Geoscience attracts few African American and Hispanic/Latino students to the major and has historically not retained women at the same rate as men. Many factors have been proposed to explain these disparities but no quantitative study addressed geoscience diversity at the undergraduate level. To examine potential barriers to recruitment and retention, we interviewed geoscience majors from two large public universities in the U.S. and gathered 'critical incidents,' or life experiences that affected choice of a geoscience major. Critical incidents were classified by time period (when they occurred), grouped by outcome, sorted into categories, and compared by race/ethnicity and gender. Three manuscripts -- each involving different analyses of the critical incident dataset -- comprise this dissertation. Among many findings, our study showed that that white, Hispanic/Latino, and African American students reported different types of experiences affecting major choice while growing up. For instance, 81% of white students reported outdoor experiences (e.g., camping, hiking) as children, whereas Hispanics (33%) and African Americans (22%) reported significantly fewer outdoor experiences from the same time period. Men and women geoscience majors also reported differences. In one example, men (92%) reported at least one positive experience involving career and economics factors; far fewer women (50%) reported the same. Our results can inform recruiting and retention practices. Geoscience programs can provide field trips for all prospective majors, target on-campus advertising towards diverse student groups, meet with academic advisors of incoming freshmen to encourage African American and Hispanic students to enroll in introductory geology courses, and provide major and career information to parents of prospective majors. To better recruit and retain women, geoscience programs can emphasize other, non-economic factors when advertising the degree, promoting internships, and developing field and academic experiences.

Self-care is the key to living a long and healthy life for people with diabetes. Yet numerous studies show that self-care is far from optimal. This has resulted in attempts to understand the progress underlying self-care behavior in the efforts of mediating more effectively. While there are an abundance of studies focusing on African-American women and diabetes management, there is a considerable gap in health education literature regarding the self-care management experiences of African-American men living with type 2 diabetes. The management and impact of type 2 diabetes on the sense of self, lifestyle, and significant others of the African-American man are not clearly comprehended. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to explore the knowledge, beliefs, and self-care management practices of African American men living with type 2 diabetes. This was an exploratory study utilizing qualitative methodology to understand the knowledge, beliefs, and existing self-care management practices of up to 50 African-American men, ages 18-70, living with type 2 diabetes. Participants had one-on-one semi structured interviews with the primary investigator. The instruments that were used consisted of two parts: one was a self-administered paper/pencil questionnaire to collect socio-demographic information. The second was a semi-structured interview. The study significance was to identify and understand the barriers to type 2 diabetes management and how they had an adverse influence on self-care. A combination of high barriers, poor daily self-care, management, and knowledge possibly put those with type 2 diabetes at an elevated risk for subordinate self-care management. Barriers had a role in reality and diabetes researchers and educators are charged with recognizing the complications of what individuals with type 2 diabetes need to do improve and enhance their health. The study findings revealed that the participants labored with managing their diabetes and some counted on their own potential or performance, as well as the encouragement of their family, extended family, neighbors, and friends. Also, many of the participants had a unified theme in that regarding self-care management, having type 2 diabetes affected those in their surrounding environment, not just the person living with the illness. In conclusion, the study findings suggest that future diabetes research and education among African-American men should give attention to male masculinity and the powerful influence it has on utilizing preventive health services. The limited amount of African-American men included in empirical type 2 diabetes research could help explain the under addressed barriers and complexities to positive self-care management.

Heart failure is a complex chronic disease affecting 6.6 million people in the United States, with an annual cost of $39.2 billion per year. African Americans are at an especially high risk for poor outcomes and readmissions from heart failure complications, as they are 2.5 times more likely to develop heart failure than other ethnic groups. This disease requires a high level of patient self-care management, and evidence suggests that African Americans do not always receive culturally sensitive education, which can lead to suboptimal self-care practices. The practice-focused question for this educational program asked whether nurses of African American patients with heart failure could use a culturally sensitive health education toolkit to improve patients’ knowledge of self-care management. The purpose of this doctoral project was to determine if a culturally sensitive toolkit could increase nursing knowledge. The population focus was nurses caring for African American heart failure patients with frequent readmissions from a high-risk heart failure clinic in New Jersey. The use of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and an exhaustive literature review guided this doctoral project. The tool used to assess participants’ pre- and post-knowledge was the cultural awareness and sensitivity tool. There were 11 participants comprised of nurses, nurse case managers, and advanced practice nurses; they exhibited a 1.92% improvement in knowledge after the education session. This outcome shows that this educational program was effective and has the potential to contribute to social change by educating nurses on providing effective, culturally sensitive self-care education to African American heart failure patients to increase their adherence to self-care practices.

Women-owned businesses continue to drive economic growth in the United States. However, some African American businesswomen lack strategies to obtain capital to start their business. Strategies to obtain funds for a startup is vital to African American women seeking to start and sustain their businesses. Guided by entrepreneurial theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies African American women use to secure financial capital to start new businesses. The participants included 6 African American women business owners in Atlanta, Georgia, with successful experience in utilizing strategies to secure financial capital to start new businesses. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and company documents. Yin's 5-step analysis was used to analyze the data. The main themes were challenges of being an African American business woman, motivating factors leading to business ownership, and overcoming bank financing challenges. The implications for positive social change may include addressing the disparity of social, human, and financial capital to start new businesses among African American women.