This thesis/creative project involved writing a collection of creative nonfiction essays and building a website to reflect on my experiences traveling through Spain in the summer of 2023, for both a study abroad program and on my own. There are a total of nine essays in this current collection, along with a tenth introductory essay. They reflect the chronological order of my travels to Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, and Lisbon, concluding with an essay written about my return to Phoenix, Arizona. The goal of this project was to not only personally reflect on what I learned while in these various places, but also to share these experiences with a wider audience in the digital world. I plan to continue adding essays to this website, using it as a "living document" for my future travels, and as a place for further reflection.

This extended literature review investigated the current literature on circumlocution in children. Twelve sources were categorized into the following four themes: objects and actions, typical development and atypical development, bilingual, bilectal, and monolingual children, and picture naming and other research methods. It was found children circumlocute more for actions than they do objects, but not in all circumstances. Additionally, children of atypical development will always circumlocute more than children of typical development. Monolingual children will circumlocute more than bilingual children on average. Lastly, picture naming is the most prominent method used by researchers who write about circumlocution in children. Circumlocution is commonly categorized as a language error, but studies within this review show its potential as a strategy to continue conversing when preferable words or phrases are not available.

Financial toxicity is a term that has gained traction within the oncology field, detailing the financial burden on and distress of cancer patients in regard to their cancer regimen and treatment. Previous research has shown that financial toxicity affects older cancer patients, but more recent research has shown that it can affect anyone of any demographic, particularly newly diagnosed cancer patients. Unfortunately, patients may not fully understand the costs associated with cancer treatment, which can make it difficult for them to effectively contain the costs. This issue has been ongoing and will continue to affect many as cancer treatment evolves with developments in technology and medications and more patients survive. Due to the financial distress, patients can make alterations to their healthcare and treatment, potentially resulting in the decline of patients’ quality of life and possible worsening of cancer outcomes. The present problem of financial toxicity was examined and compiled into a website, where the information was organized into different pages for ease of reading and additional resources were provided. This website is currently ready for use, but I hope to continue improving it with additional information and resources.

Ballet is both a classical dance art form and a physically demanding sport. Dancers go through extraneous training to produce anatomically unnatural movements but in a safe manner. Flexibility, balance, and coordination are mandatory to advance to the higher levels of training. Ballet technique is danced with the feet turned outwards or externally rotated and requires a high range of motion of several joints in the body. Because of the nature of ballet technique, dancers frequently suffer from injuries. Studies have found that lower limb, especially knee, ankle, and foot injuries, and hip and back injuries are prevalent in students and professionals. Identifying the roots of these issues is vital to prevent injuries. Technical errors such as rolling in the arches of the feet while externally rotated, having a loose core, and over-rotating the legs increase the risk of injury. Training dancers correctly through proper teaching techniques, promoting anatomically sound ballet technique, and identifying physical weaknesses are possible solutions to reduce injury risk. This project aims to identify risk factors for common injuries in dance and identify possible solutions to prevent them.

This research investigates how educational material and provider conversation better address the concerns of Mexican patients and families dealing with Type 2 diabetes. This is important to address since Type 2 diabetes is a common disease that continues to increase and affects all ages. In addition, although it is a common disease, lack of education and knowledge is a barrier patients often face when diagnosed. Some of the factors that impact Type 2 diabetes management are understanding the diagnosis itself and learning about the factors that impact how diabetes is managed. In addition, to these factors, education and knowledge were investigated to learn how the form of education and individual versus group education impacts understanding. In this project, a comic book was created in Spanish to help Hispanic patients understand their diagnoses along with the symptoms and dietary changes that they must make. Resources are provided via QR codes to gain more information and concepts like carbohydrates and glycemic index are also reviewed to understand how the food they consume affects their blood sugar as well.

Antioxidants have long been known to have positive effects on human health. Polyphenols are the most bountiful type of antioxidant in the human diet (Williamson, 2016). Polyphenols are found in a variety of plant foods, and the consumption of these foods has been shown to have a positive impact on eliminating oxidative stress in the body (Fraga et al., 2019). Additionally, the consumption of polyphenols has been researched to act as chemoprotective agents against cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases (Pott et al., 2019). In addition to a healthy well balanced diet, polyphenols are a low cost way to increase the health of the general public. This thesis paper is a manuscript of the multifaceted project centered around research and communication of a healthy diet for the American adult, with a spotlight of the health benefit of polyphenol and what food sources are quality sources of this secondary metabolite. The first stage of this project involved active laboratory research, where the concentration of various fruit juices and supplements were tested and compared. Secondly, a literature review was conducted to investigate the most evidenced based dietary pattern that supports health and longevity. Thirdly, the laboratory research and the literary review was translated into a website meant for the general public. The text of this website can be found in this manuscript, as all other components including sources and references.

This study analyzed the current dental insurance and care practices in the United States, and the role that it plays in national health insurance systems. This was accomplished through extensive literary analysis of articles and websites that discussed both current dental/health care practices and also the insurance systems and policies that support and inhibit individuals receiving the care they need. It was discovered that routine dental visits can play a crucial role in the identification and mitigation of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and sleep apnea. The utilization of available dental care services was found to have a direct correlation with the possession of dental insurance, with a drastic drop-off in utilization amongst the uninsured. Through the analysis of barriers towards the integration of nationwide dental insurance, such as socioeconomic differences, regulatory and policy concerns, and cultural and behavioral barriers, a few potential solutions were developed. All of these factors were researched and investigated to generate a report of why dental care is important, the challenges to the integration of dental insurance in the United States, and steps that can be taken to guide this country in the right direction.