Digital Commons Network^™

Physical And Psychological Impacts Of Burn Injuries On The Pediatric Population And Their Families: An Occupational Therapy Perspective, Sadie E. Anderson

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

Background: Due to the curious nature of the pediatric population, burns are a common and leading cause of non-fatal and fatal injuries among children. Following these injuries, the impacts extend beyond the physical impairments that occur and often result in long-term psychological impacts for the child and their families. With a holistic approach to care, occupational therapy is fully equipped to aid in the mitigating of these impacts. Method: Through advanced clinical practice and the development of various questionnaires, occupational therapy interventions were explored and integrated to facilitate functional outcomes and improve mental health care. Results: With the provision of …

Utilization Of Routine And Recommended Preventive Care Among Individuals With Disabilities In Nebraska, Snehal Jadhav

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Healthcare access disparities exist among individuals with and without disabilities (IWD, IWoD). There is a scarcity of studies focused on Nebraskans living with disabilities.

Methods: Access to Care Nebraska surveyed adults (age 19+) in Oct 2020-Mar 2021. We used Andersen’s model of healthcare utilization to group risk factors for non-compliance with routine care and recommended cancer screening. A multivariate log-binomial regression compared the non-compliance between IWD and IWoD to compute adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) for risk factors.

Results: Of the 1101 participants,96(8.7%) were IWD. IWD had a higher proportion of non-compliance to routine preventive care (61.7% vs 54.1%) and …

The Role Of Social Justice Philanthropy In K-12 Public Education: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Michael Stevens

Education Doctoral

This study aimed to understand the perceptions and lived experience of foundation administrators engaged in social justice philanthropy as it relates to funding K-12 public education. The research question that guided this research study was: How do foundation administrators engaged in social justice philanthropy describe their decision-making processes when approached with funding requests from public education stakeholders?

This qualitative research study was a transcendental phenomenology study with a transformative approach to inquiry. This study focused on full-time leaders from charitable foundations or organizations that have actively engaged in social justice philanthropy.

Based on the qualitative interviews conducted with five foundation …

A Comparative Study Between A Faith-Based Psychoeducational Intervention And Psychological Well-Being, Elizabeth Lamberson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in participants’ perceived psychological well-being/distress and perceived faith maturity over time based on participation in Walking Worthy a Journey to Freedom (WWJ). The research was designed as a fully mixed sequential equal status design with the quantitative portion conducted as an ex post facto comparative study followed by a focus group. Participants completed the CORE-OM, the FMS and RPWB at the beginning and the conclusion of the program. Statistically significant negative (suggests improvement) correlations were found for overall well-being (p < .001, d = .381), subjective well-being ( p < .001, d = 0.672), problems/symptoms (p < .001, d = .549), life-functioning (p < .001, d = .506), and risk (p < .001, d = .169). Differences in participants’ perceived overall faith maturity (p < .039, d = .352), perceived view of God (p < .001, d = .620), and perceived view of others (p < .022, d = .593) reflected a statistically significant increases. Differences in perceived overall psychological well-being (p < .001, d = .401), autonomy (p < .003, d = .540), environmental mastery (p < .001, d = .637), personal growth (p < .001, d = .451), positive relations (p < .001, d = .451), purpose in life (p < .003, d = .415), and self-acceptance (p < .001, d = .642), showed statistically significant mean increases. Through the focus group, participants contrasted negative themes including perfectionism, shame, living in lies, and codependency with positive themes of living in truth, freedom, making sense of life, and facilitating change. Spiritual themes included improved relationships, seeing others through God’s eyes, experiencing God’s love, and seeing self through God’s eyes. The mental health and spiritual constructs and themes explored through this study revealed movement away from pathology and toward wellness over the time spent in Walking Worthy. These findings provide mental health and faith-based practitioners a research base from which to evaluate the use of the program in practice.

Enhancing Communication Pathways Between Care Environments To Improve Patient Outcomes, Heather Tucker

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Conducting hand-off communication among healthcare providers can impact patient outcomes. Lack of communication between healthcare entities at the time of care transition can produce patient harm and lead to adverse events such as medication errors, hospital readmission, and unnecessary emergency department visits. The project goal was to evaluate the impact of communication between acute care and primary practice nurses using a standardized, electronic communication tool within the EHR upon patient discharge from a community-hospital based setting. During implementation, forty-two patients were included in the project based on primary practice follow-up location. Of the 42 eligible patients, the acute care nurses …

Recognizing Barriers In The Elderly Population And Increasing Access To Case Management Services, Loveleena Alex

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Implementing case management can lead to fewer hospitalizations in the elderly population. Barriers influencing the number of hospitalizations include low socioeconomic status, transportation needs, health literacy, financial strain, multiple comorbidities, underserved populations, medication availability, availability of community resources, and access to primary care. A review of the available literature revealed that by addressing these barriers in a primary care setting and implementing case management, the number of hospitalizations can be decreased and the quality of life in the elderly population can be improved. This quality improvement project implemented a screening and referral process for chronic care management in the …

Victims Of Crime: System Navigation, Ashley R. Chesney

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Santa Cruz County’s Shared Safety Workgroup, a collaborative chapter of United Way Santa Cruz, is working to better meet the needs of survivors and victims of crime. Due to the complexity of their trauma and the systems they navigate many survivors of crime are experiencing re-victimization. UWSCC attempted to create a comprehensive system mapping process for Santa Cruz County’s survivor-serving system with the assistance of community agencies. The expected outcome of the system mapping project is to create the first-ever system mapping tech platform that uniquely autogenerates services for survivors of crime while eliminating specific barriers based on their individual …

Family Day, Laura Bonilla

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Jóvenes Sanos of United Way Santa Cruz County is a youth-led program that works towards empowering youth voices in raising awareness regarding mental wellness. Communities have seen an increase in mental illness, therefore it is important to continue working on raising awareness within our communities. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness 1 in 6 adolescents in the United Stated between the ages 12-17 have experienced a major depressive episode. Jóvenes Sanos in conjunction with their affiliate Luna y Sol program conducted a Family Day Event to increase parent engagement, promoting healthy time between families and bringing other community …

Evaluating Community Based Trauma Among Behavioral Health Workers, Leslie M. Santillan Pina

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Due to the national lack of service providers, current providers are experiencing high levels of stress/trauma because of workload, expectations, and the emotional toll these essential jobs have. Monterey County Behavioral Health Bureau is a public government agency that provides mental health services to the community. The purpose of this capstone is to allow clinicians to express the factors that contribute to the stressors of their jobs in hopes of creating change that will alleviate the trauma they experience. This project had three focus group interviews and one key informant interview that gave expected results based on the contributing factors …

Help For The Community At The Marina Library, Frank Garcia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Homelessness is a product of a complicated interaction between social and structural forces, and it is currently one of the most important problems that our society must address. This report analyzes the links between the Marina Branch library, the patrons who are homeless, and the local community agencies that provide support for them. 56 people took part in a structured survey that was carried out earlier. According to the findings of the investigation, there is a significant relationship between the library and its patrons who are homeless. This is due to the fact that the services available from the local …

Teen Youth And The Need For Secure Housing, Demetrius Mikell

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Epicenter provides services to at-risk and service involved youth ages 16-24 in Monterey County to ensure they are able to flourish. In the United States many youth are impacted by insecurity and homelessness, and that is the case in Monterey County with thousands of youth experience homelessness each year. While The Epicenter provides supportive services to young people with housing needs, there is limited information available regarding young people’s housing trajectories and needs. For this project I aimed to learn more about the housing needs and experiences of the clients of the Epicenter. I found that many of the …

Attitudes And Compassion Of Student Counselors-In-Training Toward Individuals Who Are Homeless, Kristine R. Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

With the increased numbers of homeless individuals over the past several years, it is important to consider factors that contribute to chronic homelessness, including barriers to service delivery that impede one’s ability to exit homelessness. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the attitudes and compassion among student counselors-in-training (SCITs) toward individuals experiencing homelessness as these students represent future mental health providers who will be serving the homeless, a highly marginalized population. A total of 162 graduate students from two southwestern Hispanic-serving institutions were recruited for the study. A correlational analysis, independent t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs were conducted …

Disaster Risk Perception, Climate Change Awareness, And Disaster Preparedness Among University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley Students, Anandita Roy

Theses and Dissertations

University students are usually young and have low-income resources, live in dormitories or low-rent housing near the university, and have little to no disaster experience. Therefore, they are vulnerable to disasters due to a lack of resources for preparation. To better understand the vulnerability of students to disasters, the study aims to assess the perceptions of disaster risk, climate change awareness, and the level of disaster preparedness of students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). In this study, we collected data from 320 students who participated in an online survey. The study’s findings provide an understanding of …

Cultural Lag Does Not Exist: An Exposition And Critical Evaluation Of W.F. Ogburn’S Hypothesis, Heather L. Osborne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a century of scholarly critique, William Fielding Ogburn’s cultural lag hypothesis (CLH) endures. The inclusion of Ogburn’s hypothesis in introductory sociology textbooks, reference books, and histories of technology lends an unwarranted authority to its scientific credibility. I critically assess Ogburn’s CLH and find that it is neither scientifically nor theoretically sound. Specifically, I discover presumptions of cultural integration and normative progressivism, the fallacy of ambiguity, problems of causal explanation, operationalization, and selective bias, which renders the CLH unmeasurable, unfalsifiable, and non-replicable. Finally, I briefly discuss the implications and make suggestions for future research.

Spinning A Yarn: Exploring Social Work And Artistry, Cal F. Erasmus Tronson

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Occupational Transition Of Leaving A Cult, Justine Thompson, Baylee R. Chelossi, Emily Osborn, Christian J. Quitoriano

Occupational Therapy | MSOT Capstone Projects

The emergence of cult groups has introduced a new population for occupational therapists to understand and support through the unique challenges they face after transitioning out of these organizations. While research within the field of psychology is robust, little is known about the occupational transition of individuals who leave cults and how occupational therapists can provide occupational science based intervention. In this study, the frameworks of Doing, Being, Becoming (Wilcock, 2002), and Belonging (Hitch et al., 2014b) were utilized to guide theme development and enrich interpretation of 11 hand-searched first-hand accounts. First-hand accounts were analyzed from multimedia sources such as …

Beyond The Page: Multimodal Lab-Based Research And Development In Creative Writing, Matthew Jacob Gordon

Theses

This collection acts as the supporting evidence of the hypothesis that, while acting as Graduate Director of SIU’s Digital Xpressions Lab, Matthew Gordon was able to successfully provide effective support for the digital expression of collaborator’s and client's domains of knowledge while forming innovative research partnerships with academics within the SIU system and beyond. A unique form for a MFA in Creative Writing’s thesis, this collection represents the multimodal creative work a contemporary narrative designer can undertake in a single academic year when given the ability to lead a facility like Southern Illinois University’s Digital Xpressions Lab. Qualitative evidence in …

Success Over Stress Support Group, Sophia Pescador-Torrance

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Harden Wellness Center is located in Salinas, California on the campus of Harden Middle School. After surveying and interviewing eighth-grade students at Harden Middle School, it was determined that there was a need to provide healthy coping skills for stress and anxiety. The project provided students a place to learn healthy coping skills along with normalizing mental health services among adolescents. In order to engage students and keep them interested each week, focus on a new skill with an activity attached to reinforce the coping skill. By the end of the six weeks, the group started to talk about …

The Increase Of Suicide Risks Amongst Individuals With Mental Health Disorders During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Joanna Flores

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic brought on many challenges, one of them being the increase of suicidal ideation among individuals with a mental health diagnosis. This study seeks to determine the key factors that increased suicidal ideation by interviewing clients from a mental health agency. This is an important topic since suicide rates have been steadily increasing throughout the last 19 years. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews virtually with mental health clinicians at the study site. The themes found in this study were fear of COVID, isolation, anxiety, and depression. A subtheme found in this study was social isolation. Understanding the key …

Parent-Child Attachment When Parenting A Child With A Disability, Giulianna Zocchetti

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parent-child attachment is a commonly researched topic, but parent-child attachment when a child has a disability has received limited attention in the literature. This study seeks to examine the impact of parenting a child with a disability on parent-child attachment. This study was conducted on a Facebook forum that posts about parenting with children who have developmental disabilities.

This research study used a variety of methods and procedures. First, this study was conducted using quantitative methods. The research used a self-administered survey on the platform SurveyMonkey. The study used snowball sampling to recruit participants. To analyze the data, descriptive and …

Incarceration Effects On Children And Families, Sharon Rose

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Children of incarcerated parents have been found to experience long-term trauma as an effect of parental incarceration. There is little information regarding resources and programs available to these children to mitigate these issues. This study aims to identify recurring themes experienced by children and families separated by incarceration which cause negative long-term issues. The study will identify these overlaps and identify plans that can be implemented by social service agencies to alleviate and diminish the rates at which children are affected by incarceration. The researcher will conduct individual interviews with participants to complete an exploratory cross-sectional study. Data gathered from …

Support For Social Workers Treating Adolescent Substance Abusers, Monica Delucia, Kethura Solano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examines the barriers social workers experience when working with adolescent substance users. Research has not fully explored if intervention techniques are effective or suggest other approaches that may support substance use disorder professionals including supervisor support, training, and intervention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if social workers who provide interventions to adolescent substance users have the adequate resources to be successful in their field. The literature review provides a better understanding of the common themes social workers experience when working with adolescent substance users.

This study used a qualitative design and interviewed 8 professional social …

Chronic Sorrow And The Impact On Parents Of Children With Disabilities, Rhianna Mayra Nordlund

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: Chronic sorrow was assumed to be a common feeling experienced by parents of children with disabilities, and if not supported properly it would impede a parent’s ability to support their child through the treatment of a disability and other life stressors that come with a lifetime diagnosis. This research looked to see how family type, the child’s diagnosis, feelings of support expressed by the parent, societal stigma about disability, and coping abilities impacted the parents’ experiences of chronic sorrow and who is was most at risk of chronic sorrow.

Methods: Through a positivist research design, the researcher addressed the …

Minoritized Groups And Social Integration And Recovery Capital Development In Mutual Aid Fellowships, Kaelyn Doyle, Benjamin Wahl

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the level of engagement in recovery oriented mutual aid self-help groups one has, and the development of Recovery Capital (RC), an important variable in the recovery process from substance use disorders (SUDs). This study further assessed the correlation between self-help engagement and RC development for persons from minoritized groups. Results of this study can help social workers understand the efficacy of referrals to free, community-based mutual aid recovery programs for individuals from different demographic backgrounds, particularly those from minoritized groups, who often face barriers to treatment. A survey of …

Understanding Ethical Dilemmas In Social Work Practice, Arielle Arambula

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study will address how social workers understand ethical dilemmas in everyday practice. Much of the current literature on ethical dilemmas is centered on the NASW Code of Ethics and decision making models and guides. The purpose of this study is to uncover the actual decision making methods that social workers use. This study will be carried out through one-on-one semi-structured interviews with social workers. Data will be analyzed through thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings from this research can shed light on inadequacies regarding education and training, which in turn can help shape stronger social work curriculum.

Alternative Approaches To Police Interventions When Responding To Mental Health Crises Incidents, Karen Rivera Apolinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored mental health workers perspectives on alternative approaches in responding to mental health crises.

The study was carried out in Southern California, in collaboration with mental health workers who currently work or previously have worked in mental health crisis. It adopted a post-positivists paradigm and data was gathered through individual interviews with mental health workers who have direct experience with mental health crisis response in the community and with the police. The twenty participants in the study were men and women working in the mental health field, and of various backgrounds, licensures, and ages.

The study found …

Increasing Teacher Awareness Of Mental Health In Children, Sarah Alexis Cortes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mental health issues in school-aged children have become a larger issue especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Because children spend a large amount of time in a school setting, it is important to utilize teachers to assist in preventing, recognizing, and supporting mental health issues in their students. This can be difficult however, when many states throughout the United States of America, have little to no requirements for mental health training in both their credential programs and their school districts. This can leave teachers feeling less comfortable and lack an understanding of how to prevent, recognize, and support, student mental health …

How Has The Covid-19 Pandemic Impacted Clients Of The Early Development Center, Daniella Loera

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research project explored the impact of factors that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and families and children in the early development center, resulting in a decrease of child attendance. This research sought to analyze the impacts in one community to prepare for future national emergencies across different communities. The study was conducted with clients of a non-profit organization that offers services through their early development center for ages six weeks to five years old. Data was obtained through survey responses from participants to analyze their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses were analyzed through statistical analysis using SPSS. The …

Former Foster Youth And The Utilization Of Mental Health Services In Postsecondary Education, Jacqueline Viadas, Liliana Lua

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The current research indicates that former foster youth entering post-secondary education do not have the same outcomes as the general population when it comes to the completion of educational goals (AA degree, Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree). This research study used an exploratory design which focused on finding the role that utilization of mental health services and treatments play on academic outcomes for this population. Through qualitative interviews, respondents served as experts in this area and they provided their unique experience regarding this topic. The goal of this study was to reduce uncertainty in the literature, identify past barriers, limitations, …

Assessing Rural Northern California Foster Parent Recruitment Strategies, Ava M. Hagwood

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This research proposal aims to better understand the effectiveness of current recruitment of Resource Family Approved (RFA) foster parents in a rural Northern California region. Approximately half of the foster youth at the selected research site were placed out of county due to a lack of available in-county privatized foster homes or RFA foster homes. By assessing the effectiveness of current recruitment rates, researchers identified effective future recruitment efforts. This understanding can lead to an increase in local foster homes and aid increased Family Reunification efforts.

Methods: The study partnered with a rural Northern California Resource Family Approval (RFA) …