Digital Commons Network^™

The Ferguson Effect On Police Officers' Culture And Perceptions In Local Police Departments, Rarkimm K. Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Ferguson effect is a recent hypothesis that suggests police officers have been influenced by negative media coverage of police conduct. The problem this study addressed is how policing continues to deal with perception, civil liability, and accountability issues related to police misconduct when interacting with Latino and African-American communities. The research was conducted to examine influence the Ferguson effect may have had on the culture and perceptions of police officers in local police departments. With a phenomenological qualitative approach, the research data were collected from interviews with 7 police officers across 3 police departments. The theoretical background of Merton's …

The Importance Of Engaging Students On Public Assistance: New Insights And Recommendations For Practice, Nicole M. Elias, Madeleine Marrin

Publications and Research

Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educators and administrators. What "student engagement" means for a diverse student body is an important question for public institutions with justice-related missions. As social welfare policy shifts to allow more recipients of public assistance access to higher education, research regarding their engagement experiences remains scarce. To support a socioeconomically diverse student body, consistent with the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards, this project explores the nature of engagement among student recipients of public assistance by asking the following research questions: what forms …

How And Why Have Attitudes About Cannabis Legalization Changed So Much, Jacob Felson, Amy Adamczyk, Christopher Thomas

Publications and Research

Since the late 1990s public opinion about cannabis legalization has become drastically more liberal, and some states have begun to legalize cannabis for recreational use. Why have attitudes changed so much? Prior research has considered a few of the reasons for this change, but this is the first comprehensive and empirically-based study to consider the wide range of potential causes for how and why this happened. We use data from the General Social Survey, National Study of Drug Use and Health, and word searches from the New York Times. We find that attitudes largely liberalized via intracohort changes. Most Americans …

Using Google And Twitter To Measure, Validate And Understand Views About Religion Across Africa, Amy Adamczyk, Gary Lafree, Maria Barrera-Vilert

Publications and Research

Researchers typically use social surveys or censuses to examine attitudes and behaviors across nations. While useful for understanding cross-national differences, they are expensive to collect, include only a limited number of issues and countries, and are not very time sensitive. Many countries across the world now have residents who regularly use Twitter and Google, and these internet platforms are increasingly making data on the country-level number of tweets and google searches available for analysis. While there are a lot of challenges with these data, we examine some of the potential benefits. Specifically, our study assesses the extent to which cross-national …

Understanding Diverse Bilingual Learners: The Need For A Transdisciplinary Lens, Amy Weimer, Mario Gil, J. Joy Esquierdo

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The chapter synthesizes findings from diverse disciplinary perspectives to make the case that we need a new lens to better serve the diversity of bilingual learners. Drawing upon theories and findings from studies by educators, child developmentalists, and neuroscientists, but moving beyond any one disciplinary perspective, the authors aim to create a unity of new knowledge developed of theories from across disciplines. This approach is exactly what is needed to address the complexity of factors surrounding bilingual learners. Taking a transdisciplinary approach will allow us to move closer toward an understanding of the many factors affecting bilingual children and families, …

Community Health Worker's Perceptions Of Integration Into The Behavioral Health Care System, Juliette Swanston Jenkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental illness in the United States is a major public health problem. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2017, 18.9% of adults in the United States had a mental illness. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the perceptions held by community health workers (CHWs) regarding their integration into the behavioral health care system in Maryland. Using a social constructivism paradigm and phenomenological approach, a purposive sample of 11 CHWs who supported patients with behavioral health conditions in 17 counties in the state were interviewed. Howlett, McConnell, and Perl'€™s five stream confluence …

The Association Between Behavior Disorders And Return Visit To The Emergency Department, Destiney Fraguada

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Presently, extensive research supporting the overcrowding of emergency departments (EDs) and behavior disorder patients presenting to EDs are prevalent. There exists a knowledge gap between specific behavior disorders diagnoses associated to repeated visits to the ED. The purpose of this quantitative study was to address whether a relationship exists between patients with psychotic and/or substance abuse disorders and the repeated ED visits within 72 hours. The Andersen Behavioral framework model and the secondary data were used in the study. The cross-sectional archival data from the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey was analyzed by using cross-tabulation with the 2 test …

Hiv Testing Among Nigerian Men Who Have Sex With Men After Criminalization Of Homosexuality, Gerald Onyeka Ileka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk of HIV in Nigeria. However, African countries like Nigeria, Botswana, Mali, and Mozambique have laws that prohibit homosexuality, making it a punishable crime in these countries. For example, the Nigerian government signed the anti-gay law in 2014. Laws like these affect the health status and outcomes among Nigerian MSM. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the influence criminalization of homosexuality has on the willingness to test for HIV among MSM in Abuja, Nigeria. Guided by the socio-political theory (SP) as the theoretical framework, a qualitative approach …

Veterans Affairs Employees’ Perceptions Of Financial Incentives, Organizational Justice, Satisfaction, And Performance, Kingsley Chigbo Ihekwoaba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Veterans Affairs (VA) inconsistently distributes financial incentives, which might affect how VA employees perceived organizational justice, affecting employees’ job satisfaction and performance. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of VA employees that informed their perceptions of their workplaces’ levels of organizational justice, their job satisfaction, and their performances due to inconsistent distribution of financial incentives by gathering data through interviews with 13 VA employees from the Southeastern United States. The research question concentrated on the lived experiences of VA employees with respect to the inconsistent distribution of financial incentives, and how these …

Training And Development In Small Professional Services Firms, Pattanee Susomrith, Alan Coetzer, Emmanuel Ampofo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether participation in training and development (T&D) events is associated with employees’ affective commitment and propensity to enact innovative behaviours in small professional services firms. The study also investigates associations between both attitudes towards T&D and policy and practice supportive of T&D and levels of participation in T&D events.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 203 employees in small professional services firms employing 50 or fewer staff were analysed using regression analysis and PROCESS macro.

Findings

Only policy and practice supportive of T&D was associated with participation levels. Participation in T&D events was positively related to affective …

Positive Veteran Teachers: Who Are They, And Where Are They To Be Found?, Geoffrey Lowe, Christina Gray, Peter Prout, Sarah Jefferson, Therese Shaw

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Teacher career trajectory studies have identified a small group of veteran teachers who remain positive and committed to teaching, while others become disenchanted or disengaged. These, and related studies suggest key characteristics of positive veteran teachers revolve around a strong sense of agency and professional identity including: 1) a continuing desire to experiment and embrace challenges; 2) high levels of personal comfort in their teaching roles; and 3) a willingness to take on leadership roles across a range of capacities and contexts, and in turn be affirmed in these roles. While studies describe these characteristics, there has been little attempt …

Newborn Care Practices Of Mothers In Arab Societies: Implication For Infant Welfare, Diana H. Arabiat, Lisa Whitehead, Mohammad A. Al Jabery, Muhammad Darawad, Sadie Geraghty, Suhaila Halasa

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

INTRODUCTION: There are at least 22 Arab league states and sections in Northern Africa, southwestern Asia, and Europe that incorporate the vast Middle Eastern culture. The purpose of this study was to identify the cultural variations in newborn care practices, self-management of common illnesses, and their potential impact on infant welfare.

METHOD: A qualitative design using a focus group approach with 37 Arab mothers in Jordan was used.

RESULTS: Findings revealed strong similarities in terms of beliefs, care practices, and the experience of intergenerational conflict in establishing and maintaining traditional practices among mothers. Potentially harmful practices included restrictive swaddling, rubbing …

Perceptions Of Climate Change And Occupational Heat Stress Risks And Adaptation Strategies Of Mining Workers In Ghana, Victor Fannam Nunfam, Jacques Oosthuizen, Kwadwo Adusei-Asante, Eddie Van Etten, Kwasi Frimpong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Heavy physical workload for long hours coupled with increasing workplace heat exposure due to rising temperatures stemming from climate change, especially where there are inadequate prevention and control policies, adversely affect workers' health and safety, productive capacity and social well-being. However, variations in workers' concerns and awareness of occupational heat stress and climate change risks impede the effectiveness of heat stress management. A mixed method approach was used to assess climate change perceptions and occupational heat stress risks and adaptation strategies of Ghanaian mining workers. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used to collect data from 320 respondents. Quantitative and …

Intergenerational Caregiver Loss And Successful Aging Opportunity Disruption Of Bulgarian Elderly, Daniel Georg Habermann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Identified by European research as an aging crisis, vulnerabilities in the rural Bulgarian elderly population such as intergenerational caregiver loss, are sociohistorical consequences and barriers to successful aging. This transcultural study investigated the aging crisis in rural Bulgaria to create a contextual definition of successful aging and to address successful aging and the identification of challenges and barriers faced by social workers and elders to support successful aging. Guided by continuity theory in aging and contextualized by overarching ecological systems theory, the research questions examined Bulgarian social workers' perceptions and expectations of successful aging and barriers to it. A collaborative …

Psychosocial Differences In Far Right, Far Left, Islamic, And Single Issue Lone Extremists, Tamara Marie Lamontagne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Acts of lone extremism are on the rise, yet little is known about who commits these acts. Research in this area has failed to delineate by extremist subtype. This has led to the misconception these acts and actors present with such variance psychosocially that they cannot be predicted. The purpose of this research was to assess whether statistically significant relationships exist between lone extremist subtypes on the psychosocial variables of mental illness, substance use, and having radicalized friends or family members. The conceptual framework for this study was De La Corte's psychosocial principles of terrorism, which addressed the social and …

Self-Directed Learning And Technology Adoption By Principals, Travis Fitzgerald Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The changes in educational technology present challenges for K-12 principals leading students and faculty who are more engaged with classroom technology. The role of self-directed learning and how K-12 principals adopt the technology while leading the deployment and implementation of classroom technologies is not known due to a limited amount of empirical research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between technology adoption and self-directed learning by K-12 principals. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as the theoretical framework, a quantitative cross-sectional study was designed. The survey instruments, Unified Theory of Acceptance and …

Influence Of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Policy On Army Families' Food Insecurity, Kathleen Anne Van Voorhis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Food insecurity (not having continuing access to nutritious food to maintain health) is common in the United States, especially in working poor households. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a well-documented safety net for individuals and families struggling with food insecurity. Little is known about the effect of SNAP policy on food insecurity in working poor military households. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experiences of food-insecure Army families and the perceived influence of SNAP policy on their food-insecurity. The theoretical framework was policy feedback theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with …

Cyberbullying Victimization: The Lived Experiences Of Parents, Brittny Shanice Herring

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cyberbullying continues to be a rising problem facing many households. As teenagers are the primary victims of cyberbullying, it is ultimately up to victims' parents to mediate and address cyberbullying incidents. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences of parents who had addressed and/or mediated an incident following their adolescent's cyberbullying victimization. Bandura's self-efficacy theory was the theoretical framework that guided this study. Participants were recruited using purposeful sampling. Individual semistructured telephone interviews were held with 9 participants who were parents of adolescent cyberbullying victims. Themes were generated and data were analyzed using Colaizzi's method …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Public Sector Interventions In Entrepreneurship Development In Nigeria, Michael Kalu Mba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Entrepreneurship is significant to the production process for economic growth and development. The Nigerian government supports entrepreneurial development by providing business training for entrepreneurs across the country; however, the impact of such programs in current entrepreneurship in Nigeria has not been researched. This study was designed to examine the impact of the training on entrepreneurial outcomes such as profitability, revenue, and access to finance using the social construction framework and the theory of external control of organizations. Based on a quantitative quasi-experimental design involving a posttest comparison group, the impact of government support on randomly selected beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries with …

Strategies To Recruit Skilled Workers In Manufacturing, Ina Renee Rawlinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Manufacturing hiring managers in the United States who fail to implement adequate recruitment strategies for skilled production workers experience reduced profits and sustainability challenges. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that successful manufacturing hiring managers in North Carolina used to recruit skilled production workers to sustain business profitability. Inductive analysis was guided by the human capital theory, and trustworthiness of interpretations was strengthened by member checking. The population for the study consisted of 4 business leaders who demonstrated the use of effective recruitment strategies to sustain profitability in manufacturing businesses in southeastern North Carolina. …

Towards A Parent-Inclusive Attorney-Client Privilege, Sande L. Buhai

Georgia Law Review

Few state or federal courts recognize a parent-child
testimonial or communication privilege. Yet, courts
recognize privileges between spouses, clergy-penitent,
and therapist-patient. Supported by the Wigmore test
that legitimized these privileges, this paper argues that
the attorney-client privilege should still exist even if (1)
a client’s parent is included in an attorney-client
meeting in an advisory capacity; (2) the child discloses
contents of the attorney-client communications to the
child’s parent; or (3) the child discusses the contents of
the attorney-client communications with the child’s
parent.

Career Ascension Of African-American Men In The Army Warrant Officer Corps, James Joseph Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The military and scholars assert that the military has created an organization that is based on merit. However, statistics show that African American military men are more likely to be subjected to the military's justice system, they are less likely to promote to the most senior enlisted and officer ranks, they are more likely to receive a negative discharge, and they are disproportionately represented on the military's death row. Despite these assertions, many African-American men succeed within the military structure. Therefore, this qualitative study was conducted to examine the stories of senior field grade warrant officer African American men to …

The Effect Of Community Evaluators On The Selection Of Entry-Level Police Officers, Eric Hutchison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As a method of building relationships with the public, some police forces have integrated community members into the candidate assessment and selection process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine the effect of integrating community evaluators as a new method in the assessment and selection process for police officers in a city police force. Media richness theory and general mental ability were used as a framework, and archival data from a large Midwest department of public safety were collected by filing two public records requests. Data from 2,510 police candidates were included. Quantitative data analysis was conducted …

The Relation Of Court Appointed Special Advocate Education To Foster Care Outcomes, Leah Danelle York

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program is an organization that utilizes lay volunteers as advocates for children in foster care to improve outcomes for those children. The effectiveness of CASAs in achieving permanency outcomes for children in foster care has been established; however, the literature has significant methodological flaws and is outdated. The purpose of this study, guided by the theory of change and social cognitive theory, was to explore whether CASA self-efficacy, through a proxy measure of education level, is related to permanency outcomes such as reunification with parents and rate of reentry to the foster care system …

Nonviolent Resistance To Security Policy In Nationalist Northern Ireland, 1970-1981, Thomas E. Caulfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Political division has plagued Northern Ireland since its partition from the rest of Ireland in the 1920s. Current literature recounts the role of nationalist actors in the violent struggle that erupted in 1969 initiating a 3-decade period of civil strife described as the Troubles. However, very little scholarly coverage exists providing details of nonviolent resistance on the part of some community members. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to examine the meanings and perceptions evoked from Irish nationalists from Belfast and Derry who chose to challenge security policies through nonviolent actions from 1970 through 1981. Using a chain …

Positive Youth Development: Developing, Implementing, And Sustaining Music-Based Services For Emerging Adults Experiencing Homelessness, Brian Kelly

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

Research suggests that comprehensive services that consider the complex and interconnected needs of emerging adults experiencing homelessness may be more effective than interventions with a singular focus. There is little research that demonstrates how agencies that implement programs for individuals experiencing homelessness develop and sustain meaningful services for emerging adults, especially under conditions of increasing austerity. This study targets this gap in the literature by investigating how one transitional living program for emerging adults experiencing homelessness developed a music studio. Specifically, this study examines the factors and processes that were involved in developing, implementing, and sustaining the music studio. Findings …

Soft And Hard Strategies: The Role Of Business In The Crafting Of International Commercial Law, Susan Block-Lieb

Faculty Scholarship

Part I returns to the classic definition of hard international law initially put forward by Kenneth Abbott and Duncan Snidal and related IR scholars and analyzes existing commercial law treaties in light of this definition. It concludes that virtually none of these commercial law treaties constitute “hard” international law because nearly all commercial law treaties rely on national courts for enforcement. But Abbott and Snidal’s focus on the extent to which international law is legalized—and especially the extent to which it is enforced by international actors—may matter less with commercial than other more public international lawmaking. This is because the …

Neuroscience And The Personalization Of Criminal Law, Deborah W. Denno

Faculty Scholarship

While objective standards of reasonableness permeate most legal disciplines, criminal law has trended toward personalization since the 1960s, when the Model Penal Code introduced conceptions of mental states based on Freudian psychoanalytic theory. Today, advancements in neuroscience offer previously inconceivable insights into living brain structures and damage. This Essay contends that a criminal justice system that uses personalizing neuroscientific evidence will yield better outcomes. This Essay contributes two unique tools to the personalized law debate. First are the results of my two-decade-long Neuroscience Study, in which I have compiled eight hundred criminal cases that addressed neuroscientific evidence in any capacity. …

Recovering Tech's Humanity, Olivier Sylvain

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Late Paleoindian Land Tenure In Southwest Wyoming: Towards Integrating Method And Theory In An Analysis Of Taphochronometric Indicators Of Time-Averaged Deposits In The Wyoming Basin, Wyoming, Usa, Cynthia D. Highland

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

According to Bailey (2008), substantive time perspectivism acknowledges that different types of phenomena operate over different time spans and resolutions as a matter of course while methodological time perspectivism concerns the notion that the nature of the data at our disposal, as well as the timescale of observation we choose to view it with, will affect the types of patterns that are possible to detect in the archaeological record. This thesis explores these ideas further. It is a pilot study of southwest Wyoming Late Paleoindian land tenure embedded within an extended critique of Wandsnider (2008). To Wandsnider’s original sample of …