Digital Commons Network^™

Mental Health Services: Improving Utilization In Homeless Populations, Gurdeep Mann

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Emergency shelters provide a unique location to offer easily accessible services for unhoused individuals experiencing mental distress and serious mental illness. Housing First interventions do not improve mental health or social integration. It is important to consider alternative approaches to providing care for homeless individuals. This integrated review was undertaken to evaluate existing evidence of interventions that improve mental health awareness and utilization of mental health services among unhoused populations living in shelters. Assertive outreach is an important strategy that was shown to improve effectiveness of mental health programs in shelters; reconnect individuals with family; and help with psychological integration. …

Canadian And Iranian Graduate Students’ Conceptions Of Critical Thinking: A Comparative Study, Farzaneh Ojaghi Shirmard

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study compares Canadian and Iranian international students’ conceptions of critical thinking during their graduate studies in Canada. Critical thinking is an essential skill in Canadian higher education. It enables students to make reasoned judgments from their observations and experimentation. This narrative inquiry using open-ended interviews describes the narratives of eight students from different master’s programs at a university in western Canada to examine their experiences and notions of critical thinking. The preliminary findings reveal that while all Canadian participants had knowledgeable perspectives about critical thinking, Iranian participants required more knowledge to build their critical thinking conceptualizations. Moreover, content knowledge, …

Reflections Of A «Recovering Outer Catholic», Jorge A. Aquino Ph.D.

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This essay comments on the long-deferred need for Latinx Catholic theologians to resist Roman Catholic teaching on sexuality by taking it out of the margins and integrating it as a co-equal topic of theological reflection. Based on the author’s 2014 presidential address to the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), it reviews the challenges — pastoral, theological, social, and psychological — of confronting homophobia and the exclusion of queer subjects by the Roman Catholic Church.

Textos Islámicos: Una Fuente Para La Aceptación De Las Personas Queer En La Sociedad Musulmana Mayoritaria, Muhsin Hendricks

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This article seeks to reveal that Islam, at its core, does not condemn non- heterosexual sexual intimacy. On the contrary, it accepts it as part of a divine plan. In its true sense of peace and justice, Islam accepts a person’s sexual orientation as an intrinsic part of their biological and psychological makeup. He shows that the prohibition of same-sex marriages in Islam does not come from the Koran but from the legal construction of marriage and that sexual relations are both gendered and hierarchical. However, his study does not focus on Qur’anic texts that can be interpreted in support …

Predicting Pilot-In-Training Success And Persistence In A United States University, Maria Chaparro Osman, Vivek Sharma, Cherrise Ficke, Rian Mehta, Brooke Wheeler, Meredith Carroll

Aeronautics Faculty Publications

Commercial pilot numbers have been on a decline since 2009, while in parallel, pilot demands continue to rise. In order to close the gap, airlines and companies need a steady stream of pilots-in-training who have successfully graduated. However, collegiate flight training programs have had issues with low retention and low success rates of pilots-in-training. The need to understand how to retain students within collegiate flight programs and increase success rates is vital to fill the gaps present within the aviation industry. Past studies have investigated predictive factors for pilots-in-training graduation persistence and the time it takes to graduate yielding similar …

Freeze-Frames And Blanket Bans: The Unconstitutionality Of Prisons’ Denial Of Gender Confirmation Surgery To Transgender Inmates, Aranda Stathers

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

It is long established that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against imposing cruel and unusual punishments requires prisons to adequately address their inmates’ medical needs. Inmates identifying with the LGBTQ+ community are not exempt from this constitutional mandate. Trans inmates with gender dysphoria require specific treatment, including, but not limited to, gender confirmation surgery. While courts acknowledge that prisons owe a duty to provide some transition-related care, the extent of that duty remains contested. With no guidance from Congress or the Supreme Court, the constitutionality of prisons’ denial of gender confirmation surgery is in the hands of the circuit courts, which …

Accommodating Victims With Mental Disabilities, Danielle Shelton

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The #MeToo movement has brought the voices of victims of sexual assault into the public’s eye and, in turn, into the legal system. As its name suggests, the movement’s strength lies in numbers—it is, after all, hard to ignore the collective voices of a group of considerable size and visibility. This Article argues that another group of victims—namely, victims who have mental disabilities— also are desperately in need of their own movement to raise public awareness and bring about reform. However, because of their cognitive and communication impairments, this group of victims is unlikely to effectuate reform itself. Instead, these …

Amplifying Their Voices: Equity And Assistive Technology For Children With Disabilities, Rosemary Queenan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Assistive technology devices are crucial to the educational development of children who suffer from hearing loss. For some hearing-impaired children, access to hearing aids is vital to their ability to acquire language, develop speech, and socialize. Yet many hard of hearing children are unable to acquire hearing aids because most insurance policies do not cover them. Access to assistive technology devices for hard of hearing individuals has been the subject of long-standing controversy. The law recognizes the benefits of assistive technology devices and includes them within the scope of services school districts may be required to provide in order to …

Tourists’ Selfies Storytelling: Preferences, Intentions, And Concerns For Practise In The Tourism And Hospitality Industry, Abdallah Elshaer, Rong Huang, Asmaa Marzouk

Plymouth Business School

Photography has recently received significant academic interest as a popular tourist activity. However, tourist selfie practises have not yet been thoroughly examined by tourism scholars. This study aimed to investigate tourist selfies storytelling and to determine if tourists'selfies at tourist destinations reveal specific aspects of the host destination, implying an embodiment of particular preferences, intentions, and motivations. In this study, an exploratory analysis employing a two-step qualitative approach was conducted. A semiotic analysis of 317 tourist selfie photos and two phases of in-depth interviews with eleven tourists visiting Egypt on a 7-day packaged tour were used. The findings reveal that …

Investigating Student Development Of Intercultural Communicationcompetence Through Collaborative Online International Learning, Yizhe Huang

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This dissertation is a qualitative case study detailing the intercultural communication competence (ICC) development of seven Chinese foreign language learners who participated in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) activities at a regional U.S. university with a group of native Chinese speakers. Multiple qualitative data sources - including semi-structured interviews, observations, questionnaires, and reflection journals - were collected over two years. Drawing on sociocultural and transformative learning theories, this study disclosed four findings that practitioners and researchers can build upon to promote language development and intercultural learning in foreign language coursework through virtual exchange.

Dealing With Acculturative Stress: How International Students’ Personality Traits Help?, Thu Thi Kim Le

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Studies on international students have gained popularity over the past decades, especially; international students’ experience on acculturative stress has been a significant research topic for researchers in different countries. However, there remains a gap in how personality traits influence the ways that international students deal with acculturative stress. This study aims to investigate acculturative stress-related experiences of five international students from five countries studying in Canada. Applying a collective case study as a qualitative research method and collecting data from semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study expects to describe levels of stress that these students encounter and explore how their personality …

The Inter-Play Of Teacher Agency And Student Agency In Enhancing Graduate Employability: A Study Of The International Career-Oriented Programs In Vietnam, Thi Duc Phung

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Although the Vietnamese government has launched numerous initiatives to develop employability for students, half of its university graduates are unable to find jobs in their area of specialization. In order to address this issue, the Vietnamese higher education sector has introduced international career-oriented programs (ICOPs) to position the quality of Vietnamese graduates on par with international standards. This research focuses on three ICOPs to explore the interaction between teacher and student agency in enhancing graduate employability. This research draws on Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, and habitus to investigate how academics and students perceive and exercise their individual agency. The …

The Role Of Academic Mobility In The (De)Construction Of Internationalization: Dialogues And Perspectives From, In And On Global South & Global North, Ana Rachel M. Mendes

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

International mobility has played a central role in the views, policies, and actions of internationalization of higher education, despite representing a highly excluding, elitist process with flows that tend to reinforce asymmetrical relationships and colonial domination by the Global North of the Global South. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate how the international mobility is related to the construction of internationalization. To this end, the views of students and professors participating in the academic mobility of one university in Brazil, the Global South, and another in Spain, the Global North, will be analyzed through interviews and later they will be …

Gendered Experiences Of Human Dignity Within Canadian Universities: The Case Of Iranian International Students, E. Razavipour

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This article explores Iranian international students’ (IISs) experiences of human dignity (HD) within Canadian universities, compared to Iranian ones. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 24 current and former IISs (10 women and 10 men in Montreal and two women and two men who had left Canada), I created a conceptual HD framework to analyze the data. Three themes emerged as key to IISs’ experiences of HD in the context of postsecondary education: 1) the relationship between students and university faculty/staff, 2) gender equality and freedom, and 3) having a minority or marginalized identity. I conclude with observations about how an …

Functional Intonational Type In The Construction Of Synthetic Categorizations And Adjustment Of The Semantic Guides, Ameena Salem Al-Daihani

Association of Arab Universities Journal for Arts مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للآداب

This research deals with the intonation and its importance in the contemporary study of language. It deals with applying some theoretical perspectives in heritage and modern studies. The descriptive analytical method has been followed. The most important objectives of this research are: the ability to establish governing rules for the path of intonation degrees, specifying its semantic features, considering it a linguistic method that is used to interpret the structure and significance issues, and disclosing the seven tasks of intonation. It states some of regulations to measure the intonation degrees, its levels (high, medium or low). It puts some criteria …

Social Alienation And Its Relationship To Aggressive Behavior Among The Youth In Kuwaiti Society, Yagoub Al-Kandari

Association of Arab Universities Journal for Arts مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للآداب

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between aggressive behavior and social alienation among the youth in Kuwaiti society. Six dimensions of alienation scale were examined: powerlessness, normlessness, social isolation, meaninglessness, selfestrangement and cultural estrangement. A sample of 486 aged between 17-24 years was selected by using opportunistic sample. Questionnaire was the major tool of this study. It included demographic and primary variables. It included also some scales: self-report religiosity, self-report social support, self-report social network, and aggression scales. A social alienation with six dimensions scale was also used. Results show that there are significant differences between …

Commencement [Program], December 17, 2022, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

The program of the commencement ceremonies, including a list of institutional leadership, a list of the departments by college, awards given at the ceremonies, and a list of undergraduate and graduate degree candidates. This commencement program is not an official graduate list.

Do Emotional Support Animals Actually Help?, Harold Herzog

Herzog - Companion Animal Issues

U.S. federal law allows people with mental-health disorders to have emotional support animals in college dorms and no-pet apartments. This legislation assumes there are proven benefits of of living with emotional support animals. There is no substantial research that supports the use of emotional support animals in public housing or for air travel.

Crafting A Presence: How Muslim Designers Are Making Their Mark, Imani S. White

Capstones

Muslim designers and models, specifically those who wear hijab, or the Islamic headcovering, are changing the focus of mainstream fashion. They're challenging norms, subverting ideology, and redefining what fashion can mean and who it can include. A handful of Muslim designers sat down with me to discuss how their religious beliefs influced their craft — if it does at all. We also delve into the challenges faced by hijabi designers in an industry that sometimes tokenizes them, emphasizing the importance of individuality and agency. Furthermore, the article touches upon the intersection of fashion, Islam, and sustainability, with new designers like …

Potential Benefits Of The Campus Outdoor Built Environment On Student Stress, Leading To Improved Retention, Kevin Dilliard

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

University landscape managers often ask themselves, are they making a difference? Since what they do is not a revenue-generating department, how can they validate their true worth beyond making the campus beautiful, which is excellent, but what added value do they bring? As is common practice, when economic times get tough, the landscape department budget is one of the first to be cut, but is that the wisest thing to do? This research was intended to explore the concept that the services landscape managers provide have a return on investment by providing an environment in which students can thrive and …

2022 Fall Commencement, Harding University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Harding University Commencement on December 17.

Commencement Speaker: Susan Hutchinson

Understanding Your Cultural Identities: A Self-Study Of The Impact Of One’S Cultural Identities On Interpreting Interactions, Shelby L.W. Sammartino

Education Doctorate Dissertations

There is a disproportionality of students of color receiving office referrals for disrespect and defiance because disrespect and defiance are subjective in interpretation by teachers in the classroom. This self-study aims for the researcher to identify and understand the construction of their cultural identities, so they can determine how their cultural identities impact their interpretation of interactions with students concerning disrespect and defiance, how their cultural identities impact their choice of behavior management technique in interactions concerning disrespect and defiance, and how their cultural identities impact their discipline decisions in interactions concerning disrespect and defiance. The data to determine the …

Cultivating Lifelong Readers: A Study Of How English Teachers Can Bring Pleasure Back Into The Reading Lives Of Students, Kaylie Jo Schertzing

Masters Projects

Research has revealed that many of today’s students are not reading for pleasure. Although research shows that recreational reading is linked with academic success, educational policies have left reading for pleasure out of focus and instead emphasize a particular type of reading that is assessed on mandated tests. As a result of curriculum reforms, English Language Arts curriculum has been narrowed and left reading for pleasure out of focus. This project explores the history of curriculum reform in the United States as it relates to the teaching of English Language Arts as well as recent research surrounding how recreational reading …

Using A Stakeholder-Engaged, Iterative, And Systematic Approach To Adapting Collaborative Decision Skills Training For Implementation In Va Psychosocial Rehabilitation And Recovery Centers, Emily B. H. Treichler, Robert Mercado, David Oakes, Dimitri Perivoliotis, Yuliana Gallegos‑Rodriguez, Elijah Sosa, Erin Cisneros, William D. Spaulding, Eric Granholm, Gregory A. Light, Borsika Rabin5,6

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Adaptation of interventions is inevitable during translation to new populations or settings. Systematic approach to adaptation can ensure that fidelity to core functions of the intervention are preserved while optimizing implementation feasibility and effectiveness for the local context. In this study, we used an iterative, mixed methods, and stakeholder-engaged process to systematically adapt Collaborative Decision Skills Training for Veterans with psychosis currently participating in VA Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers.

Methods: A modified approach to Intervention Mapping (IM-Adapt) guided the adaptation process. An Adaptation Resource Team of five Veterans, two VA clinicians, and four researchers was formed. …

The Heart And Soul Of Engagement In The Float Pool Team, Kymberly Dexter

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: The assistant nurse manager (ANM) role is considered an entry-level management position and is not intended as a permanent career role. The unintended consequence is that there is a high rate of organizational turnover, making it challenging to build and retain a solid, cohesive, and productive team.

Context: A new manager of a float pool team in a 166-bed community hospital found that with little financial investment, a significant impact is made by holding a safe space for listening to the ANM team and designing education and training around what is most important to frontline managers.

Interventions: A baseline …

Prioritizing Prosocial Behavior For Preschool Children: How Are Parents Affecting Psb Development?, Deborah Zupito

Doctorate in Education

Scholars and Early Childhood Education (ECE) professionals acknowledge the critical nature of prosocial behavior (PSB) skills in the lives of preschool-aged children. Research specifies that children lacking PSBs are socially and academically disadvantaged. Studies have shown that 30% of preschoolers exhibit negative emotional/social behavior, and 80% of preschool educators report negative social behaviors (NSBs) adversely affecting their jobs. It is well-researched that a child's earliest experiences shape social and emotional behaviors, explicitly parenting and the home environment; however, less research exists about parents' knowledge and perception of their role relating to PSB development in their child's life. This qualitative case …

The Pain Of Helping: Crisis Response Teams Experiences With College Student Suicide, Audra E. Dowling

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This qualitative multicase study explores the lived experiences of seven higher education professionals who serve or have served on a crisis response team at the time of a college student suicide. It asks the following research question: How has a college student suicide impacted the individual psychological needs (safety, trust, esteem, intimacy, control) of those serving on a crisis response team? Using constructivist self-development theory (McCann & Pearlman, 1990) as a lens, psychological needs have been analyzed as fulfilled needs or distorted needs across two interviews and three journaling prompts to assess the impact on seven participants in this qualitative …

Pandemic Reflections: Stories Of National Ffa Student Leaders During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Theresa Seibel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt by most every individual in the world, and the effects of the pandemic will have implications for years to come. Even still, it becomes necessary to capture the work and impacts of this life experience of those who lived and led during such a time. The National FFA Organization, with its student leadership, continued to deliver its mission of the organization during the pandemic. This project aimed to develop a digital narrative to contribute to the historical record of FFA officers’ experiences in the National FFA Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The …

Activist, Entrepreneur, Leader: The Influence Of Social Justice Advocacy And Entrepreneurial Orientation On Leader Self-Efficacy, Kathleen Q. Johnson

Dissertations, 2020-current

This quantitative study examined individual entrepreneurial orientation and social justice advocacy as antecedents to leader self-efficacy in the complex and dynamic context of the opioid epidemic. Throughout history, leaders have emerged in response to societal challenges; leadership is not restricted to the boundaries of hierarchical, administrative, bureaucratic organizational frameworks. Complexity leadership theory and its recognition of leadership in complex adaptive systems provides an overarching framing. Five characteristics of individual entrepreneurial orientation were incorporated: risk-taking, innovativeness, perseverance, passion and proactiveness (Santos et al., 2020). Social advocacy activity was measured using the social issues advocacy scale (Nilsson et al., 2011). The dependent …

Identifying Systems Of Support In High Schools For Gender And Sexually Diverse Youth Living In Conservative Communities: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Nuriyah Bender

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Within the first few months of 2022 more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in states across the country (Human Rights Campaign, 2022). Many of these bills, some of which are now laws, discriminate against transgender students or restrict instruction and materials related to LGBTQ+ topics in schools. Gender and Sexually Diverse (GSD) students often do not feel safe in schools (Kosciw et al., 2020). Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study sought to identify the factors that helped GSD students feel the most supported in high schools in order to assist educators with actionable ways they can support students …