Digital Commons Network^™

Mccovid Campaign – A Social Media Implementation To Decrease Vaccine Hesitancy In Rural Counties, Harper Ford

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

This capstone will explore the challenges of vaccine hesitancy, a continuously rising problem in the public health field. The focus is primarily on rural millennials in McCracken County, Kentucky. The study identifies key factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy including misinformation, trust issues, and the rapid development of the covid-19 vaccine. To address the above concerns the study proposes a targeted social media campaign using the health belief model to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake through Facebook ads targeting millennials. The campaigns utilize the leverage of local insights and real-time data to enhance engagement and reduce hesitancy, focusing on adapting strategies based …

Environmental Justice In West Louisville, Ky, Ashley Wright

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

It is evident that West Louisville and Rubbertown are experiencing environmental exposures and related health impacts. It is important for environmental justice (EJ) areas like West Louisville and Rubbertown to gain increased awareness, due to EJ areas commonly being overlooked and forgotten about because of unjust treatment and lack of involvement. Furthermore, all of the data used for this project was publicly accessible. Community residents and the general public can access these data sources to identify which facilities are emitting toxins, as well as specific hazardous substances that are being released, the location of hazardous sites, cleanup status, and more. …

Improving Black Maternal Outcomes In Christian County, Ky: A Social Marketing Approach To Perinatal Provider Change, Ariel A. Arthur

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Compared to other states in the country, Kentucky has historically poor population health outcomes. While the statewide maternal mortality rate is 16.1 per 100,000 live births, this statistic belies the stark racial disparities that exist. In 2018, the pregnancy-related death rate for Black women was 40.2 per 100,000 live births compared to 13.1 for White women. This pattern is persistent even after controlling for socioeconomic status, prenatal care, and other protective factors. Research shows that institutional and interpersonal racism when receiving obstetric care contributes to poor childbirth and postpartum outcomes for Black women. Additionally, geography and rural status may compound …

Implementation Of A Postpartum Depression Program In A Rural Kentucky County, Abby Cecil

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

This paper aims to describe the process of implementing a Postpartum Depression (PPD) prevention program in low-income women residing in rural communities. The paper describes the process of recruiting women in this population, where and how the program will be integrated into an existing clinic, and how the program will be sustained. PPD is a significant global public health problem that can be prevented and treated. The ROSE program (Reach Out, Stay Strong, Essentials for new mothers) is a series of classes that provide informational and social support to prevent PPD. This evidence-based program has been previously successful in reducing …

Increasing Hpv Vaccination In Two Appalachian Counties, Autumn Rice

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

In response to the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the evidence-based Making Effective HPV Vaccine Recommendations training program will be implemented in the Southeast Kentucky AHEC region over the course of three years. The implementation of the Making Effective HPV Vaccine Recommendations program has three specific aims:

Aim 1: Effectively implement and deliver the Making Effective HPV Vaccine Recommendations program to immunization providers in the Southeast Kentucky AHEC region

Aim 2: Increase provider self-efficacy for making strong recommendations for HPV routinely

Aim 3: Increase the number of recommendations for the HPV vaccine among adolescents of Bell and Harlan Counties in Kentucky …

Patient Access To Glp-1 Ra’S: A Medicare Part D Policy Analysis, Celine Hummer

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

This policy analysis examines the evolving landscape of GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and their implications for Medicare Part D coverage. Initially developed for managing type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 RAs have rapidly gained popularity due to their efficacy in treating obesity and reducing cardiovascular events, leading to broader therapeutic applications. However, access to these medications under Medicare Part D is limited by high costs and coverage restrictions, particularly when used for obesity without diabetes. This analysis evaluates current Medicare Part D policies, including specialty drug tier placement, formulary restrictions, and the potential impact of recent legislative initiatives such as the …

Using Naturalistic Language Interventions To Increase Expressive Communication Of Aac Users With Autism, Kacey Eaton

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This study's purpose was to use naturalistic language interventions to increase the communication rate via alternative and augmentative communication during play with young children with autism. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a combination of naturalistic language interventions when implemented during 10-minute play sessions within the participants resource classroom. Naturalistic language interventions utilized include aided language modeling, environmental arrangements, naturalistic time delay, and language expansions. Results indicated that naturalistic language interventions are effective in increasing expressive communication via AAC with children with autism.

How Important Is Parental Involvement And Engagement In Preschool, Emilee M. Dixon

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to evaluate preschool classrooms’ parental engagement throughout the school year. Specifically, the study aims to assess if parents felt they received information to support their child's development, if the school offered engagement opportunities, and if the parents believed that engagement impacted their child. Research studies have shown or indicated that parental engagement is a key component to a child’s success. This study highlights the importance of parental involvement and engagement for children in preschool. The study involves reviewing a survey to gain a better understanding of when, how, and why parental involvement and engagement …

Group Vs. Individual Video Modeling For Acquisition Of Pilates For Individuals With Disabilities, Brittany Rounce

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This study presents findings from an alternating treatment design investigation into the efficacy of group versus individual video modeling in facilitating the acquisition of Pilates techniques among individuals with disabilities. The study aimed to assess how these different instructional modalities influenced participants' learning outcomes. The research involved a detailed analysis of two participants, with a focus on observing any variations in their response patterns during the acquisition phase. Through systematic data collection and analysis, the study evaluated the effectiveness of group versus individual Pilates video modeling. The results revealed distinct responses within the participant group, with one individual exhibiting differential …

Building Independence Through Structured Work Systems For Students With Moderate To Severe Disabilities, Maggie Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Students, especially those with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities oftentimes need support in learning to work independently. This study examined if the use of structured work systems increased student independence during regular scheduled independent work times in the general education and MSD special education classrooms. Using a single-case multiple-probe design, this study measured the percentage of steps completed independently when working with academic tasks related to individual IEP goals.

Child Language And Happiness Behaviors: Evaluating The Effects Of Caregiver Coaching, Ashlen Grubbs

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Caregivers of young children who have or are at risk for disabilities may struggle supporting their child’s language development. This study used a tailored rapid coaching intervention to teach a caregiver different naturalistic language interventions that can be used with their child during play. Evidence-based naturalistic skills for increasing child communication were chosen to teach the caregiver based on baseline levels of skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored RCI (training and coaching) with caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. Like other studies, this study involved evaluating child-level communication but extended child measures …

Training Paraprofessionals In The Implementation Of Aided Language Modeling With Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities And Ccn, Julianne Hill

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this research is to train special education paraprofessionals in the implementation of Aided Language Modeling (ALM) through a coaching program. A single-case multiple probe design across three paraprofessional/student dyads was used to analyze data. Coaching procedures included a single 20-minute training workshop with the researcher between baseline and intervention and post-session conversations after each intervention trial. The research took place in a public school in the southeastern United States. The school was located outside of a metropolitan area in a suburban school district. The study took place to answer the following questions: (1) With the implementation of …

Pixels Or People: A Comparison Of The Differenital Effects Of Animated And Human Video Models On Exercise Behaviors For Hgh School Students With Intellectual Disability, Jade Alexis Fulkerson

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Individuals with intellectual disabilities, with or without autism spectrum disorder, often require structured programming to facilitate acquisition of skills. Video modeling, an evidence-based strategy, offers a promising avenue for skill instruction. While research has demonstrated the effectiveness of human-modeled video interventions, limited research has been conducted into the efficacy of animated models. Addressing this gap, the present study employed an alternating treatments design to compare the effectiveness of human and animated models in teaching exercise behaviors to high school students with intellectual disabilities, with or without autism spectrum disorder. Results revealed variability among participants: one individual exhibited superior performance with …

Comparison Of Video Modeling And In-Vivo Language Instruction In Preschool, Jessah Marlee Hughes

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Early communication and language development in young children is critically important and those identified as having a language delay, would benefit from intervention. There is a rise in screen time exposure in young children, with some watching variations of popular evidence-based practices (time delay, video modeling, etc.) Most notably, Ms. Rachel is an early childhood learning YouTube sensation. This study seeks to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of video modeling and time delay in the differential use of early sentences during play-based activities.

Supporting Children’S Eating Behavior In A Preschool Classroom, Olajumoke Leshi

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Food selectivity, commonly observed in young children, has a significant effect on their health outcomes, and this poses a major challenge for parents and caregivers. This proposed study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a teaching package comprising prompting, shaping, and reinforcement strategies in enhancing exploratory eating behaviors among preschool children displaying food selectivity in a classroom setting. The study seeks to answer the research question: does the delivery of a teaching package consisting of prompting, shaping, and reinforcement result in an increase in exploratory eating behaviors (touch, smell, taste) by young children displaying food selectivity? This study will use …

The Effects Of A Stay-Play-Talk Intervention On Social Communicative Acts For Elementary Aged Children With And Without Disabilities, Mackenzie Loar

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Stay-Play-Talk (SPT) intervention for increasing the rate of peer interactions among elementary-aged students who display social deficits or delays in a free-time small group setting. Peermediated instruction (PMI) is used to teach typically developing peers’ ways to interact with and help learners with disabilities acquire or increase social skills by increasing social opportunities within natural environments. With PMI, peers are systematically taught ways of engaging learners with disabilities in social interactions (Neitzel, 2008). PMIs are designed to support target children without interrupting the natural interactions between peers. One …

Differential Effects Of Criteria For Increasing Delay Intervals In Progressive Time Delay, Kai O'Neill

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of the study was to compare the differential effects of response independent and response-dependent criteria used to determine when to increase to the next delay interval in the progressive time delay (PTD) procedure. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the relative efficiency of three variations of the PTD procedure when teaching expressive word identification to first-grade children with moderate to severe intellectual or developmental disabilities, language impairments, and reading deficits. All three PTD variations consisted of increasing the delay interval in 1-s increments from 0s to 4s. The three PTD variations compared included (a) a …

Director Follow-Up Of Early Childhood Educator Professional Development, Katherine Jordan

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Research has shown follow-up to be an important component for professional development (PD) to result in teacher behavior change. However, PD rarely includes follow-up support. This pilot study used multiple methods to determine the feasibility of Head Start (HS) directors providing teachers PD follow-up support. Two aspects of feasibility were examined. Practical feasibility was based on whether the directors could master the procedure for providing PD follow-up support and whether they had time to provide PD follow-up support. Social validity feasibility was measured as the acceptability of the procedures and the likelihood of directors continuing to use the protocol prescribed …

Multi-Tiered Professional Development System To Increase Paraprofessional Use Of Behavior Specific Praise, Lauren Phillips

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

To further support learning in self-contained settings, it is crucial for both teachers and paraprofessionals to implement effective classroom and behavior management strategies. Behavior specific praise (BSP) is one strategy that has been taught to teachers and used in general education classrooms to increase positive student outcomes (Gage et al., 2017) In this study, we used a multi-tiered system for professional development to increase paraprofessionals’ rate of BSP in a self-contained special education setting during one-to-one instructional activities. The results of this study indicated that Tier 1 professional development was sufficient for the paraprofessionals, and it not only increased paraprofessionals’ …

Trauma And Parenting: Are There Unintentional Effects?, A'Tora Hill

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The goal in conducting this study was to explore the effects of trauma across generations, if any were to be confirmed. This study, specifically, aimed to investigate whether parents reported having dealt with trauma and if their trauma had any impact on the way they parent their children. Research has shown that parents who have endured trauma take on different parenting styles and techniques than those who have not endured trauma. This study highlights the effects of trauma on those who encounter it as well as how it may transcend through generations through a survey. A key outcome of this …

Enhancing Aac Models In Elementary Classrooms: The Impact Of Training And Coaching Peers In Aided Language Modeling, Caitlyn Harris

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of training and coaching neurotypical peers on aided language modeling (ALM), specifically in their ability to provide increased and effective models on a peer’s augmentative and alternative (AAC) device. The neurotypical peers received training and coaching to apply the strategy while interacting with an AAC user during social break times in a third-grade general education classroom. A multiple-probe design across participants was implemented to assess the impact of the peer training and coaching intervention. The results showed that this intervention was effective in increasing the frequency of ALMs provided by …

The Effects Of Hierarchical Training On The Emergence Of Emotion-Related Metaphors In Autistic Children, Katherine Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Recently, research on derived relational responding has increased in volume, along with the publication of assessments, curricula, and textbooks on this topic. The allure of engineering derived relations due to purported accelerated learning makes this topic interesting to researchers and practitioners. Recent reviews have examined types of verbal operants, and specific relational frames studied in this body of literature, but there is scarcity in terms of the instructional procedures and variations thereof, and there is little available to focus on single case design (SCD) evaluations of these procedures. Hierarchical training (HT) to produce derived relations between arbitrary stimuli has shown …

Consumer Demand For Food Products, Price Surge, And U.S. Public Policy: An Empirical Economic Analysis, Clement Olivier Codjia

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation, by leveraging advanced econometric modeling approaches and exploiting suitable large datasets, investigates consumer food product demand in a setting of change in regulating policies as well as unforeseen price increases. Three chapters have mainly enabled the dissertation to achieve its research goals, which have been explicitly presented in Chapter 1 along with the background as well as the core problem the studies have elaborated on.

Given that soft drinks stand out as a major cause of obesity and overweight worldwide, whereas the United States is the country most concerned with this problem, experts have agreed that labels and …

The Impacts Of Gut-Supporting Feed Additives On The Growth Performance, Gut Health, Blood Chemistry, And Immune Status Of Broiler Chickens Exposed To Different Stressors, Richard A. Adefioye

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of different feed additives in mitigating stress in broiler chickens. Experiment 1 used 504-day-old male by-product Cobb breeder chicks with 8 treatments replicated 9 times with 7 birds per replicate cage, structured as a 2x4 factorial arrangement of treatments. All birds were on the experimental diets for 20 days. There were 2 levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge [no challenge vs. LPS challenge at 1 mg/kg BW) and 4 types of feed additives [no additive, 0.05% PostB, 0.1% PostB, and 0.1% Tynagen^TM]. In experiment 2, 672-day-old male by-product Cobb breeder chicks …

More Than Censorship: The Harm Of Libricide, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Libricide, although often deemed an extreme instance of censorship, is altogether different. Censorship involves the suppression of particular books due to alleged inappropriate content; libricide refers to the intentional destruction of entire libraries. Understanding the differing motives recognizes that the library is more than the books it contains, and is instead an institution rooted in its history of selection and use by the local community. Over time, the library reflects the users’ identity, a reminder that any aggressor would wish to eliminate when the goal is pacification by erasure of a population’s memory and history. Prerequisites for an act of …

A Critical Assessment Of The First Step Act's Recidivism-Reduction Measures, Raquel Wilson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) is the most impactful federal sentencing reform of the past 40 years. While the Act represents a partial resurgence of the rehabilitative model of imprisonment, which had fallen out of favor decades before, it also represents a missed opportunity to fully integrate evidence-based rehabilitation programs for those offenders who pose the greatest risks to public safety.

The public has a strong interest in reducing recidivism, particularly among violent offenders, most of whom will be released from federal prison eventually. The FSA incentivizes participation in evidence-based, recidivism-reducing programs offered by the Bureau of Prisons …

Tools Do Not Create: Human Authorship In The Use Of Generative Artificial Intelligence, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Artistic tools, from brushes to complex algorithms, don’t create art; human artists do. The advent of generative AI tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion has blurred this understanding, causing observers to believe these tools are the authors of the artworks they produce, even so far as to imagine that the artworks are “created” by the AI in the copyright sense of the word. Not so.

The U.S. Copyright Office recently issued guidance on the copyrightability of works produced using generative AI tools. The Office has accepted the narrative that AI tools perform the steps of authorship, conceiving of the …

Media + Vigilante Violence: The Formula For American Atrocity, Tiffany D. Atkins

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article provides an overview of the international and domestic responses to media-fueled violence and demonstrates how both legal systems have failed to provide meaningful protections for Black Americans from vigilante violence and atrocity. Part I explores the history of media as a propaganda tool against underrepresented groups, detailing how it has promoted atrocity domestically and internationally. There are parallels between the historical and contemporary use of media as a method to fuel atrocity against minority groups; illustrating these examples indicates the continued risk of violence and atrocity faced by Black Americans due to these models of persuasive communication. Part …

A Major Wrong On A Private Right Of Action Under The Voting Rights Act, Joshua A. Douglas, Macin Graber

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, Justice Neil Gorsuch posited in a short concurrence that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”) does not confer a private right of action. That idea seemingly came out of nowhere, as Supreme Court precedent was clear and no one had suggested that the VRA did not allow private parties to bring suit. Justice Gorsuch’s one-paragraph concurrence was both unsupported and wrong. Even the single case he cited did not support his proposition.

An Arkansas district court and then the Eighth Circuit, however, followed Justice Gorsuch’s lead, ruling that only the federal Department …

Deepfakes And Dog Toys: First Amendment Defenses Under The Rogers Test After Jack Daniel’S V. Vip Products, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Given that deepfakes are almost always associated with expression of some kind, any attempt to litigate or regulate deepfakes will require the consideration of the First Amendment. Deepfakes implicate so many areas of law and society that a discussion of the interface of First Amendment free speech rights and deepfakes writ large would require a treatise volume with several chapters. This article is more modest: It will examine the past, present, and future use of the Rogers test in an evaluation of the application of First Amendment protections in trademark infringement cases and in legal actions traditionally associated with the …