A significant nursing shortage exists in the United States, which is compounded by high turnover rates. Skilled nurse preceptors are needed to train and assimilate nurses, which would improve retention of nurse preceptors, facilitate transition of nurses to the practice environment, and increase the number of preceptors within the organization. A preceptor preparation program in a 300-bed hospital was developed to promote nurse preceptor success while enhancing learning outcomes and creating a supportive work environment. The organization's leaders are interested in the successes of the program and its long-term role in retaining nurse preceptors who completed the preceptor preparation program. Therefore, the purpose of this doctor of nursing practice (DNP) project was to develop a program evaluation model where the institution could assess the retention rate of preceptors and the overall effectiveness of the program. The evaluation framework consisted of the Benner's model skill acquisition, from novice to expert, which will assist in assessing outcomes of retention of nursing preceptors as they evolved through the program. The project question for this DNP project asked whether a program evaluation to identify methods to capture current rate of retention of preceptors and overall program effectiveness could be developed. A survey tool was successfully developed and the pilot study was accepted by the facility to capture and evaluate the program information. This project provides a model for program evaluation and may increase the nursing literature on preceptor retention programs. Preceptor program outcomes are important to evaluate and can create positive social change regarding the number of quality preceptors available to train new nurses in practice.

Research on stress and burnout and their influence on empathy, engagement, and retention, in healthcare support staff is scarce in the literature. The theoretical framework for this study was the conservation of resources (COR) theory which claims that when people are stressed, emotionally exhausted, and experiencing burnout, they protect and preserve their physical and mental resources from becoming depleted by reducing their effort and withdrawing from work. The key research question was: Does burnout mediate the relationship between stress and empathy, engagement, and turnover intentions in healthcare support staff working in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)? This quantitative, non-experimental, mediation analysis included 83 female and 10 male healthcare support staff working in an FQHC. The variables were assessed using the Job Stress Survey (JSS), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) – Brief Form, and the Behavioral Intentions to Withdraw Measure (BIWM). A path analysis was performed to estimate the magnitude of the relationships between the variables. The results indicate that burnout does not mediate the relationship between stress and empathy, but it does significantly predict engagement and turnover intentions. FQHCs serve vulnerable and medically complex patients in underserved communities, and when the negative impact of burnout in healthcare support staff is addressed, patients, providers, and staff can enable positive social change by achieving important clinical health outcomes for patients.

Child welfare workers respond to human tragedy and the job stresses associated with their positions that may result in their own trauma, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Workers continue to leave their positions at alarming rates, influencing service quality and the ability to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. Decades of research have attempted to solve this national crisis by identifying salient factors found to influence the child welfare worker's experience and intention to leave their position. However, the problem prevails. Addressing a major gap in the literature, this mixed methods study took a unique approach by exploring how the stress of working in public child welfare affects workers’ personal health. Using secondary data analysis from a statewide sample of public child welfare workers, qualitative thematic content analysis and binary logistic regression were used to explore what child welfare workers identified as unhealthy habits they have developed as a result of stress from their positions. Findings from this study provide clear evidence that the demands associated with working in this capacity negatively impact the health of the child welfare worker. Qualitatively, five self-reported themes emerged when workers were asked to describe the health consequences of their work. Workers described their affinity for unhealthy consumption (e.g., food, alcohol, tobacco) and the development of a number of unhealthy behaviors (e.g., disturbed sleep, lack of exercise, angry outbursts) as a result of the stress of their positions. Workers also provided descriptions of the physical and mental health implications of working, compounded by the poor work-life balances reported. Quantitatively, significant differences were found across all subscales of the Child Welfare Employee Feedback Scale (CWEFS) when examined by the current health status of the workforce. Workers reporting poorer health had worked at the agency longer and reported a greater intention to leave the agency in the next 12 months. Finally, a binary logistic regression identified Workload and Job Impact as factors predicting lower worker health outcomes. Although “marginally” significant, working outside of one’s home county and working in an urban area were factors contributing to the stress-induced health impact associated with respondents’ positions. The profession must recognize the health implications associated with working in public child welfare and organizational efforts to allow these employees to self-care seems to be an absolute necessity. Future research should integrate the use of biometric screening and multidisciplinary collaboration to investigate organizational, supervisory, and individual level efforts to improve the situation.

This study seeks to explore the impact that admissions viewbooks have on students’ expectancies of an institution as well as their academic and social engagement. Because few studies exist on admissions viewbooks, the literature review seeks to establish a base for the importance of viewbooks in students’ college choice and their development of expectancies of their chosen institution, as well as the subsequent impacts of violated expectations on engagement and retention. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study examines (1) the promises made by institutions in their viewbooks as found via textual analysis and (2) the impact of violated expectancies on academic and social engagement. Specifically, this study seeks information about the expectancies students have developed of the University of Kentucky, the degree to which those expectancies have been violated, and the impact of those violations on students’ academic and social engagement on UK’s campus. Findings suggest that UK is positively violating students’ expectancies, which in turn impacts engagement as related to several themes (i.e., faculty-to-student ratio, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities). Implications for instructors, the University of Kentucky, and marketing professionals are included, such as UK should continue its dedication toward developing an excellent and engaging first-year experience.

Every day, children are removed from their homes of origin by Children & Family Services and placed into foster care. When the county foster homes become full, private foster family agencies are relied upon to take in the overflow. For a variety of reasons, private agencies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of foster parents to house all of these children. This is a pressing problem in the social work field as, without proper placement options, many children will simply fall through the cracks in the system. The purpose of this research was to explore and address the many concerns surrounding foster parenting, thereby improving foster parent recruitment and retention. Surveys were completed by foster family agency staff (both private and county), current and former foster parents, and people who have considered foster parenting but later changed their minds. Qualitative data gleaned from these surveys revealed improvement that could be made in foster parent recruitment and retention for both private and county agencies. This research has the potential to increase the pool of available foster homes and save the lives of many children.

This study explores the contributing factors to collegiate foster youth’s college attendance and retention while in college. A qualitative study was conducted consisting of eight face to face interviews were conducted. Participants were student recipients of California State University, San Bernardino’s Educational Opportunity - Renaissance Scholars Program. Areas studied: pre-college admission, transitional support systems, and retention support while in college. Results identified support from high school teachers and school counselors played significant roles in the participant’s future college attendance, family support was not a significant influence, and social work support was not reported by any participants. All participants received supportive services from the Renaissance Scholars program after college admission, however, a majority were not aware of the program’s existence prior. Once in college, many of those who received pre-college support from school counselors and teachers stated an ongoing positive social relationship while traversing college. Psycho-socially, the “life changing event” of attending college, created enduring relational-bonds for students. Conversely, participants without positive support equated to the lack of support (being told that they would not succeed) as their driving force to attend college. The results highlight the significance divide between the positive ongoing resources provided by social services, and the foster youth’s perception of social services interactions towards their benefit. These results illuminate the importance of providing ongoing pre-college, transitional support systems, and retention support resources, to current and former collegiate foster youth. This studies goal is to help increase the social worker's knowledge about foster youth population and its higher education needs.

The purpose of this study was to compare the flipped and traditional classroom pedagogies in relation to retention, critical thinking skills, and student engagement as measured by the multiple choice and short answer questions on the final exams, course evaluations, and CUCEI scores. Radiologic technologists, nuclear medicine technologists, and radiation therapists play vital roles in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications in patient care. Employers today are seeking graduates who know more, are better able to apply this knowledge, and solve more challenging problems (McLean, et al., 2016). This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the flipped and traditional classroom pedagogies at increasing retention and critical thinking skills, as measured by final exams, and student engagement, as measured by course evaluations. The model was delivered and assessed for 61 radiation science students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Health Professions Radiation Science program. Based on numerical results for the final exam and College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), no significant difference in critical thinking skills, retention, or student engagement was observed between the flipped and traditional pedagogies for radiation science students. For the purpose of this study, pedagogy referred to the application of a method of teaching, the flipped or traditional classroom, in relation to constructs of the Cognitive Learning Theory (CLT). For this study retention is defined as the amount of information that a student can retain for the length of a semester, 15 weeks. Critical thinking is defined as the students’ successful ability to take several concepts and put them together to make an analysis of a given situation. Student engagement for this study was defined as the level of attention and interest for the material being taught. Further analysis of the results indicated that the demographics (gender, age, years in college, and race) did not affect preference for flipped or traditional pedagogy. Statistically significant results on the CUCEI subcategories of satisfaction and innovation indicate that students found the flipped classroom more enjoyable and innovative than the traditional classroom. These results support professor exploration of different teaching pedagogies that they are comfortable with. Further studies are needed to ensure model validity and generalizability of findings.

The high rate of employee turnover in the staffing industry is costly and impedes sustainability of employment agencies. The focus of this qualitative single case study explored strategies that 10 human resource managers (HRMs) and 5 HR directors used to retain recruiting staff at one regional recruiting agency in the southeastern region of the United States. The target population and research site were selected because of prior success in employee retention strategies. The conceptual framework grounding this study was sustainability theory. Methodological triangulation was achieved with semistructured interviews and focus group data. Data were thematically analyzed using Atlas.ti7, and all interpretations from the data were member checked to ensure the trustworthiness of findings. Emergent themes from the analysis revealed that these HRMs and HR directors increased employee job training, improved transparency in strategic planning and business practices, and enhanced communication of their employees' roles and responsibilites. The application of the findings may contribute to social change by providing HRMs and directors with insights that could improve employee retention and organizational sustainability. Stakeholders may benefit from an increased understanding of employee retention strategies and potentially reduce employee turnover for the local community.

First-generation college students continue to have lower retention and success rates in colleges and universities, reducing their likelihood of staying above the poverty line. The study tested Bandura and Vygotsky's social cognitive theories of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and student ability to self-pace in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore if offering supplemental online materials to traditional class delivery, which can be self-regulated and self-paced, impacted students' success rates in the class and semester-to-semester retention. Using a quasi-experimental method, first-semester college students, in a small private liberal arts college (N = 678); were compared on use of supplemental online materials, parental college experience, and class success and the impact of these variables on student second-semester retention. Additional information was gathered on year-to-year retention, to consider if the independent variables had an impact on longer-term retention. Results of the chi-square test indicate a significant relationship between student success and student semester-to-semester and year-to-year retention (p < .001). Logistic regression analysis indicates a significant relationship between the number of online supplemental materials available and student retention rates (p =.033). These findings demonstrate that increasing students' success in classes and increased online material offerings significantly increase long-term undergraduate student retention. By increasing high-risk students' chance for academic success, this can create social change by increasing their retention and graduation rates and increasing the likelihood they will have higher income and are less at risk for long-term poverty and the challenges associated with it.

Head Start, the largest early childhood organization in the United States, was federally mandated to employ bachelor degreed operational employees, with no additional funds. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies that successful leaders of Head Start Nonprofit Organizations use to retain operational employees. The population of this study included 5 Head Start CEOs/Program Directors in 5 Head Start nonprofit organizations in Alabama who successfully retained operational employees in their organization. Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership theory provided a conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected via telephone interviews and employee records from the human resources department. Reviewed human resource documents included the highest level of credentials for the leader, the policy for degree requirement for operational employees, and the number of operational employees, and the participants' highest level of education. The data were analyzed using inductive analysis which consisted of a line-by-line approach to review data identifying words, phrases, ideas, and actions consistent among participants and organizations to identify patterns and themes. Results indicated that Head Start leaders used incentives, continuous training, educational support, and job benefits to retain their operational employees. The implications for social change include the potential for young children to receive optimal teaching and caregiving from retained qualified operational employees.