Digital Commons Network^™

Incapacitated Fatherhood: The Impact Of Incarceration On African American Fathers, Dara Lewis

Dissertations

This project examines the ways that incarceration can shape the meaning and performance of fatherhood. Using 109 surveys and 30 in-depth interviews, three dominant themes emerged that constitute a model father identity standard: 1) being there for their children; 2) being an example for their children; and 3) providing their children with love, basic needs, and protection. The findings indicate that prison environment and post-incarceration restrictions do not support fathers’ ability to perform their roles as fathers, or the maintenance of healthy relationships between fathers and their children. Specifically, it disrupts the father identity confirmation process. As a result, relational …

The Unity Of The Church And Church Authority: A Comparative Study Of The Views And Practice Of Alexander Campbell And Ellen G. White, Wendy Ann Jackson

Dissertations

Problem. A clear understanding of the nature of church unity and the role of authority in the maintenance of unity is imperative for the church in the face of its increasing growth and diversity. While a considerable volume of literature addresses the topic of unity of the church, little attention has been paid to the historical dimensions of the differing viewpoints on church authority, which present contemporary obstacles to Christian unity.

Purpose. In an attempt to address this void, this dissertation examines the views of Alexander Campbell and Ellen White with regard to the nature of church unity and how …

Herbert Spencer And His American Audience, Joel F. Yoder

Dissertations

The philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) is little remembered today, but in the late nineteenth century he was a world-renowned figure and widely read. Spencer was popular in his native England, but even more highly regarded in America. Modern scholars generally understand this popularity as stemming from Spencer’s social Darwinism—that is, his belief that natural selection does and should operate on humans to improve mankind. On the other hand, many of those who have studied Spencer’s work claim that he was not a social Darwinist at all. It is my contention that Spencer was a social Darwinist, but that other aspects …

A Case Study On Ethical Decision Making By Legislative Leaders And Their Motion To Approve The North Carolina Charter School Bill Of 2011, Moses Fox Iii

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the role that equity and ethics played in decision making by examining the perspectives of elected leaders in a case where members of the North Carolina legislature decided to lift the cap on charter schools by enacting the 2011 North Carolina Charter School Bill. The analysis was based on triangulated qualitative data from historical documents, written documents from the state’s legislative library, and interviews from consenting legislative leaders of North Carolina. The researcher used Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological data analysis protocol to explore and understand the participants’ lived experiences. Finally, a pattern matching …

A Biblical And Missiological Framework For Cross-Cultural Mission: A Case Study Of The Lobi Funeral Rites In Burkina Faso, Boubakar Sanou

Dissertations

Problem

Converts to Christianity in traditional contexts often face pressure to continue traditional rituals and practices which sometimes contain unbiblical elements. Non-selective performance of traditional practices can produce dual allegiance and syncretism. Such is the case with Lobi Seventh-day Adventists concerning their traditional funeral rites of passage. Some core elements of these traditional funeral rites, in which all community members are expected to fully participate, conflict with biblical teachings on the human condition after death.

Method

This dissertation starts by laying the theoretical and theological basis for addressing the problem. The dissertation then uses ethnographic research of funeral rites among …

The Relationship Between Episodes Of Dissociative Amnesia, Symptomology Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, And Childhood Sexual Abuse, Jennifer E. Perkins

Dissertations

Problem. Identifying the possibility of a significant relationship between childhood sexual abuse, symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and episodes of dissociative amnesia is both relevant and useful in the therapeutic setting. Identifying indicative factors for a history of childhood sexual abuse and including them in a standardized therapeutic assessment will assist therapists in planning future treatment. This study used secondary data to examine the relationship between childhood sexual abuse, symptomology of PTSD, episodes of dissociative amnesia, and selected demographic characteristics.

Method. This quantitative study used a therapist-completed data collection tool which compiled brief client demographics, episodes of dissociative amnesia, …

Curriculum-Related Trends In K-12 Adventist Education In The North American Division: An Inductive Analysis Of The Profile Surveys--1987-2007, Monica Desir

Dissertations

Problem

For several years, curriculum developers in the North American Division (NAD) have used the biennial results from the Profile Surveys to help guide their decisions in terms of educational policy. While some comparisons have been made between individual studies and ensuing results have been used to influence curriculum development, overall trends in the 10 studies up to 2007 have not been identified. As the studies increased in number, an integrative effort was needed in order help reveal the trends in the combined results and to make them available in more compact form for use by curriculum developers.

Method

The …

Moral Development And Public Health Nursing, Margaret Avila

Dissertations

Public health nurses (PHNs) have the opportunity and professional obligation to be at the forefront of the fight to eliminate health disparities based on the practice principle of social justice. The overall purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the stage of the moral development in a convenience sample of practicing public health nurses (PHNs) and the differences in moral development stage across selected demographic variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity, level of entry into professional nursing, highest level of education, years practicing as an RN, years practicing in a public health department, self-identified political views, primary language, and region of …

Home Telehealth In Heat Failure Patients, Tanna R. Thomason

Dissertations

Aim: Technology holds a great potential to improve the quality of health care delivery. The use of remote patient monitoring, or telehealth (TH), has been widely adopted by many home care agencies to facilitate early identification of disease exacerbation, particularly for patients with chronic diseases such as heart failure.

Rationale: TH has been successfully utilized by agencies to improve symptom detection and potentially reduce rehospitalization rates. Quantifying program effectiveness through data analysis is a critical step for program improvement, resource allocation, and future strategic planning.

Methods: Utilizing the OASIS-C database, a retrospective analysis was conducted examining 22-months of heart failure …

Marital Expectation Fulfillment And Its Relationship To Height Of Marital Expectations, Optimism, And Relationship Self-Efficacy Among Married Individuals, Kristina D. Johnson

Dissertations

Problem

The literature is clear that individuals report higher marital satisfaction when their expectations are fulfilled in marriage, but there is disagreement in the literature as to what role height of expectations plays in expectation fulfillment. Further research in this area was needed to clarify these disagreements and identify variables that interact with height of expectations to determine marital satisfaction.

Method

Participants completed surveys that measured their a) martial satisfaction, b) optimism, c) relationship self-efficacy, d) height of marital expectations, and e) the extent to which participants felt their marital expectations were being met. Structural equation modeling was used to …

A Study On The Influence Of Philosophical Presuppositions Relating To The Notion Of The God-Human Relation Upon The Interpretation Of Exodus, Tiago Arrais

Dissertations

Abstract

No exegesis or act of interpretation is presuppositionless. Accordingly, this study addresses the question of the influence of philosophical presuppositions upon the interpretation of the God-human relation in Exodus.

Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to why such analysis is necessary. The chapter explores the neglected issue of presuppositions in exegesis and why Exodus is an appropriate platform upon which to evaluate them. This introductory chapter also presents the purpose and methodological approach of this study, namely, the descriptive analysis of the text.

Chapter 2 addresses the philosophical issues behind the conception of the God-human relation, namely the notion …

An Analysis And Response To The Fear Of Evil Spiritual Forces Among Kamba Christians In The Light Of Biblical And Ellen G. White Teachings, Joseph Mutune Ndisya

Dissertations

This research aimed to discover whether there are any reasons from the Scriptures and writings of Ellen G. White regarding fear of evil spiritual forces. Thus research aims to understand the historical, cultural and religious reasons Kamba Christians frequently live in fear and dual allegiance. Biblical solutions will be suggested to permanently eliminate that fear. Fear is often so great that born-again Christians carry protective devices and practices which they believe will ward off the invading evil spiritual forces.

The Old Testament writings were examined to see how God wanted His people to relate to any evil power. The Old …

Revelation 6:9-11: An Exegesis Of The Fifth Seal In The Light Of The Problem Of The Eschatological Delay, Patrice Allet

Dissertations

The fifth seal of Revelation has most often been treated from an anthropological perspective that appears to be clearly inadequate to account for the depth of this trigger passage located in a climactic setting. In and around the fifth seal, the text suggests indeed that the persecution of the last days has occurred. Imminence and delay do seem to intersect in the passage, creating a crisis of eschatological proportions which, in turn, raises questions of theodicy.

The purpose of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the fifth seal as a whole through a focused study of its delay motif …

Sexual Assault And Academic Achievement: Creating More Ideal College Campuses For Sexual Assault Survivors By Taking Into Account Intersectionality And Multiracial Feminism, Kelly Pinter

Dissertations

In this dissertation, the reader will learn about 28 sexual assault survivors' perceptions about educational and criminal justice responses to them after a sexual assault and how these sexual assault survivors perceived how race and ethnicity, income, and gender affect cases differently. Additionally, I explore sexual assault policies that survivors think are working, and those they feel need improvement. I also assess in depth recommendations concerning what education administrators, staff, and advocates can do to assist sexual assault survivors.

Who Cares? The Role Of Nursing Assistants In The Labor Process Of Hospital Nursing, Grace Eileen Scrimgeour

Dissertations

This research, using the feminist methodology of "reading up the power structure," is the first study of hospital-based Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Through interviews with 21 CNAs in a large, independent, urban hospital in the Midwest, the study examines how two major institutions have impacted the labor process of CNAs and the division of labor between CNAs and RNs. These include historical changes in nurses' priorities in pursuing professional status, and the reconfiguration of healthcare provision in the United States. The removal of LPNs from hospital nursing creates a clear division of labor between RNs and auxiliaries since, unlike LPNs, …

Somos Familia: Family As An Organizing Trope In 20th-21st Century Latina/O Literature, Victoria Anne Bolf

Dissertations

This dissertation examines various ways that family has been employed as a model of both oppression and liberation in Latina/o literature. Working from an interdisciplinary standpoint at the crossroads of literary and cultural studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, Chicano/a studies, and Latino/a studies, this project seeks to uncover how representations of familia in U.S. Latino/a literary texts accomplish their discursive work, as well as complicating conventional formulations of kinship and family.

I examine Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, in Chapter One, in terms of queer family and the counter-domestic logic of “the streets.” In Chapter Two, I …

Being And Becoming: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Racial And Ethnic Socialization Processes Of Fifteen Haitian Immigrants Living In The United States, Lud Abigail Duchatelier-Jeudy

Dissertations

This study examined and described the racial and ethnic socialization processes of 15 Haitian immigrant mothers, eight of whom were born and raised in Haiti and migrated to the United States after the age of 21 (Group A) and seven of whom were born and raised in the United States or born in Haiti and migrated on or before the age of the five and raised of the United States (Group B). The two groups of Haitian immigrant mothers were recruited from cities throughout the Northeast region of the United States.

Using Harkness and Super’s Developmental Niche as a theoretical …

Speculation: The Future(S) Of A Global Education Market, Kaine Osburn

Dissertations

This dissertation establishes a structural understanding of what is necessary to imagine in material terms the future of how education will be financed and how education knowledge will be circulated on a global scale. Making explicit a governmentality perspective for examining neoliberal constructions of education policy and practice first, this dissertation applies that perspective to understanding the trajectory of World Bank policies on financing and governing education over the last twenty years. While the first three chapters draw on existing conceptual and policy work, the chapters combine aspects of them in new ways which reveal a clear understanding of an …

Theology And Ideology Critique, Silas M. Morgan

Dissertations

In modern philosophy, the concept of ideology has been a problem for the relationship of theology to politics. Especially in its Marxist usage, “ideology” refers to a specific effect that theology has in modern society so as to conceal or hide the material facticity that shapes human life and practical activity. This is one of the many reasons why theology, even in its political form, has not taken up “ideology” as a matter inherent to its critical form. The absence of theoretical attention to ideology in theology itself has led to the deficit of immanent critique, especially in political theology. …

Competing Voices: Negotiating Power And Place In Mixed-Income Housing Development, Kimberlee S. Guenther

Dissertations

Public housing internationally is undergoing a transformation due to the implementation of mixed-income policies. Based on two years of research in Chicago and Sydney, this project aimed to understand how resident leaders experience this transformation and the strategies they used to contribute to placemaking in new communities. The research also investigated new methods of conducting community-based, participatory research that emphasized resident perspectives and inquiry. Findings show that resident leaders utilize negative narratives about public housing to make claims to new neighborhoods. The research also revealed that highly stigmatized, but demolished places continue to function in people’s lives through the process …

Factors Impacting Student Outcomes In Multicultural Counseling Courses, Kathleen Kordesh

Dissertations

This study explored how complex factors related to student characteristics (e.g., demographics, levels of racism) and instructor characteristics (e.g., demographics, level of multicultural competence, teaching strategies) are related to student outcomes in multicultural counseling courses (e.g., levels of racism and levels of multicultural competence at the end of the semester). Data collection yielded a sample of 21 students and six instructors. Findings suggest that instructors are a significant factor in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural knowledge, but not in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural awareness. Multivariate analysis of student responses suggest that …

Daddy Is Involved: How Do African American Fathers Participate In The Education Experiences Of Their High School Children?, Gregory Pierre Baker

Dissertations

Parents have tremendous influence in the lives of their children. As a result, it is valuable to investigate how high school parents participate in their children's high school education experiences. African American fathers in particular, have been placed under scrutiny by the media and general population for not being involved in the education experiences of their children, while the research literature dispels this generalization.

This study investigates how African American fathers, in a suburban community, participate in the education experiences of their high school children. This research study took place at a Du Page County, Illinois, high school under the …

Public Relations: Diaspora, Media, And The State(S) Of American Literature, Nathan Allen Jung

Dissertations

Like any good public relations campaign, this dissertation aims to offer a persuasive interpretation of certain key facts. The facts, as I see them, are as follows: first, a great number of contemporary novels and poems explore the personal and social consequences of diasporic migration. Second, these texts, along with their print and electronic paratexts, share a pervasive interest in media. And third, these works are rarely read in conversation with one another, despite their mutual concern for migration and media. Owing to this last point in particular, scholarship has failed to fully address the broader media theories developed in …

Censorship And Intolerance In Medieval England, Richard Obenauf

Dissertations

Censorship is difficult to prove conclusively in the Middle Ages because manuscript culture is susceptible to the destruction of evidence, namely by burning works deemed unacceptable. Moreover, medieval authors were subject to many forms of intolerance which shaped their literary decisions. This dissertation proposes that the roots of formal print censorship in England are to be found in earlier forms of intolerance which sought to enforce conformity and that censorship is not distinct from intolerance, but rather is another form of intolerance. I draw on political writings by Peter Abelard, John of Salisbury, and William of Ockham to establish a …

California Community Colleges Child Development Laboratory Schools, Shari Yates

Dissertations

Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs …

Onsite Integrative Clinics: Acupuncture, Positive Patient Outcomes, And Frequency Of Provider Office Visits, Sherry Shoemaker Phd

Dissertations

Purpose and Aims. There is limited information about outcomes of care, resource utilization, and associated costs for patients who receive acupuncture in integrative health settings. The purpose of this study was to address this gap through the following aims: To examine: (1) changes in patient pain levels pre/post acupuncture treatments; (2) relationships between receiving acupuncture treatments (number of treatments, length of time, select demographic factors, (age, gender), pain level pre and post acupuncture treatments; (3) relationships between number of treatments, length of time, age, gender, pain level (pre/post acupuncture treatments) and provider visits (pre/post acupuncture treatments); and (4) relationship between …

Pre-Service Teachers: A Study Of Self-Theories Of Intelligence And Attitudes About Web 2.0, Lee Ann Smith

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship of pre-service teachers’ self-theories of intelligence (mindset) and their attitudes about Web 2.0. The research questions evaluate: (a) Whether a significant correlation exists between pre-service teachers’ mindsets and attitudes about Web 2.0 (social media), and (b) Whether significant differences exist between demographic groups (e.g., age, certification area, gender) and their attitudes about Web 2.0 (social media). Results of the study indicate that a weak correlation between pre-service teachers’ perceived mindsets and perceived attitudes about Web 2.0 was statistically significant. In addition, significant differences were found based upon certification area, gender, and age with the sample’s …

The Effect Of Stress And Perceived Social Support On Job Satisfaction: A Comparison Between U.S Born And Foreign-Born Faculty, Lisa Owen

Dissertations

Research indicates that academic work-stress is a significant and growing problem for faculty members. General work-stress studies suggest that social support may buffer the negative impact of stress on faculty job satisfaction. To date, little research has been conducted in this area. Even fewer studies have examined the potential differences between U.S.-born and foreign-born faculty members regarding these variables. This quantitative, non-experimental multivariate study utilized a survey to assess academic stressors, perceived departmental social support, and job satisfaction at a large U.S. university. The surveyed institution consisted of 807 full-time faculty members. The three-week survey yielded a response rate of …

Comprehending Male And Female Levels Of Engagement In Subsets Of The National Survey Of Student Engagement: Explicating The Dynamics Of Gender Role Conflict As A Mediating Factor For Males, Jacob Glen Arndt

Dissertations

Male enrollment and graduate rates in higher education have paled in comparison to female achievement since the early 1980’s, and explanations as to the reasons behind why males are falling behind have not been fruitful in addressing these issues. One area that has received very little attention in the literature is the role that gender role conflict may play in male student performance.

The purpose of this research is to explore male and female engagement levels, while attempting to understand if levels of male gender role conflict are a mediating factor of engagement for men. This study utilized the three …

On Women And Running: A Feminist Rhetorical Investigation Into The Political And Ontological Implications Of Consciousness-Raising Via The Sharing Of Women's Running Stories, Janelle Leann Briggs

Dissertations

The goal of my dissertation is to further our understanding of the political ramifications of women's running stories by focusing on the intersections of feminist rhetoric, women in sports studies, political theory, and ontology. To this end, I examined six books written by women, about women, who participate in the sport of running. Since I am most interested in how gendered concepts teach us how to be "appropriate," and due to the fact that what is considered appropriate gendered behavior changes over time, I start from a place of understanding that "appropriateness" is necessarily both hegemonic and unstable. As a …