Analysis of contingent versus permanent employees in the healthcare industry

This thesis is designed to take a deep look into two types of staffing models found in the healthcare industry. A qualitative study is used to explore strengths and weaknesses of permanent and contingent workforce solutions. The problem statement is focused on determining the workforce solution method that is most successful for healthcare organizations. The issue was evaluated and analyzed through the examination of peer-reviewed literature, as well as healthcare organizations that have experienced positive outcomes from contingent or permanent staffing solutions. The final recommendation, derived from research conclusions, encourages healthcare organizations to incorporate a hybrid model of temporary and permanent clinicians. This solution results in meeting the expectation of delivering quality healthcare to all communities. The outcomes of the hybrid model doesl provide health systems with optimal staffing sustainability, and cost efficiency

The results of breathwork on traumatized African American male juveniles

African Americans have a history of profound trauma in America. More specifically, the African American man’s trauma has been marginalized, not only in his own cultural context, but within the patriarchal constructs of dominant culture. This, coupled with institutional racism, has allowed African American men to become a target of the criminal justice system. To date, African American men have staggering rates of incarceration and lead all ethnic groups in recidivism. While African American males comprise 6.5 percent of the U.S. population, as a whole, they comprise 40 percent of the incarcerated prison system (Mauer, 1999; Alexander, 2010). Tie in experiences of the intergenerational trauma of slavery with the social constructs of male identity and the African American male felon’s concerns are institutionally marginalized and made invisible (Alexander, 2010; Leary, 2005; Anderson, 2008). The vast majority of youth in this study have backgrounds rooted in areas of systemic poverty and have faced various degrees of trauma throughout their life. It is this researcher’s hypothesis that breathwork offers a way for African American felons to manage emotions, feel empowered, have ownership of their lives, and contribute constructively to their families and communities. This nonverbal therapeutic technique consists of deep and rapid breathing to facilitate the process of healing psychic trauma rooted outside conscious awareness. This study seeks to answer the question: Can breathwork aid African American male felons to manage emotions, feel a sense of control over institutional racism, effects of incarceration, and poverty after being incarcerated? Analysis of the data will include basic demographic information, and the following instruments: Holmes Rahe Life Event Scale (Colbert, 2003), Zung Self Rating Depression Scale (Colbert, 2003), NOVACO Anger Inventory (Colbert, 2003) (short form). The researcher will use a one-tailed t-test to analyze the data

The effectiveness of a structured note taking and written retell intervention on increasing overall reading comprehension

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of a structured note-taking and written retell intervention on improving reading comprehension in high school age students. The participants for this study were two freshmen, one male and one female, at a high school in a large urban Midwestern city. In order to qualify for the study, participants needed to score at least two levels below their current grade level on the Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI-5: Caldwell & Leslie, 2011). Reading comprehension growth was measured using the QRI-5 as the pretest and the posttest. One student was chosen at random to participate in the experimental condition, while the other student only attended typical coursework as the control condition. The student in the experimental condition participated in ten one-to-one intervention sessions over the course of five weeks. Each intervention session included modeling of the note-taking skill, practice retelling a text, and answer comprehension questions. After the intervention, both participants were given a posttest to determine growth. The participant in the experimental condition increased her reading comprehension level more than the student in the control group. This suggests that the intervention was successful at improving reading comprehension in high school age students

Hmong American home literacy environments and parent participation in a first grade classroom

Research on Hmong American childrens’ Home Literacy Environments (HLEs) is limited. Further, although parent participation is increasingly encouraged in the American school system, Hmong American families may face significant barriers to school participation. This study investigated the Home Literacy Environments (HLEs) of 18 Hmong American first graders in an urban Midwestern city through parent interviews. The relationship between home literacy practices and reading achievement data was analyzed using codes from parent interviews and archival reading achievement data to identify emerging patterns and potential relationships. Further, barriers and supports to parent participation in the classroom were explored using parent responses and interviews with Hmong American staff members. Three primary findings emerged from the data, including: (a) nature of the students’ HLEs, (b) emerging patterns between students’ home literacy practices and progress on reading assessments, and (c) barriers and supports affecting parent participation in the classroom. Implications of the study are discussed in relation to future research and practice

The effects of music therapy on social behaviors of African American males with emotional behavior disability in elementary school

The purpose of this study was to determine if music therapy had an effect on behavior of students with emotional behavior disorder during independent work time. In order to prove this hypothesis, suspension/incident referral data, pre and post-surveys, as well as tally and anecdotal behavior collection were discussed and analyzed. Prior to the intervention, the students were regularly showing negative behaviors as supported by the suspension and incident referral data and behavioral data from week one in the intervention. In the suspension and incident referral data, all students decreased their referrals/suspensions post-intervention. Students self-identified their progress with the use of the pre and post-survey. Where every student identified growth in at least two areas of behavior. In addition, the behavioral data showed dramatic increases in positive behavior and decreases in negative behavior throughout the eight-week period in all observed behaviors. On average, every student was engaging in positive behaviors over 80 percent of the 30-minute intervention time. Over all the various data collections, each student made positive progress in their own individual way. The behavioral data was essential to at the core of identifying if the music therapy was successful. This data indicates that music therapy did have an effect on the increase of positive behaviors and the decrease of negative behaviors for students with emotional behavior disorder during independent work time

The impact of academic-clinical partnerships on the experiences of nursing students, staff and faculty

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of academic-clinical partnerships on the clinical education experiences of undergraduate nursing students, staff nurses, and clinical faculty. Design: An integrative literature review was conducted using 12 research studies that examined academic-clinical partnerships in healthcare education. Etienne Wenger’s concept of communities of practice was used as the framework for the review. Methods: Studies from peer-reviewed journals published between 2011 and 2015 were included in the literature review. The studies were retrieved from an online database using the search terms “academic partnership,” “clinical partnership,” “nurse education,” “collaboration” and “clinical model.” The findings from the literature review were grouped according to common themes. Findings: Academic-clinical partnerships were shown to result in student, staff and faculty satisfaction. They were also found to make the clinical learning experience more valuable and realistic. Conclusion: The findings suggested that academic-clinical partnerships positively influence nursing student, staff and faculty satisfaction. They also afforded a valuable and contextual learning experience. Relevance to Nursing Education: As the nursing profession continues to evolve parallel to the needs of modern-day healthcare, organizations such as the Institute of Medicine have called for a transformation in the delivery of nursing education. Academic-clinical partnerships have been identified as a means to provide more satisfactory and comprehensive learning experiences

The effectiveness of creative writing on lowering mathematics anxiety and increasing standardized test scores in middle school

This study was designed to determine whether or not creative writing prior to “high-stakes” mathematics examinations was affective in reducing mathematics stress, anxiety, and/or worry. The participants chosen for the study were 26 sixth grade students in a middle school mathematics class. All participants were assigned to either a High Anxiety or Low Anxiety distinction based on an anxiety survey requiring students to rank the level of math anxiety they felt in various mathematics scenarios. Participants were then screened for mathematics ability by scores on standardized and district mathematics exams, and assigned to experimental and control conditions. Results were comprised of individual test scores on two high stakes exams, and analyzed specifically for growth across two installments of each exam. Analysis of growth scores showed that exposure to the experimental creative writing condition was successful for some groups

The effects of phonological awareness based centers to enhance literacy skills in kindergarten

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using phonological awareness centers to facilitate development of kindergarten students’ phonological awareness skills. The research question asked: How will facilitating phonological awareness centers make kindergarten students better readers? The research design consisted of quantitative pre/post assessments, small group study research design. The findings/results of the action research confirmed my hypothesis which was that the kindergarten students would significantly show growth in reading skills after 7 weeks of using phonological awareness centers. The fact that the students were able to show significant improvements in seven of the eight subcategories on the PASS assessment verifies that the students were able to increase their understanding of phonological awareness skills. The significance/implications of the research shows that teachers need to have access to continuous effective instructional activities to help their students become more competent with the use of phonemes to strengthen their reading skills

The effects of a taped-problems intervention on multiplication fact fluency of fourth grade title I math students

The purpose of this action research study was to increase multiplication fact fluency for a small class of fourth grade students by implementing an efficient intervention model. The research question was: What are the effects of a Taped-Problems (TP) intervention on multiplication fact fluency of fourth grade Title I math students? This study applied a quantitative, quasiexperimental, one-group pretest-posttest design. To test the effect TP intervention had on student multiplication fact fluency, mean DCM scores on baseline assessment probes were compared to mean DCM scores on maintenance assessment probes with a two-tailed dependent t-test. For two of the three problem sets, the maintenance mean DCM scores increased significantly over the baseline mean DCM scores. Furthermore, analysis of individual student mean DCM scores indicated an increase from either frustration level to instructional level or instructional level to mastery level (Deno & Mirkin, 1977). The data moderately supported the hypothesis that TP intervention affected student multiplication fact fluency. Based on the results of this study, further research would be merited on examining the number of intervention sessions as related to sustained maintenance DCM scores. It would also be advantageous for future research to investigate the effects of efficiency modifications such as training students or developing computer software for independent administration of the TP intervention

The effects of a reading intervention with the spot-and-dot syllabication strategy in conjunction with the vowel pattern chart

This study investigated the effects of a 14-week reading intervention, which included using the Spot-and-Dot Syllabication Strategy (Cheyney and Cohen, 1999) in conjunction with an adjusted Vowel Pattern Chart (Cheyney and Cohen, 1999) with one student who attended a mid-western metropolitan literacy center. The student received instruction that allowed him to segment multisyllabic words through awareness of the vowel/syllable patterns. Pre- and posttest assessments were administered with the Reading Dr. Seuss Words!!! (Santa & Hoien, 1999) and the Power Pattern Placement Survey (Cheyney and Cohen, 1999). Posttest results showed he had significant improvement of p = 03 on Reading Dr. Seuss Words!!! (1999) and p = 01 on the Power Pattern Placement Survey (1999). These results show that the use of this intervention strategy helped this struggling reader recognize vowel/syllable patterns. Further research is needed to determine the effects of this intervention with small intervention groups and/or in a regular classroom environment