Digital Commons Network^™

Healing Circulos(Circles): Putting Our Educator's Mask First, Janet Martinez-Angeles

Dissertations

Educators play a pivotal role in supporting students throughout their educational journeys. In addition to academic instruction, they provide vital guidance for students' social, emotional, and personal development. They work tirelessly to help students navigate the complexities of education and life, often while shouldering multiple responsibilities and roles beyond the classroom. This dynamic contributes to high attrition rates and weakens the educational system. Much like the familiar safety instructions on an airplane, where passengers are reminded to put on their oxygen masks before assisting others, educators must be given the space, resources, and support to tend to their well-being before …

Early Care And Education Systems In The United States Of America: Voices Of The Past, Present, And Future, Timothy Harper

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study centers the voices, knowledge, and leadership of Black and Indigenous women working in Early Care and Education (ECE) while tracing how racism, sexism, and classism have shaped the field from colonization to the present day. Twenty in-depth interviews with sixteen Black and Indigenous educators across the United States are paired with secondary analyses of national workforce data to create a multilayered portrait of their professional realities. Grounded in Black feminist thought and Indigenous desire-based inquiry, the analysis surfaces six inter-locking themes: (a) enduring structural barriers that depress wages and limit advancement, (b) the day-to-day resilience that sustains …

Engagement Of Secondary History Social Science Teachers With Professional Development: A Phenomenological Study, Suzanne Paulazzo

Dissertations

Secondary social science teachers tend to feel disengaged and frustrated with their professional development (PD) experiences. They also feel that recommended meaningful practices appear to be time-consuming, require extra hours of preparation, and rely heavily on collaboration. Using phenomenological methodology, the dissertation research investigated secondary social science teachers' perceptions of their roles as educators, their professional growth, and their motivations for engaging in professional development opportunities. Nine male and one female teacher participants from a History-Social-Science Department in an urban public school in Northern California participated in an interview. This study addressed the following research questions: How do teachers perceive …

Teacher Workplace Bullying: Victim And Bystander Perspectives, Abigail R. Smurr

Dissertations

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is addressed within a broad context. This study focuses on teacher experiences of bullying. The focus will examine the impacts horizontal and vertical bullying can have on teacher victims and bystanders within K-12th within California. The purpose of this study is to give administrators awareness of these issues from the victim and bystanders’ lens. The study implemented a mixed methods design to give insight to teacher perceptions on the impacts it can have on their teacher efficacy, teacher retention, and their emotional well-being. By looking at how often PK-12th grade teachers experience workplace bullying, …

Designing Well-Being Intervention Trials For People With Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: The Importance Of Understanding Usual Care Comparators, Marcia Finlayson, Silvia Poli, Federico Bozzoli, Giampaolo Brichetto, Lars Bø, Isolde Martina Busch, Ulrik Dalgas, Nikos Evangelou, Amanda Farrin, Jennifer Freeman, Helena Jidborg, Daphne Kos, Claudia H. Marck, Daniel Ontaneda, Jessica Podda, Michela Rimondini, Polly Swain, Emma Tallantyre, Lauren A. Taylor, Roshan Das Nair

School of Health Professions

Well-being captures an individual’s capacity to lead a mean ingful and engaged life. Interventions to address well-being go beyond managing symptoms or supporting daily activity performance. Designing trials to evaluate the effectiveness of such well-being interventions can be challenging. One such challenge is determining what the comparator or control arm should be. Several trials of complex interventions use usual care as a comparator, but this can be particularly challenging when planning trials across multiple countries and health care systems. Therefore, trial design decisions must be informed by a good understanding of what constitutes usual or routine well-being interventions across locations. …

Union Employees’ Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of Organizational Culture And Job Satisfaction In Michigan Manufacturing Organizations, Angela Wantuck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Manufacturing organizational cultures steeped in tradition, corporate loyalty, and paternalistic values have experienced a decrease in union employee engagement and organizational satisfaction. Manufacturing leaders are concerned with this decrease as a primary indicator of employee walkouts or union strikes, impeding the manufacturing process, and affecting market share, profitability, and local economies. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology study was to explore the union employees’ perceptions and lived experiences of organizational culture and job satisfaction in Michigan manufacturing organizations. Shaped by Schein’s organizational culture theory, the research question queried the perceptions of the union-represented employees as a subculture in the …

Quantifying The Economic Burden Of Cancer In California Using Advanced Analytics, Terence Casey Kelley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cancer imposes a significant and multifaceted economic burden on California’s health care system and communities. Despite extensive national data, California-specific cost analyses have been outdated and limited. This study quantified California’s cancer-care burden through a quantitative, cross-sectional design grounded in the cost-of-illness framework and human-capital theory. A retrospective modeling approach used 2015–2023 data from the California Cancer Registry, National Cancer Institute, National Program of Cancer Registries, and California’s all-payer claims database. California’s economic burden from cancer was estimated using a meta-analysis of national cost data, which was then applied to state-specific cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality through a multicriteria decision …

Effective Strategies To Reduce Silo Culture To Increase Financial Performance In Nonprofit Healthcare Organizations, Pedro E. Mendez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Silo culture in nonprofit healthcare organizations hinders knowledge sharing and communication, which can negatively affect financial performance. This issue is particularly important for healthcare leaders and policymakers seeking to enhance organizational efficiency and improve patient care quality. Grounded in the competing values framework, the purpose of this qualitative, pragmatic research project was to explore the effective strategies used by nonprofit healthcare human resources (HR) leaders to reduce silo culture and enhance financial performance. The participants included six HR executives at the vice president level or higher from nonprofit healthcare systems with more than 5,000 employees in the Southeastern United States. …

From Surviving To Thriving: The Oxygen Mask Approach For Middle Management, Lydia Marque

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Middle managers in healthcare experience high levels of stress, heavy workloads, and burnout. At a large medical center in Northern California, middle managers reported low perceptions of organizational support for well-being despite an abundance of available resources.

Context: Baseline data indicated a perceived support score of 6.5 out of 10 on the Employee Interest Survey and a People Pulse Culture of Health score of 60 for assistant nurse managers (ANMs), both below regional benchmarks. These findings suggested inadequate engagement with organizational well-being resources.

Interventions: A six-month performance improvement initiative, guided by the ADKAR change model and …

Anti-Nociceptive Properties Of Cardiopulmonary Baroreceptors In Patients With Chronic Back Pain, Yuto Iwakuma, Jennifer Liu, Davina A. Clonch, Megan E. Gangwish, Christopher M. Lam, Seth W. Holwerda

Student Publications

Introduction: Reduced pain perception following a persistent noxious stimulus during a study session (short-term habituation) is believed to be partially mediated by descending inhibitory mechanisms, although these mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. We examined the hypothesis that cardiopulmonary baroreceptor would significantly increase short-term habituation in chronic back pain (CBP) patients.

Methods: A short-term habituation protocol was utilized that involved 1-sec pulses (×10) at 105% heat pain threshold on the anterior forearm at 0.5 Hz. Cardiopulmonary baroreceptor unloading was performed via lower body negative pressure (LBNP) that reduces central venous pressure to elicit a reflex increase in sympathetic nerve activity. …

Exploring Program Participant And Staff Perspectives On Correctional Education Programs, My Ngoc Nguyen

Dissertations

In this paper, I explored program participant and staff perspectives on correctional education programs. Prior research measured success of correctional education through recidivism, post-employment opportunities, and post-secondary education. However, few research examined the perspectives of staff, program participants, and alumni of such programs to understand factors that aid in important educational experiences within correctional education programs. In this study, I utilized a mixed-methods approach, where I collected close-ended and open-ended survey responses from 10 staff and 5 program participants on their ratings of program principles and characteristics as well as optional follow-up interviews to elaborate on their survey responses. The …

Resilience In Crisis: How Bipoc Educators Navigated The Challenges Associated With Covid-19, Racial Awakening, And The Move To Online Learning, Jannet Galicia Castrejon

Dissertations

An unprecedented number of BIPOC teachers exited the profession since June 2020 largely due to the challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Doan et al., 2024). This study aimed to investigate ways these educators coped with the heavy toll of the converging pandemic(s) by asking what, if anything, sustained them? Participants provided individual and group testimonios and shared snapshots of what it was like to teach and exist during this time via the photovoice methodology and reflected on the challenges and sources of support. BIPOC teachers described the following challenges: difficulty connecting with kids, first-hand and vicarious trauma, increased workload, …

Cancer Screening Uptake And Usual Source Of Care Among Hispanic Survivors Of Adolescent And Young Adult Cancer, Eunju Choi, Amy M Berkman, Clark R Andersen, John M Salsman, Andrea C Betts, Joel Milam, Kimberly A Miller, Susan K Peterson, Qian Lu, Christabel K Cheung, Lauren V Ghazal, J A Livingston, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Susan K Parsons, David R Freyer, Michael E Roth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study examines cancer screening rates and the usual source of care among Hispanic survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA, aged 15-39) cancer, a group at increased risk for poor health outcomes, including secondary cancers.

Methods: National Health Interview Survey data were analyzed to identify Hispanic survivors of AYA cancer and Hispanic age- and sex-matched non-cancer controls. Breast, cervical, and colorectal screening (ever screened and up-to-date according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations) as well as reporting a usual source of care were compared among survivors and controls eligible for screening using multivariable logistic regressions.

Results: …

Graduate Student Paper: Aging In A Changing Japan: Gendered Adaptation To Changing Family Structure, Miki Izu, Clayton Chalmers

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Although Japanese seniors are very healthy, research shows that they are not very happy. Compared to seniors in other developed countries, Japanese elders have lower ratings of subjective well-being and are increasingly alone. This paper argues that changes to Japanese family life help explain why Japanese elders are struggling with low subjective well-being. Specifically, declining marriage rates and declining rates of elders living with their children (co-residency) have made it harder for elders to get the support they need. Moreover, the effect and the adaptations to these changes are not equal between men and women. While elderly Japanese men are …

Beyond Scrolling: Social Media’S Impact On Creativity, Gabriel Owusu, Murad Moqbel

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Although prior research has explored social media’s impact on team creativity and knowledge management, its influence on individual creative performance remains understudied. Drawing on Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) theory, this research investigates how social media deep structure use affects individual creative performance through TMS dimensions: specialization, credibility, and coordination. We surveyed 362 U.S. active social media users, focusing on Facebook usage, and tested the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling. Findings reveal that social media deep structure use significantly influences TMS dimensions, which enhance creative performance through individual creative efficacy. This study extends TMS theory to individual creativity and introduces …

Lived Experiences Of Leader Development And Action Inquiry In For-Profit Social Entrepreneurs, Kymm J. Nelsen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For-profit social enterprises (FPSEs) represent a growing response to urgent social and environmental challenges. Yet little is known about how their leaders develop internal capacities to navigate the tensions of hybrid business models. This interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored the lived experiences of FPSE leaders, focusing on meaning-making, developmental action inquiry, and leader evolution within profit- and mission-driven contexts. Rooted in ego development theory, developmental action inquiry, and the action logic framework, the study examined intrapersonal and systemic aspects of growth. Eleven U.S.-based FPSE leaders with at least 3 years leading a mission-driven enterprise and 5 years of total leadership …

Infants' Visual Preference For Expansive And Contractive Body Postures: An Eye-Tracking Study, Maryam Rostami-Aghoui, Caroline Floccia, Farid Pazhoohi

School of Psychology

Nonverbal communication is pivotal in early social and emotional development, with body postures serving as crucial cues. While extensive research has explored infants' recognition of emotions from facial expressions, a significant gap remains in understanding their visual inclinations towards body postures. Despite some studies on adults, there has been a lack of investigation into how infants respond to deliberate displays, particularly using eye-tracking methods. This research addresses this gap by examining whether infants exhibit a preference for expansive postures over contractive ones. A sample of 18 infants aged 12–24 months participated in the study, with their gaze patterns measured across …

Project Evolve: An International Analysis Of Postimmunotherapy Lineage Switch, An Emergent Form Of Relapse In Leukemia, Sara K Silbert, Alexander W Rankin, Chloe N Hoang, Alexandra Semchenkova, Regina M Myers, Elena Zerkalenkova, Hao-Wei Wang, Alexandra E Kovach, Constance M Yuan, Dana Delgado Colon, Loïc Vasseur, Alex Bataller, Samuel John, Kaylyn Utley Lyons, Barbara Friedes, Anna Alonso-Saladrigues, Hisham Abdel-Azim, Estelle Balducci, Ahmed Assim Aljudi, Marie Balsat, D Nathan Biery, Aghiad Chamdin, Bill H Chang, Raymund S Cuevo, Barbara De Moerloose, David S Dickens, Ulrich Duffner, Nicolas Duployez, Firas El Chaer, Michelle Ann Elliott, Gabriele Escherich, Sneha Fernandes, Mandi R Fitzjohn, Zhubin Gahvari, Stephan A Grupp, Rui Rochelle He, Cynthia Harrison, Christopher B Hergott, Emily M Hsieh, Annette S Kim, Dennis J Kuo, Daniel P Larson, Benjamin J Lee, Thibaut Leguay, R Coleman Lindsley, Abhishek A Mangaonkar, Kerstin Mezger, Holly L Pacenta, Jing Pan, Marlie Provost, Latika Puri, Sunil S Raikar, Armando Martinez, Isabella Bristol, Kyle Murphy, Lauren Reiman, Michele Redell, Kelly Reed, Gabrielle Roth-Guepin, Jeremy Rubinstein, Süreyya Savaşan, Kristian Schafernak, Alexandra Stevens, Aimee Talleur, Naomi Torres Carapia, Jacques Vargaftig, Anant Vatsayan, Matthias Wölfl, Liping Zhao, Susana Rives, Vanessa A Fabrizio, Koji Sasaki, Ibrahim Aldoss, Nicolas Boissel, Susan R Rheingold, Kara L Davis, Sara Ghorashian, Elad Jacoby, Alexander Popov, Adam J Lamble, Nirali N Shah

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Lineage switch (LS), defined as the immunophenotypic transformation of acute leukemia, has emerged as a mechanism of relapse after antigen-targeted immunotherapy, which is associated with dismal outcomes. Through an international collaborative effort, we identified cases of LS after a host of antigen-targeted therapies (eg, CD19, CD22, CD38, and CD7), described how LS was diagnosed, reviewed treatment approaches, and analyzed overall outcomes for this form of postimmunotherapy relapse. Collectively, 75 cases of LS were evaluated, including 53 (70.7%) cases of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) transforming to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 17 (22.7%) cases of B-ALL transforming to mixed phenotypic acute …

Anxious Traits Intensify The Impact Of Depressive Symptoms On Stigma In People Living With Hiv, Alexia Koukopoulos, Antonio Maria D'Onofrio, Alessio Simonetti, Delfina Janiri, Flavio Cherubini, Paolo Vassalini, Letizia Santinelli, Gabriella D'Ettorre, Gabriele Sani, Giovanni Camardese

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background/Objectives: Despite medical advances, stigma remains a major challenge for people living with HIV (PLWH). This study examined clinical, sociodemographic, and psychological predictors of HIV-related stigma, and explored whether affective temperament moderates the impact of depression on stigma.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 97 PLWH attending a tertiary infectious disease unit in Rome, Italy. Participants completed a battery of validated psychometric instruments assessing depressive symptoms, anxiety, manic symptoms, mixed affective states, general psychopathology, impulsivity, and affective temperament. HIV-related stigma was evaluated using the Berger HIV Stigma Scale, which measures personalized stigma, disclosure concerns, negative self-image, and concerns …

Evaluating Preference And Reinforcer Assessments For Distinct Social Interactions, Alecksandra Castaneda

Thesis Projects

The present study evaluated the efficacy of different assessments to assess reinforcer value and order of preference in regard to social interactions. A key component in this study was to expand on forms of social attention that have not typically been assessed, specifically non-physical. The lack of research in this area has led to an extension in understanding the effects of social attention in terms of reinforcement, as well as determining the optimal methods to do so. The researchers conducted a sequence of assessments across participants: concurrent operant reinforcer assessment, social interaction preference assessment, and multiple stimulus without replacement preference …

Ingenious Impulsiveness Of Environmentally Motivated Female Entrepreneurship For Sustainable Development, Saranya Senthilnathan, Chandrasekar Kaliyaperumal

Management Dynamics

Women's roles are crucial to the economic prosperity of any nation, with their participation in entrepreneurship being a key driver of sustainable development. This study focuses on the contributions of women entrepreneurs in India, highlighting their potential to advance economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The purpose is to examine the role of female entrepreneurs in promoting sustainable practices within the economy, society, and ecology. The study employs a descriptive research design to assess how integrating environmental factors into female entrepreneurship impacts the growth and sustainability of the Indian economy. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 355 …

The Reluctant Heroes: How To Teach Younger Generations Every-Day Heroism Through Pedagogical Imagination, Jarema Drozdowicz

Heroism Science

This article explores the notion of pedagogical imagination in the context of its practical use in teaching young learners today. The idea of imagination is being presented through the lens of the existing concepts such as ethnographic, historical, and sociological imagination introduced in the social sciences and humanities by various authors. The educational setting of today’s digitalized reality is being understood here as a sociocultural sphere where different generations clash in their diverse abilities to learn and form specific skills that might help them to cope with difficult real life situations. The process of forming heroic behavior patterns is thus …

Achieving Equity For International Medical Graduates: A Systematic Review, Sangeeta G. Saxena, Elizabeth Tisdell, Elana Farace, Thomas Godfrey, Betsy Aumiller, Esther Dell, Omrana P. Razzak, Bernadette N. Kumar, Kristin K. Sznajder

Public Health

Introduction: Foreign-born and foreign trained International Medical Graduates (FIMGs) face greater challenges in acculturation to their host countries than IMGs who train abroad and return to practice in their home country. As FIMGs are likely to fulfill a shortage of physicians in High Income Countries in the foreseeable future, we conducted a systematic review of literature to identify acculturation interventions that help FIMGs assimilate better in their host country health systems. This improves their productivity and satisfaction, allows health systems to be more accepting of FIMGs, and most importantly, enhances patient outcomes.

Methods: Following the PRISMA statement, we searched PubMed, …

Supporting Children In Managing Extracurricular Activities, Maggie Mckay, Simone Moody

Parent-ish Podcast

As the school year nears, so do busy schedules and the "extras" that kiddos do outside of school. While children love their sports, clubs and other extracurriculars, it can be hard to balance them with school and other important activities. Simone Moody, PhD, Clinical Psychologist at Children's Mercy in Kansas City, discusses signs your child might be overextended, how to find balance and more in this podcast.

Click here to stream the podcast episode.

Mapping The Literature On Short-Selling In Financial Markets: A Lexicometric Analysis, Nitika Sharma, Sridhar Manohar, Bruce A. Huhmann, Yam B. Limbu

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study provides a comprehensive assessment and synthesis of the literature on short-selling. It performs a lexicometric analysis, providing a quantitative review of 1093 peer-reviewed journal articles to identify and illustrate the main themes in short-selling research. Almost half the published literature on short-selling is thematically clustered around portfolio management techniques. Other key themes involve short-selling as it relates to risk management, strategic management, and market irregularities. Descending hierarchical classification examines the overall structure of the textual corpus of the short-selling literature and the relationships between its key terms. Similarity analysis reveals that the short-selling literature is highly concentrated, with …

Mindfulness Vs Ssris: Managing Anxiety In Adults With Gad, Max E. Doyle

Summer Interdisciplinary Research Symposium

This study evaluated whether mindfulness practices are more effective than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in reducing anxiety symptoms in adults aged 17 years and older diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) over one year. A structured literature review was conducted using Google Scholar, Valpo Summons, and PubMed. Search terms included “Mindfulness,” “SSRIs,” “GAD,” “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,” “generalized anxiety disorder,” and “Placebo.” A total of five relevant studies were identified: three from Google Scholar, one from Valpo Summons, and one from PubMed. Inclusion criteria were studies published in English from 2019 onward, with full-text access, involving participants aged 17 …

Story Forge: A Card-Based Framework For Ai-Assisted Interactive Storytelling, Yaojiong Yu, Gianni Corino, Mike Phillips

School of Art, Design and Architecture

The application of artificial intelligence has significantly advanced interactive storytelling. However, current research has predominantly concentrated on the content generation capabilities of AI, primarily following a one-way ‘input-direct generation’ model. This has led to limited practicality in AI story writing, mainly due to the absence of investigations into user-driven creative processes. Consequently, users often perceive AI-generated suggestions as unhelpful and unsatisfactory. This study introduces a novel creative tool named Story Forge, which incorporates a card-based interactive narrative approach. By utilizing interactive story element cards, the tool facilitates the integration of narrative components with artificial intelligence-generated content to establish an interactive …

Temporal And Generational Changes In Depression Among Young American Adults, Ashley W. Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac, Valentine Chung

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

The prevalence of depression among young American adults has risen significantly over the past two decades, but the mechanisms that underlie the population-level changes in depressive symptoms severity remain unclear. We used data from the 2005–2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and hierarchical age–period–cohort (HAPC) analysis to examine developmental (i.e., age), life stage (i.e., period), and generational (i.e., cohort) distribution of depressive symptoms among American adults aged 20–30 years old over an 18-year period. Our model results indicate that the probability of either mild, moderate, or severe depression increased among young adult females and males between 2005 and …

Reaching The Young And Hopeless: Rooting For Redemption At A Residential Treatment Center, Christian P. Newton

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This article reflects on my experiences as an educator at a Residential Treatment Center, observing the spiritual battles being fought by some residents as they attempt to rectify their lives after their involvement in sexual abuse. It will review literature that has been successful in my classroom with helping young people change their mind concerning their irredeemableness and that can also improve how evangelical attempts across Christian dominations pastor to those who feel scorned by God. Due to the mentality of some residents who have deeply struggled with the concepts of forgiveness and regret, literature is offered as starting point …

Augustine’S Ethics And Authentic Happiness, Ignatius C. Williams

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

Finding happiness is a fundamental human goal, despite the fact that it varies between cultures, philosophical systems, and religious beliefs. But how mankind pursues happiness as the greatest good and how it is reached in that process are considered because not all endeavors ultimately lead to true or authentic happiness. In light of this, Augustine’s notion of ethics and authentic happiness are examined, along with some essential principles for living an ethical life that is congruent with true happiness. Three topics are explored. First, I examined Augustine’s theory of happiness as well as moral requirements centered on grace, love, and …