Digital Commons Network^™

Development, Validity, And Cross-Context Equivalence Of The Child Food Insecurity Experiences Scale For Assessing Food Insecurity Of School-Age Children And Adolescents, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Maryah S. Fram, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Jennifer Bernal, Zeina Jamaluddine, Sharon I. Kirkpatrick, David Hammond, Elisabetta Aurino, Sharon Wolf, Sophie M. Goudet, Mara Nyawo, Chika Hayashi

Faculty Publications

Background: Children ages 6 to 17 years can accurately assess their own food insecurity, whereas parents are inaccurate reporters of their children's experiences of food insecurity. No globally applicable scale to assess the food insecurity of children has been developed and validated.

Objectives: We aimed to develop a globally applicable, experience-based measure of child and adolescent food insecurity and establish the validity and cross-contextual equivalence of the measure.

Methods: The 10-item Child Food Insecurity Experiences Scale (CFIES) was based on items previously validated from questionnaires from the United States, Venezuela, and Lebanon. Cognitive interviews were conducted to check understanding of …

Babe In The Woods: Why The Federal Rules Of Evidence Should Adopt A New Hearsay Exception To Protect Children, Marlee Rowe

Arkansas Law Notes

Child abuse is a public health problem affecting millions of children across the United States. Many states have adopted hearsay exceptions to prevent child victims of abuse from being forced to testify in front of their abusers. However, not all states provide these protections, and the exceptions vary widely from state to state. Because many states draft their rules of evidence to accord with the Federal Rules of Evidence, Congress should enact a hearsay exception on the federal level to promote uniformity and to ensure child victims of abuse are protected from further traumatization, regardless of what state they live …

Augmentative And Alternative Communication Intervention Targets For School-Aged Participants With Asd And Id: A Single-Case Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, J. B. Ganz, James E. Pustejovsky, Joe Reichle, Kimberly J. Vannest, Margaret Foster, Marcus C. Fuller, Lauren M. Pierson, Sanikan Wattanawongwan, Armando J. Bernal, Valeria Yllades

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

This meta-analysis reviews the literature on communication modes, communicative functions, and AAC type examined during interventions with school-age participants with ASD and/or ID who experience CCN. Considering potential differences related to outcomes taught could help identify the most effective means of individualizing AAC interventions. We performed a comprehensive literature search. A multi-level meta-analysis was implemented across 114 included studies with 330 participants and 767 effect size using two case-level effect size metrics, Tau and log response ratio. There were few statistically significant differences found between moderator categories (e.g., communication mode, communicative function, and AAC type implemented). This is likely due, …

Feeling Timeline: A Threshold Ritual To Anchor Expressive Arts Therapy Sessions With Children And Adolescents In Partial Hospitalization Programs, Mackenzie Ward

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Expressive arts therapy provides a useful modality for enhancing the scope of interdisciplinary treatment services for children and adolescents within partial hospitalization programs. The use of threshold rituals within sessions addresses several specific needs of this population, including structure, consistency, self-expression, and trauma-informed practices. The Feeling Timeline method, a threshold ritual developed for the opening and closing of expressive arts therapy sessions, was conducted at a large pediatric hospital within three day treatment psychiatric units. From November 2021 through April 2022, six participants between the ages of nine through sixteen engaged with the Feeling Timeline as a bridge into session, …

Joining The Advocacy Conversation: How Dance/Movement Therapy Can Influence Shared Decision-Making Policy For Children Seeking Grief Support: A Literature Review, Taylor Storlie

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The intention if this capstone thesis is to bring awareness to the current state of children’s grief support services and how dance/movement therapy can be used to address the areas where growth is required. The capacity of dance/movement therapy to facilitate the cocreation of improved grief support services lies in its ability to be used as an advocacy tool for children to process and express their experiences with grief. In collaboration with the shared decision-making model, the information gained from dance/movement therapy exploration can help children communicate their experiences with grief to those who have the power to shift how …

Dance/Movement Therapy Combined With Tai-Chi As A Regulation Strategy For Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: Developing A Method, Brenna Meindersma

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This capstone thesis examines the question of how dance/movement therapy can be combined with tai-chi to support the emotional regulation of children who have experienced trauma. The paper examines a possible method that combines dance/movement therapy with tai-chi, grounded in the theories of Trudi Schoop. It highlights the application of tai-chi as a movement intervention that impacts participants ability to engage in treatment. Through the literature it was found that dance/movement therapy techniques of deep breathing, balance, and slow, rhythmic movements can impact emotional regulation. In combination with dance/movement therapy and tai-chi principles of internal awareness, body alignment, and …

Storytelling And Narrative Therapy Through Art Among Refugee Children: A Literature Review, Haley E. Lansing

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review introduces the importance of art therapy, storytelling, and narrative therapy for refugee children. While familiarizing themselves with a new habitat and way of living, this population battles being a minority, an immigrant, learning a new culture and language, and social-economic difficulties. This literature review brings to light the challenges and difficulties children face within their own trauma and anxiety. The passing on of trauma generationally, historically, culturally, or genetically is common, as is parents’ countertransference. Re-adaptation is essential for children who experience trauma, especially when escaping war. Childhood trauma affects the future adult state of mind. This …

Expressive Arts Therapy And Therapeutic Relationship With A Child With Selective Mutism: Development Of A Method, Sophie Mclaughlin

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Selective mutism (SM) is a rare, yet severe, anxiety disorder that affects primarily children. SM is characterized by a failure to speak in certain social situations (i.e., school), despite being able to speak comfortably in other settings (i.e., home). There is an ongoing effort to understand this diagnosis and best treatments are being debated. The therapeutic relationship is argued to be one of the greatest predictors of positive treatment outcomes, regardless of the diagnosis or treatment method; however, the failure to speak that characterizes SM impacts the development of a therapeutic relationship and that alliance cannot be formed using typical …

Using Narrative Theory As A Process-Oriented Exploration Of Attachment: The Development Of A Method In Art Therapy, Taylor Saunders

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Establishing a sense of psychological and emotional safety and security is essential within the therapeutic workspace for individuals to begin growth toward identified goals. Beginning in early childhood and developing throughout their lifespan, people build expectations of safety and security from their experiences of nurture or lack thereof. These early experiences form internal working models (IWM), which influence how individuals expect interpersonal relationships to develop; these patterns form attachment styles. Understanding someone’s attachment style is a way mental health professionals may better understand a client from a more holistic perspective. While there is much research in identifying and assessing a …

All You Knead Is Love, Donna Madoff

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the development of a method to gain a deeper understanding of the process of making bread’s potential as art therapy. The Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), mindfulness arts-based research, and neurobiological research provide the foundation for understanding the method. Lusebrink and Hinz's schematic framework, the ETC provides a therapeutic model for the applications of media in art therapy. Research posits that the three levels of the ETC, Kinesthetic/Sensory, Perceptual/Affective, and Cognitive/Symbolic reflect different functions and structures in the brain that process visual and affective information (Lusebrink, 2004). In addition, the application of new techniques in brain imaging has …

Healing Stories: Bibliotherapy And Art Therapy As Tools To Support Bereaved Children, A Literature Review, Sarah K. Robinson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

When I was interning at a bereavement center for children as a second-year graduate student, I witnessed the use of children’s books by an art therapist. This made me curious as to whether the joint use of art therapy and bibliotherapy is an effective support for this population. This critical review of the literature explored this idea by first defining art therapy and bibliotherapy, placing them within a historical context, and noting similarities between the two modalities. Recent sources regarding theories and therapeutic approaches for grief and bereavement were gathered and explored to deepen the understanding of how art therapy …

Moderators To The Effects Of Childhood Traumatic Stress On Childhood Physical Health, Shaneze Gayle Smith

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

According to the United States National Statistics on Child Abuse, in 2017 Child Protective Service agencies in the United States received an estimated 4.1 million referrals involving approximately 7.5 million children. A substantial body of research has revealed that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have detrimental long-term effects on physical health and a large number of health conditions. However, little research exists regarding the effects of childhood maltreatment on childhood physical health. Identifying protective factors such as self-esteem can moderate the effects of ACEs, help children thrive, and potentially lower the risk of a variety of conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer, …

Parental Alienation In Family Court: Attacking Expert Testimony, John E.B. Myers, Jean Mercer

Child and Family Law Journal

In child custody litigation, when a parent raises the possibility of child abuse, the accused parent may respond that the parent wo has raised the possibility of abuse is alienating the child in an effort to gain an unfair advantage in court. The parent accused of abuse may offer expert testimony on parental alienation. A voluminous and contentious social science literature exists on parental alienation. Family law attorneys often lack ready access to social science literature. The purpose of this article is to give family law attorneys information from the parental alienation literature that can be used to cross-examine experts …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Resiliency In Adolescent Population, Vanessa Tahe

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common, potentially traumatic events that impact one's health and well-being. These harmful experiences increase the risk of chronic comorbidities, mental health problems, and substance use disorders; this risk exponentially increases in children and adolescents with four or more ACEs. They are associated with socially disadvantaged populations and structural violence in communities. ACEs are categorized into abuse, neglect, and household challenges, which are proven to contribute to the longevity of health, behavioral, social problems, and even premature death through an accretion of studies. A steady rise in ACEs in New Mexico ranked in the top five …

Defining Dyslexia Within And Across Disciplines: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Ann Marie Trumbo

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: In the present study, we conducted a systematic review to investigate the core features of the definition of dyslexia across different disciplines according to their associated professional organizations and published research in order to evaluate the presence and type of inconsistencies within and across disciplines in how dyslexia is defined. Method: Definition statements of dyslexia from professional organizations in medicine, education, speech-language pathology, psychology, and the International Dyslexia Association were collected via scope of practice guidelines or via the organization's official website. Using a database with a wide disciplinary reach, we collected 764 of the most cited articles from …

Understanding The Effects Of Therapeutic Horseback Riding On Functional And Behavioral Outcome In Autistic Children And Adolescents, Leigh-Anne Mccormick

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Equine-assisted services (EAS) have been shown to provide a stimulatory environment that can improve functional motor skills and emotional well-being in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Alone But Resilient: The Plight Of Single Mothers, Jisong Lee, Gabriel Angelo G. Martinez, Mikah Gabrielle C. Francisco, Mohamed Azab Ahmed, Se Young Jung

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

Although single mothers have integrated themselves into society, not much is known about them or their plight. Single mothers often struggle psychologically, physically, and emotionally. They face various challenges in society: discrimination, rejection, and even blackmail from different sectors. As the mothers would be exposed to more challenges and struggles, their children also get involved. They often use spiritual, social support, cognitive, economic, recreational activities and self development as their strategies in coping with their many struggles. The study used a cross-sectional survey created by the researchers. The participants were categorized as single moms, married, separated, or widowed. The study …

I Own My Zone, Emily Halvorson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this literature review is to evaluate a child’s ability to self-regulate in relation to success at school. You will find information in this literature review regarding self-regulation including, the development of self-regulation and neurological components such as sensory processing, emotional regulation, and executive functioning. The teacher’s role in providing students with success in the classroom. Understanding the importance of parental support, the home environment and how that effects student’s success in the classroom. Finally, the integration of home and school and how they can work together to benefit the students. Self-regulation is an important element in a …

Nutrients Associated With Stunting Among Children In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review, Abby Mae Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify specific nutrients or nutritional biomarkers of dietary intake that are associated with stunting among children ages 2 and older in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a systematic review conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Twelve studies from sub-Saharan Africa met the eligibility criteria, including 11 observational studies and one randomized control trial. Nine of the 12 studies assessed dietary intake of macronutrients. Four studies found a significant association between proteins and stunting. Four found that children with stunting had lower dietary fat intakes or lower …

Survival Practices Of Children Involved In Child Labor During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kristine Nicole L. Panaligan, Carmelo John P. Rojo

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic was a lot harder for low-income families, especially children. Families living in poverty are the most vulnerable to urban shocks and calamities Save the Children Philippines explained that Covid-19 pandemic worsens child poverty that resulted to both parents and children going through lengths to survive leading to child labor. The researchers used a qualitative research design and phenomenological methodology to understand and observe the struggles encountered and survival practices of children involved in child labor during the Covid-19 pandemic. Interviews, observations and discussions were conducted to gather the relevant data and informations. The subjects were three …

How To Protect Special Education During Covid-19: From The Courts To The Capitol, Sarah Coleman

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced students around the country out of brick-and-mortar schools and into virtual classrooms. While the switch to remote learning has helped keep students and teachers safe from contracting the virus, students with disabilities have largely been deprived of a meaningful education and in person services mandated under federal law. This essay will explain how students have been denied a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), how litigation has been unsuccessful in creating systemic change for these students, and how public policy by U.S. legislators can offer a solution.

[F]Ree-[Dom] Space: Trauma-Informed Planning And Place Making Within Women And Children's Rehabilitation Centers, Rodolfo Alcaraz-Navarrete

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis researches and understands the struggles of domestic violence survivors and implements design strategies to provide a safe and stable shelter for those affected by domestic violence in Georgia. The design methodology and research will include literature reviews and precedent studies to observe and better understand the challenges that need to be met in order to provide a safe haven for victims of domestic violence to grow and succeed when the time comes to return to the world. The goal is to, through architecture and design, provide an opportunity to engage and bring awareness to the public of the …

Improving The Mental Health Of Immigrant And Refugee Children In Canada, Nazish Nazish, Olga Petrovskaya, Bukola Oladunni Salami

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

The mental health of immigrant and refugee children is a combined product of personal, social, cultural, and economic, pre-, and post-migratory factors. Cultural diversity, institutional receptivity, and social support mediate well-being of immigrant and refugee children in Canada. This presentation will provide a review of recent research and offer recommendations. Purpose: Globally, millions of children migrate across borders. It is predicted that by 2036, the number of immigrant children in Canada will increase. The purpose of this presentation is to report findings of a review of existing recent research on factors affecting immigrant and refugee children's mental health in Canada. …

A Child's Experience Working Through Grief: A Booklet For School Aged Children Navigating Their Grief Journeys, Alyssa Johnson

Senior Honors Projects

The term grief describes the feelings you experience in response to the death of a person in your life, while the term mourning represents the period in which you feel or express signs of grief or sorrow. A child’s grief experience after the death of a significant person in their life is an often overlooked and understudied topic. The importance of being open and honest with children as they navigate their grief journey is at the forefront of this project. Using research regarding how children process, express, and understand grief, I created, “A Person In My Life Has Died, What …

Child Protection Policy Dimensions Across Catholic Archdioceses And Civil Statutes : A Comparative Content Analysis, Jeffrey Trant

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since 2002, the Catholic Church in the United States has enacted a national child protection framework to address child sexual abuse. However, child protection policies within the context of the Catholic Church are currently not well understood. This study was guided by the following questions: (1) How do child protection policy dimensions differ in Catholic archdioceses in the United States? (2) How do child protection policy dimensions differ across and between Catholic archdioceses and civil statutes? The present study utilized a generic qualitative methodology employing comparative content analysis to conduct a policy analysis using publicly available child protection policies from …

Fostering Creativity In Education Including Natural Environments: A Course On Creativity For Children In Colombia, Tatiana Ortiz-Pradilla

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is a contribution to the field of creativity and education. The project aimed to connect the research-based knowledge on how natural environments enhance creativity and put it in the service of creativity education for children. The main objective was to design a prototype of a course outline of a continuing education course on creativity that leverages the knowledge of the connection between creativity and natural environments for children between 7 and 12 years old in Medellín, Colombia, South America.

What Are The Economic Barriers For A More Efficient Adoption Equilibrium? Analyzing The Perceived Challenges Lgbtq+ Persons Face In The Adoption Process, Andrew Schoonover

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

From understanding why adoption matters to drilling down why same sex male couples are not adopting at high rates, more questions are raised than answers found. But all of the complexities and intricacies boil down to one umbrella question: How can the economy shift the equilibrium (i.e., current state of adoption in America) to be more equitable, empowering, and efficient for everyone? Specifically, how can policy choices help increase the demand of gay couples to adopt -- helping to close the gap between gay and lesbian adoption rates? The “lowest hanging fruit” policy remedy for this problem is to alleviate …

Incorporating Trust-Based Relational Intervention In Occupational Therapy To Address Mental Health Needs Of Elementary Students, Maci K. Stouffer

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

Background. The rate of children experiencing mental health issues is increasing exponentially. Many mental health conditions could be successfully treated in childhood, yet they are overlooked, with only half of the diagnosed cases treated and many others undiagnosed. Youth spend much of their day in school. Therefore, their mental health must be addressed within this setting. Purpose. This capstone project aimed to develop and implement a trauma-informed, occupation-based intervention program for elementary students. Equipping students with self-regulation skills, teaching appropriate calming strategies, and providing opportunities to practice the main components of building healthy relationships. The school staff was educated on …

How Prospective Bias Shapes Children’S Responses To Temporal Location Questions, Tige M. Anderson

Student Theses

This study builds on McWilliams (et al., 2019) by analyzing temporal bias among children when making relative temporal judgments using recurring landmarks (e.g., birthday, holidays). Previous research has demonstrated that children display a prospective bias when making these judgments, meaning they tend to date things based on the future occurrence of the landmark (E.g, “it’s ten months until my birthday”) (McWilliams et al., 2019). Adults, by contrast, make relative judgments with landmarks based on the most proximate occurrence of the landmark. In other words, they do not prefer the future or the past (Merriwether et al., under review). Additionally, recent …

Effects Of Noise On Speech Perception In Children Using Cochlear Implants: A Systematic Review, Priya Gupta

Honors Scholar Theses

Deaf children often use cochlear implants in settings where background noise is present. This study was designed to review the literature on speech perception in noise abilities of children with cochlear implants. A systematic search of the database Academic Search Premier was used to identify papers. A total of 13 articles were included in this review from an original 144. Results were found to be consistent with other studies. From this review, multiple factors were found to improve speech perception in noise, including using bilateral implants and increased experience with the implants. However, more studies are needed to determine if …