Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural Discovery In Nursing Practice: The Experience Of Nurses Who Work With Vietnamese, Evelyn Labun

Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to generate a substantive theory of cultural discovery among nurses who work with Vietnamese. A grounded theory approach involving dimensional analysis was employed.

Navigating Troubled Waters: Chronic Illness Experience In A Health Care Crisis, Sally Thorne

Dissertations

This dissertation chronicles the complexity of chronic illness experience in a western biomedically-oriented health care system. It combines an exhaustive description of what it is like to be chronically ill in the current social context with an analysis of the implications of health care service delivery structures and ideologies for shaping that experience. In so doing, it applies an account of the chronic illness experience toward an understanding of some inherent flaws underlying modern health care delivery systems. The methodology for this research applies secondary analysis to an extensive data base derived from indepth qualitative investigations of chronically ill individuals …

The Phenomenology Of Accompaniment: A Journey Of Transformation, Siobhan O'Donoghue

Dissertations

Accompaniment is a humanitarian approach that seeks to ameliorate the suffering of individuals and communities that are vulnerable, and often struggling with the effects of collective traumas. Despite the fact that accompaniment models are being utilized in various parts of the world, the topic has seldom been explored in the literature. the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of accompaniment for migrants. Purposeful sampling was used to identify 28 participants who represented both accompaniers and the accompanied. Data were collected through 13 interviews and 3 focus groups and analyzed using Moustakas' (1994) transcendental phenomenological method …

A Hermeneutic For The Aqedah Test: A Way Beyond Jon Levenson's And Terence Fretheim's Models, Arlyn Sunshine Drew

Dissertations

Problem

The works of Jon Levenson and Terence Fretheim highlight the problem of determining which interpretations of the biblical worlds of meaning around the text are congruent with the text of the Aqedah (also known as the Sacrifice of Isaac, Genesis 22: 1-19) and which should be disclaimed. A hermeneutical model is needed for Abraham's test that provides a text-based paradigm for sound interpretation of the narrative world (in the text), the historical world (behind the text), the theistic world (above the text), the cosmological world (below the text), and the present world (in front of the text).

Method

Four …

Music Notation-To-Color Synesthesia And Early Stages Of Music Education: A Grounded Theory Study, Eduardo Sola Chagas Lima

Dissertations

Problem

Synesthesia is a neurological condition characterized by over-abundant neural connectivity between commonly highly specialized areas of the brain. The developmental form of the condition often results in automatic and consistent cross-sensory associations between perceived stimuli and commonly unrelated brain regions. This research contemplates the specific form of music notation-to-color synesthesia and its impact on early stages of music education. Synesthetes with this mode of the condition tend to involuntarily yet consistently associate music-notational concepts with colors, thus rendering their assimilation of these concepts unique and individualized. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of these individualized …

Understanding Multiculturalism In Saudi Education: A Case Study Of Two Schools In Mecca, Mohammed Alharbi

Dissertations

Problem

This research investigated the understanding and perceptions of Saudi educators toward multiculturalism and multicultural education in Saudi Arabia. The research had three broad questions. The first question was, "What are Saudi educators’ conceptions of culture and multicultural education?" The second research question was, "What practices do educators employ concerning multicultural education?” The third research question was, "How do educators implement multicultural education for their students at schools with different levels of cultural diversity?"

Method

In this study, I used the qualitative multiple case study research design to explore the understanding and the attitudes of Saudi educators regarding multiculturalism and …

A Re-Examination Of Pentateuchal Hamartiology And Atonement As A Hermeneutical Framework For Interpreting The Laying On Of Hands, Slavisa Milodar Jankovic

Dissertations

The ritual gesture of laying on of hands in Scripture has generated significant interest among theologians from rabbinic times until now. Still today, scholars assign various meanings to the ritual. In the second half of the 20th century, the fresh interest that put forward new meanings for this gesture came primarily through the introduction of the new sub-discipline of Ritualistics within Old Testament studies. This relatively new discipline is not founded upon premises found in biblical texts, but rather, upon those found in various secular social, philosophical sciences, and other disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, anthropology, literary criticism, and the …

Sabbath And Ecological Crisis: Inoperativity In Political Theology, Andrew John Blosser

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the significance of ritual inoperativity for political theology. Drawing from representative interpreters of biblical/traditional sources, contemporary philosophical reflection, and practical analysis of rituals, this study argues that rituals such as Sabbath, vigil, shmita, and fiesta paint a unique image of human identity and authority in the world. This image is starkly opposed to the common political-theological framework in which God is defined through action, and human beings are similarly defined as action-producing beings. in contrast, ritual inoperativity depicts God's identity and authority as one who gives rest or €œlets be.€ for this reason, human identity and authority …

Exploring The Educational Journeys Of African American Honors Alumni(Nae), Sammie Marie Burton

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore and examine the experiences of African American students to and through collegiate honors programs. I aimed to provide another frame for understanding intellectuals by exploring the educational journeys of eight (8) African American, high-achieving alumni(nae). Through qualitative inquiry, this study gives an in-depth understanding to the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that helped students navigate challenging academic settings and evaluate the importance of honors education for students within the Black community. Guided by critical race theory (CRT), findings from this study will provide the research community with entry points to social justice practice …

You Can't Go Home Again: Art As Therapy, Photovoice, And Housing Instability, Willie Walter Jackson

Dissertations

Aims: the primary aim of this dissertation was to use the Photovoice methodology to discuss the impact of art and cultural exposure and engagement programing on program participants experiencing housing instability or homleessness. the secondary aim was to contribute to the sparse body of literature on the impact of art and cultural exposure programing on program participants experience housing instability or homelessness. Research Questions: the three research questions were: What is the impact of art and cultural exposure and engagement on program participants experiencing housing instability? What are program participants experiences with disseminating their art, and what meaning did they …

The Patient Speaks: A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Patient's Experience Of Psychoanalysis, Katherine Williams

Dissertations

The goal of this study was to conduct a qualitatively based clinical outcome study of the patient's experience of a psychoanalytic treatment and to explore how the analysis impacted the patient's life post treatment. Much of what is known about analytic treatments comes from analysts in the form of case reports or journal articles. the goal of this study was to directly obtain patient's views of their analysis. in order to do this a heuristic phenomenological research design was used. the phenomenological approach puts a focus on the experience of the participant of a particular phenomenon in the case of …

Exemplary Human Resources Administrators Leading Through Storytelling, Colleen Slattery

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe how exemplary human resources administrators use storytelling to lead organizations using Denning’s (2011) model. In addition, it was the purpose to understand how they use storytelling to create transformational change. Denning’s The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling highlights eight storytelling narrative patterns: to ignite action and implement new ideas, build trust, build your organizations’ brand, transmit organizational values, foster collaboration, share knowledge, neutralize rumor, and create and share vision.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study described the lived experiences of exemplary human resources administrators in Northern California. The researcher was …

Culture Care Values, Beliefs And Practices Observed In Empowerment Of American Indian Community Health Representatives, Elizabeth A. Tyree

Dissertations

The World Health Organization (WHO) primary health care model emphasizes intervention at the home and family level, partnerships with the community, collaboration with lay community health workers, and prevention. Thus, the model has significance for nursing. Among the population groups in the United States, American Indians show the greatest disparity from the norm in access to health care and outcomes of care.* This study addresses the primary health care principle of community involvement in health using an empowerment model, with a participatory action research approach, informed by the ethnonursing method of Madeleine Leininger. The population of interest is American Indian …

Cardiovascular Knowledge, Beliefs And Healthcare Practices Of The Amish In Northern Indiana, Deborah R. Gillum

Dissertations

The Amish are a conservative ethno-religious Christian subculture who are doubling in number every 14 years. There are now more than 249,000 located in 28 states and Ontario, Canada. To our knowledge, no previous study has examined cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge and preventive healthcare practices among this socially and technologically isolated population.

Cardiovascular knowledge, beliefs, and healthcare practices among northern Indiana Amish were explored using Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality as a guiding theoretical framework. Sample. Data was obtained from an Amish settlement located in northern Indiana.

The Impact Of A Competitive Healthcare Environment On Cost And Quality, Maureen E. Buckley

Dissertations

A descriptive longitudinal (1988-1993) case study design, with the Resource Dependence Theory as the conceptual framework, was used to investigate the effect of a competitive health care market on the cost and quality of hospital care. The secluded geographic area in which the three study hospitals were located served to minimize the influence of additional competitors. The Resource Dependence theory emphasizes the adaptation of an organization to changes in the environment or competitive market.

Exploring How Philippine American Nonprofit Leaders Build Trust With Their Staff And Volunteers, Dominic Fernando Laureano

Dissertations

Purpose: Although a considerable amount of literature exists regarding leadership and trust, little research focuses on Philippine American nonprofit organizations and their leadership. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how Philippine American nonprofit leaders build trust with staff and volunteers using the five domains of competency, consistency, concern, candor, and connection.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study collected data via semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and review of artifacts. The study sample was comprised of 10 Philippine American nonprofit leaders from Southern California. Weisman’s Trust Model served at the theoretical framework of the study and guided data collection and …

Unveiling Identities: A Cultural Study Of The Portrayal Of Leading Women In Zhang Yimou Films, Patrick Mcguire

Dissertations

It is imperative to recognize the ongoing collaborations of filmmakers from different countries. Film director Zhang Yimou, cited in this work, has reached out beyond his Chinese borders in recruiting both cast and crew on many of his latest features. But the field of film studies appears to have limited their investigations of such cross-cultural analyses, in particular the subjective analysis of the female lead character in film. Subjective and culturally wired as such, researchers bring forth conscious observations from their socialized unconscious minds.

This textual analysis begins with a comparison of two Chinese films, particularly observing their similar female …

Male Reproductive Strategies In Wild Northern Pig-Tailed Macaques (Macaca Leonina): Testing The Priority-Of-Access Model, Florian (Allen Trebouet

Dissertations

Among multi-male, multi-female primate groups, males engage in direct contest competition for access to mates. The priority-of-access model (PoA model) generally predicts that male reproductive success increases with male dominance rank, but the strength of this relationship is expected to decrease with increasing female reproductive synchrony, particularly in seasonally breeding primates. Genetic paternity studies support the model’s predictions, having found a positive relationship between male dominance rank and reproductive success. However, in addition to dominance status and female reproductive synchrony, a number of proximate factors also impact males’ ability to sire offspring, which have not been considered in studies of …

Negotiating American Racial Constructs: First- Generation African Caribbean Immigrants’ Experience With Race, Rommel Johnson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to describe and understand what race means to first-generation African Caribbean immigrants. Specifically, the study seeks to understand these immigrants’ experience of being Black in America. African Caribbean immigrants migrate to America with a concept of race that is very different from that of the United States. However, upon arriving in America, they encounter the American construct of race that not only diverges significantly from that with which they are familiar, but find that they are being racialized in the American sense. In professional counseling, we have yet to understand the way these immigrants …

Adult Learning Principles Used With Nontraditional Students In Higher Education To Enhance Learner Satisfaction And Retention, Brenda M. Smith

Dissertations

As enrollment of adult learners increases in higher education, addressing their different needs and providing resources to aid their success and retention is important. The purpose of this study was to garner quantitative data regarding adult learning principles used in higher education with nontraditional students, as reported by faculty and students, and identify if any differences exist. The theoretical framework included adult learning theories of andragogy, self-directed learning, and transformative learning. Adult learning principles and learning strategies were explored utilizing the survey instrument, Principles of Adult Learning Scale, by Gary Conti (2004). Descriptive statistics and two sample independent t-tests were …

Managing My Pregnancy: A Grounded Theory Of Pregnancy And Childbearing Beliefs And Practices Of Women Of Mexican Descent, Lorena Consuelo Guerrero

Dissertations

Examples of pregnancy-specific health beliefs and practices of Hispanic women are found in the medical literature, but the findings regarding the beliefs and practices are often outdated, limited, mostly curative in nature, and are often dismissed as benign cultural practices of a mainly homogeneous cultural group. Hispanic women incorporate both conventional and biomedical practices with traditional medicine/complementary and alternative medicine in their treatment of illnesses. The findings from this study served to illustrate current pregnancy-specific health beliefs and practices of pregnant Hispanic women of Mexican origin. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the pregnancy-specific health …

Attitudes, Subjective Norms, And Perceived Behavioral Control: Critical Care Nurses' Intentions To Provide Culturally Congruent Care To Arab Muslims, Stephen R. Marrone

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among critical care nurses' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to provide culturally congruent care to Arab Muslims. A purposive convenience sample of 208 critical care nurses participated in this investigation. Data were collected using four Likert-scale instruments. Each subject received an attitude score, subjective norms score, perceived behavioral control score, and intention score.

Organic Buildup And Residual Blood On Clean Infant Stethoscopes Used In Maternal-Infant Areas, Jan Marie Nick

Dissertations

Since the mid 1980s, health care workers have attempted to eliminate contact with blood and other body via primary or secondary exposure. At delivery, stethoscopes used on newly born infants come in direct contact with blood and body fluids from the skin of the infant. If contaminants such as blood and body fluids still remain on stethoscopes despite cleaning, an environmental risk may exist.

Using a naturalistic setting, a non-experimental, two group post-test design was implemented to investigate the occurrence of organic buildup and residual blood on clean stethoscopes used on infants in the delivery and/or nursery areas. Eleven hospitals …

Acuity-Based Staffing In Long Term Care: Does It Influence Quality?, Kathy Diane Gray-Siracusa

Dissertations

Long-term care settings have frequently been targeted as environments prone to deficiencies in quality and resultant negative effects on resident safety. The use of minimum nurse staffing ratios has been proposed as a way to improve the quality of care for long-term care residents. However, the American Nursing Association has criticized the appropriateness of ratios for the determination of staffing needs. A more appropriate staffing methodology is one that is based on a measure of intensity that takes into consideration the aggregate population of patients and the associated roles and responsibilities of the nursing staff. The purpose of this study …

Down Home: An Ethnography About Community Process And Health Of Older Persons In A Rural Setting, Carol A. Craig

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand how rural-dwelling elderly people describe their health and to gain an understanding of rural community processes as they relate to the health of older residents. Although community health nursing practice supports community-level interventions, the influence of communities upon the health of older community members is not well known. Ethnographic design and methods were employed to study the health of older residents in a Western Plains farming community of about 500 people.

Students Of Size: An Exploratory Case Study On A Hidden Climate, Braelin Pantel

Dissertations

Colleges and universities often espouse values related to equity and inclusion for diverse students (Harper & antonio, 2008; Torres, Arminio, & Pope, 2012;). Student affairs practitioners are frequently responsible for working towards inclusive environments (American College Personnel Association (ACPA), & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), 2015). An estimated 31% of college and university students are classified as overweight or obese (American College Health Association, 2007), yet body weight or size is rarely a consideration in work related to student equity and inclusion on campus. Limited research exists on the experiences of students of size in college and university …

“We’Re Going To Be Figuring It Out Forever”: Testimonios Of Brown Women And Their Experiences Self-Authoring Their Brownness In Graduate School, Reyna Monique Anaya

Dissertations

Race, a socially constructed idea designed to maintain the power and privilege of Whiteness and the colonial and economic exploitation of Black/Brown-identified people in the United States (Quiros & Araujo Dawson, 2013), has a direct impact on the ethnic identity development and self-authorship of Brown people (i.e., Latina/os, Chicana/os, Hispanics, etc.). This inquiry uncovers the testimonios of five Brown women participants and their continued ethnic identity and self-authorship development as first-generation students in graduate school. From a critical, cultural, constructivist lens and blend of testimonio (Reyes & Curry Rodriguez, 2012) and collage inquiry (Butler-Kisber, 2007), this research applied a borderlands/Mestiza …

Experiences Of Secondary Social Studies Educators: The Redheaded Stepchildren Of Education, Rebecca N. Reed

Dissertations

The purpose of this multi-case phenomenological study is to understand the unique experiences of secondary social studies teachers. The number of participants was bound to six secondary social studies teachers from a public school district in a mid-Atlantic state and the experience of the researcher. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews using Seidman’s (2006) Three Step Interview Series and individual profiles were written. The phenomenological data analysis was guided by several methods including Hycner (1985), Moustakas (1994), and Seidman (2006). From the participants’ experiences several themes emerged: similarities in personal learning habits, a dislike for mandatory assessments and curriculum, and …

Exploring The Needs Of Families Of Hospitalized Critically Ill Individuals In A Caribbean Setting, Amy Christine Burlar Schweizer

Dissertations

Critical illness can be a traumatic, stressful time for families of hospitalized critically ill patients. Understanding the characteristics and needs of families of critically ill patients can assist the health care team to provide quality care that is responsive to the unique characteristics of family members. Providing culturally congruent care can help to minimize the negative consequences of this time of crisis. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to explore the needs of family members of hospitalized critically ill adults in a Caribbean setting. Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality provided the framework for this study. …

Constraints And Context: Testing The Effects Of Anthropogenic Noise And Social Factors On Avian Signaling Behavior, Erin E. Grabarczyk

Dissertations

Rapid human-generated environmental change has irrevocably altered the natural world. Understanding how animal populations respond and persist within these modified landscapes is critical for mitigating associated negative environmental impacts. For organisms that rely on vocal communication, anthropogenic noise masks signals, reducing the area over which vocalizations can be heard. For birds, noise overlaps with songs males use to defend breeding areas and attract mates, both critical aspects of reproduction. In response to noise, males adjust their song structure, but whether they actually benefit from song changes is unknown. Moreover, it remains unclear whether noise disrupts communication by affecting interactions with …