The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influenced prospective student-athletes to attend East Tennessee State University. Using a qualitative research design, interviews were conducted with 36 freshman scholarship student-athletes. Participants represented student-athletes from each sport. A literature review covered the history of intercollegiate athletics, the history of recruiting student-athletes, the process of recruiting student-athletes, and the decline of public perception towards intercollegiate athletics. Results from the interviews were analyzed using inductive analysis. Patterns, themes, and categories of analysis emerged from the data. The data from the interviews were then unitized and categorized. The categorized units were used to formulate grounded theory. The computer software package QSR NUD.IST 4.0 was used for analyzing the data. Results showed that the ETSU campus personnel were the most influential to prospective student-athletes in deciding to attend East Tennessee State University. The coaching staff at ETSU was mentioned by 27 (75%) of the interviewees. Other ETSU campus personnel were mentioned by 18 (50%) of the interviewees. Finally, current team members were mentioned by 16 (44%) of the interviewees. Facilities located at ETSU were also influential to prospective student-athletes. The dormitories were mentioned by 16 (44%) interviewees. The recently renovated athletics weight room was mentioned by 12 (33%) interviewees. Finally, the Memorial Center was mentioned by 10 (28%) of the interviewees as being influential in the decision-making process. Lastly, 15 (42%) of the interviewees mentioned their academic interests were best served by attending East Tennessee State University. The Quillen College of Medicine was a big factor to several interviewees. The reputation of the College of Business was important to a couple of prospective student-athletes. Also, many interviewees mentioned that the size of the university was influential to them academically. There were eight recommendations that emerged from the study. The first is that the ETSU coaching staff should continue to be heavily involved in the recruiting process. Secondly, the coaching staff should recognize that prospective student-athletes find the people at ETSU very helpful and friendly. Prospects should meet as many people on campus as possible. The third involves the information sent to prospects in the form of letters. A series of letters should be developed to highlight the strengths of ETSU, to include: the academic strengths of ETSU, the dormitories, the coaching staff, the athletic facilities, the newly constructed library, the Trip-Cities area, the Southern Conference, the recent success of the individual athletic programs, and the strength of schedule. The fourth is scheduling official visits during times the current team members are on campus. The fifth includes scheduling tours of the athletics facilities, to include a visit to the weight room. The sixth is athletic programs that have experienced recent success should highlight this success as much as possible to prospective student-athletes. The seventh is for the coaching staffs to determine the academic interests of the prospects early in the recruiting process. The last recommendation is that all female prospects tour Luntsford Apartments during the official visits.

The research focused on the identification of entry-level competencies needed by Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduates who will begin employment in acute healthcare agencies in the next 10 years in Tennessee. The purpose of the study was to gain increased awareness of the competencies needed by graduates of BSN programs in Tennessee in order to meet the demands of the acute healthcare agencies, in light of present and anticipated changes in the healthcare delivery system. The opinions of nurse educators, nurse administrators, recently graduated BSNs, and experienced BSN graduates were solicited to assess congruency of perceptions. In addition, the subjects were requested to indicate whether they had observed the competencies in new BSN graduates, rank-order the importance of the entry-level competencies, list any additional entry-level competencies needed by BSN graduates, and list competencies no longer necessary in BSN programs. A list of 24 entry-level competencies was developed based on a comprehensive review of the literature, a review of the instrument by nursing experts, and a pilot study. Eighty-two nurse administrators, 96 experienced BSNs, 23 recent BSN graduates, 117 faculty members, and 11 deans/directors returned the questionnaire, for an overall return rate of 58%. The study found that there was a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the importance of the entry-level competencies needed by BSN graduates between nurses in acute healthcare agencies and faculty in BSN programs. Also there was a weak (Kendall's tau b < 0.3) but significant relationship across 20 entry-level competencies between the ratings of the importance of the competency and the observation of the competency. The relationship was inverse; that is, the higher the importance, the lower the observation, or vice versa, between the rating of three competencies and the observation of these competencies. Technical skills and legal/ethical standards were the two most frequently mentioned additional competencies needed by BSNs. Care plans, bed-making, and bed-bathing were identified as competencies that remain part of current BSN education but are no longer necessary. The research is significant as it contributes to the body of knowledge relevant to entry-level competencies needed by BSNs who will begin employment in acute healthcare agencies in the next 10 years in Tennessee. Hopefully, it will serve as a catalyst for the establishment of joint meetings and partnerships between service personnel and nursing faculty in BSN programs to discuss future curriculum planning and design.

The purpose of this study was to examine the preferences, impact, and attitude of respiratory care practitioners toward continuing education. A review of demographic characteristics was conducted to develop a professional profile of practitioners in Tennessee. An assessment of continuing education practices provided information concerning types of courses, preferences, and methods used to meet continuing education requirements. Data collection was made possible through the use of a questionnaire. A stratified random sample was drawn from the 1,966 respiratory care practitioners in Tennessee. Based on the practitioner's residence, 150 practitioners were selected from rural and urban communities. A total of 300 self-administered questionnaires were mailed to practitioners to comprise the sample. Data collection was conducted over a 4 week period with a second mailing occurring after the first 2 weeks. A total of 120 surveys were returned for a response rate of 40%. The findings in this study demonstrated that rural and urban respiratory care practitioners in Tennessee have similar preferences toward continuing education. Respiratory care practitioners felt mandatory continuing education was beneficial and should be retained in Tennessee. This study indicated no differences in the impact of mandatory continuing education on the attitude of rural and urban practitioners. Both groups reported that mandatory continuing education had impacted the attitude of respiratory care practitioners in a positive manner. The study produced findings that revealed differences between rural and urban practitioners most preferred and used methods of continuing education. Urban practitioners indicated an increase involvement of physicians as a method most preferred and used for continuing education when compared to rural respondents. Comparison of rural and urban respondents found both groups preferences for course content were the same. The need for continuing education in various content areas transcends geographical boundaries. The typical respiratory care practitioner tended to be a female between the ages of 26-45, while working as a full-time practitioner in an acute care hospital. However, differences were identified between the two populations when comparing professional characteristics. Most rural practitioners were credentialed as certified respiratory care technicians with urban practitioners identified themselves as registered respiratory therapist.

Students, grades 3-5, completed instruments assessing perceived physical ability and school engagement. No significant relationships were found or differences noted for categories of BMI. The culture and focus of the school may explain this.

Parent-child sexual health communication (PCSHC) can have a positive impact on adolescents’ sexual health choices, outcomes, and capabilities for communicating with others about sexual health. Many parents are hesitant and feel unprepared for and uncomfortable with communicating about sexual health with their children. Other parental factors as well as child factors can impact the quality, frequency, coverage, and effectiveness of PCSHC. Some adolescent sexual health outcomes have improved, however, teen birth rates in the United States are elevated compared to other developed countries and half of all sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnoses are made to adolescents and emerging adults. This emphasizes the importance of PCSHC as a protective factor for children and opportunity for them to develop understanding and skills for good sexual health decision-making. While challenging to recruit and retain participants, parent sex education programming designed to promote PCSHC can instill a sense of parental necessity and responsibility, and equip parents with knowledge and skills to confidently and successfully engage their children. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) provided the framework for this mixed methods study designed to learn more about PCSHC, differences in PCSHC based on gender of children, parental beliefs about PCSHC, intentions for and actual engagement in PCSHC. Included in the literature review for this study is a systematic review of literature focused on parent education programming designed to improve PCSHC. Parents of children in grades 4 – 11 completed a pencil/paper or an electronic Qualtrics baseline survey containing questions about their perceptions of and engagement in PCSHC. The quantitative data collection instrument included items measuring TPB constructs of behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, intentions for and actual engagement in PCSHC and condom use instruction delivery, communication openness, communication ability, sexual health topics discussed with children, and respondents’ demographics Many of the respondents (N = 205) were residents of the program target community, Winchester/Clark County, Kentucky, and were eligible to participate in parent programming, as were all residents that were parents of children in grades 4 – 11. The program, I’ll Have a Side of Sex Education, was designed as a six-week series of 50 minute lunch time sessions with the intention to improve parents’ sense of comfort, confidence, and skills in communicating with their children in general, and particularly about sexual health. Of the 205 parents who completed the baseline survey, 50 enrolled in and attended some or all of one of five offerings of the six-week parent education series and were invited to complete a post-program and six-week follow up surveys. Post-program data were collected with a paper- pencil survey and six-week follow up data were collected with a Qualtrics survey. The systematic review of parent sex education literature provided insight into components of programming related to successful program delivery and positive parental outcomes. The systematic analysis of the baseline data including examining PCSHC factors from the parental perspective and how these related to the gender of children and determining the usefulness of the TPB constructs for understanding PCSHC Results of Chi-square tests of mean differences showed a significant difference in parents actually providing their children with instructions for correct condom usage, χ2(2, N = 203) = 6.96, p = 0.03, and MANOVA results revealed the degree to which parents address certain sexual health topics with their children related to the gender of their children. Results of logistic regression showed behavioral beliefs having the greatest predictive power of parents’ intentions to give condom use instructions (p < 0.01) and actual delivery of condom use instructions (p = 0.04) and engagement in PCSHC, generally (p = 0.03). The current study contributes to the greater body of literature addressing parental and child factors related the promotion, delivery, and effectiveness of PCSHC and parent education programming designed to improve the quality, frequency, and impact of PCSHC. Its findings expand our understanding of how gender of children and parental beliefs relate to PCSHC and lend themselves to the consideration of the greater social influences impacting parents’ ability and motivation to engage their children in communication about sexual health. Differences in communication based on gender of children signal to a double standard in the messaging about sexual health and behaviors related to gender and these discrepancies leave adolescents and emerging adults, both males and females, vulnerable at worst to poor sexual health choices and outcomes and at least to being undereducated about sexual health topics. Although these findings give little support for the overall TPB model contributing to the understanding of parental intentions and behavior related PCSHC, the relationship between behavioral beliefs informed by attitudes about the value of PCSHC and parental intentions and behaviors does provide insight to health promoters and educators. Assessing parental attitudes toward PCSHC and tailoring messages and educational opportunities that may improve these attitudes and motivate parents to engage in and seek support for effective PCSHC holds promise. The piloting of a parent education program adapted from a previously evaluated parent sex education programming and the summative evaluation offered by participants gives support for efforts on the part of health promotion and education professionals to invest time, energy, and resources into program design and delivery and recruitment and retention of parents.

Reoccurrence of deformity can affect upwards of 64% of children with clubfoot. The ability to use foot function as a measure of reoccurrence has not been previously assessed. The purpose of this investigation was to utilize foot pressure analysis to predict the probability of reoccurrence in children with unilateral clubfoot. Retrospective foot pressure data revealed predictive algorithms detecting the probability of experiencing any type of reoccurrence (overall reoccurrence) and for experiencing a tibialis anterior tendon transfer (TATT). The equation for overall reoccurrence reported sensitivity and specificity of 0.82 and 0.81 and the equation for TATT reported values of 0.81 and 0.84. These algorithms were then applied prospectively to a cohort of children with unilateral clubfoot. Interim sensitivity and specificity results at a 1.5-year follow-up demonstrate that the equations for overall reoccurrence and TATT were highly specific but not sensitive (0.84, 0.73 specificity; 0.11, 0 sensitivity). This is an indication that these algorithms were more accurate when identifying the absence of reoccurrence. However, these results may change as the prospective subjects continue to age. Overall, the results of this investigation show that foot pressure analysis can predict the presence/absence of reoccurrence. The algorithms developed herein have the potential to improve long and short-term outcomes for children with clubfoot. Providing clinicians with the probability of reoccurrence will improve their ability to be proactive during the treatment decision making process.

Increased levels of obesity, particularly among American youth, have consistently been cause for concern over the last few decades. Additionally, the amount of time youth spend being active throughout the day has consistently decreased. Physical activity levels among school-aged children in America are effected by any number of reasons, but this study points to the possibility of time spent being physically active during the school day having the greatest effect on a student’s overall level of physical activity. Increased pressures from different entities on local schools to improve student performance on standardized test scores have contributed to a decline in students’ time spent being active during the school day. The inverse relationship that exists between levels of obesity and amount of time spent being active is a call to action and cause for more research in this area if a solution is to be reached with the obesity epidemic in America. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of increased physical activity on the academic performance of elementary students in a rural, Central Kentucky community. Academic performance is an overarching term that encompasses academic achievement through standardized testing, academic behavior, and cognitive skills and abilities. Ninety students in 4th and 5th grade with an average age of 10 from one elementary school participated in the study. After obtaining parental consent and students’ verbal consent, students were divided into two intervention groups and one control group. Each intervention group received extra physical activity for three days a week for four weeks. Activity for students was measured with an EKHO MVPA accelerometer for the duration of each activity session during their respective intervention weeks. Standardized test scores were obtained through the school’s measure of academic progress (MAP) assessment. Student behavior was assessed through direct systematic observation and teacher-based questionnaires. Finally, the STROOP color word test was used to measure student’s cognitive processes and executive functioning skills. The results from the STROOP color word test provided evidence of a significant relationship between physical activity and cognitive skills (ttest1=2.63, p < .01, ttest2=7.14, p < .001). Additionally, the teacher-based questionnaire demonstrated a significantly positive relationship between physical activity and student behavior (t = -2.65, p < .01). Boys were significantly more active than girls (tfemale = -2.71, p < .01). There were also significant correlations between females and the teacher-based questionnaires, the white race and the STROOP color word test, and the white race and on-task behavior. No significant relationships were found between physical activity and overall academic performance or academic achievement.

This descriptive study examines the relationship between nutritional practices and academic performance among school-age children as suggested in the literature review.

The purpose of this project was to review anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) literature and develop a performance evaluation and injury risk assessment (PIER) for female soccer players. A strategy guide for decreasing injury risk and enhancing performance was developed in hopes to bring awareness to the athletic community about ACL injury for female soccer players.

The purpose of this project is to examine how online physical education courses impact student learning and achievement of fitness and health standards now that budget cuts are leading to the curtailing or elimination of traditional physical education classes at the secondary level of K-12 education.