Digital Commons Network^™

Hospice Interdisciplinary Use Of The Social Work Assessment Tool For Military Families, Miranda Lishell Rankin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The development of the social work assessment tool (SWAT) was an initiative designed by members of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the arena of viewing the family as an extension of the patient. Of those dying in the United States, 1 out of 4 is a military veteran (vet) in need of assessments, culturally relevant interventions, and/or supports at the end of life. For military families, caring for vets at the end of life can prompt stressors that may require culturally unique assessments and/or interventions. Tsai’s (2003) theory of …

Perceptions Of Reproductive Health Services Of Young African American Mothers With Low Literacy, Timika S. Anderson-Reeves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As they begin to shift decision-making from their parents to themselves, many African American adolescent girls embracing motherhood and living with low literacy seek reproductive health services at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Emerging adult African American mothers engaged in reproductive health services at urban FQHCs are provided services based on the centers’ promulgated health policies. Although FQHC staff assess for health literacy levels, they often do not design organizational processes to support reproductive health mothers with literacy challenges and diverse learning styles, and little is known about how young African American mothers with low literacy experience FQHCs’ reproductive health …

Reducing Heart Failure Readmissions Through Staff Education, Christopher Davio

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Heart failure is a chronic health condition that can have devastating effects on thephysical and social well-being of patients. One critical component to heart failure treatment is understanding of the disease process and daily self-management for patients. The gap in practice at an acute care facility in the northwest United States was the lack of comprehensive discharge patient teaching to patients diagnosed with heart failure. The project explored if a heart failure education session for nurses would increase knowledge and competency on heart failure education. Knowle’s theory of adult learning was used to frame the project components. Thirty-one nursing staff …

The Perceptions Of African American Females In Educational Leadership, Shonda Matia Harris-Muhammed

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIn a Southeast U.S. state, African American female school administrators had difficulty obtaining administrative roles within the local district. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of African American females in educational leadership roles and the challenges they faced in obtaining leadership positions. Delgado and Stefenic’s Black feminist theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. Two research questions addressed African American female administrators’ perceptions of their administrative roles, contributions, support of diversity, and experiences in obtaining leadership positions. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 10 African American female administrators who had a minimum …

Examining The Efficacy Of A School-Based Mental Health Program In Iowa, Karen A. Rodriguez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence shows that treating mental health issues positively impacts academic and other life outcomes for students. However, there remains a gap in knowledge specific to academic outcomes and to rural school districts. It is important for mental health providers, educators, and third-party payers to gain an understanding of how treating mental health in the school setting affects student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study, which had contribution analysis as its theoretical framework, was to examine the academic and behavioral outcomes of participating in a school-based mental health (SBMH) program in rural school districts in Iowa. The specific focus was …

Self-Care Practices, Work Experience, Educational Setting, And Burnout Among School Counselors, Paul Sylvester-Nwosu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractSchool counselors should be well-adjusted in their personal and professional lives and possess a keen, accurate perception of their self-care practices. However, people drawn to careers in school counseling are often at risk of developing burnout due to high professional demands and limited resources supporting their self-care and well-being. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate the relationship between the independent variables of self-care practices, years of work experience, and educational settings and the dependent variable of levels of burnout among practicing school counselors in K-12 suburban educational settings in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. …

The Effects Of The Work Environment On California Community College Counselors' Professional Self-Care, Tina Dang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Healthy work environments are critical in fostering occupational self-care for helping professionals, but information on the self-care and the work environment is limited among community college counselors in California. Self-care is essential for the counseling profession in California community colleges (CCC), as it promotes wellness, which is needed in order to provide optimal services to students/clients. The lack of self-care results in counselor impairment, leading to undesirable factors (i.e., burnout, health conditions, and decrease in productivity). In educational institutions, counselors often find it difficult to maintain their own self-care. However, work environments have been shown to affect self-care at work …

The Impact Of Acculturation On Help-Seeking And Mental Health Among Refugees In Minnesota, Analynne Escobar

UROP Posters

The Impact of Acculturation on Help-Seeking and Mental Health Among Refugees in Minnesota

Analynne Escobar, Depts. of Social Work and Psychology, with Dr. Hyojin Im, School of Social Work

This study looks at how acculturation affects mental health and help seeking attitudes among refugees in Minnesota. There is a need to address high levels of acculturative stress, mental health, and a lack of trust with human services for this population. Secondary data was utilized from the University of Minnesota Survey of Housing Questionnaire, with those identifying as Librarian, Oromo, Karen, Hmong, and Somali, for this study. A Pearson’s Correlation test …

Strengthening Student Engagement In Alternative School Settings, Alisha Robinson

UROP Posters

Strengthening Student Engagement in Alternative School Settings

Alisha Robinson, Depts. of Social Work and Sociology, with Dr. Erin Burke Brown, VCU ASPiRE

In the United States public school system students who attend alternative high schools (AHS) are identified as the most socially and academically marginalized group of individuals. AHS last chance and remedial programs are used as a behavioral remediation intervention to serve students who have been expelled or suspended from their traditional school. Reasons that contribute to students attending AHS include poor grades, negative behavior, truancy, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. The student population within AHS settings …

Establishing A Community-Academic Partnership To Investigate The Sociopolitical Context Of Oral Care Among Refugees Resettled In Richmond, Virginia, Tatiana Brown, Ashley Koo, Matthew Tessama, Jay Lawson

UROP Posters

Establishing a Community-Academic Partnership to Investigate the Sociopolitical Context of Oral Care Among Refugees Resettled in Richmond, Virginia

Tatiana Brown, Depts. of Anthropology, Medical Humanities, & Mathematics, with Dr. Dina Garcia, Dept. of Health Behavior and Policy

This study has established a community-academic partnership between four organizations and VCU Health Behavior and Policy’s Kalpulli Research Team to investigate the sociopolitical context of oral health needs among refugees resettling in Richmond, Virginia. In the year 2018, 1,689 refugees resettled in the state of Virginia; 47.7 percent of this population reported oral health needs during their initial health assessment screening. Despite the …

Role Of Self-Worth Contingencies On Sleep Quality Due To Discrimination And Depressive Symptoms, Victoria Cambar, Ruth Laryea, Bianca Owens, Chelsie Dunn

UROP Posters

Role of Self-Worth Contingencies on Sleep Quality Due to Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms

Victoria Cambar, Depts. of Psychology and Criminal Justice, Ruth Laryea, and Bianca Owens and Chelsie Dunn, Dept. of Psychology Graduate Students, with Dr. Kristina Hood, Dept. of Psychology

Scholars have well documented the association on discrimination experiences, negative implications for both physical and psychological symptoms (Gee et al., 2007; Williams et al., 2008). According to Stone and Carlisle (2018), the experience of racial discrimination at the workplace may increase the likelihood of negative emotions and sadness. In addition, the occurrence of perceived discrimination experienced by African American …

Differences In Mental Health And Ethnic-Racial Identity Between White Gender Variant Students And Gender Variant Students Of Color, Xuxa Sky Lark, Arlenis Santana, Chloe Walker

UROP Posters

Differences in Mental Health and Ethnic-Racial Identity between White Gender Variant Students and Gender Variant Students of Color

Xuxa Sky Lark, Depts. of International Social Justice and French, Arlenis Santana, Dept. of Psychology Graduate Student, & Chloe Walker, Dept. of Psychology Graduate Student, with Dr. Diamond Y. Bravo, Dept. of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, and Dr. Chelsea Derlan Williams, Dr. Amy Adkins, and Dr. Danielle M. Dick, Dept. of Psychology

Gender variant college students (i.e., transgender, genderqueer, and questioning) experience increased risk for mental health disparities, discrimination, bullying, family disownment, homelessness, and hate crimes, to name a few (Eisenberg, …

Simon Nelson Patten, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A brief biographical article on Simon Patten, the German-trained social economist who coined the term social work and continued to make contributions to social work and social welfare throughout his career.

Race And The Criminal Justice System, Karissa Murphy

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

The Long-Term Effects Of A Family Based Economic Empowerment Intervention (Suubi+Adherence) On Suppression Of Hiv Viral Loads Among Adolescents Living With Hiv In Southern Uganda: Findings From 5-Year Cluster Randomized Trial, Fred M. Ssewamala, Darejan Dvalishvili, Claude A. Mellins, Elvin H. Geng, Fredderick Makumbi, Torsten B. Neilands, Mary Mckay, Christopher Damulira, Proscovia Nabunya, Ozge Sensoy Bahar, Gertrude Nakigozi, Godfrey Kigozi, William Byansi, Miriam Mukasa, Flavia Namuwonge

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: The rapid scale-up of HIV therapy across Africa has failed to adequately engage adolescents living with HIV (ALWHIV). Retention and viral suppression for this group (ALWHIV) is 50% lower than for adults. Indeed, on the African continent, HIV remains the single leading cause of mortality among adolescents. Strategies tailored to the unqiue developmental and social vulnerabilities of this group are urgently needed to enhance successful treatment.

METHODS: We carried out a five-year longitudinal cluster randomized trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01790373) with adolescents living with HIV (ALWHIV) ages 10 to 16 years clustered at health care clinics to test the effect …

Self-Perception Of Physical Function Contributes To Participation In Cognitively- And Physically-Demanding Activities After Stroke, Marjorie L Nicholas, Kari Burch, Julianne R Mitchell, Annie B Fox, Carolyn M Baum, Lisa Tabor Connor

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Mental Health And Weather Extremes In A Southeastern U.S. City: Exploring Group Differences By Race, Lisa Reyes Mason, Bonita B Sharma, Jayme E Walters, Christine C Ekenga

Open Access Publications

The connection between mental health and weather extremes is a public health concern, but less studied to date than physical health. This exploratory study examines the mental health impacts of two kinds of weather extremes increasingly linked to climate change-summer heat waves and extreme winter weather-in a low- to middle-income population in the Southeastern U.S. The distribution of mental health impacts, and potential pathways to them, are examined with a focus on race. Data are from a random-sample survey of 426 participants and are analyzed with bivariate statistics and path analysis. Self-reported mental health impacts, in both seasons, were common …

Understanding Antibiotic Prophylaxis Prescribing In Pediatric Surgical Specialties, Sara M Malone, Natalie S Seigel, Jason G Newland, Jacqueline M Saito, Virginia R Mckay

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Overuse of antibiotics has caused secondary poor outcomes and has led to a current rate of antibiotic resistant infections that constitutes a public health crisis. In pediatric surgical specialties, children continue to receive unnecessary antibiotics.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the factors that contribute to pediatric surgeons' decisions regarding the use of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis.

METHODS: Focus groups included pediatric proceduralists/surgeons from the following specialties: interventional cardiology, otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and general surgery.

RESULTS: A total of 23 surgeons with a median of 9 years of experience (range, 0.5-29 years) participated in the focus groups that lasted 30-90 minutes …

Proactive Prevention: Act Now To Disrupt The Impending Non-Communicable Disease Crisis In Low-Burden Populations, Benson Njuguna, Angela Brown, Victor G. Davila-Roman, Et Al.

Open Access Publications

Non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention efforts have traditionally targeted high-risk and high-burden populations. We propose an alteration in prevention efforts to also include emphasis and focus on low-risk populations, predominantly younger individuals and low-prevalence populations. We refer to this approach as "proactive prevention." This emphasis is based on the priority to put in place policies, programs, and infrastructure that can disrupt the epidemiological transition to develop NCDs among these groups, thereby averting future NCD crises. Proactive prevention strategies can be classified, and their implementation prioritized, based on a 2-dimensional assessment: impact and feasibility. Thus, potential interventions can be categorized into a …

Use Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior Framework To Understand Breastfeeding Decision-Making Among Mothers Of Preterm Infants, Margaret G. Parker, Sunah S. Hwang, Emma S. Forbes, Bryanne N. Colvin, Kyria R. Brown, Eve R. Colson

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Experiences From The Missouri Antimicrobial Stewardship Collaborative: A Mixed Methods Study, Sena J Sayood, Chinmayi Venkatram, Jason G Newland, Hilary M Babcock, David K Warren, George Turabelidze, Virginia R Mckay, Erin C Rachmiel, Kate Peacock, Tracey Habrock-Bach, Kevin Hsueh, Michael J Durkin

Open Access Publications

We performed a mixed-methods study to evaluate antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) uptake and to assess variability of program implementation in Missouri hospitals. Despite increasing uptake of ASPs in Missouri, there is wide variability in both the scope and sophistication of these programs.

2019 Pediatric Initiative Network: Progress, Proceedings, And Plans, Leena Nahata, Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Lillian Meacham, Leslie Appiah, Krista Childress, Holly Hoefgen, Maggie Dwiggins, Stacy Whiteside, Kari Bjornard, Julie Rios, Antoinette Anazodo, Courtney Finlayson, Olivia Frias, Teresa Woodruff, Molly Moravek

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Reaching Consensus On Principles Of Stakeholder Engagement In Research, Melody S. Goodman, Nicole Ackermann, Deborah J. Bowen, Members Of The Delphi Panel, Vetta Sanders Thompson

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Building Access To Care In Adult Sickle Cell Disease: Defining Models Of Care, Essential Components, And Economic Aspects, Julie Kanter, Allison King, Et Al.

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Hiding In Plain Sight: Mediation, Client-Centered Practice, And The Value Of Human Agency, Robert A. Baruch Bush, Peter F. Miller

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Students and practitioners of transformative mediation still underemphasize the importance of client “empowerment” – the opportunity for clients to recapture the sense of agency that conflict has compromised. That is, those learning the skills of a client-centered process like transformative mediation tend to overlook and ignore the achievement of client empowerment, compared to other goals. Why does the achievement of client empowerment go unseen in this way, even when its value has been explained and emphasized in written work, training, and otherwise? Addressing this “invisibility” of client empowerment is a major challenge for those who ascribe importance to the impact …

Measuring Student Attitudes Toward Offenders: The Potential Mediating Role Of Familial Incarceration, Susan Faith Boyd

All ETDs from UAB

Each year hundreds of thousands of ex-offenders are released from U.S. jails and prisons to return to their communities. After release, ex-offenders’ families can play a critical role in helping their loved ones re-adjust to life outside of prison as well as meet the terms of their release; however, the severe financial, emotional, and social hardships associated with reentry have great potential to strengthen or weaken ex-offenders’ family support networks. The current study sought to explore how attitudes toward offenders differ between offenders’ family members and individuals who have never experienced familial incarceration. Adaptations of The Attitudes Toward Prisoners Scale …

Peace. Love. Youth. (In) Yoga: Development Of A Mental Health Program Among Adolescents Living In The Inner City, Sherilyn Jonnell Garner

All ETDs from UAB

Adolescence is a unique developmental stage during which physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes occur simultaneously and the traumatic effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can be particularly salient for the emotional and cognitive development of adolescents as they navigate and adjust to the social environment (Blakemore & Mills, 2014). Seventy-seven percent of Black adolescents have unmet mental health needs, and only 13% of those adolescents receive services compared to 31% of White adolescents. Meeting mental health needs of Black adolescents is imperative as their mental health needs continue to grow and resources become increasingly scarce. Innovative, culturally acceptable, accessible …

Employer Sponsored Health Insurance And Children With Special Health Care Needs, Kathryn Corvey

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation is composed of three papers related to children with special health care needs (CSHCN) who are covered by private health insurance, including employer sponsored health insurance. Over the past couple of decades, researchers and advocates have expressed concern about the impact that widespread changes in private insurance coverage may have on families of CSHCN. These researchers point to the rise in high deductible plans and declining generosity in the form of higher premiums and copayments in more traditional plans offered by employers. Despite this expressed concern, little research has been conducted examining how these changes in employer sponsored …

Designing Interprofessional Education Curriculum To Maximize Collaborative Competency, Whitney Lucas Molitor, Allison Naber

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Interprofessional collaboration improves health outcomes through enhanced efficiency and communication among team members. Professional educational standards call for interprofessional education (IPE) to develop the collaborative competencies necessary for transition from didactic learning to clinical practice. Variability exists regarding methods of IPE implementation, so efficacy of curricula needs to be described in a manner which allows for replication and utilization of these methods with occupational therapy students. A pre/post design with convenience sampling of students from occupational therapy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs was completed to determine the effectiveness of an IPE module and to discover if differences in IPE …

Exploration Of Self-Perceived Leadership Practices Of Entry-Level Doctoral Students During The Doctoral Capstone Experience, Tracey E. Recigno, Sara Benham, Adele Breen-Franklin

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

There is limited literature reporting the methodology of leadership advancement in entry-level Doctoral-Degree-Level Educational Programs through the Capstone Experience. The purpose of this study was to explore if self-perceived leadership practices increase after the Capstone Experience utilizing a one group, pretest-posttest design. Sixteen students completed the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI) from pretest to posttest. Self-perceived leadership practices of the fourth-year cohort of doctoral students increased significantly, t (15) = 5.42, p= 0.00007, with a large effect size (d= 1.355). Students enrolled in the community-based track were 31.25% of the sample, compared to 68.75% enrolled in the …