Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2021, Psychology

Rising rates of mental illness in the college student population are a cause of concern that needs to be addressed to effectively support students. One promising opportunity for intervention is facilitating emotional flexibility and reducing emotional inflexibility among college students. The present study examined the relationships between emotional flexibility and emotional inflexibility, and variables related to well-being and mental illness in a college population. Undergraduate students at Wittenberg University (N = 100) completed a brief online survey measuring emotional flexibility, emotional inflexibility, coping strategies, thriving, anxiety, depression, stress, and burnout. Participants were also invited to complete a follow-up survey four weeks after the original study to explore potential changes in these variables over time. Participants higher in emotional flexibility scored lower on anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout and scored higher in problem-focused coping strategies and thriving. Participants who were higher in emotional inflexibility scored higher in anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout and lower in problem-focused coping strategies. Emotional inflexibility was also positively correlated with emotion-focused coping strategies, avoidant-focused coping strategies, and thriving. These findings support a strong positive relationship between emotional flexibility and well-being in this population. Future experimental studies are needed to establish causal relationships, but the results of this study are consistent with the proposed benefits of interventions that promote emotional flexibility in a college student population.

Committee: William Davis (Advisor); Nona Moskowitz (Committee Member); Stephanie Little (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; Mental Health; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2021, College of Education and Human Services

African American (also called Black American, or Black) students' performance in higher educational institutes reveal critical issues concerning their matriculation through higher education. A 2014 report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on cohorts of university students from 2004 to 2007 showed the graduation rate of Black students was 20 percent while White students' graduation rate during the same period of time was 40 percent. African American male students had the lowest graduation rate; of all African American males who enrolled in four-year higher education institutions from 2007 to 2013, only 8 percent graduated (www.nces.ed.gov). To support African American students, Black Cultural Centers (BCCs) also called African American Cultural Centers, were instituted around 1960 as supportive entities for Black students on many higher education predominantly White institutions (PWIs). However, in spite of the advent of BCCs on college and university campuses, the high dropout rate among the college Black student populations in predominantly White institutions (especially male students) has persisted (Harkavy & Hodges, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of African American undergraduate male students in an urban predominantly White institution campus (PWI) to explore how (or if at all) the Black Cultural Center prepared and assisted them in negotiating the barriers posed by the PWI's campus-cultures and enabled them to achieve academic success. The use of instrumental case study qualitative research approach including semi-structured interviews, and study of archival documents provided insight and in-depth understanding of the issue. It revealed the answer to the overarching research question: In the context of PWIs, what meaning do African American male students enrolled in higher education give to the Black Cultural Centers or African American Cultural Centers? The sample of five student-participan (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Catherine Hansman EdD (Committee Chair); Mittie Davis Jones Ph.D. (Committee Member); Anne Galletta Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; African Americans; Behavioral Psychology; Black History; Black Studies; Continuing Education; Education; Ethnic Studies; Families and Family Life; Higher Education

Bachelor of Arts, Capital University, 2021, Psychology

When students leave for college, they experience a significant change in their routine. These new life changes can give rise to factors that contribute to signs of anxiety and depression. A report of data from 2016 to 2017 revealed that the top five reported issues among over 150,000 surveyed college students were anxiety (62.2%), depression (49.7%), stress (45.5%), family (30.1%), and academic performance (26.8%) (Newhart et al., 2019). Of these issues, research has looked into identifying the causal factors of mental health strains on students. I took a different approach, and I aimed to correlate levels of depression and anxiety with specific class standing in college. The survey attempted to determine whether depression and anxiety increase or decrease throughout the four years of an undergraduate program, as well as analyzed potential differences between men, women, and transfer students. This survey also examined the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on depression and anxiety in college students. I conducted this survey with the expectation that depression and anxiety decrease when progressing through college, with the highest levels of these disorders occurring among first-year participants. In addition, females and transfer students will report higher levels of depression and anxiety. Lastly, I expected students to report a significant change in symptoms of depression and anxiety after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Based on the results, I identified potential causal factors and methods of treatment determined by previous research in an attempt to bring awareness to these two mental health disorders. Due to the transition to college that first year students experience compared to the stress that comes with preparing for a professional career at one's fourth year, it is important to note the prevalence of these two disorders across class years.

Committee: Kimberly Heym (Advisor); Andrea Karkowski (Committee Chair); Stephanie Gray Wilson (Committee Chair) Subjects: Psychology; School Counseling

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2020, School Psychology

Anxiety is on the rise in the world today. The American College Health Association (2018) surveyed 31,463 college students and found that 60.9% of the respondents had experienced overwhelming anxiety at some point within the last 12 months. Social media use has become more and more rampant, with research suggesting that the majority of people in the United States use social media in some form. Media literacy, which incorporates the ability to critically assess and interpret digital content, is a topic are that is increasingly becoming of interest with the pervasiveness of technology. The present study examined the relationship between social media use, media literacy, and anxiety in first-year college students. A sample of (n = 82) first-year college students was surveyed to investigate these variables. Results indicated a significant relationship between social media use and anxiety as well as between social media use and media literacy. No significant relationship was found between media literacy and anxiety. Implications for how educational professionals can serve students based on these results are discussed in this paper.

Committee: Elana Bernstein Dr. (Committee Chair); Sawyer Hunley Dr. (Committee Co-Chair); Ronda Scantlin Dr. (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Continuing Education; Counseling Psychology; Curricula; Demographics; Developmental Psychology; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Evaluation; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Educational Tests and Measurements; Elementary Education; Higher Education; Mental Health; Psychological Tests; Psychology; Quantitative Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research

MS, Kent State University, 2017, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

The purpose of this study was to compare food safety knowledge among undergraduate hospitality majors versus nutrition majors. The four hypotheses included there being a difference in food safety knowledge between hospitality management majors and nutrition majors, between freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors within each major, between participants who are ServSafe certified and those who are not, and participants with food service experience and those without. This was a non- experimental, two-way factorial design, with independent variables including major and education level of student. Dependent variables included food safety knowledge on five subsections of food safety and total food safety knowledge. Undergraduate nutrition majors and hospitality majors completed the statistically validated Food Safety Knowledge Questionnaire, FSKQ. The scores for each scale, which corresponded to a section in the test, were calculated by adding the total points earned within each section. Means and standard deviations for knowledge scores from each section were reported along with the total. Data was analyzed using SPSS software with significant data required to have a p value of =0.05. A 2x4 factorial ANOVA was performed on each subscale knowledge section and overall. Results suggested that food safety knowledge does not appear to be any different among hospitality management and nutrition students, or students who are ServSafe certified or not. However, there appears to be a significant differences educational level, which may be due to class order.

Committee: Natalie Caine-Bish Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Nutrition

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, EDU Teaching and Learning

Writing from sources is viewed as a fundamental component of academic literacy as well as developing connections between reading and writing. An especially challenging task of source-based writing is synthesizing, which requires careful selection, organization and integration of sources. Given the significance of synthesizing in developing multilingual students' academic literacy in English, this study examined the teaching and learning of synthesis writing in a university L2 composition course. Within a multidimensional view of literacy and discourses of writing, I conducted classroom-based qualitative multiple case studies, in which both the teacher's experience with synthesis instruction and four Chinese undergraduate students' engagement in synthesis writing were examined. Guided by the constructivist model of discourse synthesis–organizing, selecting and connecting (Spivey, 1990, 1997)–from the L1 composition literature, I investigated the teacher's task representation of synthesis, the students' developmental trajectories of learning to write a synthesis, and the individual and contextual factors that contributed to their varied writing abilities while approaching synthesis tasks. Over a five-month period comprising one academic semester, I collected multiple sources of data, including semi-structured interviews, stimulated-recall protocols, writing samples, recordings of teacher-student writing tutorials, classroom observation field notes, course-related documents and artifacts, and surveys. These data were analyzed inductively and triangulated to explore different aspects of the teaching and learning of synthesis writing. The findings of the study revealed that both the teacher's task representation of synthesis and the students' products and processes of synthesis writing involved the three operations–organizing, selecting and connecting–albeit to various degrees among the student participants. Thus, it appears that the constructivist model of discourse (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alan Hirvela Ph.D. (Advisor); George Newell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lin Ding Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Education; English As A Second Language; Literacy; Pedagogy; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Music

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that instrumental and vocal majors improvise on the keyboard in characteristic ways that may have a relationship to their major instrument. The National Association of Schools of Music urges that music programs on the college level include improvisation as part of the curriculum. It is possible that the results of this study can be used to inform the teaching of music theory, aural training, and group piano courses, as well as implementing improvisation as a separate entity into the music curricula. Seventy-one students, including 25 sophomores and 46 freshmen with varied levels of keyboard experience from The Ohio State University, were used for the study. A questionnaire, two thirty-second improvisation samples from each student, and an interview were used to gather data. The questionnaire was used to gather demographic data. The interview that was conducted after the students played the improvisation samples was used to gather information from the students on their experience in the testing process, and their views on various aspects of improvisation. The improvisation samples were analyzed with respect to the presence of harmony, melody, counterpoint, and through-composition. The results indicated that melodic material had the highest incidence for the entire testing population. When the freshman and sophomore populations were considered separately, the improvisation samples that were performed by the freshmen had the largest incidence of melody, and the sophomore samples had the highest occurrence of harmony. Within specific areas of study, winds, voice, and percussion students had the highest percentage of melodic material, and strings, woodwinds, and brass had the highest percentage of harmonic material. Contrapuntal material occurred the most frequently among the brass students, and through-composed material was of the highest percentage in the strings students. The high incidence of melody in the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: R.J. Frego (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2009, Higher Education (Education)

The purpose of this basic interpretive qualitative study was to understand the increased number of secondary school age British students considering undergraduate study in the United States. The study included events and experiences that influenced participants' interest and decisions concerning pursuing undergraduate study in the United States. It further explored the role that the various people in the students' lives played in the process: parents, friends, careers advisors, media, etc. The study included a purposeful sample of 12 self-identified British students completing their A-levels education. Additionally, interviews with nine international students completing their A-levels education at a school in the United Kingdom were included. The study also included interviews with three careers advisors and the former head of the U.S./U.K. Fulbright Commission. The interviews took place at three boarding schools in England over a one-week period. The following conclusions were drawn after an in-depth analysis of the transcripts of the individual interviews and biographical questionnaires. The students in the United Kingdom who are considering undergraduate study in the United States are interested in universities in the United States based upon their perception of the quality of education, the ability to delay choosing a major, the opportunity for a liberal arts education and their perception of the availability of scholarships and other financial assistance.

Committee: Peter Mather Ph.D. (Advisor); Bob Young Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tommy Duncan Ph.D. (Committee Member); Gordon Brooks Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2009, Psychology

This study examined the relationship of minority status stress (MSS) and adjustment with risk for dropping out of college and the impact of MSS on the adjustment of Black undergraduate students at a PWI. Similar to White students, adjustment was a predictor of risk for dropout for Black students at a PWI. Additionally, this study found MSS impacted the adjustment of Black students at a PWI. The findings from this study indicate that interventions aimed at decreasing the risk for dropout for Black students at PWIs should focus on decreasing MSS. This paper also provides specific recommendations as to how this can be done. Further research is necessary to understand what specific aspects of MSS (e.g. faculty relationships, cross-cultural relationships) impact adjustment to academic and social environments.

Committee: Paul Flaspohler PhD (Committee Chair); Jhan Doughty Berry PhD (Committee Member); Roger Knudson PhD (Committee Member); Geri Susan Mosley-Howard PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Academic Guidance Counseling; African Americans; Black History; Education; Higher Education; Mental Health; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Psychology

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2024, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) have been linked to psychological consequences and increased chances of developing several mental diseases later in life. Research has found that childhood maltreatment, specifically emotional abuse, and neglect, is linked to greater symptom severity and poorer quality of life in individuals diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). This study aimed to investigate the moderating role of race in the relationship between emotion regulation, childhood maltreatment, and SAD among undergraduate college students. It was hypothesized that greater levels of emotional maltreatment would predict poorer emotional regulation, which in turn would expect higher levels of social anxiety symptoms. Additionally, potential racial differences in the severity of emotion regulation and social anxiety symptoms were explored. Regression analyses among college students revealed a significant association between emotional maltreatment and SAD symptom severity (F (5, 548) = 28.103, p < .001). While cognitive reappraisal did not mediate this link (F (5, 709) = 2.370, p = .124), expressive suppression did (F (5, 709) = 4.879, p = .027), suggesting that maladaptive coping mechanisms may have played a role in exacerbating the impact of emotional maltreatment on social anxiety symptoms. Race did not significantly moderate the results (F (8, 539) = .265, p =.607). Future research should explore the effects of parental psychological maltreatment on social anxiety symptoms, considering the unique contributions of maternal and paternal behaviors. It should also consider the effects of how racial dynamics intersect with emotional maltreatment, shaping experiences and outcomes across diverse populations.

Committee: Ilya Yaroslavsky (Advisor); Elizabeth Goncy (Committee Chair); Tawanda Greer-Medley (Committee Chair); Kathleen Reardon (Committee Chair) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2024, Higher Education (Education)

Quantitative data was collected from 926 traditional-aged postsecondary students, of which most (69%) respondents were upperclassmen in their junior or senior year of college. The findings from this overall research indicate that there has been a shift in how today's Generation Z learners view online and hybrid learning and their ideal way to take college classes. Over half (61%) of the research participants reported hybrid course format as their most ideal way of taking college courses. In addition, the results confirmed that students who engage in positivity practices are generally happier individuals, and there was a positive relationship identified between the status of happiness in students who preferred the hybrid learning method. Finally, when comparing the status of sense of belonging in college students, the research results uncovered a strong association between students' campus involvement and sense of belonging levels. Developing flexible learning cultures, as well as promoting consistent practices of positivity methods and encouraging active campus involvement, are factors associated with higher levels of overall well-being (subjective happiness and sense of belonging) that can lead to healthier student populations, greater academic success, increased retention, and higher graduation rates.

Committee: Peter Mather (Committee Chair); Christine Bhat (Committee Member); Laura Harrison (Committee Member); Mary Tucker (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education; Higher Education; Instructional Design; Marketing; Mental Health

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Instructional Technology (Education)

This study aims to test the self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) that relates the type of gamification activities based on the student hybrid player type to the engagement of undergraduate students at a Saudi Arabia public university. By measuring the influence of the type of gamification and the hybrid player types on the student's engagement. And the interaction effects exist when the influence on the type of gamification depends on the hybrid player types—using an experimental 2X4 factorial design to answer the research questions: 1. What is the impact of tailored gamification activities on students' engagement? 2. What is the relationship between students' hybrid player types and their engagement? 3. What is the interaction between tailored gamification activities and students' hybrid player types? One hundred forty-one undergraduate students registered at an online course in a Saudi Arabia public university female section participated by using the gamified activities in Moodle learning management system for ten weeks. Data collected using Moodle logs and analyzed by 2X4 two-way between-subjects factorial MANOVA test with the hybrid player type (Philanthropist, Socializer, Free Spirit, Achiever) and gamification activities (traditional, tailored) as the factors and points, time, and clicks as dependent variables. The finding agreed with the literature on the positive effect of tailored gamification on undergraduate students' engagement. However, more investigation is needed to understand how students' player type affects their engagement, the Gamification Hexad user type interaction with the tailoring of game elements, and if there is other mediated variable that affects the customization process from beneficial to overwhelming.

Committee: Greg Kessler (Committee Chair); Min Lun Wu (Committee Member); Gene Geist (Committee Member); Gordon Brooks (Committee Member); Jesse Strycker (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2021, Educational Leadership

The capabilities of modern medicine have precluded the sanctity of what it means to die, extending life while too often prolonging suffering along a trajectory of functional decline that typifies terminal illness, leaving patients with little say in how they want to experience their final days (Connors et al., 1995). End-of-life care has evolved to ensure that people with terminal illnesses know what to expect, understand their options, and have a voice in their care. It is the nurse-patient relationship at the bedside where patients express their wishes and the opportunity to advocate for patient-directed end-of-life care occurs. Unfortunately, these nurses often are not prepared for this role, cognitively or attitudinally. With an aging generation of baby boomers and prevalence of chronic illness, the need for nurses to be comfortable with end-of-life caregiving is urgent. This requires nurses to be educated in the principles of end-of-life care and possess attitudes conducive to putting their knowledge into practice. Often, though, nurses are confronted with their own attitudinal barriers toward death and dying borne of experiences in life that must first be overcome to freely empower their patients' voices and choices for care. Using a correlational design, the intent of this study was to learn how to improve nursing education in end-of-life care by determining the relationship between undergraduate student nurses' personal, didactic, clinical, and introspection life experiences with death and dying and their attitudes toward providing care to the dying. The study found that the personal, clinical, and introspective domains were associated with attitudes toward care of the dying with introspection showing the strongest correlation with attitudes. Forward regression, however, revealed that all four domains were predictive of attitudes toward care of the dying. Didactic experiences indirectly predicted attitudes by en (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Russo J.D., Ed.D (Advisor) Subjects: Nursing

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Higher Education Administration

The purpose and value of higher education have been debated for centuries as proponents of technical or liberal ideals have advocated for their respective positions. Post-secondary art and design education has been affected by such debates, causing arts educators to justify their existence and demonstrate a return on investment for undergraduate students' degree attainment. However, quantitative measures of success through career and financial criteria fail to recognize the inherent value of arts education on the development of students as people and creators, which is an oft-espoused outcome of the arts. Further, student development in higher education is a well-researched field and student affairs practitioners use student development theory to inform their work. Yet such theories have evolved in waves marked by critique of the limitations inherent with theories past. Today's practitioners question the relevancy of student development theories on distinct student populations and within specific settings, including art and design contexts. The purpose of this study was to construct a theory of self-authorship based on experiences described by undergraduate students studying art and design and to understand what factors students describe as influential to such development. The research questions are: (a) How do art and design students describe their development toward self-authorship in college? and (b) What factors do art and design students describe as influential in their development toward self-authorship? Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, I developed a theory of self-authorship specific to the nuances of the art and design context that includes three components: (a) considering post-secondary study in the arts, (b) adapting to the arts environment, and (c) shifting from extrinsic to intrinsic orientations to develop a creative identity and live a creative life. Factors that influenced students' self-authorship development included pre-coll (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Maureen Wilson (Advisor); Ellen Broido (Committee Member); Barbara Bergstrom (Committee Member); Jacob Clemens (Committee Member); John Liederbach (Committee Member) Subjects: Academic Guidance Counseling; Art Education; Design; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Teaching

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2021, Business Administration

The purpose of this study is to understand differences in factors in selecting a college major for students studying business and non-business majors by gender. A survey was distributed to students at four-year undergraduate institutions in the United States. Ultimately, it was observed that significantly more business students were influenced by earning potential and college professor(s) in the selection of their major. Significantly more female business students were influenced by their father in their choice of major than were female non-business students. Some factors that influenced female non-business majors more than female business majors included teachers and exposure to major throughout high school. When examining how to increase female enrollment in business colleges, factors seen as more influential by non-business majors should be considered for recruiting women to business.

Committee: Travis Davidson (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration; Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Instructional Technology (Education)

The purpose of this study was to investigate Saudi undergraduate students' perceptions toward using YouTube to support their academic learning at the University of Hail in Hail, Saudi Arabia. This study also intends to provide important information that will inform and aid curriculum developers at the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and instructors at The University of Hail in using YouTube in the teaching and learning setting. This study also, examined the differences in perception of YouTube users among male and female undergraduate students as well as focusing on how Saudi Arabian college students used the application (YouTube) for their educational purposes. Quantitative research methods were employed to investigate the role of YouTube in Saudi Arabian college students' educational lives. The students in this study have positive perceptions regarding the use of YouTube for educational purposes. The study showed that there is no significant difference between male and female Saudi undergraduate students in their perceptions of the usage of YouTube for learning purposes.

Committee: Greg Kessler PhD (Committee Chair); Krisanna Machtmes PhD (Committee Member); Wu Min Lun PhD (Committee Member); Geist Eugene PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Instructional Design

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The goal of this dissertation was to understand how undergraduate international student programming and institutional internationalization policy functioned at not for profit higher education institutions in Ohio. This was accomplished by examining, across institutional types, five programmatic characteristics: availability, physical location, institutional hierarchy, management structure, and collaboration. This study utilized an online survey to gather descriptive statistical data about programs and institutions. A non-experimental quantitative approach was used as it best fit the exploratory nature of the study. The data were collected using a Qualtrics survey and analyzed with SPSS software. Seven characteristics of undergraduate international student programming emerged from this study: (a) the most common programs were international student orientation, tutoring, counseling, and ESL programs; (b) most of the programs identified supported both undergraduate domestic and international students, with the exception of ESL and orientation programs; (c) programs were most likely to be centrally located in either an academic or student center building and (d) managed by an administrator; (e) Academic Affairs mostly oversaw academic programs, whereas Student Affairs mostly oversaw student service programs; (f) collaboration took place between programs but more often with offices, departments and programs other than undergraduate international student programs; and (g) institutional type impacted undergraduate international student programming less than actively recruiting international students, planning for internationalization, and monitoring that plan did. This last finding parallels those of leading internationalization researchers such as Knight (2004) and Hudzik (2015), who argued that internationalization needs to be supported to thrive.

Committee: Martha Merrill (Committee Chair); Mark Kretovics (Committee Member); Jian Li (Other) Subjects: Education Policy; Higher Education Administration

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of roles (active vs. passive) and assignment methods (instructor vs. self) on measures of basic science/anatomy and physiology (A&P) knowledge and self-confidence of junior level BSN pre-licensure students who participate in a simulation. Previous research has not examined the potential impact of different role assignment methods on self-confidence or basic science knowledge after a simulation. A nonequivalent, pretest-posttest design was used to examine the impact of roles and assignment methods in simulation. A&P knowledge was evaluated by performance on an A&P assessment and self-confidence was evaluated with the Simulation Effectiveness Tool&mdashModified (SET-M) instrument. A pilot study was conducted with nursing students to determine procedural logistics and baseline statistics. Main study participants included students who completed the simulation and posttest items (N = 108) with 24 completing the pretest, simulation, and posttest. Results suggest no significant differences in A&P knowledge or self-confidence based upon role or assignment method. Prebriefing scores were impacted by assignment method, though no differences were found with the SET-M and other subscales. Significant differences in Prebriefing and Debriefing scores were found among the variables of participants' A&P course grade, exposure to CHF clinically, and age. Correlations between the A&P posttest and the SET-M and subscales were found among age groups and CHF clinicals. These findings suggest prebriefing and debriefing effectiveness are viewed differently based upon age and clinical exposure of which educators may need to be cognizant when designing a simulation learning space.

Committee: Mark Kretovics (Committee Chair); Christa Porter (Committee Co-Chair); Jason Schenker (Committee Member) Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology; Education; Nursing

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

Persistence to graduation for adult undergraduate students has been challenging for decades. Many adult learners enroll into the university with numerous sociodemographic characteristics that can hinder their success. Adult students must manage multiple roles and balance their personal, professional and student roles in order to succeed. Twenty-eight percent of first year undergraduate students will not return to college in their second year (American College Testing, 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, academic success and persistence for undergraduate students through the lens of Donaldson & Graham's (1999) model of college outcomes for adult learners. The sample for this study represented 310 undergraduate students from two large urban public universities in the United States. This study measured the students' level of self-efficacy and academic persistence in college. The following surveys were employed for this study: the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully and Eden, 2001) and the Social Integration and Persistence Scale (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980). Because this survey is nearly 40-years old, the researcher employed an exploratory factor analysis on the data which now suggest that there are six factors that measure academic persistence for adult learners in urban universities. These six factors include: (1) intellectual development, (2) peer group interaction, (3) non-classroom faculty interaction, (4) negative faculty interaction, (5) academic aspirations, and (6) university interconnectedness. This study suggests a significant positive correlation between five of the six factors, with exception to the factor: interconnectedness to the university. The findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between self-efficacy and undergraduate credit hours earned, but no significant correlation between self-efficacy and cumulative grade point average. The findings suggest that there is a posi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Messemer Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Catherine Hansman Ed.D. (Committee Member); Mittie Davis Jones Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

MS, Kent State University, 2019, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

College students tend to have high levels of anxiety related to financial, academic, and social stressors. This can cause issues with their nutrient intake. It is hard to balance school, a social life, and work so often times, dietary consumption is put on the back burner. The purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate the relationship between anxiety scores and nutrient intake in college students. Participants were limited to undergraduate students at Kent State University's main campus. They were between the ages of 18-24 years old and not have had a current medical diagnosis for anxiety. The students had to complete a three-part survey consisting of demographics, an anxiety scale, and a 24-hour dietary recall. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation. Analysis of the data showed a significant relationship between anxiety level and fat intake (r=.207, p=.046). The data showed that there was not a significant relationship between anxiety level and calories, carbohydrates, protein, sugar, or sodium. The significant relationship found between anxiety level and fat intake was supported by previous research.

Committee: Natalie Caine-Bish PhD, RD, LD (Advisor); Karen Gordon PhD, RD, LD (Committee Member); Jamie Matthews MS, RD, LD (Committee Member) Subjects: Health; Mental Health; Nutrition