Digital Commons Network^™

Sticks And Stones May Break Bones, But Only The Right Words Can Protect Human Rights: An Examination Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In Relation To Psychosocial Disabilities, Dailyah Rudek

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

The U.N. Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the most progressive document of its kind, containing admirable principles and mechanisms to protects the rights of people with physical disabilities and outlining international expectations regarding their treatment. Unfortunately, the instrument is woefully inadequate with respect to psychosocial disability and is leaving millions of people worldwide without sufficient protection. Future international conventions on human rights should specifically address persons with psychosocial disability and the CRPD must either be amended to appropriately address these disabilities or have such disabilities severed from its applicability as a new psychosocial-specific convention is …

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Lived Experiences Of Adults Diagnosed With Adhd, Carole Larson Yokell

Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in the research was that many individuals were not diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) until they were adults. The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences and beliefs of participants regarding the management of ADHD and the impact that experiences may or may not have regarding the quality of life during adulthood. This study utilized a phenomenological qualitative approach to collect data from adults diagnosed with ADHD about their life experiences. Data were gathered with virtual conference interviews and phone calls using an interview protocol that the researcher developed. Qualitative methods were utilized …

Examining Teachers’ Experiences With Mindfulness Practices To Promote Positive Relationships And Student Engagement In The Classroom, Hiram Ortega

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years mindfulness practices in the classroom have become increasingly relevant to bring awareness to the present moment, the here-and-now. The literature indicates that mindfulness reduces stress/anxiety in the classroom, and promotes self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, self-compassion, and empathy that contributes to positive classroom behavior, communication, and effective instructional practices. The purpose of this qualitative research is to analyze teachers’ experiences with mindfulness practices in promoting positive relationships and student engagement in the classroom. A group of teachers from an at-risk school district in the southwestern region of the United States were interviewed. The teachers answered 10 open-ended questions about …

Multilevel Modeling Of Academic Self-Concept And Moderation Of The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect In Math And Science For Timss 2019 Participating Countries, Heather Marie Spangler

Theses and Dissertations

Self-concept is an important construct across a variety of disciplines as a facilitator of a full range of human potential. Big Fish Little Pond Effect (BFLPE) results have confirmed global generalizability for the negative effects of school- and country- averaged achievement on students’ academic self-concept based on social comparisons with implications that generally discredit ability grouping, streaming or tracking. However, few studies have identified variables that ameliorate the negative effects of BFLPE. Accordingly, this study applied hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) in HLM 8.2 software to examine the effects of student, school, and country-level moderators of both school- and country-level BFLPE …

What Ever Happened To The Africa In African Human Rights, Thomas Kelley

Faculty Publications

In the late 1970s, the Organization of African Unity (“OAU”) committed to drafting and adopting a human rights instrument that would uphold African values and traditions—those aspects of African culture that were unique and praiseworthy and, in the opinion of many African leaders, superior to those of Europe. The resulting document, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the African Charter” or “the Charter”), included numerous provisions intended to do just that. However, in the decades following the African Charter’s adoption, African lawyers, judges, and tribunals produced little jurisprudence applying and further defining those uniquely African values and traditions. …

Beyond Local Food Consumption: The Impact Of Local Food Consumption Experience On Cultural Competence, Eudaimonia And Behavioral Intention, Bingna Lin, Saerom Wang, Xiaoxiao Fu, Xiaoli Yi

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationships among local food consumption experience, cultural competence, eudaimonia, and behavioral intention. Building upon acculturation theory, need hierarchy theory and self-determination theory, the current study develops a conceptual model of local food consumption as international tourists' acculturation process.

Design/methodology/approach: This study collects data from 305 Chinese outbound tourists and uses partial least squares-structural equation modeling to examine the developed model.

Findings: The findings reveal a significant effect of the local food consumption experience, consisting of novel, authentic, sensory and social dimensions, on cultural competence, which subsequently evokes eudaimonia and behavioral response toward local …

Facing The Climate Crisis: The Plaintiffs Of Held V. Montana Find Agency And Voice, Richard H. Forbes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

16 young people, in a lawsuit titled Held v. Montana, are suing the state of Montana on the grounds that its state energy policy contributes to climate change, harming them physically and psychologically and violating their constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment. This project explores the plaintiffs’ perspectives on the lawsuit, describes how their involvement is changing their relationships to their own climate-related mental health and explains how their psychological concerns reflect larger societal issues related to climate change.

Perspectives Of Foster Parents And Former Foster Children Surrounding Emancipation And College Supports And Barriers, Ashlyn Maize Kincaid

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The current study had two aims. The first aim was to explore and compare the perspectives of former foster youth and foster parents surrounding the emancipation process. The current study aimed to uncover what information is being shared with foster children when approaching the age of emancipation about life choices such as college, careers, housing, finances, and social support, as well as who is sharing this information and how accurate and helpful it is for the foster youth. Foster parents were asked questions pertaining to their level of training, knowledge of available resources, and experiences with transitioning foster children out …

All Under One Roof: An Ethnographic Commons In The Missoula Public Library, Caitlin Ervin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2021 the Missoula Public Library opened in a new state-of-the-art building to include a science museum, a research facility, a family resource center, and a media resource center in addition to the library facilities, all providing free and low-cost programs to the public. This establishment, internally dubbed All Under One Roof (AUOR), offers a window into the culture of Missoula and provides the community myriad resources in one, co-located model that has never been seen in the United States. Using ethnographic methods, this study provides insight into AUOR and the significance of its culture house model as the future …

How Perceptions Of Safety And Anxiety Affect Campus Carry, Kara M. Snider

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Witness This Thing So Tender, Erin Marie White

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

At once fantastical and down-to-earth, the poems of Witness This Thing So Tender are concerned with the convergence of the speaker’s many selves and influences. Gritty and mysterious happenings shape the speaker’s physical, emotional, and psychological circumstances in the world. Whether the triggering topic is ecological, parental, or sepulchral, the work of the poems is to examine and integrate the changeable natures of memory and reality.

Each poem in the second movement of the collection, entitled “Lunar Cycle,” employs the idiom Once upon a time as its entry point. This small, well-worn turn of phrase operates as a springboard into …

The Virtuous Executive, Alan Rozenshtein

Articles

As currently conceived, executive power law and scholarship detach the identity of the President from the powers and duties of the presidency. Whether an official was properly dismissed without cause, whether a pardon was validly issued, whether a foreign policy debacle rose to the level of an impeachable offense—the answers to all these questions are not supposed to depend on the President’s personal characteristics.

This Article argues that this veil of ignorance is incompatible with a correct understanding of Article II. To properly empower good Presidents and constrain bad ones, constitutional actors must take into account the President’s personal characteristics. …

"I'M Just Very Open To Trying New Things": Past Sexual Experiences And Sexual Curiosity In Bisexual Women, Rosalyn Zacarias

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bisexuals make up a large percentage of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite this, they remain invisible in the literature. Sexual curiosity is also a concept with limited and confusing literature. The purpose of the study is to look past sexual experiences and their influence on sexual curiosity in bisexual women. The contribution of this study aims to better understand how bisexual women make meaning out of their experiences and highlight the importance of sexual health research. Data was gathered with a sample of 6 bisexual women ranging from 19-29 years old using semi-structured interviews. Three superordinate themes and five subordinate themes …

Analyzing Physiological Signals During The Menstrual Cycle: Introducing An Application Of Circular Statistics, Krystal D. Sides

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physiological signals are used in engineering and the sciences to determine the state of functionality of certain physiological systems such as the human endometrium. Many women use the basal body temperature method to track ovulation, or their fertile window. However, temperature tracking alone is subject to environmental factors. Non-invasive wearable devices can be tools in recording cycle-related physiological features relevant to women’s health research. This research uses the Empatica E4 wristband to track changes in the physiological features during sleep across the menstrual cycle of ovulating and non-ovulating females. Due to the cyclic nature of menstrual cycles, analytic solutions to …

Implementation Of A Standardized Process To Increase Promotion Of Family Presence During Resuscitation, Eileen Hollis

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Family Presence During Resuscitation (FPDR), has been studied and recommended as an important and relevant practice for decades, yet it remains controversial with frequent barriers to implementation. The benefits of this practice are numerous; and to truly embrace shared decision making, nurses and providers must encourage patients and families to participate in all aspects of care, even during resuscitation events. As evidence supporting the emotional and psychological benefits of FPDR began to grow, however, a global pandemic brought family presence to an abrupt halt.

METHODS: This quality improvement project’s focus was to standardize a process for offering and allowing …

Increasing Access And Adherence To Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia (Cbti) For Adults: A Quality Improvement Project, Kristen Newell

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is becoming more prevalent. It can significantly impact a person's quality of life and it contributes to a substantial economic financial burden. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) is the primary treatment for insomnia, but patients are rarely referred for this treatment. This quality improvement project focused on implementing motivational interviewing to increase patient utilization of CBTi. It also encouraged utilization of CBTi Coach, a free phone application that has all of the CBTi components, a rigid sleep behavioral plan and frequent follow-up appointments to improve sleep quantity and quality.

INTERVENTION: Patients that …

Utilizing Outpatient Telehealth As A Treatment Approach For Patients With Substance Use Disorder: A Quality Improvement Project, Veronica Kwegyir-Afful

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: The issue of substance use disorder (SUD) has demonstrated a growing prevalence both in the United States (U.S.) and globally. Effective treatment modalities have been devised for individuals afflicted by SUD, thereby enabling their post-treatment prognosis to be parallel to that of patients with other chronic diseases, such as diabetes. However, several factors or barriers impede individuals with SUD from assessing treatment. These barriers encompass financial constraints stemming from inadequate insurance coverage and high cost, the stigma surrounding SUD, which results in patient's hesitancy to seek treatment treat, adverse societal attitudes, collateral social percussions like work hour losses and …

Evidence-Based Suicide Assessment And Managment Training For Mental Health Professionals, Clara Abit

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: Suicide is a significant public health concern both nationally and globally. While the suicide rate has been decreasing in recent years, evidence shows that the rate of suicide among teenagers and adolescents has been on the rise. Teenage suicide accounts for 14% of all deaths by suicide in the United States, calling for effective interventions in various settings. However, inadequate knowledge of the potential signs and risk factors of suicide hinders mental healthcare professionals' ability to recognize at-risk patients.

Purpose: The project's objective was to evaluate the effects of the intervention on mental health workers' knowledge, skills, and screening …

Facilitating Palliative Care In A Critical Access Hospital System: Implementation Of Screening And Educational Interventions, Michele Lovell

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: The United States health care system faces the dual challenge of an aging population with a concomitant increase in the presence of chronic and serious illness, the care of which accounts for the nation’s largest expenditure of burgeoning healthcare costs. Palliative care is specialized care for people with serious illness aimed at reducing suffering, optimizing quality of life, and enhancing medical decision making. An ample evidence base demonstrates that palliative care increases both quality of care and patient and family satisfaction while also reducing associated costs. The aim of this quality improvement project was to facilitate palliative care services …

Integrated Dynamic Airline Route And Schedule Optimization, Bayan Begaliyeva

Student Works

By harnessing real-time and historical data in conjunction with advanced AI technologies, this project revolutionizes route and schedule planning, leading to enhanced efficiency, cost reduction, and an improved passenger experience.

Acculturative Stress, Mental Health Concerns, And Service Utilization Among Latino Immigrants, Elaine Ruiz

Open Access Dissertations

To better serve the needs of Latino immigrants, we must investigate risk factors for mental health concerns, such as acculturative stress, unauthorized immigration status, and barriers to mental health services (MHS). The purpose of the present study was to: (1) explore the relationship between risk factors and mental health outcomes in a sample of Latino immigrants, (2) examine differences across legal immigration status in mental health outcomes and acculturative stress, (3) assess the mediating effect of anxiety sensitivity, psychological inflexibility, and avoidant coping strategies on the relationship between acculturative stress and anxiety, and (4) examine barriers for MHS utilization among …

The Associations Between Inter-Parental Relationship Quality And Paternal Closeness At Age 9 On Risky Sexual Behavior At Age 15, Lindsey Gartland

Open Access Master's Theses

Risky sexual behavior in adolescence can lead to short-term and long-term consequences such as unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STI’s), and increased number of sexual partners (Simons et al., 2015). In this paper, risky sexual behavior is being defined has having an early sexual debut; having sex by or at age 15. Having sex before or at age 15 poses threats to adolescent’s well-being because of the increased likelihood of previously stated consequences (Magnusson, 2019). The relationship between inter-parental relationship quality, paternal closeness, and some adolescent outcomes such as drug use, alcohol use, and mental health has been previously observed …

Is It Freedom You Want?: Feminist Mormon Housewives “Dear Fmh” Column As A Participant In The Ethics Of Care In American Women’S Advice Columns, Julia Unger

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to understand how the Feminist Mormon Housewives advice column, “Dear fMh,” which ran from 2006-2016, works in alignment with the ethics of care that has existed in American women’s advice columns for generations, as well as how this care specifically functions in the offline-online space. Using feminist rhetorical analysis that focuses on exploring, explaining, and empathizing rather than persuasion, I analyze the writing produced in the most active years of this forum–2006-2007–to understand how this space is created and its relation to the offline space. I base my chapters in Cheryl Glenn’s theory that coalition, reconciliation, and …

Opioids And Opioid Use Disorder Treatment In Pregnancy: Spontaneous Abortion And Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Mennatullah Hasan

Open Access Master's Theses

Opioids, recognized for their efficacy in pain management, have seen a marked increase in prescription rates for use during pregnancy over the last two decades. Opioid utilization in this context is primarily attributed to the management of pain, a prevalent condition in pregnancy. Notably, over 70% of pregnancies are associated with low back and pelvic pain, while other frequent pain conditions include myalgia, joint pain, and migraine. The predominant indication for prescribing opioids during pregnancy is the treatment of acute pain. This trend is expected to persist or even escalate, considering the rising maternal age and the concomitant increase in …

Classification Models For Predicting Mouse Spinal Motoneuron Physiological Type Based On Their Electrical Properties, Reuben Mawuena Kwadzo Ahorklo

Open Access Master's Theses

Accurate prediction of mouse spinal motoneuron physiological types based on electrical properties faces challenges due to missing data and imbalanced class distributions. Technical difficulties, physiological variations, and experimental issues contribute to data gaps in electrophysiological recordings. Imbalanced class distributions arise from the rarity of certain motoneuron types. The resulting risk of biased or unreliable classification models hampers their utility in motor control studies. Thus, we claim that the electrical properties of mouse spinal motoneurons can be accurately predicted and classified based on specific, measurable features.

This study focuses on two classification models, a multinomial logistic regression (MLM) and a Random …

The Role Of Culture In The Association Between Family Disapproval Of Substance Use And Substance Use Among American Indian Adolescents, Rachel Girard

Open Access Master's Theses

Introduction: Substance use among American Indian (AI) adolescents is a major health concern in Indigenous communities due to increased rates of earlier use, heavier use, and increased risk for negative outcomes related to substance use. Primary Socialization Theory (PST), which accounts for how various family and peer relationships and the strength of these relational bonds influence adolescents’ substance use, can be used to understand how relational factors influence adolescent substance use, with family being especially important and influential in AI communities. Another important aspect within AI adolescents, especially for those living on or near reservations, is culture. Researchers have …

Home Health Care Nurses’ Experiences And Perceptions Of Providing Care To Older Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Joan R. Dugas

Open Access Dissertations

Home health care nurses were essential front line healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Research in this area has primarily focused on the experiences of nurses in the acute and long-term care settings. This study aims to: (1) gain an understanding of the subjective experiences and perceptions of home health care nurses providing care to OAs during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) elucidate aspects affecting the care provided to OAs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty nurses were interviewed between July 2022 and September 2022. The interviews were semi-structured and were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four …

Resisting Arrest: An (Auto-Theoretical) Essay On Prison Literature, James A. Ferry

Open Access Dissertations

All philosophy, according to Nietzsche, amounts essentially to “the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography.” Wayne Booth, author of The Rhetoric of Fiction, maintains that the creative writer is never ideologically disinterested, that “there is always some deeper value” at the core of the text. The current project explores the intersection of these two assertions; the degree to which the theoretician betrays his ideology is in dialectical tension with the idea that the life-writer is a latent ideologue. This project employs an auto-theoretical approach: an integration of theory and philosophy with autobiography. A …

Queer And Trans Inclusion In Finnish Teacher Education And Educational Research, Megan C. Jones

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents findings from a case study on queer and trans inclusion in a Finnish graduate program in educational research. The study was also able to expand to include experiences and perspectives from teacher education programs at the same university. This research serves an incredibly timely purpose of bringing issues of queer and trans inclusion to light in a context that is marketed as having idealistic educational practices and programs. Overall findings indicate that even in Finland, a country often looked at as an exemplary model of educational reform, there is a lack of queer and trans inclusion in …

The Effect Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy On Value Consistency During A Weight Loss Program, Leah Dorfman

Open Access Dissertations

In the last decade, the prevalence of obesity has increased significantly in populations worldwide. It is well established that overweight and obesity are associated with a host of deleterious health consequences. Standard Behavioral Therapy (SBT) for weight loss has been demonstrated to yield only modest outcomes with poor long-term maintenance. Therefore, efforts must be made to improve upon what is currently considered to be best practices in weight loss interventions, especially with a goal of improving retention and long-term maintenance. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavioral and cognitive intervention that implements both acceptance and mindfulness processes, and commitment …