PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Public Health

Internationally, human trafficking is a growing, $150 billion industry. It is estimated that 40 million people are being trafficked at any one time. Human trafficking is often referred to as modern-day slavery. Because of the hidden nature of the crime, definitions, estimates, and data about it are lacking. All human trafficking definitions include a victim being involuntarily forced into labor or sex acts through force, fraud, or coercion. At least 99% of victims have health problems, making victims one of the least healthy groups of people in the world. In addition to a host of individual health concerns and untreated chronic conditions, victims are disease vectors. They have alarmingly high rates of communicable infections (including sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS, and may share needles used for drugs). They frequently live in close quarters and in unsanitary conditions, causing public health concerns among other victims and nearby communities. According to the literature, 88% of victims of human trafficking are seen by a healthcare provider. However, victims are too infrequently identified. These are missed opportunities. As the healthcare system's first line of defense, nurses have a unique opportunity to identify victims and provide essential interventions. Education, though, is key to recognizing and assessing red flags, identifying victims, and providing interventions. Teaching large numbers of nurses is a huge undertaking, which creates challenges in developing the best approach to reach those nurses. Nursing faculty are in a position to teach huge numbers of new nurses about human trafficking and the role of the nurse in assessing, identifying, and providing victims for victims. This study examines this group of nurse educators. In this study, a modified version of the previously developed PROTECT questionnaire was used to measure nursing faculty members' actual knowledge, perceived knowledge, and confidence about teaching h (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2014, Higher Education

National predictions forecast a significant shortage of registered nurses by 2020, with one of the major causes of the shortage being a lack of qualified nurse educators. Predictions for the state of Ohio mirror the national picture; however, there is little research about nursing faculty in the state, or their intentions related to their academic role. This dissertation analyzed what factors, if any, predict intent to leave academe within five years. Participants included 426 full-time nursing faculty from 60 public and private, not-for-profit nursing programs in Ohio, including both pre-licensure and advanced degree programs. A web-based survey was used to obtain faculty data. Blocked stepwise regression analysis revealed four significant predictors of intent to leave academe within five years - age, years ago highest nursing and non-nursing degree were earned, and overall satisfaction. The results of the research can be used to guide the development of strategies to retain nursing faculty in academe in the state of Ohio. Future research should be encouraged to explore the underlying issue related to the faculty shortage and its implications for the nursing shortage.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Higher Education Administration

This study investigated the factors contributing to intention to leave academia among full time nursing faculty in the United States. The current study was grounded in Role Theory, which served as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the research questions that were examined within the context of this dissertation. This theory is concerned with understanding the different roles people occupy within society, each with a set of expectations. When individuals find that they are balancing multiple different role expectations and these expectations are at odds, this can lead to conflict. Role conflict can lead to job dissatisfaction and disengagement from work, which can result in attrition (Boamah et al., 2022). A convenience sample of 319 full-time nursing faculty was recruited using electronic communication with selected programs and crowd sourcing via social media. Participants completed a 52-item Qualtrics survey containing demographic items in addition to items from the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC©), Work Life Balance Self-Assessment Survey, and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to examine group differences by intent to leave academia, years in nursing education, and academic rank on Burnout, Resilience, Personal Life Interference, and Mental Persistence. A binary logistic regression was then used to identify the best predictor of intent to leave among full time nursing faculty. The findings of the ANOVA show that while there is not an interaction effect for intent, years in nursing education, and academic rank on the four subscales, there is a statistically significant main effect for intent to leave on the personal life interference and burnout subscales, with a moderate effect size. These findings were bolstered by the logistic regression with personal life interference and burnout as statistically significant contributors to the model with personal life interference emerging as the best pr (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree Program in Population Health Leadership DNP, Xavier University, 2024, Nursing

Burn injuries are considered a global cause of morbidity and mortality (Fuzaylov et al., 2021). Increased incidences of burn-related injury have been found to coincide with the lack of community burn prevention programs (Fuzaylov et al., 2021). In this DNP scholarly project, findings are presented specific to the implementation of a pop-up community burn prevention event in the city of Norwood, Ohio. The following PICO(T) question was asked, are community members in Norwood, Ohio more likely to improve and implement individual fire safety and burn prevention interventions after participation in a community burn prevention program? The scholarly project assessed validity, reliability, and self-efficacy specific to the introduction of fire safety and burn prevention education via teach back and a self-assessment survey following the implementation of burn prevention education specific to fire extinguisher use, smoke detector operation, and mapping out a home fire escape plan. A total of 43 individuals participated in the burn prevention pop-up event. Of the 43 community members, 37 individuals completed and returned the questionnaire. Six community members opted not to participate in the post education assessment. Of the study participants measured, 38 individuals were able to correctly perform the PASS method of fire extinguisher operation, 41 individuals were able to demonstrate competence of smoke detector operation, and 35 individuals were able to correctly map out the correct exit sequence on a home escape map. Of the study participants measured, 31 individuals correctly identified that smoke detectors should be tested once monthly, 30 study participants were able to correctly identify the Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep process of fire extinguisher operation, and 30 study participants noted improved self-efficacy of fire safety/burn prevention knowledge. Study findings noted improvement in individual implementation specific to fire safety/burn prevention i (open full item for complete abstract)

DNP, Kent State University, 2024, College of Nursing

Background: Due to the nature of their work, psychiatric nurses at Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital (NOPH) encounter traumatic and emotionally exhausting situations almost every day. This exposure increases work-related stress, trauma, and vulnerability to compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout. CF and burnout can result in emotional and physical fatigue that affects one's ability to care for others. One can increase resilience and compassion satisfaction (CS) by identifying CF's early indications and symptoms and mastering efficient self-care techniques. Aim: This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project aims to bring awareness to psychiatric nurses at NOPH about CF and burnout and educate them on ways to improve resiliency and compassion satisfaction as professional nurses. PICOT: How do psychiatric nurses at NOPH (P) who are at increased risk for CF benefit from a webinar-based educational intervention (I) to identify and reduce symptoms of CF and improve compassion satisfaction (O) one month after intervention (T) compared to pre-intervention (C)? Design: Psychiatric nurses completed Professional Quality of Life surveys (ProQOL 5) (Stamm, 2010) before and one month after an educational intervention designed to teach about CF and self-care strategies. Comparisons of ProQOL scores, which measure compassion satisfaction and CF (burnout and secondary trauma scores), determined if an educational intervention effectively improved CS and reduced CF (significance level at p<0.05). Implementation Plan/Procedure: Psychiatric nurses received a one-hour educational intervention on CF via their work email. The educational intervention's contents included TED talks, PowerPoint presentations on the extent of the CF problem, common symptoms, and outcomes, and resources to combat CF, such as mindfulness. Nurses were given pre- and post-intervention ProQOL 5 along with a demographic survey. Surveys were administered pre-intervention and one month after inte (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Communication and Information

To competently perform nursing care at a high level while maintaining patient safety, newly hired graduate nurses need to understand each organization's unique sociotechnical culture and how this culture shapes their nursing behaviors towards health-IT usage and safety competency. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between pre-licensure nurses' informatics competencies and the influence of healthcare experience in modern day complex adaptive system's sociotechnical culture to describe informatics and safety competencies in students. A descriptive, correlational cross-sectional study of 178 Bachelors of Nursing (BSN) students from 3 Midwestern and1 Pacific Northwest BSN schools using an online survey was undertaken. The Self-Assessment of Informatics Competency (SANICS) scale and a subset of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS™) Hospital Survey were used to quantify the degree of association between student informatics competency and safety competency. The findings reveal pre-licensure work experience was associated with an increase in both nursing informatics and safety competency when compared to students without pre-licensure work experience. There was a positive correlation between perceived usefulness of technology and nursing informatics competency but not with safety competency. Higher BSN grade level was a predictor of higher nursing informatics competency but not a predictor for safety competency. Nursing informatics competency was a predictor of higher safety scores explaining 12.9% of the variance in patient safety (R2 = 0.129, F(1, 176) = 26.04, p < .001). Having a nursing informatics course was not associated with improving overall nursing informatics competency or safety competency. Nursing informatics competency was positively associated with improvements in safety competency. All members of the healthcare team including administration, students, faculty, and staff should understand that there are benefits of exposure to (open full item for complete abstract)

MA, Kent State University, 2020, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

This study investigates the gendered experiences of military nursing during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Military men began to view nurses as mother figures or stand-ins for masculinity at a point during the pandemic when they were too ill to be masculine themselves. During the outbreak, soldiers stopped viewing nurses as objects of desire and romance, instead viewing them as stand-ins for their mothers or as heroes. When doctors and military officials praised their bravery, they did so by using masculine terms and comparing them to soldiers while at the same time emphasizing their femininity and innate tendency towards caretaking. After the outbreak, these perceptions of nurses reverted to how it was prior to the pandemic, but a brief window had been opened. Nurses used their work to fight for gains for nursing as a profession and were able to create lasting institutional change when they did so. The experiences of nurses, and the gendered changes in discourse about them, ultimately reshaped and restructured the field of nursing in the early twentieth century.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

This study surveyed 114 registered nurses throughout Ohio to determine if there was a relationship between patient acuity and perceived fatigue. Also examined for a potential relationship to perceived fatigue were nurse-patient ratios (NPRs) and the method by which nurse-patient assignments (NPAs) were created. In addition, participants were asked to rate 15 nursing tasks to identify which imposed the most fatigue. Two validated fatigue scales, the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) and the Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery (OFER) scale were used to capture participants perception of fatigue at their workplace. Results indicated that the interaction between patient acuity and NPR was significantly related to FAS ratings while NPR had a significant relationship to acute fatigue on the OFER scale. It was concluded that most nurses experience substantial fatigue, with high acuity patients having an overall greater impact, according to FAS ratings. OFER scale ratings suggest nurses only exhibit higher levels of acute fatigue for assignments containing more than five patients. For scheduling practices, it was recommended that NPAs shall contain fewer high acuity patients than lower acuity patients to minimize FAS ratings. Additionally, OFER-AF suggests that assignments should contain no more than five patients to mitigate the absence of lower acute fatigue levels.

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2019, College of Education and Human Services

Qualitative naturalistic descriptive methodology was used to describe how pre-licensure nursing students and clinical nurse educators perceive students learn to clinically reason in the clinical education setting; and, to learn how clinical time is utilized to develop clinical reasoning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among ten students who were enrolled in junior level courses in traditional and accelerated baccalaureate nursing programs and eight clinical educators, who taught junior level clinical courses, at the same Midwestern university school of nursing. The findings from this study revealed rich data that warranted analyzing student and educator perceptions separately, though some similar ideas emerged. Using thematic analysis, 93 thematic categories from student nurse perceptions and 71 categories from clinical educator perceptions were discovered with six (6) overarching themes emerging, three from each participant group. The themes were from student perceptions were: “Tying It All Together,” It's All About Learning, and The Environment Influences Learning. The themes from clinical educator perceptions were: Instructor at the Core, Clinical Educator Perceptions Differ, and Approaches to Teaching. This study found that students perceive the development of clinical reasoning (1) is profoundly influenced by the clinical educator's level of commitment to their success; (2) is shaped by teaching strategies that are grounded in sociocultural, constructivist, and adult educational theory that promote higher order thinking; and (3) is encouraged by supportive learning communities of discourse that encourage peer collaboration and focus on the tenets of the nursing process while utilizing reliable resources. Clinical educator perceptions reveal they (1) do not recognize the influence they may have in developing clinical reasoning and professionalism in nursing students; and (2) are committed to student learning and value humanistic behavior but are in (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Gerontological Studies, Miami University, 2017, Gerontology

Ohio has an older population who are more likely to live alone than other states. Older Ohioans are at higher risk of nursing home admission. Additionally, a recent study shows that nursing homes in Ohio have lower quality compared to the rest of the United States. Hence, improving nursing home quality in Ohio is paramount in the field of aging services. The goal of this current study was to identify factors that affect nursing home quality in Ohio using data from the 2013 Biennial Survey of Long-Term Care Facilities in Ohio for Nursing Facilities and 2013 fourth-quarter archived data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Five-Star Rating System. Not-for-profit facilities with a low proportion of Medicaid days were more likely to be high performers in Health Inspection, Staffing, and Overall domains. Small facilities were more likely to be high performers in Staffing and Overall domains. Facilities that had no administrator turnover were more likely to be high performers in Health Inspection. Non-chain affiliated facilities performed better in the Staffing domain. Facilities with low STNA retention rates were at higher risk of receiving one- or two- star ratings in Overall. Implications for consumers, policy makers, and providers are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, English (Arts and Sciences)

Only relatively recently has paid nursing come to be viewed as a respectable profession for women. Early-nineteenth-century literature describes hired nurses as low-class, slovenly women who smoked, drank, and abused their patients. Middle-class British society feared that hired nurses were low-class, ignorant, unsympathetic, unfeminine, and too independent from men. Beyond Nightingale examines how literature from the early nineteenth century through the early twentieth century helped alleviate these fears and altered the public perception of nursing by presenting paid nurses as middle-class women who were sympathetic, selfless, and subservient to doctors. Many authors suggested that nursing ability was not dependent upon natural femininity or personal character, but relied on training and experience. By altering the public's perception of paid nursing, literary portrayals of nursing facilitated its transformation from an extension of the feminine, domestic sphere into an efficient medical profession for women. Beyond Nightingale examines works by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, William Thackeray, and L. T. Meade, among others, to challenge the prevailing myth that Florence Nightingale single-handedly reformed nursing in the mid-1850s. Using World War I propaganda, periodicals, novels, and memoirs, Benham also explores how the desire for efficiency was encouraged and contested in literary portrayals of nursing from 1900 – 1918. Great War nursing literature emphasized efficiency as the most important objective in nursing care. As a result, sympathy was increasingly devalued because it hindered the efficiency of the medical machine. This tension between sympathetic and efficient care has not been resolved, but continues to plague the medical profession today. Beyond Nightingale considers not only traditional literary works, but also a variety of non-literary archival sources including nursing manuals, sanitary pamphlets, women's periodicals, and Voluntary Aid Deta (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Nursing Practice , Case Western Reserve University, 2015, School of Nursing

Providing care for individuals residing in nursing care (NC) facilities can be exhausting. Residents enter NC facilities to either, rehabilitate and return home, or live out the remainder of their lives. Unfortunately, most residents do not return home and eventually, die in NC facilities (Lindner et al., 2007). Nursing assistants are frontline caregivers for these residents, and unfortunately, have little-to-no training in stress, coping, and grief management (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2008). The training provided for nursing assistants may or may not prepare them for the needs expressed by NC facility residents and can perpetuate the development of compassion fatigue (CF). CF is used synonymously with secondary traumatic stress and is defined as the physical, emotional, and spiritual result of chronic self-sacrifice and/or prolonged exposure to difficult situations that renders a person unable to love, nurture, care for, or empathize with another's suffering. CF can negatively impact the well-being of nursing assistants and diminish their ability to provide optimal care (Abendroth & Flannery, 2006; Alkema, Linton, & Davies, 2008; Bush, 2009; Coetzee & Klopper, 2010; Potter et al., 2010; Stewart, 2009). However, research supports spirituality as a positive influence regarding: health promotion; meaningful work; coping; and grief and stress management (Hurlbut, Robbins, & Hoke, 2011; Kazemipour & Amin, 2012; Kelley & Chan, 2012; Shinbara & Olson, 2010). Nonetheless, there is little research regarding CF and spirituality among nursing assistants working in NC facilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the levels of both CF and daily spiritual experience, and the relationship between the two, among nursing assistants working in NC facilities. Ninety-five participants working in five NC facilities in Arkansas and Missouri completed the questionnaires. Participants ranged in age from 18-to-72 years. The sample was 91.4% female with 74.7% working l (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Higher Education (Education)

Nursing education programs are faced with the challenge of finding innovative ways to accommodate the growing interest in nursing programs. Educational programs in nursing are lacking the resources to adequately educate the number of students applying for admission. This study seeks to identify predictors of academic success in an LPN program at a two-year public technical college.Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the research questions for this study. The overall model was 92.7% accurate in predicting academic success in the nursing program. Variables that were significant included math assessment test scores, age, GPA in anatomy and physiology, GPA in psychosocial courses, and GPA in pharmacology courses. The results indicated that early intervention strategies in the areas of academic support and tutoring could be developed to increase program completion rates.

DNP, Kent State University, 2013, College of Nursing

The United States healthcare system is rapidly changing and patient safety and quality indicators continue to be of primary significance as the current paradigm emphasizes prevention of patient harm and quality improvement of healthcare delivery processes. As the nursing profession continues to make the necessary adaptations in response to these challenges, an education to practice gap has been identified. This gap, which is the inability of the graduate nurse to effectively transition into practice, has significant ramifications for all healthcare stakeholders and indicates that it is necessary for nursing education to undergo fundamental transformation. One specific component of nursing education programs, the clinical practicum, has been identified as providing a potentially effective and innovative way to facilitate the development of successful transition into practice. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) scholarly project evaluated the effectiveness of a practicum evaluation tool in measuring the nursing students' actual readiness for clinical practice. Data for this study was obtained from 47 Preceptor Contribution to Evaluation of Student (PCES) tools from an associate degree in nursing (ADN) program. An analysis of the data obtained from the index total results, the written comments frequency distribution and the correlation between the index total and written comments indicated that the current PCES tool is ineffective in providing the information related to students' ability to meet the practicum objectives and successfully transition from the education to practice environment. Based upon these results, a revised PCES tool was developed that will be trialed and evaluated for utilization in the ADN program in the future.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Nursing: Nursing - Doctoral Program

Background: Many children are directly and indirectly affected by the opioid epidemic and the consequences of opioid use during pregnancy through prenatal opioid exposure. Prenatal opioid exposure is associated with adverse neonatal and long-term outcomes and may develop into neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Although recent reviews largely suggest negative outcomes after prenatal opioid exposure, they are limited by the heterogeneity of identification methods used to ascertain exposure. The impact of varying identification methods on the prevalence and outcomes of exposure is not clearly understood. The use of big data and larger data linkages in nursing science may help illuminate the impact of varying identification methods used to ascertain prenatal opioid exposure. Aims: This three-manuscript dissertation aimed to (1) discuss the use and potential of big data for nurse scientists, (2) conduct a scoping review of the varying identification methods in current literature, and (3) perform a secondary data analysis of a large integrated data to explore the prevalence of prenatal opioid exposure across identification methods to inform research, practice, and support children and families impacted by prenatal opioid exposure. Methods: The first manuscript was a discursive paper that provided an introductory guide for leveraging big data in nursing research. The second manuscript was a scoping review that synthesized the various identification methods used to ascertain opioid exposure in the United States over the last decade. Insights from the scoping review generated three identification methods leveraged in the third dissertation manuscript: (1) Maternal data (e.g., toxicology and diagnoses), (2) Infant data (e.g., toxicology and diagnoses), and (3) Combined method using maternal and infant data. The third manuscript was a secondary data analysis of a large perinatal linkage database in the Midwest to explore the prevalence of prenatal opioid expo (open full item for complete abstract)

DNP, Kent State University, 2024, College of Nursing

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Although this is an avoidable cause of death, every forty seconds in the United States someone suffers a heart attack. Awareness of the risk factors that lead to traumatic cardiac events are a necessity to inhibit a recurrent event or mortality. This Quality Improvement project focused on nurse-led patient education for patients who have had ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) using the ABCD Risk Questionnaire. The ABCD Risk Questionnaire assesses patients' knowledge and perceptions of their risk factors that contribute to an acute cardiac event. This QI project had a total of 52 participants. There were no readmissions for STEMI within thirty-days for any of the participants. The participants showed an increase in smoking cessation, decrease in alcohol consumption, and decrease in weight during the follow-up evaluation phone call with the investigator. All participants were compliant with their dual antiplatelet medications, and most complied with Cardiac Rehab upon discharge. The only area not statistically significant was patient self-efficacy with a p value of 0.173. This may have been due to the realization of the patients' mortality once the thirty-day follow up occurred, compared to the initial STEMI period as patients' feelings and understanding of their mortality and modifiable risk factors. Nurse-led education using the ABCD Risk Questionnaire is efficacious in improving patient knowledge of cardiac risk factors.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Wittenberg University, 2024, Nursing

This paper includes a literature review on several aspects of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome including types, risk factors, prevention techniques, and nursing roles. This literature review was performed to assist in creating a 14-question survey sent to nurses through Facebook groups, Sigma Theta Tau, and professional connections. The survey was laid out to investigate what the key aspects of SUIDS are, what information is taught well, what information needs to be improved upon, and what personal experience the participants have had. In general, safe sleep was found to be the most essential component of SUIDS education and the lack of standardized protocols causes discrepancies among those providing the education. Researchers concluded that hospitals should implement standardized protocols to make certain that parents and guardians are well prepared in how to prevent SUIDS events when possible.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Nursing: Nursing - Doctoral Program

Background: Expert literature reviews and evidence synthesis, such as systematic, scoping, or integrative reviews, represent some of the highest levels of evidence in the health sciences. There is a paucity of research concerning the methodology of integrative reviews, which are prevalent in the nursing literature. Because integrative reviews may incorporate the retrieval, appraisal, and synthesis of a variety of evidence types (empirical [quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methods], non-empirical, theoretical, and/or methodological), the integrative review is a somewhat unique type of evidence synthesis. While there is a growing body of literature concerning the methodological rigor of integrative reviews in nursing, advancements in methodological tools are lacking. Purpose: The overarching aim of this dissertation research is to develop and test an appraisal tool to assess the methodological and reporting elements of nursing integrative reviews. The Integrative Review Methodology Appraisal Tool (IRMAT) appraises whether recommended methodological elements are present in published integrative reviews in the nursing literature. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to identify methodological elements of nursing integrative reviews. The 210 methodological elements identified from the scoping review were coded and thematically analyzed to align to the Ellis Model of Information-Seeking Behavior, which resulted in 34 items being generated. Generated items were analyzed by a panel of five nursing integrative review experts for face and content validity. The subsequent version of the tool was used by 204 survey participants and two independent raters so that construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and inter-rater reliability could be analyzed statistically. Results: The expert ratings were used to calculate content validity at the item level using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Twenty-eight items demonstrating sufficient conte (open full item for complete abstract)