Recent economic turbulence in the United States has resulted in budget cuts for many city-funded organizations, including high-risk organizations such as local fire departments. Budget cuts trigger organizational change and create uncertainty among employees, which is a major concern for high-risk organizations. This dissertation examined internal communication practices used during organizational change in an urban fire department and the influence of organizational structure and culture on communication satisfaction. This robust case study used a multi-method approach including interviews with middle managers (i.e., district majors), and focus groups and channel preference surveys with full-time firefighters from lower level ranks (i.e., firefighters, lieutenants, and captains). Together, the data points provided a robust understanding of how organizational structure and culture influences communication satisfaction during change in a high-risk organization. As this dissertation was most concerned with information dissemination throughout the fire department during times of change, structuration theory provided direction for how to best explain the structure, dissemination, and preference of communication and Schein’s Model of Organization Culture helped to explain organizational culture differences. The framework of communication satisfaction then offered a basis for further understanding of message dissemination and communication processes. Findings suggest the chain of command, use of internal media, rumors, and filtering of information were active influencers on communication satisfaction. Further, findings suggest that a misalignment in the organizational structure and culture resulted in the dissemination of misaligned messages. These misaligned messages frustrated organizational members and therefore influenced levels of communication satisfaction. When organizational members receive contradictory information, they are less likely to be satisfied with overall communication. Therefore, misaligned messages fostered by the communication climate are a structural and cultural barrier to communication satisfaction and can alter trust of leadership and increase the risk for organizational members. These findings are critical to high-risk organizations because misaligned messages increase risk for organizational employees as well as community members.

The role of teacher immediacy and its impact upon student learning within the traditional classroom has been established within the instructional communication discipline in the past 30 years. In recent years, with the advent of computer-mediated distance education (i.e. online courses), some researchers have attempted to apply the same theories and measures of concepts without making the distinction between actual teacher behavioral indicants of immediacy and student perceptions of immediacy, nor recognizing that there may be a different number of variables involved between a single lesson presented online and an entire course presented over a period of time. Building upon previous models, the Short-Term Motivational Model of Learning was proposed and tested, using survey results from 229 undergraduate students who completed an online lesson presented in six different formats, and who were tested for learning outcomes. In comparison to a direct measure of learning outcomes (number of correct test answers), it was found that the Perceived Cognitive Learning Scale correlated highly with the direct measure, while the Learning Loss Scale did not. Three of the three study hypotheses were supported. Hypothesis one proposed that higher student perception of immediacy would correlate with higher student state motivation and was supported. Hypothesis two proposed that higher student trait motivation would correlate with higher student state motivation and was supported. Hypothesis three proposed that higher student state motivation would correlate with higher student cognitive learning. Student cognitive learning determined through three measures: the Perceived Cognitive Learning Scale, pretest-posttest scores differences, and the Learning Loss Scale. Using the Perceived Cognitive Learning Scale, hypothesis three was supported. Using the pretest-posttest scores differences, hypothesis three was supported weakly. Using the Learning Loss Scale, hypothesis three was also supported weakly. In testing whether teacher behavioral indicants of immediacy, student perception of immediacy and student trait motivation would explain significant variance in student state motivation in a single lesson presented online, trait motivation failed to be a predictor. Subsequently, in testing whether all of these variables would explain significant variance in student cognitive learning (and using each of the three measures of student cognitive learning), trait motivation again failed to be a predictor. In general the results support the idea that perceived learning is affected by the degree of motivation as affected by immediacy. While an attempt to vary degrees of immediacy was not fully successful, results also suggest that adding audio to online lessons may not produce significant gains in learning when compared to text-only presentations.

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) usually participate in disaster response in rural African communities. Disasters in African communities are often characterized by huge fatalities, which are associated with a slow pace of response. The use of information and communication technology in disaster response is recognized as an effective conduit for enhancing response. Previous research indicates the efficacy of the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in advance countries. However, there remains a critical gap in the available literature on the experiences of EMTs with the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in rural African communities. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of EMTs with the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in rural African communities. The innovation diffusion theory served as the theoretical framework of the study. Data were collected through face to face, semi-structured interviews with 10 EMTs from 2 institutions in Sierra Leone. Data were analyzed with the use of Nvivo. The findings of this research include (a) The key areas in emergency response where mobile telephones are most useful; (b) The benefits of the use of mobile telephones in disaster response, including the enhancement of communication and search and rescue efforts; (c) Challenges to the use of mobile telephones; and (d) Ways to improve the use of mobile telephones. The results of this study may enhance positive social change through contribution to the reduction of fatalities usually associated with slow disaster response. It is recommended that future research be conducted on the experiences of other categories of first responders, and to explore alternative funding sources for disaster response in rural African communities.

Many older adults (aged 55 and older) need training to acquire computer knowledge and skills. Using computers and the Internet could provide access to vital resources for improving older adults' health and maintaining their connections with family and society. This study examined 2 psychological constructs--computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy--that have been shown to impact a person's successful use of computers and related technology. Guided by Bandura's self-efficacy theory, which emphasizes the importance of adult learners being motivated and taking charge of their learning, this study examined the impact of a computer knowledge and skills workshop on older adults' computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy. A concurrent, mixed-methods design was used to collect and analyze survey data and interview transcripts from a convenience sample of African American older adults (N = 11). Mobile technology (i.e., tablet PCs and portable hotspots) was used to access the Internet and e-mail. Data analyses included thematic coding of the interview notes and descriptive statistics to present the survey results. The themes that emerged from the interview data were learning opportunities, positive attitudes, and user-friendly tools and equipment for reducing computer anxiety and constructive attitude changes and learning environments for improving computer self-efficacy. The descriptive statistics indicated favorable changes for computer anxiety with scores averaging a decrease of -26.5% and computer self-efficacy with scores averaging an increase of 62.1%. This study illustrated the feasibility of a low-cost approach for establishing a mobile computer laboratory to help older persons become proficient in their use of computers, the Internet, and related technology.

Estimated worldwide losses due to cybercrime are approximately $375-575 billion annually, affecting governments, business organizations, economies, and society. With globalization on the rise, even small businesses conduct transactions worldwide through the use of information technology (IT), leaving these small businesses vulnerable to the intrusion of their networks. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the managerial strategies of small manufacturing business owners to protect their financial assets, data, and intellectual property from cybercrime. The conceptual framework was systems thinking and action theory. Participants included 4 small manufacturing business owners in the midwestern region of the United States. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with owners, company documentation, and observations. Member checking was used to help ensure data reliability and validity. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: organizational policies, IT structure, managerial strategies, and assessment and action. Through effective IT security and protocols, proactive managerial strategies, and continuous evaluation of the organization's system, the small business owner can sustain the business and protect it against potential cyberattacks on the organization's network. The findings of the study have implications for positive social change by informing managers regarding (a) the elimination or reduction of cybercrimes, (b) the protection of customers' information, and (c) the prevention of future breaches by implementing effective managerial strategies to protect individuals in society.

This multiphasic study explored the narratives of five first-time Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrating during the historic confluence of conflicts in 2020 America. After positioning the liminal 2020 circumstances within an antiracist research lens, the author analyzed, first through grounded theory and then secondarily through poetic inquiry, how these five participants described their protest experiences. The grounded theory phase yielded an overarching theory that first-time protestors experienced a dual process of unsuturing and of calling-out, with three subthemes categorized within each of these two processes. The author moved into analysis with the poetic inquiry phase, crafting poems guided by six subthemes of empathy, silence, permission-seeking, identity, story uncertainty, and direct action, and yielding six total poems produced from participant words. The author concluded that poetic inquiry has promise as a tool toward a functioning antiracist identity, while advising on reflexive antiracist future directions for such work.

Family communication patterns shape children's behavior trajectories. This study explored perspectives of family communication, attachment styles, and taking conflict personally in samples of adult children of alcoholics and nonalcoholics. This study used family communication patterns theory, attachment style theory, and conflict-specific behavior of taking conflict personally surveys to guide research questions. An analysis of the results suggests an overarching theme in adult children of alcoholics. First, an emerging pattern revealed elevated anxiety attachment in adult children of alcoholics. Next, with family communication patterns, findings suggest that children who were raised with a parent who had alcohol use disorder were associated negatively with conversation disorder. Finally, regarding taking conflict personally, participants who perceived the mother had alcohol use disorder showed significantly elevated stress reactions to taking conflict personally, while participants who perceived their father to have alcohol use disorder were positively associated with all three dynamics of taking conflict personally, personalization, persecution, and stress reactions. These findings bring awareness to the impact family communication dynamics and alcohol use disorder have on adult children of alcohol alcoholics and the consequential outcomes of such communication patterns in the family.

The marks I make in clay have different characteristics, and the physical mark of one’s fingertips or visual record of the hand is personal and intimate. This visible activity is the evidence of my constant presence and control within each object. Its repetitive meditation produces a private relief from my persistent anxieties. This exploration for me is not only visual, but also physical. This is the start of my infatuation with the idea of pattern. It has its own discrete visual language and modes of communication; and through my research I am developing a method of intercommunication.

This dissertation expands upon the definition of eco-visualization artwork. EV was originally defined in 2006 by Tiffany Holmes as a way to display the real time consumption statistics of key environmental resources for the goal of promoting ecological literacy. I assert that the final forms of EV artworks are not necessarily dependent on technology, and can differ in terms of media used, in that they can be sculptural, video-based, or static two-dimensional forms that communicate interpreted environmental information. There are two main categories of EV: one that is predominantly screen-based and another that employs a variety of modes of representation to visualize environmental information. EVs are political acts, situated in a charged climate of rising awareness, operating within the context of environmentalism and sustainability. I discuss a variety of EV works within the frame of ecopsychology, including EcoArtTech’s Eclipse and Keith Deverell’s Building Run; Andrea Polli’s Cloud Car and Particle Falls; Nathalie Miebach’s series, The Sandy Rides; and Natalie Jeremijenko’s Mussel Choir. The range of EV works provided models for my creative project, Sculpting Corn Production, and a foundation from which I developed a creative methodology. Working to defeat my experience of solastalgia, Sculpting Corn Production is a series of discrete paper sculptures focusing on American industrial corn farming. This EV also functions as a way for me to understand our devastated monoculture landscapes and the politics, economics, and related areas of ecology of our food production.

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than were female participants on video games. Moreover, those who claimed to play five or more hours of video games per week were significantly higher than those who claimed to play zero hours per week.