Intimacy, Identity And Loyalty: Exploring The Mediation Pathways Towards Donor Loyalty And The Moderating Role Of Donor Identity Esteem, Dejie Kong

Plymouth Business School Theses

As the global economic and political situation is increasingly prominent, donor loyalty is one of the biggest challenges facing the charity sector in many countries today. Research in fundraising has shown that even a small improvement in donor loyalty can have a huge impact on charity income in the long term. Although marketing scholars have examined factors such as trust, commitment and satisfaction—the key to drive donor loyalty — the complex nature of donors’ underlying psychological processes toward donor loyalty remains unclear. This thesis aims to enhance our understanding of donor loyalty by studying the role of intimacy and donor …

Towards An Understanding Of Effortful Fundraising Experiences: Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis In Fundraising Research, George Shelton

Plymouth Business School Theses

Physical-activity oriented community fundraising has experienced an exponential growth in popularity over the past 15 years. The aim of this study was to explore the value of effortful fundraising experiences, from the point of view of participants, and explore the impact that these experiences have on people’s lives. This study used an IPA approach to interview 23 individuals, recognising the role of participants as proxy (nonprofessional) fundraisers for charitable organisations, and the unique organisation donor dynamic that this creates. It also bought together relevant psychological theory related to physical activity fundraising experiences (through a narrative literature review) and used primary …

Feeling Fat: Theorizing Intergenerational Body Narratives Through Affect, Katie Cook

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study set out to understand the intergenerational movement and impact of obesity epidemic and anti-fat narratives that emerged after the 1950s in North America. Embedded in an Anglo-Western, neoliberal context, the current study sought to understand the impact of weight-based messaging on the embodied experiences of parents and their now-adult children. Working within a critical-transformative paradigm and drawing on post-humanism and new materialism, I conducted 19 narrative interviews with individuals born between 1955 and 1990, six of whom were mother-daughter dyads, as well as a body mapping workshop with five self-selecting participants over the course of three sessions. I …

Trans-Forming Resilience Research: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis Of Resilience Research With Transgender And Gender Diverse Populations, Morgan Brooks

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Historically, much of the research pertaining to transgender and gender diverse (trans) health and wellbeing has been conducted in ways that are reductive, pathologizing and exploitative. Trans activists and scholars express concerns about how such research contributes to pervasive negative perceptions, stigma, and cisgenderism, reinforcing stereotypical, binary ideas of trans people as both damaged and dangerous, vulnerable and heroic. Ongoing negative media attention and harmful policy decisions rooted in these views demonstrate the importance of offering alternatives to these reductive, deficit-based narratives associated with trans people. In response, strengths-based research oriented around the construct of resilience is increasing; yet approached …

The Electrophysiological Correlates Of Text Integration And Direct Vs. Indirect Articles: A Centralized And Lateralized Examination, Deanna C. Hall

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As we read, we develop mental models of the discourse content called situation models. Situation models are integral to how we keep track of information, and to do so in an ongoing event incoming information needs to be integrated into the model or discarded. The type of information being presented, and its relation to prior data, impacts how that new information is processed. The current research examined discourse passages containing concepts that were either previously mentioned (match), mentioned with a general term (general category), unmentioned in lieu of another concept (mismatch), or completely unmentioned previously (indeterminate), and examined how these …

Footwear Characteristics: Effects On Dynamic Balance In The Young And Elderly, Joseph Wallace

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Older adults suffer from an increased risk of falling, and falls make up a substantial percentage of injuries and mortality rates in elderly populations. Falls also burden health and long-term care infrastructure and can limit individual independence and overall functioning due to fear of falling. Footwear and orthotic interventions have previously been shown to affect balance in both young and older adult populations and may provide a potential avenue for improving balance and combatting fall rates. Footwear and orthotic interventions are relatively easily implemented, however there is a lack of consistency among current footwear and orthotic literature as well as …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On The Religious And Spiritual Beliefs Of Emerging Adults, Mark Ehlebracht

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The adoption of social media has been suggested to contribute to a syncretic behavior in emerging adults. The rate of innovation and change that occurred in the church during the Reformation, concurrent with the rise of the printing press, is similar to the rate of cultural change occurring today; a primary missional challenge of the Christian church is to incarnate the gospel in the digital world. While much research has been conducted on the effects of social media in a variety of demographics and its unintended consequences, limited research has examined the impact of social media on the religious and …

Imagining White Victims And Punishing Black Trauma: Whiteness, Anti-Blackness, Trauma, And Social Work In Canadian K-12 Schools, Christine Mayor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study critically examined how whiteness and anti-Blackness structure Canadian school social workers’ understanding and responses to students’ expressions of trauma in K-12 schools. Very few studies have previously explored the damage that increasingly popular trauma-engaged school programs may be doing, particularly to Black students. Therefore, this study addressed the role that school social workers play in reproducing harm for racialized, and especially Black, students when implementing trauma-engaged practices.

This critical qualitative study used an innovative methodology combining fictional vignettes and semi-structured interview questions with Ontario school social workers (n=19). Data were analyzed using critical whiteness, anti-Blackness, and critical trauma …

Using Online Training Modules To Enhance Parents' Early Literacy Training Skills And Understanding, Ayodele Sanni

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Parental involvement is considered a crucial factor in developing children’s early literacy and reading skills, especially for children not yet in school. The present study aims to determine whether an online literacy module can increase early literacy knowledge in parents who may not have the training to promote their child’s learning. Additionally, the study examines parent perspectives of online video training and the practicality of the video’s content. To test the hypothesis that parent knowledge will increase after exposure to the online video, 29 Canadian parents (27 mothers, two fathers) with children aged 3 to 5 were provided with supervised …

Exploring Visitor Perceptions And Behaviours Related To Ticks And Lyme Disease Risk In An Ontario Protected Area, Ryan Brady

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne zoonosis in North America and over the past decade, reported cases of the disease have been rapidly increasing in many regions throughout Canada. The relative novelty of this public health threat presents nature-based tourism and recreation organizations with a range of policy and management challenges. Currently, there is a limited understanding of public perceptions and behaviours associated with tick and Lyme disease risk, especially within a Canadian parks and protected areas visitation and visitor experience context. To address this practical and scholarly knowledge gap, this study utilized in-situ surveys to explore visitor perceptions, …

Design And Validation Of Artificial Feeders To Study Feeding Preferences And Growth Of Hematophagous Juvenile Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus), Gracie Li-Ting-Wai

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The parasitic and invasive land-locked sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus populations contributed to the collapse of the Great Lakes fisheries in the mid-1900s, while native anadromous populations are currently under threat and require conservation efforts for protection. Despite the increasing concern for both populations of this species, the juvenile stage of the sea lamprey’s life cycle has not been well studied. This is due, in part, to ethical concerns raised around holding live host fish with juveniles and the lack of an alternative feeding method to maintain these juveniles in the laboratory. The feeder should be designed to minimize fouling of …

Inducing Kindness To Cope With Social Stress: Comparing Self-Compassion With Cognitive Reappraisal, Cortney Burnham

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Self-compassion involves being accepting and caring toward oneself when dealing with failure and hardships. Inducing self-compassion has been shown to be helpful, particularly for individuals with high levels of social anxiety. However, few studies have compared a self- compassion intervention to another adaptive strategy. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the impact of a self-compassion induction for social stress compared to another beneficial strategy. Three studies were conducted to compare self-compassion and cognitive reappraisal as strategies for coping with past stressful social situations and current social stress. In Study 1, participants (N = 276) were …

Loose Coupling, Burden Shuffling, And Pervasive Penality: The Role Of Bylaw Enforcement In Managing Homelessness, Natasha Martino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Canada, over 235,000 people experience homelessness per year. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the visibility of homelessness and the use of homeless encampments across Ontario. As visibility has increased, so too have community members’ expectations to manage homelessness or find a solution to minimize the visibility of homelessness. While there has been some scholarship about the police management of homelessness, far less is known about the role of bylaw enforcement. Yet, bylaw officers play a critical role in responding to homelessness due to their increasing responsibility for enforcing municipal bylaws and COVID-19 public health mandates, such as stay at …

The Lived Experiences Of Female Informal Caregivers For Individuals With Young-Onset Dementia, Hailey A. O'Neil

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

Objective: Informal CGs for individuals with dementia experience an increased risk of compromised health. However, CGs of individuals with young-onset dementia (CGs-YOD) are more likely to have longer caregiving durations, less social support, and heavier caregiver burdens than those caring for people with LOD (Arai et al., 2007). Further, there are limited resources available to CGs-YOD, increasing their likelihood of negative health outcomes associated with CGs roles. This qualitative study investigated the experiences of female informal CGs-YOD specifically examining the effect of providing informal care on CGs overall health and well-being.

Methods: The theoretical orientation used to guide the …

When A Seat At The Table Is Not Enough: A Participatory Action Research Study On Collaborative Partnerships In Ontario Developmental Services Organizations, Kaylagh Vanwyck

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Historically, Ontario’s developmental services (DS) has evolved largely guided by the knowledge and direction of non-disabled service providers and government. However, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities promotes the participation of people labeled with disabilities in decision-making processes about the programs and policies that impact their lives. Existing theories and literature reveal the importance of collaborative partnerships where power is shared with service users through participatory decision-making, shared leadership, and opportunities to participate with influence. Four self-advocates labeled with developmental disabilities collaborated as co-researchers in this participatory action research study to explore what model of collaborative …

The Avian Hippocampal Declarative Memory System, Chelsey C. Damphousse

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across Mammalia, memory has long been dissociated into multiple component systems specialized to process specific facets of experience. Among these segregated systems, declarative memory is processed by the hippocampus and surrounding structures, which have collectively been referred to as the hippocampal declarative memory system (HDMS). The HDMS, in turn, can be further divided into parallel streams dedicated to the processing of spatial versus object identity based information, commonly discussed as the ‘what’ and ‘where’ streams. While we know that the organization of the HDMS is conserved in humans, nonhuman primates, and rats, evidence outside Mammalia is lacking. Here HDMS homology …

Examining Harm Reduction In Housing First For Youth Experiencing Homelessness And Concurrent Mental Health And Substance Use Issues, Victoria Rozycki

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Purpose: Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) is a youth-focused adaptation of the well-established Housing First (HF) program model to housing and service provision for individuals experiencing homelessness. Given that the experience of youth homelessness is associated with an increased likelihood of substance use issues, a central tenet of the HF4Y framework is the use of a harm reduction approach to substance use and addictions. However, research on HF4Y programming has yet to examine how harm reduction is specifically being implemented in these settings. The purpose of this thesis was to examine how the principles and philosophies of harm reduction are …

Exploring Climate, Wellbeing, Resilience, And Resistance In 2slgbtq+ Leisure Spaces: A Mixed Methods Study To Advance Inclusion, Tin Vo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Participating in queer sports groups, rainbow choirs, trans virtual discussion groups and other Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQ+) leisure activities can offer participants safety from societal heterosexism and cisgenderism and opportunities for community connection and peer support, as well as foster their overall wellbeing. Yet, transgender/gender nonconforming (TGNC), racialized, and/or disabled individuals, and those with other diverse identities are often marginalized in these spaces. Though researchers have studied exclusion within 2SLGBTQ+ leisure spaces, relatively little is known about how the climate of these spaces shapes social and mental health outcomes. Connected to …

How Narcissism Relates To (Non-) Cooperation, Christopher Chinn

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cooperative behaviour is integral to modern society. Individuals who are high in trait narcissism have personality traits that appear inconsistent with cooperation, such as selfishness, competitiveness, and antagonism. Research has yet to determine whether these individuals, when given the opportunity, are less likely to engage in cooperative behaviour, to the detriment of others. The present studies investigated the effect of several distinct expressions of trait narcissism on cooperation in social dilemmas and potential underlying causes of non-cooperation in narcissistic individuals. In Study 1, participants (N = 355) were randomly assigned to one of three prisoner’s dilemma conditions (control, low …

Exploring Individuals’ Views On The Malleability Of Their Moral Self-Concept, Steven Hertz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Drawing on work by Carol Dweck, Moral Self-Theory was conceptualized as describing lay views of the moral self-concept as either malleable (incrementalist view) or fixed (entity view) in order to better capture the goal-achievement aspect of morality. To this end, research into the areas of implicit theories of intelligence and personality were drawn upon to explore the possibility that lay views of morality could help inform our understanding of moral behaviour. Three studies were designed to: 1) examine individuals’ perceptions of their moral self-concept over time for evidence of change and assess participants’ opinions towards that change, as well as …

"If We're Not Loud, We're Not Cared For": Empowerment In Transgender Peoples' Healthcare Experiences, Chase Valiant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Healthcare plays a crucial role in the health and quality of life of transgender (herein trans) people. The experiences people have when accessing healthcare, can have significant effects on future interactions with the healthcare system as well as individual health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to gather insights into trans peoples’ positive healthcare experiences and health outcomes through the lens of empowerment. Fifteen interviews with trans men and trans women were drawn from a larger study of trans peoples’ experiences of discrimination. Thematic analysis was undertaken to identify key themes in the data. Experiences of empowerment were facilitated …

Translating Mentoring Interventions Research Into Practice: Evaluation Of An Evidence-Based Workshop For Research Mentors On Developing Trainees’ Scientific Communication Skills, Erin K Dahlstrom, Christine Bell, Shine Chang, Hwa Young Lee, Cheryl B Anderson, Annie Pham, Christine Maidl Pribbenow, Carrie A Cameron

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A key part of keeping doctoral and postdoctoral trainees in STEM research careers is mentoring. Our previous research indicates that mentoring trainees in scientific communication (SC) skill development increases research career intention through two social-cognitive constructs, self-efficacy in and outcome expectations for acquiring SC skills, as well as science identity. While many mentor training interventions exist, no programs focus on developing SC skills specifically. The "Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence" (SCOARE) program trains mentors to address trainee scientific communication (SC) skill development as an innovative approach to increase trainee research career persistence. The SCOARE training is a half-day workshop for …

The Torch: Suffolk University College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program Newsletter, No. 11, Winter 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

Torch Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Torch: Suffolk University College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program Newsletter, No. 12, Summer 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

Torch Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Cas Honors Symposium Program, Spring 2023, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

College of Arts & Sciences Honors in the Major Symposium

No abstract provided.

Cas Honors Symposium Program, Spring 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

College of Arts & Sciences Honors in the Major Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Running Durations On Executive Function, Lauren Bainter

Honors Baccalaureate Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between running habits and specific executive functions. Three cognitive function tests were administered virtually to men and women ages 18 – 61 through a validated web-based application (PsyToolKit) and were preceded by a demographic questionnaire. A total of 199 participants were analyzed. The cognitive functions assessed were cognitive inhibition by the Stroop Color and Word Test, visuospatial short-term working memory by the Corsi block-tapping test, and working memory capacity by the 2-back task. A linear regression was used to determine relationships between running and cognitive function. Significant correlations were found …

Egalitarian Nationalism's Contribution To The Rise And Fall Of Athens' Democracy: The Criticisms Of Athenian Democracy From The Old Oligarch, Plato, And Aristotle, Matthew Mayer

Honors Baccalaureate Theses

The purpose of this research is to determine how combining radical egalitarianism and nationalism to create radical democracy can lead to the destruction of society. Politics are for the purpose of protecting the common good, but individual liberties are sometimes necessary for the preservation of the common good based on the continual flux of social contexts. However, too much individualism can lead to the rise of tyrannical collectivism. Karl Popper termed this problem of too much toleration as “the paradox of tolerance.” Once everything becomes tolerable, there is little to no hope that anyone can guarantee anything. Absolute toleration will …

The Collegiate Black Space: Black College Students’ Use Of New Counter-Spaces For Support, Knowledge Production, And Organizing For Activism, Heather Streets

Doctoral Dissertations

Black collegians who attend historically white institutions continue to struggle with racism, microaggressions, feelings of alienation, minimal or improper advising, and an undue pressure to prove themselves (Bonner, 2010; Feagin & Sikes, 1995; Strayhorn, 2010). These barriers to success result in part due to a lack of support from the colleges and universities that they attend (Allen, 1992; Parker, Puig, Johnson & Anthony, Jr., 2016). With institutional benefits designed to benefit white students over students of color, Black students must find their own alternatives for collaboration and to provide support for their peers.

Many Black spaces can be defined as …

Teaching Solidarity: Popular Education In Grassroots U.S. Social Movements, Tenaya Summers Lafore

Doctoral Dissertations

Fifty years after he wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s work is as relevant as ever. But while many of Freire’s ideas are well known in the United States, there is limited research on their application in social movement settings, a practice commonly known as popular education. This comparative case study draws on Freire’s theory of popular education to analyze two U.S.-based grassroots education programs, one with low-income residents in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and one with front-line hospital and public school employees on the East Coast. Through six months of participant observation and …