Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Needs Assessment For Systematic Cultural Competence Training In The Field Of Applied Behavior Analysis, William Edwards

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As the prevalence rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) continue to increase, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is now universally recognized as the most effective and empirically based treatment option for children. This recognition has led to greater accessibility to services for families, a broader range of funding sources, increased client diversity, and an unprecedented demand for qualified service providers. With this increased demand for qualified providers and the increased diversity of clients, a needs assessment for cultural competence training was conducted.

The Needs Assessment for Systematic Cultural Competence Training in Applied Behavior Analysis captured demographic information related to providers and …

Green On The Map - The Influence Of Conservation Easements On The Naturalness Of Landscapes In The United States, Nakisha Fouch

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Large protected areas have long been the cornerstone of conservation biology, however, in an era branded by the human dominance of ecosystems, regional landscape structure and function are often a consequence of accumulated land-use decisions that may or may not include a nod to conservation planning. With underrepresentation of habitats in publicly protected areas, attention has focused on the function of alternative land conservation mechanisms. Private conservation easements (CEs) have proliferated in the United States, yet assessing landscape-level function is confounded by holder and donor intent, national and regional policy, regional landscape contexts, varying extents, resolution, and temporal scale. Over …

Empowering Older Adults With Their Information Privacy Management, Reza Ghaiumy Anaraky

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Literature depicts a deficit-based narrative around older adults and their technology use, suggesting that older adults are not able to keep up with their younger counterparts in adopting new technologies. In this dissertation, I argue that this view is not necessarily accurate or productive. Instead, I argue that the deficit is in the technology design, which is not inclusive and often caters to the needs of younger adults.

I study older and younger adults' privacy decision-making as a showcase. To study the privacy decision-making process with more granularity, I used a dual-route approach (decision heuristics and privacy calculus) to disentangle …

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The Role Of Leisure Engagement In Fostering Cognition In Aging, Karen Wenzel

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Leisure activities are a major component of healthy aging, associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline and enhanced cognitive function. However, there is wide variation in the conceptualization and measurement of leisure. Specific leisure activities or domains have been studied in association with cognition in aging. More recently, researchers have noted that attributes of the activity, rather than the activity itself, may be significant. This study explored the current state of knowledge regarding attributes of leisure activities that foster cognition in aging. A literature review using PRISMA Scoping Review guidelines identified objectively and subjectively measured attributes of leisure engagement in …

The Experience Of Severe Food Allergy At Residential Camp, Alexsandra Dubin

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Severe food allergy is an emerging issue in public, educational, and recreational spaces, as the condition rises in prevalence and severity (Capucilli et al., 2019). Nearly all camps serve children with food allergies (Schellpfeffer et al., 2020). Research focusing on documenting rates of food allergy, anaphylaxis management, and food allergy management in summer camps has been foundational to ensuring a safe experience for youth attending camp (Gonzalez-Mancebo et al., 2019; Schellpfeffer et al., 2020). However, less research has focused on the socio-emotional impacts of attending camp with a food allergy or exploring how children with food allergy experience summer camp …

A New Comprehensive And Practical Taxonomy Of Demands Healthcare Professionals Experience: The Development Process And Testing Using Machine Learning, Phoebe Xoxakos

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Given the complex (Ratnapalan & Lang, 2020) and high stress environment of healthcare organizations (Freshwater & Cahill, 2010), a better understanding of the conditions in which healthcare professionals work is important. Although previous research has resulted in somewhat limited categories of the demands on healthcare professionals (Borteyrou et al., 2014; Shanafelt et al., 2020), a comprehensive taxonomy that covers the breadth and depth of demands is lacking. Using longitudinal data collected over 28 measurement waves spanning two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present studies outline the development of a taxonomy based on an in-depth literature review of related workplace …

Evaluation Of Life Cycle Costs, Benefits, And Public Perceptions Of Greywater Reuse Systems For Supplementing Conventional Water Delivery, Sreeganesh Reddy Yerri

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The water utility industry is under enormous pressure to meet the challenges of increasing demands due to population growth, lifestyle changes, and depleting freshwater resources. The current and predicted future deficit scenarios challenge water supply managers to come up with a sustainable and reliable alternative source while making the supply infrastructure smarter and resilient. One such alternative source is the greywater that is available at the point of consumption itself. With certain limitations, there have been studies performed to evaluate the life cycle costs and expected monetary benefits of decentralized greywater reuse systems, but the public and health bureaus are …

Investigating Drivers’ Knowledge And Experience With The Anti-Lock Braking System (Abs) Which Led To The Development And Evaluation Of An Emergency Braking Training Exercise Using A Driving Simulator With Haptic Pedal Feedback, Lauren Mims

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The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the extent to which drivers do or do not have knowledge of and experience with the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and then to explore the development and evaluation of a driving simulator task specifically designed to address emergency braking with haptic brake pedal feedback. The anti-lock braking system (ABS) was created to help drivers in emergency braking situations by preventing skidding and loss of control due to locked wheels. Vehicles with conventional (pre-ABS) brakes required the driver to “pump” the brake pedal, or to rapidly press and release the brake pedal, during …

An Intergenerational Study Of The Entrepreneurial Nature Of Agritourism Operators, Will Culler

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Economic and non-economic trends have left farm operators of all ages contemplating enterprise diversification strategies to create advantages and to ensure their farms' sustainability for future generations. One such strategy is agritourism, in which a visitor to a working farm or other agricultural setting interacts with the farm landscape or participates in an agricultural process for tourism or leisure purposes. This study aims to contribute to academics, researchers, extension educators, practitioners, and farm service providers who offer training and resources to better equip current and future agritourism operators. The study tested the general hypothesis that agritourism operators' entrepreneurial goals and …

Evaluating Privacy Adaptation Presentation Methods To Support Social Media Users In Their Privacy-Related Decision-Making Process, Moses Namara

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Several privacy scholars have advocated for user-tailored privacy (UTP). A privacy-enhancing adaptive privacy approach to help reconcile users' lack of awareness, privacy management skills and motivation to use available platform privacy features with their need for personalized privacy support in alignment with their privacy preferences. The idea behind UTP is to measure users' privacy characteristics and behaviors, use these measurements to create a personalized model of the user's privacy preferences, and then provide adaptive support to the user in navigating and engaging with the available privacy settings---or even implement certain settings automatically on the user's behalf. To this end, most …

Reading Toward Breath: A Poetic Ecology Of Creative Reading, Jessica Schad Manuel

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Reading is an act of perception that begins in wonder and leads to wisdom. It is not a response to writing but a response-ability we have to interact with the world around us and the phenomena before us. Reading with the body leads to wisdom, and when we participate in our existence by being in the world, we are reading. So what is reading? Reading is making. We make connections, and we form relationships. The act of reading is more than a cognitive process and even surpasses the phenomenological encounter.

My research describes the reader’s relationship to the text as …

The Influence Of Recreation Engagement On Adolescent Health-Risk Behaviors, Krista Thomas

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The number of adolescents who engage in suicidality is staggering. Adolescence is a unique developmental period where engagement in health-risk behaviors is prominent. Factors influencing engagement in suicidality are vast and occur both internally and externally in the adolescent. Substance use during adolescence has shown an association with increased suicidality. Similarly, bullying, both cyberbullying and in-person bullying, have contributed to adolescent suicidality. Alternatively, recreation engagement has yielded benefits in both psychosocial and physical health for adolescents. However, limited research has identified that engaging in recreation can minimize suicidality. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how substance use, …

Three Essays About Preventing Mental And Behavioral Disorders, Snehal Lopes

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Prevention efforts in the public health field operate at various levels, including primary prevention among those without a disease of interest, secondary prevention among persons at high risk or showing early signs of the disease, and tertiary prevention among persons with the disease. The three essays presented in this dissertation are centered around the theme of prevention, and taken together, have implications for prevention at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Specifically, the essays focus on the prevention of depressive disorders and the prevention of behavioral and mental health correlates for depression in the context of various populations (general adult, …

Fair, Equitable, And Just: A Socio-Technical Approach To Online Safety, Daricia Wilkinson

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Socio-technical systems have been revolutionary in reshaping how people maintain relationships, learn about new opportunities, engage in meaningful discourse, and even express grief and frustrations. At the same time, these systems have been central in the proliferation of harmful behaviors online as internet users are confronted with serious and pervasive threats at alarming rates. Although researchers and companies have attempted to develop tools to mitigate threats, the perception of dominant (often Western) frameworks as the standard for the implementation of safety mechanisms fails to account for imbalances, inequalities, and injustices in non-Western civilizations like the Caribbean. Therefore, in this dissertation …

On The Frontlines Of Covid-19: A Jd-R Approach To Better Understand Emergency Medicine Clinicians' Psychological Well-Being, Riley Mccallus Pegram

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Healthcare organizations have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with emergency departments (EDs) facing especially large burdens. Increased patient volumes, fewer opportunities to disengage from work, and the persistence of the pandemic over many months continue to place demands on emergency medicine clinicians (EMC) and may elevate their levels of psychological stress. Psychological resilience and meaningful work experiences may protect EMC from these negative effects but may also be negatively impacted by high levels of ED crowding. Using the Job-Demands Resources model as a theoretical framework, this dissertation sough to explore how ED crowding (measured objectively and subjectively), psychological …

Allegories And Alleles: A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis Of The Debate Over Animal Bioengineering, Betsy Presgraves

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With the USDA’s recent takeover of animal bioengineering regulation, public comments have been reopened about the issue, with the Biden administration seeking more information about public opinion. The debate over U.S. regulation has raged for decades with a pro-genetic modification coalition seeking more efficient approvals and the anti-genetic modification coalition seeking labelling, more open and strict approval processes, and even outright bans. Each side has employed a variety of communication approaches, chief among them the use of narrative.

This study aims to determine how narrative structures affect this debate. Using the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), I seek to examine this …

Examining The Impact Of Design Features Of Electronic Health Records Patient Portals On The Usability And Information Communication For Shared Decision Making, Rong Yin

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The use of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) patient portal has been shown to be effective in generating positive outcomes in patients’ healthcare, improving patient engagement and patient-provider communication. Government legislation also required proof of its meaningful use among patients by healthcare providers. Typical patient portals also include features such as health information and patient education materials. However, little research has examined the specific use of patient portals related to individuals with specific diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). IBDs are life-long, not curable, chronic diseases that can impact the whole population. Individuals with IBDs may have higher needs …

Mapping The Tourism Value Chain For Fair-Trade And Tourism Handicraft Clusters In Tanzania, Peter M. Ezra

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The role of tourism industry as an agent to foster community development, and as a means for poverty reduction in lesser economically developed countries (LEDCs), has been widely addressed by the literature. However, critics have pointed out that tourism has failed to promote local development and improve the livelihoods of local communities in LEDCs due to unequal trading and neoliberal economic policies resulting to economic leakage. The introduction of fair-trade movements is a response to a call to redress these unequal trading and neoliberal economic policies between the Global North and Global South. Fair-trade is considered one of the ethical …

Methodological Considerations For The Study Of Cognitive Reserve And Its Relationship To Cognitive Decline In Older Adults, Kerry A. Howard

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Cognitive reserve (CR) is a key construct in promoting healthy cognitive aging. Methodological inconsistencies have limited the ability for researchers to make broad conclusions about relevant life experiences that may build CR and delay cognitive decline. This dissertation explored notable issues within the operationalization of CR based on proxy life experiences by applying a systematic approach toward understanding the use of CR, as well as an understanding of consequences of inconsistent operationalization. The project had three aims: review and explore the association between various CR proxies utilized in the literature and develop a composite score for CR, describe differences in …

Public Policy, Economic Development, And Taxes: An Impact Analysis Of Business Incentive Strategies At The State And Local Level, Richard Nanney

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In an effort to promote economic development, state-level policymakers have exercised discretion over the use of public money to incentivize subsidy packages for decades. Estimates suggest state governments spend approximately $50 billion annually on these initiatives. However, there has been little empirical research about the political and economic benefits received by local residents from these subsidy programs. This dissertation analyzes the effectiveness of state subsidy policy by considering induced economic spillover effects and population attrition rates. It examines how subsidy distribution is related to employment rates, average weekly wages, and population attrition. The project offers two methodological innovations. First, to …

The Delaware River Basin Compact: A Case Study In Successful Transboundary Water Resource Management, Cindy Gorze Roper

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Worldwide, water resources are undergoing rapid changes emerging from both man-made and natural factors. Increasing demands for water for agriculture, industry, power generation, and domestic use combined with more intense and variable weather patterns are negatively affecting water availability and escalating the potential for conflict between entities sharing these critical resources.

This study examines the Delaware River Basin federal-interstate compact to determine how these agreements provide a means by which several competing states can develop and implement an effective regional governance system. Using a grounded theory case study approach, it uses documents, surveys, and interviews to examine how the Compact …

Development And Testing Of The Mueller Assessment Of Transition (Mat): A Tool For Measuring Older Adults' Wellbeing When Transitioning Into Assisted Living Facilities, Kaitlin Mueller

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Transitions into assisted living facilities (ALFs) may influence older adults’ wellbeing. Positive influences on older adults’ wellbeing are referred to as adjustment strategies, whereas negative influences are called constraints to wellbeing. Theoretical underpinnings for these influences are found in the Hierarchical Leisure Constraints Theory and the Transition Process Framework. Past research indicates a few influences on older adults’ wellbeing, such as family relationships, perceived physical health, and connections to the community. However, no assessment existed to quantify their wellbeing when relocating into an ALF. Therefore, this dissertation details the development and factor structure of the Mueller Assessment of Transition (MAT), …

Policy Complementarities Between And Within Jurisdictions: The Case Of Alcohol Consumption And Driving, Tabitha Knott

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Federalism allows multiple levels of government, such as counties, states, and nations, to control the same territory. The result is often differentiated policies across smaller jurisdictions, which inevitably create spillovers when goods can be purchased in one locality and not in another. The first chapter discusses how each of the subsequent chapters are related using this context.

The second chapter investigates how one jurisdiction's policy may diffuse across neighboring jurisdictions to mitigate spillover effects using evidence from Texas. Texas is one of 34 states that allow local jurisdictions to determine alcohol policies and regulations via local option referenda. A force …

Essays On Delegation And Voter Preferences, Cory Simpkins

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Chapter 1 examines delegation and communication as strategies in coordination games with uncertainty and social preferences. I construct a model where other-regarding partners attempt to coordinate over a binary choice with privately known utilities. Players can choose to either communicate by signaling their preferences or delegate the choice entirely to their partner. I characterize equilibrium behavior under various assumptions on information transmission and coordination risk. If coordination is risky, there is a type of "first mover advantage" where the first player to communicate her own-preference guarantees her ideal outcome when communication is honest revelation. When preference signals are cheap talk, …

Determining The Value Of Ecosystem Services Provided By Green Stormwater Infrastructure In Coastal South Carolina, Joan U. Ureta

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Rapid urbanization changes the natural hydrology of a landscape, making stormwater management a crucial aspect of land development. As the fastest growing ecosystem globally, an innovative way of managing stormwater is needed to address the increase in urban run-off. In coastal South Carolina, stormwater practices have been widely adopted at the neighborhood level, yet threat of flooding is becoming more evident as the urban population and development continue to rise.

To determine the importance of stormwater practices to coastal residents, we assessed perception on stormwater practices and programs at different decision levels— 1) household, 2) neighborhood, and 3) city/county. Results …

Overcoming Provision Challenges And Barriers To Affordable Housing Development In Small Towns Of South Carolina, Marchell L. Magxaka

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Housing serves as a source of identity and provides privacy, a sense of security, and stability to the occupant (Skobba, Osinubi, & Tinsley, 2020). However, there is not enough housing available to support low-income households who struggle to pay rent or are homeless (Luque, 2020). According to Skobba & Tinsley (2016) 43% of the people who do not live in the metro areas of the United States are living in the South and facing unique challenges. In South Carolina, there are about 72,000 subsidized housing units, which is only enough to serve one out of every five low-income households. Many …

The Influence Of Pedestrian Biological Motion On Time-To-Collision Estimates At Night, Ellen C. Szubski

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The incidence of pedestrian fatalities has increased dramatically, and insufficient conspicuity at night has been identified as a significant problem. Placing retroreflective markings on a pedestrians’ extremities increases pedestrian conspicuity to drivers at night by capitalizing on our perceptual sensitivity to biological motion (biomotion). This study sought to determine whether biomotion also affects drivers’ ability to judge when they will arrive at pedestrian’s location. Here, 126 participants viewed prerecorded 25-second videos of a nighttime approach towards a walking pedestrian. The pedestrian wore one of five clothing configurations while walking from one of three approach angles. Prior to the vehicle reaching …

Homestays In Nepal In The Era Of Covid-19, Anup K C

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Homestays are accommodation facilities provided by hosts in their own residence. Usually, guests are provided food and lodging by the host family members. These tourism facilities are a source of alternative income in rural areas of countries like Nepal. But now, COVID-19 has adversely affected homestays along with other tourism sectors, so it is necessary to assess homestays in Nepal in the COVID-19 era. For this dissertation, online interviews were conducted with homestay stakeholders (54 homestay operators, 12 homestay leaders, 11 homestay experts, and 8 biodiversity experts). These online interviews were recorded in the Nepali language and were translated and …

Managing The Environmental Crisis Amidst A Health Crisis: An Exploratory Study Of Alternative Sustainable Strategies For Tourism Destinations, Lauren Townson

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The responsibility of protecting the natural environment, and limiting the negative environmental impacts, often falls on the local community (Streimikiene et al., 2021). The impact of communities relying more on the tourism industry as an economic driver for continued development (Streimikiene et al., 2021) is of special interest to this dissertation as the United States (U.S.) manages the COVID-19 global pandemic. Tourism can both locally benefit a community and its residents, while simultaneously contribute to global environmental impacts (Gössling & Hall, 2006). As destinations attract more visitors into a physical space, data continues to reveal the continued destruction of natural …

Ecologies Of (Domestic) Trauma, Ecologies Of (Domestic) Violence: A Rhetorical Procession Toward Mourning, Charlotte E. Lucke

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In this dissertation, I posit that intimate partner violence is entrenched in an often-overlooked historical and rhetorical legacy of patriarchal cultural, structural, and direct violences. Many scholars in and outside of rhetorical studies have analyzed and critiqued public representations of trauma and violence, including intimate partner violence. Joining this conversation, I focus on the limitations in the ways influential rhetorical domains both represent and respond to people who abuse their intimate partners. Often, mass media represents people who abuse their intimate partners as individuals void of contexts. Similarly, the criminal justice system holds individuals responsible through law enforcement and incarceration. …