Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Influencing Efficacy Of Celebrity Endorsement In Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Qabur

ETD Archive

The study investigates factors that influence the efficacy of celebrity endorsement on social media in Saudi Arabia. The study builds upon the findings of research done primarily in East Asia and in the U.S. This research studied how celebrity endorsement via social media influences celebrity followers on brand recognition, purchase decision, support a cause, and overall, celebrity influence. This study’s 911 respondents were selected through the snowball method of sampling. Data was conducted using online survey with Saudi nationals, both in Saudi Arabia and in the United States, on their attitudes towards the credibility of celebrities and their influence. This …

Emotional Responses To Opioid Public Service Announcements; Testing Trait Empathy’S Impact On Message Processing And Attitude Change, Olivia D. Cohen

ETD Archive

Addiction to opioids, including abusing prescription pain killers and using heroin, is on a dramatic rise in the United States. Communities across the country are in the process of adapting new ways of addressing the issue, which have been met with significant opposition from the general public. This study examined the impact an individual’s trait empathy has on whether persuasive public service announcements (PSAs) dealing with opioid addiction will be processed centrally or peripherally. Empathy has evolved, growing from an emotional experience, to a cognitive ability, to a function of both emotional and cognitive elements that can work both independently …

The Evaluation Of Non-Standard Accented English: An Intergroup Perspective On Language Attitudes, Doris Acheme

ETD Archive

The present study used social identity theory as a framework in examining the evaluation of non-standard accented speakers from India and Nigeria and whose first language is English. Social identity theory explains one’s awareness that he/she is a member of a certain social group and that such group membership is of value to the individual. Accordingly, the study investigated how social identity influences listeners’ perceptions of non-standard accented speakers’ status, solidarity, and dynamism. And also, if Standard American English (SAE), Indian and Nigerian accents are perceived differently by listeners. A 3 (SAE, Indian accented English, and Nigerian accented English) ¿ …

A Mixed-Method Examination Of Patient Perceptions Of Ideal Physician Behavior And Overall Quality Of Care, Megan Rouse

Honors Program Theses

The present study examined three dimensions of physician characteristics and behaviors (knowledge, communication, and compassion) to better understand how patients perceive physicians and overall quality of care. This mixed-methods approach utilized both close- and open-ended survey questions to assess participants’ relationship with their physicians. In addition, participants wrote stories to describe best and worst experiences with physicians. Giving participants the opportunity to write stories in their own words allowed for a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of patients’ experiences, physician characteristics, and perceptions of overall quality of care. Results indicated that patients perceive physicians who are good communicators as …

The Effect Of Controlling Messages On Doctor-Patient Communication, Kayla A. Ladez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The doctor-patient relationship is a very important aspect of a patient's health and wellbeing. It is a complex relationship that requires trust and understanding by both parties. Doctor shopping and changes in technology that allow patients to independently learn about their health have further complicated this relationship. This study looks at how participants perceive controlling language depending on the gender of the doctor. Participants were 339 University of Central Florida undergraduate students (112 men and 227 women, age M= 19.29, SD = 3.60) recruited through SONA. Participants first listened to a recording of a male or female doctor speaking to …

A Content Analysis Of Jihadist Magazines: Theoretical Perspectives, Catalina M. Udani

Honors Undergraduate Theses

During its violent spread across the Middle East, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) amassed both a local and international following in large part due to its usage of emergent media distribution. Beginning in 2014, ISIS’s Ministry of Media published an English-language magazine, Dabiq, disseminating its issues through online platforms. Dabiq and its successor Rumiyah both serve as propagandistic recruitment material for ISIS’s international community as well as broadcasting the message of the jihadist movement to ISIS’s enemies. This study analyzed ISIS’s publications using a qualitative content analysis in order to identify jihadist recruitment strategies through the perspectives …

The Harsh Reality: A Feminist Perspective On The Experiences Of Women Coaching Male Athletes, Emilee Shearer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study, using a qualitative approach, examines the impact of patriarchy on females who coach a male-dominated sports team. The purpose of the study is to identify and examine the experiences of females who coach a male-dominated sports team in order to have a better understanding of the impact of the gender binary and patriarchy in the sport field. A qualitative approach was used in this study to gain an understanding of the individual and commonality of the experiences of women coaches. There were five female coaches interviewed; one was a high school basketball coach, two were high school football …

Getting New Test Results To Patients, Sky Graybill, Joseph Kluesner, Mark True, Irene Folaron, Joshua Tate, Jeffrey Colburn, Darrick Beckman, Jana L. Wardian Phd

Journal Articles: Hospital Medicine

New diagnostic results are constantly arriving to outpatient practices. It is imperative to effectively communicate these results and their implications to patients.

METHODS: We surveyed 100 patients and our clinic personnel to assess opinions regarding methods of communication in common scenarios.

RESULTS: Response rate was 79% from patients and 75% from clinic personnel. Most patients thought letters were an appropriate way to receive normal test results (83%). They also felt medical-technician calls were appropriate for normal results (88%), medication dose changes (75%), or need for additional studies (71%). Respondents considered nurse calls acceptable in most scenarios except for new diagnoses …

Mental Health Service Users' Mobile Phone Contact Method: Preference And Medication Adherence, Cordellia Ebedu Bright

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that medication adherence among individuals with mental health problems is problematic. The issue of medication non-adherence among this population is consistent among the different mental health diagnoses. Numerous factors contribute to medication non-adherence: patient issues, service delivery issues, and issues related to the measurement of medication adherence, which lacks a gold standard. This dissertation is a compendium of three manuscripts that represent three distinct but related studies on medication adherence among individuals with mental health challenges. The first manuscript is an integrative review that seeks to assess the validity, reliability, and levels of evidence of existing instruments for …

Going Gaga: Pop Fandom As Online Community Of Practice, John D. N. Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Among various fan sites dedicated to pop stars, GagaDaily is one prominent online collective that centers around Lady Gaga. This study is a piece of ethnographic research focused on two claims – GagaDaily constitutes a Community of Practice (Eckert, 2006) in an online setting, and the regular use of humor by users fulfills social and pragmatic roles in the discourse. Communicative phenomena (both textual and graphic) that characterize the linguistic repertoire of GagaDaily members were catalogued from the first 100 pages of one thread within the forums. These data were grouped into categories corresponding to different dimensions of language use …

The Art Of The Tweet: How To Change Political Rhetoric In 140 Characters Or Less, Alice Byrd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Excerpt from Literature Review

The Internet age has seen a huge shift in the way that candidates communicate their political rhetoric, because there has been a huge shift in how voters consume that rhetoric. Twitter and Facebook are now some of the vehicles by which voters consume political rhetoric. Twitter and Facebook are home to lots of non-political content, but many members of the politically engaged community have flocked to both social networking sites to create politically engaged social networks. The emergence of social media as an important information source within the electorate has fundamentally changed not only the way …

Agricultural Information Needs And Food Access In The Stann Creek District Of Belize, Sam E. Harris, Donna L. Graham

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural information sources available to farmers and to describe food access and availability for the people of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize. This study used descriptive survey research methods with convenience sampling of the general public (n=22) and of farmers (n = 38) in the summer of 2017. Farmers use a variety of agricultural information sources with the extension service cited most often, followed by friends and fellow farmers. Weather, lack of information, pests, and inadequate access to capital were of primary concern for farmers. Face-to-face meetings were used most often by extension …

Self-Disclosure, Gender, And Patient Satisfaction In The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Khadiza Tul Jannat

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

It has been well established that the doctor-patient relationship is integral for providing quality health care and sustaining patient satisfaction. Additionally, research has indicated that doctors' self-disclosure is considered as an essential interpersonal component of relational development. In terms of the doctor-patient interaction, previous research has produced numerous studies investigating the relationship between doctors' communication behaviors and patient satisfaction. Scholars have also explored how communication styles are associated with doctors' gender, and patient satisfaction. However, there is still a gap in the existing research concerning the connections between doctors' self-disclosure, gender, and patient satisfaction in doctor-patient interactions. My qualitative study …

Budweiser In The 2017 Super Bowl: Dialectic Values Advocacy And The Rhetorical Stakeholder, Benjamin P. Windholz

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Organizational-public relations discourse is changing given the advent of social media, and corporate statements are evaluated under different criteria in the digital age. Grounding Budweiser’s response to controversy over their 2017 Super Bowl advertisement in terms of consumer expectations for corporate social responsibility provides a new perspective for approaching Bostdorff and Vibbert’s (1994) conceptualization of values advocacy. This study recognizes the power of the rhetorical stakeholder, a discursively created public, and demands re-evaluation of the values common to society from a co-creational OPR perspective. Conceptualizing dialectic values advocacy outlines the changing values among contemporary, common stakeholders as well as the …

Effects Of Gesture On Recollection And Description Of Auditory And Visual Stimuli, Mary Kate Richards

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study examined whether gesture impacts recollection of auditory and visual stimuli. In two experiments, adults were presented with visual images or auditory recordings describing dynamic scenes. After participating in a distraction task, the adults were asked to recall the stimuli they saw or heard in the scenes. In the first experiment, half of the participants were able to gesture naturally when recalling; the others were prohibited from gesturing. Because of the first study’s results, a second study was designed to test how gesture is impacted in different conversational types. In the second study, all participants were able to gesture …

Environmental Organizations’ Litigation Communication In The Polarized U.S. Political Landscape, Rachel Anderle

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study analyzes environmental litigation communication in an increasingly polarized political context. Specifically, this project analyzes environmental organizations’ communication strategies and messages related to their litigation efforts in order to better understand how environmental nonprofits frame environmental litigation within the current U. S. political landscape. Multiple data sources (e.g., website content, tweets, and interviews) triangulate the study by providing varying strategic perspectives on organizations’ environmental litigation communication efforts. Results show that nonprofit organizations like the National Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club use a variety of frames that portray litigation as a righteous action used to hold those in power …

Effects Of Parent-Implemented Interventions On Outcomes Of Children With Developmental Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis., Tina Dyches, Timothy B. Smith, Barbara Mandleco, Byran Korth

Faculty Publications

Background: A large body of literature exists related to parent-implemented interventions for children with disabilities, so it is helpful to synthesize the results of outcome-based interventions for children with developmental disabilities. Specifically, what are the effects of parent-implemented interventions intended to improve children’s (1) social behaviors, (2) life skills/adaptive behavior, and (3) communication skills?

Method: Using meta-analytic aggregation of effect sizes across 30 studies with a total of 1,356 participants, this review examined the association between parent-implemented interventions and intended outcomes of young children with developmental disabilities.

Results: Across all 30 studies comparing children’s outcomes to control groups, the random …

Effects Of Parent-Implemented Interventions On Outcomes For Children With Developmental Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis, Tina Taylor, Timothy B. Smith, Byran B. Korth, Barbara Mandleco

Faculty Publications

A large body of literature exists related to parent-implemented interventions for children with disabilities, so it is helpful to synthesize the results of outcome-based interventions for children with developmental disabilities. Specifically, what are the effects of parent-implemented interventions intended to improve children’s (1) social behaviors, (2) life skills/adaptive behavior, and (3) communication skills? Using meta-analytic aggregation of effect sizes across 30 studies with a total of 1,356 participants, this review examined the association between parent-implemented interventions and intended outcomes for young children with developmental disabilities. Across all 30 studies comparing children’s outcomes to control groups, the random-effects-weighted average effect size …

No “I” In Team: A Sport Communication Ethnography Of Cohesion And Leadership Of A Collegiate Track And Field Team, Dean Stier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based on an ethnographic method of observation and ethnographic interviews, this study examined naturally-occurring nonverbal communication and sport communication of a collegiate track and field team. The researcher conducted twentyfour hours of observations and ethnographic interviews with seven research participants (n=7). These approaches provided insight into communicative characteristics of cohesion and leadership, two main conditions of the groupthink theory. An analysis of the observational field notes and ethnographic interviews mostly supported prior research on cohesion and leadership. However, emergent themes are offered, which provide insight into gender communication, sport communication, and small group communication within this setting. A discussion of …

Influence Of Leader Communication On Employee Motivation, Oke Obi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective communication is a chief contributor to business leaders' ineffective leadership. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the communication strategies that 4 business leaders in the retail industry used to improve employee motivation. The business leaders, including owners and senior leadership from 3 organizations in the retail industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, were purposefully selected for study participation. Transformational leadership theory shaped the conceptual framework of this study. Transformational leaders use effective communication to influence employee motivation positively. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with the business leaders, public reports, organization documents, and text message …

Staff Education For Registered Nurses Using The Teach-Back Method, Mary Elizabeth Sizer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop an educational training curriculum designed for staff nurses to use the teach-back method with patients with low health literacy during discharge instructions. Health literacy is associated with the ability to read, comprehend, and make appropriate healthcare decisions; the teach-back method asks patients to restate or explain health information in their own words, aiding retention and literacy. Effective staff education plays a critical role in the education of patients during discharge teaching: Nurses must help to ensure that patients and their families understand healthcare information and apply this information in their …

Leadership Styles Manufacturing Business Managers Use To Reduce Workplace Injuries, Joe Sparks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cost of workplace injuries is a major concern for business managers. Business managers in the production, transportation, and material moving industries experience the highest injury rate with an annual average of 198.5 lost days away from work. The purpose of this single case study was to explore transformational leadership skills and strategies used by manufacturing business managers to reduce workplace injuries. The conceptual framework for this study was Bass and Burns's transformational leadership theory. Data collection included semistructured interviews to elicit narratives from 3 managers from a metal manufacturing company located in the southeastern United States about the leadership …

Direct Supervisor Influence On Nurse Engagement, Kelly Elaine Tapp

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse engagement is essential for organizational success. If organizations can engage nurses, they may be able to improve organization and patient outcomes. The purpose of the evidence-based practice project was to use current evidence of direct supervisor influence on nurse engagement to create an educational program for clinical leads to use in their interactions with direct reports. The relationship-based care model was used as a framework for the project, and concepts included work engagement, nurse engagement, recognition versus meaningful recognition, professional development, communication, transformational leadership, and authentic leadership. Before and after attending the education program, clinical leads were given a …

Mentoring Novice Teachers, Jessica Floyd, Kendra Lynn, Lisa Mccullough, Chandra Morrow

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this module is to explore key foundation skills necessary for successful mentoring of novice teachers. Participants who utilize this module will learn the four essential components of successful mentoring--building trust, communication and collaboration, meeting the needs of diverse learners through cultural responsiveness, and building ownership, through student data. This module was developed for mentors working with novice teachers, but the essential components addressed can also be applied to veteran teachers as well.

The learning module is intended for use by all educators.

View professional learning module.

Reaching The Unreached: The Role Of Information Communication Technologies On Agency Of Women In India, Suvena Yerneni

CMC Senior Theses

In this paper, I analyze the impact of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on female empowerment in India. In defining female empowerment, I consider the three dimensions of agency: social autonomy, economic autonomy, and mobility. Using nationally-representative data of 2012 from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), I find that these information communication technologies, measured by ownership and use, have positive and significant impacts on female agency and decision-making abilities. I extend my analysis to two types of media: computers and mobile phones. These results persist even after accounting for the effects of education, income, and age of women.

Thanks For The Feedback Taskforce Presentations, Emily Frigo, Susan Ponischil, Jacklyn Rander, Ashley Rosener

Presentations

The Thanks for the Feedback Task Force was empaneled to build a libraries-wide professional development experience including learning circles and workshops for formative colleague feedback and constructive handling of ‘conflict’ using the book Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen as a guiding text for Summer 2018. Three goals were 1. Develop shared vocabulary on receiving (and giving) feedback. 2. Identify strategies and customize scripts for navigating conversations. 3. Create a tool kit on giving and receiving feedback.

Creating Bridges Between Health Care Professionals: Interprofessional Collaboration Between Respiratory Therapy And Speech-Language Pathology And Its Importance For Patient Outcomes, Nafiah Khan

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

In a changing health care industry, it is imperative that different healthcare professionals collaborate to address the state of the patient. Respiratory therapists (RTs) and speech-language pathologists {SLPs) frequently work with the same general patient population in the healthcare setting; however, while RTs typically provide emergency interventions, SLPs work with the patient in the rehabilitative domain. Each profession has a unique understanding of the patient and may encounter an overlap in responsibilities for performing a particular task, including management of tracheostomy tubes and prevention of aspiration pneumonias. This study investigated SLPs' and RTs' perspectives on their interprofessional collaboration. The findings …

Empathy And Campus Sexual Assault (Csa) Communication: Protecting The Wellbeing And Social Equity Of College Women, Kathleen Romero

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A review of empathy and campus sexual assault communication has implications for technical communication research. Campus sexual assault is a social problem, and consequently college campuses are legally required to publish and disseminate sexual assault communication (i.e. policies, procedures, and training) to eliminate the behavior. Empathy is significant to campus sexual assault communication, given not only the emotional nature of the topic, but also the technical information to be communicated effectively and appropriately. Given the dearth of research on empathy and campus sexual assault communication, this expansive review of the literature establishes the need for technical communication research on empathy …

A Word From The Writing Center (January 2018), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• New Year, New Publishing Goals
• Grammar Time
• Writing Cafe

Assessing Students’ Writing And Public Speaking Self-Efficacy In A Composition And Communication Course, T. Kody Frey, Jessalyn I. Vallade

Information Science Faculty Publications

One avenue for assessing learning involves evaluating self-efficacy, as this psychological beliefis a strong predictor of academic achievement. As such, the purpose of this study was to evaluate writing self-efficacy and public speaking self-efficacy in a composition and communication course. This course is structured to develop both writing and public speaking competencies; the research sought to determine whether students believed they were leaving the course feeling more confident in their capabilities within each respective academic domain. Results (N= 380) from pre- and post-test data suggest that students’ reported writing and public speaking self-efficacy significantly increased over the semester. Additionally, students’ …