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The Role of Employee Well-Being and Job Performance on Organizational Success
Full text linkThis capstone proposal explores how individual employee well-being and job performance influence organizational success, controlling for work location (hybrid, in-person, remote). While flexible work models have been shown to shape employee experiences, this study positions work location as a control variable, suggesting that it is not where employees work, but rather how they are supported and how they perform that drives meaningful organizational outcomes. Guided by the Job Demands-Research (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), this proposal aims to examine the extent to which well-being and job performance predict success at the organizational level. Using validated self-report measures and a multiple linear regression, this proposed analysis evaluates the relative impact of these factors, with work location being held statistically constant. The findings from this proposal aim to reinforce the need for organizations to move beyond logistical work arrangements and instead invest in strategies that prioritize employee well-being and performance, regardless of where their work is conducted, in order to sustain long-term organizational success
Heat-Shock Protein Type and Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation on Dopaminergic Neuron Viability
Full text linkResearch Question: How do different types of heat-shock proteins (HSP70, HSP90, and HSP27) and levels of alpha-synuclein aggregation influence the viability of dopaminergic neurons
Student group
No full textA group of students relaxing under some trees with party decorations and paraphernalia about.https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/archives_images_seminary/1064/thumbnail.jp
Ethel Ward
No full textA portrait photograph of Ethel Ward.https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/archives_images_seminary/1062/thumbnail.jp
Mindfulness in Homeless Women Experiencing Anxiety
Full text linkMindfulness in Homeless Women Experiencing Anxiety
Half of Washington\u27s homeless population resides in Seattle, King County (Axios, 2024). In response, seven Seattle Pacific University nursing students conducted an assessment on homeless women in Seattle. Partnering with a women’s day center, we assessed their health needs and barriers as part of a nursing leadership project. Through activities like bingo, we aimed to build trust and surveyed the women and staff on health concerns. Our findings revealed chronic anxiety as a key issue, leading to underutilization of health resources. Such resources include a mobile emergent dental van that previous nursing students earned funding for to address oral health issues, like extractions, abscesses, and pain. To address the underutilization, we introduced mindfulness activities—chair yoga, deep breathing, and coping cards—to help manage anxiety and promote engagement in health services, including the mobile emergent dental van. We were able to use the nursing process to study the effects of these mindfulness interventions in hopes to have long term positive results in maintaining anxiety within this population.
Background
Homelessness in women is primarily caused by substance use disorder, domestic violence, and mental health issues (Zhao, 2022). About 33% of women who experience domestic violence become homeless after leaving their abuser. Many face poor credit, employment records, and the burden of being the sole caregiver for their children, as 80% of shelter families are led by mothers (Rector, 2020). Women\u27s shelters offer safe spaces and services like counseling, healthcare, housing support, and job assistance. Rising living costs exacerbate these challenges, with over half of Americans spending 50% of their wages on housing, making it hard to maintain stability (Padgett, 2020). This creates a cycle of homelessness, with trauma, stigma, and heightened anxiety further complicating access to care. Many women avoid dental treatment due to financial constraints, fear of pain, or past stigma, often resorting to unsafe self-care methods (Mago et al., 2018; Purkey & MacKenzie, 2022). At the women’s shelter, we identified chronic anxiety as a prevalent issue, along with a lack of accessible coping tools. To address this, we aimed to provide simple, portable strategies that the women could use in their daily lives. As a result, we chose to demonstrate and educate them on various mindfulness activities designed to help manage anxiety.
Activities
Mindfulness activities have been shown to increase the ability to regulate attention, to accept difficult thoughts and emotions, to increase self-awareness and self-control, to improve mood and interpersonal relationships, and to decrease negative emotions and emotional reactivity (Maddock et al., 2017). We implemented deep breathing, yoga and coping cards as mindfulness activities to ease anxiety.
We used deep breathing as one of our mindfulness activities to help homeless women cope with anxiety and other stressful situations. These women face a lot of hardships and housing instability that affects their well-being, making it difficult to focus on themselves or to overcome their anxiety in situations like this (Padgett, 2020). Emotion-focused coping, such as deep breathing, was commonly used in response to a stressor or a stressful emotion (Garfin et al., 2023). Many of the participants who engaged in breathing techniques were successful in downregulating heightened emotional states such as anger, anxiety, and stress (Garfin et al., 2023). By practicing deep breathing and focusing on these strategies, the residents saw a difference in being able to manage their emotions based on their reports.
Another mindfulness activity we implemented is Yoga. Yoga postures are simple, yet another important intervention to reduce anxiety. A systematic review of controlled trials indicates that yoga has a significant short-term effect of reducing anxiety compared to control groups that did no yoga (Cramer et al., 2018). Evaluation of the safety of yoga shows that there is no association between yoga and increased risk of physical injury. Yoga reduces anxiety by increasing GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) levels in the brain. GABA is a natural neurotransmitter that stimulates the parasympathetic system, thereby inducing relaxing and calming effects on the body (Streeter et al., 2018).
Based on suicide prevention research by Wang et al. (2015), coping cards significantly reduced suicide risk and depression. These tools could serve as an effective intervention for the homeless population. The cards could provide structured relaxation techniques, affirmations, and information about community resources, helping individuals manage both dental anxiety and broader emotional distress. By implementing this low-cost, evidence-based tool in shelters, organizations could improve both mental health outcomes and healthcare access for this vulnerable population, while addressing the immediate need for better communication and more compassionate care identified by (Mago et al., 2018).
Outcomes
Our overarching goal was to introduce mindfulness strategies and help residents manage anxiety, especially those using the dental van services and experiencing dental-related anxiety. We introduced chair yoga, deep breathing exercises, and coping cards to support them in reducing stress and improving their use of health services. To evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions, we surveyed residents before and after their appointments, noted their specific concerns, and gathered feedback on the mindfulness activities.
Out of nine dental van appointments, five residents attended. One couldn\u27t participate due to a heart condition and suggested earlier screening. Pre-service anxiety averaged three out of five, with three participants expressing specific concerns about incomplete treatment, distrust of staff, or fear of injury. Post-service evaluation of two participants showed mixed results: one reported reduced anxiety as one out of five while the other came out very agitated, not wanting to talk to us, and said, “They attacked me.”
Thirteen women participated in our interventions, with an average helpfulness rating of four out of five. Eight received coping cards and mindfulness education, while one tried chair yoga and found it extremely helpful, rating it ten out of five. Another woman showed interest in yoga and took a visual guide with different poses. Of the 20 printed pamphlets, 15 were distributed. Many residents were uninterested in yoga, likely due to the lack of incentives. Our limited rapport with them made engagement challenging, and better advertising could have increased participation. Our goal of reducing anxiety around the dental van services was only partially met since not all participants used our interventions. Coordinating appointments with activities was more difficult than expected, but we successfully provided therapeutic communication to one woman, which seemed to ease her nervousness.
Conclusion
In partnership with the agency, we addressed healthcare issues within the shelter related to the dental van. We encouraged utilization of the dental van for urgent oral health problems and provided an educational session on mindfulness and anxiety coping strategies, such as yoga and coping cards. The intervention was partially effective in reducing dental-related anxiety, with some residents benefiting from mindfulness activities.
References
Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Anheyer, D., Pilkington, K., de Manincor, M., Dobos, G., & Ward, L. (2018). Yoga for anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Depression and anxiety, 35(9), 830–843. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22762
Garfin, D. R., Amador, A., Osorio, J., Ruivivar, K. S., Torres, A., & Nyamathi, A. M. (2023). A multi-method exploration of mindfulness as a coping tool: Perspectives from trauma-exposed, unhoused women residing at a drug treatment facility. Stress and Health, 39(2), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3188
Maddock, A., Hevey, D. & Eidenmueller, K. (2017). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention with homeless adults: A pilot study. International Journal Mental Health Addiction, 15, 529–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-016-9718-7
Mago, A., MacEntee, M. I., Brondani, M., & Frankish, J. (2018). Anxiety and anger of homeless people coping with dental care. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 46(3), 225–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.12363
Padgett D. K. (2020). Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: Making the connections. BJPsych bulletin, 44(5), 197–201. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.49
Purkey, E., & MacKenzie, M. (2019). Experience of healthcare among the homeless and vulnerably housed a qualitative study: Opportunities for equity-oriented health care. International Journal for Equity in Health, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-1004-4
Santos, M., Feng, A., & Fitzpatrick, A. (2024). Washington had sixth-highest U.S. homelessness rate in 2023. Axios Seattle. https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2024/01/11/highest-homelessness-rate-federal-report
Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Nielsen, G. H., Brown, R. P., Jensen, J., & Silveri, M. M. (2018). Effects of yoga on thalamic gamma-aminobutyric acid, mood and depression: Analysis of two randomized controlled trials. Neuropsychiatry, 8 (6), 1923-1939. https://www.jneuropsychiatry.org/peer-review/effects-of-yoga-on-thalamic-gammaaminobutyric-acid-mood-and-depression-analysis-of-two-randomized-controlled-trials-12856.html
Wang, Y. C., Hsieh, L. Y., Wang, M. Y., Chou, C. H., Huang, M. W., & Ko, H. C. (2016). Coping card usage can further reduce suicide reattempt in suicide attempter case management within 3-month intervention. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 46(1), 106–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12177
Zhao, E. (2022). The key factors contributing to the persistence of homelessness. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 30(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2022.212010
The Effectiveness of Narrative Therapy with Marginalized & Vulnerable Populations
No full textA significant factor in the development of Narrative Therapy (NT) was to elevate the stories, values, strengths, and knowledge of problematized and often marginalized individuals. However, few empirical studies have focused on the application of NT with marginalized and vulnerable populations. Given this, the focus of the current study was to conduct a meta-analysis to determine if NT therapy is effective with groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, and other groups that have been historically vulnerable or disenfranchised. Preliminary results of this meta-analysis will be discussed in light of the aforementioned demographics
Externalizing Parts Through Play: Exploring the Effectiveness of IFS-Informed Therapy with Children
No full textThis research study explores the effectiveness of integrating Internal Family Systems (IFS) theory with play therapy for children aged 6-10 who have experienced domestic violence. Using weekly sessions over 10 weeks, the intervention focused on helping children externalize their internal parts through play. Pre- and post-assessments indicated improvements in emotional regulation, reduced behavioral issues, and stronger family connections. Findings suggest that IFS-informed play therapy may be a developmentally appropriate and trauma-responsive approach for supporting young children in processing complex emotions and experiences
Lighting up the Cell: Developing a Luminescent Lanthanide Probe for Detecting RNAs
Full text linkAn anion detecting luminescent probe, Tb:DO2A-Cs124, was repurposed for use in RNA imaging. Potential RNA aptamers were identified for the molecule using Capture-SELEX and MinION sequencing. Fluorimetry data revealed these aptamers did not allow for the probe to luminesce in the presence of target RNAs due to adenosine monophosphate’s ability to quench the emission signal
Visualizing Success: The Role of Visual Mathematics in Higher Education
No full textDespite being well-documented methods for supporting deeper understanding of complex mathematical concepts, visual mathematics remains underutilized in undergraduate higher education, where traditional equation-driven and memorization-focused approaches dominate instruction. Using data collected from pre- and post-intervention surveys and written reflections from 24 participants, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine how implementing visual representations into a college algebra course influenced students’ mathematical self-efficacy, confidence, perceived understanding of the material, and attitudes toward mathematics. Findings revealed that students who experienced the visual mathematics intervention reported notable improvements in their sense of preparedness, confidence in performing mathematics both numerically and visually, and their ability to understand the course content. Many also described positive changes in their beliefs about their mathematical abilities and in their overall attitudes toward learning mathematics. While these gains were not consistently captured through inferential statistical analysis, descriptive and qualitative evidence suggests the intervention contributed to meaningful growth in self-efficacy and perceptions of learning. The implications of this study extend beyond performance outcomes, highlighting the importance of designing college mathematics curricula that foster positive attitudes, reduce anxiety, and build confidence. Such strategies may help remove barriers to persistence and open greater access to mathematics-dependent majors and career opportunities for students who might otherwise be deterred by negative prior experiences with mathematics
“I will never be out with this campus”: Impacts of LGBTQ+ Microaggressions
Full text linkThis study reports on the results of a mixed method analysis on the experiences of LGBTQIA+ microaggressions experienced at a non-affirming Free Methodist affiliated university campus. The impact of religiously based LGBTQIA+ microaggressions on religion-sexuality conflict and, in turn strength of religious faith and sexual identity distress was examined. Further, I explored whether racial identity moderated the relationship between religiously based LGBTQIA+ microaggressions and sexual identity distress. Participants (N = 248) included students, faculty, and staff identifying as LGBTQIA+. Quantitative results suggested that that greater religion-sexuality conflict was associated with greater strength of religious faith (B = .239, p = .001) and sexual identity distress (B = .400, p = .000). Greater experiences of microaggressions were related to stronger strength of religious faith (B = .170, p = .008). Strength of religious faith and sexual identity distress were correlated (B = .122, p = .000). Post hoc analysis was conducted to explore religion-sexuality conflict as a possible mediator between strength of religious faith and sexual identity distress. Supporting the notion of a mediated model, there was a statistically significant indirect effect (B = .069, SE = .026, p = .008, 95CI [.021, .124]) in combination with a significant direct effect (B = .162, SE = .042, p = .000, 95CI [.080, .245]) and a statistically significant total effect (B = .231, SE = .049, p = .000, 95CI [.134, .326]). The model accounted for 27% of the variance in sexual identity distress. Qualitative results were analyzed using CQ-R methods and 8 domains were identified - including identities as inauthentic, religious-spiritual tolerance, identities as incompatible, emotional impact, not out, in response to coming out, environmental, and standout. Findings show that religion and sexuality are both important facets of people\u27s lives and when in conflict contribute to identity distress and greater engagement with one\u27s faith. This sample is pulled from one university in the pacific northwest, so results should be interpreted with that context in mind. Overall, findings emphasize the importance of addressing religion-sexuality conflict as a pathway for reducing distress for LGBTQ+ individuals in religious space