Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Post-Pandemic Enrollment Declines In California’S Public Education System, Ryan J. Cummins

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The persistent decline in enrollment in California public schools presents complex and far-reaching challenges, impacting budgets, staffing, and student outcomes. These challenges have been further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted K-12 education nationwide. As students were sent home and families navigated prolonged school closures, the federal government responded with unprecedented funding to public schools, aimed at reengaging students safely, addressing academic losses, and mitigating socio-emotional impacts. While this temporary relief funding provided much-needed resources, it also allowed states and school districts broad discretion in spending, with little consistency or oversight. Investments in infrastructure, staffing, and programs varied significantly …

Adhd As A Lived Experience Amongst Bipoc College Students, Nikash Kale

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the perspectives of Black Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) college students on Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study analyzes scoping strategies, perceived symptomatological differences, and the effects of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds among BIPOC college students. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 participants, I examine the full permeation of ADHD among BIPOC college students, its evolution from pre-diagnosis to the present, and how they navigate the disorder and its treatment. A qualitative analysis of ADHD among minorities in college will not only allow clinicians to understand the distinct struggles of BIPOC with ADHD, but it …

Resilience And Its Effects On Psychological Well Being During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Taylor Reinsel

Honors Theses

Stressors and trauma in life are unavoidable. However, the way we respond and adapt to them can be within our control. This response differs from person to person, but there are factors that can influence the likelihood of an individual rebounding from a crisis, as well as factors that can put them at a higher risk of developing mental illness. One of the main factors that influences Psychological Well Being is the presence of Resilience.

The main goal of this study was to examine how factors of Resilience relate to Psychological Well Being and COVID-19 Well Being during the COVID-19 …

Food Deserts: How To Make Them Green, Minoo Tehrani, Andreas Rathgeber, Lawrence Fulton, Bryan Schmutz

Business Faculty Publications

Despite tremendous progress in addressing food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition are still widespread across the globe. Different factors, such as low levels of income and education, lack of access to food markets and transportation, high unemployment and population rates, and abandoned homes in a neighborhood, are among the factors that have been attributed to the creation of food deserts in emerging and developed countries. Some of the leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart attack, obesity, and diabetes. These major causes of death have a higher rate among the Black, Latin, and Hispanic populations. Access to healthy and …

How To Remember Names Lesson Plan, Madison Paige Davis

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This is an introductory lesson intended for any high school- or college-aged student who wants to learn how to deepen connections with others, whether for personal or professional relationships. Through a combination of lecturettes, discussions, reflection time, and activities/ quizzes, students will learn and apply their knowledge about the benefits, science, history, and strategies of remembering people’s names so that they are able to use names in future conversations. The final activity will be a simulation of real life scenarios where students will have to either remember and use a stranger’s name or practice asking for their name, whether they …

Rewiring Reality: The Neuroscience Behind Manifestation, Ellison J. Huang

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson introduces students to the scientific processes behind manifestation. Through interactive activities, students will learn to critically analyze claims in the media and create their own manifestation routines. They will leave this lesson with practical tools for well-being and transferable critical thinking skills.

Audience Attention: A Lesson In Confident Public Speaking, Leah F. Stein

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

We’ve all sat through a speech that lost our attention. This lesson helps students ensure their own isn’t one of them. This lesson serves as an introduction or a supplementary lesson in the art of public speaking. Many people have nerves about public speaking, so this lesson will provide students with tools to grow more confident in public speaking, specifically in keeping their audience engaged. Through discussions, a mini-lecture, and interactive speeches, students explore how rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) and the concept of identification help build a stronger connection with their audience. The lesson begins with a discussion …

Designing Your Next Read: How Psychology Shapes The Way We Choose Books, Stephanie M. Xu

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

Designing Your Next Read invites students to explore the psychology behind everyday choices through the familiar act of picking a book. Using the lens of design psychology, the lesson examines why decision-making often feels overwhelming and how small shifts in perception, environment, and heuristics can make choices easier and more enjoyable. Students engage in interactive exercises, including a book-browsing activity, mini-lectures on choice biases, and a “Book Blurb” exercise, to reveal how heuristics such as availability, affect, and familiarity shape responses.

Through guided discussion and reflection, students connect psychological theories like the paradox of choice and decision paralysis to their …

Qualitative Interview Coding, Caroline M. Moore

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson introduces undergraduate students to rigorous thematic analysis as a tool for gaining insights from qualitative interviews. Aimed at students with some familiarity in Design Thinking, it emphasizes the role of interviewing in understanding user experiences and informing human-centered research. This might be the first lesson in a multi-lesson sequence, allowing the next lesson to go deeper into insights of what design researchers gather from their thematic coding. Through a mix of lecture, individual coding, and small-group coding, students learn to distinguish between inductive and deductive coding and apply these methods to sample interviews. The lesson fosters active learning …

Grounded In Motion: Finding Calm Through Daily Stretching, Everett H. Tai

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson targets undergraduate students, reframing stretching as an essential, evidence-based habit for long-term wellness and stress management. The lesson's primary goal is to empower students to confidently design and consistently apply a personalized routine that protects their mobility and independence. Students will master the core science, understanding that dynamic stretching may augment performance pre-exercise, while shorter static stretches can be performed without compromising muscle performance, and post-exercise stretching can reduce muscle pain perception. This lesson emphasizes proper execution, requiring students to warm up first with 5 to 10 minutes of light activity with focus on technique. This practical knowledge …

When Dollar General Comes To Town, Benjamin Williams

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

Since 2008, Dollar General has grown from 8,222 to 18,130 locations, becoming a staple of rural communities across America. These discount stores have had, and continue to have, a widespread impact on these communities. This lesson aims to inform students of these impacts, while also addressing how towns are responding to the entrance of Dollar Generals. The lesson will equip students to consider the different perspectives involved in this trend. Key concepts that will be discussed include food deserts, rural transportation difficulties, labor costs, and pricing competition.

The Philosophies Of Swedish Mushroom Hunting, Kelly Zreloff

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson invites students to explore Swedish mushroom hunting as both a cultural and environmental philosophy. Through a mix of mini lectures, storytelling, and outdoor experiential learning, students first learn about Allemansrätten (Sweden’s Right of Public Access) and how mushroom hunting evolved from post-war necessity to modern well-being practice. Students then reconstruct “a day in the forest” to reinforce the lecture’s key points about stewardship, secrecy, and serenity before participating in a quiet “hunt” activity in Pine Park.

By engaging curiosity first and empathy second, students come to understand that mushroom hunting is not only about harvesting food but about …

Your Words Matter, Sophie Thai

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson focuses on helping students understand the profound impact that affirmations and gratitude can have on their mindset and well-being. Applicable for everyone, students are encouraged to take their learnings and practice them in real life, hoping to promote a shift in perspective. Students will be able to recognize the benefits of their words and the way they speak to themselves, and understand how they can make changes in their lifestyle.

In this lesson, students will have a chance to reflect and learn about the science behind affirmations and gratitude while being introduced to strategies used to implement them …

Confronting Indecision, Lane Allison Murray

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This course aims to increase students' understanding of indecision and how to confront it. The class provides insight into how the fear of the unknown holds people back from making decisions and about understanding one's values as a means to combat indecision. Students and teachers alike explore instances of indecision and evaluate their own impulses & thought processes by reflecting on the deeper reasons for their choices. Students will increase their comfort level of asking themselves and their peers questions about the values that guide them and, in doing so, strengthen their relationships with themselves and others.

Demonstrating Deservingness In College Tuition Crowdfunding Campaigns, Siqi Han

Journal of Student Financial Aid

College tuition creates a substantial financial burden for students and families in the United States. Exhausting their own financial resources to pay for their college tuition, some students seek to crowdfund their tuition – a new channel for higher education finance that may become more prevalent in the future. Distinctively, crowdfunding campaigns are not reviewed or approved in the same way as traditional funding applications, leaving space for students’ own justification for deservingness. This paper identifies the embedded semantic features in online college tuition campaigns that raised more money than the rest on a major crowdfunding platform and derives the …

The Silent Cycle Of Violence: The Consequences Of Forced Return Migration And Strategies For Sustainable Reintegration, Guadalupe Loza-Mendez

CMC Senior Theses

The consequences of weaponizing deportations reshape human security in countries receiving high levels of forcibly returned migrants. Through a comparative case study, this thesis examines how different forms of organized crime — cartels in México and gangs in El Salvador — interact with and capitalize on returnee populations. While the origins and manifestations of organized crime differ between México and El Salvador, both demonstrate clear linkages between forced return migration from destination countries and declining human security in countries of origin through three key mechanisms: imported criminal structures, targeted recruitment of vulnerable returnees, and trickle-down effects on local communities.

Many …

Casd 2482 Introduction To Rehabilitative Audiology, Rosette Reisman

Open Educational Resources

Auditory intervention for children and adults; implications for early hearing detection and intervention; assessing communicative needs. Amplification devices, cochlear implants, hearing assistive technology, hearing protection and modes of communication. Experiential clinical-related activities.

Pols 3014w Research Strategies In Public Policy, Sevdenur Koru

Open Educational Resources

Anthropological, psychological, political, social, and economic arguments and knowledge frequently depend on the use of numerical data. An anthropologist might examine how population differences in genes explain population differences in health outcomes; a psychologist might hypothesize that I.Q. is attributable to environmental or genetic factors; a politician might claim that handgun control legislation will reduce crime; a sociologist might assert that social mobility is more limited in the United States than in other countries, and an economist might declare that globalization lowers the incomes of U.S. workers. How can we evaluate these issues and arguments? Using examples from anthropology, psychology, …

Introduction To Communication Disorders, Anne Therese Frederiksen

Open Educational Resources

In this course, students will get an overview of the field of Communication Disorders and gain an understanding of the distinction between communication differences and disorders. We will discuss multicultural concerns in the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology, as well as the following: roles, responsibilities in professional practice across the lifespan and work settings; scope of practice related to speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders; interprofessional practice; prevention, assessment, and intervention from an evidence-based perspective. 

Museum Anthropology, Kelly Britt

Open Educational Resources

This course is an applied introduction to museum anthropology, which includes work anthropologists do within and research about museums. The course includes an overview of past and present museological practices to learn to think critically about how cultures and histories are displayed for the public. Field experiences will include group and independent visits to museum exhibitions, meeting with museum professionals, exploring exhibition topics, and cultural mapping of space. Students will complete an object-based project.

The Contextual Modulation Of Associative Interference And Nonreinforcement In Expectancy Learning, Jérémie Jozefowiez, James E. Witnauer, Samuel Woltag, Audrey Huff, Kimberly Casey, Lucas Petruzzo, Ralph Miller

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The main download is the README file for the raw data that is the supplementary file. The data is to accompany the upcoming publication with the same title, "The Contextual Modulation of Associative Interference and Nonreinforcement in Expectancy Learning"

Death Of A Doctrine: The End Of Classical Deterrence In A Complex Multipolar World, Daniel H. Wang

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Today's deterrence is dramatically different from that during the Cold War. This thesis examines how changes in global geopolitics altered deterrent frameworks and how those changes threaten strategic stability. Traditional nuclear deterrence is built on clear adversaries, established escalation protocols, and predictable outcomes that are increasingly obsolete when facing modern realities. Adversaries employ hybrid strategies below the traditional thresholds of nuclear deterrence while integrating nuclear capabilities into these hybrid tactics, driving a distinct disadvantage for traditional deterrence frameworks. Russia uses nuclear signaling with gray zone operations, China combines multidomain operations with nuclear deterrence to employ a full spectrum of capabilities, …

Covid-19 Impacts On Refugee-Serving Ngos In Clarkston And The Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia, United States, Ghazal Khaksari

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This study provides a unique anthropological perspective on how technology, language, NGO staff, and culture intersect during emergency times, which can affect NGOs’ abilities to reach and help communities. Findings of this study emphasize the importance of equality in digital access and of available and culturally competent interpreters in reducing the gap between NGOs and refugee communities. The digital divide has played a fundamental role during the pandemic, often leading to other problems for both NGOs and refugees. This issue has taken a variety of forms in terms of access to education, language classes, community cohesion, and communication with and …

Communities Of Stone Toolmakers Along The Lower Cumberland And Tennessee Rivers, Vanessa N. Hanvey

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Concurrently occupied between circa 8,600-8,200 cal B.P., the Canton (15Tr1), Lawrence (15Tr33), Morrisroe (15Lv156), and Whalen (15Ly48) sites have similar stone tool assemblages. Though the sites are situated close to one another within the lower Tennessee and Cumberland River watersheds, the connection between the people who occupied each site remains unclear. Extensive lithic deposits representing all stages of tool manufacture were identified at both the Canton and Lawrence sites, and previous lithic analyses show that similar raw materials were being accessed by stone toolmakers at all four sites. To investigate the relationship between the people who occupied these sites, this …

The Hidden Verdict: Measuring Implicit Bias In Juror Decision-Making, Gina Dudley

Psychology | Senior Theses

This experiment examines the influence of implicit bias awareness on juror decision-making in cases involving Hispanic defendants. Explicitly, it tests three hypotheses: (1) bias-educated jurors will demonstrate lower conviction rates for Hispanic defendants, (2) these jurors will report higher confidence in their verdicts, and (3) they will show greater awareness of how their previous experiences influence their decision-making. This experiment uses a mock jury paradigm to investigate whether bias awareness interventions affect verdict decisions and juror confidence levels in cases with Hispanic defendants. Ninety participants were randomly assigned to receive or not receive implicit bias education before reviewing a case …

Multidisciplinary Lethal Means Safety Counseling Design And Implementation: Training And Identifying Barriers In A Children's Hospital, Cassandra L. Stegall, Brendon Carnell, Jaime M. Golden, Rupa Kapoor, John H. Fanton, Paul C. Mullan, Alexandra P. Leader

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Background

Access to lethal means contributes significantly to suicide completion. Lethal means safety counseling (LMSC) is an injury prevention strategy to limit access to firearms, medications, and other means of injury. Not previously evaluated in the trauma setting, this study aims to design and implement a standardized LMSC protocol for pediatric patient discharge education in emergency (ED), trauma, and inpatient psychiatry settings.

Methods

A single-center quality improvement study at an academic pediatric urban tertiary Level-one trauma center was performed from July 2023 to February 2024. Protocol was implemented for pediatric patients discharged from three departments: ED, surgery trauma service, and …

An Examination Of Psycho-Behavioral Risk And Resilence Profiles In People With Chronically Painful Knee Osteoarthritis, Daniel Kusko

All ETDs from UAB

The prevalence and impact of chronic pain are far-reaching and costly to our society. Chronic pain conditions are affecting many people in the US and abroad. Osteoarthritis (OA) is commonly referred to as a slow progressing degenerative disease that tends to develop over 10 to 15 years and can result in functional limitations and pain. Chronic knee OA is a common form of OA pain that affects many adults across the globe. Biopsychosocial factors are theorized to play an important role in how people with chronic pain may develop, exacerbate, or cope with pain. The goal of this project was …

Promoting Parent-Child Connectedness: Insights From A Parent Education Training., Bisola E. Duyile, Robyn Becker, Kate Papas, Shanta K. Pamphile

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: This study explores the interrelationship of speech, language, and literacy development, parentchild connectedness, and children’s mental health when viewed as social determinants of health, specifically among families of children with developmental disabilities. Through interprofessional collaboration, researchers aim to identify effective strategies that parents can use to enhance their children’s communication skills and emotional well-being.

Methods: A mixed methods design was employed, involving a post-workshop survey completed by five mothers. The quantitative component included Likert scale items to measure satisfaction with social support. We also evaluated satisfaction with the workshop. The qualitative component comprised openended questions about newly learned tools …

Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation: Scale Development And Validation, Daniel R. Clark, Jeffrey G. Covin, Robert J. Pidduck

Management Faculty Publications

Recent research introduced and laid the foundation for a new individual-level entrepreneurial orientation conceptualization (Ind.EO) within the entrepreneurial orientation family of constructs. Building directly from this work, this article theoretically defines a measurement model for the construct and develops and validates a scale. We define and measure disposition-based behavior constructs for autonomy, competitiveness, innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking, thus providing psychometrically validated tools that support research in the burgeoning Ind.EO domain. Scale items are generated deductively from our definitions, and then tested through four data collections with academics, the lay population, entrepreneurs, and business managers. Strong validation data across these multiple …

Exploring Coworker Perceptions Of And Reactions To Quiet Quitting, Andrew A. Bennett, Rhett T. Epler, Veronica L. Thomas, Daroon Jalil

Management Faculty Publications

Quiet quitting is a relatively new phenomenon that has quickly caught the attention of both practitioners and academics. With the world of work becoming increasingly interconnected, we contribute to the discourse by approaching quiet quitting from the novel perspective of understanding how others in the workplace perceive those who engage in quiet quitting. To do so, we first provide a formalized definition of quiet quitting and differentiate coworkers' perceptions of quiet quitting from similar psychological constructs (Studies 1–3). We then examine employee responses to coworkers engaging in quiet quitting with a qualitative study (Study 4) and vignette design (Study 5), …