Digital Commons Network^™

Fighting For Liberty In An Unequal Society: African American Military Service In The American Revolution And The Path Towards Citizenship, Jason G. Storey

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Since the colonization of the New World, Africans and African Americans have played a pivotal role in armed conflicts. Military service for enslaved and free black men often converted into additional liberties, including manumission and a rise in social status. Despite opportunities to gain freedom and additional rights, only a select few received such chances. Blacks that did serve were still considered to be inferior and of a lower social status than their white counterparts. With the arrival of American Revolution, a new found importance was given to the service of black soldiers, and more than 5,000 black men served …

Fragmented Lives: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Black Youth Who Have Aged Out Of The Foster Care System, Dawn L. Stewart

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Each year, growing numbers of black foster youth, ages 18 and older, are emancipated from the child welfare system. Prior to termination, they are provided with a montage of independent living services aimed at teaching self-sufficiency skills. Nevertheless, many of these youth find themselves alone without the necessary aptitude, resources, and support needed to assume the intimidating responsibilities of adulthood. Although the literature regarding emancipated youth and their outcomes is extensive, there has been minimal research conducted on the unique experiences of Black youth as well as the factors that contribute to their success or failure in their transition to …

Self-Defense In The United States: A Review Of The Literature, Jake Shields

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This literature review examines self-defense as a general concept and in the context of specific legal doctrines. It looks at general issues of self-defense, such as philosophical principles, morality, and social norms; general guidelines of proportionality and force; and how non-lethal technology does not change these principles and guidelines. From there, the paper exams three major legal doctrines—Duty to Retreat, Castle Doctrine, and Stand Your Ground— and discusses their definitions, histories, legal significance, applied usages and specific study results, and the arguments and controversies surrounding them. The paper then analyzes the concept of self-defense through the theoretical perspective of Donald …

The Effect Of Electronic Devices Self-Efficacy, Electronic Devices Usage And Information Security Awareness On Identity-Theft Anxiety Level, Sushma Sanga

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Identity-theft means stealing someone’s personal information and using it without his or her permission. Each year, millions of Americans are becoming the victims of identitytheft, and this is one of the seriously growing and widespread issues in the U.S. This study examines the effect of electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage, and information security awareness on anxiety levels of southeastern Michigan students in becoming victims of identity-theft and whether there is any significant relationship between these variables. This research study used the effect of electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage and information security awareness on identity-theft anxiety level among southeastern …

Mobile Device Acceptance In Nursing Education, Deanna Gapp

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are being used in healthcare settings for better patient outcomes. By laying the foundation for mobile device use in the educational setting, students can be better prepared for nursing practice in this technology-rich environment (National League for Nursing [NLN], 2008). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the mobile device acceptance (MDA) model that guides nursing students’ decision to use mobile devices as educational tools. The MDA model also guides the measurement development and psychometrics testing for the MDA constructs in order to understand mobile device use and to examine correlates …

The Essence Of A College Summer Bridge Program: Voices Of Program Participants Who Completed College, Makeda K. Turner

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In efforts to address college attrition and retention concerns, particularly as they relate to underprepared, underrepresented, and first-generation students, a few colleges and universities have created and implemented transition programs for first-year students such as summer Bridge programs (SBPs). SBPs are designed to assist students with transition challenges, enhance academic preparation, and help them achieve equal footing with other students. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of participants in a summer Bridge program developed and implemented by a public Research I Institution in the Midwest. Participants had graduated from the university and were at the time …

The Effect Of Therapeutic Horseback Riding On Balance And Self-Efficacy In Children With Developmental Disabilities, Lauren M. Hurley, Alexandra Smola

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The prevalence of developmental disabilities in children in the United States is a serious problem. Since children with developmental disabilities often show decreased self-efficacy and balance, researchers have studied the effects of interventions in this population. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a 10-week THR session on balance and task-specific self-efficacy in children with physical disabilities ages 6 to 18 years old. Bandura’s social cognitive theory and The Physical Stress Theory will guide the quasi-experimental study. A pre-test post-test design will be implemented over a 12 week span at 3 different riding centers in the …

The Relationship Between Nursing Students' Perceptions Of Staff Nurses' Attitudes Towards Them And Self-Efficacy In Sophomore- And Senior- Level Nursing Students, Sarah A. Mueller, Raechel M. Naragon, Rachael R. Smith

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Clinical teaching gives nursing students practical experience, allowing them to practice skills and to apply theories of nursing alongside a staff nurse. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nursing students’ perceptions of staff nurses’ attitudes towards them and self-efficacy in sophomore- and senior-level nursing students. According to scientist Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, self-efficacy is defined as a person’s belief in his or her own abilities. Using non-experimental comparative design, convenience sampling, and Likert scale questionnaires, sophomore- and senior- level baccalaureate nursing students were asked to complete the survey using the Nursing Clinical Self-Efficacy …

Newsrooms And Social Media, Hanna E. Steinker

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify how local newspapers and newsrooms are converging to social media. An Ohio newspaper, The Post volunteered to have its Facebook Pages analytics studied over the course of two months, August through September. A constructed week was formed and four of the company’s Facebook Pages were analyzed. The study intends to examine the current social media position of The Post, assess the potential or areas of growth, and create a best practices manual to propel the selected newspaper’s social media accounts forward. Unlike traditional newspaper consumers, social media users tend to gather their …

Stress And Exercise In Undergraduate Health Professions Students, Kristin R. Weismantel, Meghan G. Brickner, Leah N. Rosler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Background: Stress is prevalent among undergraduate students, especially students in health professions majors. Exercise as a health promoting behavior decreases stress. At the same time, increased stress may decrease exercise. This study described exercise and stress among undergraduate health professions students. More specifically this study described the intensity and duration of each exercise and the frequency of exercise during a typical week of the semester for students in health professions majors.

Theoretical framework: Pender’s Health Promotion Model guided this study.

Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive survey.

Methods: A convenience sample of 437 undergraduate students in a college of health professions (N =2,700) …

A Systematic Review: Effects Of Breastfeeding On Early And Late Childhood, Kara Campbell, Samantha Fritz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Abstract

The topic of the long-term impact of breast milk and formula milk composition on the health status of children continues to be a focus of discussion and research. The aim of this systematic review is to describe and critically appraise current evidence regarding the lasting effects of breastfeeding on health outcomes in children throughout early and late childhood. Twenty-one studies focusing on infant feeding were identified using PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline databases. These studies were then categorized according to health outcomes such as: weight, developmental, and immune system effects. Through a critical appraisal of this evidence, it was found …

Christian Churches Thriving In Revitalized Albania, James R. Payton Jr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Tricking For Change: Establishing The Literary Trickster In The Western Tradition, Christopher Michael Stuart

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis proposes a new category for literary analysis called the literary trickster figure. Over the last few centuries, the trickster figure has been reduced from a cultural hero to a dubious character. If we trace the trickster’s western roots back to Hermes, Mercury, and Loki and take global trickster scholarship into consideration, criteria can be established and the role of the literary trickster can be assessed. The literary trickster’s role is to undermine the established order (social and political hierarchies), create disorder and bring awareness to systemic issues in order to bring about change. Once the literary trickster category …

How Do Parent-Child Relationships Relate To Attention, Executive Functioning, & Working Memory In School-Aged Children?, Miriam Goldstein

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined how parent-child relationships may facilitate children’s higher-order cognition. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the relationship between positive and negative parenting factors and both neuropsychological and parent-report measures of children’s executive functioning (EF), attention, and working memory. Participants included ninety 8- to 12-year-old children and their parents. Though parenting was largely unrelated to neuropsychological performance, several positive and negative parenting dimensions were associated with parent ratings of children’s attention, EF, and working memory. Relational frustration and parental involvement were robust predictors of child difficulties with inattention and EF, controlling for relevant covariates. Though the causal direction …

Identifying Risk For Atypical Parenting Behavior Using Prenatal Profiles Of Interpersonal Trauma Experiences And Ptsd Symptoms, Katherine L. Guyon-Harris

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Experiences of interpersonal trauma and symptoms of PTSD greatly impact the ability to form and maintain meaningful relationships, which is especially problematic during the perinatal period due to the formation of the mother-child relationship. Interpersonal trauma and symptoms of PTSD present considerable risk for the emergence of a concerning class of “atypical” maternal behaviors (e.g., contradictory communication, sexualized/role reversed behavior, and severe withdrawal) that have serious implications for child social-emotional development. However, past research has focused primarily on how maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment and, to a lesser extent, PTSD symptom severity, predict atypical parenting behaviors. The present study aimed …

Why And How Teachers Transform Their Instruction, Barbara J. Light

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In his 2011 book The highly qualified teacher: What is teacher quality and how do we measure it? Strong argues that as a profession, education has struggled to measure teacher quality and therefore cannot provide a proven system to consistently develop high-quality teachers. In order to move toward an operational definition of teacher quality, Kennedy, in her 2008 journal article entitled “Contributions of qualitative research to research on teacher qualifications” suggests that the causal mechanisms of the development of teachers who are identified as high-quality teachers must be researched, documented, and then used in teacher preparation and development. Instructional ability …

Health-Related Quality Of Life In Athletes: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis, Megan N. Houston, Matthew C. Hoch, Johanna M. Hoch

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after injury is important. Differences in HRQOL between nonathletes and athletes and between injured and uninjured athletes have been demonstrated; however, the evidence has not been synthesized.

Objective: To answer the following questions: (1) Does HRQOL differ among adolescent and collegiate athletes and nonathletes? (2) Does HRQOL differ between injured adolescent and collegiate athletes or between athletes with a history of injury and uninjured athletes or those without a history of injury?

Data Sources: We systematically searched CINAHL, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and PubMed. A hand search of references was also conducted.

Study Selection: …

Crossing Jordan: An Exploration Of Academic Optimism In The Schooling Experiences Of Low-Income African American Female Students And Their Perceptions Of Their Academic Lives, Cristal Nichols

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation study explored the construct of academic optimism and its manifestation in the schooling lives of low-income, African American females who have obtained post-secondary educational status. The study also examined the facilitators and barriers the participants have encountered on their academic journeys towards the attainment of a fouryear college degree. The construct of academic optimism has previously been applied to schools and educators. This research explored the construct of academic optimism as it related to students, in this instance, low-income, African American female college students. The research study also explored what factors contributed to low-income, African American women’s …

[Introduction To] College Teaching: Practical Insights From The Science Of Teaching And Learning, Donelson R. Forsyth

Bookshelf

Everything matters when it comes to teaching and learning: student characteristics, the school itself, and cultural ideas about the value of higher education, to name a few. Most of these influences are outside the college instructor's control. Other issues, however such as a course's intellectual demands, the type of feedback students receive, the instructional methods, and the relationship that connects professor to student are controllable. This book examines the many choices professors make about their teaching, beginning with their initial planning of the course and its basic content through final decisions about grades and assessing effectiveness.

This book is for …

The Sojourner Experience: An Exploration Of Identity Transformation Through Communication, Valerie Biwa

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory research focuses on the relationship between communication and identity transformation in the sojourner experience. It inquires the following: RQ1: How does communication affect the identity transformation process of sojourners? RQ2: How does identity transformation affect the way sojourners communicate? Ten participants from six countries were interviewed in a forty (40) minute interview session. A qualitative methodology with an open-minded exploratory approach using semi-structured questions to guide the interview was employed. A grounded-in-data coding and Owen’s criteria for identifying themes (Owen, 1984) was used to identify emerging themes and overlapping narratives. The study revealed five themes from the “living …

An Analysis Of Inherent Role Conflicts In The Governance Of Michigan Charter School Boards Contracting With Full-Service, For-Profit Private Management Companies, Roderick D. Atkins

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The analysis of inherent role conflicts in the governance of Michigan charter school boards contracting with full-service, for-profit private management companies provided quantitative and qualitative perspectives of experienced board members. These perspectives included their view of board governance and how responsibilities are divided and shared with for-profit private management companies. The triangulated analysis included three major sources of data: quantitative research, qualitative research, and a qualitative contractual analysis that provided the essence of the contracts between charter school boards of directors and their contracted for-profit private management companies. The theoretical framework that grounded this analysis was inclusive of three theories: …

Discovering The Virtual Fingerprint: Analyzing Embodiment, Immersion, And Player Personality In Video Games, Benjamin C. Bower

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis set out to explore embodiment, immersion, and personalities in massively multiplayer video games (MMOGs), in particular how players become immersed in a virtual world. Immersion is a focal point in the gaming experience in which players communicate directly with the digital medium. Scholarship has argued that games have specific immersive qualities that draw players into them including storytelling, social and emotional reasoning, among others (Calleja, 2011). Each player has a particular preference as to what immerses them the most in a game. In addition, research has concluded that gamers have unique personalities that they portray while they embody …

Relations Among Dimensions Of Emotion Regulation And Aggressive Behavior, Jessica M. Baker

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In the absence of the ability to adaptively regulate one’s emotions, individuals may turn to impulsive and maladaptive methods of regulation, including engaging in aggressive behavior. Gratz and Roemer’s (2004) model of emotion regulation (Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41-54) includes the dimensions of nonacceptance, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, lack of emotional awareness, access to emotion regulation strategies, and lack of emotional clarity. This study sought to identify the relations among these dimensions and …

What Is The Negro Woman's Story?: Negro Story Magazine And The Dialogue Of Feminist Voices, Maureen Convery

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Too often, writing by and about Black women has been sidelined in scholarly work about African American writing prior to the post-World War II era. This is especially true in the recently emergent school of work surrounding the Chicago Black Renaissance. This thesis focuses on a single literary magazine, Negro Story, in order to explore the complexity of Black female identity in the 1940s through the work of the female editors and contributors to the periodical. These contributors come from varied racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, but their work takes on a cohesive quality as the stories are constantly in conversation …

Experiences Of African-American Teenage Mothers In Pursuit Of Higher Education, Desheil L. Echols

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the educational histories and experiences of former teen mothers who have completed a post-secondary degree and to understand their challenges and successes. This study effectively served this population by expanding the diverse experience of teen mothers and their ability to defy society’s label of “teenage parent.” The study design was qualitative with the two modes, phenomenology and life history, being employed. Personal interview was the primary data collection method. The conceptual frameworks guiding the study were resilience theory and self-efficacy theory. The life stories of all five women were shared to provide …

Maturational Pace And Performance In Female Collegiate Swimmers, Alan Duski

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

purpose of this research was (1) to compare maturational pace between the female collegiate swimmers and non-athletic controls and (2) to determine whether maturational pace differs as a function of performance level. Maturational pace can be quantified retrospectively in women using age at menarche (AaM), with younger AaM corresponding to a faster maturational pace and older AaM a slower pace. Collegiate swimmers were significantly older at menarche (13.60 years ± 1.52 SD) than non-athletic controls (12.75 years ± 1.44 SD). In addition, the top-performing third of college swimmers in our sample were significantly older at menarche (14.06 years ± 1.59 …

Application Of Learned Industriousness Theory To Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Examining The Effect Of Effort Training On Task Engagement, Aimee M. Giammittorio

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a form of acquired brain injury that impacts millions of individuals annually. The severity of TBI can range from mild to moderate and severe, with moderate to severe injuries associated with significant and prolonged impairment within cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning domains. Moderate to severe TBI, thus, has long-lasting effects that demand life-long accommodations and care. Many behavioral interventions aim to compensate for skill deficits, but these techniques increase reliance on external cues and may not serve to enhance internal, self-motivated action. Interventions that aim to improve internal motivation are therefore desirable, but are lacking …

Digital Badges For Stem Learning In Secondary Contexts: A Mixed Methods Study, Angela Elkordy

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The deficit in STEM skills is a matter of concern for national economies and a major focus for educational policy makers. The development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) has resulted in a rapidly changing workforce of global scale. In addition, ICT have fostered the growth of digital and mobile technologies which have been the learning context, formal and informal, for a generation of youth. The purpose of this study was to design an intervention based upon a competency-based, digitally-mediated, learning intervention: digital badges for learning STEM habits of mind and practices. Designed purposefully, digital badge learning trajectories and criteria …

The Social Contagion Of Adolescent Depression: Applying A Differential Susceptibility Model, Win Guan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent research investigating social risk factors of depression has found evidence for a social contagion effect. The research comes from a surge in popularity of using social network analyses to examine the spread of various health outcomes such as obesity, smoking, substance use, and sleep. Although the finding of depressive contagion represents a significant contribution to the literature on the social etiology of depression, this is only the first step in providing meaningful research useful for the practical application of curbing the growing rates of depression especially among adolescents. Rather than simply acknowledging the existence of contagion effects, researchers must …

Palatable Help: Experiences Of Food Insecurity In A Suburban Environment, Tannya L. Forcone

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Food insecurity is a ubiquitous and stigmatized, equal-opportunity threat to community health. Irregular access to nutritious foods impacts both physical and emotional well-being. Food insecurity is burgeoning in the suburbs. Economic hardships of the recession have impacted families that were previously middle class, and in this environment, food insecurity is often hidden and unacknowledged with unique challenges and coping strategies. This ethnographic study in the Midwestern U.S. examines the intersection of poverty and shame associated with diminished household resources. The research considers solutions and applications beyond food provisioning that can reverse negative emotional impact on individuals while stabilizing the community.