Urban University Research Articles

Perceived discrimination and mental health outcomes in college students: the mediating effect of preventive health behaviors and social support

Objective: To examine the role of social support and health behaviors in the association between discrimination and mental health (e.g., anxiety/depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation) among college students experiencing various forms of discrimination. Participants: Data were collected from 709 college students (42.8% White; 72.2% female) at a large urban university in Fall 2017. Methods: Students completed an online survey assessing perceived discrimination, anxiety/depressive symptoms, suicidal behavior, health behaviors, and social support. Moderation and parallel mediation analyses were conducted in PROCESS SPSS. Results: Results indicated that preventive health behaviors and social support partially mediated associations between discrimination and mental health outcomes. Conclusions: Findings highlight the need to increase awareness regarding engaging in preventive health behaviors on college campuses. For students experiencing discrimination, prevention, and social support might be key factors in improving mental health.

Retrospective evaluation and review of approaches for nonspecific lameness in dogs presented to an emergency service (2013-2014): 134 cases.

This retrospective study aimed to characterize and evaluate the emergency approach, diagnosis, management, treatment, and follow-up of nonspecific canine lameness cases. Retrospective case series from September 25, 2013 to September 25, 2014. The study was conducted at an urban university teaching hospital. A consecutive sample of dogs presenting to the emergency service with nonspecific lameness in the designated timeframe was used to identify 134 cases. Owners were contacted to participate in the follow-up survey; dogs that died prior to data collection were excluded from the survey. Medical records were reviewed for lameness localization, etiology of lameness, diagnostics obtained, medications prescribed, and owner recommendations. Based on review of the medical records, the lameness localization, presumptive source of lameness (joint, soft tissue, neurological, or bone), diagnostics obtained, medications prescribed, and owner recommendations were recorded. Survey data included duration of lameness, perceived response to treatment, and activity level. Definitive diagnoses were not assigned in 88.8% of lameness cases. A presumptive diagnosis of soft tissue injury was assigned in 45.3% of cases. Single limb lameness was more prevalent than multiple limb lameness. Owners whose dogs were treated with medication were significantly more likely to report that the lameness resolved (P=0.049). Dogs with injury localized to ≥1 of the joints were significantly less likely to have resolution of lameness (P=0.037). Treatment recommendations were predominantly pain control and activity restriction. Nonspecific lameness represents approximately 4% of canine urban emergency cases. Highlighting the points of clinical care considerations in understanding the etiology of lameness in dogs represents an opportunity for improved patient care and growth in emergency referral and follow-up.

Factors affecting COVID-19's mental health impact on college students in the southeastern United States.

Emerging evidence confirms COVID-19's negative impact on college students' mental health; however, more research is needed to identify factors that promoted or hindered college students' mental health early in the pandemic. This exploratory study addressed this need. Participants were 697 students attending a large, state, urban university in the southeastern United States. Using a cross-sectional survey design, participants completed an anonymous, online survey assessing socio-demographic variables, mental health issues, and activities during the lockdown period in 2020. Findings suggest college students in the southeastern US who were women or transgender men and had pre-existing mental health conditions, fewer routine activities, and high exposure to COVID-19 news reported more mental health problems early in the pandemic. Students who exercised daily had fewer symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress than students who exercised monthly, but there were no differences in emotional responses to COVID-19 based on exercise frequency. Tailored strategies to address college students' needs in response to the current or future pandemics are needed and should take into consideration factors that promote or hinder mental health. Patient or Public Contribution: College students were participants in this study. College students who were not participants in this study assisted with the implementation of this study.

Experiences and challenges of black women enrolled in a STEM field in a South African urban university: A qualitative study

Experiences and challenges of black women enrolled in a STEM field in a South African urban university: A qualitative study

Interpretation of the Power Consumption Characterization of an Urban University Campus toward Power System Planning

The power consumption analysis of a university campus can provide a unique opportunity to gain insight into the patterns and trends of multipurpose commercial buildings. The result of such an analysis may lead to the exploration of methods to integrate local and cleaner power generation. In this paper, we discuss the consumption patterns of the campus buildings of the Wentworth Institute of Technology for one calendar year. We analyzed the campus’s power consumption, comparing weekdays vs. weekends, academic vs. residential. The aggregate consumption of all buildings and examples of individual building consumption data were also included. This study was conducted on a campus that has unique characteristics such as being in an urban area, having a New England climate, and being composed of a mixture of old and new buildings. The findings could provide insightful information to other universities and commercial campuses in moving toward energy consumption improvement and efficiency.

Utilizing LiDAR to quantify aboveground tree biomass within an urban university

Universities, often situated at the heart of metropolitan areas, have the unique opportunity to leverage effective urban forestry methods to promote ecological and economic conservation. Simply identifying what trees to plant where can have major effects such as reducing temperature, flood impacts, habitat fragmentation, and carbon emissions in urban areas. Detailed mapping of tree biomass allows researchers to spatially identify carbon sinks and analyze the associated ecological benefits at an urban or intra-urban level. This study utilizes non-destructive field measurements and aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing to estimate biomass on the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) campus. A field survey of campus trees was performed to calculate the observed biomass through allometry. These values were then used as an input in a regression analysis along with LiDAR-derived canopy metrics to evaluate LiDAR’s ability to estimate biomass. The result yielded biomass equations specific to 14 tree species found on the UAH campus. It was found that the regression models showed a high fit (R2 = 0.62–0.98) for most species. Some trees such as the Pinus taeda, Pinus echinata, and Lagerstroemia indica had lower R2 values (0.26–0.43) most likely due to overlapping tree canopies; a known limitation in urban biomass studies that can be solved with more intricate segmentation methods. Nonetheless, this methodology is an avenue for urban planners to estimate biomass without intensive and costly field surveys, particularly in north Alabama where there is a lack of urban biomass research.

Belonging, identity and place: Middle-class Tasmanian rural young people in urban university

Informed by neoliberal ideologies, middle-class rural young people are encouraged to take responsibility for their own lives by actively engaging in higher education and its associated social opportunities, but are also having to negotiate a place for themselves as they transition from rural communities to urban university environments. Drawing on the concepts of responsibilisation, urbanormativity and mobility, we aim to better understand how middle-class rural young people negotiate place-based identities and belonging as they relocate to the urban environment. We draw upon data from a qualitative study using story completion methods to explore discourses surrounding relocating to urban areas from rural communities. Our data suggest that middle-class rural students can describe a narrative that reflects developing a sense of belonging within urban university with relative ease. However, most notably within our data are three outstanding themes that recur within students' stories: coming of age narratives, perceived advantages of city living, and the significance of social connections for developing belonging. Our findings suggest that rural students are negotiating place-based and social identities alongside and through structural, discursive, and affective facets of the mobility imperative, whereby responsibilisation and urbanormativity ideologies influence students’ understandings of place and mobility.

College Students and Class Attendance: How Poverty and Illbeing Affect Student Success through Punitive Attendance Policies

This study examines the prevalence of poverty and illbeing among students attending a large urban university and investigates how these challenges affect attendance, including how failure to meet attendance requirements may negatively influence course outcomes for these students. Through an anonymous survey, 520 students responded to questions asking about professor inflexibility, food insecurity, housing insecurity, depression, anxiety, and chronic illness. Over half of survey respondents reported having some degree of food and housing insecurity, and over half reported having anxiety, depression, or chronic illness. A multiple regression analysis demonstrated that punitive attendance policies disproportionally impact students living in poverty and those who experience anxiety, depression, or other forms of chronic illness. Several students reported that inflexible attendance policies have led them to a lowered grade, course failure, or course withdrawal to avoid failure, even when they otherwise had a passing grade. Examining professorial power through French and Raven’s six power bases, I invite faculty to think about the ways in which their power intersects with students and the opportunities that course policies provide to actively contribute to social mobility for students facing opportunity gaps.

Who knows, who writes, and who decolonises? Dialogues about collaborative partnerships of a rural education initiative in post-accord Colombia

ABSTRACT Recognition and preservation of local knowledge, practices, and ways of being are tenets of decolonial practices. However, understanding how, in which ways, and – mainly – who does the decolonial work is still unclear. The Education, Land, and Reconciliation Project (EDUCARE in Spanish) is an action-research initiative co-created between former guerrilla members who are reincorporating into Colombian society while building their new rural community and a group of community and educational psychologists and researchers from an urban university. This project aims to co-construct an educational model recognising peasant (campesino) practices and values and the philosophy of Good Living (Buen Vivir). The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic dialogue among six women: three former guerrilla members who are part of the project and three researchers (at different moments in their careers) about the roles, tensions, and learnings between partners in the project and how they positioned themselves throughout the process. Through focus group discussions and dialogical encounters, we jointly explore the journey of co-implementation. We focus on questions about what counts as knowledge production, and the tensions that arise within the community and outside it as a result of this collaborative effort.

The longitudinal buffering effects of resilience on alcohol use outcomes.

Traumatic events (TE) are a risk factor for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Resilience may be protective of the effects of TE exposure, but few studies have longitudinally tested the buffering hypothesis. Thus, the present study aimed to fill this gap. Participants (N = 6,015) were from a longitudinal investigation into substance use and health outcomes at a large, urban university. Participants completed self-report measures on precollege internalizing symptoms and lifetime trauma load. Resilience was calculated as a quantitative variable. At each of the follow-up assessments, participants reported on past month consumption, AUD symptoms, and new onset TEs. Longitudinal path modeling was used to test interactions. Higher new onset TE load was associated with greater AUD symptoms, and higher consumption at one time-point. Results demonstrate a significant main effect of resilience at Y1S and Y3S, and a significant interaction between resilience and new onset TE at the last time-point, whereby higher levels of new onset TE were associated with higher levels of AUD symptoms at low (β = .19, p < .001), and average (β = .20, p = .001) levels of resilience. This effect was attenuated at high levels of resilience (β = .07, p = .051). No significant main nor interaction effects of resilience on consumption were found. Findings suggest resilience as an important protective factor in relation to the development of AUD symptoms after exposure to a TE, though perhaps less so in relation to consumption. Findings are consistent with prior work demonstrating that AUD symptoms are more clinically relevant than consumption in this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Educative performance transitions in engineering students through the COVID-19 pandemic

Higher education is a multivariable system by nature; thus, it is a complex task to maintain consistent academic success for students. This is a key factor to understand the positive and negative effects generated by the COVID-19 lockdown, particularly during the current stage of the “New Normal” period. The research presented herein considers a set of variables corresponding to students and faculty as causal factors to track, analyze, and assess the impact on the academic performance of engineering students in an urban Mexican university in both periods: online teaching during lockdown, and returning to face-to-face learning during the “New Normal.” Through a hybrid survey, looking for representative learning styles, academic personality traits, and technology competencies, academic performance in both periods has been recorded along with each student's learning preference. The suggested analysis model sought correlations in the stated causal factors to find valuable behavioral patterns. The outcomes show that good students in both models have attained a high level of adaptation and feel competitive in them. On the contrary, students with lower adaptation have shown poor academic performance in both models, but they perceived the online model as the less effective learning environment. Particularly, personality traits appoint on a notable impact on performance. In addition, learning styles are not significant. Still, it has been suggested this situation could be due to a greater diversity of teaching approaches established by the faculty to take care of student performance.

Breastfeeding knowledge & attitudes: Comparison among post-licensure undergraduate and graduate nursing students

Research aimsThe aims of this study are to compare the knowledge and attitude scores between undergraduate and graduate nursing students and to identify the variables associated with higher breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes. BackgroundNurses’ knowledge and attitudes towards breastfeeding greatly impact their roles in promoting and supporting breastfeeding. However, they may not have sufficient knowledge and/or positive attitudes to support and advocate for these families. Many studies focused on professional nurses or undergraduate students’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. Few studies included registered nurses enrolled in post licensure undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. DesignA cross-sectional, prospective, and descriptive study. MethodsA convenient sample of 95 nursing students (50 undergraduate and 45 graduate) was recruited from an ethnically diverse, urban university in Southern California. Students voluntarily completed an online survey adapted from Brodribb, et al. (2008). Bivariate analysis was conducted to identify relationships between study variables. ResultsCompared to undergraduates, graduate students scored higher on knowledge and attitudes towards breastfeeding (p < 0.001). Students’ perception of their prior academic breastfeeding preparation was not related to their current knowledge and attitudes. Age, having children, exclusively breastfed own baby, and duration of personal breastfeeding were positively associated with attitudes and knowledge (p < 0.05 for all variables). Years of nursing experience (p = .01) was positively associated with attitudes only. ConclusionsCompared to academic preparation, age, having children, and personal breastfeeding experiences seem to be better indicators of breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes. Nursing programs should exert more effort in enhancing curricular evidence based breastfeeding education. More research is needed to support these efforts.

Mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit in the United States with or without respiratory failure secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia: a retrospective comparison of characteristics and outcomes.

There is increasing heterogeneity in the clinical phenotype of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19,) and reasons for mechanical ventilation are not limited to COVID pneumonia. We aimed to compare the characteristics and outcomes of intubated patients admitted to the ICU with the primary diagnosis of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) from COVID-19 pneumonia to those patients admitted for an alternative diagnosis. Retrospective cohort study of adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to nine ICUs between March 18, 2020, and April 30, 2021, at an urban university institution. We compared characteristics between the two groups using appropriate statistics. We performed logistic regression to identify risk factors for death in the mechanically ventilated COVID-19 population. After exclusions, the final sample consisted of 319 patients with respiratory failure secondary to COVID pneumonia and 150 patients intubated for alternative diagnoses. The former group had higher ICU and hospital mortality rates (57.7% vs. 36.7%, P<0.001 and 58.9% vs. 39.3%, P<0.001, respectively). Patients with AHRF secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia also had longer ICU and hospital lengths-of-stay (12 vs. 6 days, P<0.001 and 20 vs. 13.5 days, P=0.001). After risk-adjustment, these patients had 2.25 times higher odds of death (95% confidence interval, 1.42-3.56; P=0.001). Mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19-associated respiratory failure are at higher risk of hospital death and have worse ICU utilization outcomes than those whose reason for admission is unrelated to COVID pneumonia.

Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Association with Depression Among Graduate Students at an Urban University

Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Association with Depression Among Graduate Students at an Urban University

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Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine whether transformational leadership will significantly affect lecturer engagement and whether job resources will mediate the effect of transformational leadership on lecturer engagement. Theoretical framework: Recent literature has reported that job resources and transformational leadership strongly influence employee engagement. Job resources mediate the effect of transformational leadership on employee engagement. Design/methodology/approach: This study applied non-probability sampling and collected 102 samples from lecturers from urban private universities, especially in Jakarta and other big cities. SEM-PLS is used as a tool to calculate data statistically. Findings: The study's results prove that transformational leadership has a positive and significant effect on engagement, as does job resources. Furthermore, job resources are proven to mediate the effect of transformational leadership on engagement. Research, Practical &amp; Social implications: The results of this research imply that organizations, especially private universities can present and influence transformational leaders to lead organizations and improve job resources that lecturers or employees can access Originality/value: The value of the study is the first study on transformational leadership in Indonesia urban private universities.

College Students’ Utilization of Social Networking Sites

The use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) has grown in popularity in recent years, notably for college students' study and communication. This article examines college students' experiences with SNS and the strategies they employ to strengthen sociability and learning activities receiving assistance through social media platforms such as Facebook, TIKTOK, Messenger, YouTube, and WhatsApp. The qualitative study was established on primary data gathered from a semi-structured face-to-face interview with twenty college students from two urban colleges who reported the multiple strategies in learning and communicative activities and experiences received from SNS. The randomly sampled data were transcribed and thematically analysed.The results of the qualitative study showed that despite some limitations, college students use SNS for social and academic purposes. Unpleasant experiences like restlessness, low self-esteem, anxiety, physical threats, cyberbullying, online harassment, and prejudice were also noted by the participants. This study examined encouraging signs of interacting with others, sharing, and working together to learn, and building self-efficacy to use technology competently and the impact of social media on their communication and academic activities was recognized. However, SNS dependence appears to be growing and putting students' academic, social, and physical wellbeing at threat. SNS platforms have been suggested as a community center for college students. This study serves as a foundation for further investigation into the effects of social media on the welfare of high school and college students.

What Do Students Think of Mobile Chemistry Games?

The impact of digital games on chemistry education has received less attention compared to other scientific fields. This research gap resulted in a limited understanding of how to effectively design mobile chemistry games (MCG) distinct from non-science mobile learning games (MLG). This study aims to explore students' attitudes toward MCG and gather their opinions on the game components using a mixed-methods research design. A total of 698 students from urban universities, categorized into technology, chemistry, and education cohorts based on their academic majors, participated to provide diverse perspectives. The results revealed significant disparities in gameplay experience, particularly in competence and relatedness, between MLG and MCG. Students' educational background significantly influenced their confidence and leisure levels. Concerningly, students exhibited a negative attitude towards MCG. The study provides game developers with a guideline for developing MCG and offers chemistry teachers a framework for selecting appropriate MLG in the context of chemistry education.

Experiences of patients and next of kin on informed consent process for emergency surgery in two Urban university teaching hospitals in Uganda: a comparative cross sectional study

Informed consent for emergency surgery is a process in which a patient or their next of kin must make quick decisions required for surgery in a life-threatening situation or surgery that may have life-altering outcomes. The objective of the study was to describe patients and their next of kin experiences and factors influencing the informed consent process in two urban university teaching hospitals in Uganda. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving patients who underwent emergency surgery and their next of kin was conducted in two tertiary care hospitals; one public and one private-not-for profit institution. A questionnaire was administered to collect sociodemographic information, type of Surgery that was done, how informed consent was obtained and experiences and expectations from the informed consent process. Univariate and multivariate analyses of the variables was done. Results: We collected data from 210 patients from a public hospital and 170 from a private-not-for profit hospital. Overall, most patients did not have the risks of the surgery communicated to them (79.7%), were not given alternative options (87.6%) and had no opportunity to ask questions (57.4%). Patients at the private institution had 3.35 times the odds of expecting the consent form to be explained to them than those at the public institution. Patients at the public hospital had 0.12 times the odds of preferring to have consent administered by a nurse than patients at the private institution OR 0.12 (0.05–0.29, p < 0.001). Patients in the public institution had 0.18 times the odds of preferring to have consent administered by a doctor than patients in the private institution OR 0.18 (0.08–0.45, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients in both public and private institutions are not informed about the risks of surgery, alternative options and are not given the opportunity to ask questions. Interpretation of the findings of this study on patient preferences on who administered consent though statistically significant were inconclusive due to the responses not being mutually exclusive.

Addressing Linguistic Inequality in Higher Education: A Proactive Model

Abstract Although most institutions of higher education in the United States have now developed diversity, equity, and inclusion centers, programs, and initiatives, language equality tends to be excluded from the typical “canon of diversity.” Language remains an overlooked or dismissed issue in higher education while it insidiously serves as an active agent for promoting inequality in campus life. Based on two empirical studies, one of students from Southern Appalachia attending a large urban university in the South, and one of tenured faculty at the same university, I establish the need for the awareness of language inequality in higher education. I then describe a proactive “campus-infusion” program that includes activities and resources for student affairs, academic affairs, human resources, faculty affairs, and offices of institutional equity and diversity. As an interdisciplinary team from different administrative and disciplinary programs within the university, we used a variety of venues, resources, and techniques to educate the faculty, students, and staff about the significance of language inequality on campus that has had an ongoing effect on higher education.

University Science Promotion: A Model of a Center for Public Science

In the international practice of higher education, a university has traditionally been considered as a center for education and science. A modern urban university, however, breaks through the boundaries of educational and scientific projects and pioneers the development of the learning, social, cultural, and intellectual environment of the city and its dwellers. In the view of the research-based and community-oriented mission of the university, there is a need to reinvent and further develop the communication strategies between the university and the urban residents. As one of the steps in this direction, the authors suggest communicating with the citizens through the promotion of university-developed scientific knowledge and research results among wider public. This will solve the challenges of making people interested in the fundamental and applied sciences, developing the human capital for the benefit of the regions, increasing the level of scientific literacy among citizens, creating conditions for the intellectual development of the youth, involving young people and representatives of other age groups in the research activities, and enhancing the prestige and social attractiveness of science. Pursuing these tasks, in this paper the authors study the practices and the formats of science promotion undertaken by the universities and suggest a model of a university-based center for public science.