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Institutional Betrayal and Military Vaccine Mandates: An Inquiry into Loss of Health Autonomy concerning Unlimited Liability Contractual Employment in the Covid-19 Era
Get PDFThe balance between government control and personal liberty is a growing concern in the modern world. Nowhere is this more evident than in discussions surrounding government policy in public health and individual health autonomy. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many institutions to change their standard operating procedures by adapting to rapidly changing health guidance instituted to protect public health. These changes highlighted the role of health autonomy and individuals’ rights to refuse medical treatments. The Department of Defense changed many aspects of how it operated during the pandemic, including the mandate of the Covid-19 vaccine for all service members. For various reasons, a population within the Department of Defense disagreed with the mandate, and many of the mechanisms the military used to enforce the mandates were viewed as heavy-handed by service members. This mandate was particularly tough on specific populations of long-term service members, as they had little recourse to refuse the policy. Upon enlistment or commission, all service members agree to an unlimited liability contract that removes all control of their health autonomy. The only options available to refuse the vaccine were submitting an exemption or outright refusing and facing administrative separation or punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This study focuses on the loss of health autonomy felt by long-term service members in the Army that happened due to the policy changes associated with the institution of the Covid-19 vaccine mandate and how those policies contributed to feelings of Institutional Betrayal. The qualitative phenomenological study will focus on semi-structured interviews of eight long-term service members in the United States Army who showed signs of institutional betrayal due to the enforcement of the health mandate
Are We Okay? : Exploring Departmental Leadership Behavior in Higher Education Organizational Crises
Get PDFThis qualitative study explored how faculty in higher education institutions experienced their department leaders during organizational crises. With academic department leaders often appointed with little training for the role’s administrative challenges, they can be underprepared when a crisis befalls their institutions. A qualitative narrative design allowed 10 social work faculty from nine Christian institutions across the United States to share their stories of navigating internal and external crises. Data collection occurred primarily through semistructured interviews, with questions allowing for narrative elements of time, place, and sociality to emerge. Through reflexive thematic analysis, findings revealed four themes in faculty’s experiences with leadership during a crisis: needing informed agency and a sense of security while handling conflicting demands and constant change. Findings also revealed three themes in their experiences with leaders after a crisis: acknowledging what happened, adjusting to the new normal, and attending to well-being. Additionally, multiple leadership styles aligned with these findings, with adaptive and path-goal leadership approaches aligning across all themes and subthemes. Framed by behavioral leadership and leader-member exchange (LMX) theories, this study supported the importance of balanced attention to task and relationship behaviors and the value of followers feeling connected to their leaders. Findings from this study also aligned with research on the liminal space department leaders occupy as they navigate university pressures and faculty needs, supporting future attention to department leader training. This study provided insight into the practice of higher education department leadership and the value of taking action, showing care for faculty, and recognizing the impact of crisis and trauma on faculty and academic departments
Leadership Emergence Among Black Urban Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Ecploration
Get PDFThis study proposed to identify leadership strategies that assisted intimate partner violence-impacted Black women in urban areas to become leaders in their homes and communities as perceived by mental health professionals. Nine mental health professionals and counselors from an Ohio urban area completed a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview to provide data about Black women in intimate partner violence-impacted relationships living in a metropolitan area in Ohio. Deprived of valuable leadership resources and gifts that the women can offer their families and communities, investigators omitted the women\u27s plights in their studies. Four research questions framed this qualitative case study design approach. The critical paradigm or worldview, bolstered by the feminist theoretical school of thought, enhanced by the black feminist theory, supported the appropriate research focus. Quota sampling, consisting of the nine professional participants, comprised a convenience sample. The study utilized NVivo to provide a flexible, precise coding structure and assist in the thematic analysis process. Study results demonstrated that professionals brought women to higher heights by recognizing the women\u27s unique natures and exposing their cultural differences. The professional helpers embraced differences and employed them to develop appropriate goals, methods, strategies, and techniques to assist the women in overcoming challenges that threatened to destroy them. Future researchers should have medical or counseling credentials, include Black IPV-impacted women in more studies, and target more IPV-associated studies.
Keywords: Black, culture, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, resilienc
Strategies for Success: Developing the HERO Within to Increase Persistence of Community College Students Returning From Academic Dismissal
Get PDFStudents are enrolling in college at a higher rate than ever before, yet retention rates continue to be problematic for higher education institutions across the United States. Many students fail to persist beyond their first year and are often forced out due to academic difficulties. Students who return from academic dismissal are likely to be dismissed again. This quasi-experimental quantitative action research study aimed to evaluate the impact that a student success intervention course designed through an asset-based positive self-leadership framework and focused on the development of psychological capital constructs of hope, efficacy, resilience, and self-efficacy (HERO) had on the persistence rates for students returning from academic dismissal at a large community college in Texas. A sample of 44 students returning from academic dismissal were enrolled in one of two online intervention courses through random sampling methods, and the effectiveness of the intervention was measured through the evaluation of end-of-semester GPA, enrollment eligibility, and enrollment status in the following semester. Archival data were analyzed using SPSS, and both chi-square and logistic regression tests were run to address the research questions. The results of this study found that students exposed to the intervention had higher mean course grades, end-of-semester GPAs, higher persistence eligibility, and higher persistence rates, with 93% of those eligible to persist enrolled in the following semester, suggesting that self-leadership development through psychological capital may play a role in students’ persistence efforts after having experienced an academic failure. The results of this study added to the sparse literature on the impact of interventions that utilized positive psychological capital HERO to develop self-leadership on the persistence, retention, and degree completion rates of returning academically dismissed students
Encouraging Job Satisfaction and Teacher Well-Being Through Leadership
No full textAbstract
While U.S. schools are constantly hiring teachers, more are choosing to leave the profession. The increase in the exodus of teachers is particularly linked to the lack of teachers’ job satisfaction and well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine how leaders create favorable working conditions to encourage teacher well-being and job satisfaction, as perceived by teachers in rural Texas schools. The exploratory qualitative case study was framed in transformational leadership theory and explored a focus on the connection between leadership practices and teacher job satisfaction and well-being. The study utilized data from semistructured interviews with school administrators and questionnaires voluntarily submitted by teachers from rural schools with a variety of experiences. The overall findings revealed that aspects of transformational leadership behaviors and strategies were present and did effect teacher well-being and job satisfaction from the perspective of both the teachers and administrators. Teachers identified many behaviors and practices that were seen frequently and correlated to transformational leadership. In addition, administrators discussed transformational leadership strategies they utilized to improve organizational climate and teacher morale. Leaders who addressed meaningful tasks and implemented transformational leadership created more valuable changes and positive outcomes in several areas of the organization, including school climate, achievement, and teacher retention. Transformational leadership is a highly effective strategy that enhances administrator training and benefits the certification process to reduce teacher burnout and improve retention in the educator profession.
Keywords: transformational leadership, strategies, well-being, teacher, burnout, climat
Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places: Exploring the Implications of Teotl in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008)
No full textTaking Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008) seriously, Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places explores the animated children’s series and how it is understood through the monistic Nahua (Aztec) concept of teotl. Relying on James Maffie’s text Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion (2014), this thesis determines that Avatar: The Last Airbender benefits from monistic analysis. This analysis results in a breakdown of the show into four body chapters. These chapters respectively explore Aang’s role as a monistic representative, the differences between the physical and spirit worlds presented in the show, the kind of relationships that appear in the series, and the function of death and time in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe