How Does Birth Control Impact Overall User Wellness: A Mixed-Methodology Approach Surveying How Physical, Mental, and Social Wellness is Impacted by Use of Birth Control

The purpose of this study is to understand the ways in which birth control may impact wellness. By looking at physical activity, social wellness, experienced side effects, and a range of demographics, the goal is to better understand how the use of birth control may impact its user’s overall wellness. After gathering data in a two-week survey, I discovered that mood swings, weight gain, and depression were the top three reported side effects and Latina women reported irregular bleeding at a higher frequency than white women. Loneliness is impacted by birth control use; users were 30% more likely to report being lonely multiple times a week than nonusers. The results of this research can be used to further investigate the relationship between social wellness and birth control use. Additionally, more research can be done into why Latina women may experience irregular bleeding more frequently

Can an Invasive Species of Crayfish Help Save a Population of a Threatened Species of Bird, the King Rail?

ABSTRACT - Invasive species are frequently harmful to native species and to ecosystem stability. Yet, in a few cases, alien species have been found to benefit native residents. I investigated the relationship between a threatened species of marsh bird and an invasive species of crayfish on which it feeds. The Red Swamp Crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, was deliberately introduced into an impoundment at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) 25 years ago. The refuge hosts one of the largest breeding populations of King Rails Rallus elegans on the east coast of the United States. This secretive marsh bird is globally Near Threatened (Birdlife International). The King Rail is mainly carnivorous and feeds in the shallows on fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic animals, with crayfish being a preferred food. The invasive crayfish is fast-growing and a prolific breeder. I investigated whether the crayfish could be providing these rare birds a resource that allows them to prosper here relative to other sites. Data were collected over the summer breeding season on both crayfish and rail abundance. I determined the distribution of crayfish among ten predetermined sites that were being surveyed for rail breeding density as part of an ongoing study. Crayfish were caught using food-baited traps. Carapace remains from consumed crayfish were collected as a representative sample of the segment of the population that fell prey. The rail population was surveyed via passive recording of calls using autonomous recording units (Wildlife Acoustics). Both species preferred areas of natural marsh compared to impoundments. I investigated whether peak numbers of the largest size class of the invasive species, P. clarkii, coincided with the brood rearing period, when King Rails would likely be most nutritionally stressed. The temporal data revealed that King Rail hatching dates peaked when the largest crayfish size classes were most abundant. That King Rails timed their breeding so that hatching coincided with larger sizes of the invasive crayfish suggests that P. clarkii may have a positive effect on King Rail population growth at this site. Relative rail abundance based on calling rates among sites was then compared to crayfish abundance at the same sites based on trap data to see if these were correlated. The spatial results of the study showed that when comparing P. clarkii abundance and King Rail relative density at ten locations, there was no significant relationship between higher numbers of crayfish and where rails chose to nest. Dietary constraints may have contributed to the decline of King Rail populations across its range, and its extirpation from marshes where vegetation, water depth and other habitat variables appear suitable. Further research will be needed to reveal what proportion of the diet of Mackay Island King Rails the crayfish represent, and whether the invasive species, P. clarkii, is a contributing substantially to their reproductive success

Staff Members\u27 Perceptions of General Education Development Programs in Virginia\u27s Correctional System

The Virginia Department of Corrections mandates that all offenders without a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED) are required to be enrolled in GED programs offered in the prison system. However, these programs have shown varying rates of success. Supported by the constructivist theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify how correctional education staff members perceived the effectiveness of the GED programs. Data from surveys and interviews with 9 educational correctional staff members were collected and analyzed for themes. Findings indicated that (a) participants use computer software for effective instruction, (b) offenders who were enrolled in correctional education programs successfully reenter society after being released from incarceration, and (c) offenders\u27 self-efficacy is related to GED instruction. Findings may be used to improve GED programs to support offenders in obtaining a GED and training to promote social justice by returning to their communities more prepared to obtain jobs and contribute to the global economy

Voices from the Field: A Qualitative Exploration of Community Partners’ Definitions of Service-Learning

During the last two decades, the knowledge base regarding the benefits and burdens for all stakeholders in service learning has expanded. However, service-learning research has neglected to address the foundation of the pedagogy, its definition, and stakeholders’ perspectives on the meaning of service learning. The current research addresses this deficiency through the use of focus group methodology to explore how community partners, specifically, define service learning. By recognizing the community voice, we hope to empower all those engaged in service-learning pedagogy to communicate understandings, experiences, and expectations to develop beneficial service-learning partnerships

Academics Versus Athletics: An Examination Of The Effects Of Background And Socialization On African-American Male Student-Athletes

Several studies have examined the socialization process of AfricanAmerican children, including the educational and cognitive socialization processes. Also, many researchers have been concerned with the socialization into sports. Likewise, recent studies have distinguished the socialization of African-Americans into sports as separate phenomena from the socialization of other groups into sports. However, there remains a need for research to examine the sports and education socialization processes of African-Americans as it relates to the achievement and/or success of Black student-athletes in several arenas (including but not limited to the academic, social, and behavioral realms of college life). This study addresses a gap in the literature. by concentrating on background and the socialization process and the extent to which it effect the overall success or failure of collegiate student-athletes, and their beliefs concerning professional sports careers. The socialization of AfricanAmerican males will be viewed as an indicator of academic success, professional sports aspirations, and social and behavioral adaptations of student-athletes at predominately white, Division I Universities

Black trans women and ploughing: ethical resistance and postures for life

This dissertation argues for an ethical investment in the flourishing of black trans women. It builds on the ongoing work of womanist and black theological ethics and draws from the personal narratives of black trans women. Carrying forward the black ethical tradition, this project recognizes black trans women and their lived experiences as an ethical source from which a unique, ethical posture emerges: ploughing. Necessitated by a social context that understands black trans feminine existence as abject and expendable, this ethical posture is a necessarily dynamic and laborious movement through life that resists and disrupts the moral ground thereby revealing and creating new moral possibilities in the process. Ploughing shows how the everyday experiences of black trans existence embody moral postures of resistance to heteropatriarchal systems of surveillance and violence. Ploughing denotes a series of ethical postures that generate alternate moral capacities that embrace embodiment and underscore the centrality of community. Focusing on respectability politics, its influence on black (Christian) religious spaces, and the operations of Black Sexual Panopticism (BSP), a system wherein black sexuality is acculturated through surveillance, chapters 1 and 2 examine the long history of social narratives that regulated and disciplined black movement and sexuality in ways that later targeted black trans femininity. Chapter 3 turns to black aesthetics. It examines blues culture and its links to black gospel through gesture and performance, introducing interstitial performativity as a glimpse of the moral potential within black-constituted spaces that affirm black erotic expression. The remaining chapters develop ethical postures through the metaphor of ploughing, highlighting distinctive features of black trans women’s existence. Drawing on published personal narratives, Chapter 4 outlines the social realities that confine and relegate black trans femininity in service of oppressive demands for social order. Chapter 5 identifies four ethical postures -- claiming pleasure, humble un/knowing, incessant becoming, and “no mind” ethos -- that coalesce to form ploughing. These postures irrupt social expectations and forge new moral trails in the process. This project recognizes black trans women as moral exemplars largely overlooked in Christian ethics, and the moral imperative to prioritize black trans feminine futures

League or the grind: A sociological examination of the post-collegiate experience of African-American male athletes

Scope and Method of Study: As an institution, sport holds an integral and prominent position as a component of our culture that is connected to the economy, educational institutions, family and many other spheres of social life in America. Accordingly, this institution has generated several areas of interest in the study of society and human behavior. Although participation in collegiate athletics is often considered a golden opportunity for African-Americans, compelling evidence to the contrary has been presented for decades. In fact, serious involvement in athletics has been associated with the hindrance of other areas of development amongst African-Americans, including educational and occupational achievement. This study examines the post-collegiate experiences of African-American male athletes from a sociological perspective by emphasizing the societal processes and pressures that make this issue a purely social phenomenon. It builds on a previous quantitative study of the career aspirations of collegiate student-athletes. This group has been proven to overemphasize sport as a possible career and face a special set of circumstances concerning the importance of athletics in their lives from early childhood socialization into adulthood. The post-collegiate experience of African-American athletes may mean an end to the athletic role that has encompassed his social identity and expose a lack of career maturation. Also, continuance of athletic competition as a profession may reveal that the expectations associated with "going pro" differs from the actualities. This study utilizes in depth interviews with African-American student-athletes who have moved on to the occupational sector as professional athletes well as those who have left the athletic realm altogether. The data will aid in understanding the social circumstances and processes associated with the inevitable transition from student-athlete to the occupational sector.Findings and Conclusions: The data suggests that the respondents were subjected to socialization processes inundated with an overemphasis of athletics by family, community, and the mass media. It is also evident that the respondents were aware of the intense socialization toward sports that African-American men are subjected to. This data suggests that among these respondents, career maturity and the transition process are impeded by an unwillingness to transform the athletic identity, negative college experience, and unrealistically high expectations to play sports

Motivators for enrollment and completion of pregnancy outcomes research: A comparison of African-American and Caucasian women's perspectives

Women and minority populations, specifically African-Americans, continue to be under represented in medical research. The exclusion of women and minorities from clinical trials raises questions about whether treatment outcomes are generalizable to these populations and about equity in the provision of health care. Despite the recognition of the need to include women and minorities in medical research, many factors limit their participation. This study explored the motivators for participation, retention and satisfaction of reproductive-aged women who participated in the Right from the Start Study (RFTS), an ongoing, prospective study of early pregnancy risk factors for spontaneous abortion and preterm birth. The goal was to improve our understanding of factors important to participation in pregnancy-outcomes research, and to determine if these factors varied between African-American and white women. Three focus groups, two with African-American women and one with white women, were conducted to learn about the women's opinions on participation in pregnancy outcomes research. The majority of the women in all focus groups indicated that facilitative aspects of the study, such as free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests were the most important reason for participating in the RFTS study. However, factors influencing retention and satisfaction with research differed between the racial groups. Interest in the research topic, familial altruism and personal relevance were the major themes expressed by the African-American women; whereas, Caucasian women were motivated by commitment, convenience and reimbursement. By using the themes that emerged from these focus groups in combination with the literature on participation and retention in medical research, the design of future research trials involving reproductive-aged women can be improved to reflect better understanding of the factors affecting enrollment, retention and satisfaction with research. We speculate that all studies involving reproductive-aged women, and especially African-American women, should focus on improving and emphasizing individual benefits of participation. Research designed to study reproductive-aged women should include components that are purposeful to the participant, such as tests that the participant values, and should employ staff who are friendly and compassionate. If the barriers known to impede participation are lessened while factors that improve satisfaction and enrollment are enhanced, the participation and retention of women in future trials can be ensured.Master of Public Healt