Digital Commons Network^™

Home Environmental Modifications: Consumer Experience And Satisfaction, Linda L. Mohney

Masters Theses

This study investigated consumer experience and satisfaction in choosing home modifications to accommodate a disability. This study used semi-structured individual interviews and qualitative analysis to gather information from six people with disabilities concerning their experience with and opinion of home modifications. Seven significant themes emerged: a.) the importance of an adviser and self-agency in the modification process; b.) the inability of participants to distinguish OT’s contributions c.) participant’s perception of OTs as part of a uni-disciplinary team; d.) ineffective execution of environmental interventions; e.) inadequate knowledge of applicable laws, standards, and codes; f.) a disability vs. client-centered perspective, and g.) …

Stress Urinary Incontinence Parous Versus Nulliparous Women Ages 18-35, Lisa Stoner, Michelle Way

Masters Theses

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the unintentional loss of urine with activities such as sneezing, laughing, and coughing. Reports vary regarding age groups affected by SUI. Surveys were randomly distributed to women ages 18-35 in the family practice setting, in order to determine the incidence and reporting of SUI. It was found that there is a relationship between vaginal delivery and incidence of SUI. The percentage of women who reported symptoms of SUI to their health care professionals was 26.1.

Maternal-Infant Nurses' Knowledge Of Breast Feeding, Wendy S. Kershner

Masters Theses

This study explored the level of knowledge related to breastfeeding among maternal-infant nurses. It also explored whether there was a relationship between nurses' breastfeeding knowledge and level of education, type of clinical experience, years of experience and personal experience with breastfeeding.

A convenience sample of 67 maternal-infant nurses completed a modified version of Leadley's (1994) Breastfeeding Knowledge and Attitudes Survey.

Descriptive and correlational statistics were used to analyze the relationship between the variables and the nurse's breastfeeding knowledge. Data analysis revealed a mean score of 13.2 out of 20 questions on nurses' breastfeeding knowledge. There was no significant difference in …

Nurse Practitioners' Perceptions And Use Of Nursing Diagnoses, Gay R. Kaashoek

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of nursing diagnoses by nurse practitioners (NPs). Additionally, this study assessed NPs’ perceptions of the advantages and challenges to using nursing diagnoses. Data were collected by questionnaires mailed to a randomly selected national sample of 398 NPs.

Of the 249 participants, 48 NPs indicated that they use nursing diagnoses. No significant differences were found between nursing diagnosis use and selected demographic characteristics or educational preparation. However, the use of nursing diagnoses was significantly higher among participants who were expected to use them as NP students (χ²= 22.012; p …

The Frequency Of Breast Self-Examination In Women Who Participated In The Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, Kelly J. Moore

Masters Theses

This study used the Health Belief Model (HBM) to examine attitudes about breast health among women who had participated in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the HBM variables and the frequency of breast self-examination (BSE). A convenience sample of 80 women completed Champion’s (1993) HBM questionnaire.

It was hypothesized that the HBM concepts would significantly correlate with the frequency of BSE. However, only two significant correlations were found: a positive correlation between the frequency of BSE and perceived benefits (r=.37; p=.000) and a negative correlation between the …

Is There A Relationship Between Hardiness And Burnout In Full-Time Staff Nurses Versus Per Diem Nurses?, Carrie Hansen

Masters Theses

Recent advances in technology and the focus on cost-effective care may subject nurses to increasing demands in their jobs. These demands can lead to an increased level of stress and burnout. The concept of hardiness has been linked to burnout in studies among various groups. Hardiness is a set of personality characteristics that may function as a resource in coping with stress. This study examined the relationship between hardiness and burnout in full-time staff nurses and per diem nurses. The Neuman systems model served as a theoretical framework for the concepts of hardiness and burnout. A descriptive correlational design was …

The Effects Of Music Therapy On Anxiety In Surgical Patients, Mary Kay Williams

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of music therapy on cosmetic/reconstructive surgery patients’ preoperative anxiety. In this descriptive study, 48 patients were assigned to either the experimental or control group Patients in the experimental group listened to patient-selected music for 30 minutes in the preoperative period. A comparison was made between the patients’ vital signs and self-reports of anxiety, which was measured using the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. This was a partial replication of a study by Kaempf and Amodei (1989).

Betty Neuman’s health care systems model (1980) served as the theoretical framework …

The Effects Of Music On Pain And Anxiety During Intravenous Insertion In The Emergency Department, Paula R. Nichols

Masters Theses

The majority of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) are anxious and experiencing some degree of pain. Betty Neuman's Neuman system model, provided the theoretical framework to explore and describe the effects of music on the pain and anxiety experienced during peripheral intravenous (IV) insertion in the ED. A convenience sample of 41 subjects completed pain and anxiety visual analogue scales as well as blood pressure and pulse monitoring before and after IV insertion. Twenty-one of those subjects received music during the intervention.

An analysis of covariance was performed for post-procedure pain, anxiety, pulse, and blood pressure. Anxiety was …

Adolescents' Perceived Importance Of And Satisfaction With Development Needs During Hospitalization, Jaclynn L. Lubbers

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, was to examine the relative importance of needs of hospitalized adolescents. Second, was to measure perceived satisfaction with five selected developmental needs. This study was a replication of earlier work by Gusella, Ward, and Butler (1998). A descriptive design was utilized to answer the research questions. Fifteen hospitalized adolescents admitted to the general pediatrics unit provided the data for this study. Data analysis using summative means was performed to rank and compare importance and perceived satisfaction. Adolescents ranked medical information as their most important need during hospitalization followed by mobility, visits from …

The Perceived Quality Of Life In Persons Performing Peritoneal Dialysis, Paula A. Armstrong

Masters Theses

This purpose of this study was to describe the quality of life in patients who independently performed peritoneal dialysis at home for the treatment of end stage renal disease.

A descriptive design was conducted using the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index-dialysis version. A convenience sample of 31 patients from a Midwest dialysis facility participated in the study Subjects were asked to rate their level of satisfaction and the level of importance of 35 aspects of life. The reported quality of life was reported to be satisfactory There was a moderate positive correlation between the time on dialysis and …

Advanced Practice Nurses' Knowledge And Attitudes On Pain And Pain Management, Joann E. Baar

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge and attitudes of advanced practice nurses regarding pain and pain management, and to determine if a relationship existed between education, experience, clinical specialty, and recent educational sessions on pain management, and scores on the Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Survey. The convenience sample consisted of 78 advanced practice nurses or advanced practice nursing students in west Michigan. Data were collected via the use of mailed questionnaires. Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory of nursing provided the theoretical framework for this study.

No significant differences in scores were found among those with different …

Mental Health In Oldest-Old Adults: An Investigation Of Self-Transcendence, Marsha Luchtman Harrison

Masters Theses

This study explored Reed’s theory of self-transcendence as a potential developmental resource and correlate of well-being within the long term care population. Self-transcendence is a healthy maturation process of expanding one’s conceptual boundaries inwardly through increased self-understanding; outwardly through investing in relationships with others and the environment; and/or temporally by integrating perceptions of one’s past and future in a way that enhances the present. A descriptive correlational research design examined the level of self-transcendence and the relationship of self-transcendence to depression among nursing home residents. The sample of 51 oldest-old adults ranged from 80 to 103 years old.

Participants were …

Efficacy Of Zinc Supplementation In Reducing The Incidence Of Recurrent Vaginitis, Bonnie R. Bartz

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of zinc supplementation in reducing the incidence of recurrent bacterial vaginosis (BY) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (W C ). Forty-one subjects were selected from researcher’s patients based on at least two episodes of vaginitis in a six-month period. A control group (placebo) and an experimental group (30 mg zinc gluconate) were randomly formed from this selection.

Evaluation of vaginitis status was accomplished through wet mounts, pH test, and KOH whiff tests at the initial, 3, and 6-month intervals. Subjects sought treatment for vaginitis when symptomatic.

A t-test analysis showed no statistically …

Evaluation Of The Effect Of Home Care Interventions On The Self-Care Agency And Hospital Readmission Rate Of Patients With Congestive Heart Failure, Patricia K. Rau

Masters Theses

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is prevalent and patients with CHF incur costly hospital readmissions. It is crucial to reduce rehospitalizations and improve self-care in these patients. This blind experimental study based on Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory evaluated two nursing interventions provided to 49 home care patients with CHF from 42 to 94 years of age in western Michigan. The study results were drawn from a larger longitudinal study in progress by researcher Dr. Kay Setter-KIine, RN. PhD. One group received supportive-educative interventions and the other received placebo interventions. The study sought to determine if supportive-educative nursing interventions improved medication …

The Relationship Between Grandparent Caregiver Reactions And Support Group Participation, Karen F. Rishel

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between support group participation by grandparent caregivers and reactions to their care-giving situation. There were 25 grandparents primarily Caucasian, and from rural areas or small towns. All were high school graduates and nearly half attended college. A descriptive correlational design was used, and the conceptual framework was Dowdell's adaptation of Given's model on caregiver strain.

No correlations were found that were statistically significant between the number of groups attended and the sub-scales of Given's Caregiver Reaction Assessment. This may have been related to the sample size. Although …

The Effectiveness Of An Education Intervention Related To Knowledge Increase Among Adolescents Regarding Dietary Calcium And Prevention Of Osteoporosis, Deborah K. Fast

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention for 6th - 11th grade adolescents regarding dietary calcium and the prevention of osteoporosis. This was a secondary analysis of data from a study that used a pre-experimental pre-test-post-test; no control group design. Eighty-two boys and 102 girls completed the Healthy Bones Knowledge Questionnaire (HBKQ) as a pretest, received an educational intervention based primarily on dietary calcium intake, then completed the questionnaire again as a post-test.

As a group, the students demonstrated a significant increase in correct answers to calcium-related HBKQ items (t = 3.31, p …

Relationship Of Osteoporosis Knowledge And Perceived Susceptibility To Osteoporosis Among Hispanic Women, Johannie M. Troncoso

Masters Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the relationship of osteoporosis knowledge to perceived susceptibility to osteoporosis among Hispanic women. The Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, Strecker, & Becker, 1994) was the theoretical framework for the study. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 54 Hispanic women, ages 18 years and older, from two different areas in a Mid-Western state. The final sample, based on the inclusion criteria, constituted 41 subjects. The participants completed the Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT) developed by Kim, Horan, and Gendler (1991) and the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS) also developed in 1991 by …

Cognitive Complexity Of Heterosexual Arguments On The Civil Rights And Liberties Of Homosexuals, Kristopher Michael Goetz

Masters Theses

This study examined how heterosexuals argue about the civil rights and liberties of homosexuals and how various factors interacted in determining how complex heterosexuals' arguments are about two issues; the freedom of homosexuals to express their sexual orientation in public and the status of same-sex marriage. The factors examined were: value conflict (conflict in values experienced when dealing with an issue), issue familiarity (knowledge of the pros and cons of an issue), and perceived status (the perception that one's views are shared by most people or by only a few).

The value conflict experienced by the participants was assessed when …

The Relationship Between Neurotic Perfectionism And Symptoms Of Eating Disorders In College-Age Women, Valerie L. Devillez

Masters Theses

This study was designed to examine the relationship between neurotic perfectionism and symptoms of eating disorders in college-age women. There is minimal published research addressing this relationship, and only one study has been conducted in which eating-disordered subjects were compared to non-eating-disordered subjects. Sixty-five female participants completed survey materials including the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and the Neurotic Perfectionism Questionnaire (NPQ.) Participants were recruited from the Pavilion, the Eastern Illinois University Counseling Center, and from introductory psychology classes at Eastern Illinois University. Results suggest that there is a direct relationship between neurotic perfectionism and symptoms of eating disorders in college-age …

The Effects Of Gender And Parental Marital Status On Late Adolescent Risk-Taking, Jeff Daugherty

Masters Theses

Risk taking behavior among the adolescent population has increased in recent years putting America's youth in danger of many detrimental outcomes. Many adolescents currently engage in behaviors that represent health risks as well as those that are potential criminal risk. This study attempted to assess late adolescent risk-taking as a function of gender and parental marital status. Similarly, the self-esteem of late adolescent participants was also measured within the contexts of gender and family status. This study provides partial support for the idea adolescents with divorced parents engage in a significantly greater amount of risk-taking behavior than those with married …

Social Support Among Women In Families: A Descriptive Study Of Support In Intergenerational Relationships, Gina L. Bauswell

Masters Theses

This study examines the effects of social support in intergenerational relationships among women in families. The research examines ethnography as a study, some of the benefits of research done in intergenerational communication, changes in this communication over the time span of the intergenerational relationships, the transmission of this communication, social support, the positive effects of the phenomenon of this type of communication for all those participating in this dynamic process, and the heuristic value of this research. The participants were forty women in my extended family, and this study is based upon their answers to a questionnaire and focus group …

The Effects Of Program Frequency On The Physical Fitness Of Kindergarten Students, Tim Kliethermes

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of program frequency of physical fitness scores of kindergarten students. Kindergarten students from a daily program (n= 43, 21 males, 13 females) and a twice-weekly program (n= 143, 85 males, 58 females) were compared on specific fitness scores from the President's Challenge Physical Fitness Test (PCPFS, 2000). Specifically the purposes were to (a) determine if there were significant differences in males' and females' mean fitness scores compared across program frequency, (b) determine if there was a relationship between program frequency and percentage of male and female students meeting 50th percentile …

The Effects Of Empathy On Speech Ratings, Jill Mcnamara

Masters Theses

This research project tests whether empathy has an affect upon ratings of speeches. First the rater' s individual level of empathy is surveyed. Next, the many different definitions of empathy are broken down into cognitive and affective perspectives and altruistic motivations. The likelihood of empathy being a dispositional or situational trait is discussed. Various methods used to train individuals to enhance their empathic skills through behavior observation and schools and how effective these methods have proven to be is identified. Empathy was then examined as to gender affects an individual's ability to experience that emotion. Using two different speeches, one …

An International View Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Erin S. Wesley

Masters Theses

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability in the world. This was a descriptive study implemented through a survey which gathered information on epidemiology, demographics, service delivery, and the role of the SLP in countries outside the United States. Contact persons were notified and asked to distribute surveys to health care professionals who work with TBI. The survey was completed by 14 individuals in 5 different countries. Countries included Brazil, Israel, Italy, South Africa, and United States.

Compelation of this information revealed that there was a large variety of answers both within and between countries. There was …

Prevalence Rates And Factor Analysis Of Dsm-Iv Specific Phobia Types, Sarah P. Kerrick

Masters Theses

The Object and Situation Anxiety Survey (OSAS) was factor analyzed in a sample of 288 undergraduate participants. The OSAS is directly derived from DSM-IV (1994) criteria for specific phobia using the 5 diagnostic criteria across the 4 DSM-IV (1994) phobia types (animal, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, and situational), plus social phobia. Five reliable factors were derived from the OSAS that included each of the DSM-IV (1994) phobia types and social phobia. Prevalence rates for each phobia type were as follows: animal type (2.1%), natural-environment type (3.5%), blood-injection-injury type (6.6%), situational type (2.4%), and social phobia (8.7%). The prevalence of any type …

Parental Influence On Career Development Among College Students, Michael W. Ladd

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between students' perceptions of parental influence on their college and career choices and their emotional independence from parents. The relationship between satisfaction with career/major choice (as demonstrated by vocational commitment) and parental influence was also examined. In addition, relationships between emotional independence from parents and commitment to a career field were explored.

To meet the research objectives, four research questions were addressed. First, is the Perceived Parental Influence scale, developed for this study, a reliable and valid scale? Second, is there a significant relationship between students' perceptions of parental influence …

Differences In The Dreaming Style Of Schizophrenic And Non-Schizophrenic Subjects Based On Subscales Of The Dreaming Style Questionnaire, Larry Knopp

Masters Theses

The differences in dreaming style between 25 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia and 90 participants comprising a control group were examined. A Dreaming Style Questionnaire (DSQ), was administered to each participant. Nine subscales of the DSQ were used to explore differences in dreaming style between these two groups. A significant difference (p <.003) was found for the familiarity of characters subscales, showing those diagnosed with schizophrenia report that the characters in their dreams are unfamiliar to them. Trends were noted for the subscales assertiveness, low involvement, participation, and bizarreness. Information processing, function of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and dreaming style, were reviewed. It is concluded that dreaming style differences are found between the two groups. The significance of dream research is that innovative treatment methods for common mental health issues are being implemented and are proving to exhibit benefits to the recipient. Hopefully, research will shed some light on the etiology of mental health disorders resulting in better treatment methods.

Effects Of Guided Compliance On The Disruptive Behavior Of Two Students Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Nicole L. Weber

Masters Theses

The current study attempted to determine the effects of the environmental manipulations of partial task instruction, whole task instruction, and guided compliance on the disruptive behavior of two students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The participants included two elementary-aged students diagnosed with ADHD who were referred by their parent or legal guardian to a university-based summer assessment program. A functional analysis established that the disruptive behavior of both participants was motivated by contingent peer attention. Students were exposed to treatment conditions consisting of whole versus partial tasks as well as the guided compliance. While a single subject multi-element …

"Retracing Our Steps": Storytelling, Time, And Traditional Referentiality In Mama Day And Absalom, Absalom!, Christine Ann Roth

Masters Theses

Gloria Naylor and William Faulkner turn to the history and tradition of oral storytelling in their novels. Mama Day and Absalom, Absalom! especially present the concepts and techniques of the storytelling act. The complexities of the audience-performer dynamic and non-linear time in an oral storytelling event create obstacles for the teller (the writer) and confuse the role of the audience (the readers). Writers create the role of listening audience for the readers, changing the accepted rules of the readers by asking them to become participants. In Mama Day and Absalom, Absalom!, Naylor and Faulkner create connections between audience …

The Effects Of Diagnostic Status, Assessment Information, And Intervention Type On Teachers' Acceptability Of Treatment Recommendations, Rebecca Hassell Fogarty

Masters Theses

This study explored the effects of diagnostic status, assessment information and intervention type on teachers' acceptability of treatment recommendations in an analog procedure. Teachers from both a suburban and a rural school district read one of eight vignettes that varied diagnostic status (ADHD vs. no diagnosis), assessment information (traditional vs. functional), and intervention type (behavioral vs. pharmacological). Teachers' ratings of treatment acceptability were examined as a function of diagnostic status, assessment information and intervention type. Results indicated a significant main effect for assessment information, with the traditional method rated as more acceptable than the functional method, and a significant main …