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- All Subjects: Prevention
Description
The ASU Page Turners is an entrepreneurial community action program founded by Chase Fitzgerald and Hannah McAtee. In 2014, a third program partner, Chloe Holmes, replaced Hannah as co-president. The ASU Page Turners program aims to enhance opportunities for the children of the Tempe/Mesa school districts through a unique one-on-one weekly reading program that is designed to draw together engaged ASU Barrett students and similarly motivated second and third grade students at the Tempe Public Library. The ASU Page Turners empowers the youth of our community by growing reading confidence, vocalization, and public speaking that can serve as transformative skill sets both in and out of the classroom. This document serves as a description and appraisal of the work done to establish the program, expand its reach and success, reflect on the experiences of the primary collaborators, appraise the value of the work as seen by the Tempe Public library, and set it on a sustainable path of growth for its future with Barrett, The Honors College and the Tempe Public Library. The Page Turners community consists of thirty Barrett students and thirty second and third grade students from ASU's greater community who actively embrace our mission to cultivate their own intellectual growth in a safe and productive manner. We look for every opportunity to encourage academic development, hold ourselves accountable, and realize our potential through the work we are doing, regardless if you are the student or the teacher. We have learned that these roles regularly reverse themselves, as there is much to learn from an inquisitive child's mind.
ContributorsFitzgerald, Chase Matthew (Author) / Mokwa, Michael (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Through interviews with student participants in Barrett Summer Scholars during 2012, I uncovered how education in Arizona is failing and succeeding in meeting the needs of its high-achieving, oftentimes academically disillusioned students. Many high-achieving students feel underserved by their education and do not receive adequate challenges or one-on-one attention. Socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial limitations further contribute to the disenchantment of students and educational inequalities in the US and Arizona in particular. The Barrett Summer Scholars program itself intends to help engage these students, but it may be failing in its stated goals. Limited resources make it difficult for schools to pay as much attention to the high-achieving students as to the low-achieving, but Barrett might be able to help bridge this gap and provide students with one-on-one attention by way of student mentorship.
ContributorsManrique, Liliana (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Eder, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Background:
Pediatric obesity is associated with lower quality of life (QOL) and populations with high obesity rates, such as Latinos, are especially vulnerable. We examined the effects of a 12-week diabetes prevention program on changes in weight-specific QOL in Latino youth.
Method:
Fifteen obese Latino adolescents (BMI%=96.3±1.1;age=15.0±1.0) completed a 12-week intervention. Youth completed weight-specific QOL measures at baseline, post intervention, and 1-year follow-up. For comparison purposes, intervention youth were matched for age and gender with lean controls.
Results:
At baseline, obese youth exhibited significantly lower weight-specific QOL compared with lean youth (70.8±5.4 to 91.2±2.2, p<0.005). The intervention did not significantly impact weight (90.6±6.8 to 89.9±7.2kg, p=0.44). However, significant increases in weight-specific QOL were observed (70.8±20.9 to 86.2±16.9, p<0.001). Post-intervention QOL scores were no longer significantly different than lean controls (P=0.692). Data from nine youth who returned for follow-up indicated that increases in weight-specific QOL were maintained over time (90.5±4.5 to 85.8±5.9, p=0.74).
Conclusion:
These results indicate that a community-based diabetes prevention program can result in sustained improvements in weight-specific QOL among obese Latino youth. Lifestyle interventions that focus on social interaction and physical activity, rather than weight-loss per se, may help improve the psychosocial health of obese Latino youth.
Pediatric obesity is associated with lower quality of life (QOL) and populations with high obesity rates, such as Latinos, are especially vulnerable. We examined the effects of a 12-week diabetes prevention program on changes in weight-specific QOL in Latino youth.
Method:
Fifteen obese Latino adolescents (BMI%=96.3±1.1;age=15.0±1.0) completed a 12-week intervention. Youth completed weight-specific QOL measures at baseline, post intervention, and 1-year follow-up. For comparison purposes, intervention youth were matched for age and gender with lean controls.
Results:
At baseline, obese youth exhibited significantly lower weight-specific QOL compared with lean youth (70.8±5.4 to 91.2±2.2, p<0.005). The intervention did not significantly impact weight (90.6±6.8 to 89.9±7.2kg, p=0.44). However, significant increases in weight-specific QOL were observed (70.8±20.9 to 86.2±16.9, p<0.001). Post-intervention QOL scores were no longer significantly different than lean controls (P=0.692). Data from nine youth who returned for follow-up indicated that increases in weight-specific QOL were maintained over time (90.5±4.5 to 85.8±5.9, p=0.74).
Conclusion:
These results indicate that a community-based diabetes prevention program can result in sustained improvements in weight-specific QOL among obese Latino youth. Lifestyle interventions that focus on social interaction and physical activity, rather than weight-loss per se, may help improve the psychosocial health of obese Latino youth.
ContributorsBrito, Elizabeth (Author) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Thesis director) / Barroso, Cristina (Committee member) / Patrick, Donald (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This project created a teaching curriculum resource guide for using the popular series, The Hunger Games, in 6th-8th grade classrooms to introduce cultural issues such as child soldiers and international development to students. Studies have shown that literature can cultivate empathy and encourage youth to act. This combined with the expanding phenomenon of participatory culture and fandom activism as outlined by Henry Jenkins demonstrate the potential for youth to learn and act when given the opportunity and resources to do so. The curriculum is composed of three units: The first is a three-week reading of the books with various activities for students to really understand the narrative and source text. The second and third units address the issues of child soldiers and international development using The Hunger Games as a framework and a keystone to build connections so that these complex issues are accessible to youth. This project is a first step in the development of a curriculum that spans the full trilogy and covers a variety of current event topics.
ContributorsSimpson, Rebecca (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Blasingame, James (Committee member) / Nelson, Margaret (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Operation Toothbrush is an initiative established to combat the oral healthcare disparity within young children who reside in Arizona. By working with elementary and preschool children, the project educated them and their families about the importance of oral hygiene in informative and intuitive manner. The project incorporated the help of Pre-Dental volunteers, dental practices, and the Woodside Grant to obtain the supplies, information, and assistance necessary to conduct the initiative.
ContributorsTsiperfal, Nathan (Co-author) / Mansukhani, Kunal (Co-author) / Virdee, Gitika (Co-author) / Loebenberg, Abby (Thesis director) / Ostling, Michael (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Chronic stress often leads to cognitive deficits, especially within the spatial memory domain mediated by the hippocampus. When chronic stress ends and a no-stress period ensues (i.e., washout, WO), spatial ability improves, which can be better than non-stressed controls (CON). The WO period is often the same duration as the chronic stress paradigm. Given the potential benefit of a post-stress WO period on cognition, it is important to investigate whether this potential benefit of a post-stress WO period has long-lasting effects. In this project, chronic restraint (6hr/d/21d) in Sprague-Dawley rats was used, as it is the minimum duration necessary to observe spatial memory deficits. Two durations of post-stress WO were used following the end of chronic restraint, 3 weeks (STR-WO3) and 6 weeks (STR-WO6). Immediately after chronic stress (STR-IMM) or the WO periods, rats were tested on various cognitive tests. We corroborated past studies that chronic stress impaired spatial memory (STR-IMM vs CON). Interestingly, STR-WO3 and STR-WO6 failed to demonstrate improved spatial memory on a radial arm water maze task, performing similarly as STR-IMM. Performance outcomes were unlikely from differences in anxiety or motivation because rats from all conditions performed similarly on an open field task and on a simple object recognition paradigm, respectively. However, performance on object placement was unusual in that very few rats explored, suggesting some degree of anxiety or fear in all groups. One possible interpretation of the unusual results of the 3 week washout group may be attributed to the different spatial memory tasks used across studies or external factors from the study. Further exploration of these other factors led to the conclusion that they did not play a role and the STR-WO3 RAWM data were anomalous to other studies. This suggests that a washout period following chronic stress may not be fully understood.
ContributorsFlegenheimer, Aaron Embden (Author) / Conrad, Cheryl (Thesis director) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Committee member) / Ortiz, J. Bryce (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Advancements in both the medical field and public health have substantially minimized the detrimental impact of infectious diseases. Health education and disease prevention remains a vital tool to maintain and propagate this success. In order to determine the relationship between knowledge of disease and reported preventative behavior 180 participants amongst the ASU student population were surveyed about their knowledge and prevention behavior for 10 infectious diseases. Of the 180 participants only 138 were completed surveys and used for analysis. No correlation was found between knowledge or perceived risk and preventative measures within the total sample of 138 respondents, however there was a correlation found within Lyme disease and Giardia exposure to information and prevention. Additionally, a cultural consensus analysis was used to compare the data of 17 US-born and 17 foreign-born participants to analyze patterns of variation and agreement on disease education based on national origins. Cultural consensus analysis showed a strong model of agreement among all participants as well as within the US-born and foreign-born student groups. There was a model of agreement within the questions pertaining to transmission and symptoms. There was not however a model of agreement within treatment questions. The findings suggest that accurate knowledge on infectious diseases may be less impactful on preventative behavior than social expectations.
ContributorsVernon, Samantha (Author) / Maupin, Jonathan (Thesis director) / Jehn, Megan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and quality of HEAL International's HIV/AIDS education prevention program for secondary school students in the Arusha region of Tanzania during the summer of 2016 using a cross-cultural teaching team. Basic HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes concerning risk reduction behaviors as well as towards people living with HIV/AIDS were studied among Form 1 and Form 3 students from two secondary schools in rural Tanzania. The intervention program aimed to increase knowledge and positive attitudes related to HIV/AIDS in order to motivate healthy behavior change. 211 Form 1 students and 156 Form 3 students received the intervention and completed both pre- and post-evaluation surveys. At the post-evaluation, all students showed increases in basic HIV/AIDS knowledge levels as well as positive attitudes concerning HIV/AIDS risk reduction and about people living with HIV/AIDS. Students' levels of uncertainty when answering the survey questions were also decreased. Overall, the study findings indicate that HEAL's program had a positive impact on HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitudes of secondary school students in Arusha, Tanzania. While this study had many limitations, it also offers areas of improvement for future HEAL International volunteer programs.
ContributorsPrynn, Tory Ayn (Author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis director) / Maupin, Jonathan (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
My aims with this research project were to conduct a network analysis on collaborators in the ¡Viva Maryvale! project, a diabetes prevention program in Maryvale, AZ. The goals of the social network analysis were to measure the connections that collaborating organizations have to each other, the strength of these connections, and the activities that connected organizations collaborate on. I hypothesized that performing a network analysis would inform me of the strengths and weaknesses of the ¡Viva Maryvale! project in order to advise the next steps of a targeted approach to diabetes prevention among vulnerable populations, thus affecting public health outcomes in the greater Phoenix Valley.
ContributorsKellog, Anna (Author) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Thesis director) / Soltero, Erica (Committee member) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Education plays a key role throughout many different fields of study. My question has to do with not what we are learning, but how we are learning it, therefore focusing more on the teaching and instructional design aspect of the learning process. Specifically, the goal of my thesis is to theoretically define collaborative learning and develop a framework that demonstrates how collaboration and interactivity can be successfully implemented in a language learning classroom. Language learning is essential in schools because it enables students to be culturally aware. According to the Modern Language Teachers' Association of South Australia, language learning plays a significant role in 21st Century learning. It assists students in being more community engaged as well as culturally diverse. They state that "knowing additional languages and cultures involves connecting, engaging, and interacting with others and negotiating boundaries based on diverse ways of understanding the world." (MLTASA) Collaboration can be very beneficial in the human learning process. According to Webb, students that collaborate with each other engage in challenging conversations and produce joint solutions whereas students that don't collaborate engage in conversation about practical rather than abstract matters (Webb, 2009). The success of collaboration is defined by the content of the dialog, groups won't necessarily engage in beneficial dialogue without help and facilitation by the teacher. It's important for teachers to keep groups on task and monitor their progress throughout the lesson. Through collaborative learning the student is able to take more from the lesson and view each concept from an alternate perspective. With teacher facilitated group discussions, students preform knowledge construction and challenge individual thoughts in order to come up with a joint solution that's takes everyone's point of view into perspective (Nastasi, 1999). Many researchers have concluded that collaborative learning, is a very beneficial learning method when it comes to challenging thoughts and concepts between students. Because each individual has a different thought process and ideas, each student brings a different concept that can be challenged and discussed among the group. Many researchers have previously studied the benefits of collaborative learning as well as the teacher's role in correctly facilitating and implementing it. Webb, highlights the importance of teachers actively pushing students to collaborate and challenge ideas. She states "In classrooms in which teachers pushed students to make explicit the steps in their mental processes (whether students' answers and strategies were correct or incorrect), collaborative groups engaged in frequent explaining and provided explanations that were correct and complete" (Webb, 2009, pg.18). Similarly, researchers such as Rijkje Dekker and Marianne Elshout-Mohr argue that collaboration in classrooms is especially important in terms of the type of work that is assigned. Assignments that require collaboration generally go more in depth and are considered more challenging than those given in individual assignments "Collaborative learning tasks are in general designed as complex, challenging and authentic problems. Such problems motivate students to attempt different strategies and co-construct and justify solutions" (Elshout-Mohr and Dekker, 2000, pg.40). Collaboration in language learning classrooms is beneficial and quite easy to implement (Elshout-Mohr and Dekker, 2000).
ContributorsAhmad, Nshwah Khalil (Author) / Wylie, Ruth (Thesis director) / Li, Na (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05