Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Human Services Workforce Crisis: Moving Forward With Intention In Massachusetts, Suzanne Gray Henderson

School of Professional Studies

The human services field is growing rapidly in Massachusetts as it is across the country, and the Commonwealth does not have enough qualified staff to fill vacancies. The workforce shortage has risen to crisis levels due to high turnover, insufficient training, low wages, and a lack of recognition and appreciation for direct support professionals. The individuals receiving services in Massachusetts deserve quality and stability. The state budget – strained by inefficient service models and reactive fixes – also demands systemic change. The human services workforce crisis impacts a variety of stakeholders. Individuals served are directly affected, as are the direct …

Examlning The Effectiveness Of Influencer Marketing Across Platforms, Alison Everett

School of Professional Studies

This paper evaluates how effective influencer marketing is across the two most popular influencer platforms, YouTube and Instagram. This paper uses a case study approach to analyze popular brands that use influencer marketing on both platforms to determine which platform is more successful at engaging and reaching audiences from influencers. The brands analyzed for case studies are food delivery service HelloFresh and haircare brand Function of Beauty. Both brands use influencer marketing on Instagram and YouTube. The HelloFresh case study analyzes sponsored content from YouTube creator Jacksfilms and Instagram influencer Marisa Hen. The Function of Beauty case study analyzes sponsored …

Using Large Pre-Trained Language Models To Track Emotions Of Cancer Patients On Twitter, Will Baker

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Twitter is a microblogging website where any user can publicly release a message, called a tweet, expressing their feelings about current events or their own lives. This candid, unfiltered feedback is valuable in the spaces of healthcare and public health communications, where it may be difficult for cancer patients to divulge personal information to healthcare teams, and randomly selected patients may decline participation in surveys about their experiences. In this thesis, BERTweet, a state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) model, was used to predict sentiment and emotion labels for cancer-related tweets collected in 2019 and 2020. In longitudinal plots, trends in …

Developing A Food Assistance Informational Graphic And Implementation Plan Based On Consumer Evaluation, Mckenna Cunningham

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Food insecurity refers to the uncertainty of having or acquiring enough food to sustain all members of a household. In 2019, 10.5% of households in the United States reported being food insecure. Of that number, 4.1% of households reported ‘very low food security,” meaning that there were additional periods of time in which one or more household members restricted or forfeited their food intake due to lack of money or other resources (USDA, 2020). Without access to proper nutrition, the health of both adults and children are put at risk for illness including anxiety, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other …

The Role Of Peer Irrigators On The Choice And Intensity Of Efficient Irrigation Techniques, Noah Hayward

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

We evaluate the use and the proportion of farmland that uses prominent irrigation practices in Arkansas, USA. A bi-variate sample selection model evaluates the determinants of the share of irrigated land in a farm that uses each practice. We evaluate the relationship between the irrigation practices peers use and the intensity that another farmer utilizes that same irrigation practice(s). So, if a peer of an Arkansas Delta farmer uses center pivot irrigation, for example, it increases the probability that the farmer him or herself will use acreage using center pivot by 66%. Conversely, a peer using surge irrigation only results …

Reversal Of Roles: Stars As Fan-Protagonists In Filipino Movies, Andrea Anne I. Trinidad

Filipino Faculty Publications

One key aspect of Filipino cinema during its 100-year history is its attempt at self-reflexivity. Films that revolve around films have been made repeatedly, exploring the morality of the industry, the highs and lows of actors, or the passions of fans. Fandom, in particular, is depicted at length in films like Bona (Lino Brocka, 1980), Bituing Walang Ningning [Lackluster Star] (Emmanuel Borlaza, 1985), Konorang Itim [Black Crown] (Jose Mari Avellana, 1994), and Fangirl Fanboy (Barry Gonzalez, 2017). Each features a narrative centered on the life of a fan in relation to a film or a music idol. Do such movies …

Affinity-Seeking: Student Desirability And Motivation In The Classroom, Taylor D. Corlee

MSU Graduate Theses

Affinity-seeking research once provided teachers with effective strategies to create an overall better classroom environment. Over the last twenty years there has been no continuation of this research and the effectiveness of these strategies seemed to be agreed upon. The purpose of this study is to bring affinity-seeking research back into the modern era and see how motivation is affected for both in-person and online classes. This study is a contribution that adds to these strategies for effectiveness in both in-person and online classrooms.

Sex Differences In Communication During Times Of Conflict, Erin J. Snider

MSU Graduate Theses

Although current research indicates small effect sizes with sex differences in communication and some believe gender and culture to be the primary influence of conflict communication style, i.e., abstraction and perception, emotional talk, conflict management styles, capacity to empathize, and argumentativeness style, sex may be more responsible because of the biological properties of brain function and hormone effect. This research intends to compare male and female perceptual and behavioral reactions during communication in conflict. The measure of sex (i.e., the biological difference between men and women) in communication during conflict is used for this study. To ensure a homogeneous sample …

Terrorism, Trauma, And Memory: Constructing National Identity At The 9/11 Museum And The Oklahoma City National Memorial And Museum, Caroline L. Whittenburg

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis undertakes an analysis of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the 9/11 Museum in New York City, New York, focusing on the construction of an idealized citizen that is mobilized as a defense against terrorist threats. Employing rhetorical field methods, I focus on how these spaces work symbolically and materially to shape visitors’ sense of national identity. I pay careful attention to how message construction relates to whether the terrorist threat is framed as internal or external, and how that influences what it means to be American. This argument is grounded through …

A Study Of Communication Practices Between Office And Field-Based Personnel In Home Healthcare Agencies, Ruth M. Bates-Hill

Dissertations

The population of developed countries is rapidly aging. People want to age in their residence, and as they advance in years, most people will need assistance with activities of daily living and perhaps medical assistance to remain at home. Home health aides provide a large portion of such care. However, the annual turnover rate of home health aides exceeds 60% due to factors such as low wages, poor benefits, and a challenging work environment. Many studies have been conducted to elucidate the factors contributing to job satisfaction in the home health aide population, yet despite decades of research, turnover among …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence In The Customer Journey: A Case Study Of Bosch Usa And Defy South Africa, Tariro S. Munyengeterwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to gain traction and is increasingly reshaping the media and marketing communications field. While significant research has been conducted on the impact of AI in other fields, there is little empirical evidence on how AI is affecting the customer journey. The present study explored both organizations’ current use of AI tools and how customer perceptions about AI affect AI usage and adoption through the lens of diffusion of innovation theory. The research was conducted using mixed-method qualitative research. In-depth interviews and a case study content analysis were conducted to collect and analyze the data. The results …

“We Just Didn’T Talk About It:” Strategies Of Stigmatized Grief Management, Claire D. Selleck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the experiences of people who have lost loved ones due to socially stigmatized deaths. Drawing from eight individual interviews, the author argues that the stigma associated with death due to drug overdose, suicide, substance abuse, or murder can cause traumatic or prolonged grief and can complicate the way the bereaved talk about grief as a part of their healing process. With the mortality rate in the U.S. rising, there is an epidemic of disenfranchised grief affecting millions of bereaved individuals. Using Coordinated Management of Meaning and Communication Privacy Management theories, the author uncovers strategies the traumatically bereaved …

Health Communication Support In Baseline Health Literacy Research, Owen Manahan

Senior Honors Projects

Health literacy refers to the ability to obtain, understand, and use health information to make good health decisions. Improving health outcomes in Rhode Island requires removing health literacy barriers.

In the spring of 2019, researchers at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College received funding from the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services to assess health literacy in Medicaid beneficiary outpatient health centers. Such research has never before been conducted in Rhode Island. Researchers administered a modified health literacy assessment to collect self-reported data on patient health status, measure patient confidence in accessing health information, …

Free Speech In The Internet Era: Reviewing Policies Seeking To Modify Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act Of 1996, Jacob Cordeiro

Senior Honors Projects

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), has for over two decades provided “interactive computer services” a legal liability shield for defamatory or otherwise actionable user-generated content posted on their platforms and, for lawsuits stemming over unequal enforcement of their content policies provided enforcement efforts are taken in “good faith.” This law, passed in the early days of the Internet, incubated the Internet and social media, giving it the regulatory freedom it needed to grow into a platform where hundreds of millions of Americans can exchange ideas and engage in political and social discourse. Yet, for all the good …

Sustainable Stories: Linking Graphic Design And The Environment To Inform, Educate, And Inspire, Shannon M. Stanforth

Honors Theses

The importance of the field of graphic design lies in its ability to communicate with others. It can serve to transcend barriers, to clarify messages, and to deepen universal understanding. Similarly, sustainability encompasses the three spheres of the environment, society and economy—demonstrating its interconnected complexities and multifaceted applications. In pursuing my Honors Thesis, I aimed to develop a project which would reflect the ideals of sustainability while simultaneously serving to educate about the importance of caring for the natural world. Furthermore, my research explores how the disciplines of sustainability and design overlap and interact, searching to discover ways in which …

Kobe Influencer Marketing: Using Social Media To Promote A Herbal Tea Brand, Patricia Lui, Lipika Bhattacharya

Asian Management Insights

In July 2019, Evangeline Leong, co-founder and CEO of Kobe, a Singapore-based start-up providing influencer marketing services, had a challenging task ahead of her.

The Disconnected Podcast, Sydney Wright

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Humans are social creatures. Yet when the pandemic forced the world into lockdown, social interaction became limited and more intentional. I explore the forms of communication people turned to during this time through a series of podcast episodes. I interview people who can provide first-hand experiences of how major areas of life changed. The areas I focused on are digital literacy in the elderly, online connections versus in-person ones, telehealth, education, journalism, and social media. The episodes can be listened to on the Disconnected website.

Barriers And Enablers To Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Perceived By Change Agents In The Workplace, Shanda Barrett

Dissertations

This study explores factors that influence entrepreneurial ecosystems. Clifton (2010, 2015) recommends entrepreneurship, better business models, and new business startups as a solution for economic renewal in the United States and specifically identifies disengaged workers and low-energy workplaces as the starting point. The recommendation does not address how to make workplaces conducive to entrepreneurial activity, nor does the recommendation address how to engage entrepreneurial employees.

Existing literature outlines the known tensions between theory, anecdotal evidence, and the professional practice of building entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the term entrepreneurial ecosystem exists as a metaphor in the extant literature. While scholars have …

Exploring Missional Partnership Practices Between The Littleton Church Of Christ And Her Peruvian Missionary Partners Through Dwelling In The Word, Justin L. Thompson

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This Doctor of Ministry thesis presents the results of a project in which twelve individuals from two churches on two continents (North and South America) came together via video conference to explore missional partnership practices. These two churches connected through a common missionary and utilized a spiritual discipline called Dwelling in the Word to cultivate relationships, thereby creating a pathway to shared discovery of partnership practices. The problem I identify at the beginning regards transactional partnership, which commonly propels churches toward relationships that treat the other as unequal partners through unilateral, top-down interactions. In response, I present a perichoresis-inspired …

Communicating Distant Suffering Through The Camera Lens: A Study Of Ap News Images Of The Syrian Civil War, Xu Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined The Associated Press (AP) news photographs of civilian suffering in the Syrian civil war using a visual framing approach. By doing a quantitative content analysis on 1,309 AP news images of suffering civilians and refugees, this study revealed that at a denotative level of visual framing, Daily Life, Rescue/Recovery, Human Reaction to Suffering, Journey, and Celebrity Visit were the five most prominent themes in AP visual coverage of humanitarian issues caused by the Syrian civil conflict. A qualitative semiotic analysis was further conducted based on the results from the content analysis …

Roli I Fotografisë Në Raportimin Gjatë Luftërave Në Ballkan, Florend Bajrami

Theses and Dissertations

Tema “Roli i fotografisë në raportimin gjatë luftërave në Ballkan” ka për qëllim trajtimin dhe shpjegimin e rolit të fotografisë në procese të ndjeshme siç janë konfliktet e ndryshme apo luftërat. Jemi dëshmitar të lajmeve të ndryshme për ndikimin që ka fotografia në vendimmarrje të rëndësishme në vende të ndryshme në botë.

Fotografitë e luftës së fundit në Kosovë konsiderohet se kanë qenë vula e ndikimit tek personat kompetent dhe tek organet të cilat kanë pasur në dorë “fatin” e Kosovës. Përgjatë kësaj teme do të analizohen dhe shpjegohen fotografi të tilla nga lufta e fundit në Kosovë, fotografi të …

Getting Started: Training Modules For New Employees Of The Uno Bookstore, Abigail Kane

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) Bookstore does not currently have an established training program to help new employees integrate into the organization. Inconsistency in training can cause unnecessary stress on employees and management. This capstone project aimed to alleviate some of this stress by creating four training modules specifically tailored to the needs of the organization. A needs assessment was conducted with input from the management team and employees to identify module topics that meet the UNO Bookstore’s exact needs. The following topics were identified: Onboarding Information, Conflict in the Workplace, Inter-organizational Communication, and Use of Technologically Mediated Communication. …

Understanding The Motivations Of Esports Fans: The Relationship Between Esports Spectator Motivations And Esports Fandom Engagement, Joshua Barney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research study examined the motivations people have to watch esports and how these motivations are related to engagement in esports communities, fan identity, sense of community, messages shared in communities, and spectating preferences. Previous research regarding esports and why people watch it was used to create three categories for esports spectating motivations: skill-based motivations, entertainment-based motivations, and relationship-based motivations. Quantitative analyses were performed after collecting survey data from college students at UNLV and additional fans from esports communities. The results showed that there were positive relationships between the various motivations and all aspects of esports fandom engagement, showing how …

The Use Of Narratives And Social Media In Arts & Culture Nonprofit Crisis Communication During Covid-19, Jordan Buuck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted established communication practices for organizations across the globe. While much attention focused on the adaptability of large corporations, less attention has been paid to how nonprofit organizations have responded. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was creating ripple effects in social service needs, nonprofit organizations that did not directly address public health still fulfilled urgent missions and needed to communicate their legitimacy to assist with community resilience efforts. This study discovered the roles narratives and social media played in nonprofit organizational crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic through interviews with 12 participants. Using situational crisis …

American Samoa Politics: Performing Sāmoa, Dayonara S. Gaoteote

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

American Samoa as a self-governing U.S. territory located in the South Pacific is fortunate to be able to maintain their cultural traditions, language, and lands in all aspects- including their government. However, when the community suffers from a number of growing issues that affect the health and safety of its citizens, an analysis of the culture and leadership is fitting. I interviewed Jacqueline Tuiasosopo-Mata'u, Dr. Tapa'au Daniel Aga, and Chief Tauaisafune Niualama Taifane to gain insight into American Samoa government history, American Samoa government and community in the present, and to describe cultural practices and traditions that are in place. …

Improving Therapeutic Communication In Mental Health Nursing: A Quality Improvement Project, Patricia A. Nill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over 46 million adults in the United States (U.S.) live with a mental illness. Locally in Nevada, the psychiatrist to patient ratio is approximately 700:1, and patients are seen primarily in the inpatient setting, if seen at all, due to the wait average of 85 hours in the hospital emergency rooms for access into mental health hospitals or specialty units of a general hospital. Moreover, costs for mental health mood disorders alone are estimated at over seven million dollars annually. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) opined the need for change in healthcare to redesign practice and clinical communication with patients …

Magneto Was Right: How The Holocaust Shaped An X-Men Antihero, Benjamin J. Morse

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the X-Men property has extended beyond comic books over the last 30 years into television and film among other mediums. The initial premise of the canon, that mutants gifted with inherent superpowers were feared and hated by normal humans, has served as an allegory for discrimination against minorities on the basis of race, religion, and sexual orientation. Chris Claremont, the primary author of the X-Men from 1975-1991, did significant work introducing Judaism into the metaphor, in large part by making the series’ primary antagonist, Magneto, a Holocaust survivor working to prevent …

Colonization Of The Philippines: An Analysis Of U.S. Justificatory Rhetoric, Johansen Christopher Pico

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The term “Filipino” offers more than a call to nationality; it also recalls the genesis of colonization in the Philippines. This thesis explores the colonial interventions of the United States in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century, homing in on the Filipino education system as the United States’ primary method of colonizing the Filipino mind. Drawing from texts by Senator Alfred Beveridge, President William McKinley, the Philippine Commission, David Barrows, and Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, I offer an ideological criticism that demonstrates a cyclical nature between both justificatory rhetoric and ideology. Working with “ideological clusters,” this …

The Karen Genre: Digital Memes As An Influencer Of Political And Social Discourse, Marc Wardle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Social Media platforms are a source of transformation within the democratic process. Digital memes, seemingly facile and frivolous, contain a collection of dense and broad meanings that have become creative forms of political and social expression. Many complex messages can be communicated to mass audiences through mediated interpersonal communication platforms on social media through the usage of memes. This phenomenon creates what Limor Shifman refers to as a memeplexe. The focus of this study is to explore the transformative nature of the democratic process within digital and internet culture and the formation of an emergent genre of memes called ‘Karen.’ …

More Kawaii Than A Real-Person Live Streamer: Understanding How The Otaku Community Engages With And Perceives Virtual Youtubers, Zhicong Lu, Chenxinran Shen, Jiannan Li, Hong Shen, Daniel Wigdor

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Live streaming has become increasingly popular, with most streamers presenting their real-life appearance. However, Virtual YouTubers (VTubers), virtual 2D or 3D avatars that are voiced by humans, are emerging as live streamers and attracting a growing viewership in East Asia. Although prior research has found that many viewers seek real-life interpersonal interactions with real-person streamers, it is currently unknown what makes VTuber live streams engaging or how they are perceived differently than real-person streamers. We conducted an interview study to understand how viewers engage with VTubers and perceive the identities of the voice actors behind the avatars (i.e., Nakanohito). The …