Education Commons^™

Students With Mental Health Disabilities Suffer From Discrimination Across College Campuses, Abigail Nequa Napp

Capstones

Over the course of several months, we investigated and reported on how colleges and universities have been discriminating against students with mental health disabilities. We FOIA'd the Department of Education for a history of pending and resolved cases (from 2008 - November 2019) to uncover violations committed by colleges. In several instances, institutions discriminated and punished students instead of accommodating their mental health disabilities as required by law. We also reviewed recent lawsuits involving students against universities that focused on punitive leave of absence policies as well as wrongful death suits. This revealed further inefficiencies, deficiencies and tragedy in the …

Development Of A Text Message Stress Management Intervention And Its Impact On Perceived Stress And Coping Self-Efficacy Among Student Nurses, Kristin Jaye Henderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of the two studies was to develop a text message intervention and examine its effects on lowering perceived stress and increasing coping self-efficacy among nursing students. We also explored stress perceptions and investigated student satisfaction with the text message stress management program. Methods: For the first study, twenty three students participated in the focus groups for intervention development. Sample messages were presented to participants and feedback was requested. The messages were modified based on student feedback. The second study utilized an experimental pre/post design with a convenience sample (N=101) to examine the effects of the text message …

Health-Promoting Behaviors And Subjective Well-Being Among High School Students, Nicholas David W. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In positive psychology, a greater emphasis is placed on the presence of indicators of both physical and mental health. This study examined the relationship between 12 health-promoting behaviors and subjective well-being (SWB; e.g., happiness) in a sample of 450 high school aged youth from five high schools in two states. Participants reported on their dietary habits, physical activity, abstinence from tobacco products, abstinence from alcohol, and sleep hygiene (i.e., 8 unique components) as well as a multidimensional assessment of SWB (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). It was hypothesized that increased engagement in each of the health-promoting behaviors …

Trans In Higher Ed: Understanding The Experiences Of Transgender And Nonbinary College Students, Katherine Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study sought to further explore the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students, in attempts to address the empirical gap contributed to by conflation of sexual and gender minorities’ experiences in research. The focus is on the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students to explore identity development, their experiences on campus and with mental health services, the nature of help-seeking behaviors, and their recommendations for mental health professionals, allies, and college staff. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews addressing the following research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students; …

Importance Of Social Support In Athletics As It Relates To Injury Recovery And Preparedness To Return To Play, Haleigh Gray

Graduate Theses

Background: Recent studies have evaluated the physical problems as well as the psychological complications that arise from sport injuries. However, little research has been done on techniques to address or mitigate these psychological issues. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate how social support was perceived during the injury rehabilitation process and how it influenced return to play preparedness. Setting: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I mid-major university. Participants: A total of 21 previously injured student-athletes participated in the study. Methods: Through this mixed method study, each student-athlete completed a validated social support survey that evaluated perceived …

When Process Becomes Processing: Managing Instructor Response To Student Disclosure Of Trauma In The Composition Classroom, Kelci Barton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In first-year composition courses, there are three aspects of teaching that are researched well so far: disclosure of trauma in student writing, instructor feedback, and emotional labor. The disclosure of trauma is almost completely unavoidable in first-year composition. We encounter an issue with instructor feedback; how do we provide feedback to student writing, like grammar and mechanics, when the student has disclosed trauma in the writing? Additionally, we can build off this with emotional labor, which already occurs consistently in teaching but is heightened in this instance. When providing feedback to a student who has disclosed trauma, this can be …

The Effect Of A Training Clinic On The Self-Efficacy Of Counselors In Training, Jihene Ayadi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this study was to examine the differences between trainees’ perceived self-efficacy when they graduate from a counseling program that has a community based mental health training clinic versus a program without a training clinic. A web-based survey was developed with the questions from the Counseling Self-Efficacy Inventory (COSE) (Larson et al., 1992) and 45 (N = 45) participants took the survey online. Participants were students enrolled and taking a practicum or internship class in a counseling program with a training clinic (WTC) or in a counseling program without a clinic (WTTC). Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test, a non-parametric …

A First Step: Analyzing The Professional Quality Of Life Of U.S. College Mental Health Counselors, Jeffrey Yoichi Kuroiwa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The study used a demographic questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) to conduct a national survey of mental health counselors (N = 236) working at colleges and universities in the United States. It was hypothesized that U.S. college mental health counselors would indicate higher than average scores on the ProQOL subscales for compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. The results show that U.S. college mental health counselors indicate average potential for compassion satisfaction and average risk for developing burnout and secondary traumatic stress. It was also hypothesized that counselors' ProQOL scores would differ between gender, age, …

Predicting Spiritual And Religious Competence Based On Supervisor Practices And Institutional Attendance, Andrew Phillip Secor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counseling students report a lack of competence in spiritual and religious integration (SRI). As such, counselor educators and supervisors (CES) and students want to understand how to develop SRI competence. Although past research highlighted SRI dialogue in training, the problem is that no clear understanding exists about the role of faculty supervisor SRI on perceived student competence. The supervision models used to inform the study included the integrated developmental model, discrimination model, and spirituality in supervision model (SACRED). The purpose of this study was to determine if master’s-level graduate counseling students’ perception of their faculty supervisors’ SRI practices predicted students …

Wellness In Asexual-Identified Individuals: The Impact Of Social Support And Microaggressions, Elisa Marie Woodruff

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

One hundred sixty asexual identified individuals living in the United States were recruited from asexual online communities. The participants completed a comprehensive survey consisting of Zimet et al.’s 1988 Multidimensional Scale of Social Support, Foster’s 2017 Asexual Microaggression Scale, and the Five Factor Wellness Inventory Adult Version Revised (FFWEL-A2) developed by Myers and Sweeney in 2014, as well as 15-item demographic items. Regression models were used to assess relationships among the factors.

Social support was found to have a significant positive impact on participant wellness, supporting previous social science research. Microaggressions were not found to have a negative impact on …

Predicting Educational Attainment Based On Forensic Psychiatric Patients' Age At First Hospitalization, Malinda Marie Lawson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Education during recovery could impact a forensic psychiatric patient's community reintegration; however, individual education goals for patients can be difficult due to the lack of available parameters. The purpose of this study was to test whether age at first hospitalization is predictive of educational attainment among forensic psychiatric patients and to determine which ages of first hospitalization best predict 8 levels of educational attainment. Cattell's intelligence theory served as the theoretical framework for this study because mental illness requiring early hospitalization may affect education and learning. This quantitative, nonexperimental study involved a predictive design with data from the Canadian Institute …

Experiences Of African American Mothers Raising Gifted Children, Keisha Kavon Mcgill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Equality in educational access has long been an area of concern for U.S. educators, policy makers, and advocates. Congress issued a mandate in 1969 to identify the needs of gifted students and to ensure that those needs were being met. However, the needs of gifted minority students were not specifically addressed. Little is known about how African American mothers are affected by the demands of raising and advocating for their gifted child. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences of African American mothers raising gifted children. The theory of womanism was used to …

The Experiences Of Counseling Graduate Students Who Participated In Professional Legislative Advocacy Training, Nakpangi Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Legislative advocacy efforts are increasingly becoming part of a counselor's professional identity, yet scholarly literature lacks studies about experiences of counseling students involved in legislative advocacy for the counseling profession. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the meaning counseling students ascribe to their involvement in legislative advocacy for the counseling profession. Astin's student involvement theory was the conceptual framework utilized to explore the lived experiences of counseling graduate students and recent graduates who participated in a 4-day long American Counseling Association Institute for Leadership Training on legislative advocacy and leadership or in professional legislative advocacy …