Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The New Profits Of Pleasure: Reality Television And Affective Exploitation In Post-Pandemic Neoliberalism, Sophia Aepfelbacher

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis uses reality television and the parasocial relationships it cultivates as a microcosm to better understand the current form of neoliberalism as well as the implications it has for democracy. I extend the preexisting scholarship surrounding neoliberalism and reality television by emphasizing the importance of social media in understanding that link. By conducting a case study of Netflix's Love is Blind, I demonstrate how both reality television content and the reality-television-participant-to-influencer pipeline serve to reinforce neoliberal values by constructing powerful cultural imaginaries such as a model of care and self-sufficiency that centers marriage and the household. I argue …

The Word Made Digital: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence To Increase Bible Engagement, Henry Lee Jackson Iii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this descriptive study was to understand whether a relationship exists between an individual's behavioral intention to use a Bible-based chatbot that leverages AI to create human-like engagement with Scripture and the constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived enjoyment, and perceived risk, controlling for gender, age, and experience among registered users of the Inductive Bible Study App. Data was collected through an online survey and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), multi-group analysis (MGA), and homogeneity-of-slopes analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). While this quantitative descriptive study validated the correlation between each of the four reflective …

Improving The Biblical And Spiritual Skills And Knowledge Of Christian Mental Health Counselors At Grace House Counseling Center In Fleming Island, Fl, Larry M. Nichols

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christian licensed mental health counseling at Grace House Counseling Center is a multi-faceted spiritual undertaking that is largely in the purview of lay persons who often work and minister to Christians and non-Christians who live and work in a pluralistic environment. Grace House’s mental health counselors are formally trained through their master’s degree program to provide mental health care, not spiritual or soul care, to clients. While some Grace House counselors have some spiritual training, either from an undergraduate Bible college or through years of self-study, most do not have formal training that links Scripture and spiritual disciplines to various …

A Stewardship Curriculum To Promote Financial Independence: Congregants Of Sbc Depend On The Church For Financial Support, Davon Simpson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project investigates the congregation of Second Baptist Church of Selma, Alabama, and their dependency upon the church for financial support. The thesis presupposes biblical illiteracy on stewardship as the hinderance for congregants of Second Baptist Church in obtaining financial independence. This project will launch a research study of the congregants of Second Baptist Church using a triangulated approach evaluating the knowledge of participants from the congregation in comparison to the stewardship curriculum. The research method includes surveys, one-on-one interviews, and small focus groups as tools to investigate the problem. This design proposes that when the curriculum is implemented …

Preparing Church Counselors For Obsessive Morbid Jealousy, David M. Reinhardt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research addressed the problem of the lack of training in pastoral counselors in the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista de Iquique, Chile, to help wives and their families suffering suspicious jealousy due to childhood traumas. This DMIN action research project trained pastoral counselors to connect childhood trauma to wives suffering suspicious jealousy. There are two stages of this action research; the first is to establish the connection of obsessive morbid jealousy (OMJ) to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The second is to prepare pastors and counselors to recognize the symptoms and causes of obsessive morbid jealousy and to have a clear strategy …

How I Read An Article That Uses Machine Learning Methods, Aziz Nazha, Olivier Elemento, Shannon Mcweeney, Moses Miles, Torsten Haferlach

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Lgbtq+ Adults During Post-Breakup Appraisals: Understanding Adaptive Communication Coping Mechanisms Following The Termination Of A Non-Heterosexual Romantic Relationship, Nur E Makbul

Dissertations

This study highlights the intersections among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and/or Other Non-Heterosexual (LGBTQ+) individuals' and/or communities' experiences with romantic relationships, relationship crises, emotional appraisals, coping mechanisms, and cyber tech practices. It employs a mixed-method approach, including in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ participants and a digital ethnographic investigation of social media platforms. The theoretical framework and review of literature have been drawn from the queer perspectives of numerous critical cultural theories, and media and communication theories. Interviews with LGBTQ+ participants largely demonstrate three distinct mechanisms of coping, including emotional, behavioral, and psychological that LGBTQ+ individuals use after the termination of …

Effects Of Language Status, Community Advice, And Parent Beliefs On Heritage Language Maintenance In The U.S.: A Scoping Review, Jasmine Loeung

University Honors Theses

This scoping review examines the effects of language status, community advice to parents, and parents' beliefs on heritage language maintenance within a U.S. context. A total of 34 articles met the inclusion criteria. Four key themes were identified as follows: (1) status of a language in society affects maintenance, (2) parents' beliefs about the impact of the heritage language affect family language practices, (3) community advice impacts parents' beliefs and practices, (4) other factors affecting maintenance of the heritage language across generations. Overall, HL maintenance was observed as a dynamic relationship between a variety of factors, with individuals as well …

Fantasy Escapism: Using Role-Playing Games To Explore Mental Health And Gender Identity, Aidan Cipolla

English and Creative Writing Summer Fellows

This project analyzes how escapism through the use of role-playing games can be used as a coping mechanism for those struggling with a variety of topics, including gender dysphoria and mental health issues. The project takes an ethnographic approach to data gathering, consisting of interviews with a small group of Dungeons and Dragons / video game players, and personal anecdotes regarding the author’s experience with escapism.

Book Review: Elizabeth Wilson's Gut Feminism, İlkan C. İpekçi̇ Ph.D. Candidate

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Publishing Inequality In Lgbtqia+ Research In Psychology: A Content Analysis, Mackenzie L. Fingerhut

Student Theses

Despite the American Psychiatric Association’s removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 and ego-dystonic homosexuality in 1987, nonheteronormative sexual orientations remain stigmatized and underrepresented in scientific literature. To estimate the prevalence of LGBTQIA+ topics in popular psychological research, the author queried more than 20,000 articles from 1987 to 2022 in the two most cited journals in each of four major domains (cognitive, clinical, developmental and social). In addition, the author randomly queried 20% of all empirical articles published from 1987 to 2021 in the top eight empirical journals to understand how often sexuality …

Exploring The Experiences Of Black, Brown, Indigenous, And People Of Color In High School Concert Bands And Orchestral Ensembles, Matthew J. Smith

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

The traditional concert band/orchestra model in many public high schools often passively presents content regarding Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). BIPOC students in these ensembles bring a wealth of experience from their communities. Meanwhile, BIPOC face barriers including invalidation and a diminished sense of representation in these ensembles. This qualitative investigation explored how BIPOC students in a public 9-12 high school district experienced social, pedagogical, curricular practices in their school’s concert band/orchestra. Guided by critical race theory and culturally responsive pedagogy, and employing interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study addressed the lack of inclusivity and representation experienced by BIPOC …

Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Individuals And Intimate Partner Violence Resources In Lgbtq+ Organizations, Claire Herr

Student Theses

A meta-analysis reporting on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization of transgender populations found transgender people were two to three times more likely to experience IPV than cisgender people (Peitzmeier et al., 2020). The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) (2012) found transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people, particularly transgender women and transgender Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), were more likely to be threatened and harassed by their abusive partners than cisgender people. TGNC people may be at a high risk of IPV due to the lack of services designed for TGNC victims of IPV. Once …

Panem's Parallel's: Authoritarianism In The Real World, Quentin J. Stewart

Honors Capstones

Throughout the twentieth century, there has been an increasing awareness and fear of authoritarian governments in the Western world, the United States in particular. While these methods of governance were steadily becoming more present in Western media throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, portrayals of authoritarianism and dystopia experienced a peak in popularity toward the end of the two-thousands decade, with book and film franchises like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins spearheading this emergence. Many of the themes and aspects of the series setting alert the audience to many of the ways authoritarianism can be seen in real life, …

Motivation, Activism, Speech, Dennis Patillo

Writing Beyond the Prison Living Archive

Essay

Narrativas Maternas Y Activismo Digital: Vertientes Políticas De Las Maternidades Contemporáneas A Través De Los Escenarios Digitales, Catalina Echeverri Gallo

The Qualitative Report

En la actualidad, las mujeres han encontrado en los espacios digitales nuevas formas de relacionarse en torno a las maternidades, lo que ha ampliado las posibilidades de significar, transitar y cuestionar sus vivencias como madres. A través de las redes sociales y otros escenarios digitales, se han generado dinámicas relacionales que entrelazan lo íntimo y personal con lo político y público. Estas dinámicas han sido objeto de estudio en mi investigación doctoral, la cual se centra en una etnografía digital con siete blogueras colombianas y sus comunidades digitales. Con el fin de comprender cómo las narrativas e interacciones digitales politizan …

Masters Abroad, Sebastian Chavez

Capstone Collection

The research focuses on gaining the perspective and experience of students attaining a master’s degree abroad. The overall study is to answer the following questions: 1) What is the reasoning behind gaining a master’s degree abroad? 2) What kind of impact does a master’s degree have on the identity of students? 3) How might a master’s abroad experience aid international relations? Among the key findings, specifically, students’ main incentives ranged from career development in wanting to advance career objectives or real-world experiences of living and adapting to a new cultural environment. Following identity transformation, students experienced self-growth or discovered new …

Irs-Sanctioned Secrecy For Religious Nonprofits: Stepstone Or Stumbling Block?, Mark W. Smith

Master's Projects and Capstones

Internal Revenue Service code automatically confers 501(c)3 nonprofit charity status on religious nonprofits which appear to be “A church, convention of churches, or association of churches described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(i),” as labeled in the IRS Form 990. Additionally, religious charities functioning as a part of a church have no requirement to report any financial information or policies to the IRS or anyone else. This acquiescence to secrecy keeps most of the data on these nonprofit organizations unavailable for research or to inform legislative action or agency policies. This automatic status may also lead to complacency in organizations in financial accountability, …

Review-Fishing For Chickens: A Smokies Food Memoir, Blake Denton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Museum Professionals In Special Collections And Library Exhibition Development, Carrie Meyer, Darby Kurtz

Posters and Presentations: Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library

In June 2021, the McGoogan Health Sciences Library opened the Wigton Heritage Center on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus. This facility serves as a welcome center and museum for the history of the UNMC campus and explores the history of the health sciences in Nebraska. You read that right—a library opened a museum. Special Collection and Archives (SCA) professionals exist in a unique environment that utilizes three cultural heritage and preservation professions—libraries, archives, and museums. The Wigton Heritage Center project explores how museum practices for exhibition development, environmental monitoring, and curatorial practice are utilized in a library environment. …

Narrative Infidelity And White Resentment In The Rhetorical Mobilization Of The Anti-Crt Movement, Julien Burns

LSU Master's Theses

Beginning in the summer of 2020, an activist movement has arisen in opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT). This movement has mobilized tens of thousands of Americans and passed policy curtailing the discussion of race in classrooms despite a lack of evidence that CRT has any meaningful presence in many of the public institutions targeted. This movement challenges logic-based conceptions of rhetorical persuasion and demands an alternative model. In this thesis, I propose that a narrative conception of rhetoric provides a framework for understanding how this movement is rational, despite the falsifiability of its foundation. Specifically, I respond to Walter …

Being Curious With Secrecy, Clare Stevens, Elspeth Van Veeren, Brian Rappert, Owen D. Thomas

Secrecy and Society

This article contributes to ongoing attempts to broaden out theorizations of secrecy from an intentional and willful act of concealment to a cultural and structural process. We do so by fostering a conversation between secrecy and curiosity. This conversation is enabled through a review of central themes in secrecy studies and curiosity studies, but also through an examination of a collaboration between the science center “We the Curious” and a network of academic researchers. In doing so, this article makes a case for the benefits of paying more attention to curiosity as a means of facilitating a multifaceted understanding of …

(Not) Accessing The Castle: Grappling With Secrecy In Research On Security Practices, Lilly P. Muller, Natalie Welfens

Secrecy and Society

This article discusses how to deal with secrecy and limited access in ethnographically inspired research of security fields. Drawing inspiration from recent debates about secrecy in Critical Security Research and from Franz Kafka’s The Castle, we propose to treat access limitations and the secrecy we encounter as methodological tools that provide insights into social relations and power structures of security fields. We develop the argument in two steps. First, we argue for a more fine-grained taxonomy of secrecy, that allows to distinguish between mystery, concealment and the relational dimension of secrecy. Second, we apply the taxonomy to our respective …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Jarling Ho, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Decolonizing Wash Practices Between National Policies & International Standards: A Case Study In Tanzania, Mary Thibodeau

Capstone Collection

The international community has developed guidelines and standards for the maintenance of water and sanitation (WASH) in states from the end of the 20th century to present and have often been criticized for their lack of contextual adaptations in the standards that states are expected to implement universally. The research explored how international standards on WASH have applied decolonized methods of interventions to guide the development of culturally relevant national policies. Tanzania was chosen as a case study to conduct a comprehensive review of the states’ integration of international standards within their policies through a decolonial perspective. The study included …

Responding To Disproportionate Skin Cancer Rates Affecting Adult Men Aged 18-60, Aaron Thompson

Capstone Collection

Skin cancer is a deadly disease that kills significantly more men than women every year. At the same time, women are more than twice as likely to apply daily sun protection factor (SPF) than men. This research study explores how key stakeholders within the skin care industry have responded to the data showing increasing disparities between male and female skin cancer rates. To fulfill the objectives of this research study, qualitative data was collected from six semi-structured interviews with adult males between the ages of 18 and 60. The interviews were intentionally designed to engage with the American, adult male’s …

Social Justice Autobiography, Jacklyn Price

Writing Beyond the Prison Living Archive

Essay

The Form, Function, And Meaning Of Creative Expression, Sierra Strain, Susan Macdermott

Summer 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This project consists of school site observations and needs assessment data used to gain a better understanding of the various types of creative expression engaged in during the school day and to determine the form, function, and meaning of creative expression to students at a school for students with learning differences. This study discusses to the creation of a creative expression program created to help meet the sensory need demonstrated by this population of students on campus throughout the school day. The importance of zentangle based art use as a sensory regulation strategy in a school setting is discussed as …

The Occupation Of Surfing By Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color Communities As A Form Of Resistance, Emily Robleza, Karen Park

Summer 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This study explores the concept of resistance through a qualitative research study by focusing on the occupation of surfing by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The concept and acts of resistance have seldom been discussed in occupational science literature in addressing these communities' barriers. The frameworks include occupational justice, postcolonialism, and collective occupations that provide a layout of why and how current grass-roots efforts of communities marginalized from a meaningful activity utilize the meaningful activity as a vehicle for liberation. Eight participants were interviewed to understand their individual experiences in surfing in Southern California. Themes include Race, Class, and …

Customize And Outsource Exhibits: Not As Easy As You Think, Carrie Meyer, Darby Kurtz

Posters and Presentations: Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library

In the summer of 2019, UNMC’s McGoogan Health Sciences Library closed for renovation. At the same time, new construction of the Wigton Heritage Center, a museum dedicated to the history of UNMC and the health sciences in Nebraska, began. The team worked with an outside design firm on all the typical exhibition creation needs and then along came a pandemic, and a few other “glitches” along the way. In 2021, Phase 1a opened, and Phases 1b and 2 followed in 2022-2023. We will share the good, bad, and unfortunate lessons learned from our experience of building a museum—remotely—with multiple designers …