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Physiological, Cognitive, Behavioral, And Perceptual Contributors To Falls Risk Across Middle And Older Adulthood, Jacquelyn Moxey

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Falls are multifactorial events influenced by physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual factors. Although falls prevention research has traditionally focused on older adults and objectively measured physical impairments, less is known about how cognitive performance, physical activity, and perceptions of ability collectively contribute to falls risk vulnerability across middle and older adulthood. This dissertation examined these relationships through three complementary studies.

Study 1 examined associations between cognitive screening performance and physiological falls risk in 315 community-dwelling older adults. Lower global cognitive performance was associated with greater physiological falls risk. Performance on items reflecting attention and visuospatial/executive function demonstrated the strongest domain-level …

Exploring Literacy Preparedness And Academic Experiences Of First-Year Community College Students, Alexandra Ranieri

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges enroll students with diverse levels of academic preparation, yet placement into college-level coursework often relies heavily on high school grade point average (GPA), which may not fully reflect students' literacy preparedness. Although research has linked literacy proficiency to academic success, little is known about how first-year community college students experience literacy preparedness during the transition to college. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the literacy preparedness of first-year community college students and explore how their reading abilities aligned with their early academic experiences. Guided by the Reading Systems Framework (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014), the …

The Effects Of Working With Unidentified Migrant Remains: Caregiving, Border Security, And Human Rights On The U.S.–Mexico Border, Jennifer Delaine Huddleston

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores how migrant death and the handling of unidentified remains operate within U.S. border governance, focusing on caregivers, forensic anthropologists, and volunteer search-and-recovery teams who recover, document, and try to identify the dead along the U.S.–Mexico border. Using classic grounded theory and reflexive visual ethnography, the study includes interviews, field observations, and documentary photography conducted in South Texas, covering Brooks, Maverick, and Webb Counties.

Instead of viewing migrant deaths as accidental humanitarian tragedies, this dissertation situates caregivers’ daily work within a historical trajectory of deterrence-based border policies, from Prevention Through Deterrence to modern state-led enforcement regimes. It demonstrates …

Naturalistic Classroom And Home Practices To Support Executive Function And Self-Regulation Of Typically Developing Preschool Children Between The Ages Of 3-5 Years Old: A Mixed Method Study, Michelle Ann Burek

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Executive function (EF) and self-regulation (SR) are foundational developmental processes supporting young children’s participation in play, learning, social relationships, and everyday occupations. Although important to school readiness, social competence, health, and well-being, these skills are often examined in structured settings rather than the natural environments in which children develop. Guided by ecological, developmental, and occupational therapy perspectives, this dissertation examined EF and SR within children’s everyday participation and explored caregiver and teacher roles in supporting these processes.

This dissertation consists of three interconnected studies. The first was a systematic review of peer-based interventions to improve social participation among children and …

Motivation And Constraints In Recreation Participation Among Children And Adults With Disabilities, Monica Klock

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigated how motivation and constraints relate to participation in outdoor and community recreation among children with disabilities and adults who are blind or visually impaired. Although outdoor recreation is associated with important physical, psychological, and social benefits, people with disabilities continue to participate at lower rates than their peers without disabilities, and prior work shows that barriers extend well beyond physical access to include structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal constraints. Drawing on the Constraint–Negotiation Model (CNM) and social cognitive theory, this dissertation addressed gaps in multivariate research and life-course perspectives by examining whether and how motivations, perceived constraints, and …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of Hospital Consumer Evaluation In Virginia, Tulay Akmandor Inac

Health Services Research Dissertations

Suboptimal patient experience signals a need to improve clinical efficacy, patient safety, and healthcare quality. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified hospital resource and staffing demands, reducing hospitals’ capacity to invest in patient experience improvement. Prior studies remain limited because many lack longitudinal structure and organized theoretical models, making temporal inference difficult and weakening analyses of patient experience disparities. To address these limitations, this dissertation incorporates three studies examining patient experience and pandemic-related effects.

In state-level markets comparable to Virginia, limited research has examined longitudinal patient experience trends across regional hospital systems using HCAHPS scores. The first study uses descriptive trend analysis …

Menopausal Symptoms, Psychosocial Factors, And Physical Activity Among Physically Active Midlife Females, Ella Onsoriasl

Exercise Science Theses & Dissertations

Menopausal symptoms are common during midlife and may be associated with females' physical activity (PA) participation, yet how these symptoms relate to PA levels, perceived confidence and enjoyment, and psychosocial resources such as social support (SS), exercise identity, and quality of life (QOL) remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine how menopausal symptom severity relates to PA levels, perceived confidence and enjoyment during PA, and psychosocial factors, including SS, exercise identity, and QOL. This cross-sectional study surveyed 151 midlife females aged 40 to 60 who reported engaging in intentional PA at least once per week. Participants completed …

The Mediating Role Of Hope In The Relationship Between Everyday Discrimination And Depression Among College Students, Busra Vurkun

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Research shows that marginalized populations experience disproportionately higher psychological distress (Budhwani et al., 2015; Bailey et al., 2019). Everyday discrimination, defined as chronic interpersonal mistreatment such as microaggressions and disrespect, is associated with greater depression and lower psychological well-being (Essed, 1991; Calabrese et al., 2015). Although the negative effects of discrimination are well established, less is known about protective factors that may reduce these outcomes. One such factor is hope, conceptualized by Snyder et al. (1991) as agency thinking and pathways thinking and linked to lower depression and greater resilience (Arnau et al., 2007; Banks et al., 2008). This study …

Building Bridges: Connecting Biomechanics And Lived Experience In Bertolotti's Syndrome, Andrea Morgan Muffly

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Bertolotti’s Syndrome (BSy), characterized by the presence of a lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LSTV), represents a complex clinical entity that affects not only the physical health of the individual, but the quality of their daily life. Prior research on BSy focused on epidemiology, not lived experience, revealing inconsistencies in diagnostic inconsistencies of LSTV morphology. A three-tiered diagnostic system is proposed to streamline the reporting of LSTV subtypes. We examined how BSy is diagnosed, its symptoms, presentation, and how this impacts individuals’ ability to participate in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). We conducted a multi …

Counselors’ Training Needs In Effectively Engaging With Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, Elif Bor

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

As public and scientific interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) continues to grow, counselors are increasingly encountering clients who are exploring or engaging in psychedelic use for therapeutic purposes. Such encounters introduce new ethical, clinical, and professional considerations. Counselors must develop an informed understanding of psychedelics and their effects, recognize the emotional and cognitive processes that may emerge during psychedelic experiences, and be prepared to respond to potential risks or adverse reactions (Aicher et al., 2025). They also need to competently answer client questions, assess risk and suitability, facilitate the integration of psychedelic experiences, and collaborate with medical and other professionals …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Leadership Development In A Graduate Medical Laboratory Science Program, Demetra Castillo

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Leadership development is increasingly recognized as an essential component of healthcare education, particularly as medical laboratory professionals assume expanded responsibilities involving collaboration, decision-making, systems thinking, and organizational leadership. Despite this need, limited research has explored how leadership develops within graduate medical laboratory science (MLS) programs. This qualitative case study examined leadership development through the lens of Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). Two research questions explored how the program fostered leadership development through students’ professional biographies, leadership questionnaires, final reflection papers, and leadership credos and how leadership reflections demonstrated growth over time. Secondary data from five student cases were analyzed using deductive …

Empirical Rhetorical Modeling: New Analytical Tools To Evaluate The Intensity Of Rhetoric, August Immel

English Theses & Dissertations

Since 2020, the United States has experienced a surge of incendiary rhetoric in contemporary political discourse, which exacerbates societal polarization and incites violence as evidenced by heightened politically motivated attacks. Numerous actors characterize the impetus of such violence as “extreme rhetoric.” No standard definition exists for such a term, and this gap necessitates the central research question of this dissertation, which interrogates how rhetoric can be systematically evaluated for “extremeness.” I propose that the issue of extreme rhetoric can be fruitfully examined from within the context of rhetorical theory, but instead of attempting to create a new definition of “extreme …

Becoming An Educator: A Narrative Inquiry Into The First-Year Journeys Of Community College Career-Switching Cte Faculty, Alisha Ferrington

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in community colleges increasingly depend on career-switching instructors, professionals who transition from industry to teaching with substantial technical expertise but limited formal pedagogical preparation. Despite their growing presence in the community college workforce, the lived experiences of first-year career-switching CTE faculty remain underexplored, particularly regarding how the transition shapes professional identity, instructional practice, and institutional belonging.

This qualitative study employed narrative inquiry to examine the first-year teaching experiences of seven career-switching CTE instructors at community and technical colleges in the Gulf South region of the United States. Guided by transformative learning theory, communities of …

Technical And Vocational High School Training And Graduates' Socioeconomic Insertion In Burkina Faso, Jacqueline Nikièma

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is widely promoted as a pathway to improving employment opportunities, supporting economic growth, and facilitating successful labor market transition. However, empirical evidence on its effectiveness remains limited in Burkina Faso. This study examined the relationship between TVET high schools and graduates’ socioeconomic insertion, with particular emphasis on employment in occupations related to the field of study (horizontal match) and examined the relationship between gender and this employment outcome. The study used descriptive statistics to summarize the characteristics of the sample, and logistic regressions to analyze the relationship between TVET training and employment in …

Faculty Conceptualizations Of Recreational Therapy And Disability: Influences On The Formal, Hidden, And Null Curricula In Undergraduate Recreational Therapy Education, Shelly Lynne Beaver

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Undergraduate education is a bedrock of professional preparation for entry-level recreational therapists, shaping their scope of practice, philosophical orientations, and approaches to service delivery. While significant attention has been given to the development of a formal recreational therapy curriculum – explicitly taught knowledge, skills, and competencies – little is known about the hidden and null curricula that may implicitly or unintentionally shape students’ professional identities, values, and beliefs. While these less explicit curricular dimensions may have profound effects on how preservice recreational therapists conceptualize both recreational therapy and disability, their impact remains largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this research …

Switches And Witches: Exploring The Relationships Between Religious Struggles, Spiritual Beliefs, And Well-Being, Emma J. Trierweiler

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the mechanisms between interpersonal and doubt-related struggles and well-being outcomes in a formerly religious sample. The focus of this dissertation was to analyze the mediating roles of disengagement from God and perceived social support. Approach toward God was also examined as a control but not specified to be connected to the well-being outcomes given the emphasis on formerly religious individuals’ experiences. This was a retrospective study, where participants were asked to consider their responses as they relate to the time they were pulling away from religion. Three measures of well-being were explored using structural equation modeling. Positive …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Parent-Educators In Pursuit Of Stability And Growth In The Early Education Workforce, Britney N. Patrick

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Early childhood educators who are also parents represent an important yet understudied population within workforce development research. This qualitative narrative inquiry explored the lived experiences of early childhood educators who are also parents as they navigated workforce development programs, parenting responsibilities, and organizational practices in pursuit of career advancement and economic stability. Guided by work-family border theory (Clark, 2000) and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), the study examined how parenting responsibilities shaped engagement in workforce development opportunities and influenced professional trajectories over time.

Twenty-two early childhood educators who were also parents participated in virtual semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 60 to …

Analyzing The Institutional Factors Associated With Sense Of Belonging Among Stem Adjuncts At Community Colleges, Karuna Taneja

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

In this study I examined the relationships among organizational support, workplace conditions, and sense of belonging among adjunct faculty teaching STEM courses in community colleges. Grounded in the need-to-belong theory (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory (1968), I distinguished between relational and structural dimensions of faculty experiences. Perceived organizational support was conceptualized as a relational construct reflecting faculty members’ perceptions of being valued and included within their institutions, whereas workplace conditions were examined as structural factors influencing job satisfaction.

Using a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey design, data were collected from adjunct STEM faculty (N = 64) teaching at …

Retention During Turbulent Times Of Higher Education: Modeling Intent To Leave Academia For Research University Faculty, Jordan Monroe Ball

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

University faculty operate as the lifeblood of any institution given that their job requires a “double duty” to develop both scholarly research and student minds. Due in large part to these expectations, research shows a long history of poor mental health for faculty, which ultimately results in faculty turnover. One model of faculty work motivation (Padilla et al., 2023) details the way in which the faculty work environment influences their mental health, and subsequently informs their job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to leave academia, which serves as a proxy for turnover. Retention related issues have not been a pressing …

Exploring The Determinants Of User Discontinuance In Ai-Driven Usage-Based Insurance, Wenzhuo Li

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

While interest in algorithmic decision-making continues to grow, limited research has examined the post-adoption phase. This study examines how users evaluate their post-adoption experiences with algorithmic decision-making in the context of usage-based insurance (UBI), focusing on how expectation disconfirmation shapes satisfaction and the intention to discontinue use. It explores two key questions: What factors influence users’ discontinuance intention toward AI-based UBI systems? And how do specific algorithmic characteristics alter how users form these post-adoption evaluations? To investigate these questions, this study develops a comprehensive theoretical model that integrates the Expectation Confirmation Model and Reactance Theory, incorporating additional factors such as …

Drinking Group Injunctive Norms: An Event-Level Examination, Karolina Kazlauskaite

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

College students are at increased risk for negative alcohol-related outcomes. Theoretical and empirical support suggest that peer groups play a crucial role in college student alcohol use, in part because they establish normative values and behaviors (i.e., norms) that members follow. Research indicates that those who identify more strongly with a group are more likely to embody that group’s values—particularly regarding drinking. Notably, injunctive norms, or perceptions of peer permissibility toward drinking, predict individual drinking outcomes, such that perceiving one’s peers as more approving confers additional risk for personal drinking. However, prior examinations of injunctive norms have not assessed perceptions …

Lgbtq People's Lives Post-Incarceration: A Multi-Method Study, Hayley Jackey

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

LGBTQ people are disproportionately targeted by the criminal legal system and overrepresented in the carceral system. Despite current research in queer criminology examining the impacts of the carceral system on the community, there is a dearth of literature examining LGBTQ people’s experiences or identity disclosure once released from the Prison Industrial Complex and into the Prisoner Reentry Industry. Using unique methodologies of photo-elicitation interviews and in-depth interviews, the current study examines how ten formerly incarcerated LGBTQ people navigate returning to society post-incarceration. The study found two distinct experiences. The first group was selective about who they shared their LGBTQ identity …

Structure Meets Context: A Simulation Study Of Centralized And Decentralized Decision-Making In Complex Environments, Murat Balci

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The question of when to centralize or decentralize decision-making authority is a foundational problem in organizational theory and management science. Yet existing research often favors decentralized structures, frequently treating them as universally superior, and provides limited guidance on when centralization may be more effective. Leaning toward decentralization without thoroughly exploring options leaves organizational designers without clear direction under varying environmental conditions. This study addresses that gap by developing and applying a simulation-based framework to evaluate the context-dependent effectiveness of centralized and decentralized decision-making structures.

Drawing on contingency theory and decision science, the study conceptualizes environmental complexity along two dimensions: dynamism …

Exploring The Experiences Of Women In Mental Health Therapy After The Occurrence Of Perinatal Loss, Courtney Allison Nishnick

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Perinatal loss encompasses losses of pregnancies at any gestational age, as well as deaths occurring within one year post-birth. In the United States, around 40 thousand stillbirths and infant deaths occur every year (Ely & Driscoll, 2025; Gregory et al., 2025), with about 23 million miscarriages also occurring annually worldwide (Quenby et al., 2021). Perinatal loss experiences lead to distressing mental health symptoms not limited to anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and grief (Crockett et al., 2019; Wamser & Ferro, 2025). While there is extensive research on perinatal loss as it pertains to medical context, there is minimal research relating to …

Two Essays On Designing Conversational Agents: Varying Level Of Mimicry And Personality–Brand Congruence, Sama Ashouri

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Across two essays, this dissertation demonstrates that mimicry and personality shape consumers’ perceptions of chatbot intelligence, creativity, and fit, with downstream effects on recommendation acceptance that depend on factors such as mimicry intensity, brand familiarity.

Essay1: Mimicry, a central aspect of human interaction, is increasingly being examined in human–AI communication, particularly with chatbots. While prior research shows mimicry can build rapport, trust, and engagement, it has often been treated as a binary factor, overlooking how different levels may influence user perceptions. This research proposes and tests a dual-mediation framework in which different levels of chatbot mimicry affects recommendation acceptance through …

Effects Of Beverage Color During Mouth Rinsing On Measures Of Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength, And Exercise Perceptions During Isometric Handgrip Testing, Sydney Andrews

Exercise Science Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown that color can influence psychological responses, physiological responses, and exercise performance. These effects have been previously attributed to learned associations or expectations which may influence exercise-related outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether beverage color influences muscular performance during intermittent isometric handgrip exercise. This randomized, single-blind, deceptive crossover study consisted of 34 physically active adults (21.9±3.1 years) who completed a handgrip endurance test under three conditions: red beverage rinse, clear beverage rinse, and no-rinse. Participants were informed that the study would examine the effects of mouth rinsing two commercially available carbohydrate containing sport drinks on muscular …

Examining The Relationships Between Apathy Subdomains, Heart Rate Variability And Cognitive Performance, Yasmin Bahai Nabulsi

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Apathy, defined as a reduction in motivation and goal-directed behavior, is a multidimensional neuropsychiatric syndrome encompassing behavioral, executive, and emotional components. Although heart rate variability (HRV) has been linked to depression and executive functioning, its relationship with apathy remains unexplored. The present study examined associations between apathy subtypes, resting HRV, HR and HRV reactivity, and cognitive performance. A sample of 116 healthy young adults completed self-reported measures of apathy, depression, fatigue, reward sensitivity, and attentional control. Electrocardiography (ECG) was used to assess resting HRV, followed by continuous recording during cognitive tasks, which included the Digit Span Test and a verbal …

The Effects Of Sexual Orientation Stereotype Information And Prejudice On False Memories, Source Monitoring Errors, And Social Categorization Judgments, Julia Belen Strickland Nunez

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Minoritized groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, receive many harmful and destructive stereotypes from others. These negative views affect minorities because when people are recalling a memory, they fill in the gaps with general information that they know. When the schematic information is not accurate, people tend to remember information that was not originally presented; this is known as a false memory. When people accurately recall a memory, but not the source of the memory, it is known as a source monitoring error.

The current study investigated whether stereotype-consistent information leads to more false memories and source monitoring errors as …

Autistic Students' Experiences With Hybrid Flexible Instruction In Higher Education: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study, Tracey Nicole Barr

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

During the twenty-first century, autistic learners have enrolled in colleges and universities in greater numbers; however, the majority of research focused on their experiences in higher education has found them to be less academically successful than their neurotypical peers. The academic skills that autistic students bring to higher education are often tempered by social, emotional, and self-regulative challenges. The body of research focusing on autistic learners’ experiences in higher education is currently limited and focused primarily on fully in-person and online course models. No extant research has focused on autistic students’ experiences with hybrid or blended course models.

This interpretive …

Individual Differences In Generative Ai Effectiveness: An Empirical Puzzle For Hrd Research, Nolan C. Lovett

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Professionals with similar backgrounds, given identical generative AI tools, achieve sharply different outcomes. This perspectives piece examines what explains that variance, reviewing evidence on cognitive capacity, domain expertise, metacognition, epistemic calibration, personality, and culture, and argues that existing user typologies describe these differences without predicting their consequences. It then extends the puzzle in a direction the static account misses: the same individual differences that shape AI effectiveness are themselves reshaped by sustained AI use, as cognitive offloading, deskilling, and upskilling inhibition operate differently across the expertise distribution. Recent evidence, including deskilling among experienced clinicians and suppressed learning among students using …