Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Success Coaching On Psychological Well-Being And Sense Of Belonging In First-Year College Students, Lashay Y. Mcqueen

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

As higher education institutions seek to assist students with the first-year transition, coaching is one intervention shown to increase academic performance and retention rates (Capstick et al., 2019). Along with academics, fostering student success from a holistic perspective is imperative (Bentrim & Henning, 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of participation in success coaching on the psychological well-being and sense of belonging for first-year college students. The study also investigated the impact of success coaching on first-generation students. Existing data were used to compare participation in success coaching to overall psychological well-being and sense of …

Inked Insight: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study Exploring The Perspectives Of Visibly Tattooed Counselors, Megan Ashley Lalonde-Pittman

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of visibly tattooed mental health counselors (VTMHC) through consensual qualitative research (CQR), examining how visible tattoos were perceived to have impacted the participants (N=14) professional experiences, development, and relationships within the counseling field. Seven domains arose from the data: Prejudices experienced by VTMHC, VTMHC Interactions with others, Culture experienced by VTMHC, Appearances of the VTMHC, Professional therapeutic work of the VTMHC, Workplace environment of the VTMHC, Processing the experience of being a VTMHC The implications for multicultural education and future research are explored.

Acculturation Experiences Of International Students In The U.S. Cacrep-Accredited Counselor Education Programs: Challenges, Support Systems, And Systemic Barriers, Nargiza Amirova

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

International students significantly enrich U.S. counselor education and supervision programs by contributing diverse cultural perspectives that inspire teaching, research, and professional growth. Yet, these students often face complex challenges including cultural adjustment, language barriers, social isolation, and the academic demands of counseling academic programs that impact their educational outcome s and psychological well-being. Systemic barriers, such as visa restrictions and institutional unawareness, further complicate their experiences. This study explored acculturation experiences of international students enrolled in CACREP-accredited counselor education programs in the United States.

Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), in-depth interviews were conducted with seven international students on J1/F1 visas, …

Making The Invisible Visible: Intersectional Perspectives Of Artist Identity And Multiple Sclerosis In The Us Healthcare System, Anna Liza De Leon Evangelista, Chloé Welmond, Emily Rose, Jennifer Gutierrez, Kelly Sheridan, Madeleine Brown, Marissa Barajas, Rowena Luminarias, Nancy Choe

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The intersection of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), systemic healthcare disparities, and art-making remains underexplored within the arts and health literature. While research often highlights the therapeutic benefits of creative expression, it rarely examines how art-making empowers individuals with MS. This study addresses this gap by exploring: (1) how MS influences participants’ art practice, (2) how art impacts the participants’ experiences of MS, and (3) how individuals navigate the United States healthcare system. The research centers on women and gender expansive individuals and takes an intersectional lens to better understand marginalized experiences of those living with MS. These underrepresented groups frequently encounter …

Exploring The Matriculation And Resource Utilization Of African American Students With Hidden Disabilities In The Health Sciences, Kimberly Houston

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Learning disabilities result from genetic and neurobiological factors that alter brain function, such that cognitive processes related to learning are affected. Hidden disabilities can be defined as a non-apparent chronic condition that interferes with a person’s activities of daily living. While learning disabilities may be hidden, there are non-learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, autism, depression, fibromyalgia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While all races/ethnic groups have persons within their population who are disabled, African Americans are at a double disadvantage due to race and disability status. Therefore, the intersectionality of race and disability status among African American students in …

The Impact Of Automated Text Messaging System Education On The Self-Efficacy Of Medical Office Staff, Jim S. Jorgensen

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Inadequate patient bowel preparation is a leading cause of canceled or repeated colonoscopies, negatively impacting both outcomes and healthcare costs. While automated text messaging systems have improved patient adherence in other clinical areas, they remain underutilized by endoscopy staff due to low self-efficacy. This quality improvement project aimed to evaluate the effect of structured education on the self-efficacy of endoscopy nursing staff in using an automated text messaging system for outpatient colonoscopy preparation at a rural VA Medical Center (VAMC). Guided by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, this project implemented a one-day, hands-on training session …

The Effects Of An Onboarding Checklist On Nursing Faculty Satisfaction, Taressa W. Poole

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Nurse educators play an integral part in combating the nursing shortage. Transitioning clinical nurses to the academic setting can be challenging because experienced clinical nurses often enter the academic setting as novice nurse educators. A literature review suggested that the lack of structured onboarding programs contributes to the satisfaction, retention, and professional development of nurse educators. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project aims to improve new nurse faculty onboarding by implementing a checklist to structure the onboarding process at the DNP project site. The process change project assesses the effects of a checklist on faculty satisfaction with the onboarding …

Provider Burnout Related To Patient Satisfaction, Sherita A. Lee

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Provider burnout is a critical issue in healthcare, often intensified by increasing demands to meet patient satisfaction benchmarks. This quality improvement project aimed to examine whether a structured stress reduction program could reduce provider burnout and positively influence patient satisfaction scores in a small outpatient clinic. Guided by the PICOT question—In the clinic setting (P), does the implementation of a stress reduction program for providers (I), compared to no intervention (C), lead to improved patient satisfaction scores (O) over a six-week period (T)? —the project used a pre- and post-intervention design. The intervention included mandatory provider breaks, communication training, and …

Precision Drug Dosing And Disease Risk Prediction: Advanced Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Approaches For Precision Medicine Using Structured Electronic Health Records Data, Bingyu Mao

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Advancements in precision medicine increasingly rely on data-driven approaches to improve clinical decision-making. This work presents three interconnected studies that leverage deep learning, reinforcement learning, and comparative modeling to address key challenges in precision drug dosing and disease risk prediction. Together, these contributions offer novel computational frameworks that enhance model performance, improve dosing strategies, and guide model selection for clinical predictive tasks.

To improve individualized vancomycin therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), the first study introduces PKRNN-2CM, a novel deep learning framework that integrates a two-compartment pharmacokinetic (PK) model with recurrent neural networks (RNNs). While one-compartment models are commonly used in clinical …

Computational Methods For Enhancing The Quality And Interoperability Of Biomedical Terminologies, Xubing Hao

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Biomedical ontologies or terminologies not only serve as a part of the metadata standards for describing data in the FAIR Data Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), but also play a vital role in downstream applications such as cohort identification from electronic health records (EHR). However, there are two critical barriers that may lead to ambiguity, complexity, and inaccuracies in such ontology-based downstream applications. The first barrier is the quality of the ontology. Despite efforts by ontology curators to ensure ontology accuracy and comprehensiveness, errors and inconsistencies are unavoidable. The second barrier is the semantic heterogeneity since human experts may use …

Advancing Genetic Association Discovery In Brain Mri Using Unsupervised And Self-Supervised Deep Learning: Exploring Learning Dynamics, Region-Specific Features, And Spatially Resolved Representations, Sheikh Muhammad Saiful Islam

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Deep learning has unlocked significant potential for advancing the discovery of genetic associations in imaging genetics, particularly in brain imaging using T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Traditional methods for this task often relied on hand-crafted or semi-automated feature extraction, followed by genetic association studies utilizing these features. While effective, these approaches are limited by their lack of data-driven exploration and the generation of features with limited informativeness.

Unsupervised deep learning, in particular, has emerged as a powerful alternative, addressing some of these limitations by enabling automated and data-driven feature discovery. Recent research in this domain has primarily focused on adapting …

Harnessing Knowledge And Data For Clinical Information Extraction In The Era Of Large Language Models, Yan Hu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The rapid digitization of healthcare records has led to the widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), which contain rich, unstructured clinical notes. These notes hold valuable information for patient care and clinical research, but their complexity and unstructured nature pose significant challenges for effective utilization. Clinical Information Extraction (IE) aims to bridge this gap by transforming unstructured text into structured data, enabling automated analysis. Traditional Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as Named Entity Recognition (NER), have been widely used for clinical IE, but recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and LLaMA have opened new …

Accelerating Drug Repurposing And Target Discovery Using Deep Learning, Kohong Lin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Drug discovery is a long-lasting and expensive process. Computational approaches, particularly deep learning techniques, offer the potential to accelerate this process by integrating diverse perspectives from drug discovery theories and capturing intricate patterns within large, multimodal datasets. This dissertation explores deep learning methodologies to accelerate drug repurposing and genetic target discovery. The first aim focuses on integrating multimodal data, including chemical structures, disease genetics, and systems biology, into comprehensive disease knowledge graphs, followed by applying graph neural networks (GNNs) to prioritize repurposable drug candidates. The second aim is to develop a heterogeneous GNN-based approach capable of modelling distinct semantic relationships …

Ccr7 Regulated Mechanisms That Limit The Adaptive Immune Response, Jaisel Amilcar Cervantes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

C-C chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) is critical in guiding T cell migration within the thymus and peripheral lymphoid tissues, shaping the adaptive immune response by promoting central tolerance and regulating immune homeostasis. Although its role in lymphocyte trafficking is well established, the molecular mechanisms by which CCR7 influences thymocyte development and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire formation remain less understood. This study examines how CCR7 deficiency impacts thymic selection, TCR diversity, and the signaling events that shape repertoire restriction. Using a homozygously deleted CCR7 murine model, we found that the absence of CCR7 results in a less restricted TCR repertoire …

South Dakota Department Of Health: Office Of Community Engagement Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2025-2028, Julia E. Platt

Honors Thesis

The goal of a strategic plan is to ensure that resources are used effectively and efforts are focused where they are most required by means of direction and concentration. The South Dakota Department of Health Office of Community Engagement Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2025-2028 contains objectives and goals aimed at maximizing the use of resource allocations and solutions to best meet the needs of the OCE and its partners. In order to create those goals and objectives, internal and external needs assessments, along with key informant interviews, were conducted and analyzed to pull data into actionable SMART objectives. Alignment with …

Duty To Care And Job Turnover Intention In The Post-Pandemic Nursing Workforce, Cathleen A. Lopez

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Natural and human-made disasters are increasing in number and intensity. In 2020, approximately 688.3 million people required assistance from disaster response personnel. During a disaster or pandemic, nurses must weigh their personal and/or family safety against the ethical code of caring for others. The purpose of this convergent mixed-methods study was to examine duty to care and job turnover intention of registered nurses working in patient-facing roles. A convergent mixed method design was used to address research questions by employing the Nash Duty to Care Scale (NDCS) and the Turnover Intent Scale (TIS-6). Open-ended survey questions were used to explore …

Developing And Validating Brain Tumor Organoid Models To Evaluate Novel Therapeutics In Vitro, Dev P. Patel

Senior Theses

Glioblastoma (GBM), a World Health Organization Grade IV brain tumor, remains one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant malignancies. It is characterized by rapid proliferation, deep infiltration, and a high level of genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity. Despite advancements in medical technology and neuro-oncology, GBM remains one of the most treatment-resistant cancers with a median survival rate of only nine months post-diagnosis and less than 5% of patients surviving beyond 5 years of diagnosis. The standard treatment constitutes maximum surgical resection followed by chemotherapy and radiation. These therapeutic strategies are blocked by significant challenges like the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and intratumoral …

The Impact Of Discretion On Human Service Workers Supporting The Health Of Unaccompanied Minors In Foster Care, Diana M. Clark

Senior Theses

Unaccompanied children (UCs) are a vulnerable population that enters government custody and accesses healthcare via the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)'s system of care. While prior research has focused on generating policy recommendations to improve healthcare services available to UCs both in ORR custody and following release from custody, this thesis will instead expand upon the experiences of staff members working at ORR-contracted agencies. These workers make decisions that have short- and long-term implications on the health and wellbeing of UCs. Drawing from 65 in-depth interviews with human service workers in ORR-contracted voluntary agencies, this thesis uses street-level bureaucracy framework …

"Health Gatekeepers": The Influence Of Women On Health Practices In Rural, Central Appalachia, Reese Lycan

Senior Theses

Women have historically assumed leadership roles in familial and community health promotion, intervention, and facilitation. While the role of women in family health is globally understood and the historical importance of female leadership has been documented, there remains a gap in knowledge regarding the role of women as “health gatekeepers”. Furthermore, when considering the Appalachian region, there are limited studies regarding women’s place in leadership as far as health is concerned. Therefore, this study employs a hermeneutic phenomenological framework to explore the lived experiences of women in relation to their family and community’s health in rural, Central Appalachia- a region …

Role Of Race And Ethnicity In The Development, Diagnosis, And Treatment Of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Gabrielle D. Shupard

Senior Theses

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common metabolic disorder of pregnancy, and rates of this disease have been steadily increasing over the past ten years. GDM disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities at higher rates than their Caucasian counterparts. In this study, the PRECEDE model framework was employed during a literature review to gain a greater understanding of the complex risk factors contributing to differences in the development, diagnosis, and treatment of GDM among these population subgroups. The second part of this study concentrated on reviewing the extent to which current literature evaluates the role of race and ethnicity …

The Effect Of A M-Health Application Compared To Standard Of Care On Adherence To Preoperative Fasting Instructions Among Adult Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Study, Ivy Njeri Wanyoike

Master of Medicine in Anaesthesiology

Background: Preoperative fasting has been a pillar of the practice of anaesthesiology with the main aim of enhancing patient safety by reducing the risk of aspiration. Current clinical guidelines on preoperative fasting guidelines encourage shorter durations of fasting in keeping with current evidence that shows better patient outcomes while maintaining patient safety. Despite this, adherence to preoperative fasting instructions remains universally poor, with patients enduring long fasting periods. Advances in mobile technology, improving internet access and the widespread availability of smartphones have made mobile health a useful tool in patient care. mHealth applications are being increasingly used in perioperative …

An Interoperability Framework Across Legacy Emr Systems, Sheena Rogers

Translational Projects (Open Access)

The 21st Century Cures Act (H.R.34 – 114th Congress, 2016) specifies that patients and authorized providers must be able to receive copies of their medical records with standard medical history details upon request. While the data archival system, DRIS (Data Retention Interoperability Solution), has comprehensive patient summary reports centralizing over 100 legacy electronic health records (EHR) with broad data elements, it is not 100% compliant with the upcoming 21st Century Cures Act’s interoperability standards. As a result, patients and providers are not receiving copies of their medical records with all of the required medical history and fields in this new …

A Psychometric Validation Of The Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Exploring Neonatal Nurses' Attitudes, Knowledge, And Practice Tool, Megan A. Ventrello

Theses & Dissertations

Background:

The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics estimates that as of 2020, 3.8% of American adults have abused opioids in their lifetime (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). In addition, around 7% of women self-reported that they were using opioid pain relievers during their pregnancy, and 1 in 5 of these women reported misusing these medications while pregnant (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a; Ko, 2020). Women who use opioids throughout their pregnancy give birth to infants who are born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. The symptoms can be marked by a signature high-pitched cry and inconsolability, making …

A Holistic Perspective On Pain Assessments, Focusing On The Multidimensional Measurement Of Comfort Levels: A Quantitative Analysis And Psychometric Evaluation Of The 13-Item Shortened General Comfort Questionnaire, Victoria A. Marner

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Pain is multidimensional. It is a physical, psychospiritual, environmental, and sociocultural experience (Ebrahimpour & Hoseini, 2018). Current measures of pain tend to be unidimensional, only focusing on the physical aspect of pain. The entire experience of pain may not be effectively communicated by patients or adequately controlled by interventions (e.g., analgesics, repositioning, physical therapy). Adults in pain may struggle to participate in daily activities and responsibilities. A scale encompassing all pain contexts and comfort levels could provide a more comprehensive view of the patient’s experience. Transitioning from measuring pain to measuring comfort holistically would provide patient satisfaction and improved …

Student Described Importance Of Nurse Educator Caring Actions In Various Class Settings, Jessica Leiberg

Dissertations (1934 -)

Caring pedagogy is a well-known and proven nurse educator instructional approach resulting in improved student attrition, enhanced attitude towards the students’ nursing program, and a caring approach extending into professional practice. Despite much research and development of nurse educator caring actions, the possible effect of different class settings on the student perception of these nurse educator caring actions is unknown. The purpose of this study aimed to identify how students’ rate and rank order the importance of nurse educator caring actions within the different class settings. A descriptive quantitative design was conducted to explore student perceptions of the importance of …

Role For Astrocytes In Complex Cognition: An Evolutionary, Behavioral And Computational Perspective, Gregory Simandl

Dissertations (1934 -)

The human brain has more computational power than modern supercomputers by utilizing only a few signaling systems, rendering it the most efficient computational device ever created. Evolution, though not prospective, has iteratively constructed neural networks of increasing complexity that have ultimately endowed humans with extraordinary cognitive abilities. Through an evolutionary lens, there is a clear correlation between organismal sophistication and network signaling complexity Astrocytes, a non-neuronal cell that makes up approximately half the cells in the human brain, show dramatic increases in morphological and signaling complexity in higher-order species. This co-evolution is likely not coincidental but rather represents the development …

The Impact Of Electronic Health Record Training: How Students Utilize The Electronic Record To Inform Clinical Judgment, Sarah Marie Calonder

Dissertations (1934 -)

Nurses practice within a complex healthcare environment and must make well-informed judgments about their patients to provide safe, quality care. The electronic health record (EHR) is a piece of healthcare and informatics technology which houses important patient information that nurses utilize frequently while making clinical judgments surrounding patient care. The importance of entry-level nurse competency with the EHR and similar healthcare and informatics tools has been outlined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials and other nursing organizations concerned with the preparation of future nurses (AACN 2021; QSEN, 2020). Currently, there are limited established best practices for …

A Cellular And Molecular Dissection Of The Breast: Identification Of Pericytes As A Driver Of Tumor Cell Proliferation, Katelyn M. Del Toro

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Tissues are composed of many different types of cells. Each has a specific function and exists within a unique context—all of which define the landscape of the tissue. The cellular and molecular interactions within a tissue are critical to its form and function. Defining these interactions is an important step in understanding the aberrant nature of diseases like cancer, where tissue homeostasis has been abandoned. This requires reliable models of each cell type. Yet, in many tissues, including the breast, comprehensive methods to identify, purify, and study each tissue cell type have not been defined. This is a critical deficiency …

Experiences And Attitudes Of Caregivers During Mealtimes In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder At A Tertiary Facility In Kenya., Lynnette Muthoni Mwangi

Master of Medicine in Paediatrics and Child Health

Introduction: - ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions and communication along with restrictive and repetitive behaviours affecting 1 in 100 children globally, with a higher prevalence in males. Despite the rising global statistics, there is limited information regarding the prevalence of ASD in Sub-Saharan Africa. Children with ASD often experience feeding challenges, which have been broadly categorized as food selectivity, food refusal, and disruptive mealtime behaviour, which poses challenges for caregivers during mealtime. While medical management of ASD receives considerable attention, less focus has been placed on the impact of ASD on caregivers and …

Exploring The Potential Of No-Code Artificial Intelligence In Identifying Periapical Radiolucent Lesions, Marguerite Miller

Master's Theses (2009 -)

ABSTRACT EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF NO-CODE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN IDENTIFYING PERIAPICAL RADIOLUCENT LESIONS Marguerite Miller, D.M.D. Marquette University, 2025 Title: Exploring the Potential of No-Code Artificial Intelligence in Identifying Periapical Radiolucent Lesions. Objective: To employ a no-code platform for the development of an AI model designed to identify periapical radiolucent lesions using periapical radiographs. Methods: Three hundred twelve periapical radiographs were retrospectively collected, along with corroborating cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) volumes and radiology reports obtained within six months. Radiology reports from board-certified oral and maxillofacial radiologists, were used as the reference standard for labeling the periapical radiographs. Among these, 180 …