Small Midwestern Research Articles

Kindness in the Classroom: Evaluating the Impact of Direct Kindness Instruction on School and Emotional Outcomes in Second-Grade Students

This study explores the effects of direct kindness instruction on second-grade students' social and emotional well-being. Amidst the growing integration of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into educational curricula, this research specifically focuses on the aspect of kindness, a vital yet often under-explored component of SEL. Conducted in a diverse second-grade classroom in a small Midwestern U.S. town, this study employs an action research methodology, using the Second Step curriculum and weekly kindness missions as interventions. The research is guided by two primary questions: the influence of direct kindness instruction on students' social behavior and its impact on their emotional well-being. The effectiveness of the interventions is evaluated using the Social Academic and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SABERS). Findings indicate significant improvements in students' academic, social, and emotional behaviors, underscoring the effectiveness of kindness instruction in enhancing the overall educational environment. The study highlights the need for incorporating structured SEL components, particularly kindness and empathy, in early education, and suggests future research directions for exploring long-term impacts of SEL interventions.

Small Campus, Big Issues: Leading the New Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Following public outcry surrounding George Floyd’s murder in 2020, President Blakeley Alexander of Small Midwestern College established the institution’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee. After nearly a year, the two cochairs and eight committee members found themselves split into opposing factions amid the remote work challenges of COVID-19. The committee reached a tipping point when one of the two committee cochairs—also the Vice President (VP) of student services—inadvertently sent an email to the DEI committee, resulting in broken trust and demoralized spirits. Significant intervention is now required to right the ship, create an environment of trust, and move the committee forward.

Meeting the promise and challenges of “Free College”: Research and practical insights from a community college scholarship program

AbstractThis chapter illustrates the potential promise and complexities of free college initiatives from the perspective of administrators, faculty, staff, and students who are involved in a scholarship program at a small Midwestern community college. Based on two waves of interviews conducted in 2019 and 2021 respectively, we found that, while largely supportive of the free college movement, the program participants shared clear reservations due to potential unintended burdens on the part of institutions, and compounding barriers for students that free tuition alone cannot solve. This chapter closes by presenting a series of implications to inform the implementation of “free college” to realize its full promise.

‘At Least You’re Not Neurotypical’: Stigma, Mental Illness Disclosure, and Social Capital Among Privileged College Students

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study investigated if individuals in high-resource, low-stigma environments experience any benefits from disclosing their mental illness. Participants were recruited from a small Midwestern liberal arts college. Survey data were collected on attitudes toward mental illness on campus (N = 384) that showed low levels of public stigma and moderate levels of self-stigma. Class year and mental health status were predictors of public stigma and campus-specific attitudes toward mental illness, but not self-stigma; race and gender were not significant predictors of either. Screening questions yielded 50 in-depth interviews about stigma on campus, mental illness disclosure, and students’ social capital. Qualitative coding revealed four findings: 1) students reported low levels of public stigma associated with mental illness; 2) white students, but not students of color, reported an inverted status hierarchy that incentivized mental illness disclosure; 3) white students garnered social capital from disclosing their mental illness; 4) mental illness was used by white students as a social buffer against shame over unearned privileges. In high-resource, low-stigma environments, privileged individuals may experience social motivation to publicly disclose mental illness. This has implications for student help-seeking behaviors and poor mental health outcomes on college campuses.

Early executive control buffers risk for adolescent psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a global impact on youth mental health, and there is a critical need for research examining individual factors that contribute to increased psychopathology during the pandemic. The current study explored whether executive control (EC) abilities in early childhood interact with COVID-related stress to attenuate risk for adolescent psychopathology during the first 6 months of the pandemic. Participants were 337 youth (49% female) living in a small midwestern city in the United States. Participants completed EC tasks when they were approximately 4.5 years old as part of a longitudinal study investigating cognitive development. At annual laboratory visits during adolescence and before the pandemic, participants (Mage = 14.57) reported on mental health symptoms. In July and August of 2020, participants (Mage = 16.57) reported on COVID-related stress and depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. COVID-related stress was associated with increased internalizing problems after controlling for prepandemic symptom levels. Further, the impact of COVID-related stress on adolescent internalizing problems was moderated by preschool EC, with higher levels of EC buffering the effects of COVID-related stress on adolescent internalizing problems. Findings highlight the importance of promoting EC early in development, as well as screening for EC deficits and implementing targeted intervention strategies across the lifespan to help reduce the impact of stress on adolescent internalizing problems.

A Comparison of Task-Based and Questionnaire Assessments of Executive Control Aspects in Relation to Adolescent Marijuana Initiation

Prior research has linked deficits in executive control (EC) to marijuana use in adolescents but has relied either primarily on adolescent self-report of EC or tasked-based EC, and focused on limited aspects of EC, usually inhibitory control. We examined unique associations of three established aspects of EC (inhibitory control, working memory, and flexible shifting) assessed with both performance on laboratory tasks and self-report in relation to marijuana initiation. Participants were 260 youth (ages 14-18 years) from a small Midwestern city in the United States enrolled in the adolescent phase (beginning in 2017) of an ongoing study of EC development recruited originally between 2006 and 2012 (46% male, 72% European American). The three aspects of executive control were measured in a laboratory setting with well-established performance-based measures and with a psychometrically-sound self-report survey instrument. Youth also provided self-report of marijuana initiation in a phone survey administered during their laboratory visit. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that flexible shifting as measured by a performance-based task was negatively and uniquely associated with marijuana initiation (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.48 - 0.91), and self-reported deficits in inhibitory control were positively associated with marijuana initiation (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.15 - 3.21). Although larger-scale longitudinal research is needed, findings of this study suggest that screening efforts to identify youth at risk of marijuana initiation might rely on more cost-effective self-report assessment of inhibitory control, but further valuable information can come from more resource-intensive but sensitive performance-based assessment of flexible shifting.

At Home: Black Women’s Collective Claims to Environmentally Just Rental Housing

Environmental injustices have shaped how urban communities of color access, interact with, and are affected by indoor and outdoor environments in their daily lives. This includes access to and control of outdoor spaces, such as gardens, vacant neighborhood lots, and green spaces for growing food and plants and for coming together. For tenants in rented homes, it too often includes exposure to harmful indoor environments, such as toxic molds, rodent infestations, lead paint, broken heaters, and other unsafe and uncomfortable living conditions. Although geographers of race, nature, and environment have attended to rental housing through studies of green gentrification and racialized displacement, they have paid less attention to homes themselves and the survivability of Black women through everyday practices of resistance and placemaking. This community coauthored article focuses on Dubuque, Iowa—a predominately White, small Midwestern U.S. city with a growing Black population—and examines the cooperative practices of Black women tenants and community activists in pressing the municipal government to hold landlords responsible for living conditions in private rental homes. Together, they are working through institutional policy and procedural hurdles to confront anti-Blackness, cocreate livable urban environments, and “stay put” in the midst of gentrifying neighborhood revitalization plans.

Childhood executive control and adolescent substance use initiation: the mediating roles of physical and relational aggression and prosocial behavior

ABSTRACT Although predictive associations between childhood executive control (EC) and adolescent substance use have been established in prior research, the developmental pathways involved in these long-term links have not been well understood. The goal of the current study was to investigate the degree to which aggressive behaviors, including both physical and relational aggression, and prosocial behaviors in elementary school operate as developmental pathways between preschool EC and adolescent substance use, while accounting for participants’ age, sex, family history of substance use, and family socioeconomic status. Participants were 329 youth (49% male; 63.6% European American) who were recruited to participate in a study between 2006 and 2012 while youth were in preschool and elementary school and followed into adolescence. The sample was recruited from a small Midwestern city in the United States. EC was assessed with performance-based tasks when children were 5 years 3 months. Youth behaviors with peers were reported by teachers when participants were in elementary school. Self-reports of the substance use initiation (e-cigarettes, cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) were obtained in adolescence via phone surveys. Mediation analyses revealed a statistically significant indirect effect from preschool EC to adolescent substance use through youth’s engagement in relational aggression in elementary school (b = > −0.22 [−0.51; −0.08]; β = > −0.18). Our results suggest that developmental pathways to adolescent substance use may begin in preschool, setting the stage for susceptibility to engagement in relational aggression, which increases, in turn, youth’s likelihood for substance use initiation in adolescence.

On (Not) “Humanizing” Muslims: Challenge and Opportunity in an Oral History Project with American Muslims

ABSTRACT This article focuses on an award-winning oral history project with American Muslims in a small Midwestern city. It addresses the challenge and opportunity of oral history at a time of Islamophobic rhetoric and threats to Muslims’ status as Americans. The article first examines critiques of the premise that Muslims must be “humanized.” In turn, it draws on the philosopher Jill Stauffer’s work, Ethical Loneliness: The Injustice of Not Being Heard, to argue that oral history offers a form of “reparative” hearing. In this way, oral history can aid in transforming a sense of “ethical loneliness” in those who are treated unjustly and dehumanized, and whose experience is not heard. The article explores these themes through the Muslims in Muncie oral history and documentary film project carried out by eleven students at Ball State University in 2018. The article argues that a commitment to trust, sustained conversational relationships, and careful framing of questions fostered a transformative experience for both narrators and interviewers in response to a problematic humanizing agenda. The project’s contribution to ethical repair continues, moreover, through a publicly accessible digital archive that adds to the handful of oral histories with American Muslims. The twenty-two interviews and hour-long film also enrich Middletown Studies, a field dating to the 1920s research of Robert and Helen Lynd on Muncie, Indiana, as a “representative” American city.

Impacts of Teaching Critical Race Theory and Applying Contact Theory Methods to Student’s Cross-Cultural Competency in Diversity Courses

We examine the outcomes of three different teaching methods in courses where cultural competency is a course objective: (1) multiculturalism lecture only, (2) student research and reporting on other cultural groups plus multiculturalism lecture, and (3) cross-cultural conversation partners applying contact theory plus multiculturalism lecture. Lectures in courses 1 and 3 also include antiracist and critical race theories that directly challenge colorblind racism. The study measures both cultural competency and colorblind racism before and after courses over a semester on 181 students at a small midwestern university. Cross-cultural competency scores improved significantly in all three courses but were significantly higher in the course that included both content on critical race theory and contact theory methods. Colorblind racism fails to improve in courses without critical race theory. These findings have implications for improving cultural competency outcomes among undergraduates from a variety of majors.

Strategic, operations, and evaluation planning for higher education distance education

Distance learning technology continues to grow and undergo significant changes in higher education settings. Applying strategic planning methods from organizational behavior and operations management can act as a useful guide for the implementation of a sustainable distance learning program. Strong planning can help ensure the distance learning program system’s operational readiness, effectiveness, and sustainability. Distance learning operations planning requires a defined strategy that examines organizational human and technical structures We discuss a distance education planning approach applied to three higher education cases with a goal of improving their distance education efforts. The research contexts were in the United States of America: a small Midwestern university seeking to grow online programs in support of its competitive strategy, a large western university with established distance programs, and a regional community college. This article will illustrate the use of business-oriented, systems thinking models for evaluation and distance education program improvement.

An examination of correlates of simultaneous opioid and benzodiazepine use among patients in medication treatment for opioid use disorder in a small midwestern community

Background: Concurrent and/or simultaneous use of opioids and benzodiazepines has been associated with increased risk of accident and injury, as well as with co-occurring psychopathology. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to explore potential correlates of simultaneous opioid and benzodiazepine use in a small community, including perceived risk, positive screens for psychiatric symptoms, and opioid-related consequences. Methods: A sample of 267 participants were recruited from a medication treatment provider that serves a small Midwestern community. Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore demographic and mental health correlates associated with self-reports of past-year simultaneous use. Zero-inflated Poisson regression was used to explore past-year consequences associated with reported simultaneous benzodiazepine and opioid use. Results: Intentional simultaneous use of opioids and benzodiazepines was associated with greater anxiety and depression symptoms, greater likelihood of a positive PTSD screen, and low self-perceived risk of simultaneous use. Individuals reporting opioid/benzodiazepine simultaneous use were also more likely to report opioid-related consequences. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of assessing and treating simultaneous opioid/benzodiazepine co-use, as well as relevant comorbidities.

The stickiness of Muslim Neighbors: Evaluating an interfaith arts-based community initiative

ABSTRACT This paper explores the development of an evaluative framework for Muslim Neighbors, a grass-roots interfaith arts-based initiative in a small midwestern city. A review of literature discusses the unique contributions of the arts and religion (specifically interfaith initiatives) in peacebuilding and community development (two related processes). Then, methods of evaluation for interfaith peacebuilding and socially engaged art (SEA) are synthesized to create an evaluative framework for Muslim Neighbors. This framework is put to work evaluating how Muslim Neighbors addressed Islamophobia and built relationships between different faith groups in its local community. This study concludes that the intersection of interfaith peacebuilding and socially engaged artmaking provides a fruitful structure for building relationships, fostering diversity, and increased civic participation.

Identity Based Motivation: The Impact on Student Identity During COVID-19 at a Small Midwestern University

The purpose of this research was to examine student identity in the midst of COVID-19 and its impact on motivation to study. This research assessed the extent to which students were motivated to fully engage in classes after being moved to an online platform and their identity as a university student. The student population assessed were students at a small Midwestern University in Illinois. Following from the research on identity and student populations, the primary focus was the extent to which students’ identity was impacted as a result of COVID-19 and the level they perceive it had on their motivation to study and engage in an online environment. A quantitative design was crafted and data collection was obtained through an online survey containing 7 demographic questions and 14 questions to get at identity and motivation. The results showed that identity appears to be a driving factor of student motivation.

Predictors of Parent Engagement in Community-Based Parent–Child Interaction Therapy: A Brief Report

Despite substantial empirical support, correlates of retention and success in community-based parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) implementation are not well defined. Widespread application of PCIT necessitates improved understanding of intervention components relating to family outcomes beyond highly controlled research trials. Using data collected as part of routine care, this study examined homework completion, time in intervention, and parent perceptions of pre-intervention behavioral issues as predictors of PCIT completion in a community-based sample. Subjects included 78 parents (49 women and 29 men) of 45 children (20 girls, 25 boys; mean age = 5.53 years) participating in PCIT in an outpatient behavioral health clinic in a small Midwestern U.S. city. Unlike previous controlled trials, homework completion did not predict child behavior growth or intervention completion. Reasons for early termination were examined thematically, and parent stress emerged as a possible avenue for future intervention in helping parents successfully complete PCIT. The issue of intervention dosage was also explored to see if families who prematurely terminated from PCIT still evidenced gains in child behavior.

Reclaiming my name.

When my friends took me to my first rodeo, a little ways outside the small Midwestern college town where we were undergrads, I was interested to experience this American tradition. But I was distracted by a man with a gun strapped to his side staring at me, unblinking and unsubtle, as if I was a zoo animal. At first I wondered, a little foolishly, “Did I inadvertently wear my T-shirt inside out?” Then my best friend, Robert, an African-American military veteran, leaned in almost imperceptibly and whispered, “Stay close to me. I don't think they're used to foreign visitors here.”

Dynamics of large wood added to Midwestern USA streams

AbstractLarge wood (LW) additions are commonly used to restore degraded streams, particularly in regenerating forests that have low LW recruitment due to past logging. While the short‐term effects of LW input on stream structure and function are well studied, the long‐term dynamics of added wood are less documented. We assessed the long‐term movement and condition of LW added to three small (mean discharge, 28–47 L s−1) midwestern USA streams. In 2004, 25 aspen logs (2.5 m L × 0.5 m D) were added to 100‐m treatment reaches of three replicate streams in northern Michigan, USA, that contained low prior LW abundance. We monitored log movement and evaluated factors contributing to that movement over 14 years. Across all three streams, 41 of the 75 added logs moved downstream, with a mean travel distance of 4.0 m (SD, 7.0 m; n = 75). However, all logs still remained within their original reaches. Most log movements occurred within the first 3 years following placement and were associated with high flow events. Individual log mobility was related to position in the channel; logs that were at least 70% submerged, and near horizontal in inclination, accounted for 83% of the single movements ≥0.5 m. In addition, after 14 years 32% of logs became part of aggregations and 86% displayed substantial decay. Our study suggests that restoration efforts that add LW to small, groundwater‐dominated streams can pose minimal risk to downstream reaches or human structures and may provide sustained ecological benefits to the ecosystem.

Implementing Changing Talk Online Training: A Pragmatic Trial to Improve Dementia Care Communication in NHs

The Changing Talk (CHAT) training effectively reduces elderspeak and subsequent behavioral challenges in residents with dementia in nursing homes. The Changing Talk: Online (CHATO) training was developed to increase staff access to education using a new online format. A pilot test was conducted to confirm the feasibility and effects of CHATO on training outcomes. In the initial nursing home, twenty-three direct care staff members in a small Midwestern nursing home enrolled in the course including 12 CNAs, 4 RNs, 2 LPNs, 2 CMAs, 1 Dietary Aide, 1 Social Worker, and 1 in Transportation. Two forms of a 13-item scenario-based test to measure knowledge gain were developed and tested. Of the 23 staff, 18 (78%) completed the post-test and 83% of completers achieved a post-test score of 70% or greater. Scores on the test improved from M=69% correct (SD=11.7) at pretest to 86% correct (SD=10.6) on posttest demonstrating knowledge gain (p=.024). Participants improved their recognition of elderspeak (21%) and person-centered communication (24%) in a video vignette and 86% self-reported improvement in their abilities to recognize ineffective communication and to apply more effective communication strategies in practice. A randomized control trial enrolled staff (N=187) in eight additional nursing homes. Preliminary results confirm improvements in test scores from M=70.6% correct (SD=15.8) at pretest to 77.2% correct (SD=14.1) on posttest and increased elderspeak recognition (p=.004). Relationships between nursing home characteristics, implementation strategies, and culture change measured by the Artifacts of Culture Change Tool and their relationship to communication outcomes will be presented.

The Happy Campaign: Assessing the Effects of a Community-Wide Intervention on Older Adults Living in Public Housing

In the field of developmental psychology, the Stress-and-Coping model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) posits that individual differences in biological, psychological, and social risk and protective factors serve to increase or buffer the impact of stressful experiences on psychological well-being later in life. Importantly, research suggests that residents of public housing generally experience more risk factors than elders at large (Rabins, et al. 1996). The present study examines the impact of a programmatic intervention, The Happy Campaign, on individuals living in public housing in a small Midwestern city (aged 51-90 years; Mage= 63.3 years; SDage= 8.6 years). Goals of the Happy Campaign were to improve residents’ coping skills and increase perceived support. Results demonstrated significant improvement in key aspects of well-being post-intervention; these included significant increases in exercise (p = .04), self-reported health (p = .01), as well as decreases in negative affect (p= .008). Data also show a moderate increase in residents’ hope post-intervention (p = .06). Although future research is needed to account for confounding variables that arose in conducting research in this community setting, these data provide preliminary evidence that a broad-based, environmental intervention may offset the myriad risks faced by particularly vulnerable elders, and even augment well-being.

A Qualitative Study on Making Rural Communities More Dementia-Friendly

Recent studies on attitudes toward dementia in the United States, such as the World Alzheimer Report 2019, have found that fear and stigma are still widespread among the general public. This may be particularly true in rural communities. In the current study, community-dwelling adults in small Midwestern communities responded to the open-ended survey question, “What do you think could be done to make your community more welcoming for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia?” Participants (N=242) ranged in age from 18-88 (M=40, SD=21). The sample was 68% female, and 61% lived in communities of 50,000-150,000 people, while 39% lived in smaller towns. Most participants (61.2%) did not personally know someone with dementia. Data were collected via paper and telephone surveys. Responses to the open-ended question were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. The following themes emerged: greater exposure to individuals with dementia; educational workshops about dementia; more intergenerational programs; greater accessibility of respite care and other services; more fundraising efforts; and community leaders talking about dementia. Responses included, “Have more intergenerational programs that bring together Alzheimer’s patients and children in a positive environment.” “When I was in school, we visited an Alzheimer’s unit. That was a great experience.” “I know what it is, but I don’t know anything else. I wish I was more informed. I don’t know how to help.” These findings indicate that residents of rural communities are motivated to help individuals with dementia, but need more guidance, education, and personal connections/exposure.