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  Insurance status versus hospitalized patient outcomes with pulmonary hypertension: National Hospital Discharge Survey, 2000-2010

  Srikanta Banerjee

  Pulmonary Hypertension is a common complication of heart failure or obstructive pulmonary disease. The National Hospital Discharge Survey, the largest national inpatient-based survey, was used for complex samples logistic regression modeling. Findings from this study demonstrated that insurance status had a statistically significant association with hospital related mortality rates.

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  Assessing Learning Styles of Adults in Different Learning Environments

  Theresa M. Bane

  To support the development of more supportive learning environments, Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) was used to assess learning styles in adult students of online, classroom, and combination learning environments. There were no significant differences in learning styles between learning environments in the sample population, though learning styles correlated with some demographic measures.

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  Employee Lived Experiences and Initiative Success in Arkansas Quality Award Recipient Organizations

  Carol Barton

  Employee experiences and their stories about their experiences influence quality management and continuous improvement initiatives. Transcript analysis of semistructured interviews revealed the most meaningful experiences were those with people, then materials, feelings, time, and space. The study findings also showed that people transferred problem solving methods from the workplace to their homes and communities.

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  Perceived Threats to Food Security and Possible Responses Following an Agro-Terrorist Attack

  LaMesha Lashal Craft

  Terrorist attacks against food and water supplies (agro-terrorism) are a national security threat due to the assessed fear, economic instability, and social instability that could occur following a food shortage. Findings indicate that a comprehensive response plan does not exist and perceived fears and the lack of knowledge in a society with high social capital can still create conditions for chaos and anomie.

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  Academic Achievement in Schoolwide Title 1 Elementary Schools

  Kelli K. Cronin

  This nonexperimental quantitative study addressed whether Title 1 had an effect on low socioeconomic schools by determining if Schoolwide Title 1 elementary schools in South Dakota demonstrated significant student gains in math and reading over a 5- year time period as measured by state standardized assessments.

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  Labeling Still Matters: The United Nations Development Programme and the BIED Growth Path Model

  Kenneth T. Davis

  The Purpose of this study is to review the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI) labels with the Behavioral International Economic Development Growth Path Model labels to get a better understanding of this new dynamic model and its layered approach. The 2012 HDI labels and previous trends were used along with the CIA World Factbook 2002 and 2012. This study promotes classification labels based on labor force occupation by sector, specifically agrarian, industry, and services behavior.

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  Overcoming Pedagogical, Social/Cultural, and Attitudinal Barriers to Technology Integration in K-5 Schools

  Lisa Durff

  In this qualitative multiple case study, I interviewed educators to determine how they overcame barriers to technology integration. The findings showed that a triadic force of personal, behavioral, and environmental factors work together to influence technology integration. The present study may contribute to social change by increasing the knowledge of barriers preventing integration of technology into the elementary classroom.

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  Determinants of HIV Screening Among Adults in New Jersey After Hurricane Sandy

  Nathaniel R. Geyer

  HIV screening is recommended to destigmatize the condition, prevent partner transmission, and postpone AIDS progression. However, determinants associated with implementation of opt-out HIV screening are not well understood. In order to examine determinants that predicted HIV screening for people impacted by Hurricane Sandy, this study aims to evaluate this screening to medical care after a natural disaster.

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  Multiple Roles as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being in African American Women

  Sha-Rhonda Michea Green-Davis

  Through multiple regression analysis of the NSAL archival data, this study examined how the subjective well-being (SWB) of African American women ages 18-44 (n = 1,877) can be predicted by their age, years of education, household income, number of children, and marital, parental, and employment statuses.

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  The Relationship Between Pre-Licensure Employment and Student Nurse Self-Efficacy

  Khristina Lee Grimm

  Lack of self-efficacy in nursing practice contributes to high levels of stress as new nurses enter the workforce, which causes turnover during their first year of practice. Little is known about how the type and amount of pre-licensure employment affects the selfefficacy in nursing practice of the student nurse.

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  Correlations Between Management Behaviors and Financial Indicators with FDA Compliance Leading to Medicine Shortages

  Francisco Gutierrez-Perez

  A series of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) interventions and enforcement actions against pharmaceutical manufacturers in the past 5-6 years led to medicine shortages in the United States.

  • The manufacturing shortfalls made essential medicines unavailable for the treatment of patients.

  • Manufacturing shortfalls implied that quality management and manufacturing systems were not empowered or adequately staffed to support the critical functions of the pharmaceutical firms.

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  Exploring the Impact of Collective Bargaining Agreements on High Performance Work Practices

  Nana Gyesie

  The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how collective bargaining agreements (CBA) hindered or enabled managers from creating and sustaining high performance work practices (HPWP).

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  Qualitative Research and Vicarious Trauma: The Use of Reflexivity

  Dawn Higgins

  Qualitative researchers studying traumatic events may experience vicarious trauma. The research practice of reflexivity addresses biases of the researcher, however, there is no explicit practice to address symptoms of vicarious trauma. In this introspective study, the researcher uses a reflexive worksheet to explore vicarious trauma in her study on 9/ll.

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  How Parenting Behaviors Influence Weight and Health Status of African American Adolescents

  Natasha T. Hourel

  This quantitative secondary data analysis sought to investigate the relationship between parenting styles and practices of African American mothers and fathers residing both inside and outside of the home on the weight status (as measured by BMI percentile) of their adolescent children. Findings indicate variables beyond parenting practices, such as urban/rural residence, must be considered to explain weight status among adolescents.

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  Communication Strategies as Drivers of Nonprofit Donor Retention

  Tamieka Jameson

  Retaining loyal and engaged donors is a critical component of sustainability for nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore communication strategies used by senior leaders of a nonprofit organization. The findings of this case study may ensure leaders’ ability to serve and improve their communities by engaging at-risk youth in programs and activities designed to help them acquire performance arts skills, develop leadership skills, and improve their lives.

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  Crafting a System of Profound Knowledge Management in Long Term Care

  Charlotte Johnston

  Healthcare industries face regulatory and funding challenges to improve quality and close knowing-to doing gaps in healthcare. The study presents a substantive conceptual theory for crafting knowledge management (KM) in long-term-care (LTC); and extends Deming’s theory of profound knowledge from an organizational to the individual level of action and decision making.

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  Gamification Techniques and Millennial Generation Philanthropy

  Karen Kavanaugh Kavanaugh

  This qualitative study used Q methodology to examine how Millennials perceived the use of gamification elements might impact their philanthropic behavior. Overall Millennials appeared to embrace the idea of using gamification to further nonprofit fundraising. Five factors or donor-profiles were extracted from the Q-sort results and provided insight into not only the preferred gamification elements, but also general Millennial fundraising engagement preferences.

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  Cognitive Performance and Mood Changes in the Post-thyroidectomy Patient Treated with T4 versus T4+T3

  Lorena Likaj

  This study investigated changes in cognition and mood in the post-thyroidectomy patient. Specifically, this study investigates changes in cognition and mood, when the patient has been returned to normal, laboratory serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) reference levels, following conventional thyroid hormone replacement therapies with levothyroxine (T4) alone. Findings reveal a distinct, small, and clinically significant subgroup of post-thyroidectomy patients (10–15%) who continue to experience impaired cognition and mood, even when routinely measured serum TSH levels have been returned to normal levels. Findings are discussed within a conceptual matrix emphasizing the differential role of deiodinase enzymes required for conversion of T4 to T3 within the brain (Type II), compared to T4 to T3 conversion completed in peripheral tissues.

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  Internal Strategies for Assessing Communication Channel Effectiveness

  Melvin E. Murphy

  This qualitative multiple case study was designed to explore communication assessment strategies used in three law firms to improve message dissemination and channel efficiency. The findings revealed informal assessment strategies can sustain operations, indirect assessment strategies have a role, and efficient versus timely assessments could improve employee performance and morale.

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  Attitudes of Women Offenders towards Medicaid Enrollment and Coverage under the Affordable Care Act

  Morrisa Barbara Rice

  This phenomenological study explored the attitudes of women offenders in jail about Medicaid enrollment and coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This understanding provided insight for jail leadership and other stakeholders to address barriers and incorporate facilitators identified to make it simpler for women offenders to enroll before released from jail.

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  Rapport Development and Native Language Use Between U.S. Advisors and Afghan Counterparts

  Sean Ryan Ryan

  This phenomenological symbolic interactionism study of rapport and native language use between 15 Afghan counterparts and their U.S. advisors involved semi-structured interviews informed by social exchange theory, servant leadership theory, role theory, and the Army conceptual rapport framework. Native language appeared to contribute to perceptions of respect, understanding, commitment, and trust supporting rapport.

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  2017 Walden University Research Symposium

  Daniel W. Salter, William Barkley, Barbara Benoliel PhD, Paula Dawidowicz, Paul Englesberg, John W. Flohr, Elisha Galaif, Gerald Giraud, Kristina Harris, JoeAnn Hinrichs, and Matthew Jones

  Welcome to the 2017 Walden University Research Symposium. We are glad you can join us in celebrating our 10th anniversary of this Walden University tradition. The Research Symposium is an annual event that showcases research projects from our academic community, especially work by our recent graduates. If there is a theme this year, beyond their shared focus on social change, it would be research aimed at “assuring success” for a variety of people and groups. The presentations at a symposium appear in two different formats

  • Poster presentations provide an opportunity for researchers to engage with all individuals attending the symposium and potentially to network with other interested researchers. New to this year’s symposium are poster presentations by local alumni who have continued the research they started as doctoral students.

  • Using a roundtable presentation format, a select group of researchers is available for interactive discussions of their work, with handouts and visual materials available to support the discussion. For this symposium, we are highlighting the in-progress research by fellows associated with Walden University’s Center for Social Change.

  The “magic” of a research symposium can be found in the interactions between presenters and audience, however. So, please, don’t be shy—step up, ask questions, make comments, and enjoy the experience.

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  Strategies To Improve Project Management Maturity Processes

  Walter H. Sargent

  Information technology (IT) organizations lose significant competitive value when business leaders fail to use project management maturity (PMM) processes that enhance market delivery, reduce costs, and increase profitability. This multiple-case study involved 20 project leaders that used successful strategies to improve PMM. Thematic analysis and cross-case analysis revealed 6 strategies to improve PMM processes, which are (a) Project leader development, (b) customer focus, (c) standard methodology, (d) interactive communication, (e) organizational structure, and (f) continuous process improvement.

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  Sleep Among Young Adults Living in Rural Poverty

  Susan Barber Skinner

  Sleep problems are implicated in individual health and public safety issues. This phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews (n = 12) of young adults living in rural poverty. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes including a struggle to balance sleep with preferred activities and a belief that the body controls sleep behavior.

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  Content Area Teacher Perspectives on Integrating Literacy Strategies

  Osha Lynette Smith

  The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) recommend that all educators prepare students with the literacy skills needed for college and careers. This study examined seventh and eighth grade content area teachers’ perspectives towards teaching literacy. Results indicated that teachers felt unprepared to teach reading. These findings can facilitate communication between teachers and other stakeholders regarding school literacy initiatives. Further the findings informed creation of a professional training program to provide teachers with on-site support for literacy integration.