Digital Commons Network^™

Aging And Depression: Identifying Strategies To Prevent Suicide And Restore Integrity, Nekka A. Herbert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have documented a projected increase in the older adult population and a foreseeable increase in older adult suicides associated with shortcomings in the mental health field related to providing adequate mental health treatment to individuals 65 and older. Researchers have concluded that these shortcomings are due to ageism, lack of awareness, lack of knowledge in gerontology, and inadequate training for professionals entering the field. Studies have highlighted the growing number of older adult suicides but have lacked effective treatment strategies to reduce depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts/behaviors, specifically in the older adult male population, which has the highest number …

The Dark Triad, Creativity And Morality, Erin Beers

Honors Theses

The Dark Triad of personality is the combination of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. The associative theory of creativity involves the default mode network of the brain, which is responsible for memory tasks, imagination, and thoughts of self. Since the Dark Triad traits involve inhibitory control and imagination, there is a high likelihood that observed alterations in these processes may be used to predict dark creativity patterns. Malevolent creativity involves using new ideas to complete tasks that will harm others. With creativity not being limited to positive outcomes, aspects of morality are also part of the creative decision-making processes. Morality is …

Mypov: Promoting Self-Efficacy And Empowerment Amongst Foster Youth, Hanah Friel

Senior Capstone Papers

Trauma is a key player in the lives of young people within the child welfare system. Adverse childhood experiences define the course of life for many foster youths prior to entering the system, and for many, exemplify their time during and after foster care. The results of this trauma are often overwhelming and far-reaching, as traumatic behaviors often take the form of distrust and dysregulation. Moreover, trauma can disrupt one’s sense of safety and contribute to feelings of disempowerment. For many, it is rare that our lives are representative of a complete lack of opportunity for self-efficacy and empowerment; however, …

Empowering Educators: Enhancing Technology Integration For Engaging Learning Experiences, Jed Roelofs

Masters Projects

This project highlights the pivotal role of administrators in supporting teachers to effectively integrate technology into classroom instruction. Grounded in the Technology, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPCK) and Replacement, Amplify, and Transformative, (RAT) frameworks, administrators provide targeted professional development to enhance teachers' confidence and skills in utilizing technology. By fostering a collaborative and supportive environment, administrators enable teachers to engage in meaningful learning experiences and practice new technological approaches. The ultimate objective is to equip educators with the necessary resources and support to cultivate innovative teaching practices and optimize student learning outcomes in today's digital landscape.

Free Your Health: Developing & Implementing A Health Promotion Campaign For Justice-Impacted Women In Wisconsin, Tessa Meurer, Peggy Schroder-West

All Other Contributions

No abstract provided.

Structural Facilitation: Unraveling Social Worker's Covert Strategies For Overcoming Obstacles In The Memphis, Tn Housing System, Kelsey Ellen Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This thesis explores the professional and personal identity of social workers in the context of restrictive policies and procedures within housing service institutions. Social workers play a crucial role in rehousing the unhoused, alongside providing knowledge, advocacy, and emotional support. However, they often face challenges such as being overworked, underpaid, and undervalued, leading to workforce attrition. In this study, social workers grapple with the dilemma of adhering to jurisdictional boundaries or bending the rules to achieve client success, which can create a conflict between personal beliefs and professional duties. The research investigates how personal experiences influence social workers' decisions to …

Making It Work: Reframing College Student Off-Campus Employment As A High-Impact Practice, Danielle Jennings, Jörg Vianden

New York Journal of Student Affairs

Working while attending college has become a reality of the student experience, especially for low-income, adult, and BIPOC students. Particularly, off-campus employment is commonplace but may not be fully understood by higher education professionals as an educationally effective activity. This paper is grounded in current literature on the necessity and the benefits of off-campus employment, along with the need for high-impact practices. We, the authors, encourage institutions to reframe off-campus employment as an activity that is educationally effective for those students who engage in it.

Art, Family, And A Calling To Occupational Therapy, Erin Barrus

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Karen Sames was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. From an early age, she was surrounded by art. An experience with occupational therapy during the third grade jumpstarted her journey connecting art to occupation. Karen believes that art is a necessary part of life and credits much of her own personal success with art to her friends and family for their inspiration and to the instructors at the Eagan Art House in Minnesota. Her piece “Cherry Blossoms,” a pastel on paper, is based on a photograph taken by her son, who is currently living in Japan, and graces the cover …

Improving Occupational Therapy Doctoral Students’ Social Awareness For Making Equitable Policy Decisions: A Quantitative Quasi-Experimental Study, Alysson Goodwin, Denise Crowley

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy has set a strategic vision to increase equity and health access through leadership in all practice areas. To this end, educators in occupational therapy doctorate programs must increase the students’ ability to lead with an awareness of the social impacts of policy decisions. The purpose of this study was to explore educational opportunities to support occupational therapy doctorate students in developing social awareness for decision-making. The study aimed to use an e-learning module to increase social awareness surrounding a departmental decision about a white coat ceremony. A quantitative quasi-experimental one group pre-test post-test study examined if a significant …

Occupational Therapists' Perceptions On Addressing Spirituality: A Cross Sectional Survey, Shannon Metzger, Jeanine Beasley, Jordan Marheineke, Amy Stites, Amy Riley, Christine Byam, Diane Maodush-Pitzer, Dawn R. Devries

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Occupational Therapy (OT) was founded as a holistic profession that addresses the mind, body, and spirit. Research indicates that occupational therapists feel uncomfortable incorporating spirituality into practice. Method: This study aimed to identify perceptions of occupational therapists in addressing the spiritual needs of their clients. A cross-sectional Qualtrics survey was adapted from the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale (RSIPAS). The survey was electronically sent out by several professional OT organizations. It was sent to occupational therapists and OT assistants to obtain their perspective of incorporating spirituality in practice. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis was completed. Results: Of the 52 …

A ‘Friendly Visitor’ Volunteer Intervention For Hoarding Disorder: Participants’ Perceptions, Susan Noyes, Sarah Van Houten, Elizabeth Wilkins

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Determining and delivering effective interventions for Hoarding Disorder remains challenging, and appropriate resources are often unavailable. To address the need, the Friendly Visitor Program was designed in Portland, Maine, to pair people living with hoarding disorder with a trained volunteer to help with decluttering the living environment. The majority of the trained volunteers were occupational therapy students.

Method: This qualitative research study explored participants’ perceptions in a volunteer program that addresses hoarding behaviors. The study was conducted through an interpretivist, constructivist lens, examining the Friendly Visitor hoarding intervention program through individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine participants, …

Factors Influencing Driving Confidence In Older Adults, Jill Linder, Beth Ann Walker, Elizabeth Moore, Anne Hegberg

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: It has been determined that both confidence and cognition impact driving performance and self-regulation. While it is known that cognitive decline impacts driving safety and that decreases in driving confidence can lead to self-driving regulation, further research is needed to determine whether cognition, demographics, and driving routines are associated with driving confidence.

Method: A non-experimental, cross-sectional design study using a convenience sample of 100 older adults was conducted to determine if individual factors are related to daytime and nighttime driving confidence.

Results: Multiple regression indicated that four variables predicted daytime driving confidence, including cognition, driving at …

It’S Not On The Syllabus: The Case For Policy Writing In Modern Graduate Education, Andrea N. Hunt

Feminist Pedagogy

Graduate students gain experience in a variety with different forms of writing while completing their studies; however, policy writing is less common although it is applicable to a variety of disciplines. Policy writing is an extension of theory and needs to be approached from a feminist perspective. Policy writing can be conceptualized as a critical feminist praxis where graduate students use their disciplinary skills in more applied work to engage in important conversations related to their field of study. This article provides some strategies for policy writing for graduate students that use existing skills such as forming arguments and applying …

Peer-Mediated Family Support Project: Evaluation Of Changes In Family Quality Of Life, Preethy S. Samuel, Elizabeth Janks, Nia S. Anderson, Michael Bray, Christina Topolewski, Sharon Milberger

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

The Family Quality of Life (FQOL) approach represents a paradigm shift from fixing to supporting people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) by changing the focus from the individual to the family and highlighting strengths rather than deficiencies. Aging family caregivers of individuals with I/DD often encounter obstacles, including accessibility, acceptability, and affordability of services. Little is known about best practices to support aging families of adults with I/DD. Understanding how a state-wide peer-mediated family support project implemented in this study helped improve the FQOL of aging caregivers is important in broadening participation of other caregivers in these types of programs. To …

Advancing Strength-Based Inclusive Mental Health Research In Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Luther Kalb, Joan B. Beasley

Institute on Disability

No abstract provided.

Who Is A Minister? Originalist Deference Expands The Ministerial Exception, Jared C. Huber

Notre Dame Law Review

The ministerial exception is a doctrine born out of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment that shields many religious institutions’ employment decisions from review. While the ministerial exception does not extend to all employment decisions by, or employees of, religious institutions, it does confer broad—and absolute—protection. While less controversy surrounds whether the Constitution shields religious institutions’ employment decisions to at least some extent, much more debate surrounds the exception’s scope, and perhaps most critically, which employees fall under it. In other words, who is a "minister" for purposes of the ministerial exception?

The Effects Of Occupation-Based Programming On Occupational Deprivation For Civilly Committed Mental Health Patients, Joshua Clapper

MOT Student Capstones

Patients who are involuntarily committed to the mental health hospital are likely to be exposed to occupational deprivation. Through the induction of occupation-based programming, it is believed that occupational engagement can catalyze recovery and support meaningful participation in daily life, decreasing the prevalence of occupational deprivation. This paper investigates the latest evidence-based practices related to mental health and occupational performance in the inpatient hospital setting. To explore the need to educate clinical staff, who are responsible for programming, a pre-survey was distributed, preceding a presentation. A post-survey was then used to examine the effect the brief educational presentation. They survey …

The Utah Statesman, April 15, 2024, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

La Unión Hace La Fuerza: The Power Of Parental Involvement In The Emotional Well-Being Of Hispanic/Latinx Youth, Ana Mccarl

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The present study seeks to answer how parental involvement impacts the emotional health of Hispanic/Latinx youth, a population known for disproportionately experiencing high rates of mental health disorders in the US.

Data were taken from 373 parent-child dyads from every state in Mexico, and a linear regression model was run to assess if parental involvement predicts emotional well-being while controlling for age, marital status, education, and gender.

The results showed that parental involvement predicted child emotional well-being, with each unit increase in parental involvement representing a 7.98 increase in child emotional well-being.

Given the prevalence of negative mental health outcomes …

Interpersonal Violence And The Impact On Children’S Educational Outcomes, Samantha Hurst

Senior Capstone Papers

This capstone explores the complex topic of interpersonal violence which impacts children in the home and their school outcomes. Understanding children who are not getting their emotional or physical needs met could have a harder time focusing, staying awake, or being present in the classroom is incredibly important. This paper examines the pre-existing literature on the topic of how children react to interpersonal violence and how punishment in schools can affect academic outcomes. A solution is proposed for teachers to be taught trauma informed care to increase empathy towards students and decrease behavioral suspensions. Trauma informed care can mitigate partial …

Social Emotional Learning For Students In Schools And Communities, Gisselle Villar

Senior Capstone Papers

The goal of the educational approach known as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is to integrate these skills regarding SEL to be implemented in the school curriculum. In addition to emphasizing students’ abilities, education helps students build the kind of brains needed to acquire everyday tasks. The goal of this proposal is to help students develop a feeling of self-worth and awareness so they can connect and communicate honestly with one another. Schools will witness a significant shift in the lives of their students and the way teachers instruct once this learning is implemented. When this knowledge is successfully applied …

Five Suggestions Towards User-Centered Data Repositories In The Social Sciences, Elias Herman Kruithof, Christophe Vanroelen, Laura Van Den Borre

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Data repositories for the social sciences are facing some discipline-specific challenges. This essay provides an overview of the four key challenges. In addition, five suggestions are made to strengthen domain-specific online data repositories in the social sciences, supported by good practices. Using a user-centered approach, these suggestions aim to further open up the social sciences data landscape. The essay first addresses insights regarding the sharing of quantitative and qualitative data in light of the specific needs and issues regarding these two types of data. Thereafter, we suggest (i) ‘data labs’ for novice data re-users, (ii) advocate for the repository as …

“A Perfect Storm”: Autistic Experiences Of Menopause And Midlife, Miranda J. Brady, Christine A. Jenkins, Rachel L. Moseley, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg

Faculty and Staff Publications

Previous research indicates that menopause can be an extremely difficult transition for some autistic people. This study asks how autistic people experience menopause and how they can better access services, support and information; autistic Community Research Associates played an important role in each stage of the research. Online focus groups and interviews were conducted with 24 autistic participants who lived in Canada (n = 13) or the United Kingdom (n = 11) and had experience with the menopausal transition. Transcripts were coded and analysed by four team members using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes and eight subthemes were …

An Exploration Of Self-Reported Training Needs For Anxiety Interventions Among Primary Care Behavioral Health Consultants, Katherine Buckheit, Ryan Willard, Kyle Possemato, Robyn Shepardson, Abigail Lashinsky, Jen Funderburk

The Journal of Integrated Primary Care

Introduction: Despite the need for greater training in evidence-based interventions for the treatment of anxiety in primary care behavioral health (PCBH), there are limited data on which interventions are desired by behavioral healthcare consultants (BHCs). The objective of this study was to identify which interventions BHCs desired more training in when treating anxiety in PCBH practice, and to examine if this preference was associated with theoretical orientation. Method: We conducted an online survey of PCBH providers regarding their training preferences for treatment of anxiety symptoms. The final sample comprised 291 BHCs recruited from e-mail listservs of national professional organizations. Providers …

Academic Stress And Prosocial Outcomes: The Role Of Maternal Support, Lynda J. Cruz

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This study examined the roles of academic stress, maternal support, and their interactive effect as predictors of both in-group and out-group prosocial behaviors as well as civic engagement in order to better understand young adults’ adjustment to the college environment. The final sample consisted of 142 young adults (M age = 20.82 years; range = 18-25 years; 81.7% women; 65.2% reported identifying as racially White; 9.9% Black; 7.8% Asian; 5.7% Native; and 49.3% identified their ethnicity as Latino/a). Participants completed self-report measures of their academic stress experiences, perceptions of their mothers support, their in-group and out-group prosocial behaviors, and …

Death, Sex, And Hope Through The Arts: Developing An Expressive Arts-Existential Therapy Method For The Treatment Of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder, Michael Shirek

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) is a newly recognized disorder mired in a history of terminological and diagnostic controversy. Emerging research into the disorder has pointed to shame as an intrinsic motivator of the compulsive cycle, which provides potential for therapeutic intervention. Although most empirically-based treatments approach CSBD through a behavioral, abstinence-based model, an integrated expressive arts-existential therapy approach may provide opportunity for effective, person-centered treatment which mitigates the risk of reinforcing the shame cycle. For this capstone thesis, I developed and implemented a three-session treatment method which uses expressive arts therapy to investigate existential themes of guilt, non-being, isolation, …

S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Self-Care For Counselors, Nicole Marie Arcuri-Sanders, Jenny Kim

Educational Sciences and Organizations

Practicing self-care activities is essential to helping professions stave off and combat burnout and vicarious trauma. Mental health counselors and counselor educators and supervisors (CESs) need specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (S. M. A. R. T.) self-care activities to best meet the demands of this highly relational field. This article will assist CESs in supporting the personal development of S. M. A. R. T. self-care goals for their students and supervisees’ evolving professional identity with the addition to evaluate (E) and review (R) identified self-care efforts. CESs are supported with gatekeeping relevance and examining student and supervisee self-care plans …

Sti Acquisition In Active Duty Personnel, Scotland Kemper, Cayla-Grace Sullivan, Brandon Philips, Lindsay Trigg, Sanjana Bhargava, Jodi Ho, Courtney Baxter

InterLACE Research Showcase

No abstract provided.

Larger Than Themselves: A Latent Content Analysis Of Students’ Success Stories Journals Toward Civic Identity, John Osias D. Jacaban

Annual Research Congress for High School and Elementary Teachers, Researchers, and Scholars (ARCHERS)

The study examines the concept of civic identity using latent content analysis that emerged from the 16 success stories journals of Grade 12 students in the Philippine Science High School - Ilocos Region Campus based on Bengtsson’s (2016) four-step-process data procedure. Interestingly, the findings of this study unfolded a drawing-from-the-well model from the students’ experiences in civic engagement and leadership of being committed, adaptive, and responsible that represent a development of civic identity. Being committed embodies the goals of the community project that deepens students’ willingness to improve the quality of life of the people. Being adaptive tackles the flexibility …

Hear All About It: Health Literacy And Pediatric Ototoxic Chemotherapy, Sarah Belton, Abigail Jones

Theses & Honors Papers

This study examined the accessibility of informational health documents about ototoxic chemotherapy provided to caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. Hearing loss as a result of chemotherapy can result in financial, social, and developmental consequences for these patients. Caregivers are an integral part of the medical team, and their knowledge of procedures and treatments directly impacts their ability to make informed decisions for the patient.

This study qualitatively analyzed informational health documents about chemotherapy, acquired from the websites of National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer centers using federal guidelines put into place by the Plain Writing Act of 2010 and the …