UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Parental Health Literacy, Empowerment, and Advocacy in the Context of Food Allergies Management in Schools(2021) Koo, Laura Warnock; Baur, Cynthia E; Horowitz, Alice M; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: Health literacy, empowerment, and advocacy may be important for parents when they communicate with schools related management of their child’s food allergies. Understanding prevention and emergency management of life-threatening food allergies may require high levels of health literacy and may be overwhelming to parents. Yet, parents are often the drivers of school food allergy safety practices. Mixed evidence supports the relationships among communicative health literacy, critical health literacy, and empowerment in chronic disease management. Objective: This cross-sectional study examines the relationships among parental health literacy, particularly communicative and critical health literacy; empowerment; and advocacy in the context of food allergies management in elementary schools. Methods: Parents of children with food allergies were recruited through food allergy organizations to complete an anonymous 20-minute online survey. Measurements of parental health literacy, empowerment, and advocacy were adapted from validated scales or the literature and refined through pre-testing and pilot-testing. Results: Participants (N=313) were predominantly white, college-educated mothers with moderately high food allergy knowledge, health literacy, and empowerment. Their children were allergic to an average of three food allergens and nearly half had asthma. Parents who scored at the highest levels on measures of communicative health literacy, critical health literacy, and empowerment engaged in advocacy behaviors perceived to be more effective than parents who scored at the lowest levels. However, this statistical difference may not represent a clinically significant difference. Communicative and critical health literacy were not more strongly associated with advocacy than functional health literacy. Empowerment and quality of the parents’ relationship with the school were the strongest predictors of the parents’ perceived effectiveness of advocacy efforts. The relationship between parental health literacy and advocacy was mediated by empowerment with a moderate effect size, but reverse causality between health literacy and empowerment could not be completely ruled out. Conclusions: Parental health literacy may impact the effectiveness of advocacy efforts for safe food allergies practices in schools, with parental empowerment possibly mediating the relationship between health literacy and advocacy. Longitudinal studies with diverse samples should verify findings. Health professionals should encourage parents to build good relationships with school personnel and help to empower families when educating them about food allergies management.Item Prosthetic Architecture: Enabling Connection, Movement, and Empowerment(2016) Flinn, Rachel; Rockcastle, Garth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis explores the relationship between body and architecture through a metaphorical and literal analysis of prosthetic devices. The thesis questions how the relationship between prosthetics and architecture can inform the design of a building that enables connection, movement and empowerment for its occupants. Driving questions of investigation include: How can a building enable growth, healing and wellbeing? , How can a building embody and reflect human growth and transformation? , and, How can a building enable equivalence between its users? The program of an inpatient prosthetic rehabilitation facility allows for the exploration of these questions and a study for how we can create spaces that influence rehabilitation and growth. Through body and prosthetics analysis the thesis explores what spaces are best for one to grow and develop in and study how concepts, such as connection, movement and empowerment can enable one and enhance one’s quality of life.Item HUNTED BY THE CROWD: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION SEARCHING IN CHINA(2013) Pan, Xiaoyan; Steiner, Linda; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores a particular form of cyber surveillance in China known as "human flesh search," in which unrelated Internet users collaboratively conduct surveillance on fellow citizens. Its theoretical framework draws up the notion of panoptic model, first articulated in the early 1800s by Jeremy Bentham and then developed by the French social theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault. Unlike some previous studies on human flesh searching, which focus on highly publicized search incidents, this study examines cyber surveillance in its daily practice, and probes how and why collaborative searches occur in China. It also explores structural constraints and empowerment experienced by search participants through the lens of power, in order to understand such a controversial activity. The study involved content analysis of a Chinese leading search forum--MOP Human Flesh Search Forum; an online survey with 158 search participants; and in-depth interviews with 9 search participants. The study found that Chinese human flesh search often took the forms of coveillance (peer-to-peer surveillance) and sousveillance (bottom-up surveillance). Fun-seeking was the primary motive for participants, who are mainly male youths; being helpful is the next. Privacy invasions and power abuses have complicated or even undermined search practices, limiting the potential of this activity to contribute to civil governance. In terms of empowerment, participating in the human flesh search seemed to give individual searchers a sense of empowerment, but such effects vary greatly depending on individuals' knowledge, social resources and search experiences. Privacy invasions and power abuses were consistently evident in searching practices, limiting the potential of this crowd-based searching, even when this is said to promote justice, to contribute to civil governance. The study also found that the panoptic model is still highly relevant and useful in understanding collaborative online surveillance, especially the function and effects of "gaze." Once conducted in a collective manner, the gaze of fellow citizens can be greatly extended in its reach and intensified by massive participation. The human flesh search mechanism studied here has great potential to profoundly change China's media landscape, but such potential is limited by current media censorship and the lack of accountability of search participants. Although the study examines searching phenomenon only in Chinese cyber space, the findings may shed light on similar surveillance practices which have emerged elsewhere in recent years. The whole question of citizen participation might benefit from the explication of the role of participation in this form of surveillance.Item EFFECTS OF SUPERVISORS' UPWARD EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS ON EMPLOYEES: TESTING MULTILEVEL MEDIATION ROLE OF EMPOWERMENT(2011) Zhou, Le; Wang, Mo; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study empirically examined the proposition that supervisors' exchange relationships with their own supervisors (i.e., LLX) influence their subordinates' work related outcomes through three mechanisms: (1) motivating the team and its members, captured by team and individual empowerment, (2) providing leader-member relationship norms, and (3) facilitating the relationships between leader-member exchange (i.e., LMX) and individual outcomes. Analyses of multi-source and lagged data from 104 team supervisors and 577 subordinates showed that team and individual empowerment sequentially mediated the positive effect of LLX on subordinates' job satisfaction and job performance. Further, LMX mediated the positive effect of LLX on individual empowerment. It was also found that the indirect relationships of LMX with job satisfaction and job performance via individual empowerment were stronger when LLX was higher. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.Item A Self-Study Examining The Effectiveness of Creative Dramatics With Urban Youth(2007-05-29) White, Carmen Irene; McCaleb, Joseph; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Teachers' lack of ability to bring creativity to their classrooms and students' lack of motivation to learn have captured my attention in examining my own implementation of the concept of creative drama, specifically with urban youth. As a practitioner and now teacher/researcher, I am an accomplished leader of creative dramatics; and this self-study addresses the primary research question: What techniques associated with my implementation of creative dramatics have been proven effective with urban students? Creative drama is a vehicle for developing active learning experiences, especially for urban classrooms where there is need for creative initiatives in the curriculum. Therefore, this study examines my instructional practices in order to provide an understanding of creative drama as it relates to the role of teachers as leaders in urban education. In researching my own practical application of creative dramatics, I had three primary goals: first to better understand my role as a leader of creative drama with my urban students; secondly, to examine the characteristics of urban learners by gaining insight into urban conditioning; and lastly, to know if creative drama engaged and empowered my students to learn with more purpose. This was of significant importance especially since these very same students had been disengaged and had shared disempowering learning experiences. Once I integrated creative drama into the curriculum, my urban students engaged the subject matter and became independent thinkers during the creative process. Additional goals concerned the need to examine the relevance of accessibility and subsequent outcome assessments resulting from urban learners. I wanted to examine the need to offer urban learners creative drama. I found that the creative drama sessions empowered my students to take charge of their learning process. I also captured how elements of the creative drama process transferred into their everyday lives. I discovered that creative drama captured the elements of spirituality, harmony, and individual expressionism that motivated urban youth to take control of their learning experiences. I document how my journey as a leader of creative dramatics with urban youth elevated my level of understanding of my instructional methods, how this enhanced understanding was manifested, and the effectiveness of creative pedagogy. Lastly, but more importantly, this study illustrated the significance of offering creativity to urban youth and documents the success that is captured best in the hearts, minds, and behaviors of my students. These students, as benefactors, offered creative and enlightening information to this study. A contribution of this study to the field of arts-in-education is to provide novice teachers an understanding of how the use of creative drama strategies can help them become more creative and effective in the classroom, especially when working with urban youth.