Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Art Therapy As A Tool For Enhancing Adolescent Identity Formation, Self-Knowing, And Empowerment., Victoria Force

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Adolescence is a pivotally important developmental stage for individuals. During this time, adolescents begin the journey of discovering the many facets of their identities. This capstone thesis explores how the discipline of art therapy can aid adolescents in the formation of their understanding of specific parts of their identities. Workshops offered at a community mental health organization collected data via surveys, observable experiences, and art. These workshops offered clients a safe space to artistically express their identity. Results of the exercise provide indications that art therapy could be used as a positive aid in adolescent identity formation.

How Internalized And Externalized Behaviors In Adolescents Impact Academic Achievement In Faith-Based Institutions, Subira Brown, Chioma Tait, Jade Callahan, Deyana Cox

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

The purpose of this literature review is to address how internalized and externalized behaviors in adolescents impact academic achievement in faith-based institutions. This research intends to bring awareness to the prevalence of mental health concerns faced by adolescents, as well as the need for mental health services in the education system. This research will also identify the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and academic achievement. Based on the findings, the next steps will be to evaluate the deficits within the Adventist school system and begin developing programs and resources necessary to support the mental health needs of children and …

Lessons Of A Failed Study: Lone Research, Media Analysis, And The Limitations Of Bracketing, Katherine Gregory

Publications and Research

Failed research can function as the underbelly of all qualitative research projects that come to fruition. These shadow projects offer invaluable insights to future research and researchers alike. In this article, I trace a failed life history of sex offenders project from its conceptualization to its abandonment, after conducting a series of searches on the online National Sex Offender Registry database. Through the use of preliminary field notes and an analysis of media representations, I examine the role of bracketing of the topic, as a by-product of the phenomenological tradition, and other methodological issues such as physical and emotional vulnerability …

Evaluating The Job Performance Of Librarians In Universities In South-East, Nigeria., Obinna A. Nwokike Phd, Vincent E. Unegbu Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Job performance consists of a set of employees’ behaviours that are perceived to be in agreement with organizational goals that can be measured, monitored and assessed as an achievement at an individual level. The librarian’s job performance is that aspect of work behaviour that is of relevance to the library’s success. This paper presents findings from a self-rating questionnaire on the levels of job performance of librarians in universities in one region of Nigeria. The study was carried out using a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 210 respondents in 21 universities based on total enumeration. Data was analyzed …

Segregation And A Path Forward To Inclusion In St. Louis, Henry S. Webber

Center for Social Development Research

Segregation and a Path Forward to Inclusion in St. Louis is adapted from an address given during Facing Segregation: Building Strategies in Every Neighborhood, the 2019 annual conference of the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council, on April 12, 2019, at Central Baptist Church, St. Louis, Missouri. This Perspective is presented here through a partnership between the Center for Social Development and the council.

Affecting Social Change For Transgender And Gender-Expansive Children: Exploring Advocates' Perspectives, Cortny Stark

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This interpretive case study explored the experience of advocates as they pursue social change for transgender and gender-expansive children (ages 4-12). The aim of the study is to improve current understanding of the process of advocacy for this population, as well as the context in which advocacy efforts occur. Data consisted of hour long interviews, advocacy artifacts as recommended by participants, and the researcher’s field journal. Participants included 12 advocates from a variety of backgrounds and geographic locations within the United States, to include educators, community advocates, and helping professionals. Implications of this study may include increased understanding of the …

The Impact Organizational Factors Have On Role Ambiguity Amongst School Social Workers, Melissa Kichura

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore what organizational factors increase or decrease role ambiguity amongst school social workers. This study attempted to provide practical information for schools on the influence of specific organizational factors on role ambiguity so that they can provide a supportive work environment for school social workers and students. A cross-sectional survey design was used to provide a snapshot of the current organizational factors impacting the ambiguity of school social work roles from a sample of 73 members of the School Social Work Association of America. Some findings were not congruent with the literature. The …

Developing Sensory Behavioral Assays For Zebrafish Autism Model, Shannon Wagner

Honors College Theses

Individuals of all ages can suffer from a wide variety of symptoms and disabilities that could be diagnosed as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Due to new methods and technology, individuals are now being diagnosed in the first two years of their life, which is when the signs of ASD are initially exhibited. Individuals diagnosed with ASD share many similar disabilities and symptoms such as hyperactivity to social, visual, and auditory stimuli, as well as hyposensitivity to olfactory stimuli. Neural circuit-based alterations are widely considered as a cause for these behavioral aberrations. We have created behavioral assays using zebrafish larvae to …

Social Work’S Contribution To Research Regarding Suicide Among African Americans, Darius Reed

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Suicide among African Americans has increased significantly in the past 15 years, yet it remains a neglected topic in social work research. Social workers are the largest direct provider of mental health services in the United States. However their valuable person-in-environment perspective has not been incorporated into research to provide insight on ways to decrease incidents of suicide among African Americans. This systematic review examines social work’s contribution to suicide research while focusing on the social context in which African Americans live. The systematic review also examines protective factors specific to African Americans that can be used to mitigate suicide …

The Sweet Tale: A Pilot Study Of An Interactive Narrative Health Communication Intervention Using Positive Deviance To Highlight Communicative Acts That Lead To Effective Management Of Diabetes Among Hispanics, Claudia M. Boyd

Communication ETDs

In this dissertation, I conducted a pilot study that applied positive deviance (Singhal, 2011; Pascale, Sternin, & Sternin, 2012) findings from my master’s thesis (Boyd, 2015) to an entertainment-education (Singhal & Rogers, 1999) driven intervention in a Hispanic community (Baezconde-Garbanti et al., 2014; Murphy et al., 2013; Wang & Singhal, 2016), using an interactive narrative (Green & Jenkins, 2014) to develop achildren’s book. In the current pilot study, I created a children’s book The Sweet Taleusing extensive formative research and created a framework to aid in the development offuture Hispanic children’s books on diabetes. To evaluate The Sweet Tale, I …

Its Skin Is My Skin, Bryan Page

Graduate School of Art Theses

This text examines the complexity of attempting to empathize with bodies that are vastly othered from my own. This broad yet nuanced subject crosses epistemological boundaries and complicates the dualities between both the mind and body, and between the corporeal and the virtual. My desire to better understand the conditions of another’s experience originates from a painful traumatic loss which caused me to feel isolated and incomplete. In response to this suffering, I long to emotionally connect with other beings and create artwork that attempts to bridge the qualia of individual experience.

I am interested in the capacity (or lack …

A Time Of Opportunity, Angela Glover Blackwell

Center for Social Development Research

A Time of Opportunity is adapted from the keynote address given during Race at the Forefront: Sharpening a Focus on Race in Applied Research, the inaugural conference of the Collaboration on Race, Inequality, and Social Mobility in America, at Washington University on March 28, 2019.

Remembering Mrs Smyly, Tony Moore

Journal of Social Care

No abstract provided.

A Question Pondered, Helen Buggle

Journal of Social Care

No abstract provided.

Gratitude, Des Mooney

Journal of Social Care

This article examines the practice and understanding of gratitude within the residential child care system. It seeks to understand how some of our young people interpret the idea of gratitude; sometimes as an intimidating manipulating force, at other times like an act of love. The article seeks to understand our human reactions alongside our professional responses and sets out to explore the practice of gratitude and the potential for loving relationships where healing can take place. The article positions gratitude as an act of love and the understanding of gratitude as the antithesis of envy.

Social Care Workers’ Experiences Of Supporting The Mental Health Needs Of Young People With Hearing Difficulties, Niall Ivory

Journal of Social Care

This study examines the experiences of social care workers working with deaf young people presenting with mental health issues in a residential setting. A qualitative research methodology was implemented to gather the data. Four participants engaged in semi-structured interviews. The data collected was analysed using thematic analysis. The research findings identified three themes that were relevant to the research aim. The participants described experiencing issues of anxiety, self-harm and suicidal ideation among their clients. The findings acknowledge the significant impact sign language has in mitigating mental health issues and how isolation due to communication issues among the hearing community can …

Giving Voice To Women In The Sex Industry: A Voice-Centred Relational Model Based Qualitative Study, Leigh-Ann Sweeney, Jane Sixsmith, Michal Molcho

Journal of Social Care

This qualitative, exploratory research examines the barriers that prevent women in sex work in Ireland from accessing co-ordinated health and social care services. Using an adapted voice centred relational model (VCRM), the study examines the experiences of women engaged in sex work. The study underpins a feminist standpoint epistemology theoretical framework, and gives voice to minority groups who remain excluded from research, policy and practice. The findings indicate that women involved in sex work are primarily working indoors, hold precarious legal status and are in Ireland as a response to global migration and economic necessity. Street based sex work too, …

An Exploration Of Social Care Workers Experiences Of Emotional Labour And Professional Burnout In Domestic Violence Refuges, Elizabeth M. Molloy Ms

Journal of Social Care

Emotional labour is associated with human service work as workers have to express different emotions than those felt or suppress felt emotion. Human service work such as social care is also associated with stress and burnout due to being exposed to the distress of clients. This study explored social care workers’ experiences of emotional labour and professional burnout in domestic violence refuges. The perspectives of workers were examined in relation to the emotional demands and challenges placed on them in their work supporting women and children living in these refuges. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four female social care workers. …

“The Day Is Long You Know?” Older People’S Voices On Their Homecare Experiences In Ireland, Lhara Mullins, Margaret Hodgins

Journal of Social Care

marThe population of people aged over 65 years in Ireland is increasing, creating an expanding homecare market with over 60,000 older people in receipt of homecare in 2015. Yet lack of regulation and legislation within the homecare market in Ireland causes unpredictability in service provision, while lack of research further compounds the issue of inconsistency in homecare services. Adopting a qualitative methodology, 14 older people in receipt of homecare and two family members of recipients were interviewed for this study. Two focus groups with older people in the community were also undertaken. Findings suggest that participants were largely satisfied with …

Editorial, Fiona Mcsweeney

Journal of Social Care

No abstract provided.

Addressing Early Childhood Bullying By Supporting Social-Emotional Skills With Mindfulness, Briana Duperval

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This paper explores articles on early childhood bullying, the effects it can have on a child’s well-being and possible interventions. Supporting the social-emotional development of young children is offered as a solution to the issue of early childhood bullying by helping children to develop better self-regulation, as well as compassion and kindness. The research states some of the current data on the positive effects of using mindfulness to support social-emotional development of young children. The mindfulness interventions mentioned include, Early Heart Smart Program (EHS), mindfulness-based yoga, mindfulness-based kindness curriculum (KC), social emotional learning (SEL) and mindfulness-based interventions (MBI). The studies …

An Initial Development Of A Hardiness Scale For Elementary School Students, Stephen Ferrara

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

There are limited studies that have investigated levels of hardiness in children. There is even less information on finding hardiness scales that have been normed on children in elementary school. The purpose of this study was to test the validity and reliability of the Hardiness Scale for Children (HSC), which assesses the three subscales of hardiness: Challenge, Control, and Commitment. 121 elementary school students (2^nd-5^th grade) were selected to complete the HSC. Their parents were also asked to complete a three-item scale to measure their child’s hardiness. The results indicated that older children tended to give themselves …

The Niobrara National Scenic River: Exploring Co-Management Through A Case Study Of The Niobrara Council, Melissa M. Mosier

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent decades, government staff and local citizens have increasingly employed cooperative schemes of natural resource management, in lieu of more conventional, top-down approaches of addressing user conflicts as they relate to water resources. The focus of this project was on the Niobrara Council, a partnership of local, state, and federal representatives charged with cooperatively managing the reach of the Niobrara River that was federally designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1991. The project's purpose was to explore the cooperative framework of the Council, using the methodology outlined by Carlsson and Berkes (2005). This methodology involved investigating …

Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study : Stories From First-Generation-To-College Rhetoric And Composition Phd Students On Navigating The Doctorate., Ashanka Kumari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation responds to the decreasing number of first-generation-to-college doctorates in the humanities and the limited scholarship on graduate students in Rhetoric and Composition. Scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have long been invested in discussions of academic and/or disciplinary enculturation, yet these discussions primarily focus on undergraduate students, with few studies on graduate students and far fewer on the doctoral students training to become the next wave of a profession. In this dissertation, I argue that if we engage intersectional identities as assets in the design of doctoral programs, access to higher education and academic enculturation can become more manageable …

There's No Place Like Home: The Associations Between Residential Attributes And Family Functioning, Carly M. Thornock, Larry J. Nelson, Chris L. Porter, Cortney A. Evans-Stout

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which actual (e.g., density) and perceived (e.g., crowding and distance) elements of the spatial home environment act as predictors of family functioning. Data were gathered from 164 families whose child was attending a university's preschool/kindergarten facility in a mid-sized community in the Western United States. Structural equation modeling (SEM, AMOS 19.0) was employed to examine the strength of the relations within the model. Results showed that though actual elements of the home (i.e., density) affect family functioning outcomes, perceptions of the home environment (e.g., crowding and distance) were especially …

Study Abroad Or Study Away? An Honors Project, Audra Delaney

Honors Projects

In college, studying abroad can be a way for students to gain cultural exposure while learning about a part of the world that interests them. Like study abroad programs, there are also study away programs that offer similar experiences but are based in the United States. Today, those who are new to college/university communities and are choosing between these experiences are members of Generation Z. Currently the largest generation, those in Generation Z are future thinkers with drive to be very financially responsible (Harland Clarke, 2017). This study aims to find out what first-year Honors College students at Bowling Green …

Exploring The Women’S Needs And Risks Assessment (Wrna) In The Czech Republic, Tereza Trejbalova, Emily J. Salisbury

Graduate Research Symposium (2018 - present)

The focus of practitioners and academics alike has been shifting towards gender-responsive treatment of justice-involved women. One instrument that accounts for the realities of justice-involved women is the Women’s Needs and Risks Assessment (WRNA). In order to inquire about its validity outside the US, this tool was piloted in the Czech Republic in 2016 with 148 women prisoners. The study examined whether the WRNA is valid in the Czech Republic, and how well it predicts the disciplinary infractions of incarcerated women with different cultural backgrounds. Results suggest external validity of the WRNA as several of the gender-neutral (e.g., antisocial friends) …

A Narrative Criticism Of Online Anti-Vaccine Stories Of Vaxtruth, Stephanie Willes

Graduate Research Symposium (2018 - present)

Using narrative methods, this professional paper provides a rhetorical criticism of an anti-vaccine community called, VaxTruth. This analysis will aid in understanding why anti-vaccine narratives are so persuasive and what they offer people who join anti-vaccine communities. To explore this phenomenon I first look at the affordances of the Internet, how it encourages participation, which spreads misinformation, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories. Understanding how actions through the Internet become rhetorical acts, I turn to rhetorical theories of counterpublics and exigences, which also aids in finding the outcomes of anti-vaccine discourses. Current findings show meta-narratives of government conspiracy theories that break away …

Forming Financial Vision: How Parents Prepare Young Adults For Financial Success, Bryce L. Jorgensen, David B. Allsop, Samuel D. Runyan, Brandan E. Wheeler, David A. Evans, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

The current study used a multi-generational and qualitative approach to examine perceptions of what parents/grandparents taught their children/grandchildren about finances. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 98 participants consisting of 77 college students, 13 parents and eight grandparents. Team-based qualitative analyses of these interviews revealed three consistent themes: (1) the importance of setting financial goals, (2) planning and acting to meet financial goals, and (3) understanding the time value of money. About 70% of participants mentioned at least one of the three main themes in their interviews. In general, parents and grandparents held regret for not providing financial lessons earlier in …

Book Review: Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, And Finding Joy, Ammon Kou

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.