Digital Commons Network^™

Parenting Support Groups Outcomes, Christina Howell

Graduate Research Papers

According to the American Psychological Association 48% of parents find their stress to be completely overwhelming as compared to 26% of other adults. Sixty percent of parents struggle to focus, and 41% of parents report feeling so stressed that they cannot function (American Psychological Association (APA), 2024). In this study three questions are addressed 1) Are Online parenting support groups successful at supporting caregivers and children? 2) What are the outcomes for caregivers and their children when their caregivers participate in parenting support groups? 3) Are parenting support groups successful at supporting caregivers who have experienced trauma? The findings of …

Strategic Planning And Capacity Growth In Nonprofit Organizations, Rebecca Snapp

Graduate Research Papers

The following is a literature review of the relationship between strategic planning and capacity building in nonprofit organizations. The review specifically examines barriers to strategic planning and capacity building in the areas of environment, leadership, and funding, as well as elements of organizational readiness for strategic planning with the goal of supporting nonprofit organizations as they work to circumvent these barriers.

Replacing This Old House: Certifying And Regulating New Legal Services Providers, Bruce A. Green, M. Ellen Murphy

Faculty Scholarship

This Article comprehensively examines the decisions that state courts must make, and have made to date, when they certify and regulate new categories of legal services providers: those individuals other than lawyers who are authorized to provide discrete legal services that the laws governing the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) generally reserve to lawyers.

In certifying new categories of legal services providers, courts must make an array of interrelated decisions. These include decisions about the rules for educational and testing requirements, the scope of services that legal services providers may offer, the conditions under which they may provide services, and …

When Is Free Speech “Beyond” The Constitution?, Abner S. Greene

Faculty Scholarship

The constitution of a nation without a state action doctrine might limit private restriction or compulsion of speech just as it limits the state. In such a nation, “free speech beyond the constitution” might not be a particularly meaningful concept. In the United States, however, the First Amendment’s free speech clause limits only what the federal, state, and local governments may do. As a nonconstitutional policy matter, it might or might not be a good idea for the government to impose First Amendment- like restrictions on private actors or for private actors to voluntarily impose First Amendment-like restrictions on themselves. …

Consumer Protection And The Illusory Promise Of The Unconscionability Defense, Benjamin C. Zipursky, Zahra Takhshid

Faculty Scholarship

The United States Supreme Court’s notorious decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion seems to display impatience with the idea of an unconscionability defense to the enforcement of a contract. At the core of Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion, however, was not an argument against the idea of unconscionability per se, but an argument against using “unconscionability” as a cover for a broader public policy agenda. This interpretation is confirmed by the Court’s little-known decision in Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. v. Brown, handed down the term after Concepcion was decided. Plaintiffs were allowed to move forward in Marmet because …

Stories, Statistics, And The Regulation Of Alternative Data, Aniket Kesari, Mark Verstraete

Faculty Scholarship

Financial technology has long relied on data like an applicant’s current indebtedness to make decisions about who gets access to new credit, but AI is now enabling credit determinations based on some unusual inputs. This “alternative data”—or data that is not intuitively connected to creditworthiness—includes information like a consumer’s online shopping habits, whether they paid their rent and utility bills, and even how many friends they have on social media. The use of this kind of data has exciting potential to expand access to credit but exemplifies a well-known feature of machine learning: It works by finding nonintuitive relationships in …

The Siren Song Of Territoriality, Robin J. Effron, Alan M. Trammell

Faculty Scholarship

Territoriality—the theory that a state’s physical borders determine its power and sovereignty—boasts a long, venerable history. For centuries, it served as the dominant political theory for myriad ideas. It defined a wide range of doctrines, including personal jurisdiction, choice of law, and prescriptive jurisdiction. By the middle of the twentieth century, though, this rigid territoriality no longer described or responded to the challenges of a society that had grown increasingly mobile and interconnected. Courts replaced inflexible territorial theories with more functional theories rooted in fairness and state regulatory interests.

In recent years, territoriality has seen a curious resurgence. The Supreme …

Abolitionism, Artificial Intelligence, And Non-Reformist Reform, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Prison abolitionism has gained significant prominence in criminal law scholarship, while artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across society. Two schools of thought have arisen regarding their intersection. Some scholars contend abolitionists should welcome AI technologies to reduce the carceral state’s reach. Critics view these tools skeptically, arguing that they lead to biased surveillance and incarceration practices. Using this debate as an example, this article seeks to illuminate the distinction between reformist and non-reformist reforms. The article argues that abolitionists’ criticism of reformists as agents of oppression risks alienating potential allies and discouraging progressive interventions in pivotal, …

Content-Neutral Restrictions Revisited, Abner S. Greene

Faculty Scholarship

Whether a law affecting free speech does so in a content-based or content-neutral way is usually the first step in analyzing the law’s constitutionality.  But the Supreme Court has not had an easy time sorting statutes as content based or content neutral, and it has similarly struggled in sorting and explaining the difference between content-neutral laws that incidentally affect expression (O’Brien laws) and content-neutral laws that regulate the time, place, or manner of expression (TPM laws).  Scholarship on content-neutral restrictions has nibbled around the edges of these difficulties but has yet to comprehensively analyze the doctrine.  This Article provides a …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Chronic Absenteeism Among Undergraduate Students At A Historically Black University: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Patrick Whitehead, Ronald Leonhardt, Malisha Mishoe, Dorene Medlin, Emily Woodruff, George Darrisaw

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research examines chronic absenteeism at an American public, historically Black university. Chronic absenteeism, which became a problem during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, has contributed to rising failure rates and a 34% graduation-to-retention rate among students. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method, the authors, who are college instructors, interviewed 13 students with histories of absenteeism. Student cases were analyzed separately and together to identify relevant absenteeism themes. Significant themes include life conflicts (such as a flat tire or illness), lack of perceived relevance of courses (such as courses that fall outside of a student's major), and lack of …

Ber Anena’S Vagina Diaries, A Review: An African Student’S Encounter With The American Health System, Akua Agyeiwaa Denkyi-Manieson

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work delves into the disappointment, indifference, and pretense experienced by the narrator when she sorts the American healthcare system. It also addresses the struggles immigrants face, particularly from Africa, as they navigate a healthcare system that often requires them to prove their pain and worthiness of attention. The narrative emphasizes the importance of not generalizing the entire healthcare system based on a single negative experience while acknowledging the profound impact on one's perception of the system. Furthermore, it explores the paradox between the availability of better resources in America compared to the narrator's home country and the mistreatment and …

Moral Intensity Dimensions Of Information Security Policy Compliance: Perspectives Of Construal Level Theory And Ethical Theories, Dailin Zheng, Zhiping Walter

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Sanctions are often ineffective in promoting employee compliance with information systems security policies (ISSPs) and may lead to undesired outcomes. We establish that ISSP compliance is an ethical decision and examine it through the lens of ethical decision-making using scenario-based surveys. Guided by normative ethical theories and the construal level theory, we find that both the opinions of co-workers and perceived negative consequences of noncompliance to the organization influence employee ISSP compliance intention. Additionally, perceived social distance affects employees' assessment of when damages to the organization can occur. Both the assessed timing of damage and the perceived social distance from …

Evaluation Of A Community-Based Socialization Program For Independently Living Older Adults, Patricia A. Shane, Anne T. Ferguson, Erin L. Woodhead

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Social isolation among older adults is a major public health concern because of the adverse impact it has on health and well-being. Reducing social isolation can improve health and decrease the use of costly healthcare services. However, there is little consensus on the critical ingredients of programming to reduce social isolation. Bay Area Older Adults® (BAO) is a nonprofit organization whose community-based Healthy Living Program (HLP) focuses on building and nourishing older adults’ social networks through transitions such as retirement, divorce and loss of loved ones. The current study was a program evaluation of the HLP using a survey to …

Validation Of A Self-Fitting Over-The-Counter Hearing Aid Intervention Compared With A Clinician-Fitted Hearing Aid Intervention: A Within-Subjects Crossover Design Using The Same Device, Lucas S. Baltzell, Kosta Kokkinakis, Amy Li, Anusha Yellamsetty, Katherine Teece, Peggy B. Nelson

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In October of 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration finalized regulations establishing the category of self-fitting over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, intended to reduce barriers to hearing aid adoption for individuals with self-perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Since then a number of self-fitting OTC hearing aids have entered the market, and a small number of published studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of a self-fitted OTC intervention against a traditional clinician-fitted intervention. Given the variety of self-fitting approaches available, and the small number of studies demonstrating effectiveness, the goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a …

Gender-Sexuality Alliance Advisors’ Covid-19 Strategies Inform Future Responses To Sociopolitical Crises, Robert A. Marx, Michael O’Brien, Megan K. Yang, Diana Smith, V. Paul Poteat

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a sudden shift to remote learning in schools across the United States, profoundly impacting marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ students. This qualitative study explores the experiences of Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) advisors during this period. Drawing on interviews with 10 GSA advisors, the research highlights the structural and logistical challenges faced, such as limited access to technology and virtual-meeting fatigue, as well as the innovative solutions and adaptations made to continue supporting LGBTQ+ youth. The study reveals how GSAs leveraged existing resources, maintained group cohesion, and adjusted meeting structures to navigate …

Can Whistleblowing Improve Organizational Effectiveness? Evidence From Financial Reporting Misconduct, Hong Kim Duong, Sadok El Ghoul, Omrane Guedhami, Emmanuel Sequeira, Zuobao Wei

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background: While whistleblowing (WB) has attracted growing research interest in recent years, several critical WB-related issues remain underexplored. Purpose: This study examines the impact of external WB allegations on a firm’s organizational capital (OC). Such allegations often indicate management’s failure to address employee concerns internally, spotlighting potential deficiencies in internal reporting systems, employee communication, training, and trust in organizational fairness. To mitigate reputational damage, restore employee trust, and prevent future incidents, we posit that WB firms respond by increasing OC investment. Research Design: We employ a difference-in-differences approach, comparing OC changes in WB-targeted firms with those in a propensity score-matched …

A Short Pragmatic Tool For Evaluating Community Engagement: Partnering For Health Improvement And Research Equity, John G. Oetzel, Blake Boursaw, Lenora Littledeer, Sarah Kastelic, Page Castro-Reyes, Juan M. Peña, Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa, Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, Lorenda Belone, Nina Wallerstein

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background: As community-engaged research (CEnR), community-based participatory research (CBPR) and patient-engaged research (PEnR) have become increasingly recognized as valued research approaches in the last several decades, there is need for pragmatic and validated tools to assess effective partnering practices that contribute to health and health equity outcomes. This article reports on the co-creation of an actionable pragmatic survey, shortened from validated metrics of partnership practices and outcomes. Methods: We pursued a triple aim of preserving content validity, psychometric properties, and importance to stakeholders of items, scales, and constructs from a previously validated measure of CBRP/CEnR processes and outcomes. There were …

“I Bet Being Trans In The Netherlands Is Like Living In The Future”: Could The Netherlands Serve As An Imperfect “Gold Standard” Comparator For Transgender Youth Research In The United States?, Anna I.R. Van Der Miesen, Sharanya Rao, Abigail L. Fischbach, Alex C. Bakker, Marjolein Van Den Brink, Renata A. Sanders, Caitlin Ryan, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Joep Roeffen, Asaf Orr Esq, Heather Newby, Kathie Moehlig, Richard Mocarski, Kim Horsnell, Thijs De Greeff, Annelou L.C. De Vries, Aisa Burgwal, Owen Wilson, Annika Kooke

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background: In available comparative studies, Dutch transgender youth have consistently shown better psychosocial well-being compared to those in other countries. Therefore, the Netherlands (N.L.) could be considered a gold-standard—though imperfect—comparator for transgender youth research. The United States (U.S.) is heterogeneous in its policies and practices impacting transgender youth, and policies are in flux. This study examines similarities and differences between U.S. and Dutch policies, practices, and contexts relevant to the well-being of transgender adolescents. Methods: A three-stage Delphi procedure was conducted with expert panels in the N.L. and U.S. Results: This process identified candidate mechanisms driving differences in outcomes for …

Can Household Water Sharing Advance Water Security? An Integrative Review Of Water Entitlements And Entitlement Failures, Melissa Beresford, Ellis Adams, Jessica Budds, Leila M. Harris, Wendy Jepson, Tennille Marley, Chloe Nguyen, Amber Pearson, Anaís Delilah Roque, Asher Y. Rosinger, Sameer H. Shah, Matthew Stellbauer, Amber Wutich

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

An increasing number of studies find that water sharing—the non-market transfer of privately held water between households—is a ubiquitous informal practice around the world and a primary way that households respond to water insecurity. Yet, a key question about household water sharing remains: is water sharing a viable path that can help advance household water security? Or should water sharing be understood as a symptom of water insecurity in wait for more formalized solutions? Here, we address this question by applying Sen’s entitlement framework in an integrative review of empirical scholarship on household water sharing. Our review shows that when …

Why Domestic Violence Offenders Don't Give Up Their Guns, Natalie Nanasi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Perpetrators of intimate partner violence are barred by federal law and many states' laws from possessing firearms. While such prohibitions enjoy popular support, they are sporadically and inconsistently enforced, placing the lives of survivors at risk when offenders do not voluntarily comply. Many experts, including this author, have offered legal and policy solutions to increase the likelihood that perpetrators of domestic violence will either willingly relinquish their guns or otherwise be dispossessed of them. But these proposals may have been premature.

This Article is the first to take a step back and inquire why offenders do not surrender their firearms …

The Miserly Message Of Grants Pass, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Grants Pass v. Johnson condoned states’ attempts to police homeless encampments. This was a significant blow to unhoused individuals and their allies. But the Court’s opinion also continued its march away from the longstanding evolving-standards-of-decency approach in Eighth Amendment cases. Grants Pass was something of an odd case in which to grant certiorari, but it served as an opportunity for the Court to send a quiet message that it would continue narrowing the Eighth Amendment’s scope. As in other recent cases, the Court applied a more historical approach than the one traditionally used in …

Teacher Views Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication With Nonverbal Students With Severe Intellectual Disabilities: A Generic Qualitative Study, Lelita K. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Students with significant intellectual disabilities who are nonverbal often depend on augmentative and alternative communication devices to engage with lessons and participate in secondary educational environments. Despite advancements in this technology, issues pertaining to training, consistency, and institutional support persist, hindering effective application in urban schools. The objective of this generic qualitative study was to investigate the perspectives of teachers and related service providers regarding the utilization of these devices for nonverbal students with severe intellectual disabilities in urban secondary schools.

Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews with 11 participants, comprising special education instructors, related service providers, and special education …

Female Offenders' Perceived Needs And Assistance Received During Reintegration Into The Community, Sarah I. Bauer

Theses and Dissertations

Reentry after prison is a challenge for justice involved females, with many factors contributing towards a positive reintegration into society or negatively, which can promote recidivism. Programs and policies exist to assist female offenders with a positive re-entry experience after incarceration and are in place to affirm that this population are able to reintegrate into society successfully. However, the recidivism rate continues to trend upwards, even with these programs and policies in place. Prior literature has directly associated certain factors, such as family, housing, substance abuse and mental health been directly correlated with reentry practices. This dissertation will use a …

Perceptions Of Maine Batterer Intervention Program Directors On Treatment Challenges, Jenna Ostrowski

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV), commonly known as domestic violence, is a widespread social issue that continues to impact many victims. To combat this problem, multiple funded resources target not only the victims’ needs, but also attempt to reduce recidivism rates for domestic violence offenders. Treatment programs for domestic violence offenders have been operational since the 1970s, with curricula directed toward changing power and control dynamics in intimate relationships. Growing research supports the idea that domestic violence offenders have more prevalent histories of childhood trauma and mental health issues, which may increase the risk of IPV perpetration. However, research also shows …

The Lived Experiences Of Project Rebound Students In California, Jeffrey R. Jacobs

Theses and Dissertations

As the United States attempts to address issues of prison overcrowding, recidivism, and rehabilitation, states like California have turned to higher education during and after incarceration to remedy the situation and promote successful community reentry among individuals who have served time in the nation’s prisons. People who are formerly incarcerated are often up against a myriad of obstacles once released, and programs like California State University’s Project Rebound aim to aid in this transition through a model rooted in community and campus care. Numerous bodies of research have explored the impacts of education on individuals who are actively incarcerated; however, …

Egalitarianism Is Not Equality: Moving From Outcome To Process In The Study Of Human Political Organisation, Duncan Stibbard-Hawkes, Christopher Von Rueden

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Many traditional subsistence groups have been described as ‘egalitarian societies’. Definitions of ‘egalitarianism’, especially beyond anthropology, have often emphasised equality in resource access, prestige or rank, alongside generalised preferences for fairness and equality. However, there are no human societies where equality is genuinely realised in all areas of life. Here we demonstrate, empirically, that nominally egalitarian societies are often unequal across seven important interconnected domains: embodied capital, social capital, leadership, gender, age/knowledge, material capital/land tenure, and reproduction. We also highlight evidence that individuals in nominally egalitarian societies do not unfailingly adhere to strong equality preferences. We propose a new operational …

Foundations For Platform Liability, Kathryn E. Spier, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

From spreading misinformation to selling deadly products, bad actors use technology platforms to their advantage while causing devastating harms to privacy, health, and even democracy. Despite their central role in enabling these bad actors, the platforms almost entirely escape liability. This legal immunity is purportedly grounded in economics. From the beginning, courts and legislatures feared that liability would chill innovation, growth, and user access. They also speculated that platforms have sufficient market incentives to voluntarily police bad actors, making liability unnecessary.

Whereas many scholars have argued that platform immunity is blind to justice, this Article shows that it is also …

Conservation And Survey Division 2024 Annual Report, R.M. Joeckel, Michele Waszgis

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska - Lincoln is the agency designated by statute to investigate and interpret the geologically related natural resources of the State, to make available to the public the results of these investigations, and to assist in the development and conservation of these resources. It consists of program areas in geology, water, soils and remote sensing-geographic information systems.

The Perceptions Of Training And Development And Emotional Intelligence Among Virtual Leaders In Public And Private Institutions Of Higher Education, Ryan J. Trautweiler

Theses and Dissertations

This applied qualitative dissertation explored virtual leadership in higher education, examining virtual leaders' perceptions of training and development and emotional intelligence. Using an inductive research approach, data were collected through semistructured interviews and a questionnaire distributed via Google Forms to eight virtual leaders from public and private higher education institutions. Data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) and thematic analysis to identify key patterns and themes. Findings revealed distinctions between public and private institutions. In public institutions, training and development focused on faculty preparedness, resourcefulness in overcoming limitations, and its impact on student engagement. In private institutions, training was …

Beyond The Brochure: Exploring The Reality Of Belonging In South Florida Private Schools, Jennifer Vigille

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to explore Black parents’ perceptions of teachers and leadership in predominantly White private schools. The research drew on a rich body of literature on race, education, and social dynamics in diverse school settings. The study addressed the ongoing challenges Black families faced in navigating these environments, particularly in terms of communication and cultural competence. The central research questions investigated how Black parents experienced and interpreted teacher and leadership relationships and support in predominately White private schools.

The study hypothesized that Black parents perceived significant gaps in communication and cultural competence among educators and leaders, affecting …