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The Impact Of Structured Orientation On Role Transition And Turnover Intentions Of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, Nadege Jules

Dissertations

The first year of transitioning from being an expert nurse to embracing the role as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) is challenging. The literature identifies a gap in APRNs transition to practice support in the new role. The impact of structured orientation on role transition and job turnover intentions of novice Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in their first APRN position is warranted and have not been addressed.

The purpose of this nonexperimental, correlational study was to investigate the impact of structured orientation on role transition and job turnover intentions of novice Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in the United States …

A Bright Idea: Assessing Stakeholder Impact Of Social Sustainability Strategies, Sara Theis

Dissertations

The performing arts industry is experiencing an awakening in terms of the need to integrate inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) into their practices. This is the result of calls for change in the industry from members of historically marginalized communities. The challenge is that in order for social sustainability strategies like IDEA to be effective, they need to integrate them into the organization’s culture (Serafeim, 2020). IDEA cannot be a checklist. Using stakeholder theory and resource-based view as theoretical foundations, this qualitative case study examines one exemplary organization that has differentiated on social sustainability for decades. In 27 open …

The Experience Of Transitioning To The Caregiving Role For A Family Member With Alzheimer's Disease Or A Related Dementia, Kathleen E. Czekanski

Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic, debilitating disease that currently affects approximately 5.1 million Americans (Alzheimer's Association 2007). The majority of these individuals are being cared for at home by family caregivers who are known to suffer from more depression and burden than any other group of caregivers. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of transitioning to the role of caregiver for a family member with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia.

Fall Prevention Among Older Adult Behavioral Health Patients, Jodie Shipley

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: Inpatient falls are a major patient safety issue. Behavioral health units experience higher rates of falls among elderly patients with between 13.1 to 25 falls per 1,000 occupied bed days (OBD). The risk of falls for the aged population is increased on a psychiatric unit due to a myriad of issues including psychotropic medications, over-activity on the unit, and confusion (Wong & Pang, 2019).

Methods: This QI project is an observational descriptive pilot intervention evaluation of a redesigned fall prevention program with the aim to reduce falls on a midsized suburban Midwestern inpatient geriatric behavior health …

Parent Perceptions Of Adolescent Technology Use: Implications For The Parent-Child Relationship, Tiffany Somerville

Dissertations

Technology and social media use are now more popular than ever with adolescents. Problematic technology use has often been associated with decreased mental health and relationship quality. Researchers have typically identified problematic technology use by time spent on a device rather than in an interpersonal context. Phubbing and technoference are two constructs that describe how technology use can potentially be disruptive to in-person interactions. Little research has investigated technology use in the context of the parent-child relationship despite reports from parents that technology use is a frequent source of conflict. Through the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s neo-ecological model and structural …

Nursing Candidates' Perceptions Of The Greatest Challenges To Becoming A Professional Nurse, Lee Ann Williams

Dissertations

Nursing candidates' overall goal is to become a professional nurse. To reach this goal, the student must graduate from an associate or baccalaureate nursing program and pass the state board, National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). Student retention in nursing programs and passing the NCLEX continue to be a problem for educational institutions throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine nursing candidates' perceptions of their greatest challenges in becoming a professional nurse. Wenger's social learning systems and the community of practice comprised the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions pertained to nursing students' …

Program Effectiveness Of A New Nurse Mentorship, Jennifer Malig

Dissertations

Nurses are leaving the bedside at alarming rates impacting healthcare organizations. It is well documented the need will surpass demands increasing strain and stress for already struggling healthcare facilities and team members. After reviewing literature for reasons for increases and ideas to decrease nursing turnover, it was discovered new nurses leave the profession within their first year. According to the 2021 NSI National Health Care Retentions and RN Staffing Report, since the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of nurses leaving the bedside has increased to 19.5%.

A new nurse mentorship began July 2022. The goal of the program was to increase new …

Factors Affecting Self-Efficacy In Caregivers Of Latina Breast Cancer Survivors, Megan C. Hebdon

Dissertations

Informal caregivers provide the bulk of care to individuals with chronic diseases, including cancer. There were 2.8 million informal caregivers of cancer survivors in the United States in 2015. Informal caregivers are vulnerable to poor physical and emotional consequences related to their caregiving role. Caregivers of Latina breast cancer survivors have additional risks related to social determinants of health, which may be attenuated through increased caregiver self-efficacy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate a moderating model of self-efficacy in caregivers of Latina breast cancer survivors between acculturation, spiritual wellbeing, and social support and global health and depression.

The Lived Experience Of Veteran Medics Entering A Baccalaureate Nursing Program, June L. Llerena

Dissertations

In 2017, 755,479 veterans received Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to attend higher education (VA, 2018). For many returning veterans a rapid transition from military life to student life not only creates academic barriers but also increases stress (Bagby et al., 2015). Studies focusing on transition found 51% of Post 9/11 veterans experienced difficulty transitioning into civilian life (Anderson & Goodman, 2014). Additionally, combat veterans have reported experiencing greater social isolation and emotional struggles compared to non-combat veterans (Bagby et al., 2015). Schonfeld et al. (2015) studied general student veterans and found that: 34.5 % had severe anxiety, 23.7% had …

The Relationship Among Maternal Characteristics, Maternal Dietary Self-Regulation, And The Dietary Intake And Body Weight Status Of Two To Five-Year-Old Children, Andrea Bushaw

Dissertations

Eating preferences and practices are established early in life, yet we have little knowledge about how mothers make food decisions on behalf of their children. These decisions, however, lay the foundation for their child's lifelong food preferences and eating behaviors. Almost one-third of all children in the U.S. are overweight or obese putting them at high risk for becoming an overweight or obese adult. To make a difference in the ongoing obesity epidemic, we must better understand the relationship among characteristics of the mother who controls the young child's access to food, food choices, and feeding practices. This knowledge will …

Nursing Students' Self-Efficacy To Care For Older Adults In Acute Care Settings In Ghana: A Mixed Method Study, Diana Abudu-Birresborn

Dissertations

Self-efficacy has been reported to serve as a motivator for goal achievement and to impact care quality and career development choices. Understanding nursing students' self-efficacy to care for older adults can provide an opportunity to identify gaps and develop strategies to shape nursing students' interest in caring for older adults. This study sought to identify the relationship between nursing students' knowledge about, attitudes towards, and self-efficacy to care for older adults and explored nursing students' understanding of their self-efficacy to care for older adults. The study also examined stakeholders' perceptions about nursing students' self-efficacy to care for older adults and …

A Mixed Methods Study Regarding The Impact Virtual Education Had On Teachers During Covid-19, Brandon Richard Foley

Dissertations

Virtual learning and COVID-19 drastically changed the landscape of education. School districts were forced to think about education differently, and COVID-19 led schools and communities into unfamiliar territory with daunting trials and tasks (Pressley & Ha, 2021). The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to add to existing research and examine how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted teachers and school districts during their transition to virtual learning. The social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory were utilized as the conceptional framework of the study. Phase one of the study included a quantitative survey from one Southwest Missouri school district. A focus group …

Beliefs About Homework, Elizabeth Rose Taylor Smith

Dissertations

This mixed-methods research study aimed to learn the perspectives regarding homework of parents and teachers of students in grades two, three, and four. The definition used to define homework was based on Simplicio’s (2005) definition of homework as a period set aside to put in a plan to expand learning skills and support information that the student gained while in the classroom. There were three research questions that guided this mixed-methods research study; What are the parents’ perceptions of second, third, and fourth-grade students regarding homework? What are the perceptions of second, third, and fourth-grade teachers regarding homework? What are …

The Influence Of Social Capital On First-Generation African American Gradaute Students: A Grounded Theory, Janeisha Anderson

Dissertations

First-generation African American/Black graduate students face challenges that must be overcome if they are to persist to degree completion. However, literature on factors contributing to their success and circumstances that hinder their academic outcomes is sparse. This qualitative grounded theory study investigated social capital and its influence on first-generation African American/Black graduate students' success. Participants (n = 17) were purposefully selected and included students who were enrolled or had already graduated, and others who had withdrawn from their graduate program. Thematic analysis of 17 interviews identified three primary themes: support within an academic setting, external support outside of an educational …

Learning By Design: The Transformative Pedagogical Experience Of College Students In Extending Monomodal Texts Into Multimodal, Najah Asaad Al Mohammedi

Dissertations

The architectonic shift in the semiotic, technology, and social environment paves the way to new perspectives of transformative pedagogies in multiliteracies and multimodal literacy for meaning-making through the configuration of gesture, space, image, sound, action, and various modes. Through a mixed-method explanatory sequential design, this study explores college students’ critical reading comprehension by changing a monomodal text into a multimodal one. In the redesigning process, a group of college students (n=4) were oriented to change a provided monomodal text into a multimodal text for the sake of understanding how the enactment of two different modes of a reading text contributes …

The Noise, The Resistance, And The Message” Inconstruing The Construction Of Arab Bilinguals-Biliterates’ Trans-Identity Space: A Grounded Theory Approach, Maha Omar Alhabbash

Dissertations

This study explored the construing of the construction of trans-identity space for Arab high schoolers, undergraduates, and graduate students who are bilinguals and biliterates. To that end, the study fathomed the trajectories and the process of trans-identity space construction along with the translanguaging space of bilingual-biliterate Arabs. Employing a grounded theory approach enabled the researcher to understand the nature of trans-identity space and how it functions in tandem with the confluence of translanguaging practices that leads to language identity reproduction. To validate the results, two means were used: a semi-structured interview with the participants (n=36) from high schoolers, …

The Relationship Between School Principals’ Resilience, Job Satisfaction, Self-Efficacy, Perceived Organizational Support, And Thriving In School Leadership Positions In The Uae Government Schools, Noura Abdulla Al Azzani

Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with school principals who often come across adversities and hardships that challenge their strength and flexibility and impose immense pressure on them. Some of them break; others cope or overcome the adversities. The main objective of this dissertation is to explain why school leaders thrive in the face of their pressing mediating roles whereas others may not even survive within the UAE context. The socially embedded model of thriving at work is adapted to explain the relationship between the thriving level and five variables that could influence and mediate the relationship: the internal factors of resilience, …

School Leadership Behaviors And Practices, Teacher Turnover, And Teacher Retention In The United Arab Emirates: A Triangulation Approach, Ayeda Abdulla Al Shebli

Dissertations

School leadership and school leaders' behaviors and practices can significantly affect the behavior of teachers. Retaining teachers in the teaching profession is important. Unfortunately, many teachers around the world have left or are deciding to leave this profession, a phenomenon called “teacher turnover”. High teacher turnover affects the overall quality of teaching and learning. Based on 2015 data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, teacher turnover is high in the United Arab Emirates. There are many factors that contribute to teacher turnover. This study investigated the factors affecting teachers' turnover by exploring the role of school leadership behaviors …

The Impact Of Internal And External Factors On Female Enrollment In Vocational Training Institutes In The United Arab Emirates: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Saada Mubarak Amro

Dissertations

Educational institutes around the world and vocational training institutes, in particular, are concerned with students’ participation and enrollment rates. Great emphasis is placed on the vocational sector and its role in establishing a knowledge-based economy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as articulated in the UAE Vision 2021, its economic foresight 2030, and in the recent 50th-anniversary statement released in 2019 by HH Mohammed Rashed Al Maktoum. The importance of this sector is its significance in diversifying the economy, providing employment, and equipping both employed and unemployed nationals with the vocational skills required by local and international markets and industries. …

Impacts Of Intermediate And Long-Term Vitamin D Deficiency On The Murine Gastric Epithelial Cells And Acid Secretion, Shaima Raji Sirajudeen

Dissertations

The biological functions of vitamin D (VD) are diverse. It influences immunological response, cell proliferation and differentiation, and calcium homeostasis. However, over one billion people globally are VD deficient. The VD receptors, VDR and PDIA3, mediate the biological activities of VD. Studies on the biological roles of VD are numerous but very little on the stomach. The stomach is divided into three main parts – forestomach, corpus and antrum. Gastric glands, which make up the functional units of the stomach, are made up of numerous cell lineages and are located in the corpus and antrum, which are the glandular parts …

Contextualizing The Emotive & Experiential Trajectories Of Arab Bilinguals In Higher Education: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Method Study, Sabahet Bruncaj

Dissertations

Higher Education institutions in the UAE are increasingly adopting English as a Medium of Instruction. For native Arabic speakers, this educational practice has established a lingual impasse that relegates entry and serves as a signifier of ability. This study explores the experiential and emotional histories of conducting academic studying in a second language. The study is grounded in the theoretical framework of Emotions, whereby the exploration of affect and emotion-specifiers on bilinguals within the EMI in HE experiences and identified. The study applied an Exploratory Sequential Mixed method design led by Qualitative semi-structured interviews with Ph.D. students (n=11). This framework …

Improving Nurse Mentor Retention Through The Use Of Nurse Residency Programs, Morgan Newman

Dissertations

Graduate nurses beginning their nursing career require a collaborative relationship with an expert nurse mentor to make this transition successful. However, high turnover among these experienced nurse mentors is causing a problematic gap in knowledge transfer, experience, and expertise in the nursing workforce. This project investigated whether nurse mentors who mentored in a Nurse Residency Program (NRP) remained with the organization longer and were more satisfied with their mentoring experience than nurse mentors who mentored outside of a NRP. The diffusion of innovations theory was used to support the project and process of dispersing information on the outcome of the …

Particular Pains, Particular Sufferings: Using Sista Circle To Explore Belongingness As A Factor Affecting The Academic Persistence Of Black, Women Doctoral Recipients At Predominantly White Institutions In The South, Jasmine Denise Thornton

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand if belongingness, or the need to belong, is an inhibiting factor for Black women to the completion of doctoral programs, specifically at Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) in the South. This qualitative study employs the Sista Circle methodology to discuss the lived experiences of Black female doctoral recipients from Southern PWIs. The Sense of Belonging Model and the Sista Circle Methodology is used to inform the experiences of Black women doctoral students in relation to their academic persistence and overall programmatic experience. The findings from this study can also provide insight for diversity, …

The Impact Of A Burn Injury On Family Caregivers Of Adult Burn Survivors, Diana Kidd

Dissertations

The survival rate of burn injuries is over 90 percent. Physical and emotional recovery from a burn injury may be prolonged. Family support is an important component of this recovery. However, little is known about the impact on caregivers. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study is to explore the impact of a burn injury on family caregivers of adult burn survivors. An improved understanding of the stressors, challenges, coping, and involvement of family caregivers in caring for burn survivors will enable clinicians to better assist burn survivors and their family caregivers throughout the recovery process.

Prenatal Yoga Practice In Late Pregnancy And Patterning Of Change In Optimism, Power, And Well-Being, Pamela J. Reis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore changes in human-environmental field patterning of optimism, power, and well-being over time, in women during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy upon completion of a 6-week prenatal yoga program. A descriptive design was used to answer research questions developed according to the Science of Unitary Human Beings theoretical framework: (1) what are the changes in patterning, as observed through the manifestation of optimism, power, and well-being over time, in women before beginning and upon completing a 6-week prenatal yoga program during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and (2) does …

Chess, Robotics, And Speech And Debate: An Analysis Of Critical Thinking-Oriented Afterschool Programs, Marc Leffler

Dissertations

Many high school students graduate lacking several key 21st-century skills needed for college, career, and life. Among 21st-century skills, researchers deem critical thinking fundamental to meeting life’s increasingly complex challenges, as it underlies primary thought processes such as reasoning, analyzing, and decision-making. This quantitative, quasi-experimental study compares the critical thinking ability of high school students involved in three programs: robotics, chess, and speech and debate. The study aims to determine whether these groups have statistically significant differences in critical thinking levels. Critical thinking ability was measured by scores on the Critical Thinking In Everyday Life assessment, a valid measure of …

The Lived Experience Of The Novice Nursing Dean: Exploring The Meaning And Significance, Melissa R. Bouws

Dissertations

Deans of nursing hold a unique position for the future of the profession. Few others have the potential to bring about change within the academic setting, or hold such a strong influence on the future of nursing and on our students. Current statistics reveal multiple vacancies in nursing dean positions. Further understanding of how nursing deans begin their role, attain their identity as dean, and successfully execute this important position is needed to recruit and retain strong leaders who have the methods and skills to develop and support the advancement of the nursing profession. Understanding the process of becoming nursing …

A Delphi Study Of The Most Effective Actions Taken By Rural Superintendents In California To Improve Achievement For English Learners, Diana Jimenez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to have rural school superintendents whose districts have shown academic improvement as measured by the California School Dashboard identify the actions they have taken to improve academic achievement for English learners. In addition, it was the purpose to rate the effectiveness of the identified actions, and to describe the best methods for implementing the five most effective actions identified from the ratings. Methodology: This study employed a Delphi method, comprising three rounds to collect data. In Round 1, participants were asked to identify what actions they have taken to increase academic outcomes …

Correlates Of Psychological Well-Being In Older Adults With Treatment-Resistant Depression, Selmi Kallmi

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that are associated with psychological well-being in older adults with late-life depression and determine if social participation moderates and/or mediates these relationships. This dissertation study utilized secondary pre-treatment data collected from the “Optimum: Optimizing Depression Treatment in Older Adults” study (Cristancho et al. (2019). Community dwelling older adults (N = 369) were included if they currently met criteria for MDD, had failed at least two prior trials of MDD medication treatment, and were able to visit the study site to participate in cognitive and physical functioning assessments. Hierarchical multiple regressions …

The Expansionist Cause: Union Civil War Commemorations As Weapons Of Colonization In The American West, Lindsey Peterson

Dissertations

Eastern collective remembrances of the American Civil War have dominated discussions of the war’s causes and consequences. The West was located far from major Civil War battlefields and historic sites and therefore deemed peripheral to the war and its legacy. Consequently, historians’ eastern-focused arguments about the war’s historical memory have largely been applied to account for all Union veterans and their families’ experiences, even though the evidence is grounded predominantly in source materials from east of the Mississippi River. Using analytical methods of gender and race, The Expansionist Cause examines Union Civil War commemoration in the trans-Mississippi West to argue …