Improving Nurse Competency In Vascular Occlusion Prevention And Management, Arielle Victoria Madayag

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: Vascular occlusion is a rare, but serious complication of dermal filler injections that can lead to severe adverse outcomes, including tissue necrosis and vision loss. As the demand for minimally invasive cosmetic procedures increases, proper nurse education and preparedness in managing vascular complications remain essential to ensuring patient safety.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured educational session combined with simulation-based training on nurses’ knowledge, confidence, and clinical competency in recognizing and managing vascular occlusion associated with dermal filler injections.

Methods: A pretest-posttest educational intervention design was used. Four registered nurses (N=4) employed at a medical spa participated …

Enhancing Primary Care Provider’S Knowledge And Use Of Long-Acting And Oral Naltrexone In The Management Of Opioid And Alcohol Use Disorder, Ariana Juarez-Moncada

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Abstract

Objective: This evidence-based project aimed to enhance primary care provider knowledge and prescription rates of naltrexone and long-acting injectable (LAI) naltrexone in a community healthcare setting.

Background: Naltrexone and LAI naltrexone pharmacotherapy is shown to reduce use of alcohol and opioids and improve client retention in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) (Bahji et al., 2020; Morley et al., 2024; Murphy et al., 2022).

Methods: A 30-minute in-service was provided to 14 family practice providers at the clinic. The prescription rate of naltrexone and LAI naltrexone was evaluated for the baseline period of February …

Empowering Recovery: Implementing Ace Screenings To Enhance Care For Patients With Substance Use Disorders, Joshua Wolf

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Objective: This evidence-based practice project evaluated the impact of implementing adverse childhood experience (ACE) screenings for patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) in an outpatient community behavioral health clinic.

Background: ACEs are strongly associated with an increased risk of developing SUDs, chronic medical comorbidities, and negative treatment outcomes. Despite consistent evidence supporting the need for identification of ACEs and implementing trauma-informed care, standardized ACE screening is not routinely incorporated into outpatient SUD treatment, potentially limiting the identification of the need for education and referrals.

Methods: The ACE Questionnaire for Adults was implemented during routine psychiatric visits for patients diagnosed with …

Reclamando Corazón Y Voz: Latinas Speak Their Truth Through Plática As Resistance In California Community College Learning Disabilities Assessments, Maricela Becerra

Dissertations

Although California Community Colleges (CCCs) offer learning disability (LD) assessments to determine eligibility for academic accommodations, for Latina students navigating converging forces of race, gender, language, citizenship, and ableism, these assessments often surface unspoken histories of harm. This study advanced Chicana feminista DisCrit (CFDC), extending disability critical race theory through Chicana spirituality and cultural intuition to examine possibilities when an educadora situates assessments in a plática grounded in consideración—respectful, relational, and unhurried care.

Rooted in Chicana feminist pláticas methodology and authored from the positionality of a disabled Latina scholar–practitioner, this qualitative decolonial dissertation explored how Latina students reflected on …

Rainbow Promises, Uneven Promises: Framing Lgbtqia+ Educational Policy And Possibility In Education, Gerardo Lorenzo-Saucedo

Dissertations

Despite the expansion of LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies in K-12 education, disparities in students’ experiences with safety and belonging persist. This qualitative case study examines how such policies are interpreted and enacted within a high school and district in Southern California, and how these processes shape LGBTQIA+ students’ experiences.

Guided by ecological systems theory, queer theory, and multiple streams theory, this study conceptualizes policy implementation as a dynamic and socially constructed process influenced by power, ideology, and institutional context. Data were collected through interviews, document and artifact analysis, and observations, with analysis that used a multi-phased coding procedure.

Findings revealed that …

Postpartum Depression: A National Crisis Calling For Federal Support, Sarah A. Stallsworth

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Postpartum depression (PPD) is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the United States, yet it remains significantly underdiagnosed and undertreated. Despite decades of research illuminating its prevalence and detrimental consequences, federal intervention has been limited.  States retain responsibility to address the issue and possess inconsistent and limited legislation.  The purpose of this paper is to propose adding PPD screening as a National Performance Measure (NPM) within the Title V Maternal and Child (MCH) block grant. MCH is a longstanding and resourceful program that provides states funds to address maternal mental health needs. This proposal suggests leveraging a PPD NPM …

Moving Toward Humanization In Education: Teacher Models In K-12 Settings, Juan Carlos Marques

Dissertations

ABSTRACT Current pedagogical initiatives—social emotional learning (SEL), restorative practices

(RJ), and positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS)—aim to improve students’ relationships at school, but they often fail to address the hegemonic ideologies that sustain inequitable disciplinary practices and outcomes for minoritized students. Humanization, which centers the dignity and lived experiences of children, is a needed critical component. Drawing from the work of scholars such as Freire and del Carmen Salazar, this study sought to learn from the experiences of teachers who engaged humanizing practices. Grounded in disability critical race theory (DisCrit), this study examined how teachers used a humanizing approach …

Embodied Leadership And Conditional Legitimacy: Critically Conscious Male Leaders Navigating Systems Of Power, Luis A. Legaspi

Dissertations

Leadership is not a neutral concept; it is shaped by overlapping systems of power, including empire, whiteness, neoliberal capitalism, and cisheteropatriarchy. These interlocking systems influence how leadership is defined, recognized, and legitimized, often privileging particular identities and forms of authority. The persistent underrepresentation of people of color, women, and queer individuals in positions of leadership reflects how dominant conceptions of leadership remain closely aligned with historically entrenched structures of power.

This critical narrative inquiry study examines how men, who disproportionately occupy positions of social and institutional authority, make meaning of masculinity, power, and leadership within these systems. Drawing on relational …

Learning Through Lowriding: Knowledge In The Garage, Bianca Elisa Arellano

Dissertations

Lowriding culture has long been situated at the margins where state-sanctioned criminalization processes delegitimize the intellectual agency of lowriders, rendering their knowledge systems institutionally illegible. This dissertation argues that such epistemic invisibility denies lowriders the agency to define their own intellectual contributions, and it reclaims lowriding as a site of profound resourceful innovation. Grounded in Chicana feminist epistemologies, the study theorizes how nepantla—the process of navigating and living at the margins—works alongside rasquachismo, the working-class sensibility through which constraint becomes a site of knowledge production, to frame lowriding in Chicanx San Diego communities as an embodied tension where subversive, resourceful …

Improving A1c Levels Through An Individualized Diabetes Education Among Patients Living With Type 2 Diabetes, David W. Cardona Jr.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represents an increasing global health, social, and financial burdens. Nutrition, among other diabetes self-management topics, is a foundational aspect in managing T2DM. Significant knowledge gaps persist among patients regarding the impact of mindful eating habits in relation to euglycemia. Individualized diabetes education focused on healthy eating habits offers a promising strategy to address this gap. The quality improvement (QI) project aimed to evaluate the impact of diabetes education, focused on nutritional awareness, and mindful eating habits on hemoglobin (A1c) levels, weight, and diabetes self-management questionnaire scores (DSMQ-R) were assessed among adults living with T2DM. The …

The Impact Of Translated Phq-9 And Gad-7 Scales On Treatment Recommendations In An Adult Vietnamese Population: A 3-Month Primary Care Evaluation, Vivienne Bui

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Depression and anxiety are prevalent yet underdiagnosed in limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations due to language barriers, cultural stigma, and provider bias. Vietnamese-speaking patients are particularly vulnerable to under-recognition in primary care. This quality improvement project evaluated whether implementing Vietnamese-translated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) tools would improve mental health diagnosis and referral rates. Guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model, a pre–post design was conducted at a San Diego clinic from March 26 to June 26, 2025. Vietnamese-speaking adults (≥18 years) completed translated PHQ-9 and GAD-7 forms during intake. Providers used scores in conjunction with clinical …

Database: A Poetry Collection, Lara Dominique D. Solante

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Poets wield their pens to respond to various societal or cultural stimuli—including politics, art, science, and more. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is an exponential development that has become a leading topic of discussion. This project, titled Database, is a collection of poems that interrogates the tensions that exist between humanity and technology through the use of modern imagery, such as robots and virtual reality. These poems also examine the once distinct markers of humanity that characterized classical poetry, including emotion and sensory experiences, and reframes them within a contemporary context, giving technology and artificial consciousness a voice. Although this collection …

Growing Up, Going Abroad: A Thematic Analysis Of Cultural Upbringing, Tolerance For Uncertainty, And In-Group/Out-Group Communication, Kristiana Krasteva

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines Study Abroad as a process shaped by students’ responses to uncertainty, rather than as an inherently transformative experience. Drawing on Identity Negotiation Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Uncertainty Reduction Theory, it explores how cultural socialization influences students’ tolerance for uncertainty and, in turn, their patterns of communication and social engagement abroad. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students who had recently completed a semester abroad, and data were analyzed through a thematic analysis. Findings indicate that students tend to reproduce or extend pre-existing patterns of socialization, rather than fundamentally change them. In-group reliance emerged as a strategic …

Host Families’ Perspectives Of The Impact Of The Commodification Of Education On The Student-Host Family Relationship In Study Abroad, Guadalupe Bustamante

Dissertations

The growing commodification of education has reshaped study abroad in ways that extend beyond marketing and program design. While homestays have traditionally been viewed as the ideal format for cultural immersion and language acquisition, research has largely overlooked how these trends affect the student-host family relationship from the family's perspective.

This study examines whether, and, if so, how Spanish host families perceive their roles and relationships with the American students they host have been impacted by these trends. Using a qualitative exploratory case study design, the research focused on representatives from eight families in Madrid, who have hosted U.S. students …

Kroc Ipj Border Fellows Report 2024 — English, Rebeca Cázares Adame

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The Kroc Border Fellows Program brings together change agents from academia, civil society, the public sector, and the private sector to build a more inclusive and peaceful Mexico-U.S. border region through action-oriented research and meaningful community partnerships.

The non-residential fellowship spans 10 months and provides financial and technical support for Fellow-designed and -implemented projects. This model reflects a core belief that those closest to border communities' challenges are best positioned to develop effective solutions — and that lasting change must be built on existing community assets and strengths.

Throughout the fellowship, cohort members meet regularly to foster collaboration, mutual learning, …

Vista: April 30, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Vista: April 23, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Vista: April 16, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Building An Inclusive Workforce: Closing Equity Gaps In Community Colleges And Vocational Schools With Elliott’S Embodied Inclusion 360 Framework, Niki Elliott Ph.D.

Inclusion in Postsecondary Education

Community colleges and vocational schools serve as critical access points to higher education and upward mobility, yet historically marginalized neurodiverse students—particularly men of color—continue to face inequitable outcomes in retention, completion, and career readiness. Despite rising enrollment in career and technical education programs and increasing workforce demand, institutional practices often rely on fragmented supports that overlook the interplay of physiology, environment, culture, trauma, and instructional design. Closing these equity gaps requires a holistic, embodied approach informed by neuroscience, trauma studies, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Elliott’s Embodied Inclusion 360 (EI 360) Framework offers such a model, integrating five interdependent domains—physiological, relational, …

Cripping The Border – Acompañamiento As Access: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Transborder Youth With Disabilities, Marco O. Amaral

Dissertations

The U.S.-Mexico border is a historical, geopolitical site of intense militarization where colonial logics of "othering" converge to marginalize disabled transborder youth. While transborder studies have expanded, students with disabilities remain relegated to the "void" and contained by educational systems that prioritize surveillance over access. Grounded in Sepúlveda’s (2011) acompañamiento and Transborder DisCrit, this ethnographic case study examines the lived experiences of both students and their families who cross the border daily to attend school in the U.S. It frames these journeys not as mere commutes, but as acts of defiance within the broader disability rights movement.

As a teacher-activist, …

Predictors Of Filipino Life Satisfaction Using The Revised Filipino Satisfaction With Life Scale, Razel Bacuetes Milo, Patricia Calero, Maria Luisa Ramira, Kathleen Soon, Maria Fontimayor, Cynthia D. Connelly

School of Nursing and Health Science: Faculty Scholarship

Background: 

Mental health stigma serves as a significant barrier to seeking help, often leading to maladaptive coping strategies. Given these complexities, it is essential to validate the Satisfaction With Life Scale Revised (SWLS-R) within the Filipino context to assess its psychometric reliability, cultural relevance, and suitability for evaluating well-being and mental health outcomes among Filipinos.

Objective: 

The aims of this study were to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SWLS-R and describe the relationships and significant predictors of life satisfaction among Filipinos living in the United States.

Methods: 

A purposive sample of Filipino adults, fluent in both English and Filipino, …

University Of San Diego Magazine Spring 2026, Publications Department

University of San Diego Magazine (1992- )

Beauty, Goodness and Truth; Dear Toreros; Around Alcalá Park; Roads Less Traveled; Faith in Action; Asking Better Questions in an Age of Easy Answers; Shaping the Next Generation of Science Leaders; At the Edge of It All; Global Perspectives; Torero Athletics; Toreros Making Waves; In Memoriam; Leading With Love

Cotheorizing Healing With Undergraduate Queer And Trans Latina Survivors Of Power-Based Violence, Kimberly Correa

Dissertations

Current research on healing from power-based violence highlights the importance of integrating victim-survivors’ personal culture and identities into healing approaches, yet few studies actually focus on the culturally distinct healing processes of victim-survivors (O’Brien & Macy, 2016; Sinko et al., 2023). Grounded in Jotería theory (Alvarez, 2023) and Latina/Chicana feminist frameworks (Garcia, 1989), this qualitative study employs queer pláticas as both a methodology and method to center culturally rooted dialogue, reciprocity, and cariño as a political praxis. This study explores how six queer and trans Latina undergraduate victim-survivors conceptualize healing from power-based violence and how their identities, cultural values, and …

Copley Connects | Fall 2025/Spring 2026, University Of San Diego

Copley Connects Library Newsletter

Message From the Dean | 3
Writing in Visual Form: noé olivas’ Neon Art Installation | 4
San Diego’s French Connection | 6
Instagrammable Moments: A Librarian’s Reflections on San Diego and USD | 8
Copley Celebrates the 3rd Annual Filipino American History Month Event | 10
Banned Books Week | 10
Copley Library Hosts the Inaugural Student Success Symposium | 11
Veterans/Armistice Day: Veterans for Peace Visit Copley Library | 11
UDEM and USD Sign Sister Libraries MOU | 12
Cruising Through History: The Lowrider Stamp Unveiling | 13
Copley Reads | 14
Cultural Mosaic: Celebrating Asian American and …

Vista: March 26, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Psychometric Properties And Validation Of The Filipino Satisfaction With Life Scale, Razel Bacuetes Milo, Patricia Calero, Cynthia D. Connelly

School of Nursing and Health Science: Faculty Scholarship

Introduction:

Life satisfaction is the cognitive evaluation of an individual’s current life situation and personal criteria influenced by their acclimatization process. Since the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was introduced in 1985, it has been translated into 30 different languages. To date, there is limited knowledge about Filipino life satisfaction and its correlation to mental health. SWLS has not been translated, and its psychometric properties have not been established in Filipino. This study establishes the psychometric properties of the Filipino SWLS and examines the correlations between life satisfaction and mental health among Filipino Americans.

Methods:

The study design is a …

Vista: March 19, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Vista: March 12, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Vista: March 5, 2026, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Nonfiction Runner-Up: Stuck In My Teeth, Grace M. Moore

Lindsay J. Cropper Creative Writing Contest

No abstract provided.