Digital Commons Network^™

Sex Disparities In Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Treatment In Us Adult Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Rachel E Solnick, Rahi Patel, Ethan Chang, Carmen Vargas-Torres, Maaz Munawar, Carlin Pendell, Judith E Smith, Ethan Cowan, Keith E Kocher, Roland C Merchant

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Empiric antibiotic treatment for gonorrhea (GC) and chlamydia (CT) is common in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) due to the delayed availability of test results. Local studies have identified sex-based disparities in sexually transmitted infection (STI) care, with females potentially receiving less empiric treatment than males. This study evaluates how STI treatment aligns with laboratory-confirmed results to quantify potential overtreatment and undertreatment rates and investigates sex differences for these outcomes.

METHODS: We conducted a preregistered (PROSPERO #241429) systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published between January 2010 and January 2025 in U.S. EDs, excluding studies conducted exclusively in pediatric settings. …

Clinical Staff Education Initiative Designed To Improve Communication And Collaboration Among Interdisciplinary Clinical Staff, Youlen Duffus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

N/A

"My Child Needs A Chance And A Choice To Talk About Their Pain": Parents' Experiences And Perspectives Of Pain Communication In Paediatric Rheumatology., Rebecca R. Lee, Jade Edwards, Danielle C. Mountain, Janet E. Mcdonagh, Mark Connelly, Tonya Palermo, Sarah Peters

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: To investigate parents' experiences and perspectives about pain communication with healthcare professionals in paediatric rheumatology.

METHODS: Data were collected using semi-structured telephone interviews with parents of children/adolescents recruited from three UK tertiary paediatric rheumatology centres. A framework analysis was used to characterise parents' experiences and perspectives.

RESULTS: Eighteen parents participated. Their children had a median age of 13 years (SD= 3.16 years, Range= 6-16 years, 55 % male), with diagnoses of chronic primary pain (e.g. Ehlers Danlos syndrome/Hypermobility) and chronic secondary pain (e.g. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis). Data were organised into four themes: 1) Parents' active role in pain communication, …

Reliability And Clinical Utility Of Heroin Craving Questionnaire Factors In Treatment-Enrolled Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder., April C. May, Breanna A. Mcnaughton-Long, Chrysantha B. Davis, Abigail J. Pleiman, Carmen Buchfink, Rayus Kuplicki, Hung-Wen Yeh, Martin P. Paulus, Jennifer L. Stewart

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Psychometric properties of opioid craving assessments are underexamined, limiting their potential utility for treatment studies of opioid use disorder (OUD). To address this gap, the current study aimed to evaluate the predictive utility of the Heroin Craving Questionnaire (HCQ) for future substance use outcomes. Treatment-enrolled participants with OUD (n = 128) completed the Heroin Craving Questionnaire (HCQ) at baseline and were followed up to assess future return to use versus abstinence. Individuals who maintained abstinence at each of three follow-up visits also completed the HCQ again. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on baseline HCQ items, and extracted factors were …

Early Phase Testing Of Functional Imagery Training As An Intervention For Anxiety, Jackie Andrade, D. J. Kavanagh, Carly Bowditch, Emily Mackriel, Emily Ravenshill, Amy Sime, Eleanor Trumfield, Jessica Watts, Jon May

School of Psychology

Cognitive models hypothesize a role for motivated behaviour in anxiety disorders, with safety behaviours leading to exaggerated threat appraisals and increased anticipatory anxiety. Based on the Affective Imagery Theory of Motivation, we propose that increasing motivation for engagement behaviours will reduce motivation for safety behaviours through competition for limited capacity cognitive resources supporting motivational imagery. We hypothesise that imagining successful engagement will reduce anxiety directly, and through promoting subsequent engagement. We present preliminary evidence that functional imagery training (FIT), an intervention that develops and teaches motivational imagery, reduces anxiety. FIT was delivered to undergraduates with anxiety in one session lasting …

Urgent Issues And Prospects In Guilty Plea Research And Practice, Allison D. Redlich, Lydia Becker, Lucian E. Dervan, Michael P. Donnelly, Annabelle Frazier, Meredith Gallen, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Rebecca K. Helm, Brian D. Johnson

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Criminal legal systems around the world rely heavily on defendants foregoing their right to trial and pleading guilty. However, legal scholars, social scientists, and practitioners have identified and empirically examined numerous problems with pleas, such as the high potential for coercion, innocent defendants falsely pleading guilty, and undue incentives in exchange for accepting plea offer. In this article, leading guilty plea experts (practitioners and researchers) were asked to identify what they considered to be the most urgent questions surrounding pleas. Across nine commentaries, three primary themes emerged. First were calls for increased transparency in pleas, specific to rules of discovery …

How Privilege Affects Reactions To Men's Femininity, Matthew G. Nielson, Brittany Romanello, Alexa Martin-Storey

Sociology and Criminology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research aimed to explore social responses to men's femininity, with particular attention paid to the impact of privilege as detailed in the framework of hybrid masculinities. Generally, men's femininity is met with condemnation, but those with more privilege may have more leeway than those with less. Additionally, cultural attitudes may be evolving to be less homonegative, which may alter the reception of queer men's femininity. From interviews with 30 young adult men in a US Southwestern city, we found evidence for compensatory masculinity privilege - allowing femininity based on other successful enactments of masculinity - and 'gay allowance' - …

Unveiling The Veil: Understanding The Intersection Of Racism And Body Image Among Vietnamese American Young Adults, Thien Dang, Meekyung Han

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Asian Americans have experienced persistent gendered racism, racial microaggressions, and orientalism. These factors have contributed to dissatisfaction with their body image and have led some individuals to turn to body modification in order to cope with psychological distress and conform to White beauty standards. However, limited research has explored how Vietnamese Americans—one of the fastest-growing Asian American populations—experience and navigate racial dynamics related to body image, particularly in relation to gender differences and the role of cultural identity. To address this knowledge gap, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the intersection of racism, internalized racism, and body image dissatisfaction, …

The Association Between Cardiac Vagal Activity And Urinary Catecholamine: Investigating The Effect Of Race And Sex, Li Shen Chong, Betty Lin, Elana B. Gordis, De Wayne P. Williams, Julian F. Thayer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Black individuals are at greater risk for the development of cardiovascular diseases compared to White individuals. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation has been identified as a significant risk factor contributing to racial disparities in cardiovascular disease, yet systematic racial differences that affect the measurement of ANS activity among White and Black participants are likely obscuring understanding about ANS-health disparity links. Moreover, sex differences in ANS activity have been observed. Thus, efforts to elucidate the comparability of ANS indices across race and sex are needed. This study aimed to investigate the effects of race and sex on the associations between two …

Facilitators And Barriers To Mammogram Screening Uptake Among Saudi Women: A Systematic Review, Sarah A. Alkhaifi

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To evaluate current mammogram screening rates and identify barriers and facilitators for mammogram uptake among Saudi women. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA framework, beginning with a database search performed by 2 researchers using PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, and Google Scholar for pertinent studies published between 2000 and 2024. Qualitative and quantitative studies were included if they: a) were conducted in Saudi Arabia among Saudi women, b) explored factors associated with mammogram uptake among Saudi women, and c) were peer-reviewed. The socioecological model was used to thematically synthesize the results. Results: A total …

Temporal Patterns Of New Product Introductions And Ipo Value: The Importance Of Recency, Dispersion, And Asymmetry, Suyun Mah, Rebecca J. Slotegraaf, Girish Mallapragada

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A firm’s innovation activity is often judged by the number and type of new products it launches, but when these products are introduced may be equally important, especially before going public. This research investigates how the temporal pattern of new product introductions (NPIs) influences a firm’s initial public offering (IPO) value. The analysis uses data from 298 firms that went public between 2006 and 2023, and focuses on three patterns of timing: recency (how recently the latest product was launched before the IPO), dispersion (the degree to which NPIs before the IPO are spread out over time), and asymmetry (how …

Death Penalty For Drug Offenders In Southeast Asia: Weakening Of Resistance To Change?, Wing Cheong Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Although the global movement towards abolition of the death penalty has been supported by an increasing number of countries in the world, the number of persons executed for drug offences actually increased in the last few years. Known executions for drug offences now account for more than 40 per cent of all global executions. Most such executions take place in Asia. Of the 34 countries in the world that still retain the death penalty for drug offenders, all nine of those identified as “high application states” (China, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Vietnam) are found …

Public Support For And Reactive Behavior Toward Technological Risk Interventions: An Extension Of Secondary Risk Theory, Hye Kyung Kim, Rui Gu, Fiona Goh, Sonny Rosenthal, Shirley S. Ho

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Project Wolbachia is a dengue control initiative in Singapore. Guided by Secondary Risk Theory, this study examined how primary (dengue) and secondary (Wolbachia) threat and coping appraisals shape public support and reactive behavior toward the project. A nationally representative survey of 1,000 Singaporeans showed that support was positively linked to the perceived primary risk, the efficacy of the project and the government, while negatively related to the perceived secondary risk. Reactive behavior was positively associated with perceptions of both primary and secondary risk. Media attention and trust in the government indirectly influenced support and behavior moderated by knowledge.

Recurrent Autoregressive Linear Model For Next-Basket Recommendation, Tereza Zmeskalova, Antoine Ledent, Martin Spisak, Pavel Kordik, Rodrigo Alves

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Next-basket recommendation aims to predict the (sets of) items that a user is most likely to purchase during their next visit, capturing both short-term sequential patterns and long-term user preferences. However, effectively modeling these dynamics remains a challenge for traditional methods, which often struggle with interpretability and computational efficiency, particularly when dealing with intricate temporal dependencies and inter-item relationships. In this paper, we propose ReALM, a Recurrent Autoregressive Linear Model that explicitly captures temporal item-to-item dependencies across multiple time steps. By leveraging a recurrent loss function and a closed-form optimization solution, our approach offers both interpretability and scalability while maintaining …

Integrating Environmental Risk Factors Into Pediatric Cancer Care: Laying The Groundwork For Improved Outcomes And Primary Prevention., Nicole Wood, Omar Shakeel, Juan A. Ortega-Garcia, Mark D. Miller

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Childhood cancer incidence has steadily risen both in the United States and worldwide, yet its environmental contributors remain underrecognized in clinical care. Children and cancer survivors are particularly susceptible to environmental exposures due to their unique physiology and the long-term health vulnerabilities that follow cancer treatment. Although exposures to substances such as pesticides, air pollution, and household chemicals are linked to increased cancer risk, limited clinical frameworks and clinician training leave oncologists underprepared to address growing environmental health concerns from families. A holistic pediatric oncology environmental health program in Murcia, Spain offers a scalable vision for embedding the environment into …

Medication Adherence Among Partnered, Sexual Minority Men Living With Hiv: What’S Love, Interdependence And Comorbidities Got To Do With It?, Kendell M. Doyle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexual minority men (SMM) report higher incidence and prevalence rates of HIV infection relative to their heterosexual counterparts. The burden of HIV infection has garnered research attention focused on HIV risk reduction and HIV disease management (such as medication adherence). More recently, attention has been paid to the association of comorbid chronic health conditions and ART adherence among people living with HIV (PLWH) more broadly. Yet, limited attention has been paid to the association of comorbidities among SMM living with HIV specifically, despite the high rates of HIV among this population and various other risk factors that put SMM at …

The Salience Of Function Words In Implicit Statistical Linguistic Learning: An Erp Investigation, Daniel M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research has indicated that children and adults can implicitly learn language patterns; however, questions still remain regarding the role and nature of implicit learning, particularly of sequential patterns. Implicit statistical learning is a type of unconscious learning of sequential patterns, which may be especially relevant to phrase structure learning. Prior studies have highlighted the differential processing of function words (FWs), such as determiners, relative to content and nonsense words and have also pointed to particular neural response patterns (specifically, Anterior Negativity, or AN) to early syntactic violations. To date, there is relatively little work directly investigating the role of FWs …

Wavelength And Luminance Interaction On Spatio-Temporal Contrast Sensitivity Function, Taylan S. Ergun

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Contrast sensitivity (CS) measures the ability to discriminate objects from their backgrounds under varying conditions(Campbell & Robson, 1968). Contrast sensitivity is important for navigating the real world and operating under different light conditions. The contrast sensitivity function (CSF) reflects how the visual system performs under different conditions. This measure is crucial in assessing the health of the visual system (Chen & Gardner, 2021). CSF contributes to a deeper understanding of how the visual system processes and integrates properties of light to create visual sensation and perception. Human contrast sensitivity depends on the viewing conditions such as field size, luminance, color, …

The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Health-Related Quality Of Life In College Students, Shelia Ann Fritts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the interaction effects of physical activity levels and race on college students' physical and mental health, focusing on Native American students. A total of 245 students participated, categorized by physical activity levels (low, moderate, and high) and race (Native American and others). Descriptive statistics outlined the sample characteristics and physical activity behaviors. At the same time, a two-way ANOVA was conducted to assess the effects of race and physical activity on health-related quality of life, measured through physical and mental composite scores (PCS and MCS). The results revealed a significant interaction effect between race and low physical …

A Mobility Data-Driven Approach To Analyzing And Modeling Park Accessibility Inequities And Use In U.S. Cities, Michaelmary Chukwu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban Park accessibility inequities have been a longstanding issue globally and the United States in particular. Despite the benefits that urban parks provide, use and access is not equitably distributed among the population, often favoring historically privileged populations over others (disadvantaged). Fortunately, improvements have been made in recent years to promote balanced park distribution in some cities; however, evidence still shows that most cities are behind. Interestingly, the rise in human mobility data has facilitated the study of human behavior and use of activity spaces. This thesis advances the existing studies on park accessibility and emerging human mobility to study …

Helping Someone Off The Hook: Post-Moral Disengagement As An Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Strategy In A Hypothetical Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault Vignette, Kayla Ford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Post-moral disengagement (PMD) is posited as a form of interpersonal emotion regulation that involves altering the severity of harmful conduct and/or the transgressor’s personal responsibility to facilitate avoidance of negative emotions like guilt, which could maintain problematic behaviors. A pervasive harmful behavior on college campuses is alcohol-involved sexual violence, wherein intoxication is often used as an excuse or justification for assault. Though some aggressors of sexual violence experience guilt afterwards, it is unclear how bystanders might respond to this display of emotion and the potential applicability of PMD. As an initial step to assessing PMD as interpersonal emotion regulation, the …

Stay Woke: Understanding Critical Consciousness Development In Adults And Its Relationship To Psychological Constructs, Christin Alexandra Mujica

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Racism confers numerous measurable health risks for people of color. Interventions to mitigate the impact of racism on health are necessary and important to reduce disease burden and improve health outcomes for people of color. While communities of color have developed resiliency tactics that have allowed them to survive, even thrive, in the face of racial oppression, the evaluation and promotion of promising tools that counteract racism’s negative impacts are essential (Phillips et al., 2015). Critical consciousness is just such a tool. Research with children suggests it holds promise (Diemer et al., 2016; Heberle et al., 2020; Maker-Castro et al., …

Media’S New-Age Opinion Leaders: Audience Perceptions Of Smi Credibility And Opinion Leadership Role, Alyssa Claire Riley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With worldwide technological and communication advancements in the last few decades, everyday citizens can capture, create, and share news through social media platforms. Nowadays, prominent social media influencers (SMIs) influence where and from whom online audiences consume their news and information. This study aims to explore how different SMI attributes – such as attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness – and their social media tactics create or add to audience perceptions of SMIs as credible online opinion leaders. Applying Two-Step Flow theory and Source Credibility theory, the study used data from a survey of 115 participants to understand how audiences perceived the …

Exploring The Relationship Between Grit, Burnout, And Academic Success Among First-Year Osteopathic Medical Students During Fundamentals Of Anatomic Science I Course, Heather Guzik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Burnout is a significant issue among healthcare professionals. Burnout refers to the mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion that can develop throughout one’s career or studies. It can affect professionalism and patient care (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: National Academy of Medicine, 2019). Studies have shown that burnout begins early in an individual's medical education and can increase throughout their training (Voltmer et al., 2021). It has been suggested that students with a high level of Grit may exhibit some resistance to burnout (Jumat et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2022). This noncognitive trait measures a person’s ability to …

Rumination And Inhibitory Control In Suicidal Ideation: The Role Of Explicit And Implicit Emotional Processing, Arooj Abid

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, and suicidal ideations (SI; thinking, considering, or planning suicide) are a strong predictor of suicide attempts. Prior literature describes inhibitory control as an important facet of regulating negative thoughts, and studies suggest that inhibitory control deficits and engagement in brooding rumination are risk factors of SI. Recent studies have found implicit cognitive markers of suicidality suggesting that level of processing may variably be linked to SI. This study examined the relation between aspects of inhibitory control across explicit and implicit emotional contexts and levels of brooding rumination among …

The Intersection Of Race And Nativity: Exploring Criminal Justice Contact Among Black Adults In The United States., Uchenna Makuochukwu Onuoha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black immigrants in the United States navigate a dual identity as both Black and immigrant, yet their unique experiences remain underexplored in research on immigration and crime. While prior studies have documented generational differences and negative associations between immigration and crime, the intersection of race and nativity in shaping criminal justice contact for Black immigrants is unknown. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study examines the role of race and nativity on various forms of criminal justice contact. Specifically, we investigate (1) the extent to which nativity plays a role in criminal legal …

Sound Decisions: The Impact Of Music Genre In Fashion Advertising On Consumer Perceptions And Purchase Intention, Cassandra Thomas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how music genre, brand type, and the perceived congruency between the two influences consumer perceptions of fashion advertising. Guided by Congruity Theory and Attitude Theory, this study employed a 3x3 experimental design in which 252 participants viewed one of nine advertisement conditions varying by music genre (pop, hip-hop, electronic) and brand type (activewear, fast fashion, luxury). A series of one-way ANOVAs, bivariate correlations, and regression analyses were conducted to interpret the effects of music genre, brand type, and perceived congruency on attitudes toward 1) the advertisement and brand, 2) credibility of the advertisement and brand, and 3) …

Association Between Decisional Conflict And Quality Of Life Among Parents With A Child Undergoing Hospital-Based Treatment For A Recent Cancer Diagnosis, Augustine Provencio

Doctoral Dissertations

Having a child with a chronic illness, such as cancer, can cause families significant distress. Parents of these children must make frequent decisions relating to their child’s care. Depending on factors such as health literacy and support from medical staff, parents may have varying levels of decisional conflict (DC) throughout the decision-making process. Compounding stress throughout their child’s illness can often contribute to lower levels of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) while their child is receiving hospital-based treatment. Parents with a non-English language preference (NELP) often have greater challenges navigating healthcare systems due to a lack of resources and limited …

Towards Multimodal Emotional Support Conversation Systems, Yuqi Chu, Lizi Liao, Zhiyuan Zhou, Chong-Wah Ngo, Richang Hong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The integration of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) into mental health care promises a new horizon for therapist-client interactions, aiming to closely emulate the depth and nuance of human conversations. Despite the potential, the current landscape of conversational AI is markedly limited by its reliance on single-modal data, constraining the systems’ ability to empathize and provide effective emotional support. This limitation stems from a paucity of resources that encapsulate the multimodal nature of human communication essential for therapeutic counseling. To address this gap, we introduce the Multimodal Emotional Support Conversation (MESC) dataset, a first-of-its-kind resource enriched with comprehensive annotations across text, …

Flow, Immersion, And Presence: Creating Virtual Reality And Engagement In The Era Of Ubiquitous And Intelligent Technologies, Yi Maggie Guo, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Nannan Xi, Marshall Scott Poole

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Researchers use the concepts of flow, immersion, and presence to explain the usage of and engagement (e.g., cognitive absorption) with information technology. In this special issue, we showcase four papers on empirical investigations of flow and immersion, their antecedents, and their outcomes. These papers address research questions that range from investigating the antecedents and consequences of immersion in head-mounted displays of virtual reality, designing for the flow experience in extended reality, studying factors influencing user engagement in the metaverse, and identifying adverse effects of work-related flow. We also provide directions and suggestions for future research.