McNair Research Journal - Summer 2015

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program Table of Contents Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair Statements: Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach McNair Scholars Institute Staf

Social support during pregnancy with gestational diabetes mellitus: exploring post-natal women’ experiences

Aims/objectives: The majority of the literature has focused upon treatments and screening routines for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). However, knowledge about the importance and experiences of social support during pregnancy period is sparse. Social support not only affects health and well-being, but also influences pregnancy outcomes. The aims of this thesis were to 1) explore and understand importance, meaning and experiences of social support from post-natal women’ perspectives and 2) identify the sources and types of social support received/perceived during pregnancy with GDM. Method: Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding about social support during pregnancy. Data were analysed using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: The findings demonstrated that women perceived the receipt of three distinct types of support. The most frequently mentioned types included: emotional support and the receipt of information/advice. Sources varied by type of support and most frequently included: HCPs and husbands/partners. This study also highlighted some of the unhelpful/disappointing experiences and recommendation to improve current services. Participants’ accounts of their experiences indicated that social support seemed to work as a protector/buffer to cope with their stressful life events, therefore improving/maintaining well-being, which represent the ‘Stress Buffering Model’ of the social support theory. Conclusion: Examples depicting the content of each type of support and unhelpful experiences revealed mental health and diabetes care related issues that can inform clinic- based social support interventions or peer discussion forum in the presence of a HCP. Recognising the importance of social support could potentially be very important to health- care during pregnancy as it is a time when health promotion and prevention are of critical importance

Immunization and Autism of Children 3 to 16 Years Old in Rumah Autis Bekasi

Autism is defined as neurology disorder affecting brain functionalities so that resulting communication, social interaction, behavior difficulties and the symptom appears before age 3. This study is aimed at understanding the factors related to autism cases in Rumah Autis Bekasi. Methods: There variables in this study namely, independent variable was immunization and dependent variable was autism and confounding variable were genetic, parents’ age, maternal health history during pregnancy, and medication during pregnancy. Primary data collected through questionaire and interview to the families of autism. This is a case study on 60 samples divided into 30 samples of autism in Rumah Autis and 30 samples of normal people living nearby with the proportion 1:1. The data were analyzed using univariate, bivariate using chi square test, and multivariate statistical analysis using regresi logistic. The results show that there is no correlation between immunization history and the autism with p-value 0.774>0.05. There is a correlation between the father’s age and the autism with p-value 0.038<0.05 and OR 0.333,there is a significant relationship between maternal health history and autism with p-value 0.038<0.05 and OR 3.763 and multivariate analysis shows that the most dominant variable is maternal health history with p-value 0.019 and OR 13.496. This study suggests that the pregnant women should check up their condition if there are some health problems and taking medication without doctor’s prescription. Keyword: Immunization, Autism, Children 3 to 16 years ol

Library websites popularity: does Facebook really matter?

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the utilization of social media (Facebook) is an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library site usage in Malaysian public universities. Nine top ranked Malaysian public universities involved in this research and number of Facebook followers for each library website is listed. Alexa software was used as the approach to study the issue of visibility. Alexa is able to determine web site usage, by showing the percentage of visitors of library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for each University website (domain) over a month. It is found that Universiti Utara Malaysia library website scored the highest percentage of visitors based on the library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for the University website in Alexa. To check such irregularities in access, this paper use EvalAccess 2.0 and it is found that Universiti Sains Malaysia’s library website scored higher irregularities. In term of number of Facebook followers, Univesity of Malaya library has the highest score. It is showed that the utilization of social media (Facebook) is not yet an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library websites. However, expectedly, top ranked universities’ library web sites, are more visible and popular. This research is limited to the situation in Malaysia where public universities are more noticeable and seldom face financial constraints rather than private universities. It is highly important for those universities’ library web sites that are not highly visible to initiate the necessary measures in improving the development of their web sites as the usage of the website is an indicator of online quality

Alcoholic adaptation : a preliminary investigation of the transactional analysis viewpoint, with application to delta and gamma alcoholics

Two delta and two gamma alcoholics were assessed by case study according to the theoretical formulations of Transactional Analysis. Scripts and Games were elicited through the Thematic Apperception Test, Laddering Procedure, and Life History. Analyses demonstrated, firstly, that parallels were present between the parent-child relationship and present adult transactions; secondly, that needs, fears, and control mechanisms were traceable to early parental injunctions; thirdly, that among these subjects, delta alcoholics tend to play the alcoholic game "Lush", and gamma alcoholics tend to play the alcoholic game "Drunk and Proud". It was concluded that the script and existential position appear to play an important role in the maintenance of the drinking pattern. Alcoholic Loss of Control appears to be influenced by the degree to which aggression is suppressed

An embodied approach to informational interventions: using conceptual metaphors to promote sustainable healthy diets

Poor diet quality and environmental degradation are two major challenges of our times. Unhealthy and unsustainable dietary practices, such as the overconsumption of meat and consumer food waste behaviour, contribute greatly to both issues. Across seventeen online and field experiments, in two different cultures (US and China), this thesis investigates if the embodied cognition approach, and more specifically, research on conceptual metaphors, can be used to develop interventions to promote sustainable healthy diets. Interventions relying on conceptual metaphors have been shown to stimulate attitudinal and behavioural changes in other fields (e.g., marketing and political communications), but are rarely adopted to encourage sustainable healthy diets. To fill in this gap in the literature, I conducted five sets of experimental studies examining the effects of different metaphors on specific sustainable healthy dietary practices, each of which forms an independent empirical paper (Chapters 2-6 of the thesis). After introducing the current perspectives on embodied cognition and conceptual metaphors in the context of this research (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 looks into the conceptual metaphor “Healthy is Up”, demonstrating that US people implicitly associate healthiness with verticality, and offering recommendations for healthy eating guidelines. Chapter 3 extends this research to Chinese samples and partially replicates the results. Chapter 4 shows that the anthropomorphic metaphor “Animals are Friends” discourages meat consumption by inducing anticipatory guilt among US omnivores, whereas Chapter 5 reveals that Chinese omnivores are more responsive to another anthropomorphic metaphor, namely, “Animals are Family”. Bringing lab insights 6 to the real world, Chapter 6 demonstrates with a longitudinal field experiment that anthropomorphic metaphors together with environmental feedback result in a higher reduction in food waste as compared to other feedback interventions. The strengths, limitations and implications of those empirical papers are discussed in the conclusive part of the thesis

A framework for assistive communications technology in cross-cultural healthcare

Rural and remote Australian Aboriginal communities suffer seriously adverse life expectancy rates, lifestyle disease complications and hospital treatment needs due to type 2 diabetes. In great part this is due to communications barriers arising from the lack of equitable acculturation within patient-practitioner consultations. This research presents a framework foundation for a computerised patient-practitioner lingua franca. Behavioural and design science ontology development delivers an intercultural patient-practitioner type 2 diabetes assistive communications system, known as P-PAC

Understanding the hidden experience of head and neck cancer patients : a qualitative exploration of beliefs and mental images

Patients’ beliefs about their illness are known to influence their experiences of illness, its psychological impact, their health behaviours, and overall health outcomes. Research into illness beliefs has typically involved written or oral methods, yet recent studies have suggested that patients’ beliefs about their illness may be embodied in visual form, in their mental images of the disease. Beliefs embedded in mental images may not be captured via traditional modes of assessment, and thus far the possible significance of this kind of ‘visual knowledge’, has been largely overlooked. Studies using visual methods to explore patients’ mental images suggest this is a viable and useful approach which may provide additional insights into their illness beliefs. Research of this kind is in its infancy however, and there are several fundamental questions concerning the existence and nature of mental images, how best to access such images, and their relationship to illness beliefs, which are as yet unanswered. This thesis employed qualitative methods to address these issues and explore the significance of mental images within the context of head and neck cancer. It consists of three empirical phases – a methodological pilot study, a qualitative meta-synthesis, and a longitudinal study. The findings indicate that many patients do generate a mental image of their cancer, and this is significant in terms of their understanding of both the disease and its treatments. Images appear to enhance patients’ comprehension of what is going on inside their bodies, and may both reflect and influence illness beliefs. In this thesis these findings are considered with reference to the methodological issues intrinsic to researching mental images, and the implications for future research and clinical practice.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceChief Scientist Office (CSO)GBUnited Kingdo