Digital Commons Network^™

Surviving A Divorce With An Intact Faith: A Strategy For Ministering To Those Experiencing Divorce In The Church, Brandon Paul Wells

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Effectively ministering to divorcees is a unique aspect of church leadership. The majority of church leaders have never experienced divorce, so the unique problems that divorce presents are not familiar to them. The purpose of this D. Min Thesis Project is to investigate those problems and develop strategies that will allow church leaders to minister to divorcees effectively. This will be accomplished using questionnaires and interviews where difficult questions are asked to divorcees, and honest answers are revealed. Church leaders will also be interviewed about their positions on divorce and their responses compared to those given by divorcees in order …

Preaching And Teaching: An Integrative Evaluative Approach To Christian Practices At Fil-Am Sda Church, Ernst Jacques

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In this thesis, biblical expository preaching is defined as the exegetical method that brings out the theological nuances of a narrative biblical passage in relation to content and context. Biblical expository preaching in the USA is facing a significant theological challenge as churches are becoming culturally diverse. Research has shown that theological understanding plays a great role in Christian spiritual formation; it has also shown that believers are generally more receptive to sermons that are contextualized. This thesis project aims to determine how biblical expository preaching can make sense to believers and spur them on to spiritual maturity in a …

Biblical Warrior Integration Connecting Veterans And Civilians In Oakland Baptist Church, Alva Ray Bennett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As a small, less than a 150-member church, located close to Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, Oakland Baptist Church struggles to fully integrate veterans and civilians within the congregational setting. The author studied biblical postwar rituals and used them to design the Biblical Warrior Integration model to enhance the relational connectivity between veterans and civilians. It was congregation-based and relationship-focused. It helped to heal misunderstandings and neglect between veterans and civilians. Also, it was biblically based and reflected a modern application of biblical postwar rituals identified within the biblical text. Thirty of the 150 members of Oakland Baptist Church …

The Relationship Between Sense Of Community And Self-Efficacy Among Senior Citizen Students, Matthew Joseph Pranger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Older adult students are at risk academically. The senior citizen population and average life expectancy are increasing globally, which results in an increased number of adults returning to school later in life. Sense of community is related to academic engagement, achievement, interactivity, and retention. Self-efficacy is related to motivation, learning, and academic performance. One gap in the literature is the relationship between sense of community and self-efficacy for senior citizen students. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study is to determine if there is a relationship between sense of community and self-efficacy among senior citizens recently enrolled in a college-level …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Resilience And Success Of African-American Pastors Serving In The Church Of God In Christ, Terence O. Hayes Sr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The content of this manuscript is research investigated for the resilience and success of pastors in the Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal denomination that has over six million members, to include over three-thousand pastors. The research is a phenomenological study designed to provide a narrative, interview of the participants to share their background, role, and day-to-day practices of the work of ministry as a senior pastor in this organization. The research will consist of seven to ten pastors selected from across the country, all African-American males, age groups ranging from 42 years to 72 years of age. The …

Should College Instructors Reveal Their High Functioning Autism In The Classroom?, Gundars Kaupins, Tim Chenoweth, Felice Klein

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

College instructors with highly functional autism, also known as Asperger’s, can have difficulty interacting with students. To mitigate the potentially reduced teaching ratings, college instructors must decide whether to reveal their condition to the students. Using a survey of 393 university business students, we address if college instructors who reveal that they have Asperger’s at the beginning of instruction influence students’ ratings. We find that students’ ratings were higher when college instructors reveal that they have Asperger’s. However, this effect only pertains to male students. Our findings suggest that instructors with Asperger’s should reveal their condition to students.

Maximizing Data Quality And Shortening Survey Time: Three-Form Planned Missing Data Survey Design, E. Whitney G. Moore, Kyle M. Lang, Elizabeth M. Grandfield

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

Simulation studies have shown the three-form planned missing data design efficiently collects high quality data while reducing participant burden. This methodology is rarely used in sport and exercise psychology. Therefore, we conducted a re-sampling study with existing sport and exercise psychology survey data to test how three-form planned missing data survey design implemented with different item distribution approaches effect constructs’ internal measurement structure and validity. Results supported the efficacy of the three-form planned missing data survey design for cross-sectional data collection. Sample sizes of at least 300 (i.e., 100 per form) are recommended for having unbiased parameter estimates. It is …

Veterans As Emerging Entrepreneurs – November 2020, Marilyn Young

Hibbs Newsletter

On this Veterans Day, while we thank those who have served our country, I am happy to present the results of the 2020 Veteran Entrepreneurship Survey. Veterans and veteran-owned businesses are important factors in the economic development in our 23-county East Texas region. This region has a veteran population of 96,232,1 which is 11.1% of this region’s population (age 18 and over). The number of veteran owned businesses in this region is 9,060, which represents 10.5% of the region's total firms (86,673).

One Interpretation Of The Current Pandemic Emphasizing Political Economy And Culture: Pandemic! Covid-19 Shakes The World, Edward Sandowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

Slavoj Žižek’s “little book” (85) on the current global pandemic and its ramifications has been written and published very rapidly. Nonetheless, this is not a rush job by a notably prolific author. The book is an achievement well worth respect and detailed attention. It is part of the vast and increasingly manifold set of commentaries on the pandemic and its political economic and cultural implications. Žižek has produced a book linked in its origins with an early time in the pandemic. We can anticipate a much lengthier and as yet unpredictable unfolding of historical changes arising from the pandemic. Žižek …

Pfsa Newsletter, Volume 08, Holiday Wishes, November 2020, Pfsa

Newsletters

How quickly the year has gone by! As we prepare to celebrate the holidays in this new normal, please remember to make choices that will keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy. We are all in this together. The PFSA is also aware that during this time it can be especially difficult for those of us who may not have a family to go home to, so be kind to yourself and consider hosting a zoom celebration so that you can stay connected to your chosen family and friends. Human connection, especially for the LGBTQ+ community, is critical …

Scholar-Practitioners Of Color Challenge Normative Stem-M Practices Through Cultural Intuition And Student Narratives/Voices, Maria Reyes, Janet Rocha, Tamara Coronella, Lindsay Romasanta

Global Diversity and Inclusion Publications and Presentations

This symposium features four scholar-practitioners of color working across the STEM-Medicine (STEM-M) pipeline who are actively engaging their cultural intuition (Delgado Bernal, 1998) to create access to higher education by challenging dominant pathways, practices, and cultures related to college readiness/preparedness, success, persistence, and the workforce transition.

Session Objectives

• Challenge systemic barriers in diverse educational settings, such as deficit-frameworks and their associated normative practices
• Promote asset-based approaches and frameworks to achieve better equity, access, and opportunity for students of color in STEM-M pathways in K-16 settings
• Facilitate discussion with the audience on how they can replicate a similar approach of change …

“What Shall I Give My Children?”: Installment Land Contracts, Homeownership, And The Unexamined Costs Of The American Dream, Caelin Moriarity Miltko

University of Chicago Law Review

Gwendolyn Brooks’s “The Children of the Poor" is a meditation on parenthood in times of hardship, with a particular focus on the impact of poverty and social injustice. The title of this Comment comes from the second sonnet of Brooks’s tripartite poem: “What shall I give my children? who are poor,/ Who are adjudged the leastwise of the land.” In the poem, Brooks asks an immediate question: How will she respond to her children’s requests right now for material goods and acceptance that she cannot give them? Unable to fulfill those needs, the mother in the poem instructs her children …

Ag-Gag Laws, Animal Rights Activism, And The Constitution: What Is Protected Speech?, Jodi Lazare

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article examines the constitutionality of ag-gag legislation that has recently been adopted by two Canadian provinces and is on the horizon in others. Ag-gag legislation prohibits activities such as trespass onto agricultural animal operations, gaining entry onto agriculture operations using false pretences, and interfering with the transport of farmed animals to slaughter. The analysis draws on case law and literature interpreting section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and engages with scholarship related to animal rights activism, American ag-gag legislation, and feminist animal studies to argue that ag-gag laws violate the fundamental freedoms protected by the …

Social Support During Covid-19 Social Distancing, Josiah P. Stryd

Honors Projects

This pilot study measured emotional affect, social support, and use of digital communication technologies during the early 2020 COVID-19 stay at home order in Michigan among 65 Grand Valley State University Alumni Association members. The study used an online survey and was designed to examine the relationship between digital communication and social support during physical social distancing, and how this impacted emotional affect. Overall, the pilot study found largely unchanged reported emotional affect and social support before and during the stay at home order. A future study with larger sample size would aim to find if these results are replicated …

Investor Behavior In The Midst Of A Global Pandemic, Abigail N. Bates

Honors Projects

Investors partaking in portfolio and asset management through the stock market and other avenues do so with certain reasoning and methods in hand. Each investor may have different interests and risk tolerances that guide their choices for investment. Behavioral finance allows for an in-depth look at an investor’s actions and the influencing psychology behind it. Before this approach was popularized, early studies of finance assumed that investors were always rational in their decision making and put resources only into opportunities that would increase their utility or happiness. The behavioral finance approach takes a more comprehensive look at these behaviors and …

Understanding And Motivating Salesperson Resilience, Valerie Good, Douglas E. Hughes, Alexander C. Labrecque

Peer Reviewed Articles

Prior research has shown that approximately half of salespeople fail to achieve their targets each year. Not only is the role difficult but also sales jobs are often marked by high levels of stress, rejection, and burnout. Thus, salesperson resilience is critical. However, a gap remains in our understanding of how resilience influences performance and how managers can motivate salespeople to be more resilient. To answer these questions, we collected survey data from 110 salespeople from a large firm based in the Midwest, along with objective effort and performance data provided by the company prior to and following a poor …

Organizational Readiness Assessment In Acute And Long-Term Care Has Important Implications For Antibiotic Stewardship For Asymptomatic Bacteriuria, Melanie C Goebel, Barbara W Trautner, Yiqun Wang, John N Van, Laura M Dillon, Payal K Patel, Dimitri M Drekonja, Christopher J Graber, Bhavarth S Shukla, Paola Lichtenberger, Christian D Helfrich, Anne Sales, Larissa Grigoryan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Prior to implementing an antibiotic stewardship intervention for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), we assessed institutional barriers to change using the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment.

METHODS: Surveys were self-administered on paper in inpatient medicine and long-term care units at 4 Veterans Affairs facilities. Participants included providers, nurses, and pharmacists. The survey included 7 subscales: evidence (perceived strength of evidence) and six context subscales (favorability of organizational context). Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale.

RESULTS: One hundred four surveys were completed (response rate = 69.3%). Overall, the evidence subscale had the highest score; the resources subscale (mean 2.8) was …

Debunking Intellectual Property Myths: Cross Cultural Experiments On Perceptions Of Property, Gregory N. Mandel, Kristina R. Olson, Anne A. Fast

BYU Law Review

For decades, the prevailing view in the United States and many Western countries has been that China does not appropriately respect intellectual property rights. These beliefs lie at the heart of President Donald Trump’s current trade war with China. Despite substantial geopolitical debate over differences between American an d Chinese attitudes towards intellectual property rights, and despite the critical effects that such attitudes have on international economic markets and the function of intellectual property systems, empirical evidence of these attitudes is largely lacking. This Article presents original experimental survey research that explores cross cross-cultural differences between American and Chinese attitudes …

The Effect Of School Discipline Processes On Student Perceptions Of Personal Safety In Rural Middle Schools, Jaslene Atwal

All Theses And Dissertations

There is a need to clearly communicate expectations and consequences of misconduct to deter students from engaging in negative behaviors that create a physically or psychologically unsafe learning environment at school. A poor school climate has been found to have a detrimental effect on student achievement. A positive learning environment can transform negative situations into positive ones and have a beneficial effect on student behavior and achievement. This study explored the effect of a proactive discipline program on students’ perceptions of their physical and psychological safety in rural middle schools. The research questions for this study asked what factors most …

Investigating Early Childhood Educators’ Experiences In Teaching Phonological Awareness: A Case Study, Kristine Reilly

All Theses And Dissertations

Literacy instruction, or teaching educators how to teach reading, is increasingly important as the effects of illiteracy impact everyone from the individual level to the societal level. The cost of illiteracy to the global economy is estimated at $1.2 trillion U.S. dollars (World Literacy Foundation, 2015). Improving literacy for all becomes a social justice concern as access to literacy opens avenues to further education and to improved physical and mental wellbeing. Over the past forty years, neurocognitive and behavioral science has demonstrated how the human brain learns to read. However, educator training programs and professional development have not kept pace …

Androgynous Leadership: A Gender Balanced Approach To School Administration, Kristie Morin

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the most desirable personality traits for school administrators, if personality sex-types have changed since 1981, and how school administrators practice androgynous leadership. Twenty-six school administrators completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory survey to discover their personality trait make-up and how often they perceived using 60 personality traits. Eight school administrators participated in a virtual one-on-one interview. The findings from this study concluded that the seven most desirable personality traits for a school administrator are adaptable, compassionate, reliable, conscientious, truthful, sensitive to the needs of others, and willing to take a stand. There …

Queerview: Protocol For A Technology-Mediated Qualitative Photo Elicitation Study With Sexual And Gender Minority Youth In Ontario, Canada, Shelley L. Craig, Andrew D. Eaton, Rachael Pascoe, Egag Egag, Lauren B. Mcinroy, Lin Fang, Ashley Austin, Michael P. Dentato Phd, Msw

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background:The experiences of resilience and intersectionality in the lives of contemporary sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) are important to explore. SGMY face unique experiences of discrimination in both online and offline environments, yet simultaneously build community and seek support in innovative ways. SGMY who identify as transgender, trans, or gender nonconforming and have experiences with child welfare, homelessness, or immigration have been particularly understudied. A qualitative exploration that leverages technology may derive new understanding of the negotiations of risk, resilience, and identity intersections that impact the well-being of vulnerable SGMY.

Objective:The objectives of the QueerVIEW study were to (1) …

Incorporating Social Science Into Criminal Defense Practice, Eve Brensike Primus

Articles

In recent decades, social scientists have created a treasure trove of empirical and sociological data that defenders can and should use to help their clients. Evidence rules, criminal law, and criminal procedure are filled with concepts informed by social science. When is evidence likely to unfairly prejudice a defendant in the eyes of a jury? Do police interact differently with members of minority populations and how should that inform concepts of reasonableness? How easy or difficult is it for people to identify individuals they see during high-stress criminal episodes? How effective are police interrogation tactics at getting at the truth …

Quality Of Life In Children Treated For Craniopharyngiomas, Mishal Gillani, Sheza Hassan, Umme Hani Abdullah, Muhammad Waqas Saeed Baqai, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim

Medical College Documents

Craniopharyngiomas are common but complex paediatric brain lesions that present interesting management challenges. Quality of life is an important consideration while choosing management options. In this review, we have discussed the existing literature on various aspects of quality of life in patients treated for craniopharyngioma, assessed by variety of measurement tools.

Falls In People With Multiple Sclerosis, Susan Coote, Laura Comber, Gillian Quinn, Carme Santoyo-Medina, Alon Kalron, Hilary Gunn

School of Health Professions

Abstract Falls are highly prevalent in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and result in a range of negative consequences, such as injury, activity curtailment, reduced quality of life, and increased need for care and time off work. This narrative review aims to summarize key literature and to discuss future work needed in the area of fall prevention for people with MS. The incidence of falls in people with MS is estimated to be more than 50%, similar to that in adults older than 80 years. The consequences of falls are considerable because rate of injury is high, and fear of …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Student’S Life Satisfaction And Academic Achievement, Dare Seun Owoyemi

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

This study explores the relationship between average life satisfaction of students and their academic achievement in mathematics and science at the macro level of 61 selected countries from the Pisa 2018 assessment. As far as I know, no studies have been conducted to examine achievement in mathematics and science as it related to life satisfaction. Multivariate regression, scatter plot and bivariate correlation were employed using IBM SPSS in this study. The study found no positive correlation between average life satisfaction and academic achievement in mathematics and science. Also, although life satisfaction was a significant predictor of achievement in mathematics, it …

An International Study Exploring The Experience Of Survivors Of Critical Illness As Volunteers Within Icu Recovery Services, Carly Robinson, Elizabeth Hibbert, Anthony J. Bastin, Joel Meyer, Ashley A. Montgomery-Yates, Tara Quasim, Andrew Slack, Mark E. Mikkelsen, Theodore J. Iwashyna, Kimberly J. Haines, Carla M. Sevin, Joanne Mcpeake, Leanne M. Boehm

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Objectives:
Many clinicians have implemented follow-up and aftercare to support patients following ICU. Some of this care is supported and facilitated by peer volunteers. There is limited contemporary work that has explicitly explored volunteer roles within ICU recovery services or the experience of volunteers undertaking these roles. We sought to explore the experience of survivors of critical illness, as volunteers, involved in ICU recovery services and understand their motivation for undertaking these roles.

Design:
Qualitative exploration using in-depth semistructured interviews. The study design used an inductive content analysis process. We also documented the roles that were adopted by volunteers in …

Ms 214 Guide To Lu Ann Aday, Phd Papers (1964-2014), Lu Ann Aday

Manuscript Finding Aids

The Lu Ann Aday, PhD papers contains materials related Lu Ann Aday’s professional career in public health. The papers include her publications, courses she designed and taught, administrative material and consulting work. Many of the records are from her work at the University of Texas School of Public Health-Houston. See more at MS 214.

Career And Technical Education Teachers’ Beliefs About Developing Students’ Motivation To Write, Katie Graham

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Students in the U.S. write poorly. Although postsecondary and workplace writing expectations continue to rise, writing instruction has largely remained unchanged over time. As a result, student writing outcomes continue to fall below expectations from both an assessment and hirable proficiency standpoint. Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides a unique opportunity to motivate students who are otherwise disengaged in writing (ACTE, 2009). The benefits of helping students develop their writing-self efficacy has well-documented support (Bruning & Horn, 2009; Bandura, 1997; Pajares 2003; Pajares & Valiante, 2006). However, little is known about the writing opportunities provided in CTE classes or CTE …

Study Abroad And School Psychologists’ Perceptions Of Intercultural Competence, Alexa M. Irwin, Nicole A. Oberhelman, Susan C. Davies

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

This study investigated perceived influence of study abroad experiences on intercultural competence in school psychologists and school psychologists-in-training. This exploratory descriptive qualitative analysis involved semi-structured interviews with a purposively sampled group (n = 20) of school psychologists (n = 10) and school psychology graduate students (n = 10) who studied abroad during their undergraduate or graduate programs. Participants responded to questions about their study abroad experience, how it affected them, what they learned about other cultures, and how it affected their career or career preparation. Four themes were identified: (1) awareness of cultural similarities and differences; (2) recognition of privilege; …