Digital Commons Network^™

Endo/Exo, Delaney Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist, Delaney Shae Rogers, discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Endo / Exo, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN. The exhibition dates are from March 25th through April 5th, 2024, with a public reception held April 5th, 2024. The author provides insight into the concept behind the work in the exhibition and shares how the making process and specific materials impact the work. This body of work explores coping with grief, anxiety, and the state of the world through the process of making and communicating otherwise difficult topics through visually digestible symbolic language.

Healthcare Providers’ Screening And Counseling For Tobacco Use Among Youth In The United States: Prevalence, Practices, And Providers’ Perspectives, Adeola Omolade Ayo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Youth tobacco use is a public health concern in the United States (U.S.) with about 2.8 million middle and high school youth reporting current tobacco use in 2023. Healthcare providers (HCPs) can play a crucial role in addressing youth tobacco use through screening and counseling, yet rates of these interventions are suboptimal. Tennessee has a high prevalence of youth tobacco use and not much is known about these interventions in Northeast Tennessee. This study has several objectives: 1) conduct a scoping review of available evidence on screening and counseling for youth tobacco use and identify related gaps; 2) assess youth …

An Environmental Struggle: Nature’S Role In The Poetry Of Seamus Heaney And Robert Frost, Jake Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Both New England’s Robert Frost and Northern Ireland’s Seamus Heaney are considered major poets of the 20^th century. Both poets present speakers who rely upon rural settings to explore troublesome feelings and difficult experiences. Their speakers project their human experience onto nature, but because nature is indifferent, they cannot find solutions for their personal discomfort and uncertainties. By examining the writers in this order—Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mary Oliver, Seamus Heaney, and Robert Frost—a spectrum concerning the poet and their relationship to nature emerges. By considering John Ruskin’s pathetic fallacy, we will see a movement from irrationality in transcendental depictions, …

Influence Of Medication Assisted Treatment Weaning On Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome And Outcomes Among Infants Born To Women With Opioid Use Disorder, Rakesh Adelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome exhibited by infants born to mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD). The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other professional societies endorse opioid agonist pharmacotherapy (MATs) as the optimal treatment for OUD during pregnancy. This study focuses on impact of weaning of MAT drugs on the incidence of NAS and neonatal birth outcomes among babies born to women with opioid exposure.

The study population included eighty-six pregnant women with OUD, divided in to weaning and non-weaning groups based on their choice to wean the MATs during pregnancy. Univariate analysis was …

The Association Between Prenatal Care And Postpartum Depression: Current State And Future Directions, Esther Adebayo-Abikoye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major public health challenge and associated with poor maternal and infant health outcomes. Quality prenatal care decreases adverse outcomes in pregnancy and may reduce PPD risk factors. This study critically reviews the evidence about the role of prenatal care practices in reducing PPD prevalence across population groups and examines the association between prenatal care timing and counseling content with PPD prevalence.

Methods

A scoping review was completed across eight databases to synthesize evidence about prenatal care and PPD across different contextual settings. National data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) was used …

Teacher Attrition: A Quantitative Analysis Of Driving Factors And Potential Solutions Among Highly Qualified K-12 U.S. Public School Teachers, Shari Donch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A comprehensive analysis is necessary to determine the cause of and solutions for the rate of K12 teacher attrition in the United States. Researchers have sought to understand the root causes of attrition or the institutional factors that influence teachers to voluntarily change professions. The most frequently identified factors include the personal characteristics of these teachers, freedom of curriculum development, teacher autonomy, and resources such as salaries. Evidence shows that this attrition among highly qualified teachers is detrimental to the quality of education, particularly in terms of student outcomes, and substantiates that effective initiatives surrounding remediation of these factors are …

Cabinet-Level School Administrators Intragroup And Intergroup Identity And Positive Leader-Member Exchange Dynamics: A Single Case Study, Larry R. Berger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the challenges faced by the cabinet-level administration of a South Texas K-12 public school district in navigating intragroup and intergroup identity dynamics, impacting leader-member exchange, follower obligation, organizational behavior, and citizenship. Poor integration led to silo mentalities due to a lack of communication skills and social identity awareness among leadership. The study explored the influence of leaders’ attitudes and behaviors on intergroup and intragroup identities by examining how positive leader-member exchange practices affected collective organizational behaviors. Employing the framework of social identity theory, this study contributed to understanding specific leadership domains and the effective motivation …

College And Career Readiness Effects On Minority Male College Retention, Naquiyah Lashawn Hodges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The continuously low college retention and low degree attainment of African American and Hispanic men is a generational and decades-long hindrance to the elevation of these marginalized communities in the United States and the state of Texas. In Texas, the last 3 years’ worth of data has proven college-readiness rates of African American and Hispanic college students were significantly lower by large margins than White students in English language arts, math, and both subjects by large margins. Consistent low college retention rates of minority men produce a need to conduct further research of how this phenomenon affects minority men …

Predictors Of Sexual Behaviors Of Launching Adults In A Post-Roe World, Brandon Hunter Gardenhire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent changes in abortion law created a need to study how these changes may affect the most at risk and sexually active community: launching adults. This study investigated if abortion attitude and political identity predict risky sexual behavior of launching adults, even in the presence of the reliable predictor of sexual attitudes. Forty-one unmarried launching adults (18-25) were recruited through snowballing and convenience sampling. Results revealed that abortion attitude was a significant predictor of risky sexual behavior (F(1,39) = 5.25, p < .05, ß = .462, R² = .119), but not while in the presence of sexual attitudes. There …

Comparative Analysis Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy’S Effectiveness In An Intensive Outpatient Program Setting, Efrain Frank Ellin Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and treatment as usual (TAU) within an intensive outpatient program setting, evaluating their effectiveness in enhancing various dimensions of psychological well-being. Guided by two main research questions, the study investigates whether ACT demonstrates greater or equal effectiveness compared to TAU and if it provides more immediate effects on psychological well-being within three weeks. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, the research incorporates a comprehensive array of measurement tools to assess outcomes related to anxiety, depression, stress, psychological flexibility, cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation, mindfulness self-efficacy, and life satisfaction among participants. The …

Standing Posterior Trunk Rotation With Adaptive Proprioceptive Toss, Jennifer Elvir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a remarkably individualized disease. Nearly every person’s trajectory is unique. One person may experience tremor at an early stage of the disease, while another may experience tremor at a later stage or even not at all. For all PD patients, for certain can expect increasing difficulty as the disease progresses. Parkinson’s disease is responsible for the loss of dopamine which displays itself most notably through motor and cognitive symptom disruption. Although Parkinson’s is a chronic and progressive condition that is irremediable, significant strides have been facilitated to help control and manage the trajectory of the disease. …

Factors Influencing Student Persistence Through Undergraduate Degree Completion: A Case Study Of The Social Engagement Of Black Students At A Private Historically Black College And University., Kayla Siddell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative exploratory single-case study examined the social engagement strategies utilized by one HBCU and the influences of these strategies on Black undergraduate students' sense of belonging and social engagement, which have been found to support and improve student persistence. Previous research on Black undergraduate students' social engagement and persistence has been primarily conducted at predominately White institutions (PWIs), with few studies explicitly focusing on social engagement and persistence at HBCUs. The site selected for this study was an HBCU under the pseudonym Fillmore State University (FSU). A qualitative exploratory case study was utilized as this methodology allowed the researcher …

The Influence Of The Principalship In Retaining Novice Teachers, Casey Whittle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of the qualitative descriptive study was to understand novice teachers’ perspectives of principal behaviors that keep them employed in a North Texas school district. A purposive sample of 12 novice secondary teachers and six secondary principals participated in semistructured interviews. The individual interviews were recorded and transcribed. In vivo coding and structural coding were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study confirmed that participants in the study believed certain behaviors of secondary principals influenced novice teacher retention. Novice teacher participants expressed a need to trust their principal and fit into the principal’s vision and …

Exploring A Potential Preparedness Gap Between Undergraduate Ministry Programs And Real-Life Ministry In The Southern Baptist Convention, Barton D. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract The aim of this multicase study dissertation research was to examine the experiences, perceptions, and feelings of pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention who completed their undergraduate degrees from a Southern Baptist Convention higher education institution. Participants of the study had 3–10 years of full-time church ministry experience in local Southern Baptist Convention affiliated churches and had not yet attended graduate school or seminary. These qualifiers were placed on the selection process to allow the discovery of a possible gap between the pastor’s higher education experience and the practical ministry training required for their first local church ministry. Two …

Resiliency, Mindset, And Academic Performance: A College Athlete's Perspective, Trisha C. Giacomazzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in this qualitative case study was the low graduation rates self-reported by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics institutions when compared to the general student population at a small Christian university in the Southern United States. In this study, I sought to acquire a deeper understanding of the degree to which an athlete’s mindset and psychological resilience influenced their perseverance and academic achievement on their path toward graduation. Utilizing semistructured interviews as the primary data collection method, I used purposive, convenience, and snowball selection methods to enlist a total of 10 participants from a pool of 52 …

Balancing Wellness And Leadership: Exploring Black Women Administrators’ Subjective Well-Being, Resilience, And Radical Self-Care In Higher Education, Lashae Grottis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leaders in higher education experience high and unrealistic demands for their skills, time, and energy, causing stress, competing priorities, burnout, compromised health, and attrition. However, unlike other racial and gender groups, Black women higher education administrators experienced these challenges more intensely. As a result of chronic stress associated with being undervalued and overworked, discriminatory and unwelcoming workplaces, and intersectional biases, Black women leaders are leaving higher education workplaces. Despite the link between gendered racism and unwellness, little is known about the problem from a positive leadership perspective. This study addressed the lack of knowledge of the wellness strategies Black women …

Community College Engineering Degree Partnerships With 4-Year Universities, Jeffrey Mark Stear

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing the number of STEM professionals and reducing inequities in STEM are national priorities. Community colleges are important to address these concerns because they represent a higher percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) and women students. However, students starting 4-year STEM degrees in community college have had a lower completion rate. Partnerships between community colleges and 4-year universities have the potential to improve success for community college students, but more research is necessary. The purpose of this ex post facto, quantitative, correlational study was to determine the relationships among participation in different types of partnerships between community colleges and 4-year universities, …

The Impact Of Gratitude On Academic Advisor Job Satisfaction, Alexandria M. Widener

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic advisors face high job demands and have among the highest turnover rates in higher education. Gratitude may have a positive impact on job satisfaction, but it has not been studied in this population. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to understand how dispositional gratitude at work, expression of gratitude at work, and receipt of gratitude at work predict job satisfaction in academic advisors. Academic advisors who were members of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, served in a full-time role at an institution of higher education in the United States, had worked a minimum of 6 …

Empowerment In Patriarchy: A Phenomenological Study Of Working Mothers In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Michael Snapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore systems of empowerment and support for female members of a patriarchal society who work full-time outside of the home. Specific to this study are the lived experiences of female members of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church) who are married, have at least one child at home, and have full-time employment outside the home, and the systems of support or empowerment that have been in place, or that they wish had been in place. Ten participants described their experiences as they related to working full-time outside the home, …

A Qualitative Descriptive Study Exploring The Perceptions Of New Teacher Induction Supports, Tonya P. Dixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of novice teachers leaving the profession in the first few years of their career represented a global issue and an increased attrition rate. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceptions of novice U.S. teachers and effective systemic supports provided to new teachers through the lens of social capital. For this study, the intangible components of social capital emerged through the development and fostering of mentoring relationships in an induction program. The methodology used was a qualitative descriptive study using a survey, interviews, and thematic analysis of the survey and interview data collected. The …

The Correlational Effects Of Academic And Demographic Factors On Nursing Students’ Attrition, Progression, And Completion At A University College Of Nursing, Adebusola A. Obafemi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High United States nursing student attrition rates have attracted political, organizational, and social interest for numerous reasons. This attrition places financial burdens on the students, results in revenue loss for the college, and exacerbates the existing nursing shortage. Students' success in a nursing program is crucial for nurses to practice nursing. The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the effects of academic performance and demographic/categorical factors on nursing students' progression and completion at a University College of Nursing in the Southern United States. The target population consisted of students enrolled at the University College of Nursing from January …

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Childhood Discipline Disparities For African American And Latinx Students, Cierra Townsend

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

African American and Latinx students are disproportionality impacted by punitive discipline models including suspensions, detention, and expulsions. This disproportionality removes students from the education setting creating adverse social emotional, academic, and economic outcomes. Students who are suspended and expelled are more likely to have contact with the juvenile justice system and or to be pushed out of school into alternative settings. Therefore, punitive discipline leads to increased school-based pathways to the juvenile justice system (SPJJ), also known as the school the prison pipeline (STPP). Despite knowledge of these adverse outcomes, schools continue to utilize punitive discipline practices. School psychologists are …

Assessment Of Method Effects Of Keying And Wording In Instruments: A Mixed-Methods Explanatory Sequential Study, Lin Ma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents an innovative approach to examining the keying method, wording method, and construct validity on psychometric instruments. By employing a mixed methods explanatory sequential design, the effects of keying and wording in two psychometric assessments were examined and validated. Those two self-report psychometric assessments were the Effortful Control assessment (Ellis & Rothbart, 2001) and the Grit assessment (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Moreover, the quantitative phase utilized structural equation modeling to analyze 2,104 students’ responses and assess the construct of keying and wording. Various hypothetical models were investigated and evaluated. The reliability of each construct in each method was …

Breaking Point: An Examination Of The Factors And Motivators That Determine Whether A Teacher Will Stay In The Classroom Or Choose To Leave The Profession, Katherine Treloar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers are quitting the profession in droves, leaving classrooms empty or overcrowded. As a result, students are receiving a sub-par education from unexperienced or underqualified teachers (Watling et al, 2010). Retaining teachers for more than five years is no small feat. Teachers face unrealistic expectations, chronic high stress, and mental and physical health problems that lead to widespread burnout. However, some teachers are able to overcome these obstacles and stay in the profession for long periods of time (Buric & Penzic, 2019). This study identifies the internal motivations and external factors that influence teacher job satisfaction and describes how those …

Phenomenological Inquiry Into Middle School Teachers’ Perception Of Creativity, Katalin Grajzel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers do agree that creativity is an ability that can be developed and should be fostered (Guilford, 1958; Parnes, 1961). Teachers play an important role in creativity development and often serve as gatekeepers to identify gifted and talented students (Bianco et al., 2011; Novak & Jones, 2021; Schack & Starko, 1990). However, teachers’ judgment of their students’ creativity often only correlates weakly with the results of creativity measures (Kettler et al., 2018; Torrance, 1963). Therefore, in this study I explored teachers’ perception of creativity and creative students as well as factors that support or hinder creativity. The findings revealed that …

#Getinked: An Anthropological Exploration Of Tattooing And Social Media, Delanee Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to address two inquiries regarding contemporary tattooing. The first goal is to explore how social media has changed the practice of tattooing while the second goal is to examine how tattoos are used to express or explore the differing facets of a person’s identity. Identity theory, social identity theory, semiotics, and the concepts of stigma and deviancy form the theoretical framework which allows one to understand the ways in which tattoos can provide insights into the various aspects of someone’s identity as well as how social media can influence members of the tattoo community. An online survey, …

Attrition And Turnover Intentions Of Paramedic Program Directors In The State Of Texas, Jacob Charles Braddock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prehospital care currently finds itself in a critical crisis as the number of emergency medical technicians continues to decline nationwide. This is especially alarming as such shortages have been exacerbated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency medical service agencies are looking to educational institutions to ensure that an adequate number of providers are entering the field. These institutions are led by program directors, who oversee all aspects of the program. However, these individuals are also leaving the role at alarming rates nationwide. The purpose of this action research study was to take a qualitative descriptive approach to explore …

Coping Strategies And Stress Of The Undergraduate Nursing Student In The Clinical Setting: An Evidence Based Practice Quantitative Study, Ashley Calverley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The assessment of perceived stress and coping behaviors related to first-semester clinical might benefit students in nursing education. The assessment of most common coping behaviors and perceived stress related to the clinical setting is essential due to difference in personalities, learning abilities, and coping behaviors among nursing students today. Previous research has suggested the initial clinical period results in adverse outcomes, such as poor academic performance, elevated burnout levels, and diminished personal well-being. These factors are detrimental to academic success in nursing programs. Evidence supports that helping students develop positive stress/coping abilities will aid in adapting in both the academic …

The Role Of Organizational Leadership In The Success Of Higher Education Institutions: A Portraiture Study On Ashesi University In Ghana, Amanda Childress-Kannan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa are severely under-resourced, systemically lack strong leadership, have low enrollment numbers, lack scholarly productivity, and have high rates of attrition and turnover of students and faculty. Higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa do not compete well globally, with low research productivity and failure to retain top scholars. Higher education institutions in Ghana are particularly facing this problem: Ghana has a relatively stable government, society, and economy, with less corruption and other malfeasance as compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Even with these advantages, Ghana generally fails to establish and maintain …