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Validation Of The Thermochemical Cycle Used In Computing Absolute Gas Phase Acidities And A Molecular-Orbital Study Of Protonated Ammonia-Water Cluster Ions, Jeremiah Aeschleman

Masters Theses

This work is comprised of two separate computational projects, an evaluation of the validity of an assumption made when computing absolute gas phase acidities with a thermochemical cycle and a molecular-orbital study of protonated ammonia-water clusters ions.

Relative gas phase acidities are measured experimentally and then adjusted using Hess' law to align them with an absolute scale. In the Hess' law calculation it is assumed that the electron affinity of A• and the ionization energy of H• are independent of temperature. To test this assumption, absolute enthalpies were computed for the anion (A^-) and the radical (A•) at …

Assessment Of Knowledge Regarding Three Popular Dietary Supplements: Chromium Picolinate, Creatine, And Androstenedione, Terry L. Williams Jr.

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Mutual Goal Setting On Understanding The Diagnosis Of Heart Failure In Adults, Susan V. Watson

Masters Theses

This secondary analysis examined the effect of mutual goal setting (MGS) on perceived understanding of the diagnosis of heart failure (HF). The conceptual framework for this study was King's theory of goal attainment. The sample consisted of clients with a diagnosis of HF from two Southwestern Michigan home care agencies. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a control group or intervention group and received eight weekly visits. Data were collected at baseline, 3 months, and 5 months using the general counseling section of the Self-Management Tool (Lorig et al., 1996). The secondary analysis sought to determine if MGS interventions improved …

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 …

The Effect Of Mutual Goal Setting On The Self-Efficacy To Manage Heart Failure In Adults, Melanie Ranta

Masters Theses

This study is a secondary analysis of data that examined the effect of mutual goal setting on self-efficacy to manage disease in general. The conceptual frameworks utilized were King’s theory of goal attainment and Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy. The sample consisted of clients who had been admitted to two home care agencies with a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure. After being randomly were assigned to either the intervention group or a control group, the subjects were visited in their homes over a course of several weeks. Data were collected at baseline and at 3-months using Long, et al. (1996) …

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 …

Perceived Health Status, Preventive Health Behaviors, Formal Education, And Potential Barriers To Health Care In A Rural Population, Tori Renee Gaultier

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine preventive health behaviors, perceived health status, level of formal education, and potential barriers to health care in a rural northern mid-westem state using Leininger’s Cultural Care Theory. A short questionnaire was designed to identify factors that may influence health for rural residents. The sample consisted of 159 adults. The questionnaires were hand delivered to 299 randomly selected homes. Analysis was performed using descriptive and Chi-square statistics. The results supported an association between fewer preventive health behaviors and more potential barriers to health care (χ₂ = 36.72, p < .001). A higher level of formal education was associated with higher perceived health status (χ₂ = 13.99, p < .001). Potential barriers to health care were not found to be associated with lower perceived health status.

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 …

Is There A Relationship Between Stages Of Change And Perceived Self-Efficacy Related To Exercise Among Low Risk Pregnant Women?, Rebecca Weiner

Masters Theses

The theoretical framework used for this study was based on Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1983) Transtheoretical Model. The purpose of the study was to determine if there is a relationship between stage of change (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance) and perceived self-efficacy regarding exercise among low risk pregnant women. Data was obtained through a survey of 140 low risk pregnant women from two private obstetricians’ offices. Participants were between 18 and 43 years old and primarily Caucasian (75%) and high school educated (85%). Each participant was successfully categorized into a stages of change based on their reported exercise behavior. The levels …

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 …

Cellular Automata Study Of The Feasibility Of A Parallel Optical Computer, Jason Robert Lane

Masters Theses

"The speed of modern electronic computers has inherent design limitations which will soon be reached. A possible substitute is the optical computer. In this project, the feasibility of the optical computer is explored by designing and building a parallel optical system. This system is used to test the basic principles that would govern a parallel optical computer. The system is based on the principle of cellular automata, which is a simulation technique used to study interactions of objects in a system. The following goals were set. The system would be based on cellular automata. A one-dimensional array with nine cells, …

Reconstitution And Characterization Of Membrane Proteins, Sarah Mia Pates

Masters Theses

“A membrane protein, cytochrome c reductase, was crystallized and examined using transmission electron microscopy. Two-dimensional crystals were prepared by two methods. In Method 1, the protein was solubilized in 50 mM Tris-Acetate (pH 6.0)/0.5 mM EDTA70.05% (w/v) Triton X-100 and reconstituted into a mixture of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine (4:1), dissolved in the same buffer. The Triton X-100 was removed from the mixture by dialysis in the presence of Bio-beads (SM-2) at approximately 25-30 °C. Method 2 was the same as Method 1, except that the vesicles were fractionated before reconstitution, and the pH and temperature for crystallization were 7.0 and …

Investigation Of Pattern Classification And Feature Selection Of Gaussian Processes, Vivek Ramaprasad

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on the application of statistical techniques for pattern classification where the patterns are power spectra of the recorded acoustic signals of occluded objects. Different approaches used to classify are : The Bayes linear and piece-wise linear classifiers, the correlation classifier, classification using error spectra and the clustering algorithm. Classifiers were designed and experiments were conducted to investigate the performance. The performance is evaluated in terms of the percentage efficiency by counting the number of vectors identified correctly and the number of vectors which were misclassified. The feature vectors from primitive measurement space is then reduced to lesser …

Life Tomorrow: Living Through The Redevelopment Of The Heartside Area, Mackenzi Anne Huyser

Masters Theses

The Heartside area is located in the central city of Grand Rapids and is bounded by the streets of Fulton, Wealthy, Ionia and Lafayette. The neighborhood has seen a number of developmental changes in the last seven years. These changes include structural changes in buildings and a change in the clientele who visit and live in the area. The development of the VanAndel Arena, in 1995, brought many new restaurants and stores into the neighborhood. An area occupied by vacant buildings, homeless shelters, and limited growth, Heartside has seen a rapid, intense period of redevelopment. The current residents in the …

A Preliminary Study Of The Gait Characteristics Of Children With Unilateral Transtibial Amputation, Matthew Weston

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe the gait characteristics of children with unilateral transtibial amputation. Four subjects with a unilateral transtibial amputation, ranging in age from twelve to sixteen years, were recruited through Mary Free Bed’s Center for Limb Deficiency. Testing was performed at the Mary Free Bed Motion Analysis Center under an established protocol for collecting and processing kinetic, kinematic, and temporal-spatial parameters using the Vicon® 512 motion analysis system. EMG data were processed using custom Matlab® (version 5.13) programs. The gait of each subject was individually evaluated for key gait events. Some important findings include decreased …

The Effectiveness Of Using Foot Orthotics As The Sole Intervention For The Treatment Of Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, Byron Horner

Masters Theses

Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is a common diagnosis treated by health care personnel. This study investigates the effectiveness of foot orthotics in the treatment of PFPS. Fourteen subjects experiencing PFPS participated. Each completed a Functional Pain Assessment (FPA) consisting of walking, stairs, biking, squatting and resting (sitting). Function was assessed using the Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADLS). After the initial FPA and ADLS. foot orthotics were placed in the shoes of participants and worn for the duration of the study. No other intervention was given. Follow-up testing was performed immediately after insertion of orthotics, after two weeks and again …

Examination Of Biomechanical Correction Technique™ As A Diagnostic And Treatment Classification System For Chronic Low Back Pain, Benjamin L. Asper

Masters Theses

Evidence supporting the use of one optimal treatment approach for low back pain is lacking in the research. Two models exist to aid in the formation of a diagnosis, the pathology-based model and the classification system. The pathology-based models use perceived pathology to arrive at a diagnosis, whereas, a classification system uses categories, criteria, and objective findings in order to place patients into a select group. The purpose of this research was to define a new examination and treatment approach called Biomechanical Correction Technique™ (BCT™) and report the treatment outcomes for a sample of low back pain patients with a …

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.