Digital Commons Network^™

Therapy Use And Self-Stigma Of Seeking Help Among College Students Of Color, Rawle David Sookwah Ragoonath

Theses and Dissertations

Amidst rapid diversification of higher education student bodies, discrepancies in help-seeking relative to endorsed psychological distress have been noted among college students of color. The treatment utilization disparity exhibited by minoritized racial and ethnic groups attending college necessitates analysis of factors that impact help-seeking. Colleges have increasingly implemented multi-systemic interventions to address rising mental illness prevalence rates across college student demographics. Addressing treatment use disparities and implementing culturally competent services are foci of updated college mental health models. Empowering help-seeking is vital to promoting campus community health. Saint Arnault’s (2009) cultural determinants of help-seeking model (CDHS) posits the interplay of …

Using Differentiated Gamification To Teach Systems Interactions: Impacts On Ninth Grade Biology Students' Academic Achievement And Cognitive, Behavioral, And Emotional Engagement, Stephanie Morgan Ruiz

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the impact of differentiated gamification on student cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement, and academic performance within the unit of plant and animal systems for ninth grade biology students. Scientific literacy is considered a key component of education, as it contributes to societal innovation, economic production, and an informed public. Comprehension of biological concepts and processes, such as plant and animal systems, provide a greater understanding of the living world, and contributes to overall scientific literacy. Although a vital component to science education and literacy, students continue to struggle with the concepts …

Evaluating Nonlinear Relationships In Sem Models: An Example Of Parameter Estimation And Stability Using Expectancy Value Theory, Steven G. Barth

Theses and Dissertations

In structural equation modeling, relationships between exogenous and endogenous variables are often assumed to be linear though that is not a requirement. A recent trend in modeling latent interactions and moderations has stimulated further inquiry into nonlinear relationships and the analysis techniques associated with those types of models. However, rarely do investigators specify other potential nonlinear relationships such as quadratic relationships. This study explores the potential for quadratic relationships within Expectancy Value Theory when p the impact of high school students’ motivational beliefs on their pursuit of STEM-related activities. Using the High School Longitudinal Survey as a source of information, …

A Conductor’S Guide To When We No Longer Touch: The World’S First Aids Requiem, Kevin Crowe

Theses and Dissertations

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Kristopher Jon Anthony wrote his greatest work, When We No Longer Touch. This was a seven-movement requiem scored for flute, English horn, harp, piano, strings, percussion, tenor/bass choir, small tenor/bass ensemble, and soprano and baritone soloists. It draws on combined texts from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass and the self-help guide to grief How to Survive the Loss of a Love, featuring poetry by Peter McWilliams. These are grouped together and framed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ model of the stages of grieving. It all combines to make a work of exceptional beauty and emotional …

The Effect Of Voluntarily Disclosing An Earnings Surprise On Management Operating Decisions, Jonathan Gay

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research extensively examines the external implications of voluntarily disclosing an earnings surprise, yet the internal implications remain understudied. Using two experiments, I examine whether the preemptive voluntary disclosure of an earnings surprise influences management operating decisions. Drawing upon mental accounting and the realization effect, I predict that managers are more likely to make inefficient operating decisions when an earnings surprise is expected and that a quantitative, but not qualitative, voluntary disclosure will mitigate this value-sacrificing behavior. I find that managers are more likely to make inefficient operating decisions when a negative, but not a positive, earnings surprise is expected …

The Disruption Of Kinship: Interracial Relationships, Displacement, And Marginalized Mixed-Race Families In Korean War Literature, Hyunwook Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The Korean War (1950–1953) left a profound mark on the Korean peninsula, its people, and their diaspora, with its impact still felt today. Korean War literature serves as a vital source for understanding the war's social and cultural ramifications, particularly for marginalized groups, including military sex workers, mixed-race children, and mixed Korean adoptees. Emphasizing the role of interraciality in their experiences, the dissertation delves into literary representations that depict encounters between Korean women and American soldiers, leading to the formation of novel mixed-race families both within military camp towns in Korea and domestic spaces in the United States. While much …

Professional Helper Engagement And Student Perspectives In K-12 Nontraditional ​Educational Settings​, Rachel Gilreath

Theses and Dissertations

Nontraditional educational settings (NES) cater to diverse student populations, including those considered at-potential or at-risk. Research on interventions and the role of helping professionals in these settings is limited. This dissertation comprises two studies aimed at elucidating interventions and support mechanisms for at-potential students in NES, alongside exploring the role of school counselors in fostering their holistic development. The first study conducts a systematic review synthesizing existing research on interventions in NES, revealing insights into research scarcity, author diversity, and areas for future inquiry. Subsequently, the second study investigates the perceptions of at-potential youth within NES, particularly in the southeastern …

The Effect Of Covid-19 Restrictions On The Social Support Experiences Of Black Women Giving Birth In South Carolina Hospitals During The First Year Of The Covid-19 Pandemic (2020) As Compared To A Previous Birth, Tiffany Eva Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

The United States is experiencing a maternal health crisis, which disproportionately affects Black women. Black women die from pregnancy-related causes two to three times as often as their White counter parts, and the majority of maternal death are preventable. In recent years, public health and national governing authorities have devoted resources to monitoring the health crisis and raising the public’s knowledge of warning signs; however, maternal mortality rates continue to rise. Noted contributors to Black maternal mortality include, but are not limited to, racism, delayed treatment and response to health emergencies, and lack of social and emotional support during childbirth, …

Neural Mechanisms Of Estrogen And Inflammation In Female Stress Susceptibility, Samantha Jane Bouknight

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are highly debilitating psychiatric disorders that notably share stress as an etiological factor. Stress is a common occurrence experienced daily by virtually everyone and, while most people are resilient, a substantial portion of the population exhibit risk factors that yield them susceptible to developing stress-related psychiatric disorders. One prominent factor that has long been known to increase this risk is the female biological sex with women presenting at least twice as often with disorders like PTSD and MDD compared to men. Interestingly, this bias exists distinctly during the reproductive years and …

Reading Ecogothic Memory In Contemporary Southern Swamp Novels, Megan Caroline Brockhard Knight

Theses and Dissertations

The ecogothic is a lens through which to engage memory, southern constructivism and identity, environmental intervention, and the literature of the American Southeast. This project establishes a framework of literary criticism that defines the ecogothic, interprets memory as truth imagined, and identifies the position of memory in the environment as a construction with which it is necessary to grapple to understand identity. This framework, compiled of existing and original scholarship, is then applied to three contemporary swamp narratives written by three different southern women writers. The swamp setting creates a unique microcosm of gothic liminality, neither fully land nor water, …

Perception Of Alzheimer’S Actionability Among End Users Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests, Emily Mason

Theses and Dissertations

The APOE ε4 allele is the best-known genetic risk factor for developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Although new evidence is emerging, the extent to which lifestyle improvements can reduce Alzheimer’s risk needs further investigation. Research suggests that individuals with a higher genetic risk may be more likely to engage in risk-reducing health behavior changes following results disclosure. This study aimed to better understand these findings by assessing the health behavior and perceptions of Alzheimer’s actionability among consumers of DTC genetic tests. Our study revealed that individuals with 2 copies of the APOE ε4 allele were less likely to make lifestyle modifications …

Histories Of Stress: A Life Course Approach To Population Health In Late Medieval And Early Modern Berlin, Emily Brennan

Theses and Dissertations

Given our current climate crisis and urban population increases, researchers are increasingly interested in the health outcomes at the intersection of climate change and urbanization. Since climate change and urbanization affects human health in a variety of ways, more work is needed in diverse cultural contexts to understand temporal and geographic variations of such phenomena more fully. Using skeletal individuals from 13^th – 18^th century Berlin (n = 387), this project analyses demographic and health trends from the founding of the city in the late medieval period (c. 1200 – 1500) to the early modern period, when the …

Patients’ Experience Of Care Following Perinatal Case Conference, Mary Elise Nolen

Theses and Dissertations

The Perinatal Case Conference (PCC) at Prisma Health-Midlands Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) is a biweekly multidisciplinary meeting to discuss pregnancies with prenatally identified congenital anomalies. Patients are primarily cared for by MFM and may have appointments with various subspecialists during their pregnancy. The goals of the PCC are multidisciplinary collaboration in planning for the management of each pregnancy and familiarizing each practitioner with the pending cases, so if or when intervention is needed, the clinicians are familiar with the case.

Researchers performed a chart review and surveyed patients whose pregnancies were discussed in the PCC to learn the patient’s perspective of …

Mental Trauma, Colonial Mimicry, And Internalized Racism In Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book Of Not, Lily Kay Lynn Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s second novel in her Nervous Conditions trilogy, The Book of Not (2006) emphasizes the disabling nature of colonial domination and terror through pain and violence inflicted on the body and the mind. Through the use of Frantz Fanon’s colonial and post-colonial theory and Homi Bhabha’s concept of colonial mimicry the critical nature of Tambudzai—the main protagonist—position in the novel becomes apparent. Just as the title suggests, the novel becomes a book of negation and unbecoming as Tambudzai tries to find her place as a woman in Southern Rhodesia while attending a European colonial institution while war rages just …

Cancer Screening For Patients With Intellectual Disability: Exploring Parent And Caregiver Perspectives, Jennifer Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual disability (ID) is defined as a combination of deficits in cognitive and adaptive function, both of which must be present early in life. Adults with ID frequently have unique healthcare needs; however, they also require care that is routine for all adults. This includes cancer screening. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether or not adults with ID are undergoing cancer screening, understand the barriers they have faced in obtaining screening, and collect recommendations from parents and caregivers on ways to improve access to and facilitate screening for this population. We surveyed parents and caregivers of adults …

The Importance Of Sense Of Community In Recovery For Individuals Living With Serious Mental Illness, Natalia Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

People with serious mental illness face a variety of barriers to participating in community life. Some of these barriers include limits in social functioning which can then affect social relationships and life satisfaction (Sanchez et al, 2016). Devaluation based on mental health status is an important barrier to address due to its connection to stigma and relationships. The more an individual fears that they will be undervalued and discriminated against, the more they may fear interacting with others. They may hide that they are in mental health treatment or avoid social encounters that they consider as possibly rejecting. These behaviors …

The Effects Of High Fat Diet On Lipid Deposition In Skeletal Muscle, Alexander Huss

Theses and Dissertations

By the year 2030, almost 50% of adults in the United States are expected to be obese. Obesity has been shown to increase the risk of several chronic metabolic diseases, several cancers, and is associated with impaired skeletal muscle function and metabolism. Despite this, little it is known about the role of altered muscle lipid homeostasis, lipid droplet dynamics, and lipid droplet-mitochondrial interactions in contributing to muscle dysfunction in obesity. Therefore, we sought to investigate the impact of high-fat diet induced obesity on overall skeletal muscle lipid deposition, intramyocellular lipid droplet content and morphology, and lipid droplet-mitochondrial contact. Male C57/BL6 …

Healthcare Assistance Challenges-Driven Neurosymbolic Ai, Kaushik Roy

Publications

Although Artificial Intelligence technology has proven effective in providing healthcare assistance by analyzing health data, it still falls short in supporting decision-making. This deficiency largely stems from the predominance of opaque neural networks, particularly in mental health care AI applications, which raise concerns about their unpredictable and unverifiable nature. This skepticism hinders the transition from information support to decision support. This presentation will explore neurosymbolic approaches that combine neural networks with symbolic control and verification mechanisms. These approaches aim to unlock AI’s full potential by enhancing information analysis and decision-making support for healthcare assistance.

Automatic Uncovering Of Patient Primary Concerns In Portal Messages Using A Fusion Framework Of Pretrained Language Models, Yang Ren, Yuqi Wu, Jungwei W. Fan, Aditya Khurana, Sunyang Fu, Dezhi Wu, Hongfang Liu, Ming Huang

Publications

Objectives: The surge in patient portal messages (PPMs) with increasing needs and workloads for efficient PPM triage in healthcare settings has spurred the exploration of AI-driven solutions to streamline the healthcare workflow processes, ensuring timely responses to patients to satisfy their healthcare needs. However, there has been less focus on isolating and understanding patient primary concerns in PPMs-a practice which holds the potential to yield more nuanced insights and enhances the quality of healthcare delivery and patient-centered care. Materials and Methods: We propose a fusion framework to leverage pretrained language models (LMs) with different language advantages via a Convolution Neural …

Toward Concurrent Identification Of Human Activities With A Single Unifying Neural Network Classification: First Step, Andrew Smith, Musa Azeem, Chrisogonas O. Odhiambo, Pamela J. Wright Phd, Ms, Med, Rn, Cen, Hanim E. Diktas, Spencer Upton, Corby K. Martin, Brett Froeliger, Cynthia F. Corbett, Homayoun Valafar

Publications

The characterization of human behavior in real-world contexts is critical for developing a comprehensive model of human health. Recent technological advancements have enabled wearables and sensors to passively and unobtrusively record and presumably quantify human behavior. Better understanding human activities in unobtrusive and passive ways is an indispensable tool in understanding the relationship between behavioral determinants of health and diseases. Adult individuals (N = 60) emulated the behaviors of smoking, exercising, eating, and medication (pill) taking in a laboratory setting while equipped with smartwatches that captured accelerometer data. The collected data underwent expert annotation and was used to train a …

Black And Latiné Parents' Perspectives On Supporting Their Children's Emotional And Physical Health, Daniel K. Cooper, Jayxa K. Alonzo, Tracey Goldson, Isabel R. Jordan, Fatima Jatoi, Isabella Mallozzi, Francesca Lupini

Faculty Publications

Informed by integrative models of cultural resilience, the purpose of this study was to (a) explore how parents are promoting their children's emotional and physical health, with a focus on race and ethnic-racial socialization strategies, and (b) identify the barriers and challenges parents are experiencing in supporting their children's health. Ethnically racially matched qualitative interviews were conducted with 33 parents (82% women, 64% Black, 36% Latiné). Results of thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: (a) Strategies for Promoting Children's Physical and Emotional Health, (b) Challenges Promoting Children's Physical and Emotional Health, and (c) Impact of Racism on Parenting and Children's …

The Youth Tax In Parole Hearings, David M. N. Garavito, Amelia Hritz, John H. Blume

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Children Are Our Future (Not Our Future Criminals): Protecting South Carolina's Youngest Citizens By Setting A Minimum Age Of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction, Peggy D. Nicholson

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alone & Afraid: The Need For Elimination Of Solitary Confinement In South Carolina, Sydney Ford

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Youth Release: An Analysis Of The South Carolina Board Of Juvenile Parole In The Context Of The Evolving Landscape Of Reforms Of Juvenile Release Authorities, Aleksandra Chauhan

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of A Team-Based Model Of Nursing Care In The Acute Care Setting, Vanetta W. White

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem: The current nursing shortage is much different than the ones we have experienced in previous years. It is predicted that it will have long-lasting effects. With this shortage of nurses, especially in the acute care setting, alternative methods to deliver patient care beyond the current use of primary care models need to be explored. These alternative models of care which include team-based nursing must maintain quality and safety for patients cared for.

Purpose: This project will evaluate the outcomes of returning to a team-based nursing model of care on a medical-surgical unit while continuing to provide safe, quality care …

Implementation And Evaluation Of A Neonatal Resucitation Program Protocol In Stand-Alone Emergency Department, Hannah Collins Walden

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem statement: Within nursing there are some skills that hold a significant amount of risk. This includes neonatal resuscitation within stand-alone emergency departments. Due to the low frequency of opportunities to practice neonatal resuscitation, nurses must utilize alternative methods to maintain current evidence-based practice. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a protocol incorporating Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) preparedness and simulation to increase stand-alone emergency department nurses’ perceived clinical competence to performing neonatal resuscitation. Methods: The development and implementation of a protocol that defines and incorporates NRP roles, provides a maintenance checklist for …

Measurement-Based Mental Health In Adolescents, Ayzia Lynn Taylor

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Adolescent mental health is a growing concern. Children and adolescents are commonly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression. Some youth may also experience co-occurring symptoms that their primary healthcare provider must distinguish to appropriately diagnose and treat.

Purpose: The project aimed to implement measurement-based care for adolescents between the ages of 12 to 18 in a pediatric outpatient facility that is not currently utilizing post-assessment screening tools. The project seeks justification for treatment options utilizing pre-assessment screening tools and therapeutic relief with medication intervention determined by post-assessment screening results.

Methods: Adolescents between the ages …

Implementation Of Shared Decision Making To Impact Decisional Conflict In Advancing Chronic Kidney Disease, Margaret Mcannar Sorkin

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: A notable phenomenon in nephrology is indecision regarding treatment for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Indecision regarding treatment for ESRD can lead to suboptimal dialysis starts, creating poorer health outcomes, decreased quality of life, and higher healthcare costs. Purpose: This project aimed to determine if participation in a shared decision-making (SDM) program decreases decisional conflict in patients with advancing renal disease deciding between ESRD treatment options. Methods: A pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were recruited from a private nephrology practice. Inclusion Criteria: English-speaking patients, over the age of 20, with Chronic Kidney Disease Stages 4 or 5 (estimated …

Implementing The 5a’S Of Obesity Management In Primary Care, Holly H. Rowell

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: The prevalence of obesity continues to increase globally, with greater prevalence in the southern United States, resulting in higher costs to the healthcare system and greater risks for the development of other chronic diseases. Purpose: Determine if implementing the 5A’s of Obesity Management among primary care providers in a rural, low-income healthcare setting will increase the diagnosis of obesity and result in a subsequent decrease in weight among patients who are obese. Methods: An educational session was held to familiarize providers with the 5A’s of Obesity Management and the importance of obtaining and documenting proper height …