Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Childhood Family Factors That Influenced The Enrollment Of College Students With Learning Disabilities, Abigail Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use qualitative measures to investigate the childhood family factors that influenced the enrollment of college students with learning disabilities. Six participants were interviewed, all of whom were registered through the University Accessibility Center at a four-year university and were served at some point during their school years for a learning disability. Interviews were held in a confidential location and lasted approximately thirty minutes. The interview protocol was constructed in a way that allowed participants to reflect on their experiences and tell their story in their own manner. Planned prompts were included to solicit …

A Qualitative Analysis Of A Junior High School Eating Disorder Prevention Program, Janine Ruth Stickney

Theses and Dissertations

Past research conducted in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders have provided information in regards to understanding the epidemiology, base rates, damages and longitudinal course of eating disorders. Few studies, however, have focused on prevention, especially in adolescents. In this particular study, students in a Utah junior high school health class received preventative curriculum called, Eating Disorders: Physical, Social, and Emotional Consequences. Ten, female participants were then interviewed to explore their thoughts and feelings about their experiences and to qualitatively ascertain the success of the prevention program.

Community Outreach English: Marketing A Community Esl Program, Carrie Lane Drake

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this MA TESOL project was to develop promotional products for BYU's Community Outreach English (CORE) program. The purpose of these products is to create greater community awareness of the program and the resources it provides to learners. It is also hoped that the promotional products will aid in the process of recruiting students for the program from one year to the next. While the essential elements of the marketing mix (product, place, promotion, and price) were reviewed, an emphasis for this project was placed on promotion, which translated into developing materials for this purpose. Promotional materials that …

A Re-Examination Of The Early Pueblo I Components At Monument Village, 42sa971, Rachel K. Pollock

Theses and Dissertations

The Pueblo I period (A.D. 750-900) was a time of widespread change in population and settlement organization in the Northern San Juan region of the American Southwest. One major distinguishing feature of the Pueblo I period is the rapid appearance of villages in the late A.D. 700s. Monument Village in southeastern Utah was excavated by Brigham Young University in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but has never been adequately described. Monument Village has a substantial early Pueblo I occupation but the dating of various structures and the size of the overall settlement are unclear. This thesis re-examines architectural and …

Examining Implementation Processes Of Positive Behavior Support, Julia Helzer Rollins

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a summary of themes found in the meeting notes of school teams implementing school-wide Positive Behavior Support. Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a systems change process of reorganizing a school's discipline structure to put in place a positive, teaching and reinforcing focus for the improvement of student behavior (Sugai & Horner, 2006). In recent years, education researchers have established that school-wide PBS is an effective way to deliver research- based interventions to improve student behavior (Colvin & Kameenui, 1993, Gottfredson, Gottfredson, & Hybl 1993; Taylor-Green & Kartub, 2000). This study focused on the implementation process in order …

Third-Party Forgiveness In Ambivalent And Supportive Relationships, Daniel Stephen Allen

Theses and Dissertations

A recent trend in the study of forgiveness is to look at forgiveness outside of traditional victim-perpetrator dyads. One way of going beyond these dyads is to look at third-party forgiveness. A recent advance in the study of relationship valence is to look at the amount of positivity and negativity in a relationship as on independent scales rather than on two ends of the same spectrum. This allows for categorization of relationships that are high in both positivity and negativity—ambivalent relationships. This study attempts to combine these two recent advances. I hypothesized that participants would have more difficulty forgiving offenders …

Dirty Talking Cracked Pots: Inferring Function And Use Of Decorated Ceramic Bowls At Fourmile Ruin, Az, Heather E. Bullock

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I discuss the function and use of decorated ceramic bowls at Fourmile Ruin, a Pueblo IV site located in east-central Arizona. My research focused on three wares dating to the Pueblo IV period of the American Southwest (AD 1275-1450): White Mountain Red Ware, Salado Polychrome, and Jeddito Yellow Ware. These wares represent the most abundant type of decorated ceramic bowls found at Fourmile Ruin. Ceramic wares and types are described, followed by a description of their physical and stylistic characteristics and functions, an analysis of how vessels were used, and, lastly, a discussion of the contexts within …

Macrobotanical Evidence Of Diet And Plant Use At Wolf Village (42ut273), Utah Valley, Utah., Wendy Dahle

Theses and Dissertations

Farming played a role in the subsistence base for the Fremont culture, but there is no consensus as to how significant that role was. Maize is consistently found in Fremont sites, but evidence of wild plant use is also abundant. The use of both domesticates and foraged plants by the Fremont, combined with the diversity of the landscape and sites that were inhabited by the Fremont, contributes to the diversity of theories on Fremont subsistence. This thesis examines evidence for plant usage at Wolf Village, a Fremont site in Utah Valley. Wolf Village is ideally situated for a Fremont farming …

The Infant Orienting Response As It Relates To Mother-Infant Co-Regulation And Attachment, Sarah Ann Ahlander Stone

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between 6-month old infants' orienting response to maternal arm-restraint (as measured by bradycardia), the quality of mother-infant communication at 6 and 9 months (as measured by the Relational Coding System) and attachment at 12 months (as measured by the Strange Situation Procedure). As positive mother-infant communication increases, the chances the infant will experience bradycardia increases. As negative mother-infant communication increases, the chances that the infant will experience bradycardia decreases. For mothers and infants who have more positive communication patterns, orienting response to the maternal arm-restraint suggests that maternal disruption of infant activity was a novel …

Is Diesel A Dirty Word? Examing The Communication And Public Relations Challenges Faced By Auto Manufacturers Who Want To Introduce Small Diesel Engines To The American Market, Christopher Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Cars with small diesel engines make up a large part of the automobile market in virtually every region of the world but the United States. In this study, the researcher sought to determine if there are preexisting attitudes toward diesel fuel and engines among American consumers and whether those attitudes affect consumers' expressed opinions (i.e. buying habits) which contribute to that disparity. The researcher carried out two studies. The first was a modified Delphi study of public relations professionals in the automotive field. Respondents were given several basic questions regarding diesel engines in the American market followed by a series …

The Relationship Of Adult Attachment Dimensions And Neuroticism To Relationship Self-Regulation, Garret Tyler Roundy

Theses and Dissertations

Self-regulation in the context of a relationship, described as relationship "work," is a powerful predictor of relationship satisfaction. Identifying individual characteristics that predict the practice of relationship self-regulation (RSR) can inform clinical and couple relationship education interventions. Anxious and avoidant attachment have been linked to shortcomings in self-regulation in various contexts, and were hypothesized to be negatively associated to individual practice of RSR; neuroticism, a personality trait characterized by negative emotionality, was also hypothesized to be negatively related to RSR. Neuroticism was also tested as a moderator of the relationship between attachment and RSR. Data from first-married men (589) and …

Assessing Parental Involvement In Type 1 Diabetes Management During Adolescence, Elizabeth M. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common pediatric chronic illnesses. Adolescents are at risk for poorer glycemic control; however, youth whose parents remain involved in diabetes care are in better control. The current study examined parental involvement (PI) using a multi-method, multi-source approach in a sample of 255 youth (Age M = 12.83). The Diabetes Family Responsibility Questionnaire, Parental Monitoring of Diabetes Care Scale, and 24-Hour Diabetes Interview assessed two types of PI, parental responsibility and parental monitoring. Global and specific assessment served to cross-corroborate indicators of PI related to HbA1c. Higher levels of monitoring related to lower …

Types Of Religiousness And Marital Relationships, Toshi Shichida

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between two types of religiousness (progressive and orthodox) and marital relationships was investigated using qualitative data from a sample of 26 Christian couples (13 progressive and 39 orthodox individuals) from California and New England. The focus of the study was individuals' frameworks of values and goals (moral order) and the ontological views behind them. Text analysis, t-tests for between-group differences of coded results, and phenomenological analysis were used. Results indicated that couples in the progressive group had Non-transcendent Selfhood as a basic moral order and engaged in mutual loving-kindness to respect and care for each other …

A Content Analysis Of Evaluation Instruments Used By Special Education Teacher Preparation Programs, Megan Sue Langford

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content and component analysis of evaluation instruments used to evaluate preservice teacher performance by special education teacher preparation programs. Direct observation (DO) and summative evaluation (SE) forms were collected from a random sample of Special Education teacher preparation programs that are recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). The forms were then coded for content and components based on predetermined categories to identify similarities and differences. Variances among the DO and SE forms indicated possible methods for evaluating preservice teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Judging The Credibility And Professionalism Of Citizen Journalism Versus Professional Journalism, Caroline Christiansen Hood

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the advent of the Internet, traditional journalism is changing. Advanced technology includes the tools for everyone to publish their thoughts, feelings, photos, and videos, allowing individuals to be citizen journalists. This experimental-design study was aimed at discovering the influence of biographies in people's judgments of the credibility and professionalism of news articles. The study involved four treatments 1: professional journalist feature article with professional journalist biography; 2: citizen journalist feature article with professional journalist biography; 3: citizen journalist feature article with citizen journalist biography; and 4: professional journalist feature article with citizen journalist biography. These treatments were used …

The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Teaching Styles And Cultural Differences" And "Understanding Students' Learning Styles", Kyle F. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

To create a much-needed program for training novice and volunteer English teachers, Dr. Lynn Henrichsen put together a team of interested TESOL graduate students who developed materials and resources for this purpose. Under his supervision and mentorship, each student helped with the development of units for a website and book titled, Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTRTESOL). Recognizing the target audience as novice teachers with little or no training in teaching English as a second language, each graduate student approached the development of each unit for this BTRTESOL program with this in mind. …

Organizational Capacity To Absorb External Knowledge: An Exploratory Study Of Public And Nonprofit Decision Makers' Perceptions Of Impediments And Facilitators, Linda S. Birtley

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that many youth-serving agencies do not adopt evidence-based innovations in the field of youth violence prevention. This qualitative study was designed to explore a sample of community-based decision makers’ perceptions of why innovative, evidence-based programs and practices for the prevention of violence by youth are, or are not, adopted at the local level. The rationale for this study was that knowledge of evidence-based innovations in youth violence prevention originates primarily from research scientists who are external to the organizations that are the intended recipients of the innovations. Prior research has not viewed the failure to adopt evidence-based innovations …

Evaluating The Success Of Benefit Fraud And Compliance Act In Affecting Wages And Offers For Seven Common H1b Occupations In Virginia, 2002-2010, Khalafala Alsadig

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of the Benefits Fraud and Compliance Act (BFCA) in affecting H1B hiring policy in the state of Virginia, as it pertained to seven computer science-related occupations. By employing an independent samples t-test approach, it was discovered that there was a statistically significant difference in H1B actual wages, proposed wages, and per-employer offers before and after BFCA.

Spirituality And Transformational Learning: How Urban Residents Abandoned A Life Of Violence, Sylvia N. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Community violence has been a perpetual issue among disenfranchised, African American, urban youth around the world. Many authors argue that high rates of violence among these youth are due to macro-structural characteristics such as inequality, segregation, racial discrimination, and poverty. These macro-structural issues place stressors (social disorganization, joblessness, alienation, mistrust of police, etc.) upon inner-city neighborhoods. Previous research also infers that African American men lack the ability to non-violently cope with these stressors and strains. Thus, this qualitative narrative study investigated the role of spirituality in the transformational process of nine urban, African American men, who had abandoned a life …

The Good Life In Psychotherapy: Implicit And Influential, Emily Lonas Morris

Theses and Dissertations

The good life, or a flourishing life, is a vision of how people ought to best live their lives. Though this vision is vital to the conduct of psychotherapy, it is generally overlooked, and thus unexamined. The therapist's vision of the good life for the client guides his or her implicit and explicit interventions. Despite this, there is relatively little discussion about this vital topic, and relatively little training into the various approaches to the good life. In this thesis, I argue that this relative lack of examination and training is due to the lack of perceived options regarding conceptions …

Sign Language Word List Comparisons: Toward A Replicable Coding And Scoring Methodology, Jason Parks

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes and evaluates a methodology for sign language word list comparisons. The purpose of this sociolinguistic research tool is to identify similarity relationships among sign language varieties by assessing similarities of lexical items. Similarities are calculated using the Levenshtein distance metric which measures the number of differences between signs.

In this study, the methodology was refined for optimal efficiency through an analysis of: which parameters of a sign should be compared, which values should be included in each parameter value inventory, and which items should be used in the word list. As a result of the study, I …

Examining Criminal Justice Professionals’ Attitudes And Responsiveness Towards Intimidated Witnesses On The Local Level: An Exploratory Analysis, Moon Michon

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract EXAMINING CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROFESSIONALS’ ATTITUDES AND RESPONSIVENESS TOWARDS INTIMIDATED WITNESSES ON THE LOCAL LEVEL: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS By Michon J. Moon, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Major Director: Laura J. Moriarty, Ph. D, Professor and Vice Provost of Academic and Faculty Affairs L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs The study explored criminal justice professionals’ attitudes and responsiveness toward witness intimidation on the local level based on their occupation and region of employment. Intimidated witnesses are vulnerable …

Social Engagement Behaviors Of Two Children With Asd In Intervention Sessions Using A Robot, Stacey Marie Richey

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the use of a humanoid robot to facilitate the initiation of social engagement behaviors in two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Approximately 10 minutes of a 50-minute treatment session were devoted to interaction using a humanoid robot, Troy, to facilitate interactions with a graduate clinician or caretaker. These interactions were recorded, analyzed, and coded in 5 s intervals. This study focused specifically on the children's initiations of social engagement behaviors. Results suggested that the robot had potential to facilitate social engagement between the children and the adults.

Comparing The Efficacy Of Two Cognitive Dissonance Interventions For Eating Pathology: Are Online And Face-To-Face Interventions Equally Effective?, Kasey Serdar

Theses and Dissertations

Clinical and subclinical eating pathology are common, especially among female undergraduates. Such problems are often chronic and associated with a range of negative medical and psychological outcomes. Thus, it is important to develop effective prevention programs to reduce eating disorder risk. Numerous studies suggest that dissonance-based prevention programs are the most successful in reducing eating disorder risk factors, however, such programs might not be convenient for students limited by scheduling restraints or geographic proximity. Further, some students may be reluctant to attend such groups due to lack of anonymity. One way to address these potential barriers is to adapt dissonance-based …

The Effectiveness Of Religion-Affiliated Nonprofit Organizations In Social Services: A Survey Study Of Nursing Homes In Virginia, Bulent Ucar

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether being a church affiliated nursing home influences performance. Performance is measured based on criterion put in place by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The secondary purpose is, regardless of ownership type - religiously affiliated or secular- to investigate if more religiously involved nursing homes perform better than their less religiously involved counterparts. These two purposes are hypothesized with six different hypotheses each of which are tested by utilizing OLS regression analysis. This study extensively discusses the arguments surrounding the Charitable Choice Initiative, which allowed faith-based organizations (FBOs) …

Use Of Historic Tax Credits For School Construction In Virginia: Costs, Benefits, Administrative Implications, And Public Policy Issues, Paola Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

A number of studies show that school facilities in the United States are deteriorating and that a substantial outlay of financial capital is required to bring school facilities to good overall condition. The current economic environment, marked by slow growth, high unemployment, and low tax revenues has highlighted widespread issues with the financial condition and fiscal sustainability of local governments. While studies show that the success of the educational process is related to the condition of school facilities, providing a safe and effective educational environment for students and teachers is a great challenge for local governments. Alternative sources of funding …

Evaluating The Incremental Validity Of The Mmpi-2-Rc Scales For Custody Litigants, Elizabeth Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

The use of psychological testing in child custody assessments has become more common and important as psychologists are increasingly used as expert witnesses in contested child custody and visitation cases. Currently, the MMPI-2 is the most commonly used psychological test in child custody cases, but there is no research indicating which version of the measure (K-corrected, non-K-corrected, or the RC scales) provides the most accurate picture of the custody litigant in terms of substantial correlations with external variables. This study represents the first examination of the convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the MMPI-2 K-corrected Basic Clinical Scales, the MMPI-2 …

Disclosure And Health: Enhancing The Benefits Of Trauma Writing Through Response Training, Andrea Konig

Theses and Dissertations

Writing about a personal traumatic event has been found to have psychological and physical health benefits. Focusing on traumatic memories in writing may be a form of exposure. In imagery exposure and trauma writing, greater physiological reactivity was predictive of better outcomes. Given the importance of physiological output in emotional processing, response training was developed and found to be effective in increasing appropriate physiological reactivity in imagery exposure. If response training amplifies physiological reactivity and the benefits of writing, the hypothesis that writing is a form of exposure would be strengthened, and training may be a valuable tool to improve …

Efficacy Of A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment For Insomnia Among Afghanistan And Iraq (Oef/Oif) Veterans With Ptsd, Margolies Skye Ochsner

Theses and Dissertations

Sleep disturbances are a core and salient feature of PTSD and can maintain or exacerbate associated symptoms. Recent research demonstrates that cognitive-behavioral sleep-focused interventions improve sleep disturbances as well as PTSD symptoms. The present study is a randomized controlled trial comparing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) to a waitlist control group. Conducted at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the study: 1) compared subjective outcome measures of sleep amongst veterans assigned to either a treatment group (CBT-I) or a waitlist control group; (2) examined the influence of the intervention on measures of PTSD, general mood and daytime functioning, comparing veterans …

Assessing Budget Delays In The Commonwealth Of Virginia: A Cross State Analysis Of Political And Economic Factors, Emily Newton

Theses and Dissertations

This paper assessed factors that delayed the passage of the annual budget bill specifically in Virginia and also in 13 structurally similar states including: Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Virginia was the core focus of this study, but the variables detailed below were also measured for all thirteen states in an effort to broaden the scope of the study, and determine which political and economic factors affected the budget passage rates in Virginia and the 13 other states. Political and economic explanations were tested to examine their relationship …