abstract: The purpose of this study is to give voice to five Arizona DREAMers. The assumption is that DREAMers have developed unique strategies as a means to navigate the education highway and ethos of Arizona laws that are seldom positive. These five stories represent a very small sampling of the many DREAMers that dot the landscape of Arizona. Their stories are important to add to the collection of literature that already exists on this topic because Arizona DREAMers confront far more challenges due to the anti-immigrant laws that have prevailed despite federal law changes. DREAMers are neither monolithic nor a homogenous group; each individual carries a unique story that merits hearing and may shed light on the reasons why most have opted to stay in a state that has so passionately rejected them despite progress in other states. It may also illuminate the benefits Arizona stands to give by accepting DREAMers as contributing members of society and may even enlighten the state public on the benefits of passing a major comprehensive immigration reform. The scope of this project is designed to highlight the personal challenges these five DREAMers face in Arizona, a state that has consistently used discriminatory treatment and purposefully created roadblocks through the creation of draconian laws. Former Governor Brewer has repeatedly labeled DREAMers as an economic drain on the state's educational system and has stated the Dream Act is nothing but "backdoor amnesty" and political pandering by the Democratic president. Despite all the negative rhetoric, this Arizonan cohort has not given up on their dreams. Their determinations and strengths are the focus of this project. Narratives will enable the DREAMers' stories to be told through their own voice through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with each of the students, transcribing the interviews with subsequent coding and analysis. The results will be organized into major and minor sub themes to give strength to the stories. Findings of this study will contribute and enhance existing literature with the hopes that it might influence policy change at the local level. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2015

abstract: A secondary data analysis was conducted to investigate the direct and indirect effects of family traditionalism, family cohesion, and parent involvement on alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in a sample of pre-adolescent youth (N = 635) and their parents (N = 462). Aim one hypothesized that family cohesion and family traditionalism would be indicators of a higher order construct, operationalized as familismo. Aims two and three hypothesized that family traditionalism, family cohesion, and parent involvement would be protective against youth substance use. Finally, aim four hypothesized that acculturation would decrease the protective effects of family traditionalism and family cohesion on substance use. Using second order confirmatory factor analysis, aim one found that family cohesion and family traditionalism were indicators of a second order structure. Regarding aims two and three, a consistent significant association was found between family cohesion and parent involvement across alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use outcomes. As well, family cohesion was significantly and inversely associated with past 30-day alcohol use amount ( = -.21, p < 0.05), lifetime alcohol use ( = -.19, p < 0.05), and lifetime marijuana use ( = -.31, p < 0.001). Counter to what was hypothesized, a significant positive relationship between family traditionalism and past 30-day alcohol use amount was found. No significant indirect effects were found. Specific to aim four, significant moderation effects were found between family cohesion and acculturation on alcohol and cigarette use. Higher acculturated youth had greater past 30-day alcohol and cigarette use amount compared to low acculturated youth; as family cohesion increased, alcohol and cigarette use for both low and high-acculturated youth decreased. This study has important implications for social work and future research specific to culture, family, and youth substance use. This study may assist direct social work practitioners, school personnel, and other professionals that work with Latino youth and families in the tailoring of services that are culturally sensitive and relevant to this population and provides further understanding regarding the impact of culture and family on Latino youth substance use. Findings and limitations are discussed specific to social work practice, policy, and research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Work 2015

abstract: Se examinan desde una perspectiva autobiográfica las obras de Yolanda Cruz, Saúl Cuevas, Víctor Fuentes, John Leguizamo, Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, Roberto Quesada, y Esmeralda Santiago bajo los filtros de los espacios creados por la migración y/o el exilio, para lo cual se toma en cuenta el bagaje cultural de objetos que cada uno de estos autores aporta en el panorama cultural euiberolatino en los Estados Unidos. Para su análisis crítico, se consideran en un primer plano el pensamiento en Imaginary Communities: Utopia, the Nation, and the Spatial Histories of Modernity (2002) de Phillip Wegner sobre las comunidades imaginarias creadas desde los espacios utópicos que se convierten en realidad desde un enfoque sociohistórico en un ambiente de Estado moderno. Asimismo, se interpreta la ideología como Misplaced Objects; Migrating Collections and Recollections in Europe and the Americas (2009) de Silvia Spitta sobre los objetos desubicados y la transformación que conlleva con dicho movimiento vía el desplazamiento en los espacios de migración y exilio de los autores en este estudio. Se consideran ciertas similares aportaciones existentes como Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook (2010) de Claudio Iván Remeseira cuyo estudio particular enfoca a unos habitantes euiberolatinos de la gran urbe neoyorquina. Para redondear el pensamiento crítico se ha incluido la obra Lugares decoloniales: Espacios de intervención en las Américas (2008), editada por Ramón Grosfoguel y Roberto Almanza Hernández. Este enfoque funciona como el marco crítico para la perspectiva de nuestro texto que examina los bagajes culturales de las regiones como Zacatecas-Durango y Oaxaca, México; La Habana, Cuba; Santurce, Puerto Rico; Olanchito, Honduras; Bogotá, Colombia y Madrid, España y hasta los de sus nuevos espacios en Phoenix, Los Ángeles, Miami-Chapel Hill, Manhattan, Queens y Santa Bárbara, en los Estados Unidos y más allá en Latinoamérica, Europa y África. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Spanish 2015

abstract: This qualitative case study examines seven bilingual Latino boys who were motivated readers. Several theories were examined in relationship to the study: sociocultural theory, reading motivation theories, and gender schema theory. Prior studies involving reading motivation of boys and Latinos showed a gap between boys and girls in reading achievement, high school completion, and college enrollment. Studies about reading motivation included choice in books, reading amount, social context of reading, habitual reading habits, and out-of-school reading as important factors that influence reading motivation. Additionally, Latino cultural factors such as machismo and familismo were examined as factors that influence motivation to read. The study participants attended a large, urban school in Arizona and were selected from senior English classes after completing a participant selection survey. On the participant selection survey, boys self-identified their gender, language, and ethnicity; by several questions about attitudes toward reading and reading amount rated on a 10-point Likert scale gauged reading motivation. Each participant participated in an individual interview, completed a 60-question questionnaire/survey, and either attended a group interview or a second individual interview. Data were triangulated by using data from these three sources and was coded as it was collected using Nvivo qualitative coding software. Coding began with five, basic categories derived from the study questions: motivation, home experiences, school experiences, school performance, and attitude toward reading. As coding continued, the coding categories expanded to include categories such as location of reading materials, access to books, choices in reading, format of texts, and many others. Eventually, there were four distinct categories that stood out in the findings: reading self-perception, purposes, preferences, and practices. The findings have a correlation to previous studies about reading motivation, but also add to the growing field of literature in the area of Latino boys' reading motivation. Keywords: reading, motivation, self-efficacy, situational interest, Latino, boys, high school, gender, types of reading, reading purposes / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2015

abstract: ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of a family literacy program for Latino parents' language practices at home and their children's oral language skills. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which: (a) the program called Family Reading Intervention for Language and Literacy in Spanish (FRILLS) was effective at teaching low-education, low-income Latino parents three language strategies (i.e., comments, high-level questions and recasts) as measured by parent implementation, (b) parents maintained implementation of the three language strategies two weeks following the program, and (c) parent implementation of such practices positively impacted children's oral language skills as measured by number of inferences, conversational turns, number of different words, and the Mean Length of Utterance in words (MLU-w). Five Latino mothers and their Spanish-speaking preschool children participated in a multiple baseline single-subject design across participants. After stable baseline data, each mother was randomly selected to initiate the intervention. Program initiation was staggered across the five mothers. The mothers engaged in seven individual intervention sessions. Data on parent and child outcomes were collected across three experimental conditions: baseline, intervention, and follow-up. This study employed visual analysis of the data to determine the program effects on parent and child outcome variables. Results indicated that the program was effective in increasing the mothers' use of comments and high-level questions, but not recasts, when reading to their children. The program had a positive effect on the children's number of inferences, different words, and conversational turns, but not on the mean length of utterances. Findings indicate that FRILLS may be effective at extending and enriching the language environment that low-income children who are culturally and linguistically diverse experience at home. Three results with important implications for those who implement, develop, or examine family literacy programs are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Speech and Hearing Science 2015

abstract: Background: Latinos have disproportionately high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Family-based interventions may reduce chronic disease risk among Latinos across generations. Purpose: To assess the efficacy of Athletes for Life (AFL), a 12-week community-and-family-based behavioral intervention, for improving diet, physical activity (PA), anthropometrics, fitness, and biochemical outcomes among mostly Latino parents. Methods: Parents with at least one child 6-11 years of age were randomized to active AFL participation (n=14) or a wait-list control (n=14) group. AFL consisted of twice weekly 90 minute sessions (45 minutes of nutrition-focused lessons and 45 minutes of PA participation) designed to promote fruit and vegetable consumption, reduction of sugar intake, and increasing habitual PA. Data were collected prior to and immediately after the 12 week intervention. Results: Participants (37.9±7.2y) were mostly Latino (93%), Spanish speaking (68%), and women (93%). Relative to participants in the control group, AFL participants had a significant reduction in body fat (-1.1±1.2% vs. 0.2±1.2%; p=0.014), resting (-7.6±10.2 bpm vs. +2.1±6.8 bpm; p<0.01), exercise (-8.4±8.7 bpm vs. +0.4±7.3 bpm; p<0.01), and recovery heart rate (-11.9±12.8 bpm vs. -0.3±11.4 bpm; p=0.01), and one mile run time (-1.5±1.0 min vs. -0.1±0.9 min; p<0.01), and a significant increase in estimated VO2 peak (+1.9±1.9 ml/kg/min vs. 0.0±1.8 ml/kg/min; p=0.01). AFL participants also reported an increase in the number of days/week accumulating 30 minutes of MVPA (+0.8±3.2 vs. -1.5±2.3; p=0.004) and daily servings of fruits (+1.3±1.4 vs. +0.3±1.4; p<0.05) and vegetables (+1.8±1.7 vs. +0.1±1.2; p<0.05), relative to control participants. There were no significant differences between groups in changes in diet assessed by 3-day food record, accelerometer-measured PA, weight, blood pressure, visceral fat, biomarkers for cardiovascular disease or nutritional biomarkers. Conclusions: Despite the lack of effects on diet and PA behaviors, AFL shows promising preliminary efficacy for reducing body fat and improving fitness among adult participants. Future research aimed at improving fitness among Latino parents with family-based intervention is warranted. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physical Activity, Nutrition and Wellness 2015

abstract: This action research study (a) explored how institutionally labeled “at-risk” Latina/o students described their experiences in an opportunity to learn environment within an academic intervention program, (b) examined how these students experienced caring relationships with their teachers in an opportunity to learn environment when compared to their other core academic classes, and (c) investigated how school leaders created conditions to further support these students’ academic success on a larger scale. This action research study utilized a sequential phenomenological qualitative approach. Critical Race Theory, Critical Pedagogy, and Care theory served as the theoretical frameworks for this study. The blending of these theories worked to push Latina/o students’ narrative reflections to emerge as constitutive and instructive voices speaking back against the inequalities in the educational setting, and offered counterstories about the caring dynamics of Latina/o students in the classroom. Participants included high school students identified as “at-risk” and in an academic intervention class / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2016

abstract: Latino youth have substantially higher rates of obesity and T2D than their white peers. The higher prevalence of obesity and T2D among Latino youth places them at greater risk for cognitive dysfunction, an urgent and serious health threat to the United States. Exercise has been the cornerstone to combat the negative effects of obesity, diabetes and recent research also supports this effects for preventing cognitive dysfunction. A wealth of evidence suggests that a mediating mechanism linking exercise with brain health is BDNF, a cognitive biomarker that increases in the brain with exercise. BDNF is the most abundant neurotrophic factor that supports growth, survival and synaptic plasticity of neurons, all vital for cognitive function and brain health. The present study sought to investigate the effects of a 12-week lifestyle intervention of physical activity and lifestyle education on serum BDNF, in obese pre diabetic Latino youth. A total of twelve obese pre diabetic Latino youth were selected from a larger RCT sample to be the focus for this analysis. After an overnight fast, a serum concentration was collected from all youth to be used for the BDNF analysis. In addition, the following cardio metabolic measures were also at taken at baseline and post intervention: Submaximal VO2max, medical and family history questionnaire, anthropometric, fasting glucose and a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). A 12-weeks Lifestyle Intervention that involved a progressive moderate to high intensity exercise component and lifestyle education program did not significantly change serum BDNF levels in obese pre diabetic Latino youth. In conclusion, the variation of our serum BDNF results are highly speculative at this time, therefore the need for future investigations is crucial. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Exercise and Wellness 2016

abstract: Parent involvement in their children’s education has been a frequently sought after and highly regarded component in education that has repeatedly been identified as a significant influence that contributes to children’s success in school. Historically, Latino parent involvement has been markedly low in the United States. Researchers’ interest in Latino parents’ involvement in their children’s education has been spurred by this low level of involvement coupled with reports of significant differences in educational achievement between Latino students and students of other ethnic backgrounds. Perceptions of self-efficacy and role construction have been identified as motivators for parent involvement. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the relationship between the Espacio Iluminado Parent Engagement Program as a nontraditional Latino parent involvement opportunity and parents’ perceptions of self-efficacy and role construction as it pertains to supporting the education of their children. The foundation of the program was developed utilizing Third Space Theory (Bhabha, 1994) to generate a framework that had the potential to serve as a model for future parent involvement programs that validated the knowledge of diverse cultures and discourses and encouraged a mediation of the two. Participants’ ratings of Role Construction and Self-Efficacy were significantly improved after their involvement in the parent program. Participants also felt strongly that the program was personally valuable and useful. Future direction might include a longitudinal study to track the academic progress of children of the participants. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2017

abstract: Latino parents of children with feeding disorders completed a survey about their experiences accessing support and the cultural competence of their providers. This work is a follow-up project to a presented American Speech and Hearing Association Conference poster (Stats-Caldwell, Lindsay, Van Vuren, 2017). That project revealed caregivers’ use of social media and indicated an overall perceived lack of support from providers. In the present survey, Latino caregivers identified the resources they consult and rated the level of helpfulness in addition to the types of supports they sought and received from these resources. Results indicate a considerable reliance on pediatricians in both frequency of consultation and helpfulness ratings. No significant difference was seen between the frequency of consultation between pediatricians, speech-language pathologists and other service providers. No significant difference was found in the helpfulness ratings between speech-language pathologists and topic-specific social media pages, nor speech-language pathologists and grandmothers. Participants indicated reliance on social media for informational resources. The influence of social media is discussed. The cultural implications of treating this population are also reviewed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Communication Disorders 2018