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The Holiness And Other Stories, Leslie Michelle Nichols

Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of an introductory essay and ten original short stories written and submitted to fiction workshops in the PhD program at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers.

Breastfeeding And Mothers With Chronic Health Conditions, Blanche Landis Phd

Dissertations

Breastfeeding and Mothers with Chronic Health Conditions Breastfeeding may be most beneficial for women with specific chronic illness and may decrease the risk or prevent those illnesses from developing in their children. This study examined the initiation and duration rates of mothers identified as having asthma, hypertension, and diabetes; differences between the three groups in their efforts to breastfeed, and associations between determinants/outcomes of breastfeeding and behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and perceived control of mothers using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A retrospective quantitative methodology was used to compare rates of initiation and duration, the differences between the three …

Project-Based Learning About Nutrition With Technology In An African-American Middle School: An Action Research Study, Sibyl A. Banks

Dissertations

In the last few years, there has been a growing problem with the prevalence of being overweight. This is becoming an accepted lifestyle in the African American community, and has begun to impact not just adults, but also adolescents and young children. There are problems associated with being overweight or obese that could have lifetime consequences. Causes of African American adolescents becoming overweight include cultural factors, lack of access to large grocery stores and insufficient outlets for exercise. This action research study investigated the effect a project based approach, utilizing technology, had on students from three 7th and 8th grade …

A Summer Literacy Intervention For Struggling Readers At The Middle School Level Using Strategies In Comprehension, Fluency, Vocabulary, And Positive School Climate To Improve Reading Comprehension: An Evaluation Study, Jeffrey Joseph Haug

Dissertations

A middle school created an intervention called the Summer Literacy Program to increase reading comprehension levels. The middle school believed that by exposing students to fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies in a positive school culture, reading comprehension levels would improve. The program was created due to a high number of students reading below grade level. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the four-week Summer Literacy Program designed to provide extra interventions for struggling readers. The study is significant because it demonstrated that a four-week summer program can improve reading comprehension levels. The statistical analysis for …

Upstate Roadkill Memorial Service, Scott Christian Fynboe

Dissertations

Upstate Roadkill Memorial Service is a collection of poems that examines death and mortality and includes a critical preface.

Later Life Decision-Making: Experiential Adult Learning And Successful Aging, Shauna Pearce Breland

Dissertations

The focus of this study was on how aging adults make critical life decisions such as those involving health care and health care benefits, living arrangements for later life, and organizing personal affairs. The participant group consisted of 8 sexagenarians and 4 septuagenarians who had recently made or were currently making these critical life decisions.

The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. A qualitative phenomenological approach was used to allow the researcher to examine the phenomena of decision-making and aging within the context of the life experiences of the individuals being studied. Each subject participated in a single in-depth …

Knowledge Transfer In Public School Food Service: Post-Implementation Of The Process Approach To Haccp Food Safety System, Lydia Rebecca Frass

Dissertations

Based on Havelock's (Havelock & University of Michigan. Center for Research on Utilization of Scientific Knowledge, 1969) Knowledge Transfer Model and using Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model (1996a, 1996b) levels of Reaction, Behavior, and Learning, this study analyzed knowledge transfer between public school district managers, cafeteria managers, and line workers. These employees were trained through cascade training methods during the federally mandated implementation of the Process Approach to HACCP food safety system beginning in the 2005-2006 school year.

Measuring Behavior, an Observation Checklist (based on HACCP's 7 steps and 10 FDA food borne illness risk factors and interventions) was used to …

The Effect Of Shapedown On Habits And Self-Esteem For Overweight And Obese Children, Susan Bonnell Phd

Dissertations

Obesity in children is increased in the United States and globally which creates both physical and psychological health risks and co-morbidities affecting the development of positive self-esteem (Sinton & Birch, 2005; Whetstone, Morrissey, & Cummings, 2007). The development of poor self-esteem in children increases the risk of problem behaviors such as aggression, crime, teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, tobacco use, and eating disorders (Brook et al., 2007). Treatment of childhood obesity is multifaceted, requiring behavioral and lifestyle changes for both child and family to achieve a healthy weight (De-Santis-Moniaci & Altshuler, 2007; Plourde, 2006; Ritchie, Crawford, Hoelscher, & Sothern, …

Violence, Depression, Parental Stress, And Child Neglect Among High Risk Postpartum Women, Kristen D. Lambert Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to characterize a vulnerable population of postpartum women at risk for family violence and maladaptive outcomes and to determine the degree the identified attributes increase the risk of child neglect and psychological aggression. Lazarus' Appraisal Theory and Scaer's Traumatic Spectrum framework provided a conceptual basis to examine the interrelationships between intimate partner violence (IPV), depression, previous traumatic history, and child neglect. A descriptive correlation design using secondary analysis of longitudinal data collected for the Healthy Families San Diego Clinical Trial was used. Standardized measures including the CTS, CTS2, CTSPC, CES-D and PSI were administered …

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Of High Risk Infants, Lisa E. Miklush Phd, Msn, Rnc, Cns

Dissertations

Background: Infant developmental research has revealed amazing physical, cognitive, and social capacities of the human infant. Along with this knowledge is a growing appreciation of numerous factors that have the potential to impact the individual infant's developmental trajectory, either enhancing or compromising the eventual outcome. Enhanced understanding of those factors that shape infant developmental trajectories will provide an evidence base for the establishment of a supportive environment for the youngest members of society. Purpose: To determine the relationship between neurodevelopmental outcome and gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, NICU admission, infant gender, maternal depression, home environment, and parent-child interaction. Methodology: …

Evaluation Of 6 + 1 Trait Writing And The Professional Development Training Used To Implement The Program, Bruce E. Werkmeister

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing program on student achievement and to explore the teacher perceived effectiveness of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing program on student achievement. This study concentrated on student achievement, as determined by the Missouri Assessment Program test, and the teachers’ perception of the impact 6 + 1 Trait Writing had on the curriculum. The study also focused on the perceived effectiveness of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing professional development opportunities provided to teachers as determined by surveys and roundtable discussions. The 2007, …

Tuberculosis Awareness And Public Opinion On Expanding Health Insurance Coverage, Belal A. Saadeh Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

This quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study examined the effect of TB awareness and demographic variables on the level of support for expanding health insurance coverage for all residents, including undocumented immigrants. A modified 13-item tool developed by Morisky et al. (1990) was used to measure TB awareness; a single item created by the researcher assessed personal opinion regarding expansion of health insurance coverage; and a demographic questionnaire was used to collect data from 281 registered voters in San Diego County. The majority of San Diego County voters participating in the study supported at least some expansion of health insurance coverage. ANOVA …

Hypervirulent Clostridium Difficile Strains: Adherence, Toxin Production And Sporulation, Michelle Marie Merrigan

Dissertations

Clostridium difficile is a leading cause of nosocomial infections, and recently emerged "hypervirulent" C. difficile strains have caused epidemics worldwide. We hypothesized that multiple factors were responsible for this phenotype, particularly the interaction of C. difficile with the epithelial cell, as well as toxin production and sporulation.

To test if host interaction varied in HV strains, we developed a quantitative host-cell adherence assay, and found that while C. difficile strains varied in adherence to human intestinal epithelial cells, hypervirulent strains were not significantly more adherent than other strains. The bacterial surface protein SlpA varied in both size and amount between …

Moral Distress And Avoidance Behavior In Nurses Working In Critical Care And Non-Critical Care Units, Mary Jo De Villers

Dissertations

Significance: Nurses facing impediments to what they perceive as moral practice may experience inner turmoil, frustration, and moral distress. These scenarios may culminate in resignation from employment at the individual level, increased attrition at the systems level, and poor patient outcomes, including increased morbidity and mortality.

Purpose: To explore the relationships between moral distress and avoidance thoughts and behavior between nurses currently practicing in critical care and non-critical care settings.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional comparative design was used. The sample was comprised of a randomized subset of 370 critical care nurses, a convenience sample of 87 nurses from a nursing …

The Soul And The Body In Hegel's Anthropology, Nicholas Mowad

Dissertations

I provide a close exegetical reading of Hegel's "anthropology," his doctrine of the human body and soul, located in the first part of the Philosophy of Spirit, volume three of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences. In the course of this exegesis I show how Hegel demonstrates that all of the phenomena there under investigation must be understood as at once corporeal and distinctively human. Accordingly, anthropological phenomena should not be understood as essentially the same in humans as it is in animals, though many commentators allege that they should be. I provide a survey of the secondary literature on …

Depressive Symptoms In Women Being Screened For Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Suzanne Marie Savoy

Dissertations

Background: Depressive symptomology is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Over 15% of persons with cardiovascular disease have depressive symptoms, and women are twice as likely to experience these symptoms as men. Depressive symptoms in women “ at risk ” for cardiovascular disease has not been well studied.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms, health-promoting lifestyle behaviors, heart disease risk awareness, cardiac risk, and quality of life in women at risk for cardiovascular disease. Whether the effect of depressive symptoms on quality of life was mediated by cardiac risk and/or health-promoting lifestyle behaviors was also examined. …

Characterization Of Tram, A Required Bacteroides Fragilis Conjugal Apparatus Protein That Interacts With The B. Fragilis Putative Coupling Protein Bcta And The B. Fragilis Relaxase Protein Bmph, Mai Thi Thanh Nguyen

Dissertations

Bacteroides spp. organisms, the most prominent bacteria of the human colon, are reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes which promiscuously transfer within and from the genus via conjugation. The B. fragilis clinical isolate LV23 harbors a 37kb conjugative transposon, BTF-37. Two important conjugal apparatus proteins encoded by BTF-37 are BctA, a predicted coupling protein (CP) that powers DNA translocation, and ORF7 (TraM). In this study, we demonstrated that TraM exhibits characteristics of a required conjugal apparatus protein including 1) upregulated expression under conjugation conditions; 2) localization to the bacterial inner membrane; 3) interaction with the putative coupling protein BctA and the …

Morphogenesis Of The Bacillus Anthracis Spore, Michael Mallozzi

Dissertations

With the ability to shut down metabolism, survive exposure to high degrees of heat, ultra-violet and ionizing radiation, digestive enzymes, and antimicrobials, the bacterial spore is one of the most-resistant forms of life on earth. Although most spores are harmless, several species' spores cause serious diseases such as tetanus, anthrax, gas gangrene, botulism, and diarrhea. Spore-forming bacteria differentiate into spores in response to stresses (especially starvation) in a multi-stage developmental pathway involving the coordinated expression of hundreds of genes and the formation of specialized protective organelles which surround and protect the spore during dormancy. The Bacillus anthracis spore (the causative …

Quality Of Life And Health Outcomes In Overweight And Non-Overweight Children With Asthma., Amy Becker Manion

Dissertations

Over the last two decades the number of children and adolescents who are overweight has more than doubled. Currently, an estimated 18 percent of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years are overweight. Following this trend in childhood overweight, there has been an alarming increase in the number of children with asthma who are overweight. The increasing trend in both asthma and overweight has led to the suggestion of a causal relationship between the two. Childhood overweight has been found to have a profound negative impact on quality of life (QOL), yet there is a dearth of research regarding the impact …

Pressure Ulcer Risk Factors For Patients With Hospital Versus Community Acquired Pressure Ulcers, Margaret Talley Phd, Mn, Rn, Cns, Cwcn-Ap

Dissertations

Purpose: Pressure ulcers are a major health problem in the United States. Patients who develop pressure ulcers have longer hospital stays, significant increase in morbidity and mortality, added pain and suffering. The purpose of this study was to examine community versus hospital specific pressure ulcer risk factors to identify whether the most severe pressure ulcer stages can be predicted from the knowledge of an individual's risk factors as has been reported in the literature. Methodology: The sample of patients with stageable III-IV and unstageable pressure ulcer patients included in the analysis was extracted from a Microsoft Access database developed by …

An Evaluation Of Health Behavior Change During A General Education Health Course, Lynn M. Merklin

Dissertations

Problem. There have been no studies as to the effectiveness of the one-credit general education health course at Andrews University, Fit for Life, in promoting the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Because behavior change is a process that occurs over time, any measurement of student health behaviors must be sensitive enough to detect the early stages of behavior change as well as the behaviors themselves.

Method. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which students enrolled in Fit for Life adopted the health behaviors promoted in the course, evidenced by progress through the stages …

Soothability And Growth In Preterm Neonates, Holly Johanna Diesel

Dissertations

This proposal seeks to understand the relationship between soothability, weight gain and length of hospital stay in premature infants when the infants receive a simple, non-invasive treatment to help them cope with the noxious environment of the special care nursery. Thousands of premature infants are born every year in the United States, and the numbers are increasing. Prematurity is the leading cause of mortality in infants. Despite numerous technological and medical advances in treatment and care, premature infants still have difficulty adapting to life outside the uterus as a result of immature nervous systems and significant differences in the pre …

The Transformational Learning Associated With Training For And Completing A Marathon, Timothy John Gillum

Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to determine if transformational learning is an outcome of the experiences of training for and completing a marathon. Transformational learning has gained visibility and greater acceptance in the learning community in recent years due in large part to the efforts of Jack Mezirow and associates. This visibility and acceptance has catalyzed research studies to better understand the theory and its application, but none have linked the use of endurance racing to transformational learning. The design of this study was a phenomenological case study. The research included four participants who had previously completed marathons, …

Improving Academic Achievement At A Greater Rate With Increased Instructional Time For Students Who Qualify For Free And Reduced Lunch, Jeffrey Steven Beiswinger

Dissertations

Great demands are placed on educators to meet student academic standards as set forth by No Child Left Behind legislation. To meet these expectations, school districts must consider instructional strategies that maximize learning time. The study school, located in Midwest Missouri, implemented Start on Time, a tardy reduction program at the beginning of the 2006/2007 school year. The intent of the Start on Time program was to reduce tardies, thereby reducing interruptions to instruction while providing support strategies so students arrive prepared. The purpose of this study was to determine if increased instructional time would increase academic achievement and academic …

Workforce Education And Development Curriculum Responsiveness To Culturally And Internationally Diverse Graduate Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Debra Sharon Ferdinand

Dissertations

This descriptive study used a mixed methods design and sought to examine students' perceptions on workforce education and development (WED) curriculum responsiveness to culturally and internationally diverse graduate students, at a Midwestern university on four dimensions: teaching strategies (to include delivery), curriculum inclusiveness, international responsiveness, and curriculum improvements. The research study design consisted of the mixed methods Follow-up Explanations Model (QUAN emphasized) complemented by the With-in Stage Mixed Model. A pragmatic paradigm guided the collection and analysis of the study's census data (survey and focus groups). A newly developed WED Curriculum Responsiveness Survey (.850 Cronbach's alpha index) containing closed- and …

Adolescents' Experience Of The Factors Influencing Their Diabetes Treatment Regimen, Roger W. Apple

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to better understand and provide a description of the factors that influence adolescents' adherence to the diabetic treatment regimen from the adolescents' experience. The sample consisted of nine adolescents diagnosed with Type I diabetes. A qualitative phenomenological methodology is used to look for significant statements, meanings, and themes that resulted in an exhaustive description of the adolescents' experience.

In-depth interviews are the primary method of data collection. Data analysis includes: transcribing the interviews and reading the transcripts, extracting significant statements, developing formulated meanings, organizing the formulated meanings into clusters of themes, and developing an …

The Politics And Consequences Of Stakeholder Participation In International Development Evaluation, Anne Cullen

Dissertations

Participatory approaches to evaluation have long been vogue in the international development evaluation community. However, despite their widespread use, there is a dearth of research on the impact of stakeholder participation in international development evaluations. Although proponents of participatory approaches to international development evaluation assert many advantages of their use, the evidence to support these claims is largely anecdotal. Similarly, critics of participatory approaches do not have empirical data on which to base their assertions. Further confusing the matter are multiple and conflicting definitions of stakeholder and participation. Some interpret stakeholders to mean funders while others view stakeholders as those …

Empirical Essays On The Impact Of Health-Aid On Health Outcomes, Elsy Thomas Kizhakethalackal

Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that empirically explore the impact of multilateral health-aid on health outcomes like infant mortality rate (IMR) and incidences of an infectious disease, Tuberculosis, in developing economies. The first essay uses parametric and semiparametric mean regressions (additive and non-additive specifications) to capture the impact of education and health-aid on the IMR, after controlling for other covariates. Both specifications confirm education as an important factor in reducing IMR. However, the effect of health-aid on IMR is not significant. In our additive model, we do see a threshold level of health-aid after which the impacts of health-aid …

Three Essays On Foreign Aid, Poverty And Growth., Aberra Senbeta

Dissertations

This dissertation studies how foreign aid impacts poverty and economic growth and addresses three interrelated issues: whether aid reduces poverty, how aid affects economic growth, and whether the poverty mitigating role of aid depends on the levels of poverty.

The first essay, "Does Foreign Aid Reduce Poverty?" examines the direct effects of foreign aid on poverty in developing countries using dynamic panel estimation techniques. The results suggest that aid has a significant poverty reducing effect even after controlling for average income. The findings are robust to model specification and estimation techniques. The policy implication is that poverty reduction can be …

Impact Of Preschool Education On Reading Achievement Of Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade Students, Melissa Harvey Clark

Dissertations

This study examines the impact of various types of preschool care and education on the reading achievement of children, kindergarten through fifth grade, who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). The participants in this study are located throughout the United States of America. These students attend public and private schools.

The data for this study were provided by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the U.S. Department of Education. The researcher utilized ECLS-K's Public Use Data File and Electronic Codebook to create an SPSS syntax file in order to determine if …