Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of Antipsychotic Medications In Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease In Nursing Facilities, Michelle M. Dionne-Vahalik

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patients with Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia often require long-term care in nursing facilities (NF) where they may display out-of-character behaviors complicating their care. While antipsychotic medications are sometimes prescribed for NF residents, their use is considered inappropriate for the control of dementia behaviors. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have rated Texas the worst state in the country for the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications for NF residents with dementia. This project was guided by the star model of knowledge transformation with the goal to reduce inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications through NF staff education. The …

Complementary And Alternative Medicine Careers Following A Science Academy For Underrepresented Minority Students, Tolulope Oyelowo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Minority groups experience disproportionately worse health outcomes. An identified solution is to increase the number of minorities providing healthcare in their own communities. Primary care complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers are a potential resource. Many investigators have demonstrated the efficacy of science-based pipeline programs for increasing the roles of students in allopathic health professions. Whether these programs influence matriculation of minorities into a CAM university is unknown. The main purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of a pre-college science academy at a CAM university and determine whether the experience increased interest in and motivation for CAM …

Impact Of Library And Information Science Master's Degree (Mlis) On The Graduates: A Case Study, Asefeh Asemi, Elham Aghajan

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Objective: The study aimed to examine the effect of MLIS degree on graduates in Iran from different dimensions. The study examined the effects of MLIS on scientific progress, the development of subject expertise, employment, individual characteristics, skills and capabilities, and scientific activities of Iran's graduates.

Method: The study was a descriptive-survey and researcher-made questionnaire is used for data collection. The population included all graduates MLIS in Iran that their information was available in, "Iranian Library and Information Studies Alumni Database". 212 persons are selected randomly out of 547. Data has been analyzed by SPSS software on both levels of descriptive …

District Strategic Teaming: Leadership For Systemic And Sustainable Reform, Thomas L. Alsbury, Margaret R. Blanchard, Kristie S. Gutierrez, Chris M. Allred, A. Dell Tolin

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Reform efforts in schools have become increasingly focused on the nature and direction of teamwork in efforts to achieve sustained and systemic districtwide capacity for innovation and needed change. The six-year study reported in this article involved development, implementation, and assessment of a unique collaborative process for districtwide reform in some of the most challenging and fluid educational settings in the United States of America. This reform process, called District Strategic Teaming, involved a representative vertical cross-section of members from the district office to school-based support staff. Participating schools are located in isolated, rural communities in the south-eastern region of …

Differences In The Use And Perceptions Of Evidence-Based Practice Between Occupational Therapy Students And Practitioners, Alison Nichols, Paige Creighton, Annie Derolf, Shelby Hale, Leann Vandeman, Kersten Laughlin, Kelsie Long

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

This study explored differences in perceptions of evidence-based practice (EBP) between occupational therapy (OT) students and practitioners. Researchers aimed to understand student and practitioner perceptions of barriers, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in EBP. Occupational therapy students (n=61) and practitioners (n=21) completed an online researcher-created survey and the Evidence-Based Practice Confidence (EPIC) Scale survey. Results indicated practitioners were more confident in utilizing EBP than students, particularly when identifying a gap in knowledge related to a patient (p = <.001) deciding on a course of action for a client (p = <.001), and assessing the efficacy of EBP on client outcomes (p = <.001). This finding was inconsistent with previous research, which may be due to more practitioners receiving formal education on EBP. It is critical for OT education to support student learning and application of clinical reasoning throughout the EBP process in order to increase confidence. This study was limited by the use of a homogenous population from a single university.

The Demographics Of The Modern American Senate And How It Reflects The Modern American Voter, Caitlin A. O'Kelley, April Johnson

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

As a body intended to accurately represent the people of the United States, the U.S. Senate is not a very diverse group. However, it is the people themselves who vote their representatives into office. In seeking to find what qualities American voters look for in a senator, senatorial longevity is an excellent gauge. Through the analysis of previous studies and literature and the gathering of original data on the senatorial longevity of the 115^th Congress, independent variables such as sex, education, and children can be analyzed to determine the demographic makeup of the successful American senator; thereby also analyzing …

Walking The Tightrope Of Visibility, Leigh Patel

Occasional Paper Series

This essay cautions projects of visibility that are twinned with intersectional analyses. Arguing for a deliberate rupture in schooling’s categorical logics and a historical analysis of the cultural force of individual identity, I caution that the individual identity tendencies of modernity hold some risks for the substantial and long-standing imperatives of intersectional analysis. I ground this argument in Audre Lorde’s work and how it is often sampled insufficiently.

Let's Say A Word About The Girls, Wendi S. Williams

Occasional Paper Series

In this brief essay the author articulates the intersection of race and gender in the representation of Black girls’ educational experiences. The role of Black respectability politics to shape and disable the discourse around Black girls’ educational experiences is discussed. The work draws on varied texts and disciplines to explicate the challenges to naming some of the factors that influence their experiences in schools and society.

Introduction: Reading And Writing The T/Terror Narratives Of Black And Brown Girls And Women: Storying Lived Experiences To Inform And Advance Early Childhood Through Higher Education, Jeannine Staples, Uma M. Jayakumar

Occasional Paper Series

Staples and Jayakumar introduce this issue of the Occasional Paper Series that speaks to the #SayHerName social justice initiative. The movement aims to expose the experiences of Black and Brown girls and women who are subject to police violence in society and various violences in schools. In response to this movement, this issue includes stories of Black and Brown women from early childhood education through higher education.

The Relationship Between Student Participation In A 1:1 Laptop Initiative And Academic Achievement In A 9-12 Upper Middle Class Suburban New Jersey Public School District, Brian P. Gatens

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The use of laptop computers in 1:1 settings is becoming increasingly prevalent in America’s schools. As greater numbers of students are using this technology, establishing its benefits and costs is paramount, especially in light of so many demanding fiscal situations. This study used quantitative research and analysis to measure the benefits and costs of such an expansive distribution of technology. It seeks to answer the question of the worth of such a large-scale adoption.

This study explored the relationship between the use of a laptop computer on a 1:1 basis for the purpose of academic instruction and its connection …

Superintendents’ Perceptions Of Online Education For Principals, David Rutledge

Student Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of online educational leadership programs has led many aspiring principal candidates to complete their entire degree or licensure program online. While the online education is convenient and flexible for the learner, there is sparse research to determine the acceptability of online degrees in educational leadership, especially among school superintendents. School superintendents actively act as the gatekeepers into the field of educational leadership. The purpose of this study was to gather and analyze the perceptions of public school superintendents regarding online education for principals. The research questions posed sought to determine superintendent’s perceptions concerning the value of educational leaders …

What Should We Make Of Standards?: Barbara Biber Lecture, Vito Perrone

Occasional Paper Series

In a lecture dedicated to Barbara Biber, Perrone offers a brief perspective on her work and then discusses the Standards movement at the time - 1999. This essay offers a criticism of the movement and how it is far removed from the individual learning experience. Standardization dominated educational discourse at the time and continues to do so now.

Social Movements And Memory: Education, Age, And Memories Of The Women's Movement, Kimberly A. Longfellow

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Past research in memory studies has indicated that there are social factors that influence who are more or less likely to recall certain events as important. Past research emphasizes age as one of the most important variables; however, when regarding memories of social movements, additional demographic factors such as gender, race, region, and education may have potential impacts. More so, past research has not studied the importance of these factors over time. This study re-analyzes the data collected by Schuman and Rodgers (2004) combined with the data collected by Schuman and Scott (1985), in which 5,294 people were asked to …

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review Fall 2017

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

No abstract provided.

Democracy Dies In Dualisms. A Response To “Dewey And Democracy”, Dan Sarofian-Butin

Democracy & Education

This essay reviews Atkinson’s article “Dewey and Democracy” and argues that while Dewey and the social foundations classroom may indeed be important for teacher preparation, it is not in the way Atkinson suggests. Namely, I argue that Atkinson’s essay has three distinct (yet interrelated) issues: his problematic oversimplifications, what I term as “Dewey doesn’t do dualisms”; his misreading of Dewey, where I point out that “Dewey doesn’t do debate”; and his unexamined positionality, where I make clear that “Dewey doesn’t do Descartes.” I conclude this essay with a different perspective of a way forward with Dewey: that Dewey’s antifoundationalism serves …

Seeking Democracy Inside, And Outside, Of Education: Re-Conceptualizing Perceptions And Experiences Related To Democracy And Education, Paul R. Carr, Gina Thésée

Democracy & Education

This conceptual article underscores the importance of critical engagement in and through education with a view to enhancing education for democracy (EfD). As a centerpiece to illustrating this connection, we refer to our research project, which engages international actors through an analysis of the perceptions, experiences and perspectives of education students, educators and others in relation to EfD. The article presents the Thick-Thin Spectrum of EfD and a Spectrum for Critical Engagement for EfD to re(present) the problematic of political engagement and literacy on the part of teacher-education students. The findings of our study highlight a necessity for education to …

"State Your Defense!": Children Negotiate Analytic Frames In The Context Of Deliberative Dialogue, Jennifer Hauver

Democracy & Education

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the analytic frames children (ages 9 to 11) employed as they worked together to make sense of an ill-structured problem, what those same children did when their frames collided in the context of deliberative dialogue, and what they learned from the process of negotiation. Data included pre- and post-dialogue interviews with individual children as well as videotapes of the five dialogue sessions. Analysis suggests that children invoked six frames: fairness, common good, safety, kindness, tradition and self-interest. Of these, fairness and common good were super-ordinate frames, which resonated with peers …

The Use Of Culturally Sensitive Education On Organ Donation And Its Impact On Attitudes And Willingness To Donate Organs, James Winters

Doctoral Projects

In regards to transplantation, ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by the donor shortage. The high morbidity rates and decreased willingness to donate commonplace among these demographics has created a devastating imbalance. Increasing minority donor presence will make the allocation process more favorable for minority candidates. The current study entailed the provision of a culturally sensitive educational intervention to sixty-five (n=65) students at the University of Southern Mississippi. Surveys were administered pre/post intervention to assess knowledge and attitudes towards donation. Pre-intervention data reflected findings from prior research, post-intervention data showed that the intervention was able to mitigate these findings and that …

Adult Learning And The Effect Of Education And Gender Interaction On Type 2 Diabetics, Abdi H. Nur

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to investigate whether the relationships between education and medication and healthy exercise adherence were the same among female and male Type 2 diabetic adult learners. The purpose included also exploring whether registered nurses would alter their approach to diabetic adult learners’ education on medication and healthy exercise adherence considering patients’ gender and education levels. The study also investigated the correlation between diabetes duration and medication and healthy exercise adherence. The research investigation employed mixed methods sequential explanatory design using qualitative data to help explain the quantitative findings. The quantitative study was …

Wangari Maathai The Educator: Straddling Tradition And Modernity, Namulundah Florence

Journal of Global Education and Research

Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai’s (April 1, 1940 – September 25, 2011) public image highlights her nationality, her education both in and outside Kenya, her establishment of the Green Belt Movement (GBM) for which she received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and her political activism. Advocates for female empowerment take solace in success stories like Maathai’s rise from a village girl to become a global icon of leadership. Yet, her mobility was more circumstantial than it was deliberate, and is inseparable from the uneasy compromise between the traditional gender roles of her youth with the critical consciousness nurtured in …

An Ethnohistorical Study Of The Dowagiac Chieftains, Kathryn A. Bishop

Masters Theses

This research uses ethnohistorical methods to examine the use of imagery appropriated from American Indian cultures by the Dowagiac Union Schools. High School yearbooks from 1899- 2014, along with other artifacts, were identified as sources of information to describe students’ experiences. Applying Brayboy’s (2005) Tribal Critical Race Theory, an off-shoot of Critical Race Theory, combined with the research of historical and theoretical scholars like Davis (2002), Pewewardy (2001), and Deloria, King, and Springwood (2001), a case is made for the removal of American Indian mascots used by educational institutions, including the Dowagiac Chieftains. Though over 1,750 occasions of American Indian-appropriated …

Stakeholders’ Understanding Of Family Engagement In An Urban School: A Qualitative Study, Lorette Mcwilliams

Educational Studies Dissertations

Family involvement and engagement in children's education has been a part of the educational landscape in the US for several decades. Research indicates family engagement, broadly defined as activities carried out by an adult in support of a child's educational development, has many benefits such as individual student achievement, as well as less traditional outcomes such as behavioral and mental health benefits, better school attendance, high school graduation rates, and secondary school enrollment. Family engagement has been included in federal education policy since the 1960s and continues in today's policies. However, teachers and parents often maintain different perspectives and …

Program Evaluation Of A Bundled Educational Intervention To Enhance Implementation Of Professional Exchange Report, Luanne M. Shaw

Doctoral Projects

Communication handover is a source of potential error and risk to patient safety. Electronic-based tools may reduce errors and mitigate risks to patient safety. Electronic tools have been successfully implemented using multiple methods of education and training. Electronic tools vary in functionality and integration with the electronic health record (EHR). A large West Michigan Regional Health System (RHS) implemented a new EHR containing an embedded tool for communication handover called Professional Exchange Report (PER). There was inconsistency in the practice of bedside report by nurses. The RHS planned to use a bundled approach of educational interventions to implement the new …

A Mixed Methods Exploratory Study Of Digital Literacies In Higher Education, Susan K. Shannon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines the assessment of digital literacy in higher education using Kurtz and Peled’s (2016) digital literacy framework and assessment instrument. As information and communications technologies have grown over the last part of the 20^th century and the first part of the 21^st century, so has the socio-cultural environment (Kurtz & Peled, 2016; Roxin & Rusitoru, 2016). Literacy has grown from a simple concept involving the ability to read and write to a complex concept that includes many more competencies. A review of the literature shows the emergence of many new literacies (Šorgo, Bartol, Dolničar, & …

Tennessee Community College Reconnect Grant Program, Conclusions And Policy Considerations, Tennessee. Comptroller Of The Treasury.

Office of Research and Education Accountability

No abstract provided.

A License To Kill: Understanding Natural Killer Cell Licensing To Fight Cancer, Jolie Schafer

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Natural killer (NK) cell education is an essential developmental process for NK cell effector function, that renders some NK cells “licensed” and others “unlicensed” (with heightened or lowered effector function potential, respectively) against tumor and targets lacking self-molecules. However, the underlying mechanisms responsible for the heightened effector responses of licensed cells remain unknown. Using NK cells derived from humans and expanded ex vivo we performed high-throughput protein expression analysis, and identified multiple proteins that are differentially regulated in licensed and unlicensed human NK cells before and after inhibition by killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and activation by the NKp46 natural cytotoxicity …

Faculty Perceptions Of Effectiveness And Impact Of Professional Development For Teaching, Research, And Service, Claudia Vela

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to examine faculty perceptions of effectiveness and impact of professional development for teaching, research, and service in a higher education institution in South Texas. This study provided quantitative and qualitative data from 165 faculty members from a Hispanic Serving Institution in South Texas. Participants in this research consisted of tenured 56.9% (n = 95) and tenure-track 41.1% (n = 69) faculty members who taught in different departments in the colleges of Health Affairs, Sciences, Liberal Arts, Engineering and Computer Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, and Education and P-16 Integration. The …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Benefits And Barriers About The Use Of Technology Within Individual Classrooms, Jodi Head

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated teachers’ perceptions of the use of technology within individual classrooms and how benefits and barriers in education affect their beliefs. The researcher conducted the study within a public, elementary school within the state of Georgia. A mixed methods approach was used to conduct the research, in order to collect the data. The quantitative method used was a Likert-type survey that was submitted to the researcher anonymously. The qualitative method used was a single, focus group with the participants that took part in the survey. They were asked a series of questions that pertained to the survey results. …

The Social Justice Role Of School Librarians, Stephanie A. Burdic

Student Work

This study builds on Rioux’s 2010 social justice metatheory in the library sciences as it looks at the practices of school librarians in the areas of collection development, policies, and instructional practices. The mixed methods study demonstrates that school librarians act as agents of social justice in the collection of materials based on diversity, inclusion, vantage points, and international viewpoints. The policies of unrestricted access to library materials, access to digital and print formats, critical reflection, school library as a safe haven, advocating for the freedom to read, and facilitating students to read a variety of materials were also examined. …

Middle School Common Grading Expectations And Teacher Perceptions Of Grading Pedagogy, Jennifer Carson

Student Work

Grades in schools can be subjective in nature. Yet, grading remains a key piece in the American education system. Beliefs around grading practices are deeply held and can vary from teacher to teacher. This study aims to explore how teachers arrive at their own grading practices and to analyze teachers’ perceptions of implementing common grading expectations at one middle school in the Midwest. The implementation was grounded in research surrounding ethical change leadership. In year two of implementation, certified staff responded to a survey of Likert scale and open-ended questions providing feedback on implementing common grading expectations. The medians of …