Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Dementia On Language Ability In A Greek-English Bilingual Individual, Stacia Tsakonas

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The objective of this project was to understand better how a neurodegenerative disease can impact speech and language in individuals who speak multiple languages. Using a case study approach, we measured language expression and understanding through production, comprehension, and word retrieval in a participant with dementia who spoke Greek and English. To examine speech and language decline over time, we administered two commonly used language tests (Boston Naming Test and Bilingual Aphasia Test) in both Greek and English at four different times across a span of approximately seven months. With the goal of examining bilingualism in relation to neurodegenerative diseases, …

Physician Burnout: A Healthcare Crisis, Samantha Steinert

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In recent years, burnout has been cited as a contributing factor impacting physicians’ health and the quality of health care in the United States. This paper examines causal factors, manifestations of burnout, and programmatic interventions to mitigate the effects of burnout. Mindfulness is emphasized as one approach to consider to reduce burnout and improve wellness in general. Final recommendations include two different attacks. First, a wellness based orientation is proposed as a preventative measure for residents during their intern year. Additionally, a long-term approach for all faculty and students is proposed. The intention is to create a multidisciplinary mental health …

A Unified Inter-Host And In-Host Model Of Antibiotic Resistance And Infection Spread In A Hospital Ward, Lester Caudill, Barry Lawson

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

As the battle continues against hospital-acquired infections and the concurrent rise in antibiotic resistance among many of the major causative pathogens, there is a dire need to conduct controlled experiments, in order to compare proposed control strategies. However, cost, time, and ethical considerations make this evaluation strategy either impractical or impossible to implement with living patients. This paper presents a multi-scale model that offers promise as the basis for a tool to simulate these (and other) controlled experiments. This is a “unified” model in two important ways: (i) It combines inter-host and in-host dynamics into a single model, and (ii) …

Improving Heart Failure Education Prior To Discharge: An Emmi Implementation Project, Elizabeth Mccord

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing DNP Capstone Projects

Background: Heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalizations and increased health care costs in the United States. Many patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge, resulting in increased costs. Purpose of Capstone Project: The purpose of this capstone project was to improve heart failure education for patients admitted with heart failure to Mercy Medical Center by utilizing Emmi educational videos in order to decrease the risk of hospital readmissions, improve quality of life, and decrease costs. Methods: The project focused on educating nurses about the importance of utilizing the video. It was asked of the nurses …

Speech Inconsistency In Children With Childhood Apraxia Of Speech, Language Impairment, And Speech Delay: Depends On The Stimuli, Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, Tiffany P. Hogan, Jordan R. Green

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

The current research sought to determine (a) if speech inconsistency is a core feature of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) or if it is driven by comorbid language impairment that affects a large subset of children with CAS and (b) if speech inconsistency is a sensitive and specific diagnostic marker that can differentiate between CAS and speech delay.

Assessing Organizational Health Literacy At An Academic Health Center: A Quantitative Research Study, Latrina Y. Prince

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inadequate health literacy is a national health problem that affects about 90 million Americans. Health literacy is the degree to which a person is able to make good health decisions based on his/her ability to read, understand, and use health information and services. Organizational Health Literacy (OHL) is the degree to which an organization considers and promotes the health literacy of patients by providing easy to read, understand, and use health information and services. Since it is difficult to determine which patients have inadequate health literacy, a recommended intervention for addressing health literacy is to use OHL practices at all …

Quality Of Life After Total Laryngectomy, Brooke L. Baioni

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the physical, psychological, and social changes that patients undergo post laryngectomy surgery that may impact their quality of life. The participants for this study included laryngectomized patients, family members or friends of patients, and speech pathologists. Data was gathered using an online questionnaire distributed through social media outlets, support groups, medical centers, speech clinics, and by word of mouth. A total of 35 responses were gathered with 29 surveys being fully completed. This research found that participants who reported being most satisfied with their life overall, were most satisfied with their social …

Detecting Cognitive Load During Working Memory Tasks Utilizing A Digitizer Tablet, Cassandra K. Ward, Pradyumn Srivastava

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this line of research is to determine whether the ‘Digitizer’ is a reliable and valid way to measure cognitive load during dual working memory-drawing tasks. A quasi-experimental study was conducted at the University of Arkansas in a research laboratory, and participants included seven right-handed healthy adults with normal or corrected vision and no reading difficulty. The participants were selected on a volunteer basis. The study required participants to draw circles while continuously performing in three conditions – one baseline and two working memory experimental tasks, administered in counterbalanced order. The baseline task was to read an 8 …

Perceptions Of The Effects Of Vocal Fry On Aspirational Careers In Prospective Job Markets, Darby B. Kunnemann

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the job market becoming increasingly difficult to enter, coupled by a growing public distaste for vocal fry, the question of the study is to determine if participants of the study in the general public can detect vocal fry, and if so, if it has an effect on which voice a participant would choose to hire for a position. The participants included 64 people residing in the United States, ranging from the ages 20-70 with varying backgrounds. Data was collected using an online questionnaire that included recorded voice samples. The study found that male students more accurately identifying vocal fry …

Adopting Children With Down Syndrome: A Qualitative Study Of Family Experiences, Emily L. Richter

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate and compare the family beliefs, values, and perceptions of parenting of families who have adopted children with Down syndrome (DS) to parents who have biological children with DS. Participants in the study included 27 parents of biological children with DS and six parents of adopted children with DS. Participants were interviewed through a digital survey that was distributed through Qualtrics Online Survey Software. Quantitative analysis placed the participants into groups and qualitative analysis was used to identify beliefs, values, and perceptions. Results showed that while both adoptive and biological parents indicated …

Making Sex Work For The State : The Policing Of Sex Work In The United States., Madeline A Clabough

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the ways that sex work is regulated within the United States, and analyze the ways that regulation is shaped by contemporary feminist discourse. To do so, it analyzes the ways in which sex workers have been and pathologized since the 19th century, and address the ways that these conceptualizations have been incorporated into the legal regulation of sex workers. Finally, this thesis will look to contemporary practices in the state regulation of sex workers, and argue that the relationship between neoliberalism, the carceral state, and what has come to be termed “carceral feminism” operate in conjunction to …

Reduced Eye Contact And Anxiety In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation, Alexis Ruber

Senior Theses

Background. Mothers of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) have the FMR1 premutation, which affects approximately 1 in 151 women (Seltzer et al., 2012). Women with the FMR1 premutation display elevated social anxiety (Bourgeois et al., 2011), which has been linked with higher levels of gaze anxiety and avoidance in other clinical groups (Schneider et al., 2011). While several studies have suggested women with FMR1 premutation have reduced eye contact (Tassone et al., 2000; Losh, Klusek et al., 2012; Riddle et al., 1998), no study has empirically examined reduced eye contact in the female FMR1 premutation. Like their children with …

Competency-Based Assessment Of Refractive Error Measurement In A Mozambique Optometry School, Kajal Shah, Kovin Naidoo, Luigi Bilotto, James Loughman

Articles

Background: The aims of this study were to develop a process for assessing refractive error management competence among the first two cohorts of students in a new optometry program at Unilúrio in Mozambique and to understand the effectiveness of implementing the process in the context of a low resource environment. Methods: The assessment methods were developed using information from a literature review and a focus group discussion and implemented on 15 students. Results: The exams consisted of direct observation of two patients, short-answer questions and a structured oral examination. Conclusion: The use of existing checklists and rating skills helped to …

Incivility: The Lived Experiences Of Nursing Students, Stephanie M. Pecua

Honors Theses

In this paper, the experience of incivility on nursing students was explored. This project aimed to answer the question: How do acts of incivility among nursing students affect the victims emotionally, psychologically, and physically? A significant part of answering this question involved exploring the meaning of the experience of incivility to the participant students. The research design was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The participants of the study consisted of 5 volunteer, current nursing students attending the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at The University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Park campus during the fall 2016 semester. The participants were asked …

Understanding Stigma In Pre-Nursing College Students, Claire E. Coxwell

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand patterns of stigma among pre-nursing students. Past research has suggested that college students stigmatize mental illnesses. This study builds upon existing research and looks at how pre-nursing students perceive some mental illnesses. The goal of the study was to find out if there are differences in the way that pre-nursing students stigmatize people with substance use disorders (alcohol and drug abuse) and eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa). Using an electronic data collection tool, 523 pre-nursing students were invited to take the Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ) and respond to …

Nurse Knowledge, Attitude, And Compliance Related To Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Ellen A. Suss

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine nurses’ knowledge of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the attitude they have towards patients with MRSA, and how well they comply with MRSA protocols. Forty-six nurses participated in this study. A questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitude, and compliance was distributed via email to graduates of the University of Southern Mississippi. The survey had three sections to assess each variable, with 17 true/false questions about knowledge, 10 questions about attitude, and 6 questions about compliance. Overall, nurses in this study had adequate knowledge of MRSA, aside from overt lack of knowledge regarding antibiotic treatment. …

Professional Nursing Values: Accounts Of The Witnessed, Ashley N. Costello

Honors Theses

In this research, the lived experience of nursing students in the clinical setting, specifically experiences relating to professional nursing values, were explored. This project aimed to answer the following questions: 1) How do student nurses describe observations of professional nursing values exhibited or violated by licensed nurses during the students’ clinical rotations? (2) What meaning do student nurses’ assign to and extract from their observations, particularly as it relates to how students believe it will influence their own future nursing practice? This research was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. Eight participants enrolled in senior level nursing clinical courses at The …

Physiological Effects Of A Novel Fes Cycling Protocol On A 34-Year-Old Individual With Chronic Paraplegia, Kay Ann Simmons

Honors Theses

Background and Purpose: Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) are at a higher risk of sedentarism and the health risks that are associated with inactivity (Gorgey, Dolbow, Dolbow, Khalil & Gater, 2015). Because this population has limited exercise options due to paralysis, a new protocol of resistance-guided, high intensity interval training functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling was developed to allow people with SCI to utilize their paralyzed legs as opposed to their overused arms. This new protocol is important as it provides an opportunity to restore body composition to a more favorable muscle to fat ratio decreasing obesity and increasing …

Perceptions Of Iontophoresis Amongst Mississippi Athletic Trainers, Jessica E. Ringo

Honors Theses

Research in the field of modalities is growing quickly, however there is a substantial lack of evidence for the use of iontophoresis, especially in the field of Athletic Training. Due to this, the perceptions of iontophoresis have been impacted amongst clinically practicing athletic trainers. Per this survey, while Mississippi licensed athletic trainers are aware of, and have a general knowledge of how to use iontophoresis, there is a lack of uniformity amongst the parameters and pathologies, consistent with those found in the literature. Of the 37.5 athletic trainers who utilize iontophoresis in their clinical setting, none of them reported using …

An Exploration Of The Effects Of Pronoun Usage In Questionnaires On The Measurement Of Anxiety Sensitivity, Destiny B. Reynolds

Honors Theses

Previous research in the psychology of language has found that first- and second-person pronouns have different uses beyond simply referring to different subjects. First-person pronouns are thought to forge a stronger association between self-concept and emotion (Meissener, 2008), while second-person pronouns are inherently self-distancing (Park, Adyuk & Kross, 2015). The present study sought to apply this knowledge to self-report questionnaires to determine whether pronoun usage influenced self-report scores of anxiety sensitivity. Both the ASI-3 and a second-person revised version were given to participants during prescreening, baseline, and post-anxiety-intervention measures and assessed for differences. Prescreen analysis revealed that the revised ASI-3 …

How Parenting Style Relates To Adolescent Substance Abuse In An At-Risk Male Population, Bailee R. Brewer

Honors Theses

Parents have an important role in their children’s development. There is evidence that parenting behaviors such as parental involvement, monitoring of children, and inconsistent discipline play a role in adolescent substance use. The purpose of this study is to document perceptions of parenting behaviors among youth at a residential boot camp facility for at-risk adolescents, and to relate those perceptions to youths’ self-reported history of substance use. This study adds to previous research on parenting behavior by examining the parenting behaviors reported by troubled youth, rather than the more typically studied normative youth. Additionally, this study tests whether previously reported …

Recombinant Expression And Purification Of Amyloid-Β In E. Coli, Wisam M. Beauti

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that affects people older than 65 years 1,2,5. It is characterized by the presence of extracellular plaque deposits that are seen specifically in the brains of AD patients 4,5. These plaques are mainly comprised of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide aggregates. Aβ plaque production and deposition is believed to drive AD pathogenesis. Studying these proteins is crucial to understanding aspects of AD in order to develop possible therapeutic treatments. Recombinant expression of Aβ can also provide a handle to introduce mutations in the protein to further study their structure-function relationships. However, synthetic Aβ monomer …

Book Review Essay: Pimp State: Sex, Money, And Equality By Kat Banyard, Christopher Adam Bagley

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In this strongly recommended book, Banyard effectively demolishes six myths which defenders of unregulated commercial sexual exploitation of girls and women offer: 1) “Demand for sex work is inevitable; 2) Being paid for sex is regular service work; 3) Porn is fantasy; 4) Objecting to the sex trade makes you a pearl-clutching, sexually conservative prude; 5) Decriminalizing the entire prostitution trade makes women safe; and 6) Resistance is futile.” I add to Banyard’s analysis my views on the following topics: 1) the sexual exploitation of minors as an essential part of the commercial sex industry; 2) recent Canadian experience in …

Humor In Medicine: A Literature Review Of Humor’S Potential Therapeutic Value In Health Care, Weston Michael Grant

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Using humor and laughter within the health care field has the potential to be relevant to patients during treatment, to the patient-caregiver relationship, to the subjective well-being of health care providers, and to the environments’ (e.g., work settings) impact on group relationships (e.g., colleagues). A review of the literature examines how the psychological and physiological effects of laughter and humor within the human body impact health and well-being, how humor and laughter improve the patient-practitioner relationship, and if humor and laughter can potentially impact physician burnout. Several possible implications for these findings are discussed, such as professional medical comedians, improvements …

Central Role Of Vasotocin In The Neuroendocrine Regulation Of Stress Responses And Food Intake In Chickens, Gallus Gallus, Gurueswar Nagarajan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well known that arginine vasotocin (AVT) in birds is involved in physiological homeostasis such as cardiovascular, osmotic regulation as well as reproductive functions. Pertinent to these physiological functions, AVT immunoreactive (-ir) neurons in the hypothalamus have been found associated with hemorrhage, dehydration, oviposition and other physiological regulation. Evidence, however, suggests that AVT also plays significant roles in modulating behavior, memory, stress, and food intake. This dissertation research addresses the latter two neuroendocrine functions of AVT in detail within the chicken brain. First, the functional role of AVT-ir neurons in conjunction with corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)-ir neurons in the …

Importance Of And Satisfaction With Characteristics Of Mentoring Among Nursing Faculty, Jacklyn Gentry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The nursing faculty shortage and its contributing factors have been well documented in the literature. Contributory factors include lack of graduate prepared faculty, difficulty recruiting and retaining faculty, and a decrease in job satisfaction within the faculty role. The use of mentoring programs has the potential to impact the nursing faculty shortage by increasing job satisfaction while providing novice faculty with additional support during the transition from clinical nurse to nursing faculty.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the importance of and satisfaction with characteristics of mentoring in full time nursing faculty teaching in baccalaureate …

Phoenix Ink: Psychodynamic Motivations For Tattoo Attainment By Survivors Of Trauma, December Renee Maxwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tattoos adorn people from all over the world and date back as far as the Stone Age. Tattoos adorn people from all over the world and motivations for tattoo attainment have been studied recently. Still, there remains limited research on the potential therapeutic properties of tattoo attainment, particularly for survivors of sexual trauma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of the tattoo process for survivors of sexual trauma and their motivations for tattoo attainment. This qualitative exploratory study interviewed both survivors of sexual trauma (N=10) and tattoo artists (N=7) to gain a wider perspective on the …

An Exploration Of The Experience Of Open Awareness Co-Meditation At The Beginning Of Therapy Sessions, Aneeqa Ishtiaq

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness and meditation have been seen as beneficial for mental health and mindfulness-based therapies have proliferated alongside an increase in popular interest in mindfulness (Germer, Siegel, & Fulton, 2013). However, many therapists are unaware of how to add mindfulness-based interventions. It may seem especially ambiguous for therapists and clients unfamiliar with the concept. In this dissertation, the history and current research on mindfulness-based psychotherapy, and its benefits and contraindications, are reviewed, and the researcher’s relationship to the topic is explained. It is identified that one way to add mindfulness to psychotherapy is for the therapist and the client to co-meditate …

Relations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Current Maladaptive Beliefs In A College Sample, Ilana Starr Berman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cumulative childhood trauma has been associated with both symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. However, few studies have examined these relations with normative young adult populations nor have they explored the relation between childhood adversities and cognitive distortions as an outcome variable. The current study aimed to: 1) replicate and extend research on the relations between cumulative adversity, using a broad measure of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; Felitti et al., 1998), which assesses both maltreatment (e.g., physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect) and exposure to elements of household dysfunction (e.g., caregiver substance use, witnessing maternal abuse), and mental health …

The Effect Of Floss Bands On Elbow Range Of Motion In Tennis Players, Kenna Hodeaux

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Floss bands have been used to improve ROM, restore joint mechanics, and break down adhesive tissue from previously injured musculature, however, there is limited research available and the few research studies have mixed results on the usefulness of floss bands. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of floss bands in increasing elbow range of motion (ROM) in tennis players. Twelve elite tennis players (6 female and 6 male) participated in this randomized crossover design study. Subjects attended two separate sessions. Passive ROM measures were taken with a standard goniometer for elbow flexion and extension and forearm …