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Exploring Benefits and Barriers That Impact the Implementation of Pediatric Facility Dogs in Child Life Clinical Programs
Get PDFThe utilization of facility dog interventions is a quickly growing practice among healthcare facilities across the country. Facility dogs have the ability to provide support, a calming presence, and socialization to patients. This intervention is increasingly popular within child life departments at pediatric hospitals. Child life specialists, who are healthcare professionals that provide psychosocial care to pediatric patients and their families, utilize facility dogs to help pediatric patients cope with hospitalization and medical treatments. The implementation of a child life led facility dog program can come with potential barriers and benefits.
The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits, barriers, and educational backgrounds that impact the implementation of facility dogs into child life clinical programs. An exploratory-descriptive qualitative research design was used to explore the benefits and barriers to implementation. Semi-structured interviews were collected from 17 child life led facility dog programs, which included the perspectives of 29 child life specialists. Data was collected using 11 individual interviews and 6 focus groups in order to gain a broad range of experiences from child life facility dog handlers. Braun and Clarke’s method of thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data. Four major themes emerged including: Pathways to Paw Prints: Navigating the Journey to a Facility Dog, Paws in Action: Adapting to a Facility Dog Inclusive Environment, Growing the Pack: Fostering Sustainable Development, and Beyond the Leash: Cultivating Future Facility Dog Handlers
Effects of Postural Position, EEG Asymmetry, and Temperamental Style on Cognitive Task Performance
Get PDFThe literature shows hemispheric asymmetry in individuals corresponding with temperamental style. Those with greater right-frontal activation tend towards withdrawal/inhibition and those with greater left-frontal activation tend towards approach/activation (e.g., Davidson, 1992). Other literature suggests that greater right-parietotemporal activation is associated with increased arousal (Heller, 1993; Wolfe & Bell, 2014). Temperamental style has been linked with cognitive performance with approach-oriented temperaments being associated with both higher and lower performance depending on the task requirements (Khan et al., 2024; Wolfe & Bell, 2007). Literature further suggests that postural position (e.g., sitting, standing, lying down) may influence feelings of approach/withdrawal and cognitive processing. To explore the combination of these variables, college student participants completed a series of cognitive tasks in seated and supine positions while wearing an EEG device. Participants also reported their temperamental style (i.e., ATQ; Evans & Rothbart, 2007). Results showed relationships between temperamental style and performance on all cognitive tasks. Low approach participants performed better in the color Stroop, emotion Stroop, and verbal fluency tasks. High approach participants performed better in the backwards digit span task. Further, there appeared to be trends toward larger temperamental style differences on cognitive tasks in the seated positions that were minimized in the supine conditions; however, due to the small sample size, our results should be interpreted with caution. Finally, findings from our single EEG participant were consistent with what might be expected based on the literature (i.e., higher arousal, anxious anticipation in the baseline condition and less aroused, attention focused during the task condition). These results suggest a viable research program and paradigm. Future research should replicate this study with increased sample size and functional EEG
Intersectionality & Higher Education : Theory, Research, & Praxis
No full texthttps://scholarworks.bellarmine.edu/fac_book_gallery/1099/thumbnail.jp
Synthesis of Trisubstituted Bismuth Complexes for Future Research
No full textBismuth, a relatively inexpensive heavy metal with low toxicity, has the potential to be used in medicines and anticancer drugs. This project is exploring bismuth complexes with ligands based on chalcones, which are a type of small organic molecules with known anticancer properties. Preliminary results on a bismuth-chalcone complex indicate that substituted aryl bismuth complexes have better anticancer activity than triphenylbismuth or the chalcone ligand on its own. A series of trisubstituted bismuth molecules were synthesized using a BiCl3 Grignard reaction under a nitrogen atmosphere with different substituents to provide electron donating groups, electron withdrawing groups or bulk. X-ray Crystallography was used to characterize the crystallized products and show the helical chirality with both Δ and Λ enantiomers appearing in a racemic mixture. Crystal structures also showed close to 90º C-Bi-C bond angles resulting in an exaggerated trigonal pyramidal geometry unique to heavy main group element bonding. The series of molecules is to be used in future research to determine if the substituent on the bismuth impacts the anticancer qualities of the bismuth-chalcone molecule
Schism, Synodality, and Communion in the Contemporary American Catholic Church
Get PDFDivisions in the American Catholic Church have resulted in widespread dissent from Catholic moral teaching. In response to this dissent, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has used the language of communion to bar dissenting Catholics from the Eucharist, which is to push them to the margins of the Church. In contrast, Pope Francis has used the language of communion to welcome dissenting Catholics to the table through the Synod on Synodality. This thesis explores the theological implications of these different approaches to communion. It argues that the people of the Church must embrace an understanding of communion open to difference and disagreement to heal the divisions afflicting the Church
An Investigation of the Validity of a Framework Constructed to Predict and Facilitate Upward-Stability
Get PDFThis study is an investigation of the validity of the theoretical assumptions of a programming model which posits that it is not income but rather a collection of personality and dispositional constructs which provide the foundation of an economically stable life, and that empowering those in poverty to improve their economic situation must begin with these constructs or will be a failed effort. The author provides a review of significant literature supporting the idea that these constructs are associated with better outcomes in many aspects of life. The author then provides original investigative research utilizing a self-administered, 40 item agree/disagree survey (N = 2000) scored on a five-point Likert scale. Phase 1 of the analysis, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, demonstrated that the manifest measures were satisfactorily valid and reliable predictors of the latent constructs. The pathway analysis of phase 2, which utilized multiple iterations of Structural Equation Modeling, produced a final modal which confirmed that six of the eight constructs were statistically significant predictors of Socio-Economic Status (SES). The largest of those was Health with a standardized coefficient of .634 and a z score of 14.7. Health was followed by Growth Mindset (Coef = -0.238; z = -4.79), Support (Coef = .330; z = 3.05), Self-Advocacy (Coef = -.287; z = -2.51), Models (Coef = .260; z = 2.36), and Faith (Coef = .082; z = 1.81). The constructs Self-Control and Future Orientation were not found to be statistically significant in their relationship to SES but were included in the model because of their covariant relationships to other constructs, both being significant mediators of Health among others. The data supports the assumption that improving an individual’s capacity to utilize these constructs will lead to an improvement in their SES, which serves as a proxy for stability
Despertando del Sueño Americano: U.S. Policies Influencing Cartel Profitability from Undocumented Border Crossing
No full textDue to U.S. border policies limiting safe and lawful passage, cartels have developed an industry in the U.S.-Mexico border that supplies crossing services to migrants, utilizing coercive means to regulate the market and profiting from migrant’s desperation to enter the country. This study combines economic and ethnographic research to describe the human smuggling industry and the impact it has in the migrant journey. Scarcity, inelastic demand, black markets, and monopolies are economic concepts used to understand the operations of these services. Observational research and interviews conducted in the Sonoran Desert are also included to present this topic humanely. Background on cartels’ presence in Mexico and information on migration action over the Trump and Biden administrations are included to further theorize the connection between border policies and cartel activity