Digital Commons Network^™

Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Refugee Health Literacy Program (R-Help), Cecilia A. Boateng

DNP Projects

Problem Statement: United States refugees often encounter significant barriers when adapting to their new host country; such as cultural and language barriers, and difficulty in navigating through the American healthcare system. For example, navigating through the American Pharmacy system to buy or refill medications is a great challenge for most refugees. To make matters worse, most refugees have difficulty understanding medications instructions which puts them at risk for making medication errors.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the feasibility of delivering an evidence based health literacy medication educational program for all newly-arrived refugees attending …

Stress In Parents Of Children With Type 1 Diabetes, Megan B. Carter

DNP Projects

Pediatric healthcare providers across the country care for many children with complex chronic diseases. Many of these children are not developmentally mature enough to manage their disease process, leaving the parent of the chronically ill child to manage their disease. The parent of the chronically ill child may experience stress related to their child’s illness, termed pediatric parenting stress, and may have difficulty dealing with this stress (Streisand, Kazak, & Tercyak, 2003). The manuscripts in this Practice Inquiry Project further investigate the relationship between pediatric parenting stress and the health of the parent and the chronically ill child. The instruments …

Evaluation Of An Educational Intervention To Improve Nurse Managers' Understanding Of And Self-Assessed Competence With Personnel Budgeting, Sue J. Mcfarlan

DNP Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on the process and outcomes of a DNP practice inquiry project.

Design: The design is a pretest posttest comparative evaluation.

Setting: The University of Kentucky Healthcare Chandler, Samaritan, and KY Children’s hospitals.

Subjects: A voluntary convenience sample of nurse managers was obtained (n=10)

Intervention: The intervention was a 2 hour didactic session and an individualized one-on-one educational session focused on general healthcare finance terms and more specifically on personnel budgeting and productivity metrics

Measures: The pretest and posttest consisted of 20 questions obtained from healthcare finance texts and preparatory materials for …

Polypharmacy Practice Inquiry Project, Mary T. Skinner

DNP Projects

“The impending crisis, which has been foreseen for decades, is now upon us.The nation needs to act now to prepare the health care workforce to meet the care needs of older adults.” Institute of Medicine.

Given the rising tide of people over the age of 65, taking multiple medications or polypharmacy is a becoming more prevalent in older adults. Unfortunately, there are many negative consequences associated with polypharmacy. Specifically, this burden has been associated with greater health care costs and an increased risk of adverse drug events, drug-interactions, medication non-adherence, reduced functional capacity and multiple geriatric syndromes including cognitive impairment. …

Assessment Of Nurses’ Views And Current Practice Of Trauma-Informed Pediatric Nursing Care: Oncology, Alesandra S. Conley

DNP Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to: (i) assess and evaluate the awareness, knowledge and current practice trends of pediatric oncology nurses as they relate to pediatric trauma-informed care. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional sample of convenience was used to assess pediatric nursing staff at the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. The survey used in this study was replicated from a previous study, “Nurses’ Views and Current Practice of Trauma-Informed Pediatric Nursing Care,” authored by Kassam-Adams et al., nurses and doctors affiliated with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, Nemours Child Health System, Children's Hospital of …

Childhood Nutrition And Lifestyle In Owensboro, Kentucky, Mckenzie J. Mattingly

DNP Projects

According to the CDC, childhood obesity is now one of the leading health problems in the United States. Thirty-five percent of adults in the United States are obese. Kentucky is the 12th most obese state for adults. and the 7th most obese state for children. The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America, states that Kentucky’s adult obesity rate is currently 31.6 percent. This is up from 21.7 percent in 2000 and 12.7 percent in 1990. Primary care providers must work to help prevent these numbers from continuing to climb. Since our population of children who are overweight …

Examining The Relationship Between Type And Extent Of After-School Care Use And High Bmi In Children Ages 5-17, Morgan E.B. Chojnacki

DNP Projects

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and after-school care use in school age children and adolescents in Kentucky. The specific aims of this study were to examine differences in BMI groups (high versus normal/low) by: a) type and b) extent of after-school care use.

Methods: Parents of children age 5-17 years were administered a 21-item survey which assessed the amount of time their children spent in specific types of after-school care. BMI of the child/adolescent participants were obtained at the time of the survey. High BMI was defined …

Delirium Screening Instrument Knowledge And Perception Among Cardiovascular Intensive Care Nurses, Brittany Lynn Dahl

DNP Projects

Background: Delirium is a serious condition that affects critically ill adult patients in the intensive care unit. Bedside nursing delirium measurements are considered a dependable source of information that can be used for clinical decision-making. Nurse education and assessment of perceptions is important when building a framework for successful delirium assessment. However, few data exist about nursing perceptions and practices associated with delirium screening instruments. The overall purpose of this project is to examine nurse perceptions and knowledge about delirium and delirium screening instruments at the University of Kentucky (UK) Hospital’s Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU).

Objectives: The aims of …

Writing Reasoned Decisions And Opinions: A Guide For Novice, Experienced, And Foreign Judges, S. I. Strong

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Producing well-written reasoned judgments (a term that is used herein to denote both trial court decisions and appellate opinions) is the goal of all members of the bench. Badly written rulings can have significant legal consequences for both the parties, who may incur costs as a result of a need to appeal a poorly worded decision or opinion, and society as a whole, since a poorly drafted precedent may drive the law in an unanticipated and unfortunate direction or lead to increased litigation as individuals attempt to define the parameters of an ambiguous new ruling. As a result, helping judges …

“Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater”: Parenting Coordination And Pennsylvania’S Decisions To Eliminate Its Use, Sophie B. Mashburn

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Parenting coordination is a relatively new ADR practice utilized by courts to assist in resolving high conflict divorce cases. Though considered controversial by some, it can also serve as an effective tool for divorced parents who struggle with regular co-parenting decisions. Parenting coordination is defined as: A child-focused alternative dispute resolution process in which a mental health or legal professional with mediation training and experience assists high conflict parents to implement their parenting plan by facilitating the resolution of their disputes in a timely manner, educating parents about children’s needs, and with prior approval of the parties and/or court, making …

Title Ix-A New Frontier For The Rights Of Transgender Youth? The Demand For Federal Regulations Clarifying The Act's Applicability, Elias Shebar

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Mhealth: A Utilization Review By Feature Classification For Sustained Use, Elaine Dunn

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

mHealth is a fast growing segment for healthcare. However, there has been little research into the specific elements of mHealth that can drive continued use for optimization of the potential benefits. The purpose of this case study was to use the Delone and McLean Information System Model as a framework for classification of mHealth functionality and then to review the utilization of those categories over a six month period of time. A sample of 137 pediatric diabetics was reviewed. The activation rate was high at 94.9% indicating an interest in using mHealth. There was higher utilization of system features in …

Picturing Life: Using Photo Journals To Explore Challenges And Supports For Women Living With Hiv (Wl-Hiv), Toshua Willingham Kennedy

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a health-related stigmatizing condition that progresses to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), characterized by a weakened immune system and opportunistic diseases. South Carolina ranks eighth for AIDS prevalence in the United States, and for socioeconomic reasons, women, specifically minority women, in the southern region of the country experience the worst clinical outcomes after receiving an HIV diagnosis. Research that focuses on strategies to improve clinical outcomes for women living with HIV (WL-HIV) has great value in promoting empowerment and health equity especially among minority women. The current study used a participatory research design to collaborate …

Diversity As A Law School Survival Strategy, Aaron N. Taylor

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the past few years, law schools have been dealing with a drastic and, so far, unyielding decline in student interest. Between 2010 and 2013, student enrollments fell almost 25%, to levels not seen in 40 years. This trend has prompted many to wonder what schools have done, and what they can do, to ensure their survivalin this new climate. This article explores the extent to which law schools have used students of color, particularly black and Hispanic students, to bolster enrollments and lessen the effects of the downturn. The results of this analysis suggest that a school’s median LSAT …

Acute Cocaine Differentially Induces Pka Phosphorylation Substrates In Male And Female Rats, Wei-Lun Sun, Luyi Zhou, Arbi Nazarian, Vanya Quinones-Jenab, Shirzad Jenab

Publications and Research

Background: Sex differences in intracellular dopamine pathways may contribute to the known sex differences in psychomotor responses to cocaine and differential development of dependence. This study aimed to determine whether there are sex differences in the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2, or p44/p42 MAPK) and PKA phosphorylation-dependent substrates in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) of male and female rats at baseline or after acute cocaine administration.

Methods: 60-day-old male and female Fischer rats were injected with saline or cocaine (30 mg/kg) and sacrificed 5, 15, 30, 45 or 90 minutes later. Total locomotor activity, Stereotypic, rearing, and ambulatory behaviors …

College And Student Life Policies, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Student Handbook (2010-2018)

No abstract provided.

Uncovering The Characterisitics Of Elementary-Aged Student Engagement, Mark F. Schrader Phd

All Student Scholarship

Researchers agree that students who are actively engaged in their own educations have more successful educational experiences. Studies show a connection between engagement and success in all stages of academic growth. However, researchers have made assumptions about the definition of student engagement by defining it through the adult lens. Some research suggests that engagement measured by visible behavior may be measuring only the appearance of engagement, not necessarily active engagement. (Lankshear & Knobel, 2005; Pope, 2001) The purpose of this research was to uncover the characteristics of student engagement from the source: the child. Research has shown that lack of …

Draft Provincial/Territorial Legislation To Implement A Regulatory Framework For Medically-Assisted Dying Consistent With Carter V. Canada (Attorney General) 2015 Scc 5 And The Final Report Of The Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group On Physician-Assisted Dying, Jocelyn Downie

Reports & Public Policy Documents

On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously declared that the Criminal Code prohibitions on physician-assisted dying (both assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia) violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They immediately suspended the declaration for 12 months thus allowing the government time to craft new legislation. This paper is a contribution to the project of meeting that deadline -- it presents draft provincial/territorial legislation. This draft legislation is based on: 1) a thorough review of existing legislation in all permissive regimes throughout the world (reviewed through a "lessons learned" lens); 2) the requirements for constitutional validity …

Domestic Violence & No-Drop Policies: Doing More Harm Than Good?, Jolene Vincent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years, much debate has been centered on domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence (IPV), and how it should be handled in our society and criminal justice system. In previous years, domestic violence has been seen not only as a private family matter, but a situation in which no outsiders should intrude. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control stated that intimate partner violence is a public health problem with 27% of women and nearly 12% of men who have had some sort of experience with sexual or physical violence at the hands of an …

Women On The Line: A Qualitative Study Of Women's Experience Of Work In The Meat Industry, Jessica Jacques

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the experiences of women who work in the meat industry. Drawing from symbolic interaction and standpoint theory frameworks, this research focuses on how gender, race, and nationality influence work experiences and family life for women in comparison to men in the meat industry. This study is based on 15 in-depth interviews with men and women who work in management positions and in the processing rooms of meat companies where non-human animals are disassembled in the production of food. Data collection and analysis were performed using grounded theory methods of inquiry. Participants' stories highlight women's experience in adapting …

Undergraduate Student Code Of Conduct, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Student Handbook (2010-2018)

No abstract provided.

Peer Tutoring To Teach Children To Seek Help When Lost, Andrew J. Arellano

All Master's Theses

There are many programs that are designed to teach children safety skills. Skills such as gun safety, first aid, and abduction prevention have all been taught using a method called Behavioral Skills Training (BST). However, BST only teaches a few children at a time and is often taught by an expert. This study aimed to test whether young children (5 year olds) can learn from older peer trainers (11 & 12 year olds) who have been taught to use BST. The safety skill targeted for the current study was the behavior of seeking help when lost in a store because …

Understanding Vulnerability In Alaska Fishing Communities: A Validation Methodology For Rapid Assessment Of Well-Being Indices, Conor M. Maguire

All Master's Theses

Social well-being indices measure how fishing communities are likely to be affected by social-ecological perturbations, and are a significant tool to identify the primary issues influencing communities’ sustained participation in fishing activities. In an attempt to further our understanding of how communities are affected by such perturbations, we have developed a rapid assessment methodology to test the external validity of a set of well-being indices that measure community vulnerability. This methodology informs how well such indices reflect the communities they represent by measuring elements of well-being through field observations, and comparing them to corresponding index components created from secondary data …

Exercise Motivations Of Older Adults, Laura J. Attaway

All Master's Theses

This study examined and compared activity levels and motives in 103 older (over 50 years of age) competitive athletes (CA) and non-competitive fitness exercisers (NCF). The findings indicate that the CA group was significantly higher in the motives of enjoyment, competition, and social recognition. Ranking of the strength of the motivation factors for each group indicated that enjoyment was the strongest motivating factor for both groups, health ranked high for both groups, and social recognition ranked lowest in both groups. Findings related to rankings were not tested for significance, so are more tentative.

A Reassesment Of The Presidential Use Of Executive Orders, 1953-2008, Graham Romich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantitative studies of the presidential use of executive orders have attempted to determine whether presidents are more prone to resort to unilateral action when faced with legislative opposition. To date, the results have been mixed however, with studies demonstrating that the type of executive order is an important factor in understanding the conditions under which presidents will resort to unilateral action. Despite this advancement in theory, there has been little consensus regarding the actual conditions under which presidents will issue the different types of executive orders that have been identified in the literature. This thesis addresses this puzzle through an …

Do Olfactory Stimuli Increase Presence During Exposure Tasks: A Comparative Study, Benson Munyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exposure therapy (ET) is an extensively studied and supported treatment for anxiety and trauma-related disorders. ET works by exposing the patient to the feared object or situation without any danger in order to overcome the related anxiety. Over the past few years, various technologies including head-mounted displays (HMDs), scent machines, and headphones have been used to augment the exposure therapy process by presenting multi-sensory cues (e.g., sights, smells, sounds) to increase the patient*s sense of presence. While studies have shown that scents can elicit emotionally charged memories, no prior research could be identified that examined the effect of olfactory stimuli …

The Effect Of Traumatic Brain Injury On Exposure Therapy In Veterans With Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Kathleen Ragsdale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn are presenting for treatment with high rates of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), spurring a need for clinical research on optimal treatment strategies. While exposure therapy has long been supported as an efficacious treatment for combat-related PTSD, some clinicians are hesitant to utilize this treatment for veterans with TBI history due to presumed cognitive deficits that may preclude successful engagement. The purpose of this study was to compare exposure therapy process variables in veterans with PTSD only and veterans with PTSD+TBI. Results suggest …

Applying The Cacao Change Model To Promote Systemic Transformation In Stem, Anthony Marker, Patricia Pyke, Sarah Ritter, Karen Viskupic, Amy Moll, R. Eric Landrum, Tony Roark, Susan Shadle

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since its inception in the Middle Ages, the university classroom can be characterized by students gathered around a sage who imparts his or her knowledge. However, the effective classroom of today looks vastly different: First-year engineering students not only learn basic engineering principles, but are also guided to consider their own inner values and motivations as they design and build adaptive devices for people with disabilities; students in a large chemistry lecture work animatedly together in small groups on inquiry-based activities while an instructor and teaching assistants circulate and guide their learning; students learning differential equations practice explicit metacognitive skills …

Towards Dynamic Adaption Of User's Organisational Information Security Behaviour, Mutlaq Alotaibi, Steven Furnell, Nathan Clarke

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The weakest link in the field of information security that has been identified in the literature is the organisation’s employees. Information security policy compliance is one of the main challenges facing organisations today. Although implementing technical and procedural measures clearly helps to improve an organisation's information security, the human factor or the employees' compliance with these measures is the key to success. However, organisations are now having some issues regarding the extent of employee adherence to policy. The problem of employees being unaware or ignorant of their responsibilities in relation to information security is still an open issue. The proposed …

Loyalty Cards And The Problem Of Captcha: 2nd Tier Security And Usability Issues For Senior Citizens, David M. Cook, Apoorv Kumar, Charwina Unmar-Satiah

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Information Security often works in antipathy to access and useability in communities of older citizens. Whilst security features are required to prevent the disclosure of information, some security tools have a deleterious effect upon users, resulting in insecure practices. Security becomes unfit for purpose where users prefer to abandon applications and online benefits in favour of non-digital authentication and verification requirements. For some, the ability to read letters and symbols from a distorted image is a decidedly more difficult task than for others, and the resulting level of security from CAPTCHA tests is not consistent from person to person. This …