Digital Commons Network^™

The Efficacy And Feasibility Of A Context-Specific Autism Behavior Rating Tool With Real Time Data Collection Methods From The Perspectives Of Clinicians, Educators, And Parents, Kathleen Marie Panaccione

Dissertations and Theses

The incidence of autism has increased tremendously over the past 20 years; however, the tools used for diagnosis and educational identification have largely remained the same. Diagnostic and educational decisions are based on observations and interactions to identify hallmark skill deficits associated with autism. Research demonstrates behaviors are affected by the environment, and real-time data collection is more accurate than reflective methods.

The problem is current autism diagnostic and educational identification tools lack essential features. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), considered the gold standard, relies on contrived settings, and lacks an observational comparison to same aged peers. Autism behavior …

The Role Of Recovery From Work In Work Stress-Related Drinking, Brittnie Renae Shepherd

Dissertations and Theses

Alcohol consumption has been linked to numerous adverse health and well-being outcomes; therefore determining what motivates individuals to drink is of utmost importance. One reason individuals may drink is to cope with work demands and their associated strain. This may be especially relevant for correctional officers (COs) as this occupation has been associated with high levels of job stressors and strain and heavy drinking. Drawing primarily on the job demands-resources and ego depletion models, this study examined how emotional job demands contribute to CO exhaustion and alcohol use. Additionally, interactions between common recovery from work experiences and exhaustion were tested …

Image Stitching: Handling Parallax, Stereopsis, And Video, Fan Zhang

Dissertations and Theses

Panorama stitching increases the field of view in an image by assembling multiple views together. Traditional stitching techniques are proven to be effective only when dealing with parallax-free monocular images. Many challenges that remain unsolved in the stitching research area include how to stitch monocular images with large parallax, how to stitch stereoscopic images to maintain their stereoscopic consistency and original disparity distribution, and how to create panoramic videos with temporally coherent content. To provide more powerful stitching techniques with more universality, we first develop a parallax-tolerant image stitching technique. With the help of it, we then effectively extend the …

A Community Engaged Approach To Address Intimate Partner Violence Among Sexual Minority Women, Rachel Marie Smith

Dissertations and Theses

In response to a dearth of empirical literature concerning the mechanisms underlying female same-sex intimate partner violence (FSSIPV) perpetration, the purpose of this research is to inform intimate partner violence intervention and prevention strategies specific to sexual minority women. The research responds in particular, this research aims to inform a working intersectional model predicting FSSIPV perpetration, and to evaluate the face validity and construct coverage of existing survey measures related to gender, minority stress, and violence. Fourteen lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer women recruited from the greater Portland, Oregon area participated in a series of in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended one-on-one …

Conceptualizing The Mindful Teacher: Examining Evidence For Mindfulness Skills In Teachers' Classroom Speech And Behavior, Cynthia Lynn Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

Mindfulness-based interventions can improve teachers' capacities for attention and emotion regulation, as well as their prosocial dispositions like compassion and forgiveness. The purpose of this set of research studies (including three case studies and a larger non-randomized treatment -- control group quasi-experimental study) was to examine whether or not capacities like these, learned through participation in a mindfulness training (MT) program for teachers, become embodied and show through as changes in teachers' mindful behavior in the classroom -- specifically, their ability to be calm, clear-minded and kind-hearted in their speech and behavior with students in the classroom. These studies used …

Narratives Of Native American Women And Tribal Courts: The Framing Of The Violence Against Women Act Of 2013 In Mainstream, Native American, And Tribal Press Coverage, Alesha Marie Sangster

Dissertations and Theses

The Violence Against Women Act is a legislation created to expand more legal rights and services to survivors of domestic violence or intimate partner violence. Frame analysis was used to examine the coverage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 in three genres of press media: mainstream press, Native American press, and tribal press. Based on the media frames produced in the three media genres, the legislation was presented as more of a conflicting or controversial issue in mainstream press through the use of the conflict frame and the "Indian as other" frame. But all news coverage also presented …

Community Schools: A Public Health Opportunity, Catherine Diamond

Dissertations and Theses

Community schools link students, families, and communities to educate children and strengthen neighborhoods. They have become a popular model for education in many U.S. cities in part because they build on community assets and address multiple determinants of educational disadvantage. Since community schools seek to have an impact on populations, not just the students enrolled, they provide an opportunity to improve community health. It has been proposed that community schools influence the health and education of the area residents through three pathways: building trust, establishing norms, and linking people to networks and services. However, no research has been published exploring …

Patient And Family Engagement In Addressing Hospital Patient Safety Concerns: Experiences, Attitudes And Patient Safety Engagement Comfort Levels Of Recently Hospitalized Patients, Catherine M. Besthoff

Dissertations and Theses

Introduction

Patient engagement involves the behaviors of patients, family members, and health professionals (i.e., doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff) in a collaborative partnership to improve health and healthcare. It also constitutes organizational structures policies and procedures designed to foster and promote the active inclusion of patients and family members in health services delivery. Patient engagement is associated with enriched patient experience, patient safety and clinical effectiveness. An evidence base is essential for its translation from a conceptual framework to tangible programs that can be pragmatically implemented in healthcare delivery systems. However, little is known about how individual level factors, …

National Security, Mass Surveillance, And Citizen Rights Under Conditions Of Protracted Warfare, Krystal Lynn Conniry

Dissertations and Theses

This paper explores the complex relationship between securing the rights of citizens to privacy and national security priorities under conditions of government mass surveillance. The inquiry examines the conflict between those who support and those who stand in opposition of government surveillance, and is framed around the question of whether changes in technology and the concept of nationalism help inform our understanding of the increase in surveillance post-9/11. From a peace and conflict studies perspective, the work analyzes how the rise of nationalism in the post-9/11 era and the protracted wars against terrorism, in combination with the growth of technological …

Gender Bias And The Evaluation Of Players: Voice And Gender In Narrated Gameplay Videos, Robin April Crowell

Dissertations and Theses

This study evaluates perception differences of male and female narrators in video game tutorials. Video games have long been considered a masculine pursuit, and because of this, women have endured unpleasant surroundings and interactions in gaming and related communities. With the proliferation of technologies like Twitch and YouTube gaming, gaming is more communicative than ever, increasing potential for problematic interactions. Recent booms in these technologies emphasize the importance of understanding how varying demographics are perceived, as these perceptions influence interactions, potentially limiting the likelihood of women and others' involvement and interest.

Involvement in technology during youth is associated with interests …

More Than Meets The Eye: Latino Students In A Two-Way Immersion Program And Stereotype Threat, Edgar Ubaldino Solares Vega

Dissertations and Theses

Figures from the 2010 Census indicate that there are 50.5 million Latinos (16% of the total population) living in the United States (US) today. From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population experienced a very rapid growth rate of 43%, which accounted for over half the total population growth. More and more Latino students are entering our public schools and face the reality that 62 years after the Brown V. Board of Education ruling to integrate schools and equalize educational opportunities, schools are more racially and economically segregated and more unequal than they were more than half a century ago. As …

Understanding Neighborhood Satisfaction For Individuals With Psychiatric Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Study, Amy Leigh Shearer

Dissertations and Theses

Physical and social characteristics of neighborhoods are important to resident satisfaction for clinical and nonclinical populations. This study draws upon data collected from a sample of 172 individuals with psychiatric disabilities living in 16 supportive housing sites in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Research questions explore the extent to which subjective and objective measures of neighborhood physical and social environments contribute to neighborhood satisfaction for this population. Mixed methods were employed to construct a detailed understanding of the factors that influence satisfaction with one's neighborhood of residence. Predictor variables were neighborhood social climate, neighborhood physical quality, perceptions of safety, crime …

Information Literacy In The First Year Of Higher Education: Faculty Expectations And Student Practices, Meredith Esther Michaud

Dissertations and Theses

Information literacy is widely acknowledged as important for student success in higher education. Information literacy is the ability to sort through a large amount of available information, decide what is useful and believable, and apply it in an effective and ethical way. Faculty members have expectations regarding information literacy for students in the first year of college, while students have information literacy practices that may or may not match those expectations. In my study, I examined the alignment of faculty member information literacy expectations and student information literacy practices, focusing on freshman students and faculty members who teach freshman students …

Do Forest Commons Contribute To International Environmental Initiatives? A Socio-Ecological Analysis Of Nepalese Forest Commons In View Of Redd+, Harisharan Luintel

Dissertations and Theses

Forests in developing countries have the potential to contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate change, promote biodiversity and support the livelihoods of rural, local people. Approximately one-fourth of such forests are under the control of local communities, which primarily manage forests for subsistence and to meet their livelihood needs. The trend of bottom-up community control is increasing through the adoption of decentralization reforms over the last 40 years. In contrast, the United Nations has introduced the top-down program, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) for the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon and the sustainable management of …

Bridging The Worlds Of Home And School: A Study Of The Relational Worlds Of First-Generation Students In A School Of Social Work, Miranda Cunningham

Dissertations and Theses

Much scholarship on first-generation students has focused on their academic and social integration in college (Collier & Morgan, 2008; Lowery-Hart & Pacheco, 2011; Stuber, 2011). Little is known about the experiences of first-generation students in schools of social work. In this research I've expanded the focus beyond students' experiences of academic integration to explore how first-generation students in a school of social work describe their relational worlds and the implications for professional socialization.

Informed by Standpoint Feminism and Postmodern/Post structural Feminism, I conducted focus groups with 19 students in two undergraduate programs and one graduate program in a school of …

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …

The Mediating Effects Of Lmx On The Relationship Between Supervisor And Employee Age Differences, Satisfaction, And Retirement Intentions, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

Increasing age heterogeneity within organizations is pressing researchers to better understand the effects of a multigenerational workforce, teams, and dyads. In response to this, the present research aimed to investigate the effect of employee and supervisor age (in)congruence in relation to job and life satisfaction, as well as retirement intentions, all mediated by leader-member exchange (LMX), using a time-lagged design. Two different theoretical foundations were investigated. Based on the relational demography literature, better outcomes were expected to be associated with age similarity. Theories about implicit expectations relating age and social role guided hypotheses suggesting that beyond just similarity or difference, …

Social Support And Depression Symptomatology Post Injury In Division 1 Athletes, Alyssa Catherine Tiedens

Dissertations and Theses

The way in which an athlete responds to the injury--emotionally, behaviorally, and cognitively--can significantly affect the athlete's mental health in a negative way if not handled appropriately. There are different forms of social support that are known to be helpful with coping during specific stages of injury. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived levels of social support and depression symptomatology post injury in Division 1 collegiate athletes at Portland State University (PSU).

Participants were PSU student athletes (n=115). Variables: social support amount (SSQN), social support satisfaction (SSQS), and depression symptomatology (CESD-R) score. Selected injured …

An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Long-Term Mentoring Relationships From The Youth Perspective, Kevin Richard Jones

Dissertations and Theses

When mentoring programs are well-designed and well-implemented, young people can experience positive gains in a number of social, emotional, behavioral, and educational areas. While some of the processes underlying mentoring relationships have been explored, the voices and perspectives of participants themselves have thus far been largely excluded from the mentoring literature. The lack of participant voice in mentoring research suggests that an important source of empirical and interpretive information is unavailable to the field in the process of designing, implementing, and researching mentoring programs. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore how youth participants in the Friends of …

(Re)Presenting Peoples And Storied Lands: Public Presentation Of Archaeology And Representation Of Native Americans In Selected Western U.S. Protected Areas, Cerinda Survant

Dissertations and Theses

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit the Native American ancestral lands in the western United States developed for tourism and recreation. The stewards of these lands seek to engage visitors and enrich their experience, and simultaneously to protect the lands' natural and cultural resources. To achieve their mission, protected areas regularly use interpretation -- materials and experiences that aim to educate visitors about resources and see them as personally meaningful. However, there is little literature on interpretive content in protected areas, few qualitative studies of interpretation as constructed by visitors and interpreters, and little literature on the representation …

Language, Memory, And Exile In The Writing Of Milan Kundera, Christopher Michael Mccauley

Dissertations and Theses

During the twentieth century, the former Czechoslovakia was at the forefront of Communist takeover and control. Soviet influence regulated all aspects of life in the country. As a result, many well-known political figures, writers, and artists were forced to flee the country in order to evade imprisonment or death. One of the more notable examples is the writer Milan Kundera, who fled to France in 1975. Once in France, the notion of exile became a prominent theme in his writing as he sought to expose the political situation of his country to the western world--one of the main reasons why …

Transgender Patients' Experiences Of Discrimination At Mental Health Clinics, Corrine Ann Stocking

Dissertations and Theses

The transgender population is makes up about 0.3% of the U.S. population (Gates 2011). The term transgender is both an identity and an umbrella term used to describe people who do not adhere to traditional gender norms (Institute of Medicine 2011). Transgender people experience many barriers to services, negative health outcomes, and discrimination (Fredrikson-Goldsen et al. 2013; Institute of Medicine 2011; Eliason et al. 2009; Hendricks & Testa 2012). Mental health clinics are an important site for understanding transgender peoples' experiences due to being a gatekeeper for other medical services and their role in helping transpeople with issues surrounding coming …

Connecting To Nature, Community, And Self: A Conservation Corps Approach To Re-Engaging At-Risk Youth In Science Education, Sara Jo Linden

Dissertations and Theses

The social and environmental challenges of the coming decades will require that individuals possess environmental literacy: the understanding of natural systems combined with a sense of care for the earth, and the confidence and competency to act on its behalf. At the same time, disengaged youth need education environments that foster belonging and promote affective outcomes. The youth conservation corps model provides a natural context for engaging academically at-risk youth in environmental science education, while fostering connection to nature and student self-efficacy in ways that are experiential, relevant, and relationship-based. The focus of this study was a conservation corps program …

Identity Construction And Language Use By Immigrant Women In A Microenterprise Development Program, Linda Eve Bonder

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English.

The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress …

Relationships That Extend Beyond The Fence-Line: Private Landowner Attitudes And Interest In Conservation Easements, Ashley Lyn Vizek

Dissertations and Theses

Private land conservation provides an opportunity to address problems of habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss caused by an increase in the development and parcelization of private land. Conservation easements (CEs) are an innovative tool used by land trusts to protect significant natural qualities of private land in perpetuity, while also allowing the land to remain in private ownership. Traditionally, property represents an individualistic relationship, however, CEs redefine this relationship by seeking to maximize the overlap in private and public goods in property. In this study, I explore the relationship between the common good and private property through an analysis of …

The Importance Of Online Peer Relationships During The Transition To Motherhood: Do They Decrease Stress, Alleviate Depression And Increase Parenting Competence?, Bobbie Sue Arias

Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging …

Social Capital And Cultural Identity For U.S. Korean Immigrant Families: Mothers' And Children's Perceptions Of Korean Language Retention, Su-Jin Sue Jung

Dissertations and Theses

Through increasing immigration, the U.S. society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, as many U.S. language minority groups seek to assimilate, they face many challenges. One challenge is that their home language does not match the dominant language, English, that their children are learning at school. For Korean communities, maintaining Korean language presents a problem for families, especially for the mothers and children. The purpose of this study was to explore the U.S. Korean immigrant mothers' and children's perceptions of and experience with maintaining the Korean language and the effect that has on the development of social capital …

The Development And Validation Of The Social Recovery Measure, Casadi "Khaki" Marino

Dissertations and Theses

Mental health recovery is a complex phenomenon involving clinical, functional, physical, and social dimensions. The social dimension is understood to involve meaningful relationships and integration with supportive individuals and a wider community. While the recovery model developed from a movement led by consumers and survivors of the mental health system to promote hope, self-determination, and social inclusion, the clinical aspects of recovery have dominated mental health research and practice. The under-investigated area of social recovery calls for psychometrically sound measurement instruments. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate the Social Recovery Measure (SRM). The study was …

Starts And Stops: Multimodal Practices For Walking As A Group In An Augmented Reality Place Based Game, Adam Mcfaul Jones

Dissertations and Theses

Augmented reality, place-based games utilize GPS-enabled maps and mobile media recording devices to shift traditional classroom activities into real-world contexts. AR-games for second language learning is a new field of research, and few studies have examined the kinds of face-to-face interactions players engage in during AR-games. Using intensive, multi-camera video data of English language learners playing an AR-game, ChronoOps, this thesis describes how groups start and stop walking during gameplay. The method used is conversation analysis, and this study draws from theories of embodied and distributed cognition, situated learning, and interactional competence Walking to and from various destinations as a …

Intrastate Armed Conflict And Peacebuilding In Nepal: An Assessment Of The Political And Economic Agency Of Women, Gyanu Gautam Luintel

Dissertations and Theses

The proliferation of intrastate armed conflicts has been one of the significant threats to global peace, security, and governance. Such conflicts may trigger resource exploitation, environmental degradation, human rights violations, human and drug trafficking, and terrorism. Women may suffer disproportionately from armed conflicts due to their unequal social status. While they endure the same effects of the conflict as the rest of the population, they also become targets of gender-based violence. However, women can also be active agents of armed conflict and perpetrate violence. Therefore, political and scientific communities at the national and international levels are now increasingly interested in …