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"Once I Felt I had a Choice, I Didn't Choose Religion": A Qualitative Analysis of Meaning in Religious Dones
No full text‘Religious dones’ are a significantly growing group of people who have left their religion (Streib, 2021). The current study examines the process individuals go through while leaving their religion and how it relates to their religious identity, community, and meaning system. Religious meaning systems are the ways in which religious things, events, and relationships connect mentally (Park, 2013). Fourteen participants between 18 and 54 Years-Old, all formerly Christian, and all with some college education were interviewed in a qualitative existential phenomenological study. Participants were asked eleven questions in a semi-structured interview. Transcripts of the interviews were divided into meaning units, with transformative analysis occurring using intentional analysis and empathetic dwelling to identify shifts in meaning that occurred. This analysis uncovered a cycle of meaning making in which individuals engage. The cycle begins with a major stressor which is processed by the individual’s meaning system. If the stressor is processed by the meaning system, stability is achieved and the meaning system does not change. However, if the meaning system cannot process the stressor, this becomes a stressor itself and the cycle begins again. With each cycle, the person modifies their meaning system. This cycle can challenge the person’s meaning system, identity, and/or community, leading to a person leaving religion. The participants who were interviewed not only challenged their meaning systems, but also their values and core beliefs. ‘Religious dones’ were unable to engage with this meaning cycle until moving into adulthood and into a career or college study. Once a stressor manifests in this period, the cognitive dissonance and trauma returns and overwhelms the individual, resulting in mental health struggles and a loss of identity, community, and meaning. With this model, further efforts can be made to develop a clinical framework to assist those transitioning between religious meaning systems. Further research can examine how the inability to engage with this meaning cycle may contribute to Complex PTSD
A Systematic Examination of Texas School District Websites for Suicide Prevention Information
No full textYouth suicide and related behaviors continue to be a significant public health concern in
the United States as the 2nd leading cause of death for the 10–14-year-old age group in
2020 (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2022). Suicide was the 3rd leading cause of
death for the 10–24-year-old age group in 2020 (CDC, 2022). Youth Risk Behavior
Survey (YRBS) data from the CDC in 2019 showed that nearly one in five youth (18.8%)
had seriously considered attempting suicide and 8.9% attempted suicide (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). Schools can reduce youth suicidality by implementing suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policies (Erbacher et al., 2015 Miller 2021;
Singer et al., 2018). Research has examined public health approaches to youth suicide prevention (Horowitz, 2020), clinical treatments for suicidal adolescents (McCauley et al., 2018), and safe-messaging strategies around suicide prevention initiatives (Pirkis et al., 2017; Torok et al., 2017). Students and their parents may turn to school staff to seek
help and accurate information about youth suicide prevention. However, there is no examination in the literature on what, if any, information is accessible to parents and students about suicide on school district websites. This study describes and quantifies the
suicide prevention information available on a random sample of Texas school district websites. The findings of this study highlight that overall, 53% of the sampled district websites contained any suicide prevention information. Of the websites containing suicide prevention information, the most frequent pieces of information listed were numbers of suicide prevention hotlines
A Study of Texas Public Charter Schools Funding Allocations and Student Achievement
No full textThe purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between public charter school funding allocation and student achievement. The study included a review of archived data utilizing five years (2018-2022) of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Charter Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (e.g., financial accountability and administrative cost ratio), Public Education Information Management System (e.g., payroll expenditures, facility maintenance and operations expenditures, and superintendent salary), and Texas Academic Performance Reports (e.g., student achievement) of a purposeful sample of Texas Public Charter Schools (TPCS). Texas Public Charter School Superintendents were also interviewed to better understand the relationship between funding allocation and student achievement. Results indicated a positive correlation between medium-sized TPCS and (a) administrative cost ratio and (b) personnel expenses with student achievement. However, the results did not indicate a positive correlation with small-sized or large-sized TPCS. Additionally, the results did not indicate a positive correlation between financial accountability, operating expenditures, and superintendent salary for any sized TPCS. Alternatively, superintendents expressed that school funding regarding these themes: (a) strategic priorities, (b) teachers’ retention and support, (c) financial accountability, and (d) facility management have an impact on student achievement
Teaching Mands for Competing Stimuli as a Strategy to Mitigate Satiation
No full textA common intervention for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement is the noncontingent delivery of high-competition stimuli (i.e., NCR) identified in a competing stimulus assessment (CSA). For some treatment-resistant behaviors, free access to these stimuli does not yield substantial reductions in problem behavior. For these individuals, augmenting the procedures with response promotion and disruption tactics may come to establish competing stimuli. These items are then used in a subsequent treatment package based on NCR. A limitation to NCR alone is the impact satiation may have on treatment effects. The purpose of the present study was to address this limitation by teaching individuals to recruit access to new competing stimuli to mitigate satiation effects. Experiment 1 replicated the augmented competing stimulus assessment (A-CSA) for seven participants with behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. Only three participants required procedures beyond free access and at least five competing stimuli were identified for all participants. Experiment 2 evaluated the long-term efficacy of competing stimuli during NCR with four participants. They were then taught an omnibus mand for competing stimuli as a way to counteract satiation and maintain therapeutic effects. For three participants, reductions in the target behavior were sustained for at least the last nine consecutive treatment sessions, and two out of three participants acquired functional mands for competing stimuli. Experiment 3 sought to demonstrate the utility of mands at the point in which satiation previously occurred during NCR for two participants. For both participants, mands were effective in mitigating the effects of satiation and increasing the duration in which access to competing stimuli remained an effective intervention
The New Forest School: Rituals of Resistance and Re-Memberment in Life on the Margin (Bogotá, Colombia)
No full textBy way of exploring how pillars of transnationalism, faith, and history are harnessed by migrants as a means to purposeful ends in potentially hostile urban environments, this study proceeds to investigate the religious phenomena that occur at the intersections of devotion and diaspora, belief and history, and gender and generation within the divergent migrant enclaves of Bogotá. Specifically, this study asks: If and how is [diasporic] religion operationalized among Bogotá’s migrant undercaste and how is it tied to resistance and hope? Furthermore, how do contemporary contours of Structural Violence and Deathworlds impact the rise and survival of such religions? More precisely, how have aspects of two uniquely syncretic and diasporic religions, Cuban Santería and Maria Lionza (from Venezuela), been deployed and subsequently altered (or rather, extended) by migrant devotees in Bogotá and for what purpose(s)? Within the various contexts of this study, ”Rituals of Resistance” and “Re-memberment” are defined respectively as transcendental reformations/survival mechanisms and as the process of reclaiming (or reframing) historical, subconscious influences/modes of feeling that have been lost and/or transplanted due to dynamics of diaspora. From a set of five ethical encounters, which utilize the kinetic ethnographic tool of Street Phenomenology “Go Alongs,” a myriad of historically-deep and culturally-broad conceptualizations, via these individuals’ transitory experiences, of what the sacred is and where it can be found come to light. Appropriately so, with the intent to understand why and how the aforementioned extensions of tradition occur alongside movement, this analysis duly applies an ontological microscope to both initiated and liminal spaces and imaginaries that have deftly avoided it; while the noted increase of subaltern, diasporic religious influences in Colombia’s ciudad cosmopolita continue to be largely neglected in scholarly discourse beyond the prevailing quest to uncover bundanga (the mysterious)
Navigating Challenges with Tenacity: Examination of Early Childhood Teachers’ Perseverance for At-Risk Student Populations
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to explore the unique and lived experiences of early childhood educators, in the context of their perseverance and dedication to the teaching profession amidst diverse challenges. This study sought to delve deeply into the theme of tenacity, focusing on the motivating experiences and characteristics that drove these educators to persist and demonstrate commitment in their roles. This study includes a review of data collected from interviews of early childhood elementary teachers who teach at-risk student populations. A purposive sample of 10 early childhood teachers was interviewed. The interviews provided an in-depth understanding of the teachers’ lived experience in teaching and the motivators behind their resilience and persistence. The findings of this study are expected to contribute knowledge about experiences of early childhood educators, offering a deeper understanding of what drives and sustains educators in challenging teaching environments. The recommendations should serve as valuable contributions to the field of early childhood education, offering both academic and practical insights that can inform policy, practice, and future research
Utilization of behavioral health within a Patient Centered Medical Home model for childhood Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).
No full textAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common pediatric referrals in primary care. Standard of care treatment for ADHD includes stimulant medication, behavioral therapy, and school interventions. However, traditional biomedical primary care settings often fall short in providing these services in a single setting. Instead, patients have to seek services from many providers throughout the community. Health disparities including race/ethnicity and gender are associated with limited access to primary care and behavioral health services for children with ADHD. The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model could help underserved communities receive access to ADHD treatment. In this model, primary care physicians work collaboratively with behavioral health specialists to provide services. This study investigated ethnic and gender differences in behavioral health services as measured by the total number of outpatient visits with primary care providers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and master’s-level behavioral health specialists at a PCMH setting versus a traditional healthcare setting (comparison group). This study also investigated the likelihood of receiving ADHD medication management under a PCMH model compared to a traditional healthcare model, after controlling for gender and ethnicity. Data for this study was derived from an existing Medicaid database of patients seeking behavioral health services. A total of 2,724 cases were analyzed; 1,362 from PCMH and 1,362 from traditional fee-for-service clinics in the community. Results from this study suggest the number of encounters with behavioral health increases when psychology is integrated within primary care as opposed to a traditional setting. There was a main effect with regard to ethnicity, suggesting that those who identify as White have more encounters than Hispanic and African Americans, regardless of setting. There was also a statistically significant interaction with ethnicity and type of provider seen suggesting that the type of provider is influenced by a family’s ethnicity. Finally, the likelihood of patients receiving medication was 37.6% greater at a PCMH setting than traditional setting. The current findings suggest having psychology integrated in primary care increases access to an interdisciplinary treatment plan for ADHD. Future studies should investigate the barriers African American and Hispanic families encounter that affect the number of completed visits
The Moderation Effect of Gender Role Orientation on the Relationship Between Sex/Gender and UPPS-P Impulsivity Facets
No full textPrevious research has shown that males and females show strong differences in certain impulsivity facets, specifically sensation seeking and negative urgency. Various theories exist to explain these differences. While biological theories are rooted in ideas that males and females are predestined to be different from each other, social theories provide a counter position, where differences between males and females differ are created by society through social influences. These social influences facilitate the creation of gender role constructs, or gender role orientation—socially-sanctioned male and female behavior via concepts of masculinity and femininity. Differences seen in sex/gender for some impulsivity facets might be rooted in varying levels of masculinity or femininity. Since most sex/gender measures are limited to capturing only sex assigned at birth, and therefore do not include other elements of gender like social roles or social expectations, differences between males and females might have been overlooked or misinterpreted. This study aimed to better understand the influence of gender role orientation (GRO) on impulsivity as measured by the UPPS-P model, defined by five facets of impulsivity: 1) negative urgency, 2) [lack of] perseverance, 3) [lack of] premedication, 4) sensation seeking, and 5) positive urgency. Our study found that levels of GRO did moderate the relationship between sex/gender and impulsivity. Findings suggested that sex/gender incongruency (e.g. where GRO does not align with sex/gender) was associated with higher impulsivity. Masculine females and feminine males might be at greater risk for negative outcomes related to three UPPS-P facets: negative urgency, positive urgency, and [lack of] perseverance
A Study of the Effectiveness of Statewide Mandated Professional Development
No full textThe purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the impact and effectiveness of state mandated professional development on participant knowledge and practice while highlighting participant experiences with the professional development. This study utilized embedded pre and posttest module scores of 64 participants and interview data from ten participants who attended the blended model of the Texas House Bill 3 Reading Academies during the 2021-2022 school year. The quantitative results of this study indicated statistically significant growth in teacher knowledge based on the pre and posttest module scores on all modules except establishing a literacy community. The qualitative data revealed four major themes and four subthemes. The major themes were conflicting experiences with professional development, challenges with delivery/modality of professional development, background experience makes a difference in professional development, and professional development implementation. Within the delivery theme, the following sub themes emerged: authenticity, feedback, collaboration, and time. The results revealed overall negative experiences and some impact on classroom practice. Additionally, interview data revealed the Texas House Bill 3 Reading Academies blended model of delivery as ineffective for some participants while effective for few participants for various reasons. The research concludes with implications for campus, district, and state leaders and recommendations for future research
An Examination of the Relationships Between Parent-Professional Partnerships and Parental Empowerment for Students Who Received Special Education Services Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between parent-professional partnerships and parent empowerment for elementary students who received special education services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Elementary parents in southeast Texas who had children who received special education services throughout the COIVD-19 pandemic when children participated in online learning were solicited to complete Family-Professional Partnership Scale and the Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM). The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and a Pearson’s product-moment correlation (r) to determine the relationships between parent-professional partnerships and parental empowerment for elementary students who received special education services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The solicited parents were also invited to participate in individual interviews. Findings indicated that a high number of parents felt empowered to meet their child’s overall needs throughout the pandemic, and that parents highly perceived parent-professional partnerships as influencing their relationships with professionals throughout the pandemic. Results also showed that as parent-professional partnerships increase, parental empowerment also increases