Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-169).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-169).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-169).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 280 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Robert F. Rodgers, Dept. of Educational Policy and Leadership. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-267).

Thesis (D.Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-205).

Canadian university sports are gaining momentum as a high-performance sports culture, leading to greater demands and potential mental health (MH) risks for student-athletes. Despite the abundance of research and resources pertaining to MH, student-athletes continue to experience significant MH challenges. This thesis aimed to reimagine student-athlete MH support at a Canadian university using a Design Thinking (DT) approach. This was achieved through a case study about the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) Gee-Gees. DT is a creative and collaborative approach to understanding your end-users, challenging assumptions, and redefining problems to create innovative solutions you can prototype and test (Brown, 2008). The methodological framework was inspired by Hasso Plattner Institute’s (2018) six-step model: 1) understand, 2) observe, 3) point of view, 4) ideate, 5) prototype, and 6) test. This study explicitly engages in the first three steps of the HPI process, otherwise known as the “Compassion space” (Chambers, 2021). Findings from each step are presented through two journal articles and used to inform future research dedicated to the remaining three steps (“Solution space”; HPI, 2018). Article one focuses on the “Understand” phase, aimed to generate ecological insights from multiple stakeholders into how the varsity sports department at uOttawa supports student-athlete MH. Three activities were conducted incrementally, including stakeholder mapping (to identify relevant stakeholders), stakeholder analysis (to prioritize stakeholder engagement), and enabler interviews (to understand diverse perspectives on the explored topic). Nine enabler interviews were conducted and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings are presented through three themes: Enhancing the accessibility of MH services, providing proactive and holistic care, and building a sustainable integrated support team model. This case helps illustrate the varsity environment as one interconnected system and demonstrates the shared responsibility of all enablers to promote and protect positive MH. Article Two encompasses two HPI phases. First, the “Observe” phase is to observe the daily realities of uOttawa student-athletes in their localized varsity sports environment. To facilitate this, six digital stories were produced by student-athletes and analyzed using empathy mapping (i.e., interpreting what a person says, thinks, feels, and does). Individual empathy maps informed the subsequent “Point of View” phase, designed to establish a point of view from a student athlete's perspective and present the findings creatively and in an easily digestible manner. Six empathy maps were condensed into three fictional personas that help illustrate student-athlete experiences at uOttawa. Presenting these personable stories to relevant stakeholders will be beneficial to garnering deeper empathy and compassion for student-athletes experiencing MH challenges. The results of each phase yield a comprehensive understanding of student-athletes’ needs, experiences, and the environment in which they compete and study. Thereby contributing to the design of a (future) desirable, viable, and feasible solution the varsity sports department can implement. Moreover, supplementary methods and results are outlined to showcase the interdisciplinary collaborative approach used to understand further the uOttawa Gee-Gees high-performance integrated support team (IST), a crucial component for understanding the uOttawa’s varsity sports landscape. This thesis addresses new ways to explore student-athlete MH, contributes a Canadian perspective to student-athlete research, and paves the way for DT in the sports psychology field.

Title IX establishes in law equal opportunity for women in educational programs that receive financial support from the federal government. In higher education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the misapplication of Title IX in college athletics is believed to have caused the termination of college wrestling programs that were otherwise successful programs. A review of the literature suggests an absence of research on Title IX and men’s varsity wrestling. This novel study included the perceptions of wrestling coaches and athletic administrators on Title IX in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is nationally known for its participation in the sport of wrestling. A quantitative approach was selected because it afforded the opportunity to include a greater number of subjects than a qualitative study, and the opportunity to generalize the results to other states. The descriptive survey approach allowed subjects to respond to questions administered through an online survey, using the SurveyMonkey® platform and a new instrument called the Title IX Inventory (TIXI). The subjects for this study included college wrestling coaches, institution presidents, and athletic administrators. The data from 49 electronic SurveyMonkey® surveys completed by participants were analyzed. Findings from Pearson correlations revealed that coaches with more years of experience with wrestling are more negative in their perceptions of the impact of Title IX. A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey tests showed that athletic administrators have a consistently more supportive attitude about the impact of Title IX. Suggestions for future research include studies on institutional presidents’ perceptions; college athletes’ perceptions; and various forms of Title IX compliance pursued by U.S. colleges and universities, specifically as it is applied to varsity athletics. / Educational Administration

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This study examines fleet retention rates of USNA graduates who participated in varsity athlete programs from 1988 to 1990 and retained beyond their initial service obligation (N = 2,735). It is based on a theoretical model which investigates two forces of influence on retention: varsity athlete status as a positive influence and recruit status as a negative influence. Results of the hierarchical logistic regression analyses validate the theoretical model and suggest that varsity athletic participation and recruit status do have an impact on fleet retention rates. The negative retention influence of recruit status and the positive retention influence of varsity athletic participation are observed through the interaction of these two forces. Results indicate that recruit status is significantly related to lower retention rates, however, this negative force is counterbalanced by the positive influence of sustained varsity athletic participation, should the athlete have the perseverance to letter in his or her sport. This study also identifies the walk-on varsity athlete as the true beneficiary of the human capital benefits associated with varsity athletic participation. The walk-on varsity athlete acquires leadership and teamwork skills attributed to participation in varsity athletics without the negative recruit influence. / Lieutenant, United States Naval Reserve

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study investigated the semiotic resources used by Vagina Varsity, a campaign by sanitary towel brand Libresse on the social media platform YouTube to construct meanings around the female body. Vagina Varsity is a South African online advertising campaign on YouTube which marketed their sanitary products, whilst educating, as well as breaking the social stigma, around the black female body. In this study, YouTube was utilized as a space in which to analyze online identities and communication. The study was located within the field of linguistic landscape (LL) studies, including the sub-field virtual linguistic landscapes (VLL), later reformulated as virtual semioscapes. The conceptual framework was undergirded by multimodality/multisemioticity and feminist theory. The study used a mixed methods approach to data collection, and used a virtual linguistic ethnography (VLE) framework to collect the data sources, which included YouTube videos, YouTube comments, and emails. A focus group interview was also conducted, where the Vagina Varsity videos were shown to a group of diverse youth at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The embodied discourses which emerged, as well as the discourse strategies of the commentators, were multimodally analysed. The study found that the Vagina Varsity course makes use of multiple modes, including embodied semiotics such as gestures and stylizations of voice, visual modes such as cartoon figures, as well as the strategic use of sound. In addition, the study found that educational content and marketing strategies are both embedded in this campaign, with the educational content overshadowing the advertising aspect. It is for this reason that the YouTube comments and focus group interview were centered on the program itself and not the advertisement. Furthermore, when looking at the medium this campaign used, one sees that the virtual space allows for the teaching of taboo topics, which would not be allowed in traditional educational domains. The virtual space is not only bridging the knowledge gap in the topic of sex education, it also bridges the gap between different communities, as the YouTube comment section allows for people to interact across regional, national and even cultural boundaries. This study also found that Vagina Varsity not only recontextualized the educational genre, but they have also recontextualized the production and consumption of a topic which would otherwise be considered taboo. In terms of the implications for the study, one finds that the stigma that is attached to this subject is removed from this content. Although one cannot say for certain that this type of education will take over the African traditional initiation ceremonies for girls, for example, it can be used to complement some of the content that traditional counselors and social workers use to teach young African women. The fact that the program is formalized in a curriculum that can be found online opens up possibilities for open dialogue across cultures and nations in terms of feminine hygiene. This study contributes to the field of Linguistic Landscapes studies, with specific focus on virtual linguistic landscapes. The study also illustrates that the affordances of the online space allows for a hybrid edutainment space where people can learn about topics which are considered taboo in the domain of formal education. This study also extends the concept of multimodality, by including notions such as semiotic remediation and resemiotization, as well as immediacy and hypermediacy, as tools of multimodal analysis. This study also contributes to studies on gender and sexuality. / 2022-08-31