Sexual risk taking behaviors of EMU residents

Teens and young adults are being infected with sexually transmitted diseases and experiencing unplanned pregnancy at an alarming rate. A survey of Eastern Michigan University students living in residence halls identifies risk taking behaviors they are taking that lead to these consequences. This survey will allow Residence Life and other university staff to better educate the student with the knowledge needed to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy

ENGAGING CRITICAL REFLECTION AND AUTHENTICITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE ROLES OF EDUCATORS IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION

ENGAGING CRITICAL REFLECTION AND AUTHENTICITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE ROLES OF EDUCATORS IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATIO

Architecture + Behavior: the built environment, natural landscapes and at-risk youth

There exists an interesting parallel between the power and the limits of architecture and its relationship to the human experience. This thesis proposes the question of how architecture can affect behavior in light of both the poetic and the practical in regards to the built environment. By understanding the user, incorporating the mission and goals of the client, and striving to connect aspects of the built environment to the two, architecture can act as a powerful influencer on behavior. These ideas, along with research (in camp history, play theory, young adolescent development and learning, experiential learning, environment-behavior relationships, the natural environment and place preference) are used for the planning and design of the summer camp for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. The thesis serves as a guide for future development at the camp on Sardis Lake in Mississippi

An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Humility in Counseling Scale

As clients’ needs grow in depth and complexity, it is imperative that counselor educators have a process for training counselors-in-training (CITs) to develop nuanced intrapersonal qualities and further prepare them for the challenges of the therapeutic relationship. Counseling skills are just one facet of clinical competence. Counselors-in-training must also develop their self-as-the therapist to gain competence in working with the client’s emotional turmoil, life stressors, intersectionality, unique perspectives, and autonomy (Aponte et al., 2009). The purposeful application of clinical humility could be a catalyst to both scaffold and deepen learning experiences to foster intra- and interpersonal development. The purpose of this study was to develop a scale that measures clinical humility. Previously developed scales which measure humility have not focused on the subdomain of clinical humility studied with counselors/CITs. The Humility in Counseling Scale (HICS) was designed to fill this gap in the research and provide a tool to embed clinical humility into counselor education and supervision (CES) training. A self-assessment measure of clinical humility could be an important tool to evaluate intrapersonal components which strengthen counselor clinical training. The survey was administered to 386 practicing counselors and CITs. Following analysis of the psychometric properties, the results revealed a one-factor solution with three underlying facets of humility (flexibility, self-awareness, and openness). The HICS as a unidimensional measure of humility holds promise to have scores which produce valid and reliable results. Future contributions to the field of CES include a variety of methods to implement the HICS into clinical training settings. Future implications for research include confirmatory factor analysis, comparative analysis, and qualitative studies

Home Is Where the Food Is: Causes and Consequences of Partial Migration in Elk

Migratory and non-migratory ungulates often coexist in partially migratory populations, but the mechanisms that drive and maintain different migratory behaviors within the same herd are poorly understood. In western North America, increasing numbers of elk (Cervus canadensis) reside on low-elevation winter range year-round. These residents can cause issues associated with crop damage, potential for disease transmission to livestock, and reduced effectiveness of harvest management strategies. Because migrants transfer nutrients, alter carnivore distributions, and structure vegetative communities across seasonal ranges, reductions in migratory behavior raise ecological as well as management-related concerns. This work investigated the factors affecting migratory behavior of female elk and assessed the nutritional consequences of different behaviors. In our study of a partially migratory elk population in west-central Montana, we found that migrants had access to lower-quality forage during summer than their non-migratory counterparts. In our broader-scale study of 16 elk herds across western Montana, we found that migratory behavior of individuals was best-explained by a combination of native forage, irrigated agriculture, and conspecific density. Together, these results reveal a strong influence of irrigated agriculture on migratory behavior of elk. Migration is commonly considered a strategy to increase assess to high-quality forage; our results reveal that irrigated agriculture can alter the traditional nutritional benefits of migration by providing high-quality forage at low elevations throughout the year. Although elk were less likely to migrate if they overwintered in irrigated agricultural areas, predictable availability of better forage elsewhere mitigated that effect. Thus, maintaining or improving the quality of forage available on migratory summer ranges should encourage migratory behavior, as should excluding elk from irrigated agricultural areas. Given the importance of nutritional intake during late summer and fall to elk fecundity and calf survival, improving the forage available to migrants could go beyond preserving current behaviors to effectively increase prevalence of migration where irrigated agriculture has subsidized increasing numbers of resident ungulates

Redesigning a Course Using Action Research to Renovate an Undergraduate Curriculum in Architecture

Architectural education is a time-intensive endeavor, typically resulting in a high number of student dropouts. In an effort to address better matriculation, faculty in an architecture and interior design program instituted course redesigns for an introductory lecture course within the undergraduate curriculum over the course of two academic years. This resulted in significant changes to the course structure and the course content, as well as to adjacent courses within the first-year curriculum. Through the implementation of the course redesigns, researchers realized that the process of redesign resembles the process of action research. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how action research can apply to course redesign in higher education. The research questions that guided this study were: (1) How is action research applied to redesign an architecture and interior design program? and (2) What does course redesign as action research look like within a course setting in higher education? This article strives to make clear the connection between course redesign and action research by organizing the course redesigns into an integrated action research model. The implications and discussion based on the research findings will also be provided for applying action research to redesign courses in higher education

Experiences of individuals with physical disabilities in natural disasters: an integrative review

People with physical disabilities are highly vulnerable during natural disasters. The interaction of individual, societal and environmental factors impact on their ability to prepare, evacuate and recover from disaster events. This paper provides a review of the current body of knowledge on the lived experiences of adults with a physical disability in natural disasters. Fifty-seven articles were identified in the primary research, with seven studies selected for review. The small body of research to date indicates that natural disasters present challenges to people with physical disabilities, and have significant negative impacts on their lives. However, there are a number of factors that enhance the resilience of people with physical disabilities. The aim of this integrative review as to describe the current body of knowledge on the lived experiences of adults with a physical disability in natural disasters and to identify gaps in the literature to inform future research