Gardner-Webb Looks Into Adding Transportation Service

Gardner-Webb University is exploring the option of adding a transportation system to bus students who commute from Shelby to Boiling Springs.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/gardner-webb-newscenter-archive/3308/thumbnail.jp

A growth mindset intervention in female collegiate athletes

Growth mindset interventions have been evaluated within academic settings for years and have demonstrated links between one’s mindset and achievement goals. However, despite this research, limited research has evaluated the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention within an athletic setting. This research aimed to remedy this shortcoming by conducting a growth mindset intervention within a sample of 27 female collegiate athletes. Participants viewed two videos about the malleability of the brain, listened to the researcher discuss personal sport experiences, and wrote a letter to a future athlete. Measures of growth mindset, fixed mindset, competitiveness, win orientation, and goal orientation were obtained pre- and post-intervention. It was hypothesized the intervention would facilitate a growth mindset while decreasing win orientation and increasing goal orientation. A series of 2 x 2 Repeated Measures Mixed ANOVA’s revealed these hypotheses were not supported. However, several moderate to large effect sizes emerged and provided practical significance for some of the presented mean differences and relationships. Given these findings, limitations and directions for further research in growth mindset in athletes are offered

White America and its “Indian” Mascots: The Most Salient Form of Interaction

Native American interactions with the rest of American society has always been complicated due to a long history of misconduct, violence, and attempts to repair the damages. Societal acceptance of “Indian” or Native American referenced mascots is one of those instances of misconduct and Native Americans are actively fighting for respectful representation

White America and its “Indian” Mascots: The Most Salient Form of Interaction

Native American interactions with the rest of American society has always been complicated due to a long history of misconduct, violence, and attempts to repair the damages. Societal acceptance of “Indian” or Native American referenced mascots is one of those instances of misconduct and Native Americans are actively fighting for respectful representation

Teacher Showcase Video

This video is a group of STEM Teacher Leaders sharing their implementation of STEM integration in their early childhood classrooms. Their presentations include their lessons learned and student data.https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/stem_practice/1002/thumbnail.jp

Exposing Racial Discrimination: Implicit & Explicit Measures–The My Body, My Story Study of 1005 US-Born Black & White Community Health Center Members

Background To date, research on racial discrimination and health typically has employed explicit self-report measures, despite their potentially being affected by what people are able and willing to say. We accordingly employed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) for racial discrimination, first developed and used in two recent published studies, and measured associations of the explicit and implicit discrimination measures with each other, socioeconomic and psychosocial variables, and smoking. Methodology/Principal Findings Among the 504 black and 501 white US-born participants, age 35–64, randomly recruited in 2008–2010 from 4 community health centers in Boston, MA, black participants were over 1.5 times more likely (p<0.05) to be worse off economically (e.g., for poverty and low education) and have higher social desirability scores (43.8 vs. 28.2); their explicit discrimination exposure was also 2.5 to 3.7 times higher (p<0.05) depending on the measure used, with over 60% reporting exposure in 3 or more domains and within the last year. Higher IAT scores for target vs. perpetrator of discrimination occurred for the black versus white participants: for “black person vs. white person”: 0.26 vs. 0.13; and for “me vs. them”: 0.24 vs. 0.19. In both groups, only low non-significant correlations existed between the implicit and explicit discrimination measures; social desirability was significantly associated with the explicit but not implicit measures. Although neither the explicit nor implicit discrimination measures were associated with odds of being a current smoker, the excess risk for black participants (controlling for age and gender) rose in models that also controlled for the racial discrimination and psychosocial variables; additional control for socioeconomic position sharply reduced and rendered the association null. Conclusions Implicit and explicit measures of racial discrimination are not equivalent and both warrant use in research on racial discrimination and health, along with data on socioeconomic position and social desirability

Review of HIV Testing Efforts in Historically Black Churches

This paper aims to critically assess the state of HIV testing in African American churches. A comprehensive review of peer-reviewed publications on HIV testing in church-based settings was conducted by two independent coders. Twenty-six papers published between 1991 and 2015, representing 24 unique projects, were identified addressing at least one dimension of HIV testing. Thirteen faith-based projects have implemented HIV testing events or had clergy promote the importance of testing and knowing one’s HIV status, but empirical data and rigorous study designs were limited. Only eight papers reported onsite HIV testing in churches. Less than 5% of the studies reported the percentage of congregants who returned for their test results. Finally, no study has examined at baseline or post-intervention behavioral intentions to be screened for HIV. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV testing in churches and to explore the possibilities of the role of the church and leadership structure in the promotion of HIV treatment and care

An exploration of faith leaders\u27 beliefs concerning hiv prevention: Thirty years into the epidemic

Despite the growing body of research on faith-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) initiatives, there are few studies exploring the perspective of faith leaders involved in HIV prevention efforts. This exploratory study examined how 29 faith leaders conceptualized key aspects of HIV prevention. Sexual health beliefs, perspectives on condom distribution, and facilitating factors and barriers to implementing an HIV program were explored. Seventy-six percent of participants agreed with the statement they would be willing to make condoms available to adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of reconciling any differences between religious doctrine, leadership role, and beliefs of faith leaders in addressing HIV in churches. Copyright C © 2013 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Sexual Health Communication Within Religious African-American Families

While research suggests youth prefer parents and family members to serve as the primary sources of sexual health information, fear and discomfort around discussing sex with their parents may leave youth misinformed and underinformed. This study explored sexual heath communication within religious African-American families. Thirty adolescents participated in four focus groups, and 19 adults and 30 adolescents participated in six focus groups, at two predominantly African-American Christian churches in Flint, MI. All data were analyzed inductively using a constant comparison approach. Nearly all participants reported attending church weekly. Three themes emerged and are described: initiating sex talks, using mistakes as teaching tools, and clarifying prevention messages. Participants highlighted the need for religious parents to offer both religious and practical guidance to adolescents about sexual health. Findings from this study may be used to inform future sexual health promotion interventions for religious African-American families

Snap out stigma photovoice project in the U.S. South

Background: The purpose of SNAP Out Stigma (SOS) was to design and implement a community-based intervention to reduce HIV-related stigma for people living with HIV (PLWH) in the Deep South. This region is a subset of 9 states including Memphis, Tennessee (project site) driving the epidemic in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to explain how PLWH in the U.S. South used Photovoice to communicate stigmatizing lived experiences and contextualize their intersection with multi-level sources of support. Methods: PLWH attended one-on-one and/or group sessions with other PLWH. In Session 1, PLWH received a project overview, met other participants, received a camera and camera training, completed a standardized internalized stigma scale, discussed experiences of internalized stigma, and were instructed to take 3–10 pictures that captured stigma. In Session 2, PLWH discussed the pictures and their meaning. In Session 3, PLWH expanded on what they shared in previous sessions in a one-on-one interview. Thematic analysis captured key patterns of how PLWH experienced stigma. Results: Forty-seven PLWH attended Session 1 and were issued a camera. Of those, 35 completed sessions 2 and 3. Participants self-identified as cis man who has sex with men (n = 18), ciswoman (n = 5), transwoman (n = 10), and non-binary (n = 2). Four emergent themes intersecting with internalizations of stigma were identified including: medical, social support, church, and self. Conclusions: The SOS intervention created a safe space for PLWH to share lived experiences of stigmatization. Photovoice facilitated discussion topics ranging from healing and recovery to overcoming factors of social determinants of HIV. We identified trauma-informed growth as an area of future programs for PLWH