. The qualitative method and the phenomenological design were used, which consisted of collecting data relating to the first-hand experiences of …


The Perceived Impact Of A Faith-Based Divorce Support Group On One’S Spiritual Strength, Mental Health And Ability To Forgive Oneself And Others, Lauren Channing Moultrie Apr 2025

The Perceived Impact Of A Faith-Based Divorce Support Group On One’S Spiritual Strength, Mental Health And Ability To Forgive Oneself And Others, Lauren Channing Moultrie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Faith-based support groups are an important offering by churches to provide resources and support to those in their community who are experiencing difficult circumstances. And for those who are going through a divorce and may question the support that they would receive within their church, the offering of a faith-based divorce support group can be encouraging. Faith-based divorce support groups may allow individuals to gather and learn about the divorce journey as they focus on mental health, forgiveness, spiritual growth, and other unique aspects of divorce. Due to the limited existing research on faith-based divorce support groups, I sought to …


Night Of The Big Wind: A Historical Ya Fiction Novella, Grace Watts Apr 2025

Night Of The Big Wind: A Historical Ya Fiction Novella, Grace Watts

Liberty University Research Week

This oral presentation details Night of the Big Wind, an original, historical fiction novella in the young adult (YA) genre. With the narrative framework of a hurricane which impacted Ireland on January 6th, 1839, the novella seeks to explore concepts of security and home as well as isolation and love. This presentation outlines both the historical and psychological research involved in the novella’s creative process, drawing on multiple disciplines to create a piece of God-centered literature that speaks to the holistic needs of modern young women. Night of the Big Wind creates a realistic setting in rural Ireland, featuring a …


Community Health Assessments And Community Health Worker Training In Rural Guatemala, Grace Sibert Apr 2025

Community Health Assessments And Community Health Worker Training In Rural Guatemala, Grace Sibert

Liberty University Research Week

Public health plays a vital role in the health and well-being of communities, both within the United States and globally. In rural regions, particularly in Central America, addressing prevalent health issues such as hypertension, elevated blood glucose, anemia, and the promotion of sustainable care practices is of integral importance. Community Health Assessments (CHAs) serve as a critical tool for identifying and understanding local health needs, and Community Health Worker (CHW) training offers a sustainable solution to address these challenges. This research builds upon previous CHAs and CHW training initiatives in Guatemala and Honduras. Data collection involved structured questionnaires and biometric …


Scientific Authorial Voice: Incorporating Explicit Instruction In Undergraduate Chemistry Courses, Emma Becker Apr 2025

Scientific Authorial Voice: Incorporating Explicit Instruction In Undergraduate Chemistry Courses, Emma Becker

Liberty University Research Week

The effective development of undergraduate chemistry students for success in professional and academic careers involves emphases on content knowledge and on writing and authorial voice. Unfortunately, most undergraduate chemistry instruction wholly neglects writing and authorial voice instruction in favor of content knowledge instruction. This results in the development of chemistry students who know the content of their field but not how to communicate that knowledge or how to enter the chemistry discourse with their own research. This integrative review identified 71 pieces of scholarly literature and synthesized these sources to reconceptualize writing instruction in undergraduate chemistry and propose explicit instruction …


Joyful Nursing: Leading With Heart In Perinatal Loss Care & Staff Wellness, Kelli Griffiths Apr 2025

Joyful Nursing: Leading With Heart In Perinatal Loss Care & Staff Wellness, Kelli Griffiths

Liberty University Research Week

This quasi-experimental study evaluates if providing individualized follow-up care through self-care bags, follow-up phone calls, open communication for debriefing, and tailored mental health resources enhances support for obstetric staff and improves their ability to care for patients experiencing perinatal loss. Interventions were implemented from February 2024 to August 2024. A total of 103 self-care bags were distributed throughout the designated hospital system's two labor and delivery departments. A five question post-intervention survey was conducted and found the following question to be statistically significant, “I feel the joy in nursing would be restored, to a degree, if obstetric staff were more …


Sensitivity Of A Deep Jscc To Changes In The Number Of Layers Of A Cnn, Hannah Murai Apr 2025

Sensitivity Of A Deep Jscc To Changes In The Number Of Layers Of A Cnn, Hannah Murai

Liberty University Research Week

Implementing convolutional neural networks in a deep joint source and channel coding (JSCC) scheme requires many hyperparameters. Although previous research has investigated the efficiency of a deep JSCC compared to traditional transmission schemes, the sensitivity of the model to differing numbers of layers has not been investigated. We have shown that a deep JSCC scheme’s sensitivity to changes in the number of layers is affected by the value of the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for which it is trained. Utilizing code from GitHub for a deep JSCC, we modified the number of layers in the script and trained and …


Exploring Preclinical Signs And Markers For Neurodegenerative Diseases Via Indirect Testing Of Blood-Brain Barrier Stability, James Brown, Abiha Jafri, Cathryn Martinez, Corey Snyder, Efosa Osayamwen, Emily Dykema, Hadley Brockbank, John Hoegerl, Joseph Ponce, Joshua Ashworth, Karen Kang, Ryan Deweese, Sanobar Shaikh, William Dedmond Apr 2025

Exploring Preclinical Signs And Markers For Neurodegenerative Diseases Via Indirect Testing Of Blood-Brain Barrier Stability, James Brown, Abiha Jafri, Cathryn Martinez, Corey Snyder, Efosa Osayamwen, Emily Dykema, Hadley Brockbank, John Hoegerl, Joseph Ponce, Joshua Ashworth, Karen Kang, Ryan Deweese, Sanobar Shaikh, William Dedmond

Liberty University Research Week

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) arises from inflammation and internal damage occurring within the brain and its surrounding tissues. By the time the various MCI symptoms and systemic inflammation present clinically, significant damage to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) has already occurred. Given current understanding and treatment options, little can be done to reverse the damage; thus, treatment is primarily reactive. This study seeks to evaluate patients presenting with known dementia risk factors (i.e., medication history, relevant pre-existing medical conditions, genetics, etc.) and potential pre-clinical serum-based biomarkers (i.e., GFAP, NfL, IL-6, MMP-3, etc.) identified through a comprehensive literature review. Utilizing a combination …


Memories Of The Lost War Memoir: Genre Subversion, Pilgrimage, And Reflections On Memoir In Tobias Wolff And Tim O’Brien, Peter Rogati Apr 2025

Memories Of The Lost War Memoir: Genre Subversion, Pilgrimage, And Reflections On Memoir In Tobias Wolff And Tim O’Brien, Peter Rogati

Liberty University Research Week

When a flood of literature creates a new genre, as in the 90s with personal accounts of the American War in Vietnam, the question of value demands attention. Value partially materializes from the cultural and literary context of a narrative, and the nineties brought a post-modern landscape littered with self-indulgent celebrity memoirs. Many scholars point to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried as the most well-renowned and best-received piece of literature emergent out of Vietnam. Marlyin Wesley describes O’Brien’s metafiction as valuable because of its subversion of the American War Novel. Edward Linenthal pinpoints the confessional mode as a prime …


Scientific Authorial Voice: Incorporating Explicit Instruction In Undergraduate Chemistry Courses, Emma Becker Apr 2025

Scientific Authorial Voice: Incorporating Explicit Instruction In Undergraduate Chemistry Courses, Emma Becker

Liberty University Research Week

The effective development of undergraduate chemistry students for success in professional and academic careers involves emphases on content knowledge and on writing and authorial voice. Unfortunately, most undergraduate chemistry instruction wholly neglects writing and authorial voice instruction in favor of content knowledge instruction. This results in the development of chemistry students who know the content of their field but not how to communicate that knowledge or how to enter the chemistry discourse with their own research. This integrative review identified 71 pieces of scholarly literature and synthesized these sources to reconceptualize writing instruction in undergraduate chemistry and propose explicit instruction …


An Integrative Approach To The Existential Problem Of Evil In A Post-Pandemic World, Jacob Byrd Apr 2025

An Integrative Approach To The Existential Problem Of Evil In A Post-Pandemic World, Jacob Byrd

Liberty University Research Week

Only a few years have passed since the world experienced a unique manifestation of suffering brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem of evil and suffering has always been a difficult topic to address for Christian pastors and theologians who have now been left to address this problem in the wake of the pandemic. In addition to the suffering from millions of lives being lost, studies have shown a correlation between the pandemic and a significant increase in mental illness in the United States. This is one data point among many instances that add to the uniqueness of the …


Restoration Reparations: A Communication Analysis, Thomas Yu Apr 2025

Restoration Reparations: A Communication Analysis, Thomas Yu

Liberty University Research Week

A communication analysis examining recent rhetoric about the Church's involvement in reparations. To do so, the symbolic communication of Boston's Embrace Monument is examined as a symbolic representation of reparations through the lens of Thompson and Kwon's Restoration Reparations model. Implications for the church were drawn from the findings.


A Crown In Death: A Dramaturgical Approach To The Trojan Women Of Euripides, Stephanie Lester Apr 2025

A Crown In Death: A Dramaturgical Approach To The Trojan Women Of Euripides, Stephanie Lester

Liberty University Research Week

In the action-packed, visually-oriented market for modern media, some may assume a 2,400-year-old classical play to be slightly past its expiration date, especially if that play features little to no action on stage like in Euripides’ The Trojan Women. However, it is important to remember that literature is lost when the world fails to cherish it, so if a text survives that long, it may be worth another cursory glance. In this case, that glance involved a full dramaturgical study featuring qualitative script analysis of multiple translations of The Trojan Women with related texts to explore context, themes, common literary …


Shaping Wartime Illinois: Dwight H. Green’S Re-Election Campaign Of 1944, Cole Klicker Apr 2025

Shaping Wartime Illinois: Dwight H. Green’S Re-Election Campaign Of 1944, Cole Klicker

Liberty University Research Week

The 1944 Illinois gubernatorial election was a pivotal moment in the state’s political history, taking place amidst the broader context of World War II. Despite Illinois voters supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth presidential term and electing a Democratic senator, they diverged at the state level by re-electing Republican Governor Dwight H. Green. This raises the central research question: What factors contributed to Dwight H. Green’s successful re-election campaign in 1944, and how did his political strategies, governance, and alignment with 1940s Republican values shape the outcome of the election? This study explores Green’s ability to navigate the complex political environment …


Bytes, Banter, And The Bible: An Interdisciplinary Account Of Objective Meaning, Cameron Bonin Apr 2025

Bytes, Banter, And The Bible: An Interdisciplinary Account Of Objective Meaning, Cameron Bonin

Liberty University Research Week

The claim that the Bible has objective meaning is contested in a postmodern world. Many theologians and philosophers have sought to address this critique. One such philosopher is Nicholas Wolterstorff, who makes use of speech-act theory to defend authorial-discourse interpretation. His case is especially presented in his work, Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim that God Speaks. But theologians and philosophers are not the only ones concerned with the nature of meaning. As such, the assertion that the biblical texts have objective meaning can be more persuasively defended when it is addressed by insights from multiple disciplines. In particular, …


A Gripping Controversy: Examining Hoplite Spear Grip Positions In Art, Practice, And Context, Ethan Pierce Apr 2025

A Gripping Controversy: Examining Hoplite Spear Grip Positions In Art, Practice, And Context, Ethan Pierce

Liberty University Research Week

The Greek Hoplite was the principal warrior of Archaic and Classical period Greece. The citizen militiaman was outfitted primarily with a large shield and spear, which he used in a dense Phalanx formation to combat foes for nearly three centuries. In the absence of written records detailing how individual hoplites fought, historians have turned to the artistic record. Archaic and Classical age vase paintings, depicting hoplites in combat, have served as the basis for nearly all reconstructions of hoplite warfare. The majority of these vase paintings depict hoplites holding their spears overhead in an overhand grip position. This grip position, …


Abandonment In Children's Literature, Paige Sturek Apr 2025

Abandonment In Children's Literature, Paige Sturek

Liberty University Research Week

The presence of characters in children’s literature who experience abandonment or grow up in a broken family has become more and more prominent in recent years. This growing trend, according to Marilyn Apseloff, is because society has shifted from familism to individualism. Because of this shift, there has been less focus on stabilizing and nurturing the family and more focus on satisfying the personal desires of the individual. Examples of children’s literature that illustrate this shift include The Tale of Despereaux, Peter Pan, and The Boy on the Porch. While the authors of the first two works listed, Kate DiCamillo …


When Posters Went To War: The Division Of Pictorial Publicity And Propaganda Posters In World War I, Kaitlyn Misirian Apr 2025

When Posters Went To War: The Division Of Pictorial Publicity And Propaganda Posters In World War I, Kaitlyn Misirian

Liberty University Research Week

In the Great War, the United States of America established its first large-scale propaganda agency, calling upon 300 artists to inspire the nation to contribute to the war effort. Since radio and film would not gain popularity until the Second World War, posters were the primary news source of war information during the Great War. Poster topics focused on recruitment, financial needs, and homefront issues. Over two-thirds of the total war cost was raised by the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive advertised by the Division’s compelling posters. The artists took their jobs seriously and recognized the significance of their duties to …


Don Lonie: America’S No. 1 High School Assembly Speaker, Kimberly Weaner Apr 2025

Don Lonie: America’S No. 1 High School Assembly Speaker, Kimberly Weaner

Liberty University Research Week

This paper examines the life and legacy of Don Lonie, a prominent American evangelist known as “America’s No. 1 high-school assembly speaker” during the mid-20th century. For over 45 years, Lonie toured the United States, delivering Christian motivational talks to teenagers at high schools, PTA meetings, business gatherings, churches, and military bases. Using humor, teen language, and a straightforward approach, Lonie communicated messages of abstinence, personal responsibility, and faith. His bestselling albums, Talks With Teenagers and Talks Again, demonstrate his influence in youth evangelicalism, yet his story remains largely unexplored. Despite speaking to over a million people, Lonie's contributions to …


Imitation, The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: Whether The Unauthorized Use Of A Trademark After The Termination Of A Franchise Constitutes Counterfeiting?, Rachel Auld Apr 2025

Imitation, The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: Whether The Unauthorized Use Of A Trademark After The Termination Of A Franchise Constitutes Counterfeiting?, Rachel Auld

Liberty University Research Week

This note examines whether the unauthorized use of a trademark after the termination of a franchise constitutes counterfeiting. Currently, the Sixth Circuit and Ninth Circuit of the United States are divided in answering this question. The Sixth Circuit held that a franchisee’s use of a franchisor’s trademark following the termination of a franchise does not constitute a counterfeit mark under the Lanham Act. However, the Ninth Circuit held that a licensee’s use of a licensor’s certification mark following the termination of the license does constitute a counterfeit mark. While certification marks and trademarks differ in name, the core purpose of …


Bricks: Using Music To Increase Individual Mindfulness, Lakievia Johnson Apr 2025

Bricks: Using Music To Increase Individual Mindfulness, Lakievia Johnson

Liberty University Research Week

Christian Secular music uses various literary devices to communicate messages in music lyrics. Depending on the context of the lyrics, the lyrics can be interpreted to be helpful and empowering or corrupting and harmful. Using various literary tools and devices, many messages in Christian Secular music can be interpreted in more than one way, and identifying the dual or multiple interpretations of the lyrics has multiple benefits. First, becoming aware of multiple interpretations enhances mindfulness and self-awareness. Increased mindfulness is an asset to believers and non-believers alike. For non-believers and believers, increased mindfulness promotes awareness of intention and improved decision-making. …


Joyful Nursing By Leading With Heart In Perinatal Loss Care And Staff Wellness, Kelli Griffiths Apr 2025

Joyful Nursing By Leading With Heart In Perinatal Loss Care And Staff Wellness, Kelli Griffiths

Liberty University Research Week

This mixed methods study evaluates if providing individualized follow-up care through self-care bags, follow-up phone calls, open communication for debriefing, and tailored mental health resources enhances support for obstetric staff and improves their ability to care for patients experiencing perinatal loss. Interventions were implemented from February 2024 to August 2024. A total of 103 self-care bags were distributed throughout the designated hospital systems' two labor and delivery departments. A five question post-intervention survey was conducted and found the following question to be statistically significant, "I feel the joy in nursing would be restored, to a degree, if obstetric staff were …


A Comparative Analysis Of Memory Loss And Cognitive Decline In The Workplace: U.S. Vs. South Korea & Other Countries And The Role Of Hr, Chidubem Xerona Nnajiofor Apr 2025

A Comparative Analysis Of Memory Loss And Cognitive Decline In The Workplace: U.S. Vs. South Korea & Other Countries And The Role Of Hr, Chidubem Xerona Nnajiofor

Liberty University Research Week

HR strategies that incorporate cognitive health initiatives, inspired by successful models from South Korea, Europe, and Japan, can mitigate cognitive decline in the workplace and improve productivity among aging employees in the U.S. I aim to answer the research question: How do workplace health policies in South Korea, Europe, and Japan address cognitive decline, and what can the U.S. learn from them? This research explores how HR policies in these countries address cognitive decline in the workplace. By analyzing the effectiveness of workplace health initiatives, cognitive enrichment programs, and nutritional policies, this study aims to propose HR strategies that can …


Teacher Attrition And Mobility In Public Schools In Rural America: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study, Lisa Dunkelberg Apr 2025

Teacher Attrition And Mobility In Public Schools In Rural America: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study, Lisa Dunkelberg

Liberty University Research Week

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of teachers who had previously taught at a rural public school in Northern New York State and had left those teaching positions. The problem communicated in this study was the high attrition, turnover, and mobility rates of teachers in rural public schools in the United States. The theory guiding this research is Ehrenberg and Smith’s economic labor market of supply and demand as it relates to the phenomenon of teacher attrition. The central research question of understanding the lived experiences of teachers who have left rural school districts …