Digital Commons Network^™

School Teacher's Perceptions Of Twins: A Study On The Educational Experience Of Teaching Identical And Fraternal Twins, Robyn M. Lindley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored teachers' perceptions of twins' academic abilities and achievements compared to single-born students. It aimed to understand teachers' attitudes towards classroom dynamics and social interactions among twins and their peers, as well as how teachers differentiate instruction to meet the diverse needs of twins in the classroom. By employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, the research gathered comprehensive data through surveys/questionnaires and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 elementary school teachers with experience teaching identical and fraternal twins in primary and secondary schools in Texas and Virginia. The study identified several key themes through thematic analysis: the importance of individualized …

Identifying Delirium In Hospitalized Patients Using Nursing Delirium Screening Scale, Christina S. Arockiam

Dissertations

Delirium is a sudden brain dysfunction that can affect the mental status of hospitalized adult patients. At the project site, there was no consistent screening tool for delirium, so an evidence-based solution was sought. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine if the translation of Heinrich et al.'s research regarding Gaudreau et al.'s Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) would impact the identification of delirium and subsequent provider notification within 30 minutes among adult patients in an acute care hospital in urban California over eight weeks. Virginia Henderson's need theory and the Iowa Model Revised: Evidence-based practice to …

Caring: Cannula For Alleviation Of Retinal Injury Caused By Needle Fluidic Gashing, Kaersti L. Rickels, Anthony L. Gunderman, Mattie S. Mclellan, Muhhamad M. Shamim, Joseph A. Sanford, Sami H. Uwaydat

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Infusion-related iatrogenic retinal breaks (IRBs) are a significant complication in vitrectomies, particularly when smaller-gauge cannulas are used during fluid infusion. Using two-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA), we analyzed forces exerted on the retina from different cannulas: traditional 25-gauge, 20-gauge, 23-gauge, and 27-gauge, then investigated four alternative new cannula designs: (A) oblique orifices, (B) external obstruction, (C) side ports, and (D) perpendicular orifices. The analysis revealed that the standard 25-gauge cannula had a force of 0.546 milli-Newtons (mN). Optimized cannulas demonstrated decreased forces: 0.072 mN (A), 0.266 mN (B), 0.417 mN (C), and 0.117 mN (D). While all the designs decrease …

To Resist Or Persist? An Examination Of Interpersonal Relationships Formed In Prison, Kamecia S. Blake

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prison is an important component of the criminal justice system. The structure and functionality of prison is tailored towards incapacitation, rehabilitation, and deterrence, which are goals of punishment. However, prison can have unintended consequences which increase the criminogenic risk of offenders causing inmates to become career criminals. This study examined the role of prison socialization, particularly the influence of interpersonal relationships formed while incarcerated on recidivistic behavior. It is important to investigate interpersonal relationships formed while incarcerated so that prison administrators can better realize its goal to rehabilitate offenders and prepare them for reintegration into society. The study was grounded …

How Sarcoidosis Mental Health Stories Could Affect Legislation, Dorothy Michelle Kemp

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem this general qualitative study with narrative techniques addressed was the lack of empirical research about sarcoidosis mental health based on depression, anxiousness, and feeling lonely. Sarcoidosis legislation was also compared to current mental health legislation, which proposed mental health measures. This study aimed to gather secondary data of firsthand descriptions based on the impacts of sarcoidosis mental health aspects and review sarcoidosis legislation. Accumulated secondary data for this study were a collection of stories from doctors, diagnosed patients, and caregivers based on their narrative of the disease from a mental health perspective. In utilizing the advocacy coalition framework, …

Trps1 Expression Is Frequently Seen In A Subset Of Cutaneous Mesenchymal Neoplasms And Tumors Of Uncertain Differentiation: A Potential Diagnostic Pitfall, Moon Joo Kim, Yi A Liu, Yunyi Wang, Jing Ning, Woo Cheal Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although extensively studied in cutaneous epithelial neoplasms, the TRPS1 immunoreactivity in cutaneous mesenchymal neoplasms and tumors of uncertain differentiation (CMNTUDs), such as atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX), remains largely unexplored. We assessed TRPS1 immunoreactivity in 135 CMNTUDs, comprising 46 fibrohistiocytic/fibroblastic tumors, 28 vascular tumors, 24 peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNSTs), 21 tumors of uncertain differentiation, and 16 smooth muscle tumors. Additionally, we included selected cases of melanoma with spindled cell morphology or desmoplastic features (n = 9) and sarcomatoid squamous cell carcinoma (SSCC) (n = 5) to compare TRPS1 expression patterns with those of AFX. TRPS1 expression was prevalent in dermatofibromas (24/24), …

Nrg Oncology And Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group Patterns Of Practice Survey And Consensus Recommendations On Pencil-Beam Scanning Proton Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy And Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy For Thoracic Malignancies, Wei Liu, Hongying Feng, Paige A Taylor, Minglei Kang, Jiajian Shen, Jatinder Saini, Jun Zhou, Huan B Giap, Nathan Y Yu, Terence S Sio, Pranshu Mohindra, Joe Y Chang, Jeffrey D Bradley, Ying Xiao, Charles B Simone, Liyong Lin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and hypofractionation using pencil-beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy (PBSPT) is an attractive option for thoracic malignancies. Combining the advantages of target coverage conformity and critical organ sparing from both PBSPT and SBRT, this new delivery technique has great potential to improve the therapeutic ratio, particularly for tumors near critical organs. Safe and effective implementation of PBSPT SBRT/hypofractionation to treat thoracic malignancies is more challenging than the conventionally fractionated PBSPT because of concerns of amplified uncertainties at the larger dose per fraction. The NRG Oncology and Particle Therapy Cooperative Group Thoracic Subcommittee surveyed proton centers in …

Specific Patterns Of Endogenous Functional Connectivity Are Associated With Harm Avoidance In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Merage Ghane, Lucas Trambaiolli, Michele A Bertocci, Freddyson J Martinez-Rivera, Henry W Chase, Tyler Brady, Alex Skeba, Simona Graur, Lisa Bonar, Satish Iyengar, Gregory J Quirk, Steven A Rasmussen, Suzanne N Haber, Mary L Phillips

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show persistent avoidance behaviors, often in the absence of actual threat. Quality-of-life costs and heterogeneity support the need for novel brain-behavior intervention targets. Informed by mechanistic and anatomical studies of persistent avoidance in rodents and nonhuman primates, our goal was to test whether connections within a hypothesized persistent avoidance-related network predicted OCD-related harm avoidance (HA), a trait measure of persistent avoidance. We hypothesized that 1) HA, not an OCD diagnosis, would be associated with altered endogenous connectivity in at least one connection in the network; 2) HA-specific findings would be robust to comorbid symptoms; …

Outcome Of Endoscopic Cartilage Tympanoplasty In Anteriorly Extended Tympanic Membrane Perforation, Ahmed Fadhil Hasan, Amjed Hayder Ali Altaee, Saif Mohammed Hussein

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: The study was conducted to assess hearing improvement and graft uptake rate in patients with an anteriorly extended tympanic membrane perforation who underwent endoscopic cartilage tympanoplasty. Aim: The study aims to assess the efficacy of endoscopic cartilage tympanoplasty in repairing an anteriorly extended tympanic membrane perforation. Methods: A total of 135 patients aged between 10 and 63 years with an anteriorly extended tympanic membrane perforation were included in this study. Patients with an active middle ear disease and ossicular abnormality were excluded. Pure-tone audiometry was performed preoperatively at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz, and the air-bone gap (ABG) …

Hypertensive Retinopathy As A Predictor Of Coronary Artery Disease In Elderly Hypertensive Patients With Angina Pectoris: A Comparative Study, Heba Abdulilah Ali Albayati, Firas Shanshal

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: In exploring novel avenues to assess cardiac health, this study investigates the potential of retinal vascular signs (RVS) as an effective tool for predicting coronary artery disease (CAD) in elderly hypertensive patients who present with angina pectoris. Considering the rising prevalence of cardiac disorders, there is an increasing interest in using noninvasive imaging modalities for early cardiovascular disease detection. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis to establish a direct correlation between retinal microvascular alterations and the development of heart disease in hypertensive patients. Methods: A total of 70 elderly hypertensive patients with acute angina underwent coronary angiograms and were …

Versatility Of Radial Artery Fascio-Cutaneous Free Flap For Head And Neck Reconstruction, Abdulrahman Miran, Rana Kamal Ibrahim

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: Reconstruction of the head and neck has made significant progress with the advent of microsurgery. The radial artery free flap is a workhorse flap in head and neck reconstruction due to its high-quality tissue that conforms to the complex and vital structures in this region. Aim: This study aims to assess the versatility and pliability of the radial artery free flap in the reconstruction of head and neck defects. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted over a six-year period (2017 to 2022) in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, at Maryamana and PAR private hospitals. Twelve …

Variations Of Inflammatory Markers Levels (Esr And Crp) In The Perioperative Period Of Total Knee Arthroplasty, Khalil Ibrahim Sadiq, Mohamedbakir Abbas Abdulzahra, Rafid Mousa Jaffar

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: The preferred method of treatment for severe osteoarthritis of the knee is total knee arthroplasty (TKA). TKA has been linked to a significant increase in inflammatory markers such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)—a test that measures how quickly red blood cells settle to the bottom of a test tube—and C-reactive protein (CRP)—a protein made by the liver that increases when there’s inflammation in the body. Aim: Assessment of the typical time trend and physiological kinetics of CRP and ESR during the early postoperative period over 4 weeks Methods: The study was conducted in the Basrah arthroplasty center, from June …

Insight On Colonoscopy Findings In Southern Iraq: Retrospective Study From A Tertiary Center, Zeinab Kamil Dhahi, Loma Ahmed Al Mansory

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: Colonoscopy is the most trusted diagnostic tool in the screening and diagnosis of colorectal cancer and other colorectal diseases. Aim: This study intends to present the results of colonoscopic procedures carried out in Center for Digestive and Liver Disease and Surgery in Basrah Methods: Retrospective evaluation of 698 consecutive subjects who underwent screening or diagnostic colonoscopy at Basra Center for Liver Disease and Digestive System between 2014 and February 2020 was conducted. The primary outcome measure was the rate of adenoma detection, calculated alternately as the total number of detected neoplastic lesions divided by the number of subjects screened …

Comparative Analyses Of Immune Marker Levels In Seronegative And Seropositive Iraqi Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Ahmed Aledany, Eman Tariq Ali Altaee, Ali Nazar Mohammed, Falah Hassan Shari Alsukainy

Iraqi National Journal of Medicine

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) comprises an inflammation-based condition with a clinical phenotype that is mainly reliant on the occurrence of rheumatoid factor and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. Literature indicates that seronegativity might be accompanied by higher severity of clinical symptoms, while higher disease activity, based on the recent classification criteria should also be associated with seronegativity. Aim: This investigation targets the identification of more efficient immune markers of RA seropositivity as well as examining the possibility that the latter is associated with lower severity. Methods: Serum samples from 128 RA patients, 106 seropositive and 22 seronegative, were analyzed using ELISA to …

That Is Just Scratching The Surface, Abdullah Niazi

Faculty Research - Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The Cabinet Committee on Implementation that was the precursor for the CCIR held 37 meetings from 23rd July, 2019 to 9th July, 2020. The purpose of this compilation is to Capture institutional memory in a systematic and coherent manner, to have readily available reference material and a guideline for follow up.

Brain-Age Prediction: Systematic Evaluation Of Site Effects, And Sample Age Range And Size, Yuetong Yu, Hao-Qi Cui, Shalaila S Haas, Faye New, Nicole Sanford, Kevin Yu, Denghuang Zhan, Guoyuan Yang, Jia-Hong Gao, Dongtao Wei, Jiang Qiu, Nerisa Banaj, Dorret I Boomsma, Alan Breier, Henry Brodaty, Randy L Buckner, Jan K Buitelaar, Dara M Cannon, Xavier Caseras, Vincent P Clark, Patricia J Conrod, Fabrice Crivello, Eveline A Crone, Udo Dannlowski, Christopher G Davey, Lieuwe De Haan, Greig I De Zubicaray, Annabella Di Giorgio, Lukas Fisch, Simon E Fisher, Barbara Franke, David C Glahn, Dominik Grotegerd, Oliver Gruber, Raquel E Gur, Ruben C Gur, Tim Hahn, Ben J Harrison, Sean Hatton, Ian B Hickie, Hilleke E Hulshoff Pol, Alec J Jamieson, Terry L Jernigan, Jiyang Jiang, Andrew J Kalnin, Sim Kang, Nicole A Kochan, Anna Kraus, Jim Lagopoulos, Luisa Lazaro, Brenna C Mcdonald, Colm Mcdonald, Katie L Mcmahon, Benson Mwangi, Fabrizio Piras, Raul Rodriguez-Cruces, Jessica Royer, Perminder S Sachdev, Theodore D Satterthwaite, Andrew J Saykin, Gunter Schumann, Pierluigi Sevaggi, Jordan W Smoller, Jair C Soares, Gianfranco Spalletta, Christian K Tamnes, Julian N Trollor, Dennis Van't Ent, Daniela Vecchio, Henrik Walter, Yang Wang, Bernd Weber, Wei Wen, Lara M Wierenga, Steven C R Williams, Mon-Ju Wu, Giovana B Zunta-Soares, Boris Bernhardt, Paul Thompson, Sophia Frangou, Ruiyang Ge, Enigma‐Lifespan Working Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Structural neuroimaging data have been used to compute an estimate of the biological age of the brain (brain‐age) which has been associated with other biologically and behaviorally meaningful measures of brain development and aging. The ongoing research interest in brain‐age has highlighted the need for robust and publicly available brain‐age models pre‐trained on data from large samples of healthy individuals. To address this need we have previously released a developmental brain‐age model. Here we expand this work to develop, empirically validate, and disseminate a pre‐trained brain‐age model to cover most of the human lifespan. To achieve this, we selected the …

Bayesian Varying-Effects Vector Autoregressive Models For Inference Of Brain Connectivity Networks And Covariate Effects In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Yangfan Ren, Nathan Osborne, Christine B Peterson, Dana M Demaster, Linda Ewing-Cobbs, Marina Vannucci

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this article, we develop an analytical approach for estimating brain connectivity networks that accounts for subject heterogeneity. More specifically, we consider a novel extension of a multi-subject Bayesian vector autoregressive model that estimates group-specific directed brain connectivity networks and accounts for the effects of covariates on the network edges. We adopt a flexible approach, allowing for (possibly) nonlinear effects of the covariates on edge strength via a novel Bayesian nonparametric prior that employs a weighted mixture of Gaussian processes. For posterior inference, we achieve computational scalability by implementing a variational Bayes scheme. Our approach enables simultaneous estimation of group-specific …

Clinical And Genomic Landscape Of Ras Mutations In Gynecologic Cancers, Ji Son, Yingao Zhang, Heather Lin, Oriol Mirallas, Pablo Alvarez Ballesteros, Mirella Nardo, Natalie Clark, R Tyler Hillman, Erick Campbell, Vijaykumar Holla, Amber M Johnson, Amadeo B Biter, Ying Yuan, Lauren P Cobb, David M Gershenson, Amir A Jazaeri, Karen H Lu, Pamela T Soliman, Shannon N Westin, Elizabeth D Euscher, Barrett C Lawson, Richard K Yang, Funda Meric-Bernstam, David S Hong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: We aimed to describe RAS mutations in gynecologic cancers as they relate to clinicopathologic and genomic features, survival, and therapeutic implications.

Experimental design: Gynecologic cancers with available somatic molecular profiling data at our institution between February 2010 and August 2022 were included and grouped by RAS mutation status. Overall survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariable analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazard model.

Results: Of 3,328 gynecologic cancers, 523 (15.7%) showed any RAS mutation. Patients with RAS-mutated tumors were younger (57 vs. 60 years nonmutated), had a higher prevalence of endometriosis (27.3% vs. 16.9%), and …

Intratumoral Microbiome Of Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas And Comparison With Other Head And Neck Cancers, Tatiana V Karpinets, Yoshitsugu Mitani, Chia-Chi Chang, Xiaogang Wu, Xingzhi Song, Ivonne I Flores, Lauren K Mcdaniel, Yasmine M Hoballah, Fabiana J Veguilla, Renata Ferrarotto, Lauren E Colbert, Nadim J Ajami, Robert R Jenq, Jianhua Zhang, Andrew P Futreal, Adel K El-Naggar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, usually slow-growing yet aggressive head and neck malignancy. Despite its clinical significance, our understanding of the cellular evolution and microenvironment in ACC remains limited. We investigated the intratumoral microbiomes of 50 ACC tumor tissues and 33 adjacent normal tissues using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. This allowed us to characterize the bacterial communities within the ACC and explore potential associations between the bacterial community structure, patient clinical characteristics, and tumor molecular features obtained through RNA sequencing. The bacterial composition in the ACC was significantly different from that in adjacent normal salivary tissue, and the …

Author Correction: Brafv600e-Mutant Metastatic Nsclc: Disease Overview And Treatment Landscape, David Planchard, Rachel E Sanborn, Marcelo V Negrao, Aria Vaishnavi, Egbert F Smit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Establishing Updated Safety Standards For Independent (99)(M)Tc-Maa Spect/Ct Treatment Planning In Radioembolization, Taehyung Kim, Ripal Gandhi, Ranjini Tolakanahalli, Raul Herrera, Michael Chuong, Alonso Gutierrez, Diane Alvarez

All Publications

Purpose: Significant improvements within radioembolization imaging and dosimetry permit the development of an accurate and personalized pretreatment plan using technetium 99m-labeled macroaggregated albumin (99mTc-MAA) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) combined with anatomical CT (SPECT/CT). Despite these potential advantages, the clinical transition to pretreatment protocols with SPECT/CT is hindered by their unknown safety constraints. This study aimed to address this issue by establishing novel dose limits for 99mTc-MAA SPECT/CT to enable quantitative pretreatment planning.

Methods and materials: Stratification criteria to determine images most viable for dosimetry analysis were created from a cohort of 85 patients. SPECT/CT, cone beam CT, and …

Examining The Effects Of An Isbarr Educational Intervention On Self-Efficacy Of Senior-Level Nursing Students Within A Transition To Practice Course: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Stacy Nicole Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an introduction, situation, background, assessment, requests/recommendations, and repeatback/readback (ISBARR) educational intervention on self-efficacy of senior-level nursing students' within a Transition to Practice course at one Christian university in the southeast United States. The theoretical framework utilized in this study was Bandura's theory of self-efficacy. This study was a quasi-experimental design with a control and intervention group. The control group was in the Fall 2023 semester, and the intervention group was in the Spring 2024 semester. Each participant completed a pre-test and post-test, which was the New Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. …

Culturally Relevant Music Remedies For At-Risk Students, José Valentino Ruiz-Resto, Chris Shelton

Faculty Publications

This article presents a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the impact of social media on mental health. With the rapid growth and widespread adoption of social media platforms, concerns regarding their potential influence on individuals' psychological well-being have emerged. Drawing from a diverse range of studies, this review explores the various dimensions through which social media can affect mental health, including self-esteem, body image, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and addictive behaviors. The findings reveal both positive and negative outcomes, highlighting the complex relationship between social media use and mental health. Additionally, this article discusses the underlying mechanisms and potential …

The Patriarchal Framework Of Extreme Religious Cult Communities And The Post-Exit Affect On Families, Pamala M. Schievelbein

Masters Theses

The Lies We Keep is a screenplay about Pinnacle, a patriarchal cult community that employs mind control and narcotics to subjugate the women in the community. They follow a false religious doctrine and community framework that were created during the Victorian era when the Mormons migrated west and ended their culture of polygamy to avoid prosecution. This thesis brings to light the many facets of extreme religious cults and their daily lives within a controlling framework including specific gender roles, abuse, manipulation, and inequality. Government intervention and Freedom of Religion are also discussed in parallel to the Branch Davidians in …

A Lifestyle Who Is Christ: An Integrative Model Of Spiritual Formation, Katherine L. Pang

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The field of spiritual formation is replete with models, ways, and processes, including many that propose the integration of psychology and Christianity and have further examined the psychology of Paul. Yet, none emphasize the impact of neuroscience, our brain function, neurochemistry, and neurobiology integrated with the tools and techniques of psychological science facilitated by the Holy Spirit and scripture-based truths derived primarily from Pauline theology in the Christ-follower for growth in spiritual maturity. A model formulated from Pauline theology, psychology, and neuroscience, as such, is novel within the field of spiritual formation. Therefore, the claim stems from the need for …

Predicting Educator Perceptions Of Tennessee's Teacher Evaluation System: The Role Of Teacher Gender, Years Of Experience, And School Level Taught, Leonida T. Bell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, correlational study aims to determine if a predictive relationship exists between teacher perceptions of Tennessee's teacher evaluation and the linear combination of teacher gender, years of experience, and school-level taught (elementary, middle, high). Although teachers have recognized the current teacher evaluation system, many educators expressed concerns about it. This study is vital in determining teachers' perceptions of the evaluation system. Participants of this study included a sample of 108 certified elementary, middle, and high school teachers from one of the public school districts in southwestern Tennessee. Data were collected via an anonymous, self-paced online survey utilizing a modified …

Educating Nurses On The Components Of A Healthy Work Environment, Kathryn L. Scott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

It is essential to look at the entire picture to ensure patient care is offered in the highest quality manner possible. One must look at patient satisfaction, quality outcomes, and job satisfaction experienced by the nursing staff providing care to accomplish this goal. Research has shown that nurse burnout has increased exponentially as of late. Some blame the COVID-19 pandemic; others look at the generation of nurses graduating from nursing school and starting in the field, comparing the baby boomer nurse to the Gen Z nurse. Many factors are involved, and with the recent addition of paying particular attention to …

Becoming A Disciple-Making Disciple Through A Written Guided Plan In A Handbook, Benjamin T. Morrell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis addresses the lack of disciple-making at Richland Heights Baptist Church by implementing a disciple-making plan through a handbook. Churches needing revitalization often lack a disciple-making plan. Historically, Richland Heights had not implemented any New Testament training to develop disciple-makers. The project utilized triangulated methods consisting of a survey, questionnaire, interview, and observations. The observations took place during the implementation of opportunities before and after the sessions in the handbook. These incorporated the researcher's knowledge of the responses in the survey and questionnaire. By having a plan to make disciples with tools, training, and opportunities to implement the lessons …

Provider Implementation Of Probiotics As An Adjuvant Treatment Modality For Patients With Anxiety And Or Depression In A Primary Care Setting, Sarah Dedmon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The prevalence of anxiety and depression among Americans is growing rapidly. Patients are seeking out traditional treatments as offered by their primary care providers, but also frequently look toward integrative or complementary methods of managing their symptoms. The use of dietary supplements is at an all-time high, yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate these substances for potency and purity or evaluate them using quality standards as it does pharmaceuticals. Most providers lack education regarding the physiological interaction their patients may experience when using these substances and are naïve to their place in primary care medicine. The …

Social Skill Development In Teenagers With Autism Who Are Homeschooled In Rural Southwest: A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experience Of Caregivers, Sondra J. Bistline

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe the caregiver's lived experience of social skill development in their teenage or young adult students who have autism. Vygotsky's social constructivism theory frames the structure of social development within the student's family, community, and local culture. The central research question guiding this study was, what were the caregivers' lived experiences of social interactions with their homeschooled teenager or young adult diagnosed with autism? All participants were caregivers of teenage or young adult students diagnosed with autism who received all or part of their schooling through homeschooling, micro-schooling, or habilitation services …