Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Characteristic Triad Of Resilience: Personal Disposition, Family Support And The Environment Within The Cultural Context Of Quality Mariachi Academies In The Impoverished Central Valley Of California, Lucia Vazquez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study, was to explore through the lens of the Characteristic Triad of Resilience: personal disposition, family support and environment, how participation in community-based Quality Mariachi Academies (QMA) in impoverished counties contribute to educational resilience.

Methodology: This qualitative multi-case study explored the lived experience of ten resilient students in the impoverished San Joaquin Valley of Central California, utilizing the Characteristic Triad of Resilience as the framework in the context of Quality Mariachi Academies. Data collected from resilient students was triangulated with data from parents, grandparents and site staff.

Findings: Community-based Quality Mariachi Academies …

The Perceptions Of Online Community College Instructors Regarding The Most Effective Collaborative Instructional, Content Specific, And Social Interaction Learning Strategies To Help Online Students Succeed, Maureen Curry

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover what collaborative instructional, content specific, and social interaction learning strategies online community college instructors perceive to be most effective in helping students succeed.

Methodology. Data were collected through interviews and review of artifacts. The target population consisted of online community college instructors in southern California. Twelve participants from three community colleges were chosen using both criterion and convenience sampling procedures.

Findings. Most online community college instructors apply a variety of collaborative instructional strategies through shared discussions, relevant group projects for content specific learning, and community building interaction …

The Influence Of Social Capital On Community Sustainability In Meacham Park, Missouri During 1996 -1999, Sheila Green-Samuels

Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of social capital on the phenomenon of community sustainability in Meacham Park Missouri, a Black neighborhood located in south St. Louis county. It is believed that social capital influences the collective action needed to create structures which lead to economic growth essential to community sustainability (Farrell, 2007, Ginwright, 2015; Putnam, 1993). The core idea of Robert Putnam’s social capital theory is there is value in social networks (Putnam, 2000, 1993). Examined were experiences of current and past residents of Meacham Park using social capital constructs to analyze the significance …

A Vaccine Administration Training Program To Increase Adolescent Vaccination Rates, Claire Jensen

Dissertations

Abstract

Immunizations have been proven to control life-threatening diseases. Often Registered Nurses (RNs) administer vaccines but are unsure how to discuss vaccines with vaccine hesitant patients. Missouri’s adolescent vaccination rates are below its neighboring states. This initiative’s purpose was to increase adolescent vaccine administrations at a Missouri County Health Department (MCHD).

This quality improvement initiative had an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive design. RNs employed at three MCHD clinics attended an adolescent vaccine administration training program (VAT) and completed pre-/post-tests regarding the Advisory Council on Immunization Practices recommendations. Medical record reviews from March 1-April 30, 2018 and March 1-April 30, 2019 compared …

Effect Of Integrating Adult Learning Concepts And Curriculum Structure Into Customer Service Training For Specialty Pharmacy Employees, Caroline Mccallister

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the effect of integrating adult learning into a structured curriculum specifically designed to address the learning needs of patient services coordinators (PSCs). The research was conducted for two primary reasons: (a) to determine the effect, if any, of presenting new hire training created using adult learning principles and sound curriculum design had on satisfaction levels with that training, and (b) to determine the effect, if any, of presenting new hire training created using adult learning principles and sound curriculum design had on the length of time needed for a new hire to …

Perceived Teaching Style And Academic Growth In An International School Setting, Jamie Elizabeth Martin

Dissertations

The presence of international schools has grown significantly around the world to accommodate a growing need for academic instruction that differs from that provided in local schools and to meet the rapid demands of globalization. As demands for international schools increase, demands for student performance are also increasing.

This quantitative correlational study seeks to determine if correlations exist between teaching style and student academic growth in mathematics within an international school setting. The study also determines if a dominant teaching style exists and if correlations between teacher grade level and teaching style can be made among international teachers who teach …

Evaluation Of A Brief Online Alcohol Intervention For College Students: The Role Of Race-Specific Normative Feedback, Racial/Ethnic Identity, And Readiness To Change, Jacob Scharer

Dissertations

Brief online interventions are effective for reducing alcohol use among college students. However, some research has suggested that these interventions may be less effective for African American students. This study evaluated the acceptability and efficacy of a widely available brief online alcohol intervention in a sample of African American and Caucasian college students through a randomized controlled trial. The aims of this study were to determine if providing race-specific normative feedback impacted treatment efficacy for African American students, and if this effect was moderated by racial/ethnic identity and readiness to change. Participants were 310 heavy drinking African American and Caucasian …

The Impact Of Campus Facilities On The Recruitment Of Students In Higher Education, Lucinnda Sue Mcdonald

Dissertations

The statement often has been made over the years that university recruitment efforts are strongly impacted by campus facilities. The subject has been a topic of research over the past several decades. This study indicates that as generations change and times change, the significance of various aspects of the university to the prospective student change as well.

This research effort is a mixed-methods study to provide insight on the facilities current students deem most important when determining which college or university they will attend. The research for this study was conducted through an online survey asking students to:

• Choose …

An Exploration Of Trust In Community Leadership Contexts, Richard Hudanick, Kimberlie M. Straatmann, Michael Miller, Andrea Harper, Joshua White

Dissertations

This qualitative exploratory study of effective community engagement process examines community leader’s perceptions of their experiences and the role fostering and building trust plays in producing sustainable change in a Midwestern regional context. The purpose of this study was to explore how trust interacts with asset-based thinking and social learning experiences, including trauma-informed awareness, meaning-making, and empathy, to support community engagement efforts. The research team interviewed 26 individuals who were selected via purposive sampling. Study participants were active in their communities and practitioners in their respective professions. The study identified five overarching themes that emerged from participant interviews, including themes …

Party Blight In Rural Missouri: Causes And Consequences Of Local Organizational Decline, Joseph Anthony

Dissertations

Political parties are fundamental institutions to representative democracies, and they have been an integral part of the American political fabric since the early 1800s. Changes in the political landscape have pressed social scientists to engage in a now long-running academic debate as to whether political parties are in a state of reform and adaptation in the modern campaign environment, or if they are in an overall state of decline. While there has been considerable attention given to national and state party organizations, very little is known about how local party organizations are faring in the modern campaign environment. This dissertation …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Ivi With Three Modes Of Instruction On Learning And Attitude Towards The Instructional Media, Antoinette B. Calderone

Dissertations

Social Cognitive Theory proposes educational perspectives believed to facilitate the learning process. Social learning focuses on the interactive function of person, behavior, and environment. The mechanism for learning and attitude development is claimed to be influenced by modeling and reinforcement. Computer instruction is a technology that has the capability of incorporating both modeling and reinforcement. Interactive Video Instruction (IVI) is a branch of computer instruction comprised of video and computer components. A traditional mode for computer instruction is on an individual basis. An alternative mode of instruction through group presentation is sometimes employed in the educational arena, however, limited research …

Environmental Science And Culture: Exploring The Factors Contributing To The Pro-Environmental Behavior Of Rural Youth, Michelle Donlan, Elizabeth Flotte, Patricia Silovsky

Dissertations

This mixed methods study contributes to the pro-environmental behavior literature by introducing the concept of environmental science capital to explore the factors influencing pro-environmental behavior in rural youth. This study’s proposed theory of change attempts to build upon the Kollmus and Agyeman model of pro-environmental behavior by theorizing that environmental science capital is the “missing middle” needed to overcome the barriers to pro-environmental behavior. We hypothesized that meaningful nature experiences, role models, connectedness to nature, STEM interest and environmental identity would help rural youth increase their environmental science capital in order to “bridge the gap” and overcome barriers to pro-environmental …

A Grounded Theory Study Exploring Lesbian Patient Self-Disclosure Of Sexual Orientation In Acute Care, Margaret Ruth Neese

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded substantive theory to describe the process involved in lesbian self-disclosure of sexual orientation in acute care settings. Philosophical Underpinning: The philosophical underpinning was grounded theory as described by Strauss and Corbin (1998).

Navigating Through Uncertainty: Breastfeeding The High-Risk Infant, Susan Golembeski

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the breastfeeding process mothers' face with their high-risk infants. Grounded theory methodology was used in this qualitative study to capture the richness of this experience. A purposive sample of 20 breastfeeding mothers, with diverse cultural backgrounds, whose babies had been discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit, was recruited. Open-ended, interactive, telephone interviews were conducted to obtain data. Coding procedures and constant comparative analysis were utilized for the simultaneous data collection and analysis. The core category that emerged from the data was, ";Navigating through Uncertainty";. Mothers described breastfeeding the high-risk infant as …

Effect Of Conversation On Nursing Student Outcomes In A Web-Based Course On Cardiac Rhythm Interpretation, Karen Harris Frith

Dissertations

The demand for professional nursing care is expected to rise dramatically during the next 20 years. Decreased enrollments in nursing programs and an aging RN workforce will exacerbate the shortage of nurses. One clear method for increasing the supply of nurses is to increase the number of graduates from nursing programs. Distance education is an important option to investigate because it can offer a convenient way for students to attend school while working, having a family, or living far from educational institutions. However, teaching in web-based courses requires thoughtful consideration of instructional design, including ways to fully engage students in …

Factors Related To Mexican-American Workers' Use Of Hearing Protection, Madeleine J. Kerr

Dissertations

Significant numbers of Mexican Americans work in jobs where they are exposed to harmful noise, therefore they are vulnerable to noise-induced hearing loss. Use of hearing protection is often the only way to prevent exposure to loud noise, yet there is no knowledge of how to promote its use among Mexican American workers. This study builds on a program of research by Lusk in which the determinants of health-protective behavior are identified in order to design effective safety programs. This study was based on a theoretical model adapted from the Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1987).

The Personal Experience Of Developing Sexuality In Middle Childhood, Marie Winn

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the personal experience of developing sexuality in middle childhood.

The Nurse's Role In Gender Identification, Melissa Kay Haworth

Dissertations

Individuals identifying as gender non-conforming are members of a minority culture underserved by the current lack of guidelines for nursing care. This project developed due to a practice gap at the public health clinic with the nurse's ability to provide care to gender non-conforming patients. The purpose of this project was to work with nurses at a rural health clinic to provide culturally competent, holistic care to individuals who identify as gender non-conforming. The PICOT question that guided this project was: For public health nurses in a rural health clinic (P), will a quality improvement project aimed at providing education …

Diffusion Of Inclusion: Measuring Willingness To Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies In Nursing Educational Environments, Janet A. Levey

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to: (1) examine psychometric properties of the Willingness to Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies (ITSinNE) instrument and (2) measure factors influencing a nurse educator's willingness to adopt inclusive teaching strategies based in universal design for instruction (UDI). Universal design for instruction (UDI) is one approach to facilitate multiple ways of learning and evaluation in various learning environments for all learners; however, it is not well known or researched in nursing education. Diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2003) and universal design for instruction (McGuire & Scott, 2006) provided the theoretical framework for the study. A cross-sectional …

Playing Merlin: Authorship From Geoffrey Of Monmouth To Neomedievalisms, Keith Russo

Dissertations

The twenty-first century is the age of new media for old stories. Just as film, television, and print have adapted medieval literature into movies like Excalibur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, video games have produced new versions of Arthurian tales whose mysterious origins blur the distinction between history and myth. Many academics are concerned with the authenticity of the various representations of the Middle Ages and the “historical” Arthur and Merlin and label any postmedieval adaptation as an “anachronistic” medievalism. However, electronic texts have provided a different focus: studying the multiplicity of rewritings of those names through …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Scientific Research, Shilpa Lakhanpal

Dissertations

Scientific research papers present the research endeavors of numerous scientists around the world, and are documented across multitudes of technical conference proceedings, and other such publications. Given the plethora of such research data, if we could automate the extraction of key interesting areas of research, and provide access to this new information, it would make literature searches incredibly easier for researchers. This in turn could be very useful for them in furthering their research agenda. With this goal in mind, we have endeavored to provide such solutions through our research. Specifically, the focus of our research is to design, analyze …

One-To-One Learning - Success Factors For Meaningful Technology Integration, Andrew Kohl

Dissertations

This paper explores an evaluation of the Grove School District’s one-to-one iPad program, for the purpose of understanding the relationship between teacher support for the program and classroom use. The evaluation also explores the various factors that impact a successful one-to-one program, including leadership attitudes and professional development. The attitudes of the teaching staff were compared to classroom observation data and focus group input. The research design followed a case study approach with a combination of survey, focus group, and observation methodologies. The goal was to determine to what extent the attitudes of teaching staff towards the one-to-one program impact …

Ngos Embodying Decoloniality: Towards Emanticipatory Psychological Practice And Pedagogy In Palestine, Hana Masud

Dissertations

Abstract

The Palestinian need for aid is entirely a result of a decades long conflict with Israel. Western funders to Palestinian NGOs working in psychological services may have good intentions, but their traditional approaches to therapy and well-being may be inconsistent with a collective Palestinian identity of liberation. These colonizing therapies may stigmatize Palestinians as "traumatized", encouraging a defeated or passive mentality, undermining values of resistance, while ongoing Israeli oppression continues. The NGO policies and modes of work can also influence the worldview, practices, and motivations of Palestinian Mental health workers who are serving populations with much experience of violence …

Methodology To Qualify And Monitor A Chemically Bonded Sand System Used In Foundries, Prayag Pravinbhai Patel

Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to establish a new quality control framework that combines a statistical process control (SPC) approach to casting quality for chemically bonded sand systems used in foundries. Foundries in the United States use the American Foundry Society standardized sand testing to monitor chemically bonded sand systems. These standardized tests are inefficient for two reasons. Firstly, standard tests are based on mechanical, physical, chemical and thermal properties of a sand system that do not consider interaction between these properties, but sand casting processes are inherently thermo-mechanical, thermo-chemical and thermo-physical. Secondly, these tests can only detect large …

The Relationship Of An Ipad, A Video Magnifier, And Large Print Text With Oral Reading Outcomes For Children With Low Vision, Rosemary L. Nave Stawasz

Dissertations

Low vision may cause a decrease in visual performance and interfere with daily functioning, especially reading print or text materials. Reading standard text can be particularly challenging for students with low vision in an educational setting and can reduce oral reading rates. Students with low vision may use large print or low vision devices for reading. Limited evidence currently exists to compare oral reading outcomes across various reading media for children with low vision.

The purpose of this exploratory project was to examine oral reading rate, fluency, and comprehension among children with low vision when using an iPad, a video …

A Phenomenological Study Of The First Year College Experience Of First-Generation Latinx Students, Ceil Scanlan

Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the first-year college experience of four first-generation Latinx college students and how they made sense of that experience. The participants were all graduates of a private independent high school in a suburban community, and research was conducted through interviewing the participants. Analyzing their perceptions garnered a deeper understanding of and insight into their lived experience in order to help develop strategies and programs to better support the enrollment, retention and graduation of first-generation Latinx college students. Study findings suggest that future practices at both the high school and the college level should include emphasis on providing …

Repression And Resistance: A Social History Of The Gay Social Movement Of Tijuana, México 1980-1993, Jesse Anguiano

Dissertations

Social movements are shaped by the historical context in which they emerge and provide a window to understand how collective action develops. The literature on social movements suggests that macro factors such as political climate and dominant social scripts affect the direction of a social movement. However, examining solely the macro perspectives on a movement reveals only part of how and why groups mobilize. This dissertation uses historical and archival resources to document the social history of Gay men living in Tijuana, México. This research is guided by a main research question: What explains the successful and ongoing mobilization of …

Treatment Considerations For Adoption-Related Complex Trauma, Jessica Reyka

Dissertations

The western culture holds many assumptions related to adoption; however, it is clear based on the research provided that adoption and the circumstances leading up to being adopted often leave the child traumatized. Many adopted individuals and adoptive families seek mental health services in order to help address some of the symptoms that have manifested through traumatic events. However, the services they are receiving are reportedly lacking in basic knowledge related to adoption and have, at times, done more harm than good. As clinicians, it is important to acknowledge one's scope of clinical competence and to only treat individuals that …

Chemical Characterization Of Trichoderma Reesei Degraded Date Pits And Its Effect On Growth Performance And Intestinal Bacterial Population And Antioxidant Status - A Comparative Study With Mannose And Mannan -Oligosaccharide On Broiler, Salem Rashed Ali Rashed Al Yileili

Dissertations

With the increasing apprehension over food safety nowadays, there have been relentless efforts aiming for subrogating antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in poultry feeds. Thus, this research study aims at investigating the potential effects of using degraded date pits (DDP) as feedstuff and as a natural alternative for antibiotics in poultry feeding. Two feeding experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, the minimum time of feeding a diet containing 10% DDP is required to induce growth-promoting effects on broiler performance. In experiment 2, the influence of feeding 10% DDP was examined as feedstuff at 10% in broilers diets and a growth-promoting agent …

An Evaluation Of The Restorative Justice Program At One Middle School, Edward Jerome Thompson

Dissertations

This project evaluated the initial implementation of the restorative justice program and practices at a middle school. As data-gathering instruments, I surveyed teachers and administrators, interviewed my area superintendent, senior administrator for instruction, and two resource teachers who train individuals districtwide on the restorative justice program and practices. The results indicated a lack of training for many staff members and a need for more training for those previously trained. Improving the training protocol process of the teachers and administrators was a dominant need that I identified based on my Change Leadership Plan. Consequently, this included a policy amendment regarding mandatory …