Digital Commons Network^™

Developing Cultural Humility Through The Arts: Evaluating An Arts Intervention For Healthcare Provider Leaders, Katie L. Nickel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At all levels of healthcare, providers are experiencing rising levels of professional burnout. For healthcare provider leaders, burnout is particularly critical since leaders must maintain healthy and trusting relationships with patients and their teams of healthcare professionals. This utilization-focused evaluation study explores an arts intervention program designed to promote cultural humility among healthcare providers. Increased cultural humility may provide coping tools for healthcare providers to ward off burnout. The arts intervention took place over three sessions: one at a museum, one virtual, and one at a hospital. Four types of data were collected including a quantitative pre- and post-survey, observation …

A Phase-1 Trial Of Intensive Hybrid Stuttering Modification/Fluency Shaping Therapy, Jessica Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze changes in frequency stuttering behaviors, speech rate, and feelings/attitudes following the University of South Florida Program for Advanced Treatment of Stuttering (USF-PATS), a hybrid stuttering modification/fluency shaping program intended for teenagers and adults who stutter moderately to very severely.

Method: Baseline and post-treatment speech samples for participants (N = 3) were analyzed for speech rate and presence of stuttering behaviors (repeated movements, fixed postures, and superfluous behaviors) across conditions (monologue and reading). An abbreviated thematic analysis was completed to analyze feelings/attitudes post-treatment.

Results: Results revealed a decrease to zero and near-zero …

The Friendship Train: Peas, Politics, And Propaganda, Miller Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

On a brisk fall night in November 1947, more than 100,000 people packed the streets of Hollywood to celebrate the launch of the Friendship Train. High-ranking government officials, business leaders, and a galaxy of film stars all attended the send-off ceremony. Over the next eleven days, the train traveled across the country, gathering essential foodstuffs to send to hungry Europeans. In small towns and big cities, the train received enthusiastic receptions. Its journey ended in New York City with a ticker-tape parade down the iconic Canyon of Heroes. Along the way, it collected more than 200 boxcars of food, worth …

Causes And Consequences Of Word Skipping During Reading: Evidence From The Co-Registration Of Eye Movements And Eeg, Sara Milligan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Skilled readers skip approximately one third of the words in the text while reading for comprehension (Rayner, 1998). Therefore, a prominent question for decades among reading and language researchers has been how people are able to recognize words and comprehend text without even looking at all of the words. Eye tracking studies have established that some information about an upcoming word in the text can be identified while still looking at the previous word (Rayner, 1975), but it remains an open question whether words that are skipped are thoroughly identified or if skipping decisions are based on shallow heuristic factors, …

“A Second Chance Citizen Reintegration Program Through The Lenses Of Black And Brown Participants And Case Managers.”, Bobbie Straughter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recidivism has been linked to a lack of education opportunities, heightened surveillance, a lack of housing stability, and limited access to resources for assistance. Because Black and Brown communities are facing mass incarceration, there is a growing concern about recidivism, as they are affected by several factors that may make them more likely to re-offend upon release. These include a lack of mental health outreach, their socioeconomic status, environmental influences, and the challenges they face regarding their masculinity and role in fatherhood. To both reduce recidivism and provide a solution to the obstacles presented above, the literature suggests providing re-entry …

Differences In Speech Patterns Produced By Spanish-English Language Learners During Single-Language And Mixed-Language Remote Academic Vocabulary Instruction, Ester Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with lower proficiency in a second language tend to produce more disfluent speech patterns in the second language. Speech disfluencies refer to interruptions in the forward flow of speech and are distinct from the colloquial use of “fluency,” to characterize knowledge of a language. Prior research indicates that some speech disfluency patterns may be more common among Spanish-English bilingual children, who tend to produce more mazes (fragments of an utterance) and syllable repetitions than their monolingual peers. These patterns have been attributed to 1) acquiring a new language; 2) the influence of Spanish as a first language (L1) on …

De La Escuela Al Hogar: Centering Latine And Hispanic Student Perspectives On Caregiver Involvement In The Well-Being Promotion Program, Nicole G. Pacateque Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Latine students often face systemic barriers to accessing appropriate mental health support, highlighting the importance of culturally responsive school-based interventions to address mental health disparities (Gonzalez et al., 2022; Jackson, 2021). Although many interventions incorporate caregiver involvement, limited research has explored how Latine youth experience and make meaning of caregiver engagement in school-based mental health programs (Hansen et al., 2021; Wildmon et al., 2024). This mixed-methods study centers Latine student voices by examining how Latine students experienced and interpreted caregiver engagement in the Well-Being Promotion Program (WBPP), a school-based positive psychology intervention implemented during the 2023–2024 school year across six …

Modeling The Human Learning Process Using An Industrial Steam Boiler Analogy To Design A Psychophysiological-Based Hypermedia Adaptive Automation System, Liliana María Villavicencio López

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to address the existing gap in the integration of various dimensions within the student learning system, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and physical variables. The primary objective is to construct a Personalized Learning Adaptive Automation model using Electroencephalography (EEG) technology.

To provide deeper insight into the intricate nature of the Human Learning Process, this study introduces a novel analogy with an Industrial Steam Boiler. This analogy serves as a distinctive contribution to research in the field.

The research methodology involved the collection of brainwaves data from engineering students while they undertook educational tasks of varying levels of difficulty, categorized …

Context-Aware Affective Behavior Modeling And Analytics, Md Taufeeq Uddin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Affective computing (AC) is a sub-domain of AI that has the potential to assist people by assessing mental states and making appropriate recommendations to patients, loved ones, caregivers, and domain experts. Humans usually produce an enormous amount of data (such as face videos) every day. One of the major challenges for affective computer vision is to efficiently deal with high volumes of data to facilitate automated model development. To cope with this challenge, we developed computer vision algorithms that measure the expressivity of the human face from video data. More precisely, the developed algorithms can map complex affect information from …

Seminoles, Soldiers, And Settlers: Identity And Power On The Florida Frontier, Jean Louise Lammie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project uses an historical archaeological approach to analyze the processes of cultural negotiation between disparate social groups living in a remote borderland in the early to mid-nineteenth centuries. Florida, first colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s was passed to the United States in 1821 as part of the young nation’s nascent Manifest Destiny. The Seminoles experienced multiple colonial conflicts, dealt with new diseases, and selected aspects of European culture to incorporate into their daily practices of lifeways.

Archaeological studies of culture change tend to focus on the product of colonial interactions rather than the processes of change that …

Narrative Language Assessment And Intervention: Applications With Children With And Without Disabilities, Norah M. Almubark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Narrative is the art of conveying a sequence of causally and temporally linked events through monologic telling. Various functions can be served through narratives including sharing experiences, expressing ideas, providing entertainment, and imparting cultural or social values. Narrative language represents an authentic type of language that is useful for assessment and intervention because it can be analyzed according to content and form. The ability to use complex narrative language and produce quality narratives is associated with long-term academic and social benefits (Uccelli et al., 2019; Suggate et al, 2018). Given this crucial link, narrative language is suitable for child language …

Rate Of Latine Caregiver Involvement In The Well-Being Promotion Program Using Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Communication Practices, Nicole G. Pacateque Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Latine and Hispanic youth tend to have higher rates of mental health disturbances in school compared to non-Latine youth, yet they are less likely to receive support (Alegría et al., 2008). Additionally, Latine families are more likely to terminate treatment for youth early due to negative stigma, lack of culturally appropriate mental health care, racial and ethnic discrimination, and linguistic and cultural barriers involving care (Kapke & Gerdes, 2016). Best practices in school-based mental health services often involve including caregivers in care (Hoover et al., 2019) as it can benefit outcomes of treatment for the child (Richards et al., 2007). …

Advancing Text Summarization And Classification: Deep Insights From Transformer-Based Statistical Learning, Kun Bu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a part of human's daily life nowadays. Machine Learning (ML) as one aspect from AI has been rapidly developing during the past two decades, especially from the statistical learning approaches, which emphasized the use of probability and statistics to model data, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for classification and regression tasks to the ensemble learning techniques, such as Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), and stacking. Ensemble learning has evolved into a pivotal concept in contemporary machine learning, empowering practitioners to amalgamate multiple models to enhance generalization, accuracy, and robustness. As the field of machine …

Effectiveness Of Contact-Based Strategies On Improving Mental Illness Stigma And Help-Seeking Behaviors Within Families, B. Michelle Wilks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is a developmental period that often involves extreme physical, psychological, and emotional changes and sometimes the experience of significant personal and social challenges. In addition to these challenges, youth are trying to find their place in the world and developing their identities, which depend heavily on their relationships with others. Adolescents who struggle with their mental health and also fail to develop meaningful connections with others, tend to have poor self-esteem, self-isolate, are ostracized by others, and have a poor social self-concept, all of which are associated with poor mental health and increased risk for suicidal ideation. The impact …

Individual Behavioral Modeling Across Games Of Strategy, Logan Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An individual’s actions in a particular environment and with specified resources can reveal their decision-making tendencies and patterns, and by analyzing the variations in cognitive traits among individuals, it may be possible to identify trends that can foretell their future behaviors. This can be a powerful tool in various fields including cognitive modeling, player analytics, computer security, and threat detection. Collectible card games are a fruitful test space for studying cognitive differences in decision-making, as they can have clearly defined and replicable environments and large player bases. As such, in this work, I explore the potential of using two virtual …

Sociocultural Factors, Definitions, And Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence Among Latina And Hispanic Women, Vanessa Centelles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pressing public health concern in the United States (US), particularly for women. Some studies have shown that Hispanic and Latina women are at an elevated risk of experiencing IPV due to a notable passiveness of violence among traditional Hispanic and Latina women. Thus, it is crucial for research to examine the effects of sociocultural variables—such as cultural orientation, gender norm beliefs, and ethnic identity—on IPV within this demographic, particularly for women in the US. Furthermore, while the experiences of IPV victimization among Hispanic and Latina women have begun to be recognized in the broader …

It's Real, It Just Hasn't Happened Yet: A Three-Article Dissertation On Emerging Technologies In Higher Education, Jeanette Abrahamsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this three-article dissertation is to better understand the role emerging technologies are playing in learning. This dissertation explores tools on a spectrum of reality from fully immersive virtual reality (VR), semi-immersive VR, non-immersive VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and extended reality (XR). Three studies focus on emerging technologies from the student, educator, researcher perspectives to develop a holistic picture of emerging technologies in higher education. I explore factors that impact new technology adoption, which includes advantages and disadvantages to deploying different digital tools. This dissertation begins with a systematic literature review of 20 research studies …

Stereotyped Non-Stereotypicality: Exploring Positive Effects Of Non-Stereotypical Gender Portrayals On Consumer Perceptions, Veronika Ponomarenko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research attempts to identify contexts where non-stereotypical gender portrayals may have positive effects on consumer perceptions. It tests the perceived self-expressiveness of non-stereotypical gender portrayals as the mediating mechanism behind these effects as well as other alternative mechanisms in a comprehensive experiment. The analysis results show that an interpretation of gender through the theoretical lens of extravagance rather than self-expressiveness seems to be more appropriate. This study also introduces an overarching theoretical framework of metacognitive experiences that may explain the processes driving the effects of non-stereotypical gender portrayals on consumer perceptions. Finally, this research explores different types of gender …

Hidden Monstrosities: The Transformation Of Medieval Characters And Conventions In Shakespeare's Romances, Lynette Kristine Kuliyeva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When Shakespeare’s First Folio was published in 1623, it was entitled Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, the title designating the three genres under which his plays would be categorized for the next 250 years. Later, Irish critic Edward Dowden took it upon himself to restructure the Shakespearean canon by adding plays that were not previously published in the First Folio, reclassifying the genres of several of the plays, and establishing a new genre to accompany the previous three: romance. Within this fourth generic category of romance, Dowden situated four of the Shakespearean plays: Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Cymbeline; …

Beliefs Of Male Elementary School Special Education And General Education Teachers Regarding Full Inclusion For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Saudi Arabia, Sultan Alanazi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

AbstractThe current educational settings for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Saudi Arabia consist of special institutions for students with intellectual disabilities and special classrooms within public schools. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia is interested in full inclusion for students with ASD because of the social, psychological, and educational benefits it can provide them. One crucial factor for achieving full inclusion is considering elementary teachers’ perceptions and beliefs toward full inclusion, as they are one of the primary stakeholders in this venture. Therefore, elementary general education and special education teachers’ beliefs regarding full inclusion for students with …

The Integration Of Assistive Technology By Female In-Service Teachers Of Students With Learning Disabilities In Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Interview Study, Badriah Alotaiby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to explore the teachers’ perceptions of integrating assistivetechnology into the curriculum for students with learning disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It is known that teaching students with learning disabilities had been one of the significant difficulties in the past and nowadays. Therefore, integrating assistive technology into the educational process would make it easier for the teachers of students with learning disabilities to teach these students through the use of integrating assistive technology. The use of such assistive technologies will be beneficial for learning disabilities students as well. The main question guiding this research is: What …

Making The Invisible Visible: (Re)Envisioning The Black Body In Contemporary Adaptations Of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Urshela Wiggins Mckinney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A trend in neo-Victorian adaptations -- both novels and films-- that reimage, and at times reinterpret, canonical Victorian texts is the inclusion of nonwhite, mainly Black, perspectives, which has gained considerable traction in recent years. A vital aspect of this trend is the purposeful attempt to re-establish iconic Victorian characters through Black characterizations. In doing so, filmmakers and authors are reinvigorating familiar texts to provide an inclusionary space for the Black experience previously ignored in the original texts. These adaptations, which revisit and often reinterpret Victorian fiction, have undergone notable transformations by incorporating Black characters to fill voids in traditional …

The Experiences Of A Black Teacher Educator Surrounded By Whiteness In Teacher Education: A Critical Autoethnography, Lamicah Lindsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of teacher education is dominated by whiteness, perpetuating the influence of white ideologies in designing and implementing teacher education at each phase of the continuum (pre-service teaching, in-service teaching, teacher educators). This study employs a critical autoethnographic approach to examine how my experiences as a Black educator have shaped my social justice pedagogy across the teacher education continuum. It also identifies the supports I received during my journey. The findings reveal persistent racial discrimination throughout all phases of teacher education, as well as struggles with imposter syndrome, self-doubt, racial identity, and fear of the unknown. These findings underscore …

Cross-System Strategic Planning: An Exploratory Analysis Of Sequential Intercept Mapping, Timothy Freeman Gerhardt Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adults with behavioral health issues (BHIs) are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system (CJS). Local-level system fragmentation perpetuates this disparity. The following studies advance an understanding of the Sequential Intercept Mapping Workshop (SIM-W). The SIM-W is a local-level strategic planning workshop used to address gaps in services, improve local-level partnerships, and co-develop a strategic plan with marginalized groups, county leaders, and cross-system service providers to guide the implementation and delivery of evidence-based jail diversion strategies. Over 300 SIM-Ws have been conducted across the United States, incentivized through state/federal legislation. However, the SIM-W process components and outcomes remain under-explored. Specific …

Home Is Where The Work Is: How Biases In Managers’ Resource Allocation Decisions Affect Task Performance In Remote Work Environments, Richard D. Mautz Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the use of remote and hybrid work arrangements continues to grow, it is important to understand how these arrangements can yield performance. In this paper, I conduct two studies to examine how the remote work environment affects managers’ task assignment decisions across different task types and how those decisions affect workers’ task performance. First, I survey managers, in both a cross-section of industries and specifically in accounting, to study the effect of remote work on their task assignment decisions. Consistent with prior literature and economic theory, I predict and find that managers are more inclined to assign generative tasks …

Osteoarthritis, Social Role Participation, And Satisfaction With Life: A Quantitative Study Informed By The Social Identity Model Of Identity Change (Simic), Stephanie E. Rosado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional survey study utilized an adapted version of the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC) to investigate associations between post-diagnostic factors, role salience identity changes, and satisfaction with life for U.S. adults with osteoarthritis (OA). Data were collected from 193 adults with OA using ResearchMatch. Results suggest that role limitations significantly contributed to explaining variations in role salience identity. Furthermore, a positive relationship was observed between change in role salience identity and satisfaction with life. A moderated moderation analysis assessing the interaction effects of satisfaction with role performance and social support on the relationship between role salience identity …

Understanding Donor Preferences And Intentions: A Theory Of Planned Behavior Approach, Kimberly Cubre

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Advancement teams have a pivotal role in bridging the ever-widening gap in funding for higher education institutions. As this gap continues to expand, these teams have emerged as increasingly prominent players to raise philanthropic support. This research study is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of their engagement strategies and gaining a deeper understanding of donor motivations and intentions. Employing the Theory of Planned Behavior in conjunction with a revised and tested survey instrument (as validated by Smith & McSweeney in 2007), this study sheds light on donor behavior. It probes into donors' sentiments regarding the philanthropic tactics and communications they …

Becoming Conscious: An Autoethnographic Study Analyzing The Relationship Between Identity And Leadership, Aaron Izzo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to define the connection between one’s perceptions of self and how one conceptualizes leadership. This study first conceptualized my own identity, seeking to connect my past experiences and interactions with others utilizing a term borrowed from Eastern philosophy, samskara, to see how they impact my current practice within leadership. Within the current body of research, various forms of leadership approaches, such as relational, appreciative, feminist, queer, and conscious leadership, were described and explored. What was found to be missing from the current body of work was a connection between who a person is, how they identify, and …

Going Through To Get Through: Life Histories Of Black Women In Educational Leadership, Ann Marie M. Mobley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black women who become school-based administrators are severely understudied in scholarly research (Lomotey, 2019). Studies suggest that Black women in the United States, who ascend into educational leadership positions, rely on professional training(s) associated with their employment and understandings accrued from inter/personal background experiences (cultural, familial) to navigate discrimination while attempting to lead. The purpose of this study was to examine how Black women use personal and professional lessons to reconcile tensions and contradictions in their administrative roles in public schools. Using a life history approach, I gathered data by interviewing seven Black women administrators (all identified as African American), …

Human Motion-Inspired Inverse Kinematics Algorithm For A Robotics-Based Human Upper Body Model, Urvish Trivedi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop a human motion-inspired inverse kinematics algorithm framework specifically designed for a Robotics-Based Human Upper Body Model (RHUBM). This framework offers solutions to challenges in various fields. In humanoid robotics, the framework addresses the problem of unnatural robot movement by enabling the development of motion planning algorithms that incorporate human-like movements. For prosthetics, the framework tackles the challenge of amputee difficulty in learning and controlling prosthetics by providing a user-friendly interface that predicts and visualizes upper limb movements, enabling learning and practice. In rehabilitation therapy, the framework tackles …