Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Sustainability In Park And Recreation Administrators’ Policy Decisions, Stephen Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This study assessed the extent to which economic, environmental, and social sustainability concerns factor into park and recreation administrators’ decisions regarding outdoor recreation and facilities. Links to an anonymous, online survey were emailed to state and local park and recreation administrators within the state of Tennessee. The study’s useable response rate was 22% (122/561).

An adjusted Value Belief Norm (VBN) theory was used as the framework, with variables including administrators’ values, beliefs, pro-environmental behavior implementation, perceived constraints, and demographics. Analysis consisted of mediated regression, multiple regression, path analysis, and a qualitative evaluation of submitted constraints. Results supported the general VBN …

360º Videos Of Natural Scenery Delivered Via Virtual Reality Devices And Its Effect On Mood, Joseph Strong

Doctoral Dissertations

Nature has long been touted as a method to alleviate the symptoms of stressful modern life and introduce some aesthetic novelty. For those individuals for whom access to nature is in some way limited, especially older adults facing poor physical or mental health, novel approaches to bring the outside world in are necessary to help enhance quality of life. This pilot study endeavors to help improve the mood of a sample of 43 older adults by testing a new intervention – using smart phones to deliver 360-degree videos of nature. Results of the study provide evidence that the intervention may …

The Career Experience Of Women In Senior-Level Leadership Positions Within Power 5 Intercollegiate Athletic Departments: A Phenomenological Study, Lynsey Miller

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the career experiences of women in senior-level leadership positions within Power 5 intercollegiate athletic departments. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data from eight senior-level female administrators working in Power 5 athletic departments. Four themes emerged from data analysis, including pathway to senior-level leadership, mentorship and support, stereotypes, and intersectional constraints. This research adds to the body of existing literature by further addressing the experiences of underrepresented groups within intercollegiate athletics administration, particularly within the Power 5 conferences. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for the career experiences of women …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Health And Higher Education In The United States, Hieu M. Nguyen

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of three essays in applied microeconomics. In the first essay, I study the enrollment effects of Tennessee Promise, a state-funded financial aid program in the two-year college sector. I document a substantial response in full-time first-time enrollment and some degree of substitutability between the unsubsidized and subsidized college sectors following the inception of the Tennessee Promise program. The second essay takes initial steps to examine the broader implications of free college. I first use institution-level data to construct three metrics of diversity, namely the share of underrepresented minorities in the student body, Simpson’s index, and …

The Effects Of An Interdependent Group Contingency On Student Writing, Madeline B. Auge

Doctoral Dissertations

National data indicate that many students in the United States are not proficient in writing at grade-level expectations (Persky et al., 2003). However, there is not enough research, resources, or support for school personnel to improve student writing (Graham & Harris, 2003). Previous writing intervention studies involving performance feedback methods have shown positive impacts on student writing fluency, but it may be too time consuming for teachers to use in the classroom (Truckenmiller et al., 2014). Teachers need feasible, evidence-based writing interventions that are easy to implement in their classrooms and that motivate students to improve their writing skills.

The …

Development And Validation Of The Scale Of Emotional Functioning: Educators (Sef:Ed), Lezli Suzanne Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

Data collected from 97 educators provide preliminary support for the psychometric integrity of an experimental self-report instrument designed to operationalize emotional intelligence (EI) specific to educators, the Scale of Emotional Functioning: Educators, or SEF:ED. Data analyses relied in part on results from an exploratory factor analysis, which revealed an acceptable three-factor solution and item-scale correlations. Reliability estimates (i.e., split-half reliability correlations) obtained for the SEF:ED subscales of Emotional Awareness, Emotional Management, and Interpersonal Relations subscales are .86, .80, and .71, respectively. Correlation coefficients (i.e., Pearson r) between the SEF:ED composite and the Profile of Emotional Competence composite (PEC; Brasseur …

Brief Sheets: Examining An Intervention That Increases Academic Reinforcement, Kyle Edward Ryan

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is designed to extend research on the Brief Sheets intervention. The Brief Sheets intervention involves taking a full-page assignment that is given to students to complete independently and breaking up this assignment into multiple, smaller assignments that still contain the same total number of problems cumulatively. An experiment was designed to see if students would complete more total problems when they were given Brief Sheets compared to a control assignment containing the same total number of problems, if the percentage of accurate responding would be higher for the Brief Sheets assignment, and if students would rate the Brief …

Cross-National Variation In Women’S Rights: Europe And Civil War, Nourah Shuaibi

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Women’s Social, Economic and Political rights in post-Conflict countries. In order to evaluate the relationship with sound causal logic, I set out to study multiple relationships to understand the impact of the variables in question. Looking at the nature of the relationship required an evaluation in 3 ways, which culminated in the writing of 4 separate chapters. Chapter 2 demonstrates the importance of understanding Women’s Rights and their role in economic development and peace building. This places women’s rights in context to set the scene for the rest of …

Queer-Identified Clients’ Preferences In Counseling Practice, Jennifer Hightower

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation includes two manuscripts: a content analysis that sought to understand the state of the counseling literature related to counseling queer-identified clients and a Q Methodology study that identified preferences of queer-identified in counseling. In the first manuscript, all articles published from 2014 - 2020 in American Counseling Association journals and affiliates were examined. Articles were included in the final sample (N = 64) if they contained implications for working with LGBTQ+ clients in community settings. Using content analysis overlaid with Consensual Qualitative Research - Modified, the first manuscript provides a foundation for the second by exploring the current …

The Relationship Education Workshop And Its Impact On Learned Healthy Relationship Outcomes And Self-Compassion In The Emerging Adulthood Population, Ashley N. Russell

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of the Relationship Education workshop (Davila, 2020) on several outcome measures for its target population, emerging adults. The Relationship Education workshop is comprised of two consecutive three hour sessions which take place a week apart. Participants were recruited from a southeastern state university campus. Participants were given a thorough and group-discussion based didactic focusing on the relationship competency skills of insight, mutuality, and emotion regulation with other core focuses, including relational decision making and adaptive relationship beliefs. Participants who completed the Relationship Education workshop were hypothesized to show improvement in these target domains as …

Reflections On Living Gender In Prison: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Amanda Marie Simms

Doctoral Dissertations

Gender Dysphoria was introduced as a new mental health diagnosis in the Diagnostic Statistics Manual-5 (DSM-5) as of 2013 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). As a result of this addition and the lack of attention to identities other than transgender, there is a paucity of data related to the lived experience of the broader category of other than cisgender inmates. An estimated an approximate number of 1.4 million transgender individuals in the United States and other than cisgender individuals make up between 25-35% of the transgender population (Herman et al., 2016; Webb et al., 2016). Additionally, 16% of gender minorities have …

School Counselors Use Of Creative Interventions With Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students, Loidaly M. González-Rosario

Doctoral Dissertations

Culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDS) are among the fastest growing population in U.S. schools. Researchers have examined how best to support adolescent CLDS with little attention to the socioemotional needs of elementary CLDS. The Multicultural Social Justice Counseling Competencies provide a framework for understanding the complex nature of counseling practice, balancing micro- and macro-level practice. Creative interventions have been successfully used with various populations who share similar communicative barriers to service. However, little is known about how school counselors meet the socioemotional needs of CLDS and what factors contribute to the use of creative interventions in school counseling. One …

Accentuate The (Low Arousal?) Positive: Effects Of Mindfulness On Positive Emotional Responding, Dean K Jordan

Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, mindfulness literature has focused far more on negative than positive emotions, and results regarding mindfulness’ influence on positive emotions are somewhat mixed. It is still unclear under what conditions mindfulness facilitates, reduces, or does not affect positive affective responding. A key likelihood of mindfulness practice is a fostering of the low-arousal positive affective (LoPA) state of peacefulness, while mindfulness practitioners warn against over-engagement with high-arousal positive affect (HiPA). Thus, mindfulness may be more likely to elicit LoPA than HiPA. However, few mindfulness studies even include measures of both LoPA and HiPA, and no study assesses how a mindfulness induction …

A Realist Evaluation Of The Professional Development Program Thriving Through Being With Professional Coaches And Support Staff Of Ncaa Women’S Basketball, Lauren Kelly Mchenry

Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars have consistently identified a secure relational base as a key contextual enabler for thriving—success and well-being—in sport. In turn, person-centered theory is a viable, evidence-based framework for coaches and support staff to cultivate a secure relational base with their athletes. Drawing from this literature, the continuing professional development program Thriving Through Being was developed to improve professional coach and support staff knowledge, awareness, and skills related to person-centered theory concepts (unconditional positive regard, empathy, and authenticity). This program was implemented with professional coaches and support staffs from 17 NCAA Women’s Basketball programs. The purpose of the current study was …

Debt Delivered: The Predatory Inclusion Of A Rent-To-Own Chain In The Treasure Valley, Jeff Cates

Masters Theses

This thesis is a study of customers at a rent-to-own (RTO) firm in Boise, Idaho, where I worked and collected data for nearly three years. RTOs are companies that offer higher-end electronics, appliances, and furniture to customers on a contract where the consumer receives the product immediately and pays a (usually highly marked-up) price over time by making small weekly or monthly payments. While predatory lending practices have long been studied by scholars from various fields, very little work has focused on the rent-to-own industry, which may have unique differences from payday lending and other similar businesses. This thesis centers …

Exploring The Influence Of Gendered Racism On Salivary Alpha Amylase Activity Among Black Women, Erica J. Peppers

Doctoral Dissertations

This study tests Lewis and colleagues’ (2017) biopsychosocial model of gendered racism, which extends the biopsychosocial model of perceived racism (Clark et al., 1999) to gendered racism by investigating the role of gendered racial microaggressions (e.g., subtle gendered racism) in autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation among Black women. Specifically, the association between the stress and frequency of gendered racial microaggressions and sAA activity, including total sAA output, diurnal slope, and waking sAA as indicators of ANS dysregulation were examined among Black women (N = 90, M_age = 19 years, SD = 5.02). Four types of gendered racial microaggressions unique …

Why Are Users Drawn To Rivals.Com? A Uses And Gratifications Approach To Who Follows College Sports Recruiting Websites And Their Perceptions Of Credibility, Jason Stamm

Doctoral Dissertations

As the sports media landscape continues to shift, one of the most constant players has been Rivals.com, one of the more influential media organizations covering college athletics. Using the uses and gratifications approach as a guide, this study explores how users engage with Rivals.com content, how they perceive the network and its reporters in terms of credibility, and how that determines their willingness to subscribe. The purpose of this research is to better understand how and why fans interact within Rivals.com’s network of websites in order to discern their motivations for engaging with the site and the gratifications obtained through …

Examining Messaging Strategies Of Virtual Reality Companies On Instagram, Brian Galloway

Masters Theses

This study examines the messaging strategy and executional strategy utilized in the virtual reality industry on Instagram through the lens of Taylor’s Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel. Content analysis examined a total of n=942 posts which were coded for high level message strategy, specific message strategy, and executional strategy. Engagement data was also recorded. Ritual-view messaging strategies were found to be utilized most often, with Social and Sensory-segment strategies used most frequently in terms of segments in Taylor’s model. In terms of executional strategies, User Image, Brand Image, and Use Occasion strategies were seen most frequently. Ego and Social segment message …

Unearthing Tree Symbolism In Song: A Sentiment Analysis, Shannon L. Bayliss

Masters Theses

How societies communicate about nature can shape the way that they interact with it. Messages contained in music are especially interesting to study because of the unique ability of sound and language to alter moods and/or induce physiological reactions. Research on cultural values in music is growing but studies on environmental themes are scarce despite pervasive natural symbolism in songs. Historically, most species of tree have gained a symbolic meaning in part based on their physical characteristics and the various ways they are used by humans (e.g., for construction or for medicine). The overall goal of this thesis was to …

Black Men’S Intimate Partner Violence Victimization, Help-Seeking, And Barriers To Help-Seeking, Meagan A. Stewart

Masters Theses

Guided by hegemonic masculinity and intersectionality theories, this descriptive, exploratory thesis examined Black men’s intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization experiences, subsequent help-seeking decisions, and barriers to help-seeking. Even though IPV is generally associated with women, it has been documented that men also experience sexual, physical, and/or psychological abuse. The experiences of Black men as victims has been overlooked within the IPV literature, and less is known about their help-seeking decision making, as well as the barriers they face if and when they do seek help. Whether Black men are more or less likely to seek informal (e.g., friends), formal (e.g., …

“There Shall Be Made No Differentiation:” The Maintenance Of Stratification In The State Of Kuwait Through The 1959 Nationality And Aliens Residence Laws, Alzaina Shams Aldeen

Masters Theses

Article 29 of the Kuwaiti constitution states that “The people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public rights and obligations. There shall be made no differentiation among them because of gender, origin, language or religion.” If I were to say that the 17, 818 km ² that make up the State of Kuwait is home to 4.2 million people, it would be a misrepresentation. While 4.2 million people do live in Kuwait, citizenship and immigration laws restrict 70% of its population, to varying degrees, from making their country of residence a home. …

Variables Related To Viral Load And Cd4 Variance In Men Living With Hiv, Natalie Christine Blocher

Masters Theses

In 2018, 37,968 individuals were diagnosed with HIV in the United States (CDC, 2018). Self-identified men made up 81% of all newly diagnosed cases, particularly men who have sex with men (CDC, 2020). Achieving viral load suppression allows men living with HIV to obtain optimal health, maintain quality of life, and prevent the virus's spread (Sax, 2012). Past research in HIV treatment has mainly focused on individual health behaviors, such as medication adherence, to account for the variances in these variables; however, the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and chronic conditions have gradually become a subject of HIV treatment research. …

Economic Valuation Of Recreation Access To Wildlife Management Areas In Tennessee, Clara Shattuck

Masters Theses

Maintaining visitation at public lands is critical to public land managers in order to continue conservation efforts and offer recreation opportunities. Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are public lands set aside for wildlife conservation, education, and recreation and differ from other kinds of public lands in their relative size, proximity to rural areas, and types of outdoor activities allowed. These areas are utilized by a variety of users ranging from consumptive groups, such as hunters, to non-consumptive groups, such as wildlife watchers. While previous studies have explored the demand for public lands in general or specific types of public lands such …

Queering Disasters: Embodied Crises In Post-Harvey Houston, Thomas T. Tran

Masters Theses

This project addresses how neoliberal expansion complicates disaster recovery for queer communities in an urban context looking specifically at how disasters, disease, and marginalization operate as interlocking systems of oppression for queer people in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. This research draws upon anthropological studies of disasters, urban studies, critical medical anthropology, and queer theory to employ a queer political ecology that combines understandings of disasters and diseases as socio-political and ecological phenomena with queerness as a set of culturally constructed vulnerabilities that carry embodied effects. Starting from the understanding that disasters more heavily impact groups that already …

Ancient Ancestors For Modern Practices: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis Of Digital Marginalia, Brianna Blackwell

Masters Theses

Marginalia, the notes readers write in the blank spaces of their books, are significant objects of study in bibliography and book history, among other fields. Due to factors including findability and fragile book materials, marginalia from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are difficult to study. The same does not necessarily have to be true for similar objects from the twenty-first century. This thesis uses Rodger’s evolutionary concept analysis to analyze the usage of digital marginalia in the scholarly literature from 1991 to 2020. Beginning with an overview of bibliography and the history of marginalia, this thesis situates digital marginalia in …

Exploring The Fourth Reality: Cultural Anthropologists' Reflections On Expert Witnessing For Asylum Cases, Mary Ruth Wossum-Fisher

Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to contribute to the small but growing literature on anthropology and expert witnessing by conducting ethnographic research with anthropologists who have worked as expert witnesses. The goal of this project is to illuminate how anthropologists reflect on the production of knowledge, ethics, and their identity in the realm of expert witnessing. Through twelve online questionnaires and six follow-up interviews, this research discusses how ten anthropologists and two political scientists conceived of the “Fourth Reality,” or “the reflexive awareness of the expert witness as an expert witness” (Phillips 2017: 42) throughout the asylum process. This thesis covers: 1) …

The Intentionality Of Confronting Racism, Systemic Oppression, And Cyclical Trauma In Counselor Education: A Self Study, Kara Ieva, Michael D. Hannon, Linwood G. Vereen

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Utilizing self-study methodology, the researchers sought to understand their practices in developing school counselors and counselor educators who acknowledge and resist anti-Black racism and marginalization to prevent harm through complacency. Given counselor education’s existence as overwhelmingly white and Eurocentric, the authors investigate disrupting the heteronormative structures inherent in counseling and the academy with the prioritizing of race, systemic inequities, and cyclical trauma in their faculty roles (e.g., teaching, supervising, and service) in efforts to shift a profession slow to address society’s ever-changing mental health needs. The team of counselor educators from different states in the northeast use a thematic analysis …

School Counselors Involvement And Opportunities To Advocate Against Racialized Punitive Practices, Edwin Hernandez, Enrique Espinoza, Jewel Patterson

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Given the increase of violence against Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), there is no doubt a need to tackle racialized violence in schools. This phenomenological study draws on semi-structured interviews with school counselors to explore their experiences and practices to disrupt the racialized disciplinary practices that disproportionally target Black, Indigenous, and Students of Color. We draw on theories of racialized organizations and organizational routines to better understand how school counselors make sense of their practices in racialized disciplinary practices that dehumanize and criminalized youth of color. Findings from this study revealed two themes: 1) school counselors’ perceived neutrality towards …

A Womanist Supervision Framework For Promoting Anti-Racist Therapy With Black Women, Camellia V. Green, Danielle E. Burton

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

A counselor’s anti-racist disposition is particularly needed for Black woman clients due to unique treatment needs. Womanist values and pedagogy are used to develop a culturally-responsive supervision framework encompassing key themes of anti-racist supervisee development such as critical consciousness development, awareness of power dynamics, social justice activism and honoring the cultural self. Womanist pedagogy, previously used in K-12 schools, prioritizes the community orientation of maternal care to promote the survival of Black people in oppressive systems. A call to action for counselor educators is introduced for the promotion of an anti-racist supervisee disposition. Keywords: anti-racist, supervision, Womanist, critical consciousness

Equipping School Counselors For Antiracist Healing Centered Groups: A Critical Examination Of Preparation, Connected Curricula, Professional Practice And Oversight, Kara P. Ieva, Jordon Beasley, Sam Steen

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

This paper highlights the potential for school counselors to promote antiracist practices and racial healing engagement utilizing small group counseling to ultimately eliminate inequities in schools. However, counselor educator programs, founded on middle to upper class white ideals, worldviews, and narrowly focused theoretical frameworks, currently function in ways that fail to equip future school counselors with the group facilitation knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for equitable practice in schools across the nation using case illustrations and a broad current literature review, the authors conceptualize the rationale for more competencies beyond group course assignment, clinical requirements (e.g., CACREP standards, 2016), practice, …