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THE EXPERIENCES, PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF NURSING FACULTY TEACHING PAIN MANAGEMENT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
No full textPain management education is often threaded into various courses in pre-licensure nursing programs but the perspective of faculty teaching pain management, especially in the context of the current opioid epidemic, is relatively unexplored in the nursing literature. Pain management is a complex process and requires critical thinking and clinical reasoning. The changing paradigm of pain management and the current opioid crisis are of concern to nursing. In light of these factors, the major aim for the study was to discover through description and analyses, the experiences, perceptions and teaching practices of nursing faculty about teaching pain management content in pre-licensure nursing programs. The significance of exploring nursing faculty perspectives is related to evidence in the current professional literature that indicates a need to improve pain management education in pre-licensure nursing curricula. The qualitative descriptive approach allowed for a rich, detailed exploration of faculty perspectives. Content analysis indicated the need to approach pain management education from a perspective of relieving suffering and preventing harm to patients rather than focusing on the opioid crisis. Participants in this study viewed the opioid crisis as distinct from the legitimate use of pain medication. The findings indicate that participants teach the basics of pain management due to time and content constraints in nursing curricula. Participants’ teaching practice was based on experiential learning rather than formal education and often was heavily influenced by a seminal event in their own nursing practice.Doctor of Education (EdD)Nursin
Moon, Regardless
No full textMoon, Regardless is an 89,000-word dark crime novel, set in Rhode Island, that pays homage to the life and fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Told in the third person, Hap’s journey to find out what happened to his girlfriend while she was working at an allegedly haunted hotel plays off as an interpretation of the structure of the classic detective novel. The horror at the center of Moon, Regardless is the cult of killers, who believe they reflect humanity as it was meant to be: merciless and living off of pure, cruel instinct. They believe that humanity needs to be this way in order to stand up to otherworldly forces that view human beings as nothing more than angry, insignificant bacteria. As a result of this, the theme behind the horror in this novel is the existential dread that we are alone against forces that are greater than ourselves.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
LOVEGAME
No full textLoveGame is approximately an 83,000-word novel that reflects the battle of humanity versus nature and humanity versus technology through a female perspective. The main character, Raven, decides to fight her mother’s terminal illness by playing a virtual-reality game and attempts to mend her relationship with her emotionally estranged father. Raven represents teen angst and experiences parentification. Her father, Edward, represents adult fear and parental guilt. Their strained relationship is reflected in how they act around other characters throughout the novel. LoveGame explores the personal struggles people face and the sacrifices they are willing to make when death is imminent.THIS IS THE NEWEST VERSION! (ignore previous submission) Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
THE EFFECTS OF A SELF-EFFICACY BASED TREATMENT PROGRAM ON AT-RISK SECONDARY EDUCATION STUDENTS’ LEVELS OF GENERAL SELF-EFFICACY AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION
No full textThis study investigated the impact of a researcher created intervention on general levels of self-efficacy and achievement motivation of secondary education students within a district classified as at-risk. The design was experimental and utilized a pre/post-test comparison and a convenience sample of randomly assigned intact groups of tenth grade students (n = 59). General Self Efficacy and Achievement Motivation were measured to determine if a statistical difference existed in the mean scores of the groups after treatment.
Research Question One investigated if a significant difference existed between program types and students’ General Self-Efficacy with respect to gender. Results illustrated no significant main effect on general self-efficacy F(118.208) = .169, p = .683, partial eta squared = .003. Results identified a significant main effect in general self-efficacy between genders, F(5377.801) = 7.668, p = .008, partial eta squared = .122. Results identified no significant interaction between program and students’ general self-efficacy with respect to gender, F(6.174) = .009, p = .926, ƞ2 = .000.
Research Question Two investigated if a significant difference existed between program types and students’ Achievement Motivation with respect to gender. Results illustrated no significant main effect on achievement motivation, F(6397.806) = 1.262, p = .266, partial eta squared = .022. There was no significant main effect in achievement motivation between genders, F(542.461) = .107, p = .266, partial eta squared = .022. Results identified no significance in the interaction between program and students achievement motivation with respect to gender, F(12114.024) = 2.390, p = .128, partial eta squared = .042.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
Dividing Secrets
No full textDividing Secrets is an 80,000-word family-centered mystery novel set in Westchester, NY. The story is told through alternating close third-person perspectives between criminal defense attorney, Sophia Rossi, and her sister, Lucy. Dividing Secrets features blackmail, murder, and confronting the past in the midst of family tragedy.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
AN EXAMINATION OF HOME, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES OF HIGH-ACHIEVING DEAF ADULTS
No full textThis qualitative study investigated the academic, community, and family experiences of adults who are profoundly deaf. The deaf adults were categorized as high-achieving by having attended college post-high school. The intent of this study is to give teachers, parents, and other deaf students, insight into the factors responsible for contributing to the deaf adult becoming high-achieving.
This multiple case study design involved a sample of three profoundly deaf adults. Additionally, each deaf adult participant recommended one parent and one educator to participate in the study. The deaf adults, parents, and teachers each completed an individual demographic survey and participated in an individual semi-structured interview. The transcripts from the interviews were coded, to reveal underlying themes. The following five themes emerged: (a) obtaining resources, (b) acquiring communication, (c) garnering strengths, (d) determining educational placement, and (e) planning for the future.
Implications and recommendations for deaf individuals, parents, as well as educators and school systems were developed. Some of the implications from the study were: (a) If deaf individuals acquire self-advocacy skills, then they will have the ability to navigate in the hearing and deaf worlds; (b) if deaf individuals become involved in the deaf community, then they will have a stronger personal identity; and (c) if deaf individuals utilize multiple ways to acquire information, then they will enhance their academic outcomes.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
THE EFFECTS OF A GROWTH MINDSET INTERVENTION ON SELF-EFFICACY AND MOTIVATION OF ADOLESCENT SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether a growth intervention would improve adolescent special education students’ self-efficacy and motivation. The research was conducted in a middle school in the Northeast from January 2016 to June 2016. The convenience sample for this study comprised of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students receiving special education services in the area of reading. The study was quasi-experimental in design and included both a comparison group and a treatment group. Both groups received a pretest and a posttest in the form of a survey. While only the treatment group received a growth mindset intervention. Upon completion of the study, the survey results of the comparison and treatment groups were compared. The instruments were used to measure whether there were differences in the mean scores for self-efficacy and motivation in reading. Results suggested that a growth mindset intervention had a significant difference in motivation of adolescent special education students.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
THE EFFECTS OF SELF-REGULATION STRATEGIES ON READING COMPREHENSION, MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING, AND SELF-EFFICACY WITH STRUGGLING READERS
No full textThe purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effect of a self-regulation treatment on sixth grade students’ reading comprehension, motivation for learning, and self-efficacy perceptions.
The research took place in three urban schools in the northeast United States in the winter of 2016. The study’s quasi-experimental design utilized a sample of convenience in which students from three schools of one district were examined. There was one treatment group in which students received a self-regulation intervention and two comparison groups where students received standard support instruction within their general education classes. Data were collected using a pretest/posttest method. Self-efficacy, motivation for learning, and reading comprehension were assessed for all students in both the treatment and comparison groups prior to the intervention, and at the end of the intervention. Analyses examined treatment effects on reading comprehension, motivation for learning, and self-efficacy. Results from this self-regulation treatment did not reveal statistically significant results for the effect of self-regulation strategies or standard reading support program on reading comprehension. There was not a significant difference between observed and expected frequencies for motivation for learning for the Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance subscale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. There was a significant difference between observed and expected frequencies for motivation for learning on the Metacognitive Self-Regulation subscale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. An examination of the standardized residuals reveals that response four for the comparison group was the main contributor to this significant chi-square test. There was not a significant difference between observed and expected frequencies on the Progress subscale of the Reader Self-Perception Scale.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
The Familiars and Other Stories
No full textABSTRACT
The Familiars and Other Stories spans other times and other worlds: Michigan Territory during the War of 1812, Seleucid Palestine, feudal Japan, and a hidden world of horror in the contemporary Western United States. The protagonists vary as much as the settings, each character passionate and flawed in his or her own fashion. This collection reflects Ewan Cummins’s broad and varied interests in popular genre fiction, including fantasy, historical fiction, and horror.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
ANXIOUS: SAVING MY SELF FROM MY BRAIN
No full textANXIOUS: SAVING MY SELF FROM MY BRAIN is the story of a childhood and adolescence colored by depression and anxiety. In raw, personal moments, the memoir explores how untreated psychological problems impact a developing mind and can affect a young woman’s ability to identify her place in the world. In adulthood, Karen Veazey's conditions progressed into serious eating disorders, and eventually a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder which led her to check herself into a psychiatric hospital. Finally, with professional psychiatric care, at age thirty, her life began to make sense.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces