Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Exercise Training On Circulating Cancer-Associated Immune Cells In Breast Cancer Patients, Lea Haverbeck Simon

Dissertations

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among females. It is well known that the presence of a tumor decreases robust anticancer immunity via immune-modulation and enhanced immunosuppression through a process called cancer immunoediting. However, it has yet to be determined if exercise-based rehabilitation can elevate the peripheral anticancer immune profile and reduce myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) mediated immunosuppression. Purpose: To assess the effects of a 12-week prescribed, individualized, supervised exercise-based rehabilitation program on selected circulating immune cells in BC patients at the University of Northern Colorado Cancer Rehabilitation Institute. Methods: 16 female BC patients …

‘Poor Hockey Behaviors’: Athletes’ Moral Acculturation Experiences In Youth Hockey, Zachary Colter Mccarver

Dissertations

Competitive youth sport requires athletes to persistently decide what the moral course of action is across situation (Boardley, 2020; Rest, 1984). Sport cultures that contain coaches who endorse a win at all cost mentality encourage athletes’ engagement in behaviors that are detrimental to their opponents to achieve competitive success (Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007). Bandura (1991) proposed that environmental processes can alter how an individual determines the moral course of action through the anticipation of behavior to produce self-referenced positive consequences, such as pride or satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to explore athletes’ moral acculturation experiences within hockey culture …

The Impact Of Hope On The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Context And Career Exploration, Hunter Christian Vincente Montoya

Dissertations

Economic instability in the United States has significant mental health implications for populations who experience limited occupational autonomy. Literature has demonstrated that career exploration plays an important role in positive occupational outcomes, and research has begun to establish a relationship between hope and career exploration. Hope has been further associated with myriad positive outcomes in the fields of career development and counseling psychology. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between socioeconomic status, hope, and career exploration as guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory, and to ascertain whether hope may moderate between socioeconomic status and career exploration. …

Experiences With Writing And Reading Neuropsychological Reports: Neuropsychologist And Parent Perspectives, Zsofia Imre

Dissertations

Researchers have described common problems with psychological reports over the past several decades. Some of these issues can contribute to difficulties for neuropsychologists (e.g., efficiency, insurance reimbursement). Additionally, these problems contribute to difficulties with feasibility, readability, and satisfaction for the readers of psychological reports. However, research has been limited on the perceptions of neuropsychological reports specifically, especially related to parent experiences with neuropsychological reports. Hence, this study sought to understand the current report-writing trends, parents' experiences and satisfaction, and neuropsychologists' openness to adjusting their report-writing styles. Data were obtained through surveying parents and neuropsychologists on their experiences reading and writing …

The Aesthetics Of News: Narrative Construction And Media Illiteracy In Contemporary India, Shashidhar Nanjundaiah

Dissertations

Amidst the public’s declining trust in news, media prosumers—that is, media consumers who have also become producers of mediated texts—are not equipped with any credible alternative mechanism to better understand the world around them. Prior academic studies of news and its delivery have not adequately explored the ideological framework we need to confront this frightening situation. This dissertation does so. I problematize the narration of news as an aesthetic process. Such mass-mediated narration stitches together our world in ideological ways. A tidal flow of stories highlights and obscures selected truths in a frenzy of “new” news cycles, the frequency of …

Fat And Queer: A Qualitative Exploration Of Womens' Experiences Of Fatphobia, Jaidelynn Keeley Rogers

Dissertations

A paucity of psychological research exists on the topic of fatphobia, a type of pervasive oppression that occurs for people with plus-size, large, and/or fat bodies. Much of the research that exists about fatphobia focuses on medical ideals, the associated weight stigma, and how these are related to fat people’s physical health. Medical researchers have determined that weight stigma is actually more harmful to fat people's health than being fat. Fatphobia impacts women at disproportionate rates. Plus-sized, queer, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual (LGBTQ+) women may be at a heightened risk for experiencing marinization as a result of their intersecting identities …

The Role Of A Roman Catholic Organization In Undergraduate Student Psychosocial Development, Identity Formation And Graduation Rates, Jacob M. Larson

Dissertations

The mixed-methods study investigated the psychosocial development, identity formation, and academic persistence of undergraduate students involved in a Roman Catholic student organization at a private, non-sectarian university. The research framed members’ identity development in the context of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory and Chickering and Reisser’s Seven Vectors of Student Development. The qualitative research relied on interviews, a focus group, and field observations to gather data on members’ psychosocial and identity development. Regarding psychosocial development, participants discussed that the organization helped them develop meaningful, intimate relationships. Participants also highlighted that the organization helped them to develop intellectual competence, discover purpose …

Undergraduate Faculty Expectations Of New Graduate Nurses’ Entry-Level Competencies, Bridgette Lynn Bochner

Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study sought to describe undergraduate faculty expectations of new graduate nurses’ entry-level competencies. By gaining valuable insight from nursing faculty, essential knowledge gained from this faculty perspective will benefit nursing students, nursing education, and all stakeholders in providing safe, quality care and establishing congruent entry-level competencies for new graduate nurses. Eleven faculty from the central and eastern portions of the United States participated in this study. In-depth interviews using open-ended questions were conducted, recorded, and transcribed by the researcher. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify recurring themes. The themes were validated by the participants using a …

An Adaptive Deep Learning For Causal Inference Based On Support Points With High-Dimensional Data, Lynda Aouar

Dissertations

The Sample splitting method in semiparametric statistics could introduce inconsistency in inference and estimation. Thus, to make adaptive learning based on observational data and establish valid learning that helps in the estimation and inference of the parameters and hyperparameters using double machine learning, this study introduces an efficient sample splitting technique for causal inference in the semiparametric framework, in other words, the support points sample splitting( SPSS), a subsampling method based on the energy distance concept is employed for causal inference under double machine learning paradigm. This work is based on the idea that the support points sample splitting (SPSS) …

A Qualitative Case Study Into The Electronic Correspondence Between Fifth-Grade Students And Their College Mentors, Kevin Pribnow

Dissertations

The ability to navigate emerging technologies is necessary for social and economic participation in the world. Research shows that children from privileged households receive the support needed to develop digital literacy skills, while children from families with lower socioeconomic status do not receive this support. It is the responsibility of schools to address this participation gap by bringing digital literacies into classrooms. The affordances of new technologies make it easier than ever for teachers to provide authentic literacy experiences for their students. This qualitative case study examined an authentic, digital literacy experience during a virtual pen pal correspondence between fifth-grade …

Examining Attitudes Toward And Utilization Of Mental Health App(Lication)S For Mental Health Service Delivery Among Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color (Bipoc), Kalani A. Gates

Dissertations

The prevalence of mental health conditions among Americans has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has been found to disproportionately affect communities of color and has contributed to elevated rates of mortality, morbidity, and mental illness. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are less likely to utilize or have access to conventional mental health services due to several access-related barriers including inadequate resources, cultural factors, lack of awareness and knowledge about mental health, mistrust of the health and mental health field and providers, and provider biases. Mental health applications (MHAs; software apps that delivery mental health …

Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment: Examining The Perspectives Of Survivors And Speech-Language Pathologists, Patricia Lynn Geels

Dissertations

Scientific advancements have led to significant improvements in cancer treatment and increased survival rates. However, cancer survivors often experience long-term effects, including cognitive impairments known as cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). CRCI is a common and distressing side effect that affects affected individuals’ quality of life. The discipline of speech-language pathology (SLP) is well-positioned to assess and treat CRCI. Still, there is a gap in determining the most effective support for cancer survivors with CRCI. This mixed methods, three-paper dissertation implements exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to examine how speech-language pathologists and survivors view CRCI symptoms, its impact on daily functioning, and …

Investigation Of The Philosophical Foundations And Use Of Culturally Responsive Evaluation, Ouen Hunter

Dissertations

This three-study dissertation investigated the various aspects of culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) from the perspectives of scholars and practitioners.

The first study investigated CRE scholars’ philosophical stance on CRE through one-on-one interviews. The 14 scholars shared how their lived experiences motivated them to write about CRE. They noted the flexibility of CRE as a complement to other evaluation approaches. The interviewees reported several essential qualities of CRE practitioners. This study highlights the scholars’ commitment to serving marginalized communities as their ontological superordinate theme.

The second study investigated how practitioners applied the CRE lens in their practice. This study confirmed the …

The Impact Of Gendered Racial And Bisexual Microaggressions On The Access To Decent Work For Black Bisexual Women: An Examination Of The Moderation And Mediation Effects Of Work Volition And Proactive Personality, Angela Chloe Lewis

Dissertations

This purpose of this research was to examine the impact on gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions on the ability to access decent work for Black bisexual women. The mediation effect of proactive personality on the relationship between gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions with decent work was explored in this study. The moderation effect of proactive personality on the relationship between gendered racial microaggressions and bisexual microaggressions with decent work was explored in this study as well. Gendered racial microaggressions was measured using the Gendered Racial Microaggression Scale (GRMS; Lewis & Neville, 2015). Bisexual microaggressions was measured by the …

A Review Of The Role Of Anxiety In Diagnosis Of Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Paradigm Shift In Conceptualization And Diagnosis, Evan Wahlquist

Dissertations

Early evidence of co-occurring anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) dates back to the first descriptions of ASD by Leo Kanner (1943) and Hans Asperger (Frith & Mira, 1992). While current research has identified anxiety disorders as one of the most prevalent co-occurring disorders in children and adolescents with ASD, little is known about the nature of the relationship between these disorders. In an effort to explain these high prevalence rates, recent research has started to investigate the relationship between these two disorders. To join these efforts, this clinical research project explored the role of …

An Exploratory Case Study Of Leadership Practices That Enable International Schools To Become Highly Effective And Learning Progressive Environments, Santha Kumar Sankara Narayanan

Dissertations

Highly effective learning progressive (HELP) environments can prepare students to be future-ready with the needed knowledge and skills to thrive in an ever-changing world. This case study captured the characteristics and measured the effectiveness of an international school working to become a HELP environment using the high-reliability schools (HRS) framework and the leadership practices that enabled them.

This mixed-method study used an explanatory sequential design, beginning with a survey of 122 teachers based on the HRS model (Marzano et al., 2014), where teachers were asked to respond to a series of statements designed to measure the case-study school’s effectiveness and …

Experiences Of Middle School Students With Visual Impairments Accessing Technologies In Inclusive Classrooms, Anitha Muthukumaran

Dissertations

As the educational environment is moving more towards a technology-rich system, students with visual impairments (VI) educated in general education classrooms must be guaranteed equitable access to content curricula. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of middle school students with VI when accessing and using technologies in general education classrooms. In this multiple case study, three middle school students with VI were observed in general education settings for two school days. In addition to the students, general education teachers and teachers of students with VI (TVI) also participated in the study to understand how best they …

Impact Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 On Secondary Market Ticket Price, Attendance Demand, And Fan’S Willingness To Pay: National Football League (Nfl), Yo Han Lee

Dissertations

This study explores how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected secondary market ticket prices, the number of attendees, and fans’ willingness to pay in the National Football League (NFL). The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the sport industry, affecting everything from the scheduling and delivery of games to the financial health of teams, leagues, and related businesses. One of the most visible impacts of the pandemic has been the suspension, delay, and cancellation of many sporting events, including entire seasons of some professional sport leagues. Sporting events require large gatherings of people in close proximity, which is precisely the opposite of …

Perceived Support For Higher Education: Perspectives Of Refugee Students, Sibyl Rae Cornell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how students who are refugees describe their social supports, with a focus on their relationships with those who are supportive of their interest in higher education both within and outside of the school system. Few studies have explored the social capital of these students, and how it may influence their decision to attend college. Therefore, narrative inquiry was used to explore the educational journeys of 13 refugee youth planning to attend higher education in the United States. Through semi-structured interviews, demographic surveys, and the creation of social support …

Principal Actions That Impact Teacher Retention In High-Poverty Schools, Amy Elizabeth Bekins

Dissertations

Teaching is a profession facing many challenges; among the greatest is high teacher turnover, which is even greater in high-poverty schools. Working conditions are ranked lower in high-poverty schools, contributing to the increased turnover in those schools. Principals have a high impact on teacher turnover, second in impact only to socio-economic status. The purpose of this study was to examine principal actions at schools that serve high poverty areas that are able to retain teachers. A qualitative case study was conducted where a high-poverty school was selected with approximately 80% teacher retention, allowing room for the principal to remove ineffective …

A Bayesian Approach To Unit Lindley Mixed Model, Nirajan Bam

Dissertations

In the applied filed of many areas such as Business and Economics, Physical, Biological, Medical, Environmental, and Social Sciences, Psychology, and Educations outcome measurements like rates, proportions, and fractions are common. Researchers have proven that using normal linear regression to analyze the relationship between outcome measurements such as rates and proportions and a set of independent variables can violates key assumptions of the method. Transformation techniques are usually applied to correct the assumptions, but this practice can violate the probability property of bounded nature of outcome variables. Even though beta regression was one of the popular methods to analyze bounded …

Strategies To Increase Engagement In K-12 Stem Programs Among Bipoc Students Grades 3rd – 8th, Denisha C. Griffey

Dissertations

The WIRE Youth Development Programs, housed within the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI foster two enrichment programs geared towards strengthening the gap in academic knowledge through STEM/STEAM activities. Since its inception, WIRE has impacted over 1,000 youth grades 3-8 among the BIPOC population through its programs, most notably the WIRE Math and Science Summer Camp and Saturday Academy. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many K-12 education school systems switched to remote learning. As a result of this transition, there was a decrease in access …

Self-Care, Stress, And School Burnout Among Graduate Students Preparing To Become Mental Health Practitioners, Melissa Rodriquez Estrada

Dissertations

Students in graduate school assume countless responsibilities that range from school-related work to personal commitments (e.g., El-Ghoroury et al., 2012; Myers et al., 2012), resulting in high levels of stress. In addition, those graduate students enrolled in applied psychology programs that focus on working with client populations must navigate clinical and field placement stressors. Dealing with high levels of stress over time paired with ineffective coping strategies can lead to a feeling of burnout. A growing body of research has indicated that appropriate self-care may effectively reduce high levels of stress and burnout (e.g., Kim et al., 2018; Rico & …

Effect Of Implementing Psychosocial Interventions As Pen Pals In General Chemistry, Kristofer Felix Kintner Reiser

Dissertations

General Chemistry has a high DFWI rate, disproportionately impacting students of marginalized identities (Anderson & Kim, 2006). This research investigates the hypothesis that the impacts of stereotype threat and imposter syndrome could be moderated by sharing with others through a pen pal activity. This embedded mixed method study recruited participants who were general chemistry students at a public university in the Rocky Mountain region over two years (n= 264). Participant affect was measured using the Measure of Chemistry Identity (Hosbein & Barbera, 2020), Theories of Intelligence Scale (Dweck, 2000), Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences-Self Efficacy (Dalgety et al., 2003), and general …

Intercultural Competence For Educators: A Phenomenological Study, Kathryn Mcclintock

Dissertations

The present study examined the lived experiences of in-service kindergarten–12 (K–12) teachers participating in Intercultural Competence for Educators professional development. Intercultural Competence for Educators is a curriculum designed to foster intercultural friendship development and grow educators’ intercultural competence (IC). The study aimed to explore the stories of eight K–12 teacher participants’ experiences in IC activities and investigated four research questions: Q1 What generic skills do in-service K–12 teacher participants assert are needed to grow interculturally competent? Q2 What cultural knowledge do in-service K–12 teacher participants gain from experiencing intercultural competence professional development? Q3 What self-knowledge do in-service K–12 teacher participants …

Oikophilia: Relationships Among Life, Human Life, And Place In School Communities And Their Expressions In Curriculum, Mandi Leigh

Dissertations

This naturalistic, non-experimental inquiry explored relationships among life, human life, and place in school communities along with their expressions in school curriculum. I used educational criticism and connoisseurship to richly describe, interpret meaning, evaluate significance, and discern thematics surrounding relationships and how those relationships were expressed in the curriculum. Postmodern ecology provided the framework for acknowledging ecological precarity and performing the critical, as in essential, work of deconstructing what harms life that could be reconstituted as nourishment. The first study question was: What relationships exist among life, human life, and place in school communities? To answer the question, ecological data …

Latinx Mothers’ Experience During Their Children’S First Individualized Education Program Process, Briceida Guerrero

Dissertations

As the current number of special education students continues to increase throughout the United States, so does the number of students who currently identify as Latinx. With this increase, it is important to consider what the experiences are for these students’ families as they learn that their children qualify for special education services as well as what this implies for their educational progress and futures. This study used a qualitative research methods approach to examine the experiences of Latinx mothers of students recently qualified for special education services. This study involved a phenomenological approach to study what their experiences were …

Impacts Of Internship Experiences On Professional Identity Development For Undergraduate Women Of Color In Engineering, Kathleen Victoria Armstrong

Dissertations

Women of color are historically underrepresented in STEM, specifically the field of engineering (National Science Board, National Science Foundation, 2019). In considering ways to assist in women of color’s retention and persistence in engineering, it is necessary to recognize the role internships, a form of experiential education, at the undergraduate level impact professional identity development. The purpose of this study was to understand how internship experiences shape professional identity development for undergraduate women of color in engineering. Using a constructivist epistemology, a theoretical framework integrating social cognitive theory and intersectionality, and an interpretive methodology; the researcher utilized semi-structured interviews and …

On Phishing: Proposing A Host-Based Multi-Layer Passive/Active Anti-Phishing Approach Combating Counterfeit Websites, Wesam Harbi Fadheel

Dissertations

Phishing is the starting point of most cyberattacks, mainly categorized as Email, Websites, Social Networks, Phone calls (Vishing), and SMS messaging (Smishing). Phishing refers to an attempt to collect sensitive data, typically in the form of usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information, etc., or other crucial facts, intending to use or sell the information obtained. Similar to how a fisherman uses bait to catch a fish, an attacker will pose as a trustworthy source to attract and deceive the victim.

This study explores the efficacy of host-side APT (Anti-Phishing Techniques) based onWebsite features like Lexical, Host-Based, or Content-Based …

What Covid-19 Tweets Reveal About Risk Perception And Safety Preventative Measures And Behaviors Two Years Into A Pandemic, Elizabeth Vargas

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine individuals Covid-19 risk perceptions two years into a long running pandemic. Data was collected analyzing risk perception and safety preventative measures to understand how individuals communicated risk in a health crisis that lasts more than two years. 116,401 tweets were collected from March 7-18, 2022, and analyzed utilizing a qualitative content analysis design. Four main classes were identified from the data which looked at how individuals perceived risk, how individuals determined risk from information that was shared, what preventative measures individuals were utilizing, and how individuals were living after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic …