Digital Commons Network^™

Behavioral Operations Management In Federal Governance, Frederick Leonard Mobley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The environmental uncertainty of federal politics and acquisition outsourcing in competitive markets requires an adaptive decision-analysis structure. Practitioners oriented toward exclusively static methods face severe challenges in understanding qualitative aspects of organizational governance. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine and understand behavioral relationship attributes within intuitive, choice, judgment, or preference decision-making processes. The problem addressed in this study was the detrimental effects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB), and social exchange theory (SET) on the acquisition management relationship The OCB, CCB, SET dictates that sound business development, relationship acumen, emotional intelligence and perceptiveness …

Examining The Impact Of Collaboration Between Probation, Victim Services, And Offender Treatment Providers On Domestic Violence Offender Outcomes, Cedar Stagner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence (IPV), continues to be an issue in the United States, despite various intervention approaches and efforts to improve them over the past 40 years. Even if IPV offenders attend treatment and pursue rehabilitation, current efforts appear marginally effective in reducing its reoccurrence. The purpose of this ex-post facto, comparative, quantitative study was to determine whether there was a significant difference in outcomes between male offenders (N = 126) who attended treatment programs that participated in a tripartite collaboration with probation and victim services versus offenders (N = 126) who did not. Bronfenbrenner's …

The Association Between Core Science Course Timing And Completion Of An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Patricia Ann Pfeiffer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The aging population in the United States has led to an increased demand for registered nurses. Nursing program administrators must examine ways to increase nursing program completion, which will increase the supply registered nurses. The purpose of this study was to determine the associations among length of time between core science course completion and nursing program admission, on-time completion, and National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) success for students at a southeastern community college. A convenience sample of 288 community students admitted to an associate degree level nursing (ADN) program between 2007 and 2012 was selected. The guiding …

The Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of Leaders Practicing Mindfulness Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation, Denise A. Frizzell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the gap between the demands of the global work environment and the maturity of its leaders, minimal research exists on the trend of the practice of mindfulness meditation and the developmental experiences of leaders, thereby resulting in a growing divide between theory and practice. Consequently, leadership scholars have little understanding of how an increasing number of leaders experience mindfulness meditation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the perceived impact mindfulness meditation had on leader development for 20 manager-leaders who had a regular (at least 3 days a week) mindfulness-meditation practice. The primary recruitment strategy included outreach …

Physician Participation In Crowdsourcing: Effect Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation, Rod Gene Brace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Physicians must participate in developing medical protocols to ensure that medical best practices are adopted for patients' social benefit. Healthcare leaders have struggled to gain sufficient physician participation in developing medical protocols. Using technology-based crowdsourcing to assimilate knowledge from physicians may help healthcare managers improve medical protocol development. Using self-determination theory, this quantitative causal-comparative design aimed to determine whether differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation existed among the 132 participating physicians who did or did not participate in developing medical protocols in a crowdsourcing environment. Participants were recruited by e-mail through an independent physician association. Motivation levels were measured by …

Communication Strategies To Generate Employee Job Satisfaction, Kenyatta Natasha Hills

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Managers spend 75% of their time actively communicating with employees. Effective leadership communication is fundamental to employee job satisfaction. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how communication strategies that government agency leaders use may motivate greater employee job satisfaction. Twenty employees of a government office in Florida were the general population sample. The motivational language theory helped explore the nature of job satisfaction by focusing on leadership and employee communication strategies. Leadership communication influences employee motivation through incorporating 3 categories of utterances: empathetic (illocutionary) language, direction-giving (perlocutionary) language, and meaning-making (locutionary) language. The Van Manen selective approach …

Resonating Personality Types For Couples: An Enneagram Application For Predicting Marital Satisfaction, Douglas George Carpenter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over 50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce. Researchers have attempted to identify factors that help marriages endure by studying personality, attachment styles, and gender. However, few researchers have examined how dyadic interactions of personality types and attachment types influence marital satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of enneagram personality types on marital satisfaction within 3 groups of attachment types: couples who (a) both demonstrate a secure attachment style, (b) contain one member who demonstrates an insecure attachment style and the other who demonstrates a secure attachment style, and (c) both demonstrate …

Qualitative Case Study Of Read-Aloud Expository Text Strategies In Kindergarten Through Grade 2, Mary Adeyemo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an inner-city elementary school, students continue to lag in reading proficiency, and implementation of research-based, district-mandated teaching strategies is not well understood. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of mandated, read-aloud expository text strategies in K-2 classrooms. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's social constructivism model of learning, which envisions students learning by interacting with teachers and peers, in this case, using read-aloud strategies, until they become autonomous, expository readers. The research questions focused on benefits and challenges of the implementation of read-aloud expository text by K-2 teachers who were given a 5-year mandate by …

School Violence And Teacher Resiliency At A Midwest Elementary/Middle School, Jounice Blackmon Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate, from the perspective of teachers, the possible effect of school violence on teacher resiliency. School violence has been studied with respect to student behavior and academic success, as well as socioeconomic influences, but not with respect to teacher resiliency, as expressed by teachers themselves. Resiliency theory was the conceptual framework. Participants were all teachers of Grades 2-8 at an elementary/middle school in the Midwest. Twelve in-depth interviews were transcribed into text data and analyzed for common themes. Using NVivo, Version 10, I was able to more easily manage the volumes of …

Reducing Emergency Department Length Of Stay By System Change, Brian Dale Haybarker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emergency departments (ED) are exceeding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and The Joint Commission's recommended 4-hour door-to-admission and 2-hour door-to-discharge for patients. The purpose of this project was to look for factors that decrease door-to-admission and door-to-discharge times and offer recommendations to the Patient Flow Committee (PFC) at the health care facility that may reduce overcrowding, diversion, and patient boarding. The 7-step Iowa model of evidence-based practice (EBP) was used to concentrate on problem-focused triggers that initiate the need for change. The project focused on decreasing door-to-admission and door-to discharge times: by opening an observation unit run by …

Media Literacy Education Exposure Related To Self-Esteem, Body Esteem, And Sociocultural Ideals In College Students And Graduates, Tammy Stargardt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of eating disorders (ED) in the United States has increased while the media consistently presents thinner representations of the body. Scholars have found media to negatively influence factors associated with the development of EDs. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional survey design study was to explore relationships between exposure levels to MLE and self-esteem, body esteem, and the internalization societal appearance ideals. Participants included undergraduate students or recent graduates majoring in either communications or an alternative major with comparatively less MLE curriculum. The Body Esteem Scale, Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire-3, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Surveys were …

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Response Impact On Graduate Students, Sean Eric Kil Patrick Gay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The roles that universities played in the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster were significant and varied; however, there was limited study on participating graduate students. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of disaster response on graduate students' personal and academic development. This study examined research questions about the perceived impact on academic and personal identity development. Empowerment, cognitive content engagement, general systems theory, and utilitarianism formed the theoretical foundation. This study used a transcendental phenomenological approach to examine the subjects' experiences in the context of involvement in disaster response. The primary source of data was …

Assessing Spirituality Among Hospice Patients: A Phenomenological Study Of Hospice Nurses, Isabel Esther Kaufman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The shift in health care and nursing philosophy and practice from a holistic approach to a highly technological, cure-oriented approach has been attributed to effective pharmaceuticals made to prolong life. Recently medical professionals have shifted their focus to a combination of spiritual healing and medicine. Hospice care in particular have taken a key interest in integrating spirituality within their health care. The problem is that due to the complications in defining spirituality and appropriate training and education of spirituality within nursing curriculum, assessing patients' spiritual distress may be difficult for many hospice nurses which may be at a loss when …

Fall Prevention Quality Initiative: Implementation Of A Unit Safety Champion (Usc), Susan Lynn Rednak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The literature supports that a Unit Safety Champion (USC) may reduce falls among hospitalized patients. The purpose of this project was to determine if the implementation of a USC would assist in reducing falls on an acute unit in an urban hospital environment. The frequency of patient falls on the unit was collected from the hospital's quality department 3 months before and 3 months after the implementation of the USC. The average number of falls for 3 months before implementation was 5.0 per month (SD = 2.65) and involved a total of 15 individual patients. The average number of falls …

Factors Affecting Emergency Manager, First Responder, And Citizen Disaster Preparedness, Tiffany Cooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the increased frequency of natural and man-made disasters, there is a problem in the level of preparedness of emergency managers, responders, and citizens to address them. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the factors that affect these groups' preparedness to inform the development of better emergency plans to handle emergency incidences. The conceptual framework for the study was knowledge management, which was used with a grounded theory approach. The study was guided by primary research questions that focused on understanding psychological, material, temporal, organizational, and other factors that affect the preparedness of emergency managers, first …

Evidence-Based Mentorship Program: Overview, Review Of Evidence, And Approach, Elizabeth Villanueva

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurses comprise the largest segment of the healthcare workforce. Adequate numbers of

nurses help to ensure sufficient and safe nursing care in all settings. The current nursing shortage poses a barrier to optimum nursing care, and the nature of recruitment and retention of nurses has generated research interest because of its association with the labor shortage. The purpose of the project was to develop a nurse mentorship program for possible adoption by a northern state correctional facility. Goals are to aid recruitment and improve retention of nurses in the facility. This quality improvement project was informed by Jean Watson's theory …

Demographic Characteristics Predicting Employee Turnover Intentions, Tracy Machelle Hayes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, more than 25 million U.S. employees voluntarily terminated their employment with their respective organizations. Demographic characteristics of age, education, gender, income, and length of tenure are significant factors in employee turnover intentions. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between age, education, gender, income, length of tenure, and employee turnover intention among full-time employees in Texas. The population consisted of Survey Monkey-® Audience members who were full-time employees, residents of Texas, over the age of 18, not self-employed, and not limited to a specific employment industry. For this study, a sample of 187 …

The Correlation Among Personality Characteristics, Stress, And Coping Of Caregivers Of Individuals With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Natasha O'Connor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little research on the coping strategies of direct support professional caregivers working with the intellectually disabled (ID) and developmentally disabled (DD). The study was guided by Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theory of the transactional model of stress and coping. The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is a correlation among the independent variables of coping and personality characteristics with stress as the dependent variable. A convenience sample of 69 professional caregivers was used. Data were collected using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, NEO-FFI-3, and a demographic questionnaire. A correlational analysis was conducted …

Observations And Teachers' Perceptions Of The Implementation, Benefits, And Challenges Of Breakfast In The Classroom, Dixie Shaffer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The federal government established nutrition assistance programs such as the School Breakfast Program and school districts have implemented Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) to improve participation rates, yet millions of low-income children do not partake in these programs. Thus, many school districts are failing to meet the nutritional needs of the low-income population, which can have negative effects on a child's healthy development. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to observe and explore teachers' perspectives regarding school breakfast implementation in a small school district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Research questions examined experiences with implementation, …

Designing Professional Development For Elementary School Teachers, Simon F. Quattlebaum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Within a Northeast urban school, there is little empirical evidence to indicate the effectiveness of the district professional development (PD) program. Elementary teachers at the study site reported that they encountered problems accessing professional development programs applicable to their needs. The purpose of this case study was to examine teacher perceptions of district PD programs and to discover teacher perceptions of PD best practices. Knowles' adult learning theory provided a frame of reference for this study. The research questions assessed teachers' perceptions of the format, content, and process of professional development programs and examined how teachers applied new knowledge, concepts, …

Increasing Productivity Of Retained Employees After A Workforce Reduction, Jason Michael Matyus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an increased use of downsizing across telecommunications in the northeast United States, and organizational leaders are challenged to motivate the productivity of the retained employees. Guided by systems theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore successful downsizing strategies of a small group of organizational leaders and managers in the operations of telecommunications in the northeast United States. The study participants, chosen for their motivation success in motivation after downsizing, consisted of 2 purposefully selected business leaders who completed individual, face-to-face interviews and a focus group of 5 managers. The coding of data and word …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Influence Of Professional Development On Music Integration, Marcy Thurmond Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

International Baccalaureate (IB) schools are focused on a school-wide approach to developing inquiring students who are motivated to succeed. The problem explored in this case study was based on a local IB elementary school's response to a reform model to integrate music into other content areas. The curriculum lacked an interdisciplinary approach to music education even though teachers had participated in some professional development (PD) to help them integrate music into content areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding the influence of professional development on music integration at the IB elementary school. …

When Does Six Sigma Reduce Defects And Increase Efficiencies?, Richard Jay Sands

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A field research-based statistical study was used to investigate successes and failures of Six Sigma methodologies based projects. Six Sigma methodologies require that projects be designed, planned, and implemented using techniques specifically designed to achieve desired benefits that are based on the method's key drivers for project success. This study addressed an identified gap in the literature that Six Sigma projects do not fail because of Six Sigma methodologies, but that the projects can fail because of deficient support processes. Six Sigma projects that do not achieve the desired benefits are often labeled as "fads". Research questions related to management …

Improving Math Performance In Adult Female Community College Students: An Evaluation Of Project Independence, Robin Tim Frodsham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Project Independence (PI) is a community college immersion program dedicated to assisting women returning to college. The focus of this study and associated summative evaluation was to understand how the PI program addresses anxiety and other learning deficiencies associated with math. Knowle's andragogical models portray adults as motivated and self-directed, and the American college campus fosters a culture of independence. This culture is foreign to many minority, first-generation, and working class adults who learn through interdependence. This qualitative instrumental case study and evaluation is the first to examine the efficacy of PI. The guiding questions of this study concern early …

Hiv Stigma Within Religious Communities In Rural India, Krutarth J. Vyas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of HIV/AIDS-related stigma within religious communities in rural Gujarat, India. This study used the hidden distress model of HIV stigma and the HIV peer education model as conceptual frameworks to examine a rural population sample of 100 participants. Regression analysis was conducted to test if school education had a moderating effect on the relationship between illness as punishment for sin (IPS) and HIV stigma. Religiosity was tested for mediating effects on the relationship between early religious involvement (ERI) and HIV stigma. The results of this study indicated that single unemployed men …

South-Asian American And Asian-Indian Americans Parents: Children's Education And Parental Participation, Sahil Ashwin Shah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parental participation supports students' academic success and increases positive peer interactions. Prior to the 1980s, parental participation was viewed as a unidimensional construct; however, it has since been understood as a multidimensional one. Studies from Epstein have demonstrated that culture, community, and family structures are some of the many factors that affect parental participation. In addition, Huntsinger and Jose have demonstrated that Asian-American parents participate in their children's education differently than do European Americans, yet research has not examined the specificities of South-Asian Americans' (SAAs) and Asian-Indian Americans' (AIAs) parental involvement. There are 6 recognized methods that parents can use …

Impact Of Goodwill Organizations And Community Collaboration On Aids-Orphans' Needs In Nyanza Province, Kenya, Anthonia Nwagbo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A number of researchers have explored the toll of AIDS on the children who have become orphans as a result of the disease; others have investigated the roles of aid-giving agencies on the alleviation of the orphans' situation. However, despite researchers' pointing to the germaneness of community and goodwill agency liaison, no study had examined the impact of such collaboration on the resources available to the orphans. To this end, the heads-of-household of 532 AIDS orphans under 18 years old in Kenya's Nyanza province were surveyed to investigate the impact of community-referral on the state of AIDS orphans with regard …

Understanding Doctoral Success Factors In Online Education Programs, Carissa Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The doctoral student completion rate in the United States is approximately 57% across all disciplines. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate doctoral students' perceptions of program completion across multiple online doctoral programs at a single university. The quantitative component examined differences in 4 doctoral program completion-related factors between students in 2 capstone completion stages and 6 academic programs. The qualitative component included an analysis of student perceptions of program completion. Attribution theory was used as a framework to understand the ways that personal attributions influence the success of the participants. The Doctoral Completion and Persistence Scale (DCPS) …

Laying The Foundation For New Approaches In Evidence-Based Sex Education Curriculum Programs: A Family Life Policy Change, Rina Marie Prosser

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The teen pregnancy rate in Henry County, Tennessee has increased over the years. The purpose of this project was to develop an evidence-based family life education policy for possible adoption by the board of education to address the persistent high teen pregnancy rate for girls aged 15-17 in the county. This present study resulted in a revised policy that was based on a comprehensive policy termed Abstinence-Centered Plus Contraception. An 18-member collaborative, organizational, and community project team, made up of community leaders, nurses, counselors, teachers, and students, assisted in the development and adoption of the policy, practice guidelines, and the …

Marketplace Clinics Complementing Community-Based Diabetes Care For Urban Residing American Indians, Robert Steven Rick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The American Indians population in Minneapolis, Minnesota has experienced limited health care access and threefold diabetes health disparity. The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which collaborating marketplace clinics and community-based support groups expanded diabetes care and provided self-management education for this largely urban Indian neighborhood. The marketplace clinics located in nearby CVS, Walmart, Target, and Supervalu stores committed financial support, certified educators, and pharmacy staff for the community-based support group. The study was conducted within the patient activation measure (PAM) analytical framework to assess the participants' acquired knowledge, skills, and confidence for diabetes self-management. A …