Digital Commons Network^™

Effectiveness Of A Brief Parent Training In Pivotal Response Treatment For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hesham F. Hassan Abda

Dissertations

This study used a single-case research design across subjects. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a brief 6-hour training program in Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) for parents of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on the increased use of social functional utterances (SFU) by their children during play sessions. Baseline data were collected before the parent training. Training commenced once baseline trends showed stability, at which point the parents – all of whom were three fathers – received instruction in PRT motivational techniques for use in the home setting during play sessions. During the …

Non-Psychiatric Registered Nurses' Perceptions Of Caring For Persons With Mental Illness In A Non-Psychiatric Healthcare Setting, Debra Sue Ollila

Dissertations

Patients with mental illness receive care in acute medical facilities for medical and acute psychiatric problems. Non-psychiatric nurses are responsible for the care of patients with mental illness regardless of their training in psychiatric nursing skills. The purpose of this study was to inform the nursing profession and nursing education of the needs of non-psychiatric nurses in caring for patients with mental illness. This study also sought to discover non-psychiatric nurses’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research study used qualitative descriptive phenomenology to explore the research phenomenon. Eight participants were interviewed virtually using a semi-structured interview guide with interview …

The Experiences Of Mental Health Service Providers Adapting Counseling Treatments For Refugee Clients, Gurusewak Singh Khalsa

Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of mental health professionals through their experiences of adapting counseling treatments to meet the cultural needs of their refugee clients. For this interpretative phenomenological study, 11 licensed clinicians participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews that utilized multicultural counseling and vicarious trauma theories. Results were presented in superordinate and subordinate themes. This study added to the literature and exploration of the unique experiences of mental health providers culturally adapting their counseling approaches in order to provide more effective services to refugee communities. Participants discussed the influences of their cultural backgrounds, the challenges, supports, and areas of growth …

Social-Emotional Experiences For Young Male Adults Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing In The Eastern Province Of Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Khalid Alsayed

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth understanding of the social-emotional experiences in connection with language and communication development for Saudi individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) who use spoken language as their main method of communication. The following research questions guided this study: Q1 What are the perceptions of Saudi individuals who are DHH and use spoken language regarding their social-emotional experiences currently and during their (K-12) education? Q2 What educational practices did teachers deliver and how did those educational practices promote social-emotional experiences for Saudi individuals who are DHH and who use …

Comprimario Tenor Repertoire: An Alternative Approach To Teaching The Developing Operatic Tenor, Stewart Cramer

Dissertations

Not every tenor is destined to sing romantic leading roles. Fortunately, the expansive body of secondary tenor repertoire is just as exciting. Not only are these roles a possible avenue for a successful career, they also offer a wealth of technical resources for young, developing tenors and their teachers. When diving into the wide-ranging and diverse world of the comprimario tenor, there are more than just Parpignols and Armoured Men; there are Frantzes, Witches, and Hylases. Each character demands unique technical, musical, emotional, and acting skills. This paper examines the pedagogical relevance of the comprimario tenor repertoire in the voice …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Patient Care Experience As Perceived By Hispanic Patients Receiving Care At A Safety-Net Facility, Silvinia Cuizon

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients seeking kidney and liver transplant care at a safety-net facility perceive and interpret the care experience with the goal of generating a grounded theory model to guide care delivery and improve perception of care for this population.

Background/Rationale: The patient experience is the current federally mandated hospital quality indicator that measures the range of interactions patients have with their hospital admission, which has fiscal and clinical implications for the delivery of care. Many safety-net health care delivery systems, which primarily serve traditionally underserved populations, and …

Doing More With Less: A Quantitative Analysis Of Mindfulness, Meditation, Sustainable Consumption Awareness And Practice Among University Undergraduates, Teresa Van Horn

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Climate change, overconsumption, air, and water pollution continue to be pressing issues for society. Given the significant impact of overconsumption, the search for strategies to promote more sustainable behavior has become a topic for investigation. Universities are uniquely positioned to help students work toward sustainable solutions. This research explored the role of mindfulness in university students' sustainable consumption awareness and practice as there are gaps in the literature concerning definitions, constructs, and research regarding mindfulness and sustainable consumption.

To address these disparities, this research used stepwise regression analysis to investigate the extent to which mindfulness and select demographic measures …

The Effect Of Token Economies On Student Behavior In The Preschool Classroom: A Meta-Analysis, Lynda B. Hayes

Dissertations

There has been a recent push in the literature to identify and use more evidence-based practices for positive behavioral supports for challenging student behaviors in the classroom environment. Further, interest in targeting early education environments such as preschool has been growing given the persistence of behavioral difficulties in the absence of early and effective intervention (Campbell & Ewing, 1990; Kazdin, 1987; Powell, Dunlap, Fox, 2006; Stormont, 2002). Two previous meta-analyses (Maggin et al., 2011; Soares et al., 2016) provided some initial support for effectiveness of token economies with challenging student behavior; however, the inclusion of the preschool setting was limited …

Latent Variables Predicting Drug Use In Adolescents With High Versus Low Protective Factors, Jessica Jorgenson

Dissertations

The present study utilized archival data provided from the Minnesota Student Survey (2013). The study consisted of two levels of analysis. The first level involved the development of measurement models for various latent constructs (i.e., disaffiliation, normalized use, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors). Utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the second level applied the observed (i.e., abuse) and measured latent variables to the prediction of the outcomes of interest (i.e., a latent variable estimate of substance use) for middle- and high school-aged youth. Models for adolescent girls and boys were examined separately based on sex and high vs low protective factors. …

Development And Initial Evaluation Of The Assessment Of Teacher Expectations And Practices (Atep), Kimberly Barajas

Dissertations

Teacher practices and expectations are important factors for students’ academic and behavioral functioning (Andersson & Palm, 2016; Oliver, Wehby, & Reschly, 2011; Rimm-Kaufman, Storm, Sawyer, Pianta, & LaParom 2006; Rubie-Davies, 2007; Sandholtz, 2011). The current measures available require a great deal of resources (i.e., time, money, personnel), have poor psychometric properties, or are not comprehensive (e.g., facets assessed; assessment of teacher practices for different grade levels). Given these concerns, the proposed study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound measure that is time and cost efficient and comprehensively assesses the multi-faceted construct of teacher practices. This measure is expected to allow …

Clinically Healing By Faith For Black Christian Women: A Proposed Model For Collaborative Religious And Psychological Treatment For The Aftermath Of Infidelity, Aldra Forrester

Dissertations

Infidelity rates are high in the United States and one of the leading causes for divorce between married couples. Research indicates that the Black community has a higher proclivity to infidelity compared to Whites. Black women have a higher chance of ending up in undissolved marriages than other races (Jarama et al., 2007). Previous studies have explored reasons behind the increased rates of high marital instability among Black women, including: the sex ratio imbalance, high mortality, and incarceration among Black men. Since African Americans are considered more religious than the general population, this literature review identified the need for an …

Exploration Of Patient Variables And Characteristics Best Suited For Medical Marijuana Treatment For Anxiety And Depressive Disorders, Corey Gazoo

Dissertations

Individuals with posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depressive disorders are currently being prescribed medical marijuana as a treatment in many states across the United States. However, marijuana is still considered a schedule one narcotic by the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal government, which provides several barriers and challenges to conduct research such as approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and following guidelines from the National Institute on Drug Abuse issued by the DEA. Additionally, individuals prescribed medical marijuana for mental health disorders are not always thoroughly instructed on the type of medical marijuana, the dosage, and how frequently to …

Career Development In Sport And Leisure: An Application Of Social Cognitive Career Theory, Nicole Sellars

Dissertations

Utilizing Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994) this research aimed to determine perception differences related to sport and leisure management employment for undergraduate students in related degree programs with a specific focus on the minority groups of women and People of Color (POC). Given the lack of diversity in sport and leisure enrollment and employment (Adriaanse, 2016; Massengale & Lough, 2013; Shropshire, 2004; Vianden & Gregg, 2017), this research sought to explore whether gender and/or race were predictors of feelings of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, barriers, and supports. An electronic survey was distributed to sport and leisure management undergraduate …

The Impacts Of Aging, Sedentarism, And Exercise On Neurotrophic Factor Expression And Innervation In The Heart And The Effects Of Treatment With Α-Cgrp On Heart Function, Gabriel Almeida Alves

Dissertations

Neurotrophic factors (NFs) are important molecules responsible for development, differentiation, regeneration, and maintenance of new and mature neurons. Neurotrophic factors act as neurocytokines and may assist with the regulation of axonal and dendritic arrangements and synaptic plasticity between neurons themselves or with other non-neural target tissues. In this study, we analyze the levels of two NFs: glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). Cardiomyocytes produce these neurotrophic factors which assist with the innervation pattern of the heart. The heart is innervated by the two branches of the autonomic nervous system; namely the sympathetic nervous system and …

Compassion For Self-Identity: An Evaluation Of A Compassion-Based Intervention For Stigmatized Sexual Identities, Du T. Nguyen

Dissertations

Sexual minority persons often experience notable negative mental and physical health disparities when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. According to the minority stress framework, it is posited that these discrepancies are due to additional, group-specific stressors that they experience beyond stress felt by the general population. One such minority stress variable that has received considerable attention is sexual stigma. Not only has sexual stigmatization been found to be related to negative mental and physical health outcomes, it has also previously been found to hinder adaptive emotion regulation.

Due to the minority stress felt by sexual minority persons, there is a …

Investigating The Relationship Between Departmental Support Structures, Self-Efficacy And Intention To Persist: An Examination Of Students' Experience In 19 Physics Graduate Programs Across The United States, Diana Sachmpazidi

Dissertations

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate programs experience consistently high attrition rates. Moreover, persistent disparities exist in racial and gender representation. Women and People of Color are significantly underrepresented and have higher attrition rates than men and white and Asian American students. To date, little work is done to understand graduate student attrition or persistence. There is also a lack of information regarding the causes of demographic disparities in attrition. Most past studies in this context have focused on students' attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Moreover, student self-efficacy is a contributing factor for undergraduate student retention. Yet, there …

Nurse-Midwifery Student Self-Confidence And Anxiety When Using Objective Structured Clinical Examinations As A Clinical Competency Assessment Strategy, Deborah Anne Duran-Snell

Dissertations

Current evaluation of clinical competency in nurse-midwifery education programs lacks clarity and consistency and is often a subjective process using a variety of assessment strategies. Recognizing that no single assessment strategy can provide all the information required to assess something as complex as clinical performance, the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), when viewed alongside other forms of assessment, might be considered a valuable strategy for enhancing the assessment of nurse-midwifery student clinical competence and confidence. The main objective of this dissertation was to assess and compare self-reported confidence and anxiety levels of graduate nurse-midwifery students pre- and post-OSCE. This exploratory …

Transdiagnostic Classification Of Behavior In Childhood: Profile Analysis And Interrater Stability, Gary Rempe

Dissertations

There is growing concern among both researchers and practitioners that mainstream psychopathological classification schemes inadequately meet the needs of individuals seeking treatment for mental illness. Recent efforts in childhood psychopathology have sought to derive new diagnostic subgroups that are less susceptible to the heterogeneity and comorbidity issues that have been reported with categories specified in more recent versions of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness. These transdiagnostic subgroups are generated by using unsupervised machine-learning algorithms that separate cases into homogenous groups with information from multiple continuous indicators. This dissertation seeks to expand on this work by exploring natural …

Anxiety, Depression, And Perceived Barriers To Adherence Among Parents Of Pediatric Transplant Patients, Alice Marie Wille

Dissertations

Before being listed for an organ transplant, pediatric patients and families undergo a psychosocial pre-transplant evaluation to determine familial strengths and risk factors that may impact the success of transplant. Adherence is considered to be one of the primary factors in the survival of the transplanted organ and existing research has suggested a link between parental functioning and post-transplant adherence. To better understand the relationship between parental mental health and perceived barriers to adherence, this study examined whether parental symptoms of anxiety and depression significantly predicted parent and patient perceived barriers to adherence in the pre-transplant phase (n=65 parents and …

I Don’T Have To Stay Here! The Experiences Of Black Women, Higher Education Administrators Who Experienced A Professional Transition And/Or Promotion To A Historically White Institution During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Margaret Littona Sebastian

Dissertations

Through the transformative research paradigm, the critical race feminism theoretical framework and based on Bridges’ (1980) transition theory, the author explored the experiences of 20 Black women in entry-, mid-, and senior-level higher education administrative positions with a professional transition and/ or promotion to a predominately and historically White institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlighted the experiences of 20 Black women higher education administrators who shared their experiences through two virtual interviews and created visual maps to explore their journey working in higher education in the United States. The study used portraiture to focus on four aspects of …

Performance Evaluation Of Transportation Systems For Sustainability And Smart-Growth Of Cities: An Integrated Assessment Of Health Impacts, Ahmad Feizi

Dissertations

The performance of transportation systems is a significant component that influences the quality of life. The performance evaluation refers to a process of determining how well transportation systems perform regarding their intended goals and objectives. The advancement of information and communication technology and the integration between transportation systems and advanced technologies have directed more attention to the concept of smart cities. Smart cities are constituted of several interrelated components. Therefore, this offers comprehensive and integrated frameworks to evaluate the transportation performance and understanding of multifaceted interactions between the components from a transportation engineering perspective in four sections.

In the first …

Journey To The Professoriate: Exploring The Career Development Of African American Male Faculty In Counselor Education, Lacretisha Danielle Mcdole

Dissertations

Much of the existing literature on African American faculty in counselor education and supervision programs focuses on the challenges that confront them as racial minorities (Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2004; Holcomb-McCoy & Addison-Bradley, 2005; Thompson, 2008; Turner & Myers, 2000). Findings from recent research studies have offered ways to support and guide African American faculty in combating racial discrimination and oppression within the academy (Jones-Boyd, 2016; Robinson, 2018). However, there are gaps in the literature about the personal and environmental factors that shape African Americans’ decisions to pursue the professoriate in counselor education and supervision, and factors that contribute to their …

Asian International Students In U.S. Higher Education: A Secondary Data Analysis Of Satisfaction Levels And Willingness To Recommend Their Institution, Soongmin Chow

Dissertations

International students are integral to U.S. higher education. They bring talent and cultural diversity to U.S. campuses, contribute immensely to the U.S. economy, and create long-lasting political and academic links that aid public diplomacy in the long run (NAFSA, 2003). The U.S. has traditionally been the largest market for international students seeking quality higher education (Institute of International Education, 2018). However, reports show that the U.S. is slowly losing its market share of international students, and the number of new international students coming to the U.S. has been on the decline since 2016/17. Higher education institutions are most concerned over …

Workplace Microaggressions Experienced By Sexual Minorities: Relationships To Workplace Attitudes, Mental Health, And The Role Of Emotional Distress Tolerance, Dylan Richard

Dissertations

Overt discrimination against sexual minorities in the workplace has been a topic of research and current political debate. However, little is known about a more nuanced form of workplace discrimination against sexual minorities: microaggressions. However, research has established clear mental health consequences of everyday microaggressions (e.g., increased depressive and anxiety symptoms, suicidality, lower life satisfaction, and physical health symptoms) against racial and sexual minorities. The current study aimed to explore correlates of microaggressions in the workplace, specifically workplace attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction and job stress) and mental health symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety, and stress). Further, emotional distress tolerance (EDT) was …

The Power Of Presentation: How Attire, Cosmetics, And Posture Impact The Source Credibility Of The Female Expert Witness, Alexandra Repke

Dissertations

While previous research has examined behavior-based presentation styles of the female expert witness in light of source credibility, further research is required to examine the effect of other modifiable factors on her credibility, since perceived credibility affects the intermediate judgments that lead to ultimate legal decisions. This study investigated the impact of both behavior-based (i.e., posture) and appearance-based (i.e., attire and cosmetic use) factors on the female expert witness’ source credibility Model attractiveness served as a covariate in this study. A four-way (2 x 2 x 2 x 2) between-subjects analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that, beyond an effect of …

Attachment Quality Across Contexts: The Mediating Role Of Cognitive-Affective Traits, Christian Ammons

Dissertations

Attachment quality throughout the lifespan has been found to be impacted by a variety of factors including prior attachments with parents and other adults (Rholes, Simpson, & Friedman, 2006). The mechanisms that impact the transmission of attachment to parent-child attachment quality has not been fully explored. Individual differences such as traits involving appraisal of self and others and affective components have been found to be important in relationship functioning across contexts (Eisenberg, 2000). Thus, the current study evaluated the relationship between adult attachment quality and parent-child attachment quality and specifically examined the mediating effects of cognitive-affective traits (i.e. trait forgiveness, …

Changing Criminal Thinking: An Examination Of Heterogeneity In Treatment Effects In A Sample Of Justice-Involved Persons With Dual Diagnoses, Michael Lester

Dissertations

Recent studies have indicated variability in cognitive change for justice-involved persons with mental illness exposed to treatments for criminal thinking and psychiatric risk factors. Research suggests that proactive styles of criminal thinking may be more difficult to change than impulsive or reactive styles. To date, however, no studies have identified risk factors for a limited response or modeled observed disparities in responsivity to interventions aimed at reducing criminal thinking. Using an archival dataset comprising 206 probationers with a dual diagnosis who were exposed to active CBT-based treatment, a latent profile analysis modeled unobserved heterogeneity in treatment response per observed changes …

How Well Do You Know Your Reach?, Tyler Surber

Dissertations

How does the relationship between an actor’s body proportions (eye-, shoulder-, and arm length) and environmental properties (object distance) affect the perception of whether an object is within reach? Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants are more accurate at judging their own eye height than shoulder height. Experiment 2 revealed that participants can accurately perceive the angular direction to a target object’s location. Interestingly, their pointing errors were significantly smaller when measured from the shoulder as a reference point than from the eye. In Experiment 3 we verified this finding using a functionally meaningful affordance task of reaching to a target …

A Re-Examination Of The Motivations For Using Substances Questionnaire: Motives For Alcohol And Simultaneous Alcohol And Marijuana Use, Taylor Altenberger

Dissertations

The growing body of research examining simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use suggests motivations for alcohol-only, marijuana-only, and SAM use, especially among college-aged people, warrant further examination to ultimately tailor interventions to not only specific substances but also the underlying motivations for using those substances. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to test the measurement invariance of a novel broadband motives measure, the Motivations for Using Substances Questionnaire (MUSQ), across alcohol-only, marijuana-only, and SAM users and further test motivations’ relationships to use-related problems. However, due to insufficient sample sizes of marijuana-only users (n = 175), the MUSQ …

Predicting Parent Attendance For Group-Delivered Pcit Workshops In Head Start Centers, Jennifer Tannehill

Dissertations

Group PCIT was offered to parents of Head Start children as part of a larger study that investigated the Impact of a Preschool Obesity Prevention (IPOP) Program Enhanced with Positive Behavioral Supports. The dependent variable (DV) in this study was number of group PCIT sessions attended. The independent variables were marital status, income, education level, parenting practices measured by the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-PR, and responses from the Caregiver Feeding Style Questionnaire. Predictions were made regarding the impact each of these variables had on attendance to group PCIT sessions. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to analyze the data. No …