Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Is The Internet The Main Medium Of Transmitting Terrorism?, Hatem El Zein

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

The influx of virtual media platforms has allowed extremists and terrorists to transmit their messages to wider audiences without passing through a gatekeeper or being a subject to editorial policies existed in traditional media outlets. Thus, extremists and terrorists exploit virtual media platforms to report their actions; propagate their ideologies and ultimately to boost their objectives, because these mediums enabled them to have control over time and space. As a result, some governments work to deprive extremists and terrorists from this 'oxygen' through monitoring the cyberspace to block the suspected virtual media platforms. The reactions of some governments to face …

Proceedings Of The 2015 Wa Chapter Of Msa Symposium On Music Performance And Analysis, Jonathan R. Paget, Victoria Rogers, Nicholas Bannan, Paul Hopwood, Krista Low, Adrian Yeo, Alix Hamilton, Lindsay Vickery, Stuart James, Carol Williams, Stewart Smith, Robin Ryan, Emma Jayakumar, Cat Hope, Lucas O'Brien

ECU Books

This publication, entitled Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, is a double-blind peer-reviewed conference proceedings published by the Western Australian Chapter of the Musicological Society of Australia, in conjunction with the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, edited by Jonathan Paget, Victoria Rogers, and Nicholas Bannan. The original symposium was held at the University of Western Australia, School of Music, on 12 December 2015.

With the advent of performer-scholars within Australian Universities, the intersections between analytical knowledge and performance are constantly being re-evaluated and reinvented. This collection of papers presents …

Good Cop -- Bad Cop: Police Violence And The Child’S Mind, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Police violence against citizens lately has gripped the nation’s attention because of recent cases in Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; and elsewhere. Children in those communities and nationwide have been directly and indirectly exposed to these well-publicized incidences of police killings and the aftermath of those killings.

Exposure to police violence may cause children physical, cognitive, emotional, and social trauma. Moreover, the exposure may negatively influence children’s mindsets regarding the criminal justice system and police.

Undoubtedly, these events of late are not the first and only instances in which children have been exposed to physically …

Evaluating The Impact Of Preventative Health Services On Improving General Well-Being, Mallory Lucille Madden

Public Health Theses

Individuals in the United States suffer from an unnecessarily high rate of preventable chronic disease. One reason for this may be the nation's focus on tertiary care rather than preventive care. Health is multi-dimensional and should therefore be approached in an integrative manner. The current study proposes an integrative and preventative approach to health care services that utilizes Rath and Harter's (2010) five dimensions of well-being. We measured the impact of preventative health services in addition to tertiary care services on the general well-being of individuals over a two-month period of time. We found that those receiving preventative care in …

Factors Associated With Interest In Receiving Methadone Treatment Among Opioid Dependent Prisoners In Malaysia, Trena Mukherjee

Public Health Theses

Background: Criminalization of drug use in Malaysia has led to a concentrated epidemic of HIV and substance use disorders within prisons. In response, Malaysia introduced prison-based methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) programs to treat opioid dependence and reduce risky behaviors. Despite the introduction of this program, MMT uptake has been suboptimal in prison settings. Therefore identifying individual-level factors associated with MMT initiation is key to improving uptake.

Methods: 200 incarcerated individuals with a history of opioid use in the 12 months prior to incarceration were enrolled in a study to determine factors associated with interest in receiving MMT. All participants were …

Unanticipated: Healthcare Experiences Of Gender Nonbinary Patients And Suggestions For Inclusive Care, Hannah Mogul-Adlin

Public Health Theses

Transgender populations face substantial barriers to healthcare access, exacerbated by a lack of inclusive research. The health needs of those who are gender nonbinary or genderqueer, identifying outside the binary of man and woman, are especially poorly understood. Using a primarily qualitative online survey, data on gender identity, health access, and healthcare experiences were collected from 81 gender nonbinary participants, and analyzed using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. A number of interesting findings emerged, including that 90% of participants across age groups began identifying as gender nonbinary within the last 6 years, 77% reported interest in some aspect …

Impact Of Maternal Demographics On Infant Feeding Habits In American Samoa, Renu Nadkarni

Public Health Theses

Obesity and overweight prevalence in American Samoan adults are among the highest in the world, and levels are also high and increasing in children and infants. Obesity levels are believed to be due ultimately to the dramatic changes in lifestyle and diet over the past half century. A shift away from breastfeeding and to early introduction of formula and solid foods feeding is a dietary habit effected in this change, and can potentially influence a child's future body size and other health outcomes. As decisions about infant feeding are associated with certain maternal demographics in other populations, this study specifically …

The Effect Of Masculine Ideology On Sexual Communication And Sexual Self-Efficacy Among Expectant Adolescent Couples, Melanie K. Norton

Public Health Theses

This study examined the relationship between traditional masculine role norms (status, toughness, anti-femininity) and psychosocial mechanisms of sexual risk (sexual communication, sexual self-efficacy) among young, low-income, and minority parenting couples. Between 2007-2011, 296 pregnant adolescent females and their male partners were recruited from urban obstetrics clinics in Connecticut. Data regarding participants’ beliefs in traditional masculine role norms, frequency of general sex communication and sexual risk communication, and sexual self-efficacy were collected via computer-assisted self-interviews. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to test for actor effects (whether a person’s predictor influences the person’s own outcome) and partner effects (whether a …

Contribution Of Income To Self-Management And Health Outcomes In Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes, Kaitlyn Rechenberg

Public Health Theses

Low income has been established as a risk factor for poorer outcomes in

youth with type 1 diabetes; however, the effect of moderate income has not

been studied. The purpose of this secondary analysis of baseline data from a multi-site study was to compare glycemic control, self-management, and

psychosocial outcomes [depression, stress, and quality of life (QOL)] at

different income levels in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Youth (n=320,

mean age=12.3+1.1, 55% female, 64% white, mean A1C=8.3±1.4)

completed established self-management and psychosocial measures. A1C

levels were collected from medical records. Caregivers reported annual family income, categorized as high (>$80K), …

Factors Associated With Type 2 Diabetes Management In Santa Elena, Ecuador, Suhana Sarkar

Public Health Theses

Background: There has been a growing prevalence of diabetes in rural populations in low and middle income countries. Over a third of Ecuador’s population lives in rural areas, which tend to experience poorer health outcomes than urban areas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine potential risk factors associated with diabetes management in this region.

Methods: A sample of 150 diabetes patients from the Futuro Valdivia clinic in Santa Elena, Ecuador were surveyed and tested for HbA1c. The interview collected data on a variety of risk factors including diet, exercise, eating habits, food insecurity, medication usage, medication adherence, …

Nurse-Led Intervention To Reduce Intimate Partner Violence And Associated Health Risks: Qualitative Program Evaluation And Nurse Reflections, Kelsey Kae Schuder

Public Health Theses

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a highly prevalent issue worldwide. A large randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating a nurse delivered intervention to reduce IPV and associated health risks took place between 2012 and 2014 in Mexico City. This study will focus on qualitative interviews performed with a sample of the nurses who were the interventionists in the large RCT. Minimal work has explored implementation issues around large RCTs in resource poor settings or characteristics of the interventionists that may influence the implementation of the intervention and their health care delivery after completion of the intervention.

Methods: Semi-structured, qualitative interviews …

The Impact Of Structured Treatment Preparation On Depression, Anxiety, And Stress Symptoms Of Hiv + Patients Initiating Art, Geoffrey Hannon Soybel

Public Health Theses

Nigeria has one of the largest global HIV burdens of disease. Structured Treatment Preparation (STP) is required of all newly diagnosed HIV+ individuals initiating Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) at AIDSReleif Local Partner Treatment Facilities (LPTFs), yet no information exists on whether STP has any effect on a patient's mental health. We believe that STP may be related to improvement in depression, anxiety, and stress scores of these individuals. A depression, anxiety, and stress measurement tool, (DASS) 21, was administered to patients from 6 randomly selected AIDSRelief LPTFs before and after the mandated 3-week STP preceding ART. Paired t-tests were used to …

Intersection Of Religious And Antiretroviral Experiences And Its Implications For Medication Adherence In Hiv Positive Individuals In León, Nicaragua, Kimberly Stephanie Vasquez

Public Health Theses

Worldwide, in 2012, there were about 35.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).1 Antiretroviral (ARV) significantly improved the livelihood of PLWHA through virological suppression, which has reduced HIV related mortality rates, and decreased the risk of HIV transmission through vaginal and anal sex.2,3 Optimal ARV adherence, around 95%, is required to maintain virological suppression.29 In 2000, a review paper reported that nonadherence rates were around 50-70%.30 Suboptimal adherence can lead to increased mortality, HIV transmission, and ARV resistance.2,3 Global suboptimal illustrates the importance of identifying barriers and facilitators to ARV adherence.7 Research is urgently needed to determine important barriers and …

The Impact Of Parenting On Stress And Stress Coping In Asian American Youth: A Qualitative Study, Lixuan Wang

Public Health Theses

Abstract

Exposure to high academic achievement pressure and parent-child conflict is associated with poor psychological adjustments among Asian American Youth. Analyzing qualitative interview data of COEAA project, this study explored how parenting is related to youth’s internalizing the high achievement motivation and impact youth perceived stress and stress coping strategy among families of East Asian origin.

Participants consisted of 15 youth aged 15-24 who were born in US or have been living in US since 4th grade and 7 parents who identified themselves as first generation immigrants from East Asian counties and had children aged 14-24;

Results: Findings revealed that …

The Effect Of Exercise Versus Usual Care On Depression In Breast Cancer Survivors: The Hormones And Exercise (Hope) Study, Bridget Ann Winterhalter

Public Health Theses

Purpose: Despite effective therapies and treatments, breast cancer survivors often suffer from distressing side effects which may increase depressive symptomatology. Aromatase inhibitors (AI) are widely used as adjuvant treatment in breast cancer patients, but are associated with side effects such as joint pain that may impact quality of life. We conducted, in 121 breast cancer survivors receiving an AI, a yearlong randomized trial of exercise versus usual care on depressive symptomology.

Methods: Eligibility criteria included taking an AI for at least 6 months, reporting < 90 minutes per week of exercise and no strength training, and reporting > 3 on a scale of 10 for worst joint pain on the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). …

Acculturation And Likelihood Of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Liberian Refugees And Ghanaians Living In Buduburam Camp In Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study, Meley T. Woldeghebriel

Public Health Theses

Poor breastfeeding practices can put children at increased risk of morbidity and mortality particularly due to diarrheal and respiratory diseases and impaired physical and mental development. It is therefore important to understand the determinants of exclusive breastfeeding, particularly among residents in refugee settlements who may not have access to key resources and health education. The purpose of this study was to explore if acculturation influenced exclusive breastfeeding practices among Liberian refugees living in the Buduburam refugee settlement. A cross-sectional survey was administered between July - August 2008 to Ghanaian and Liberian women, with at least one biological child between 6 …

Strategies For Recruiting Representative Samples Of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, And Pacific Islanders For Population-Based Studies, Celeste Wong

Public Health Theses

There is limited data on effective methods for recruiting ethnically and culturally diverse populations into population-based studies. For case-control studies in particular, appropriate selection and successful recruitment of representative control subjects remain a challenge. In a population-based case-control study assessing novel risk factors for breast cancer among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs), we utilized a unique combination of population-based sampling, community-based recruitment methods, and internet- and media-based approaches for recruiting controls who were frequency matched to cases identified through a population-based cancer registry in the San Francisco Bay Area. We characterized the populations drawn from each recruitment …

The Impact Of Maternal Trauma And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder On Parenting Stress, Maureen Wright

Public Health Theses

Purpose: The goals of this study were to determine the prevalence and type of maternal trauma since childbirth, to examine the association between maternal trauma, PTSD, and maternal stress, and to assess the impact of PTSD symptom severity on maternal stress.

Methods: Participants consisted of 297 women who were screened for trauma, PTSD, and maternal stress at 28 (±2) weeks gestation, 8(±4) weeks postpartum, and at approximately 3 years after their child's birth. Using results from the 3 year survey, unadjusted and adjusted associations between PTSD status and parental stress were examined using ANOVA F-test and multiple regression, respectively.

Results: …