Digital Commons Network^™

Life After Menopause: Quality Of Life In Women Diagnosed With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome After The Childbearing Years, Katelyn Baker

Dissertations

Very little research has been conducted in regards to what happens after a woman diagnosed with PCOS is menopausal or post menopausal. This study researched the quality of life in women with PCOS before and after menopause in an attempt to compare the two groups.

A Program Evaluation Of Immersive Devised Story Drama: Process And Impacts At A Summer Creativity Camp, Amy Ressler

Dissertations

This utilization-focused evaluation examined the relationship of a devised drama program at a summer youth camp to the campers’ social-emotional learning (SEL), creativity growth, and character development. Methods used in the study included surveys of parents, interviews of teachers, and focus groups of campers. Results indicated that the devised drama provides durable, effective enrichment in SEL, creativity growth, and character development. Data also suggested that engagement in the drama contributed to an enhanced ability to manage anxiety. Concluding recommendations propose the overt use of the vocabulary of SEL competencies and grade-level appropriate SEL curricula. Professional development in Applied Improvisation for …

Discover Influential Mental Workload Attributes Impacting Learners Performance In Third-Level Education, Amisha Mehta

Dissertations

Human Mental Workload is an intervening variable and a fundamental concept in the discipline of Ergonomics. It is deduced from variations in performance. High or low mental workload leads to hampering of performance. Mental workload in an educational setting has been extensively researched. It is applied in instructional design but it is obscure as to which factors are majorly driving mental workload in learners. This dissertation investigates the importance of the features used in the the NASA-Task Load Index mental workload assessment instrument and their impact on the performance of learners as assessed by multiple-choice tests conducted in classrooms of …

First-Time Practicum Students' Lived Experiences Of Case Presentations In Group Supervision: A Phenomenological Study, Jason Blakely Fischer

Dissertations

Although best practices of group supervision advise that supervisory methods match the developmental level of supervisees, research has shown that novices typically receive group supervision in the same manner as more experienced trainees. The prevalent use of case presentations in group supervision regardless of learners' level of clinical experience suggests contemporary practicum courses may be overlooking beginning students' unique, developmental characteristics and needs. Fifteen counseling students enrolled in CACREP-accredited master's degree programs across the United States were interviewed for a phenomenological study exploring their experiences of case presentations in practicum. Synchronous interviews conducted over video conferencing examined participants' emotional experiences …

Building A Resilient Workforce: Programming For Commercial Content Moderation Staff, Miriah E. Steiger

Dissertations

Commercial content moderators (CCM) review and remove controversial content from social media platforms, leading to potentially adverse mental health effects through secondary trauma exposure. Due to the problematic nature of their work, a U.S. based company hired mental health clinicians to design and instruct a resiliency program, developed based upon the psychological resilience literature. Regrettably, there is scarce peer-reviewed literature providing guidelines for best practices in program development or evaluations specific to this population to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. Therefore, this study investigated whether the resiliency program provided to CCM workers predicted resilience and well-being outcomes by use of the …

Exploring Gender Differences Between Bipolar Disorder And Borderline Personality Disorder In Responses On The Personality Assessment Inventory (Pai), Stephanie M. Green

Dissertations

Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder are two diagnoses that are often difficult to differentiate. Current literature supports this challenge and reveals a high rate of misdiagnosis between the two, as well as a high prevalence of borderline personality disorder diagnoses in women. Diagnostic accuracy remains a vital skill for clinicians to effectively address the needs of clients, and diagnostic assessment tools are often used to aid in this endeavor. The focus in this study was to explore gender discrepancies in responses across the main features of borderline personality disorder (i.e., affective instability, identity problems, negative relationships, and self-harm) and …

Fostering Resilience: A Pilot Study For Mindful Yoga As An Intervention For Adolescents Exposed To Chronic Adversity, Michele Pinellas

Dissertations

The effects of ongoing stress can cause chronic affect dysregulation, destructive behavior against self and others, learning disabilities, dissociative problems, somatization, and distortions in concepts about self and others (Bessel van der Kolk, 1994, p. 259). There may be particular benefits for youth who live in urban, underserved populations as they have experienced social challenges such as poverty, violence, drugs, racism, and immigration. Given the historical tendency of youth to express their emotions externally as a coping strategy, there is rationale to support a physically based treatment, like yoga, as an intervention for this population (Beltran et al., 2016). This …

Content Variation In Jury Instructions For Fatal Police Use Of Force Trials Do Not Moderate The Effect Of Attitudes Toward Police On Verdicts, Chasity Lynn Ratliff

Dissertations

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OFChasity Ratliff, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology, presented on June 22, 2020, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: CONTENT VARIATION IN JURY INSTRUCTIONS FOR FATAL POLICE USE OF FORCE TRIALS DO NOT MODERATE THE EFFECT OF ATTITUDES TOWARD POLICE ON VERDICTSMAJOR PROFESSOR: Liana C. Peter-HageneWhen police officers are charged with illegal use of force, jurors’ pre-existing attitudes toward the police can shape how jurors interpret trial evidence: Was the officer just doing his job under high amounts of pressure while fearing for his life? Or did the officer abuse his power with …

Narcissistic Group Orientation, Water-Like Group Orientation, And Their Relations To In-Group Identification, Richard Montoya

Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to present two new theoretical constructs based on narcissistic personality and Daoist water-like personality research. Narcissistic group orientation (NGO) was developed to incorporate both the grandiose and vulnerable expressions of narcissism into a group-oriented social variable. NGO is pathological group orientation with two distinct expressions that share a common etiology in social identity monopolization. The conditions that promote social identity monopolization and ultimately increase the salience of the particular self-category, differ amongst the grandiose and vulnerable expressions of NGO. The grandiose expression increases salience of a particular self-category to facilitate opportunistic use for self-enhancement, while the …

Getting Ahead Of The Game: A Preventative Assessment Plan For Intercollegiate Athletics, Kristiana Marie Feeser

Dissertations

While we know much about the psychology of sport, little gets translated onto the playing field. Typically, there is only consultation when a problem arises or when performance falls short. The purpose of this study was mainly exploratory in order to gather data on three factors of mental health, find any associations between those factors, and to predict any risk factors using demographic variables. Three validated measurement tools were used to measure burnout (Athlete Burnout Questionnaire; Raedeke & Smith, 2004), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II; Beck et al., 1996), and transition readiness (British Athletes Lifestyle Assessment Needs in Career and Education; …

Addressing The Needs Of Gifted And Talented Stem Students Through Holistic Thinking In An Honors Program, Noor Alrajhi

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the Honors Program at a midwestern University addresses the needs of gifted and talented STEM students and developed their holistic thinking. Pink’s ideas about the holistic thinking were used to frame this study. Blending STEM gifted students’ needs and Pink’s senses were discussed in the literature review.This study utilized a mixed method approach to gain a better understanding of students’ perceptions about addressing their needs in Honors Program. An explanatory sequential design was employed for this study in which qualitative data were used to expand the understanding of …

A Qualitative Understanding Of Gender-Responsive Youth Programming Within The Girls Rock Camp Alliance, Seyi Amosu

Dissertations

This study documented the gender-responsive youth programing strategies within Girls Rock camps using grounded theory methodology. Experiencing gender oppression is a stressor that creates an increased risk for mental and physical health concerns for gender-marginalized people. The risks for mental illnesses, because of gender-based oppression, is compounded when an individual holds additional marginalized statuses (e.g., age, race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, ability status, etc.; APA, 2007). Gender bias has also been shown to negatively impact young people’s self-esteem, academic achievement, and vocational aspirations (Kamsler, 1992). Given this negative impact of gender bias, it is important to address gender related …

Examining Relations Among Positive And Negative Metrics Of Psychological Flexibility And Positive And Negative Outcomes Of Exposure To Trauma, Dustin A. Seidler

Dissertations

PTSD is a mental health condition that affects many people over the course of their life (National Comorbidity Survey, 2005), including veterans (Litz & Schlenger, 2009). However, many do not experience clinical levels of distress and some experience posttraumatic growth (PTG) resulting from such an event (Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998). The Psychological Flexibility Model, of which Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) is based, may help explain these phenomena. The purpose of this study was to examine these relationships utilizing a measure simultaneously assessing psychological flexibility and inflexibility. It was hypothesized that psychologically inflexible behaviors …

A Case Study On The Impact That The Meet & Teach Program Has On Youth Through Experiential Learning, Evan Brown

Dissertations

Millions of students continue to struggle academically throughout K-12, which can harm student access and retention in higher education. Also, with arts continually being removed throughout the K-12 education curricula, students have a lack of support toward enhancing their hidden talents and skillsets. This study describes the impact that the Meet & Teach program had on youth through experiential learning in relation to developing and enhancing their skillset in media arts. The two research questions that guide this study are: (a) How does the Meet & Teach program support skill development for higher education through experiential learning? (b) In what …

Changing The Focus: Worker-Centric Optimization In Human-In-The-Loop Computations, Mohammadreza Esfandiari

Dissertations

A myriad of emerging applications from simple to complex ones involve human cognizance in the computation loop. Using the wisdom of human workers, researchers have solved a variety of problems, termed as “micro-tasks” such as, captcha recognition, sentiment analysis, image categorization, query processing, as well as “complex tasks” that are often collaborative, such as, classifying craters on planetary surfaces, discovering new galaxies (Galaxyzoo), performing text translation. The current view of “humans-in-the-loop” tends to see humans as machines, robots, or low-level agents used or exploited in the service of broader computation goals. This dissertation is developed to shift the focus back …

Mind Maps And Machine Learning: An Automation Framework For Qualitative Research In Entrepreneurship Education, Yasser Farha

Dissertations

Entrepreneurship Education researchers often measure entrepreneurial motivation of college students. It is important for stakeholders, such as policymakers and educators, to assert if entrepreneurship education can encourage students to become entrepreneurs, as well as to understand factors that influence entrepreneurial motivation. For that purpose, researchers have used different methods and instruments to measure students' entrepreneurial motivation. Most of these methods are quantitative, e.g., closed-ended surveys, whereas qualitative methods, e.g., open-ended surveys, are rarely used.

Mind maps are an attractive qualitative survey tool because they capture the individual's reflections, thoughts, and experiences. For Entrepreneurship Education, mind maps can be utilized to …

Microglia Induced Neuroinflammation Through The Nlrp3 Inflammasome Following Blast Traumatic Brain Injury, Daniel Younger

Dissertations

The incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among military personnel have been steadily increasing with modern conflicts. A recent RAND report estimated 320,000 service members, totaling 20% of deployed forces, suffer from TBI. However, of this population roughly 60% have not seen a medical professional specifically for TBI. Unlike the civilian population, the primary cause of TBI for active-duty military personnel is blast exposure. Blasts now account for over 70% of all US military casualties in operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation enduring freedom (OEF) and are the major cause of TBI. Among many pathological mechanisms associated with blast TBI, …

Systems For Free Parking Assignment, Abeer M. Hakeem

Dissertations

Finding a free, curbside parking spaces in metropolitan areas, especially during rush hours, is difficult for drivers. The difficulty arises from not knowing where the available spaces may be at that time; and, even if the spaces are known, many vehicles may pursue the same spaces, causing serious parking contention and traffic congestion. This dissertation presents three cost-effective and easily deployable free parking assignment systems that optimize the travel time of the drivers.

The first contribution is the Free Parking System (FPS), a centralized solution that solves the curbside parking problem. Unlike existing solutions, FPS is cost-effective, as it does …

Relationship Between Nurses' Management Of Pediatric Oncology Patients' Symptoms And Job Satisfaction, Jennifer Isabelle Rheingans

Dissertations

A primary function of the pediatric oncology nurse is to provide symptom management to children with cancer. Symptom management strategies have been published, but there is scarce literature examining neither the actual use of these nursing interventions, nor the effects of using these interventions on the nurses' perceived work environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the nursing interventions used in treating pediatric oncology patients' symptoms, as well as the emotional sequelae from providing this care. Phase One of this study examined the content validity of the newly developed Nurses Distress and Interventions for Symptoms Survey (NDISS) utilizing …

The Geriatric Cancer Experience In End Of Life: Model Adaptation And Testing, Harleah Graham Buck

Dissertations

The National Institutes of Health recommends the development of conceptual models to increase rigor and improve evaluation in research. Validated models are essential to guide conceptualizations of phenomena, selection of variables and development of testable hypotheses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a methodology useful in model testing due to its ability to account for measurement error and test latent variables. The purpose of this study was to test a model of The Geriatric Cancer Experience in End of Life as adapted from Emanuel and Emanuel's framework for a good death using SEM.

Parental Influences On Late Adolescents' Autonomous Motivation And Sexual Risk Knowledge And Behavior, Bettina Hornbuckle Riley

Dissertations

Adolescent risky sexual behavior is associated with unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV/AIDS. During their time of transition to adulthood, late adolescents make decisions about their sexual health that may or may not be motivated by parental (mother and father) sexual risk communication and autonomy support. While the adolescent may be physically independent or semi-independent from his/her parents, parents continue to influence their adolescents through past and present endorsement of certain behaviors. This research examined how parent-sexual risk communication and parental autonomy support may individually and collectively …

A Study To Determine The Relationship Between Classroom Teacher Attendance And Student Success, Meagan Stanley

Dissertations

Students that consistently have access to high-quality teachers and teaching strategies experience higher degrees of success (Frieberg, 2013). In the absence of high-quality, professional classroom teacher, students may not succeed at the rate they would otherwise. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between classroom teacher attendance and student success. Student success factors (attendance, behavior, and achievement) were examined in connection with classroom teacher attendance. The study included students in grades Kindergarten through Fifth grade who attended Kindergarten through Fifth grade buildings in a Midwestern school district. The literature reviewed for this study reiterated the importance of …

Noncognitive Characteristics And Family Income: The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On Grit Levels And Mindset Types, Joshua A. Teeter

Dissertations

Noncognitive characteristics have been identified as essential predictors of academic success (Duckworth, 2016, 2019; Farrington et al., 2012). Grit and growth mindset are two noncognitive characteristics that predict academic success; therefore, this study was conducted to determine if there is a difference in grit level and mindset types among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds (Duckworth, 2019; Dweck, 2010b). Researchers and educators have focused heavily on identifying and implementing interventions to improve students’ cognitive factors, yet little attention has been given to finding ways to improve students’ noncognitive traits (Cooper, Krieg, & Brownell, 2018). High school students from a school district …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Male Students: An Exploration Of African American Male Student Athletes And African American Male Student Nonathletes At California Community Colleges, Marie Harris

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and differences between African American male student athletes and African American male student nonathletes at California community colleges. Methodology: The methodology of this study is a qualitative phenomenological design to explore the lived experiences of African American males who are student athletes and those who are student nonathletes enrolled at three California community colleges. In depth and semistructured interviewing techniques were utilized to capture their stories. Findings: There were 9 major findings that emerged through the data collection and analysis. The findings showed that African American …

The Masks We Wear In The Workplace Masquerade: An Examination Of Antecedents Of Facades Of Conformity And The Impact Of Abusive Supervision, Kevin Sansberry Ii

Dissertations

Years of research conducted into abusive supervision (Tepper, 2000) have provided a greater understanding of how abusive supervision impacts workers including various negative outcomes as well as employee coping mechanisms. One of the possible ways that an employee may respond to abusive supervision is feigning their agreement with organizational values. The literature is somewhat deficient, however, in examining the manifestation of these facades of conformity (Hewlin, 2003). In this study, the relationship between abusive supervision and facades of conformity was examined, as well as several moderators of this relationship. The results indicated that abusive supervision was positively and significantly related …

Principal And Teacher Perceptions Of Classroom Walkthroughs In Middle School Settings, Ethel Shanklin

Dissertations

There is no question that education is paramount to student success. The goal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001), did not work. The last revision of this act, the Every Students Succeeds Act of 2016 is now being implemented, Educators are yet struggling for the panacea that is effective for all students’ competencies in the world. Students from low socio-economic areas are at a greater risk of their educational needs not being met for various reasons. There is the opportunity to reach students in schools in spite of their home situations. Instruction begins and ends with instructional leaders in …

Factors Affecting The Relocation And Transition Of Internationally Educated Nurses Migrating To The United States Of America, Kristina S. Ibitayo

Dissertations

A paucity of research studies and systematic reviews have been conducted on IEN nurse migration experiences in the US. The number of IENs in the US RN workforce is projected to continue growing. Therefore, studies on nurse migration and IEN relocation and transition experiences are essential. This exploratory descriptive study on the transition conditions and professional satisfaction of nurses migrating to the US provides information on the complex pull and push factors affecting nurse migration. This study described the push factors, pull factors, personal characteristics, motivation to migrate, transition conditions, family/social environment, work environment, and professional satisfaction of IENs in …

Acupuncture For Symptom Management In A Menopausal Population: An Exploration Of Mechanism And Experience, Cheryl L. Wright

Dissertations

This early phase study examined the effects of a series of ten standard-protocol acupuncture treatments over four weeks in 12 healthy, but symptomatic, menopausal women. In addition to measuring two biologic markers that may shed light on the physiologic impact of acupuncture, symptom experience data were collected.

Compassion Fatigue Among U.S. Military Rns Post Overseas Deployment, Dawn Marie Goldstein

Dissertations

Describe the meaning of compassion fatigue (CF) as experienced by the U.S. military registered nurse (RN) post-deployment from Iraq and Afghanistan. Background: CF is characterized by deep emotional and physical exhaustion, and may resemble posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Often this causes a shift in confidence and clouds RN perceptions. Symptoms include difficulty concentrating, intrusive imagery, hopelessness, exhaustion, and irritability leading to profound alterations in one's view of the world, patients, family, and friends. Outcomes include depersonalizing patients, poor coping mechanisms, lowered standards, clinical errors, and blurring boundaries, all can contribute to a toxic work environment and RNs leaving the profession.

An Investigation Of The Learning Perspectives Of Non-Native English Speakers In An Esl / Epp Writing Program, Susan L. Lundry Ph.D.

Dissertations

Understanding the needs of international learners seeking English writing skills has been an ongoing challenge for educators working in the field as support systems to this group of learners (Carlson, 2005; Hayes & Lin, 1994). In addition, the research (Halic, Greenberg, & Paulus, 2009; Hayes & Lin, 1994) reveals that when international learners move to another country, for the first time to learn, they may initially experience a profound sense of loss. Therefore, providing a sense of support and balance for this group of learners is an important part of the educational process. This qualitative study looked at nine undergraduate …