Strategies to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions in Rural Hospitals

Xee Lee, Nursing Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Heart failure is a significant public health concern, contributing to high morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Patient education, telephone follow-up after discharge, and referring patients to a cardiac telehealth program are ways to reduce readmissions in rural communities. Within three months of implementation, the inpatient unit will complete education within 90% of HF patients, the 30-day readmission rate for HF patients will be below 40%, and the nurse care coordinator will have successful contact via a post-discharge follow-up telephone call to 75% of HF patients. Community-based rural hospitals must implement these interventions to reduce heart failure readmission rates.

Stress, Anxiety, Social Support and Hopelessness in Latino and White College Students

College of Professional Studies

The current study examined the association of stress, anxiety, hopelessness and social support in undergraduate Latino and White students. The sample included 250 Latino (women = 76%) and 296 White (women = 66%) participants, with more women in the Latino group (chi2 = 5.74, p < .05). For the total sample, a hierarchical linear regression with stress as the dependent variable, age and sex entered in block one and anxiety, social support, and hopelessness in block two, resulted in an R = .772 with block two variables accounting for 57% of the variance. Separate regression analyses for Latino and White students produced similar results, R = .75 and R = .80, respectively.

Student Perceptions of Diversity in University Curriculum: Informing Course Design

College of Professional Studies

When aspects of culture and diversity are integrated into courses, students can benefit in many ways including enhanced critical thinking and greater social agency, or one’s belief in the importance of working to correct social injustice. Despite these benefits, few instructors report that they integrate diversity-related content into their course curriculum, with many citing lack of knowledge for how to do this as a primary barrier. The purpose of this study is to assess student perceptions of diversity in the curriculum using both quantitative and qualitative methodology, with the broader goal of informing future curriculum design.

Student Satisfaction with Technology

College of Professional Studies

The purpose of this research is to assess HSU students’ satisfaction with the various services provided by the Information Technology Services department. The services that are being assessed are computers labs, on-campus printing, technology in the classroom, on-campus wi-fi, myHumboldt, HSU Gmail accounts, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Canvas, ITS Support, online classroom scheduling (via 25live), and the virtual labs (vlab.humboldt.edu). After completion of the survey, we hope to use the data to implement changes within the department in order to increase student satisfaction with the services mentioned above.

Students’ Experiences with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research Methods Courses

College of Professional Studies

Researchers have noted a historical lack of coverage of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics in Psychology Research Methods courses (RMCs). We hypothesize that Psychology RMCs’ coverage of DEI will be positively correlated with indicators of academic integration and negatively correlated with minority stress, especially for marginalized students (e.g., students of color). DEI in RMCs were associated with greater science identities and networking in white students and perceptions of positive campus climate for all students. However, for students of color, DEI in RMCs were associated with a greater number of social climate stresses. Given the small sample, more research is needed.

Subjective versus objective language proficiency: An investigation of age of acquisition and exposure in multilinguals

Mari Sanchez, Psychology Faculty

College of Professional Studies

Multilinguals can differ in their level of proficiency for each language they speak. Factors that can impact one’s language proficiency include age of acquisition (AoA), which refers to the time point when beginning to learn a language and exposure, which refers to the amount of contact a person has with the language. Proficiency is often assessed subjectively, via one’s self-report of one’s perceived proficiency level and less often objectively, via observed and/or measured performance on proficiency tests. This study investigated the relationship between subjective and objective language proficiency as impacted by age of acquisition and exposure.

Success Factors of Wilderness Therapy Programming

College of Professional Studies

In recent years, non-traditional therapeutic modalities have become increasingly popular options for the treatment of psychological and behavioral issues in youth at-risk populations. Research shows that this model has great promise of rehabilitative pathways for youth involved in the juvenile justice and psychiatric healthcare systems through the use of experiential education combined with traditional talk therapy modalities to improve self-esteem and self-efficacy. This is especially significant for youth at risk individuals who have previously been unsuccessful in other courses of therapy. This project examines success factors of wilderness therapy programs for youth at risk.

Supporting Military Women and Families Through Policy

College of Professional Studies

This presentation highlights my time as a Fall 2021 Panetta Congressional Intern for Cal Poly Humboldt. Also covered, is a policy research paper I completed as an internship requirement discussing ways to support military women and families through policy. In this presentation, I also cover the impacts of gender discrimination in the Military.

Supporting Social Workers: A Manual Promoting Sustainability & Wellness in Social Work

College of Professional Studies

The community project will consist of a manual that addresses the wellness and sustainability of social workers. Our community partner is Liora Levenbach and the finished project will be applicable to all social workers and supervisors, regardless of placement or role in the community. We are looking at how to decrease burnout and improve retention rates of social workers. We would like to take a strengths based approach by researching the effects of resiliency on social workers and their organizations.

Surgical Smoke: The Forgotten Biohazard

Julie Wooldridge, Nursing Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Surgical smoke, a byproduct of surgical procedures, poses significant health risks to healthcare workers and patients. However, surgical staff often overlook it as a biohazard in operating rooms. This project highlights the harmful toxins of surgical smoke, including exposure to carcinogens and infectious agents, and the need for policy change to mandate local smoke evacuation. Effective policies and guidelines for smoke evacuation modeled from evidence-based research, combined with adequate education, awareness, and training, can minimize the risks of surgical smoke in the operating room and empower nurse leaders to ensure the safety of healthcare workers and patients.