Scholarship & Research
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Item Undergraduate nursing students' learning needs and attitudes about trauma and trauma-informed care(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2021) Mangus, Katalyn Kelsey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Stacy StellflugTrauma is a very prominent and pervasive problem that causes numerous and harmful effects on the physical and mental health of those affected. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a care framework that encourages healthcare workers to acknowledge trauma and care for patients in a way that takes past traumas into account. The practice of trauma-informed care leads to better healthcare experiences, better health outcomes, better trauma recovery, and more health compliance in trauma survivors. Unfortunately, many healthcare workers, including nurses, recognize the significance of trauma but feel unprepared to provide trauma-informed care to patients. The doctor of nursing practice project presented here sought to assess the current level of TIC education for undergraduate maternal-child nursing students at Montana State University College of Nursing. A secondary aim of this project was to provide guidance and recommendations to maternal-child nursing faculty for revisions to current curriculum. In order to achieve this aim, nursing students were recruited to participate in a survey that evaluated participants' attitudes about trauma, trauma-informed care, and which aspects of trauma-informed care they felt most strong and most weak in. The data were analyzed to evaluate undergraduate nursing students' current preparedness for providing trauma-informed care in their future nursing practice. The findings indicated that participants did feel somewhat confident in their understanding that trauma is impactful on women and that trauma-informed care can be beneficial. The participants also understood that working with trauma-affected patients can emotionally impact or re-traumatize a healthcare worker. Participants reported a lack of confidence in their ability to recognize trauma, recognize trauma-affected patients, and provide appropriate TIC to these patients. These data were used to guide the creation of a trauma-informed care education resource for nursing educators to utilize for teaching future nursing students about trauma-informed care. Ideally, this resource will encourage and facilitate the implementation of basic TIC education for nursing students, which will help future Montana State University nursing cohorts become more knowledgeable and confident in trauma-informed care as they prepare to join the nursing workforce.Item Anonymous anomaly: nonresident undergraduates on a 21st century land grant campus(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2021) Hicks II, James Merle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertThe experiences of nonresident undergraduates enrolled in US public universities have remained understudied. Accordingly, the purpose of this qualitative intrinsic case study was to explore the nonresident undergraduate's experience, persistence and sense of belonging on a land grant university campus. Combined, findings were intended to expand the literature base, methodological approaches and practitioner programming regarding nonresident persistence. Existing transition and institutional logics theory formed the basis of the study's theoretical framework. Nine first-time, full-time third year undergraduates from states across three time zones were interviewed twice during their sixth semester of college enrollment. Additionally, data was collected through photovoice and document analysis methods. Findings for each research question were reported through a thematic analysis. Themes related to experience included: adapting from home to university life, motivating from enrollment to degree, and recreating as a lifestyle. Themes related to persistence included: accessing campus resources, familying from afar, and socializing to stay. Themes related to sense of belonging included: transforming through personal growth, identifying across groups and areas, and supporting across communities. Lived experience findings supported existing literature on socioeconomic and enrollment management while extending the literature on financial challenges. Persistence findings supported past literature on third year priorities and extended the literature on nonresident peer groups and family support. Sense of belonging findings supported literature on the theoretical construct of interdependence while extending the literature on the influence of community characteristics and campus climate. Policy implications for nonresident retention centered on leveraging outdoor curriculum, addressing nonresident insurance, revising nonresident tuition models and expanding nonresident mentoring programs. Practice implications for nonresident retention focused on innovations to summer orientation programming, expanding transportation options, expanding family weekend opportunities, and offering more resources on the surrounding community. Future recommendations focused on expanding research both in methodological scope and duration to better understand the nonresident experience.Item Mind the gap : a study into the transition between high school and college biology : a study into the transition between high school and college biology(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2011) Toran, Marta L.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.Instructors of college introductory level biology courses agree that the large majority of students enrolled in these courses are inadequately prepared for the course content and coursework. One of the reasons why students are not successful in entry level biology courses (usually required for majors) is that their high school biology course failed to thoroughly prime them for college level science courses. In this study, I examine the knowledge gap between high school and college biology courses and perspectives of students, high school teachers and professors. In particular, the emphasis of this research project is on the transfer of subject content knowledge. To measure the level of student preparedness, I used a survey/pretest hybrid composed of several background questions about students' high school biology experience as well as questions designed to test student understanding of fundamental biological questions. The online survey was administered to over 3000 students in 42 randomly selected universities across six geographical regions of the United States during the first week of their introductory biology course in college. An exit poll was used towards the end of the semester to obtain student perspectives regarding how well prepared they had been for the college biology course they were about to complete. Online questionnaires and phone interviews provided insight into high school teacher and professor perspectives regarding the gap in biology knowledge transfer. The low average score on the pre-test indicates that high school graduates are poorly prepared for college biology in terms of fundamental concept knowledge. Professors agreed with this and most students surveyed at the end of their first college biology course felt that their high school biology experience had not adequately prepared them for college biology or that their teachers or the curriculum they followed could have done more to prepare them. Findings from this study also show that a lack of communication between secondary and higher education biology instructors is an important factor contributing to the misalignment between high school and college biology. Increased vertical communication between the two levels of education would enable secondary school teachers to better prepare their students for the transition to introductory college biology and give professors a more accurate idea of the expectations they can hold their students to.