Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Vocational Training Programs On The Mental Health Of Indian Women Living In Contexts Of Urban Poverty (Or Urban Slums), Sriramya Potluri

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Women living in contexts of urban poverty (IWLCUP) experience disproportionately high rates of psychological distress, yet their mental health needs remain largely underrecognized. Beyond individualized explanations, broader ecological perspectives situate these women’s distress within previously underemphasized macrolevel forces and acknowledge the role of inequity and related structural disparities (e.g., economic, sociocultural, political etc.) in their oppression and disempowerment, thereby contributing to increased psychological vulnerability. Such frameworks call for intervention efforts that reduce individual psychological risk by addressing structural determinants proximally and distally impacting the lives of IWLCUP. Specifically, targeting poverty and economic insecurity might drive positive downstream effects that ultimately …

Cultural Responsiveness: Examining Assessments Of Therapists For Ethical And Clinical Outcomes (Create Clout), Tsotso T. Ablorh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) and Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) are well-researched and supported counseling practices for decreasing microaggressions in therapy and consequent attrition, lack of satisfaction, and maltreatment (Ratts et al., 2016; Sue et al., 1982). However, scholars critique existing methods for measuring therapists’ cultural responsiveness for being disconnected from therapeutic process and outcomes (Hays, 2020; Wilcox et al., 2020). This study examined which MSJCC measures associated with variables clinically and ethically relevant to better treatment outcomes and lower microaggressive, neglectful, and stereotypical treatment for hypothetical Black, female clients by White therapists. 62 White psychologists in …

Gendered Precarity, Informality And Survival Among Cambodian Women Migrants In Thailand, Sokha Eng

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Migration scholars have long assumed that women migrant laborers move as individuals, leave family behind, are governed by labor migration policies, and are employed full-time. However, in the context of South-South migration, many workers migrate as families, with husbands, wives, and sometimes even children. Some engage in the informal economy, serving as casual and on-call workers. These types of employment fall outside the scope of standard labor migration policies and therefore receive less attention. As a result, migrants’ experiences in such work arrangements remain underexplored. This study examines the experiences of Cambodian migrant women in Thailand by examining the case …

The Role Of Critical Professional Development In Transforming The Teaching And Learning Practices Of White Faculty: Elevating Racial Consciousness To Center Equity, Kaitlyn E. Siner-Cappas

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of white faculty participants in a critical professional development (CPD) program that seeks to enhance racial consciousness at a public research university. The goal of the study was to understand any perceived changes in faculty positionality and teaching and learning practices following their participation in the program, as well as identify the extent to which the program supported participants in a journey towards enhanced racial consciousness.

Four themes characterized the experiences of faculty participants in this CPD program: 1) experiencing the benefits of a learning community, 2) gaining confidence in …

Process And Change In The Global Governance Of Sustainable Development, Sarah B. Fascitelli

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

In 2015, to euphoric acclaim, the world adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. But with less than five years to deliver its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Agenda’s “transformational vision” remains unrealized. To understand why, this dissertation looks not to the Agenda’s implementation but to its birth, asking how the three-year process that produced it was designed, implemented, and experienced, and whether its mechanisms reinforced or challenged the structures that shape global sustainability governance. The premise is simple: how global agreements are negotiated matters as much as their substance. The study thus pushes back against a celebratory view …

A Discursive Analysis Of Lesbian And Queer Experiences Of Unwanted Consensual Sex, Sarah E. Swanson

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study drew on a critical discursive psychology (CDP) analytical approach to examine how lesbian and queer participants made sense of unwanted consensual sex (UCS).  The data analysis traced how UCS was constructed on three discursive levels: the construction of UCS across narratives, the interpretive repertoires mobilized (including sexual scripts), and the broader sociocultural discourses that shaped what elements of their experiences were intelligible. Therefore, I sought to understand both how participants drew on familiar heteronormative and queer ways of talking about sex and how various discursive resources shaped how they could construct themselves and others. Data for this research …

Factorial Structure Of A Bilingual Progress Monitoring Tool For Mindfulness Interventions, Andrea V. Molina Palacios

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are an increasingly popular option for schools to support youth in each of the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). MBIs have proven to increase attention, help with emotion regulation, decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and overall increase students’ wellbeing with a cost-effective package that makes it affordable for schools to implement. Moreover, MBIs have also proven to be effective for Hispanic youth who are at a higher risk of experiencing low access to mental health care and higher levels of poverty, which puts them at risk for dropping out and having low academic achievement. However, there …

From Structure To Experiences: How Facility Capacity And Staffing Shape The Adoption And Impact Of Lgbt-Affirming Policies In Long-Term Care, Andrew Alberth

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Long-term care (LTC) settings – including nursing homes (NHs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs) – provide necessary care for individuals with extreme health and functioning limitations. Sexual and gender minority (LGBT) older adults report challenges receiving effective, person-centered care LTC. Some LGBT older adults may hide their sexual orientation and gender identity when entering LTC settings or delay seeking needed LTC fearing discrimination from staff and other residents. Furthermore, staff in LTC settings indicate little awareness of LGBT-residents and possess inadequate LGBT-cultural competency necessary for providing person-centered care. Therefore, LGBT-residents LTC experiences remain underexplored in the broader research. Adopting LGBT-affirming …

Our Claims Matter: Latin American Migrants’ Nonviolent And Everyday Resistance Across Transnational Spaces, Pryanka Penafiel-Cevallos

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how Latin American migrants engage in nonviolent resistance across transnational spaces in Ecuador, challenging dominant narratives that portray migrants primarily as passive actors or humanitarian subjects. Focusing mainly on Venezuelan, Colombian, and returned Ecuadorian migrants, the study places migrants’ political agency at the center of analysis. It asks how migrants resist, for what purposes, and under which conditions they mobilize nonviolent and everyday resistance practices to claim rights, dignity, and human security in a host country marked by both legal innovation and growing exclusion.

Drawing on civil resistance theory, everyday resistance approaches, and migration scholarship, the research …

Governing Climate Change For Sustainable Food Security In The Busoga Region Of Uganda, James Kintu

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Busoga, Uganda's most sugarcane-intensive sub-region, hosts seven mills and an expanding outgrower economy, yet remains among Uganda's most food-insecure areas, with over half of its households food-insecure. This study examined how governance of climate change and sugarcane expansion shapes capabilities for food access, land tenure, and decision-making among women, youth, and land-poor households in Jinja and Buyende.

The study developed an integrated CA-CEP-RFS framework, combining the Capability Approach, Comparative Environmental Politics, and the Resilient Food Systems framework, with Sen's Entitlement Framework bridging capabilities to production, trade, own-labor, and transfer entitlements. A qualitative case study drew on a documentary review, 27 …

The Effect Of State Policy On Individuals With Mental Illness In Nursing Homes: A Multilevel Analysis, Adrita Barooah

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE EFFECT OF STATE POLICY ON INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IN NURSING HOMES: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS

August 2026

Adrita Barooah, B.Sc., University of Delhi, India

M.S., University of Massachusetts Boston

Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Boston

Directed by Professor Pamela Nadash

The proportion of individuals living with a mental illness in U.S. nursing homes has grown substantially over the past few decades (Fashaw et al., 2020), raising serious concerns about care quality, resource adequacy, and costs to both nursing homes and government payers. The lack of adequate resources and knowledge has resulted in sub-par mental health care (O'Connor et al., …

Level Of Discrimination Experienced By Gender In Athletic Trainers And Professional Athletic Training Students, Emily Ghaussy, Seungyeon Kim, Jennifer Xu, Emily Madrak

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Context: Although women make up the majority of the athletic training field, gender-based discrimination continues to exist in the profession. Previous research exists; however, more current research on gender discrimination in the workplace is limited. This cross-sectional study examined level of perceived gender-based discrimination experienced by credentialed women athletic trainers and athletic training students in comparison to men athletic trainers and athletic training students. Four hundred forty-six cisgender men and women athletic trainers and athletic training students participated in our study. The median age was 28 years among cisgender women and 35 years among cisgender men.

Methods: Participants completed a …

I Must Be Well, To Do Well: Examining The Relationship Between Toxic Stem Environments, Trauma, Stem Support, And Academic Outcomes Among Diverse Graduate Women In Stem, Aisha Farra

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Women, particularly Women of Colour (WOC), remain underrepresented in STEM. In the last two decades, research has sought to better understand women’s experiences in STEM, highlighting challenges such as isolation, sexism, and racism, which negatively impact mental health and STEM persistence. While these mental health challenges have been documented, further work is needed to examine how these experiences are related to trauma symptoms and physical health outcomes, as well as the mechanisms through which they shape academic outcomes. This quantitative study investigated the relationships among toxic STEM experiences (i.e., gendered racism, sexism, and isolation), trauma symptoms and physical health concerns, …

Waves Of Exhaustion, Currents Of Renewal: An Autoethnography Of Academic Emotional Burnout And Recovery, Rofiza Aboo Bakar

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography explores my experience of academic burnout and emotional recovery as a mid-career female educator in a Malaysian public university. Drawing from reflective journals, memory work, and embodied recollections between 2023 and 2025, I trace a personal journey through three experiential phases: the weight of expectations, burnout and emotional rupture, and embodied recovery through open sea swimming. The narrative is guided by Chang’s (2016) thematic structuring approach and interpreted through Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and Coping. My story reveals how burnout was not the result of overwork, but of institutional erasure. As I navigated the …

With Students, As A Student: Using Reflexive Autoethnography To Make Sense Of Navigating Student–Researcher Liminality In A Ph.D., Melody Bishop

The Qualitative Report

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) are increasingly encouraged to practice reflexivity. But there is a lack of PGR-authored literature about what it means to negotiate multiple identities, particularly for student–researchers doing research with students. This paper explores challenges experienced during a longitudinal Ph.D. project involving undergraduate students with long-term health conditions. I present outcomes of a reflexive autoethnographic analysis of a diary kept making sense of research challenges, including holding dual positions as a student–researcher at the same institution. Drawing on the notion of liminality, I argue that the boundaries between my student–researcher identities, and between myself and participants, have been consistently …

A Post-Positivist Perspective On The Varieties Of Qualitative Research: The Foris Framework, Marius Bytautas

The Qualitative Report

With the aim of bringing clarity to the realm of qualitative research—and offering a transition from tradition to methodological rationale—I employ Millian and Popperian inductive analysis methods to build a post-positivist account regarding the diversity of qualitative research varieties. I am responding to the problem that common labels in qualitative research often obscure the epistemic reasoning through which a study approaches its object. A brief set of working definitions is introduced to support the framework, but the main contribution is the conceptualization of research approach in five dimensions: focus, orientation, relation to the object, researcher intrusiveness, and scale (FORIS). By …

Community-Based Research: Key Considerations For Researchers And Community Partners When Collaborating, Bothwell Piason, Kathleen A. Fox

The Qualitative Report

Community-based research (CBR) is a research orientation that emphasizes equitable engagement in the process of knowledge production, though researchers and community partners may navigate collaborative partnerships with differing expectations, priorities, and understandings of success. Extant research has demonstrated that successful CBR partnerships can benefit both researchers and community partners, yet little is known about how both groups simultaneously conceptualize successful collaboration across diverse partnership contexts. In this study, we ask: What considerations do researchers and community partners identify as important when engaging in community-based research partnerships? Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 10 university researchers and 10 community partners engaged in …

The Lived Spirituality Experiences Of Adult Diabetes Patients In Adhering To Treatment, Dwight Mahaputera Marulitua Hutapea

The Qualitative Report

This descriptive phenomenological study explored the lived spirituality experiences of adult patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in adhering to treatment. Prior research has indicated that spirituality may influence attitudes toward and adherence to chronic disease management; however, empirical evidence addressing the spiritual dimension among people with diabetes remains limited. Guided by Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological method, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 purposively selected participants, equally distributed among Christians and Muslims. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to rigorous phenomenological analysis. Seven themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) spirituality strengthens relationships; (b) spirituality affects choices and outcomes; …

Autoethnography: Understandings, Evolution, And The Influence Of Genai, Prokopis Christou

The Qualitative Report

Autoethnography occupies a central place within qualitative research because of its focus on lived experience, reflexivity, and meaning-making. In this paper, I critically examine the implications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for autoethnographic inquiry through a reflexive and theoretically informed discussion situated within the contemporary AI-mediated era. By revisiting key understandings and developments of autoethnography while drawing on technological mediation theory, I explore how GenAI extends beyond a mere tool to become a mediating mechanism capable of profoundly shaping autoethnographic practice. Attention is given to how seemingly minor AI-generated alterations may transform lived experience into more polished, coherent, and emotionally …

Relational-Developmental Autoethnography: A Method Of Qualitative Inquiry That Fosters Personal Growth, Chris Wells

The Qualitative Report

This paper introduces relational–developmental autoethnography (RDA), a qualitative method for exploring psychological growth through personal writing and reflection. Developed through lived experience, RDA traces psychological development through sustained, recursive engagement with personal writing. Drawing on an archive of my journals, letters, clinical records, and correspondence spanning more than 30 years, I show how writing and reflection were first tools for my survival, and later became catalysts for insight, healing, and transformation. RDA is grounded in two developmental frameworks: Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration, which views emotional intensity and inner conflict as signs of developmental potential, and relational-cultural theory, which …

“When I’M Not Heard, I Feel Like I Don’T Matter”: Advancing Equity In Disability Policy Through Critical Participatory Action Research With People With Intellectual Disability, Cris Marchionne

Student Theses

People with intellectual disability deserve a system that offers flexible, timely, and person-centered support — one that is innovative, sustainable, and holistic in enabling them to live fulfilling lives. This qualitative study, grounded in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR), examines how people with intellectual disability experience participation in decision-making within New York State's disability service system. By centering lived experience, the study identifies factors that facilitate or hinder participation in decision-making and examines structural, social, and policy-related barriers that limit agency. Through six focus groups and a Photovoice project with self-advocates receiving OPWDD services, participants described systemic barriers that limited …

Theatre Practice As A Restorative Medium For Collective Memory In The Collaborative Performance ``Install Ulang: Surawana Lewat Jalan Memutar'', Rifqi Haekal Amanullah, Wahyu Novianto

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This study examines the socio-cultural estrangement between members of the Canggu Village community and the reliefs and spatial environment of Surawana Temple. It explores how theatrical practice can serve as a performative medium for reactivating and reinterpreting collective memory associated with a historical site embedded in everyday life. Focusing on the collaborative performance Install Ulang: Surawana Lewat Jalan Memutar, the study employs artistic research with a practice-based approach, with the lead author acting as director and artistic facilitator. Data were collected through interviews, observation, literature review, workshops, artistic exploration, and post-performance reflection involving temple caretakers, farmers, archaeologists, and local …

Editor’S Note To Volume 10 Of The Journal Of Communication Pedagogy: A Critical And Urgent Call, Meggie Mapes

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This editor’s note calls communication educators to respond to contemporary challenges (including AI, institutional pressures, and persistent inequities) with ethical, relational, and accountable pedagogy. It frames the volume as an invitation to ask better questions and enact pedagogical values through everyday classroom practice.

Metaphors And Socio-Cultural Values In China's Press Statement Translation, Adinda Natassa Valentine Hutabarat

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

In real practice, political text translations are in line with a country’s main foreign policies. Thus, an in-depth understanding on communicative strategies employed in translating political texts, e.g. press statements, is essential. The paper analyses the translation of press statements from the Source Text (Mandarin Chinese) into the Target Texts (English and Indonesian). To elaborate, this study uses van Dijk’s Political Discourse Analysis at the macro (contexts) and micro (texts) levels. By considering Newmark’s equivalent translation concept, as well as metaphor and annotated translations, the analysis reveals that the translation from China’s perspective uses metaphors and China’s socio-cultural values within …

From Visual Forms To Character Values: A Conceptual Model Of Visual Meaning-Making For Character Education, Muhammad Gufran, Irsan Kadir, Lukman Ismail, Meisar Ashari

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Illustrated children's storybooks play a significant role in character education by communicating moral messages through visual narratives. Although previous studies have examined visual literacy, multimodal storytelling, and character education, limited attention has been devoted to explaining how visual forms construct visual meanings that support moral interpretation and represent character values within an integrated framework. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how visual forms in the Indonesian children's storybook Aku Bisa Lebih Baik construct visual meanings, inform moral interpretation, and represent character values. A qualitative visual content analysis was conducted on seven purposively selected illustrations using Wong's (1993) Visual Form Theory …

Material Transformation And Cultural Aesthetics In Javanese Keris Pamor: A Perspective On Sustainable Art, Kuntadi Wasi Darmojo, Iwan Budi Santoso, Ippei Suzuki

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This study investigates the transformation of discarded motorcycle shock absorber material into an alternative material for producing pamor in traditional Javanese keris craftsmanship from the interdisciplinary perspectives of material culture, visual aesthetics, and sustainable craft practice. A practice-based research approach combined with descriptive qualitative methods was employed through material exploration, traditional forging experiments, pamor formation, keris production, visual observation, and cultural interpretation. The findings demonstrate that discarded motorcycle shock absorber material can be incorporated into the traditional forging process to produce stable, layered pamor patterns. The resulting pamor exhibited black, dark gray, and dull silvery-white tones, a layered surface structure, …

An Initial Formulation Of A Tactile-Based Art Creation Method From A Low-Vision Artist's Relief Painting Practice At Yayasan Teratai Bali, Ida Bagus Komang Sindu Putra, I Wayan Adnyana, I Wayan Karja, I Wayan Sujana

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This article examines the relief painting practice of one low-vision artist at Yayasan Teratai Bali as the basis for an initial formulation of a tactile-oriented visual art creation method. It addresses a methodological gap in inclusive art education and disability art studies, where blind and low-vision individuals are often discussed as learners, participants, or audiences, while their own procedures for making artworks receive less attention. Using an instrumental case study with a descriptive-interpretive orientation, data were collected through repeated observation, informal conversational interviews, artwork and process documentation, close observation of textural details, and contextual workshop documentation. Recurring actions and statements …

A Visual Analysis Of The Color Variety In Pekalongan Hand-Drawn Batik From 1910 To 2015, Christophera Ratnasari Lucius, Yanuar Ramadhan, Ahmad Fuad

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

UNESCO has recognized Indonesian Batik's variety of designs and colors as an intangible cultural asset. Pekalongan batik, which is categorized as batik pesisir and is distinguished by its varied and expressive color combination, is one prominent example. Cultural acculturation influenced by China, Japan, India, and the Netherlands has created its visual identity. In order to create a culture-based color reference, this study will map the color variations of sixty hand-drawn Pekalongan batik pieces created between 1910 and 2015. Contemporary batik from current workshops and museum collections are among the research subjects. Digital photography was used for visual documentation, and Adobe …

Visual Aesthetic Structure In East Java Temple Reliefs: A Study Of Line, Plane, Proportion, And Rhythm, Marina Wardaya

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

The temple reliefs of East Java constitute one of the main categories of the material tradition that reflects not only the aesthetic taste of Javanese culture, but also its spiritual viewpoint and the socio-cultural milieu that characterized early Javanese society. In addition to being abstract visual texts, these reliefs also embody and represent cultural identity and values. The proposed research will analyze the visual structure of temple reliefs using a visual language (Bahasa Rupa) approach and visual design theory by examining the four principal visual components (line, plane, proportion, and visual rhythm) that together form the formal structure of these …

Global Contributors, Local Maps: The Story Of Openstreetmap In A Small Town, Sterling Quinn

Geography Faculty Scholarship

Digital platform capitalism depends on geographic data to connect users with nearby goods and services, thus playing a role in both representing and shaping commercial landscapes. OpenStreetMap (OSM) represents a vast and low-cost geographic data source for platform capitalism; however, OSM is crowdsourced and exhibits uneven development across space, especially in rural areas. OSM researchers have observed that the map is built by a mix of local and remote volunteers, as well as corporate editors paid to identify and fill data gaps; however, deeper place-based inquiries are needed in order to better understand the process by which OSM contributors grow …