Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Treating Chronic Pain At A Federally Qualified Health Center: Staff Perspectives, Nathan K. Goins

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Although half of all patients with chronic pain seek treatment with their primary care practitioner, many physicians report being overburdened, with limited confidence in their training in the treatment of chronic pain. Opiate monotherapy remains the most common treatment utilized, despite strong correlations with addiction issues and increased distrust between patients and providers. In response to these issues, multidisciplinary stepped-care approaches utilizing psychoeducation, cognitive therapies, movement-based therapy, pharmaceutical treatment, yoga, and acupuncture have been developed. However, treatment within Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are complicated by financial constraints and high complexity in patient populations. This study examined the perspectives of …

Access Magazine, May 2016, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Access Magazine

No abstract provided.

Crafting The Question: Get The Most Out Of Your Student Response System, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

Socrative, Poll Everywhere, clicker -- no matter which student response system you use, the key to its effectiveness is in the questions you create. This presentation explores how to craft questions that engage students and help assess their understanding. Participants will be introduced to the anatomy of a multiple-choice question and learn to differentiate between effective and ineffective questions. Illustrations will focus on topics covered in a standard information literacy session, and participants will learn how to incorporate student response systems into lesson plans to better achieve student learning objectives.Participants will:be able to create effective multiple-choice questions for use with …

Financial Development And The Oil Curse: Evidence From Algeria, Farah Elias Elhannani, Abou Bakr Boussalem, Mohamed Benbouziane

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

Most of the empirical evidence has shown that the majority of oil dependent countries have the low level of financial development; thus, they are much more volatile and exposed to the oil shocks and the so named “oil curse”. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the Algerian financial system—as one of major oil economies—on the economic growth and escaping the oil curse. Over the past two decades, Algeria has courageously attempted to modernize its financial system despite social strife and challenges posed by the large hydrocarbon sector and an inefficient public sector. In fact, various reforms have been …

Sharia Law And The Transition Towards More Democracy And A Market Economy – Restrictions And Opportunities, Rahel Schomaker

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

The main source of Islamic Law, the Sharia, provides not only spiritual leadership for human beings, or guidelines how to practice the religion of Islam properly, but also includes normative implications for the design of the political and economic sphere of a state. Beyond the sheer scientific interest, these implications of Islam became relevant (again) in the context of the recent transition processes in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite not being finished yet, the transformations will raise new challenges for their perspective economies and the political systems as many religion-based parties (e.g. Al Nahda in Tunisia) become important …

Functional Income Distribution Consequences Of Financial Crisis In Turkey, Senim Sefil

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the functional income distribution in Turkey by conducting a comparative analysis of various labor share measures using different data sources. Four different labor share measures in the total market income were calculated using micro data from the 2006 -2011 Income and Living Conditions Survey of Turkey. The results of microdata calculations indicated a substantial and permanent increase during the crisis due to the labor hoarding in the labor market, leading to an increase in skilled employees’ labor income share at the expense of unskilled …

Essays On The Economics Of Rental Housing And Crime, Larhonda Renee Ealey

Dissertations - ALL

Essays on the Economics of Rental Housing and Crime

My dissertation consists of three chapters in the area of applied microeconomics. The first chapter exploits the mass evacuation of thousands of New Orleans residents to numerous counties throughout the South in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to identify the impact of migration on rents and estimate supply elasticities in local rental housing markets. The second chapter follows with an investigation of the impact that the evacuations on crime in the destination counties. The analyses in the first two chapters are conducted using data from American Community Survey and the Federal …

The Illusion Of Collaboration And Bureaucratic Politics In India, Harish Pranav Jagannath

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies an instance of collaborative governance (called Maarpu) in a subnational government in India (Andhra Pradesh). Through an in-depth case study the dissertation examines the implementation of Maarpu’s antecedents, processes and outcomes. At the outset, the study begins to understand India’s bureaucratic functioning from a historical perspective and takes an organizational theory approach to understanding how organizational structures influence the decisions that organizational actors make. The single biggest finding and contribution of this study to collaborative governance literature is that collaborative structures are not necessarily designed for the mutual benefit of actors and institutions involved; rather, they are …

Response Modulation Moderates The Effect Of Agonistic Striving On Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Children, Sarah Rose Lafont

Dissertations - ALL

Psychological and physiological risk indices in youth may mark early trajectories to adult cardiovascular disease. The present study tested the hypotheses that: (1) children who exhibit agonistic striving (struggling to influence, control, or change other people) exhibit increased cardiovascular risk relative to their peers; (2) children whose parents exhibit agonistic striving exhibit similar risk; and (3) the associations between agonistic striving and cardiovascular risk are moderated by the child’s response modulation abilities. Participants were 100 children aged 9 to 11 years (M = 10.61, SD = 0.86) and 100 parents/caregivers. Agonistic striving was measured with the Social Competence Interview; response …

Crafting Rhetorics Of Trust: Hillary Rodham Clinton And Her Appeals To The American People, Chelsea Anne Spring

Dissertations - ALL

ABSTRACT

This study examines Hillary Clinton’s public discourse at various points in her

career, analyzing which rhetorical strategies she uses to build and maintain trust between herself and the American public. To do so, this study examines five moments in Clinton’s career in which she actively employs rhetoric that affects the public’s perception of Clinton as a trustworthy or untrustworthy figure. The five case studies analyzed in this study are Bill and Hillary Clinton’s 1992 interview on 60 Minutes, following accusations of Bill’s extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers; Hillary Clinton’s tears in New Hampshire on the 2008 presidential campaign trail; …

Exploring The Differences In Girls’ And Boys’ Learning From Their Teachers’ Perspectives In A Coed High School In Kingston, Jamaica, Renée Danielle St. Cecelia Wilks

Dissertations - ALL

Girls’ and boys’ learning has been socially constructed through capitalism, which is replicated in patriarchy, and connoted with recognized physical learned behaviors that have been perpetuated in Jamaica’s culture throughout generations. Employing historical materialism and black feminist theories, this study assumes that the socio-economic and political structure of colonialism to present neocolonialism has been inherently biased towards men while negating women, and had instituted classifications that have characterized girls and boys as different. The perception that differences exist is described through an ethnographic micro case study analysis that examined grade 10 girls and boys at a specific coed high school …

Cybersecurity Best Practices For Information Professionals, Darla Jackson

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eyes Wide Open: Pupil Size As A Proxy For Inhibition In The Masked-Priming Paradigm, Jason Geller, Mary L. Still, Alison L. Morris

Psychology Faculty Publications

A core assumption underlying competitive-network models of word recognition is that in order for a word to be recognized, the representations of competing orthographically similar words must be inhibited. This inhibitory mechanism is revealed in the masked-priming lexical-decision task (LDT) when responses to orthographically similar word prime-target pairs are slower than orthographically different word prime-target pairs (i.e., inhibitory priming). In English, however, behavioral evidence for inhibitory priming has been mixed. In the present study, we utilized a physiological correlate of cognitive effort never before used in the masked-priming LDT, pupil size, to replicate and extend behavioral demonstrations of inhibitory …

The Relationship Between Superstition And Confidence In Sport, Taylor Jon Ptacek

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between superstition and confidence in sport. The Superstitious Rituals Questionnaire, a single-item confidence question, the confidence subscales from the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory- 28, Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool-3, Trait Sport Confidence Inventory, and the New General Self-Efficacy Scale were used to measure superstitions and self-efficacy among the athletes. A convenience sample of current and former NCAA athletes (N = 109, n = 61 males, n = 48 females) were sent the link to the questionnaire on Qualtrics. Results showed that athletes used a mean of …

Effectiveness Of A Smartphone App As An Adjunct To Therapy For Depression, Caitlin Massop

Theses and Dissertations

Over the years, depression and treatments for depression have been extensively researched. However, as times have changed and technology has become an integrated aspect into many indivdiual’s lives, including those with depression, researched mental health treatments have been slow to appreciate technological advances such as the smartphone app. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a smartphone app in addition to CBT as compared to CBT with paper homework when treating depression. Using a single-case design, as described by Kazdin (2011), with two participants this study found that both participants experienced a decrease in depression scores …

The Efficacy Of A Brief Group Art Therapy Intervention To Address Burnout And Compassion Fatigue In Mental Healthcare Professionals: A Mixed Methods Study, Vicky Greene

EVMS School of Health Professions Master's Level Capstones, Projects and Papers

The purpose of this proposed mixed-methods study was to explore the efficacy of utilizing a brief group art therapy intervention in reducing symptoms of burnout through a one group pretest and posttest design with mental healthcare professionals who work directly with the mentally ill population. Proposed interventions consisted of three two-hour group art therapy sessions over a period of three weeks with mental healthcare workers measured by the ProQOL-5 for Quantitative outcome, measuring compassion satisfaction (the positive) and compassion fatigue (the negative). Qualitative measures would be obtained from participants’ narratives from research questions, responses from resulting artwork, and a semi-structured …

Process Painting With A Woman Diagnosed With Breast Cancer, Jaimee Foster

EVMS School of Health Professions Master's Level Capstones, Projects and Papers

This qualitative single case study examines the reaction of one woman diagnosed with breast cancer as she engages in process painting, while undergoing treatment. Process painting involves the continued alteration of a single image over a period of time, either through painting over or chipping away at the current image. Over a period of six weeks, one woman was invited to engage in this process, in order to examine whether the process would have a positive effect on either the physical or emotional symptoms associated with breast cancer treatment. This study focused on the themes of each session, the participant’s …

Perceptions Of Blame In Intimate Partner Violence: The Role Of The Perpetrator's Ability To Arouse Fear Of Injury In The Victim, Brenda Russell, Shane W. Kraus, Kristine M. Chapleau, Debra L. Oswald

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Men are more likely to be blamed more for intimate partner violence (IPV) than are women who commit the same offense. However, because men are typically stronger and perceived as more physically aggressive than women are, perpetrator sex is confounded with masculinity and the ability to arouse fear in the victim. This study disentangled the construct of gender in understanding bystanders’ attributions of blame in IPV. Participants (N = 639) read a scenario in which the perpetrator’s sex (male/female) and gender identity (masculine/feminine), and the victim’s sex (male/female) were manipulated and rated how much they blamed the perpetrator and …

From Crisis To Crisis: A Big Data, Antenarrative Analysis Of How Social Media Users Make Meaning During And After Crisis Events, Adam R. Bair

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Crisis events are now common, ranging from computer errors, which might cause only minor inconvenience, to floods, which can cause loss of life and significant property damage. Such events can affect people’s ability to pay bills, trust food sources, or deal with events that could impact the environment and lives for decades. Understanding how crisis information is presented to audiences, how these audiences interpret and respond to a crisis will help researchers develop new approaches to improve communication among and with people affected by crisis.

To understand how individuals make sense of crisis events, I applied David Boje’s theories and …

Refugee And Employer Perceptions Of The Effects Of Capital On Refugee Employability In Utah, Christian L. Fritz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology Department at Utah State University conducted a state-wide needs assessment of refugees in Utah for the Utah
Department of Workforce Services. Using the data collected for this project, I analyzed the interview transcripts of twenty-four participants in the study including eight employers of refugees, eight Iraqi refugees, and eight Burmese refugees. I looked at the skills, education, finances, personal connections, personal attitudes, and cultural knowledge of the refugees and compared those to the desires of the employers of
refugees.

I found that the employers favored refugee employees because they work hard and do not …

Amor De Cerca: Positive Involvement In Latino Families, Michelle L. Varón

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Behavioral parenting interventions are widely implemented to address externalizing behaviors in children. The majority of these types of interventions address the relationship between the parents and their children in order provide a strong foundation, from which to implement discipline, and subsequently modify problem behaviors.

The objective of this study was to examine the ability of ratios and intervals of parental behaviors, to predict levels of externalizing behaviors in children. Due to the increasing number of Latinos in the U.S. as well as the need to have culturally informed interventions, the current study examined exclusively Latino families. This study provided further …

Lived Experience Of Young Widowed Individuals, Eunicia Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Young widowhood is a unique experience that has received little in-depth attention in research and clinical settings. Their experiences may differ from other types of losses, particularly from losses that are typically expected to happen later in life. The present study treated the lived experiences of young men and women who have experiences the loss of a spouse. Eleven men and women between the ages of 18 and 49 were interviewed about their experiences post-loss using phenomenological methods. After coding for similarities and differences between the experiences, five themes emerged in all eleven interviews: (1) relationship, (2) first reactions, (3) …

The Effects Of Familism And Sibling Relationships On Mexican-Origin Adolescents' Intentions For Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Use, Molly Mechammil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how sibling relationships and family values intersect to influence Mexican origin youth’s intentions to use substances. Previous research with European-American families has indicated that the nature and quality of sibling relationships in particular plays a large role in whether or not youth will engage in substance use behaviors. In addition, high levels of family and cultural values have also been found to be strong protective factors for substance use in Latino youth. A better understanding of the relation between family values and sibling relationship processes is important in order to …

The Ideal Educator: Investigating Teaching Culture And Teaching Styles Through Teacher Self-Efficacy And Social Acceptance, Jared R. Glenn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previously collected data from the Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS 2013) is utilized to examine two hypotheses. First, I investigated whether teachers who perform well in their jobs also tend to be popular friend choices among colleagues and administrators. Second, if there were evidence to support the first hypothesis, I examined whether these popular teachers also had a particular style of managing their classrooms.

While popular opinion often suggests that education is a one-size-fits-all method of sharing knowledge, actual educational methods actually change from place to place and country to country (Ho and Hau, 2004; Malinen et al, 2013). …

Family And Consumer Sciences Teacher Needs Assessment Of A Stem-Enhanced Food And Nutrition Sciences Curriculum, Cathy A. Merrill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Career and Technical Education (CTE) has long taught abstract science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts in contextualized settings. In 2014, a new CTE Food and Nutrition Sciences curriculum was written by a pilot group of CTE family and consumer sciences teachers, enhancing the STEM education teaching opportunities available in a food and nutrition course. This study is a teacher needs assessment of the implementation of the new STEM-enhanced curriculum.

The curriculum objectives were measured for perceived importance and self-perceived ability to teach by the teachers. Curriculum feedback, educational background and general demographics were also gathered. The curriculum objectives data …

Utilizing Act Daily As A Self-Guided Mobile App Intervention For Depression And Anxiety In A College Counseling Center, Jack A. Haeger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

College counseling centers (CCCs) have experienced funding and staffing setbacks in recent years, resulting in higher caseloads, counselor burnout, and bloated waitlists. Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions may offer a cost-effective and innovative solution. The authors developed ACT Daily, a prototype mHealth app based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This study examined the feasibility and possible efficacy of ACT Daily as a brief intervention for individuals placed on CCC waitlists.

A sample of 11 depressed/anxious clients waitlisted at a local CCC enrolled in the study, which followed a pre-post, open trial design. Participants received a brief online training that covered …

Perceived Alzheimer's Disease Threat As A Predictor Of Behavior Change To Lower Disease Risk: The Gray Matters Study, Christine Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alzheimer’s disease is a growing public health concern with an estimated five million Americans currently afflicted. That number is projected to triple by 2050 as the baby boomer generation approaches age 65, the most common age where people begin to show symptoms of cognitive decline stemming from changes in the brain related to Alzheimer’s. Since there is currently no cure or preventive pharmacological treatment, AD prevention research is now recognized as an important enterprise. Modifiable lifestyle factors that can reduce AD risk or delay its onset have been identified as reasonable targets for behavioral intervention, including increased physical activity, healthier …

Benefits, Challenges, And Recommendations For Implementing A Sustainability-Based Service-Learning Program At Utah State University: An Initial Assessment Of The Community Bridge Initiative, Julie Koldewyn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Service-Learning is a method of teaching that allows students to learn course content by engaging in real world applications, which can enhance student learning and benefit communities. As populations increase, many communities struggle with the corresponding issues of sustainability. A program that could use student expertise to address these concerns would be beneficial for both students and communities. This mixed-methods study explored the benefits, challenges, and recommendations for implementing a sustainability-based service-learning program, the Community Bridge Initiative (CBI), at Utah State University (USU) in relation to community needs and student responses to being in program pilot classes. Pilot classes were …

Staff Interactions And Affect In Persons With Dementia: An Observational Study Of A Memory Care Unit, Keirstin V. Meyer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is estimated that the number of people in the United States living with dementia in 2015 will nearly triple by the year 2050. With no cure for dementia, we are faced with providing care in a way that maximizes well-being. The majority of prior research focused on the best ways to reduce behavioral problems and mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety. The objective of this study was to increase knowledge about the social influences on well-being in persons with dementia, particularly from staff in residential memory care units. This study found that the most common interaction type from …

Entrepreneurs' Perceived Factors Of Success And Barriers-To-Entry For Small Business And Farm Operations In Rural Paraguay, Braden J. Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Both agriculture and nonagriculture activities are important for Paraguay's economy and its rural development plan. Ensuring opportunity for successful enterprise creation and expansion will facilitate new business entrance, while also growing rural economies. Past research has identified many factors that contribute highly to business and farm operation success, though little information exists about the perceptions of would-be entrepreneurs.

This study analyzes perceptions and characteristics of young, would-be entrepreneurs and agriculture producers in rural Paraguay to better understand their views of business/farm success and hurdle factors. Results suggest that increased experience, education and business exposure will decrease perceptions of many barrier …