It is imperative that individuals with physical impairments maintain an active lifestyle to enhance various aspects of well-being and overall quality of life. This population, however, are also one of the most sedentary in society. One identified reason for this is the ableism which exists in many fitness establishments that promotes acceptance of one particular body; the strong, physically athletic, muscular body is given value. Individuals who do not align to his particular physical reality may be subject to discrimination which can have a detrimental effect on their psycho-emotional well-being and deter them from exercising. Surprisingly, there is an increasing number of disabled individuals who are becoming gym instructors and further integrating themselves into a space which is deemed to oppress them. The purpose of this PhD is to explore these individuals' journey from gym clients to gym instructors. Framed by interpretivism and with particular focus on narrative inquiry, various qualitative analysis techniques were applied to explore 1) participants experiences exercising in the gym, 2) participants' motivations to be gym instructors, 3) how participants made sense of their gym instructor training and, 4)what impact participants perceived they had in the gym as instructors. This thesis has made original contributions to the literature by crafting a deep understanding of disabled people s experiences in the gym and why people enact social missions. For example, this thesis contextualizes disability in the gym and identifies that despite the numerous health benefits disabled people experience by exercising in this space, the psycho-emotional disablism they are subject to acts as a barrier for individuals to exercise here. Importantly, although disablism acted as a barrier to continued exercise for participants, it was also a facilitator in their decision to become a gym instructor. Essentially, participants described their own negative gym experiences as fuelling their desires to enact positive change in this space and do social missions in the gym. To be a gym instructor, participants went through a training programme specifically designed to train disabled people to embody this role. At this training, participants initially experienced a sense of validation and belonging through peer group exercise and were able to craft a collective story which allowed them to resist the oppressive disablism they experienced in the gym. However, as training continued and evolved so too did the narratives participants crafted to make sense of their experiences. Instead of one united story, participants crafted two conflicting narratives which redefined their relationship with each other and InstructAbility, and ultimately determined why some participants continued their training and others did not. For those who did continue to become fully qualified gym instructors, they felt they had a positive influence in promoting inclusion, exercise and diversity in the gym. In light of these findings, there are several practical recommendations for exercise practitioners, rehabilitation specialists, gym managers and those prescribing exercise to disabled people. Implications are aimed at improving exercise promotion and experiences of exercise in the gym for disabled people. For example, disabled gym instructors could be a way to bridge the perceived experiential gap between disability and the gym as they exhibit an alternate way of being which is accepted in this space. Through their experiential knowledge of disability and practical knowledge of exercise, these individuals can also relate to disabled clients in a way that non-disabled instructors cannot. Disabled gym instructors, however, can educate non-disabled gym instructors in how to train someone with an impairment. Equally, a more critical attitude to promoting exercise to disabled people is called for. Specifically, to steer away from disabling expectations and narratives of disabled people s motivations to exercise and move towards more realistic, enabling strategies and narratives to facilitate disabled peoples exercise behaviour.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) contribute to increased patient length of stay and health care costs. The literature has shown that one plausible cause of CAUTIs is improper Foley catheter insertion techniques among nurses. The purpose of this project was to answer the project-focused question that asked if there was a difference in nurses' practice skills following an educational intervention involving aseptic Foley insertion. Benner's novice-to-expert theory was the conceptual model for the study. Nurses from a college nursing program were asked to demonstrate Foley catheter insertion on a simulation model, and their technique was evaluated using a standardized checklist. Following the simulation demonstration, an educational intervention was conducted with ample opportunity for the nurses (n = 16) to practice catheter insertion. Following the practice opportunity, the nurses completed a 2nd return demonstration. Percentages of correct skills from the preintervention observation were compared with percentages of correct skills from the postintervention observation to determine the effectiveness of the education intervention in enhancing Foley catheter skills in an acute care setting. Results of a paired t test revealed a significant increase (p < .01) in performance scores on the demonstrations after the intervention and catheter insertion techniques were taught. Hospitals and nursing education programs could implement simulation interventions to improve nurses' Foley catheter insertion skills. This study has the potential to contribute to social change by providing evidence that simulation training can lead to improved competence and confidence with nursing skills.

The purpose in writing the handbook of instruction is two-fold: 1. To provide physical training instructors with essential and functional information concerning the aim, objectives, activities, and procedures for the administration and conduct of the selected physical training program of the 308th College Training Detachment at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. 2. To obtain uniformity in the conduct of the physical training program by various instructors.

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Classroom tests are a common and default form of assessments in concept-heavy, fundamental engineering courses. Tests have benefits to learning, such as the testing effect that helps with the retrieval of knowledge, but there are also disadvantages, like discouraging deep learning approaches and decreasing motivation to learn, that warrant examining and questioning why tests are common, which engineering education literature lacks. Furthermore, the advancement of assessment research has led to alternative assessments that can diversify types of assessments and promote intentionality in test usage in these courses, supporting the need for scholarship on understanding test usage. My research began to address this by studying fundamental engineering course instructors' test beliefs and behaviors because engineering instructors have shown to have autonomy in making course decisions and barriers to adopting scholarship-based assessment practices among these engineering instructors persist. This dissertation study, grounded in the Situated Expectancy Value Theory (SEVT), explored, uncovered, and articulated seven fundamental engineering course instructors' test beliefs and behaviors from mechanical engineering and engineering science departments in a public, land-grant, Research 1 institution. Leveraging the case study research methodology from a pragmatic perspective, my multi-case study, with each participant being defined as a case, answered an overarching research question and five sub-research questions that yielded findings on five test aspects: test usage, design, administration, cheating, and fairness. Eight collected data sources in the form of qualitative interviews, course, department, and institution documents became the database to answer the questions. Analyses of these data involved coding and content analysis, and subsequent thematic analysis. The outcome of these analyses shaped the individual case profiles for cross-case analysis to understand belief and behavior patterns at a higher level. My research has found three groups of test usage beliefs. These are enthusiastic test users, default test users, and skeptical test users. All participants featured tests heavily in their courses and justified with learning outcomes and some non-course-content factors like large class sizes for grading conveniences. However, those in default and skeptical test user groups also acknowledged some non-course-content factors, like inertia and peer pressure, that influenced their test usage beliefs and behaviors. All participants acknowledged some disadvantages with tests, but those who are skeptical with test usage presented stronger beliefs about test disadvantages, arguing for the need to move away from tests when necessary. Some participants also presented conflicting beliefs and behaviors regarding their test usage. My study has also found all participants using problem-solving questions, emphasizing the need to curb cheating especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, preferring in-person test administration, and defining test fairness with reasonable completion time and adequate content coverage. These findings contribute to addressing identified research gaps in the literature and have implications for future research on tests with assessment philosophies, classroom practices on diversifying assessments and intentional test usage, and future research on possible assessment roles in addressing systemic inequity in engineering. / Doctor of Philosophy / Tests or exams like quizzes, midterms, and finals are common for measuring student learning in foundational engineering courses that focus on teaching the core engineering concepts for problem-solving. There are benefits to tests, like helping students remember the concepts for future use. However, tests also have problems like getting to students focus more on memorizing and matching patterns, provoking student test anxiety, and demotivating students from learning. Engineering education research, surprisingly, does not explore much on why tests are common, considering said problems. My dissertation tackled this issue by studying the test usage beliefs and behaviors of seven foundational course instructors from mechanical engineering and engineering science departments. The focus was on the instructors because engineering instructors tend to have autonomy in making course decisions and many instructors are resistant to changing their teaching practices. Understanding their beliefs and behaviors can help with research and efforts to promote better practices, like diversifying the types of assessment used and being more intentional when using tests. My results show three groups separating the participants on their beliefs about using tests. One participant was very enthusiastic about using tests and believed that tests were the only good way to assess learning. Four participants were default test users as they acknowledged some problems with using tests but still justified strongly for using tests because of the test benefits to learning. Two participants were skeptical test users as they had stronger beliefs than others on the problems and would prefer not to use too many tests. However, all participants used tests heavily in their courses. All participants also emphasized curbing cheating as very important and had very similar beliefs about what a fair test was. Overall, my findings highlight the need to continue working on test research and practice to promote better assessment approaches in engineering.

Researchers know much about the use of contract (or adjunct) instructor faculty in academe, but little about contract instructors in civilian federal training agencies. No one has determined the effective administrative support of instructional delivery or the professional development needs of these federal agency contractors. The National Fire Academy's mission is to promote the professional development of those fire personnel engaged in fire suppression, fire prevention, and allied functions. Each year approximately 3000 resident students complete a variety of two week training programs. Approximately 500 contract instructors conduct most of these on-campus programs. These instructors have widely divergent expertise, instructional competence and teaching experience. The research questions were: 1. What are the problems, if any, that NFA contract instructors have had that have implications for effective program delivery?</li> 2. What are the administrative support services, if any, that should be provided to contract instructors in the areas of: A. Orientation of new instructors? B. Program delivery? C. Evaluation processes? D. Professional development?</li> 3. What other administrative support services, if any, would assist contract instructors in providing instructional services?</li> 4. What are the problems, if any, that Program Chairs have dealt with that have implications for effective program delivery? All 536 resident contract instructors received a questionnaire about their perception of their administrative support and professional development needs; 45% responded (n=245). Eight of the ten Academy Program Chairs, who oversee the contract instructors, were interviewed about the types of problems and solutions they have used in dealing with these personnel. Analysis used both quantitative and qualitative methods. This research had a three-fold purpose. First, the research could determine the elements of effective support of instructional delivery for the Academy's contract instructors. Second, the research could provide the basis to make policy recommendations of such elements for the Academy. Finally, the research sought to determine what was required to support the professional development of contract instructors in any training organization. The results indicated that the responding contract instructors had several administrative support needs and concerns including keeping program content current, providing new instructors with an orientation and an instructor handbook, gaining access to classroom supplies, and improving the availability of program evaluations. There was also strong interest in three professional development options: preferred admission to other NFA classes, on-site instructor conferences, and a newsletter. Generally, Program Chairs' responses were supportive of these needs. The recommendations included the implementation of a contract instructor career path and the use of a government and contractor "shared responsibility management model." / Ed. D.

Clinical practice is a major component of nursing education wherein significant learning takes place. It is also a place where nursing students can experience stress which can have a negative impact on their learning. The purpose of this study was to explore nursing students’ perceptions of and experiences with their coping efforts as they face stress associated with clinical practice. Lazarus and Folkmans’ theory of stress and coping guided this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 undergraduate nursing students. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Four major themes emerged upon analysis: Learning about self, Social Support, Self-Care, and Clinical Instructors. Nursing students need clinical environments which let them face challenges and meet the responsibilities of nursing practice with support from clinical instructors (Emerson, 2007; Parker & Myrick, 2010). A non-punitive and respectful environment is essential for a student to learn and cope effectively with stressful situations. Clinical instructors play a significant role in the clinical practice of nursing students. Clinical instructors facilitate learning by helping students to overcome situational, knowledge-related or emotional stressors. Negative relationships with them can increase the amount of stress in students in their clinical practice. Whereas positive relationships with the instructors and the staff on the unit increase students’ comfort, decrease stress, and enhance learning. This study yielded qualitative data on nursing students’ views about and experiences with coping with the stress from their clinical practice. This study also provided valuable information regarding the clinical instructor’s role in the coping process. The findings have implications for improving the clinical instructor’s role in enhancing coping among nursing students with the stress that arises from clinical practice. / May 2016

This interpretive qualitative study examined university ESL instructors' experiences using technologies and their personal views of technology integration. The study also explored the factors that affected these instructors' decisions for using computer and other technologies in their teaching. The informants in the study were five ESL instructors from five different institutions of higher learning in the southern state. The qualitative data were collected mainly through interviews along with self-report surveys and document materials. Overall positive statements were found in the instructors' experience and perception of their technology use in teaching. Nevertheless, it appears that these instructors' computer use is very minimal and their beliefs and perceptions of technology use are impacted by their experience of using technologies. Eight influential factors are identified from the emerged themes in affecting these instructors' technology decisions. The factors include: perceived benefits or value; anxiety; personal style; machines and language teaching; environment; peer influence; teaching style; and time. The findings in this study also indicate that instructors' demographic information has no influence on their perceptions and use of technology despite whether or not they use computers in instruction and how they use them.

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Book Summary: Written by a well-known and respected researcher in the field of child development, this TOPICALLY organized text uses unique and effective pedagogy as the framework of the entire text. Designed to demonstrate how research translates into practice with accessible writing, a modular format, and application-based features such as: Focus on Research, Real Children, Cultural Influences, and Child and Development and Family Policy.