Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Student Employment In Organizations And The Relationships Among Commitment Levels, Turnover Intentions, And Absenteeism, Brittany J. Roy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

To date, research that examines individuals who work and go to school generally aims to examine the effects of doing so on their academic performance. Little literature is available that examines the effects that these dual roles can have on the organization (e.g., lower levels of commitment and higher rates of absenteeism and turnover). Understanding such effects can assist organizations in managing their employees and developing programs tailored to them, such as career counseling. A literature review is presented which examines both the constructs of the multiple forms of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover, and the research currently available on student …

The Relationship Between Social Workers' Alcohol Or Drug Use And Subjective Well-Being, Gustavo Torres, Katherine Clair Newell Tristan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The relationship between alcohol or drug use and subjective well‑being among master of social work students and practitioners was examined. Subjective well‑being measures included core, life satisfaction, affect, eudaimonia and domain evaluation. Frequency of alcohol, tobacco, cannabinoids and psychotropic drug use was collected. There were modest to moderate negative correlations between alcohol and life satisfaction and eudaimonia. There were moderate negative correlations between psychotropic medication and life satisfaction, eudaimonia and domain. There was a modest negative correlation between tobacco and life satisfaction and a strong negative correlation between tobacco and eudaimonia. There were no significant correlations with cannabinoids in any …

Effects Of Life Events On The Onset Of Delayed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Aging Combat Veterans, Meaghan L. Martin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research examined life events that affect the onset of delayed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in aging combat veterans. A common result from experiencing combat trauma is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is a rapidly growing veteran population experiencing delayed onset Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The occurrence of additional life stressors may increase the likelihood that someone will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in response to a prior traumatic event. Participants of the study were combat veterans over the age of 65. Qualitative data were gathered from interviewing participants on life events they have experienced since combat exposure as well as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder …

Social Work Students’ Knowledge Of Veterans’ Needs And Issues, Sylvia H. Samy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The veteran population is under-served. Due to the current circumstances of increased deployment and the rate of returning soldiers from current wars (Iraq and Afghanistan); there is an increased demand for competent social workers to provide them with services. Furthermore, the Department of Veteran Affairs is the number one employer of social workers. Hence, measuring the knowledge of social work students is essential to explore their competence of working with the veteran population. The study presents an exploratory research method, using a quantitative approach. Further, students’ knowledge was measured in ten domains: Benefits and Services, Service Related Disabilities, PTSD/Trauma, Childcare, …

Experiences Of Young Adults In Extended Foster Care: An Explortive Study, Elaine Marie Contreras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Currently, there are thousands of foster youth in the child welfare system. When they reach the age of 18, some of these youth emancipate from the system, while some of them participate in extended foster care. The extended foster care system was implemented to support and provide services to young adults passed the age of 18, to provide them a couple more years to obtain stability in their lives. In order to participate in extended foster care, they have to meet a few requirements, and sometimes this is the minimum level of commitment and effort they contribute. These requirements include: …

Cultural Sensitivity And Elder Abuse: Considerations For Social Work Practice, Katherine R. Bernardo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how social workers identify elder abuse, factors they find contribute to or protect from elder abuse, and cultural considerations they identify as important. The qualitative research approach was utilized, and an interview instrument was created to explore participants’ perceptions and generate recommendations for developing cultural sensitivity in practice. The study sample consisted of 10 social workers with experience working with the elderly population recruited by snowball sampling. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, and transcribed for analysis. This study found that social workers are particularly knowledgeable about risk factors for elder abuse and …

Separation Due To Deportation: Psychological, Emotional, And Economic Affect On Children Of Deported Parents, Gaiane Nazarian

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study looked at the affects of separation due to deportation of a parent(s) on children with US citizenship status who were left behind in the care of one remaining parent, or family members, or were placed in the foster care system. It addressed psychological, emotional, and economic hardships suffered by children in face of being separated from their families and becoming vulnerable to emotionally triggered dysfunctional behavior, abuse, neglect, and poverty. Qualitative methods were used for this research as it aimed to examine the content and depth of the experience.

Beliefs About Substance Abuse Among Adolescents: What Works?, Alma Elizabeth Hernandez, Stephanie Michelle Araiza

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore beliefs about what works in substance abuse treatment among adolescents. This was a qualitative study that was comprised of fourteen counselors who were interviewed regarding what works in substance treatment with adolescents. The study identified four themes that contribute to our knowledge about what works in substance abuse treatment among adolescents. The study recommends that future research explore further what works with adolescents in substance abuse treatment, including collaborating with family members, identifying strengths in adolescents, building an authentic rapport with adolescents, and using the latest evidence-based practices.

Beliefs About Self-Care Among Oncology Providers, Dimitri Shabree Ashford

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research question in this project explores self-care practices that oncology providers utilize to manage stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue in their work environment. As an exploratory study, this research project examines self-care practices among the oncology providers and how self-care relates to the quality of patient care. The survey provided to the participants focused on the individual well-being such as spiritual, social support, physical, and emotional support. Findings from this study indicated that oncologist utilize spiritual self-care more than any other medical professional. The older adults utilize their social support systems more than the younger adults. Individuals with three …

Experiences Of Successful Young Adults In Extended Foster Care In San Bernardino County, Nicole M. Chavarria, Denise M. Johnson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This is a qualitative study that was conducted in conjunction with San Bernardino County to explore the experiences of you adults in Extended Foster Care. Extended Foster Care is an extension of foster care services offered from age 18 to 21 as a result of the passing of Assembly Bill 12. This study focuses specifically on the experiences of young adults deemed “successful” based upon their enrollment in school, work status, and overall plans for their future. The data was collected through telephone and face-to-face interviews with young adults currently involved with Extended Foster Care in San Bernardino County. …

The Transition To Adulthood: Experiences Of Young Adults With Asperger Syndrome, Cassandra M. Nafziger

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study sheds insight into the unique, daily struggles of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) as they transition into adulthood. The majority of research available regarding individuals diagnosed with AS focuses on childhood experiences. What happens when these individuals age out of high school? What are their experiences with becoming independent, successful adults? This study elicited qualitative data concerned with individual experience from seven participants between the ages of eighteen and thirty years old. Data were collected through three face-to-face and four email interviews. Data were analyzed to identify specific challenges of adult life. All participants expressed challenges in social …

Cultural Competence Among Oncology Health Care Providers, Junelle F. Gemarino

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine cultural competence among oncology health care providers. Specifically, the study assessed how career type, presence of previous diversity training, and education affected overall cultural competence of oncology health care providers.

The study used a quantitative survey design with self-administered questionnaires. A total of 36 voluntary oncology health care providers completed the cultural competence assessment survey. Participants were asked of their cultural awareness/sensitivity, cultural behaviors, previous experiences of diversity trainings, and some demographics questions. Descriptive (e.g. mean, frequency distributions) and inferential (e.g. t-test, one-way analysis of variance) statistics were used to analyze the …

Improving Data Quality With Four Short Sentences: How An Honor Code Can Make The Difference During Data Collection, Alexander Scott Mckay

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Careless responders have a large impact on a study by causing issues such as Type II errors (failing to reject a false null hypothesis), which then waste researchers’ time and money. Research on careless responding has focused primarily on detecting and removing careless responders rather than on reducing careless responding before data collection begins. The purpose of the present study was to test the use of honor codes with or without the presentation of a picture of watchful eyes to increase self-awareness thereby reducing careless responding. Participants (N = 305) were randomly assigned to one of five honor code …

Development Of An Employee Green Behavior Descriptive Norms Scale, Jacqueline Christine Mcconnaughy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With a growing interest in sustainability, organizations and researchers have begun to examine pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace (i.e. employee green behaviors). However, general understanding of employee green behaviors is currently limited due to a lack of measurement tools. In this study, a new scale was developed to measure employee green behavior descriptive norms, which are a source of influence on employee green behaviors that develops from observing others’ behaviors. Initial items and expected scale structure for the Employee Green Behavior Descriptive Norms Scale were developed based on the Green Five Taxonomy of employee green behaviors. Items were refined through …

A Social Construction Of Affordable Housing And Nimby In A Southern California County, Stefany K. Nelson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The constructivist paradigm was used in the research study to focus on the challenges with affordable housing and concentrations of Housing Choice Voucher recipients in a county in Southern California. Viewed through the lens of Social Stratification posed by Max Weber, ones opportunities in life are based on his/her position of class, status and power, where by those with lower positions are excluded from opportunities. The literature discusses the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to deconcentrate poverty and provide opportunities to move to higher income areas in order to provide opportunities for social upward mobility. Residential socioeconomic …

Coal, Global Warming, And The Clean Air Act, Terry L. Stewart

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In the early 1990s many scientists claimed that there was a scientific consensus that the anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases was causing global warming. Carbon dioxide is produced in far greater quantities than other greenhouse gases. Over 80 percent of the carbon dioxide produced in the United States comes from coal-fired power plants. If global warming is a threat to the welfare and survival of future generations, the United States, as one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gases,has an obligation to reduce its production of these gases.

In order to determine the most effective way to reduce the production …

Narrative Conflict Coaching, Ashley J. Pangborn

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Narrative conflict coaching is a counseling technique which focuses on separating clients from their problems and encouraging them to see their lives and futures from new perspectives. It has been used in a variety of arenas and is consistent with other practices within the field of narrative conflict resolution, such as narrative mediation. In this project I utilized qualitative research methods to analyze the immediate effectiveness of conflict coaching questioning techniques within the setting of a counseling conversation. The analysis focuses on the detail of the process of narrative conflict coaching more than on the final outcomes. The data …

Why Do Hedgers Trade So Much?, Ing-Haw Cheng, Wei Xiong

Dartmouth Scholarship

Futures positions of commercial hedgers in wheat, corn, soybeans and cotton fluctuate much more than expected output. Hedgers' short positions are positively correlated with price changes. Together, these observations raise doubt about the common practice of categorically classifying trading by hedgers as hedging while trading by speculators as speculation, as hedgers frequently change their futures positions over time for reasons unrelated to output fluctuations, arguably a form of speculation.

Postpartum Working Mothers: The Maternal Employee-Employer Relationship And U.S. Leave Policy, Veronica E. Hay

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

PURPOSE: Few studies have examined the relationship between working mothers and employers and the contributions of this relationship on mothers. Therefore, this dissertation explored postpartum mother’s relationship with their employers. METHODOLOGY: To gain an understanding of the experiences of working mothers, a grounded theory analysis was utilized. In-depth interviews with 31 working mothers and a transformational leadership framework assisted in understanding social change in the workplace.

FINDINGS: Positive supervisor support and a focus on motherhood facilitated return to work in contrast with lack of control over work schedule. While supportive supervisors were crucial elements for working mothers as they returned …

Navigating Postmodernism & Critical Theory In Family Therapy, Justine Anne White

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Postmodern and critical theories have become important theoretical paradigms encouraging therapists to honor diversity and combat oppressive social structures and practices. However, at times, these two paradigms have been thought to position therapists in contradictory ways, with critical models advocating for activism and postmodern models encouraging pluralism. In many ways, these two therapeutic positions have come to characterize two distinct ways of conceptualizing therapist roles, with little conversation about how to embrace both stances in clinical practice. Through a grounded theory analysis, fifteen family therapists known for working within postmodern and critical paradigms shared with us how they navigate between …

Perceived Empathy And Continuity Of Cancer Screening Care Among Latino And Anglo Women, Jael Aniuska Amador

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine whether patient perceived healthcare professional empathy impacts continuity of cancer screening care among non-Latino white (Anglo) and Latin American (Latino) women after perceiving health care mistreatment. A total of 225 Latino and Anglo women responded to a newly developed patient perceived healthcare professional empathy scale and a measure of continuity of cancer screening care. After controlling for covariates, empathy was found to vary significantly by ethnicity, with Latino women reporting higher patient perceived empathy than Anglo women. For both ethnic groups, higher patient perceived healthcare professional empathy was associated with greater continuity …

Co-Constructing Cultural Attunement With Latino Clients In Couple Therapy, Marco Antonio Elias-Juarez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

There is a need for culturally attuned approaches for couple’s therapy with Mexican/ Mexican-American people (Falicov, 2009). However, there have been few theoretical frameworks to conceptualize cultural attunement, and attunement has been primarily understood as a skill or as an attitude rather than as a relationship or as a series of clinical concepts with steps to follow (Hoskins, 1999; Oakes, 2011). From the social constructionist perspective, cultural attunement is related to the cultural context and cultural interactions that shape beliefs and attitudes about what is meaningful in establishing deep relationships for Latino and non-Latino therapists and their Mexican and Mexican-American …

Illness As A Relational Process: Qualitative Analysis Of Couple Therapy With Liver Patients, Elizabeth Ashley Patrick

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The medical model traditionally emphasizes individual biological disease and is often unable to attend to the many ways illness impacts families and couples. Due to the focus on the biological process of disease, couples often struggle with the relational experience of illness. Quantitative research has provided ample evidence that couples coping with chronic illness from a relational orientation experience more positive outcomes than couples that cope individually. In this study, 25 therapy videos were analyzed with particular attention to how couples with liver disease work in therapy to shift to a relational illness orientation. Analyzed through a feminist lens, the …

Marital Selflessness Scale (Mss): An Exploratory Factor Analysis, Marj Buchholz-Castronova

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

There has been an increasing momentum in the field of marriage and family therapy to attune the therapy process to the client’s socio-culture influences; however when this socio-cultural influence includes spirituality there is often a restraint in the attuning. While there are several explanations for this, two rationales rise to the surface: therapist not feeling adequately trained to attune to spirituality and lack of validated tools to effectively measure this socio-cultural influence of spirituality. When working with couple’s this can be even more complicated as validated dyadic measures are limited and those that exist usually measure spirituality through a global …

Guidelines For Culturally Based Interventions With Healthcare Professionals, Ifeanyi Anthony Onyemenem

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Early detection is critical to surviving breast and cervical cancer. Unfortunately, Latin American (Latino) women in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of cancer and have poorer rates of repeat screenings when compared to non-Latino White (Anglo) women. One factor identified through research that negatively affect continuity of cancer screening is perceived mistreatment. Guided by Betancourt’s integrative model of culture, psychology and behavior, the current project proposes guidelines for developing culturally informed interventions with healthcare professionals that take into account the socially shared values, beliefs and norms that negatively impact breast and cervical cancer …

Parental Depression And Child Behavior Problems: A Closer Examination, Yangmu Xu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have higher rates of depressive symptoms, and parental depressive symptoms are strongly associated with problem behaviors in children. However, the direction of effect between parental depression and child behavior problems is unclear. Additionally, the mechanisms through which parental depression contributes to child behavior problems and vice versa are not well understood. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between parental depression and child behavior problems among families of children with ASD; more specifically to investigate as mediating variables that may explain the mechanisms through which parental depression and …

Ppi-R: Factor Structure In A Diverse Subclinical Sample, Veronica Claudia Llamas

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Literature examining the factor structure of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised (PPI-R) has yielded mixed results. This study attempted to examine the three proposed factor structures (one-, two-, or three-) for the PPI-R utilizing a mixed gender undergraduate sample. Results demonstrated poor fit for each of the three proposed factor structures within the present sample. Post-hoc exploratory factor analysis of the PPI-R items revealed that seven of the eight original subscales from the measure were found to be salient. Rebellious nonconformity was the only subscale that was not able to be extracted. Furthermore, only 81 out of the 131 …

Parental Mental Health: The Role Of Parental Attachment To Their Child With Asd, Adrianna Elyse Holness

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Research suggests that parents of children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience higher levels of stress than both those of typically developing children and children with other developmental disabilities. Parental stress may spill over into additional domains of parental competence, impairing parental mental health, and parents’ ability to bond with their child. Little research has addressed the impact of the parent-child bond on parental stress. The current study used data from the Mindful Awareness for Parenting Stress project (MAPS) at Loma Linda University to further our understanding of parents’ attachment to the child and parental stress examining whether parental …

Fatalistic Cultural Beliefs In Achievement Aspiration In The U.S. And Chile, Susan Lee

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Betancourt’s integrative Model for the Study of Culture and Behavior (Betancourt, Flynn, Riggs, & Garberoglio, 2010; Betancourt, Hardin, & Manzi, 1992; Betancourt & Lopez, 1993) was used to test whether fatalistic cultural beliefs differentially influenced achievement aspiration among adolescents from different cultural groups in Chile (Mapuche and Mainstream Chileans) and the U.S. (Latino and Anglo). The results were as follows: 1) Higher levels of fatalism did negatively influence achievement aspiration, in Chile and the U.S., 2) Students in Chile and the U.S. had similar levels of cultural beliefs, 3) SES groups had significant differences in fatalism levels among mainstream and …

Climate Planning In Politically Conservative Cities: A Case Study Of Seven Climate Action Plans, Coleman Moore Frick

Master's Theses

Current research indicates that the potential risks associated with human-induced climate change are likely to increase in frequency and intensity. Although there have been several attempts, no effective international treaty or policy has been enacted by the United States with the purpose of combating this global issue. In the past decade, local climate action plans (CAPs) have emerged as a planning solution designed to reduce greenhouse emissions (GHGs). Previous studies have examined CAP attributes, but no research has focused solely on climate planning in politically conservative jurisdictions. This research finds that of 245 CAPs completed to date nationally, approximately 90 …