Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Social Work

Children's earliest experiences are critical for health and well-being across the lifespan. These experiences shape the development of social-emotional skills which lay the foundation by which children learn to navigate the intricacies of social interactions and complex emotions. Not all children, however, develop the social-emotional skills needed for success, with between 9 and 14% of children in early childhood exhibiting some type social-emotional deficit (Brauner & Stephens, 2006). Difficulties with early social-emotional skills may lead to behavioral, academic, and social problems during early childhood, as well as later in life (Denham & Brown, 2010). Low-income children of color often face barriers that put them at risk for poor social-emotional skill development. In an effort to support these vulnerable young children, the social settings in which they spend time should be targeted. One key setting in which many young children spend time is center-based child care. Examining this setting is a growing priority, so that the contributions of child care toward child social-emotional outcomes are maximized. Using secondary data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2009, this study examined child care as a social setting that may positively influence social-emotional skill development among young low-income, children of color. Specifically, this study used multilevel modeling to explore child care center support, and also teacher emotional support and behavior management practices, and their influence on problem behaviors and social skill development among young children. Findings revealed that neither teacher emotional support practices nor teacher behavior management practices were significantly associated with child social skills or problem behaviors. However, teacher perceived center support was significantly related to child problem behaviors among low-income children of color, with higher teacher perceived center support as (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dawn Anderson-Butcher PhD (Advisor); Audrey Begun PhD (Committee Member); Buettner Cynthia PhD (Committee Member); Logan Jessica PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Work

PHD, Kent State University, 2016, College of Communication and Information

This study examined the organizational and institutional origins of social support in healthcare organizations, and more specifically, within the context of a Cancer Support Center. This study was guided by the overarching research question: What is the nature of social support that clients experience and perceive as institutionalized in healthcare organizations? The study builds upon the social support, institutional theory, and organizational culture literatures. The findings of this study indicate that clients receive substantial support at the Cancer Support Center, that clients receive support through implicit metacommunication within the healthcare institution at large, and that clients experience varied health benefits as a result of the support that they receive in these contexts. The study concludes by proposing an emergent model explaining the social processes and constructs that contribute to clients' perceptions of institutionalized social support and result in health benefits within the healthcare institution.

Committee: Rebecca Cline PhD (Committee Chair); Janet Meyer PhD (Committee Co-Chair); George Cheney PhD (Committee Member); Alicia Crowe PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2006, Aerospace Medicine

El Rimawi, Nidal. M.D. M.S., Department of Aerospace Medicine, Wright State University, 2006. Development of an Audio-Visual Tool for Medical Training at Kennedy Space Center As part of an effort to improve efficiency of space-flight medical support at Kennedy Space Center, a training video was created to replace a series of lectures given before a launch or landing of the Space Shuttle. The video was designed to familiarize volunteer physicians from around the country with the specific emergency response protocols for a Space Shuttle launch or landing emergency at Kennedy Space Center. The methods used were consistent with standard film making techniques as outlined in several film making texts. The Production was divided into three phases; A pre-production phase wherein the research, screenwriting and production planning took place, a Production phase consisting of the actual filming of the various scenes in the script and finally, a post-production phase during which the video was edited, music was added and the finished video screened and copied. The result was that the video was completed in seven months with the participation of over a hundred people. The final video won several awards for educational and government film and met all expectations of the author and the medical department. It was ultimately given to the Aerospace Medicine Residency program at Wright State University and to the medical staff at Kennedy Space Center.

Committee: Robin Dodge (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2019, Curriculum and Instruction: Educational Technology

This study examined the effects of academic motivation on the use of academic support interventions by college students. Many higher education institutions offer academic support interventions, specifically peer-led learning assistance support programs such as tutoring appointments and Supplemental Instruction (SI) sessions, with a goal of improving student outcomes including retention and graduation rates. However, most college students do not access the available interventions. The low participation in academic support interventions indicates that there may be a problem with the design of the interventions. Applying instructional design principles to the problem is an effective method to address the problem of low student participation. An important first step in the instructional design process is to determine the learner characteristics of students who do and do not use the academic support interventions. The Academic Motivation Survey for college students, AMS-C 28, survey instrument with 28 items was used to collect data from 400 undergraduate students at a mid-sized Midwestern public university. A MANOVA analysis revealed that there are differences in academic motivation between students who do and do not use academic support interventions. There are also differences between students who use the interventions frequently and those who do not. Additionally, female students have different academic motivation characteristics than male students. Furthermore, there are academic motivation differences between students with high and low self-reported grade point averages. Lastly, the study indicated that there is an opportunity to revise the design and messaging about the academic support interventions to be more relevant to specific student population groups with the goal of increasing student rates of usage.

Committee: Berhane Teclehaimanot PhD (Committee Chair); Judy Lambert PhD (Committee Member); Gregory Stone PhD (Committee Member); Tony Sanchez PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2015, Psychology-Industrial/Organizational

Stemming from a tradition of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), an abundance of support exists for implementing autonomy support as a tool in fostering employee well-being and performance. In essence, autonomy supportive managers help to satisfy basic psychological needs (e.g., autonomy, competence) of their employees, but what is less clear is whether the beneficial effect of autonomy support will be seen under challenging work conditions such as dealing with customer aggression. Working with aggressive customers has been shown to decrease employee need satisfaction, leading to burnout and impaired performance. Taken together, the current study sought to examine the independent and interactive effects of managerial behavior and customer treatment toward the employee on key outcomes such as reports of well-being and performance. Through a call center simulation in which management style was experimentally manipulated (autonomy supportive or controlled), participants received calls from customers (aggressive or non-aggressive) and continuously recorded their need satisfaction and affect immediately following the customer calls; also, observer ratings of employee service performance were continuously recorded after data collection. In using continuous rating assessments, this study sought to eliminate many of the limitations traditionally found in self-report measures. Results show that the manager motivational style had significant but limited effects: participants in the autonomy supportive manager condition experienced more positive affect and vitality, on average, compared to the controlled manager, but the manager manipulation did not significantly influence participant reports of average negative affect, emotional exhaustion, or third-party performance ratings. The customer treatment toward the participant had strong, robust effects on average well-being as well as trends and end-of-call ratings (i.e., ratings at the concluding moment of the call) fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Diefendorff (Advisor); Paul Levy (Committee Member); Dennis Doverspike (Committee Member); Joelle Elicker (Committee Member); Janette Dill (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Psychology