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Vicarious Trauma in Counterterrorism Practitioners
Get PDFThose exposed to violence and trauma as part of their careers may experience significant distress; yet there remains a dearth of literature exploring occupational outcomes as a result of this exposure to violence, namely through the pathways of vicarious trauma (VT) and secondary traumatic stress (STS). The current study seeks to explore how violence and trauma exposure during one’s job in the counterterrorism workforce can lead to the adverse outcomes of VT and STS, which will in turn impact one’s job performance and job satisfaction. We use a mixed methods approach, using a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews to gain a comprehensive picture of how VT and STS affect this population. The quantitative survey consists of various validated scales measuring VT, STS, burnout, job performance, and job satisfaction, as well as questions regarding the types of violent/traumatic material practitioners are exposed to, as well as how frequently they are exposed (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly). Over the two-year course of the project, we amassed 469 survey responses (186 from counterterrorism professionals exposed to violence, and 283 from a control group similar in most demographic ways, who work in government, but are not exposed to violence) and 15 qualitative interviews. Our results suggest that exposure to violent material is positively related to higher reported levels of VT and STS. Moreover, those who reported greater levels of vicarious trauma and STS reported less job satisfaction and more counterproductive work behaviors on average. Similar themes arise in our qualitative interviews, with respondents reporting psychological distress and job burnout because of violence exposure. In our quantitative modeling, we control for burnout as a rival explanation and still find negative effects of exposure to violence on mental health job satisfaction/performance. Our findings suggest that those with more violence exposure do report higher levels of VT and STS, and those reporting higher levels of VT and STS also report lower job satisfaction and higher counterproductive work behaviors, suggesting our conceptual model captures these constructs in our sample
The NCITEr Newsletter August 2024
Get PDFNCITE (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education) is the Department of Homeland Security\u27s center of excellence for terrorism prevention and counterterrorism research. They are a federally funded academic consortium based in Omaha, Nebraska. Their newsletters covers the current news, activities, and updates of the center and the latest in counterterrorism research. NCITEr newsletter covers specifically center updates
Effectiveness of gym equipment cleaning by University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Student Wellness Center users
No full textStudents, alumni, faculty, and guests visit the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Student Wellness Center daily. Two frequent use areas are the North and South gyms. These gyms contain weightlifting areas with dumbbells and benches, as well as cardio equipments such as stationary bicycles and treadmills. Several factors may affect the bacterial diversity on equipment over time such as personal hygiene, surface cleaning, disinfection schedules of the facility, and number of people using the gym and each equipment type. However, it is also suspected that microbial communities could be unique to each gym area and equipment type. This study aimed to determine the microbial diversity on the surfaces of select gym equipments and how they change throughout the day in both the North and South gyms. Surface swabs of 3 treadmills, 3 benches, and 3 dumbbells from each north and south gym were collected upon the gym opening at 6 am. This sample collection was repeated for each equipment type and each gym again at 10:30 pm before gym closure. DNA was extracted from these samples and underwent PCR and submitted for sequencing of the 16SrRNA bacterial gene for identification of bacterial species. We are currently awaiting 16S sequence data for analysis. However, we expect to see differences between morning and evening microbial communities, due mainly to increased usage, across gym equipments. We also anticipate possible differences between North and South Gyms due to the equipment types and user traffic available at each
Housing Stability
Get PDFThis is a zine on housing stability. This zine was a group project for English 1150.
For the full version of the zine see additional files.https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/tellallthetruthspring2024/1008/thumbnail.jp
Botulinum Toxin Type A Injections May Improve Gait Kinematics Towards Typically Developing Values in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Preliminary Report
No full textChildren with cerebral palsy (CP) typically present with muscle spasticity that impairs walking. A common treatment to reduce muscle spasticity is botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injections. The effectiveness of lower-limb BoNT-A injections is typically performed with physical therapy assessments, however, they do not tell us how their walking is impacted following BoNT-A. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify changes in walking from baseline to 6-weeks after lower-extremity BoNT-A injection. Three children with spastic CP (age: 11.3 ± 7.0 years, height: 1.41 ± 2.7 m, weight: 55.1 ± 26.9 kg) who received lower-limb BoNT-A completed barefoot walking trials before BoNT-A injection and 6-weeks after to assess changes in their walking via root mean square (ΔRMS). Notable differences were observed in the sagittal (side profile) and transverse (top-down) planes of the ankle (Sagittal | T02: ∆RMSMA = 10.02°; T03: ∆RMSMA = -7.05°; Transverse | T03: ∆RMSMA = -28.11°; T07: ∆RMSLA = 9.36°), knee (Sagittal | T03: ∆RMSMA = -16.34°; Transverse | T07: ∆RMSMA = -8.58°, ∆RMSLA = 5.67°), and hip (Sagittal | T02: ∆RMSMA = 15.14°, ∆RMSLA = 5.64°; T03: ∆RMSMA = -19.29°; T07: ∆RMSLA = -7.87°; Transverse | T03: ∆RMSMA = 8.37°; T07: ∆RMSLA = 6.49°). Preliminary results suggest that BoNT-A injections could improve joint movement in children with CP towards typically developing values. To provide insight on BoNT-A’s short-term effectiveness on improving joint movement during walking, additional 3-month follow-up data are needed
Grasp
No full textGrasp is a sculpture depicting the feeling of longing, the fragility of the human body, and how we take simple things for granted
Questionable Takeout
No full textQuestionable Takeout is an illustrative piece inspired by the well known bird, the pigeon, and their unusual behaviors in nesting. Pigeons are not known for beautiful nests like most species but instead are known for their questionably poor methods of creating make shift homes with found objects. I wanted to showcase the intuitive nature of these birds and how they adapted to humans and our technology. This piece is illustrated on a 8”x10” cold press paper and painted in gouache
Teaching Self-regulation to SPED Students: An Intervention
Get PDFThis capstone project examined the impact of self-regulation and executive functioning skills of using a planner on eighth-grade students with missing assignments, who have mild to moderate learning disabilities, and other health impairments that impact their learning. Self-regulated learning strategies and executive skills, such as using a daily homework planner were explicitly taught during a five-lesson intervention to eight, eighth-grade Special Education (SPED) students during a Guided Study Hall class. The data was compared to students of similar ability who did not receive intervention. This study took place over three weeks; this study tracked rates of students missing work for one week before, during, and after the intervention. Data collected was analyzed and was found that with direct instruction on “What a planner is and how to use it effectively”, students’ missing assignments rates decreased
Assimilation Processes within the Puerto Rican Diaspora
No full textThis project delves into sociocultural dynamics and linguistic experiences of four Puerto Rican women living in North Carolina. Several studies focused on perceptions towards specific Spanish allophones typical of Puerto Rican Spanish, which are often associated with different degrees of sociolinguistic attitudes and stereotypes (Ortiz, 2022; Delgado Díaz, Galarza, & Díaz Campos, 2020; Mack, 2011; Marquéz, 2006; López Morales 2003; and some others). Though previous research has shown that speakers may adapt their use forms that carry social stigma as part of a process of assimilation to the dominant varieties when joining new communities (Woods & Rivera-Mills, 2012), less is known about these processes within the context of the Puerto Rican diaspora. This case study analyzes narrative interviews to illustrate some of the complexities of language use, negotiation of identity, processes of assimilation, and responses to social dynamics in North Carolina.
The four speakers participated in individual 40-minute semi-structured interviews in Spanish, which included open-ended questions on migration processes, experiences of cultural shock, experiences with other Spanish-speaking communities, language attitudes, and racial and linguistic discrimination. After transcribing the interviews, I utilized a Grounded Theory approach (Glaser and Strauss 1967) to identify recurrent themes in participants’ narratives. I then analyzed these themes through a raciolinguistic lense (Alim et al., 2016). In this project, the speakers reflected on their linguistic assimilation processes, often adapting their speech to fit “standard” regulations due to the negative interactions faced while living and working in North Carolina. These negative interactions provoked a conscious decision to build a “dual personality” – as stated by some of them - while trying to navigate linguistic norms within their contexts. Not only were they misjudged by their sociolects, but some of them were also racialized (Ahmed, 2002).
This case study contributes to the broader discussion on linguistic stereotypes and discrimination. Through its focus on in-depth analysis of personal narratives, this study highlights the importance of considering participants\u27 lived experiences in sociolinguistic analysis. Furthermore, these results reinforce the need to deconstruct perceptions of non-standard varieties as “impure” (Flores & Rosa, 2015; Leeman & Serafini, 2016)