Obesity In Monterey County, Ruth Gamino

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Obesity has become a concerning health issue within the United States. In Monterey County, obesity is becoming an epidemic among children. In Monterey County in 2015, 48 percent of 7th graders were obese in comparison with 38.7 percent in California overall (Kids Data, 2015). Youth Fit 4 Life (YF4L) is a research-tested intervention program that shares a passion for improving the health of children by promoting healthy habits. The purpose of the program is to address childhood obesity and the psychological issues linked to it. After realizing the obstacles that staff were facing, it was important to create a website …

Outreach And Education On Traffic Safety, Jaclyn Caraveo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Distracted driving is a growing issue in Santa Cruz County. A media poster campaign was designed to raise awareness around distracted driving and empower youth as passengers to reduce distractions in their community. The campaign was designed for Branciforte Middle School students, faculty and staff, parents, and the surrounding community. The Friday Night Live staff and youth created posters that were placed around their campus and handed out to parents. They also planned and implemented 4 lunchtime events. To measure the results, staff and youth participated in a Roadwatch activity to measure the short term and long term behavior changes …

Salud A La Salud Mental (A Toast To Mental Health), Arturo Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Joven Noble is a youth-development and leadership enhancement curriculum within Sequoia High School in Watsonville, Ca. that recognizes adolescents need for guidance during their physical, emotional and spiritual development into adulthood by engaging them in conversations regarding topics such as teen pregnancy and substance abuse. One of the deficits of the program is the lack of discussion centered around mental health. Youth are more likely to experience mental health challenges during their adolescence that can impair their long term development. In Santa Cruz County, 5 per 1,000 children ages 5-19 were hospitalized for mental health crisis treatment in 2016; rates …

Supporting Healthier Eating Habits For Monterey County Employees, Brenda M. Ortiz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Health Promotion Partnership, known as the Monterey County Employee Wellness Program, is committed to the development of programs, services and policy relating to healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco cessation, stress management, overall health, parenting, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. In Monterey County, over half all adults are overweight or obese. Food deserts coupled with lack of knowledge around health concerns that can develop from unhealthy foods, place residents and its employees at an increased risk to become overweight or obese. Some of the most severe consequences of being overweight or obese is the increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as …

Ensuring Victims’ Rights And Inspiring Hope Through Community Collaboration, Evelyn Rodriguez Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Numerous crime victims who qualify for Victim Witness Assistance Program services through the San Benito County District Attorney's office are not accessing the resources. Research done to support this project revealed that countless crime victims did not utilize the services offered by the program during the time of their victimization. The project conducted was an outreach presentation, which included all the services provided by the Victim Witness Assistance Program, victims’ legal rights, and the qualifications for the California Victim Compensation Board. The outreach presentation was developed to increase awareness of victims’ rights and the Victim Witness Assistance Program to community …

12 Steps Might Not Be Enough: Playing Music And Its Effects In Addiction Recovery, James Crumm

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Music therapy is very well studied and has been used for such a wide array of reasons over the last half-century: from helping those with psychological disorders to improving cognitive ability for infants in the womb to aiding plant growth. This paper will analyze the effects of music therapy, specifically the action of learning and/or playing a musical instrument, in those who suffer from addiction. Specific forms of music therapy discussed will be one-on-one instrumental instruction, group classes, and instrumental practice. The paper will discuss different professional musicians who have successfully used this activity as a coping mechanism, as well …

The Importance Of Multicultural Literature For Biracial Students, Haley Maldonado

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

It is evident that many classrooms do not have literature that displays a multiracial character to reflect the biracial community which one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S. today. This senior capstone research project examines the benefits or multicultural literature displaying a multiracial character on biracial students through the use of literature review, teachers and librarian surveys. The results reveal that having biracial character reflected in the literature at schools bring them self-awareness and self-identity that affect their social skills and their academic achievement. Therefore, it is crucial that mixed-race students be represented through the literature in their …

Comparison Of The U.S. And Finland’S Educational Systems On Students’ Academic Achievement, Selma Matias

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone research project compares Finland’s and the U.S.’ educational system through the use of literature review. In the U.S., after the passage of No Child Left Behind legislation, schools focus more on preparing students for test-taking rather than on what students may need to learn; whereas in Finland, their educational system focuses more on “teaching less, learning more,” meaning that Finland focuses more on what students may want to learn.The finding reveals that, both the U.S. and Findland have designed their own system of education to meet the needs of their students. If the United States wants to …

Integrating Mindfulness Into School Classrooms, Crystal Chesshire

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone research project examines how mindfulness could be integrated into the school classrooms through the use of literature review, interviews with elementary school teachers in the Monterey Bay area and surveys with several students along with one subject participant at the California State University Monterey Bay. As a result, the findings reveal that most students and teachers thought that mindfulness proved to be successful and useful when integrating it with the younger population to deal with their emotions.

Increasing Parents' Knowledge Of A Healthy Lifestyle For Children With Down Syndrome, Celeste Villagrana

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Maintaining a healthy diet is a struggle for the general US population, and it is a particular problem for the special needs population. Children with Down Syndrome have higher rates of obesity than the general population. One reason for this is that their metabolic rate tends to be slower than that of the general population (Magge et al., 2008). Also, they have a genetic predisposition for leptin resistance. Therefore, it is important that these children eat healthy meals and be physically active on a daily basis. For my capstone project, I presented a workshop to parents of children with Down …

"Just Kidding" What Bullies Say, Christina Marie Gumbin

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on how present and past staff members of MM Middle School have addressed bullying in their classrooms and what they think could be done to prevent further bullying. This is an important issue for teachers of any grade because bullying affects children at any age. An argument is made that during middle school, bullies tend to say that they are just kidding without knowing why they are bullying. Consideration of the issue, required obtaining the perspectives of the principal and both current and former teachers. Three themes emerged from an analysis of the …

Go, Go, Go, How About Hello?: Building Teacher-Student Relationships Within Departmentalized Elementary Schools, Jael Ramirez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on building teacher-student relationships within departmentalized elementary schools. Departmentalization, beginning at the fourth and fifth grade levels, is an issue because it gives teachers drastically less face to face time with their students than a traditional self-contained schedule. According to the scholarly literature, young students need strong, positive relationships with their teachers to do well academically. Departmentalization reduces the time to form these relationships. An argument is made that if teachers and schools meet certain criteria, these relationships can still be established, even with less time than what self-contained schedules provide. Upon interviewing …

Promoting Awareness Of Postpartum Mood Disorders, Alexandra Beleche

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There is now increasing media attention to the potential struggles of mothers in the postpartum period, including postpartum mood disorders. Kleiman and Raskin (2013) report that about 1 in 7 postpartum women suffer from a major depressive disorder. Women who experience postpartum mood disorders often worry they will be judged, misunderstood, or labeled crazy. Therefore, it is crucial that women know about available resources and support for the postpartum period. For my capstone project, I present a workshop on postpartum mental health at the Monterey Birth and Wellness Center. The recipients were women who were pregnant or who recently had …

The Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Cassandra Griffin

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This research aims to explore the practices and impacts of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in the United States. CPCs are centers whose primary purpose is to dissuade pregnant people from obtaining an abortion. Oftentimes they will provide services free of cost, such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests. Their main feature is the counseling they provide against seeking abortion services. This paper explores the national affiliates of CPCs in the United States, their practices and advertising, misinformation spread by CPCs, their sources of funding and lobbying activities, and the political implications of their efforts.

Revision: The Literary Compass, Ashton Nanninga

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Revision is necessary in the writing process; it is the creative stepping-stone towards a finished product. Throughout all stages in writing, revision exists. From the entry point of writing – after words meet the page – to submission, it is essential. Determining how to revise as a self-editor as well as receiving critiques and comments from others can be a difficult. Even understanding what constitutes revision can be unclear. In this thesis, understanding what revision is from its origin to application in writing today will be explored. Revision is a subjective process; it varies from person to person. In order …

Predicting Louisiana Public High School Dropout Through Imbalanced Learning Techniques, Marmar Orooji, Jianhua Chen

Faculty Publications

This study is motivated by the magnitude of the problem of Louisiana high school dropout and its negative impacts on individual and public well-being. Our goal is to predict students who are at risk of high school dropout, by examining Louisiana administrative dataset. Due to the imbalanced nature of the dataset, imbalanced learning techniques including resampling, case weighting, and cost-sensitive learning have been applied to enhance the prediction performance on the rare class. Performance metrics used in this study are F-measure, recall and precision of the rare class. We compare the performance of several machine learning algorithms such as neural …

Te Perdono: Constructs That Influence Forgiveness Of Infidelity In Latinx Romantic Relationships, Luis San Roman

Interdisciplinary Leadership Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to investigate the link between attachment style and acculturation on forgiveness after a sexual and/or emotional infidelity in Latinx Romantic Relationship using measures of attachment (attachment style (i.e. secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing)), acculturation (level of acculturation (i.e. machismo and familism)), and depositional forgiveness (i.e. revenge, avoidant, and benevolence). One hundred and thirteen Latinx participated in this study and completed an internet-based questionnaire. This study found that secure attachment and familism was a positive predictor of forgiveness. The study also found that fearful attachment and sexual infidelity was a positive predictor of revenge …

Practice Compared To Theory In The Closure Of A Large-Scale Manufacturing Plant, James R. Rink

Interdisciplinary Leadership Dissertations

The capstone research study compared practice to theory in the case of the closure of the Caterpillar Joliet hydraulics plant. Using an action research approach, the experience and outcomes of the primary leader, leadership team (followers) and extended team (followers of followers) were evaluated through a process of review, analysis, reflection, and action (improvement) planning based on publicly available information and personal reflection. Critical colleagues were used for additional perspectives to ensure a healthy cycle of discussion, observation, reflection, and learning occurred. The desired outcome of this capstone research study was a series of best practices that could be applied …

Identifying The Risk Factors To Postpartum Depression, Jannica Bondoc Santos

Senior Theses

A woman’s life instantly changes after the birth of their child. Furthermore, culture influences the stigma that a mother is the primary caregiver of their children and are accountable for the health and upbringing of the child. Giving birth to a baby and taking up the responsibility of another human life is a great impact in a female’s existence. In addition to the new tasks that come with motherhood, women are also challenged to cope with their emotional and mental state after giving birth. The most chronic mental illness that can develop after labor is postpartum depression (PPD). Women who …

Flowers Or Flora?: Understanding The Effects Of Probiotics On Depression, Nicole Collopy

Senior Theses

The human gut is populated with hundreds of types of bacteria and fungi. In North America, both intestinal and mood disorders are prevalent, presenting health problems that challenge health care professionals and patients alike. A scholarly literature review was conducted to explore this important relationship.

The investigation of the literature revealed that there is an association between gut health disorders and mood disorders, mainly anxiety and depression. This is due to bi-directionality between the brain-gut pathways, meaning that gastrointestinal health may have an effect on mental health and vice versa.

This connection between gut and mood can have substantial implications …

Individual Goal Orientations, Team Empowerment, And Employee Creative Performance: A Case Of Cross-Level Interactions, Yi Liu, Shuhong Wang, Xiang Yao

School of Business Faculty Research

Intrigued by relationship between team motivational context and individual characteristics in the organizational reality, we developed and tested a cross-level model to investigate the interactive effects of team empowerment and individual goal orientations on individual creative performance through the mediating mechanism of an individual's creative self-efficacy. Using multi-wave multi-source data from 63 R&D teams in three IT companies, we found that (1) team empowerment, individual learning goal orientation, and individual performance orientation are all positively related to individual creative performance through mediation of creative self-efficacy; (2) learning orientation and performance approach orientation could both supplement the effects of team empowerment …

Factors Related To Adverse Mental Health Condition Of Demented Family Caregivers: A Study In West Bengal, India, Ipsita Basu, Susmita Mukhopadhyay

Journal Articles

Dementia caregiving is a unique and the caregivers faces extreme challenges which affect care-giver's mental health adversely. Family caregiving towards elderly individuals with dementia is becoming widespread. The study aims to evaluate the mental health status of dementia family caregivers and some related factors that affect their mental health condition. Present cross sectional study includes a total of 134 family caregivers. Socio-demographic and caregiving related data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect data on caregivers' mental health traits (measured in terms of level of stress and anxiety), level of psychosocial distress, support they provided and …

Occupational Health Hazards Of Library Professionals In India, Jiban K. Pal

Journal Articles

The paper revisits a wide variety of health hazards in the library workplace. Through an exhaustive review, it explores the underlying causes of occupational risk & injuries to library workers; aiming to raise the awareness of healthy working practices and statutory requirements. It reflects the viewpoints surrounding the health and safety in libraries to illustrate possible health hazards of library workers in an Indian context. The paper informs about a variety of burdens that persist in the library workplace. It also outlines the major causes of occupational risk in terms of physical, chemical, biological, technological, emotional, and psychosocial hazards. It …

Mckee Minute December 2019/January 2020, Southern Adventist University

McKee Minute – McKee Library This Month

The December 2019/January 2020 McKee Minute features information on Christmas at the library. This month features the book The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington and the Naxos Music Library. Also featured is a memory game of Mark Twain's on display from the Duane and Eunice Bietz Collection.

Ipulse: December 2019, Lynn University

Student Newspapers

Issues:

• December 2, 2019: Student Art Show, White House Journalist, Birch Thrives
• December 9, 2019: iPulse Special Edition - Journalism I, 2020: A New Decade

The Impact Of Character Education Programs On Middle School Bullying Behavior, Kelly M. Amshey

Dissertations

Bullying is recognized as a barrier that must be addressed by schools to ensure that all students have access to educational opportunities. Due to high accountability with limited resources, schools must identify strategies to address issues such as bullying in a manner that provides the maximum benefit to students. Character education (CE) programs, which contribute to the bullying deterrent of positive school climate, may also lessen bullying through explicit teaching of character traits and prosocial skills.

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between utilization of character education and prevalence of bullying in middle …

The Marketing Of Self-Care And Alternative Therapies In The U.S. In 2019: How Industry Stakeholders Appeal To Consumers’ Perceptions Of Novel Food Products And Additives, Melanie Marie Glover

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This article examines the current marketing techniques of food products and additives in the growing self-care industry in print and digital formats. It assesses how well consumers understand such advertising tactics, and what the industry and federal government agencies are doing (or not doing) to help consumers be mindful and savvy about their purchase choices. The discussion further showcases hot-topic food products and additives including CBD, Kratom, and plant-based meat as examples of both regulatory risk and opportunity. Lastly, the article advocates a collaborative effort among federal government agencies (FDA, FTC, USDA, etc.), industry stakeholders, and the public to help …

Examining The Perceptions Of School Teams Participating In Professional Development On Restorative Practice, Clinton A. Bell

Education Doctoral

In recent years, restorative justice (RJ) has been used by the criminal justice system to provide an alternative to punishment and retribution in response to crime. Restorative justice’s response to crime requires all parties affected or involved in the crime to come together to repair the harm done to the victim. The parties involved or affected include victim, offender, family, and community. Many schools have considered restorative justice as alternative to suspension and a way to build school community. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of school faculty participating in professional development on restorative practices (RP). …

“You Never Know What You’Re Gonna Get!”: The Lived Health Care Experience Of Individuals Who Identify As Transgender, Joyce Lyn Cole

Dissertations

This study used descriptive phenomenological investigation to explore the lived health care experience of individuals who identify as transgender. Results gleaned from the study provide a resource for nurse educators to employ when preparing future nurses to practice in an increasingly diverse environment. Eighteen adult members of the transgender community who had experienced health care completed virtual face-to-face, in-depth interviews. The data provided a rich description of the experiences, and analysis yielded the identification of themes that illuminate the essence of the lived healthcare experience. Findings from the data indicate that the transgender health care experience can be unpredictable and …

The Effects Of Kefir And Exercise On Immune Function And Gut Health, Peter Royal Smoak

Dissertations

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting society today, and the number of newly diagnosed cases increases every year. Unresolved inflammation is an important underlying cause of cancer and chronically elevated concentrations of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP) are positively related to cancer incidence and progression. Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy can impair beneficial gut microbes that help to protect against pathogens and modulate immunity. Physical activity and exercise regimens improve chronic inflammation and gut microbes in cancer survivors but relatively few studies have explored the potential …