Full Issue - Toyon 62

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Historical Development Of Vaccines And The Public's Response, Kristen Montgomery, Samantha Prince Bsn, Rn, Melissa Ealey Bsn, Rn, Jarrad Morelock Bsn, Rn, Shelby Johnson Bsn, Rn, Kokeshia Crosby Bsn, Rn, Stephanies Himes Bsn, Rn, Theresia Hinton Bsn, Rn

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Purpose: Vaccines, which have become one of the most important medical accomplishments in the prevention of communicable diseases, have a history that dates to the use of variolation as early as the 11th century. The purpose of this study is to explore the historical development of vaccines and to determine the characteristics that emerged when new vaccines were developed.

Aims: The specific aim of this study is to understand if all vaccines have been received about the same by the general public or if there are certain different or diverse characteristics associated with the introduction of different vaccines.

Methods: A …

The Impact Of Social Interaction On Patient Well-Being With Transition Into Long-Term Care Settings: A Review Of Interventions For Improved Patient Outcomes, Helen Whitney Harmon

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Abstract

Purpose: When individual patients are transitioned from home or acute care settings to more long-term care environments such as skilled nursing units or assisted living facilities, the residents are at an increased risk of experiencing loneliness, which is linked to depression, anxiety, and increasing cognitive decline, and other detrimental outcomes.

Aims: Combinations of peer-reviewed qualitative and quantitative research studies were analyzed to determine what factors contributed to changes in patient well-being, mental health and overall quality of life during these transitions.

Methods: One article focusing on preventable healthcare transitions in patient population was able to link higher medical acuity …

The Role Of Nurses In Robotic-Assisted Surgery, Tehya Wiedemeier, Gretchen Faith Grambow, Ella Froehlich, Whitney Anna Holmes

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

The research examines the evolving role of nurses in robotic-assisted surgery. As the technology advances, the nursing role is expanding beyond the traditional responsibilities. The method of literature review for this study was completed through deductive content analysis based off three data bases called Science Direct, PubMed (Medline), and Scopus. Current research is working towards trying to bring educational awareness to the role of nurses within the robotic surgery environment and what new skills they will have to acquire.  For nurses to successfully fit into the role of assisting within robotic surgery, they will need to obtain a higher level …

A Systematic Literature Review Examining Suicide Risk Factors In Older Adults, Carolyn Bivens

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Introduction & Background: Suicide in older adults is a increasingly prevalent tragedy worldwide, and rates in North America have uniquely increased over the past two decades. The context of the cultural environment of North America and population-specific factors in the elderly must be explored to protect this vulnerable group.

Purpose Statement Question: In older adults living in North America, what experiences and risk factors influence the development and severity of suicidal thoughts and behaviors?

Literature Review: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flowchart guided the search of the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature …

Guppy: From Fleet Boat To Modern Submarine, Nathaniel Estrada

Liberty University Research Week

World War II changed everything when it came to American submarine warfare. Before the war, American naval leaders and planners debated over what the purpose of their submarine fleet should be. The more progressive thinkers claimed the submarine would be in-of-itself a decisive combat asset, while the conservative naval minds saw their “fleet boats” as supplementary to the main battle line. When the war ended, the debate was no longer about what role the submarine would play in the great game on the sea. In the Atlantic, the German U-boat fleet of 1,131 submarines would sink 14,878,463 tons of Allied …

Disability Studies In Historical Context: The Research Behind The Creative Writing Process, Annabelle Welch

Liberty University Research Week

This study examines the process of  writing a short story “The Shoes,” set in New Orleans during World War II, and creating a main character through the lens of research within the field of disability studies. This research is closely intertwined with my creative process of writing “The Shoes.” The first portion of the poster focuses on the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, during America’s involvement in World War II. My aim is to build a foundational understanding of the microculture in that region, especially as it was shaped and molded by the strong presence of soldiers, the heavy hand …

Music Enhances Theta Brainwave Activity Regardless Of Tuning Frequency, Robert Somerville, Davis Raz, Ersilia Mirabelli, Jettson Yarborough, Luc-Shalom Kouame

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Personality Correlations, Blake Stillman

Liberty University Research Week

For this research project, the focus was to conduct a survey of people and ask them what their Enneagram types were, what their Myers-Briggs personalities were, and how they correlated with one another. With that information, we were then going to see what their preferred communication style was and see if there was any kind of pattern, and then apply this to the world of communication to better understand how to communicate with different personalities of people. There have not been any studies done on this specific topic and how it relates to the field of communication. I wanted to …

When The Music Stops: How Removing The Musical Scores Changes The Message Of The Film, Natalie Dean, Caroline Breen

Liberty University Research Week

Music has always been an intricate part of film. Films like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avengers are not simply recognized by their logos and characters, but also popular scores and theme songs that are tailored specifically to those films. Character theme songs, opening musical scores and more are used to create a communicative connection between the film and the audience. Previous research has primarily evaluated cognitive data such as attention level, or explored altering the music itself, such as a change in tempo, rhythm, and pitch. This study investigates how a film’s overall messaging to its audience …

How Did Maternal Influenza And Tdap Vaccination Coverage Among Pregnant Women In Mississippi Change From 2018–2021, And How Do Coverage Rates Differ By Race/Ethnicity?, Soala Esther Abere, Atika Ali, Fadzai Nyarugwe, Ifeoluwanimi Shobayo, Jalena Smith

Liberty University Research Week

Maternal vaccination is a critical component of preventive care, yet coverage in the United States remains inconsistent, with persistent racial and age-related disparities. This study examined maternal influenza and Tdap vaccination coverage among pregnant women in Mississippi from 2018–2021, a state with disproportionately high maternal and infant mortality. Using publicly available CDC surveillance data, a quantitative secondary data analysis was conducted to assess vaccination trends and differences by race/ethnicity and maternal age group. After excluding suppressed estimates, 48 observations were analyzed. Overall maternal vaccination coverage averaged 51.55% across all years and demographic groups, with influenza coverage ranging from 49–54% and …

Paws And Predictions: Interpreting Intraspecific Cat Social Interactions Through Facial Signals, Levi Neal, Lauren Scott, Gosia Zobel, Brittany Florkiewicz

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

There has been limited research on humans’ ability to perceive and predict social interactions among cats using facial signals. This area is crucial to explore since conflicts between cats often cause significant stress for their guardians. By evaluating individuals’ skills in understanding cat interactions, researchers can develop tools to help guardians predict affiliative and nonaffiliative behaviors, leading to effective intervention strategies for multicat households. We distributed a survey to individuals subscribed to the Companion Animals New Zealand newsletter to assess cat guardians’ effectiveness in perceiving and predicting various social interactions among cats. We hypothesized that guardians with one or more …

Mother-Daughter Ties Across Borders: Identity And Connection In Dreaming In Cuban, Alvaro Ricardo Larrea Salazar

Liberty University Research Week

This project examines how trauma, memory, and political displacement shape generational identity in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban. I argue that García presents memory as both a bridge and a barrier within the matrilineal line of Celia, Lourdes, and Pilar, ultimately suggesting that reconciliation across political and cultural divides is possible only through acknowledgment rather than suppression of inherited trauma. While Celia’s devotion to the Cuban Revolution and her nostalgic attachment to lost love root her identity firmly in the past, Lourdes responds to revolutionary violence and exile by rejecting her heritage and embracing American capitalism as a form of …

Purposes For Sacred Song In Eighteenth-Century British Colonial America, Merrily Kelsey

Liberty University Research Week

In eighteenth-century colonial America, the colonists sang sacred songs for several reasons which they identified in song text, song book introductions, journals, sermons, and several other places.

Real World Fertility: From Participatory Research To Clinical Trial, Belinda Tan, Azure Grant, Ayla Barmmer

Oxford ICSB

Nutritional supplements are widely popular for female reproductive health, but their ingredients are typically studied in isolation in the laboratory. Finished products make claims based on these isolated studies, creating a gap in which impact of multi-nutrient formulas in the real world are not investigated, largely due to high research costs. Decentralized clinical research methods are modernizing clinical trials, leading to affordable, efficient evidence generation in large representative populations. Utilizing a decentralized research platform, we tested the hypothesis that specific supplement protocols would be associated with improved female health and fertility in a real world cohort. We present a novel …

The Influence Of Pre-War Cruiser Design And Doctrine On The Guadalcanal Campaign Of World War Ii, Dawson Baber

Liberty University Research Week

The development of cruisers and their accompanying doctrine played a critical role in the hotly contested night engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign of the Second World War. Upon entering the war, the US Navy’s doctrine focused on long range, open seas, decisive battles centered on a battleship battleline with cruisers serving as scouts or fleet screens/escorts. However, this research will focus on the Guadalcanal campaign, which saw close range, nighttime, defensive battles fought by vessels not designed for the task and men untrained for that type of combat. While the historiography surrounding the Guadalcanal campaign is vast, there are practically …

Implementing The Abcdef Bundle In A Rural Critical Care, Kayla Hubbard

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Patients admitted to the critical care unit are at risk of debilitating adverse outcomes including Delirium, Post intensive care syndrome (PICS), debility, wounds, depression, and both mental and physical impairments. Complications related to ICU care can easily be combatted by using a multidisciplinary approach. The ABCDEF bundle serves to incorporate all aspects of a critically ill patients care in a simple, easy to follow bundle focusing on assessment of pain (A), both spontaneous awakening ang breathing trials (B), choice of sedation/analgesic (C), delirium (D), early mobility (E), and family involvement (F). A quality improvement project was designed and piloted in …

2026 Acssc Program, Acssc Planning Committee

Annual Celebration for Student Scholarship and Creativity

No abstract provided.

Decoding Christianese: Analyzing The Double-Edged Sword Of Evangelical Jargon, David Enns

Liberty University Research Week

This qualitative study investigates the rhetorical function of "Christianese," the insider jargon of American Evangelicalism, responding to the need for clarity in religious communication within a pluralistic and digital society. While religious language is often studied through liturgical or interfaith lenses, limited empirical work exists on the informal, culturally constructed dialect used in everyday evangelical discourse. Utilizing Burke's (1966) terministic screens theory — which posits that language selects, reflects, and deflects reality — this research examines how evangelical slang functions as a gatekeeping mechanism that simultaneously builds community and alienates outsiders. Employing a corpus-based qualitative design, the study analyzed 142 …

Using Path Analysis To Examine The Psychological Well-Being Model For U.S. College Students, Pi-Ming Yeh, Cheng-Huei Chiao, Gavin Waters

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Background: College students’ psychological well-being and mental health issues are very important in this society. Little is known about a comprehensive psychological well-being model for college students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was using Path Analysis to examine the Development of Personality and Psychological Well-Being Model among US college students.

Methods: This was a cross sectional, descriptive design. The 481 participants were recruited from nursing and business college students in the United States. After IRB approval, the trained researchers explained this study to college students. After agreeing to participate, they signed an informed consent form. Upon completion of a …

From Theses To Podcasts: A Digital Humanities Analysis Of Religious Communication From The Reformation To The Digital Age, Fallon Tridento

Liberty University Research Week

This project looks at how religious communication has changed alongside major technological developments, from the printing press to artificial intelligence, throughout history, using a digital humanities perspective. Beginning with the Protestant Reformation, it explores how print culture allowed ideas to spread more quickly, especially through the work of Martin Luther. It then follows how later figures, including St. Maximilian Kolbe, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, and Mother Angelica, made use of emerging forms of media, from print to radio and television, to reach wider audiences. The project also considers the work of Fr. Roberto Busa, whose use of early computing marked …

Didactic Aspects Of Education Of Primary Teachers With A Focus On Strengthening Their Media Literacy And Fighting Disinformation. Experience From The Czech Republic, Kamil Kopecký, Veronika Krejčí

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The paper describes specific experiences with educational activities aimed at strengthening media literacy in the field of combating disinformation among primary and secondary school teachers, which were implemented in 2022-2023 through the Central European Digital Media Observatory. A total of 3633 primary and secondary school teachers from all over the Czech Republic participated in the education and evaluated the educational events. The article presents examples of specific educational activities oriented to the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of students through teaching in primary or secondary school.

Leveraging Critical Social Media Literacy To Safeguard Youth Against Violent Radicalization And Extremism, Muhammad Akram, Adeela Arshad-Ayaz, Muhammad Ayaz Naseem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Social media is inundated with radical and extreme propaganda. Such information is often left unfiltered due to platform algorithms that are economically driven and socially unethical in design. It puts social media users, mostly youth, in danger of becoming radicalized and vulnerable to supporting and engaging with extremist beliefs. When young people lack sufficient critical social media literacy (CSML), radical and extremist information impacts their perspectives, affecting behavior in the real world. A PRISMA-guided systematic review of the Web of Science core collections and the Scopus database was used to find peer-reviewed articles about how CSML skills can be used …

From Consumers To Creators: Social Media Information Literacy Of University Students., Thuy Thanh Bui, Quyen Trang Mai Nguyen, Tu Thi Thanh Nguyen, Minh Cao Luu

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Social Media Information Literacy (SMIL) is increasingly important as social media platforms evolve. SMIL includes skills for navigating, evaluating, managing, creating, and engaging with social media content, aimed at effective information use and critical thinking. Using Heiss, Nanz and Matthes (2023) framework, this study surveyed 410 students via a self-assessment on a 5-point Likert scale. Results indicate students rated their SMIL as average, with the highest scores in appraisal and comprehension, and the lowest in digital creation. Female and senior students, as well as those in Education majors, rated themselves higher. Longer internet usage correlated with better SMIL, especially in …

From Y To Z: A Cross-Generational Examination Of New Media Literacy And Online Information Searching Strategy, Taibe Kulaksız, Ali Geriş, Sena Özşirin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study aims to explore the relationship between new media literacy (NML) and online information searching strategy (OISS), focusing on the comparative analysis of Generation Y and Z in terms of gender, educational level, daily internet usage and the most used social media platforms. This research was designed as a cross-sectional survey study. Using a convenience sample method, the participants were composed of Turkish adults representing Generation Y and Z. Demographic Information Form, New Media Literacy Scale, and Online Information Searching Strategy Inventory were conducted. Two-way MANOVA was utilized for analysis. The results indicate the main effects of generation on …

Teacher Reflections On Media And Information Literacy In Vietnamese K-12 Schools: Current Practices, Challenges, And Pathways For Improvement, Tinh T.T Le, Minh Tran, Anh Dương, Huong T. Pham, Vy Tran, Daniel Jackson

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) education is widely recognized as essential, yet its adoption in Vietnamese K-12 schools is still at the early stages. This study examines the current state of MIL education in Vietnam from the perspective of teachers. Drawing on insights from a trial online MIL teacher training program, which includes teachers’ learning journals, lesson plans, and an open survey using SWOT forms, we explore the approaches they use, the challenges they face, and the opportunities in promoting MIL education in their school setting. Additionally, the findings highlight specific professional development needs to enhance teachers’ MIL instruction quality. …

The Creative Participation Pedagogical Approach To Media Literacy Education, Amanda Levido

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Approaches to media literacy education have developed over time in response to cultural understandings and the development of new media digital technologies. One approach that extends on current Media Arts approaches to media literacy is the Creative Participation approach. Underpinning this approach is an emphasis on how young people work together to make meaning through the process of production. The Creative Participation approach draws on the theory of Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998) and the concept of participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006) to support the assertion that young people, through shared practices, the generation of meaning through media artworks, and through …

Productive Disruptions: An Equityoriented Framework For Civic Media Literacy In The Digital Era, Carlos Jimenez, Lynn Schofield Clark, Johnny Ramirez

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article introduces Productive Disruptions as a framework for civic media literacy that centers equity and social justice. Past scholarship has emphasized understanding media content and gaining competence in media production. To center equity as a structural concern beyond individual behaviors, we argue for media literacy interventions that support disrupting racism in content, production, and digital media distribution systems themselves. Drawing on an ethnographic case study with young people experiencing marginalization, we examine how youth productively disrupted instances of systemic racism via TikTok and Instagram. We identify three distinct modes of intervention: creating counter-narratives that disrupt racist discourses, subverting adult-led …

Don’T Tell Me How To Fact-Check; Show Me, And Let Me Try! A Media Literacy Intervention With Sixth-Graders, Thomas Nygren, Carl-Anton Werner Axelsson

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study examines how different educational approaches related to "Fria Ordets Dag" (Free Speech Day), a media literacy program by the Swedish public service, affect the ability of 859 sixth-graders to evaluate news and misinformation. Findings indicate that verbal instructions from a professional fact-checker and animations to model online fact-checking were less effective than demonstrative, authentic video tutorials. Feedback and practice were also important. The intervention yielded mixed outcomes on students’ attitudes towards credible news sources, pointing to the necessity for educational designs that bolster fact-checking and source trust. The research emphasizes how large-scale school interventions to promote students’ navigation …

Promoting News Literacy With Epistemological Beliefs, Ifla Checklist And Ai: Insights From A Teacher Training Program In Italy, Flavio Manganello

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study examines the integration of epistemological beliefs, the IFLA checklist for evaluating news credibility, and the News Verifier, an AI tool powered by GPT-4, within a teacher training program aimed at enhancing news literacy. It explores the relationship between educators’ epistemological profiles and their ability to classify news using the IFLA checklist. The study also evaluates alignment between human classifications and those generated by the News Verifier, examining the potential of AI as a complementary resource for supporting practice and reflection in news literacy education. Results indicate that consistent application of the checklist improves alignment with AI outputs, although …