Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

2014 Program, Office Of Academic Affairs

Programs

At its best, a university is a collection of individuals ‐‐ students and faculty ‐‐ focused on learning and discovering new knowledge. For this goal to be realized, a critical element is having faculty members deeply engaged in such discovery within their disciplines. Scholarship, in the form of journal articles, book chapters, monographs and similar endeavors, creative activity which can take an even wider range of forms, and funded research which explores the boundaries of disciplines all contribute to such engagement. Through such participation, faculty members stay at the growing edges of their fields, and in so doing, they enrich …

October 8, 2014, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the October 8, 2014 Faculty Committee meeting.

September 10, 2014, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the September 10, 2014 Faculty Committee meeting.

April 30, 2014, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the April 30, 2014 Faculty Committee meeting.

Cmn/Hst 4910: Applied Health Communication /3 Semester Hours Spring 2014/Section 001, Lauri J. Deruiter-Willems

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Hst 2700 - Marketing Concepts For Health Promotion Professionals/3 Semester Hours Spring 2014/Section 001, Lauri J. Deruiter-Willems

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

March 5, 2014, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the March 5, 2014 Faculty Committee meeting.

February 19, 2014, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the February 19, 2014 Faculty Committee meeting.

Effects Of Peer Victimization On Psychological And Academic Adjustment In Early Adolescence, Sandra Yu Rueger, Lyndsay N. Jenkins

Lyndsay N. Jenkins

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Peer Victimization On Psychological And Academic Adjustment In Early Adolescence, Sandra Rueger, Lyndsay Jenkins

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of Social Stories™ For Typically Developing Preschool Children, Loni Berbaum

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Social Stories™ are short stories that utilize visual and auditory components to demonstrate how to appropriately respond in problematic social situations. Studies have provided evidence of the effectiveness of Social Stories™ in reducing negative behaviors for children with autism; however, limited research exists on the effectiveness of Social Stories™ for other populations of children. The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of Social Stories™ on decreasing undesirable behaviors in typically developing preschool children.

The study included 11 children, ages 3 to 5, who were enrolled in a typical preschool classroom at a daycare facility. Initially, teachers …

Hst 2700 - Marketing Concepts For Health Promotion Professionals/3 Semester Hours Spring 2014/Section 001, Lauri J. Deruiter-Willems

Lauri J. DeRuiter-Willems

No abstract provided.

Cmn/Hst 4910: Applied Health Communication /3 Semester Hours Spring 2014/Section 001, Lauri J. Deruiter-Willems

Lauri J. DeRuiter-Willems

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Communication Partner Training On Aac Users, Jessica Marie Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigated the acquisition of communication skills of children who use AAC systems following their parents' participation in a communication partner training program. Communication skills evaluated were mean length utterance (MLU), number of different symbols used, initiations, and responses. Communication partner training was divided into two phases, training and follow-up. Participants included 4 children between the ages of 3 and 9 years who used a high tech AAC system. Data was collected over the course of a year via 15 minute video observations. Parents also completed surveys pre- and post-study to evaluate perceptions on increases in communication behaviors, as …

Differences In Mental Health Treatment Recommendations For Older And Younger Adults, Michelle M. Smith

Masters Theses

Failure to meet geriatric mental health needs is increasingly problematic. Research indicates that the problem is not simply a matter of insufficient numbers of mental health practitioners (MHPs), but also ageist attitudes and lack of knowledge about and training with older adults. The current study reviews the literature regarding knowledge about older people, education and training that mental health professionals receive, and the attitudes that are held by mental health professionals. The study also assessed for differences in treatment recommendations that MHP made for older versus younger clients, investigated whether MHP knowledge about the mental health of older adults, attitudes …

Substance Abuse In Older Adults: An Exploratory Study, Rachael Hawn

Masters Theses

The increasing number of older adults in the United States, due in part to the Baby Boomer generation, means that there is also an increase in the number of older adults dealing with substance abuse problems. The compounded effects of multiple legal medications with alcohol, illicit drugs, or abused prescription drugs on the withdrawal process are likely to make delineating between legitimate medication side effects and withdrawal symptoms incredibly difficult for medical professionals working with older adults. With the average older adult legally using 17 medications from nine different medical professionals, the physical effects of substance abuse might easily go …

Increasing Cooking And Nutritional Knowledge Of Food Pantry Clients Via Cookbook Intervention, Joshua Kleczynski

Masters Theses

This study was designed to assess eating habits, cooking habits, and nutritional knowledge of food pantry clients. As a whole, the average American consumes a less-than-optimal intake of nutrients. This, combined with the elevated national food insecurity rate of 14.5%, produces an advantageous situation to educate food pantry clients about healthy lifestyle practice through cooking. This study utilized a quasi-experimental design including a pre-assessment, intervention, post-assessment design. Forty-nine participants were included in study, and either received a cookbook (intervention group) or were a control subject and only completed surveys. Results revealed that the cookbook intervention did not elicit any behavior …

The Long-Term Effects Of An Aac Communication Partner Training Program, Brooke Capp

Masters Theses

The current investigation was a follow-up study to a research project conducted in summer 2012 by Fanale. The Fanale (2012) study looked at the effectiveness of parent training on parents' perspectives of AAC, as well as parents' use of specific communication facilitating strategies. The follow-up maintenance study investigated long-term effects of training on parent perceptions' and use of communication facilitating strategies. Through this project parents received additional training and different levels of support over four months in order to enhance the parents' abilities to utilize AAC in other environments, activities, and communication partners, as well as gather information on parents' …

Comparison Of Two Dark Chocolate And Their Effect On Blood Pressure, Melissa A. Foor

Masters Theses

This study was designed to determine if dark chocolate helps lower blood pressure and if the concentration of the dark chocolate varies the result. Currently, one in four Americans has high blood pressure. The recommended treatment may include medicine or a diet referred to as DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This study followed a within-subjects design having all participants receive each type of dark chocolate. Twenty-seven participants started the study to measure their blood pressure while consuming dark chocolate for a week at a time. Results showed that Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate did not lower blood pressure significantly …

Pre-Meal To-Go Boxes: Implications For Portion Control, Margaret J. Schuster

Masters Theses

Title: Pre-Meal To-Go Boxes: Implications for Portion Control

Authors: M. J. Schuster, BS; T. L. Brooks, PhD, RD; J.E. Painter, PhD, RD; C. Honselman, PhD, RD

Introduction: Obesity rates are increasing and seem to be correlated with increasing portion sizes of restaurant meals because of consumer desire for value. The purpose of this study was to determine if using a pre-meal to-go box has an impact on customers' total food intake of a restaurant meal.

Methods: Subjects were a convenience sample of adults (n=49) at a spaghetti dinner. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive approximately 18 ounces of spaghetti and …

The Effects Of Music Instruction On Phonological Awareness In Children With Hearing Impairment, Chelsea Fitch

Masters Theses

Phonological awareness skills are essential for reading development. Children with hearing loss lack access to essential auditory information that allows development of phonological awareness (Dillon, John, & Pisoni, 2011). Music instruction is becoming a popular approach to teach reading for typically developing children, and studies have supported beneficial effects from this treatment methodology. However, there is limited research regarding the use of music to teach phonological awareness and reading skills to children with hearing impairment (Gromko, 2005).

The effectiveness of a music program on increasing phonological awareness skills in children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing was evaluated in this study. …

Eating Healthy On A Budget: A Grocery Cart Display, Kara R. Wilcoxon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many barriers to healthy eating have been reported including having to give up favorite food dishes, consuming lesser desired food items, and perceiving that fresh, unprocessed food is too expensive. For a week, customers were able to view a display of two grocery carts: one filled with healthy foods and the other filled with unhealthy foods. Each cart had the cost and nutritive values of the contents posted. For 6 hours on 3 different days, the researcher interviewed interested shoppers (n=33). While the majority of the shoppers indicated they were very concerned about their families eating healthy (mean score 4.2/5), …