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The Role Of Pereceived Racial Discrimination On Help-Seeking Intention And Psychological Distress, Emili Noel Pickenpaugh

Dissertations

Based on their experiences of perceived discrimination, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) college students should theoretically be in higher need of mental health care services as perceived discrimination often increases psychological distress. However, there is a documented disparity in the utilization of services. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) suggests that those with higher levels of psychological distress should be more likely to seek services. This study analyzed the relationship between race, psychological distress, and perceived racial discrimination as predictors of help-seeking intention, specifically, with the hopes of understanding the potential moderating role perceived racial discrimination plays between …

Three Essays On Social Networks And Schools, Yunzheng Zheng

Dissertations

Researchers have been increasingly interested in the phenomenon of social networks in education, a research area that provides more opportunities to study the relationships among individuals or organizations in our educational system. The goal of this dissertation was to understand the effect of various social networks on outcomes by investigating various relationships in the educational system. To achieve the goal, three distinct, but related, essays comprised this dissertation.

In the first essay, I examined the effects of interschool networks on student achievement. By using the data collected from the High Impact Leadership (HIL) program and employing the hierarchical linear model …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Third Grade Academic Achievement Data: Pre- And Post-Google Chromebook Usage In A Midwest Elementary School, Brittany Powell

Dissertations

Technology in the educational setting has evolved drastically over the last few decades and continues to currently evolve. As technology advances, best practices for teaching and learning, standardized testing, and curriculum also must evolve. The purpose of this study aimed to fill the gap of the lack of research regarding the possible differences in academic achievement data, pre- and post-Google Chromebooks usage. The researcher investigated educators’ and administrators’ perceptions of technology by conducting inperson interviews at the conclusion of the two-year study. The analysis of qualitative data, gathered from all interviews and researcher journal entries, fell into various thematic categories, …

Counseling Supervisors' Experiences Facilitating Supervisees' Cultural Competence, Christopher D. Bozell

Dissertations

A vital attribute of counselors to provide quality client care is cultural competence. Counseling supervisors are tasked to demonstrate cultural competence in supervisory interventions by aiding the supervisees in increasing their knowledge, awareness of attitudes and beliefs, and skills related to culturally sensitive practice. Although many professional organizations require counseling supervisors to provide culturally competent supervision, very few studies have examined how counseling supervisors demonstrate their skills. This qualitative Descriptive Phenomenological study explored the experiences of counseling supervisors when facilitating supervisees’ cultural competence.

Ten individual semi-structured interviews with counseling internship site supervisors were conducted to collect data about their experiences …

Emotional Labor And New Independent School Heads, Seth William Yocum

Dissertations

The most important relationship to the life of an independent school has been the relationship between the head of school and the board of trustees. Still, most independent school heads have found that attending to their relationship with their board of trustees was one of the more challenging aspects of their work. Conventional wisdom and scholarship alike have suggested that this relationship could be especially trying for new independent school heads. The goal of this analytic autoethnographic study was to explore the performed emotional labor of new independent school heads in their relationship with their board of trustees during their …

A Portraiture Of Two Tribal College Leaders, Jessica Jasmine Buckless

Dissertations

This study explored the lives and self-perceived impacts of two Tribal college presidents in a northwest state of the United States. This qualitative inquiry employed portraiture in which the researcher created a diverse range of stories curated through interviews, observations of participants, and artifacts to formulate a story of each participant’s life. This study shared the unique stories of each Tribal college leader. Their stories were captured through questions about their perspectives and how they felt that they had contributed to their respective colleges. In addition to how they had contributed culturally, follow-up questions addressed how they had attributed to …

Determining The Effectiveness Of Virtually-Delivered Written Exposure Therapy For Treatment Of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Stephanie M. Haft

Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted individuals with mental health issues (Swendsen, 2020). Although the peak destruction of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, the psychological fallout remains. Social isolation, home confinement, and travel restrictions have exacerbated mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to negative psychological distress (Smith et al., 2020). Survivors of trauma have higher vulnerability to prolonged psychological distress than the general population and others with non-trauma-related mental health conditions, which has been exacerbated during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. For these reasons, survivors of trauma may particularly benefit from virtual-delivery of trauma-focused treatments. Mental health providers …

Entre Dos Mundos: Understanding The Experiences Of Latinx Adolescent Language Brokers, Miranda Kristine Martino

Dissertations

Every day, across the United States, there are families who rely on their children to perform the essential task of facilitating communication between themselves and others who do not share their language; this process is referred to as language brokering. Eleven participants who identified as Latinx child language brokers were interviewed. The purpose of this study was to explore the stories of these youth to better understand how they came to be language brokers in their families, their perspectives on their roles within their families and their culture, and the perceived positives and challenges of this practice. From these lived …

Attachment And Older Adults In Psychotherapy: A Latent Profile Analysis Of Psychological Distress Across Treatment, Brian Michael Stran

Dissertations

Older adults have been largely underrepresented within the psychotherapy literature. Given the unique social and emotional changes associated with older age (Carstensen et al., 1999) and the perceived gap in training that trainees report in working with older adults (Woodhead et al., 2015), there is a pressing need for research that can aid mental health practitioners in the conceptualization, treatment planning, and treatment of their older adult clients.

In the first part of this manuscript, an integrated theoretical model, consisting of socioemotional selectivity theory (SEST; Carstensen et al., 1999) and attachment theory (Bowlby 1969), was developed to provide psychotherapists with …

Graduate Students' Self-Determination As Writers, Need For Cognition, And Sense Of Belonging As Predictors Of Confidence In Program Completion, Mary Ebejer

Dissertations

This study explored graduate student self-determination as a writer, need for cognition, and sense of belonging as predictors of their confidence today in their program completion. The data set consisted of 2,390 graduate students at universities across the United States. The data analysis was conducted using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), with students nested in programs, nested in universities.

The analysis found that both self-determination as a writer and sense of belonging contributed to student confidence in program completion. Need for cognition did not. Seven statistically significant student-level demographic and program-related variables remained in the final model, including: PhD student, returning …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Health-Related Baccalaureate And Graduate Web-Based Simulated Clinical Learning Platforms, Kathrine Choura Branch

Dissertations

Simulation has been recognized as a teaching, learning, evaluation, and research strategy based on learning theories, that has come to play a significant role in healthcare education (Beal et al., 2017; La Cerra et al., 2019). Health-related academic programs in higher education have traditionally used simulation to fill gaps in learning and strengthen students’ clinical and critical thinking skills in conjunction with didactic classroom content, laboratory practice, and clinical education in the community setting (Hayden et al., 2014). With the onset and unpredictability of COVID-19, there was almost an immediate need for health-related academic programs across the world to transition …

An Analysis And Performance Guide Of Olivier Messiaen’S Chants De Terre Et De Ciel, Joseph William Mcallister

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an analysis of musical elements in Olivier Messiaen’s Chants de terre et de ciel in order to facilitate performance preparation of the work. To begin, general information about Messiaen’s religious and musical upbringing is introduced, as well as relevant details of his marriage to Claire Delbos and the birth of their son, Pascal. This is followed by a discussion of the poems which Messiaen set in the Chants and their surrealistic aspects. The musical analysis begins with an examination of Messiaen’s compositional techniques as outlined in Technique de mon langage musical, followed by discussions of those elements …

Opportunities To Learn The General Education Curriculum: Literacy Instruction For Students With Significant Support Needs In Inclusive Settings, Heather Leigh Fitzpatrick

Dissertations

Students with significant support needs (SSN) have often been denied the breadth and depth of literacy instruction compared to their nondisabled peers. However, exposure to academic literacy increases when students with SSN are educated with their peers without disabilities within inclusive settings. While exposure is the first step to accessing grade level content, it does not necessarily mean that students with SSN will have the same opportunities to learn (OTL). Students with SSN require additional adaptions and supports to learn and make progress in the general education setting. Conversely, these supports are not always provided or used effectively to meet …

Clinician Experiences With Conducting Suicide Risk Assessments And Interventions, Sydney Lee Cople

Dissertations

Rates of suicide across the United States have been found to be increasingly prevalent and acute in recent years (Centers for Disease Control, 2018). To address this nationwide health crisis of suicidality, mental health clinicians are relied upon to prevent, assess, and intervene accordingly. Yet despite the ubiquitous nature of client suicidality, existing research has not yet examined how clinicians are experiencing working with such intense and acute risk for suicide. This qualitative phenomenological study sought to capture the descriptions of clinicians’ internal and external responses to assessing for and intervening with client suicidality in an effort to better understand …

“I Just Want To Play”: Methodological Considerations For Including Older Adults In Co-Creation Of Research With A Focus On The Meaning Of Activity For Residents Of A 55+ Active Adult Master Planned Community, Becky Alice De Oliveira

Dissertations

Co-creation of research with older adults is examined methodologically and the meaning of activity for older adults living in a 55+ active adult master planned community is examined contextually. Older adults are often the subjects of research but rarely involved as co-creators. Literature on co-creation of research indicates that it allows stakeholders greater participation (Halvorsrud et al., 2021), and older adults should be seen as stakeholders (Weil, 2015). This perspective challenges bias toward older people (van den Berg et al., 2019), and acknowledges the wealth of knowledge they possess as “experts” (Partridge, 2022). While potential exist for co-creation of research …

Rumination, Mindfulness, And Posttraumatic Growth During The Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model, Mackenzie Brianna May

Dissertations

Early research examining the impact of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic on the health and well-being of U.S. adult residents suggested the majority were experiencing an increase in anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms. The current study responded to calls for mental health professionals to view the COVID-19 pandemic as a form of mass trauma and sought to understand whether U.S. adult residents reported experiencing posttraumatic growth (PTG) in response to this mass trauma. Consistent with Tedeschi and Calhoun’s (2004) theoretical framework of PTG, the current study attempted to replicate a mediational model that had been used to explain the process …

“Beginning, Again And Again”: The Experiences Of Excellent White Educators In Diverse Urban Schools, Christopher Deremer

Dissertations

This narrative inquiry study focused on the experiences of reputationally excellent White educators working in diverse urban high schools. Using methods from participatory narrative inquiry (Kurtz, 2014), this study asked three participants to explore their respective journeys as educators in diverse urban settings and to use story and reflection as well as more traditional narrative inquiry methods of observation, interviews, and artifact analysis to identify emergent themes about what made these White educators successful and how their definition of success changed throughout their career. The focus on White educators was important because of the demographic divide between students in urban …

Comparing Collegiate Coaches’ And Players’ Perceptions Of The Coaches’ Multicultural Competence, Lee Arakawa

Dissertations

The coaching effectiveness model developed by Horn (2008) describes cultural context as a backdrop that forms beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors displayed by sport coaches. Sue et al.’s (1992) multicultural competencies model stresses the value of awareness, knowledge, and skills used in all service fields to strengthen cross-cultural relationships. Therefore, multicultural competence has been identified from these models as a critical component of effective sport coaching. Despite the growing importance of multicultural competencies expressed by, and for, sport coaches (Mesquita et al., 2011; Santos et al., 2010), there remains limited understanding of how coaches obtain and apply multiculturally competent behaviors and …

Coastal Geomorphic Response To Sea-Level Rise, Storms, And Antecedent Geology: Examples From The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Clayton Dike

Dissertations

Sea-level rise and tropical cyclone activity are threatening coastlines around the world. Past geologic coastal responses can be used to inform future scenarios. This three-part study examines the response of coastal systems to sea-level rise, storms, sediment supply, and antecedent geology over the past ~ 140 ka.

The first study is of the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, coastal system along the northern Gulf of Mexico incorporating sediment supply, subsidence, and antecedent topography paired with an examination of geologic response to sea-level fall and rise. I used core and geophysical data that resolve incised valleys and other subsurface deposits from ~ …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Virtual Instruction For Medication Administration Skill Acquisition In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Jenna E. Davis

Dissertations

To better meet student needs, nurse educators must explore alternatives to traditional educational approaches that will accommodate student needs while still providing essential instruction and feedback for students. Virtual skills instruction is one flexible option for practicing the clinical skill of medication administration, but the effectiveness in developing skill acquisition is not known. The influence of students' self-efficacy as well as personal and professional factors such as healthcare experience and nursing program type are also unknown.

The purpose of this study was to describe the medication skill acquisition of prelicensure nursing students who participated in virtual medication skill instruction at …

Examining P3 And N2 Amplitudes Following Social Exclusion And Provocation In College Students With High And Low Narcissistic Traits, Kathleen Ramsey

Dissertations

Adults with narcissistic traits are prone to reacting aggressively following provocation due to elevations in emotional reactivity and perceived threat to their grandiose self-views. Prior studies have examined event-related potentials (ERPs) measures in college students with narcissistic traits in the context of risky decision making and facial emotion processing; however, no known studies have examined how those with narcissistic traits react to rejection and provocation at the neurophysiological level during an externally valid social rejection task (i.e., Cyberball). For the purposes of this study, it was predicted that participants with higher levels of narcissistic traits (both total narcissism and grandiose …

The Effect Of A Specific Teaching Intervention On The Perceptions Of Self-Regulation In Undergraduate Baccalaureate Nursing Students In Saudi Arabia, Zahra Alnasser

Dissertations

Self-regulation is an important aspect of learning. Students who are capable of self-regulation, plan self-monitoring at different points during the process of knowledge acquisition to increase their likelihood of success and knowledge retention. Using self-monitoring, self-instruction, and self-evaluation processes enables students to become decisive in their learning. Previous studies have confirmed that self-regulated students have great success in college courses, and provided evidence for the positive benefits of self-regulation interventions. Still, nursing education lacks empirical research that focuses on self-regulation quality. The current study explored individual differences in third and fourth-year nursing students' perceptions of self-regulation profiles in Saudi Arabia …

Career Mobility Among Immigrant Registered Nurses In Canada: Experiences Of Caribbean Women, Enid M. Collins

Dissertations

Since the late 1950s, the Canadian nursing workforce especially during periods of nursing shortage has added to its numbers through immigration. Changes in immigration laws since the 1960s have opened doors for increased numbers of immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean coming to work in Canada. This qualitative research study investigated the experiences of immigrant women from the Caribbean who are registered nurses (RNs) in Canada. There has been no previously published studies that documented experiences of immigrant women of colour related to career mobility in nursing.

The Effect Of Implementing A Cultural Change Toolkit On Burnout Among Emergency Nurses, Isabella Nassif

Dissertations

Burnout continues to be a significant problem that negatively affects healthcare providers, especially nursing staff in acute care settings, such as the emergency department. Burnout is the state and experience of continued and prolonged exposure to depersonalization, loss of motivation, emotional exhaustion, and reduced personal accomplishment (Harris & Griffin, 2015; Hutson Hendy, 2016). Burnout is manifested through depersonalization, having a loss of compassion and concern, a decreased sense of personal accomplishment from work, and emotional exhaustion from feeling emotionally drained (Li et al., 2018). The literature on burnout lacks a systemic analysis of evidence-based interventions that can mitigate burnout among …

Keeping Nurses In Nursing: Service-Learning As A Means To Enhance Grit, Caitlin M. Lofton

Dissertations

Retention of nurses is a major concern for the profession, especially in light of the nursing shortage; specifically, new graduate nurses are particularly susceptible to this phenomenon. While there are many causes for turnover and attrition within the profession, nurse burnout has been indicated as a central cause. As such, researchers have dedicated much energy and focus into pinpointing approaches that may mitigate the effects of burnout, turning to grit as a possible solution. However, research on grit in nursing is limited, with even less being included on how this trait can be developed. Nevertheless, researchers agree that strategies for …

A Managerial Ecosystem For Excellence In Hospital Administration, Denish Gangasingh

Dissertations

Major healthcare systems and hospital organizations face a myriad of challenges in today’s business environment, having to provide very complex and more comprehensive medical care with fewer resources. In this study, we investigate determinants of hospital performance in critical dimensions and propose an information infrastructure intended to promote excellence in clinical performance while sustaining a solid financial footing.

Senior executives must be knowledgeable in both business and clinical aspects of hospital administration because their decisions ultimately affect patient care and clinical outcomes. Key performance indicators (KPI) are necessary on both dimensions to inform their decisions. Financial and operational aspects of …

Perceptions Of Instructor Caring Behaviors Between English As A Second Language And Non-English As A Second Language Nursing Students, John C. Dike

Dissertations

English as a second language (ESL) nursing students have a significantly higher attrition rate and lower National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) pass rate than their non-ESL counterparts. Instructor caring behaviors (ICBs) are the ways nursing instructors treat students with respect, taking care to avoid prejudices, stereotyping, and judgments in the teaching-learning process which present prelicensure faculty to grapple with the challenge of effectively meeting the learning needs of both ESL and non-ESL students. The purpose of this cross-sectional, comparative study, guided by Watson's theory of human caring, was to explore the differences in perceptions of ICBs between ESL and non-ESL …

Influences Of 12-Hour Shifts On Unhealthy Eating Habits Of Acute Care Nurses, Ruth Sawdy

Dissertations

Shift work is a necessary part of a nurses' work schedule to patients who need 24 hours of continuous care. Eating habits of nurses are influenced by working long hours, not having adequate time to take a meal break, and not having access to healthy food choices which can cause stress and exhaustion and results in weight gain and obesity. The purpose of this quantitative logistic regression analysis, guided by the health belief model and the theory of planned behavior, was to determine if there was a relationship between shift work and the unhealthy eating habits/obesity rates of acute care …

Long-Term English Learners In Middle School: Perspectives On Growth In Language Acquisition And Academic Learning, Barbara Doerfler

Dissertations

Middle schools in the United States today have a large population of English learners (ELs), and many of them have been educationally labeled as long-term English learners (LTELs). In some middle schools, over half of the ELs in seventh and eighth grades meet the criteria for classification as LTELs. This is especially concerning as these students will shortly be moving on to high school with limited English proficiency, which will continue to affect their academic performance and may limit their choices in higher education and career paths. This study explored the educational experience of LTELs in middle school by seeking …

Maintaining Yoga Practice For Diabetes Control And Prevention, Gina K. Alexander

Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes mellitus affects millions of individuals, representing a vast burden of disease for the national health care system. Yoga practice has demonstrated potential for diabetes control and prevention, yet few yoga-based studies explore factors affecting maintenance of yoga practice over time.

The purpose of this study was to explore factors influencing the maintenance of yoga practice over time, to clarify the relationship between the social environment and yoga practice, and to examine the influence of a yoga intervention over time on the physical activity of adults with or at risk for type 2 diabetes.