College students have an increased need for mental health assistance. Poor mental health affects a student’s social and academic success. To combat this, higher education institutes should assist students with the negotiation of constraints to visiting the U.S. National Parks. This study investigated the current barriers to visitation of the U.S. National Parks faced by college students. Additionally, it identified potential resources that could be provided to improve their negotiation strategies. Undergraduate students at Arizona State University (n=99) were asked to participate in a survey to identify current visitation rates, constraints, and demographics. Students in two Arizona State University classes were also asked to participate in a focus group. A total of four focus groups were conducted to determine the potential resources needed in higher education to assist students with the negotiation of constraints. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data, two themes emerged to determine current barriers: prioritization of U.S. National Parks and networking. Two additional themes emerged to identify potential resources for negotiation: planning and perception of time. After an integration of the quantitative and qualitative data, it was determined that cost is an assumed barrier, negative attitudes toward outdoor recreation affect participants’ leisure preferences, and there is a perception of a lack of time. Finally, two significant recommendations are proposed. First is the regularly available communication of knowledge produced by higher education institutions. Second, implementation of planned trips conducted by higher education institutes will help students negotiate barriers to visiting the U.S. National Parks.

The purpose of this project is to analyze the marketing efforts of an adaptive sports organization and identify possible areas for improvement. We will be conducting this marketing analysis as developed by Jeremy Darlow. Once we complete an analysis, we provide recommendations for future marketing efforts at Ability360, the organization of focus.

The purpose of this project is to analyze the marketing efforts of an adaptive sports organization and identify possible areas for improvement. We will be conducting this marketing analysis as developed by Jeremy Darlow. Once we complete an analysis, we can provide recommendations for future marketing efforts at Ability360, the organization of focus.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of imagery in the form of a vision board, on goal achievement in adaptive populations. Imagery has been shown to be a successful mental training skill in able-bodied populations, however, the research on its effectiveness in adaptive populations has been largely ignored.
To address this gap, a qualitative study was conducted with adaptive athletes of the Devils Adapt Class III Program at Arizona State University (n=6). Each athlete was given a pre-program survey to address their specific physical goals for the program. Athletes then created a vision board using numerous magazines, and these boards reflected their goal. The vision boards were taped on the back of their trainer's clipboard, so they were reminded of their goal each workout. During the last week of the program, a post-program survey was distributed to see how the vision boards affected the athletes' ability to achieve their goal.
It was found that 50% of the athletes were able to achieve their goal, and 66.66% of the athletes felt that their vision board was an integral component to goal achievement. Future efforts will focus on the effectiveness of other mental training skills such as self-talk, mindfulness, and relaxation techniques, on goal achievement in adaptive populations.

Resettled refugee children encounter a wide variety of challenges when integrating into classrooms in the United States. Having experienced instability and trauma in key years of their development, this transition is often not easy. These students' strengths and struggles are commonly overlooked, as they face immediate pressure to catch up to their peers academically. After working first-hand with resettled refugee students for several years, I set out to pilot a program that supported their holistic development in order to offer learning outcomes and suggestions to teachers and community professionals. The study contains an analysis of relevant literature, how it informed interviews with local teachers and community professionals, and how the information gathered shaped the development and implementation of a summer program for resettled refugee children.

This project was undertaken for the purposes of exploring the feasibility of website development for arts education information. In partnership with the Arizona Commission on the Arts, ideas for website design were collected. The original plan was to build a website that would be a "one-stop-shop" for educators to find arts education resources. Some resources deemed important to include on the website were: a search engine, calendar of events, curriculum ideas, discussion forum, feedback, ticketing, and financial support available. This website would make accessing arts education information easier, thus more appealing. It is understood that art is a fundamental part of education and it needs to be integrated into the public schools system, however, due to a lack of educational funding in Arizona it is important to bring outside organizations and resources into the education system. The following paper will examine how arts education is beneficial for children in grades K-12, what resources people want available on the website, what education administrators have to say about the website, and what aspects of the website would need to be included and addressed.

Research regarding social skills training techniques for youth with autism spectrum disorders does not generally include implementation in anywhere but clinical, highly structured settings. However, leisure and recreation settings are conducive to promoting social skills improvement due to assets such as typical peer groups, engaging play activities, and significant opportunities for incidental learning. This program was designed for this particular population and integrated in to the daily schedule of a six-week long therapeutic recreation summer day camp for adolescents with disabilities ages 13-18. A standardized assessment, the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales (HCSBS) evaluates various areas of social ability and was utilized to measure changes specifically in peer interaction skills of participants with autism. Results discovered that this design can complement the aims of the camp and contribute to social enrichment and inclusion; every subject showed positive gains in the peer relations subscale at a much higher rate than in any other area of social ability. Multiple recognizable patterns emerged that can be evaluated in future studies, including greater average improvements for females, those ages 16-18 and those with an Asperger's diagnosis. Replication of this program could quantify and confirm the effectiveness of social skills training within recreation, which would require controlling for the additional treatment of a therapeutic summer camp. However, this observational case study demonstrates a promising future regarding improving the efficiency and value of therapeutic recreation services for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

This study examines the nature of emotion work in a nonprofit organization through qualitative inquiry. The mission of the organization is to provide houses of hospitality and ongoing support to help pregnant and parenting women in need reach their goals, and welcomes them into a community filled with love and dignity. Field observations and participant interviews were analyzed alongside organizational documents to determine if participants were experiencing emotional labor and the ways in which they are compensated for this labor. By extending the concepts of emotional labor to jobs and volunteer positions that do not receive significant financial compensation, the findings suggest that emotional labor is not always performed for a wage. Further, volunteers of nonprofit organizations may find compensation through the fulfillment of personal motivations, unrelated to financial gain.

Life satisfaction in people with physical disabilities is on average lower than people without disabilities. This reduction in life satisfaction may be due to a reduction in domain control. This study examines how domain control predicts life satisfaction when added to a model of other salient life satisfaction predictors. Using email survey methodology, five separate scales where used on two separate populations; people with (n= 44) and without (n= 43) a physical disability to determine each groups life satisfaction. It was found that when domain control is added to the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, the independent direct relationships of domain control, domain importance, positive affect, and negative affect are eliminated from a stepwise multiple regression equation with domain satisfaction being the only significant predictor (â = 4.38, p< .001 for people with a physical disabilities and â = 5.48, p< .001 for people without a physical disability) of life satisfaction. The study results demonstrate that life satisfaction is predicted the same way for people with and without disabilities.