Digital Commons Network^™

Claiming Health: Mammography-Screening Decision Making Of Older, Urban African-American Women, Barbara A. Fowler

Dissertations

There have been few researchers in nursing and the behavioral sciences that examined the social contexts and processes that may influence mammography-screening decision making of older, urban, lower-income AA women. Researchers, public health officials, and nurses in education and clinical practice may use the findings of this study to increase use of mammography screening. Grounded Theory (GT) research methods were used to develop, expand, and verify the basic social psychological process (BSP) and interrelated concepts emerging from the data, and understand the potential influences of related factors on mammography-screening decision making in this group of AA women.

Softening Corners: How A Carefully Considered Hospitality Operation Impacted An Educational Institution, Jennie Moran

Dissertations

Enter quickly, as I am afraid of my happiness!

(Derrida, 2000, p.131)

This research project is an attempt to bridge the gap between the philosophical ideals of hospitality and the hospitality industry, by examining how a carefully considered hospitality operation impacted an educational institution over the course of eight years. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the application of the philosophical ideals to a commercial hospitality setting yielded profoundly positive results. The primary research was compiled by the author conducting a case study of her own food business, Luncheonette which was located in the National College of …

The Association Between Pelvic Floor Dysfunction And Mental Health In Natal Females With A Focus On Native American Populations, Lexxie Gramke

Dissertations

Purpose

Over half of natal females in the United States suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD). PFD can increase risk of mental health sequelae; however, no studies have been conducted examining the association between mental health and PFD in the Native American (NA) population. This dissertation aims to evaluate the association between PFD, with a focus on overactive bladder (OAB), and mental health in females with specific attention to NAs.

Methodology

A current state of the science review examined the literature for associations between OAB with depression and anxiety in females. Utilizing this literature review, a theoretical model was constructed …

Exploring The Fifth Quarter: An Enquiry Into Offal Eating In Contemporary Irish Food Culture, Its History, And Its Future, Niall Toner

Dissertations

Animal offal and organ meats seem to have all but disappeared from domestic cuisine in Ireland, despite the recent renaissance in the country’s food culture. This thesis has examined the extent and nature of the consumption of these comestibles in contemporary Irish food culture, and the perceived decline in offal’s popularity in Ireland in the past fifty years. It also sought to discover whether offal and organ meats might have a place in the future of our cuisine, and whether the consumption of more offal and organ meats in Ireland might contribute towards a more sustainable food production system, and …

Case Study On Increasing The Amount Of High School El Students College And Career Ready, Octavio Patino

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to describe the leadership practices of high school principals who work with their staff to close the college and career achievement gap for English language learners (ELLs) based on Anderson and Ackerman Anderson’s (2010) change model (mindset, behavior, culture, and systems).

Methodology: This qualitative multicase study was conducted through interviews with four high school principals of Title I schools in California. I selected qualitative methods because they describe the leadership practices that worked with their staff to close ELLs’ college and career readiness (CCR) gap.

Findings: Close examination of data from …

Missed And Prior Diagnoses In Children Later Diagnosed With Autism, Maire Diemer

Dissertations

Awareness of autism is rising, yet social determinants of health continue to impact rates, ages of diagnosis, and diagnostic load. Different psychiatric labels carry stigmas; unequal rates of diagnoses may indicate biases in the healthcare system. This study investigates six prior diagnoses (ADHD, disorders of conduct, adjustment, anxiety, mood, and intellectual disability) assigned to children who are later diagnosed with autism. The study investigates how race, sex, and geographic factors were associated with age of diagnosis and diagnostic load. This study utilized a sample of 13,850 children aged 2-10 who were diagnosed with autism on Missouri Medicaid between 2015 and …

A Grounded Theory Study Of The Grief Process In Women Who Experienced Perinatal Loss Prior To 1980, Tina L. Saunders

Dissertations

Approximately one million women suffer from perinatal loss (PL) in the United States annually. Societal and provider knowledge and attitudes about the psychological effects of PL and the need for care and support have improved significantly since the 1980s. Anecdotal evidence indicates that experiencing PL still affects women decades later; however, its impact on their grief process and long-lasting effects has not been researched. These narratives are vital to informing support and care. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical framework describing grief processes and long-lasting effects on women experiencing PL before 1980.

Professional Development For Classified Managers Within The Business Services Departments At California Public School Districts, Juliet Castorena Orozco

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify and describe professional development topics required to prepare classified managers in California public school district business services departments as effective leaders as perceived by a panel of experts. This study also sought to identify the degree of importance of each professional development topic and the best strategies to address those topics as perceived by a panel of experts.

Methodology. A Delphi research design was used to identify and describe professional development strategies necessary to prepare classified managers in the business services division of California public school districts. The Delphi panel …

Deciphering Description: A Study Of The Works Of Joseph Conrad, Autumn Pearson

Dissertations

This project analyzes Conrad’s use of description in his narratives in light of the 1897 Preface to ‘Narcissus.’ Conrad’s elevation of description stands in contrast to Gérard Genette’s account of narrative theory but within the space Mieke Bal makes for the reconsideration of description within the theory. Narrative theory provides the terminology for specific narrative moments in which Conradian description can be analyzed—the narrative opening, the narrative pause, and various narrative levels. In addition to analyzing Conradian works, the project traces the evolution of Conrad’s thinking about description throughout the course of his career and invites the reader to rethink …

Effect Of An Experiential Learning Model For Simulation Design On Clinical Nursing Judgment Development In Pre-Licensure Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Joyce Victor

Dissertations

Simulation is an experiential learning process used in nursing education to develop and evaluate competencies, including clinical judgment (Berragan, 2011; Jeffries, 2012), yet the effectiveness of simulation in nursing education is not sufficiently evaluated (Foronda, Liu, & Bauman, 2013) and simulation design is not adequately theory-based (Kaakinen & Arwood, 2009; Rourke, Schmidt, & Garga, 2010; Jeffries, 2012; Rodgers, 2013). In this study, Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning (Kolb, 1984; 1999) was employed to create an experiential learning simulation design. A quasi-experimental study was used to test the effects of this new design on clinical nursing judgment development and its relationship …

The Experience Of Transitioning For The Transgender Person: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach To Advance Gender Affirming Care, Shelley Evans

Dissertations

The process of transitioning has a significant impact on improving quality of life among transgender and nonbinary people (Johansson et al., 2010). Transitioning is the act of moving towards a gender identity that feels more aligned with internal identity (Rankin & Beemyn, 2012). However, despite promising research that supports the benefits of medical, social and/or legal transitioning, the understanding of the experience has not been fully explored (Evans et al., 2021), and it is a barrier to advancing the delivery of gender affirming care among nurses, other health care providers, and health care organizations. There is a need to awaken …

Predicting Suicide Attempt Histories With Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial Regression: A Combined Psychological And Demographic Approach With Military Personnel, Aleksandr Karnick

Dissertations

Nearly 50,000 individuals die by suicide each year and, despite only representing 7% of the population, military veterans represent nearly 14% of suicides. As a critical public health concern, research has been directed toward identifying risk factors for suicide. Over the last 50 years of research, nearly 3,000 separate effect sizes for suicide risk factors have been identified, but this research has made little progress toward identifying individual suicide risk and predictive capacity remains low. Although research from medicine and traumatic injury suggest that public health interventions that are implemented broadly can be highly effective at reducing risk for other …

Primed For Sport Coaching: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study Of A Six-Week Intervention, Pete S. Paciorek

Dissertations

This six-week pilot study was conducted using grounded theory from “What Works in Character Education” (Berkowitz & Bier, 2014) and specifically the “PRIMED for Character Education” framework (Berkowitz, 2021) applied to 11 high school sport coaches. The three key ideas of focus were on whether the PRIMED framework could increase the coach-participants’ commitment to character education, self-efficacy as character educators, and self-identification as Servant Leaders in an effort to “nurture the flourishing of human goodness” (Berkowitz, 2021) of our youth and, in this case, specifically, high school student-athletes.

With millions of youth involved in sport in North America and across …

Home And Community-Based Service Utilization Patterns For Seniors With Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias, Margaret E. Saari

Dissertations

Half a million Canadians are living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Approximately half these individuals live in the community, supported by informal caregivers. In this population, utilization of formal services is low and patterns of utilization are not well understood. Previous studies examining predictors of service use have examined services in isolation however, often multiple services are utilized, with little coordination between services.

The purpose of this study was to provide a better understanding of the community-based services utilized concurrently by seniors with dementia and their caregivers.

Stigma As A Treatment Barrier In Trauma Exposed College Students, Lydia Sigurdson

Dissertations

Exposure to a traumatic event puts an individual at risk for subsequent psychological distress. Though trauma exposure is common in undergraduate students, college mental health services remain severely underutilized. One reason may be stigma associated with mental illness. The current study investigated the role of stigma on treatment seeking behaviors in trauma-exposed college students. Qualifying participants were randomly assigned to one of two stigma conditions. One week following measure completion, participants received an email offering a free, brief, self-guided intervention described with a stigmatizing label (“trauma symptoms”) in one condition, and as a broad problem (“stress”) in the other. It …

Comparison Between The Effectiveness Of Mysci And Openscied Curricula On The Achievement And Attitudes Of Eighth Grade Science Students, Nicole Vick, Nina Blanton

Dissertations

Educators have struggled with maintaining student engagement in science, especially as students transition from primary to middle school and upper grades (Vedder-Weiss & Fortus, 2012). A recent push in science education has been the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), released in 2013, whose development was guided by A K-12 Framework for Science Education (NGSS Lead States, 2013). As a result, more educators have been incorporating curricula that require students to ascertain disciplinary core ideas using lenses of cross cutting concepts while engaged in science and engineering practices; the three dimensions of NGSS performance expectations (PE) also …

The Impact Of Teach-Back Method On Hospital Readmissions, Rebel L. Heasley

Dissertations

Excessive healthcare costs resulted in the advent of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, where hospitals incur financial penalties for high readmission rates. This suburban hospital reported readmission rates of 10.38% in 2020 and 9.03% in 2021, much higher than the desired Vizient national benchmark of 6.83% or the twenty-fifth percentile. A literature review revealed that using the teach-back method alone or with other discharge activities can reduce hospital readmissions. This project tackled the quality
issue of high readmission rates by addressing patient education at discharge. The quality improvement project translated the use of the …

Sit Less, Move More: A National Study Of Physical-Activity Behavior And Cancer, Stella O. Nwogugu

Dissertations

Physical activity is associated with lower risks of cancer, the second leading cause of death among Americans. Yet, sedentary behavior is the prevailing lifestyle for about 80% of American adults. Additionally, cancer survivors remain significantly inactive, even though physical activity has been shown to decrease risk of cancer and cancer recurrence, improve tolerance of cancer therapy, and reduce mortality. This research explores the relative impact of personal agency, social support, and key demographic variables on physical-activity behavior for a national sample of adults as well as how these relationships differ for cancer survivors and their counterparts.

Experiences Of Students In Degree-Seeking Proprietary Nursing Programs In South Florida, Yvanessa Georges

Dissertations

Students of proprietary programs perform significantly lower in the NCLEX than students of other programs. This is more significant in the state of Florida where the NCLEX pass rate is below the national average. Although the discrepancy in the first-time pass rates is well documented in the statistics, the reason for this is unclear, and there is paucity in the literature addressing this phenomenon.

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of nursing students attending degree-seeking proprietary programs in South Florida.

Evaluation Of A Classroom Management Video Training Package, Avner Fraidlin

Dissertations

To address the concerning implications of inadequate teacher preparation and training in using classroom management, the literature highlights several steps training programs can take. Namely, this includes supplementing training curricula with dedicated courses on evidence-based classroom management practices and providing teachers with performance feedback following guided practice opportunities (Stevenson et al.,2020). Videos which have been used as an instructional tool in teacher education for several decades (Ciani et al., 2021; van Es & Sherin, 2006), have been incorporated as a component in classroom management teacher trainings with positive outcomes (Wilkinson et al., 2020), and feedback has been established as an …

A Narrative Inquiry Study Of Adult Female Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse And Their Journey Into Individual Counseling, Alex Houseknecht

Dissertations

The purpose of the narrative inquiry is to investigate the journey of adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in seeking out and obtaining individual counseling. The goal is to understand why survivors seek individual counseling and how the process of obtaining and utilizing counseling unfolds over time.

This qualitative study is conducted with convenience and criterion sampling selection. The participants used for the study are two adults who identify as female, aged 18 or older, who are survivors of more than one incident of CSA and are current clients of therapists in the investigator’s existing professional network. Additionally, …

An Engineering Approach For Evaluating The Lifetime Experience Of Sex Trafficking Victimization, Kimberly Starr Nagulpelli

Dissertations

This research is an original approach that applies industrial engineering and operations research tools to the sociological problem of sex trafficking victimization. Such an approach enables quantitative evaluation of the impacts on an individual’s lifetime by anti-trafficking efforts and public policies.

A fully interconnected, lifetime model for the experience of sex trafficking victimization is defined as the result of a comprehensive review of literature. Beginning with victimization risk, the defined model is an anticipatory tool to understand the incidences and consequences to individuals during their lifetime. This research develops the model further into a Discrete-Time Markov Chain (DTMC) with definitions …

Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Pieces, Nicholas Eric Witt

Dissertations

Productively integrating technology is a vitally important part of teachers’ practice (Barlow, 2021; Bezuk et al., 2017; NCTM, 2018). To adequately prepare Prospective Mathematics Teachers (PMTs) for the demands of teaching professionally, we need to understand more about how teachers and PMTs learn to integrate technology into their classroom. Some models exist related to teachers’ knowledge of integrating technology (e.g., Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Rocha, 2020). However, these models do little to conceptualize the knowledge resources that are activated in the moment of designing technologically-enhanced, conceptually-oriented mathematics tasks. This dissertation draws on ideas from the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) (diSessa, …

An Action Research Study On Visible Learning Feedback And Motivational Interviewing Concerning Underserved Advanced Placement Students, Lori A. Vaughn

Dissertations

Underserved minority students participating in Advanced Placement (AP) courses encountered increased academic pressures, in addition to inequitable conditions in education. The following study addressed inequity, as well as self-motivation, self-regulation, feedback practices, and student autonomy. The researcher implemented Visible Learning Feedback, an academic intervention, focused on bridging the gap in knowledge (Brooks et al., 2019; Hattie & Yates, 2014). Furthermore, the researcher designed a Motivational Interviewing (MI) pilot program, a client-centered approach concentrated on participant social-emotional well-being (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). The study’s purpose involved improving AP exam scores, increasing post-test essay grades, and raising self-motivation and self-regulation measurements through …

Undergraduate Nursing Students' Perceptions Of Clinical Readiness Increase With Integration Of Simulation Using Ati-Supported Resources, Kasey L. Trill

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to increase first semester Historically Black College and University (HBCU) nursing student's simulation exposure by 50% using the ATI education platform and measure student perceptions of readiness for clinical rotations. This study addressed the research gap of simulation in beginning nursing courses and the impact on student perceptions of self-efficacy in future clinical rotations and contributes to the larger body of simulation research by answering the following questions:

1. What are student perceptions regarding simulation and clinical readiness?

2. How does exposure to simulation impact student clinical performance outcomes?

3. To what degree does …

Using The Lens Of Flourishing To Understand The Professional Well-Being Of K-12 Teachers Who Have Worked In Urban Schools For Over A Decade, Candis M. Thomas

Dissertations

Historically, urban public schools with high concentrations of high-poverty, low-achieving students, report having difficulty attracting, developing, and retaining qualified and effective teachers (Ansley et al, 2019; Petty et.al, 2012; Simon & Johnson, 2015; Wilder, 2012). A common explanation to the attrition crisis in urban schools is that teachers are suffering from stressors (e.g., student characteristics, school climate, concerns for safety, lack of parental support, accountability measures), that leaves them burnt out. Yet, there are experienced and qualified K-12 teachers who are committed to working in these schools. Advances in the field of positive psychology, has spilled over into the educational …

Improving Autonomous Vehicles Operational Performance Using Resilience Engineering, Johan Fanas Rojas

Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles are expected to revolutionize the transportation industry by providing a safer and more efficient means of transportation. However, as autonomous vehicles are deployed on public roads, they are exposed to significant risks, both in terms of safety and system performance. Recent studies have highlighted a range of errors and accidents associated with autonomous vehicles, underscoring the need for a systematic approach to improve their operational resilience. Resilience engineering, a discipline focused on designing and analyzing complex systems to better cope with unexpected events and disruptions, offers a promising framework for addressing these challenges. Despite the potential benefits of …

Enabling Energy Efficiency In Connected And Automated Vehicles Through Predictive Control Techniques, Farhang Motallebiaraghi

Dissertations

The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global energy consumption and emissions, necessitating the development of sustainable transportation systems. In this regard, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have emerged as a potential solution to transform the transportation industry. By harnessing advanced mapping and location technologies, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, CAVs offer the promise of improving efficiency, reducing traffic congestion, and enhancing safety and comfort. However, the adoption of CAVs also brings about various challenges, including energy efficiency concerns that need to be addressed to fully realize their potential benefits. This dissertation investigates energy-efficient control techniques for transportation …

Telehealth Functional Behavior Assessment In Practice: A Demonstration Of The Clinical Utility Of Dynamic Probability Analyses And Estimates Of Contingency Strength, Lilith Michaele Reuter-Yuill

Dissertations

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 and acceleration of coronavirus disease cases resulted in a global pandemic and presented unique and unprecedented humanitarian issues. Behavior analysts trained in the area of functional behavior assessment offer important services that may assist families to address behavioral challenges that they face during this difficult time. Despite the growing body of evidence of telehealth functional behavior assessments, practitioners still face several unknowns. In Experiment I, a telehealth functional behavior assessment was conducted with three children with autism spectrum disorder. Assessment methods represented a continuum of experimental control from unstructured conditions (no experimental control), structured descriptive assessment …

Moral Discourses Of Atheist Organizations: Moral Contrasts, Symbolic Boundaries, And Collective Identities, Alexander Fether

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways atheist organizations construct morality and valorize atheist identities. Focusing on a discursive resources approach, wherein “atheist” is a social category whose meaning is contested, this analysis examines how representations of “atheists” are sedimented by the ways individuals and organizations communicate about atheism, religion, morality, secularism, and other relevant concepts which constitute this identity.

Examining the websites of two prominent atheist organization, Qualitative Content Analysis is used to identify the strategies used to legitimate atheist identities, discredit religion, and construct a coherent atheist morality. I describe the way atheist organizations engage in boundary work to challenge …