Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Ways To Improve Healthcare Access For The Homeless Population In Merced County, Stella Nwasoka Adesokan

Doctoral Projects

Homelessness is a societal dilemma that affects people in the United States and around the globe. Homelessness relates to poor health conditions that affect the living conditions of individuals (Institute for Urban Initiatives, 2018). Chronic and acute illnesses are rampant in this group, most of these illnesses are treatable but accessing healthcare poses a challenge for this vulnerable population. Homeless persons are often unable to access healthcare due to fear and denial of ill health, difficulty in communicating health needs, and low self-esteem (Lamb & Joels, 2014).

In the study, questionnaires were administered to 25 homeless individuals through random sampling. …

Barriers In Health Care In Hmong Men And Women With Cardiac Diseases, Ying Thao

Doctoral Projects

Lauver’s theory of care seeking behaviors is applied to identify perceived barriers to accessing healthcare in Hmong men and women that may influence care seeking behaviors. The purpose of this study is to identify barriers in accessing health care among Hmong men and women ages 50 to 80 with cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) and risk factors for CHD (e.g., diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension). A quantitative descriptive analysis was used to look at demographic characteristics while a multiple regression analysis was used to statistically compare correlations between barriers to care, risk factors for CHD, sex, and access to health care. The …

Pilot Study Of A Breastfeeding Support Training Program Designed Particularly For Infants With Common Congenital Anomalies And Defects, Gretchen Nelson Ezaki

Doctoral Projects

The American Academy of Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], 2018), the World Health Organization (World Health Organization [WHO)], 2018), and The March of Dimes (March of Dimes, 2016) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. In 2014, 79% of women in the United States began breastfeeding their infants, but only 40.7% and 18.8% continued breastfeeding exclusively at three and six months respectively (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). This doctoral project promotes breastfeeding by creating and testing simple teaching algorithms for training registered nurses to support breastfeeding, including for infants with trisomy 21, congenital heart …

Promoting Self-Efficacy Among Head And Neck Cancer Patients, Lily Lam

Doctoral Projects

Current survivorship visits at the Stanford head and neck oncology program are not standardized to address ongoing post-treatment sequelae. The objectives of this study help to address whether current non-standardized visits actually help to empower patients to self-manage their chronic diagnosis of head and neck cancer by measuring their self-efficacy levels before and after their post-treatment survivorship visit.

Given the convenience sampling method, 17 patients were enrolled in this quasi-experimental pilot study. Demographic information was collected for each patient: gender, ethnicity, smoker status, and age. Head and neck cancer patients would first be surveyed before and after their follow up …

Student Withdrawals In A Job Training Program, Amy Lawrence

Master's Projects

Within the context of a competitive market, shifting funding sources, and a new regulatory environment, the purpose of this paper is not to examine educational attainment, but rather to research student drop out, or withdrawal, at the post-secondary job training institution of Center for Employment Training (CET). The foremost research questions to be answered are what are the characteristics of students who withdraw from job training programs provided by Center for Employment Training, and what factors may influence withdrawal.

Graduation Rates At San Jose State University Of Transferring Community College Students With An Associate Degree For Transfer: A Process Evaluation, Alex Cordova

Master's Projects

One area of focus by the state of California to answer the educational needs is community college transfer students. Transfer students are students who begin their college career in a California community college, then transfer to a four-year degree granting institution. The state of California views this group of students as a key part of creating more college-educated Californians for the economy of the future (California Legislative Information, 2010). There are two main issues when evaluating community college transfer students. The first is the complexity of the transfer process. Second is the unreliable data that is being used to determine …

Identifying Perceived Barriers To Primary Health Care Access In Rural, Medically Underserved Areas, Suzanne Hewitt

Doctoral Projects

Persons living in rural areas designated as having primary care provider shortages often lack access to timely and appropriate levels of care, frequently forcing them to forego care, delay treatment, or seek care in an emergency department for non-urgent complaints. This qualitative study reviewed evidence-based research and data generated from two focus groups sessions to generate a body of distinctive knowledge of the barriers to primary healthcare access as perceived by members of this rural, medically-underserved area of northern California. The theme that was identified, through conventional qualitative content analysis, as most prevalent among subjects was the inability to schedule …

Nurses’ Perception Of Discharging The Medically Complex Pediatric Patient, Stacie Camille Licon

Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this study is to query the nurses for their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators of discharging medically complex pediatric patients from a freestanding children’s hospital in central California. Using a mixed methods research design via an online survey, 90 nurses identified 3 distinct themes that act as barriers. Those barriers include: 1) knowing the plan of care, 2) time, and 3) disposition of the family. Several implications for improving the discharge process for medically complex patients and overcoming the identified barriers include strategies to improve multidisciplinary communication, implementation of a Family Learning Center, use of video …

Caring For The Pediatric Neurofibromatosis Type-1 Patient: Improving Nursing Knowledge Through An Innovative Educational Tool, Samantha Ingerick

Doctoral Projects

Standardized nursing education can help equip nurses with appropriate skills needed to care for certain patient populations. Pediatric neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) patients have unique health needs, and often seek care at institutions where no NF1 training has been provided. The purpose of this project was to explore existing nursing NF1 knowledge and knowledge perception in a pediatric oncology infusion center within a large bay area children’s hospital, a location where nurses have varied NF1 education and have recently been asked to care for this population. Malcolm Knowles’ adult learning theory was used to design an NF1 educational tool for nurses. …

The Relationship Between Remote Work And Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Roles Of Perceived Autonomy, Work-Family Conflict, And Telecommuting Intensity, Marie Antoinette Schall

Master's Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between remote work and job satisfaction levels of employees in the workplace. Additionally, the variables perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, and telecommuting intensity were investigated as mediators. A total of 185 employees participated in the study, which utilized an online survey. Results showed that remote work had a positive relationship with job satisfaction. Perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, and telecommuting intensity each mediated the relationship between remote work and job satisfaction. An inverted u-shaped curvilinear relationship between the extent of working remotely (telecommuting intensity) and job satisfaction was not found and …

Exploring The Gamification Paradox: Why Does Improved Engagement Not Lead To Improved Performance?, Katarzyna Maria Sliwinska

Master's Theses

Gamification is the application of game elements to non-game environments (Deterding, 2012), and is often used to engage people and make their experiences more enjoyable in areas ranging from fitness and education to psychological research. Previous studies have shown that adding gamification to new environments can result in increased motivation (Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014). However, increased motivation from gamification does not seem to increase performance in terms of accuracy or response times (Hawkins et al., 2013). This research study examined this “gamification paradox” by testing the performance of 87 participants on a visual search task both with and without …

Models Of Spiritual Leadership: Strategies For Bridging The Gap Between Policy And Ethics, Rebecca J. O'Brien

Dissertations

Public institutions are finding that strict policies premised on value-free research are incapable of dealing with the social and ethical issues facing schools. Increasingly, research is identifying how spiritual practices can be a source of insight and guidance on ethical issues and other soft leadership skills. Spiritual and servant leadership is a burgeoning area of study in the business world and health care field, but it just beginning to be examined as a guiding tool in the education field. In the current study, I interview educational leaders who self-identify as having a spiritual practice and who are responsible for oversight …

San Jose’S Removing And Preventing Illegal Dumping Program (Rapid): An Evaluation Of Illegal Dumping In San Jose, Rina Laxamana

Master's Projects

Illegal dumping is a major environmental concern throughout the United States and most countries (Ichinose & Yamamoto, 2011). Abandoned items such as household material, dumped garbage or construction debris leave odors and contaminants that can threaten community health, impact the environment, and degrade the city's visual appearance (Dabholkar, Muthiyan, Srinivasan, Ravi, Jeon, & Gao, 2017). To reduce illegal dumping, many cities establish education programs, social-media-based community applications, surveillance camera monitoring, and execute policies with associated penalties and fines (Dabholkar et al., 2017). The City of San Jose is battling an illegal dumping problem and has created the Removing and Preventing …

Experiences Of Adolescent Refugee Students Who Attend Afterschool Programs For Literacy Support, Analiza Filion

Dissertations

Studies on the academic achievement of refugee students cite continuous underachievement in literacy skills. Due to trauma from fleeing their countries of origin, limited school experiences, and language barriers, refugee students struggle with demonstrating progress in academic achievement. Learning challenges continue to take place when classroom teachers are not equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources to support students with their unique learning needs. Through the use of a documentary research method, this dissertation investigated the experiences of five adolescent refugee students who attended afterschool programs as an additional resource for developing literacy skills.This study also explored how students perceived …

A Text-Message Nudge Intervention To Increase Student Professional Development Education, Catherine Voss Plaxton

Dissertations

This experimental study explored the effects of a text-message intervention on college sophomore and junior engagement in professional development at San José State University. One goal of the study was to assess whether status quo bias poses a barrier to student preparation for the college-to-work transition. A second goal was to measure the impact of a text-message, behavioral design intervention intended to influence real-time decision-making and overcome status quo bias toward professional development. The treatment intervention had a weak positive, but not significant, effect on student engagement in professional development. Alternative explanations were sought for post-intervention differences in professional development …

He's The Hero We Deserve: Batman As A Figure Of Dominant Masculinity, Karen Medrano

Master's Theses

For decades, comic books have been a prevalent media format through which cultural perceptions of masculinity are disseminated. Batman is an exemplary character who is expected to perform and behave in a manner that corresponds with social constructs of the American masculine identity: strong, dominant, and protective. These gendered traits, as represented through Batman’s body and relationships with various allies, are analyzed through the lens of R.W. Connell’s theory of dominant and subordinated masculinities (derived from her larger theory of hegemonic masculinity). As our cultural perception of masculinity has shifted, so has the visual representation of Batman over his eighty-year …

Creating A Cultural Context For Dong And Miao Folk Music Using An Orff-Inspired Methodology, Ke Guo

Master's Theses

As children grow up surrounded by various ethnicities, races, and religious beliefs, we teach them music and dance to cultivate respect and empathy for the diverse people in our multicultural society. On the other side of the globe, China is also a multi-ethnic country and is home to 56 ethnic minority groups that speak multiple different languages. “Chinese music” is thus a collective term for the many disparate styles and genres of music in the country, which is especially rich in the varieties of folk music heard and played. Although Chinese folk music frequently appears in music textbooks in elementary …

Leadership Style As A Moderator Of The Relationships Between Role Stressors And Organizational Commitment, Tanya Chellani

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the moderating effect of leadership style on the relationships between role stressors and organizational commitment. The study hypothesized that negative relationships between role conflict and role ambiguity and both affective and normative commitment would be weaker for employees who perceived their supervisors as relationship-oriented rather than task-oriented. Furthermore, the study explored the direct relationship between role stressors and continuance commitment, along with the moderating effect of leadership style on this relationship. Responses to an online survey from 126 employees were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Results showed that leadership style did …

The Silicon Valley Approach To Poverty: Humanitarian Designers At Work In Financial Inclusion, Jeffrey Stephen Greger

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the application of ethnographic research and commercially-derived design approaches in support of financial inclusion, a global movement to bring affordable financial services to low-income and rural communities that have traditionally lacked access to these services. I collaborated with and interviewed designers and anthropologists working on financial inclusion projects that range from small, grassroots efforts to create payday loan alternatives in Silicon Valley and London, to more formal international development projects funded by large corporations and philanthropic organizations. Participants in this study shared a strong belief: ethnographic perspectives and design practices that incorporate marginalized voices into the decision-making …

The Moderating Effect Of Self-Esteem On The Relationship Between Servant Leadership And Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, Whitney Kanavel

Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that servant leadership is related to organizational citizenship behaviors. However, little attention has been paid to the possible moderators of this relationship. Therefore, the present study proposed that a personality characteristic (self-esteem) will moderate the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors. It was hypothesized that the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors would be stronger for employees with low self-esteem than for those with high self-esteem. Results of a self report survey from 204 employed individuals in various industries found that self-esteem moderated the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors. …

Moderating Effect Of Trait Mindfulness On The Relationship Between Job Demands And Burnout Using The Job Demands-Resources Model, Anne O'Brien

Master's Theses

The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was constructed to explain the antecedents, consequences, and relationships of burnout, and has provided evidence that personal resources moderate and weaken the relationship between job demands and burnout. Although much of the personal resource literature focuses on personality traits like optimism and self-esteem, the moderating effect of trait mindfulness on the relationship between job demands and job burnout has yet to be examined. The study hypothesized that mindfulness moderates the relationship between four job demands (role ambiguity, interpersonal conflict, work-life conflict, and cognitive demands) and three dimensions of burnout, such that those with higher levels …

Increasing The Persistence Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Higher Education Settings: Faculty Perspectives On The Social Skills Needs In Classroom Environments, Amy Rodriguez

Master's Theses

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who transition to higher education environments vary in their level of skills when engaging in social activities. Current research is limited about supporting college students with ASD socially in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of faculty regarding the social skills support needs of students with ASD in classroom settings that can influence the level of achievement of academic goals in postsecondary environments. Seven faculty members from a comprehensive public university in the west participated in a qualitative interview. The results of this study showed that participants …

Older Adults’ Perceptions Regarding Transportation Services In San Jose, Ca: Access, Barriers, And Innovations, Deborah Bolding

Mineta Transportation Institute

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of older adults concerning barriers to the use of public transportation, to identify programs and services that best meet transportation needs, and to obtain suggestions for improvements or innovations in order to enable them to engage more fully in their community. Four focus groups, with a total of 25 participants, were held in three locations in San Jose, CA. While the participants were able to use public transportation to access shopping, medical services and other destinations, they expressed concerns related to physical barriers, frequency of services, the behavior of some …

Institutional Repository In Open Doar: Status Quo India, Dattatraya Trayambak Kalbande

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose

Up to the 2005 theses, dissertations, research papers and rare collection in most of the Indian libraries, are kept in closed access and it is very difficult to the researchers to access them as a reference source for the further study as well as to avoid duplication, to avoid plagiarism to maintain research ethics in the research, but after that in India UGC and Many higher/research education institutions taking lead to develop Institutional repositories (IR) for Collect, Manage, Disseminate, and Preserve scholarly work created by the Teachers and researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

Total 84 Institutional Repositories (IR) was selected and …

Factors And Challenges Affecting The Information-Seeking Behavior Of Science And Technology Researchers, Olayinka Babayemi Makinde Dr, Glenrose Velile Jiyane Prof, Tinashe Mugwisi Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigates the factors and challenges affecting the information-seeking behavior of multidisciplinary science and technology researchers of the six departments of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in Nigeria. This study depicts a non-academic setting and by extension the African context. One hundred and sixty five researchers were given questionnaires of which responses of 114 questionnaires were finally analyzed. Based on the questionnaire results, the respondents provided suggestions on how certain factors and challenges have influenced their information-seeking behavior. The authors make recommendations on how these factors and challenges can be adequately tackled in order for researchers …

The Relationship Between Spiritual Intelligence And Job Performance Among Clinical Nurses, Maryam Keramati, Hosein Ebrahimi, Asma Bameri, Mohammad Hasan Basirinezhad, Seyed Mohammad Mirhoseini, Reza Mohammadpourhodki

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Nurses are among the most important human resources of hospitals. Nurses’ performance is affected by several factors including their spiritual intelligence. Spirituality can lead to higher commitment, productivity, and quality improvement in health services. This study aimed to determine the relationship between spiritual intelligence and job performance among nurses in southeast of Iran in 2017. In this cross-sectional study, 204 nurses working in teaching hospitals of Zabol city were assessed. The nurses were randomly selected by cluster sampling. The demographic characteristics were obtained by a checklist. The Job performance Scale and Spiritual Intelligence Scale were further used to assess the …

Mapping Of Research Publication On Elearning In India During 2009-2018: A Scientometric Study, Shweta Gupta, Shriram Pandey

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study presents an outlook of publication trends of eLearning research in the Indian scenario during the last ten years (2009-2018.). The data collected from the Scopus Database using the specific query statement. A total of 8181 publications in different forms (journals article, conference papers, book chapters, etc.) were being collated, tabulated and analyzed and inferences were drawn for the study. Further, annual growth rate (AGR) of papers; most prolifically authors, institutions; most cited papers; h-index; and citation status has been provided.

Community Detection Via Neighborhood Overlap And Spanning Tree Computations, Ketki Kulkarni, Aris Pagourtzis, Katerina Potika, Petros Potikas, Dora Souliou

Faculty Publications, Computer Science

Most social networks of today are populated with several millions of active users, while the most popular of them accommodate way more than one billion. Analyzing such huge complex networks has become particularly demanding in computational terms. A task of paramount importance for understanding the structure of social networks as well as of many other real-world systems is to identify communities, that is, sets of nodes that are more densely connected to each other than to other nodes of the network. In this paper we propose two algorithms for community detection in networks, by employing the neighborhood overlap metric …

Spartan Daily, April 25, 2019, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2019

Volume 152, Issue 37

Investigating The Rejuvenation Of The Children's Section Of Public Libraries To Enhance The Attraction Of Users: A Structural Equation Analysis, Faramarz Soheili Dr., Ali Akbar Khasseh, Masomeh Amini, Saleh Rahimi Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Purpose: This paper tries to investigate the rejuvenation of the children's section of public libraries in Kermanshah province (Iran) to increase the attraction of the users.

Design/methodology/approach: The present study is a survey and has been conducted using cause and effect approach. A structured questionnaire was selected which validity and reliability were confirmed. The population included 3557 who were in the range of 6 to 13 years in the library of the studied area. The sample was 347 and using simple random method. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics including frequency, frequency percent, mean, variance, skewness, elongation and inferential …