DTheses (Athabasca University)
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Seeking to improve collaborative capacity to enhance multilateral collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments
No full textOver the years, a number of efforts have been underway to enhance health care collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments. One of those more recent initiatives is the subject of this research – the Joint Action Plan to Improve the Health of First Nations in Alberta. The Joint Action Health Plan was developed in 2014 to enhance collaboration between First Nations of Treaty No. 6, Treaty No. 7 and Treaty No. 8 (Alberta), Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and First Nations and Inuit Health Branch – Alberta Region (Health Canada) to achieve quality of health services. This participatory action research was conducted by interviewing 25 mid-to senior level individuals involved in the development and implementation of the Joint Action Health Plan. The theoretical foundation used to ground this research is collaboration theory. More specifically, this research is anchored by Wood and Gray’s definition of collaboration and the three-phase process of collaboration (preconditions, processes and outcomes). This is supplemented by the work of Foster-Fishman and her colleagues on the four elements of collaborative capacity (member capacity, relational capacity, organizational capacity and programmatic capacity). This research seeks to inform practice by providing 11 recommendations and identifying three key elements to enhance health care collaboration. First, the need for civil servants in First Nations, federal and provincial governments to take into account the impact of colonization on collaboration. Second, the need for reconciliation to enhance relationships between First Nations and governments as well as more broadly between First Nations Peoples and Settler society in Canada. And, thirdly the need to address the knowledge gap of federal and provincial civil servants, especially non-Indigenous employees, as we seek to develop meaningful collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments. This research also contributes to research by: using collaboration theory within the context of health care collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments; highlighting the cyclical rather than linear nature of collaboration; adding values to the definition of collaboration; and, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the four elements of collaborative capacity.2018-0
Stories of High School Counsellors and Their Experiences with Youth with High Functioning Autism
Get PDFAwareness of autism spectrum disorder in the high school setting has become more prevalent in the last twenty years. School counsellors are in a unique position to support the social-emotional needs of youth with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger’s disorder, but at this point little is known about their experiences. By engaging in a narrative inquiry, I intended to gain a better understanding of the experiences of school counsellors who work with youth with HFA. Specifically, I interviewed three school counsellors and represented their experiences through story. Each story helps to illustrate school counsellors’ experiences with youth with HFA. I anticipate that these insights will contribute to the growing body of knowledge regarding school counsellors’ involvement with youth with HFA, help inform best practices, and generate awareness about the issues and factors that affect school counsellors to effectively help and support youth with HFA.2018-04-1
IMPACT OF POSITIVE PATIENT IDENTIFICATION ON MEDICAL LABORATORY PRE-ANALYTICAL QUALITY INDICATORS
Get PDFHospital identification errors can result in inappropriate treatment or diagnosis. In the laboratory, identification errors occur mainly during the pre-analytical phase and can carry through to the analytical and post-analytical phases. Positive patient identification (PPID) technology allows a phlebotomist to identify a patient using a barcode scanner, decreasing the risk of making an identification error. Lack of data on PPID’s efficacy and inadequate research on its return on investment have led to hesitancy to implement this technology. A retrospective one-group pretest–posttest design was utilized to determine the impact of PPID on laboratory quality indicators such as patient identification error rates and turn-around times at ABC Hospital in British Columbia. Patient identification error rates decreased to 0% after the implementation of PPID; however, sample collection turn-around times increased by 4 to 10 min.2018-0
DESIGNED ISOMORPHISM WITHIN AN ABORIGINAL HOUSING INITIATIVE: POSITIVE CHANGE AND GROWTH FOR ALL
Get PDFThis dissertation is concerned with research regarding the construction of a multi-family housing initiative involving groups of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers. The research builds upon a previous retrospective study which had reported on the isomorphic activity between individuals and organizations belonging to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups. This previous initiative involved cooperation between members of the construction industry in Alberta and an Aboriginal community, and resulted in institutional isomorphic outcomes which were generated through the experience, understanding and acceptance on individual and organizational levels of both groups. It was observed that organizational actions and context influenced cultural shifting within both parties, and assisted in dealing with project challenges. Unlike this previous retrospective case study, this dissertation research consists of a planned and conscious isomorphic and immersion process at the project’s outset, which continued throughout the project. This research examines whether this planned or “conscious isomorphism” has an impact with regard to the effective provision of new home construction for the Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal people in Canada. By extension, the research also adds to the body of knowledge with regard to Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal relationships and partnerships, to the adaptation of new employees into unfamiliar settings, and to the linkage between institutional theory and culture perspective.2018-0
The objective ear: a tool for assessing music education progress
No full textThe objective ear is an application that, given a pair of performances of a piece of music, judges the amount of progress made between the two performances. The application has two components: an evaluator and a classifier. The evaluator component analyzes each performance to generate a vector of metrics. These vectors are subtracted from each other to give a vector of differences. The difference vector is used as input to a decision tree, a machine learning classifier, which assigns a level of progress to the pair of performances. Testing of the classifier shows that the application provides accurate assessments and could be used in music education environments to aid students in assessing their progress, and to provide useful data on how music students progress.06/201
Educating undergraduate nursing students abroad
Get PDFMany Canadian nursing programs are offering student opportunities to study abroad as a part of their undergraduate education. This qualitative, descriptive research aims to address a gap in the literature by describing Canadian nursing faculty members’ perspectives on successful teaching methods used in study abroad programs. Five nursing faculty members affiliated with five institutions in Western Canada were interviewed. Two primary themes related to teaching abroad emerged from analysis: (1) pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings, and (2) teaching strategies and activities to facilitate students’ learning. While this research focuses upon describing teaching methods for undergraduate nursing placements, it also includes teaching methods for interdisciplinary, community health promotion and service learning. Teaching abroad is multi-faceted, and occurs in a vast variety of contexts. Findings are to be assessed by the reader for transferability to specific programs.2018-0
Simulated teamwork: A qualitative description of pre-licensure health care students' experiences
Get PDFToday’s complex and challenging heath care conditions require collaborative health care for better health outcomes and a reduction of adverse results. Simulated interprofessional education has been identified as a resource to meet this need. Simulation based interventions rather than lecture based collaborative learning can lead to improved attitudes towards teamwork and a better understanding of health professional roles. A thorough understanding of a student’s perspective is essential for designing successful collaborative care training, as the data can inform teachers on best practices in the instructing and learning of teamwork skills. This will enable educators to align and adapt curriculum objectives to achieve interprofessional education competencies. A qualitative approach has been adopted to gain insight and understanding of the experiences of pre-licensure health care students towards teamwork when exposed to a simulated interprofessional education program. This study employed qualitative description as the methodology for the data collection and analysis activities.2018-0
Identifying student difficulty and frustration from discussion forum postings
Get PDFThis work applies natural language processing techniques, like those used in sentiment analysis, to the data generated by students in a digital online learning environment to detect confused or frustrated students and alert instructors so that time-sensitive educational support can be provided. Utilizing a data set of 9,141 discussion posts collected from an Introduction to Java Programming course, seven types of classifiers were tested, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes, and Random Forest algorithms; it was determined that the optimum results for the data set was an SVM classifier using a non-linear Gaussian kernel, combined with a custom dictionary and noun phrase POS frequency count for feature vector identification and the determination of a relevance probability. The resulting application, TutorAlert, produced a promising F1 score of 0.79 and an accuracy of 0.83. Further, agreement values of 88% were achieved during inter-rater reliability testing between the classifier and human judges.2019-0
The Use of Communication Technology by Couples in Long-Distance Committed Relationships: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
Get PDFLittle is known about the role that communication technology plays in the relationship of committed couples who are physically separated. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experience of couples who identify as married, engaged, or common law, and their use of communication technology within the context of their relationship. A homogeneous sample of four couples were interviewed using a web-based group conference program which allowed the researcher and the two partners to meet together regardless of physical location. Data analysis revealed 17 subthemes situated within six superordinate themes: Advantages of Technology, Disadvantages of Technology, Relational Adjustment, Technology as Essential, Reaching Out, and Technology Medium. In addition, the couples’ perception of the longevity of their physical separation is explored. Limitations of the research, implications for practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.2018/1
Performance Measurement of Heavy Equipment Retailing Organizations A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Approach
Get PDFAbstract
Measuring and improving the performance has always been the center of attention of organizations. Organizations usually rely on different ratios to measure key performance. However, measuring performance by merely relying on ratios has its shortcomings. A more powerful tool in measuring relative performance is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA is a mathematical programming technique for determining relative efficiencies of peer decision making units (DMU) and the technical efficiency of individual DMUs. It is a data-oriented approach for evaluating the performance of DMUs. DEA has been successfully used in both public sector and private sector. One of the industries that have been greatly overlooked is the heavy equipment industry and its retailing organizations.
The main objective of the thesis is to develop models using DEA for measuring performance of heavy equipment retailing organizations. In this research performance measurement of heavy equipment retailing organization is evaluated by treating each branch (DMU) as whole unit and by analyzing the internal structure of each DMU. The organization under study is a Canadian heavy equipment retailing organization(HERO).
The four DEA models used in the study measures efficiency from different perspectives. Such a measurement provides a comprehensive framework for measuring the performance of HERO. The study helps in benchmarking and locating best practices that are not visible through other commonly used management methodologies in the heavy equipment industry.
The key findings of this research are: a) identification of branches that are efficient and inefficient b) Ranking of the branches based on super-efficiency scores that enable in benchmarking. d) The effect of environmental variables on the efficiency scores. f) Found that the efficiency of individual departments of the branch is less than the efficiency of the whole branch g) there is fluctuation in efficiency scores over a four-year period.
The contributions are a) facilitates in benchmarking b) enables inefficient branches to improve its efficiency levels c) identification of variables that affects efficiency scores. d) PEDMAS as a new tool to measure the performance of heavy equipment branches. e) Identification of factors that will assist in improving efficiency.
Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, HERO, Performance.2019-0