Digital Commons Network^™

A Review Of Undergraduate Athletic Training Program Entrance Requirements., Christopher D. Brown, Kelly Potteiger, Kimberly Keeley, Andrew Lundgren, Shannon David

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Athletic Training (AT) education is undergoing a major change with the transition to the professional Master’s degree. This evolution provides opportunity for faculty to reassess programmatic requirements. Admissions criteria is the first benchmark set for students and may predict future success. Currently, there is no evidence describing common AT entrance requirements. Objective(s): To determine current practices in AT admissions, establish best practices for developing admissions criteria, and discuss the potential impact of the transition to professional master’s degree on the admissions process.

Methods: Design: Cross-Sectional Study. Setting(s): Web-based survey in the fall of 2014. Participant(s): 361 undergraduate program directors …

Exploring Identity And Negotiation Among Women Military Interrogators Through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, James Dorough-Lewis

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Post-modern feminist security studies explore how our discourse about gender and war affects the construction of security as a concept. Military narratives valorizing the masculine over the feminine have long marginalized women warriors. In recent years, images of the torture and abuse of detainees have appropriated the representation of women interrogators during the Global War on Terrorism in particular. This research applied interpretative phenomenological analysis to the narratives of women interrogators in order to challenge the silence concerning their lived experiences by addressing how women interrogators understand their experiences both as woman and as interrogators, and how they negotiated socially …

Conflict, Clergy And Culture: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Identities And Conflict Resolution Approaches Of Jamaican Church Leaders Residing In South Florida, Davina Clarke

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The study of conflict resolution has ballooned in the last few decades, but the literature remains sparse regarding leaders’ perspectives of navigating conflict. Currently, researchers have not addressed the conflict experiences of Jamaican church leaders residing in South Florida. Using phenomenology and social construction theory, I explored the lived experiences of this population as they addressed conflict. Twenty-two church leaders from Rhema Word Ministries International and affiliated organizations answered interview questions for an average of 45 to 60 minutes each. The data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed, yielding seven core themes: solving problems, exercising faith in God, demonstrating compassion, building …

The Use Of Social Media As A Conduit To Promote Social Justice In The Deaf Community, As A Cultural And Linguistic Minority, Through The Visual Language Of American Sign Language: A Movement Against Audism, Sarah K. Glenn-Smith

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This research employed a case study approach to understand emerging themes that may be garnered through documenting the lived experiences of online Deaf activists who have used the video feature available through social media outlets, such as YouTube, as a way to overcome the language barrier typically present for linguistic minorities who are leading social movements within an English-speaking, hearing majority. The focus of this study was the members of the Deaf Community that have taken to an online podium in their fight for autonomy and equality. They champion their Deaf identity, their right to agency and autonomy in areas …

Redefining Safety: An Analysis Of Cultural And International Safe Havens In The Context Of Genocidal Violence, Antonella Regueiro

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The international community has shied away from instituting safe havens in conflict zones since the fall of Srebreniça in 1995. However, a look at the roles of safe havens in genocidal violence provides a deeper understanding of the need for these spaces to be established in a timely fashion. The strategic use of cultural safe havens as places for mass violence, necessitates the establishment of international safe havens for the protection of the targeted population, yet an analysis of the relationship between cultural safe havens and international safe havens has not been done before. As such, this research seeks to …

Parent Beliefs, Attitudes, And Needs In Preschool Age Literacy Development In A Head Start Program, Dianna Jean Mccoy

Theses and Dissertations

The topic of this applied dissertation concerns parents from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds participation in support of literacy development of their preschool aged children. Evidence from the limited research on this topic suggested that some parents rely on the school to teach literacy to their children beginning in kindergarten. Consequently, little time and effort is dedicated to preschool narrative skills, letter knowledge (other than the ABC song), print awareness, phonological awareness, print motivation, and vocabulary.

Literacy development begins before children enter kindergarten. Kindergarten teachers expect children to be able to identify letters, their sounds, print their names. Children without …

A Case Study Of Collaboration Between General Education Teachers And Special Education Teachers In A Southern Rural High School, Oassie Jean Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was framed around issues associated with the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom as these issues related to teacher collaboration. Specifically, the problem on which this study focused was that according to the principal at the research site, the general education teachers and special education teacher needed to collaborate more successfully in order to be more helpful to the students. The purpose of this case study was twofold. First, the researcher wished to determine how and to what extent collaboration practices occurred between general education teachers and special education teachers in a southern …

Chinese International Students In A Northwest University: Investigating Cultural Academic Learning And Teaching Preferences, Michael L. Bevis

Theses and Dissertations

As Chinese international students on American university campuses continue to rise, the importance of these institutions to accommodate the students in adapting to a different academic culture has become more critical. On a public, coeducational research university located in the Pacific Northwest, a concurrent triangulated mixed method research design was implemented to investigate cultural factors with preferred learning and teaching styles of Chinese international students along with what corroborative descriptions these students provide as effective learning experiences in American college classrooms.

The study brought attention to Chinese international students’ differing cultural values from the previous literature understanding, it supported previous …

Evaluating The Attitudes Of Preservice Teachers Toward Multicultural Competence, Angela D. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the ethnicity of the student population across the nation necessitated a change in teacher education curricula. This explanatory, sequential, mixed-method study examined how a group of preservice teachers viewed the importance of multicultural competence before and after student teaching. Specifically, an evaluation of preservice teachers’ attitudes about their own multicultural preparedness was made prior to and after being given full responsibility for an ethnically diverse classroom.

The study employed quantitative and qualitative measures to assess preservice teachers’ levels of multicultural competence as well as their awareness of self-perceptions of multicultural competence that contribute to attitudes toward teaching an …

Effects Of A Peer-Tutoring System Utilizing Students With Emotional Behavioral Disorders As Tutors And Students With Intellectual Disabilities As Tutees, Vicki Koslin Howell

Theses and Dissertations

High school students with intellectual disabilities often find appropriate ways and times to socialize with their peers. In self-contained settings, students are often limited to interacting with only those within the classroom. In addition, students with emotional behavioral disorders often have deficits in social domains and in self-esteem. Improving socializations of students with disabilities has always been a concern of both parents and teachers. Peer-mediated learning has been a proven effective way to instruct students with disabilities. Placing a student with an emotional behavioral disorder in the position of a peer tutor allows them to feel more secure in their …

Psychometric Properties Of The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire In An Argentine Sample, Maria Noel Anchorena, Fiona Ghiglione, Martin Nader

Archives of Assessment Psychology

Mindfulness-based interventions have proliferated in both clinical and non-clinical contexts in recent years, as has scientific research investigating their effectiveness. To date, numerous questionnaires have been developed for measuring state and trait mindfulness. Very few, however, have been validated within non-English speaking populations, in which mindfulness is now increasingly of interest. In this regard, this study examined the psychometric properties of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire for a Spanish-speaking sample from Argentina. Reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity scores were acceptable and in line with previous studies. Using CFA techniques, the results show a reduction in the scale to 22-items and …

An Exploration Of Impacts Of A Culturally Relevant Online Orientation Course For Indigenous American Students At A Tribal College, Melanie F. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed was the low level of technology skills and access to technology among Native American students entering tribal colleges. The purpose of the quantitative study was to examine the impact of the culturally relevant Jenzabar Online Orientation Course on tribal college students’ preparedness for participation in online courses and use of the learning management system (LMS). Impact of the orientation course as well as the impact of the 7 Anishinaabe cultural values incorporated into the course were examined. Data were collected by administering a survey. Participants for the study were 45 freshmen and transfer students at the target …

Closing The Achievement Gap In Mathematics For Students With Learning Disabilities Utilizing The Resource Room As An Intervention, Esta H. Brownstein

Theses and Dissertations

Students with learning disabilities are placed in general education classrooms in increasing numbers. Many of these students receive additional services in Resource Room programs taught by a special education teacher. The intent of this study was to determine if students with disabilities, who were struggling in mathematics, increased achievement utilizing Resource Room instruction as an intervention. Students in the study were in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades and performed at least one grade level below expectations for that grade in mathematics. All of the students had a specific learning disability. This study investigated the correlation, if any, between the amounts …

Career Morph: Quantitizing Adversity In Academic Medicine, Carol Isaac, Rebecca Mcsorley, Alexandra Schultz

The Qualitative Report

Many qualitative researchers reject textual conversion based on philosophical grounds although others believe it facilitates pattern recognition and meaning extraction. This article examined interview data from 52 physicians from a large academic medical center regarding work–life balance. Analysis ranked men and women in four career tracks: Clinician-Educator, Clinician-Researcher, Clinician-Practitioner, and residents. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a qualitatively driven (QUAL→quan) mixed method design illustrated differences between stratified groups. Although many initial codes were similar for men and women, their language was gendered and generational in context of work-life balance. Results indicated that women (and low-status men) …

Newcomers In A Nontraditional Receiving Community: Korean Immigrant Adaptation Strategies In The American Deep South, Charles A. Lynn, Sun-A Lee

The Qualitative Report

This ethnographic case study considers the role of the church in the lives of Korean immigrants in a small town in the southeastern United States. Drawn to a poultry processing plant by the promise of permanent residency, hundreds of middle class Koreans have cycled through one-year commitments at Claxton Poultry since 2005. We analyze the benefits and pitfalls of adaptation strategies developed by the Korean immigrants and how their social networks both help and hinder their livelihood in a nontraditional receiving locale. Results indicate that while membership at a prominent religious congregation does offer Korean immigrants bonding networks amongst themselves, …

Transitioning From High School To College: Examining The Sources And Influences Of Social Capital For A First-Generation Latina Student, Randall F. Clemens

The Qualitative Report

This paper uses the life history method to narrate the experiences of Camilla, a 19-year-old, first-year student at a four-year university. Camilla emigrated with her mother from El Salvador to the United States during her freshman year of high school. Based on two years of data collection, the author presents Camilla’s experiences at different stages, including her childhood in El Salvador, first and last year in high school, and her first year in college. The paper explores the sources and influences of social capital for a low-income, first-generation student and highlights its dynamic and contextual nature. The author argues that …

An Overview Of Limited Literature On Diagnosis And Treatment Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Individuals With Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, Hannah A. Joharchi, Carolyn A. Corbett, Michele Dadson

JADARA

The current literature indicates children and adolescents with bipolar disorder and severe mood dysregulation find it more difficult to make decisions, recognize facial display of emotions, etc. (McClure, et. al, 2005; Rich, Grimley, Schmajuk, Blair, Blair, & Leibenluft, 2008; Kim, et. al, 2013). While treatment with this population is unclear (Miklowitz, et. al, 2013; Miklowitz, et. al, 2014), there is even less literature pertaining to treatment with d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children who have bipolar disorder. An additional challenge for DHH individuals with bipolar disorder is access to treatment (McClure, et. al, 2005; Rich, Grimley, Schmajuk, Blair, Blair, …

The Benefits Of Alternative And Augmentative Communication: A Quality Of Life Issue, Richard Dressler, Lauren Bland, Meghan Baumgartner

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

This article summarizes the need for alternate forms of communication for those who are unable to use verbal speech. The importance of allied health professionals in understanding alternative communication is critical in patient care. The authors describe the various forms of augmentative and alternate communication devices that can be used to help a non-verbal individual communicate their wants, needs, and thoughts. Financial and social consequences for using these devices is discussed.

An Investigation Into English Language Instructors' And Students’ Intercultural Awareness, Burcu Yılmaz, Yonca Özkan

The Qualitative Report

The role of English as a global language has been increasing greatly in importance for the past few decades, giving rise to different varieties of English spoken by native and non-native English speakers all around the world. It has pointed to the need to raise intercultural awareness in English language classes. This study aims to reveal teacher and student perspectives of intercultural awareness regarding ownership of English and cultural integration in English language classes in Turkey. A mixed method research investigation was used in this descriptive case study. Questionnaires were employed to collect data from 45 English language instructors and …

Becoming And Being A Student: A Heideggerian Analysis Of Physiotherapy Students’ Experiences, Claire Hamshire, Kirsten Jack

The Qualitative Report

This three-year, longitudinal, narrative study sought to explore physiotherapy students’ stories of their undergraduate experiences to gain an insight into the process of being a student, with an interpretation of the philosophy of Heidegger as a possible horizon for understanding. The central aim was to listen to students’ stories told in their own words over a series of narrative interviews throughout their degree programme. The first author [CH] interviewed six students a minimum of five occasions and at each interview they were encouraged with a narrative prompt to tell the stories of their experiences as a series of episodes beginning …

An Analysis Of The English Class Discourse In The Iranian High Schools, Reza Khany, Saeedeh Mohammadi

The Qualitative Report

One of the decisive factors of students’ success in second language learning is employing interactive strategies related to Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic discourse. Following Bakhtin’s conceptualization of discourse (1981), monologic and dialogic patterns can be considered as the opposing ends of the teacher’s discourse continuum. Given this, the current research intended to find out whether the Iranian high school teachers maintain a monologic discourse in their classes or a dialogic one. To accomplish this goal, a comprehensive exploration of the related literature carried out to identify the features differentiating monologic and dialogic discourse, which proved to be around thirteen. Afterwards, …

Impact Of Interviews On Heterosexual Students' Expressions Of Cultural Competency, Carol Isaac, Linda Behar-Horenstein

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the effects of a cultural competency intervention on dental pre-doctoral students’ attitudes toward individuals of a different sexual orientation. 22 heterosexual students interviewed gay or lesbian individuals and wrote reflective text. Results illustrated that participants found that their interviewees had “surprisingly similar” beliefs and values – especially in the areas of religion and family. Because of their “similar values,” these students expressed respect toward their interviewees who were “so different” than themselves. This conclusion of “sameness” forced them to see homosexuals as people, rather than a stigmatized invisible outgroup, mitigating sexual …

The Lived Experience Of The English As A Second Language Rn-Bsn Degree Completion Student Integrating To An Online Learning Environment, Sonique S. Sailsman

Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Enrollment in registered nurse-bachelor of science in nursing (RN-BSN) degree completion programs have increased in the last several years. Due to this increase, many programs have begun to offer their RN-BSN programs completely online or in a hybrid format. Often times, students who choose to pursue their degree online come from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds and speak English as a second language (ESL). There is limited research about the experiences of these students in this unique learning environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of RN-BSN ESL nursing students who are engaged in learning …

Work-Related Resilience: Deaf Professionals’ Perspectives, Kim B. Kurz, Peter C. Hauser, Jason D. Listman

JADARA

Ten Deaf professionals were interviewed about their perspectives on resilience risk and protective factors that affect career success. Thematic analysis revealed four main risk factors, all related to inequalities: (a) audism and linguistism; (b) networking challenges; (c) working harder than hearing peers; and, (d) promotion limitations. The Deaf community was described as a resilience protective factor that counters the work-related risk factors because it provides: (a) social support; (b) role models; and, (c) “Deaf can” optimism. The results have important implications for vocational rehabilitation, education and counseling programs as they highlight the protective factors Deaf employees need for work-related resilience.

Community-Based Participatory Research And The Co-Construction Of Community Knowledge, Karie Jo Peralta, John W. Murphy

The Qualitative Report

From a community-based perspective, all that is known about a community is obtained through intersubjective engagement. But how, exactly, is knowledge socially constructed and revealed in community-based projects? This article addresses this question by focusing on the use of narratives to understand a community. First, the importance of stories for gaining insight into a community’s reality is presented, followed by an examination of how this information should be accessed and engaged. The principles of Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) that are consistent with this narrative approach are then discussed. Next, reflexivity is described to be the key for reading properly a …

A Descriptive Content Analysis Of The Extent Of Bloom’S Taxonomy In The Reading Comprehension Questions Of The Course Book Q: Skills For Success 4 Reading And Writing, Ömer Gökhan Ulum

The Qualitative Report

Bloom’s taxonomy is probably the most commonly used one among the cognitive process models. It is a classification system that emphasizes the procedures starting from remembering the knowledge to more complex cognitive levels like evaluating the knowledge. Firstly, the aim of this study has been to find out to what extent Bloom’s taxonomy is referred in reading comprehension questions of an English as a Foreign Language course book. With this in mind, the research question To what extent do the reading sections of the EFL course book Q: Skills for Success 4 Reading and Writing cover the lower and higher …

Good Vibrations: Charting The Dominant And Emergent Discursive Regimes Of Sex Toys, George Rossolatos

The Qualitative Report

Sex toys promote a new consumptive ethos whose significance may be adequately outlined by attending to the institutional implications of this product category’s consumption. By drawing on Foucault’s theory of sexuality and the technologies of the self that materialize with the aid of discursive formations about sexuality, as well as on relevant sociological and ethnographic insights, I undertake a qualitative content analysis on a corpus of 100 sex toys’ product reviews from popular magazines and web sites in order to identify how the discourse about sex toys is articulated in terms of three dominant categories of sexual scripts (Simon & …

(Im)Possible Identity: Autoethnographic (Re)Presentations, Seungho Moon, Christopher Strople

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we examine experience, identity, and their intersections. Working from an autoethnographic positionality, we investigate the insufficiencies of language and the limitations of any given researcher with an intent to address multiple realities and their respective interpretations of meaning. Autoethnographic narratives with the use of visual, written, and multimedia representations further acknowledge the dilemmas of qualitative researchers when they cannot fully describe subjectivities in research. What is deemed to be valid research is often indicative of a theoretical framework that aggressively seeks to invalidate other perspectives and ways of knowing. Thus, we create research spaces by employing counter-narratives …

A Discourse Analytic Approach To Accusations Of Infidelity In Romantic Couples' Natural Conversations, Neill Korobov

The Qualitative Report

This study uses a discourse analytic approach to examine how twenty young adult heterosexual romantic couples (ages 19-26) formulate accusations and insinuations of infidelity in their unstructured natural conversations. The analyses demonstrate how accusations of infidelity among romantic partners work to pursue and avert relational trouble. They indirectly index local interactional breaches that may, if left unattended, lead to non-affiliative interactional outcomes. Unlike mainstream psychological work that would treat talk about infidelity as a sign of emotional insecurity or jealousy, the present study posits that accusations of infidelity may function as a brief but effective way for one partner to …

Evasions In Interactions: Examples From The Transcultural Nursing Research Field, Janice D. Crist Phd, Rn, Fngna, Faan, Heather Coats Ms, Aprn-Bc, Phd, Kay Lehman Rn, Msn, Cwocn, Isela Luna Rn, Phd, Ccm

The Qualitative Report

Transcultural qualitative research is known for its utility in eliciting in-depth narratives, resulting in increased understanding about cultural phenomena. However, sometimes specific phenomena in the researcher’s inquiry are ignored, evaded, or denied; or a seemingly crucial experience demonstrating society’s unfairness, which the researcher had been expecting, does not emerge. In this paper, the issue of evasions in narratives is addressed, with two examples in which participants evaded the issue about which they were asked: perceptions of discrimination for aging adults of Mexican descent, and perceptions of living with life-limiting illnesses for aging African American adults. The Ethno-Cultural Gerontological Nursing Model …