Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mindfulness Practice And Nonself Perspective Foster Happiness And Flourishing Through The Stewardship Of The Sense Of Self, Niramon Coombs

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Mindfulness meditation is a self-regulation practice that cultivates and grounds attention and awareness in the present moment to enhance voluntary cognitive control of the physical and mental state of being. This practice positively impacts calmness, clarity, and concentration. Multiple reviews and meta-analyses have consistently demonstrated mindfulness significant physical and psychological health benefits. Despite mainstream interest and popularity, most mindfulness teaching in America omits the concept of nonself and other specific core contents of the practice. The comprehensive Buddhist teachings of dhamma (universal truth about self, the human condition, and the nature of our existence) can be a valuable and appropriate …

Mindful Leadership And Climate Action, Matthew Law

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Organizations must get serious about reaching the goals for addressing Climate Action outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)13. The problem to solve is how the leaders who created the climate issues can be the leaders to make climate action happen. The development of mindful leaders within an organization is the answer to the problem. Mindful leaders are developed not only with the Inner Development Goal (IDG) framework which is developed to align and support the 17 SDGs of the United Nations. The development of mindful leaders comes from ancient and modern practices that draw from Buddhism, secular …

Mindful Moment Room & Ambassador Training Program: A Sustainable Mindfulness Program For Secondary Schools, Rebecca Archer

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Abstract

This thesis argues that sustainable mindfulness programming in secondary schools’ benefits teachers, students, and community members by providing a supportive school culture that values and nurtures holistic learning. The rationale for this project examines the contributions of mindful educators, the impact of mindfulness on social-emotional learning (SEL), the advantageousness of mindful students in secondary schools, and the significance of developing mindful school culture. The creative project for this thesis then outlines a school-based mindfulness program (SBMP) that integrates each of these components. This thesis project is a training manual that provides guidance on how to implement a sustainable mindfulness …

Narrowing The Gap: Bringing Mindfulness To Community-Based Mentoring, Kathleen Cormier

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Approximately 4.5 million youth in the United States participate in community-based mentoring programs, an accepted form of intervention worldwide. Adult mentors are typically paired with a minoritized, historically underserved youth (Rhodes, 2023). The mentor helps the youth navigate life’s roads and obstacles including academic, personal, and family issues, college transition, jobs, and mental health and wellness. Inherent in these relationships are generational and cultural gaps. Mindfully addressing these gaps can improve the relationship and lead to more successful outcomes.

Given the many challenges in our post-pandemic world, mentoring programs have never been more needed (Van Dam et al., 2022). The …

The Reinfusion Of Mindful Roots Into Power Yoga: A Mindfulness-Based Yogi Manual, Sarah Johnson

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The practice of modern yoga emphasizes the physical aspect of what was originally a contemplative tradition. Power yoga is perceived as a fitness experience that lacks an explicit articulation between the physical body and the mind. Investigating the roots of contemplative yoga through the language of mindfulness can bridge the divide between an intense external practice and one that can ultimately calm the mind. This thesis focuses on the recovery of mindfulness underlying modern yoga and encourages yoga teachers to reinfuse their power classes with the ancestral wisdom rooted in the practice.

Mindfulness Practices For Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Vince Banh

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This creative thesis project is intended to guide mindfulness instructors in offering a curriculum meant to instruct adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as potentially their families, teachers, and healthcare professionals in the use of mindfulness practices and principles to better manage the effects of ADHD on the adults’ personal and professional lives. The thesis is composed of a literature review and academic rationale discussion for the applicability of the principles and practices provided as well as a lesson plan and resources for the curriculum such as a syllabus, class presentation slides, and guided audio meditation recordings. The curriculum …

A Critical Inquiry Exploring The Relationship Between Critical Consciousness And Community Engagement Educators, Carol Difalco

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

Community engagement programs are shaped by the educators who facilitate them. Due to a curtailed critical consciousness, such programs are not always sensitive to the negative implications for the communities they are attempting to support. Guided by critical ethnographic and interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study examines how educators perceive their relationship with critical consciousness, its impact on their community engagement initiatives, and what we can learn from educators using community engagement to work towards social justice issues. As expected, results from the participants revealed varying awareness and understanding of how structural power and institutional oppression impact community engagement initiatives. Some …

Relational Permanence For Individuals Adopted From Care, Darci Nelsen

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This qualitative study explored how individuals adopted from foster care experience the concept of relational permanency using an arts-based storytelling process. Participants were eight young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 who were adopted from foster care as youth. All participants identified as cisgender women, 75% identified as Black/African American (n = 6) and 25% as white (n = 2). Participants completed a demographic survey and engaged in a single 60-to-90-minute interview session. The interview was comprised of three main components, a semi-structured interview regarding participant understanding of relational permanency, an embodied check-in focused on physiological …

Family Caregiving And Serious Mental Illness: Navigating Complex Relationships, Lynn Sellon

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

Treatment of serious mental illness (SMI) has shifted over the last 60 years from an institutional model to a community-based approach (Chan, 2011; Di Lorenzo et al., 2021; Jain & Singh, 2014). Families have become an integral part of the caregiving network, bringing into focus the relationships between caregivers and individuals with SMI. Although literature has emphasized the key role family members play in supporting individuals diagnosed with SMI, there is a dearth of in-depth qualitative research on how primary caregivers traverse these relationships (Biegel et al., 2013; Chang & Chen, 2021; Young et al., 2019). This research addressed that …

The Impact Of Interaction Time And Verbal Engagement With Personal Voice Assistants On Alleviating Loneliness Among Older Adults: An Exploratory Study, Changmin Yan, Kate Johnson, Valerie Jones

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Background: Loneliness in older adults is a critical issue that negatively affects their well-being. The potential of personal voice assistant (PVA) devices like Amazon’s Alexa Echo in reducing loneliness is an emerging area of interest, but it remains under-researched. Objective: this study aims to investigate the effect of interaction time and verbal engagement with PVA devices on reducing loneliness among older adults living alone. Method: In this experiment, individuals aged 75 and older (n = 15), living alone, were provided with Amazon Alexa Echo devices. They were instructed to interact with the device at least five times a day …

Among The Best: Cedarville Among Top-Ranked Ohio Universities, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

With students from 49 states and 57 countries, Cedarville University has the reputation of being a leader in Christian higher education. Intelligent.com, an independent marketing service, recently supported the reputation by ranking Cedarville among the highest-ranked universities in Ohio — and the highest-ranked Christian university in the Buckeye State.

Professor's Favorite Hobby Enhances Student Learning, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Dr. Cliff Fawcett is a nurse practitioner and professor at Cedarville University, but there is more to him than meets the eye.

Fawcett, coordinator of the MSN and DNP family nurse practitioner track and associate professor of nursing at Cedarville University, can be found canoeing or kayaking along a river in his free time. As an educator, Fawcett often looks for opportunities to teach, including when he documents his recent canoe trips or provides insight information for water fun and safety on his YouTube channel. His channel, “Cliff Fawcett,” has received more than 79,000 views since he first launched …

Finding Our Way Back Into The Body Through Somatic Movement: A Journey Through The Meanings And Challenges Of Mindfulness, Arwa Qutbuddin

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Mindful-movement practices such as walking meditation, yoga, tai chi, and qi gong can support the cultivation and deepening of a sustained and embodied mindfulness practice. Because of their intrinsic gentleness, these practices are inherently trauma-sensitive, and can facilitate a gradual healing and re-integration of the body-mind through developing body-awareness. Mindfulness of the body is the first foundation of mindfulness practice. However, because of widespread misunderstandings around the meaning and definition of mindfulness, the bodyfullness in mindfulness practice is not always recognized and/or practiced. Furthermore, since bodily experience is seldom within one’s control, and because the body often times carries unresolved …

Wellness & Mindfulness For Black Women: A Transformative Four-Day Retreat, Kimberly Peavler

Mindfulness Studies Theses

In a world fraught with systemic injustices, where the intersecting forces of racism and misogyny

weigh heavily on the lives of Black women, there is a growing need for spaces of empowerment,

healing, and self-discovery. This thesis embarks on a profound journey into the transformative

potential of a culturally grounded four-day mindfulness and well-being retreat by creating and

presenting an experience explicitly tailored for Black women. The retreat is meticulously

designed to resonate with Black women's cultural and spiritual backgrounds. It uniquely fuses

Kemetic Yoga™ practices, mindfulness techniques, and candid discussions to dismantle

systemic oppression. The retreat provides a sanctuary …

Impact Of Political Conflict On Foreign Direct Investments In The Mining Sector: Evidence From The Event Study And Spatial Estimation, Abdelrahman J.K. Alfar, Mohamed Elheddad, Nadia Doytch

Ateneo School of Government Publications

This study aims to investigate the impact of conflict on greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) in the mining sector covering the period of the 1st quarter of 2003 until the 3rd quarter of 2017, across 151 countries. Unlike previous works, this paper focuses on testing two impacts. First, we test for a dynamic impact to uncover the effect of conflict on FDI over the contemporary and subsequent annual quarters. Second, we test for a spatial spillover impact. To achieve these goals, we apply both a panel spatial approach and an event study analysis, using a unique proprietary database FDIMarkets. The …

Tips For Handling The Holidays, Dan Jarboe

Press Releases

While the holidays can be a wonderful time as we get together with family celebrating the arrival of our Lord and Savior, the activities and demands can leave us feeling stressed and depleted. It’s important to care well for ourselves as we care for others. To support you and enhance your family harmony during the holidays, the Counseling Center staff offers the following tips. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

The Heart Of A Servant Leader, Lewis Shepherd

Press Releases

On Monday, January 15, people across America and in many places of the world will pause to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It is often when we reflect on the life of Martin King that we pay particular homage to his intellectual accomplishments. Yes, they are quite impressive when one considers he entered college at the age of 15 and completed a bachelor’s degree by 19, a master’s by 21, and a Ph.D. at 26, but Martin King was more than mere diplomas and academic regalia.

Illegitimate Tasks, Negative Affectivity, And Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Private School Teachers: A Mediated–Moderated Model, Nessrin Shaya, Laila Mohebi, Rekha Pillai, Rawan Abukhait

All Works

Social sustainability has gained popularity over the last decade, with a growing body of research calling for researchers to focus on the personal-level determinants of employee satisfaction and well-being in the pursuit of social sustainability. By using negative affectivity as a mediating mechanism and gender and passive leadership as moderators, this study examines a novel sequential mediation–moderation model that explores the relationship between unreasonable tasks and teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). It employs the Conservation of Resources (COR) and Stress as Offense to Self (SOS) paradigms as a comprehensive theoretical framework for organizational stressors and organizational behavior. A total of …

A Study On General Degree College Library Websites In Purba Bardhaman District In West Bengal, Partha Sarathi Mandal, Dr. Sukumar Mandal

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Website is the mirror of an academic institution. It is not only a reflection of an institution but also acts as a beacon that steers one to find the right path in right time from any place at any time. It shows various information related to academic, administrative and services or facilities. So, it is the best time to evaluate the content of the websites. This is a study on the content of general degree college websites under the University of Burdwan with special reference to the Purba Bardhaman districts in West Bengal. A check list with 54 criteria is …

Graying Incarcerated Persons And Education Programs In Nigerian Correctional Centre, Ijeoma B. Uche Phd, Agnes E. Okafor Phd, Okala A. Uche Phd *Corresponding Author

Journal of Prison Education Research

Correctional education programs are rehabilitation programs designed for incarcerated persons in Nigerian correctional institutions. However, getting the graying incarcerated persons to participate in education programs becomes quite challenging. This study investigates graying incarcerated persons and education programs in one correctional centre. Data were collected qualitatively from fifteen (15) incarcerated individuals aged 60 years and above using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed in analyzing the data generated for the study. Findings show that there are no available education programs for graying incarcerated individuals. The study also revealed that designing education programs in such a way that it will accommodate the …

Perceived Neighborhood Disorder And Type 2 Diabetes Disparities In Hispanic, Black, And White Americans, Min Ying Yu, Alfredo J. Velasquez, Belinda Campos, Jennifer W. Robinette

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Approximately 32 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, and that number continues to grow. Higher prevalence rates are observed among certain subgroups, including members of marginalized racial/ethnic groups as well as residents of disordered neighborhoods (i.e., those with more trash and vandalism). Institutionalized discriminatory practices have resulted in disproportionate representation of marginalized racial/ethnic groups in disordered neighborhoods compared to non-Hispanic Whites. These neighborhood disparities may partially contribute to health disparities, given that signs of neighborhood disorder often relate to a general withdrawal from the neighborhood, minimizing opportunities for both physical and social engagement. Yet, research suggests variability across …

Engagement For Life's Sake: Reflections On Partnering And Partnership With Rural Tribal Nations☆, Chelsea Schelly, Valoree Gagnon, Kathleen Brosemer, Kristin Arola

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 2

In this paper, we reflect on our collective experiences engaging with Anishinaabe Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region to support Tribal sovereignty in decision-making for food, energy, and water (FEW) systems. In these diverse experiences, we find common lessons. The first set of lessons contributes new empirical knowledge regarding the challenges and opportunities that rural Great Lakes Tribal Nations navigate for enacting sovereignty in decision-making. Our experiences illustrate that while Tribal Nations benefit from a broad and deep commitment to sovereignty and many cultural strengths, they are often challenged by shortages in administrative capacity; technical support; and embeddedness in …

The Bemused Conceptual Trends Of Populism, Yehya Qaoud

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

This study discussed the concept of populism, which has evolved through different historical stages. The researcher reviewed the conceptual trends of populism as stated by different scholars and intellectuals as an entry for paraphrasing and analyzing the concept. The study concluded that populism is still a controversial concept in the social sciences which resists the theoretical generalizations. This is conspicuously reflected in its applications, which clearly showed structural problems in the populist thought and its reflections in the society. However, there are conceptual trends in populism that are most frequently used, not to mention the consensus among theorists on some …

The Natural Geographical Features And Their Role In The Construction Of The Israeli Settlements In The West Bank, Muhammad Abu Asida, Murad Bin Jalloul

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

The properties that influence and control the nature of the geographical distribution of the population clusters can be divided into natural, human, and strategic. This study aimed to demonstrate the impact of the prevailing natural geographic factors on the selection and determination of the locations where the Israeli settlements are concentrated in the West Bank. Terrain, climate conditions, soil, and water resources are all factors that affect and control the nature and distribution of the settlement in any geographical region. This study utilized a historical, inductive, and descriptive-analytical approach. This study concluded that Israel established a network of settlements in …

Digital Phobia: An Inquiry For Mapping The Unseen Dimension Of New Digital Anxiety, The ‘Digiphobia’, Amarjit Kumar Singh ,Library Assistant, Md. Arshad Ali , Professional Assistant, Dr. Pankaj Mathur, Deputy Librarian,

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: As technology continues to advance, individuals' interactions with digital platforms have become integral to daily life. Amidst this technological evolution, a novel concern emerges—Digital Phobia, hereafter referred to as “Digiphobia.” This phenomenon, although not previously explored in scholarly literature, necessitates an in-depth investigation due to its potential impact on individuals' well-being. Our research employs a two-step methodology to investigate its existence, implications, and manifestations.

Introduction: This research paper introduces and proposes the term "Digiphobia" as a comprehensive conceptualization of anxiety arising from interactions with digital spaces, applications, and environments. The proliferation of digital technologies has led to the emergence …

Assessing Digital Proficiency Requirements For Library And Information Services Professionals (Lis) In The Digital Age: Library Heads' Perspective In Tanzania., Joseph Solomon Daudi Dr., Mabel Majanja Prof

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The objective of this study was to ascertain the digital competencies that Library Heads’ in the library and information services (LIS) sector in Tanzania expect in prospective Library and information science (LISc) graduates. In order to accomplish this objective, a quantitative research methodology was utilized, involving a survey of 50 Library Heads’ in the field of LIS in Tanzania. An online survey was conducted and a response rate of 39 respondents, equivalent of 78% of the entire selected sample.

The findings of this study underscore the importance of digital skills and competencies in effectively managing digital information, digital technical skills …

Ischool Student Research Journal, Vol.13, Iss.2, Student Reseach Journal

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Innovation And Responsibility: Librarians In An Era Of Generative Ai, Inequality, And Information Overload, Odin H. Halvorson

School of Information Student Research Journal

In an era marked by generative AI, widening inequality, and information overload, librarians with LIS training find themselves at the forefront of a changing landscape. The traditional paradigm in academia is challenged by new technologies and social shifts, prompting a reassessment the librarian's role as a public leader. This article discusses three perspectives on these issues, placing them within the larger conversation of the LIS field. Dr. Norman Mooradian lays the groundwork for a paradigm shift by exploring the intersection of knowledge and ethics in a knowledge economy. Boheme Morris delves into the complexities of inequality within the high-tech knowledge …

Book Review: The Promise Of Access: Technology, Inequality, And The Political Economy Of Hope, Daniel Greene, Boheme Morris

School of Information Student Research Journal

In The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope, Daniel Greene provides a comprehensive, approachable evaluation and critique of the concept of the “access doctrine” and how it has permeated American policy and organizations.

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Analysis Tools For Timely Audits: Two Case Studies Of Carlsbad Libraries, Sarah Wilson

School of Information Student Research Journal

When libraries explore how their youth collections can be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI), it is beneficial to first identify where representation gaps exist amongst their holdings. Digital DEI audit tools can quickly target areas for improvement. The following studies use digital instruments to analyze the DEI representation in two youth library collections in Carlsbad, California. The fiction picture book collections were probed at both a Carlsbad elementary school in Encinitas Union School District (EUSD) and the Georgina Cole public library (Cole). Three digital instruments were used: Diverse BookFinder Collection Analysis Tool, TeachingBooks Collection Analysis Toolkit, and collectionHQ Diversity …