Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating Education Advocacy Into Child Welfare Practice: Working Models, Jennifer N. Rosen Valverde, Cara Chambers, Megan Blamble Dho, Regina Schaefer

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Mental Health Symptoms Of Women In Domestic Violence Relationships, Peronica L. Jackson

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

The Living Situations Of Children In Foster Care: Which Is Better, Kinship Foster Care Or Non-Kinship Foster Care?, Conisha A. Hill

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Training Parents Of An Adolescent With Autism Effective Behavior Management Strategies Across Multiple Settings, Kari Porter

Research Papers

Research suggests that rearing a child with a developmental disability can be highly stressful and may lead to a heightened risk for child maltreatment. This study demonstrates the utility of a behavioral skills teaching model to train parents to engage their child with autism in adaptive behavior and to manage her disruptions at home, in the car, and in public settings. In some conditions, the experimenter trained the child directly in order to establish control in these settings before attempting to train the parents. Parents were trained through a combination of discussion, video presentation, and guided (shadowed) practice. The results …

Nested Identities: A Concept For Improving Banker Engagement, Glen Weaver

Student Scholarship

The financial crisis served as an interesting backdrop for this study of the impact of identification upon banker engagement. Studies have shown that leadership style influences employee engagement, but little research reflects the impact of various levels of identity (nested identity) upon engagement. A survey of 511 mid-level bankers displayed the significance of career, organizational, and industry identity upon vigor, dedication, and absorption. Further, it was determined that organizational identity mediated the relationship between leadership and engagement. This research suggests that bank leadership would be wise to enact management tactics that elevate the level of career, organizational, and industry identity …

The Washington D.C. Profile: Focusing On Sustainability, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Lana Wald, Jennifer Cameron, Laura Bach

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This Washington, D.C. case study/profile presents findings from an evaluation that aimed to understand how evidence-based guidelines were disseminated, adopted, and used within state tobacco control programs.

The Colorado Profile: Prioritizing Funding And Integration, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Jennifer Cameron, Lana Wald, Laura Bach

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This Colorado case study/profile presents findings from an evaluation that aimed to understand how evidence-based guidelines were disseminated, adopted, and used within state tobacco control programs.

Ties User Manual, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Sarah Shelton, Kari Lindberg, Julianne Cyr

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This manual facilitates grantees through the process of submitting data using the Tobacco Evaluation System (TIES). The manual provides detailed information about: submitting data, features of the system, registering a user account and managing user profiles, entering monthly and quarterly data, and producing data report summaries.

Higher Education: Baseline Policy Assessment, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Sarah Moreland-Russell, Bobbi Carothers, Doneisha Snider

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This report from the CPPW project presents the findings from a baseline assessment of tobacco policies in a sample of institutions of higher education in St. Louis County and City. A comprehensive evaluation plan has been developed to examine both process and outcome measures for the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant, including changes in college/university tobacco policies.

Who Wants To Quit? Tobacco Cessation In Missouri, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Jill Kuhlberg, Amy Sorg, Sarah Shelton

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This report provides information on tobacco use cessation in Missouri. This report highlights both groups that are in need of cessation assistance and opportunities for more effective interventions in the health care services sector. Report findings and their associated recommendations may be used by the tobacco control community to inform their planning and programmatic efforts.

The Florida Profile: Mandating The Best Practices, Center For Public Health Systems Science, Laura Bach, Lana Wald, Jennifer Cameron

Center for Public Health Systems Science

This Florida case study/profile presents findings from an evaluation that aimed to understand how evidence-based guidelines were disseminated, adopted, and used within state tobacco control programs.

Work Interrupted: A Questionnaire Assessing The Relationship Between Work-Related Distress And Psychological Adjustment To Cancer, Betsy A. Bates Freed

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Cancer is an increasingly survivable disease that significantly impacts the ability of individuals to negotiate successfully the developmental task most distinctly affiliated with middle adulthood: creating meaning through achievement, creativity, and service. For many adults, these goals are accomplished through employment. When cancer intrudes, patients may be deprived of the ability to participate fully in the “generativity” that developmental psychologist Erik Erikson deemed essential to a healthy adulthood. In qualitative studies, patients’ narratives speak of many work-related losses — of routine, normality, economic stability, social connection, purpose, and identity. While psychosocial issues and quality of life are viewed with increasing …

Associate Degrees In Health Related Occupations As Predictors Of Success In Physician Assistant Programs, David E. Kotun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if applicants who had an associate degree in the health sciences prior to acceptance to a physician assistant program would do better than those applicants without an associate degree in the health sciences on three measures of success of physician assistant education. The three measures of success used were graduation rates, scores on the Physician Assistant Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool (PACKRAT), and performance on the national certifying exam, the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination (PANCE). Data used for this dissertation were taken from original source documents and raw data sent …

Qualitative Researchers In The Blogosphere: Using Blogs As Diaries And Data, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

Weblogs or blogs can provide qualitative researchers with a medium for expressing their thoughts and opinions on qualitative research methods and products as well as serving as the source of data for qualitative studies. Present examples serve as exemplary guides to the potential value of this virtual communication application.

A Training Curriculum For Assessing And Treating Sex Offenders With Mental Illnesses, Shawna Elizabeth Walker Boles

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this paper was to develop a continuing education program to teach sex offender-specific treatment providers (SOSTP) in the community how to appropriately assess, treat and manage adults with severe mental illness who are also sex offenders (SMISOs) in an outpatient setting. This paper begins with an overview of the most relevant literature associated with the treatment of sex offenders and a presentation of some of the current programs developed to treat sex offenders with severe and persistent mental illnesses. This review also outlines the paucity of resources and the need for SOSTPs to receive expanded training to …

Life Experiences That Contributed To The Independence And Success In The Lives Of Foster Care Alumni, Dawn Elizabeth Montgomery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the factors which helped these foster care alumni to persevere and to succeed. The intent was to provide a framework for equipping youth in foster care more effectively by building on their strengths and the resources available in foster care. The study’s method incorporated the interviewing of ten ethnically diverse individuals who had experienced the foster care system. Based on their insights and the themes which emerged, the WARRIORS Model was created. This acronym represents the key themes derived from the interviews: Wounded, Advocacy, Reality of Belonging, Resources, Inspired to Succeed, …

Enough Hope To Spare: The Transformative Experience Of Birth Parents As Leaders In Child Welfare, Nicole R. Bossard

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explores the transformative experience from client and service recipient to collaborative leader and partner in child welfare. Rather than expanding on existing literature that examines the nature and quality of the client experience from a service or customer satisfaction perspective, this study reflects the lived experiences of "real, bonafide" birth parent leaders in child welfare systems in the State of Kansas, several counties in Washington state, and Contra Costa County, California. The goal of the study is to illuminate the journey from clienthood to leadership as experienced by the nine birth parent leaders in the study through research …

Broken Can Heal: The Life And Work Of Manjula Pradeep Of India, Amy S. Choi

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

A brazen human …

Unraveling Students’ Spiritual Identities Using A Photovoice Method: Implications For Msw Programs, Cray Mulder

Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants

Graduate students in our MSW program have been actively lobbying for more in-depth coverage of spirituality and religion within our curriculum over the past several years. This study employed a photovoice method to explore 14 social work students' experiences with spirituality/religion in their personal and professional lives, and also suggestions and assessments for the social work curriculum. Photovoice, developed in the 1990's by Wang and Burris, in which researchers provide questions or topic areas to participants and ask them to use a camera to capture a photographic response to the topic/ question. Participants, who generally self-identified as more spiritual than …

Making The Team: Conducting Hierarchical Interdisciplinary Community Service Learning Research, Christine Yalda, Carly Hilinski

Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants

Service learning programs seek to engage students in projects that will benefit service recipients as well as maximize student learning through activities that inform future professional behaviors and responsibilities. This presentation offers a model for conducting responsible interdisciplinary service learning research that engages and integrates faculty and students across disciplines from initial conceptualization through completion of the study. The model derives in part from a community-based research project that involved over 70 social work and criminal justice faculty and students in studying the lives and needs of poor and homeless clients receiving services from an urban faith-based work program. This …

Predicting Child Safety: The Effect Of Custodial Grandparents' Depression, Home Safety Knowledge, And Gender., Danielle K. Nadorff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

During the past twenty years, an increasing percentage of grandparents have assumed the responsibility for raising their grandchildren, and there are currently over 2.5 million custodial grandparents in the United States (Census, 2003). Significant research has examined the effects of caregiving on custodial grandparents, and found that custodial grandparents experience decreased well-being, and report more stressors than their peers (Hayslip, Kaminski & Earnheart, 2005). One area that has not been well-examined is the effect of being raised by grandparents on grandchild well-being, particularly injury prevention. The safety of these home environments is of importance, as unintentional injury is the leading …

Theorizing Practice In Economic Geography: Foundations, Challenges, And Possibilities, Andrew Jones, James T. Murphy

Geography

Over the last decade or so there has been an identifiable shift in the interests of many economic geographers towards a concern with practices: stabilized, routinized, or improvised social actions that constitute and reproduce economic space, and through and within which socioeconomic actors and communities embed knowledge, organize production activities, and interpret and derive meaning from the world. Although this shift has gained significant momentum its general theoretical significance remains somewhat unclear and the concept is vulnerable to criticisms that it is incoherent, too 'micro-scale' in emphasis, unable to provide valid links between everyday practices and higher-order phenomena (eg, institutions, …

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Disparity: Examining Risk Factors Related To Smoking Among Sexual Minority Populations., John Rudolph Blosnich

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Despite a robust, concordant literature demonstrating that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (i.e., sexual minority) populations smoke more than their heterosexual peers, the factors contributing to this disparity are not well understood. Consequently, the main goal of this project and its three component studies was to enhance current understanding of risk factors that contribute to smoking disparities among sexual minority persons. Study 1 details a systematic review of the literature, synthesizing empirical investigations that tested associations of risk factors and correlates of smoking among sexual minority samples. Of the twenty-six studies included in the analysis, most used sexual identity to operationalize …

The International Context Of The Central European Countries Participation In The Afghan Stabilization Mission, Bartosz Kaluga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Afghan stabilization mission is a new challenge for Central European countries in the XXI century, and probably the most important and the most difficult mission for Central European armed forces. The fundamental role of NATO in Central European countries' security results from basic strategic documents related to common defense. Strengthening NATO, in short, strengthens Central European countries' security. In addition, the Afghanistan mission provides an invaluable experience for Central European armed forces.;The findings of this study shows that although the Visegrad countries' troop contribution lagged in the early phase of the ISAF mission, with the passing of time they …

Pot As Pretext: Marijuana, Race, And The New Disorder In New York City Street Policing, Amanda Geller, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Although possession of small quantities of marijuana has been decriminalized in New York State since the late 1970s, arrests for marijuana possession in New York City have increased more than tenfold since the mid-1990s, and remain high more than 10 years later. This rise has been a notable component of the city’s “Order Maintenance Policing” strategy, designed to aggressively target low-level offenses, usually through street interdictions known as “stop, question, and frisk” activity. We analyze data on 2.2 million stops and arrests carried out from 2004 to 2008, and identify significant racial disparities in the implementation of marijuana enforcement. These …

African-American Accountants Then And Now: A Longitudinal Study Of Factors Influencing Perceptions Of The Workplace, Tammi C. Redd, Glen D. Moyes, Jun Sun

Information Systems Faculty Publications

This study addresses the question of whether African-American accounting professionals perceive levels of job satisfaction and other work attributes differently over time as they gain experience in accounting practice. We examine how the elements that influence job satisfaction and perceptions of the workplace have changed over time for these accounting professionals. We contend that the evolution of the workforce and work itself have set forth contemporary workplace attitudes challenging Herzbergs (1959, 1966) Two-Factor Theory. Archival and newly collected data are combined to generate a longitudinal perspective on the African-Americans perception of job satisfaction and other work attributes specific to the …

Connections, Paths, And Explanations - A Social Network Approach To Investigating Experiences Of Early Childhood Special Education With The Ecls-K, Kathryn Shirley Akers

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a practical application of social network analysis in the field of education using a large-scale data source. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Base Year data, a network is identified by examining the connections that occur between supports, both inside and outside formal special education resources for kindergarteners with access to special education programs.

Social network mappings and quantitative findings are presented for formal and informal supports and primary disability category, along with policy implications and suggestions for further research. Findings indicate that social network analysis offers a unique and innovative perspective to …

Generational Shift And Drug Abuse In Older Americans, John B. White, David F. Duncan, Thomas Nicholson, Dana Bradley, John Bonaguro

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Since the problem of substance abuse by older adults began to receive serious professional attention, the focus has been almost exclusively on alcohol abuse. This reality is changing as the “baby boomers” age. We examined data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (1985) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2006) comparing nationwide prevalence of both legal and illicit drugs. Use of drugs by category varied over the study period; some showed little change (e.g., alcohol) while others showed marked increase (e.g., marijuana, cocaine). We found that the population of older Americans in 2006 contained greater …

Advance (Fall 2011), Georgia Southern Division Of Continuing And Professional Education

Division of Continuing & Professional Education

No abstract provided.