Part C

Theses/Dissertation One:

1. Mary Kate Fortson

2. Private Practice in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology: Experience, Preparation,
and Confidence Levels of Practicing Professionals
3. 2014
4. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
5. The purpose of this study is to focus specifically on private practice in speech-language
pathology by exploring the relationship between educational preparations and running
a successful business that is also personally rewarding
6. In conclusion, deciding to work in the private practice-setting reaches further into
different aspects than simple decisions. Speech-language pathologists and
audiologists have a wide scope of practice that allows practitioners to provide their
professional services in a variety of different environments. As predicted,
individuals working in the private practice realm would prefer to work in private
practices compared to their experience in other settings. Private practices require a
delicate balance of the costs, risks, and rewards. Most feel that the rewards gained
from private practices make all the hard work enjoyable. Responders agreed that
experience in other settings prepares clinicians the most for working in private
practices. Surprisingly, many professionals did not feel coding and billing insurance
was the most challenging part of their practice. Although the majority agreed that
billing was a complicated process. Another surprising aspect of the study was the
close split between professionals that thought new health care changes would affect
their practice.
7. I am studying to be a speech pathologist. It is helpful and important to know the private
practice and the experience and knowledge expected by the professionals. I would like
to eventually like to work at a private practice so this article is very beneficial to what I
want to do.
8. In my study, one of the things I would do different is provide more graphs. This will
show very helpful information of real life situations. This could include surveys involving
clinics, populations and professionals. I would also interview a professional in a private
practice. The reason I would do this is to give the readers a personal insight and what
they think of the study. Both of these would make the study stronger and give a better
insight in the point of the message.

Theses/Dissertation Two:

1. Amanda Williams
2. 2013
3. Risk and Resilience Models of Community Adversity and Long-Term Adjustment
4. Oklahoma State University
5. The story told throughout this research follows Conger et al.’s (1992) model of
communities affecting youth via their parents; however, the present study contributes
important insight into the features of communities that provide the greatest protection for
family well-being and the long-term psychological adjustment of children. Community
connectedness and integration were primary predictors in each model so it is important to
revisit the nature of those constructs. Community connectedness refers to the bonds
community members form with their neighbors and the feelings of security these bonds
provide. These relationships at the community level are directly related with parents’
nurturance and involvement with their children as well as the overall quality of the
parent-child relationship. The combination of social organization and positive parenting
practices have been identified as strong protective factors in previous studies (Earls &
Carlson, 2001; Mancini, Bowen, & Martin, 2005; Simons, Simons, Burt, Brody, &
Cutrona, 2005), particularly among African American youth (Simons et al.; Rankin &
Quane, 2002). However, in terms of adolescent depressive’s symptoms in the present
research, this combination was only significant for White youth. For youth who were
female, African American, or raised in less disadvantaged contexts, higher levels of
adversity actually drew parents and children together improving their relationship and
benefiting adolescent mental health. Community adversity is linked with adolescent
depression and, for vulnerable youth in more adverse communities, their relationship
with their parents might become a risk-activated protective factor improving as a direct
result of the broader contextual risk and benefiting adolescent mental health (Masten et
al., 2009). Positive parenting is good for all children, but when living in impoverished,
crowded, and racially dispersed neighborhoods, parenting is uniquely boosted by
adversity and even more essential for positive youth development (Masten et al.).
Parents’ mental health status is predictive of their children’s mental health (Hammen,
Shih, & Brennan, 2004) and in the present research parents’ involvement with
community organizations significantly increased parental happiness (albeit small
increases). In turn, parental happiness significantly improved trajectories of depressive
symptoms from adolescence to adulthood. The importance of family stress models
(Conger et al., 1992) for adolescent well- being cannot be overstated as youth are
consistently affected by communities via their parents. The present research adds
important new information about parent effects as well as direct community effects on
human agency during a critical developmental turning point. Elder and Hitlin (2007)
went to great lengths to operationalize the ambiguous construct of agency during
adolescence identifying planfulness, self-efficacy, and optimism as key indicators of
adolescents’ capacity and awareness of their own ability to direct their life course. Study
findings indicate this capacity is a significant protective factor for mental health across
the lifespan, particularly for females who are consistently at greater risk for depression
than males (Essau, Lewinsohn, Seeley, Sasagawa, 2010).