Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Autistic Perspective: Interviewing Autistic Adults On Lived Experiences With Behavior Modification And How It Has Shaped Their Communication, Lighla R. Whitson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of behavior modification (BM) based treatment, the best-known example being Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), is established as an evidence-based practice for promoting communication and other outcomes for Autistic individuals. As such, many Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) use it in their practice to target various forms of communication. Among many autistic advocacy groups, however, ABA and other BM informed therapies are often described as a detriment to mental and emotional health. Organizations such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) have come out against the practices and recommend finding different approaches to teaching communication skills. Much research is needed …

Opportunities And Challenges From Major Disasters Lessons Learned Of Long-Term Recovery Group Members, Eduardo E. Landaeta

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Natural hazards caused by the alteration of weather patterns expose populations at risk, with an outcome of economic loss, property damage, personal injury, and loss of life. The unpredictability of disasters is a topic of concern to most governments. Disaster policies need more attention in aligning mitigation opportunities with disaster housing recovery (DHR). The effect of flooding, which primarily impacts housing in coastal areas, is one of the most serious issues associated with natural hazard. Flooding has a variety of causes and implications, especially for vulnerable populations who are exposed to it. DHR is complex, involving the need for effective …

Plant Sentience: "Feeling" Or Biological Automatism?, Andrea Mastinu

Animal Sentience

Sentience refers to the ability of an organism to have subjective experiences such as sensations, emotions and awareness. Whereas some animals, including humans, are widely recognized as sentient, the question of whether plants are sentient is still debated among scientists, philosophers, and ethicists. Over the past 20 years, many scientists such as Trewavas, Baluška, Mancuso, Gagliano, and Calvo have reported interesting discussions about memory, behavior, communication, and intelligence in plants. However, the reported conclusions have not convinced the entire scientific community. In this commentary, I would like to focus on two critical aspects related to sentience: cognition and emotion

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 16 - April 20, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 16 - April 20, 2023. 24 pages.

The Impact Of Doctor-Patient Communication, Health Literacy, And Mental Health Among Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus On Healthcare Usage, Marissa Stern

Honors Projects in Communication

Pregnancy is a critical period in a woman's life. Overall, little research has been done on pregnant women. Pregnant women are considered a special population with special needs. All pregnant women must receive proper care from their providers and be a part of the decision-making process. Additionally, health care providers must provide materials to patients in hopes to increase their health literacy. Increasing health care usage and health literacy is meant to increase patient-centered care. This study plans to use the All of Us data set. We are interested in the data from the survey component of the data set. …

The Influence Of Alcohol-Related Advertisements On College Students Behaviors And Attitudes, Meghan Mcdonald

Honors Projects in Communication

College students have been exposed to alcohol-related advertisements for several decades now and research has proven that this exposure has an influence on today’s population’s knowledge, attitudes, and intentions to drink (Saffer, 2002). The college student population has been shown to participate in excessive drinking leading to other potential risks and harms, such as increased rates of depression (Furr et al., 2001; Hingson, 2009). Furthermore, students who experience depressive symptoms may experience elevated risks for alcohol-related problems (Joiner et al., 1992). The goal of this paper is to examine different persuasion techniques that alcohol companies currently expose to college students …

Transition To Distance Learning: Student Experience And Communication During The Covid-19 Pandemic In The United Arab Emirates, Soumaya Abdellatif, Aizhan Shomotova, Safouane Trabelsi, Salwa Husain, Najeh Alsalhi, Mohamed Eltahir

All Works

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to switch to online learning for the safety of their citizens. The main purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between four indicators of digital learning experience and the intensity of student socio-pedagogical communication after the transition to distance learning. The data were collected from Ajman University, a private university in the UAE, during the spring of 2020. The sample consisted of 381 students who were surveyed using an online survey tool or email. First, this study found that the majority of students …

The Communication Culture Of Flourishing Churches, Ronald Drake Jenkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study provides qualitative phenomenological observations that analyze and describe communication styles in ten flourishing churches. Practicing Christians contribute significantly to our society and culture. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the communication cultural themes within healthy and flourishing churches. The parameters of this study were limited to ten churches found on the Outreach Magazine Top-100 largest and fastest growing churches in America. Each of these churches was visited one time during a Sunday morning service. During this process, this researcher was a participant observer, examining and flourishing themes in real-time while observing the ten churches. People …

The Social Support Experiences Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) Adults, Lindsay A. Duede, Colter Ray

LSU Master's Theses

Social support researchers commonly recognize that support is most useful when it matches the needs and desires of those receiving it. Yet, the majority of research regarding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social support frames questions of communication competence by placing neurodiverse communities at odds with neurotypical ones. This practice reinforces a hierarchy in which neurotypical individuals are viewed as correct and deviations from that norm as failures. Individuals with ADHD experience emotions differently than those without it; thus, it stands to reason that people with ADHD could have different needs and desires for support. Therefore, this study has two key …

Covid's Positive Implications On Business-To-Business Salesperson Communication And Customer Interaction, Lucy Matthews, Diane R. Edmondson, Ryan Matthews, Frances Ann Stott, Tammy Bahmanziari

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This article aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on industrial salesperson communication with buyers, specifically focusing on the positive outcomes. The authors use a qualitative data collection approach based on grounded theory. Thirteen executives, primarily from the transportation industry, were interviewed. Based on the executive interviews, this study develops the pandemic-induced customer interaction model for the industrial market, drawing from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and innovation diffusion theory. This study is the first to examine the positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business-to-business sales organization communication. This study contributes to the literature through the creation …

The Role Of Story In The Creation And Life Of Man, Leah Ginion

Senior Honors Theses

Story was created by God as a vehicle for the revelation and glorification of Himself. Man, made in the image of God, was created as an innate storyteller. The world was created through story, and story is how it progresses and is sustained. As such, story is the foundation of all culture and the most natural and effective method of human communication. Research points to all of man’s stories being derivatives of the Great Story: the metanarrative of Scripture. Exploring man’s relationship with story reveals his place within the metanarrative and ultimately provides evidence for the existence and active presence …

Political Rhetoric: A Personal And Scientific Exploration, Joshua Mcneal

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An essay going over the existing Political Science and Communications research behind Political Rhetoric. Specifically: what political rhetoric is, by what mechanisms it works, and various examples of political rhetoric in practice (eg: populism, sacred rhetoric, classical rhetoric, etc.). Also a component at the beginning and end that ties the findings of this paper back philosophically to my honors education, personal realizations, and future goals.

Communo Magazine, Spring 2023, School Of Communication

CommUNO Magazine

CommUNO magazine was produced by MaverickPR, the School of Communication's student-run public relations firm. UNO School of Communication: 6001 Dodge Street, ASH 140, Omaha, NE 68182: Phone: 402.554.2600. Fax: 402.554.3836. For more information, follow us on Twitter@ CommUNO, join the “UNO School of Communication” page on Facebook or visit communication.unomaha.edu.

“Evolving Homes, Not Revolving Doors”: Examining Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Foster Parents’ Discursive Construction And Negotiation Of Identity Layers And Identity Gaps, Lucas Hackenburg

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The United States foster care system serves more than half a million children each year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHH], 2023). The purpose of this study was to examine how LGB foster parents discursively construct and navigate their identities in the fostering context. The researcher undertook in-depth interviews with 18 LGB people who were currently fostering or had previously fostered at least one child from the foster care system. The researcher analyzed the interview data using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis (2019).

Consistent with the Communication Theory of Identity (Hecht, 1993; 2015; Hecht & Phillips, 2022), …

A Flood Of Information: Assessing The Effectiveness Of An Enhanced Flash Flood Warning Social Media Graphic, Christopher John Long

Theses and Dissertations

Flash flooding is the most frequent and damaging type of severe weather globally. In the United States, heat is the only weather-related cause of death more frequent than flooding. However, while the number of deaths associated with other types of severe weather has decreased since the 1950s, the number of flash flood-related deaths has remained steady. Therefore, there exists a need to improve flash flood warning communication.

In this project, it is hypothesized that improving the National Weather Service’s flash flood warning social media graphic by including areas that commonly flood may increase individuals’ perceived storm risk, their intended compliance …

Dear Pandemic: A Topic Modeling Analysis Of Covid-19 Information Needs Among Readers Of An Online Science Communication Campaign., Aleksandra M Golos, Sharath Chandra Guntuku, Rachael Piltch-Loeb, Lindsey J Leininger, Amanda M Simanek, Aparna Kumar, Sandra S Albrecht, Jennifer Beam Dowd, Malia Jones, Alison M Buttenheim

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an "infodemic"-an overwhelming excess of accurate, inaccurate, and uncertain information. The social media-based science communication campaign Dear Pandemic was established to address the COVID-19 infodemic, in part by soliciting submissions from readers to an online question box. Our study characterized the information needs of Dear Pandemic's readers by identifying themes and longitudinal trends among question box submissions.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of questions submitted from August 24, 2020, to August 24, 2021. We used Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling to identify 25 topics among the submissions, then used thematic analysis to …

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 15 - March 30, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 15 - March 30, 2023. 28 pages.

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 14 - March 16, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 14 - March 16, 2023. 20 pages.

Exploring The Link Between School Discipline And Restoring Relationships Using Restorative Conferences!, Derrick C. Bailey, Julia Bullock

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Participants will be able to identify the link between effective restorative conferences and school discipline. They will learn strategies that are effective for reactive and proactive conferences. Participants will analyze scenarios of actual conferences and prepare a list of things to avoid. Participants will learn how to use data to assess the effectiveness of their conferences and adjustments that may need to be made.

Are You Blue? Personality, Communication, And Leadership, Hillary Gleason

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

This workshop will identify participants' dominant personality styles utilizing the True Colors questionnaire developed by Don Lowry in 1978. To that end, there will be a discussion on each color's communication and leadership strengths, weaknesses, and stressors. This is a fun activity that requires movement and most people enjoy. Finally, participants will be paired up with rotating partners and given a departmental chair scenario wherein they need to communicate and lead by utilizing what they have learned about dealing with the personality types of the colors. This exercise will help participants develop a strategic approach to their communication in order …

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 13 - March 2, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 13 - March 2, 2023. 20 pages.

The Role Of Argumentation On High- And Low-Creative Performing Groups: A Structuration Analysis Of Undergraduate Students’ Group Discussion, Ingrid P. Hernandez Sibo, David A. Gomez Celis, Shyhnan Liou, Brandon Koh, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Communication is essential for group creativity, and involves cognitive and social processes. However, research rarely investigates how these two processes unfold from a communication perspective, and its consequences on group creative performance. This study adopted the structuration theory as a framework that is capable of integrating both approaches in the study of in-group communication. In particular, we employed a structuration view to examine group argument; a social practice defined as both a system (argumentative patterns of interactive behaviors) and a structure (rules and resources undergirding the system). By applying the Conversational Argument Coding Scheme (CACS) and Lag Sequential Analysis (LSA) …

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 12 - February 16, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 12 - February 16, 2023. 16 pages.

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 11 - February 9, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 11 - February, 9, 2023. 28 pages.

The Cowl - V. 87 N. 10 - January, 26, 2023

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 87 No. 10 - January, 26, 2023. 16 pages.

Compassion In The Stem Curriculum: Integrating Emotional Peer Support Within Undergraduates’ Classroom Work, Jared Berezin

Educational Studies Dissertations

Students’ academic success and wellbeing are interconnected, yet university classrooms rarely promote mental health. To bridge the divide between academic and social-emotional learning, I introduced a classroom intervention titled the Care Bear Connection, during which students were required to post a message in Slack offering support to their classmates. In this mixed methods study, quantitative data were collected from first-year undergraduates (N = 36) in two team-based engineering courses (intervention group n = 24; comparison group n = 12). A pre- and post-intervention survey assessed students’ beliefs and experiences in their respective course concerning six compassion-related variables: social connectedness, …

Audit Team Communication And Risk In Trustworthy Digital Repository Certification, Rebecca D. Frank, Jessica Wylie

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper aims to investigate the Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC) process by examining the communication practices and risk communication dynamics among auditors during the audit. Through an in-depth, qualitative analysis of the audit process and the interactions between auditors, this paper provides valuable insights into the importance of diverse backgrounds, effective communication, and consensus building in the assessment of TRAC checklist requirements. Furthermore, the paper highlights potential areas of improvement within the audit process, addressing concerns related to disagreements, reliance on leadership, and the comprehensiveness of risk identification and communication.

Speaking To The Head And The Heart: Prioritizing Empathetic Communication In The Post-Covid Workplace, Kevin T. Caffrey

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

As of August 2022, COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives in physical, psychological, and financial ways. Many vulnerable individuals are struggling to adapt to returning to work and as a result, employee morale is at risk. In times of crises, empathy is needed in the workplace to support one another, but many leaders and employees may not have a firm grasp of the concept. This article seeks to define empathetic communication and explore the need for prioritizing empathy amid the current post-COVID-19 workplace. Through a literature review of empathy, psychological safety in the workplace, and crisis leadership, the author …

The Nashville Predators Social Media Audit, Sam Baranek, Connor Clouthier, Toniya Johnson, Mary Kate Reid, Micaela Trimble

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This report and presentation will deliver a comprehensive social media audit completed on the Nashville Predators, a national hockey team. In the end, it will show results of our group’s analysis of the communication strategies on the various platforms that the Nashville Predators use for their business and brand. While we already have prior knowledge and experience in social media, we plan to use the theories and principles to come to even better conclusions about the success of the Nashville Predators’ online presence.

The Nashville Predators are known for being a professional hockey team in the NHL. The Predator’s brand …

Community-Based Organization Leaders’ Communication Effectiveness And Effects On Performance Outcomes, Troy N. Nicholas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to determine if effective leader communication builds employee relationships that improves organizational performance. Organizational communication is a prominent factor that impacts the outcome of an organization’s goals and assists in executing its mission. There remain some gaps in the current literature considering the work environment and the attitudes of employees as they relate to organizational communication. To address the gap, the constructive grounded theory model was used to construct and analyze a theory of organizational communication. The sample for the study included 12 participants who were leaders or employees in a community-based organizations in …