Digital Commons Network^™

Psychometric Evaluation Of The Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (Mddi) Among Gender-Expansive People, Emilio J. Compte, Chloe J. Cattle, Jason M. Lavender, Tiffany A. Brown, Stuart B. Murray, Matthew R. Capriotti, Annesa Flentje, Micah E. Lubensky, Juno Obedin-Maliver, Mitchell R. Lunn, Jason M. Nagata

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose: Muscle dysmorphia is generally classified as a specific form of body dysmorphic disorder characterized by a pathological drive for muscularity and the preoccupation that one is too small or not sufficiently muscular. The majority of research on the condition has been conducted in cisgender men with a paucity of literature on gender minority people, a population that is at risk for muscle dysmorphia. One of the most widely used measures of muscle dysmorphia symptoms, the Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI), has not been psychometrically validated for use in gender minority samples, the aim of the present study. Methods: We …

A Collaborative Autoethnography: Your Passport To Immigrant Women Of Color Leader's Stories Of Identity Exploration And Leadership Barriers And Possibilities, Fraylanie Adan Aglipay

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of the personal and career narratives of immigrant Women of Color can lead to more appropriate standards in mainstream work environments and to the expansion of professional leadership opportunities for immigrant Women of Color. The experiences of immigrant Women of Color leaders are varied and complex, with each leader’s experience offering unique perspectives on their leadership journey. Additionally, it is important to analyze their identities because they contain multiple layers, serving as the foundation that has shaped them into the authentic leaders they are today. As scholars, researchers, and activists, we have a duty to address the lack …

Healthcare Mistreatment, State-Level Policy Protections, And Healthcare Avoidance Among Gender Minority People, Kristen D. Clark, Sean Luong, Mitchell R. Lunn, Elena Flowers, Esmaeil Bahalkeh, Micah E. Lubensky, Matthew R. Capriotti, Juno Obedin-Maliver, Annesa Flentje

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Introduction: This study examined whether past experiences of mistreatment in healthcare were associated with greater healthcare avoidance due to anticipated mistreatment among gender minority (GM) people. We evaluated whether state-level healthcare policy protections moderated this relationship. Methods: Data from the 2018 Annual Questionnaire of The PRIDE Study, a national longitudinal study on sexual and gender minority people’s health, were used in these analyses. Logistic regression modeling tested relationships between lifetime healthcare mistreatment due to gender identity or expression and past-year healthcare avoidance due to anticipated mistreatment among GM participants. Interactions between lifetime healthcare mistreatment and state-level healthcare policy protections and …

Influence Of Restorative Practices On The Middle-School Classroom, As Reported By Teachers: A Qualitative Case Study, Julia Y. Andrews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions of the influence that restorative practices have on the middle school classroom environment. For the purpose of this study, seven middle school teachers were selected who have implemented restorative practices in their middle school classrooms to provide feedback. Findings suggest that overall restorative practices have a positive influence on the classroom. The findings from this study can be used with teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, and school and district support staff to help create a positive campus culture between students and adults in middle school classrooms. The …

Diabetes Family-Inclusion Education In The Outpatient Clinic, Sheryl Lyn Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Patient education is critical for the regulation of Type II Diabetes. This study evaluated 39 adults ≥ 40 years old with T2D and a HgbA1c level of ≥ 7.0%, including 27 women and 12 men aged 40 to 74. The participants were divided into two separate groups. The first group (19) diagnosed with T2D had no formal disease management education but were given videos on diabetes education to watch alone. The second group (202) was given family-inclusion diabetes education through videos. The hypothesis was that individuals who watched educational videos with family would have a more significant HgbA1c decrease than …

Understanding The Role Of Faculty Advising In Graduate Allied Healthcare Profession Programs As Practitioners Transition To Professor, Lillie Marie Barnett Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals in allied healthcare professions continue to see growth in all areas, including clinical practice and higher education. Leaders at the university level, alongside leadership within allied healthcare accreditation bodies for disciplines like athletic training, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology, maintain the need to grow the professions through master’s and doctoral degree programs. With the growth, many working practitioners move from clinical practice to academia with little to no experience or understanding of higher education and all the responsibilities of the job. This quantitative research study used a purposive sampling of allied healthcare professionals across the United States …

Inducing Empathy In Jurors In A Capital Penalty Phase Trial: An Examination Of How To Reduce Jurors' Death Sentence Decisions, Klaudia Zuraw

Student Theses

The present research explores whether inducing empathy in death-qualified mock jurors leads to fewer death sentences in a penalty phase trial. Previous research has shown that inducing empathy in jurors leads to lesser sentences and perceived responsibility of the perpetrator for the crime. However, none of this research has examined death penalty cases, and most have focused on instances where the victim was also the perpetrator of a separate crime against the defendant (e.g., abuse). Extending this line of research, the present study examines whether these results extend to instances where the perpetrator and victim are strangers. Additionally, considering the …

The Effect On Mood Of Social Media Posting Among People With Mental Illnesses, Andrew Croiter

Student Theses

There are studies that have examined how the use of social media affects people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. However, studies that focus specifically on changes in mood after posting on social media among people with mental illnesses is absent from the literature. The present study sought to fill that gap in research by surveying 250 participants who have been diagnosed with a mental illness and testing whether there was a change in mood after posting on social media. The results concluded that there was a significant improvement in overall negative mood. There was no significant effect …

Traumatized Defendants, Troubled Attorneys: The Impact Of Vicarious Trauma On The Defense Attorney-Client Relationship, Charise Peters

Student Theses

Approximately 90% of justice-involved youth have experienced some form of trauma by the time they become involved in the justice system, and attorneys report being negatively impacted by their work with trauma-exposed populations generally. Yet, research has not focused on how varying degrees of youth trauma can impact attorney decisions and if that differs based on youth race. This study, therefore, explored vicarious trauma and its impact on juvenile defense attorneys, including how an attorney’s experience of vicarious trauma impacts case handling and perception of their youth client and how that differs based on client race and trauma history. We …

The Impact Of Pharmacogenetics On Oral Fluid Steady State Drug Testing Results, Aliya D. Lewis

Student Theses

Pharmacogenetics refers to the relationship between phenotypic variation in metabolism and response to certain drugs. The interface of pharmacogenetics and forensic toxicology is not well explored. A major component of the opioid metabolic pathway has to do with a family of cytochromes called cytochrome P450 (CYP450). CYP450 refers to a general family of enzymes capable of catalyzing the oxidative biotransformation of lipophilic substances, CYPs are further categorized into families and sub-families (Roller, 2015; Zanger & Schwab, 2013). The gene CYP2D6 belongs to the CYP2 family which is responsible for the biotransformation of xenobiotics. This study looked at the effect of …

The Cultic Lifecycle: A Thematic Analysis Of Fulfillment And Fear In Cult Membership, Shaelen Grant

Student Theses

Prior research on susceptibility to cult recruitment has focused predominately on psychopathological risk factors, such as a prior personality disorder diagnosis and psychiatric and addictive disorders (Feldman & Johnson, 1995; Rousselet et al., 2017). While such studies contribute valuable information, they also inadvertently pathologize cult members. Furthermore, this focus has led to the overlooking of a more crucial question: what basic human desires does cult membership fulfill that cult leaders and recruiters exploit, to recruit and keep members in cults? To address this dearth, research team members interviewed 52 former cult members (N=52) from a variety of groups (e.g., Christian-based, …

Perception Of Police And The Mediation Of Memory Distortion Via Trauma: Body Worn Camera Footage Of An Emotional Police-Citizen Encounter, Arlyn Abreu

Student Theses

This present study calls to question the objectivity of police body-worn camera (BWC) footage. Proponents assume that BWCs will be a panacea in a climate of heightened tensions between officers and communities. In spite of this, our findings challenge the rhetoric, and the purpose BWC is intended to serve. We explored its implications on memory distortion by posing two questions (a) can people come to remember BWC footage as more traumatic than they initially experienced (b) to what degree can external information and internal influences impact peoples' judgment about a traumatic event. We addressed both questions in this two-part study, …

Design Of Ethical Autonomous Agents For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Fuzzy Logic, Gavin Giovanni Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous systems have, over the years become part of our everyday lives. These systems have been deployed to executed a diverse range of applications in different industries; finance, healthcare, military, and in particular, the flight industry. With the rise of UAVs, new opportunities arose, but with those opportunities came new pitfalls within any industry. For UAVs, one of the pitfalls came in the form of ethical decisionmaking, which led to a variety of questions. Can the Autonomous systems within UAVs be designed with ethics in mind? Which ethical guidelines would we use to implement such a system? How would we …

Tympanostomy Tubes In Children: A Fem Study Of Adverse Effects, Manuel Nicolas Jaramillo Bucheli

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The current study investigates if tympanic (myringotomy) tubes affect hearing by comparing the harmonic displacement response to sound excitation within the hearing frequency range for healthy vs. surgically-treated pediatric tympanic membranes. The use of ear myringotomy tubes has proven an effective method for combating recurrent ear infections in infants and children. These tubes are placed in the tympanic membrane through an incision and connect the middle ear to the external ear, thereby allowing fluid drainage and middle-ear ventilation. While this treatment has been proven beneficial in alleviating urgent pus accumulation in the middle ear, recent research shows that it …

The Monster Theory Of Relativity: Triggering Supernatural Monsters, Maggie Mercil

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Current monster scholarship examines monstrous bodies, how they represent our cultural fears, anxieties, or forbidden desires, and how monsters can guard, break, or blur the boundaries between us and Other. While examining the monsters themselves can provide a better understanding of ourselves and our culture, it is just as important to consider the conditions in which these monsters were able to manifest in the first place. This paper argues that it is through our own actions, whether intentional or not, that we effectively “trigger” the monsters into our narratives. There are three categories of “triggers” that this paper will explore: …

Training Needs And Applications For Special Educators With Paraeducator Supervision Responsibilities, Joanna M. Cornejo

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project highlights the need for training for paraeducators working in Special Education settings. Duties performed by paraeducators often overlap with teacher duties and much of the direct instruction provided to students in self-contained classrooms is delivered by paraeducators. The tasks of training and supervising paraeducators often falls on the special education teacher, who may not have received training in supervision. The project includes a brief review of the literature on this topic and two project reports. I designed my project with the objective of improving the quality of instruction being delivered to students in my classroom through training of …

Ucf Libraries Programming Report, 2021-2022, Megan M. Haught, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

Faith-Based Counseling Versus Traditional Psychotherapy: A Phenomenological Evaluation Of African American Protestant Experiences, Shannon Gray

Dissertations

This phenomenological study was designed to evaluate the experiences of African American Christian adult clients within traditional psychotherapy and faith-based counseling settings. Research has shown various therapist/counselor identities affect Christian African American clients, and that Christians as well as African Americans have historically been less likely to pursue traditional psychotherapy for a variety of reasons. Participants were six African American Christian adult participants (three traditional psychotherapy participants and three faith-based counseling participants). All participants were asked open-ended questions about their experiences in traditional psychotherapy or faith-based counseling. In addition, they were asked to evaluate several aspects of their therapy/counseling experience …

Building On The Lasting Benefits Of Attending A Voluntary Prekindergarten Program, Ashley Swickle

Dissertations

The expectations of kindergarten students have drastically changed over the years. Kindergarten students who have not attended a voluntary pre-kindergarten (VPK) program may be at a disadvantage in behavior and academics. The purpose of this study is to show the benefits of a VPK program. My study includes kindergarten students at the school under study whose progress monitoring scores in the beginning of the year are compared to student’s scores who have never attended a VPK program, the amount of behavior referrals is also compared. The anticipated results are that kindergarten students who attended VPK will out-perform their peers who …

Prenatal Opioid Use And Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Review Of The Neurophysiological, Neuropsychological, And Behavioral/Emotional/Social Impacts In The Pediatric Population, Candice Gore

Dissertations

The opioid epidemic over the past two decades has raised concerns regarding the developmental fetal impact of prenatal opioid use. Research in this area continues to grow, but largely has focused on treatment for neonates experiencing withdrawal symptoms postnatally. Long term clinical implications for this at-risk population have not been studied extensively leaving many gaps in research and highlighting the need for future empirical studies. This literature review will examine the neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and the behavioral/social/emotional impacts on infants, toddlers, and school aged children who were prenatally exposed to opioids with or without the diagnosis of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Providing …

Mission Possible: Collaborative Practice Promoting Student Success, Danita Smith

Dissertations

Educators working with underserved populations of students seek strategies that promote student engagement and success. Relationship-focused, collaborative practices can provide a framework to promote student success. In this study, I evaluated the program Individualized Student Success Plans used in five charter high schools whose focus was working with underserved students. I surveyed and interviewed administrators, teachers, and support personnel about the implementation practices of the program. This research study yielded recommendations for the effective implementation of a schoolwide initiative to promote active student engagement through positive adult-to-student mentorship.

Lifestyle Choices Related To Food Consumption And Their Relationship To Depression, Steven L. Jennings Jr.

Dissertations

Dieting, or the act of restricting oneself to small amounts or particular kinds of foods on the basis of health, spirituality, lifestyle, and moral decisions, is a practice that dates to 1066 A.D. However, with social media being as influential as it is, one might believe dieting is a new obsession or at least an obsession to which popular culture is returning. Despite this, it is only in recent years that researchers have begun to focus on the health benefits of such behaviors. The present study was designed to take this focus a step further by exploring the potential risks …

Identifying Motivations Of New Counselors For Continuing Professional Development Of Multicultural Competencies: A Qualitative Study, Larry English

Dissertations

The need to increase multicultural counseling skills is a crucial area of focus in the continued evolution of the counseling profession. This necessity is due to a number of factors, including the ongoing demographic and societal changes in the United States. The research has helped to bring awareness of the need for increased and continued professional development in the area of cultural literacy and multicultural competencies skills for beginning counselors and others in counseling-related programs. At the micro level, the research investigated new clinicians’ self-awareness of their own biases, assumptions, internalized/externalized actions, and beliefs toward other cultures. The purpose of …

Examining The Integrative Impacts Of Trust And Distrust Sub-Dimensions On Employee Discretionary Behavior, Alexandra Silverman

Theses and Dissertations

While trust and distrust in subordinate-supervisor relationships have been studied and linked to numerous positive and negative discretionary workplace outcomes, research has largely overlooked the impact of their sub-dimensions, competence and intent, in these relationships. Furthermore, although there has been research noting the impact of emotional exhaustion on discretionary behaviors such as OCB and CWB, limited research has examined its impact on the relationship between trust/distrust in supervisors and the discretionary behaviors, as well as those pertaining to the sub-dimensions of trust and distrust and the behavioral outcomes. The current study analyzed a sample of 301 employees in the United …

Franchising: A Microfoundational View Of Personality Relationships Towards Franchisee Financial Performance, Christopher Heath Rehkop

Theses and Dissertations

The franchisor-franchisee relationship is unique; it provides a blend of entrepreneurial spirit with the structure of an established corporation. Franchisees operate with a degree of independence, taking certain risks and managing the details of day-to-day business, yet are also obligated to follow prescribed systems and processes of the franchisor. Both parties have a vested interest in the success of this relationship. While many macro-level factors (economy, technology, and demographics) come into play for a franchise’s success, one micro-level variable that may be identified early during recruitment is the personality characteristic of the franchisee candidate. A micro-level or “microfoundations” approach addresses …

Call The Doctor! A Study Of Parental Medical Nonadherence Within Child Custody Proceedings, Karissa Lynn Cummons

Theses and Dissertations

Medical nonadherence is a common and formidable problem that many pediatric healthcare providers face when treating children with acute and chronic medical conditions because adhering to a physicians’ treatment recommendations is beneficial for successful treatment, disease prevention, and healthy promotion (Dawood et al., 2010). It was estimated that at least one third of patients are unable to complete or adhere to relatively short treatment regimens (Dawood et al., 2010). Reasons for nonadherence to a physicians’ recommendations range from extended duration of treatment, multiple prescribed medications, and periods of symptom remission (Dawood et al., 2010). Despite a parent’s or family’s reason …

Intersections Of Gender And Age: Identification And Attributional Processes On Leadership Effectiveness, Kayla Lynne Bigerton

Theses and Dissertations

As more women enter leadership roles and the ages of leaders becomes more diverse, there is a need for more intersectional research. An intersectional approach was used to assess the impact of leader gender and age on leadership effectiveness through identification and attributional processes. In doing so, different age conceptualizations were also examined. Gender did not have an impact on identification and attributional processes and age had mixed results. Age similarity was not significantly related to leader identification, but perceived leader age had a negative relationship with idiosyncratic fit. Further, social age was examined with different age ranges representing "young”, …

The Effect Of Video Model Dosage And Self-Monitoring On Parent's Use Of Language-Promoting Behavior, Kacie Marie Mcgarry

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found a disparity between the language trajectories of children within a high, medium, or low-economic-status family. A relationship is reliably found between the language trajectory of toddlers and success throughout school. This study will evaluate a training package to teach parents to engage in behaviors that promote language and assess the training's short-term effect on the trajectories of children (i.e., growing language) within low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, experimenters will evaluate the impact of the dosage of video modeling, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring on the acquisition of the targeted skills. Data may suggest that the more accurate the individual is …

The Relationship Between Hallucinations And Visuospatial Impairment Among Individuals With Dementia, Ruta Sohoni

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This study examines the neuropsychological functioning, specifically using the Hooper Visual Organization Test (VOT), to understand the impact of hallucinations on the level of impairment in the visuospatial domain.

Method: Archival data obtained over three years from a total of 73 patients from the Health First Memory Disorder Clinic was used in this study. Participants were included in the study if they endorsed experiencing hallucinations, were given the VOT during their brief neuropsychological evaluation, and were diagnosed with dementia or unspecified neurocognitive disorder. The patient’s electronic medical record was used to retrospectively gather additional details regarding their hallucinations and …

Brief And Extended Effects Of Modified Competing Stimulus Assessments, Soray Nicole Castro

Theses and Dissertations

Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) are pre-assessment tools that systematically identify stimuli associated with reduced problem behavior. The current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an augmented CSA containing components of prompted engagement and response blocking. Results indicated the augmented CSA effectively identified two additional competing items for two of the three participants following prompted engagement. We also evaluated the extended effects of the competing stimuli on item engagement and stereotypy for two participants. Stereotypy reductive effects are maintained for one of the four competing stimuli for Participant 2 and two of the six items for Participant 3.