Communication Commons^™

Circumventing Ableism: A Grounded Theory Study Exploring Caregiver Strategies To Promote A Positive Identity, June Furr

All Dissertations

This qualitative research study explores how caregivers and persons with disabilities navigate the rhetoric of disability and caregiving through the interviews of fifteen caregivers and fifteen persons with disabilities using the lens of grounded theory and Burke’s (1952) dramatistic pentad. Significant findings describe how focused disability description can circumvent ableism when rhetorical resources that assist caregivers and persons with disabilities to navigate the rhetoric in disability descriptions are provided. Disability description theory includes the three stages that define, collaborate and revise, and practice and apply a disability description. This qualitative research offers an introduction into the phenomenon of …

Nebraska Women In Journalism: The Groundbreakers Before Us And Surrounding Us, Jolie Peal

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nebraska women in journalism: The groundbreakers before us and surrounding us is a 30-minute documentary about six Nebraska women and their journeys as journalists. This project seeks to answer the question: “How do women in the media overcome gender bias?” I interviewed six women ranging in age and from a variety of journalistic fields to discover what biases they faced in the industry as well as their advice for young journalists as we enter into a field that is constantly evolving. I discovered that Nebraska women in the media do experience the bias we see throughout the nation and in …

Program Evaluation: Utilizing Health Department’S Community Health Needs Assessment Data To Improve Emergency Preparedness Plans, Kathleen Gottschalk

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Public health officials conducting emergency response plans must know how to easily identify the vulnerable populations in their community or jurisdiction. It is beneficial for access and functional needs appendices to include information and resources directed at the identified vulnerable groups before an emergency event to improve health outcomes. Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) can provide population-level statistics and information needed to easily identify vulnerable or at-risk groups. This report aims to evaluate the use of the CHNA data to guide the development of inclusive emergency response plans that account for vulnerable populations in local health department jurisdictions. The 2021 …

Argentine Women’S Narratives Of Leadership, Ileana Andrea Mocciola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated and examined the narratives of Argentine women leaders while obtaining and exercising leadership positions. This research was based on narrative theory and the feminist standpoint theory. Argentine female participants (N = 10) were subject to interviews that overall lasted 600 minutes and were conducted through the Zoom platform. Fifty-five pages of single-spaced transcripts were analyzed and studied. The results of this study revealed that Argentine women face major challenges when it comes to tokenism, exclusion, mentorship, and stereotypes that prevent and limit them from reaching and succeeding in leadership positions.

Perceived Outcomes And Barriers Of Advance Care Planning From Healthcare Professionals, Faith Parsons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of aligning patients’ values and preferences to their future medical care. ACP is important in promoting patient autonomy and helping patients and their families prepare for end-of-life conversations. Healthcare teams, made up of physicians, nurses, or social workers, carry the responsibility to engage patients into such conversations. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of healthcare professionals regarding ACP outcomes and barriers. This cross- sectional study used survey responses of a convivence sample of 18 allied healthcare professionals and 4 physicians in a not-for-profit, faith-based hospital system in …

God’S Favorite: Hollywood Archivists And Peddlers, Daniela Farfan

Comm-entary

In his exhibition, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Photographer David LaChapelle features well-known celebrities that are sometimes revered as God’s favorites. The mirage of Hollywood is glamorous and beautiful. Hollywood is a place of dreams congruent with limitless imagination and youth. LaChapelle’s photographs feature celebrities who sacrifice themselves to achieve and exemplify the ideals of show business and celebrity. LaChapelle’s portraits offer insight into the fantasy and truth behind celebrity.

The Role Of Epistemics In Storytelling, Ashley Kayla White

Comm-entary

Epistemics play a vital role in storytelling sequences. In fact, laying the necessary epistemic groundwork before engaging in a storytelling sequence may make the difference between successful and unsuccessful story receptions. Taking a conversation analytic approach and drawing from one story-rich recording, this paper aims to explore the role of epistemics in storytelling sequences captured in day-to-day interaction. To achieve this, several critical conversation analytical concepts are employed. These include repair, expansion, physical gesturing, preference organization, reference, delicate formulations, assessments, and more. This paper adds to a framework of conversation analysis scholarship by drawing explicit connections between two distinct concepts …

Framing Radical Care And Radical Empathy In The #Blacklivesmatter Movement, Ashley White

Comm-entary

This thesis looks at the ongoing media framing of the #BlackLivesMatter movement (primarily in the realm of journalism) to argue that incorporating elements of radical care and radical empathy in how we communicate stories can lead to transformative change. The paper looks at the history of the movement, with attention paid to the major cases that have sparked outrage, protests, and policy changes in the United States in the last decade. Attention is also paid to the #SayHerName movement and the role of intersectionality in whether some stories reach prominence or not. Following this, a comprehensive explanation of the concepts …

Comm-Entary 43rd Edition, 2022-2023 - Full Issue

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.

The Pacific Sentinel, May 2023, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Dan Chilton

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter From the Editor
• Ghosts of Plant & Place
• Everybody Reads Ozeki
• Shrinking: Rethinking New Approaches to Therapy
• Braiding Sweetgrass
• Lana Del Rey Album Review
• The Perseverance of R*pe Culture in Rock & Metal
• Pay What You Will, Take What You Need
• What We're Enjoying
• Comics & Games

Check It Out: Analyzing The Checkout Experience Of Small Business E-Commerce Websites, Janet Lovera

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

There is limited research available aimed at identifying specifically how a small business shopper may experience different pain points during checkout in comparison to well-known retail websites and the layout of their e-commerce websites. Enlightened by the Technology Adoption Model and the concept of consumer trust, the purpose of this research is to determine similar characteristics across small business e-commerce websites to identify common pain points for users, or simply what small businesses lack regarding common elements that ease the checkout experience for consumers. From these insights, elements within the checkout experience can be compared to the pain points of …

Facebook In County 4-H Extension Programs In Arkansas: Is It Effective For Communication?, Haley Padgett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As social media rises in popularity, agents with 4-H responsibilities have the opportunity to implement social media platforms in their communication outreach. The purpose of this study was to identify how agents with 4-H responsibilities in Arkansas use Facebook for communication purposes and their perceptions of its effectiveness. This information helps provide understanding of the effects of Facebook on county 4-H programs in Arkansas and assists agents in determining how to implement or better utilize Facebook in their county programs. The study had three research objectives: 1) describe the usage of Facebook by agents in Arkansas with at least a …

Civil War Journalism: Two Rough Drafts Of One History, Brianna Collora

History Honors Program

This paper addresses journalism in the Civil War by analyzing both Northern and Southern reporting. The severity of censorship changed throughout the duration of the war, with it less harsh in the Union by the end. Southern officials did not censor as much, both because their resources were scarcer, and their officials were more opposed to the use of censorship. While past historians have argued that the decrease in Northern censorship is because the Union began to have the upper hand in the war, I argue that the decrease in Union censorship was not only because the Union was now …

Death And Dynasties: Using Family Communication Patterns Theory To Understand Individual Feelings Regarding The End Of Life, Erica Danielle Cecilia Strand

Communication

This research investigated how Family Communication Patterns Theory, one of the leading theories in the study of family communication, relates to parent-child communication regarding religion and outlook on the end of life. Using pairs of parent-child participants this research sought to connect the family type and style in which one was raised, with their likelihood to remain in the religion they were raised with, as well as their acceptance or fear regarding the end of life. This research seeks to close the gap between parenting styles/family dynamics and adult feelings, thoughts, and beliefs regarding religion and death. This research was …

Women In Organizations: Leadership And Overcoming Biases, Madison T. Witt

Honors Thesis

This thesis will work to describe the different experiences women have in the workplace compared to men. It will discuss the biases faced: prove-it-again bias, tightrope bias, and the maternal wall bias. These play a large role in why women act as they do in the workplace as well as why they tend to experience different barriers within the corporate ladder. This research notes both gender biases facing women and the additional bias women of color face. These different experiences change how women lead companies when placed in executive positions. These leadership styles of women tend to be more welcoming …

Understanding The Evolution Of Enforcement Systems In Resource Dilemmas, Devin M. Flener

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The effective management of resources on Earth is a pressing global social dilemma. An alternative solution to the traditional managing methods of these common pool resources is communal self-management facilitated through principles of restorative justice and developed through exploratory learning. We examined how communication, restorative justice techniques, and opportunity for exploratory learning impacted groups’ ability to develop a strong conceptual understanding of enforcement as well as an enforcement system in order to maintain an effective conservation strategy. Participants (N=288) were randomly assigned to 72 four-person groups in six separate conditions. Each group played nine rounds of a computer-simulated foraging task …

Examining Heterosexual Women's Social Comparisons And Perceptions Of Sexual Competition With Porn Stars, Jessica Journeay

Communication (PhD) Dissertations

The current study investigated women’s social comparisons and perceptions of sexual competition with porn stars they imagined their romantic partners viewed for purposes of private masturbation. Two novel predictors were considered, the body size (thin vs. plus-size) and facial attractiveness (high vs. low) of the porn stars, to investigate conditions that were more or less threatening to women’s relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, facial satisfaction, body satisfaction, and sexual desirability. Results from a 2 x 2 between-subjects online experiment (N = 762) suggest that women’s downward comparisons with porn stars’ facial attractiveness resulted in positive effects on facial satisfaction and …

A Holy Land Guidebook: Cultivating Spiritual Disciplines For Pilgrimages, Johnnie L. Birks

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

A small group of research participants and I assembled for this phenomenally enriching project intervention to create a proprietary branded guidebook for Miracle Loaves And Fishes World Hunger Ministry, Incorporated, and its subsidiary, Anointed Royal Tours, to be used for pilgrimages to the Holy Land. These pilgrimages will create sustainable funding for the ministry to support universal efforts to eliminate global hunger while simultaneously attempting to equip believers with a transformative and/or restorative walk in Christlikeness for the sake of creation, humanity, and eternal life in God’s Kingdom. The path of Christlikeness is to be transformed (Rom 12:2 NRSV), as …