DTheses (Athabasca University)
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Dissonance, discord and the discourses of military trauma: Listening differently to “disorder”
Get PDFPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a pressing concern among members and veterans of the Canadian Forces, and the issue attracts chronic conflict. Diagnosis and treatment is dominated by the psychiatric definition; however, that model is not a pure distillation of biomedical epidemiology, but also the product of specific sociocultural and political discourses. Although the phenomenon of prolonged mental suffering in response to adversity is universal, the experience is narrated differently across different cultures. I investigated the discourse of military PTSD among (predominately Canadian) military members and veterans on social media. Participants spoke from a collectivist worldview, narrated PTSD as a disorder of progressive alienation and isolation, and prioritized loss of identity and connection over symptom checklists. They sought to claim a collective identity in which PTSD was congruent with their military role, rather than a disease of the individual brain, and they prioritized interconnectedness as the route to healing.2016-0
Determining the Accessibility and Effectiveness of an 8-Week Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Mindfulness Program in Reducing Symptoms of Burnout for Nurses: A Pilot Study
Get PDFChronic burnout has contributed to national nursing shortages. Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to reduce symptoms of burnout. However, barriers include a lack of trained facilitators and rigid schedules that cannot accommodate shift workers.
This thesis examines whether an 8-week online mindfulness program was accessible and effective in reducing symptoms of burnout for registered nurses working in an acute care setting. A non-experimental, before and after quantitative study design was used. A convenience sample of 11 registered nurses was recruited from local hospitals. The independent variable was an 8- week online program adapted from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Dependent variables were Maslach Burnout Inventory: Human Service Survey and Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. Of the 11 registered subjects, two completed the intervention and 1-month follow-up.
Due to the high attrition rate, data collected cannot be generalized. Summary regarding lessons learned with suggestions for combining technology and mindfulness-based interventions in reducing nursing burnout are provided.2016-1
Blended training for scientific software users
Get PDFThis research investigates training approaches followed by scientific software users whose goal is the reliable application of such software. A key issue in current literature is the requirement for a theory-substantiated scientific software user training framework that will support knowledge sharing among scientific software users, in a blended learning environment. Scientific software is used in research areas that can directly affect public safety, such as nuclear power generation computer systems, groundwater quality monitoring and engineering designs. This investigation of current software training practices employs Grounded Theory in a qualitative methodology. Snowball sampling as well as purposive sampling methods were employed. Input from 20 respondents with diverse education and experience was collected and analyzed with constant comparative analysis. The Scientific Software Training Framework that results from this study encapsulates specific aptitudes and strategies that affect the professional development of the users regarding scientific software applications, in a blended learning environment. The findings of this study indicate that scientific software developers and users should take into consideration three key parameters in the design of training techniques for successful application of scientific software: (a) Confidence in Comprehension, (b) Discipline (and Systematic Validity Procedures), and (c) Ability to Adapt.2016-1
Automatic identification of learning styles and working memory capacity from student behaviors using computational intelligence algorithms
Get PDFBy identifying students’ learning styles and working memory capacity (WMC) personalized scaffolding techniques can be used, either by teachers or adaptive systems to offer students individual recommendations of learning activities. Such personalization has been shown to have a positive effect on learning outcomes. Traditionally, learning styles and WMC have been identified by dedicated test. However, these tests have certain drawbacks (e.g., students have to spend additional time on them, etc.). Therefore, recent research aims at automatically identifying learning styles and WMC from students’ behavior in learning systems. This thesis presents an investigation into using different computational intelligence algorithms to build automatic approaches to more precisely identify learning styles and WMC. An evaluation of these approaches using real student data shows that most improve precision over existing leading approaches. However the best result for learning styles was a hybrid architecture improving precision styles to 80.4% and an evolving artificial neural network improving precision for WMC to 88.0%. By increasing the precision of learning styles and WMC identification, more accurate interventions can be made to better support students while learning.2016-1
A thematic synthesis of Community of Inquiry research 2000 to 2014
Get PDFThis meta-synthesis study examines the nature, focus, and context of the large and diverse corpus of research literature that has arisen from a highly utilized and cited distance, blended, and online learning framework, the Community of Inquiry (CoI). The heterogeneous thematic synthesis was conducted using a three-stage approach. In stage one, online and locally installed proprietary and open-source research software programs were used to identify and aggregate a collection of 1,515 empirical research artifacts citing the seminal article that introduced the CoI. This data set was cross-tabulated and analyzed to establish reliability of research publication sources.
Stage 2 examination reduced the collection to 910 journal articles, conference papers, books, book sections, masters theses, doctoral dissertations, and non-academic papers. These 910 artifacts were examined for study inclusion criteria and to determine seminal article citation use. Of the 910 artifacts examined, 581 (64%) were excluded from further analysis; 258 for nominal citation use, and 323 for study parameter deficiencies. In stage 3, the 329 artifacts that met inclusion parameters were re-examined to determine the level and intent of CoI citation use within each artifact.
The synthesis was conducted in three steps; the first step to identify “basic” themes, the second “organizing” themes, and lastly “global” themes. Iterative, inductive coding of the 329-item synthesis dataset identified 24 basic themes ranging from citations to attribute use of simple descriptions to more complex uses of adopting CoI tools as methodology or validation of the CoI framework itself. The 24 basic theme codes were then examined for similarities and differences in order to postulate 11 organizing themes. Finally, the 11 organizing themes were scrutinized from varying perspectives to articulate four global themes. The findings of this study show that the terms, concepts, processes, and tools described in the seminal publication are still germane to distance, blended, and online researchers and educators to define terminology, measure factors, introduce CoI-based concepts to positively influence learning conditions and experiences, and to validate or extend the framework itself.January 201
THE ROLE OF LEGACY IN IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN LONG STANDING ORGANIZATIONS: A CASE STUDY
Get PDFThe consensus in organizational change literature is that, over time, organizations become increasingly resistant to change. This observation occurs in several strands of institutional theory, often using different constructs or terminology. These different terms include structural inertia, institutionalization, imprinting, and path dependence. Although they are all somewhat different, I argue that these four constructs are really addressing a common issue and share a number of central and core components, each of which focuses on explaining the powerful roles of history, identity, and cultural embeddedness that reinforce the tendency of long-standing organizations to resist change.
I discuss the umbrella construct of organizational legacy to capture these shared components. I define organizational legacy as the narrowing of strategic choice and capacity to change that occurs as a consequence of an organization’s own successful history. I argue that, while prior research on resistance to organizational change has addressed individual components of organizational legacy, there is little actually addressing the holistic concept of legacy as a key factor in resisting organizational change. Moreover, few studies have addressed how legacy can be managed in a way that enables organizational change. My theoretical research question, thus, is “what is organizational legacy in Canadian Professional Accounting Organizations?” and my empirical question is “how can legacy be managed to facilitate organizational change?”
This study, which used the associations as the research field, observes the current and historical attempts to unify the Canadian accounting profession, specifically focusing on how the elements of history, identity, and cultural embeddedness result in strong organizational legacies. Increased external pressures, including slowing domestic population growth, global competition, and lack of differentiation, are forcing accounting associations in Canada to change in order to maintain viability, and eliminating institutional barriers between the associations is currently at the forefront of strategic planning for the accounting profession in Canada. By examining past unification attempts, the study achieves a thorough understanding of how powerful cultural norms can affect change efforts and why institutional entrepreneurs need to be strong change agents when faced with organizational legacy.2016-0
The ubiquity of suffering: Role of dichotomy in psychology’s forces and populations
Get PDFSuffering is arguably the ubiquitous human experience and is potentially related to the tendency toward dichotomy. The field of psychology has evolved across the four forces, which are a variety of zeitgeists from which human behaviour is explored and understood. The common thread across this evolution stems largely from dichotomy, particularly as related to client populations who are highly inherently dichotomous. This research explores the following question: What is the role of dichotomy in the experience of suffering, specifically with respect to highly inherently dichotomous client populations, as viewed across the four forces of Western psychology? Analytic induction (AI) is used to explore this question, and to craft a seminal and comprehensive metatheory. The final hypothesis, amended according to the continual accommodation of exceptional data, demonstrates the manner by which the field of psychology views suffering, dichotomy, and the experiences of clients hailing from highly dichotomous populations.2016-0
Let’s talk about sex: Counsellors’ experiences of actively integrating sexuality into counselling practice
Get PDFCreating a bricolage of a narrative conceptual lens and thematic analysis of the data, this inquiry explored the experiences of three Canadian counsellors who actively integrated sexuality into counselling and aimed to add to the literature by answering the following question: What are the experiences of counsellors who actively integrate sexuality into their counselling practice? Two broad overarching stories emerged from the data: (a) counsellors’ practice of integrating sexuality into counselling (including themes of conceptualizing sexuality, nature of practice, barriers, and development) and (b) counsellors’ experiences of this practice (experiences, development, and observations of clients’ issues and experiences). The findings may help address gaps in sexuality counselling by encouraging counsellors’ comfort and competence through training. The study was limited by not investigating the experiences of counselling students or clients. Future research may evaluate the effectiveness of sexuality training of counselling students and practicing counsellors.2016-1
Telepresence Robot Enable Remote Lab in Distance Education
Get PDFHow to conduct lab work in distance education creates a new paradigm shift for online universities. This thesis proposes the use of telepresence robots for remote lab work. There are three main contributions in this thesis. The first contribution is the development of a telepresence robot that is the main component of the telepresence robot based ubiquitous computing platform. The one developed gives an example of affordability, scalability, compatibility, and customizable for the applications. The second contribution is the design and implementation of the telepresence robot system architecture. This telepresence robot system architecture provides an implementable framework for the research, particularly focusing on the telepresence robot implementation for remote lab in distance learning. The third contribution is the validation process of the developed telepresence robot based ubiquitous computing platform under the distance educational scenarios. This contribution tests the feasibility of using such a telepresence robot in a remote lab environment.March 10, 201
Nursing workload and its relationship to patient care error in the paediatric critical care setting
Get PDFPatient care error has been identified as a leading cause of death and disability. Nurses have reported a perception that increased workload contributes to these errors. Although previous studies have added to the understanding of a possible relationship, the evidence has been inconclusive. This prospective observational study looked at identifying patient care error and assessing a possible correlation with a patient specific workload measurement tool. A statistically significant association between nursing workload hours and patient care error was identified. Further findings indicated that a significant number of patients required nursing care in excess of what was suggested that one nurse could provide. Understanding the complexity of the critical care environment and the implications of workload as a contributing factor to patient care error and its related human and fiscal cost can help inform organizations as they seek to deliver best-practice care for the patients and families that they serve.2016-0