Digital Commons Network^™

Predictors Of Community Supervision Failures Among Female Offenders, Fayola Wolfe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the predictors of community supervision failures amongst female offenders in the United States criminal justice system. Female offenders have, in comparison with male offenders, particular challenges for community reintegration. This study used the relational theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory to investigate the effects of childhood trauma on adult female offenders' behaviors, including substance use disorder and mental health issues. Secondary archival data were obtained from the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency's AUTO Screener and Supervision and Management Automated Record Tracking System; this data pool included information on 1,085 female offenders who had served at …

Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization On Quality Financial Reporting At The Districts In Ghana, Abdul-Malik Seidu Zakaria

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined the impact of fiscal decentralization on quality financial reporting at the local government level in Ghana. The study is important because it provides development partners with the assurance that Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) funds are used for their intended purposes. The study was based on the theory of local public expenditures, which posits that fiscal decentralization may enhance local capacities for service delivery. The key research question examined the extent to which fiscal decentralization has influenced quality financial reporting at the local level. The research design was quantitative, randomly sampling stakeholders in the local government …

Teacher Interventions Based On Childhood Bullying Experiences, Marcia Rushin Teemer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Guided by Premack and Woodruff's theory of the mind and Bandura's social learning theory, this qualitative study examined the issue of bullying at school, and whether teachers' childhood experiences of bullying had effects on how they, as adults, handled bullying situations in their classrooms. Convenience sampling was used to administer the Bauman, Rigby, and Hoppa Handling Bullying Questionnaire to 22 middle school educators with three or more years of teaching experience at the participating school, to determine their responses to bullying scenarios. Twelve educators completed the questionnaire. Data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed for frequencies of responses. Teachers' responses …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

Women And Thyroid Disease: Treatment Experiences And The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Laura J. Mccormick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Thyroid disease, a chronic illness, affects nearly 200 million people worldwide and is more common among women than in men. Numerous factors make diagnosing and treating thyroid disease in women challenging. The standard blood test for diagnosing thyroid disease and determining treatment effectiveness is inconsistent in its accuracy. Many women with thyroid disease are misdiagnosed or struggle with symptoms even once receiving treatment. Although thyroid disease is highly prevalent among women and the doctor-patient relationship is known to influence treatment outcomes, there is a gap in the literature regarding the treatment experiences of women with thyroid disease and the doctor-patient …

Effect Of Neighborhood Features On Bmi Of African American Adolescents In South Los Angeles, Francisca Omelogo Obiora

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood obesity is a major national and worldwide public health crisis. The occurrence of childhood obesity, caused to large extent by an imbalance between caloric intake and caloric expenditure, has increased in the last 30 years. Although the prevalence of obesity has stabilized in recent years, it remains a top public health concern in the United States, especially in urban centers. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between diet, physical activity, and the built environment in relation to the mean body mass index (BMI) of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years living in South Los Angeles, …

Conducting A Needs Assessment At Outpatient Medical Clinic, Fidelia Ijeuru Ukah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States and confronting its challenges has remained a problem to the United States health sector, especially among outpatient clinics. Guided by health belief model, the purpose of this needs assessment was to identify patients age 50 and older in outpatient clinic located in a large metropolitan city in Texas who should receive information on the need for colorectal cancer screening based on their risk for developing colorectal cancer as outlined by American Cancer Society. A sample of 70 charts of patients age 50-75 years was randomly selected and …

Lived Experiences Of Attorneys Who Represent Transgender Clients In Prison Placement, Heidi Jo Green

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that there are no formal guidelines for placing convicted transgender felons in the United States in correctional facilities and addressing their post-placement medical care and treatment. The problem is that inappropriate placement may lead to the discrimination of transgender offenders; it may also put them in situations that threaten their safety. Attorneys are legal advocates assigned to defend and protect the rights of their clients during the trial and sentencing phase when correctional placement is determined. The purpose of this hermeneutic, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of attorneys who represent transgender clients during the …

Race/Ethnicity, Diet, And Physical Activity Behavior Among College Students, Ronda Herbert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Scarce knowledge exists about the lifestyle of college students from heterogeneous racial/ethnic backgrounds and how race/ethnicity may influence their diet and physical activity behaviors. College students, especially those who are members of minority groups, are at risk for unhealthy lifestyles resulting in negative health outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the role of racial diversity on dietary and physical activity habits. The study was guided by social cognitive theory, and the research questions examined the relationship between race/ethnicity on diet and physical activity in a multiracial ethnic population. The study research design was a quantitative cross-sectional …

Secondary School Choral Teachers' Perceptions Of Quality Professional Development, Raymond Owen West

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Quality professional development is essential to enhance and sustain teacher efficacy. In a Southeastern school district, content-based, job-embedded professional development was not practiced or available for secondary school choral teachers. The purpose of this research was to discover the perceptions that choral teachers possess about what constitutes quality professional development. Guided by Bruner's constructivist approach, Knowles' concept of andragogy, and DuFour's professional development practices, this study examined the connection between these 3 ideas and supplied the foundation for the development of a professional development program. Using a case study design, data were collected through interviews and lesson plan documents from …

The Severity Of Obstructive Sleep Apnea And Hypertension Among Middle Aged Asians, Michel Juson Benin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined the prevalence rate of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as an independent variable in association with hypertension as an outcome. Studies conducted outside of the United States suggest that differences in craniofacial features among middle-aged Asians increase the prevalence of OSA in comparison to Caucasians with similar age and lower BMI. No similar study had been conducted in the United States. The sufficient component cause theory guided this study and was able to describe the association between OSA and hypertension among middle-aged Asians. The objective of this cross sectional retrospective study was to determine the prevalence rate of …

Cultural Backgrounds Influencing Virtual Team Performance, Vyacheslav Semenovich Lerner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Virtual teams improve organizational performance and competitiveness because they reduce business travel and allow team members to work from anywhere, anytime, using the Internet to complete projects. Although researchers have identified benefits of using virtual teams, knowledge about how cultural backgrounds influence virtual team performance is limited. Illuminating this relationship may help leadership improve team performance. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of team members with different cultural backgrounds to understand their effect on team performance. The research questions were based on the conceptual framework of organizational cultural theories developed by Schein and Trompenaars …

Barriers To Receiving The Influenza Vaccine In Adults 65 Years And Older, Melissa Madalone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Vaccination is regarded by many as the most effective means of reducing influenza infection and disease; however, many people in the United States are hospitalized from flu-related illness each year. Adults 65 years and older account for more than half of these hospitalizations and almost all flu-related deaths. This project aimed to identify barriers to receiving the influenza vaccine among the adult population (> 65 years of age) in a community setting. The goal was to develop a teaching tool that would assist practitioners towards improving influenza vaccination rates among this population. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical framework …

Nursing Staff Participation In Chart Audits Increases Documentation Compliance, Susan Elaine Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Clinical documentation is an essential quality element that is often not adequately completed. Current data demonstrate that 32% of home health claims do not meet the requirements for federal reimbursement. Rogers's diffusion of innovation was used as a conceptual framework to guide this quality improvement project which determined whether home health nurses with education and chart audit experience demonstrate increased documentation compliance relative to nurses with education only. After completing a 1-hour education program on documentation, a convenience sample of home health nurses (n = 8) was divided between a chart-audit group (n = 4) and a no-chart-audit group (n …

Soft Skills Perceived By Students And Employers As Relevant Employability Skills, Ann-Marie Claudia Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local employers believe the lack of prerequisite soft skills is inhibiting the graduates from a local community college from securing employment. The rationale of this phenomenological study was to investigate the perceptions of students and employers related to the soft skills needed to be successful in future employment. The theoretical framework was based on Mezirow's transformational and Daloz's mentorship theories. Individual face-to-face, semistructured interviews were used to gather data from 12 business and computer students and 7 employers (N=19) who were selected using purposeful random sampling. The typewritten transcripts of participants' responses were imported in MAXQDA 11, then were open …

Identifying Successful Online Adult Learners, Lester Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative case study examined the lack of success by and high attrition rates of adult learners enrolled in online higher education courses at a public research university in the southeastern United States. The conceptual framework integrated Knowles' theory of andragogy with a composited model that combined elements of Tinto's persistence model with Bean and Metzner's student attrition model. The research questions examined factors and characteristics contributing to the unsuccessful completion of online courses for adult learners. The data were collected in 2 separate phases using a purposeful sample comprised of 152 adult learners who volunteered to participate in the …

Building Resilience And Coping Effectiveness (Brace): A Program For Military Families, Linda Pauline Zarrett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Building Resiliency and Coping Effectiveness (BRACE): A Program for Military Families

by

Linda Zarrett

MSN, University of Cincinnati, 2012

BSN, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, 1985

Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Walden University

August 2015

Veterans returning from combat report significant family strain and Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) yet have limited access to care resources. Family members, including children, report very similar symptoms to those of veterans and have yet fewer health care resources. The purpose of this project was to apply principles from existing research on post-traumatic stress …

Inflammatory Markers Associated With Disease Progression Of Cardiorenal Syndrome, Srikanta Banerjee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An increase in cellular inflammatory biomarkers directly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Using the social ecological and biomedical theories, the study examined quantitatively how specific inflammatory biomarkers are associated with cardiorenal syndrome (CRS), a potential complication of hypertension and diabetes, and how sociodemographic factors modify this association in the U.S. adult population. A retrospective secondary data analysis of the data collected from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 was utilized to evaluate these hypotheses. High sensitivity C-reactive protein, homocysteine (hcy), and fibrinogen had a modifying effect on Type 4 (chronic reno-cardiac etiology), Type 2 CRS (chronic …

The Effect Of Researched-Based Practices On Reading Achievement Of Title Î? Students, Oliver Lorenza Phipps

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Title Î? schools are supported to improve student reading achievement and to bridge the achievement gap between low-income students and other students. The researched-based practices of professional learning communities, coteaching classrooms, and the RtI 3-tiered model were added to a Title Î? school to improve students' reading achievement; however, the effects of these research-based practices on students' reading achievement were unclear. The purpose of this quantitative causal comparative study was to examine the impact of these research-based practices on reading scores of students. Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT 2.0) reading achievement scores were compared between students (n = 98) in …

Massage Therapy Effects On Pain And Distress/Anxiety In Breast Cancer Patients, Tanya Brigitte Buchrieser

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Pain and distress/anxiety are likely to result from breast cancer and/or the medical treatment associated with this illness. Breast cancer researchers have focused on massage therapy and its influence on pain and distress in breast cancer patients; however, these research efforts were limited by small sample sizes, homogeneous populations, and small to medium effect sizes. This study explores the effectiveness of massage therapy for decreasing pain and distress in a larger, heterogeneous population of breast cancer patients and across all durations and frequencies of treatment by pooling the findings of former studies. The gate control theory which relates to the …

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy And Employee Commitment Among Perfusionists, Gilbert F. Garcia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Certified clinical perfusionists (CCPs) operate a variety of complex, invasive devices to provide heart-lung support. Job-related stress has been identified as having unfavorable influences on self-efficacy and commitment of employees in many domains, but this relationship has not been examined among CCPs. Guided by self-efficacy theory and organizational commitment model, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between self-efficacy and commitment among CCPs and the extent to which age, gender, workload, experience, or education impacted CCPs' commitment. Data were collected from 264 respondents via 2 established survey instruments: the organizational commitment questionnaire and the work …

Comparing Basic Computer Literacy Self-Assessment Test And Actual Skills Test In Hospital Employees, Jolly Peter Isaac

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A new hospital in United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to adopt health information technology (HIT) and become fully digitalized once operational. The hospital has identified a need to assess basic computer literacy of new employees prior to offering them training on various HIT applications. Lack of research in identifying an accurate assessment method for basic computer literacy among health care professionals led to this explanatory correlational research study, which compared self-assessment scores and a simulated actual computer skills test to find an appropriate tool for assessing computer literacy. The theoretical framework of the study was based on constructivist learning theory …

Social Inequality: Cultural Racism As A Predictor Of Collegiate Academic Success, Natasha L. Ball

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The economic sustainability of an area is largely dependent on the education level of its population, yet little is known about the role cultural racism may play in academic success. The purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate the theory of cultural racism, defined as, the establishment of cultural institutions by whites/Europeans to the detriment of non-white people, as it relates to academic success at the college level. Data were collected from 100 participants from 3 predominately African American high schools in the Atlanta, Georgia area to explore whether the presence of cultural racism existed from the perspective of …

Disaster Management And Efforts To Mitigate The Destruction Of The Human-Environment, Dorothy Henderson Bell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Natural disasters expose the fact that poverty, race, gender, and other indicators of social disadvantage are linked to the population of citizens who struggle the most to recover after a disaster, yet these factors are not accounted for in public policy that guides decision making related to federal assistance to residents affected by a disaster. This study used neural networks as a research strategy to determine whether the current policies under the Stafford Act related to assistance comply with Congressional intent and law that uses a formula for assistance distribution, and whether human factors such as culture, measured as residing …

Differentiating Demographic Factors In Latino Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Carol Lynne Manning

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) data suggest that Latinos share a greater burden of disease than do non-Latino Whites with type 2 diabetes. As a result of poor glycemic control, Latinos also suffer consequences such as blindness, kidney disease, and limb amputation more often than do other ethnic groups. The purpose of this study was to compare demographic factors of Latinos with well-controlled type 2 diabetes, as measured by a HgbA1c of 7 or less (n = 118) to Latinos not well controlled (n = 105). This cross sectional study used a secondary data set with a sample selected from …

The Relationship Between Customer Relationship Management Usage, Customer Satisfaction, And Revenue, Robert Lee Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Given that analysts expect companies to invest $22 billion in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems by 2017, it is critical that leaders understand the impact of CRM on their bottom line. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate potential relationships between the independent variables of customer satisfaction and CRM utilization on the dependent variable of business revenue. The service-profit chain formed the theoretical framework for this study. The study population included 203 service branches for an industrial equipment manufacturer in North America. The service director for the subject organization provided the data for the study via data extracts …

U.S. Army Enlisted Soldiers' Adherence To Prescribed Malaria Chemoprophylaxis In Afghanistan, Michael Paul Brisson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past 13 years, the United States Army has been engaged in armed conflict within Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the United States Army has been forced to evacuate soldiers from the battlefield because of malaria, a parasitic disease that is endemic in Afghanistan. Even though the U.S. Army has adopted an effective chemoprophylaxis protocol, soldiers' adherence to their prescribed medication has been historically low. This research addressed a gap in literature regarding the adherence rates of U.S. Army enlisted soldiers to their prescribed oral malaria chemoprophylaxis. In addition, this research investigated self-reported reasons for soldiers' nonadherence to this medication. The study …

Systematic Review Of Retention Of Direct-Care Workers In Long-Term Care Facilities, Regina Evonne Goins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Turnover among direct-care workers in long-term care (LTC) facilities is high, and has a significant impact on residents, leaders, and owners of LTC facilities. The overall turnover costs are also substantial and constitute a significant financial burden in LTC facilities. This systematic review of the literature examined, retention strategies for direct-care workers in the LTC workforce. The information may be used to develop and provide practice recommendations that will help improve retention rates among direct-care workers in LTC facilities. The project design involved a systematic examination of English-only studies from 2001-2004, retrieved from 3 major databases: CINAHL with Medline simultaneous, …

Challenges African American Students Face When Adjusting To Predominantly White Institutions, Argyle Jeanine Smallwood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this case study was to explore the challenges African American students face when adjusting to predominantly White institutions and to review these institutions' diversity policies to determine whether the institutions are aligned with African American students' needs. The study was based on critical race theory to examine whether and how racial microaggressions influence racial tension at the predominantly White institutions selected for this study. The research questions were used to gauge (a) the level of comfort among African American students attending one of these predominantly White institutions, (b) their overall satisfaction with their decisions to attend the …

Examining Community Attitudes Toward Manufactured Housing, Lisa Tyler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the need for affordable housing, consumers have failed to recognize manufactured housing as a viable alternative to site-built housing. The decline in market share for manufactured housing and subsequent decrease in sales has threatened the sustainability of manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, and support organizations. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the extent that respondents' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, perceptions of manufactured home characteristics, and perceptions of manufactured home occupants and neighborhood characteristics predicted the acceptance of manufactured homes. The model of acceptance of manufactured homes provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data were collected from 2 …