Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- Creators: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion
Description
Research indicates patient adherence to physical therapy home exercise programs is low and this is confirmed anecdotally by people working in the field. Many patients do not improve at the desired rate because they are only coming into the clinic for two to three days a week and then do not continue with their exercises at home. This thesis project was focused on designing a mobile application that would better help physical therapists facilitate home exercises for their patients. The goals of this application were to make it easier for patients to remember what they need to do and how often they need to do it, to increase patient improvements by making it easier to access and complete assigned exercises, and to make the physical therapist more efficient and effective by assigning the exercises through a program that can be easily altered. In order to create this application, research on self-efficacy, adherence, and behavior strategies and theories was collected. Then, interviews with physical therapists and patients were completed to determine what content should be added to the application for patients to be successful and to determine what features they believed would best facilitate exercise adherence. Lastly, the application and its features were designed based on the collected research and interviews.
ContributorsMoran, Alyssa Marie (Author) / Broman, Tannah (Thesis director) / Feser, Erin (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Athletes at any level of competition face high-stress environments in which they are still expected to perform at a high level. Because of this, athletes require mental toughness in order to skillfully perform and hopefully outperform their opponents. Mental toughness in sport is a term used to describe a variety of psychological skills that an athlete utilizes that allows them to perform better and more consistently than their competitors. This study was designed to determine whether mental toughness distinguished pole vaulters at three different levels of competition. It was hypothesized that post-collegiate athletes would have higher mental toughness scores than collegiate athletes who would subsequently score higher than high school athletes. Two questionnaires were given to high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate pole vaulters (n = 65) to determine total mental toughness scores as well as scores for eight different subcategories of mental toughness including motivation, self-belief, intensity, focus, control, coping, thriving on pressure, and assertiveness. ANOVA and multiple comparisons demonstrated that mental toughness differentiated post-collegiate pole vaulters from high school pole vaulters, but not between collegiate and post-collegiate. Additionally, collegiate and post-collegiate vaulters scored significantly higher than high school vaulters in the subcategories of motivation and control. Data also showed that male competitors demonstrated significantly higher mental toughness scores than female athletes on both questionnaires. Based on the research, knowing that mental toughness scores differentiate high school pole vaulters from elite pole vaulters (particularly in the areas of control and motivation) could set the foundation for training programs and targeted psychological interventions for younger athletes.
ContributorsWarren, Hannah Victoria (Author) / Hoffner, Kristin (Thesis director) / Broman, Tannah (Committee member) / Feser, Erin (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
A Comparison of the Effects of Two Warm- Up Protocols on Strength and Power in College- Aged Females
Description
The following study compared the effects of acute static stretching (SS) and whole body vibration (WBV) protocols on strength and power in college-aged recreationally active females. Ten active, Arizona State University females participated in the study after providing informed consent and filling out a survey to determine their health status and physical activity level. Participants took part in the study over two days, each day starting with a standardized cycling protocol, followed by random assignment to either a static stretching or whole body vibration warm-up condition. Whichever protocol they did not complete during the first session, they completed during the second session. After the warm-up protocol, vertical hang time and vertical jump were used to test leg power, and 1- RM bench press, and 1- RM leg press were used to evaluate the participants’ upper and lower body strength, respectively. Multiple t-tests were conducted for each sports performance test conducted: vertical hang time, vertical jump, bench press, and leg press. Strength and power, as assessed in this sample, were not significantly different based on warm-up protocol. T-tests comparing the effects of two warm-up techniques revealed that there were no significant differences in the leg power scores for vertical hang time (p ≤0.86) (effect size = 0), or vertical jump height (p =1) (effect size = 0). Similarly, there were no significant differences in bench press (p ≤0.08) (effect size = 0.38), and leg press (p ≤0.29) (effect size = 0.31), although effect sizes were moderate. Because of the medium effect sizes for leg press (0.31) and bench press (0.38), it is possible that WBV can facilitate greater strength gains in female college students, but more subjects are needed to further evaluate this finding. Given that leg power was not different based on warm-up technique, it is possible that static stretching for less than 30 seconds did not impede power in these active females. Clearly, more research needs to be performed on the effectiveness of the vibration platform comparing additional bouts of duration and frequency in active and athletic college-aged females.
ContributorsCring, Kelsey Marie (Author) / Randsell, Lynda (Thesis director) / Feser, Erin (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12