Examining the Relationship Between Cultural Humility and the Working Therapeutic Alliance with African American Clients in Counseling

African Americans are one of the most least likely ethnic groups to engage in counseling. Despite African Americans struggling with mental health at the same rate and sometimes more as their white counterparts, African Americans continue to be hesitant to receive mental health services. Minimal research has been conducted to assess how to engage African Americans in counseling and what the barriers are to their engagement. When working with African Americans, cultural humility seeks to address barriers in understanding the cultural experiences of clients in counseling. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the role cultural humility plays in the counseling relationship with African American clients that aides in improving therapeutic outcomes. This quantitative study examined the relationship between cultural humility, ethnic identity and two types of outcomes: cultural missed opportunities and a positive working therapeutic alliance. The Hayes Process plugin for SPSS was used to identify the relationship between a counselor’s level of cultural humility and the impact it has on the therapeutic alliance with African American clients. The findings of the study predict that African American clients do perceive their counseling experience as positive when a counselor displays a level of cultural humility

A Quasi-Experimental Non-Equivalent Control Group Study of the Efficacy of an Academic Habits Course on Middle School Students’ Executive Function

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pretest-post-test control group study was to examine the efficacy of executive function training through scaffolded instruction on the executive function skillset between sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students enrolled in an academic habits course versus those who are not enrolled in an academic habits course at a middle school located in the southeastern United States. While former studies contributed to the literature on the trainability of the executive function skills of middle school students within the clinical setting, this study contributes to the current literature on the trainability of the executive function skills of middle school students using scaffolded instruction within the school building, during school hours. The sample comprised sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students in a treatment and control group from one suburban middle school; the treatment group had 58 students and the control group had 97 students. Data were collected using the Cognitive-Regulation Index of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Second Edition Self-Report as both a pre- and post-test. An analysis of covariance was used to test the difference in executive function rating scores between the treatment group and control group when controlling for pretest scores. The results of the data analysis found a significant difference between the executive function skills of middle school students who received executive function training through scaffolded instruction versus those who did not. This study concludes there is a statistically significant difference in executive function rating scores among sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students who receive scaffolded instruction of executive function skills and those who do not. Recommendations for future research include examining the efficacy of executive function training as part of the school curriculum across different school settings

Chaos and the Human Experience: An Intertextual Study of Job, Qohelet, and Jonah

Hermann Gunkel’s landmark work Schöpfung und Chaos was a pioneering work in biblical studies, largely in part because it highlighted the importance of considering the language, culture, and context of the broader Ancient Near East with regard to Old Testament imagery. While Gunkel’s claims that the Genesis 1 account of creation was borrowing from Ancient Near East myths is now largely rejected, still, the enduring value and legacy of Gunkel’s work is that biblical scholars see the importance of contextual studies in exegeting the Old Testament texts, as well as how to apply the material exegetically to the Old Testament. The thesis of this dissertation is that there remains a purpose and place for the Chaoskampf motif in Old Testament studies. Specifically, this dissertation looks specifically at Job, Qohelet, and Jonah and how the chaos motif is most clearly seen through a canon-conscious juxtaposition and interpretation of these three texts. The Old Testament books of Job, Qohelet, and Jonah present three perspectives on this chaos. This chaos motif, while drawing from ANE literature and employing mythopoetic imagery, is primarily about the experience of chaos within the human experience, specifically human suffering or injustice. In each book, the human experience is steeped in chaos, and YHWH breaks into that chaos with the revelation of Himself and His truth. Thus, these books share a thematic unity that is only seen when the texts are considered together

A Quantitative Casual-comparative Study to Determine the Difference in Perception of Inclusive Education Among Teachers in Preschool, Elementary and Middle School

This quantitative, causal-comparative research examines differences in Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) scores based on perceptions of inclusive education among preschool, elementary, and middle school teachers. The study involved a survey of 450 teachers from three districts in a large Eastern city in the U.S., yielding 159 responses, which surpasses the minimum sample size of 126. Researchers assessed teachers\u27 self-efficacy in inclusive instruction, collaboration, and behavior management using the TEIP scale, analyzing the data with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and a One-Way ANOVA. There was a statistically significant difference found between preschool and both elementary and middle school teachers, but no significant differences existed between elementary and middle school teachers. Similarly, significant variations in collaboration and behavior management perceptions were noted between preschool and both elementary and middle school teachers, with no significant differences found between the latter two groups. These findings underscore important differences in teacher efficacy across educational levels. Future research on teacher effectiveness in inclusive practices should encompass various school levels, consider environmental and systemic factors, and examine disparities in training, experience, and funding to enhance understanding of their impact on education

Examining the Relationship of Neuroticism and the Three Dimensions of Religious/Spiritual Doubt Through the Mediating Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty

Research on religious/spiritual (r/s) struggles, such as doubt, has increased over the past two decades and is important because of links between these struggles and negative holistic outcomes. The problem is there are Christian adults with r/s doubts that lead to negative outcomes, and there is a lack of research that examines how the personality trait factor of neuroticism and the dispositional factor of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) affect r/s doubt. The aim of this study was to examine the possible mediating influence of IU upon neuroticism and r/s doubt (including the three dimensions of r/s doubt: factual, emotional, and volitional). A sample of N = 229 adult Christians in the United States completed an anonymous cross-sectional survey on Prolific.com. The main analyses included four simple mediation models (without and with covariates age, sex, and religious belief salience). Only one of the mediation analyses showed an indirect mediation effect, the model with r/s emotional doubt as the outcome variable. This was true with and without the covariates. The mediation model with r/s emotional doubt stood out because of a slightly stronger (and only statistically significant) relationship between IU and the outcome variable compared to the other three outcome variable models, but the key difference among the models is that r/s emotional doubt is more distinctively connected with negative emotionality and IU. Recommendations for future research include prescreening for current or recent r/s doubters, including only Protestant or evangelical Christians, designing a longitudinal study with multiple survey time points, and placing the doubt survey items ahead of all other instrument items (especially religiousness items)

Analyzing Organizational Commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Telecommuting Work Environments

The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees and organizations into telecommuting roles which created undesirable consequences for the employee (distractions, overworking, isolation, etc.) and the organization (emotional disengagement, turnover, control, lack of collaboration, etc.). The research design for this study was a quasi-experimental correlational design to analyze the relationship between organizational commitment and telecommuting environments. The data obtained from the participants was collected by using Google Forms survey design. Upon receiving the required (n = 100) completed surveys, the data was then inputted into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 for analysis. The participants of this study were from a private Christian university located in Virginia. The demographic variables were analyzed using an Independent Samples T-test. The main variables of the study were analyzed by performing a Pearson r bivariate correlation. The organizational commitment factors were analyzed using an Analysis of Variance. The results of the study showed that organizational commitment was negatively related to organizational citizenship behaviors within a telecommuting environment. Additionally, “willingness to exert effort” was the significant bonding factor that connected the three factors of organizational commitment. Implications within the study portrayed the importance of role separation between work and family and showed a reduction in conflict between the employee and the organization. Finally, cultivating organizational citizenship behaviors within the organization will lead to numerous benefits, i.e., group cohesiveness, an increase in customer satisfaction, adapting to environmental changes, and reducing minor customer complaints

Who Can Stand? \u3ci\u3eMurthy v. Missouri\u3c/i\u3e and Social Media Censorship

As the influence of social media proliferates, two things increase accordingly: government attempts to control it and the law’s attempt to provide a coherent framework. There are ongoing conversations both within and without the legal community about the extent to which individuals have a right against the social media companies to create or consume content. But the Court in Murthy v. Missouri had a chance to sidestep those questions and address whether individuals have a right against the government to curb its influence on those companies. This issue has the potential to be one of the most significant questions in modern times, which is whether the free flow of ideas on social media will be generally free from or subjected to government control. This article analyzes the Court’s decision in Murthy, not only explaining the holding on standing but also forecasting how that holding will influence lawsuits moving forward. It posits that the strictures the Court articulated will make it exceedingly difficult for plaintiffs to obtain relief of this kind when they allege government-coerced censorship. The article takes a realistic look at whether and how the law can protect the individual against the behemoth (particularly when the behemoth wields the government sword), but it also discusses the “why.” The “why,” here, is a biblical argument for a free press, making the case that outside of divine rule itself, a government open and responsive to the voice of the people is an essential element of a just society

Exploring Teachers\u27 Experiences Developing Adaptive Learning Systems with High-Stakes Testing Requirements: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study

The theory that guided this study was Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, which was utilized to relate to teachers’ beliefs about engaging in behaviors influenced by high-stakes testing. A transcendental methodology was used for the study design as the study aimed to explore teachers’ shared experiences while bracketing my previous experiences. The sample population consisted of second- to sixth-grade teachers who instructed subjects who were assessed by high-stakes testing in the Southeastern United States. Data was collected using interviews, focus groups, and journal prompt responses. Following data collection, the data was coded and analyzed to develop the essence of the shared experiences for the sample population with high-stakes testing through textural and structural descriptions

An Investigation of Homicide and Aggravated Assault Rates in Relation to Police Attrition

Between January 2021 and December 2022, a surge in retirements and resignations among U.S. police departments coincided with a notable rise in violent crime in urban areas. This correlational study used a retrospective approach to test the theory that a correlation existed between the unprecedented attrition of sworn officers following the 2020 social unrest and the contemporaneous sudden spike in violent crime rates in major cities during that same period. In addition, this study aimed to explore whether the four cities reacted similarly and simultaneously during the 24 months under study. The population under study was the attrition rates of the four largest urban police departments, the New York Police Department (NYPD), Chicago Police Department (CPD), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), and their city’s homicide and aggravated assault rates. Two decades of attrition and crime data from four major cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia) were analyzed to establish context for the examined 24 months. The relationship between attrition and crime data was explored using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) and Spearman’s rho utilizing SPSS v.28. The similarity of the cities was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. This study was designed to provide insights into the complex dynamics between law enforcement manpower and urban crime rates and add to the literature on the uniqueness of urban crime

Fayol\u27s Unity of Direction Principle Implemented in the Gospel Baptist Church of America

There are many Myanmar churches in the USA, and many of them are based on their ethnicities. Since many are working classes, some church members have difficulty attending church worship services and participating in other church activities. This negatively impacts the Gospel Baptist Church of America (GBCA) church\u27s mission, vision, and goals to implement them every year. The leadership team and their management skills at Gospel Baptist Church must address and find solutions for the issues so that members cannot perform their character as followers of Jesus Christ in the church. This praxis program helps the author implement the management training program for leaders, find problems and concerns among church members, and propose the inputs for the issue at Gospel Baptist Church. By using Fayol\u27s Unity of direction principle, the outcomes of this proposal goals are (1) increase church leaders’ confidence, self-esteem, and team spirit and improve their mastery of leadership management skills, (2) increase weekly church members\u27 and new visitors\u27 attendance in worship services and church activities, and (3) govern an obedient church member and demonstrate the success and impact of the Church\u27s mission and vision