Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Sick Ones., Christian Loriel Lucas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of a collection of linked short stories, connected at the intersections of medicine, public health, race, gender, and socioeconomics. The Sick Ones was completed during a time of social unrest and the emergence of the Covid-19 virus. Inspired by medicine’s history of exploiting sick, poor, and racialized bodies, The Sick Ones explores the treatment of illness and societal woes in a near-speculative future. Each story is plot-driven, but complimented by a protagonist who keeps the narrative grounded, as they attempt to survive unprecedented circumstances. Some of the protagonists are complicit in their own medical exploitations, while others …

A Qualitative Analysis Of End-Of-Life Healthcare In Tennessee: Politics, Principles, And Perceptions, Erin Mauck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unprecedented growth of the aging population in Tennessee is a significant demographic trend that highlights the necessity for healthcare policy that tackles end-of-life issues. This study examined the perceived quality of end-of-life healthcare in Tennessee, areas that are in need of improvement, policies that have the potential to influence improvements, and the role of politics in end-of-life healthcare policy. It also assessed the support for end-of-life healthcare policy that would advance quality of care and expand end-of-life choices for Tennesseans, while evaluating the policy-making process that legislators employ.

For this study, data were collected using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with …

Use Of The Cameo Ii Acuity Tool To Decrease Burnout For Nurses Working In A Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Frances Lynn Feria-Clement

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported registered nurse burnout is an occupational hazard resulting in serious consequences for patients, healthcare organizations, and individual registered nurses (Woo et al., 2020). The purpose of this project was to see if the Complexity Assessment and Monitoring to Ensure Optimal Outcomes II (CAMEO II) Acuity Tool, used as an intervention for staffing and scheduling, would have a positive effect against nurse burnout in a pediatric critical care setting in a pediatric medical center. Maslach’s Burnout Inventory- Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSSMP) was used as a pre- and postsurvey to measure the emotional …

Determining The Effectiveness Of A Peer Support Person In Individuals With Depression Symptoms, Donna K. Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study’s aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of an existing peer support program as an adjunct treatment for patients with depression. This retrospective evaluation analyzed the total scores of 110 patients with depression on the PHQ-9 questionnaire at the initial assessment (Time 1), at 6-weeks (Time 2), and then at 12-weeks (Time 3). The participants were divided into two groups, those who enrolled in a peer support program (n = 55) and those without peer support (n = 55). PHQ-9 total scores for each time interval were compared for the two groups utilizing independent sample t-tests …

The Interaction Of Adversity, Hope, Social Support, And Academic Resilience In Emerging Appalachian Adults, Daniel Joseph Gottron Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The negative impact of adverse childhood experiences on both short-term and long-term wellbeing has been repeatedly validated across multiple populations. While adverse childhood experiences have been thoroughly researched in many contexts, this is not the case for Appalachia, which has often been relegated to the fringe of scholarly research, resulting in an overall lack of research on Appalachia. Further lacking is research into how protective factors might be utilized to help overcome adversity. While some recent research on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, hope, and resilience has been conducted, it too has been limited to select populations. It is …

Health Insurance Plan Design And Chronic Disease Management, Daniel E. Feldman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year, Americans spend more money on health care than any other industrialized nation, despite comparable mortality rates for people with risk factors for heart disease. The reasons for this lack of health care value in the US are numerous and complex – including market distortions like supplier-inflated pricing and regulatory structures that enable consumers to utilize ubiquitous, high-cost medical technologies that yield uncertain benefits. Health insurance, once thought to be an insignificant contributor to rising health spending, has changed considerably in the past few decades in ways that make it more accessible and more generous in coverage. Health insurance …

Without Words: Relational Neuropsychology And Creative Arts Therapies With People Managing Aphasia, Autumn Marie Chilcote

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aphasia describes the broad experience of disrupted language production or comprehension acquired after structural changes in the brain. These changes, usually associated with stroke, tumor, or cortical degeneration, are often co-occurring with other symptoms, such as emotional dysregulation, partial paralysis, and difficult social, occupational, and community relationships. Common approaches to research and rehabilitation with persons managing aphasia highlight conversation and semantic retrieval, with a lack in literature considering the diversity of symptoms and responses. Questions arise as to the ways that psychotherapies, typically language- centered, can be adapted to collaborative, low-verbal approaches that attend to the range of individual symptoms …

A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Abortion Attitudes And Perceptions Among Women Living In Alabama And South Carolina, Anthony Peluso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Legal induced abortion is a safe option for terminating a pregnancy for women of reproductive age in the United States (U.S.), though access has varied since the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton cases in 1973. Information is lacking on women’s attitudes toward and perceptions of abortion as well as on related constructs such as pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive use. Exploring these constructs is important in that it can provide much needed context to women’s reproductive life planning. This research aimed to explore perceptions of abortion access and safety and examine the potential associations between attitudes toward abortion access …

Cluster Analysis Of Opioid Accessibility In The Carolinas Using Data From The Arcos Database And An Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Method, Michael T. Bunker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study takes advantage of transaction level data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) database made newly available under court order by The Washington Post in July 2019. This data details individual shipments of pharmaceutical opioid analgesics from wholesalers to retail distributors. Using the Enhanced 2-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) method, this study calculated access to opioid morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per capita for census tracts in North Carolina and South Carolina during the year 2009. This study demonstrated that outlier volumes of opioid analgesics at individual pharmacies are not always …

Medical Noncompliance In A Pediatric Patient Living In A Single-Parent Household, Lucy Obianuju Norrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Noncompliance is a patient’s inability to comply with the recommended treatment for their complete recovery from an ailment, while compliance is the extent to which a patient adheres to the provider’s directive, such as medication and orders given. The purpose of this study was to determine if motivational interviewing when applied to noncompliant pediatric patients from single-parent households, would improve global medical compliance in this population as compared to the standard of care at the end of three months. Thirty-two participants were recruited using the homogeneous purposeful sampling. The project employed a mixed-method approach. Fred Kleinsinger’s noncompliant behavior tool …

Exploring The Relationships Between Collegiate Sport Coaches’ Creative Productivity And Factors Of Creative Potential, Sean Flanders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sport coaches are perceived as problem solvers who engage in creativity to handle the spontaneity of competitive activity and generate winning results. However, while creativity in athletes has been researched, little has been investigated regarding coaches. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine different aspects of creativity – person, process, press, and product – among collegiate team sport coaches in the United States. Specifically, how personality traits, ideational fluency, remote association ability, years of coaching experience, and work climate related to creative product impact and frequency. A modified creativity personality test was found to be positively …

Managing Stress In A Constantly-Changing Workforce, Lorri Burch-Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When staffing reductions occur in the workplace, staff left behind may face increased stress, may not be given the support they need to manage the feelings caused by the reduction. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of stress caused by staffing reductions has on medical technologists (MT), medical technicians (MLT) and respiratory therapists (RT), and to identify any common methods of stress management used by those staff who remain in the organization.

Literature research showed the negative impact stress can have on individuals when it is not addressed, such as decreased work performance, health issues, and even the …

The Benefits Of Alternative Therapies On Adult Mental Health, Sara Bryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following descriptive pre and post study was to collect and analyze data to determine if there are benefits to alternative therapies on adult mental health. Three types of alternative therapies were studied: aromatherapy, recreation therapy, and yoga. A literature review was conducted and pre and post questionnaires were administered. Frequencies and averages were run which showed that participants were mostly Caucasian, with an average age of 31 years and most diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Participants showed decreased levels of anxiety and depression after attending both aromatherapy and yoga classes. Participants showed decreased anxiety levels after …

Attrition In A Holistic Job Skills Training Program: A Qualitative Study, Jeaniece Silas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today thousands of individuals and families are unemployed or underemployed and are seeking ways to combat poverty and become employed. One way that individuals seek to gain employment is by attending job skills training and adult education programs. However, there are barriers that hinder those individuals from successfully completing the programs. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of applicants of a nonprofit job skills training program called FaithWorks and explore the reasons why applicants were not able to continue and, or complete the program. This study was conducted, through qualitative interviewing of four participants (N=4) utilizing …

Early Adolescent Social Isolation, Hope, And Well-Being During A Pandemic, Alicen Hauck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social isolation is often divided into two subcategories of objective and subjective. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in objective social isolation in the form of social distancing and fewer social events. Research delineating the relationship between social isolation and adolescent well-being utilize measures of subjective social isolation. Whereas, measures of objective social isolation are more commonly used with geriatric populations. Therefore, there is a lack of information specific to the impact of objective social isolation on adolescent well-being, particularly during a pandemic. The effects of social isolation due to COVID-19 will not be short lived. Deciphering the …

The Colored Pill: A History Film Performance Exposing Race Based Medicines, Wanda Lakota

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Of the 32 pharmaceuticals approved by the FDA in 2005, one medicine stood out. That medicine, BiDil®, was a heart failure medication that set a precedent for being the first approved race based drug for African Americans. Though BiDil®, was the first race specific medicine, racialized bodies have been used all throughout history to advance medical knowledge. The framework for race, history, and racialized drugs was so multi-tiered; it could not be conceptualized from a single perspective. For this reason, this study examines racialized medicine through performance, history, and discourse analysis.

The focus of this work aimed …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Military Families, Who Have Children With Disabilities And Maladaptive Behavior, With School-Based Mental Health Personnel, Londi J. Segler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to capture the lived experiences of military families who have children with disabilities and maladaptive behavior to note risk and protective factors that might impede the mental health development of that population of student. Through interviews with at-home-caregivers, I explored their experiences with public school staff, outside mental health services, and school psychologists. Study findings revealed that participants felt they were going to battle with school staff who were not willing to incorporate culturally responsive practices when working with their children. School staff who implemented regular bi-directional communication were more likely to gain …

How 6-12th Grade Staff Support Students With Depression: A Pilot Study To Develop Measures Of Implicit Associations, Explicit Attitudes And Helping Behavior, Paul M. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students with emotional disabilities are disproportionately suspended and expelled in K-12 schools. Attribution theory suggests individuals are less likely to provide assistance to others if they believe the individuals are responsible for their own difficulties. To test attribution theory, this study created new measures of explicit attitudes and implicit associations of licensed 6-12th grade staff regarding students with depression as well as a helping behavior measure of staff toward students with depression. The survey was distributed within a single school district in the western United States. A majority of the sample (N = 52) held a mental health license (60%), …

Fostering Trauma-Informed Schools By Considering The Experiences Of Teachers In Working With Trauma-Exposed Students, Allison A. Stiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High rates of trauma exposure among youth in the United States and the detrimental effects of trauma on students’ psychosocial and academic outcomes are well-established. Such findings have engendered the emergence of trauma-informed schools across the nation. While research regarding trauma-informed schools has understandably focused on the needs of students, shockingly little is known about teachers’ experiences in working with trauma-exposed students. In particular, very few studies have examined the relationship between teachers’ indirect exposure to student trauma and related symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (STS), as well as factors that may predict STS levels or explain variation in the …

Impact Of Coaching By Extension Professionals On Rural Wellness Coalition Success, Taylor Willhite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To quantitatively assess coaches perceived confidence in coaching rural wellness coalitions and to qualitatively determine barriers and facilitators to success in coaching rural wellness coalitions.
Design: A mixed methods design was utilized with quantitative (scorecard) and qualitative (key informant interviews) methodologies.
Setting: Six rural South Dakota wellness coalitions.
Participants: Extension wellness coalition coaches (n=7), one previous and six current.
Intervention: A component of the broader SDSU Extension 1416 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) intervention.
Analysis: STATA was utilized for the quantitative scorecard data by running paired ttests. NVivo was utilized in the …

Naloxone Availability In Georgia Retail Pharmacies 44 Months After Implementation Of A Statewide Standing Order, Enjoli Willis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999. Georgia is one of 35 states with a significant increase in drug overdose deaths from 2013 – 2017, with deaths increasing by 70% during 2010-2018. Many states, including Georgia, have implemented naloxone standing orders to remove barriers to access to naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug that reverses opioid overdose symptoms. However, it is still not readily available in places where it is most needed. This research investigates naloxone availability in Georgia 44 months after the implementation of a statewide standing order. This research also seeks to determine if pharmacy and community-level factors …

A Content Analysis Of Institutions Of Higher Education's Sexual Assault Policies: Assessing Response To Sexual Assault In Georgia, Brianna Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault is a public health concern that must be systematically addressed. The existence of a comprehensive sexual assault policy and compliance with federal regulations can guide institutions of higher education in responding to and preventing sexual assault on campus. Federal laws hold institutions accountable for providing a safe environment for students. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to assess compliance with federal policy and assess the response to sexual assault by IHE in Georgia. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics was utilized to identify Georgia's institutions receiving federal aid during 2018-2019. Using a proportionate stratified …