Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Case Study Of Health-Related Baccalaureate And Graduate Web-Based Simulated Clinical Learning Platforms, Kathrine Choura Branch

Dissertations

Simulation has been recognized as a teaching, learning, evaluation, and research strategy based on learning theories, that has come to play a significant role in healthcare education (Beal et al., 2017; La Cerra et al., 2019). Health-related academic programs in higher education have traditionally used simulation to fill gaps in learning and strengthen students’ clinical and critical thinking skills in conjunction with didactic classroom content, laboratory practice, and clinical education in the community setting (Hayden et al., 2014). With the onset and unpredictability of COVID-19, there was almost an immediate need for health-related academic programs across the world to transition …

Exploring Clinical Implications Of Consensual Non-Monogamy: A Proposed Intake Assessment Tool, Rebecca Tuttle

Dissertations

Relationships in the United States are often assumed to adhere to heteronormative and mononormative standards, which is problematic because a significant minority of individuals are neither heterosexual nor monogamous (approximately 4.5% and 4% of the United States population, respectively). As a result of mononormative biases in particular, alternatives to monogamy, such as consensually non-monogamous relationships, are often socially stigmatized and clinically pathologized. The existing research on consensually non-monogamous individuals indicates, despite negative assumptions, those who engage in consensually non-monogamous relationships demonstrate psychological well-being, physical health, and levels of relationship satisfaction comparable to their monogamous counterparts. While engaging in consensually non- …

The Impact Of The Black Student Excellence And Enrichment Program On The Retention Of Black Students, Angie Royal

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study investigated a retention program for Black students on a small, private liberal arts campus in the Midwest, to determine if the program increased the retention of Black students. It also examined why students chose to (or not to) participate in the program, what components of the program students found helpful, the challenges Black students faced on campus, and whether they would recommend the program to future students.

The gap in the retention rates of Black students compared to other ethnic groups has continued to be a topic of concern on college campuses. At the research site, this …

Esports Curricula In U.S. Post-Secondary Institutions: A Case Study, Debra L. Bell

Dissertations

Although the concept of Esports competency has been widely recognized, it is not yet well understood by the various educational institutions that have started offering certification programs in this field. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the multiple principles that have been established to promote this specialization.

The increasing popularity of gaming and esports has led to the development of a wide range of educational programs that are geared toward addressing the needs of the future workforce. Although the goal of these programs is to provide a comprehensive view of the various facets of this field, the …

Coastal Geomorphic Response To Sea-Level Rise, Storms, And Antecedent Geology: Examples From The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Clayton Dike

Dissertations

Sea-level rise and tropical cyclone activity are threatening coastlines around the world. Past geologic coastal responses can be used to inform future scenarios. This three-part study examines the response of coastal systems to sea-level rise, storms, sediment supply, and antecedent geology over the past ~ 140 ka.

The first study is of the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, coastal system along the northern Gulf of Mexico incorporating sediment supply, subsidence, and antecedent topography paired with an examination of geologic response to sea-level fall and rise. I used core and geophysical data that resolve incised valleys and other subsurface deposits from ~ …

Implementation Planning To Increase Treatment Integrity For Check-In/Check-Out With An Electronic Dbrc, Caitlyn Weaver

Dissertations

The present investigation assessed the effectiveness of Implementation Planning (IP) as a strategy for improving the treatment integrity of a commonly implemented behavioral intervention, Check-In/Check-Out (CICO). An electronic daily behavior report card (E-DBRC) was used to monitor intervention effectiveness for three students across a non-concurrent multiple-baseline design. IP was not associated with consistent improvements in treatment integrity for teachers who served as mentors within the CICO intervention. Teacher treatment integrity improved for one student’s teacher but had no sustained functional relation for the other two teachers. Student behavioral data were collected to determine if the implementation of CICO was associated …

Alternative Education Programs: An Exploration Of Programs And Supports To Reduce Juvenile Recidivism Among At-Risk Youth, Sarah Elizabeth Vanrensselaer

Dissertations

An exploration of alternative education programs and their relationship to juvenile recidivism was the focus of this narrative analysis. A constructivist epistemology and an interpretivist paradigm formed the conceptual framework, both of which aligned with the theoretical framework of Zimmerman’s (2008) self-regulated learning theory. The research questions focused on how alternative education programs impacted juvenile recidivism with a focus on 10 alternative education participants in Southeast, Wyoming, who have participated in the juvenile justice system. The use of multiple cases, coding, and collaboration between the researcher and the participants were used to ensure trustworthiness of this research. Results indicated the …

The Influence Of Chemistry Instructors’ Knowledge And Beliefs About Learning On The Implementation Of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices, Brittney J. Morgan

Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore characteristics which influence the implementation of evidence-based instructional practices of six post-secondary chemistry instructors in Colorado who report current use of these practices. The purpose of this study was to identify these characteristics to recognize areas of focus for future professional development. Knowledge and beliefs were also explored, as characteristics are often a culmination of these individual beliefs. Using a qualitative case study approach, a survey, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for this exploration. Instructors were observed using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math …

An Analysis And Performance Guide Of Olivier Messiaen’S Chants De Terre Et De Ciel, Joseph William Mcallister

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an analysis of musical elements in Olivier Messiaen’s Chants de terre et de ciel in order to facilitate performance preparation of the work. To begin, general information about Messiaen’s religious and musical upbringing is introduced, as well as relevant details of his marriage to Claire Delbos and the birth of their son, Pascal. This is followed by a discussion of the poems which Messiaen set in the Chants and their surrealistic aspects. The musical analysis begins with an examination of Messiaen’s compositional techniques as outlined in Technique de mon langage musical, followed by discussions of those elements …

Examining The Effect Of Gratitude On Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Loneliness, Adam John Paul Mackenzie

Dissertations

Loneliness has been demonstrated to have significant negative effects on overall well-being in the general population. Previous literature has demonstrated a significant association between loneliness and various demographic variables such as gender, age, educational attainment, relationship status, living arrangements and income. Because of the unique impact that the disease caused by the coronavirus, COVID–19, has had on a global scale in relation to physical distancing and increasing physical and psychological distress, the purpose of this study was to examine the role that gratitude played in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and loneliness among the general adult population of the …

Evidence-Based Equity In Chemical Education, Anna Margiotta

Dissertations

Using Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) and reflexive Thematic Analysis (TA) methods, the purpose of this case study was to construct theory about equity for students studying chemistry at public universities in Colorado. Interviews with students (N=12), chemistry instructors (N=9), and equity practitioners (N=9) as well as observations of chemistry classes (N=42) were collected. Along with these interview transcripts and in-class observations, surveys completed by participants were also included as data. Journal entries of a reflexive or memoing nature were written as part of the data analysis procedures. With these data, I explored potential methods of equitable change in chemistry instruction …

The Social Ecology Of Academic Achievement: Risk And Protection, Jannessa Lynn Kitchin

Dissertations

There is an academic achievement gap consistently observed in the literature between differential socioeconomic groups. Students who do well academically despite risk are academically resilient. Researchers investigating academic resilience have failed to incorporate contemporary resilience models into their research. The purpose of my study was to determine how dispositional, social, and school-based social protective factors interact and to evaluate their relationship with academic achievement as well as to examine cross-sectional differences in protective factors and academic achievement between students who were reared differential socioeconomic groups. Seven Structural Equation Models as well as Multivariate Analysis of Variance was used to investigate …

Enhancing Perspective-Taking Skills In Youth With Autism, Angelica Coumanova Kim

Dissertations

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are known to have deficits in the areas of social interaction and social communication. One postulated explanation for the challenges seen in these areas is an underdevelopment of Theory of Mind (ToM). Research in the area of ToM and the mediation of perspective-taking interventions on social interactive and communicative skills has yielded a wide range of results and needs to be further explored. Thus, the present study aimed to contribute to the field of research by implementing a perspective-taking intervention with children who have ASD, with the goal of enhancing positive outcomes related to …

Opportunities To Learn The General Education Curriculum: Literacy Instruction For Students With Significant Support Needs In Inclusive Settings, Heather Leigh Fitzpatrick

Dissertations

Students with significant support needs (SSN) have often been denied the breadth and depth of literacy instruction compared to their nondisabled peers. However, exposure to academic literacy increases when students with SSN are educated with their peers without disabilities within inclusive settings. While exposure is the first step to accessing grade level content, it does not necessarily mean that students with SSN will have the same opportunities to learn (OTL). Students with SSN require additional adaptions and supports to learn and make progress in the general education setting. Conversely, these supports are not always provided or used effectively to meet …

Clinician Experiences With Conducting Suicide Risk Assessments And Interventions, Sydney Lee Cople

Dissertations

Rates of suicide across the United States have been found to be increasingly prevalent and acute in recent years (Centers for Disease Control, 2018). To address this nationwide health crisis of suicidality, mental health clinicians are relied upon to prevent, assess, and intervene accordingly. Yet despite the ubiquitous nature of client suicidality, existing research has not yet examined how clinicians are experiencing working with such intense and acute risk for suicide. This qualitative phenomenological study sought to capture the descriptions of clinicians’ internal and external responses to assessing for and intervening with client suicidality in an effort to better understand …

Self-Care, Anticipated Stigma, And Personal Therapy In Mental Health Professional Trainees, Morgan Condie

Dissertations

Self-care has increasingly become encouraged as a means for maintaining well-being for mental health professionals; yet, there exists an unsettling lack of research and guidance on this topic for those within the field (Callan et al., 2021; Colman et al., 2016; Norcross & VandenBos, 2018). This has led to call for change and reform to recognize the importance of self-care as an ethical imperative and to incorporate it within the education and training of mental health professionals (Barnett et al., 2007; Barnett & Cooper, 2009; Wise & Reuman, 2019; Zahniser et al., 2017). These calls for reform and the increased …

“I Just Want To Play”: Methodological Considerations For Including Older Adults In Co-Creation Of Research With A Focus On The Meaning Of Activity For Residents Of A 55+ Active Adult Master Planned Community, Becky Alice De Oliveira

Dissertations

Co-creation of research with older adults is examined methodologically and the meaning of activity for older adults living in a 55+ active adult master planned community is examined contextually. Older adults are often the subjects of research but rarely involved as co-creators. Literature on co-creation of research indicates that it allows stakeholders greater participation (Halvorsrud et al., 2021), and older adults should be seen as stakeholders (Weil, 2015). This perspective challenges bias toward older people (van den Berg et al., 2019), and acknowledges the wealth of knowledge they possess as “experts” (Partridge, 2022). While potential exist for co-creation of research …

Overcoming Inner And Outer Constraints To Enhance Emerging Adult College Students’ Eudaemonic Well-Being: A Mixed Methods Study, Maha Ben Salem

Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is often recognized as a time of uncertainty, confusion, pressure, and stress. This time period also coincides in the Western world with many attending a college or university. Many emerging adults arrive at this developmental stage feeling the pressure and obligation for success but lack the resources needed to make required choices (Rogers & Maytan, 2012). Increasing levels of awareness and positive emotions represent a promising strategy for increasing eudaemonic well-being. To date, no known study has brought together constructs of self and constructs of education to foster eudemonic well-being. The current study fills gaps in the existing …

Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching In Co-Teachers At The Post-Secondary Level: A Cognitive And Enacted Approach, Lida Marie Lavelle Bentz

Dissertations

Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT), the knowledge used by a teacher to teach mathematics, has often been examined as a cognitive construct in K-6 teachers, but little research exists examining MKT in the post-secondary teaching context. Schoenfeld (2020) extended the definition of knowledge and thus MKT to include tacit and explicit perceptions. In doing so, Schoenfeld created the terms "big K" mKt and "little k" mkt, where mKt refers to the tacit and explicit perceptions used by a teacher to teach mathematics and mkt includes the teacher's understanding used in teaching mathematics (similar to cognitive MKT). Building from Schoenfeld’s conceptualization …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Virtual Instruction For Medication Administration Skill Acquisition In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Jenna E. Davis

Dissertations

To better meet student needs, nurse educators must explore alternatives to traditional educational approaches that will accommodate student needs while still providing essential instruction and feedback for students. Virtual skills instruction is one flexible option for practicing the clinical skill of medication administration, but the effectiveness in developing skill acquisition is not known. The influence of students' self-efficacy as well as personal and professional factors such as healthcare experience and nursing program type are also unknown.

The purpose of this study was to describe the medication skill acquisition of prelicensure nursing students who participated in virtual medication skill instruction at …

Additive Metal Deposition Feedback Optimization For The 3d Hybrid Metal Printer, Andrew James Wyman

Dissertations

In the additive manufacturing realm, explicitly the direct energy deposition method, there continues to be numerous advancements along with advantages to control print quality of the component and the ability to apply the successful repetition of metallic layers consecutively. Metal additive printed components have the capacity to directly use the component for the desired application or intended purpose from which the three-dimensional model was created. In contrast, plastic printers that produce components that would not hold to the physical conditions required such as a metallic component could withstand.

Research exertions were focused on improving the present Western Michigan University patented …

Teacher Perceptions Of Competence In Supporting Lgbtq+ Students, Christina Beushausen

Dissertations

LGBTQ+ students continually express concerns about safety in school. This population experiences various forms of bullying and harassment from not only their peers, but from their teachers. Teachers are unaware of the unconscious bias and heteronorms they carry into their classroom that alienate these students. Teachers express that they do not have adequate training to feel confident in their competence to intervene in the issues their LGBTQ+ students face. This study examined how teachers’ perceptions of their competency changed after participating in role-playing simulations as part of professional development. Participants included Midwestern middle school teachers who voluntarily participated in role-playing …

Project-Based Learning In Introductory Psychology: Modern Adaptations To An Academic Classic, Colton R. Olson

Dissertations

This study used a quasi-experimental design to examine the effectiveness of a project-based learning (PjBL) course design on meaningful learning, student goal orientation, engagement, and perceived classroom motivational climate in an introductory psychology course. Project-based learning was examined in comparison to a traditional, lecture and multiple-choice exam course design in introductory psychology over the course of one semester (N = 247). Generally, there is limited research examining PjBL in large introductory classes, specifically in relation to concrete outcomes such as meaningful learning and perceived classroom climate (Gurung et al., 2016). Therefore, the purpose of the study was to add to …

Rumination, Mindfulness, And Posttraumatic Growth During The Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model, Mackenzie Brianna May

Dissertations

Early research examining the impact of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic on the health and well-being of U.S. adult residents suggested the majority were experiencing an increase in anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms. The current study responded to calls for mental health professionals to view the COVID-19 pandemic as a form of mass trauma and sought to understand whether U.S. adult residents reported experiencing posttraumatic growth (PTG) in response to this mass trauma. Consistent with Tedeschi and Calhoun’s (2004) theoretical framework of PTG, the current study attempted to replicate a mediational model that had been used to explain the process …

The Science Is In The Dance: The Curricular Intentions Of An Innovation School, Tatum Michele Monaghan

Dissertations

This qualitative study employed educational criticism and connoisseurship to examine the curricular intentions of a school that was pushing to reform traditional standards-based curriculum methods. Improvement of the educational process required that focus be given to schools who had begun to do things differently, schools that had taken a risk to reform. This study examined a public school that holds innovation status. Data collection included interviews with the three founding teachers of the school and document analysis of a planning session transcript that included the school’s nine staff members. Additionally, data collection included document analysis of the founding teachers’ participation …

Getting Them To The Chopper: An Empirical Study Of Man Therapy, A Public Health Campaign Designed To Encourage Men To Utilize Psychological Services, David Gretz

Dissertations

This study examined the effects that the Man Therapy website may have on men’s attitudes and intentions toward seeking professional psychological services, factors that play a role in deciding if they will eventually engage in the behavior of seeking of professional psychological services according to the theory of planned behavior. A large number of men die by suicide every year, and many men struggle with mental health concerns. Various components of masculinities can serve as barriers that dissuade men from seeking treatment for these concerns. Man Therapy is a novel approach that attempts to better engage men with professional psychological …

“Beginning, Again And Again”: The Experiences Of Excellent White Educators In Diverse Urban Schools, Christopher Deremer

Dissertations

This narrative inquiry study focused on the experiences of reputationally excellent White educators working in diverse urban high schools. Using methods from participatory narrative inquiry (Kurtz, 2014), this study asked three participants to explore their respective journeys as educators in diverse urban settings and to use story and reflection as well as more traditional narrative inquiry methods of observation, interviews, and artifact analysis to identify emergent themes about what made these White educators successful and how their definition of success changed throughout their career. The focus on White educators was important because of the demographic divide between students in urban …

Expanding The Conceptualization And Applied Role Of Shame, Nathaniel Michael Burrow

Dissertations

Prior research has shown shame to be a key component of a variety of mental health issues, symptoms, and disorders; however, a growing body of research also found it to be integral in the process of seeking to atone, ameliorate, or repair a prior transgression. This study sought to further explore what factors influenced this process. By utilizing a posttest-only control group experimental design and the Gausel and Leach (2011) model as a framework, this study was able to operationalize and investigate the role shame had in motivating a prosocial versus self-defensive response. Additionally, this study advanced this model by …

Stealth Dyslexia: Cognitive And Achievement Profiles Of Gifted Students With Dyslexia, Anne Hardy Boris

Dissertations

Identifying students who are gifted with dyslexia (GWD) has presented a host of challenges to practitioners in school and clinic settings because these individuals possess both qualities of giftedness and learning difficulties, yet do not ‘fit’ in either category. The term “stealth dyslexia” was coined to indicate the presence of high abilities that may mask dyslexia traits, complicate diagnostic accuracy, and allow individuals to compensate for their weaknesses. The masking of reading difficulties can cause dyslexia to remain undetected in gifted children for a prolonged period of time which may leave them prone to academic disengagement. The present study provided …

Comparing Collegiate Coaches’ And Players’ Perceptions Of The Coaches’ Multicultural Competence, Lee Arakawa

Dissertations

The coaching effectiveness model developed by Horn (2008) describes cultural context as a backdrop that forms beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors displayed by sport coaches. Sue et al.’s (1992) multicultural competencies model stresses the value of awareness, knowledge, and skills used in all service fields to strengthen cross-cultural relationships. Therefore, multicultural competence has been identified from these models as a critical component of effective sport coaching. Despite the growing importance of multicultural competencies expressed by, and for, sport coaches (Mesquita et al., 2011; Santos et al., 2010), there remains limited understanding of how coaches obtain and apply multiculturally competent behaviors and …