Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Employment On Health-Related Quality Of Life, Healthcare Expenditures, And Healthcare Utilization Of Older Adults, Diana Kachan

Open Access Dissertations

The proportion of adults aged 65 years and over in the U.S. population is rapidly increasing due to increasing longevity, as well as decreasing fertility rates. As a result, adults aged 65+ constitute the fastest growing group among workers, and this trend is projected to continue as the baby boomer generation enters retirement age. The positive effects of employment at older age on health has been suggested by previous research, however no comprehensive examination of health status of older workers has been conducted. In addition, the effect of employment at older age on such important health outcomes as health-related qualityof …

A First Grade Teacher’S Implementation Of The Multicultural Read Aloud Lesson In Voices Reading: How Active Participatory Structure And Personal Relevance Are Used To Mediate Text Engagement, Kristen B. Doorn

Open Access Dissertations

This study focuses on the implementation of a multicultural, instructional read aloud lesson by a first grade teacher using the Voices Reading literacy curriculum during a six-week summer academic program for students at risk for academic failure who lived in a primarily black, low income, urban community in the southeastern region of the United States. The study examined how the teacher promoted an active participatory structure during the read aloud lesson and how this aspect of her teaching was guided by the curriculum and program context. The study used a case study approach to qualitative research (Creswell, 2006) and thematic …

The Frontiers Of Environmental Education: Understanding The Role Of Community-Based Organizations In The Socio-Ecological Learning Of Urban Youth, Katie L. Crosley

Open Access Dissertations

Contemporary environmental education in the U.S. seeks to help learners understand, negotiate, and advance solutions for complex socio-ecological issues. However, there has been growing evidence over the past 30 years that environmental education is not achieving this goal. Further, environmental education research has highlighted gaps in knowledge, theory, and methodology that have made understanding how environmental education impacts learners and learning in a variety of contexts difficult to grasp. To address these gaps, I engaged in an interdisciplinary mixed-method case-study, guided by civic ecology (Tidball & Krasny, 2010), of community-based organizations implementing environmental education programs for youth in Miami, FL. …

Enacting Bilingualism: A Case Study Of Dual Language Bilingual Education Preschool Teachers' Coordinated Practices During Large Group Shared Book Readings, Ryan W. Pontier

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the ways in which a pair of Spanish/English dual language bilingual education preschool teachers—one teacher who was designated as the model of Spanish and the other teacher the model of English—enacted their bilingualism as they worked cohesively and simultaneously to work toward common instructional goals. Dual language bilingual education is an instructional model wherein bilingualism is promoted among all students regardless of their level of bilingual proficiency, and in which students are instructed a significant amount of the day in a language other than English (García, 2013). Methodologically, I drew on classroom video data, field notes, and …

Emotions As Accelerants And Retardants Of Goal Pursuit, Anthony G. Salerno

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interplay between different discrete emotions and goal states on motivated behavior. Previous research on emotion has typically focused on goal pursuit as a consequence of emotion. Similarly, research on goals has shown emotion to be a consequence of consumer’s motivated behavior. The current research examines the concurrent influence of emotion and goal states on each other to then influence people’s subsequent motivated behavior. Across three essays, this research examines how the pursuit of various hedonic and self-regulatory goals can be informed by different discrete emotions such as sadness, pride, and envy, to then influence people’s goal-directed …

The Temporal Dependency Hypothesis: Previous Look Durations Predict Next Look Durations, Whitney I. Mattson

Open Access Dissertations

Studies of cognitive, perceptual, and socio-emotional development in infancy have made extensive use of looking time as an outcome measure. These procedures typically rely on assessing infant looking; investigators have primarily focused on mean looking times for groups of infants. This practice, however, obscures information about the individual looks of individual infants. This project addressed this gap by testing the temporal dependency hypothesis: The duration of an infant’s successive looks at a target are positively predicted by the duration of the infant’s previous looks at that target. Temporal dependency was found in the Face-to-Face/Still-Face procedure at 6 months (n = …

Community-Based Philosophy And Service-Learning: A Case Study At Barry University, Christian A. Schlaerth

Open Access Dissertations

Service-learning, as a pedagogical technique, presents unique learning opportunities for students, where they get to use their skills and knowledge from courses to help improve communities that have particular needs. Barry University has recently begun to expand it program across the school, reaching into disciplines that are not often associated with service-learning. Barry is also a school that presents itself as aware of inequality, with the goal of helping to diminish it. However, there is a clear lack of philosophical direction behind the application of service-learning. This research seeks to ascertain the extent to which community-based philosophy is being employed …

The Impact Of A Curricular And Professional Development Intervention On Elementary Science Teachers’ Perceptions Of High-Stakes Testing And Accountability, Georgina O. Lindskoog

Open Access Dissertations

High-stakes testing and accountability (HSTA) is a topic largely debated because of the effects it can have on student learning. Teachers’ perceptions help determine teaching practices, ultimately teaching practices impact student learning, and unintended consequences of HSTA have been found to result in teaching practices that do not maximize meaningful student learning. The purpose of this study was to examine elementary science teachers’ perceptions of HSTA prior to an intervention and if participation in the intervention changed their perceptions. In addition, teacher professional variables (i.e., years of teaching and number of science courses taken) and school contextual factors (i.e., percent …

College Choice Factors Of Student-Athletes At Title I High Schools In Miami-Dade County, Florida, Cecilia Armesto

Open Access Dissertations

A very large and important subgroup of student-athletes is ethnic minority in Title I high schools. Understanding the decision-making process of this subgroup is important to the high schools that prepare these students to enter college and to the colleges that recruit them. The college choice factors of 207 student-athletes at three Title I high schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, were investigated. Independent variables were socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity, graduation year, high school, gender, and grade point average. Dependent variables were eleven choice factors: cost of college, scholarship offer, reputation of college, reputation of coach, distance from home, athletic recruitment, …

Far As The Curse Is Found: Evangelical Protestants And The Affordable Care Act, Berkeley Franz

Open Access Dissertations

This project considers evangelical interpretations of the Affordable Care Act. Particularly important is that this research engages relevant literature on evangelical social and political particularities. Additionally, a theoretical question is raised whether the evangelical worldview, emphasized as a distinguishing mark of this group, is thought to be compatible with government intervention into the organization of health care. Particularly, how health and illness are interpreted, whether social change is possible, how social change could unfold, and whether contemporary policies are appropriate were key research questions guiding this analysis. A qualitative approach was taken, largely influenced by grounded theory methodology, and twenty-nine …

Registered Pedophiles' Thoughts On The Efficacy, Justification, And Psychosocial Impact Of Sorna (Sex Offender Registration And Notification Act) And Their Sensitivity To Sexual And Non-Sexual Violence, Aviva N. Moster

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated registered pedophiles’ (N = 121) thoughts on the efficacy, justification, and psychosocial impact of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) as well as examined these offenders’ views on sexual and non-sexual violence.

One thousand male pedophiles identified as medium (Tier II) or severe (Tier III) sex offenders were identified via the Internet through national public online sex offender registration databases. They were randomly selected from nine states around the country. The number of pedophiles chosen from each state was proportionate to the total number of sex offenders registered within those states.

A questionnaire was mailed …

Taking Race Out Of The Picture: Health Communication And Disease Prevention For Black Americans, Amanda Lee Almond

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation being presented in the following chapters represents an examination of philosophy of science, underlying theory, empirical evidence, and research design targeted at understanding the relevance of race when communicating stroke prevention to Black Americans. In the introduction is a description of previous research and relevant course work pertaining to the construction of the research question: Is it a good practice of science to communicate race as a disease risk in attempts to modify health behaviors of Black Americans? The work begins with a description as to how race became a construct of interest in American science and demands …

Evaluating The Role Of Hypoglycemia & Comorbid Illness On Diabetes Management Behaviors, Saumitra Vijay Rege

Open Access Dissertations

Over the recent years, the incidence of diabetes has significantly increased. Use of preventive services and treatment with oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD) has remained cornerstone in the management of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Despite strong evidence that treating diabetes using these disease management strategies decreases morbidity, mortality and complications, glycemic control as well as other diabetes related outcomes remain unsatisfactory. The prevalence of diabetes in the United States has grown vastly in proportion over the last few years with the American Diabetes Association estimating that 9.3% of the population suffered from diabetes in the year 2012. These estimates are expected …

Assessing Engagement And Satisfaction In Two Relational Agent Interventions For Physical Activity And Sun Protection, Marie Aline Sillice

Open Access Dissertations

Relational agent (RA) health interventions are slowly becoming part of the health behavior change field. The current assessed participants’ experience in a 12-month long internet and RA intervention for physical activity (PA) and sun protection, using primarily a qualitative approach. Two groups were recruited. Group 1 consisted of participants who completed the intervention. Group 2 consisted of participants who accessed the intervention only two or three times. Thirty-four participants were recruited for group1 and eight participants for group 2. A standardized semi-structured open-ended interview was used for data collection. Two interview scripts were developed and consisted of twenty-five questions (group1) …

Roads Of Rebellion: Cultural Contributions By Women Of The Beat Generation, Chelsea M. Stripe

Open Access Dissertations

"Roads to Rebellion: Cultural Contributions by Women of the Beat Generation" explores female members of a subculture that mythologized the road as a space for escaping Cold War containment. This project begins by redefining Cold War "containment," typically identified as the strategy for controlling communism's spread, to a cultural narrative whose spatial and gendered implications illuminate the complexities of a rebellion hinged on the masculinized road. Through this lens, I explore women's participation in and efforts toward the Beat aesthetic and ethos--performed in domestic spaces or from the road--as examples of the complicated negotiation with the dominant culture and Beat …

Blood, Tears, And Sweat: An Intersectional Excavation Of The Literary Vampire In Neoliberal Discourse, Jessica Elizabeth Birch

Open Access Dissertations

This project engages in a critical examination of the figure of the sympathetic vampire in paranormal romance novels and its relationship to neoliberal individualism, using an analytic frame informed by Valerie Smith's conceptualization of black feminist thinking; it focuses on the portrayal of the neoliberal institutions of nationalism, race, heterosexuality, and motherhood within Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories, L.A. Banks's Minion, and Charlaine Harris's Dead Until Dark. As the ideology of neoliberal individualism has shaped the dominant discourse of the United States, neoliberal individualism has also remade the discourse of monstrosity with regard to vampires. The shifting representation of the …

A Comparison Of Item Parameters Across Item Types, Gregory M. Applegate

Open Access Dissertations

Seven item formats from a professional licensure examination program (n=4,706) were evaluated to determine whether there are significant differences in item parameter estimates based on item formats. The item formats were standard multiple choice, multiple choice with a graphic or exhibit attached, multiple choice where the examinee was asked to choose the best of four possible correct solutions, multiple choice where examinees were directed to choose the exception, calculations, ordered response and multiple response. Analysis showed similar item parameters for all multiple-choice type items, but better item fit and significantly longer response times for calculation items. Multiple response items were …

The College Experience Of Students With Disabilities: Do Transition Planning And Climate Perception Relate To Academic Success?, Paige Evelyn Ramsdell

Open Access Dissertations

College students with disabilities experience significant challenges during the transition from high school to college. Between changes in social and academic demands, along with differences in accommodations available at the college level, college students with disabilities are vulnerable to negative outcomes in postsecondary education. Transition planning at the high school level can help students prepare for and adapt to the demands of college. Additionally, perceptions of a positive campus climate are associated with better outcomes for students with disabilities. This study utilized a single school quasi-experimental design to investigate the relationship between quality of transition programming and college outcomes, including …

Studying Science: Students Gaining Access To The Community Of Practice Of Environmental Studies, Renee Johnson-Thornton

Open Access Dissertations

Although nearly equivalent percentages of black and white students entering college aspire to earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), a much smaller percentage of black students than white undergraduates complete STEM degrees (HERI, 2010). Thirty-six percent of black undergraduates who initially pursue STEM fields and go on to earn bachelor’s degrees switch to non- STEM majors, and 29.3 percent leave college before graduating, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that of their white counterparts (19.8 percent) (Chen, 2013). In the Environmental Sciences, of the 4,802 degree recipients in 2010, 81 percent (3,879) were white and only …

Moral Elevation And Its Relation To The Altruistic Health Behavior Of Becoming An Organ And Tissue Donor, Nicole Amoyal

Open Access Dissertations

Recent research in the field of positive psychology has concentrated efforts towards understanding positive prosocial emotional experiences in relation to prosocial behavior. Elevation is one of these emotions that has been described as a powerful and positive mood state that can be experienced by witnessing social moral acts and has recently been linked to increases in prosocial behavior. This study investigated the emotion elevation in relation to decision-making for the prosocial health behavior of becoming an organ and tissue donor. The study was experimental and compared decision making for becoming an organ and tissue donor across experimental and control groups. …

The Relationship Between Families’ Perceptions And Nurses’ Perceptions Of Family Nursing Practice, Kara Misto

Open Access Dissertations

The prevalence of diabetes, a chronic illness, is expected to substantially rise over the next fifteen years (Whiting, Guariguata, Weil, & Shaw, 2011). One approach to ease the burden on the US health care system is the involvement and participation of family in care of the hospitalized adult. There is increasing evidence that involvement of family during exacerbations and hospitalizations increases client and family satisfaction during admissions and may also decrease length of stay and therefore cost (Powers & Rubenstein, 1999). The purposes of this study were to examine family members’ perceptions of family functioning, family health and the social …

Opting-In Online: Participants’ Perceptions Of Knowledge Construction In Public Forum Communities, Jennifer C. Lee

Open Access Dissertations

This project examines knowledge making and sharing amid special interest forums, specifically, online forums for herp (reptile and amphibian) hobbyists. In doing so, it addresses a gap in rhetoricians’ understanding of publicness: its effect on writing and people’s perceptions thereof. Few studies measure public writing unless its telos is change or activism. Additionally, despite increased rhetorical scholarship focusing on new media, much current research on forums situates them in classroom-based learning and collaboration, neglecting online forums that are open to public access. This project is a naturalistic inquiry using qualitative methods to explore collaborative public writing that occurs in discourse …

Investigating The Mechanisms Of Smoking Behavior Change With Statistical Mediation Analysis, Steven Francis Babbin

Open Access Dissertations

Investigating and quantifying the mechanisms that underlie behavior change is essential to understanding what drives effective interventions. Cigarette smoking remains a critical concern for public health, and increasing basic knowledge of smoking behavior change can directly lead to improved interventions. This series of six studies represents a comprehensive evaluation of the mechanisms of smoking behavior change with statistical mediation analysis. All studies utilized combined data from five tailored interventions based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) for participants in Precontemplation (PC; N = 1145), Contemplation (C; N = 1243), and Preparation (PR; N = 499). Statistical mediation models under investigation were …

Childhood Maltreatment And Later Adult Functioning: An Examination Of The Roles Of Personal Resiliency And Psychological Distress, Maggie L. Gorraiz

Open Access Dissertations

Childhood maltreatment has been and continues to be a disconcerting public health concern worldwide. Over three decades of research indicates a gamut of negative long-term physical and mental health correlates of childhood maltreatment. However, there is limited knowledge on potential mediating factors in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and later adult functioning. This study examined the potential impact of childhood maltreatment on later adult functioning, specifically interpersonal functioning and protective sexual behaviors. The study also investigated the potential mediating roles of psychological distress and personal resiliency within this relationship. A college-based sample of 415 heterosexually active men and women, aged …

Early Vocabulary Assessment Within A Response To Intervention Framework, Jenlyn Furey

Open Access Dissertations

The current study examined the predictive and social validity of two weekly vocabulary assessments embedded within a Tier I Kindergarten vocabulary curriculum. Participants (N=250 Kindergarten students) received ongoing vocabulary instruction and their target word knowledge was monitored weekly over the course of 24 weeks using two target word assessments (a Yes/No assessment and Receptive Picture assessment). Data from the weekly vocabulary assessments were examined at multiple time points with various cut scores. Predictive validity was examined in terms of correct classification of student risk for poor vocabulary outcomes, and results were compared with standardized measures of general receptive and expressive …

The Effect Of Additional Lane Length On Roundabout Delay, Samuel Hammond

Open Access Dissertations

Currently, there is no United States guideline on how the additional lane lengths affect roundabout operation. The purpose of this research is to provide an insight on how the use of an additional lane as an approach affects roundabouts. Hence, most transportation professionals refer to studies conducted overseas that do not necessarily translate directly to domestic roundabout design and operation. As interest continues to grow in the deployment of modern roundabouts in the United States, there is the need to provide effective information to professionals on roundabout design and its effect on operations. Because of this, the purpose of this …

Horizontal Violence Among Nurses: Experiences, Responses And Job Performance, Elizabeth M. Bloom

Open Access Dissertations

Horizontal violence (HV), or non-physical intergroup conflict that is expressed in overt and covert behaviors of hostility, is pervasive in nursing and has been discussed in the literature for more than two decades. It is costly and has potentially devastating effects including high nurse turnover rates, increased illness, decreased productivity, and decreased quality of patient care. Recognizing how these behaviors are established and sustained is necessary if nurses are to overcome these types of behaviors. This mixed methods study used an online survey to examine 78 hospital nurse’s experiences and responses to episodes of HV as well as its effect …

Essays On Social Media And Branding, Gema Vinuales

Open Access Dissertations

Social media have changed the way individuals interact with each other, with corporations and with brands; and thus, the context for brand management. Recognizing the potential of social media to reach massive audiences, brands have become more “social” and embraced the new media; however, many are still struggling to effectively harness their potential. Research has aimed to offer some insights into the emerging social media challenges and have established some differentiated streams of research that serve as a general framework for these dissertation manuscripts. Specifically, we identify WOM communications, online reviews, media channels comparisons, online community influence, and co-creation as …

Institutional Trading Of Shares Of Distressed Firms And Acquisition Of Distressed Firms As An Alternative To Independent Reorganization, Elana Precourt

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays related to bankruptcy. In the first we explore how institutional investors trade shares of bankrupt firms five years prior to the firms petitioning for Chapter 11 reorganization. In the second we investigate whether or not institutional ownership is related to performance of distressed firms as they attempt to reorganize. Another main theme of this essay is to examine whether or not institutional managers who acquire shares of bankrupt firms within three months from Chapter 11 filings, during bankrupt firms’ reorganization, or shortly after bankruptcy proceedings possess ability to process information and to predict successful …

Risk, Promotive, And Protective Influences On Adolescent Alcohol Use Milestones, Scott D. Martin

Open Access Dissertations

Research focused on the initiation and development of alcohol use among adolescents can inform professionals, families, and preventative strategies. Much of the research on adolescent substance use among this population focuses on risk. This study investigated a model of the initiation of adolescent alcohol use milestones including first full drink, first time engaging in heavy drinking, and first time being drunk, extending the risk perspective by emphasizing a model of resilience. This was done by simultaneously including risk, promotive, and protective influences in a single model. It was hypothesized that parental monitoring and reasons for abstaining and limiting drinking would …