Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Anxiety And Online Learning Experiences, Charlotte A. Jones-Roberts

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Anxiety is a growing concern across university campuses. University students with anxiety are more likely to experience poor academic performance, disengagement, and attrition in their courses. Anxiety levels among online students can be significant and often more pronounced in online learning environments compared to traditional classroom settings. This dissertation aimed to examine the correlation between anxiety and online courses. Grounded in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and its subscales, Teaching Presence, Social Presence, and Cognitive Presence, the aim was to understand how these elements correlate with state and trait anxiety in online courses. This mixed-methods study took quantitative data …

The Experience Of Blind Mothers In Parenting Children With Disabilities ``, Abeer S. Ali

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Blind or visually impaired mothers (BVIMs) raising children with disabilities experience an exceptional set of challenges that have been largely overlooked in disability and parenting research and teacher education. With this study the researcher examined how BVIMs support their children with disabilities in key areas such as behavior management, educational advocacy, caregiving, and accessing resources. Additionally, the researcher sought to understand how these mothers navigate their experiences as they challenge with societal perceptions, institutional barriers, and the daily caregiving demands. The researcher employed a qualitative case study methodology, using in-depth individual interviews and a focus group with six BVIM participants. …

The Lived Experiences Of Diverse Caregivers Of Children With Disabilities Participating In Out-Of-School Time Activities, Vanessa Spero

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of parents, family members, and caregivers of youth with disabilities from diverse backgrounds who participate in out-of-school time (OST) activities. This study acknowledged the low employment rate for people with disabilities and the potential for OST activities that utilize positive youth development (PYD) frameworks to increase life skill development to increase employment opportunities. Qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology and photo-elicitation methods were used to engage six caregivers in a series of one to three interviews. These results were analyzed with three major themes and nine sub-themes identified. The identified themes and …

Supporting Online Student Success Via Online Instructor Best Practices, Tori Jayne Taylor

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Fully online learning provides flexibility students appreciate but can be impersonal and socially isolating. Students can experience lower achievement and more frequent course withdrawal because they struggle to connect to the content, instructor, and other students. Twelve experienced general education instructors from a large university were interviewed to understand how they notice and support students who are at risk of underachieving or failing fully online courses. Interview data were triangulated using course content analyses from two of the instructors’ online courses. Thematic data analysis was guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework.

Instructors in smaller courses use a variety …

Elementary General Education Teachers' Beliefs About Inclusive Practices In General Education Classrooms In The Cayman Islands, Tracey Ann Trail

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Research indicates that teachers' beliefs are pivotal in shaping their inclusive practices. However, there is a dearth of local research on general education teachers’ beliefs about inclusive practices in the Cayman Islands. This qualitative study aimed to fill this gap by understanding the beliefs of general education elementary teachers about inclusive practices in general education classrooms in the Cayman Islands. This encompassed their beliefs about inclusive education, supporting student learning and participation, and their self-efficacy beliefs about implementing inclusive practices. Data about the teacher’s beliefs were collected using two semi-structured interviews with nine general education elementary public elementary school teachers. …

Dual Coalitions Or Dueling Coalitions?: A Comparison Of Single-Issue And Dual-Issue Statewide Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault Coalitions In The U.S., Shannon Sokolowski

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) are critical social issues requiring a large scale national response. In the U.S., federally designated statewide DV and SA coalitions are nonprofit organizations that play a critical role at the national, state, and local levels. Once individual social movements, DV and SA advocacy coalitions have merged at higher rates in recent decades. Efforts to achieve economic sustainability may drive the decision to merge or reform. However, nonprofit organizations have a double bottom line, needing to consider financial and mission-related performance. With economic uncertainly rising, it is critical to understand the impact that forming …

Program Evaluation Of Behavioral Health Training: Using The Retain Model, Kris J. Toscani

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study investigated the effectiveness of gamification elements introduced into a well-established behavioral health in-person professional training. The gamification elements were designed with the RETAIN Model and Rubric and intended to increase team member engagement by increasing Relevance, Embedding a fictitious medical-themed story, creating opportunities for knowledge acquisition and Transfer, Adapting the content to the job functions of the participants, creating an Immersive experience in which the team members were fully engaged in the medical mystery, and repetitively applying gameplay concepts to efforts to create a Naturalized learning experience. The methodological approach to assessing …

Empathy In Digital Healthcare, Michael R. Powell

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation investigates how the rapid expansion of telehealth, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has reshaped clinician-patient interactions, with a focus on the role of empathy. Telehealth has broadened access to care and introduced new efficiencies, but it also presents distinct challenges in fostering the deep emotional connections traditionally associated with in-person consultations. By exploring how empathy is mediated through digital platforms, this research offers valuable insights into how empathetic connections can be supported, though not fully replicated, in virtual healthcare settings. Through a mixed-methods approach, including qualitative interviews with healthcare providers, the study examines both the barriers …

The Role Of School Culture And Autonomous Motivation In Supporting Academic Achievement And Teacher Retention In A Public Charter School: An Ethnographic Case Study, Amanda W. Reschke

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

U.S. public schools are in crisis amid declining student achievement and widespread teacher shortages, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, putting students at risk for poor academic outcomes. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows 4^th and 8^th grade students’ average reading and math scores have decreased by 5 points and 7 points respectively since 2019. Furthermore, NCES data showed that 53% of public schools reported being understaffed for the upcoming school year in August 2022, and by October 2022, 45% of public schools reported at least one vacant teaching position. While many …

Developing A Multi-Level Model Of Integrated-Organizational Resilience, Reza Bahari

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Most contemporary organizations work in unsteady environments and are impacted by various types of disruptions that have profound impacts on performance such as natural disasters, globalization, and financial recessions. Due to this, the concept of integrated organizational resilience (IOR) has become an important issue for both academic researchers and practitioners in recent years. A review of the literature shows that much of the research has focused on identifying and measuring the factors that affect OR in an effort to improve organizations' capacity for resilience. While significant research has been conducted in this area, much of the evidence focuses on a …

A Multimodal Framework For Automated Content Moderation Of Children's Videos, Syed Hammad Ahmed

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Online video platforms receive hundreds of hours of uploads every minute, making manual moderation of inappropriate content impossible. The most vulnerable consumers of malicious video content are children from ages 1-5 whose attention is easily captured by bursts of color and sound. Prominent video hosting platforms like YouTube have taken measures to mitigate malicious content, but these videos often go undetected by current automated content moderation tools that are focused on removing explicit or copyrighted content. Scammers attempting to monetize their content may craft malicious children's videos that are superficially similar to educational videos, but include scary and disgusting characters, …

Film As Ritual: Healing From Complex Trauma And Transmuting Pain Through Film, Lorraine I. Sovern

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Forward Fast, Always/Never (Together Forever) and Shotgun Baby are three short experimental documentary films as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Feature Film Production from the University of Central Florida. These films focus on the unique power of cinema and its ability to assist in healing from complex trauma. Three films were produced on an artisanal, micro-budget scale.

This body of work confronts and examines the significant traumas from an abusive childhood upbringing (Shotgun Baby), the effects of misogyny in Western media on my developing filmic sensibilities (Forward Fast), and …

Spotting The Signs: An Investigation Of The Effectiveness Of A Peer Training Program In Increasing Students' Ability To Detect And Report The Warning Signs Of A Peer School Shooting Plot, Ashley T. Winch

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

To date, there are no evidence-based peer bystander intervention trainings (BIT) aimed at educating peers in school shooting warning behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine an interactive BIT where peers were taught warning behaviors related to someone planning a school shooting and how to report this information. This training was evaluated against a currently available training method (i.e., PowerPoint presentation based) and a control group to determine the best training approach. College students between 18 and 19 years old (N = 57) completed pre, post, and one-month follow-up assessments. At each timepoint accuracy in detection of …

Breaking Molds: Transformative Processes In Art Making, Materials, And Life, James M. Wysolmierski

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Drawing upon traumatic moments of my past as a catalyst, I pursue understanding and acceptance of physical and emotional pain. In this thesis body of work, I employ the intersection of industrial and body imagery in sculptural forms and installation as a corporeal and allegorical account of my lived experience using visual narratives of trepidation and metamorphosis. In my creative practice, I incorporate various materials that create a reference of specific moments from my past. The artworks draw from principles rooted in Buddhism, affect theory, phenomenology, and materiality; incorporating them as tools to comprehend my position in the world and …

In An Immersive Space, Raising Awareness To Universalize The Concept Of Resistance And Hope, Elaheh Jazemi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Inspired by my Iranian heritage, I symbolize my narrative of the social injustice and suppression prevalent in Iran. Through this thesis, I universalize the concept of resistance and hope for equality by raising awareness and giving a voice to the voiceless despite their significant sacrifices. In my studio practice, I sought to achieve a visual density that would enhance the immersive experiences. I constructed this by overlapping transparent materials such as tulle, resin, silk, and transparent sheets, creating a disorienting atmosphere that invites viewers to grapple with visual metaphors. This overwhelming ambiance, mirroring the despondent nature of the emotions conveyed …

Developing A Course Enrollment Simulation Model To Improve College Graduation Outcomes, Rachel Straney

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The process of enrolling and completing the courses needed to earn an undergraduate degree involves complex interactions between individual students and institutional policies and procedures, especially because student and institutional priorities do not always align. Traditional social and behavioral statistical methods are ineffective for modeling these interactions. Simulation and algorithm-based modeling approaches have been underutilized in higher education, but their adaptability can accommodate the complexity of the degree attainment process. The purpose of this research was to design, develop, validate, and apply a multi-method Course Enrollment Simulation Model (CESM), which mirrored the process of college students enrolling in courses required …

Psychometric Evaluation Of A Brief Measure For Body Image Concerns Related To Breast Appearance, Sivanne Mendelson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The complexity of breast-specific body image concerns among women considering cosmetic breast surgery (CBS) underscores the need for a nuanced assessment tool. Despite numerous existing body image measures, there remains a need for a concise, validated instrument focusing on satisfaction with breast appearance. The development of the Breast Appearance Concerns Scale (BACS) aimed at assessing the multifaceted nature of breast-specific concerns through a patient centered lens within a population of otherwise healthy young adult women. The BACS was developed through a comprehensive review of existing literature and refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, in addition to Rasch measurement analysis. …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between A Novice Educator Support Team And The Self-Efficacy Of Beginning Teachers In Elementary, Middle, And High Schools, Bailey Holmquist

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Over the last twenty years, there has been an increase in teacher turnover and, in attempts to mitigate this issue, states and school districts have developed novice teacher mentoring programs. A Large Suburban School District implemented a novice teacher mentoring program during the 2021–2022 school year with the goal of providing novice teachers with a larger system of support to increase retention rates. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between novice teacher perceptions of a mentoring program and novice teacher perceptions of self–efficacy. Novice teachers (i.e., 1 to 3 years of teaching experience) received a survey …

Analyzing The Use Of Plain Language In Brief Summaries On Clinicaltrials.Gov, Megan J. Eddington

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

ClinicalTrials.gov is a database designed to help clinical researchers make their research publicly available. The clinical trials registered on the database each include a brief summary, which is meant to be a short description that the public can easily understand. In September 2022, ClinicalTrials.gov published a "Plain Language Checklist for Lay Brief Summaries" on their website, which identifies plain language best practices intended to help investigators craft summaries that can be readily understood by the public. This thesis assesses the impact of the checklist on the language use in the brief summaries in the year following the checklist's publication. The …

Human Performance In Context: Exploring The Effect Of Social Support On Vigilance, Allison E. Garibaldi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Over many decades, vigilance research has consistently found that performance on vigilance tasks decline over time (i.e., the vigilance decrement; Davies & Parasuraman, 1982), and that performing a vigilance task is both mentally demanding and stressful (Warm et al., 2008). Researchers have subsequently implemented a wide range of interventions to both understand and attempt to attenuate the vigilance decrement and its associated affective effects. Among these efforts, little attention has been devoted to understanding the effects of the social environment on vigilance. Nonetheless, a handful of studies have indeed suggested that the presence of others can affect performance, workload, and …

Relationship Between Fentanyl Misinformation And College Students' Intentions To Administer Naloxone, Zoe Ryon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: The news media has spread misinformation about the toxicity and potency of fentanyl, exaggerating the extent to which bystanders could be harmed by fentanyl when responding to overdose situations. College students are increasingly among the victims of opioid overdose, and their peers may be the nearest person capable of administering naloxone – an overdose reversal medication. However, college students who fear incidental exposure to fentanyl may be worried about administering naloxone.

Objective: I sought to understand the relationship between undergraduate college students’ perceptions of the risks of fentanyl and their intentions to administer naloxone in an overdose situation.

Methods: …

Improving Screening For Intimate Partner Violence Amongst Older Adults, Olivia Bell

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This systematic literature review was conducted to gather a better understanding of screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) among older adults. IPV affects millions of people every year. Many screenings are conducted with women of reproductive age in medical settings, not older adults. This study focused on ways to improve screenings for older adults by addressing topics including elder abuse and IPV and the lack of resources/knowledge for IPV survivors who are older adults. This study was a literature review conducted with the University of Central Florida’s PRIMO database to find articles on IPV among older adults over the last …

Machine Learning Approaches For Cyberbullying Detection, Roland Fiagbe

Data Science and Data Mining

Cyberbullying refers to the act of bullying using electronic means and the internet. In recent years, this act has been identifed to be a major problem among young people and even adults. It can negatively impact one’s emotions and lead to adverse outcomes like depression, anxiety, harassment, and suicide, among others. This has led to the need to employ machine learning techniques to automatically detect cyberbullying and prevent them on various social media platforms. In this study, we want to analyze the combination of some Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms (such as Bag-of-Words and TFIDF) with some popular machine learning …

Service Learning At Hope Helps, Abigail O. Bertsch

UN SDG Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship: Renewable Assignments

No abstract provided.

School Experiences Of Young Adults Since The Passing Of "Don't Say Gay", Heather M. Summers

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

As of 2020, the US is home to an estimated over nine percent of youth 13-17 who identify as LGBTQ+ (Conron, 2020). There are hundreds of bills that have been passed into laws that restrict rights for LGBTQ+ individuals (Union, Mapping attacks on LGBTQ rights in US state legislatures in 2024, 2024). With risk factors specific to youth and with legislation altering the operation of schools, there is concern regarding the effect of such laws on students (Day, 2019). This dissertation provides an overview of how LGBTQ+ youth in schools have experienced the implementation of laws that emerged between 2022 …

Academic Resilience And Wellness As Predictors Of Imposter Syndrome In First-Generation Graduate Students, Timothy Eng

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study is a two-part manuscript dissertation that examined the relationships between academic resilience (perseverance, negative affect and emotional response, reflecting and adaptive help-seeking), wellness (spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, physical, and psychological wellness), and imposter syndrome among first-generation graduate counseling students (FGGCS). Survey data from 172 FGGCS’s was analyzed using bivariate correlational and regression analyses to answer four primary research questions: (1) Is there a statistically significant correlation between FGGCS’s level of imposter syndrome and academic resilience, (2) Is there a statistically significant correlation between FGGCS’s level of imposter syndrome and perceived wellness, (3) Are FGGCS’s level of academic resilience …

Self-Transformation And Spirituality In Marketing, Mrudul Nilangekar

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Self-transformation and spirituality have not been extensively investigated in marketing research. However, these concepts are deeply impactful in an individual's life and are advocated by religious and spiritual traditions across the world. In Essay 1, I extend research on compassion, distance between self and other, and power by examining the effect of self-compassion on prosocial behavior. I test the effect of self-compassion on prosocial behavior mediated by the distance felt between self and other and moderated by felt power. Across five studies, I find that individuals in the self-compassionate and equal power mindset display higher prosocial behavior and lower empathy …

Student Engagement In The Communication Classroom: An Intervention To Encourage Student Success, Jay Baglia, Elissa Foster, Kendra Knight, Stephanie Grau

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Universities implement a variety of interventions to address student engagement and retention. This is especially true post-pandemic as faculty attempt to return to a pre-pandemic structure. Emerging adulthood aligns with the personal responsibility demanded of college students as well as changes in personal growth. In the current climate, stress has been shown to negatively impact executive functioning, the cognitive processes necessary for academic success. This essay describes an intervention encouraging student self-reflexivity around processes for engagement, academic success, and retention. Communication Fundamentals for College Success—a 5-week, two-credit workshop—was developed and delivered by the authors. Curriculum focused on time management, study …

Mapping The Ferment: Mediated Communication Research In Cios-Indexed Journals From 1970-2020, David J. Atkin, Kenneth A. Lachlan, Timothy D. Stephen, Carolyn Lagoe

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study profiles scholarly publishing in the domain of mediated communication, based on an analysis of media-themed communication journals—as indexed in the CIOS’s ComAbstracts database—from 1970–2020. Analysis of 22,300 articles from media-themed scholarly journals paints a portrait of scholarly publishing configurations across the domains of Journalism and Communication. Criterion articles were subjected to cluster analysis that yielded a comprehensive unified field portrait of interlinkages among topical pairings encompassing 58 topical categories. Results suggest that just 7 of our 37 criterion journal outlets date to the 1970s, 6 additional titles were launched in the 1980s, 10 more in the 1990s, and …

Terminological (In)Justice: Terminology And Reality In A Coordinated Community Response To Intimate Partner Violence, Julio Montanez Ma, Amy Donley Phd

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

Definitions and terminologies are paramount for operationalizing the community-wide effort against intimate partner violence (IPV). However, definitions and terms that do not reflect reality are of little use. This is particularly true in IPV coordinated community responses that attempt to harmonize data collection and legal apparatuses at the federal, state, and local levels. Using qualitative (e.g., focus group and interview data from survivors, interviews with system actors) and quantitative data (e.g., Uniform Crime Reports) from a year-long study in a large southeastern county, the current study aims to answer the following research question: Do IPV-related terms (in data collection and …