A high attrition rate exists among new music teachers in a public school district in Central Texas. This problem is mirrored by a high attrition rate of music teachers across the United States. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore reasons for the attrition of music teachers at the study site, to articulate why some new music teachers have left the profession, and to identify supports that could be influential in retaining new music teachers. The study was grounded in Gardner's theory that administrators have the ability to make policy changes that can influence retention and attrition rates for music teachers. Data were collected through individual interviews with 3 administrators, 3 new music teachers, and a focus group of 3 former music teachers who resigned from their positions at the study site. Data were open coded and thematically analyzed for reoccurring themes. Findings indicated that the high attrition rate of music teachers at the study site may result from unequal treatment of music teachers compared to core content teachers. Another issue noted was the lack of understanding by music teachers and administrators about available supports to new teachers. Recommendations include providing equal opportunities to music teachers to attend subject-specific professional learning communities and professional development activities. This study may contribute to social change through adjustments to the training and mentoring structures for new music teachers in the local district, which may ultimately decrease the turnover of music teachers.

Research has shown that job satisfaction influences retention of nurses, and policies focused on nursing satisfaction are more beneficial for retaining new nurses than adjusting work hours and wages. The prophecy job fit predictor is a quality improvement initiative designed to identify where a nurse should be assigned based on behavior, clinical capabilities, and personality assessment. The practice-focused question for this project focused on whether satisfaction rates of recently graduated registered nurses were influenced by their unit placement. The conceptual frameworks that guided this project were the plan, do, study, and act method and Herzberg's 2-factor theory. Data were obtained from surveying a cohort of 54 graduate nurses in 3 hospital locations in 6 specialty units. Results obtained using 1-way ANOVA and a Likert scale showed that graduate nurse satisfaction rates increased when assigned to their best fit unit: prophecy job fit 58.33% with a mean score of 3.34 (Hospital A), prophecy job fit 20% with a mean score of 3.1 (Hospital B), prophecy job fit 33.33% with a mean score of 3.1 (Hospital C). The results showed that the prophecy job fit predictor during nursing orientation can guide nurses into the appropriate specialty unit and increase nursing satisfaction. The implications of these findings for positive social change in nursing practice include the benefits of using the prophecy job fit predictor when assigning graduate nurses to their hospital setting to address the nursing shortage.

The present study attempted to investigate the relationship between a subject's degree of dogmatism and his attitudes towards the different theoretical positions held by B. F. Skinner and Carl Rogers regarding the control of man. This study utilized selective retention as an indicator of subjects' attitudes. No significant difference was found between Skinner's and Rogers' on their retention of high, medium, and low dogmatism groups. There was also a non-significant correlation between subjects' scores on the retention of Sinner's and Rogers' concept and subjects' dogmatism scores.

Retention of lipid-soluble components can be increased in a curd matrix by using emulsions rather than the direct addition of fortified oil. The retention of vitamin D_3 was increased in a model system with fortified emulsions (emulsifier: dairy proteins) 96-97% compared to 62-72% control. Retention of fortified emulsions (78%) remained greater than the control (58%) in small-batch Cheddar cheese. Bilayer emulsions were evaluated to increase retention of lipid-soluble components even further. Physicochemical characteristics of the bilayer emulsions were evaluated prior to curd inclusion. Nonfat dry milk (NDM) was used as the primary emulsifier at 1wt% dairy proteins. Polysaccharides (iota-carrageenan, low-methoxyl [LMp] and high-methoxyl pectin) and gelatin were secondary layers. Secondary emulsions formulation was 2.5 wt% oil, 0.5 wt% protein, and 0.2 wt% secondary biopolymer. Emulsions were adjusted to pH 3, 5, and 7 after homogenization. Factors that influence stability are biopolymer concentration, droplet size/distribution/charge (zeta-potential), and viscosity. iota-Carrageenan was the most stable, independent of pH, of all the emulsions. This increased stability was a consequence of the affinity of the protein layer and iota-carrageenan through the additional homogenization step. LMp was also stable at pH 7 due to calcium bridging, which correlates with the increased viscosity. The microstructure of the emulsions was examined using scanning electron microscopy. A strong correlation was found between emulsion instability and the presence of thick webbing, due to excess biopolymer, as seen in the micrographs. Stable emulsions were likely to have distinct droplets without a thick web. The exception was gelatin (pH 3), which still had individual droplets but was unstable due to depletion flocculation. The retention of lipid-soluble substances using secondary emulsion was evaluated in a model curd matrix between primary (50:50 fortified: non-fortified oil) and secondary (100% fortified oil) emulsions. There was no significant difference (α=0.05) in retention of “fortified” oil between primary and secondary emulsions; however, the same fortification level was obtained using secondary emulsions using half the oil. Curd made with 0.01M CaCl_2 had overall lower retention than curd with no additional calcium. Secondary emulsions could be used to fortify various gel matrices (e.g., curd, yogurt, and tofu). Marketing possibilities are endless after preliminary evaluation.

Millard County, Utah, rural and sparsely populated, continues to experience challenges in recruiting and retaining primary health care providers. My study addressed the lack of a rigorous and systemic analysis of this problem by collecting and analyzing data from a series of semi-structured interviews conducted between January and March 2019. These interviews were with nineteen of the twenty-four known health care providers who began practice in the county from the mid1980s to 2018, as well as with four administrators. The study, taking advantage of this comprehensive analysis, provided a more extensive understanding of the root causes underlying the recruitment and retention shortcomings. Findings showed that decisions to stop practice in the county were not typically made for a single over-riding reason but occurred when the cumulative effect of negative experiences reached a tipping point, prompting the provider to seek another practice venue. Providers who left reached this tipping point in spite of most having a rural background. The study recommended implementing a comprehensive and on-going support program aimed at addressing providers concerns. The stressors associated with rural health care practices need to be regularly assessed and resolved in a timely fashion.

Reaching with altered visual feedback of the hand’s position in a virtual environment leads to reach adaptation in the trained hand, and also in the untrained hand (Wang & Sainburg, 2002). In the current study, we asked if reach adaptation in the untrained (right) hand is due to transfer of explicit (i.e., EA; conscious strategy) and/or implicit adaptation (i.e., IA; unconscious) from the left (trained) hand, and if the transfer of EA and IA changes depending on how one is made aware of the visuomotor distortion. We further asked if EA and IA are retained in the trained and untrained hand for 24 hours. Participants (n=60) were evenly divided into 3 groups (Strategy, No-Strategy, and Control). All participants reached to visual targets while seeing a cursor on the screen that was rotated 40° clockwise relative to their hand motion. Participants in the Strategy group were instructed on how to counteract the visuomotor distortion. The No-Strategy group was not told of the upcoming visuomotor distortion but was later asked to reach while engaging in any strategy they had learned in order to assess EA. Participants in the Control group were also not told of the upcoming visuomotor distortion and were never instructed to engage in any strategy when reaching. EA and IA were assessed in both the trained and untrained hands immediately following rotated reach training, and 24 hours later by having participants reach without the cursor when instructed to: (1) aim so that your hand lands on the target (to assess IA) and (2) use what was learned during training so that the cursor lands on the target (to assess EA + IA; exception of Control group). Results revealed that the groups differed with respect to the extent of reach adaptation achieved when initially training with the rotated cursor, such that the Strategy group had greater EA and less IA compared to the No-Strategy group in the trained hand. Unexpectedly, the Control group also showed less IA compared to the No-Strategy group, but was similar to the Strategy group. For both the Strategy and No-Strategy groups, EA was transferred between hands and was retained over time. While the extent of IA varied between groups in the trained (left) hand immediately following reach training trials, significant transfer of IA was not found in any of the three groups. Retention of IA was observed in the trained hand but decayed over testing days. Together, these results suggest that while initial EA and IA in the trained hand is dependent on how one is made aware of the visuomotor distortion, transfer and retention of visuomotor adaptation is driven almost exclusively by EA, regardless of instructions provided.

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This dissertation investigated the reason nurses (RNs, LPNs) stayed at one job for 20 years or longer and compared their responses to nurses (RNs, CMAs) who changed jobs more than four times in 20 years. The study divided their responses into two categories, hygiene factors or motivation factors, based on Herzberg’s two factor theory. The dissertation topic was chosen to determine if increased pay has a significant impact on the long-term employment of nurses, although quantitative research in the field heavily promoted pay as a solution to turnover. Healthcare companies incur costly consequences of turnover and this qualitative study adds information to the field on potential interventions to address and decrease turnover. This dissertation examined the real reasons these participants stayed at their jobs long-term and why these short-term employees left jobs frequently, with the results showing that pay would not decrease turnover of short-term employees. The long-term people stayed for motivation factors and the short-term people left to seek hygiene factors. The quantitative research in the field, focused on interventions to decrease turnover, was not supported in this research.

With only six poultry degree granting universities, producing a slim number of graduates each year, poses a challenge for the industry. There may be potential areas for internal recruitment within Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). In study 1, an evaluation of Mississippi State University’s CALS retention trends determined that Biochemistry (BCH) and Animal Science (AS) have the lowest retention rates. Study 2 compared all six poultry degree granting universities’ CALS retention rates, with AS continuously having one of the lowest retention rates. Lastly, Study 3 surveyed undergraduates, advisors, and faculty showing students having an interest in poultry while advisors and faculty were hesitant in exposing students to opportunities within poultry. Results from these studies unveiled a new population of students for departments within CALS to recruit from, specifically poultry, to potentially increase CALS and university retention rates, thus possibly providing the poultry industry with more qualified employees.

The purpose of this study was to provide qualitative data on challenges faced by female, Hispanic, adult students attending ESL classes within community college programs; data on challenges they face achieving long-term educational goals; and ways the community college adult education programs can help students be more successful. Meeting needs of female, Hispanic, adult, ESL students is challenging, and many are nontraditional learners who have life factors that compete for available time and educational resources. Often, adult, female, Hispanic students experience challenges that cause barriers to success. Because each student is unique, exploring challenges in the areas of gender, age, ethnicity, and prior educational experience were chosen to provide data for program development. The study included two schools and consisted of 15 students. The purposeful sample included 12 students from various academic achievement levels ranging from elementary through college and from the following age groups: a younger age group (ages 21 to 29), a middle age group (ages 30 to 49), and older learners (above the age of 50). Three additional participants were potential students, resulting from a snowball sample, who desired to attend classes but faced challenges that prevented them from doing so. Participants were asked to participate in one 30-minute one-on-one telephone interview, due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Follow-up phone calls were scheduled as needed for clarification. Findings suggest that students face both similar and unique challenges. Participants expressed family obligations, adult responsibilities such as jobs, feelings that education was not as important for women in the Hispanic culture, and intimidation caused by the presence of higher educated students in the same classroom. Throughout the interviews, participants expressed satisfaction with the class. However, they shared ways programs could assist. Participants said an adult education counselor or mentor, more life skills classes, computer classes, citizenship classes, additional or more flexible class times, after school programs, a campus social worker, and distance classes were all possibilities. Exploring and educating programs in ways to provide services or partner with other non-profit organizations can help develop solutions, aid with retention, and assist with the achievement of long-term goals.