Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2023, Education

Background: Equine facilitated learning (EFL) leadership programs have recently gained recognition as a novel approach to teaching leadership but are not widely known or researched. Methods: A study was conducted from the text of 13 selected EFL leadership program websites using qualitative thematic content analysis. Program characteristics, missions, values, and program goals and objectives were researched. Also investigated were program leadership themes listed on the 13 websites, their relationship to authentic, servant, situational, and transformational leadership theories, evaluation tools used by those theories, and how leadership incorporates into programs. Results: Program characteristics were inconsistent and may be confusing to potential participants. Programs do not specifically tie to leadership theories when teaching their classes, do not appear to be training leadership in specific ways, and lack evidence regarding how they, and their evaluations, relate to authentic, servant, situational, and transformational leadership theories. Conclusions: More consistency among programs and further research is recommended.

Committee: Dr. Kara Parker (Committee Chair); Dr. Jon Brasfield (Committee Member); Dr. Amanda Ochsner (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Business Education; Curricula; Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Management; Teaching

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2021, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Escape room games have emerged in the educational landscape over the last decade and are growing in popularity. Studies show that participants enjoy educational escape room games, however the data to demonstrate learning acquisition and behavior change is limited. This study addressed the research question: How effective are escape room games as a leadership training activity? The researcher developed The Leadership Escape Game, a digital game, where participants explored the online space and solved puzzles and challenges to learn the SLII® leadership model (used with permission from the Ken Blanchard Companies). Effectiveness of the game was measured using the first three levels of the New World Kirkpatrick Model. Participants completed a learner satisfaction survey immediately after playing The Leadership Escape Game. The Leader Behavior Analysis II® (LBA II) was used as a pre-test, post-test, and 30-day post-test to measure learning acquisition. The LBAII® calculated Leadership Style Flexibility and Effectiveness scores that demonstrated understanding of the model with a scenario-based multiple-choice assessment. Behavior change was assessed using participant interviews at least 30 days following the game. Results demonstrated that a digital escape room game is an effective way to deliver leadership training. Learner satisfaction results presented statistically significant and positive ratings about participation in The Leadership Escape Game. Leadership Style Flexibility and Effectiveness results across the three assessments demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in scores following the game. 30-day post-game interviews also presented evidence that participants applied what they learned with their employees. Additional analysis determined that previous experience with escape rooms or the leadership content were not pre-requisites to success in The Leadership Escape Game.

Committee: Yi Yang Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dawn Snyder Ph.D. (Committee Member); Yuerong Sweetland Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education; Educational Technology; Instructional Design

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

The world of women in law enforcement is a thought-provoking one that has received increasing attention both in academia as well as in practice over the past few decades. Even more intriguing, and despite advances in the profession, is the low number of women in executive leadership positions in law enforcement. There is a vast underrepresentation of women in top executive leadership positions across the 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the complex journey of women to top executive policing leadership positions. Embracing a positive psychology approach, the study used grounded theory in combination with situational analysis to answer one overarching question: What have been the experiences of women leaders in policing as they have progressed in the profession to executive rank? This allowed for a comprehensive exploration of the micro, or individual level factors, alongside the meso or macro factors, encompassing larger group interactions, social structures, and institutions, that from the women's perception had been critical in their leadership experiences. The study offers a theoretical model—A Web of Intersections—as a framework for understanding the complex journey of women, and the social processes and multiple intersections they have learned to navigate that can in combination, help them to advance to top executive policing leadership positions. The women in this study are agentic and not simply following the lead. They are active, deliberate, and intentional participants in their own journeys, making critical and strategic decisions that can gain entry to policy decision-making that can result in sustainable change. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway (Committee Chair); Lize Booysen (Committee Member); Dorothy Schulz (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Criminology; Gender; Gender Studies; Management; Organizational Behavior; Social Research; Sociology; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

This single, exemplar case study explored the context and social processes that shape person- and family-centered culture in a long-term care (LTC) home, using grounded theory and situational analysis for the data collection and analysis. Findings revealed one core dimension: needing to be heard, valued, and understood, and five key roles: personal support workers (PSWs), executive director (ED), senior leadership, nurse managers, and residents and families, which informed five dimensions, each focused on enhancing care for residents: (a) attending to residents' daily care needs (PSWs), (b) advocating strategically (ED), (c) translating vision into programs and policies (senior leadership), (d) ensuring quality of care on the unit (nurse managers), and (e) seeking social connection and meaningful stimulation (residents and families). These interactions left PSWs with little autonomy, feeling rushed, focused on tasks, and prevented from building relationships with residents. The PSW perspective was often missed in decision-making, as decisions were made for this group rather than with them. A complex theoretical model of the interactions and the systemic blind spot they have unintentionally created is presented in the discussion. The results suggest that empowering PSWs is pivotal to improving quality of care in the LTC sector. Further research is needed to determine which methods of empowerment are most meaningful and effective. Future studies could also explore LTC homes of different sizes and with different types of governance, the competencies required by the different roles to foster a person- and family-centered LTC culture, and the criteria for relational practice and leadership in LTC. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/, and is accompanied by one supplemental file.

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Donna Ladkin PhD (Committee Member); Madelyn Law PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Gerontology; Health Care; Health Care Management; Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Leadership Studies

This dissertation explores the impact of formal staff training and field leadership on the ability of student leaders to correctly discern the appropriate styles of leadership for specific outdoor recreation-based situations. The relationship between the situational leadership model (Hersey & Blanchard, 1980) and group development theory (Tuckman, 1965) was explored through the integration research of Weber and Karman (1991) and was used as a framework for this study. In order to develop an applicable form of this research for this study, the researcher developed an integrated dynamic model to provide a visual representation of the blending of the two theoretical frameworks. In addition to the exploration of formal staff training and field leadership experiences, analyses were conducted to determine if age, gender, race, previous outdoor recreation experience, or outdoor recreation degree seeking significantly affected the students' awareness or their dominant styles of leadership. The literature study indicated a strong relationship between situational leadership and outdoor recreation (Breunig, O'Connell, Todd, Anderson, & Young, 2010; Shooter, Paisley, & Sibthorp, 2009; Sibthorp, Paisley, & Gookin, 2007; Sutherland & Stroot, 2010), but little, if any, research exists on the development of situational leadership in outdoor leaders. The quantitative nature of this study stemmed from the lack of research in the outdoor recreation field from this approach. As most previous research in outdoor recreation utilized small populations (i.e., a single group of people participating in an outdoor recreation activity), this study examined a larger group of participants utilizing a quantitative approach. In total, 106 student outdoor leaders from various Midwestern United States university outdoor recreation programs participated in a three-part study that tested their awareness of situational leadership through the Outdoor Leadership Survey (OLS), which utilized the Expediti (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rachel Reinhart Ph.D (Advisor); Steve Langendorfer Ph.D. (Other); Joyce Litten Ph.D. (Committee Member); Bryan Cavins Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Recreation

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation project used an interpretivist qualitative research design to study how the right-to-read claim made by seven teenagers attending Detroit public schools in 2016 reflects, addresses, or describes contemporary discussions about educational access. Using situational analysis (SA) as a theory/method, the entirety of the claim comprises the situation of the social phenomenon being studied, not the people. This research combines critical race theory (CRT) with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and uses situation analysis to map historical discourses to conduct a study that examines the history of a present situation of inquiry as presented by this question: How does the 2016 right-to-read claim made by high school students in Detroit, Michigan reflect, address, or describe contemporary discussions about educational access? The study collected data to allow me to construct a prosopography that articulates an answer to the question that claims access to literacy is a public school policy right. Because situational analysis (SA) is designed to open research data to aspects of a circumstance that may have been overlooked, marginalized, or silenced, I was not certain the research results would answer this exact question. Additionally, critical theory and SA were used to conduct this qualitative research, examining historical data that addresses the right-to-read claim as a Foucaultian programmatic social problem. As such, it seeks to understand the complexities of recurring and historically situated education practices that limit actualizing U.S. education policies that embrace access to basic literacy skills as a human right. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Harriet Schwartz PhD (Committee Member); Shawn Bultsma PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; American History; American Literature; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Community College Education; Community Colleges; Continuing Education; Counseling Education; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Education; Education Finance; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Gifted Education; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; Multicultural Education; Philosophy; Political Science; Preschool Education; Public Administration; School Administration; Teacher Education; Teaching

Ph.D., Antioch University, 0, Leadership and Change

Preceptors play a vital role in supporting nursing/midwifery students and new employees' transition and assimilation into their new role. Furthermore, with the increasing focus on educating more qualified nurses and midwives to meet health-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, there is a need for a more standardized and coordinated approach to preceptorship training. As former Head of the Nursing/Midwifery Training Institution in Ghana, I observed first-hand that the system of preceptorship needs improvements. Published literature on preceptorship has shown that the practice plays a vital role in healthcare delivery. However, most of the existing literature preceptorship is from developed countries, with little research from developing countries like Ghana. This study explored the practice of preceptorship in selected nursing/midwifery and healthcare institutions in Ghana. Situational analysis was used to examine the complex dynamics of the preceptorship program. It consists of three main procedural tools: situational maps, social worlds/arenas maps, and positional maps. Several important factors were found to impact preceptorship in Ghana. Key ones were motivational (monetary) challenges, lack of training of preceptors, politicking related to the development of preceptorship manuals, supervision, and outdated procedure guidelines for on-the-job teaching students. The study offers a series of recommendations to improve preceptorship practice at micro, meso, and macro levels. Additionally, they may enable regulators and policy makers in Ghana to formulate policies leading to a more robust preceptorship program to strengthen the skills of nursing/midwifery profession. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Aqeel Tirmizi Dr. (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway Dr. (Committee Member); Mary Asirifi Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Nursing

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

The U.S. intelligence community is a critical mission industry responsible for protecting lives and safety in ways that impact the global security environment. Research on the deleterious impact of toxic workplace behavior on other critical mission fields, such as health care and the U.S. military, is robust. However, intelligence scholars publishing within the unclassified arena have been silent on the phenomenon, how personnel respond to it, and how it may impact the intelligence function. This lack of scholarship has afforded an opportunity to understand what constitutes toxic behavior in the intelligence environment and how it may affect U.S. national security objectives. This study presents a theoretical model of response to toxic workplace behavior among intelligence officers in the U.S. intelligence community that centers on a single goal: Holding Self. Using grounded theory methodology and situational analysis in two segments, the study examines how intelligence officers responded and the role that efforts to hold onto self-concepts played in those responses. The findings included three psychological dimensions, three action dimensions, and two inter-dimensions of response. The findings also included identification of the broader ecological situation conditioning response and how those choices operationalized into the business of being intelligence officers. The final model serves as a foundation for future empirical research on the topic. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, https://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Aqeel Tirmizi Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jan Goldman Ed.D (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Cognitive Psychology; Gender; Personal Relationships; Political Science; Psychology; Social Research

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2019, Leadership and Change

The purpose of this study was to unearth how adolescents with substance use disorders achieve the task of identity formation and the construction of self-concept in the midst of the drug culture and society that exists. It sought to uncover the social constructs designed to ignore and/or remove human complexities and allow an intersectional approach to be brought to a study on this population. Historically, there has been a failure to investigate the underlying social attitudes and behaviors that impact the very delicate and vulnerable process of finding self. Psychosocial and relational adjustment are strongly influenced by the extent to which adolescents successfully develop a coherent and structured sense of identity. One's life pathways and decisions are guided by a consolidated sense of self. An understanding of key identity literature led to a methodological design using both Grounded Theory Methodology and Situational Analysis to provide a thorough description and understanding of the entire situation around identity development for adolescents with substance use disorders. The detailed analysis of the interviews provided by 20 adolescent females served as the basis for the development of a theoretical model depicting the findings from both the dimensional analysis and situational analysis. The research provided empirical evidence that adolescents in this situation form a pseudo-identity to achieve a sense of belonging that has pervaded their existence due to familial, social, and cultural factors. This pseudo-identity is reinforced by acceptance into drug-seeking and substance-using groups, as well as by leadership and practices in treatment, therapy, healthcare, criminal justice, and other macro forces. The research provides practical implications for prevention and intervention practices, as well as leadership practice. Recommendations for future research invite further exploration into whether the situation for the participants in this study hold true acr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Karsten Lunze PhD, MD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Counseling Education; Criminology; Curriculum Development; Demographics; Developmental Psychology; Early Childhood Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Families and Family Life; Health Care; Mental Health; Personality Psychology; Pharmacology; Psychotherapy; Public Health; Public Health Education; Public Policy; Social Work; Teacher Education; Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

The goal of this dissertation was to develop and validate a single-response situational judgment test (SJT) that assesses managerial effectiveness in helping employees manage their work and family lives. To accomplish this goal, a two-part study was conducted using multi-source data. In Phase 1, a family-supportive supervision SJT and scoring key were developed from critical incidents and ratings provided by industry managers and trained subject matter experts. In Phase 2, criterion-related validity evidence and job relevance of the manager SJT scores were evaluated based on dyadic data from city government supervisors and subordinates. The test's psychometric viability was also examined by way of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results showed that manager SJT scores were significantly related to, and predicted, employee perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors, experienced work-family conflict, and family-supportive organization perceptions but not employee ratings of manager work effort and managerial effectiveness. Interestingly, manager ability to identify effective and ineffective behaviors within this context was differentially related to employee outcomes and may be separate constructs. Evidence was also found that the pattern of relationships between manager SJT scores and employee outcomes varied depending on the gender composition of the supervisor-subordinate dyad among other variables. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Committee: Michael Zickar Ph.D. (Advisor); Yiwei Chen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Scott Highhouse Ph.D. (Committee Member); Laura Sanchez Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Social Psychology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This study examines how a university's leadership at a predominantly White institution (PWI) responds to campus racial crisis, and how that response is framed to support organizational systems and norms while resisting structural change. On July 19, 2015, Sam Dubose, a Black male, was murdered by a White University of Cincinnati (UC) police officer at point-blank range. Dubose's death has left many Black students, faculty and staff questioning university leadership and their responses. This study attempts to understand the responses from UC leadership and the broader campus community in regard to the shooting. Themes were then generated through analyzing administrative leadership's responses. This was all done by conducting a critical discourse analysis using available public discourse. Using situational crisis communication theory, the study serves as an analysis of the strategic communication enacted by university administrative leadership in response to campus racial crises. It was revealed that in addition to rethinking the institution's crisis prevention plan to include key elements of community engagement, administrative responses should also seek to restore “peacefulness and calmness” and consider adding “reengineering” and “recruitment” as response strategies that can be enacted in lieu of already proposed SCCT strategies.

Committee: Ronald Jackson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Omotayo Banjo Ph.D. (Committee Member); Littisha Bates Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2011, Leadership and Change

This study researched Appalachian women who were in emotional, social, or economic reliant relationships with male spouses and became socio-economically stable and independent. This effort is to give Appalachian women voice and learn from their accounts of how they led change by financially, physically, and socially providing for themselves and their dependent children. Research is limited to a particular group of white middle class Appalachian women in the North-Central sub-region of Appalachia. This group was chosen because they have been largely overlooked in the literature. However, this study does not answer questions of all women‘s experiences and barriers in Appalachia. African American, Hispanic, and other minority women are not represented. It is my hope the stories of these women who successfully overcame significant challenges in creating socio-economic stability in their homes provide a positive role model for other women of the region. Through a set of criteria, 15 Appalachian women ages 34 to 74 that left their first marriage, were socio-economically stable and independent were interviewed. Confidential interviews recorded participants' life stories. Each woman discussed her experience in her own voice and explained how she led change in her family‘s life. The stories were coded for major themes using NVivo 8 software. An adaptation of situational mapping was used to contextualize the primary themes. Generational influences emerged as an important theme and three narratives, one for each generational group, are retold as exemplars highlighting the primary themes, Appalachian Characterization, Generational Issues, Children, Economic Independence, Education, Reasons for Leaving, Social Support, and Self-Leadership. Appalachian education experts affirmed the significance of the themes and situated them in the cultural context of the region. Analysis of the narratives and the situational map shows the significance of economic independence, social support, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Mary K. Anglin PhD (Committee Member); Kimberly K. Eby PhD (Other) Subjects: Economics; Education; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Individual and Family Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Personal Relationships; Regional Studies; Social Psychology; Social Research; Sociology; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2009, Leadership and Change

Healthcare is a complex and dynamic environment containing a plurality of social forces and perspectives that shape the organizational culture and the nature of the leadership. As leadership is a social phenomenon, it is important to understand the complex social processes that mediate our perceptions and that in turn influence processes of leader attribution. The central purpose of this study has been to illuminate the nature of culturally specific processes that emerge within a specific organizational setting and that fuel leader attribution and the social construction of leadership. Accordingly, this qualitative study has developed a Grounded Theory utilizing Situational Analysis to study leadership in a comprehensive healthcare organization. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Mitch Kusy PhD (Committee Member); Donald Polkinghorne PhD (Committee Member); Nick Nissley EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Community; Health Care; Management; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Social Psychology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2009, Leadership and Change

Communities of Practice (CoPs) have become a widely used method to enhance knowledge management, knowledge transfer, innovation and learning in large, complex organizations. Since first introduced by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, the concept has been widely discussed in the private, public and educational sectors. Much of the literature has focused on either the abstract, theoretical underpinnings or the structural elements of CoPs with little attention paid to the actual experience of individual participants in CoPs - in effect reflecting the perspectives of the architects and builders of a home but not the occupants. This Grounded Theory study uses a combination of both Situational and Dimensional Analysis to explicate the experience of the participants in a number of CoPs functioning in the British Columbia Public Service. The intent is to offer a deeper understanding of the internal dynamics within CoPs for those interested in facilitating successful CoPs. The British Columbia Public Service (BCPS) is a large, knowledge-based organization delivering a wide variety of programs and services across a large, economically and culturally diverse, jurisdiction. The challenges faced by the BCPS are similar to those faced by other knowledge-based organizations. The use of CoPs is wide-spread in the BCPS displaying a range of structure from highly formalized to relatively informal. This research, based on 21 unstructured interviews and supported by other documentation, presents a model that helps to clarify both the relationship between CoPs and other organizational sub-groups as well as capturing the dynamic, member-driven nature of CoPs. It is anticipated that individuals interested in CoPs will find this modeling helpful in understanding how CoPs function from the perspective CoP participants. The dissertation also attempts to draw linkages to other pertinent theory related to group dynamics, hu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Peter Vaill DBA (Committee Member); Donald Polkinghorne PhD (Committee Member); Michael Carroll PhD (Other) Subjects: Management; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Public Administration

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2008, Leadership and Change

Evolving Learning: Educators' Inner Experiences of Engaging in Service-Learning with Undergraduates is an exploratory, qualitative study of faculty members' learning, growth, and development in service-learning contexts. Through two, interwoven forms of constructivist grounded theory – situational mapping and dimensional analysis – this dissertation brought voice to a once ‘private' perspective, making explicit what all is happening as participants make meaning of their experiences engaging in service-learning with college students. A three-phased series of recursive, comparative interviews and concurrent analysis resulted in the development of a grounded theory best captured by a core, organizing perspective – evolving learning. This perspective is comprised of five intersecting dimensions: (1) bearing witness, (2) navigating, (3) reconciling expectations, (4) resolving and reorienting, and (5) locating self in humanity. Both novel and exploratory, this dissertation adds extensively to extant literature, contributing significantly to our understanding of how educators adapt, transform, or make meaning of their own engagement. Also, the study unveils a number of opportunities for qualitative and mixed methods inquiry on faculty teaching, learning, engagement, and development.

Committee: Alan E. Guskin PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Eugene Rice PhD (Committee Member); Devorah Lieberman PhD (Other) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Education; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Sociology; Teaching

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2008, Leadership and Change

This study concentrates on the voice of registered nurses as they describe their experiences of leadership within the nontraditional, non-institutional, non-hospital environment of assisted living. It further expounds upon regulatory and corporate information as context for the nurses' leadership experiences. The desire to hear nurses describe their personal experiences of leadership influenced the decision to use grounded theory as a methodological process. The belief that voice requires context to be most effectively understood influenced, in turn, the addition of a situational analysis approach to the grounded theory methodology. As a result, interviews and scrutiny of contextual elements form the core of this study. The expectation that registered nurses will assume a leaderly presence has increased during the past 20 years as significant changes in the overall climate of health care have taken place. The study identifies many of the factors included in this change, specifically an alteration in the locus of care from hospitals exclusively to more diverse settings. Because of the limited presence of physicians in the extra-hospital world, nurses and administrators now form a leadership dyad in these settings and are charged with managing organizations delivering complex chronic patient care. Assisted living is a creative residential option that has been developed for elders who prefer individual choice in addition to physical care support. This study analyzes the themes and overriding influences explicated in personal interviews with nursing leaders in a variety of assisted living communities in one state. It also describes the contributing elements inherent in the healthcare and assisted living environments for their contextual implications. One important aspect of this study is its separation of nurse and physician leadership elements. It seeks to highlight those factors that emerge as supporting or denigrating nursing leadership experiences in an environment (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Peter Vaill DBA (Committee Member); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Heather Young PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Care; Nursing