Digital Commons Network^™

Theory Of Planned Behavior And Suicide Screening In Family Medicine, Jennifer Villa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

General medical healthcare settings, particularly primary care and family medicine practices, serve as critical access points for addressing mental health concerns. This is especially true in rural communities, where specialized behavioral health services are often limited or unavailable. Given the elevated suicide risk in these settings and the shortage of mental health professionals, primary care providers are well-positioned to identify patients at risk through suicide screening. However, research shows that many established providers do not routinely screen for suicide, representing a missed opportunity for prevention, and little is known about resident attitudes towards suicide screening and prevention. Guided by the …

Race Into The Future: Counselor Educators' Experiences Training With An Antiracist Pedagogy, Darita Rose Grays

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the role of counselor educators in incorporating an antiracist pedagogy to prepare counselors-in-training to work as culturally competent counselors with all clients, with emphasis on marginalized groups. The research examines the lived experiences of counselor educators, focusing on how their personal and professional journeys influence their approach to integrating antiracist teaching strategies in counselor education programs. It highlights the critical need to address and acknowledge racism within counselor training while emphasizing the importance of developing an antiracist identity among both educators and trainees. The study further explores the potential of antiracist pedagogy in fostering a more inclusive, …

Implementing Information Literacy Practices In Curriculum, Ongelle Schroeder

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This literature review explores the value of integrating information literacy instruction into existing curricula, with a focus on collaboration between faculty and librarians. As students face an overwhelming volume of information, equipping them with the skills to navigate, evaluate, and use sources effectively is increasingly essential—especially in course that require source-based writing, research, and critical analysis. The review highlights key approaches and resources to support educators in embedding information literacy into instruction. While this literature review was written for the contexts of ENG 101 and COMM 100/102, its themes are applicable to a wide range of teaching contexts.

Large-Vessel Occlusion Stroke Knowledge And Training For Stroke Severity Assessment Among Emergency Medical Services Personnel In The United States, Kaiz S Asif, Robin Novakovic, Thanh N Nguyen, Santiago Ortega-Gutierrez, Youngran Kim, Amanda Jagolino-Cole, Sushanth Aroor, Alicia Castonguay, Prateek Kumar, Ashutosh P Jhadav, Dileep Yavagal, May Nour, Gabor Toth, Maxim Mokin, Sunil A Sheth, Mouhammad A Jumaa, Alhamza Al-Bayati, Mohamed Teleb, Ossama Y Mansour, Shashvat M Desai, Joshua Hartman, David S Liebeskind, Ameer E Hassan, Brijesh P Mehta, Svin Education And Speed Committees

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Prehospital identification of large-vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke facilitates the development of a regional triage protocol that could lead to an improvement in intrahospital and interhospital workflows. This requires stroke education of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel to improve stroke recognition, severity assessment, and prenotification. However, the current state of EMS personnel's knowledge of LVO stroke, their training for stroke severity assessment, and their preferences for educational methods are unknown. We conducted a nationwide EMS survey across the United States to glean insights that can inform and customize future EMS educational efforts.

Methods: The Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology, …

How Identities Shape Belonging In Occupational Therapy Education: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Student Belonging, Quinn P. Tyminski, Rowhea Elmesky

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Belonging is defined in a variety of ways but most often refers to an individual’s feelings of acceptance, inclusion, support, and respect within a certain environment. Belonging is an innate human need and contributes to success in academic and professional settings. Within occupational therapy (OT) education, minimal attention has been paid to the specific concept of belonging with no research focused on long-term qualitative explorations of student belonging for students with historically minoritized identities (HMIs). Thus, the goal of the present study was to better understand how students with multiple HMIs experienced the phenomenon of belonging in OT education. Utilizing …

Vision Rehabilitation In Ot And Ota Curricula: A Survey To Academic Programs, Angela Butler, Beth A. Barstow

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Occupational therapists are trained to evaluate and treat occupational performance problems. Client factors, such as vision, greatly impact an individuals’ ability to participate in meaningful occupations. New accreditation standards do not include language related to vision. Therapists must be prepared to evaluate and treat the increasing prevalence of visual challenges from children with cerebral visual impairment to older adults with age related conditions. This survey explored how vision rehabilitation is covered in accredited occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant programs and the expertise of faculty teaching vision content. A thirteen-question survey was sent to accredited programs. Questions included multiple response, …

Recognizing Opioid Withdrawal: An Educational Intervention To Increase Nurses' Knowledge And Improve Quality Of Patient Care, Keyannah L. Glover

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Opioid abuse, prescription and illicit use, remain a problem in the United States. Recognizing signs and symptoms is important because lack of recognition can lead to misdiagnosis and mismanagement. The target population for this study was nurses in the emergency department. This quality improvement project was developed to provide education to the nurses in the emergency department to recognize opioid withdrawal signs and symptoms. This project evaluated the baseline knowledge of nurses working in the emergency department. The project was implemented over a 3-week time frame. The pre-test was sent out to participants via email to test their baseline knowledge. …

Increasing The Knowledge And Access To Naloxone (Narcan) For High-Risk Populations, Jessica E. Jones

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

This study investigated the knowledge and access to Naloxone (Narcan) in high-risk populations in Robeson County, NC. In order to mitigate the rate of overdose in tribal members who are part of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Indigenous populations have had the highest overdose rate of increase since 2019. In collaboration with CORE Pathways, a quality improvement project was implemented at the Harvest Moon Fall Powwow. Opioid overdose education was provided to voluntary participants, free Naloxone was provided to individuals, along with a created video presentation of Naloxone education. Pre- and post-surveys were utilized to gauge participants' knowledge before …

Homelessness: An Emergency For Many, Casey Almond

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

This DNP project implemented nursing staff education on the importance of recognizing homeless individuals early during the initial triage process within the emergency department. Nursing staff were educated on community resources available for homeless individuals. This DNP project helped to promote the collaboration of care by nursing staff with the case management team to help provide resources, which can result in a safer and more effective discharge of homeless patients within the emergency department. Participation consisted of 125 nursing staff who reviewed the online training module and attended one of the 15-minute in-person poster educational sessions. About 53 nursing staff …

Breastfeeding Education In Peripartum Women, Kristen Chassner

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Breastfeeding is nature’s medicine. Though it is considered a natural experience between a mother and a child, it does not always come easy. Education is imperative for peripartum women to learn more about breastfeeding in general, its benefits to the mother and the child, identifying improper latching, and resources to seek help. The purpose of this project was to provide introductory breastfeeding education to peripartum women at a government-funded public health facility in Cleveland County, North Carolina, to increase breastfeeding knowledge, self-efficacy, and the intention to breastfeed for the baby’s first 6-months of life in 100% of the participants. Though …

A Quality Initiative To Reinforce Nursing Staff Education On Fall Prevention Interventions To Enhance Patient Safety And Outcomes On A Medical-Surgical Unit, Jolena Senesombath

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background:

Patients are at an increased risk for falls on a medical-surgical unit due to a variety of factors such as increased age, medications, altered mobility, and more. Several fall prevention interventions are used to prevent falls, including use of call bells, bed and chair alarms, maintain a clutter free environment, using a fall risk assessment upon admission, and providing patient and staff education. Reinforcing education for nursing staff has been shown to be one of the most effective interventions in preventing and reducing the number of falls as it increases awareness of falls.

Local Problem:

Within the microsystem, patient …

Improving Intensive Care Unit Nurses' Knowledge And Confidence In Performing Effective Spontaneous Awakening Trials: A Quality Improvement Project, Sophia T. Merry-Carreiro

Master's Theses and Capstones

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Mechanically ventilated ICU patents often require sedation for comfort and ventilator compliance. However, oversedation is linked to negative outcomes such as delirium, prolonged ventilation, and increased duration of ICU stay. Current best practices now support the use of daily sedation interruptions such as Spontaneous Awakening Trials (SATs). Despite these recommendations, implementation of SATs remain inconsistent and suboptimal.

LOCAL PROBLEM:

Within the ICU in a northern new England hospital, there was a need to improve nurse confidence and knowledge in SATs practices through staff education.

METHODS:

Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model, a quality improvement project was developed to improve …

Hpv Self-Sampling Promotion Among African American (Aa) And Sub-Saharan African (Sai) Immigrant Women: Adaptation And Usability Testing, Adebola Adegboyega, Gia Mudd-Martin, Nancy Schoenberg, Mark Dignan

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) rates have declined nationally but rates remain high in Black women with most cases occurring among unscreened and under-screened women. This paper describes the adaptation, acceptability, and useability of an education intervention, “Health is Wealth: A Cervical Health Intervention”, to promote cervical screening and reduce perceived barriers to CC screening among two subgroups of Black women: African American (AA) and sub-Saharan African immigrant (SAI) women.

Methods: In this paper, we describe the process of adapting the Health is Wealth intervention using the Barrera and Castro adaptation framework. The iterative adaptation process included formative focus groups (n …

The Inadequacy Of Perpetuating Vestiges Of Segregation In K-12 Curriculum: The Justiciability Of Reviewing Duties To Adequacy In Florida's Education Clause, Soumya Sreerama

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Although the Supreme Court declared segregation the most abusive affront to education and ruled to eliminate vestiges of segregation “root and branch,” those same roots have grown unchecked to remain prominent today. One of the undercurrents of state-sponsored discrimination that has escaped desegregation remedies is the skewed, whitewashed curriculum that permeated K-12 classrooms in Jim Crow America. More troubling, is that those vestiges of an inadequately biased curriculum are still slithering in students’ courses today. Although student movements and education reformists have attempted to counter skewed curricula by supplementing them with separate ethnic studies courses, states like Florida recently passed …

Multifactorial Fall Interventions For People Over 65 Years In The Acute Hospital Setting: Pre–Post-Test Design, Allison Wallis, Christina Aggar, Deb Massey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Falls are the most reported patient safety incident for patients >65 years in acute hospital settings worldwide. While multifactorial fall interventions reduce the number of falls in subacute and rehabilitation settings, fall interventions in acute hospital settings are unknown. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of multifactorial fall interventions on the number of falls using codesigned education targeting staff and the patient and review the environment in acute hospital settings in NSW, Australia for patients over 65 years of age. Method: A pre–post-test design with a non-equivalent group was conducted. All acute hospital inpatient falls occurring both pre- and post-intervention …

Analysing The Behaviour Change Techniques In An Effective Food Literacy Program To Inform Future Program Design, Lucy M. Butcher, Caylah Batt, Sophie Royce, Eamon Barron, Roslyn Giglia, Andrea Begley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: Food literacy programs aim to improve food related skills and knowledge and are selected Governments as a strategy to address dietary intakes at a community level. The purpose of this research is to identify behaviour change techniques in a food literacy program, which were assessed by the achievement of participant goals related to food literacy and dietary behaviour changes. Methods: Consensus methods were applied to map behaviour change techniques to an adult food literacy program. A second phase investigation applied content analysis of participant process evaluation data (collected between 2016 and June 2021) to align target behaviours and behaviour …

The Teaching Principles Influenced By Taoist Thought, Cerina Wang

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores the integration of Taoist thought into teaching principles to enhance student well-being in the classroom. The study is driven by two primary research questions: What are my teaching principles? and How have Taoist thoughts influenced these principles? Grounded in the Tao Te Ching, this research examines how Taoist philosophy can inform and shape effective educational practices that prioritize emotional balance, self-awareness, and natural growth. The literature review connects Taoist thought with modern educational theories, highlighting its relevance to fostering resilience, intrinsic motivation, and holistic development in students. Using an autoethnographic research methodology, this study draws upon personal …

Performance Health For Saxophonists: Saxophonists Perspectives And Experiences With Playing-Related Health, Wellbeing, Injuries And Education (Cohort Study), Nicola Demandolx, Joanna Nicholas, Luke Hopper, Matt Styles

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Saxophonists experience a high rate of performance-related injuries and wellbeing concerns, with limited research on player perspectives and lived experience to inform preventive or interventional methods. To address this gap, a cohort study was conducted with 14 saxophonists from around Australia, to gather perspectives and experiences on playing-related pain, injury, health, and wellbeing. A baseline survey and semi-structured interviews were used to gather a range of qualitative and quantitative data to provide a holistic overview of the cohort and their lived experience. Results indicated that the lifetime prevalence of a performance-related musculoskeletal disorder (PRMD) for saxophonists in this cohort was …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of A Serious Game To Deliver Health Education About Invasive Meningococcal Disease: Clustered Randomized Controlled Equivalence Trial, Lauren Bloomfield, Julie Boston, Martin Masek, Lesley Andrew, Donna Barwood, Amanda Devine

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a serious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease that can be life-threatening. Teaching adolescents about the early detection and prevention of IMD can be challenging in a school environment, with educators reporting they lack confidence or expertise to cover this in the classroom environment. Professional guest educators are an alternative to cover specialist topics such as IMD; however, time and resourcing constraints can mean that these educators are not always available. Serious games may be an alternative to face-to-face education, where complex health information may be delivered via self-directed gameplay. Objective: This study aims to develop a …

A Difference-In-Differences Investigation Of The Impact Of State-Mandated Campus Carry Laws In Texas On Violent Campus Crime Rates, Ryan Matthew Gibson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential impact of state-mandated campus carry laws on sexual misconduct and other violent crime statistics at public, four-year institutions. The study focuses on the state-mandated campus carry law put into effect in Texas starting in 2016 to analyze whether or not it had an impact on campus crime rates. Findings of the study showed that reported campus crime increased at Texas institutions post-2016 at a larger rate than the states that explicitly ban campus carry. Due to a lack of data on the number of individuals carrying guns on campuses in …

Large‐Vessel Occlusion Stroke Knowledge And Training For Stroke Severity Assessment Among Emergency Medical Services Personnel In The United States, Kaiz S. Asif, Robin Novakovic, Thanh N. Nguyen, Santiago Ortega‐Gutierrez, Youngran Kim, Amanda Jagolino‐Cole, Sushanth Aroor, Alicia Castonguay, Prateek Kumar, Ameer E. Hassan

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Prehospital identification of large‐vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke facilitates the development of a regional triage protocol that could lead to an improvement in intrahospital and interhospital workflows. This requires stroke education of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel to improve stroke recognition, severity assessment, and prenotification. However, the current state of EMS personnel's knowledge of LVO stroke, their training for stroke severity assessment, and their preferences for educational methods are unknown. We conducted a nationwide EMS survey across the United States to glean insights that can inform and customize future EMS educational efforts.

Methods

The Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology, …

College Courts: Administrative Abuse Of Title Ix And Its Consequences, Noah Bloomberg

MC Law Review

This article examines the contentious application of Title IX in addressing campus sexual assault, tracing its evolution through recent presidential administrations. Initially designed to combat sex-based discrimination in education, Title IX has been expansively interpreted to regulate university adjudication of sexual violence cases. Policies introduced during the Obama administration mandated quasi-judicial procedures, sparking debates over fairness and due process, while Trump-era reforms shifted focus toward protecting the rights of accused students, prompting criticism from victims' advocates. The article argues that these approaches have overstepped Title IX's intended purpose, burdening universities and creating systemic challenges for survivors and the accused alike. …

Discriminatory Censorship Laws, Jonathan Feingold, Joshua Weishart

Faculty Scholarship

The summer of 2020 ignited global protests for racial justice. Across the United States, millions marched with a modest plea: that America reckon with its racism. For K-12 schools, this moment pushed local communities and district leaders to create more inclusive classrooms and curricula. Yet before the summer had ended, America's antiracist turn provoked a backlash campaign that has proven far more impactful and enduring.

This campaign has featured the rise and spread of "discriminatory censorship laws"-a term we apply to government action designed to demean inclusionary values and to deny students access to critical knowledge, inquiry, and thinking. As …

The Impact Of An Effective Co-Teaching Model For Elementary Students With Disabilities, Emma Y. Carlson

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Co-teaching has become a widely utilized practice between a general education and a special education teacher to make inclusive education possible for students with disabilities. This thesis examines the characteristics and impacts of an effectively implemented co-teaching approach on the academic achievement of elementary-aged students with disabilities. The literature review examines the history of co-teaching, describes the components of co-teaching and its various models, and discusses the positive impacts and barriers of co-teaching when the approach is implemented with fidelity. Peer-reviewed journal articles, case studies, and textbooks were utilized to accomplish the literature review and apply the synthesized research in …

Escaping The Pedagogical Cabin In The Woods, Tony Kemerly, Davis Ritenour

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The American educational system, because of its seemingly innocuous yet ubiquitous nature, has become, to borrow a term from Roland Barthes, naturalized. By being naturalized, it has become a system that has somehow slipped beneath the radar of the American populace and operates on an autopilot of sorts that allows it to employ practices that don’t necessarily have the best interests of its constituents at heart. Murray Rothbard (1979) argued that compulsory schooling is not guided by altruism, but rather a desire to coerce the population into a mold that is desired by those possessing power in society. This need …

Full Issue: Access To Education, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Understanding Special Education Teachers’ Perspectives On The Least Restrictive Environment: A Collective Case Study, Taylor M. Hunter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this collective case study was to understand how special education teachers interpret and navigate the concept of the least restrictive environment (LRE) standard in providing educational support for students with intellectual disabilities and autism. The guiding theories for this study were behaviorism and social cognitive theory. These theories play a vital role in highlighting teacher efficacy skills and learned behavior, which are directly correlated to decision-making. The central research question for this study was: how do special education teachers interpret and navigate the concept of the LRE in providing educational support for students with intellectual disabilities and …

Leveraging Gamification And Social Media To Teach Heart Failure Clinical Practice Guidelines In Entry-Level Physical Therapist Education, Kaelee Brockway

Journal of Innovation in Health Sciences Education

Introduction: Clinical practice guideline adherence remains a challenge in health care, with reported rates as low as 26%. Research shows multiple barriers to adherence, including limited access and guideline complexity. Integrating guidelines into education is crucial, demanding innovative methods to enhance translation into practice.

Methods: This multiple methods study explored application of the substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition model to integrate social media and gamification activities to engage students in learning action statements of a clinical practice guideline for the management of heart failure. Performance on exam items relevant to the guideline content were used to determine if this …

The Teacher Mental Health Crisis: A Mixed Methods Examination Of The Factors Contributing To Teacher Burnout, Minerva Carrasco

Masters Theses (Archived)

For decades, teachers' mental health and burnout have been an issue nationwide (Sewell, 1971). This has been an even larger struggle in the education field in recent years because turnover is high, the COVID-19 pandemic, and districts are struggling to find ways to retain teachers to stay in their profession. There are things that administrators and teachers can do to guide districts to ensure that teachers are comfortable in their classrooms and their school campus. There are coping strategies that teachers can do to prevent teacher mental health and burnout and there are ways that administrators can support their teachers …

The Promise Of Lived Experience: Assessing Race And Merit After Sffa, Taonga Leslie, Claire Comey

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

70 years after Brown, students of color remain underrepresented in U.S. colleges and universities and in professions like law, medicine, business, and academia, which, in turn, drives inequitable social and economic outcomes. Recent Supreme Court decisions threaten to further exacerbate this inequity by preventing schools from considering race when making admissions decisions and shaping their classes. This article contends that by placing greater emphasis on applicants’ experiences of race, admissions officers can more accurately assess merit, improve services to disadvantaged communities, and achieve the pedagogical benefits of diversity. The article situates the lived experience approach within a well-established tradition permitting …