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Leadership Strategies To Promote Employee Engagement In Therapeutic Agencies, Paris Sim'mone Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study investigates the persistent decline in employee engagement among behavioral health clinicians working within community-based therapeutic agencies, focusing specifically on Behavioral Health Organization A (BHOA). The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how leadership style, communication practices, and organizational structure affect clinician engagement at BHOA. Grounded in the Baldridge Performance Excellence Framework and supported by transformational leadership theory, the study examines how leadership behaviors and communication pipelines shape motivation, burnout, and workforce alignment. Semi-structured interviews with organizational leaders, secondary data, and internal documents were collected and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach. Themes revealed communication …

Incarceration’S Impact On Young Adults’ Psychological Development, Well-Being, And Reintegration Into Society, Monica Murrell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative phenomenological study explored how individuals who experienced incarceration during emerging adulthood understood and made meaning of their developmental, emotional, and psychosocial experiences. Emerging adulthood, defined as ages seventeen through twenty-five, is a critical developmental stage, and incarceration during this period may disrupt identity formation and emotional maturation. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives and coping mechanisms of individuals incarcerated during this stage to better understand how early adult imprisonment shapes trauma responses, identity development, and reintegration. Social learning theory served as the conceptual framework. Data was collected through interviews with six formerly incarcerated adults …

Cybersecurity In Higher Education Institutions: Awareness, Policy, And Experience On Employee Behaviour, Abdullahi Abiodun Yusuf, Adriana A. Steyn

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The digital transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs) has introduced unprecedented connectivity and operational efficiency, but it has also heightened their exposure to cyber threats. South African HEIs, in particular, face increasing vulnerability due to their reliance on technology, openness, and diverse user communities. This study examines the influence of the institutional cybersecurity environment on employee cybersecurity-compliant behaviour (CCB), emphasising the critical roles of awareness, policy engagement, and experience. Drawing on Protection Motivation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a conceptual model was developed to explore how cybersecurity awareness, policy familiarity, and prior experience shape employees’ attitudes, subjective norms, …

Challenges To Completion Of Workforce Adult Education Classes Among New Americans, Damon Grew Peter Syphers-Wilkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem which was addressed through this study was New American groups face challenges in the completion of workforce adult education classes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore New Americans’ challenges, needs, and cultural challenges to complete workforce adult education classes. The conceptual frameworks that guided this study were Knowles’ model of andragogy and Wlodkowski and Ginsberg’s motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching. Freire’s pedagogy of hope can inform future research focused on strengthening the model of andragogy and the motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching. For this phenomenological design, 10 semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with …

Equal Chances Or Fewer Victims? Moral Judgments In Autonomous Vehicle Dilemmas, Alexander Matros, Eren Bilen, Leonid Matros

Faculty Publications

We examine the moral dilemma of how autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be programmed to act in unavoidable crash scenarios involving trade-offs between saving one life and saving many. We report results from three experimental studies that investigate individuals’ preferences over alternative AV decision rules in stylized crash scenarios. Across designs, we find robust support for a probabilistic decision rule that assigns passengers and pedestrians equal ex ante chances of survival (a 50:50 rule). This preference persists across different framings and remains salient even when additional probabilistic options are introduced.

Oral Health Related Quality Of Life In A Group Of Egyptian Preschool Children With Early Childhood Caries: A Cross-Sectional Study, Sara Adel Botros, Sara Magdy, Asmaa Abou Bakr, Ola Abdel Geleel

Dentistry

No abstract provided.

Crow's Nest, February 9, 2026, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 9, 2026 issue of Crow's Nest.

The Racial Politics Of Early Dentistry And The Terrible “Toothache Blues”, Bronwen Mcveigh Phd

Journal of the American College of Dentists

In interwar America, the relatively young profession of dentistry was developing rapidly. As the government, health institutions, and social organizers focused more intently on notions of national wellness, questions about how to achieve a healthy smile—and what a healthy smile should look like—proliferated. Groups like the National Dental Association worked to establish rigorous standards of technique, define ethical behavior, and encourage dentists to develop business acumen, yet the surprising proliferation of blues songs about dubious dentists tricking unassuming clients, or about fraught love affairs allegorized by disastrous dental exams, highlights the equivocal nature of many developments in early dentistry.

This …

The Dental Phantom As A Tool For Exploring Fear, The Face, And Dental Education, Christine Slobogin Phd

Journal of the American College of Dentists

Dental phantoms have been used in dental education since the late nineteenth century. These pedagogical objects – particularly those from the first half of the twentieth century – have today enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the art and film worlds. After first outlining the history and pedagogical purposes of the dental phantom, this article examines what the artistic and filmic attractions to the aesthetics of these objects can tell us about fear, the mouth and the face, and dental education. How and why can a dental teaching tool be scary? Arriving at some answers to this question – reached …

A Dental Clinical Humanities Program At Uthealth Houston School Of Dentistry: The First Ten Years And Future Directions, Angela P. Gomez Edd, Mba, Ms, Deborah R. Franklin Dds, Lpc, Ctts, Nathan Carlin Phd, Joelle Robertson-Preidler Phd, Hec-C

Journal of the American College of Dentists

The Dental Clinical Humanities Certificate Program was implemented 10 years ago at the UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry to expose dental students to dental humanities content and engage them in educational experiences exploring oral health care through humanities lenses, providing insight into the human condition and patient-centered approaches. With more than 30 students having graduated from the program, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the exit surveys previously distributed at the end of each academic year. The exit survey focused on their general program feedback, including the effects of dental humanities as an academic enterprise, cultivating their self-knowledge and serving …

The Rider (2026-02-09), Daniela Chapa-Reyes

The Rider Archives

Vol. 11, No. 18

How Principals Who Use Artificial Intelligence For Innovation Create Cognitive Equity While Principals Who Use Ai For Efficiency Create Cognitive Debt, Jethro Jones

Dissertations

This dissertation in practice examined whether a targeted professional learning   intervention could shift school leaders’ use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) from efficiency-oriented tasks toward innovation-oriented strategic problem solving. AI is typically adopted to accelerate existing routines, which can deepen “cognitive debt” by reinforcing ineffective practices rather than improving systems. This study advanced a “cognitive equity” frame, positioning AI as a tool that can expand principals’ cognitive capacity to address complex problems and lead adaptive change. Using a quasi-experimental, single-group design, the study evaluated a free, full-day AI for Innovation workshop, which emphasized foundational understanding of how AI tools work …

Information Distortion As A Source Of Overconfidence In Managerial Decisions, Peter Boyle, Pete Nye

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Managers confronting important strategic decisions often receive diagnostic information sequentially over time. As new information becomes available, they may need to update their understanding of the situation and possibly revise their preferences. During a decision, as a preference develops for one alternative course of action, a nonconscious goal of maintaining consistency between that preference, however tentative, and the new information can lead to an interpretation of that information so as to support the current preference. This tendency to bias or distort information to support the currently preferred option can in turn lead to even greater confidence in that leading option, …

Introducing Safe-Ai: A Behavioral Framework For Managing Ethical Dilemmas In Ai-Driven Human Resource Practices, Rob E. Carpenter, Debaro Huyler, Sanket Patole, Rochell Mcwhorter

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Organizations increasingly deploy artificial intelligence (AI) in human resource (HR) decision processes to improve efficiency and strategic execution, yet ethical failures persist when principles remain decoupled from everyday workflow enactment. This paper addresses AI-ethics in HR practice by advancing a behavior-first premise: AI-ethics becomes durable organizational practice only when ethical intent is translated into observable routines and cues that employees can interpret as legitimate and consistently enforced. We introduce the Socially Aware Framework for Ethical AI (SAFE-AI), which integrates normative ethical reasoning (consequentialist and deontological logics), social information processing, and socially informed heuristics as a practical translation layer for HR …

The Mouth As A Mirror: A Parent- Hygienist’S Ethical Reflections On Oral Healthcare And Pompe Disease, Anika Atkins Ma, Rdh

Journal of the American College of Dentists

This reflective narrative explores the ethical tensions and emotional realities of a dental hygienist who is also the parent of a child with Pompe disease. Drawing from personal experience and care ethics philosophy, the author examines how traditional clinical frameworks—centered on autonomy, beneficence, and protocol— often fall short when addressing the needs of medically fragile children. The piece weaves in the work of care ethicists and pastoral ministry to embrace the philosophy of caregiving as presence, to suggest that oral healthcare must evolve to include responsiveness, context, and relationship-based decision-making. Through the dual lens of provider and parent, the narrative …

Restoring Trust: A Fair Chance At A Bright Smile And The Human Side Of School-Based Dentistry, Rubin Sorrell Ii, Mph, Dds

Journal of the American College of Dentists

The Fair Chance at a Bright Smile (FCAABS) program represents a humanistic, community- centered approach to dentistry that redefines access, education, and dignity in oral health. Developed and refined through a year-long pilot partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, FCAABS integrates preventive dental care, oral health education, and career exposure for students from pre-kindergarten through high school. This manuscript argues that beyond clinical outcomes, FCAABS reveals a deeper truth: oral health is intrinsically social, emotional, and moral. It examines the program through the lens of the humanities and ethics, exploring how narrative, empathy, and cultural context inform both …

Explore Uncharted Ideas With Tedx University Of Mississippi, Staff Report

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – With topics ranging from groundbreaking science to frontier education, TEDx University of Mississippi invites the community to "Uncharted," a TED-licensed event with seven thought-provoking speakers set for 7 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Hampton’S Legacies Across Black And Indigenous Education: Subhumanity, Genocide And Self-Determination Of The Past And Present, Arcasia D. James-Gallaway, M. Nathan Tanner, Francena F.L. Turner

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

How are Black and Indigenous education in the US related? How are antiBlackness and settler colonialism interconnected? This essay addresses these questions, reexamining the history of one of the only US schools to educate both groups: Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. To explore the contemporary legacies of Hampton, we bring together a race-centered historical methodology and Black and Indigenous studies perspectives. We argue that three enduring legacies – subhumanity, genocide and self-determination – with roots in the school itself frame the present, collective struggle for Black and Indigenous justice in education. This focus provides both historical and current insights with …

Early Learning Across Decades: Advances In Measuring Head Start Effectiveness, Chloe R. Gibbs

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Head Start program, launched in 1965 and targeted to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, remains the largest early childhood care and education (ECE) program in the United States and the only one deployed at the federal level. As such, the Head Start literature spans several decades and now allows for synthesis of findings from different contexts, time periods, and research designs. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the rigorous evidence measuring Head Start’s effects on children, their families, and society. The focus is on how (1) the contrast between program and counterfactual conditions, (2) takeup of the program among …

Clinical Practice Guideline For Structured Communication In A Pediatric Outpatient Psychiatry, Stella Uzoamaka Ihesiaba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This doctoral project focused on developing and evaluating a clinical practice guideline (CPG) to address the lack of standardized interdisciplinary communication between psychologists and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) in a pediatric outpatient psychiatric setting. Inconsistent communication practices, including informal conversations, delayed documentation, and unstructured messaging, contributed to fragmented care and inefficient treatment coordination. To address this gap, an evidence-based, structured communication framework was developed to guide interdisciplinary collaboration. The guideline was developed using the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice model and supported by a review of 14 evidence sources spanning Levels I to V of the literature. A four-member …

The Perspective Of Rural Secondary Vocational Education Instructors On Employability Skills, Unqualified Advancement, And Expulsion To Reduce Delinquency And Justice System Contact, Stacy Lynn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In this study, the problem in Tennessee and across the United States where the skills of employability, which are used in the reduction of recidivism, are not being emphasized at the secondary level to prevent delinquency and initial justice system contact was highlighted. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspective of rural secondary vocational educators on student unqualified advancement, expulsion, and program employability skills of students participating in vocational education, referencing the reduction of delinquency and justice system contact. Bandura’s social learning theory and subsequent social cognitive theory were the theoretical frameworks for thematic analysis using interpretative …

Citizen Perceptions Of Law Enforcement Use Of Facial Recognition Technology, Helena Raye Weiskittel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in criminal investigations is potentially controversial in terms of privacy rights. This study involved examining public perceptions regarding police officers’ use of FRT in criminal investigations. A qualitative research method and descriptive design were used to explore participants’ perceptions of FRT. The procedural justice theory and a pragmatic paradigm guided this general qualitative research. The target population for the study was 10 participants from the United States. Results of this study showed privacy concerns involved a lack of public anonymity and the risk of data breaches due to facial recognition. This shows use of …

Staff Education To Improve Accuracy And Consistency Of Depression Assessment Through Structured Education On The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Janenita D. Chukwu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Inaccurate and inconsistent administration and interpretation of standardized depression screening instruments can destabilize clinical accuracy and patient safety. Despite routine administration of the ZSDS during nursing intake, informal observation and documentation review indicated a gap in nurses' understanding of how to compute raw scores, convert them to index scores, and define the severity levels. The aim of the project was to determine whether a structured staff education intervention would enhance nurses' knowledge of ZSDS administration, scoring, and interpretation. Informed by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice model, an educational intervention based on existing evidence on the accuracy and implementation fidelity of …

Mmu: 02/09/26-02/15/26, Student Bar Association

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Staff Education Project On Enhancing Provider Knowledge And Confidence In Adolescent Depression Assessment Using The Phq-9 Tool, Beatrice Ogoh Stephens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescent depression is a developing public health issue, especially in underprivileged areas where delayed diagnosis and treatment are caused by uneven screening procedures and inadequate provider training. By increasing provider and staff knowledge, confidence, and use of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for systematic teen depression screening, this staff education project filled a practice gap in a primary care clinic. Fifteen clinic staff members who provide adolescent care participated in a four-hour evidence-based educational intervention that was guided by the ADDIE instructional design approach. Fifteen clinic staff members who provide adolescent care participated in a four-hour evidence-based educational intervention that …

Emotion Regulation And Stress In Adult Learning Through Social Media Platforms, Jennifer Irocky

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social media platforms have become significant contexts for informal learning among adults, offering access to information and peer exchange outside of formal educational settings. These platforms are also emotionally complex environments in which stress and emotion regulation may shape learning outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to examine the relationship between social media use and informal learning in adults, with perceived stress and emotion regulation examined as moderating variables. Secondary data from the Stress in America: The State of Our Nation, 2007–2018 surveys were analyzed, using binary logistic regression with moderation while controlling for age, gender, and …

Enhancing Provider Understanding Of Antidepressant Side Effects Through An Evidence-Based Educational Initiative, Karrylee Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this doctoral project was to implement a quality improvement educational initiative to strengthen provider understanding of antidepressant side effects in an outpatient behavioral health setting. The project was conducted to address gaps in staff knowledge related to identifying and managing antidepressant adverse effects, which are essential skills for safe medication practices in mental health care. Addressing this gap was significant because unrecognized antidepressant side effects can contribute to poor adherence, worsening symptoms, preventable complications, and negative patient outcomes. The results of the project demonstrated meaningful improvements in provider knowledge. Six staff members completed pre- and posttest assessments. …

J Am Coll Dent 2026 92 2a

Journal of the American College of Dentists

This special issue of the Journal of the American College of Dentists responds to a growing but long-underrecognized demand for humanities and ethics in dental education, practice, and scholarship. It emerges from the work of the National Collaborative on Humanities and Ethics in Dentistry (NCHED), a multi-institutional partnership formed in 2023 to address the persistent exclusion of dentistry from broader health humanities conversations. Through national webinars and scholarly collaboration, NCHED has demonstrated substantial interest in ethical reflection, historical analysis, narrative inquiry, and the arts as essential to understanding oral health and dental care. The unexpectedly strong response to the call …

Integrating Music Therapy Into Dental Clinics For Whole Person Care, Dana Osterling Benoit Mba, Mt-Bc, Nisreen Al Jallad Dds, Ms2, Shasha Cui Ed.D. Mba, Mandy Fraser, Gaelen Mccormick Mm1, Rosemary Oliva Obi Ms, Lcat, Mtbc1, Adela Planerova Dds, Ms2, Madeline Vinolus Mt-Bc1, Angela Valeria Perez Pita Dds, Ms2

Journal of the American College of Dentists

This case study describes the integration of a board-certified music therapist into two specialty dental clinics at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Eastman Institute for Oral Health. Initiated in collaboration with the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine Center, the effort reflects a humanistic and biopsychosocial approach to dentistry that leverages music therapy to reduce anxiety, improve patient experience, and support better clinical outcomes.

Before implementation, monthly interdisciplinary planning meetings were held, bringing together dental faculty, research and administrative staff, and the music therapy team. These meetings built a shared understanding of each clinic’s unique patient population, workflow, and clinical priorities, …

Video-Based, Small Group, Synchronous Discussions (Vssd), Jeff Renfrow

Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

The VSSD is a research-supported online discussion model that can produce significant increases in student perceptions of social presence, learning, and satisfaction as compared to the traditional text-based, asynchronous, whole-group discussion model. In the VSSD, students lead the discussion experience by scheduling a synchronous, remote video meeting with their small group, they engage in the discussion topic for 30 to 45 minutes, then individually record a privte reflection video that is submitted to the instructor for evaluation and feedback.