High stress levels are experienced by student nurses throughout their professional education, with the chaotic ever-changing clinical environment being a predominant source of stress. Clinical nursing faculty have a critical role to recognize the stress their students experience in the clinical environment and understand its significance. A…

This dissertation explores the online learning experience of graduate students with visual impairments and their perspectives on this newer method of learning. Case study methodology was adopted to describe and analyze participants' perspectives from three lens: (a) participants' personal attributes, (b) support sought from participants' social…

For African American (AA) male musicians, the road toward career advancement in the entertainment industry is particularly arduous. Despite many difficulties on the journey to career success, the history of gospel, R&B, jazz, and funk music is evidence that many AA male musicians find their way to develop and advance their careers. Many AA…

Young children's social and emotional skills (SE skills) are highly predictive of the ease with which they transition to kindergarten as well as their success in the K-12 school system and in life after graduation (Belfield et al., 2015; Blair, 2002; Denham, 2006; Denham et al., 2014; Graziano et al., 2007; Jones et al., 2017; Moffitt et al.,…

Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, this dissertation study seeks to examine how African American women in senior administrator roles at a member institution of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) in Alabama describe their experiences as to how they developed a leadership style. Historically, the number of…

Since 1970, with the passage of Act 195 of 1970, collective bargaining in Pennsylvania has been an integral process in public schools (PSBA Bulletin, 2010). The success or failure of that process extends beyond the contract's duration; it becomes engrained in the school's culture and is noticeable to those who work, study, and live within the…

Reading comprehension emerges as an important skill set in the early elementary grades. It is supported by component skills including decoding, linguistic knowledge including vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, as well as more complex, higher-level components such as inference making and comprehension monitoring. Theoretical understanding of…

This quantitative study examined the perceptions of members of Oklahoma public higher education governing boards and legislators concerning higher education governance. The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding among the participants as to the role governing boards should play in the system. The population for the study…

The use of health information and health information technology by consumers is a major factor in the current healthcare systems' effort to address issues related to quality, cost, and access. Patient engagement in the healthcare process through access to information related to diagnoses, procedures, and treatment has the potential to improve…

Adolescents' defender and outsider behaviors in classroom bullying situations, which involve various kinds of participant roles, are likely determined by individual characteristics, social status variables, and classroom/school contextual factors operating simultaneously in the peer ecology. Despite increasing attention in anti-bullying…

Psychologists have become increasingly interested in the intra-individual variability of psychological measures as a meaningful distinguishing characteristic of persons. Assessments of intra-individual variability are frequently based on the repeated administration of self-report rating scale instruments, and extreme response style (ERS) has the…

Educational legislation mandates that all students, including those with disabilities, be provided a free and appropriate public education (IDEA, 2004). Students with low-incidence disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders and cognitive disabilities, may have challenging needs that often warrant additional support (i.e. a paraprofessional)…

This dissertation, using a heuristic self-search inquiry (HSSI), provides a research vehicle for creative personal exploration seeking insight into the process of self-transformation with the intention of ultimately targeting the catalyst for life transformation. The study seeks to answer the research question: How does the use of drawings in an…

This research applied current thinking in the fields of positive education, positive youth development, and global education to a culturally-relevant, social-emotional learning curriculum. The Kenya Education Empowerment Project (KEEP) curriculum facilitated social-emotional learning through dialogically-based classroom lessons and opportunities…

This qualitative narrative study critically explores the pathways, racial identities, and mathematical identities of the transfer experiences of black male engineering students. Thirteen engineering students between the ages of 21 and 25+ were purposely selected for semi-structured interviews. The participants transferred from various community…