Digital Commons Network^™

Early Childhood Educators’ Values, Behaviors, And Perceived Barriers Of Stem Education, Kelly Houle

Open Access Dissertations

The National Association of Education for Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media in the Early Childhood Programs (2012) calls for early childhood educators to intentionally and appropriately integrate technology into their teaching practice. Intentional and appropriate integration not only requires educators to find reputable resources but also necessitates new pedagogical approaches to teaching media literacy. Digital tools have the potential to enhance the educational experiences for students and provide opportunities for our youngest learners to feel empowered and develop agency in their communities. Early childhood educators lack professional learning opportunities …

From Page To Stage: Enlightenment Common Sense & The Semiotics Of The Body, 1660–1820, Nilton X. Gomes

Open Access Dissertations

How did eighteenth-century audience members or novel readers come to see beyond the facades of literary characters and narrators? By looking into moments of bodily concealment in the eighteenth-century novel and theater, this dissertation examines how authors and playwrights in this period wrote with subtly and force to make the body as and in many instances more legible to their readers as the words on the page or the dialogues on the stage in attempts to suture the gap that lies between what a writer intends and what a reader grasps in a literary work. It also stresses the body’s …

Using Fishing Industry Input And Fishery-Dependent Data To Improve Understanding Of Offshore Fishing Activity And Business Operations, Julia C. Livermore Sheehan

Open Access Dissertations

As the US Blue Economy expands, the commercial and recreational fishing industries in Southern New England face a plethora of challenges. Demand for ocean space is increasing with the expansion of offshore wind development, proposals for additional marine monuments and sanctuaries, and plans for offshore aquaculture farms. Spatial conflicts are therefore increasing, while climate change is driving physical oceanographic changes and biological responses in species at all levels of the food web, resulting in shifts in species distributions and therefore fishing grounds. These challenges contribute to the conditions that businesses must adapt to in order to survive. Therefore, fishing businesses …

Translanguaging Through Experiencing: The Lived Experiences Of Multilingual Learners Studying Chinese, Jiangping Cai

Open Access Dissertations

Although the United States has a population with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, multilingual education has been greatly influenced by monolingual and raciolinguistic ideologies (Flores & Rosa, 2019; García, 2014; Ruiz, 1984). With world language enrollment continuing to decline (Lusin et al., 2023), investigation of the lived experiences of diverse groups of multilingual learners (MLLs) would help to understand language learning from a sociocultural perspective, and better support multilingual education and planning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the Chinese learning experiences of native English multilingual students studying Chinese at a U.S. public university language program. The …

House Of Horrors: Shirley Jackson And The Perils Of The Domestic In American Literature, 1945-1965, Annmarie Demichiel

Open Access Dissertations

Recent years have seen a slight rise in academic and popular interest in the works of author Shirley Jackson (1916-1965). Jackson’s novella The Haunting of Hill House (1959) was adapted into a Netflix series in 2018, while Ruth Franklin’s 2016 biography of Jackson brought previously unknown or overlooked details of Jackson’s life to the attention of scholars and general readers alike. Scholarly treatments of Jackson’s work are steadily increasing, and the focus of such treatments remains consistent and somewhat narrow: interpretations include attention to homosocial and possible homosexual relationships in Jackson’s fiction; her fiction’s placement in the lineage of gothic …

Implementation And Evaluation Of A Nutriton-Focused Steam Summer Program For Urban Youth, Jacquelyn Potvin

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Youth from low-income, racially and ethnically diverse families are at increased risk for academic challenges and nutritionally inadequate diets. Summer programs offer an opportunity to foster interest and engage students in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education while addressing summer learning loss. Nutrition education early in life can help youth develop healthy dietary behaviors that they carry into adulthood. Project stRIde: Science and Technology Reinforced by Innovative Dietary Education was a summer program for 4-6th grade youth from racially and ethnically diverse and low-income families. The goal of the program was to engage youth in nutrition-centered …

Inclusion Of Curriculum In Higher Education Targeting Stigma For Working With Stigmatized Populations, Caitlin Nash

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Healthcare professionals often lack sufficient training to work with stigmatized populations such as persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and individuals with substance use disorders (SUD), leading to poorer healthcare and health outcomes. Understanding and addressing stigmas surrounding these groups is crucial to inform the development of competency in student curricula. This study aimed to (1) examine predictors of faculty’s inclusion of HIV/AIDS and SUD curriculum and related stigmas, and (2) examine predictors of HIV/AIDS-stigma, SUD-stigma, and knowledge of these stigmas among undergraduate students.

Methods: Survey data were collected from undergraduate students (n=1,039) and faculty (n=123) at a …

Strategies To Stress Less: A Meta-Analytic Review Of The Effects Of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Mbsr) On Self-Reported Stress, Gregory J. Champion

Open Access Dissertations

Introduction: Stress negatively impacts health, well-being, and productivity. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) interventions are a promising strategy to reduce stress, but they are not covered by most health insurance policies in the United States (US). A recent Delphi process gathered feedback from key stakeholders, such as clinicians, MBSR instructors and students, policymakers, healthcare administrators, and health insurance company leaders. The results indicated synthesizing the existing evidence of the impact of MBSR interventions on stress was the 2nd highest priority out of 43 options evaluated. Past research has indicated MBSR interventions may be as effective as active controls at reducing …

Managing & Disclosing Technical Debt In Firms: A Case Of The P&C Industry, Peter Ijomah

Open Access Dissertations

Technical Debt or Tech Debt (TD) was coined over three decades ago as a concept that impedes a firm’s operations. In the years since then, firms’ operations have evolved through Industry 4.0 technologies, digital transformations, and even a global pandemic. In the wake of these factors, newer TD types and tools have emerged. However, management inertia persists with TD management (TDM). As a result, there have been several costly TD failures in firms that have affected firm profitability. Firm shareholders usually find out after an issue has occurred, mainly because there is little to no disclosure of TDM activities in …

Measurement Invariance Of Novel Transtheoretical Model Exercise Scales, Kathleen Monahan

Open Access Dissertations

Purpose. To assess the measurement invariance of three novel Transtheoretical Model exercise measures.

Design. Cross-sectional.

Setting. Online survey study in the United States (US).

Subjects. 748 Black and/or Hispanic US-based adults.

Measures. Demographics, exercise engagement (IPAQ-SF), Stage of Change, Decisional Balance, Self-efficacy, and Barriers to regular exercise.

Analyses. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with increased restraints on model parameters to assess configural (no constraints), metric (factor loadings constrained), and scalar invariance (factor loadings and item intercepts constrained) in a sequential manner.

Results. Decisional Balance demonstrated scalar invariance across binary genders and metric invariance across …

Burden Among Caregivers Of Youth With Psychotic Disorders And Clinical High Risk For Psychosis, Devon Carroll

Open Access Dissertations

Schizophrenia ranks among the most debilitating psychiatric disorders across the lifespan, leading to poor recovery outcomes, high mortality rates, and a surge in comorbid health conditions (Charlson et al., 2018). When psychotic illness strikes before age 18, it follows a more complex clinical course, presents with more severe negative psychotic symptoms, and carries a greater genetic vulnerability (Armando et al., 2018; Lin et al, 2016). Children categorized with “clinical high risk for psychosis” (CHR-P), a term used to describe a prodromal phase characterized by a gradual onset and presentation of sub-threshold psychotic symptoms, experience high rates of suicidal behavior and …

The Impact Of Computer-Based Simulations On Content Knowledge And Engagement Of Anatomy & Physiology Ii Students, Bonnie Rayta

Open Access Dissertations

This exploratory mixed-methods study looks to examine if there is a relationship between the use of computer-based simulations (CBS), student knowledge and student engagement in an anatomy and physiology II course. Research question one (RQ 1) asked: does the integration of CBS into lecture-based instruction improve students’ knowledge (KWD) in a second semester anatomy and physiology II course compared to students who participated in non-CBS instruction. Research question two (RQ 2) asked: does the integration of CBS into lecture-based instruction improve students’ engagement (ENG) in a second semester undergraduate anatomy and physiology II course compared to students who participate in …

The Outsider Within: The Experiences Of Black Francophone African Students In Higer Education, Safietou Sagna

Open Access Dissertations

The research focuses on Black Francophone African international (BFAI) students in the United States. Research on international students is dominated by studies focused on Asian international students. Moreover, the participants in several major studies related to African international students are primarily from Anglophone countries. As a result, the educational experiences of BFAI students are not adequately represented in the bigger narrative about African international students. This multiple case study centers the voices of four BFAI students (3 men and one woman) to gain a better understanding of the factors that positively and negatively affect their educational journeys. The results of …

The Effects Of Nudges In Acquiring New Clients In A Wealth Management Firm, Howard J. Holmes

Open Access Dissertations

Financial Advisors typically have strong backgrounds in finance, investments, and financial planning, but not marketing. Financial Advisors often need help in acquiring new clients and investment assets. To meet this need, businesses have evolved in lead generation and digital marketing, but they fail because they do not relate to the psychological needs of the investor. It is estimated that only 29% (Dickler, 2019; Godbout, 2021) of all investors have a Financial Advisor. This study researches two issues: the psychological impediments to an investor not seeking a Financial Advisor and Behavioral Economic tools such as Nudge to measure the impact of …

Race And Sex Assigned At Birth As Moderators Of Harm Reduction Pharmacobehavioral Treatment Outcomes For Alcohol Use Disorder Among People Experiencing Homelessness, Silvi C. Goldstein

Open Access Dissertations

Among populations experiencing homelessness, alcohol use disorder (AUD) precipitates high rates of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity. Within this population, minoritized race, ethnicity, and sex assigned at birth populations experience disproportionate alcohol-related harm. A four-arm randomized control trial (RCT) of Harm Reduction Treatment with Pharmacotherapy (HaRP) tested the efficacy of harm reduction treatment with extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX; VIVITROL®) among urban-dwelling adults experiencing homelessness and AUD. The HaRP study included three treatment arms (harm reduction counseling [HRC], XR-NTX + HRC, Placebo + HRC) and a services-as-usual control group. The present secondary study 1) used a mixed methods approach to assess perceptions and …

Executive Functioning Interventions For Individuals With Adhd: A Systematic Review, Lauren Thompson

Open Access Dissertations

Ongoing research regarding interventions for executive functions (EFs), the top-down cognitive processes that guide planning and decision-making behaviors, aims to determine whether intervention programs result in significant improvements in EFs for both neurotypical and neurodivergent populations (Diamond & Ling, 2016). EFs are critical because they predict performance in other daily living domains, including physical health, quality of life, and job performance (Cristofori et al., 2019; Diamond, 2013). Research has found that individuals with a variety of mental health disorders as well as neurodegenerative disease often perform poorly on EF tasks. Particular attention has been devoted to the study of EF …

The Impact Of Peer Specialists On Client Outcomes: An Examination Of Mediational Factors, Esther Maria Quiroz Santos

Open Access Dissertations

Research demonstrates a positive impact of Peer Based Recovery Support Services (PBRSS) facilitated by peer leaders with lived experience of a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and/or mental health problems, and who are in stable recovery. The purpose of this study was to investigate PBRSS, their impact on client outcomes (e.g., substance use, health), and the factors (e.g., self-efficacy, perceived relationship with and helpfulness of peer leader) which mediate the relationship between these services and outcomes while controlling for important socio-demographic information (e.g., age). Data were collected across 58 sites within 25 agencies that provide PBRSS delivered by certified peer leaders …

Study Of The Factor Structure Of Commonly Used Measures Of Adhd, Anxiety, And Depression Among College Students, Emily Shepard

Open Access Dissertations

The present study aimed to examine the factor structure of three commonly used assessment methods, the ADHD Rating Scale (ADHD-RS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), among a sample of college students with and without ADHD with the goal of identifying a potential common inattention factor among the three measures. Additionally, the influences of race and sex on the factor structure was assessed. Participants were recruited from nine different universities in the eastern United States study (N = 456, n_ADHD =228). Each measure was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with comparison across ADHD …

Waiting Too Long To Move At Green Lights, Michael Landreth

Open Access Dissertations

A literary critique of the American working-class experience must be accessible to working-class readers if it hopes to impact or perform any service to its intended audience. Due to its ability to interrogate forms of institutional control that maintain the social hierarchy under which working-class Americans live, a formally experimental literary approach proves likely to be the best approach for critiquing the American working-class experience. Unfortunately, because formally experimental literature requires access to the time and resources needed for training in and exposure to a tradition of artistic experimentation, most working-class readers find formally experimental literature inaccessible. The work in …

The (Mis)Formation Of Identity In Joseph Conrad’S Novels: Ideology, Community, And The Self, Youngji Cho

Open Access Dissertations

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and The Secret Agent contain two broad themes: on the one hand, they critically portray the dominant influence of society or societal ideologies on the individual from a socio-political standpoint; on the other hand, they focus on the (dis)illusion of the protagonists regarding their own “ideal” identities from a personal standpoint. Rather than addressing one or the other, as many previous studies of Conrad’s novels have done, this dissertation argues for the intimate continuity between socio-political ideologies and personal identity by finding the point of contact between these two seemingly disparate issues. …

A Case Study Of Noncredit To Credit Pathways At Community Colleges, Amy Grzybowski

Open Access Dissertations

A high school diploma is no longer the path to financial stability; a person needs at least a postsecondary degree or credential to earn a median income (Carnevale, et al. 2019). Community colleges need to work to create opportunities for all students, including those that may enter school as an adult, and not straight from high school, to attain a certificate or degree. This study examines two public community colleges in the United States that have both noncredit and credit programs that are in different stages of advancement of clear, articulable pathways. The purpose of this qualitative case study was …

Computational Close Reading: A Critique Of Digital Literary Methodology, Damiano Consilvio

Open Access Dissertations

Computational Close Reading intervenes in digital humanities and American literary scholarship to negotiate a significant institutional and disciplinary problem: the devaluation of close reading and interpretation in digital humanities applications to literary studies in favor of more distant modes of reading. To remedy this issue, I pursue a core question meant to bring the literary and the digital into a more perfect confluence, as a demonstration of possibilities meant to run counter to these preconceptions about computational reading: how “close,” if close at all, can digital technologies bring us to the interpretive elements of literary texts? I argue that they …

“If You Are Trying To Help Students, You Should Probably Ask Them How You Can Help”: Testimonios Of Latina/O/ Hispanic College Students Who Persisted To Graduation, Joise Garzon

Open Access Dissertations

Latinx student enrollment in higher education institutions has been increasing and will continue to rise (McFarland et al., 2018), yet Latinx students have lower degree completion rates than their peers from other racial and ethnic backgrounds (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Higher education institutions need to learn directly from the lived experiences of this diverse population of students to better support their college completion efforts (Arbelo-Marrero & Milacci, 2018; Flink, 2018). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of Latinx students who persisted to graduation at a four-year Hispanic Serving Institution by examining two research …

Middle Children Of History: Male-Authored Post-1960s Fiction & The Nihilism Of White Male Protagonists, Emma C. Baughman

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the phenomenon of the white male nihilist as a recurrent character in British and American fiction post-1960. The utilization of this archetype by predominantly white male authors during this time period is symptomatic of the social, political, and economic changes that fundamentally altered the perception of the white masculine mythos in much of the Western world after the end of World War II. Because the perception of whiteness and masculinity is a primary signifier of the period’s changing value, my project approaches fictional texts of white male nihilism as objects of socio-cultural analysis that constitute a genealogy …

Executing Advanced Algorithms To Extrapolate Unique Electric Vehicle Users’ Charging Behaviors, Mehrsa Khaleghikarahrodi

Open Access Dissertations

Policymakers have structured legislation and targets to increase the adoption of electric vehicles and the deployment of charging stations. As questions arise on how to expand the electric vehicle infrastructure, advanced computational models are attempting to quantify the future placement of charging stations. These models, however, do not necessarily incorporate the variability of user behavior, as a subgroup of consumer behavior, as this information is not well-understood. This research aims to execute advanced algorithms and statistical analysis to explore the users’ charging behaviors that are insinuated in the existing literature. The results support the user-centric design of public charging infrastructure, …

Acculturative Stress, Mental Health Concerns, And Service Utilization Among Latino Immigrants, Elaine Ruiz

Open Access Dissertations

To better serve the needs of Latino immigrants, we must investigate risk factors for mental health concerns, such as acculturative stress, unauthorized immigration status, and barriers to mental health services (MHS). The purpose of the present study was to: (1) explore the relationship between risk factors and mental health outcomes in a sample of Latino immigrants, (2) examine differences across legal immigration status in mental health outcomes and acculturative stress, (3) assess the mediating effect of anxiety sensitivity, psychological inflexibility, and avoidant coping strategies on the relationship between acculturative stress and anxiety, and (4) examine barriers for MHS utilization among …

Home Health Care Nurses’ Experiences And Perceptions Of Providing Care To Older Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Joan R. Dugas

Open Access Dissertations

Home health care nurses were essential front line healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Research in this area has primarily focused on the experiences of nurses in the acute and long-term care settings. This study aims to: (1) gain an understanding of the subjective experiences and perceptions of home health care nurses providing care to OAs during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) elucidate aspects affecting the care provided to OAs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty nurses were interviewed between July 2022 and September 2022. The interviews were semi-structured and were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four …

Resisting Arrest: An (Auto-Theoretical) Essay On Prison Literature, James A. Ferry

Open Access Dissertations

All philosophy, according to Nietzsche, amounts essentially to “the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography.” Wayne Booth, author of The Rhetoric of Fiction, maintains that the creative writer is never ideologically disinterested, that “there is always some deeper value” at the core of the text. The current project explores the intersection of these two assertions; the degree to which the theoretician betrays his ideology is in dialectical tension with the idea that the life-writer is a latent ideologue. This project employs an auto-theoretical approach: an integration of theory and philosophy with autobiography. A …

Queer And Trans Inclusion In Finnish Teacher Education And Educational Research, Megan C. Jones

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents findings from a case study on queer and trans inclusion in a Finnish graduate program in educational research. The study was also able to expand to include experiences and perspectives from teacher education programs at the same university. This research serves an incredibly timely purpose of bringing issues of queer and trans inclusion to light in a context that is marketed as having idealistic educational practices and programs. Overall findings indicate that even in Finland, a country often looked at as an exemplary model of educational reform, there is a lack of queer and trans inclusion in …

The Effect Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy On Value Consistency During A Weight Loss Program, Leah Dorfman

Open Access Dissertations

In the last decade, the prevalence of obesity has increased significantly in populations worldwide. It is well established that overweight and obesity are associated with a host of deleterious health consequences. Standard Behavioral Therapy (SBT) for weight loss has been demonstrated to yield only modest outcomes with poor long-term maintenance. Therefore, efforts must be made to improve upon what is currently considered to be best practices in weight loss interventions, especially with a goal of improving retention and long-term maintenance. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavioral and cognitive intervention that implements both acceptance and mindfulness processes, and commitment …