Digital Commons Network^™

A Description Of The Maternal Decision-Making Process Regarding Circumcision, Cathy L. Rozmus

Dissertations

Mothers, as dependent-care agents for their child, must make multiple decision concerning the health care of the child. One of the first decisions that must be made by mothers of male children is a decision for or against circumcision. A conceptual framework consisting of Orem's (1988) model of deliberate action during dependent-care and Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action was proposed as an explanation of the maternal decision-making process. A qualitative study was conducted to determine if the proposed conceptual framework could provide an accurate description of the maternal decision-making process regarding circumcision. Interviews were conducted with 20 …

Anticipating Mothering In The Mexican Origin Woman, Susan M. Baxley

Dissertations

Not all women experience pregnancy and motherhood in the same way. There needs to be a greater understanding of how Mexican origin women experience pregnancy and anticipate mothering since Hispanics comprise the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive inquiry was to explore the meaning of attachment, commitment, and preparation during pregnancy as an anticipatory phase of mothering for the Mexican origin woman giving birth in the United States.

Managerial Caring, Multicultural Competence, And Organizational Commitment In A Department Of Nursing, Eileen A. Sullivan-Kaplan

Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the relationships among caring behaviors, multicultural competence of nursing managers, and the organizational commitment of those managers and their staff members. Additionally, a qualitative component was added in order to maximize the contributions of the staff member participants to the study.

Ideals For Nurses: A Study Of The "American Journal Of Nursing" And "Rn", 1940-1960, Lembi Saarmann

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the ideals promoted in two major nursing journals, the AJN and RN, from 1940 through 1960. A thematic analysis of both journals was conducted. This analysis revealed that the AJN consistently represented the viewpoint of the ANA and the "elite" of nursing. It reflected the thrust toward professionalization desired by the nursing leaders. RN, on the other hand, represented the views of the rank and file of nursing. It reflected their more practical concerns. This difference was most pronounced in the conflict between the ideals of service and self-interest and in the …

Leadership Trust: A Phenomenological Study Of How Major Superiors Of Catholic Women Religious Institutes Build Trust With Professed Members, Mary Amanda Nwagbo

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to explore how major superiors of Catholic women religious institutes build trust with professed members, using the 5 domains of competence, consistency, candor, concern, and connection.

Methodology: The study used a qualitative phenomenological research design to explore the lived experiences and behaviors of leaders with reputations of trusting relationships with their members. The study sample included 10 major superiors of Catholic women religious institutes in Southern California who exhibit trusting relationships with their members. Data were collected using interviews, observations, and artifacts and analyzed with the assistance of NVivo software, revealing …

The Role Of Therapeutic Communities In The Process Of Desistance: A Figurational Analysis, Darragh Farrell

Dissertations

The therapeutic community (TC) is predominantly used for the treatment of substance users. Its approach, which focuses on a strong sense of community, relies on the peer group itself as an agent of change. In one Irish TC, desistance from crime appears to be an unintended outcome of the social processes and cultural forces existing there. The current study utilises qualitative data collected from a small cohort of seven male therapeutic community graduates. All participants had histories of involvement in serious crime and had desisted to varying degrees. Using a figuarational approach, concerned with social processes, analysis of the data …

A Decade Of Desistance: An Exploratory Study In Desistance Theory, Brendan Marsh

Dissertations

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the lived experience of five ex-offenders who have not offended for a minimum period of ten years. How, and why, these individuals have maintained their crime free status shall be explored in detail in an attempt to understand the causal process that permits successful long term desistance from crime. Furthermore the desisting ex-offenders in this study are also ex-drug addicts. Exactly how criminal offending and drug addiction interacted in the past lives of the people is documented, as is the impossibility of abstaining from one of these behaviours only. This necessitates …

A Self Study Of My Leadership As Principal To Improve Student Achievement In Literacy In The Middle Grades, Latrese Tonya Mathis

Dissertations

This self-study examined my leadership practices as a principal and researcher. Herr and Anderson (2005) define self-study as "a focus on one's own personal and professional self." Through reflective analysis of my leadership practices, the Instructional Leadership and Grade Level Teams were supported with protocols and leadership methods to improve literacy instruction at middle grades. Upon reflection, concerns existed regarding inadequate and inconsistent student growth through the lens of school wide assessments. The examination of student data, root cause identification, and the development and monitoring of action items assisted to investigate my analysis of this concern. The significance of this …

The Theological Significance Of The Relations Of Freedom And Time In The Sciences And Humanities: An Evaluation Of The Contributions Of David Bohm And Pauli Pylkko, Michael F. Younker

Dissertations

The concepts of freedom and time underlay all other philosophical and theological questions. This dissertation addresses the natures and relations of freedom and time and their impact upon theological reflection, primarily through the works of the philosopher of science, David Bohm and the philosopher of the humanities, Pauli Pylkkö. These two representatives come from the two competing cultures of the sciences and humanities, which illustrate the deep philosophical conflict that has emerged between these cultures concerning the natures of freedom and time. Specifically, the paradigmatic contributions of Albert Einstein's four-dimensional 'timeless space-time' (with timeless freedom) alongside Bohm, on the one …

An Exploration Of The Role Of Mentoring On The Leadership Skills Of African American Senior Leaders In A Corporate Setting, Regina A. Stephens

Dissertations

This study explored the lived mentoring experiences of African American senior leaders who report directly to Vice Presidents or Presidents in a corporate setting, and how those mentoring experiences played a role in their leadership skills. African Americans having the guidance to appropriately navigate an organization to acquire those positions continue to be perplexing. Mentoring could be one essential step to help African Americans to prepare to lead in a corporate setting. Mentoring is a growth and development technique that has been in existence for quite some time and has helped many to understand how developmental relationships have proven its …

Predicting Violent Crime Reports From Geospatial And Temporal Attributes Of Us 911 Emergency Call Data, Vincent Corcoran

Dissertations

The aim of this study is to create a model to predict which 911 calls will result in crime reports of a violent nature. Such a prediction model could be used by the police to prioritise calls which are most likely to lead to violent crime reports. The model will use geospatial and temporal attributes of the call to predict whether a crime report will be generated. To create this model, a dataset of characteristics relating to the neighbourhood where the 911 call originated will be created and combined with characteristics related to the time of the 911 call. Geospatial …

An Initial Investigation Of The Role Of The Northeastern Alabama Plateaus In Modifying The Near-Storm Environment Of Potentially Tornadic Storms, Anthony Walter Lyza

Dissertations

The effects of terrain on tornadoes are poorly understood. Efforts to understand terrain effects on tornadoes have been limited in scope, typically examining a small number of cases with limited observations or idealized numerical simulations. One region where topography has been thought to potentially impact tornado frequency is along the Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain plateaus in northeastern Alabama. It has been suspected that storms often intensify and produce tornadoes upon reaching these plateaus, particularly Sand Mountain. The role of these plateaus in modifying the near-storm environment and storm evolution became a focus of the VORTEX-SE field campaign beginning in …

Synthesizing Realistic Social Networks Using Personality Compatibility, Daniel Anthony O'Neil

Dissertations

Social structures and interpersonal relationships may be represented in abstract mathematical objects known as social networks. A social network consists of nodes corresponding to people and links between pairs of nodes corresponding to relationships between those people. Social networks can be constructed by examining groups of people and identifying the relationships of interest between them. There are circumstances where such empirical social networks are unavailable, or their use would be undesirable. Consequently, methods to generate synthetic social networks that are not identical to real-world networks but have desired structural similarities to them are valuable. A process for generating synthetic social …

A Look Inside The Black Box: Understanding Communicative Exchanges In Online Learning Environments, Sara Douglas

Dissertations

Participation in academic discussions and peer collaboration activities is instrumental to student engagement, motivation, and mastery of course content. These activities also improve 21st century skills, such as listening, managing diverse viewpoints, and communicating effectively. Although online learning options in the United States have dramatically increased in the past decade, there is limited evidence that online high school courses offer sufficient opportunities for students to communicate and collaborate with teachers and peers. The purpose of this mixed-methods study seeks to find out if, how, and why students interact with others in online courses. Findings from observations of five high school …

Constructing A Theology Of Relational Life Through The Themes Of Creation, Incarnation, And Re-Creation As An Alternative To Current Categories Of Religions, Andrew Tompkins

Dissertations

This dissertation argues that current categories of religions are overly reliant on Western Enlightenment-based presuppositions and academic thinking that creates barriers in understanding God’s desire for all people to have abundant life. Many theologians and missiologists utilize these inherited categories without first subjecting them to the biblical canon. As a result, the theological and missiological discourse on religions is often grounded in extra-biblical presuppositions rooted primarily in an overly high view of human reason that do not accurately portray a biblical approach to relational life. These presuppositions do not accurately portray a biblical approach to relational life. I, therefore, compared …

Motivation For The Sharing Of Material Possessions In Acts, Philo's De Vita Contemplativa And The Didache: A Comparative Study, Lena V. Toews

Dissertations

Luke, in the book of Acts, depicts the sharing of possessions as a practice in the Jerusalem community of the first century. Several pericopes, occurring primarily in the first part of the book of Acts, embody the idea of shared property and seem to have important parallels to other sources of the time, including the Jewish author Philo’s work De vita contemplativa, where he describes a group he calls, “Therapeutae,” and in the Jewish Christian document Didache. This study seeks to identify beliefs correlated with the material sharing practices in the community of Acts and compare them with De vita …

Adventist Healthcare: A Qualitative Study Of 19th Century Founding Governing Principles In 21st Century Adventist Hospitals, Cesiah Yareth Pimentel Melendez

Dissertations

Problem and Purpose

Founding values and principles can help organizations stay focused on fulfilling their mission. This is especially true in faith-based organizations that seek to continue their founding principles as a governing commitment to their core identity. This study identified Adventist healthcare founding principles in Ellen G. White's early health visions and explored how Adventist healthcare leaders perceived these principles as governing principles applied to current Adventist healthcare practices.

Conceptual Framework and Research Design

Two metaphors and three areas of literature review guided my approach of this qualitative study of Adventist healthcare founding principles. My first metaphor of DNA …

The Interplay Of Racial Identity Attitude And Religious Orientation On The Social Integration Experiences Of Black African College Students And African American College Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions In The United States, Christina Miattamengie Johnson

Dissertations

Problem

Not much attention has been devoted to the academic experiences of Black African college students, the latter being typically categorized with those of African Americans (Kim, 2014). While research has effectively documented the social challenges that African American college students experience at (Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). much less research has been conducted on the social experiences of subcategories within the Black population, specifically, Black Africans. Though researchers have speculated on the potential differences between the social integration experiences of Black Africans and African American college students as these relate to religious orientation and racial identity attitude, no empirical studies …

Retrieving And Reimagining Sanctuary And Solidarity: Racial Disparities In Infant Mortality, Alyson Capp

Dissertations

In Milwaukee, Black babies die before their first birthday nearly three times as often as White and Hispanic babies. Prematurity is the major cause of infant mortality, and social determinants of health play a large role. Commitments from within Christian bioethical traditions can critique ethical frameworks commonly in use in US bioethics by calling for the incorporation of analysis of social power dynamics that is necessary for addressing this issue. Original ethnographic fieldwork that listens closely to Black mothers and health professionals uncovers key themes related to women's and infant health at the intersection of race, class, and gender. By …

Prevalence And Potential Buffers Of Intergenerational Trauma In African American And Latinx Parent-Child Dyads, Kandace Thomas

Dissertations

Buffering intergenerational trauma (IGT) is of great interest to researchers, policy makers and interventionists working to reduce the experience of trauma across generations within the family. IGT has been well studied among families who experienced the Holocaust and there is emerging IGT literature describing the impact of historical events and societal-based adverse experiences across generations. This study expanded upon the IGT literature by exploring and confirming the existence of IGT in a sample of primarily low-income African American and Latinx parents and their 6-year-old children; exploring pre-existing strengths and qualities in parents, such as Contemplative Self-Care (CSC) and Parent Self-Efficacy …

Toward Engaging The Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, And Theological Method, Jenifer A. Daley

Dissertations

Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is "How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other?" That is, "What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular?" This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional …

“The Zero To Three Years Are So Important” An Exploration Of The Needs Of Young Children In Ecec Settings From A Policy And Practice Perspective., Rosemary Brien

Dissertations

A strong body of evidence demonstrates that young children under the age of three are experiencing a critical period in their development which impacts long term mental and physical health. Responsive, secure and positive relationships between young children and their caregivers is integral to healthy social and emotional development.The principle aim of this study is to explore how the needs of children under the age of three are perceived and addressed in Irish early childhood education and care settings from a practice and policy perspective.A qualitative research approach was adopted utilising semi-structured interviews with managers of full day care settings …

Adolescent Female Substance Abuse: Risk And Resiliency Factors, Mary Bemker

Dissertations

Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) abuse is a major social and health concern for adolescent females. For the first time, female use patterns are converging with male patterns among U.S. adolescents. Despite evidence that gender differences could be associated with ATOD origin and precipitating factors, little attention has been directed to female adolescents and ATOD use. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to explore the experiences of adolescent females in relation to ATOD risk and resiliency factors present in their lives. This investigation used the Neuman systems model as its theoretical framework. Grounded theory methodology was employed to …

Mechanism For Leadership Development And Effectiveness: The Relationship Between Followership, Leadership, And Psychological Capital, Saurabh Gupta

Dissertations

Research supports the strategic role of a leader in improving individual and organizational performance (Day et al., 2009; Kaiser & Curphy, 2013). Developing leadership and enhancing leadership effectiveness remains at the forefront of organizational strategic plans (Day et al., 2009; Kaiser & Curphy, 2013). However, a majority of leadership development efforts fail in their purpose, which causes a leadership crisis in many organizations (Fernández-Aráoz, Roscoe, & Aramaki, 2017; Gurdjian, Halbeisen, & Lane, 2014; Kaiser & Curphy, 2013; Madanchian, Hussein, Noordin, & Taherdoost, 2017; Pfeffer, 2015; Wakefield, Abbatiello, Agarwal, Pastakia, & van Berkel, 2016). Neglecting the role of followership and using …

Diffusion, Adoption, And Network Constraint: Can Understanding Personal Networks Of Afghan Women Improve The Adoption 0f Agricultural Innovations, Clair Wilcox

Dissertations

A plethora of case studies conducted in myriad locations find that factors influencing the adoption of agricultural innovation are different, emphasizing the need for locality specific understanding (Waddingon 2014). The diffusion of agricultural innovations may be influenced by the structure of the social system in which that diffusion is taking place. This study investigates the social structure of rural Afghan women, in an effort to determine how they interact and exchange information, and how the personal network structure, and the nature of the women’s interaction influences adoption of innovations. With the objective of framing rural development programs targeting women in …

Social Capital In Indian Country: The Effects Of Bridging And Bonding On Job Acquisition, Stephanie Davison

Dissertations

Native Americans living in Indian Country continue to experience poverty due, in part, to a lack of sufficient employment opportunities. Indian reservations, often situated in rural areas, can be difficult to access and complicated land and political issues can make it difficult to attract outside investors. However, as is the case for most people, Native Americans living on or near their respective reservation communities do not necessarily want to leave home to find work. This study examined the social networks of a sample of Native Americans from two tribes in Montana. A social network analysis was conducted to understand how …

Self-Care Vs. Self-Sacrifice In Medical-Surgical Nursing Culture: A Critical Ethnography, Elise Jordan Juergens

Dissertations

The critical ethnography research examines need prioritization culture among medical-surgical nurses. Grove, Burns, and Gray (2013) define the problem statement as an explicit identification of the research need. Literature search yields scarce ethnographic research on the nursing population as a culture-sharing group, and no qualitative research exists regarding medical-surgical nurses’ self-need prioritization. The purpose of this critical ethnography is to observe medical-surgical nursing culture, related to personal need prioritization, as reflected by behavior and dialogue.

Qualitative research methodology is appropriate where statistical data is not. Research motivation involves seeking insight and sociocultural understanding. Critical ethnography is the chosen qualitative research …

What Makes Employees Stay? Examining Social Exchange Relationships, Organizational Commitment, And Intent To Leave Among Casino Employees, Laura Haley

Dissertations

Turnover in the hospitality industry is higher than any other industry. In order for organizations to ensure their competitive advantage, they must continually facilitate ways to improve social exchange relationships, increase organizational commitment, and reduce intent to leave. Implementation of strategic HRD initiatives aimed at encouraging the development of leader-member exchange, team member exchange, and coworker exchange are important to increasing organizational commitment and reducing intent to leave. The purpose is to identify if a specific type of Social Exchange influences organizational commitment and intent to leave above others.

Results of this non-experimental study indicated that leader-member exchange, team member …

Development And Validation Of A Measure Of Social Alienation For Student Veterans, Nicole Marie Justice

Dissertations

The number of veterans who return to college and university campuses following separation from the military is the highest since World War II and those numbers are expected to continue to rise (McBain, Kim, Cook, & Snead, 2012). Important to note is student veterans are a distinct sub-population of students on college and university campuses who have unique experiences and challenges--both as a result of their military experience as well as challenges that accompany transitioning from military to institutions of higher education. Given that unique challenges for this population often have a profound impact on social or interpersonal domains for …

Administrative Barriers To Compliance With The 2010 Ncaa Policy On Concussion Management, Tyler Norman

Dissertations

Concussions and concussion management in sport have become a polarizing public health issue. The best concussion assessment practices and “return-to-play” guidelines have been debated in both the scientific arena and in the media. At risk is the health of the athletes when proper diagnosis and treatment are not accurate for this potentially devastating injury.

Recent research estimates that approximately 1.6 – 3.8 million sport-related concussions occur each year in the United States (Brady, 2011), which can lead to chronic disease, swelling of the brain, cognitive impairment, chronic headaches, mood disorders, depression, blurred vision, double vision, cranial hemorrhaging and death if …