Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

How Has The Covid-19 Pandemic Transformed The Relevance Of The Traditional College Experience?, Zachary Schueller

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Over the past three years, the Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered students’ college experience through its location format and delivery. Research and early interviews suggest that students are now less likely to pursue a four-year traditional college experience than they were before the start of the pandemic. Instead, students are increasingly choosing to pursue other options such as not going to college or learning remotely. Even before the start of the pandemic data shows that college enrollment was already declining. While this data shows the short-term effects of Covid-19 on students there are a number of questions about the long-term …

The Effects Of An Intervention Using Pokemon Trading Card Game On The Decoding Abilities Of Children, Derek Emmett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study focuses on illustrating the relationship between word decoding instruction and word decoding abilities within the context of a trading card game. Additionally, an argument for reading motivation and improvement of literacy skills is made. Three participants between the ages of 9 and 13 were recruited for participation in this study. Several decoding strategies such as phonemic awareness and morphological awareness strategies were implemented and trained over the course of several trading card games. Performance in decoding of several lists of compiled nonwords following treatment phases were systematically measured by the researcher. Two of the three participants demonstrated …

A Word From The Writing Team (May 2023), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Join us for our First Friday writing retreat of the semester!
• Faculty Days 2023
• Publication Spotlight
• Reminders

Anatomy Academy Service-Learning Project: Attacking The Epidemic Of Childhood Obesity, Kelsey Kjer, Rosedaveia Howell, Brennan Kitchen, Francesca Schutte

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The World Health Organization has classified childhood obesity as one of the most serious public health concerns in the world. Obesity is known to have detrimental health consequences and be a risk for comorbidities. On top of the consequences of obesity already seen in young children at school, a lack of health education interventions in many elementary schools remains a significant health disparity. Anatomy Academy (AA) is a seven-week curriculum designed to educate children about their bodies and the importance of gaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The purpose of this service-learning project was to educate elementary school students in …

The Lived Experience Of The Dnp-To-Phd Nursing Graduate: Examining The Journey, Bonni S. Cohen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The traditional route of obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in nursing is vertical: a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), followed by PhD in nursing. An ongoing shortage of PhD- prepared nurses—nurse educators and nurse researchers, in particular, has spurred the creation of more pathways to obtaining a PhD in Nursing. In recent years, there has been a drive to increase the number of nurse scientists with doctoral degrees through innovative pathways. A newer terminal nursing degree, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), has taken root over the past decade to produce nurse leaders who are experts at translating …

Investigating Students’ Lived Experience With Prebriefing Structure And Elements In Nursing Simulation Education, Meghan Liebzeit

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Prebriefing is a growing body of knowledge in nursing simulation education. It is recognized as an important factor in the simulation experience, however the practice of prebriefing varies widely making it difficult to understand what methods best prepare students for the simulation scenario. While research over the last decade has identified prebriefing increases confidence, skills, and clinical judgment, what content is important to include in prebriefing, or how it promotes the achievement of outcomes is under recognized.Implementing an intervention based on a pedagogically sound eight-week simulation clinical course, developed with the theoretical underpinnings of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, Kolb’s …

A Pilot Program To Inform High School Students About Allied Healthcare Professions, Nhu Mac

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The literature revealed the lack of diversity in the workforce, limited recruiting and retention methods, and lack of exposure to these professions as the contributions to the shortage and demand for the profession of occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech- language pathology (SLP). As a result, the fourteen-week program to inform high school students about OT, PT, and SLP roles in the community and public health was implemented at Desert Pines High School in Clark County School District (CCSD) to see if it would influence their perceived attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and the likelihood of pursuing these careers. Using …

Implementing The Use Of Lesson Plan Templates Within The Mentorship Program For Dignity Health Hand Therapists, Ronell Matthew Sueno

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Occupational therapists (OT) have a wide range of specialties following graduation, one of which is hand therapy. This specialty requires a certain level of knowledge and clinical reasoning, especially concerning hand anatomy and physiology. It is hard to transition into hand therapy as a new occupational therapist due to extensive knowledge, additional patient-care hours, specialty certifications require, and lack of opportunity. A smoother transition into the workforce can be achieved through mentorship programs that allow for meetings with mentors to ask questions and get clarification on different treatments and diagnoses. This quality improvement project focused on gaining perspectives of hand …

No Scrubs: Nursing Applicant Trajectories After Rejection, Jennifer Torgerson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a nursing shortage in the United States which has become even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite qualified applicants, thousands of students are turned away from educational programs each year as programs reach capacity limits. The rejection may have social, psychological, and economic consequences for the student. Students faced with rejection need to make decisions whether to continue their pursuit of nursing or go a different direction. This exploratory quantitative study aims to understand the trajectories of students that are not admitted into a capacity restricted nursing program at a community college in the Southwestern United States. …

Coh 1500 Healthcare In The Us Oer Syllabus, Shannon Caravello

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Therapeutic Approaches To Working With Perinatal Loss Clients: A Grounded Theory Study, Heather H. Olivier

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Perinatal loss (i.e., miscarriage, stillbirth, termination, and infant death) is commonly referred to in the literature as an invisible loss, non-loss, and even medical event. It is an ambiguous loss exhibiting the dialectical contradiction between the physical absence and psychological presence of the baby accompanied by disenfranchised grief, a reaction to a loss that is unacknowledged by society. Despite the likelihood of mental health clinicians working with clients who have experienced perinatal loss, there has yet to be a therapeutic model designed specifically for the unique grief and trauma reactions presented in this population. Existing grief models do not address …

The Influences Of The Public Health Care System And Education System On The Economic Growth Of Swaziland, Grace Greer

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Kingdom of Eswatini, also known as Swaziland, has one of the youngest populations in the world with over 70% of citizens being under the age of 18 years old. This creates a substantial opportunity for economic, social, and educational growth in a country previously plagued with diseases such as HIV/AIDS, poor health care infrastructure cutting off thousands from basic care, and an educational system with a very low attendance rate and an even lower graduation rate. By evaluating the root causes of such issues dating back to the colonial era there is an opportunity to reprioritize health care and …

From Inpatient Facility To The Everyday Classroom - Examining The Process Of Reintegration For Arkansas Youths, Grace Webb

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on analyzing the current policies set in place within the state of Arkansas for student reintegration following a prolonged absence from school due to mental health issues. It is designed to explore what barriers and disconnections there are between mental health care and continued care after discharge of youths from an inpatient mental health facility and re-entry into the classroom. Within this thesis, current conditions impacting youth mental health and education are explored, as well as current school counseling plans throughout four school districts in various regions across the state. To my knowledge gathered from my findings, …

The Importance Of Mood And Motivation Of An Individual In The Success Of Physical Therapy, Spencer Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Physical therapy is a health profession that helps people improve their movement and range of motion in certain body areas. Since the time it was founded, physical therapists have mainly focused on the physical health of the patient. While that is their job, they may not have been as successful because they neglected the mental health of the patient. The mindset of an individual, particularly their mood and motivation, can influence how they progress through physical therapy and how successful they are in regaining functionality in their affected body area. The purpose of this study is to determine how the …

Temporal Changes In Energy-Balance Behaviors And Home Factors In Adolescents With Normal Weight And Those With Overweight Or Obesity, Senlin Chen, Chelsea L. Kracht, Robbie A. Beyl, Amanda E. Staiano

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

This study aimed to examine the temporal changes in energy-balance behaviors and home factors in adolescents with normal weight and those with overweight or obesity (OWOB). Adolescents or parent proxies completed survey assessments two to four years before (T0; n = 82), ≤ six months before (T1; n = 68), and ≤ three months after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (T2; n = 82), to capture energy-balance behaviors (i.e., physical activity [PA], screen time, sleep) and home factors (i.e., food environment, food worry, parent support for PA). At T0 and T1 (before pandemic), participants visited our laboratory for anthropometric measurements. At …

Health Literacy And The Feasibility Of Using Video-Based Education In The Emergency Department, Jenifer Carvell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines health literacy as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. In the emergency department (ED), it is estimated that the prevalence of inadequate health literacy can reach as high as 88 percent. There is a need to implement literacy-sensitive interventions in the ED. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to engineer an intervention that explored the feasibility of the use of personal technology to deliver video-based education to adult …

Occupational Therapy Fieldwork In An Emerging Justice-Based Setting: Hope For Prisoners, Noah Claypool

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This capstone occurred through a partnership with HOPE for Prisoners in Las Vegas, Nevada. As an emerging area of practice, the occupational therapy profession needs more resources and programs focused on the justice system. The lack of evidence-based resources to support future level I fieldwork students at HOPE for Prisoners poses a barrier for students to maximize their fieldwork experience and effectively engage with the organization’s population of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men, women, and young adults in southern Nevada.This capstone experience involved a 14-week immersion at HOPE for Prisoners, including participation in training and workshops and engagement with clients, …

Leveraging Simulation To Understand Nursing Student Learning In Technologically Complex Environment, Deborah Rojas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction The adoption of simulation technologies in schools of nursing has increased significantly over the last 5 years. Results regarding the use of simulation technology have been positive. The use of simulation technologies has been developed to include complex nursing situations that resemble real clinical settings. Research has demonstrated that memory recall is better in an environment that is the same or similar to the environment in which the learning took place (Krokos et al., 2018). For this reason, educators have used simulation technologies to create realistic environments where students can learn. However, learning outcomes in simulations are affected by …

Just Culture In Undergraduate Nursing Academia, Marcie Leonard

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Understanding the importance of reporting errors, near misses, and good catches by nursing students is not a standard part of the curriculum at the project site. Nursing students lack pre-requisite knowledge of how just culture does not aim to place blame on individuals but focuses on system flaws. Nursing students fear being dismissed from the nursing program if they make and/or report errors. A focus on eliminating the fear of dismissal from a nursing program for error reporting and formally educating how error reporting can help shape practice for many other nursing students and nurses will result in better data …

If Stress Is The Lock Is Communication The Key, Riley Romero, Bailey Julian, Danielle Carter

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project was meant to analyze the possible issues high school student-athletes may face academically as well as mentally while in school. This issue is important to note because there is an increase in students participating in sports and the offered school support should reflect the growing population. An argument that was found was the possible overlook of the mental well-being of the student-athletes if they are academically succeeding or are accomplished athletes. The primary stakeholders perspectives chosen were current high school student-athletes because they are able to provide insight into the current issues that student-athletes …

Experimental And Observational Research Of Children Physical Activity Intervention: A Synthesis Of The Recent Studies, Yuanlong Liu

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Health Wearable-Based Physical Activity Interventions Among Children And Adolescents, Suryeon Ryu, Pablo Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Zan Gao

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Health wearable technologies have become popular in recent decades to improve individual physical activity (PA) behavior. Thus, this paper aims to examine the health of wearable-based PA intervention among children and adolescents and provide narrative overviews. This paper retrieved articles based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) experimental design; (2) studies among healthy children and adolescents aged from 5 to 18 years; (3) studies using health wearables as a medium to enhance PA or reduce sedentary behavior; and (4) studies with PA assessments as an outcome. Relevant articles were searched based on recent preceding review papers published in 2021 and …

Effects Of Active Video Game Interventions On Physical Health And Development Among Healthy Preschool Children: A Systematic Review, Wanjiang Zhou, John Oginni, Juan Jose Palos Perez Sr., Kaitlyn Adams, Zan Gao

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Early physical activity (PA) interventions during preschool ages are necessary and critical to cultivate healthy movement behaviors for healthy growth and development. The increasing obesity rate among children is a major public health concern globally, which is largely due to poor adherence to participating in regular PA. Active video game (AVG) interventions have been increasingly used in promoting PA. The narrative review synthesized current literature regarding the effect of AVG interventions on physical health and development indicators among healthy preschoolers. A systematic review was performed in Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, ERIC, PubMed, SPORT Discus, and Web of Science, following the …

A Review On The Dose Response Effect Of Regular Physical Activity On Cognitive Function Among Children And Adolescents, Weidong Li, Ping Xiang

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Purpose: Positive effects of physical activity on cognitive function among children and adolescents have been observed in previous studies. However, little is known about whether there is a dose-response effect of physical activity on cognitive functioning. Especially, the curvilinear relationship between regular physical activity and cognitive functioning remained unexplored. The purpose of this paper was to review the literature on the dose response effect of physical activity on cognitive function among children and adolescents. Methods: A literature search on key words, title, and abstract with the phrases “physical activity and executive function”, “physical activity and cognition”, and “physical …

Uplifting An Invisible Population: How We Can Combine Psychology And Policy To Improve The Educational And Mental Health Outcomes Of Homeless Youth, Melissa Hamilton

Washington Semester Program

The goal of this thesis is to a) explain why homeless youth are frequently linked to poor mental health and education outcomes, and b) offer evidence-based suggestions that ought to be considered when developing any intervention aiming to improve the education and mental health of homeless youth. To accomplish this, prominent theories in both the psychology (ex: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) and political science (ex: failed implementation of the McKinney-Vento Act) fields that pertain to student homelessness were reviewed, and a comparative analysis of existing intervention models was conducted. Three key trends were identified across successful homeless youth intervention models …

Full Issue, Volume 11, Number 1, Donna J. Peterson, Scott Cummings

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

No abstract provided.

Parents' Perception Of Speech-Language Pathologists In Secondary Transition, Madelyn Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speech-Language Pathologists provide services to youth with Down syndrome. The purpose of this study was to (a) determine if parents are aware that speech-language pathologists can provide services to prepare their children for secondary transition; (b) identify the parents’ perceptions of the services provided by speech-language pathologists; and (c) determine if in the parents’ opinion, the speech-language pathologist provided a vital role in preparing their child for transition. Using nonprobability snowball sampling, this cross-sectional mixed-method survey study included 85 parents of youth (ages 14-22) with Down syndrome across the United States. Parents rated their experiences and described their beliefs and …

Facilitating Learner Engagement And Success Through Collaborative Study Guides In Online Nursing Graduate Courses, Yolany Lizzeth Lagos Ortiz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This mixed methods study sought to explore how graduate nursing students engaged with a study guide intervention to determine the relationship between the intervention and students' performance in the end-of-course assessment and their perceptions of cognitive presence and social presence in a fully online graduate evidence-based methods nursing course. This study used a quantitative-driven mixed-methods concurrent research design. The 371 students enrolled in the 28 course sections were invited to participate. 325 students were engaging with the study guide, and 192 responded to the questionnaire. In quantitative analysis, the independent variables in this study were students' responses and views to …

An Ergonomic Approach For Esport Athletes: The Potential For Less Injury And Increased Occupational Performance, Nicholas Nalic Pierides Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of developing the case study was to determine the satisfaction of implementing an ergonomic protocol tailored to esport athletes in addition to tracking improvements in performance through KovaaK’s tracking trainer while reducing the risk of repetitive strain injuries. Occupational therapists are trained to assess individuals with a holistic lens while treating the deficits that prevent them from living a meaningful life. Occupational therapists advise ergonomically correct positioning for their clients to decrease the risk of injury and to optimize the person’s performance. There is a need for an ergonomic protocol tailored to esport athletes because of the increase …

The Effects Of Telehealth On Access To Palliative Care In Rural Communities, Ryleigh Hanson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses are in need of palliative care which allows for both the patient and their family to learn how to live a relatively quality life in spite of their illness. Current access to palliative care is limited to urban areas leaving those in rural communities to face their illness without proper care. To understand why these limitations exist and to determine possible solutions, several articles were analyzed that focused on the benefits and stigmas of palliative care, why rural communities struggle to gain access to palliative care, and if telehealth is a possible solution to …