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A Study Of The Reported Long-Term Attitudinal And Behavioral Effects Of An Eighth-Grade Environmental Education Project And The Development Of An Innovation Configuration To Promote Environmental Education, Jean Lomino

Dissertations

Problem. Increasing scientific evidence reveals that this planet is in serious environmental jeopardy. Since 1977, when an international group of K-12 educators met in the USSR and established goals for teaching environmental education worldwide, many schools have endeavored to fulfill these goals through the use of various curricula and teaching strategies. Although some progress has been made, most K-12 public schools have not done enough to meet the demands of environmental problems. In 1996, my co-teacher and I designed and implemented an environmental project, called Mission Environment, that we hoped would help our students develop long-term positive environmental attitudes …

Predicting Work Stress Burnout In Rural And Urban Emergency Medical Technicians Through The Use Of Early Recollections, Susan M. Vettor

Dissertations

Problem . Literature on work-stress burnout among emergency medical technicians (EMTs) suggests that they have maintained the same levels of burnout and attrition rates for the past 20 years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between early recollections and burnout in EMTs working in urban and rural locations.

Method . A demographic questionnaire, the Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals (SBS-HP), and two early recollections, were used to survey 120 emergency medical technicians in Toronto, Ontario and Mojave County, Arizona to assess their level of burnout and to identify various themes in early recollections.

Results . …

Study Of The Efficacy Of A Christian-Based Inpatient Hospital For Treating Eating Disorders, Depression, And Spiritual Distress, Robert Alan Darden

Dissertations

Problem . Outcome studies continue to indicate that a substantial proportion of individuals with eating disorders have a dangerously limited response to treatment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if a Christian cognitive-behavioral-based inpatient hospital that specializes in eating disorders was an effective program for treating eating disorders. Next, this study sought to determine if this inpatient hospital was effective in treating both depression and spiritual distress. Finally, this study examined the relationship between depression and spiritual distress with treatment outcome.

Method . Five hundred and eighty-two patients were admitted to an inpatient hospital between July 1, …

Refugee Experiences Of Trauma And Ptsd Effects On Psychological, Physical, And Financial Well-Being, Karen J. Cusack

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Effect Of Group Family Play On Family Relations For Families With Children Considered At-Risk For Educational Failure, Carmen Colleen Baldus

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Women And Combat: Impediments To The Total Integration Of Women In The Military, Sylvia Marie Rafels

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Binge Drinking And Salutogenesis: Sense Of Coherence, Stress, Religiousness And Spirituality, Jeanne C . Debruyn

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Comparison And Generalization Of Behavioral And Cognitive-Behavioral One-Session Exposure Treatments For Small Animal Phobias, Ellen I. Koch

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Self-Esteem And Impostor Phenomenon Of Female Teachers For Kindergarten Through Grade 12, Sheila F. Matthews

Dissertations

Some researchers have recognized the importance of understanding women’s experiences. Some psychosocial characteristics, such as low levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, and low success expectations have been identified as barriers for women’s career development (Betz, 1994). Because many women have continued to select careers that are considered as female-dominated (e.g., teaching) and because psychosocial characteristics and experiences of teachers such as self-esteem and the impostor phenomenon can have an influence on their students’ self-esteem, this researcher believed that this is an important topic for continued research. Although these two concepts, self-esteem and impostor phenomenon, have been documented as two unrelated …

Involvement Of Females As Authors, Editors, And Participants In Journals Concerned With Mental Retardation And Related Topics, Cari L. Porter

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

State Regulations Of Smoking In Public Places: Determinants And Implications On The Demand For Smoking And Consumers' Behavior, Ioana Raluca Mazare

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Factors Related To Resilience Abilities And Self-Care Practices In Adolescents, Sandra L. Solem Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

Identification of resilience factors in adolescents is necessary to promote health and decrease the incidence of negative health outcomes related to risk-behaviors in this age group. The purpose of this descriptive-correlational research was twofold: (1) to investigate the inter-relationships of perceived health status, perceived self-efficacy, resilience abilities, self-care agency and self-care practices in adolescents and (2) to evaluate a revised measure, The Solem Adolescent Resilience Abilities Scale (SARAS-R). Orem's self-care theory was used as the theoretical framework for this study. The convenience sample of 100 adolescents from San Diego county in southern California were recruited through health professionals and secondary …

Attitudes Toward And Usages Of Humor Among Practicing Marriage And Family Therapists, Nicholas Todd Wilkens

Dissertations

A descriptive study was conducted exploring attitudes toward and usages of humor among marriage and family therapists. This was an internet study, novel for both St. Mary's University and for marriage and family therapy research in general.

The literature review highlighted the research and theory that has evolved over the past century, addressing the topic of humor in mental and physical health and development. It was noticed that humor has not been a significant topic of study in marriage and family therapy research, nor have attitudes toward and usages of humor been measured among any of the health professions, though …

Development Of An Integrated Photonic Sensor For Monitoring Hazardous Organics, Dianhong Luo

Dissertations

In this study, an integrated photonic sensor has been designed and fabricated for the purpose of monitoring hazardous organics in the environment. The operation of the sensor is based on the principles of the Mach-Zehnder interferometry. The sensor consists of a patterned waveguide structure made of phosphosilicate core and silica cladding. LPCVD processes were developed to produce undoped cladding and doped core silicon dioxide films. Diethylsilane (DES), Trimethylphosphite (TMP) and oxygen were used as the precursors for the deposition process. The effects of the O₂/DES ratio and deposition temperature on the properties Of SiO₂ films were investigated. …

Integration Of E-Business Strategy For Multi-Lifecycle Production Systems, Yanchun Luo

Dissertations

Internet use has grown exponentially on the last few years becoming a global communication and business resource. Internet-based business, or e-Business will truly affect every sector of the economy in ways that today we can only imagine. The manufacturing sector will be at the forefront of this change. This doctoral dissertation provides a scientific framework and a set of novel decision support tools for evaluating, modeling, and optimizing the overall performance of e-Business integrated multi-lifecycle production systems. The characteristics of this framework include environmental lifecycle study, environmental performance metrics, hyper-network model of integrated e-supply chain networks, fuzzy multi-objective optimization method, …

Detection Of Vapor Phase Mercury Species By Laser Fluorescence Methods, Xiaomei Tong

Dissertations

Elemental and compound mercury are often both volatile and air stable. Several mercury species emissions have been identified in off-gases from industrial processes. The high toxicity of mercury species and the presence of mercury species in municipal waste and coal have prompted a demand for a cost-effective, accurate, and rugged technique for real-time, continuous detection of mercury species vapors. Real-time, continuous emission measurements are important for process control, monitoring, and remediation. At present, there is no commercial continuous emission monitoring (CEM) technique or instrumentation to reliably monitor volatile mercury species emissions from industrial stacks. Conventional measurement methods, such as cold …

Analysis Of Factors Involved In Ratings Of Treatment Acceptability For Trichotillomania, Amy J. Elliott

Dissertations

Based on the literature, trichotillomania (or chronic hair pulling) appears to be responsive to behavioral interventions, with habit reversal as the most promising intervention. Habit reversal has been shown effective with children and adults of varying levels of severity, but some have questioned the generality and acceptability of the procedure. Little is known about the acceptability of interventions for habit disorders. These two research studies were designed to answer questions regarding the acceptability of behavioral and pharmacological interventions for trichotillomania and to expand the conceptual knowledge of treatment acceptability.

Study 1 compared the acceptability of four interventions targeting trichotillomania. The …

Effects Of Software Use On The Preparation Of The Individualized Education Programs (Iep’S), Nancy Ann Beukema

Dissertations

Special educators are required to process paperwork mandated by federal regulations for students with special needs. The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997 (IDEA ’97, Public Law 105-17) requires the evaluation of students with special needs occur as frequently as their non-disabled peers. An annual review is also mandated for each student’s individualized educational program (IEP), in order to reevaluate the future goals and objectives of the IEPs. A student identified as needing special education services is one who needs specially designed instruction and this instruction must meet the specific individual needs of that student. IDEA ‘97 mandates the need …

The Making Of A Textbook On Behavior Analysis And Autism A Behavior Analytic Approach, Sebastien Bosch

Dissertations

After deciding that a need existed for writing a textbook on autism from a behavior analytic perspective, Dr. Malott and I developed Behavior Analysis. Autism and Related Disabilities (BAARD) for use by the students enrolled in the autism practicum at Western Michigan University. As in a circular relationship, the practicum students evaluated and guided the subsequent revisions of the manuscript, and the revisions influenced the subsequent evaluations. BAARD covers all the principles and concepts of behavior analysis that are relevant to treatments and issues in autism and related disabilities and numerous treatments and phenomena specific to developmental disabilities.

During its …

The Economic Cost Of Depressive Disorders: Evidence From A Large Midwest Public University, Alketa Hysenbegasi

Dissertations

This dissertation aims to estimate the total cost of depression and the benefits of its treatment per diagnosed depressed student in Western Michigan University. To accomplish this, first, I measure the overall impact of depression and the effectiveness of its treatment on the student school performance. The empirical evidence show that diagnosed depression decreases student GPA by 0.48 points (almost a half grade), but this impairment is reduced by treatment about 0.43 points. Further, I develop and validate different measurements of student school performance and I observe that the negative effect of diagnosed depression and the positive effect of treatment …

New Teachers’ Perceptions Of Discipline-Related School Problems And Teacher Satisfaction, Amy L. Kavanaugh

Dissertations

Satisfaction The public is concerned with school safety because of recent school shootings resulting in multiple deaths. Educators are concerned that perceptions of school safety may affect new teacher attrition.

Three questions were examined in this study: (1) What is the trend of new teachers’ perceptions of discipline-related school problems? (2) Do new teachers’ perceptions of school problems vary by teacher gender, school level, size, location, and percentage of minority students?, and (3) Are new teachers’ perceptions of school problems related to their professional satisfaction?

National data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics through the Schools and Staffing …

Utopia Park, Utopian Church: James K. Humphrey And The Emergence Of The Sabbath-Day Adventists, Romauld C. Jones

Dissertations

James K. Humphrey was a Baptist minister who joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church shortly after migrating to the United States from Jamaica at the turn of the twentieth century. A leader of uncommon skill and charisma, Humphrey ministered in Harlem, New York, during the period the area became the Black capital of the United States, leading his congregation to a position of primacy in the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Yet Humphrey believed that the African American experience in Adventism was one of disenfranchisement, a problem he attempted to ameliorate with the establishment of the Utopia Park Benevolent …

Women's Experiences With Chronic Heart Failure, Denise M. Boren Phd, Msn, Cns

Dissertations

Nationwide, approximately 4.1 million Americans suffer from chronic heart failure accounting for estimated direct and indirect costs of over $21 billion spent annually for health care. The incidence of heart failure has doubled each decade since the 1940's and slightly more men were inflicted with the illness. This trend changed three years ago, with a decline in the overall incidence of heart failure and a slight predominance of the illness in women rather than men. The incidence of this condition was reduced in males nearly three times that of females. Women survive longer after diagnosis, however they are hospitalized more, …

Therapeutic Alliance: Development, Evaluation, And Application Of The Kim Alliance Scale, Son Chae Kim Phd, Msn, Fnp, Rn

Dissertations

The quality of therapeutic alliance between the patient and healthcare provider is a pivotal contributing factor toward optimal healthcare in the current context of rising healthcare costs, shorter hospital stays, and patient's rights. The availability of a well-designed and sound therapeutic alliance instrument can provide understanding and insight into improving the quality of healthcare. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid therapeutic alliance instrument, to evaluate its psychometric properties, and to explore its usefulness in predicting patient satisfaction. The retroductive triangulation method provided a framework for the development of the instrument, the Kim Alliance Scale …

Quality Of Life Factors Among Recovering Alcoholics, George Edwin Compton Jr.

Dissertations

The inspiration for undertaking the current research came from the Student Investigator’s own experience of 19 years in recovery from alcoholism. During his early years in graduate school, the Student Investigator witnessed occasional misunderstandings among some academics and helping professionals regarding the nature of alcoholism, and, specifically, the tasks involved in sustaining enduring recovery from alcoholism. Thus, this dissertation research, which has sought to examine, through qualitative research methodology, the factors involved in achieving and sustaining quality of life in extended recovery from alcoholism was undertaken.

Several authors have noted the need for research which focuses on long-term recovery from …

Sepsis Bundle Completion, Jenna Churnock

Dissertations

Background: Sepsis is a serious condition resulting in end organ damage and ultimately, death. Communication techniques for nurses and physicians on septic patients admitted to the hospital from the emergency department was evaluated. Paper communication was used in 2020 to facilitate serum diagnostic acquisition and antibiotic administration (i.e., sepsis bundle), but an electronic communication form was utilized in 2021.

Method: An observational, descriptive design utilizing a medical record review was completed to compare the same time-period in 2020 and 2021. Communication methods for sepsis bundle completion were compared.

Results: A total of 100 medical records were reviewed (N …

The Role Of A Middle School Assistant Principal In Establishing And Maintaining Positive School Climate, Charles R. Girvin Iii Edd

Dissertations

Organizational theorists have for over 50 years used the concept of organizational climate to study and describe the effects of environment on the attitudes and behaviors of individual members and subgroups within organizations. Within the school setting, researchers and practitioners have increasingly used the concept of organizational climate to evaluate school effectiveness, particularly in middle schools where school climate plays a central role in middle school strategies and philosophies. Though extensive research has examined the relationship between climate and leadership in business, industry, and government, relatively few studies have eyed the linkages between school climate and leadership within the school …

Quantification Of Benzo[A]Pyrene-Guanine Adducts In In Vitro And In Vivo Tissue Samples By Lc Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Po-Chang Chiang

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Aging Beauty: The Adaptive Reconstruction Of The Aging Process In Women, Sheila Marie Bluhm

Dissertations

The youth-based, patriarchal culture in which we live bestows valuable status, power and prestige upon young, beautiful women. Within the standards of this society, the natural aging process progressively deteriorates a woman's beauty, and, therefore, her social worth. A vast network of media and societal messages prompt middle-aged women to react to this devaluation. Several pathways or behavioral alternatives are available as reactions, adaptive reconstructions, and/or the medicalization of the aging process in women. The goal of this sociological/gerontological exploratory research is to identify, examine, label, and categorize the multiple options available to midlife women.

The primary method used for …

A Systems Approach To Designing An Internship Model That Benefits The Sponsoring Organization, Peter-Cornelius Dams

Dissertations

No abstract provided.