Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Augmented Reality On Anxiety In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Sarah Ball

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prelicensure nursing students experience high anxiety as they enter the clinical setting, which can have a negative impact on learning care performance and critical thinking. Nursing faculty are faced with the challenges of limited time for clinical experiences, meeting the needs of learners who are technologically astute, and engaging students in the clinical environment to meet learning outcomes. The purpose of this pretest posttest quasi-experimental study, guided by the discovery learning theory, was to determine the effect of augmented reality (AR) 360 photosphere on prelicensure nursing students' level of anxiety as they entered a new clinical environment as compared to …

Administrators' Perspectives And Strategies Regarding Student Homelessness, Cynthia Barfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Student homelessness presents challenges and opportunities for public school administrators. The primary purpose of this study was to explore whether the effects of child homelessness caused students to drop out of school and engage in criminal activity before the age of 18 or if they would further their education beyond high school. A quantitative method with a cross-sectional design was used to examine the topic, and a self-administered survey, adapted from Dillman's design, was employed for data collection. The sample included 150 participants who were teachers and principals in a school district in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. …

A Nursing Education Program To Decrease Use Of Psychotropics Among Dementia Patients, Tami Felicia Blackmon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Dementia, a clinical condition that affects the psychological ability of patients, is distinguished by a significant overall decline in cognitive function that results in distorted perception. Guiding nursing practice in the long-term care (LTC) setting to decrease the unnecessary use of psychotropics is critical because doing so relates to the patients' quality of life and safety. In the LTC facility that served as the practicum site for this study, there was an observed overuse of psychotropic medications in the care of patients with dementia. The practice-focused question guiding this project asked whether a nursing staff development program would decrease the …

Intimate Partner Violence And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among College Women, Crystal Bowler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately 35% of women in the United States experience intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV could be linked to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that result in long-term mental health issues. Public health professionals, college counselors, and educators require information to assist in identifying college-age women who may be affected by IPV. The purpose of the study was to explore the association between the occurrence of symptoms of PTSD and IPV among college-aged women. The socioecological model was the theoretical framework for the study. A total of 199 cases were selected from National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey dataset …

Effect Of Eustress, Flow, And Test Anxiety On Physical Therapy Psychomotor Practical Examinations, Todd Joseph Bourgeois

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students at the graduate level undergo higher levels of stress compared to their peers, and this stress is known to affect academic performance. Most of the research is focused on the negative aspect of stress. Positive psychology aspects, such as eustress and flow, are related to success in some activities; however, it is unknown whether these correlate with academic performance. Several stress-related theories-Yerkes-Dodson curve, cybernetics, conservation of resources, and choking under pressure-guided this quantitative study of the effects of eustress, flow, and cognitive test anxiety (CTA) on a psychomotor practical examination for physical therapy students. A sample of 192 physical …

Educating Preoperative Staff On Operative Glycemic Control Guideline, Valerie Braddock

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Glycemic control of the perioperative patient improves patient outcomes, specifically prevention of surgical-site infections. The prevention of surgical-site infections helps to reduce complications that can increase length of stay and readmissions, thereby increasing healthcare costs. The purpose of this project was to provide an educational module to the same-day surgery nurses on a clinical guideline to maintain glycemic control of the perioperative patient to prevent surgical-site infections. Lewin's change theory guided the development of a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for nurses to standardize the glycemic management of the perioperative patient. This project was conducted to determine whether educating nurses through …

Attraction And Retention Of Individual Donor Funding In Nonprofit Organizations, Andria Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individual donors are an important source of revenue for nonprofit organizations. However, there is limited information on the attraction and retention of individual donors in nonprofit organizations. This single-case study addressed strategies 3 nonprofit leaders in the Northeast United States use to attract and retain individual donors. The conceptual framework was Kaplan and Norton's strategy map and the 2015-2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework used to evaluate organizational performance. Data collection included semistructured interviews; review of company documents; analysis of data available via GuideStar, an online provider of information on U.S. nonprofit organizations; analysis of data available about U.S. agencies; and review …

Sickle Cell Disease Pain Burden And Quality Of Life Among Black Children In Mississippi, Laquita Nichelle Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Acute and chronic pain is a common hallmark of sickle cell disease (SCD) in children and adolescents, which can have a profound effect on their quality of life (QOL). However, this relationship is not well quantified. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between SCD pain burden and QOL among Black children ages 8-17 in Mississippi with SCD. The secondary aim was to compare children and caregiver reports of SCD pain burden and QOL with SCD. The social ecological model was used to identify personal factors that influence SCD pain burden and QOL of children with …

The Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Racial Health Disparities And The Patient-Provider Relationship, Andrea Nicole Curry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are adversely affected by health disparities due to the complexities of the patient-provider relationship. The behavioral model of health services was used as the theoretical framework to understand how individuals make healthcare utilization decisions. The purpose of the research was to evaluate how the patient-provider relationship influences inconsistent doctor visits by African American patients despite the prevalence of chronic conditions. 45 African Americans located in Shelby County, Tennessee were included in this study. A cross-sectional quantitative design was used to collect the data via an online survey. The 45 collected responses were analyzed by performing multiple linear regression, …

Stress Management Treatments Among Police Departments, Cedrick D. Crockett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The police profession is viewed as one of the most stressful occupations in the world. Police officers are responsible for handling calls for service, serving and protecting the community, enforcing laws, and preventing and solving crimes. These responsibilities along with many others can become overwhelming and lead to police stress and trauma. Police stress has been linked to adverse effects on the performances and health of police officers. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the internal and external factors of police stress through their lived experiences as police officers, and the stress management techniques used by …

Effectiveness Of Pressure Ulcer Protocols With The Braden Scale For Elderly Patients In The Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review, Natalie A. Floyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Each year, approximately 3 million people in the United States develop a pressure ulcer. Although a preventable complication, pressure ulcers are among the top 5 adverse outcomes in the acute care setting with the prevalence as high as 42% in the intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the inclusion of the Braden Scale as part of a multicomponent pressure ulcer intervention protocol, or care bundle, to identify geriatric patients hospitalized in the ICU who were at risk for pressure ulcers. The Cochrane protocol guided this review; findings were reported according to the Preferred …

Parenting Experiences Among Single Southern African Immigrant Mothers In Low Socioeconomic Neighborhoods, Winnie Mhlambi Fuzane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Empirical studies have shown that single-parent families have been overrepresented in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and the children of these families are more exposed to factors that lead to aggressive behavior. Despite these studies, there is limited literature on the parenting of immigrant mothers that may prevent aggressive behaviors in children. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of single Southern African immigrant mothers in low socioeconomic neighborhoods in California working and raising male children who do not exhibit aggressive behaviors in schools and in the community. Seligman's theory of positive psychology informed this study. Research …

Thematic Narrative Of Lgbt Faculty Members' Professional Identity And Activism, Kathy Luanne Williamson Gall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past 20 years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have made progress in attaining the same basic civil rights as heterosexual individuals. As in other civil rights movements, the college campus has played an important role. The LGBT community participates in academic and campus life, and numerous colleges are developing and supporting an inclusive, safe, and respectful culture. However, bias and prejudice continue to occur. While researchers have studied the repercussions of prejudice, discrimination, and low evaluation scores for LGBT faculty, little research has been done to explore professional identity and activism in LGBT faculty at traditional …

Smoking Cessation Education For Acute Care Nurses, Dawn Garcia-Brinker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Tobacco use among veterans is significantly higher than among members of the general population. The purpose of this quality-improvement project was to increase acute care staff members' knowledge and confidence in using tobacco cessation interventions to increase quit rates among the inpatients of a veterans' hospital in the midwestern region of the United States. An evidence-based, standardized Tobacco Tactics Toolkit was developed and implemented, and a 6 sigma method guided the quality improvement process to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control the tobacco-cessation education initiative. The reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance framework was used to ensure that evidence-based interventions …

Leadership Strategies To Increase Employee Engagement, Christine Garza

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sixty-five percent of small business leaders indicated a lack of workforce engagement practices as an administrative strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of employee disengagement. Guided by Weber's organizational theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders used to increase employee engagement. Five small business leaders in the southwestern United States participated in semistructured interviews. The participants employed successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data collection included the review of company documents, face-to-face interviews, and member checking to explore successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data analysis included coding and organizing data and information …

Exploring The Influences Of Intergenerational Pregnancies On Teenage Girls, Ages 16 - 19, Tynika Greensberry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Generational cycles of teenage pregnancy trend among many families create economic, social, and health problems on teen parents and their families. Scholarly literature includes quantitative studies addressing the issue of teenage pregnancy but there is not many qualitative studies about the family cycle of teenage pregnancy among a highly-concentrated area of African American females in the Southern region of the United States. The life history theory and the socialization and social control theories of the intergenerational transmission of early childbearing served as the theoretical framework.. A qualitative case study is designed to identify factors that contributed to generational cycles of …

Using Social Cognitive Theory To Predict Counseling Behaviors In Registered Dietitians, Marianela Guerrero

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity and morbid obesity affect more than 30% of Americans, which emulates the rate of smoking as the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. The prevalence of obesity among adults in the United States increased dramatically between 1980 and 2010 (16% to 36%). The integration of the social cognitive theory (SCT) constructs such as self-efficacy, self-control, environment and expectations in the study instrument allowed identifying the impact of personal, social and economic factors on Registered Dietitians (RDs) counseling behaviors with obese clients. The goal of this quantitative cross sectional study was to investigate the association …

Strategies To Reduce Information Technology Employee Absenteeism In The Manufacturing Industry, Camilla Henry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee absenteeism costs organizations billions of dollars annually in losses in revenue and productivity, temporary labor costs, and low morale. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies information technology (IT) managers in the manufacturing industry used to reduce employee absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 IT managers in Maryland and a review of organizational documents addressing nutritional education information, employee participation rates in health programs, and physical activity. Data were analyzed using compilation, disassembly, reassembly, interpretation, and development of conclusions. …

Strategies For Increasing Volunteer Engagement In Nonprofit Healthcare Organizations, Sanja Katina Hudson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Implementing effective strategies to address the challenges of volunteer engagement is critical for helping ensure the sustainability of nonprofit healthcare organizations. Nonprofit healthcare leaders seek strategies to increase the volunteer workforce and enhance volunteer engagement. Through the conceptual lens of Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, the strategies nonprofit healthcare leaders used to reduce volunteer turnover were explored in this single-case study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 5 nonprofit healthcare leaders from a single organization in the southwestern United States. Analysis of internal and external organizational documents and publicly available data were manually coded and thematically organized. The use …

Perceived Child Regard, Parenting Stress, And Depressive Symptoms Of Nonresidential And Residential Stepmothers, Lenee Nicole Kehnt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The dynamics of the modern blended family is a topic of considerable interest in family research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand how parental stress, perceived parental regard, and depressive symptoms affect nonresidential and residential stepmothers. Family Systems Theory provided an appropriate lens for this research study. An analysis of covariance was used to determine whether differences existed between nonresidential and residential stepmothers in terms of parental stress, perceived parental regard, and depressive symptoms. The second goal was to determine whether the covariates of age, ethnicity, household income, time spent stepparenting, and the number of biological and …

Educating Psychiatric Nurses To Improve Medication Adherence Among Schizophrenic Patients, Chandrika Mcqueen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this project was to implement an educational program that provided psychiatric nurses with the knowledge and skills to engage patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in self-care management regarding medication and treatment adherence. The theory employed in the project was the educational theory. Evidence of effectiveness came from a pre- and postintervention assessment of nurses' knowledge and confidence in teaching about medication, along with a pre- and postassessment of knowledge gained as a result of the educational intervention. Pre- and posteducational rates of patient rehospitalization for medication nonadherence were compared. The results indicated a 15% rate of …

Young Women's Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Eating Disorders, Francisca Masawi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Eating disorders (EDs) cause irreversible physical damage, including organ failure and death. Although EDs receive considerable attention, the number of affected young women who seek help remains low. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the sociocultural and socioenvironmental factors influencing ED development from the perspective of young women, and to explore why the rate of EDs continues to rise in this population. The sociocultural model served as a guide for the study. Ten young women 18-24 years old from Southwest Ohio participated in in-depth, semi structured, face-to-face interviews. Data coding and analysis revealed recurring themes, with findings …

Human Trafficking As A Threat To The Security Of Americans, Lora Ann Mcdonald

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human trafficking is a transnational crime that allows traffickers to abuse victims physically and mentally, as well as stripping them of their human rights. The United Nations theory of human security and Mendelsohn's theory of victimology provided a conceptual framework to examine the harm that people endure from human trafficking. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explain how human trafficking threatens the security of people and communities. Reviewing data from the Department of State concerning trafficking led to the investigation of youth exploitation, the use of technology in advancing the growth of human trafficking, the health concerns …

Impact Of End-Of-Life Education On Nurses' Moral Distress, Jenniffer Lynn Mullen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Moral distress is a state of concern or anxiety that occurs when there is a correct action to take but an individual's ability to take that action is constrained in some way. Nurses, especially those who work in intensive care units (ICUs), may struggle with moral distress due to feelings of futility when caring for end-of-life patients. The purpose of this 1-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study, guided by Lazarus's theory of stress, coping, and adaptation, was to determine whether End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) education reduces moral distress in ICU nurses caring for end-of-life patients. A revised Moral Distress Survey (MDS-R …

Exploring Welfare Recipients' Self-Sufficiency Barriers Through Information Management Systems In Tennessee, Valenta Eunice Nichols

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Families living on welfare in low-income impoverished neighborhoods encounter multiple barriers that need mitigating before seeking work to reach self-sufficiency. Many welfare recipients' self-sufficiency barriers are unnoticeable to caseworkers due to lack of data sharing to assess clients' needs through information technology processes. The purpose of this exploratory descriptive phenomenological qualitative study was to understand welfare recipients' viewpoints on socioeconomic barriers to living self-sufficiently and gain perspectives from human services caseworkers and technical resources on data sharing issues that impact recipients' ability to live independently from government assistance. Data collection and observational field notes resulted from in-depth interviews of 11 …

Chaplaincy Inclusion In Hospital Interdisciplinary Teams And Its Impact On Chaplains' Well-Being, Chike Nzegwu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Healthcare providers may impede the delivery of spiritual and emotional support to

patients and their families by healthcare professional chaplains if they misunderstand how to effectively use chaplains, who often prefer to be engaged sooner than they are. This issue prevents highly trained, board-certified professional chaplains from providing services, thereby impacting the quality of patient care. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine, through the lived experiences of professional chaplains, the extent to which chaplains feel that others perceive them as valued members of an interdisciplinary team (IDT), as well as to determine how team inclusion may impact …

Mediation Of Same-Sex Couples For Copareting, Tamie O'Neil

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Scholarly literature supports that individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer face inequities as a result of living in a heteronormative society. However, scholarly literature lacks body of research available that provides insight as to the experiences that counselors have while providing mediation to same-sex couple regarding coparenting. Thus, a literature gap exists pertaining to the lived experiences of counselors who provide mediation for same-sex couple coparenting. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of counselors who provide same-sex couple coparenting. The theoretical framework used in this study was the equity theory, …

Education Protocol For Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus, Raegan Elizabeth Quandt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, contributing to rising health care costs and increased morbidity and mortality rates. Researchers demonstrated that aggressive heath measures involving ongoing diabetes self-management education are paramount in minimizing associated complications of diabetes. The management and prevention of diabetes is not standardized and providers within a health clinic in Illinois reported challenges in providing self-management education during scheduled patient appointments due to limited resources and time. The purpose of this DNP project was to develop a clinical practice guideline to be used by all providers within the health …

Relationship Between Chief Executive Officer Compensation, Duality, And Return On Equity, Elizabeth Rescigno

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor decisions and conflicts of interest by members of company boards of directors have been a factor in the dramatic rise in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation, resulting in a lower return on equity (ROE) for shareholders. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between CEO compensation, CEO duality, and ROE after controlling for CEO age, CEO tenure, and firm size, as measured by total assets. Agency theory was the theoretical framework for this study. The study examined whether a statistically significant relationship existed between CEO compensation, CEO duality, and ROE, after controlling for CEO age, …

Parents' Emotional Experiences Of Their Transgender Children Coming Out, Meri Rule

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parents of transgender children face challenges when their children come out, including fear of negative reaction toward the parents and their transgender child by community members, concerns about social status in the community or religious organizations, and concerns about the inability of the transgender child to build his or her own family. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the emotional experiences of parents regarding their acceptance or rejection of their transgender child. Rohner's parental acceptance-rejection theory provided the framework for the study. Data were collected from parents (N = 13) who attended Parents and Friends of …