Digital Commons Network^™

Law Enforcement Employees' Experiences Of Skillful Recognition By Leaders, Dimitra Patterson Cornelius

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The performance of public agency employees and their management teams have long been subject to critical comments and public doubt. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of police leaders and staff with regard to skillful recognition of excellent performance within the profession. Twenty law enforcement employees, including leaders, sworn officers, and nonuniformed civilian employees in southwestern North Carolina, consented to in-depth, semistructured interviews concerning their lived experiences. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory was the conceptual framework for this study. A modified van Kaam analysis resulted in the identification of 5 significant, but broad, themes. The themes …

Improving Child Welfare: African Canadian Youth's Postcare Options, Irene Elizabeth Mcintosh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Thousands of youth exit Ontario's Child Welfare System (CWS) each year and perform poorly after returning to the community. However, understanding African Canadian youths' perspectives about their experiences and needs was problematic because no outcome data was available in the Canadian database. Using a phenomenological design grounded in a constructivist framework, the purpose of this study was to explore the meaning(s) that African Canadian youth ascribed to positive outcomes on exiting the CWS. A purposeful sample included 10 participants (6 females and 4 males, ranging in age from 19-24). The data collection method was face-to-face interviews with hand coding used …

Prolonged Exposure To Non-School Related Media Use And Violence Among Urban Youth, Cindy Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Youth violence is a pervasive and ongoing public health concern. Based on the paradigm of resilience, the purpose of this quantitative study was to test the relationship between prolonged (3 or more hours) of non-school related media use and youth violence. Secondary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were utilized for this study. Logistic and multiple regression models were used to test whether exposure to prolonged non-school related media (video games and TV) use was associated with violent behavior, and whether there was a relationship between prolonged exposure to non-school related media use and electronic bullying …

Budgets As A Primary Control In New Hampshire Governmental Units, Dennis C. Shea

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The annual budget process is a primary financial control mechanism over community resources. However, in New Hampshire, some business school leaders do not have effective strategies for proper budget creation and execution. Using agency theory to frame this study, the purpose of this explanatory case study was to explore strategies for proper budget creation and execution in local school administrative units (SAUs) in New Hampshire. The targeted population was comprised of New Hampshire SAU business administrators who had operational responsibility for the administration of the yearly public budgets in each school district. Data were collected from SAU document review and …

Culture Wars: Explaining Congressional Partisanship And Organizational Dysfunction Through Moral Foundations Theory, Jessica H. Wilson-Hart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The focus of this study was the organizational working environment and existing partisanship evident in the United States Congress. There has been a reduction in the number of laws passed over the last 30 years from a high of over 1,000 to a low of around 120, with a period of complete government shutdown in 2013. This qualitative research utilized qualitative content analysis to discover the nature of partisan conflict as demonstrated by 6 members of Congress. The conceptual framework for this study was moral foundations theory. Different moral principles held by Democrats and Republicans were studied as a possible …

Executive Banking Leaders And Risk-Management Strategies On Subprime Mortgage Lending, Sam Elbarouki

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During 2000-2008, subprime mortgage loans were a profitable and popular commodity for banks and lenders alike. The majority of banks that offered this type of mortgage eventually suffered grave financial consequences, largely due to the lack of risk-mitigating processes within their mortgage portfolio. Guided by the stewardship theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the risk-mitigation protocols that 4 bank CEOs employed in Northern California used to mitigate the offering of this risky product. Semistructured interviews were used to elicit detailed narratives from these purposively selected bank CEOs on their experiences in risk mitigation. A …

The Use Of Minors In Material Support Of Terrorist Organizations, Teresa Maria Feliciano

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adult criminals' use of minors to commit crimes associated with the support of terrorist organizations is a significant problem in the United States. Despite strict laws prohibiting adult offenders from exploiting youth, these individuals aggressively pursue minors to commit crimes associated with the support of terrorist organizations. This quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study used resource dependency theory to explore the likelihood that adult criminal offenders in the U.S. will use minors for crimes that are associated with the support of terrorist organizations, based on crime typology, country of origin, and location of crime. Data were collected from a crime database maintained by …

Correlations Of Race, Ethnicity, And Family Relations On The Developmental Outcomes Of Youth Raised In Single Mother Headed Households, Sabrina Blount Watson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite known risk factors associated with families headed by single mothers such as delinquency, substance abuse, and early unprotected sex, researchers have rarely focused on how family relations positively shape the developmental trajectories of youth living in nontraditional families. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between the independent variables of ethnicity, parent-child relationship, and family interaction (including the relationship with important non-parental adults) and the dependent variables of developmental outcomes (social and emotional competence) for youth living in families headed by single mothers. The associations were investigated using data collected from the Project on Human …

False Confessions From The Viewpoint Of Federal Polygraph Examiners, Bradford Beyer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While confessions are a powerful form of evidence, innocent people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. Many researchers have studied false confessions through laboratory experiments with university students or by focusing on proven cases of false confession. These approaches have led many researchers to form a conceptual framework that law enforcement interrogative methods are a key cause of false confessions. A gap exists in the literature as few researchers have queried law enforcement about false confessions or consulted with officers who specialize in interrogation. For this study, a qualitative case study approach was used to explore the experiences …

The Experience Of Survivorship: Quality Of Life For African American Breast Cancer Survivors, Angela L. Grimmett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American breast cancer survivors are at a greater risk of experiencing disparities in mortality, treatment, and quality of life. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact that breast cancer had on the quality of life of African American breast cancer survivors from a psychosocial, physical, spiritual, and economic perspective. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with 9 volunteers who met the eligibility criteria of being breast cancer survivors of African American decent. The sample of survivors ranged in ages 45 to 80 and was between 6 to 30 years postdiagnosis. Giorgi's phenomenological method was used to …

The Experiences Of Grade 4 Public Elementary School Teachers Regarding Multiculturalism, James Hill Hill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An increasing number of multicultural students are attending U.S. public schools. At a Title I elementary school in a rural region of the southern United States, multicultural students had not met academic standards as measured by state exams, and state scores had been very low for 5 consecutive years. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the instructional strategies used by Grade 4 teachers in helping multicultural students pass state tests. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's theory of cognitive and social constructivism and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The foci of research questions were on identifying teachers' …

Strategies To Control Internal Factors Affecting Information Systems Projects In Puerto Rico, Annie Luz Roman Acevedo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many project managers and business leaders lack effective strategies to control internal factors that affect information systems (IS) projects, which may impede leadership's ability to respond to market changes. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by 6 purposefully selected project managers who successfully implemented information system development (ISD) projects by controlling the internal factors that affected different ISD project phases in Puerto Rico's telecommunication service industry. The framework that guided this study was coordination theory. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and project documentation including business requirements, project charters, project plans, and lessons …

Psychological Stress In Critical Care Nurses, Oladele Augustine Odunayo Akinwolere

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Increased levels of stress in the workplace have led the American Psychological Association to predict a looming public health crisis. Critical care nurses (CCNs) are highly exposed to stressors in the workplace, more than other nurses. Tens of billion dollars were reported lost in productive work time yearly due to ill health from depression alone. An important gap remains in understanding the relationships of stressors with the amount of stress. Supported by the biopsychosocial stress theory, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between frequencies of perceived stressors (IVs) as a source of perceived levels of stress …

Emergency Room Utilization Of Participants With Mental Health Conditions Enrolled In Health Home Services, Amanda Duff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Large numbers of individuals utilize the ER each year for mental health reasons. The health home agency in this study was designed under the Affordable Care Act with the intention of increasing patient self-management thus decreasing high-cost service utilization. The effectiveness of health homes in reducing mental health-related ER visits has remained unexplored. In this study, the relationship between participation in this program and ER utilization was examined, using the theoretical framework of the Health Belief Model. The sample of 128 health home participants with documented mental health conditions was selected using systematic random sampling. A one-way, repeated-measures t-test and …

Addressing School Failure And Recidivism Among 10-13-Year-Old Incarcerated Juveniles: A Case Study, Beverly Savoy Nolan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Early involvement in delinquent behavior coupled with large academic deficiencies increase the chances of long-term offending over a lifetime. A 2012 Texas report on recidivism rates and types of judicial-related programs offered showed that 1-year reoffense rates for youth in secure placement rose slightly from 41.9% in 2007 to 43.3% in 2010. The primary purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how a Texas-based juvenile probation department coordinated services to address the needs of incarcerated juveniles who are at risk of school failure and recidivism. Maslow's hierarchy of needs framework and Moffitt's developmental classification framework served as the …

Referral And Treatment Settings For Pregnant Women, Linda D. O'Daniel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Drug and alcohol addiction in pregnant women is a significant public health issue. The purpose of this study was to assess drug and alcohol addiction in pregnant women and the setting in which they sought service or treatment to determine whether U.S. census regions and race data could predict the type of addiction service or treatment that pregnant addicts chose. The theories of self-efficacy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and rational emotive behavioral therapy were used as the theoretical framework for this study. The research questions were used to examine whether there was a relationship between the source of addiction treatment referral …

Understanding The Influence Of Human Emotions In Organizations: The Emotional Extent Effects, Lambert Ikechi Ofoegbu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emotional disengagement of employees may cause poor organizational performance, while emotional commitment of employees may enhance organizational performance. Informed by the theory of psychological ownership in organizations, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how employee emotional interactions in the workplace related to organizational performance within 3 multinational companies in Nigeria. The 3 selected companies represented the 3 industrial sectors in Nigeria were financial, construction, and oil and gas. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 participants with a minimum of 5 years' experience in their respective organizations. Data analysis included transcription, coding, and querying, which produced …

Experiences Of Nonincarcerated African American Male Youth With An Incarcerated Male Sibling, Fred Nana Biney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately half of all incarcerated individuals in the United States are young African American men. Researchers have documented that nonincarcerated siblings may commit a crime when their sibling is in prison. The current study addressed literature regarding the experiences, and coping strategies of nonincarcerated young African American men who live in the inner city, and have a male sibling in prison. Guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study explored the lived experiences and coping strategies of African

American male youth with a brother in incarceration. Purposive sampling was used to select 3 nonincarcerated African American …

Women Entrepreneurs: Keys To Successful Business Development And Sustainability Beyond Five Years, Delores Duncan Foster

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial populations, accounting for 8 million of the 28 million small businesses in the United States. Small businesses fail at a rate of 55% by the 5th year of operation and women, who own over 30% of all small businesses, contribute significantly to the 55% small business failure rate. Using Schumpeter's framework, this single exploratory case study investigated how women entrepreneurial small business owners use strategies to sustain their business operation beyond 5 years. A purposeful sample identified 2 women salon small business owners located in the Macon, Georgia metro area. Data …

Board Member Perceptions Of Small Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness, Laura L. Maurer

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

In contemporary American society, the nonprofit board is accountable for ensuring that an organization has sufficient resources to carry out its mission. Filling the gap between demands for services and the resources to meet them is often a struggle for small nonprofit organizations, a problem of nonprofit organization effectiveness. I conducted a hermeneutic phenomenological study that examined how board members of small local nonprofits in the focal community perceived nonprofit organization effectiveness. A review of the literature revealed that nonprofit organization effectiveness involved the action of contributing to the organization and the motivation behind the action, both of which were …

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness: Measuring What Matters, Laura Musikanski, Carl Polley

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This essay focuses on ways in which the governments of Bhutan and the United Kingdom are measuring subjective well-being as well as on how other governments including Norway, Spain, China, Canada, and New Zealand, are exploring the development of subjective well-being indicators. It concludes with recommended actions to aid in the formation of a consistent and comparable subjective well-being indicator for use by governments globally. The third in a series for which the purpose is to provide information to grassroots activists to foster the happiness movement for a new economic paradigm, this essay builds on the previous essays, Happiness in …

The Adaptation Needs Of International Social Work Students: A Proposed Mentoring Approach, Hyun-A Song, Helen E. Petracchi

Journal of Social Work in the Global Community

Given the increasing numbers of international social work students in the United States, it is incumbent upon social work faculty to understand their needs for appropriate support as they adjust to life as foreign-born students. This paper has two main goals. First, we discuss contributions and challenges faced by international social work students. Second, as a form of support, we propose a mentoring approach pairing retired social work professionals with international social work students and argue that this may provide a mutually beneficial experience for both. That is, this study identifies adaptation needs specific to international social work students, describes …

Are We There Yet? Data Saturation In Qualitative Research, Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D., Lawrence R. Ness

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Failure to reach data saturation has an impact on the quality of the research conducted and hampers content validity. The aim of a study should include what determines when data saturation is achieved, for a small study will reach saturation more rapidly than a larger study. Data saturation is reached when there is enough information to replicate the study when the ability to obtain additional new information has been attained, and when further coding is no longer feasible. The following article critiques two qualitative studies for data saturation: Wolcott (2004) and Landau and Drori (2008). Failure to reach data saturation …

Associations Among Ethnicity, Gender, Age, Age Of First Drink, And Drinking Behavior Among High School Students, Ricky Gujral

2010-2016 Archived Posters

Moderation management theory was employed to assess whether gender, ethnicity, age, and age of first drink were associated with drinking among adolescents. The statistically significant model distinguished between adolescents who reported moderate versus binge drinking. Age of first drink made a statistically significant main effect contribution to the model.

Fear Of Fatherhood, Deborah Weatherspoon, Wendy Sponsler, Christopher Weatherspoon, Dorothy Campbell

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

The fatherhood role is influenced by culture, religion, social factors, and economic norms. In Jamaica pregnancy is often treated as a female only event. Women are left to visit their clinics alone and have support from female family members. The man’s focus is providing financial support. In the past fathers were subjected to migrant labor and left their families for long periods. This tradition remained even when they were not working. Today, men are taking on more of the role of fatherhood, becoming involved and supportive and experiencing the privilege of pregnancy though of a secondary nature through their partner’s …

We Left Lassie Behind: Defense Personnel Relocation, Animal Abandonment, And Shelter Impacts, Gabriele Griffiths

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

When Department of Defense (DoD) personnel receive orders to relocate to a new duty installation, nearly one third abandon their companion animals, which negatively affects the local shelters' costs, personnel, and capabilities to provide quality care for shelter animals. There is a lack of research on relevant policies among local government policy makers, installation commanders, directors of animal shelters, and animal rights advocates about the abandonment of companion animals by DoD personnel. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to investigate the relationship between the influx of abandoned DoD companion animals and the management and logistical (including financial) …

Creating A Peer-Managed Writing Center For Secondary Schools, Lucinda Eva Moebius

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Student writing skills are a growing concern in secondary schools given the current focus on common core standards and college readiness. This qualitative case study addressed the growing problem of high school students being unprepared for the rigor of college level-writing. The study used a series of 10 interviews with writing center directors and teachers in 2 secondary schools with writing centers. This research adds to the literature on peer-managed writing centers and contributes to the body of knowledge of writing centers as a specific conceptual framework of response to intervention (RtI). The broad research questions were focused on 3 …

Improving The Experiences Of Informal And Formal Alzheimer's Disease And Dementias Caregivers, Roxroy Anthony Reid

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Informal and formal caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) encounter a more difficult and unique set of challenges than do caregivers of individuals with general disabilities. If adequate caregiver supports are not provided, caregivers may experience increased strain as the disease progresses, increasing the likelihood of unnecessary institutionalization of their care recipients and increasing the cost to the public. Using rational choice theory and political systems theory, the purpose of this study was to differentiate between the phenomenological experiences of formal and informal caregivers of ADRD patients. The overall research was a qualitative design that used …

Shared Trauma: A Phenomenological Investigation Of African American Teachers, Juanita Lynne White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the wake of increasing community disasters such as hurricanes, neighborhood violence, and terrorist attacks, schools are usually deemed places where youth can find safety and stability. Research about community trauma related to the role of teachers and schools has predominantly focused on younger populations, concerned about disturbances in their developmental processes. School teachers' responsibilities related to these community disasters have also increased and now include supporting their traumatized students. However, there has been limited attention on the direct effect of community traumas on the teachers who work and live in affected districts. The construct of shared trauma describes this …

A Pilot Study To Develop A Projective Method To Understand And Measure Resilience, Tina Chen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many factors affect resilience, such as personality traits and environmental support. A projective assessment has many advantages to understand a person as a whole. Up to present, there is no projective assessment for resilience. This dissertation was a pilot study to develop a projective method. Sixty-five college students participated in this study. Participants used words to describe their feelings after hearing an open-ended story with a traumatic event; they also completed the story. In this study, the resilience ratio, defined as the ratio of the number of positive responses divided by the number of total responses, reflected the resilience level …