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This dissertation theorizes nineteenth-century public performance of spiritual media as being inherent to the production of autobiography itself. Too often, dominant social discourses are cast as being singular cultural phenomena, but analyzing the rhetorical strategies of women attempting to access public spheres reveals fractures in what would otherwise appear to

This dissertation theorizes nineteenth-century public performance of spiritual media as being inherent to the production of autobiography itself. Too often, dominant social discourses are cast as being singular cultural phenomena, but analyzing the rhetorical strategies of women attempting to access public spheres reveals fractures in what would otherwise appear to be a monolithic patriarchal discourse. These women's resistant performances reap the benefits of a fractured discourse to reveal a multiplicity of alternative discourses that can be accessed and leveraged to gain social power. By examining the phenomena of four nineteenth- century Spiritualists' mediumship from a rhetorical perspective, this study considers how female spirit mediums used their autobiographies to operate as discursive spaces mediating between private and public spheres; how female mediums constructed themselves in the public sphere as women and as spiritual authorities; how they negotiated entry into volatile and unpredictable publics; how they conceived of the vulnerability of the female body in the public sphere; and how they coped with complications inherent to Victorian era constructions of feminine corporeality. In conclusion, this dissertation offers a highly situated performative theory of subaltern publicity.
ContributorsLowry, Elizabeth (Author) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Long, Elenore (Committee member) / Miller, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
Many individual-level behavioral interventions improve health and well-being. However, most interventions exhibit considerable heterogeneity in response. Put differently, what might be effective on average might not be effective for specific individuals. From an individual’s perspective, many healthy behaviors exist that seem to have a positive impact. However, few existing tools

Many individual-level behavioral interventions improve health and well-being. However, most interventions exhibit considerable heterogeneity in response. Put differently, what might be effective on average might not be effective for specific individuals. From an individual’s perspective, many healthy behaviors exist that seem to have a positive impact. However, few existing tools support people in identifying interventions that work for them, personally.

One approach to support such personalization is via self-experimentation using single-case designs. ‘Hack Your Health’ is a tool that guides individuals through an 18-day self-experiment to test if an intervention they choose (e.g., meditation, gratitude journaling) improves their own psychological well-being (e.g., stress, happiness), whether it fits in their routine, and whether they enjoy it.

The purpose of this work was to conduct a formative evaluation of Hack Your Health to examine user burden, adherence, and to evaluate its usefulness in supporting decision-making about a health intervention. A mixed-methods approach was used, and two versions of the tool were tested via two waves of participants (Wave 1, N=20; Wave 2, N=8). Participants completed their self-experiments and provided feedback via follow-up surveys (n=26) and interviews (n=20).

Findings indicated that the tool had high usability and low burden overall. Average survey completion rate was 91%, and compliance to protocol was 72%. Overall, participants found the experience useful to test if their chosen intervention helped them. However, there were discrepancies between participants’ intuition about intervention effect and results from analyses. Participants often relied on intuition/lived experience over results for decision-making. This suggested that the usefulness of Hack Your Health in its current form might be through the structure, accountability, and means for self-reflection it provided rather than the specific experimental design/results. Additionally, situations where performing interventions within a rigorous/restrictive experimental set-up may not be appropriate (e.g., when goal is to assess intervention enjoyment) were uncovered. Plausible design implications include: longer experimental and phase durations, accounting for non-compliance, missingness, and proximal/acute effects, and exploring strategies to complement quantitative data with participants’ lived experiences with interventions to effectively support decision-making. Future work should explore ways to balance scientific rigor with participants’ needs for such decision-making.
ContributorsPhatak, Sayali Shekhar (Author) / Buman, Matthew P (Thesis advisor) / Hekler, Eric B. (Committee member) / Huberty, Jennifer L (Committee member) / Johnston, Erik W., 1977- (Committee member) / Swan, Pamela D (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Transnational feminist scholars have increasingly recognized the need to interrogate the dominance of the US and the global north in transnational transactions. Chandra Mohanty argues that transnational feminist scholarship needs to “address fundamental questions of systemic power and inequities and to develop feminist, antiracist analyses of neoliberalism, militarism, and heterosexism

Transnational feminist scholars have increasingly recognized the need to interrogate the dominance of the US and the global north in transnational transactions. Chandra Mohanty argues that transnational feminist scholarship needs to “address fundamental questions of systemic power and inequities and to develop feminist, antiracist analyses of neoliberalism, militarism, and heterosexism as nation-state-building projects” (2013, p. 968). Following this call for analyzing power from feminist, anti-racist stances, this dissertation interrogates Title IX as a nationalist discourse with global reach. As a law created in the era of liberal feminism, Title IX still operates today in neoliberal times and this dissertation makes sense of Title IX as an instrument of neoliberalized feminism in transnational sporting contexts. The following three case studies focus on Title IX as it travels across nation-state borders through 21st century ideas of equity, empowerment, and opportunity.

This dissertation begins by exploring at how transnational sporting policy regarding the participation standards of transgender and intersex athletes operates under the neoliberalized feminism of Title IX. It then moves to a discussion of a Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) project--Women Win’s digital storytelling project. In analyzing SDP projects, I map the cultural logics of Title IX’s neoliberalized feminism in the context of training girls and women to record their stories sport participation. Finally, the dissertation connects the context of the first Saudi female Olympians to Oiselle’s branding campaign of Sarah Attar, one of the first Saudi Olympians. It traces her image as an import-export product for the Olympic Committee and Oiselle through equity, opportunity, and empowerment.

Finally, these case studies are bridged by networking the discourses of investing in a girl (commodifying girls becoming autonomous actors through education and economics) to Title IX’s focus on gender equity in order to show how these discourses simultaneously increase and negatively impact participation in sports by women from the global south. Moreover, it offers how future research in women’s transnational sports can more ethically incorporate the standpoint of women from the global south in sport policy, SDP projects, and branding campaigns.
ContributorsStevenson, Paulette (Author) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Switzer, Heather (Committee member) / Miller, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
Research provides increasing support of self-worth, non-physical motives, and body image for predicting physical activity in women. However, no empirical tests of these associations have been conducted. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been recognized as useful for understanding correlates of physical activity. This study tested the feasibility of a novel

Research provides increasing support of self-worth, non-physical motives, and body image for predicting physical activity in women. However, no empirical tests of these associations have been conducted. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been recognized as useful for understanding correlates of physical activity. This study tested the feasibility of a novel EMA protocol and explored temporal relationships between daily self-worth and physical activity in middle-aged women. Women aged 35-64 years (N=63; M age=49.2±8.2 years) received text message prompts to an Internet-based mobile survey three times daily for 28 days. The survey assessed momentary activity, self-worth (knowledge, emotional, social, physical, general), and self-efficacy. Women concurrently wore an accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist. Feasibility was assessed via accelerometer wear-time estimates, survey completion rates, and participant feedback. Multilevel models examined the predictive influence of self-worth on daily activity counts. Self-efficacy was also tested due to known relationships with self-worth and physical activity in women. Wear time was high (952.92 ± 100.99 min per day), with only 141 observations lost to non-wear. However, 449 were lost to accelerometer malfunction. Women completed 80.8% of surveys. After excluding missing physical activity data, 67.5% of observations (N=3573) were analyzed. Although women thought the survey was easy to complete, perceptions of the accelerometer were mixed. Approximately 34% of the variance in daily counts was within individuals (ICC=0.66). Average self-efficacy (β=0.005, p=0.009), daily fluctuations in self-efficacy (β=0.001, p<0.001), and daily fluctuations in general self-worth (β=0.04, p=0.003) predicted daily activity. There were significant individual differences in relationships between daily fluctuations in emotional (β=0.006, p=0.02) and general self-worth (β=0.005, p=0.02) and daily activity. The use of text message prompts and an Internet-based mobile survey was feasible for conducting EMA in middle-aged women. Research identifying optimal methods of behavior monitoring in longitudinal studies is needed. Results provide support for small but significant associations among daily fluctuations in self-efficacy and general self-worth and daily activity in middle-aged women. The impact of emotional self-worth may differ across women. Further research examining the transient natures of self-efficacy and general self-worth, improving self-worth scales, and testing momentary strategies to increase women's self-worth and physical activity is warranted.
ContributorsEhlers, Diane K. (Author) / Huberty, Jennifer L (Thesis advisor) / Todd, Michael (Committee member) / Vreede, Gert-Jan de (Committee member) / Hooker, Steven (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a theory-driven and a atheoretical reminder point-of-choice (PoC) prompt interventions on reducing workplace sedentary behavior in office workers with self-reported low usage (<4 hours per day) of their sit-stand workstations in the standing position. The design

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a theory-driven and a atheoretical reminder point-of-choice (PoC) prompt interventions on reducing workplace sedentary behavior in office workers with self-reported low usage (<4 hours per day) of their sit-stand workstations in the standing position. The design of this study was a cross-over trial including randomization into either the theory-driven or atheoertical reminder condition, after completion of a no prompt control condition. Participants (N=19) included full-time, primarily female, Caucasian, middle-aged office workers. The primary aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of these two PoC prompt conditions on reducing sedentary behaviors through the use of a Therapy Evaluation Questionnaire. The secondary aim of this study was to assess the preliminary efficacy of the two PoC prompt conditions on reducing sedentary behaviors relative to no-prompt control using the activPAL micro device. For the primary aim, descriptive means adjusted for ordering effect were computed. For the secondary aim, mixed-effects regression models were used to cluster for observations within-persons and were adjusted for age, gender, race, job-type, and ordering effects. During the no-prompt control, participants spent 267.90 ± 68.01 sitting and 170.20 ± 69.34 min/8hr workday standing. The reminder PoC prompt condition significantly increased sanding time (b[se] = 24.52 [11.09], p=0.034) while the theory-driven PoC condition significantly decreased time spent in long sitting bouts b[se] = -34.86 [16.20], p=0.036), both relative to no prompt control. No statistically significant reductions in sitting time were seen in either PoC prompt condition. Furthermore, no statistically significant differences between the two PoC prompt conditions were observed. This study provides feasibility insight in addition to objective measures of sedentary behaviors regarding the use of PoC prompt interventions in the workplace.
ContributorsLarouche, Miranda (Author) / Buman, Matthew P (Thesis advisor) / Ainsworth, Barbara E (Thesis advisor) / Huberty, Jennifer L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
For the past few decades, feminist researchers have worked tirelessly to recover the history of American women’s sewing – both the artifacts made and the processes, practices, and identities linked to the objects produced. With the transition to the digital age, women are still sewing, but they are inventing, making,

For the past few decades, feminist researchers have worked tirelessly to recover the history of American women’s sewing – both the artifacts made and the processes, practices, and identities linked to the objects produced. With the transition to the digital age, women are still sewing, but they are inventing, making, and distributing sewn objects using platforms and pathways online to share knowledge, showcase their handicrafts, and sell their wares. This dissertation examines contemporary sewing and asks how digital practices are extending and transforming the history of women’s sewing in America. I place my findings against the backdrop of women’s history by recounting how and why women sewed in previous eras. This dissertation demonstrates how past sewing practices are being repeated, remixed, and reimagined as women meet to sew, socialize, and collaborate on the web.

The overall approach to this project is ethnographic in nature, in that I collected data by participating alongside my female subjects in the online settings they frequent to read about, write about, and discuss sewing, including blogs, email, and various social media sites. From these interactions, I provide case studies that illuminate my findings on how women share sewing knowledge and products in digital spaces. Specifically, I look at how women are using digital tools to learn and teach sewing, to sew for activist purposes, and to pursue entrepreneurship. My findings show that sewing continues to be a highly social activity for women, although collaboration and socializing often happen from geographically distanced locations and are enabled by online communication. Seamstresses wanting to provide sewing instruction are able to archive their knowledge electronically and disperse it widely, and those learning to sew can access this knowledge by navigating paths through a plethora of digital resources. Activists are able to recruit more widely when seeking participants for their causes and can send handmade goods to people in need around the globe. Although gender biases continue to plague working women, the internet provides new opportunities for female entrepreneurship and allows women to profit from their sewing skills.
ContributorsRussum, Jennifer Ann (Author) / Gee, Elisabeth (Thesis advisor) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Committee member) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016