Digital Commons Network^™

Role Strain Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Couples Diagnosed With Cancer, Lisa Aaron Thomason

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In society, individuals tend to be socialized into roles that take on characteristics of masculine and feminine. Studies exist on the role strain experienced by heterosexual couples dealing with a life-threatening illness due to this characterization. The scholarly literature lacks studies on the understanding of roles, as well as possible role strain, in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) couples when dealing a life-threatening illness. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the role strain experiences of LGBTQ couples who are living with cancer diagnoses of a partner. Biddle's role strain theory provided the conceptual framework …

Cultural Perspectives On African American Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior In Central Mississippi, Debra Suzette Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2015, Mississippi had the 3rd highest adolescent birth rate in the United States, high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and enduring racial disparities between African American and White teenagers. Few researchers have described the immediate cultural environment to determine how it may influence the sexual behaviors and attitudes of African American teens. The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic study was to describe the sociocultural environment of African American adolescents in Mississippi that influences their sexual behavior by exploring the knowledge, feelings, experiences and beliefs of African American adults. The social cognitive theory was used as a theoretical framework to …

Transformational Leadership And Job Satisfaction In The Federal Government, Dorothy Marquitia Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since 2002, the federal government has disseminated surveys to all of its federal agencies

to obtain employees' views on the federal agencies' work environments. This study examined the relationship between employees' perception of their leaders' transformational leadership skills and employee job satisfaction. This study was conducted in a metropolitan area in the midwestern United States using 12 federal agencies, totaling approximately 33,000 employees. The theoretical framework for this study was transformational leadership theory. The 5 constructs published by House and Burns were used in multifactor leadership questionnaire surveys by scholarly and peer-reviewed studies and represent the primary leadership skills. The …

Illegal Drug Use, Suicidal Ideation, And Attempted Suicide Among New York Adolescents, Jacqueline Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Suicide, ranked as one of the top five causes of death among adolescents, aged 15 to 19, claims numerous lives within the state of New York. Driven by the social cognitive theory, the objective of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the association among being offered, sold, or given illegal drugs, illegal drug use, being bullied, age, gender, ethnicity, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide among adolescents in New York. The Centers for Disease Control 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance data for 89,068 New York adolescents, Grades 9-12, were utilized in this study. There was increased risk of suicide ideation …

Barriers To Daiy Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring In Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Sylvain N. Tientcheu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Routine blood glucose monitoring by patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is needed for effective management of T2DM; however, 75% of monitoring logs are returned incomplete during monthly provider follow-up appointments. As a result, effective management of the patient's medical condition is limited. To better understand the reasons for noncompliance, a quality improvement project (QIP) was initiated between July 01, 2017 and September 30, 2017, to identify barriers that prevented patients from self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). No formal assessment of the patients' responses had been done, and, as a result, the deidentified, qualitative responses from the QIP were …

Portuguese-American Parents' Knowledge Of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Debbie Shrimatie Persaud

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to recent studies, there is an interethnic research gap that exists regarding Portuguese-American parents' knowledge of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to explore Portuguese-American parents' knowledge of the symptoms and diagnosis of ADHD, how they think it impacts their children's education, learning, behaviors, and what interventions they use to address the behavioral issues and learning disabilities that result from ADHD. Guided by family systems theory, with the premise that children are an integral part of the family and cannot be understood in isolation from the family, this qualitative, phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews …

Eighth-Grade Students With Low Academic Performance In Middle School Science, Tennille Heath Fowler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem of low achievement and failure of 8th-grade students to attain state proficiency level in science in a local school district was addressed in this case study. Data from 2012-2016 revealed that 93% of 8th-grade students in 2 suburban middle schools in the targeted state failed to meet science proficiency standards on the science Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and the state's Milestone Assessments. The purpose of conducting this qualitative case study was to develop an understanding of teachers' perceptions regarding high failure rate of 8th-grade students to meet state mandated standards in science. Piaget's constructs of developmental and operational learning …

Effects Department Of Justice Investigations Have On Violent Crime And Arrest Rates, D. Scott Hoffman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 1994 Congress enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which in part gave the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (DOJCRD) the power to investigate local law enforcement agencies for Constitutional and civil rights violations. Researchers have found these investigations are expensive, time consuming, and highly intrusive to a law enforcement agency. To understand how these investigations are impacting communities, data were gathered on cities with local law enforcement agencies that have experienced an investigation by the DOJCRD. Using a quasi-experimental, multiple time-series research design with a paired samples t-test, the dependent variables (violent crime and arrest …

Police Culture And Decision-Making, Larry D. Anthony

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Decisions made by street-level police officers during encounters with the public have an immediate and long-lasting effect. Bad choices can cause a loss of trust, respect, and legitimacy for the police in a community and lay a foundation for violent confrontations between officers and citizens. Layers of culture that shape human decisions consist of social and institutional culture, including interactions that shape an individual's culture and beliefs and demographics and technology that affect cultural development. Police culture (which includes these layers of culture and factors like rank, units, and history) shapes attitudes and opinions about communities and people in a …

Waterborne Disease Reduction Using Evidence-Based Microbiology Verification In Lower Nyakach, Kenya, Richard R. Blodgett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Waterborne diseases continue to plague the poorest people in low-income countries and are estimated to cause 4,600,000 acute incidents of diarrhea resulting in over 2,000 deaths daily. A major challenge is performing microbiology tests to monitor drinking water quality. Friends of the Old (FOTO) implemented a novel strategy using evidence-based microbiology to educate communities about the relationship between contaminated water and disease. Two commercially available tests for E.coli, adapted for fieldwork, provided easily interpreted results of contamination that correlate with WHO's disease risk categories. Simple and effective household water treatment options 'solar pasteurization and/or chlorination' were provided to all 14,400 …

Nursing Leadership And Employee Satisfaction Perception In A Virtual Work Environment, Angelique Duffy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Virtual team leaders in health care must have the right resources available to help them effectively perform their jobs. Better performance from the leader may lead to greater employee satisfaction. The problem addressed by this study was the impact of leadership style on employee satisfaction of virtual nurses. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate the relationship between the leadership styles of virtual nursing environment leaders as perceived by virtual employee nurses and the nurses' satisfaction as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-short form. Building on the theoretical foundation of Bass's 1990 work, this study examined the …

Public Service Announcements To Promote Physical Activity, Jennifer Erickson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes physical activity as a primary way to maintain health, but many individuals do not participate in this health-promoting behavior. Despite the potential for public service announcements (PSAs) to communicate health information and promote behavioral change, no prior research on developing video PSAs to promote physical activity was found. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine how affective and information video PSAs for a public health campaign affect future levels of intention to engage in physical activity. The PSAs were developed and filmed specific for this study using the model of goal directed …

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disparity In Black Men Who Have Sex With Men, Valencia L. Beckley Hildreth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to be a challenge in the men who have sex with men (MSM) population. Initiatives to decrease rates of new HIV infections have proven less than optimal. Despite evidence-based interventions to curtail the prevalence and incidence rates of HIV infection, Black MSM have been most impacted with increased HIV incidence. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to explore the relationship, if any, between age, online and physical venues attended by participants within the last thirty days, neighborhood's perceived social environment, and HIV incidence in the non-Hispanic Black MSM population in a metropolitan statistical area …

Narrative Analysis Of The 3-Year Recovery Of Superstorm Sandy Survivors, Joanne Fortune

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although research has been conducted on the short-term effects of natural and human-made disasters on individuals and families, few researchers have examined the experiences of families during the recovery and rebuilding process when stressors may continue on many levels, sometimes for years later. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experience of recovery for families during the 3-year period following Superstorm Sandy in 2012 through the theoretical lens of Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological perspective. A narrative approach was used in order to understand the experience of natural disaster recovery and the meaning of recovery and coping for these families. …

An Evaluation Of Juvenile Lifers In Pennsylvania Pre And Post Act 33 Of 1995, Kieshia Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Act 33 of 1995 is an amendment to Pennsylvania's Juvenile Act (2008). This amendment changed jurisdictional boundaries for juvenile offenders who committed violent crimes with weapons. As a result, youth who committed violent crimes with weapons were automatically transferred to the adult criminal justice system. Using punctuated equilibrium as the theoretical foundation, the purpose of this study was to determine if Act 33, as a punctuating event, resulted in an increase in the number of youth transferred to the adult criminal justice system and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in an urban county in Pennsylvania. Secondary data …

Creation Of A Diabetic Health Literacy Program For Staff Of A Rural Federally Qualified Healthcare Center, Cathy Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adult residents in rural communities have a higher incidence of chronic diseases. This fact coupled with low health literacy and a lack of primary and specialty care services makes the management of diseases such as diabetes difficult. The purpose of this doctoral project was to develop a diabetic health literacy program for staff of a rural federally qualified health care center (FQHC) that is the largest primary care center within a 5-county area in a rural mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Most residents have difficulty understanding diabetic information as it is presented to them, which leads to an increase …

Perceptions About Hands-On Art Making By Non-Art Major Online Students, Gayle Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As higher education moves increasingly to online and hybrid programs, more students will be taking art appreciation courses virtually. The research that exists on student perceptions related to hands-on art making suggests that active creation is valuable in fostering creativity, inspiring knowledge, and supporting and motivating students. The purpose of this case study was to explore non-art major, college-level students' experiences, perceptions, and reflections of an active learning component within an online art appreciation class delivered at a public university in the southeastern United States. Three research questions were developed to explore the students' experiences, perceptions, and reflections of this …

Teachers' Experiences With Web-Based Professional Development For Diffusing State Standards, Nadine Petrie-Waymyers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School reform efforts ultimately affect the students, but what is seldom looked at is how they affect teachers. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of teachers with regards to web-based professional development during a systemic change. The purpose of this qualitative study was to generate an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of 6 teachers in a Southeastern state who had participated in the initial process of implementing organizational changes and the diffusion of the new state educational standards. Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory served as the study's conceptual framework. Research questions focused on the perspectives of teachers regarding the …

Toward Excellence: Exploring Leader Strategies In Chronic Wound Care Centers, Geraldine Rosol

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of chronic wounds is rising in the United States, and health leaders face the economic and health burdens these wounds pose to the U.S. health care system. Many investigators have documented the importance of leadership in promoting excellence and reducing health care costs in chronic disease. Yet, the literature lacks information regarding leader strategies used to promote wound treatment cultures of excellence directed toward improved quality and reduced health costs. This study examined leader strategies used to promote excellence in chronic wound treatment to address the problem of the economic and health burdens associated with chronic wounds. The …

Breastfeeding Perceptions, Rates Of Initiation, And Duration Among Urban And Rural Women, Shaunta N. Rutherford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Breastfeeding is the optimal feeding method for infants up to the age of 2. Breast milk is suited to fulfill the nutritional needs of infants while providing immunological and neurological benefits. Breastfeeding rates of initiation and duration are low in the United States, especially in the state of Georgia. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate how breastfeeding initiation and duration, self-efficacy, perceptions, and community breastfeeding resources differ based on geographical location. The social ecological model was used as the theoretical framework for this study. An online and in-person survey that combined the Iowa Feeding Attitude Scale, Breastfeeding …

Marketing Strategies To Improve Online Sales, Paul Barrie Targett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Marketing executives of traditional retail firms who lack strategies to expand e-commerce business, can experience inhibited growth, higher transaction costs, and a loss of competitive advantage. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore marketing strategies that marketing executives of a traditional retail firm used to improve online sales. Eight purposefully selected marketing executives in the head offices of a large traditional retail business in South Africa who had implemented effective marketing strategies to improve online sales participated in the study. Social exchange theory was the conceptual framework for the study. The data collection process entailed face-to-face …

The Effects Of Computer-Assisted Language Learning On English Language Proficiency, Rachelle Ysquierdo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 requires high standards, but academic achievement among English Language Learners (ELL) falls below that of their peers in Texas. These students' lower academic achievement may lead to their dropping out of high school, not going to college, or being underemployed, a problem that led to this study. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether computer-assisted language learning (CALL) helps ELLs improve their English language proficiency compared to traditional learning approaches. Levy's theoretical framework on the implementation of CALL guided this study. A nonequivalent, pretest-and-posttest design was used to examine mean differences …

Effective Internet Marketing Strategies For Online Fashion Jewelry Businesses, Zohreh Daemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who fail to apply effective Internet marketing strategies could negatively affect customers' purchasing decisions, and business profitability and sustainability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective Internet marketing strategies online fashion jewelry business owners used to maintain or increase profit levels. Competitive advantage theory was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with 3 online fashion jewelry business owners located in the northeastern region of the United States who were in the same business for more than 5 years and generated at least $100,000 in annual revenue. Additionally, …

Small Business Marketing Strategies For Physical Therapy Practice Owners, Matthew Lane Daugherty

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States economy depends on small businesses, which represent 99% of all businesses in the United States, yet approximately 50% of small businesses cease operations in the first 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the marketing strategies used by owners of small businesses to develop and maintain their organization through the initial 5 years of business operation. The population included 5 physical therapy business owners in northeastern Florida who had sustained their business for a minimum of 5 years. The conceptual framework for this study was the brand equity model, and data were …

Predictors Of Nutritional Counseling Among Adolescents By Physicians In California, Jean Kigozi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of obesity in the United States was stable at 17% from 2011-2014 among approximately 13 million children and adolescents 12-19 years of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nutritional counseling has been recommended, and while most physicians agree that it is necessary, it is not happening consistently. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between dietary intake, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) characteristics of youth 12-17 years old in California and the receipt of nutritional counseling. Social cognitive theory guided this quantitative cross-sectional analysis of archived data from 814 …

Elementary Educators' Knowledge, Beliefs, And Planned And Implemented Practices For Digital Citizenship, Meghan Gail Walters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Limited research has focused on the knowledge, beliefs, and professional practices of elementary educators related to digital citizenship. The purpose of this study was to identify elementary educators' knowledge and beliefs about digital citizenship, as well as understand their plans and implemented practices, supports, and barriers related to digital citizenship instruction. This study was grounded in Mezirow's theory of transformative learning, Siemen's theory of connectivism, and Ribble's concept of digital citizenship. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data collected from an original survey instrument developed from the literature by the researcher. Participants were recruited using publicly accessible email addresses and …

Measuring Third Grade Reading Performance With And Without Using The Study Island Program, Caprice Mitchell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The low test scores on third graders' Illinois State Assessment Test (ISAT) is a concern in the Allgood Elementary School community. Thirty percent of third graders are retained because they do not meet the standard on the ISAT. A technology-assisted reading program, Study Island, was implemented to increase reading proficiency. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was an improvement in standardized test performance after the implementation of Study Island for the academic school years 2009-2012. Dewey's theory of experience provided the theoretical framework for the study because when students are engaged in hands on experience in …

Child Sexual Abuse And Prenatal Care: Understanding Screening, Modifications, And Proper Care, Wendy Abbott-Egnor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has shown that 1 in 9 women in prenatal care have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Pregnant women with a history of childhood sexual abuse are at increased risk of depression, somatization, preterm contractions, posttraumatic stress symptomology, and re-traumatization. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in literature between research and practice. Data was collected from practitioners regarding the care and treatment of pregnant women with a childhood sexual abuse history. It was hypothesized that screening practices and modification to care and treatment based on practitioner knowledge of prior sex abuse history will vary by …

The Impact Of Technology Innovations In High School Biology Courses On Science Learning For Hmong Students, Thai Xiong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hmong high school students struggle in science courses and have difficulty using technology, leaving them behind other ethnic groups in science performance. There is lack of research regarding Hmong students' struggle in technology-focused science courses, especially regarding the experiences of Hmong students with using science technology and teachers' experiences with these students. This single case study was designed to explore how technology innovations in high school biology courses impact science learning for Hmong students based on Gu, Zhu, and Guo's technology acceptance model. Both Hmong student and science teacher interviews as well as reflective journal data were collected to better …

Educational Manager Perceptions Towards Integrated Management Information System Implementation In Yemen, Mahfood Hussain Alkaabi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The government of Yemen has been developing government offered services designed to improve the quality of education management. Yemen's managers of education and managers of higher education in the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) have sought to improve quality of education, reduce costs, and provide timely information for decision-making processes by implementing an integrated management information system (IMIS). The problem was the lack of understanding the barriers that hinder successful IMIS implementation by the MOE and MOHE, and the role that lack of collaboration has played in prior unsuccessful attempts. The purpose of this …