Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Importance Of Soft Skills Training For Accountants, Tonja Annette Gardner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Regional accounting firm leaders face challenges with employees who possess strong technical skills, but lack nontechnical communicating and teamwork skills. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies regional accounting firm leaders use to train technical staff on soft skills. The human capital theory was the conceptual framework supporting the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with partners, leaders, managers, and human resource personnel with 5 years or more of experience who participated in the hiring, training, and professional development process at 3 regional CPA firms. The review of company documents and company website postings triangulated …

The Experiences Of Parenting Coordinators Working With Couples Engaged In Intimate Partner Violence, Ann M. Ordway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In families where parents present with intimate partner violence dynamics, courts routinely impose restraints restricting communications between those parents. However, the same courts also routinely fashion arrangements whereby those same parents share custody of their children. Children in families with this dynamic are often used as communication facilitators and triangulated by parental conflict. This grounded theory study generated a theory about parenting coordination work with high conflict couples with intimate partner violence dynamics. This theory may have utility for parenting coordinators working more effectively with the described population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 professional parenting coordinators who have worked …

Introduction Of Evidence-Based Practice To Acute Stroke Center Nursing In Jakarta, Indonesia, Tonya Sue Stagner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a relatively new concept for nurses in Indonesia; it has not

been integrated into nursing care. This project sought to introduce EBP to nurses at an acute stroke center (ASC). The knowledge transfer team approach guided the project. The goal was to identify and analyze current data and to develop an EBP guideline for clinical nursing practice in the ASC. Sources of evidence that was used to address the practice-focused question included project team members, organizational documents, and a database search to identify EBP guidelines for the nursing care of acute stroke patients. A database search …

Understanding The Importance Of Culturally Appropriate Patient-Provider Communication In Diabetes Self-Management, Anita Mwalui

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes. Among those 29.1 million people, 21 million have been diagnosed, but 8.1 million have not. Changing demographics in the United States and the prevalence of diabetes are projected to be burdens on the health care system through 2050. Guided by the social cognitive theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the importance of culturally appropriate patient-provider communication to the self-management of Type 2 diabetes by patients who are African immigrants. Culturally based health care has unique challenges when …

Influence Of Psychological Needs And Gaming Motivation On Well-Being Of Adult Gamers, Rene Sterling

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adult online gaming is a fast-growing global entertainment industry, and many gamers spend more time playing games and less time engaging in work or other activities, which negatively affects their lives and relationships. This quantitative study addressed how psychological needs and gaming motivation predicted gaming behavior, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction using a mediational model. The theoretical foundation was self-determination theory, which addresses how personal choices are influenced by internal factors, especially psychological needs and motivation. An online survey was used to collect self-reported data from a convenience sample of 935 adult gaming participants using the Basic Needs Satisfaction in …

Contributing Factors Of Obesity Among Over-The-Road Truckers, Shari Weiss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity among over-the-road truckers (OTRs) is an epidemic creating significant public health issues among this population. The consequences of obesity (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease) put both truckers' health and their medical clearance at significant risk. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of gender, physical activity, diet, and sleep on obesity among OTRs. Through a socioecological lens, this study examined whether obesity is significantly impacted by gender, physical activity, nutrition, and sleep. This study also examined the impact of the trucking environment on obesity. The study used a quantitative research design and data were collected through a …

Leader–Member Exchange Between Academic Deans And Faculty In Community Colleges, Alexander Lincoln Clifford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2011 and 2016, 84% of senior leaders in community colleges indicated retirement intentions and thereby exposed a need to provide better mentorship, training, and early selection of potential replacements for college executives. The purpose of this study was to determine the nature and extent of the relationships between the independent variables (mentorship, leadership training, and time in the position as dean) and the dependent variable (demonstrated leadership of academic deans in community colleges). A popular approach that describes this dynamic is Graen and Uhl-Bien's leader–member exchange theory, which was operationalized by the LMX–7 instrument. A causal–comparative design was used …

The Predictive Relationship Between Naturopathic Basic Science Curriculum And Nplex I Performance, Tammy Marie Aragon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Naturopathic medical schools are concerned with low first-time pass rates on the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Exam Part I (NPLEX I) that may impact schools' accreditation with the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). At a North American school of naturopathic medicine first-time pass rates have been a concern for 3 of the last 5 years. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether students' naturopathic basic science content area scores predict NPLEX I scores at this this school. Grounded in general systems theory, a predictive correlational research design utilizing multiple logistic regression analyses was used. Archival data were …

Nursing Student's Breast Cancer Knowledge And Breast- Self Examination Technique Confidence, Lydia E. Gaud

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States. Several factors have been identified that interfere with women's breast cancer screening practices, including lack of knowledge and confidence in the breast self-examination (BSE) technique, and lack of information provided by health care provider. One of the reasons nurses do not teach breast cancer detection could be the little emphasis given to breast cancer examination in nursing schools. The BSE is a measure of significant value in detecting cancer of the breast. However, less than half of the women in the United States are …

Humanitarian Aid Workers' Perceptions Of Stress Management Services, Annette Hearns

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Humanitarian aid workers live and work in harsh circumstances far from loved ones and support mechanisms. The problem is that international aid must continue to work effectively despite stress levels. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how aid workers perceive their work-related stressors, examine their subsequent experiences of in-house stress management services, and describe the factors that influence aid workers' decisions to access in-house stress management services. The conservation of resources theory was used to understand aid workers experience of stress. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify 12 aid workers with a minimum of 5 …

Perceived Threats To Food Security And Possible Responses Following An Agro-Terrorist Attack, Lamesha Lashal Craft

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks exposed vulnerabilities to U.S. homeland security and defense, leading U.S. officials to analyze threats to domestic and international interests. Terrorist attacks against food and water supplies (agro-terrorism), were deemed a national security threat because of the assessed fear, economic instability, and social instability that could occur following a food shortage. Research indicated a comprehensive response plan does not exist across the federal, state, and local levels of government to mitigate the public's possible responses to a perceived threat to food security and food shortages following an agro-terrorist attack. This ethnographic case study analyzed the …

The Educational Aspirations Of Barbadian Adolescent Mothers And Their Perceptions Of Support, Kathy-Ann Bellamy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescent girls often face barriers to fulfill their educational aspirations after childbearing. Unfulfilled goals tend to be associated with low educational attainment and other adverse outcomes for the young mothers, their children, and society. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Barbadian young women who parented as adolescents and struggled to graduate from formal secondary school. The goal was to understand their perceptions of support for their educational aspirations by their peers and significant others. Social constructionism was the conceptual framework. Moustakas’ transcendental method guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected by …

Uncontrolled Workplace Breaks And Productivity, Huda Mashal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Behaviors that may waste time in the workplace, like surfing the Internet for personal purposes (cyberloafing) or smoking breaks, may be the root antecedent for poor productivity. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine whether there was a relationship between the independent variables: time spent cyberloafing and time in uncontrolled smoking breaks, and the dependent variable: employee productivity. Procedural justice theory was used to frame the study. The population consisted of 34 employees working in a multinational engineering company in Jordan who have official smoking policies, but not cyberloafing policies. Correlations and multiple regression were computed using a …

Testing A Psychological Readiness Training Intervention On Ptsd, Depression, Anxiety, & Stress In First Responders, Renee Kosor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Exposure to traumatic events is rare for the general public but common for first responders. However, there is little proactive emotional health care occurring inside the first responder community. No preventive treatment for depression, anxiety, stress, and PTSD exists. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a psychological readiness training intervention on 361 police officers and firefighters in a medium-size Midwestern city. A combined positive psychological capital and cognitive behavior therapy approach was used to frame the study. This study used a pretest, posttest quasi-experimental design. The participants were a convenience sample of 119 volunteers from …

Nursing Education On Caring For The Dying, Holley Tyler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Healthcare teams can implement care initiatives to promote a positive dying experience. However, there is a lack of knowledge related to how best to care for dying patients. Nurses do not receive extensive training in nursing school to care for patients at the end of life, yet most, at some point in their careers, experience the provision of this type of care. It is important to ensure that nurses caring for dying patients have been educated about end-of-life care. The purpose of the quality improvement project was to address the lack of end-of-life care education among critical care nurses in …

Strategies Hospital Leaders Use In Implementing Electronic Medical Record Systems, Shaunette Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some hospital leaders lacked strategies for implementing electronic medical record (EMR) systems. The purpose of this case study was to explore successful strategies that hospital leaders used in implementing EMR systems. The target population consisted of hospital leaders who succeeded in implementing EMR systems in a single healthcare organization located in the Los Angeles, California region. The conceptual framework used was Kotter's (1996) eight-step process for leading change, and data were collected from face-to-face recorded interviews with 5 participants and from company documents related to EMR design and development. Data were analyzed through methodological triangulation of data types, and exploring …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Factors That Limit Career And Technical Education Course Offerings, Antonio Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study addressed the problem of the lack of Career and Technical Educational (CTE) courses offered at 3 high schools located in a rural Alabama county. Guided by Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, this study examined cultural capital in reference to the transference of knowledge that each high school in this study provides its students throughout their high school education. The research questions explored the stakeholders' perceptions of the factors that prevent the schools from offering more CTE programs and how CTE programs should be expanded in each school. A collective case study design was used for this study, with the …

Evaluating Behavioral Health Homes To Decrease Emergency Department Use, Resa Jane Noe-Norman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 proposed a new integrated care model for individuals with chronic mental illness and multiple medical comorbidities by using Behavioral Health Homes (BHH). The purpose of this doctoral project was to evaluate the effectiveness of the BHH in reducing emergency department (ED) use in the community mental health outpatient setting. Guided by the American Association for Critical Care Nurses synergy model for patient care a cross-sectional, post-test only with comparison group quasi-experimental research design was used. A de-identified data set of 68 patient records in the BHH group and 73 patient records in non-BHH as …

Voter Worldview And Presidential Candidate Choice., Thomas Allen Kulbickas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has shown a relationship between having a strict father upbringing, defined by rules reinforcement and self-discipline beliefs, and the presence of high levels of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). The relationship between these variables and issue choice has been established, but no study has explored the connection between parental upbringing and moral foundations. Furthermore, the connection to political candidate choice has not been shown. This study investigated the relationship between people's parental upbringing beliefs, their adult morality, and their rating of ideal presidential candidate characteristics. Based on the moral foundation theory, a mixed methods study was …

The Effects Of Process Management On Stakeholder Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Donna Pulliam-Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, there were over 500,000 business management degrees conferred at the undergraduate and graduate level; however, the assessment of student performance has not kept pace with the growth of courses offered in both an online and traditional format. One of the objectives of teaching is to ensure that all students regardless of mode of instruction are receiving a quality education. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to measure the efficiency of learning in a business discipline by evaluating final course grades of 1,051 students. Ten traditional and 10 online course grades provided final student outcomes that were used to …

Patients, Preferences, And Portals: Barriers Identified To Accessing Personal Health Information Through A Secure Online Website, Helen Patricia Fox-Mccloy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient engagement is one of the 6 quality directives issued by the Institute of Medicine for patient-centered care. Federal meaningful use regulations require health care organizations to offer patients a secure online website, or patient portal, to access their health information. Although the patient portal offers patients the opportunity to be more involved in their care, the portal has not been widely used. However, barriers to utilization are best understood from the perspective of the patient. Any barriers to patients accessing the portal are also barriers to patient engagement. The purpose of this project was to understand from the patient …

Communication Strategies As Drivers Of Nonprofit Donor Retention, Tamieka Jameson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to scholars and organizations that focus on the performance of organizations in the nonprofit sector, retaining loyal and engaged donors has been a critical component of sustainability. Through the conceptual lens of single- and double-loop learning and organizational communications theory, this single-case study explored donor communication strategies used by 3 executive-level leaders of a nonprofit organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Data collected from semistructured interviews, organizational documents, and Guidestar, an online information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies, were manually coded and thematically analyzed. Two key themes emerged: effective processes for donor communication strategy development and organizational learning …

Correlates Of Project Success In The Nigerian Real Estate Construction Sector, Augustine Ofodile Onyali

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Project managers in the Nigerian real estate construction sector are facing challenges in delivering real estate projects profitably. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine how comprehension, motivation, skills, resources, and communication can predict project success in the real estate construction sector in Nigeria. Understanding these elements was necessary for developing project management strategies aimed at optimizing profitability. The population of the study was project management practitioners in the Nigerian real estate construction sector who are facing challenges in delivering real estate construction projects profitably. The duck alignment theory served as the theoretical framework for the study. Data …

Pediatric Emergence Delirium In The Postoperative Setting, Jennifer Miranda Snell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emergence delirium (ED), also known as emergence agitation, is a postoperative condition characterized by aberrant cognitive and psychomotor behaviors following general anesthesia. The incidence of ED is 3 to 8 times higher in children 5 years of age or less. There is no standard of nursing practice for managing ED symptoms in the pediatric surgical population. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to address a gap in knowledge needed to inform clinical decision-making when managing ED in the postoperative setting. Using an educational presentation for post anesthesia care unit (PACU) nurses, this project introduced the use of non-pharmacological …

Program Evaluation Of A Competency-Based Online Model In Higher Education, Karen Digiacomo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In order to serve its nontraditional students, a university piloted a competency-based program as alternative method for its students to earn college credit. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to conduct a summative program evaluation to determine if the program was successful in order to make decisions about program revision and expansion. The conceptual framework for the study was grounded in Knowles's adult learning theory and Bandura's social learning theory as they relate to adult learners being self-directed and self-motivated to complete their educational goals. The pilot program involved 60 students taking 12 different courses over 3 semesters. Quantitative …

Strategies To Minimize The Effects Of Information Security Threats On Business Performance, Stella Ifeyinwa Okoye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business leaders in Nigeria are concerned about the high rates of business failure and economic loss from security incidents and may not understand strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats on business performance. Guided by general systems theory and transformational leadership theory, the focus of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders use to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 SME leaders who worked in SME firms that support oil and gas industry sector in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, had …

Strategies And Processes For Implementing Financial Analysis For Business Success, Dawn Theona Alexander-Joseph

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The early failure of startup businesses is a concern for many local communities, including the Virgin Islands, with about half of startups failing within the first 5 years of their life cycle. Besides the social and economic impact on communities, these failures have a personal effect on small business owners. Grounded in decision-making theory and the theory of financial management, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies and processes Virgin Islands retail business managers use to implement financial analysis for decision making to help sustain their operations. Data were collected using company records and semistructured interviews …

Self-Efficacy And Cultural Competency Assessment Of The Associate Degree Nursing Student, Deborah Smith Hartman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective nursing care can be threatened when nurses are not culturally attuned with their patients. Associate degree nursing (ADN) students receive information about diverse ethnicities in the nursing curriculum, but it may not be sufficient to provide the expertise necessary to care for patients of various cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the 2nd year ADN students' levels of cultural competence and their perceptions of self-efficacy in working with Caucasian, African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian ethnicities. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to determine if a relationship existed between the students' reported …

Development And Evaluation Of An Evidence-Based Educational Process To Reduce Post-Transplant Infections, Erica Vanessa Henderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The targeted transplant center's abdominal organ transplant unit had difficulty providing

adequate education to patients prior to discharge, which had resulted in a 24% readmission rate within 30 days due to infections. Patients and caregivers were unavailable to receive education despite multiple attempts, which made it challenging for health care providers to complete this aspect of their job, resulting in a negative impact on patients' long-term outcomes. A more structured educational environment was needed to provide appropriate and effective patient and caregiver education to increase adherence and positive outcomes. The health promotion model served as a foundation for the development …

The Impact Of Stereotype Threat On The Social Self-Efficacy And Academic Performance Of Mexican Immigrants, Jessica Holmes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mexican immigrants living in the United States face academic challenges as well as being exposed to stereotypes. Additionally, Mexican immigrants tend to report lower self-efficacy compared to their American counterparts. This quantitative study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by examining the impact that stereotype threat (STT) has on Mexican immigrants' academic performance and social self-efficacy using a two-way between subjects design. Self-efficacy theory and stereotype threat theory provided the theoretical foundation for the study. Caucasian and Mexican immigrants were randomly assigned to one of two groups- a group exposed to STT (Caucasian n = 94, Mexican immigrant …