Investigating The Utility Of Video Modeling Interventions For Generalization Of Social Skills, Laura Ambrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Social skill deficits are a core, defining feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder. As such, many of the available interventions for children and youth with autism are designed to target social skill development. Although many of these interventions purport to be an effective means of teaching social skills to children and youth with autism, many are lacking in empirical evidence and do not satisfy criteria for evidence-based practice. Encouragingly, video modeling interventions have been deemed an evidence-based practice for children and youth with autism. Research demonstrates that video modeling interventions can prove an effective means for the generalization of skills, a …

Examining The Coach-Athlete Relationship As A Predictor Of Ncaa Student-Athlete Satisfaction, Collin M. Fehr

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to investigate NCAA student-athletes’ perceptions of the quality of their current coach-athlete relationship as well as ratings of student-athlete satisfaction. An additional aim was to determine if student-athlete perceptions of the quality of the coach-athlete relationship had a predictive relationship with their ratings of athlete satisfaction. A total of 387 NCAA student-athletes of all levels completed measures of coach-athlete relationship quality and athlete satisfaction. Respondents indicated generally positive perceptions of their relationship with their coach and reported moderately high levels of satisfaction. There were statistically significant differences between groups based on sport type …

Fostering International Mindedness In International Baccalaureate Classrooms: A Case Study Of Two Teachers, Madiha Syeda

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

International Mindedness is central to the mission of International Baccalaureate (IB) education and may be defined as a frame of mind enabling a person to get rid of prejudices of self and embrace a greater sense of the other. Through this study, I analyzed how International Mindedness (IM) is taught in a high school in the Western U.S. and prepared some suggestions for teachers in my country of origin (Pakistan). In this research, I studied three attributes of IM: multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement. Studying IM was significant because it may address the problem of closed-mindedness in Pakistan and …

Social Justice In Social-Ecological Systems: Resilience Through Stakeholder Engagement, Frederick I. Lauer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Successful management of social-ecological systems (SES) is predicated on quality collaborative exchanges between project stakeholders and management. The Southwest Crown of the Continent Collaborative (SWCC) Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) provided an opportunity to explore landscape scale collaborative management and SES outcomes. Global change and future uncertainty of landscapes prompted the SWCC to employ restoration treatment alternatives throughout 1.4 million acres of forests, most of which are publicly held. The SWCC currently monitors environmental and economic variables, with plans to monitor social variables. This thesis formalizes a proposed framework to investigate SES resilience, and explores public engagement as an …

K-Mer Analysis Pipeline For Classification Of Dna Sequences From Metagenomic Samples, Russell Kaehler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Biological sequence datasets are increasing at a prodigious rate. The volume of data in these datasets surpasses what is observed in many other fields of science. New developments wherein metagenomic DNA from complex bacterial communities is recovered and sequenced are producing a new kind of data known as metagenomic data, which is comprised of DNA fragments from many genomes. Developing a utility to analyze such metagenomic data and predict the sample class from which it originated has many possible implications for ecological and medical applications. Within this document is a description of a series of analytical techniques used to process …

Sharing Nature: Rival Visions Of Environmental Discourse, Charles B. Hayes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this paper I compare and evaluate the work of Steven Vogel, Akeel Bilgrami, and Jedediah Purdy regarding the place of normative conceptions of nature in political discourse. I argue that it is not in principle undemocratic, nor is it theoretically illegitimate, nor domineering to hold and express ideas involving normative conceptions of nature. On the contrary, it is often exemplary political discourse, well suited for deeply questioning our impact on the world and for inspiring collective change.

How Should We Conceptualize Moral Disagreements About Animals?, Kristian Cantens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

I intend this paper as a sort of philosophical reflection on my experiences as an animal activist. In my three years of doing outreach on college campuses, I came to an increasing appreciation for what Murdoch referred to as “the difficulty and complexity of the moral life and the opacity of persons” (Murdoch 1998d, 293). This appreciation came in turn at the cost of an increasing disappointment with many of the philosophers I admired at the time – namely, Peter Singer and Tom Regan. What I came to understand is that many of these contemporary moral theories were in fact …

Molecular Diversity Of Foliar Fungal Endophytes In Relation To Defense Strategies And Disease In Whitebark Pine, Lorinda Bullington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An invasive fungal pathogen, Cronartium ribicola (the causative agent of white pine blister rust) infects and kills whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) throughout the western US. Blister rust has decreased whitebark pine populations by over 90% in some areas. Whitebark pine, a keystone species, has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S., and the loss of this conifer is predicted to have severe impacts on forest composition and function in high elevations. Hundreds of asymptomatic fungal species live inside whitebark pine tissue, and recent studies suggest that these fungi can influence the frequency and …

An Investigation Of The Relations Between Stress And Prospective Memory, Brandon T. Stewart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prospective memory (PM) is a future-oriented memory system that entails “remembering to remember” intentions, or to perform actions in the future. People spend significant portions of their day-to-day lives forming and acting on intentions, and the ability to successfully generate, retain, and complete these intentions has important implications for one’s daily functioning and quality of life. Another common human experience is stress, whether that be short-term, acute stress, or long-term, chronic stress. Despite the significance and ubiquity of both PM and stress, the research base documenting the relations between them is sparse. This topic area necessitates additional research to delineate …

Adherence And Uncertainty Management: A Test Of The Theory Of Motivated Information Management, Ryan Thiel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examined the main predictors of adherence to a health regimen by patients clinically diagnosed with a heart condition. The theory of motivated information management was used to illuminate salient variables including uncertainty, emotion(s), outcome expectancies, and efficacy assessments. A total of 76 participants completed an online survey, asking about variables related to the theory of motivated information management, adherence, and quality of communication between patient and physician. All together, 90.8% of patients reported properly adhering to their health regimen. The results further indicated that participants had overall low levels of uncertainty regarding their health regimen, and reported positive …

Lgbtq-Inclusive Sexuality Education In Montana Public High Schools: An Assessment Of The Needs Of Health Enhancement Teachers, Andrew G. Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

BACKGROUND

LGBTQ youth face many unique health challenges. Rates of depression and suicide are exponentially higher for LGBTQ youth than for their heterosexual, cisgender peers. Rates of HIV and STI infection are rising among this demographic. Comprehensive sexuality education has demonstrated the potential to address some of these health challenges. Specifically, it has been shown to delay the onset of sexual intercourse, and to reduce pregnancy and transmission rates of HIV and STIs among youth. Several studies have looked at LGBTQ-inclusive sexuality education from the perspective of LGBTQ students, but few have looked at this issue from the perspective of …

Performing Whale-Watching In Juneau, Alaska, Chelsea Karthauser

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Nature-based tourism activities provide special contexts for human-wildlife interaction. In Juneau, Alaska, summertime tourists seek encounters with humpback whales, hundreds of which feed seasonally in Southeast Alaska’s coastal waterways. Tourists support a thriving whale-watching industry in the region. Voices in nature-based tourism studies, departing from prior rigid conceptualizations of tourism, have identified the need to investigate activities using innovative frameworks to address the tourism experience as an ongoing and fluidly constructed phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to construct a new understanding of nature-based tourism using a performance metaphor. The flexibility provided in a metaphorical approach allows for a …

The Practice Of Cartography: Imagining World Art Studies After Eurocentrism, Aja M. Sherrard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the discipline of art history becomes increasingly global, the prevalence of European systems of thought and the supremacy of European systems of value in the way that we record, synthesize, teach, and preserve history have become increasingly apparent. This primacy of European systems of value, what we may call Eurocentrism, can be reduced to a problem of singularity: the belief in a single canon, a single timeline, or a single hegemonic center. Taking as subject; the theoretical infrastructure of the discipline itself, the Eurocentrism that has shaped it, and the past twenty years of postcolonial discourse, this paper seeks …

Collaborative Problem-Solving For Environmental Justice, Sophie C. Wolfram

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An extensive body of environmental justice literature has demonstrated repeatedly what impacted communities have long known from experience, that environmental pollution including groundwater threats, diesel particulate matter, toxic releases, pesticide use, and hazardous waste sites, disproportionately burdens people of color and low-income communities. The environmental justice movement seeks to bring about equal protection of all people from environmental hazards, including equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. Advocacy within the movement has frequently adopted oppositional framings with respect to the state; however, collaborative approaches to environmental justice problem-solving have become more common, especially as states increasingly recognize environmental justice in …

Visions Of Sovereignty: Tribal Sovereignty Through The Lenses Of Postcolonialism, Indigenous Film, And Visual Anthropology, Martin I. Lopez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tribal sovereignty has been a topic of discussion since the beginning of colonization in America. Anthropological thought, especially postcolonialism theory, addresses how colonialism can be analyzed to gain a better understanding of Indigenous perspectives on sovereignty. Visual sovereignty, an example of Indigenous Film, is an interdisciplinary approach that can contextualize in specific histories and social interactions all while serving individual tribes, depending on which tribe the filmmaker represents. A film, for instance, can be edited in a way to convey Indigenous ideas of time and space and staged presentations of oral histories that are nearly impossible to display through written …

Radical Dissonance And Haunted Gestures: Rupture And Reverence In The Artwork Of Aja Mujinga Sherrard, Aja M. Sherrard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper serves to establish the studio practice of Aja Mujinga Sherrard within the framework of conceptual art, touching on the flexible use of media, the subversive or political nature of the work, and its relationship to movements and disciplines such as Feminism and Poststructuralism.

The section entitled “Race and Incoherence” addresses the practice of Radical Dissonance—or the creation of ruptures within commonly accepted concepts and social constructions—through the Costuming Kinship Series, 13≠12≠12.2 (Genetics Project), and Body Double. The section entitled ”Art, Loss, and the Unspeakable” traces an emotional shift in her work and speaks directly to the pieces …

Sms Parent Action Intervention (Span): A Pilot Study To Assess The Feasibility Of Using Text Messaging To Promote Child Health On An American Indian Reservation, Julia M. Malich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract

Purpose: Childhood obesity and its associated health risks are widely recognized as a major public health crisis in the United States (Johnson & Johnson, 2014; Proctor, 2008; Rogers et al, 2013; Vinci et al, 2016) and worldwide (Elías-Boneta, Toro, Garcia, Torres, & Palacios, 2015). Among children in low-income families, American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children have the highest prevalence of obesity (21.1%) compared to other racial/ethnic groups (14.74% overall) (Pan et al, 2015). Parents play an important role in introducing healthy foods and encouraging physical activity in young children (Birch & Ventura, 2009; Lindsay et al., 2006; Natale et al., …

Exploring The Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Knowledge Acquisition And Adult Sexual Self-Esteem, Guy Ray Backlund

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation investigated the relationship between sexual knowledge acquisition components (parents, sex education, religion, peers, siblings, media and pornography) in both learning and experience, age of first learning and first sexual experience, and quality of learning and first sexual experience in correlation to the construct of sexual self-esteem. Participants (N = 195) were college undergraduate students from the University of Montana and Gonzaga University between the ages of 18 and 25. A standard multiple regression analysis was performed, and between groups ANOVA post hoc analyses investigated comparisons of sexual knowledge acquisition components by Sexual Self-Esteem Inventory scores (SSEI) (Zeanah & …

Dispersal, Genetic Structure, Network Connectivity And Conservation Of An At-Risk, Large-Landscape Species, Todd Bartholomew Cross

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wide-ranging species face many threats to genetic connectivity. In light of these threats, one major challenge is the efficient use of scarce resources for the conservation of these species. Setting conservation priorities for landscapes and connectivity can be informed using molecular genetics, and can ensure the efficient use of scare resources to maximize returns in biodiversity conservation.

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage grouse) is a species of conservation concern that spans eleven state boundaries, land managed by multiple agencies, and one international boundary. Across the species’ distribution, the threats to the genetic connectivity range from agricultural conversion to …

Ecological Momentary Assessment Of Daily Microaggressions And Stigma-Based Substance Use Among Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Individuals, Nicholas Alexander Livingston

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: People who identify as LGBTQ experience elevated rates of minority stress, which has been linked to higher rates of substance use. Unfortunately, most extant research on this disparity is predicated on cross-sectional or longitudinal research methods that are insensitive to the effects of daily microaggression experiences, or their possible relation to daily substance use risk. The aim of this study was to address this knowledge gap using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Method: LGBTQ individuals (N = 50) were recruited from the University of Montana, attended a 90-minute orientation to complete baseline measures, and received instruction regarding the proper use …

Assessing Bicycle Helmet Use In College-Aged Individuals Using The Transtheoretical Model Of Behavior Change, Julia Anne Hammond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic brain injury is a serious public health problem in the United States, and cycling represents the largest category of sports-related head injuries. Helmets can significantly lower the risk of brain injury for cyclists of all ages. Yet, the incidence of traumatic brain injury as a result of a bicycle-related injury remains high. Due to consistently low base rates of helmet use in the college-aged population, this group is a prime target for research and interventions focused on bicycle helmet use behaviors. This research uses Prochaska and DiClemente’s Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behavior change to examine bicycle helmet use behaviors …

Set The Net: The Heritage Significance Of Fish Camp And Wild Salmon In Bristol Bay, Alaska, Sarah Jane Braund

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In over 10 years of environmental and socioeconomic studies surrounding the controversial Pebble Limited Partnership mine project design and permitting, commercial salmon fishers’ voices in Bristol Bay, Alaska remain unheard. To meaningfully participate in cultural resource management decision-making that affects them, communities need to speak, yet fisher communities rarely have an established voice. This dissertation uses critical collaborative ethnography and Indigenist research paradigms to describe how the recognition of living heritage communities can be facilitated through the identification of ethnographic landscapes. Such landscapes reflect the meaningful relationship of culture and place, concepts that are currently under-represented in Alaska. Not only …

Validity Of Clinicians’ Self-Reported Treatment Targets On The Monthly Treatment Progress Summary, Allison K. Powell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Several decades of research have been spent identifying and testing EBTs, but there is currently very little research that examines the therapeutic practices within usual care. The lack of understanding in this area has been implicated as a factor which hinders the successful implementation of evidence-based therapies (EBTs) into usual mental health care settings. The Monthly Treatment Progress Summary (MTPS) is a measure developed to enable monthly tracking of intervention strategies and content within a statewide system of children’s mental health care. Although a growing body of research exists examining the reliability and validity of the treatment practice and progress …

A Case For Theatre-Based Programming In Early-Childhood And Elementary Education, Tina M. La Plant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper seeks to answer the question, How can I use my professional experience developing a theatre-based curriculum for early-childhood and elementary students as a platform to advocate for the importance of theatre-based curricula in early and elementary education? The subject of this research project is a Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth Grade theatre-based education program founded by the author. The program was developed over the past 20 years at the Bertschi School, an independent PK-Fifth elementary school located in Seattle, Washington. For the purposes of this paper, the program itself will serve as a proving ground to explore and define primary …

The Use Of Email And The Relationships Between Education Leaders And Followers, Reda Haddouch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Through the use of a survey questionnaire and descriptive statistics to analyze the collected data, this quantitative research study sought to determine whether there is a relationship between the use of email as a form of communication and the quality of the leader-follower relationship in organizations. Two electronic survey questionnaires were designed based on questions derived from three already existing and pretested research instruments. Data were collected from faculty (n=28) and undergraduate students (n=92) at two higher education public institutions in the United States.

The predictor variables included age, gender, level of education, frequency of email use, responsiveness to emails, …

Violence, Catastrophe, And Agency In Nepal: A Deeper Understanding Of The 2015 Earthquakes And Border Blockade, Kassandra D. Viers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2015, Nepal was struck by two catastrophes. First, on April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, struck in Gorkha. Then, in September, a blockade was formed that prevented goods from passing through trade checkpoints between India and Nepal. Both of these events highlight social suffering, a form of suffering that refers to the systems of oppression, unequal distribution of resources, and broad social structures that serve to keep certain people impoverished and subjugate. The earthquake caused the most damage to vulnerable people, people already suffering the effects of structural violence. The blockade was created by …

Integrated Stress And Community Perceptions: Toward An Understanding Of Human-Cougar Tolerance, Lara Brenner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Evidence suggests that cougars (Puma concolor) are beginning to recolonize their traditional range in the Midwestern and Eastern US, returning to a landscape and a social environment that have changed drastically in a century of absence. Any hope of the cougar’s persistence depends on both human tolerance of their presence and on cougar tolerance of disrupted habitat. In this thesis, we took advantage of diverse cougar policy in place in the Western US to explore variation in human attitudes and acceptability of cougars and in the cougar stress response. We validated a process to identify and extract cortisol …

Student Satisfaction With A Student-Written Textbook In An Introductory College Biology Course, Greg Peters

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Textbooks are ubiquitous tools in college classes, particularly in the sciences. Regular use of textbooks to complement science coursework can foster academic achievement and scientific literacy. Textbooks are chronically underused in college study due to high costs, challenging and time-intensive content, and perceived low value. In response, professors are increasingly using textbook alternatives including open textbooks, etextbooks, and wikis. Each has unique strengths and weaknesses.

Student-written textbooks are a less common, but growing, resource used to offer a low-cost alternative to publisher textbooks using collections of student research and writing. Student-written textbooks carry the possible benefits for students of supporting …

Moving Toward A Holistic Menstrual Hygiene Management: An Anthropological Analysis Of Menstruation And Practices In Western And Non-Western Societies, Sophia A. Bay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Educating girls is not only their human right, but also proposed as one of the best investments for improving quality of life in developing countries (Montgomery et al. 2016, 2). Although menstruation is a universal, biological process, it is fraught with cultural stigmas and taboos throughout Western and non-Western societies. Menstrual-related absenteeism is believed to be a primary cause of missed attendance and early dropout rates, so the developing field of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is seeking to understand and evaluate what factors are contributing to these findings. After the analyzation of the current literature, a more holistic, nine-pronged approach …

Perceptions Of Environmental Change: Nikutoru, Tabiteuea Maiaki, Kiribati, Jaime Lynn Bach

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The comparisons of scientific measurements taken around the world show trends of climate change, which are affecting the traditions of vulnerable populations. In the Pacific, many island peoples are already feeling the effects of the changes and are facing the predictions of future impacts. Some nations, like the Republic of Kiribati, are addressing the present and projected problems with proactive policies, while engaging with international agencies and cooperating with citizens in order to develop appropriate approaches to the change. The contribution of local knowledge has been recognized as valuable in assessing the changes and in the development of response strategies. …