Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Learning Europe, Jesse Giammarino

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

Learning Europe is an annual project that takes place in the high schools of Florence and Pistoia in Italy. JMU master’s students in the European Union Policies Studies program in Florence attend these high schools for two sessions to teach Italian students about the European Union. JMU students go to these meeting either alone or in pairs of two, but with a JMU faculty member (usually a teaching assistant) who assists in the sessions. The two sessions are broken up by the material taught in them, with a natural progression from topics discussed in the first to the topics discussed …

Font Fails To Improve Reading On Assessment Tasks, Steven L. Powell M.A., Denton S. Warburton M.A., Ashton D. Trice Ed.D

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

Dyslexie is a font type that was created specifically to address the challenges that individuals with Dyslexia face. This font-type consists of distinctive characteristics in each letter that are suggested to be more easily distinguishable from one another, such as a bolded bottom portion of each letter, additional inter-letter spacing, a greater x-height, and capitalized letters that are slightly italicized and bolded. Although the author claims that it improves the reading performance of individuals with Dyslexia, the literature on its effectiveness is conflicting. The current study investigates the effectiveness of Dyslexie compared to two commonly used fonts on readers’ comprehension …

Evaluating The Outcomes Of Social Media Marketing Alongside Traditional Promotional Techniques In Library Outreach, Liana Bayne, Caroline Hamby

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

James Madison University MALA (Madison Academic Library Associates) graduate assistants worked together with Special Collections and the library’s Outreach department to help market and support JMU’s First Annual Pulp Studies Symposium in Fall 2016. Social, digital, and physical ultimately came together to highlight and surface Special Collections’ extensive holdings of pulp magazines. Hashtags, archival ephemera, and everything in between melded in this multi-part exhibit. Since one of the least known and studied genre of pulps are the romance pulps, Love Story Magazine was the focus of our social media outreach project. Its florid narratives led organically to the idea of …

Ethics And Equity In Nonprofits, Jennifer K. Morgan

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

When considering modes of delivery of public services, traditionally people depend on the government to supply these goods and services. Citizens believe in the social contract and that it is the duty of the government to deliver services to the public. However, beginning in the 1970s, the traditional form of public goods delivery moved away from strictly government distribution, towards market delivery in hopes of greater responsiveness and ability to deliver at a lower cost. However, can nonprofits deliver goods and services once provided by the government with the same equity standards as the government? When examining the literature on …

Impacts Of Giving Circles On Participants: Giving Style And Civic Engagement, Eric Thomas Busche

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

Giving circles are an emerging form of philanthropy in which members contribute and pool funding with the intent to distribute said funding to grantees, with such efforts often identified based on group-generated consensus with members voting on both what issues to address and which recipients to fund, in order to generate an increased impact on the grantee. Giving circles present a way in which individuals may exert greater control over the way in which their donations are appropriated without needing to donate relatively large sums of money. In this way giving circles may present an attractive option to individuals who …

A Rubric For Evaluating And Designing Survey Research In Neuropsychology, Emily F. Matusz, Bernice A. Marcopulos, Thomas M. Guterbock

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

The current study presents recommended guidelines for neuropsychologists in accordance with best practices used in survey research design and data reporting. Although there have been improvements in the quality of research design and data reporting of neuropsychological surveys over time, several areas are still in need of improvement. A rubric, created from these recommended guidelines, is intended to provide neuropsychologists with an easily accessible tool to help further improve the quality of of survey research in neuropsychology.

Assessment Project, Caroline Hamby 5887520

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

My project presents research related to prescription drug abuse. It lays out a brief, hypothetical intervention focused on psychoeducation around potential negative effects of prescription drug abuse. It proposes that patients being placed on strong painkillers must go though a brief program before they obtain their first refill. This will hopefully result in less prescription drug abuse over time, as measured by tools assessing problematic use.

Using The Reflective Functioning Scale To Predict Counseling Outcomes, Matthew Swartzentruber

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

It is my proposal to demonstrate the usefulness of the Reflective Functioning Scale within counselors-in-training populations to promote effective counseling clinicians and improve counseling competencies.

A Bereavement Support Group For The Non-Religious, Charles L. Miller

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

In American culture, the approach of many to death and bereavement is couched in religious messaging. For much of the country, this approach resonates with a mourner's worldview. However, this is not the case with a growing segment of the population: individuals who identify as non-religious. While well-meaning, common strategies intended to comfort these individuals and help them navigate the mourning process may be less than effective, and in some cases even distressing due to religious content.

The design of the proposed intervention is intended to provide a purely secular support environment in which group members explore the cultural context …

Improving Relationships, Brittany D. Dioszeghy

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

This project is a proposal for a program that improves individuals' experiences in relationships.

A Home For The Spirit: Mental Health Care Delivery And The Homeless, John D. Rogers

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

I propose to present a poster summarizing a needs analysis for delivery of mental health care services to homeless people in small cities. The poster will provide highlights of a review of the relevant literature, best practice from current shelters, a summary of needs, a proposed model agency.

Homelessness is a significant and persistent issue in the United States and around the world. With public policy support, integrated care modalities, and new conceptualizations of treatment, those without homes can find help for mental health issues, and those in the helping profession can find rewarding opportunities to contribute to improved prognosis …

Congruence And Therapy: The Real Relationship Inventory (Rri), Jean F. Ndzana

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

I am interested in looking at the process of psychotherapy, and how specific under-represented groups (that are already reluctant to entering therapy), experience this process and the genuineness of the therapist. I am interested in exploring concerns that are parallel to the initial concern that brought the person for counseling, and how such processes, if unexplored, that can damage therapeutic alliance, and result in poor therapy outcome. The ultimate goal is not to get people in therapy, but to deliver successful therapy.

Discourses Of Madness And Me: Critical Examinations Of Western Discourses Of Madness And Psychiatry, Erin E. Casey

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

This paper is a critical examination of western medical paradigms alongside histories of psychiatry that argues for a culturally situated approach to mental health advocacy that maintains the importance of the physiological foundations of traditional biomedical approaches to disease. In doing so, I examine the discourses of madness, and society’s attempts to control and “fix” what is deemed “mad” through a historical lens. My position and critique utilizes a reflexive narrative process embracing my identities both as a consumer of mental health services and as an advocate for those with mental illnesses.

Birds Of A Feather Learn Together: Learning Community Outcomes Assessment Using Propensity Score Matching, Elisabeth M. Pyburn, Heather Dawn Harris

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

The goal of the study was to provide an example of propensity score matching techniques within the context of higher education assessment. At our institution, a select number of incoming first-year students participate in major-specific learning communities. Because the decision to join the communities is purely voluntary, one might expect that students who elect to join the program may differ from those who do not. Thus, important covariates related to self-selection into the learning community were identified. Two years of Arts learning community data were analyzed to compare the academic performance and civic-mindedness of learning community students to an arts …

The Effects Of Chronic Partial Sleep Deprivation On Alcohol Consumption And Delta Fos B Accumulation, Kristian Ponder

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

The present study explores the relation between sleep restriction and alcohol use and the neural substrates that result from chronic behaviors, such as transcription factors. Transcription factor activity is suggested as a possible outcome of chronic behaviors, such as addiction. Sleep is discussed as possible mediating factor in the relationship between specific transcription factors and alcohol. Analysis will focus on brain areas related to both sleep and reward.

Engineering Students’ Motivational Beliefs. Development Of A Scale Utilizing An Expectancy, Value, And Cost Framework, Mariafe Panizo

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

In the current study, researchers developed a 12-item instrument (Engineering Student Motivational Beliefs Scale; ESMBS) to assess engineering students’ perceived expectancies, values, and costs of being an engineering major and pursuing an engineering career. The purpose of the paper is to present the ESMBS development process, including preliminary psychometric information. Researchers used Benson’s model of construct validation, encompassing three phases, to guide the development and preliminary validation of ESMBS. The substantive phase included a thorough review of the literature to theoretically and empirically define the expectancy, value, and cost constructs within the context of undergraduate engineering. The structural phase consisted …

A Comparison Of Restorable And Unrestorable Defendants, Kristen T. Campbell

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

The current study examined differences in demographic, criminal, neuropsychological, and psychiatric variables between defendants restorable and unrestorable to competency. Defendants found to be unrestorable were more likely to have a misdemeanor charge, a cognitive disorder, a longer duration of illness, a lower IQ score, and a lower Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) score. Defendants found to be restorable tended to have a diagnosis of a mood disorder. With an improved understanding of characteristics associated with unrestorability, clinicians can make more accurate predictions about the probability of a defendant being restored to competency.

Nature Connection: Theory, Evidence And Practice, Matt V. Bukowski

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

This presentation explores scholarly work at the intersection of mental health and the natural world in a variety of disciplines. My intent is to provide an overview of theoretical perspectives, research-based evidence, and clinical practices that support the idea that experiencing the natural world can improve human mental health outcomes.

Gender Differences In Motivational Practices Among Collegiate Club Athletes, Jenna Thompson

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

Motivation is one of the most pertinent factors in the performance and success of athletes. It is important to make sure that motivational strategies are employed with the athlete in mind, with gender being at the forefront. After examining some of the most vital research in the fields of motivation, gender, and sports, various club sport teams at James Madison University will be interviewed to see the interplay between the aforementioned factors. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the gender differences in motivational practices among collegiate club athletes. This research answers questions about best practices in motivational …

The Engaged Graduate Experience: The First Year Of The Mala Program, Liana Colleen Bayne, Caroline Clare Hamby

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

This poster will illustrate the interdisciplinary, engaged learning and creative activities that have taken place during the first year of the new MALA (Madison Academic Library Associates) graduate assistantship program. Liana Bayne and Caroline Hamby are JMU Libraries’ first dedicated graduate assistants, and have spent the 2015-16 school year piloting the program. The two-year program’s curriculum includes library school-inspired learning modules alongside hands-on, project-based activities monitored and mentored by varying divisions of LET (Libraries & Educational Technologies) staff. Bayne and Hamby look forward to completing large-scale capstone project work in the second year of this program. Bayne and Hamby work …