Digital Commons Network^™

A Quantitative Exploration Of Strategies To Reduce Fatigue Among Nurses, Karen R. Cochran

Dissertations

The work environment of nurses places them at high risk of fatigue. The literature suggests a high prevalence of fatigue exists among nurses. Fatigue leads to reduced cognitive and physical abilities increasing the risk for personal injury and patient care errors. Nurse fatigue should be mitigated in an effort to improve safety and quality in healthcare organizations. The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' self- perceptions of fatigue and to examine nurses' willingness to engage in specific fatigue countermeasures within the workplace. Data were collected through an anonymous Qualtrics survey. A sample of 279 nurses completed the survey. …

Forecasting Demand For Optimal Inventory With Long Lead Times: An Automotive Aftermarket Case Study, Chris Anderson

Dissertations

Accuracy in predicting customer demand is essential to building an economic inventory policy under periodic review, long lead-time, and a target fill rate. This study uses inventory and customer service level as a stock control metric to evaluate the forecast accuracy of different simple to more complex predictive analytical techniques. We show how traditional forecast error measures are inappropriate for inventory control, despite their consistent usage in many studies, by evaluating demand forecast performance dynamically with customer service level as a stock control metric that includes inventory holdings costs, stock out costs, and fill rate service levels. A second contribution …

Guided Online Coaching For Teachers Of Emergent Bilinguals In A Tesol Practicum Course During Covid-19, Dawn Thieman

Dissertations

Guided online coaching for teachers of emergent bilinguals (EBLs) is a job-embedded professional development model established from the educational policies and practices described in the No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act. Having effective teachers who ensure an equitable, creative, and linguistically and culturally relevant education for all EBLs is of paramount importance in the ever-changing demography of schools in the United States. The guided online coaching for teachers of EBLs offers a collaborative, facilitative, dialogic, and reflective coaching process for positively influencing teacher transformation, thus providing a creative language teaching pedagogy for EBLs. The purpose of …

New Methods For The Synthesis, Activation, And Application Of Thioglycosides, Samira Escopy

Dissertations

From their ubiquitous presence in Nature to their vital roles in biology and medicine, carbohydrates (sugars or glycans) are essential molecules of life, which are made and/or utilized by every living organism. Our cells are coated with sugars that are involved in almost every biological process and defensive mechanism in our body. To mention some of their crucial biological functions, carbohydrates are essential source of energy, they participate in blood coagulation, immune defense, cell growth, cell-cell interaction, and anti-inflammatory processes. Understanding of glycan functions and structure is crucial for the development of vaccines and therapeutics. Producing complex carbohydrates in sufficient …

Heterosexual Parents Who Move Toward Acceptance Of Their Gay Sons, Brady Sullivan

Dissertations

Rejection of gay men by parents is a frequent occurrence. Rhoades et al. (2018) found 49% of a sample of 657 sexual minority children had experienced parental rejection due to their LGBTQ+ identity. However, the current body of literature does not discuss those heterosexual parents who initially reject their sexual minority children and then return to a place of acceptance. Within the framework of attachment theory, this dissertation used a basic qualitative approach, influenced by Grounded Theory methods, to investigate the experience of heterosexual parents who move toward acceptance of their gay son. Fifteen, white, heterosexual parents, ranging from ages …

Designed For The Camera: Irish Interior Makeover Television 1996–2014, Neville Knott

Dissertations

This thesis examines how television makeover programmes, broadcast in Ireland between 1996 and 2014, mediate the professional practice of interior design. It argues that the programme-makers, in seeking to engage viewers, used a series of strategies—notably the suppression of professional and educational knowledge about interior design—to convey an image of staged coherence that was arrived at unproblematically. In that process, it will be argued, interior design knowledge got lost, and entertainment triumphed. Focusing on these strategies, the thesis considers how the production process used interior design, nonetheless, to attract an audience and generate ratings, focusing on the relationship between amateurs …

Teacher Leadership In The Context Of Chinese Education, Chudi Zhou, Qian Yang, Ying Dong, Xiaoying Wang

Dissertations

In response to addressing the increasing requirements to enhance the competencies of students and teachers, as well as the quality of schools in the global environment, the need for fostering teacher leadership has been proposed by many scholars and practitioners. School context is regarded as an important influence on the successful development of teacher leadership. While many studies related to teacher leadership have been reported in Western countries, a limited number of studies have been reported within the Chinese educational context. We also observed that among the limited studies, there was a lack of empirical research on how schools provide …

Use Of Strategies For The Relief Of Symptoms Of Insomnia, Marianne Homsey

Dissertations

Insomnia is a condition that leads to health problems and raises health care costs. The purposes of this Web-based, quantitative, descriptive, correlational study were to identify frequency of use and success of strategies to alleviate sleep problems, to determine if there is a relationship among strategies chosen, and to examine any patterns that emerged based on these preferences.

Help For Osteoarthritis Pain In African American Elders (Hope): Patterns, Predictors, And Preferences Of Osteoarthritis And Chronic Joint Pain Self-Management, Staja Quinae Booker

Dissertations

Chronic joint (CJ) pain is the foremost osteoarthritis (OA) symptom that affects older African Americans' (AAs) functional ability. Every effort should be made to reduce the development of high-impact chronic pain. One way to effectively do this is for older AAs to consistently engage in self-management utilizing the recommended OA treatments. Recommended behaviors include land-based exercise, water-based exercise, strength (muscle and endurance) training and stretching, self-management education, analgesic medications, thermal (warm/cool) modalities, and use of assistive and/or orthotic devices. However, evidence suggests these core behaviors of chronic pain self-management are not optimally utilized in older AAs.

Collaborative Online Education: A Case Study Of An Ed.D. Program, Han Rong, Yang Zhang, Rongjing Cao, Jinge Xu

Dissertations

This dissertation discusses collaborative teaching and learning models of online courses. Four research questions guide the study: How do instructors design online courses to facilitate instruction using collaborative teaching and learning models? When instructors co-teach online, how do they utilize collaborative teaching and learning models? How do students build online learning communities from collaborative teaching and learning models? and How do instructors and students evaluate online collaborative teaching and learning models? We conducted a case study of an Ed.D. cohort of Chinese students in the College of Education of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). We employed a qualitative approach …

Effects Of Instructional Technology Integration Strategies In Orientation Programs On Nurse Retention In Magnet And Non-Magnet Hospitals, Sharon D. Hancharik

Dissertations

This applied dissertation study was designed to learn if the increased use of instructional technology integration strategies in nursing orientation programs resulted in an increased retention of new nurses. The study attempted to uncover the current retention rate and use of technology at the participating hospitals. The data obtained from Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals was compared.

Leadership Engagement For Military Hospitals: A Case Study Of The Effects Of Executive Leader Engagement In Military Hospitals That Have Become High Reliability Organizations, Russell Phillips

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and explain the leadership strategies that military hospital executive leaders used to engage hospital staff in implementing the six principles of High Reliability Organizations (HROs).

Methodology: A qualitative case study approach was selected for this study. Interviews were conducted with three executive leaders describing their experiences with initiating and managing the change development of HRO. The participants in this study were executive leaders of military hospitals across the Puget Sound Military Health System. All participants had direct experience with the implementation of HRO. Interview transcripts were analyzed and reviewed …

Bridging The Gap: Using Simultaneous Multi-Patient Simulations To Improve Nursing Competency And Transition To Practice: A Causal-Comparative Inquiry, Julie Fomenko

Dissertations

Twenty-first-century healthcare is a complex and demanding arena. Today's hospital environment is more complex than in previous years while patients move through the system at a much faster pace. Newly graduated nurses are challenged in their first year with the healthcare needs of complex patients. Nurse educators and nurse leaders differ in opinions regarding the readiness of newly licensed nurses. Despite these opposing views, there is no argument that today's hospitalized patients need expert nurses to care for them. This study explores the development of competence in newly graduated nurses using simultaneous multi-patient simulations (SMPS).

The Effect Of An Unfolding Case Study On Critical Thinking, Knowledge Acquisition, And Handoff Communication In Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Antionella M. Upshaw

Dissertations

Miscommunication during handoffs at time of transition for the older adult patient often results in hospital readmissions, penalties and nursing malpractice. Handoff communication (HOC) is a necessary and critical factor in patient safety; therefore, it is imperative that nurses be educated and trained in how to communicate essential geriatric patient data, minimize errors and ensure continuity of care. Nursing researchers report that HOC is a critical responsibility and varies in educational methods creating a latent patient safety risk. The unfolding case study (UCS) is increasingly being used to promote critical thinking and improve communication but lack of evidence to guide …

An Examination Of Faith Community Nursing Interventions In The Promotion Of Successful Aging, Lina B. Hixson

Dissertations

Faith Community Nursing is a specialty nursing practice providing ongoing supportive health care to community dwellers of all ages. Practicing within the context of a community of faith, these nurses focus on health promotion and disease prevention using their expertise to combine spiritual and physical dimensions of care. As the population of Americans continues to age at a rapid rate, the number of older adults is expected to more than double by the year 2060. Many older individuals live with one or more chronic diseases, however living with a chronic disease does not always require inpatient or home care services. …

A Model Of Factors Contributing To Perceived Abilities For Health-Promoting Self-Care Of Community-Dwelling Thai Older Adults, Porntip P. Malathum

Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine factors contributing to perceived abilities for health-promoting self-care of community-dwelling Thai older adults. An integration of selected concepts from Orem's (1995) self-care theory and Bandura's (1997) self-efficacy theory is established to generate a conceptual model for this study. The study variables included age, education, perceived family support, perceived friend support, chronic health problems, functional ability, perceived health status, and perceived abilities for health-promoting self-care.

Impact Of Communication Training On Nurses' Verbal And Nonverbal Skills And Patient Satisfaction, Edna Trepanier

Dissertations

Effective nurse communication correlates with favorable patient experiences and outcomes. Communication training programs are insufficient, although they do improve nurses' communication skills. The purpose of this quantitative, pretest-posttest quasiexperimental study was to examine the impact of a communication training intervention on nurses' perceptions of verbal and nonverbal skills, patient satisfaction with nurses' communication, and the overall rating of the hospital. The Nurse Self-report Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Skills Survey (NSVNCSS) was the tool employed to collect data from 103 nurses to investigate the changes in nurses' perception of their own verbal and nonverbal scores from pretest to posttest.

Enabling Workplace Readiness In The Graduate Nurse: A Delphi Study Reflecting Leadership's Emancipatory Knowing, Bonnie Kay Kintner

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative modified e-Delphi research study was to explore workplace readiness in novice nurses upon graduation. The specific problem is novice nurses are unprepared for the workplace. The research questions were as follows: What barriers in the undergraduate educational curriculum prevent an easy transition into practice for novice nurses? In what ways do potential social or political injustices occur during the educational journey of student nurses? How do nursing leaders support emancipatory knowing? Emancipatory knowing recognizes patterns that require change. The intent within this study was to build consensus among 18 nursing experts from the Sigma Theta …

A Phenomenological Replication Study On The Unique Challenges Experienced By Veterans Diagnosed With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) While Attending A California State University (Csu) In Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Or Orange County, Ralph Martinez

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological replication study was to understand the unique challenges experienced by veterans diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) while attending a California State University (CSU) in Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, or Orange County. Furthermore, it was the intent of this study to explore the current and prospective services veteran students believe were helpful or would be helpful in promoting positive academic outcomes.

A phenomenological approach was utilized in the development of this qualitative research study to explore the lived experiences of veteran students diagnosed with PTSD attending a California State University (CSU) in Riverside, …

The Role Of Zingiberales Shared Evolutionary History And Leaf Traits In Structuring Rolled-Leaf Beetle Assemblages In A Tropical Forest, José Miguel Chaves Fallas

Dissertations

Understanding how local assemblages of plants and animals are structured is a central challenge for evolutionary ecology. Tropical assemblages are high in species numbers and in variety of ecological interactions, providing unique multispecies biological systems to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses about community assembly. The objective of this dissertation was to understand the role of Zingiberales shared evolutionary history and plant traits for structuring the rolled-leaf beetle (Cephaloleia and Chelobasis, Chrysomelidae) assemblage in a lowland wet forest (La Selva Biological Station) of Costa Rica.

In chapter I studied the evolution of physical, nutritional, and chemical leaf traits, how …

The Impact Of Personality Type On Co-Teaching Pairs, Jennifer Macalady

Dissertations

Co-teaching is a commonly used instructional model allowing students with disabilities access to the general education curriculum with their general education peers. General education and special education teachers instruct together, and the relationship between the two teachers is paramount to the team's success. When a co-teaching team is successful, all students benefit from the partnership. Administrators who take time to match teachers together based on personalities and learning preferences can increase the chances of success in an inclusive classroom. Unfortunately, relatively little research linking personality compatibility with effective co-teaching and relating personality similarities of the co-teachers to student engagement, student …

Student Perceptions Of Teaching And Learning Quality In A Nursing Skills Lab, Jill F. Daly

Dissertations

While nurse educators believe their graduates are prepared for practice, experienced nurses view new graduates as inadequately prepared and needing improvement in basic psychomotor and clinical reasoning skills. This study focused on the fundamental nursing skills course, where students learn the foundational skills that are seen as lacking in the new graduates. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative correlational study was to examine whether student perceptions of the lab instructor's use of the Principles of Instruction (Authentic Problems, Activation, Demonstration, Application, and Integration) predicted the students' learning progress and mastery of the course objectives in the fundamental nursing skills course. …

Heart Failure Family Caregivers: Psychometrics Of A New Quality Of Life Scale And Variables Associated With Caregiver Outcomes, Julie Ann Nauser

Dissertations

The number of patients with chronic heart failure (HF) is at an all-time high and the incidence is expected to increase as our population ages. HF patients experience impaired cognition, exertional shortness of breath, and persistent fatigue; therefore, family members are needed to assist with their care at home. Although existing literature suggests that HF caregivers experience negative physical, mental, and social outcomes, there is a lack of studies guided by a conceptual model to determine factors associated with these outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with HF caregiver depressive symptoms, life changes, and quality …

Clinical Case Conceptualization Skill Development And Counseling Pedagogy: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study, Andrea Cox

Dissertations

Clinical case conceptualization has been identified as an invaluable and indispensable skill within the literature of the mental health professions and by the Council for Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP, the counseling profession’s professional accreditation body). Despite its known importance, there is a dearth of literature focused on understanding the experiences students have related to counselor education pedagogy and the development of clinical case conceptualization skills. This project utilized a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) qualitative research design and analysis to explore the clinical case conceptualization learning experiences had by Counselors-In-Training (CITs) enrolled in CACREP aligned or CACREP accredited master-level …

How Domestic Violence Counselors With Personal Histories Of Trauma Experience Their Clients Who Were Victims Of Domestic Violence: A Heuristic Study, Janis Edralin

Dissertations

The heuristic inquiry-based phenomenological approach values focusing on a question or problem that has been a personal challenge in one’s quest to understand oneself and the phenomenon. Previous research has shown that counselors with a personal history of trauma who provide services to victims with a similar history report a range of negative consequences. The researcher utilized a heuristic research design to answer the following question: How do domestic violence counselors who have personal histories of trauma experience their clients who were victims of domestic violence? The methodology involved interviewing eight counselors, from whom four themes were identified: awareness of …

Impact Of Exposure On Thin Epoxy Overlay Performance, Abul Fazal Mazumder

Dissertations

Thin epoxy overlays are used for improving the condition and extending the service life of bridge decks. The tensile bond pull-off strength, evaluated as per the ASTM C1583, is used as the performance indicator. A failure in the substrate with a tensile strength of 250 psi or greater is considered acceptable. However, the performance evaluated on in-service bridge decks shows inconsistent results. Laboratory studies by several researchers documented a distinct performance difference when the overlays are exposed to room temperatures in comparison to elevated temperatures. However, the most influential parameters such as concrete surface profile, thermal compatibility between overlay and …

The Alexander House Apostolate Marital Relationship Education Results: A Quantitative Study, Angel Estrada

Dissertations

According to existing literature, 27 components contribute to the concept of couple’s relationship satisfaction. Some of these components are included in non-religious and religious marital relationship education (MRE) programs. Research on nonreligious MREs spans decades; however, research on Catholic MRE programs is limited and not widely published. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of one Catholic, faith-based, couples’ MRE on impacting relationship satisfaction, and determine if specific religious and behavioral practices contributed to relationship satisfaction. The study was conducted with archival data collected from a population of mostly Catholic Latino and White couples in south central …

Factors That Affect Customer Intention To Revisit Green Hotels: The Case Of Abu Dhabi, Abdulaziz Faisal Ali Alremeithi

Dissertations

Given the Abu Dhabi 2008 Estidama sustainability initiative and the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, hospitality is one of the sectors that can contribute most significantly to the long-term economic growth of Abu Dhabi and have the greatest impact on its environmental and natural resources. The results of this study will enable decision-makers to understand why consumers choose green hotels over conventional hotels. The purpose is to expand existing knowledge by investigating the factors that influence customer intention to revisit green hotels from four perspectives: the self-perspective, the prosocial perspective, the business-to-business marketing perspective, and the consumer-to-consumer marketing perspective. The …

Factors That Affect The Actual Use Of M-Government From The User Perspective: The Case Of Abu Dhabi Government, Sara Saleh Saeed Al Kayyoomi

Dissertations

In recent years, the evolution of information technologies has shown vast growth. The popularity of and demand for mobile smartphones and applications also continue to grow, so governments are developing mobile business models and moving from electronic-government (e-government) to mobile-government (m-government) practices in order to enhance functioning and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their services. However, there are very few pieces of systematic evidence related to m-government implementation and the level of actual use of m-government applications and services in less developed countries. Therefore, the current study aims to identify factors that affect Abu Dhabi citizens' and residents’ actual …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of Educational Reforms Implemented By Abu Dhabi Education Council On Teacher Efficacy In Al Ain Public Schools, Cherry Jean Recio

Dissertations

Teachers’ self- efficacy has been considered as one of the main contributors to quality teaching and job performance of teachers. Teachers’ self- efficacy may be influenced by factors such as educational reforms. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate teachers’ perceptions on whether educational reforms implemented by ADEC from 2005-2017 contributed to their self-efficacy and influenced their abilities to carry out their teaching jobs. The second aim of this dissertation is to investigate whether teachers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy differ in relationship to ADEC reforms based on a number of demographic factors such as gender, cycle, years of teaching …