Digital Commons Network^™

Retention And The Sophomore Slump: Understanding Whether Campus Residency Predicts Retention Of Sophomore College Students, Raglena Salmans

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Retention in higher education is an ongoing challenge in America. Traditional research claims a multitude of reasons for freshman college students to stop out, drop out, or transfer colleges. The term sophomore slump was created many years ago as an all-encompassing phrase for the large amount of students who do not return to campus for their sophomore year or end up leaving during the sophomore year. Institutions of higher education are on a continuous journey to retain students and to understand what the cause of students leaving their university is. Campus housing has morphed through the years to provide programming …

Second Thoughts On Fda's Covid-Era Mental Health App Policy, Michael Mattioli

Articles by Maurer Faculty

As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe in April 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made an unusual decision. The agency announced that it would relax its enforcement of compliance rules for “digital therapeutics”—smartphone apps designed to address mental health disorders. The measure was a response to widely reported upticks in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse brought on by the pandemic. As an added benefit, the agency explained, digital therapeutics could promote social distancing by removing patients’ need to visit health care providers.

This essay explores the possible lasting effects of the FDA’s temporary suspension …

Social Connectedness And Negative Affect Uniquely Explain Individual Differences In Response To Emotional Ambiguity, Maital Neta, Rebecca L. Brock

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Negativity bias is not only central to mood and anxiety disorders, but can powerfully impact our decision-making across domains (e.g., financial, medical, social). This project builds on previous work examining negativity bias using dual-valence ambiguity. Specifically, although some facial expressions have a relatively clear negative (angry) or positive valence (happy), surprised expressions are interpreted negatively by some and positively by others, providing insight into one’s valence bias. Here, we examine putative sources of variability that distinguish individuals with a more negative versus positive valence bias using structural equation modeling. Our model reveals that one’s propensity toward negativity (operationalized as temperamental …

Implementation Of Brain Breaks® In The Classroom And Its Effects On Attitudes Towards Physical Activity In A Chinese School Setting, Ke Zhou, Sensen He, Yanli Zhou, Biljana Popeska, Garry Kuan, Li Chen, Ming Kai Chin, Magdalena Mo Ching Mok, Christopher R. Edginton, Ian Culpan, J. Larry Durstine

Faculty Publications

This study aimed to examine the effects of three-months of classroom-based Brain Breaks Physical Activity Solution (Brain Breaks®) on attitudes toward physical activity levels of primary school children in Henan Province, China. The participants were 704 children enrolled in grades 3-5 who were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group participated in Brain Breaks® video intervention for 3-5 min daily, at low-to-moderate intensity for three consecutive months. The control group resumed their normal routine. The children’s attitudes in both groups towards physical activity (PA) were evaluated using the self-reported Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale …

Le Retour Au Bureau À La Suite De La Crise Sanitaire De La Covid-19 : Démarche Pour Une Transition Vers De Nouvelles Organisations Du Travail, Martin Chadoin, Bénédicte Calvet, Denys Denis, Élise Ledoux, Maud Gonella

Guides

No abstract provided.

Activism As A Coping Strategy Among Parents Of Children With Cancer, Alexandra Neenan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Childhood cancer is a lifelong, whole-family diagnosis. The coping strategies employed by parents of children with cancer have implications for the family system both during and after their diagnosed child’s treatment. The current study found that activism, or actions taken on behalf of the greater childhood cancer community by individual parents, is an activity that parents (N = 67) universally engaged in after their child was diagnosed with cancer. Consistent with study hypotheses, activism was positively associated with aspects of well-being such as hope and resilience, and it was also positively associated with an active coping style. Activism was …

Impacting Factors For Attention In Children Who Are Internationally Adopted, Alyssa Augustiniak

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Internationally adopted (IA) children often have attention deficits related to the unique experience they have with early-life stress. The current study focused on how elements of the care experienced by IA children related to attention deficits. Specifically, this study assessed how length of care and type of care related to attention. The study assessed attention using parent report questionnaires, the Colors Flanker Task, and event-related potentials (e.g., Error related negativity, N2). A post-hoc analysis of a pre-existing data set included 96 IA children ages 5-10. The main finding indicated that children cared for in foster care over time were rated …

Educators' Perceptions Of Using Twitter As A Professional Development Tool, Bradford Lusk

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Educator professional development has the power to affect day-to-day educational practice. Every school district wrestles with planning professional development for improving educators professionally to better student achievement. With the largest portion of the budget being spent on personnel, developing educators and staff professionally should be a school district’s main priority. Taking into consideration the nature of adult learners and changes in educational and technological resources, professional development is ripe for a change. The purpose of this case study was to explore educators’ perceptions of using Twitter to receive and engage in professional development over a five-week period. Interviews of the …

Assessment Planning By Speech Language Pathologists: Implicit Bias And Clinical Decision-Making, Melinda Yax

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The following thesis is comprised of three research articles focused on the topics of implicit bias, clinical-decision making, and cultural competency in the field of speech-language pathology. The first article is a reflection piece in which I thoughtfully lay out my journey towards cultural humility in addressing my biases through different educational and personal experiences. The second article presents and discusses the results of the qualitative research I conducted on speech-language pathologists looking at the effect of implicit bias on clinical decisions. And finally, the third article discusses the importance of having cultural humility rather than cultural competency, specifically regarding …

The Influence Of Patient Age And Schizophrenia Diagnosis On Providers’ Decision-Making, Michael Vriesman

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Stigma is a complex issue that can significantly affect people with serious mental illness (SMI) and older adults due to their increased risk of cognitive deficits and somatic conditions. Both of these populations can experience stigma from healthcare providers, which may serve as a barrier to seeking and remaining in treatment, and contribute to inequality in the amount and quality of treatment these populations receive. The present study partially replicated previous research by assessing if healthcare providers have more stigmatizing attitudes and are less likely to provide referrals to patients with SMI compared to patient’s without SMI. This study also …

Mental Health Service Utilization, Knowledge, Stigma, And Protective Factors In A College Student Sample: The Influence Of Racial Categories And Student-Athlete Status, Jasmine M. Morigney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Students of color and student-athletes undergo unique stressors in college, such as discrimination and time constraints, that impact their mental health needs. They have shown more mental health stigma and less service utilization. This study explored these variables and groups using secondary data analyses from the 2019-2020 Healthy Minds Study (HMS). The current study hypothesized that utilization would be associated with stigma, knowledge, and resilience. Additionally, student-athletes and students of color would report less utilization and more stigma and resilience. Results indicated that students of color reported no difference in utilization and less stigma and resilience than White students. Student-athletes …

The Role Of Infant Sleep In The Relationship Between Cumulative Risk And Infant Social-Emotional Development, Michelle Lobermeier

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The current study aimed to understand the effect of cumulative risk on the social-emotional functioning of infants. Additionally, this study examined sleep as a potential protective factor, which may promote healthier social-emotional outcomes despite risk. A sample of 325 caregiver-infant dyads completed established developmental, behavioral, and caregiver questionnaires as well as PediaTrac^TM, an experimental tool to track infant and toddler development. More cumulative risk exposure was not associated with typical social-emotional development but was associated with more problem behaviors at 12 months and lower sleep efficiency at 9 and 12 months. Higher sleep efficiency was also associated with …

An Experimental Analysis Of The Classic Overjustification Effect In Rats: Does The Removal Of “Expected” Rewards Alter Behavior In Rats As It Does In Humans?, Eleah Sunde

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The overjustification effect posits that rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, such that an individual’s engagement in previously intrinsically motivating tasks will decrease when a previously reliable reward is withdrawn. This study aimed to determine if this overjustification effect can be demonstrated in rats, with typical confounds related to social and verbal aspects of reward delivery controlled for. Baseline “intrinsic” wheel-running rates of seven SpragueDawley rats were compared to rates that followed administration and withdrawal of a contingent sucrose reward, and to rates of rats in control conditions (n = 7). Consistent with the author’s hypothesis, the reward group’s wheel-running did not …

A Métis Wife's Tale: Race, Womanhood, And Adaptation To Settler Colonialism In The Diaries Of Mary Hobart Williams, Rachael Schnurr

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As the War of 1812 drew to a stalemate, the American government began the process of state formation in the "Old Northwest," which put political, economic, and cultural pressures on the indigenous population. Among the Anishinaabeg, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and other Native inhabitants, however, were fifty-three communities of mixed ancestry produced by the fur trade: the Great Lakes Metis. This project looks at the ways the Metis of Green Bay adapted to the pressures of settler colonialism through the nineteenth century. In particular, it uses the diaries of a French-Menominee woman named Mary Hobart Williams to identify examples of "survivance, "or …

Examining Psychological Distress In Parents Of Children With Food Allergies And Asthma During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kelsey L. Hill

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (U.S.) was anticipated to have a tremendous impact on mental health, leading to heightened anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The current study examined the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in parents of children with food allergies and asthma compared to parents of healthy children, examined associations between disease-specific measures and broad measures of anxiety, and explored moderating variables impacting the relationship between COVID-19-related stressors and psychological outcomes. A national sample of 265 parents completed an online survey between April and June 2020. Parents of children with food allergies and asthma experienced …

Handwashing And Beyond: An Autoethnographic Account Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Stigma Management, Nicholas J. Johnson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a stigmatized condition that affects the communicative process. Using Meisenbach’s theory of stigma management communication (SMC), this project demonstrates coping strategies for stigma related to OCD. Research is self-reported in autoethnographic form, where narratives are analyzed in Rambo’s layered account format. There are two results of note: SMC is a suitable framework for understanding OCD stigma, and SMC’s accepting strategies are more effective at managing OCD stigma when the behavior being stigmatized is readily associated with OCD. Furthermore, this thesis suggests autoethnography is an effective medium for showcasing OCD stigma, and also suggests more research on …

The Impact Of Faculty Feedback On Student Perceptions Of Faculty-Student Relationships, Lauren Trejo

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitive study examined four communication sciences and disorders (CSD) graduate students’ experiences with feedback from CSD faculty members to understand how it affected their relationships with faculty. Review of the literature revealed the importance and impact of feedback; however, it offered little research examining feedback within the field of CSD. Graduate students who completed their undergraduate degrees in CSD were interviewed to reflect on feedback experiences they received from faculty during their undergraduate and graduate education. The students were presented with two mock papers with differing feedback styles and were asked their reactions to the feedback. It was discovered …

The Role Of Premorbid Factors And Adverse Childhood Experiences In The Persistence Of Symptoms Post Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (Persistent Postconcussive Symptoms), Tiffany Andersen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Every year, more than 2.8 million individuals sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the U.S. At least 75% of these are designated as mild TBI (mTBI). While most are expected to spontaneously recover within days to weeks, a substantial minority continue to experience various somatic, cognitive, and affective symptoms for months/years postinjury. Several biopsychosocial factors (e.g., cognitive reserve, psychiatric illness) may influence the persistence of postconcussive symptoms (PPCS). Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) may be another psychosocial factor that influences PPCS, but few studies have assessed the relationship between ACEs and TBI. This study aimed to replicate previous findings and …

An Exploratory Scale Of Christian Privilege: The Development Of A Scale To Measure The Attitudinal Constituents Of Christian Privilege, Brier S. Gallihugh

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Research surrounding measures of privilege awareness commonly involve White privilege awareness. However, relatively few (i.e., Privilege and Oppression Inventory) look other forms of privilege (i.e., heterosexual, sexism, religion). As such, this study looked to create a more extensive scale that would assess Christian privilege awareness among Christian participants. Items were adapted from theoretically analogous White privilege scales in addition to literature on Christian privilege. Using a sample of 391 participants recruited from Facebook, Reddit, SONA and Twitter, an exploratory factor analysis was run on a 28-item scale. The analysis suggested that a final 21-item, two-factor solution was the best fit …

Assessing And Improving Knowledge Of Medical Decision-Making Capacity, Samantha J. Zohr

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Clinical judgments of capacity have implications for the rights of the individual being assessed. While supported decision-making is recommended, it is not clear whether laypeople have sufficient knowledge to advocate for maximizing the autonomy of the person they assist. This study developed and evaluated a brief, computer-based intervention to increase knowledge about decision-making capacity, using a Solomon four-group design. A convenience sample of 160 participants completed the study via an online survey platform. Knowledge was assessed with a test designed for this study. A 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA found no pre-test sensitization, F(1, 156) = 0.09, p = .77, …

Youth And Parent Health-Related Quality Of Life And Association With Glycemic Outcomes In Preadolescents And Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes, Joan P. Totka, Julia A. Snethen, Elizabeth D. Cox

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Introduction

We explored differences in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and the youth's glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) of preadolescent and adolescent youths with type 1 diabetes (T1D) by individual (age, sex, race) and family (socioeconomic status) factors, and associations between youths’ HRQOL, their parents’ HRQOL, and youth's A1c.

Method

Correlational secondary analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial testing a developmental intervention for youths with T1D and their parents from two diabetes clinics.

Results

Better adolescent HRQOL was associated with better glycemic control. Better preadolescent HRQOL was associated with better parent HRQOL. Non-White adolescents had worse HRQOL than White …

When Pandemics Collide: The Impact Of Covid-19 On Childhood Obesity, Nancy T. Browne, Julia A. Snethen, Cindy Smith Greenberg, Marilyn Frenn, Jill F. Kilanowsky, Bonnie Gance-Cleveland, Pamela J. Burke, Linda Lewandowski

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

• Children with obesity face increased biopsychosocial risks during COVID-19.

• Stress exacerbates inflammation and immune response in obesity and COVID-19.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly interrupted children's daily routines.

• The health effects of the obesogenic environment are exacerbated by COVID-19.

• Access to timely, comprehensive healthcare is critical during COVID-19.

Creating A 'Community Of Inquiry': A Framework For Optimizing The Virtual Education Experience, Betty Lee Ligon, Audrea Burns, Satid Thammasitboon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended.

Background: Medical educators must learn to implement technologic advances to create meaningful learning experiences, implementing media tools that are effective in meeting evolving academic needs and fostering interpersonal engagement. The increasing time constraints in a department of more than 1,600 faculty interspersed throughout a large metropolitan complex served as the catalyst for utilizing technology to create a framework for providing virtual faculty development.

Objective: To use a Community of Inquiry (CoI) as a framework to guide the development of an interactive, virtual writing retreat.

Methods: We used the three elements …

Individual Privacy Empowerment: Exploring The Trade-Offs Between Information Sensitivity And Compensation, Bright Frimpong, Jun Sun

Information Systems Faculty Publications

To provide personalized services and remain competitive, many online companies depend on individual disclosure of personal information. An emerging common theme, in the quest for privacy solutions, is the idea to empower individuals to control the management of their personal information. This study proposes a third-option design that seeks to empower users when signing up for an online service. We also measure individual privacy empowerment in a 2*2 experimental design study (reward/utility-limit mechanism to high/low sensitivity information context) using the proposed third-option design. Results from the multigroup analysis indicate that respondents prefer the reward mechanism over the utility-limit mechanism when …

Effects Of Sentiments On The Morphing Of Falsehoods And Correction Messages On Social Media, Kelvin K. King, Bin Wang, Diego Escobari

Information Systems Faculty Publications

The burgeoning literature on fake news reveals that the emotional context of the message is a major factor that drives its diffusion on social media. However, studies have largely missed a major aspect of the diffusion process, which is the morphing of the textual contents themselves during this process. Our study first visually illustrates through hazard functions that, while falsehoods morphs aggressively at the initial stages, correction messages morph more aggressively in the long run. In addition, we leverage on cosine distance and econometric modeling to empirically investigate how sentiment affects the morphing of fake news and their correction messages. …

Model-Based Clustering, Classification, And Discriminant Analysis Using The Generalized Hyperbolic Distribution: Mixghd R Package, Cristina Tortora, Ryan P. Browne, Aisha Elsherbiny, Brian C. Franczak, Paul D. Mcnicholas

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The MixGHD package for R performs model-based clustering, classification, and discriminant analysis using the generalized hyperbolic distribution (GHD). This approach is suitable for data that can be considered a realization of a (multivariate) continuous random variable. The GHD has the advantage of being flexible due to skewness, concentration, and index parameters; as such, clustering methods that use this distribution are capable of estimating clusters characterized by different shapes. The package provides five different models all based on the GHD, an efficient routine for discriminant analysis, and a function to measure cluster agreement. This paper is split into three parts: the …

Navigating Internalized Stigma And Identity Development In Bipolar Disorder I: A Grounded Theory Investigation., Kaylyn L. Watterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness stigma occurs at multiple levels in Western societies. Internalized stigma, the application of negative stereotypes and prejudice about mental illness to self-concept, has deleterious effects on mental health for adults living with a serious mental illness. Historically, research on stigma in serious mental illness has centered on schizophrenia. Recently, researchers and clinicians have drawn attention to bipolar disorder I, an affective disorder that creates disruptions in functioning and increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. Despite the growing literature establishing the relationship between recovery in serious mental illness and identity, little is known about how adults in long-term …

K-3 Teacher And Administrator Knowledge Of Dyslexia And Foundational Reading Skills, Pam Jean Krueger

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the scientific community has provided a great deal of knowledge about the brain and how we learn. Included in this research is a clear explanation of how people learn to read and also what happens in the brain of a person with dyslexia. Because of the great strides that have been made through research, most students can become successful readers, including those with dyslexia. A very large part of this success is the result of knowledgeable teachers using research-based reading instruction beginning in kindergarten. Dyslexia is a common language-based learning disability that affects students’ reading, writing, and …

Military Combat Veterans, Sentencing Reform, And Problem-Solving Courts, Andrea Sivanich

Theses and Dissertations

Military veterans involved with the criminal justice system may have unique behavioral health and physical needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI), and could benefit from sentence mitigation that emphasizes rehabilitation. This research is related to sentencing reform and how it may support problem-solving court sentencing, as a subset of community-based treatment options within the criminal justice system. This research is important in that it attempts to determine whether the law distinguishes veteran offenders, as a specific population, from other offenders with treatment needs. To do that, this dissertation examines the role of legal texts in …

Latinx Immigrant Health And Well-Being In The United States: Examining Legal Status As A Social Determinant Of Health, Ayli Carrero Pinedo

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Much of the body of research on Latinx immigrant health has focused on border states or coastal shoreline regions and less is known about the health experiences of Latinx immigrants in the Midwest. Objective: Using a social determinants of health framework, the first aim of the study was to examine a model of Latinx immigrant health and to determine whether the relations from acculturation and enculturation to subjective health and well-being are partially or fully mediated by perceived discrimination and acculturative stress. The second aim was to investigate if and how legal status moderates the relations within the retained …