Maternal Nutrition & Gut Microbiota Quality: Determining Fetal Immune Development Outcome

Gessica Stepanenko, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Pregnancy nutrition determines the strength of connection between maternal gut microbiota quality and the developing immune system of the fetus (also known as the Maternal-Fetal Gut Microbiota Axis. )

Mazes and Memory: Does lifestyle affect spatial memory and ability?

College of Professional Studies

This study aims to address whether differences in spatial ability and memory will be found among those who have active lifestyles, inactive lifestyles, and those who play video games. Spatial ability was examined by having participants become familiarized and then tested on a 3-D computerized maze. Participants were tested on memory and spatial components when asked to recollect the spatial layout of the computerized map.

Meds to Beds

College of Professional Studies

Hospital readmissions that occur within 30 days of discharge due to medication adherence are largely preventable. CMS, the largest insurance payer, does not cover hospital admissions that occur within 30 days of discharge. Our rural area lacks critical access to pharmacies. Frequent hospitalizations and medication non-adherence increase patient mortality and reduce the quality of life for the patients and their families. Providing patients with a 30-day supply of their medications prior to leaving the hospital, along with patient education and a nurse follow-up phone call 48 hours later, can reduce ER visits and 30-day hospital readmissions.

Meet and Eat

Julia Top, Social Work Graduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Meet and Eat was a project created to educate high school students from the grade tenth to twelfth. Workshops were created to educate students about what options they have post graduation. Examples consisted of helping students understand how to apply for FASFA, job resources available to students, and learning about resources on college campuses as well as learning about the benefits of a 2 year and 4 year college. This project took place in Del Norte County’s school District and was open to students within the McKinney Vento and Foster Youth program.

Mental Health - Medication Compliance in Corrections

Darin Straub, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project is to help increase inmate adherence to mental health medications during incarceration to decrease the duration of incarceration as well as decrease return incarcerations.

Mental Health Stigma and Help Seeking Among College Students

College of Professional Studies

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between mental health stigma and help-seeking intentions and behaviors at a rural university and explore differences in patterns of help seeking by race/ethnicity. We hypothesize higher levels of mental health stigma will be related to lower levels of help-seeking. Multiple regression will be used to examine predictors of mental health help-seeking. We found that higher levels of stigma lead to a lower likelihood to seek help.

Meta-Analysis of CSR Accounting Related Research

College of Professional Studies

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures on firm financial performance. Standard meta-analytical procedures determining inclusion criteria, literature searches in electronic databases, and coding procedures were used to identify and synthesize articles retained for this analysis. PRISMA guidelines were utilized as search strategies, as well as interpret effect sizes and quantify research findings. Moderator and outcome variables were assessed using coding procedures. A total of 136 studies were surveyed and categorized. Results from meta-analyses indicated an overall moderate effect for US companies.

Mindfulness at Coastal Grove Charter School

College of Professional Studies

Coastal Grove Charter school is a K - 8th Grade school in a rural area in Northern California located on traditional Wiyot Land. Studies find that youth benefit from learning Mindfulness in terms of improved cognitive outcomes, stress reduction, social-emotional skills, and well-being. These benefits may lead to long-term improvements in the life course development. For the Master’s project Eva assisted Coastal Grove Charter School in bringing ten weekly Mindfulness lessons into the second and sixth grade classroom during the 2019 – 2020 school year.

Minority Stress and Psychological Adjustments Moderated by Stress Appraisals

College of Professional Studies

During the pandemic, students experience a series of academic, structural, social, and personal stressors. For example, some students experienced abrupt closure of colleges and universities; some students’ households did not have access to needed resources such as an internet connection, and limited resources for remote online learning. Students of color experience these stressors in addition to ethnic minority stress which may have been exacerbated because of the current social climate. The current study examined associations between minority student achievement stress on self-esteem and academic sense of belonging and the possible moderating effects of challenge-focused stress appraisals.

MMA Corrective Bilateral Imbalance Study

Aubert Marcu, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Muscular imbalances are common in mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and can decrease performance and increase injuries. This study aims to investigate the effects of fixing muscular imbalances of MMA fighters. The experiment will consist of 20 MMA fighters assigned to either an intervention group or control group. The intervention group will receive an 8-week program targeting their muscular imbalances. Pre- and post-intervention measures will be assessed. This research highlights the importance of addressing muscular imbalances in MMA fighters to improve their overall performance and reduce the risk of injury.