Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Media Richness And Social Presence: Exploring The Impacts Of Media Channels On Individuals’ Levels Of Loneliness, Well-Being, And Belonging, Ashley M. Arsenault

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Loneliness is a universal part of being human and is detrimental to well-being. The need-to-belong hypothesis claims that individuals frequently having positive interactions with people close to them mitigates their loneliness. Media richness theory adds that rich media channels allow individuals to perceive higher levels of social presence and maintain those vital, close relationships. Understanding how a given media channel impacts online interactions and, in turn, the interactants is vital. This study used a pretest-posttest equivalent groups experimental design to examine if individuals who interacted with a close relationship partner over a rich media channel would have a decrease in …

Examining The Interpersonal Psychological Theory Of Suicide In A Sample Of Individuals With Psychosis, Jennifer Villa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Psychotic disorders confer high risk for suicidality. Previous research has found the symptom clusters of psychosis to have differential relationships with risk for suicidal ideation and behavior. Despite evidence for unique determinants of suicide among people with disorders on the psychosis spectrum, little research has examined theoretical models of suicide that aim to explore the transition from suicidal thoughts to behavior in this population. The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) may be particularly useful in delineating this transition, as the constructs underlying the IPTS overlap with symptoms and experiences salient in people with psychosis. We examined baseline data from an …

And The Busy World Is Hushed, Emily Elizabeth Collins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Syndemic Landscape: A New Paradigm For Montana Suicide Prevention Grounded In Agricultural Renewal, Emory Chandler Padgett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana has had one of the highest suicide rates in the nation for half a century, and since 2000, it has risen almost 50%. Despite suicide’s alarming persistence in the state, there has been minimal academic study of suicide or mental health specifically in Montana, so this thesis attempts to answer a few questions: Why does Montana have such a high suicide rate? Is there something culturally, historically, or socially unique about Montana that contributes to suicide? Are current prevention efforts helpful, harmful, or lacking? Could a consideration of culture and land benefit an understanding of suicide in Montana? What …

The Role Of Acculturation On The Relationship Between Selfcompassion And Depression Within Native Americans, Kristen Kaylie Pyke-Pierce

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research examining the relationship between depression and self-compassion in a Native American (NA) sample is limited (Tielke, 2016). Previous research has found a negative relationship between depression and self-compassion in the general population (Johnson & O’Brien, 2013; Macbeth & Gumley, 2012; Neff, 2003b). Additionally, culture has been found to be beneficial in decreasing depression symptoms in NA persons (Whitbeck et al., 2002). Furthermore, as far as this researcher knows, there is no research examining the relationship between depression, self-compassion and acculturation in a NA sample. This study explored the relationship between depression and self-compassion while utilizing acculturation as a moderator …

Traumatic Brain Injury: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Healthcare Oversight, Charles Robert Brown Gatlin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Introduction: State licensing boards (SLBs) serve as overseers to protect the interests of the public by ensuring that individuals who operate under a license to practice in a state uphold the standards of their profession. However, resolving complaints regarding unprofessional conduct for conditions that necessitate interdisciplinary care, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), may necessitate involvement from SLBs of other disciplines who are most qualified to evaluate the appropriateness of care. To date, there is no single pathway to address complaints regarding the interdisciplinary management of TBI as the mechanisms of the injury are complex, often do not address the …

Quantitative Social Science Methods, Social Networks, And Scalar Mismatches: Advancing Social-Ecological Systems Science Towards Adaptation And Transformation, Holly Kathleen Nesbitt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems to maintain resilience or undergo transformation is increasingly important for navigating global change. Although social interactions and ecological disturbances are often cited as an essential element of social-ecological systems, social interactions are often undertheorized and simplistic, and the relative effects of both social and ecological processes are rarely considered in tandem. In this dissertation, I work towards advancing social-ecological systems research by highlighting opportunities for improved quantitative social science methods, using structurally explicit methods to evaluate the mechanisms underpinning social interactions, and characterizing scalar mismatches in a social-ecological system experiencing a regime shift. In …

Understanding The Underidentification Of Autism In Native American Students, Emily A. Brooke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

School psychologists are called upon to promote nondiscriminatory practices that ensure equity and fairness for all youth, including racially minoritized students. Despite being overrepresented in almost every other disability category of special education, Native American students nationwide are underrepresented within the category of autism. The current study focuses on factors within educators that might lead to the underidentification of Native American students with autism. In alignment with the cultural humility model, and the tripartite model of multicultural competence embedded within it, the current study explored 36 educators’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills as they relate to the culturally responsive assessment of …

Traversing Paradigms: An Environmental Journey To Body And Mind, Martin Ceja Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic life experiences altered the way I perceive the world. As a result, I embark on a journey to reshape my relationship to self, the built and natural world; to environment. In this thesis I ask: How do I want to relate to the environment? Considering I am a doubly colonized agent, I also aim to decolonize my relationship to environment along the process. Therefore, this work aims to formulate a new, personal, relationship to environment through academic literature, history, psychology, Indigenous knowledge and science, and literary studies, among other fields of knowledge. This work is interdisciplinary in nature; life …

“The Long Arm Of The Dreaded B.I.”: The Bureau Of Investigation And The Origins Of The Federal Surveillance State, William Schuman-Kline

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis looks to analyze and understand how U.S. government officials created the first domestic intelligence agency in the United States: the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). In so doing, this paper examines how intelligence collection functioned within the U.S. prior to the creation of the BOI, what domestic and international concerns prompted the creation of a centralized institution like the BOI, and how the press, congressmen, and public opinion constrained the creation and early years of the BOI. This paper argues that from its onset, the Bureau of Investigation dedicated significant time and resources to surveilling American citizens for threats …

Hyflex: A Leaderships’ Perspective Of Self-Efficacy Post-Pandemic, Sandra Marie Adams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The HyFlex model for instruction allows for a student to choose if they will attend class in person, online synchronicity, or asynchronously. The aim of this mixed-method study was to answer the central question “to the central question, “How does the HyFlex delivery method impact faculty self-efficacy regarding teaching?” at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC). Sixteen members of the leadership at KBOCC completed a Likert scale survey and six participants agreed to be interviewed. Based on the results of this study, the leadership at KBOCC are open to the idea of implementing the HyFlex model. The faculty and administration …

Parent And Child Characteristics Impacting Identification Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder (Dld), Sarah E. Floyd

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose: Previous research has shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and dyslexia are under-identified in the general population. Parent or caregiver concern is a primary referral tool for these conditions, but may fail to accurately align with the actual presence of a disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine child and parent characteristics related to a child’s likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of DLD.

Methods: Within a large, 5-year, longitudinal study, kindergartener performance on a battery of speech, language, and literacy measures was examined to identify children with and without DLD and possible risk of dyslexia. …

Pharmacy-Based Immunization Laws And Adolescent Well-Child Checkup Tradeoffs: Results From The Nis-Teen 2019, Teigan Avery

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pharmacy-based immunization (PBI) has been heralded as a barrier-reducing way to immunize Americans and reach public health targets. PBI programs vary by state; some states prohibit vaccinating children in pharmacies while others allow pharmacists to prescribe and immunize persons of any age. There is concern that liberal PBI programs may boost vaccination rates at the cost of well-child visits. Parents may see PBI as an alternative to preventive well-check visits at a doctor’s office rather than as a complement, particularly for adolescents. This paper estimates the effect of state vaccination policies on individual adolescent 11–12-year-old well-checks using probit regression for …

The Influence Of The First-Year Seminar Participation On Student Retention, Sahar Sanavi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

College student retention is a complex phenomenon influenced by a myriad of factors and with wide-ranging implications for university function. First-year seminar is one approach to increase first-year student retention through involvement, engagement, and integration. This quantitative study examines the influence of first-year seminar on retention of first-year, full-time, four-year degree-seeking students who matriculated during the fall 2016, 2017, 2018 semester and remained enrolled for fall 2017, 2018, 2019 semester at six institutions in two Northwest states in the United States.

This study utilized an odds ratio to investigate whether first-year seminar participation had a statistically significant influence on the …

A Thinking Person's Guide To Immigration And Environmental Racism At The Us - Mexico Border, Emma H. Kiefer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border thanks in part to the strict immigration restrictions from the Trump administration, such as the family separation policy. Immigration remains a widely misunderstood issue and arguments against increased immigration are often laced with racist stereotypes and perceptions that find their roots in centuries of US policy, court cases, and administrative rules. Similarly, the concept of environmental racism can be difficult for the American public to understand when modern-day racism alone has become more insidious. Intersectionality, a concept coined by sociologist Kimberlé Crenshaw, asks us …

Resilience, Childhood Trauma History, And Foster Care Experience In College Students, Ashlyn M. Kincaid, Ashlyn M. Kincaid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Backfiring Effects Of Forced Political Allegiance In The Online World: The Case Of Preferred Pronouns On Twitter, Yin Lok Linus Chan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Political divisions in the United States have led to conflating political issues with political parties. People who possess a set of intercorrelated beliefs (e.g. pro-immigration, prochoice) are assumed to be liberal, while those who hold opposing intercorrelated beliefs are assumed to be conservative. Impression management research suggests that in the online world, minor cues on one’s social media profile that display political beliefs serve as indicators of people’s political ideology. While people are free to declare their political views on personal social media accounts, what happens when people perceive that they are forced to appear aligned with one political group …

School Leadership Under Apartheid South Africa As Portrayed In The Apartheid Archive Projectand Interpreted Through Freirean Education, Kevin Bruce Deitle

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to examine how teachers, school leaders, and students rationalize their roles in the educational process when their institution is bounded by an educational system that openly strives against them. For a context, this study examined apartheid-era South Africa, from 1948 to 1994, which established social and administrative policies that deliberately curtailed the education of Indigenous and other South Africans, as a means of oppressing non-European ethnic groups.

In lieu of face-to-face interviews, stories and interviews submitted to The Apartheid Archive Project, curated by the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, portrayed …

Integrated Primary Care Is Associated With Greater Job Satisfaction And Less Burnout Among Montana’S Medical And Behavioral Health Care Providers, C. Ivie English

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Most research to date on integrated behavioral health (IBH) or integrated primary care (IPC) practices has examined primary care settings nested within academic medical centers or clinics within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This leaves clinics in rural and/or underserved communities without much representation in the literature. Likewise, provider job satisfaction and burnout have rarely been linked to the IPC model. Through an online cross-sectional survey of medical and behavioral health care providers in various primary care-based health care settings throughout Montana, this cross-sectional study demonstrates that degree of behavioral health integration significantly predicts greater job satisfaction and lower …

Gozen In The Kindergarten Co-Teach Classroom, Suzanne Johnstone

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study analyzes the relationship between social emotional regulation and the program entitled GoZen!, for ten Kindergarteners in a Montana School over the course of a consistent nineteen weeks. To do this, a group of ten Kindergarten students’ behaviors were observed to compare the baseline number of visible self-regulation strategies to that following the initial modules, as well as following the entire GoZen! program. The data showed great promise with a 75% reduction in physical disruptions, an 85% reduction in harmful disruptions and a 18% reduction in verbal disruptions. The program used consisted of watching two-hundred and four short cartoon …

Beside| |Between, Brooke J. Armstrong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Beauty and the grotesque both induce physical sensations in the body. Pleasure and displeasure are two points on the same line. They are not mutually exclusive. Like the body and the vessel, like the self and the other all things exist in reciprocity. The capability of holding brings agency, breaking down perceptions of of subject-object relationships. The works presented in this paper represent a merging and a transformation of perceived separate entities. Craft history and processes inform the work present in the thesis exhibition, Beside| |Between.

I Just Want To Do My Job: The Experience Of Female Fighter Pilots In The United States Air Force, Alissa Christine Engel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Little is known about the female fighter pilot experience. As the Department of Defense recognizes the increased warfighting capability of a diverse force, it is important to understand the unique experiences of this rare group. This study uses a qualitative Phenomenology to investigate and describe the experiences of female fighter pilots in the United States Air Force. Several important findings emerged from the study including: the impact of the population’s minority status on their experience; the pervasiveness and impact of systemic sexism, institutional betrayal, sexual assault, ambivalent sexism, and pregnancy discrimination; details of utilized resiliency skills; the prevalence of burnout; …

Teacher’S Use Of Reflective Thinking, Kathleen M. Hill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative case study examined how teachers use reflective thinking. Teachers participating in a professional development course designed to increase knowledge and understanding of reflective thinking were investigated. Two of those teachers were looked at in depth. Data was collected and organized on four teacher practices: planning, implementation, questioning, and professional reflection. Based on the findings, teachers use reflective thinking for lesson planning, interacting with students, and for personal and professional growth. Lasting impacts on professional reflection were evident for one participant after ten months. This study tells the story of two teacher’s understanding and use of reflective thinking.

Activating Hope: How Functional Support Can Improve Hope In Unemployed Individuals, Rylee P. Walter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Hope is an adaptive mindset that enables one to work toward their goals and thwart obstacles they encounter in doing so. However, the stress associated with some situations, such as unemployment, can block hopeful thinking, causing one to become stuck in unmotivated and inflexible thinking patterns and therefore potentially trapped in the distressing situation. Through an online survey, this study explored whether functional support would predict reportedly low hope states in unemployed individuals (N = 235). More specifically, we predicted that functional support would encourage reappraisal of (and thus buffer against) distressing unemployment-related emotions, with that reappraisal altering the …

Development Of A Tool To Assess Reasons For Treatment Nonadherence In Primary Care Settings, Jacob Harrison Bloch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Decades of research demonstrate that people’s behavior has a tremendous influence on their overall health (e.g., DSHHS, 2014; Kokkinos, 2012; Segerstrom & Miller, 2004; Willet et al., 2006). Nonadherence to clinical recommendations is a common obstacle in healthcare (DiMatteo, 2004b), which is associated with worse health outcomes (DiMatteo, Giordani, Lepper, & Croghan, 2002). Behavioral health professionals (BHPs) are often involved in assessing and addressing nonadherence; however, there is a lack of standardization in how it is approached. Relatedly, there is no extant tool designed to help primary care BHPs efficiently identify barrier to adherence across diverse treatment targets. Such a …

Promoting Physical Activity Among American Indian Older Adults, Maja R. Pedersen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Physical activity (PA) promotion is acknowledged as a critical component to improve public health among the growing population of older adults in the U.S. American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) older adults experience disproportionately high rates of chronic disease and disability compared with non-Hispanic White peers, and demonstrate lower levels of PA, indicating a need for examination of unique factors influencing their PA behavior.

Purpose: This study revealed the current state of PA intervention research among AIAN older adults in the U.S. and utilized best practices to identify factors that can influence the development, adaptation, and implementation of PA …

Summit Learning And Rural Montana Teacher Efficacy, A Phenomenology, C. Roch Turner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the United States experimented with online learning platforms. Prior to that, hundreds of schools adopted the Summit Learning platform, meant to supplement face-to-face learning with digital instruction and curricula. This study is a qualitative phenomenology exploring the lived experiences of teachers in two rural Montana schools that have adopted the Summit Learning platform and maintained its use into the pandemic. Participants of this study taught core courses, such as math, science, and history. Results of this study indicate a high level of curriculum modification and support from leadership. Participants reported modified changes to …

Head Heart Hand Human, Michelle Kathryn Postma

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

My art is emblematic of the practice of accepting reality. The vehicles I use to do this are a cast of characters, materials and compositional strategies that in totality, remind the viewer and myself to be in the moment.

The thesis exhibition, Heart Vomit and the Dream Army, featured mural-esque ink paintings on panels and approximately 36 - 48 inch high abstract ceramic figures covered with images. Both the 2D and 3D works feature a cast of characters. These characters originate from “Michelle Land”, an imaginary world created to house an evolving symbolic visual language. The graphic black and white …

Hiding The Authentic Self: Concealment Of Gender And Sexual Identity And Its Consequences For Authenticity And Psychological Well-Being, James Michael Brennan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Concealment of gender and sexual identity is a reaction to societal stigma against gender and sexual minority (GSM) identities. Despite initially protecting against stigma, concealment has longterm psychological consequences. These consequences are potentially attributable to the psychological damage incurred from a reduced sense of authenticity among those who conceal their gender and sexual identity. Authenticity is compromised by concealment, serving to disrupt a person’s self-concept, as external behavior and an innate sense of self diverge. On top of that, an individual’s mental and emotional states may be impacted by these discrepancies. Additionally, concealment undermines the pursuit of intrinsically-motivated, goal-directed …

The Efficacy Of Art And Movement Treatment Modalities On An Individual With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tristen Valentino

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Current statistics report 1 in 54 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), many of whom have co-occurring mental health disorders. However, minimal research has been conducted on adults with autism with co-occurring mental health disorders and the efficacy of art and movement therapy techniques. This is the case study by Tristen Valentino, clinical therapist, of a client, David Smith (who was given the pseudonym to maintain confidentiality), a 35-year-old, obese, single, cisgender, heterosexual, Caucasian, male. The implications of this case study are discussed relative to the diagnosis and treatment of adults with ASD who possess comorbid clinical …