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Achieving Musical Peak Performance: The Impact Of An Online Self-Efficacy And Performance Anxiety Management Program Based On Maslow’S Hierarchy Of Needs, Melynie Joy Campbell

Dissertations

Every musician should be encouraged to strive for peak performance; however, many musicians do not know how to achieve it. Although there is a significant amount of research done on music cognition, music therapy, and musical behavior, the research that aims to expose the inner workings of the performer’s brain is still in its infancy. In the field of Sports Performance Psychology, there have been many performance-based studies designed to discuss this idea among athletes; however, to date, there has not been a correlation for how to attain peak performance results among musicians. To bridge the relationship between the theories …

Effects Of Two Types Of Creatine Feeding And Doxorubicin On Skeletal Muscle Apoptotic Markers, Zoltan A. Torok

Dissertations

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a widely used anthracycline antibiotic used to treat a number of hematological and solid tumor cancers. Dosage however, is limited due to its toxic effects in healthy tissues. Negative consequences include myotoxicity in skeletal muscle, which may limit mobility and activities of daily living. Doxorubicin increases the formation of reactive oxygen species, which triggers apoptosis in the tumor and healthy tissue. Skeletal muscle undergoes apoptosis in response to Dox treatment, via the activation of the cleaved caspase-3 and its downstream target, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Creatine monohydrate (Cr), a naturally occurring chemical, when taken exogenously, can improve athletic performance. …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Sustained Silent Reading And Reciprocal Reading On Reading Motivation For Middle School Students With Reading Delays, Margaret Uwayo

Dissertations

Research suggests that secondary students with reading delays may lack reading motivation, which can be defined as the temporal reinforcement value of texts for an individual. However, reading motivation may be a critical component of their acquisition of reading proficiency. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of two research-based reading interventions - sustained silent reading and modified reciprocal reading - on the reading motivation of middle school students with reading delays. Participants were four 6th-grade students who were grouped into dyads in a reading intervention classroom. The primary dependent variable was book engagement under pairing …

Understanding The Effects Of A Mindful Yoga Intervention On The Psychological Well-Being Of Student Veterans, María Del Mar Chavarría Soto

Dissertations

Transitioning from military culture to a civilian and student environment can become a challenge for many military members. Additionally, high levels of anxiety, depression, PTSD and elevated percentages of suicidal thoughts have been increasing for this population (Rudd, Goulding, & Bryan, 2011). These social concerns and mental health struggles for this population highlight the urgency in the provision of more resources and efforts to address their psychological well-being (PWB) and increase the chances of success in the college environment. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of a mindful yoga intervention on the …

Validation Of The Ask-Asd In A Sample Of Parents, Teachers, And Medical Students, Laura K. Hansen

Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood and manifests in social communication impairment and restricted, repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although accurate information about ASD is available through a variety of sources, this access to information may not translate into increased knowledge in parents, teachers, and medical professionals. A Survey of Knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASK-ASD) was initially established as a reliable, valid measure of perceived and actual knowledge of ASD (Hansen, 2015). The current study evaluated the psychometric properties (i.e., factor structure, reliability, and validity) of the ASK-ASD in a sample of …

Determining Readiness To Take The National Council Licensure Examination For Registered Nurses®, Heidi Elizabeth Monroe

Dissertations

Numerous studies have examined the association between pre-admission and/or during nursing program variables and the outcome on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®; National Council of State Boards of Nursing [NCSBN]; 2015) but very few studies have examined post-graduation variables. This study examined post-graduation variables associated with the outcome on the NCLEX-RN® examination. The purpose of this exploratory field study was twofold. The first aspect was to identify the benchmark score on a post-graduation test (the Kaplan RN Readiness Exam; Sanders, 2014) correlated with passing the NCLEX-RN® examination. The second aspect was to explore factors that the …

Science Of The Art Of Coaching: Examining The Decision-Making Process Of A Competitively Successful Endurance Running Coach, Marshall James Milbrath

Dissertations

Several knowledge typologies exist as part of the coaching process including scientific, sport-specific, and pedagogical knowledges. Prior literature has examined these typologies through investigation of decision-making schematics and through direct inquiry of sport coaches. However, while past investigations have included heterogeneous coaching populations, the understanding of mediating knowledges in sport-specific contexts is less clear. Additionally, the investigation of coaching knowledges and their contributions to coach decision-making has been limited solely to the explicit and implicit viewpoints of coaches through interview studies and has yet to be investigated through observation of the coaching process itself. The present study investigated the decision-making …

Education-Based Interventions Effects On 30-Day Readmission Rates For Patients With Copd, Gina Hand-Eoloff

Dissertations

Purpose: This Quality Improvement (QI) project evaluated the impact of an existing education-based program for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and its effect on 30-day readmission rates in one hospital in rural Missouri.

Method: A retrospective chart review was completed on 493 patients with an inclusive diagnosis of COPD from June 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, using a cohort study design and a two-sample t-test analysis. Additional variables were analyzed to determine if there were predictive factors of an elevated risk of readmission.

Results: The two-sample t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference between the rates of readmission …

A Behavioral Weight Loss Program For Low-Income Adults With Obesity And Hiv, Sophai Thach

Dissertations

Problem: Obesity, having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or greater, increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. For people living with HIV (PLWH), this increases their risk for myocardial infarctions by 50% and causes this life-threatening event to occur at a younger age compared to those who are not diagnosed with HIV.

Methods: With obesity disproportionately affecting people with low income, this study aims to evaluate the effects of a 12-week behavioral weight loss program that utilizes journaling as a self-monitoring tool, weekly educational classes, and individualized goal-setting on PLWH with obesity who live in …

Development Of A Community Health Nursing Course Grounded In Nightingale's Framework, Susan Calhoun

Dissertations

The lack of theory in Community Health Nursing (CHN) education is significant. Nightingale's theory, with its emphasis on environmental effects on health, could guide CHN, and teaching her theory's points in CHN courses could better prepare future nurses to provide care. The purpose of this scholarly practice project was to learn nursing students' perceptions of using the Nightingale Environmental Adaptation Theory of Nursing Practice (NEATNP) in their community health nursing education experience, and how this helped them to understand the importance of theory in practice. The objective of this scholarly practice project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a baccalaureate …

The Determinants Of A Health-Promoting Lifestyle In Older Adults, Patricia A. Stockert

Dissertations

Health promotion for the older adult is of critical concern for nursing. Health promotion activities may help this group maintain their health, experience optimal functional capacity, remain independent, and lower medical costs. Limited and conflicting information on health promotion activities and factors that influence these behaviors is available in this population. The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of a health-promoting lifestyle in an older adult population by examining components of the Health Promotion Model. The study also used structural equation modeling to examine the psychometric properties of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLPII) in older adults. …

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 …

A Comparison Of Two Gastric Feeding Approaches In Mechanically Ventilated Pediatric Patients, Ann-Marie Brown

Dissertations

More than 30% of children admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are malnourished and are at risk to develop new or worsened malnutrition during their hospitalization. Delivery of enteral nutrition (EN) during hospitalization is associated with lower mortality and morbidity rates. Barriers to adequate delivery of EN include hemodynamic instability, feeding interruptions, feeding intolerance and lack of standardized feeding protocols. Gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility during critical illness increases the risk of feeding intolerance due to increased influence of the Sympathetic Nervous System. Critically ill children have traditionally been fed via continuous gastric infusion under the assumption that slow, continuous …

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).

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 …

Guided Imagery For Enhancing Health And Health Seeking Behaviors Of Employees In The Worksetting, Susan Wanda Vines

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an intervention program in the work-setting using guided imagery to enhance the health and health-seeking behaviors of employees. The health indicators for this study were multidimensional and included the following (a) blood pressure and pulse, (b) personal lifestyle practices, (c) self perception of health, and (d) psychological health status. The relationship and fluctuation of these dependent measures were tracked over a nine month time period. Observations were taken every two weeks from month 1 through the middle of month 5. Two additional data collection time periods were in months …

"We Are Strong Women": A Focused Ethnography Of The Reproductive Lives Of Women In Belize, Carrie S. Klima

Dissertations

Belize is a small country in Central America with a unique heritage. The cultural pluralism found in Belize provides an opportunity to explore the cultures of the Maya, Mestizo and the Caribbean. Women in Belize share this cultural heritage as well as the reproductive health issues common to women throughout the developing world. The experiences of unintended pregnancy, contraceptive use and abortion were explored with women using a feminist ethnographic framework. Key informants, participant observations, secondary data sources and individual interviews provided rich sources of data to examine the impact of culture in Belize upon the reproductive lives of women.

The Effect Of Self-Regulation On Breastfeeding Duration In Primiparous Mothers, Deborah L. Pollard

Dissertations

Eighty-six primiparous breastfeeding mothers were recruited from a community hospital in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. A randomized, controlled, two-group experimental design was used to examine the association between the self-regulation intervention, encompassing self-monitoring and reinforcement, and breastfeeding duration over 6 months.

Engaging In Self-Care: Do Mental Health Care Providers Practice What They Preach?, Nancy L. Lashley

Dissertations

Self-care has been identified as a critical protective factor against the adverse effects of career-related stress among mental health care professionals. The need for utilization of adequate self-care practices among mental health care professionals remains critical with the number of mental health care professionals endorsing clinically significant levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations. Research has identified the need and importance of self-care among mental health care providers as well as the adverse consequences of inadequate self-care. This literature review examined the methods and strategies mental health care providers are using to engage in self-care including complementary and alternative methods. …

Essays In The Application Of Machine Learning In Development Economics, Dweepobotee Brahma

Dissertations

This dissertation comprises four essays which apply Machine Learning (ML) techniques to examine India’s progress towards meeting several child-health targets under United Nation’s “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030”. The application of novel ML techniques unmasks certain detailed empirical aspects of the road to meeting specific indicators of SDG - child mortality, malnutrition, immunization coverage and health-expenses.

The first essay employs multiple parametric and non-parametric Machine Learning (ML) techniques (LASSO, Classification Random Forest, Boosted Logistic Regression, Boosted Classification Trees) to build predictive models for the incidences of neonatal and infant mortality. A large national level household survey dataset is used. All …

Three Essays On Food Insecurity In Nigeria, Pimam Manzi Pidalatan

Dissertations

Households experience multiple shocks, among which health-related and agricultural-related shocks are the most frequent shocks in developing economies. Households’ exposure to shocks contributes more to the risk of being food insecure than a poor resource endowment (Azeem et al., 2016). Moreover, in low-income countries about 3.5 million mothers and children under the age of five die every year because they are undernourished FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP AND WHO 2017). Sub-Sahara Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of undernourished people (22 percent) and stunted children (30 percent) (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP AND WHO 2017). Three of the seventeen Sustainable …

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 …

Interventions Of Waterjet Technology In Skin Incisions, Nadi Atalla

Dissertations

This research explores the use of waterjet (WJ) technology in performing skin incisions. The study defines the analytical relationships between the skin properties and the operating parameters of the WJ which include the skin thickness, its elastic modulus, the WJ pressure, the nozzle’s orifice diameter, its stand-off distance and the traverse speed of the WJ as well as the duration of applying the WJ pressure. An analytical model is developed to measure the depth incision of the skin, the water pressure and the water velocity, while using a WJ. Systemization and optimization models that determine the optimal operating parameters levels …

Engineered Excipients Via Dry Particle Coating, Liang Chen

Dissertations

Excipients with good flowability, bulk density as well as compaction properties are desired for use in tableting since they play important roles in formulation development and processing, including, handling, mixing, feeding and compaction. However, it is often difficult to manufacture excipients that simultaneously possess all three desirable properties, particularly if their size is fine. In addition, it is desirable that the excipients promote direct compression of poorly compactable fine cohesive drug powders at sufficiently high drug loading, and not just achieve the desired high functional properties in placebo formulations. This dissertation aims to developed engineered excipients towards this unmet industry …

Exploration Of The Decision-Making Process To Access And Utilize Healthcare In Women Veterans, Corinne A. Lee

Dissertations

Previous research described the barriers that women veterans (WVs) encounter during their decision-making to access and utilize healthcare services (Hamilton et al. 2013; Haskell, 2011& Washington et al. 2011).The decision-making process for accessing and utilizing healthcare in VA and non-VA health systems by women veterans is not described in the literature. Using a grounded theory approach (Strauss et al., 1998) and embedding the Decisional Conflict Scale(DCS) to assess for decisional conflict, this study explored how and why women veterans decide to access and utilize healthcare.

The Moral Certainty Or Uncertainty Of Nurses Regarding End-Of-Life Treatment Decisions, Mary Ellen Wurzbach

Dissertations

Much has been written about the importance of decision-making in nursing ethics, but few research studies have been completed which examine nurses' ethical decision-making. In order to address this absence of research, two concepts that are integral to nurses' ethical decision-making were analyzed: moral certainty and moral uncertainty. These concepts were studied in the context of the issue of withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration. This issue was chosen as an exemplar of issues about which nurses feel morally certain or uncertain. The research questions addressed by this research were: (a) Are nurses morally certain or uncertain about whether …

Information Retrieval Of Self-Care And Dependent-Care Agents Using Netwellness, A Consumer Health Information Network, Linda C. Rieg

Dissertations

Since the earliest times a major focus of nursing has been to provide health care information to those in their care. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate information retrieval of consumers using NetWellness ®, a community health information network. Using Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, six research questions were developed. These questions were designed to determine if there were any differences in information retrieval based on whether the participants were self-care agents or dependent-care agents, or whether differences were based on basic conditioning factors identified as age, gender, race, household income and educational levels. In addition questions …

Perinatal Mood And Anxiety Disorders, Stigma, And Social Support Among Postpartum Women, Ellen K. Fleischman

Dissertations

Purpose/Aims: The purpose of this descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study was to examine the relationships among perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) symptomatology, select demographics, stigma of mental illness, and social support, among inpatient postpartum women. Rationale: PMADs affect as many as 21% of childbearing women, yet these disorders are identified and treated less than half the time. There is a gap in the literature regarding the relationships among stigma, social support, and PMADs in postpartum women.

Conceptual Basis/Background: Despite recommendations from professional organizations, screening for PMADs is not consistently completed using a valid, reliable instrument. Stigma contributes to the low …

Patient’S Utilization Of Health Information Technologies For Disease Self-Management, Mahmoud Hamzeh Altawalbih

Dissertations

Background: The rapid growth of Health Information Technologies (HITs) provides

patients with greater opportunity to take control over their health. HITs utilization has

been proven to be a critical component of disease self-management and can result in

positive outcomes. Its widespread adoption and utilization is still relatively low among

patients with chronic disease. It is important to understand the factors that may impact

HITs utilization, such as the perceived Task-Technology Fit (TTF). A very limited

number of studies have examined the relationship between HITs utilization and the

perceived fit between task and technology in the context of TTF theory.

Aims/ …

Prenatal Care Education For Women Experiencing Unplanned Pregnancy, Sharon T. Heskitt

Dissertations

This project suggested that the Prenatal Care Education Module (PCEM), a series of three brief videos lasting a total of ten minutes, may be an effective way to educate women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy about the importance of prenatal care for themselves and their babies. To assess the effect of the PCEM, the Brief Pregnancy Perception Questionnaire (B-PPQ), a tool adapted from the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ) (Broadbent, Petrie, Main & Weinman, 2006) was employed. The B-PPQ assessed participants' health care needs, their understanding of pregnancy, their emotional response to pregnancy, and current contact with a prenatal health care …