Honors 401 Theses

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The Need for Endometriosis Awareness: A Case Study of College Students and Medical Professionals
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2023) Harris , Rachael; Duryea, Katie
Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic illness in which tissue similar to the endometrium develops outside of the uterine cavity. This disease affects an estimated 10-15% of individuals with a uterus at reproductive age and yet it takes an average of 7.5 years for an individual to receive an accurate diagnosis. This delay in diagnosis, along with recent studies on endometriosis, suggest a severe lack of education on endometriosis within both the medical community and the general public. There is literature that suggests there is a strong need for more education and awareness of endometriosis in the global medical community. However, there is a lack of literature that addresses the knowledge of college-age individuals in the United States on endometriosis. This thesis consists of a focus group at Southern New Hampshire University that determined the knowledge of college-age individuals on endometriosis, the menstrual cycle and reproductive health. This thesis found that there is a need for more education on topics relating to endometriosis, the menstrual cycle and reproductive health. General practitioners, specifically pediatricians need to develop more knowledge on these topics and be willing to share their information with their patients in order to educate them and ultimately reduce the length of diagnostic delay of endometriosis and other diseases characterized by reproductive issues.
Rock History Revamp
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2023) Huizenga, Noah; Boysen, Lyndsay
Overview: This nine-lesson unit is designed to be taught in a 7th or 8th Grade General Music class. While they were written to fill a 15-20 minute segment of class time, they could easily be extended to fit the needs of a different class. The content of these lessons is “Rock History,” starting in the 1800s and continuing till present day. While obviously not every band, artist, or movement can be covered in this short amount of time, an effort was made to include the most important cornerstones of the genre. For the format of the lessons, the first eight are informal “lectures,” where students are encouraged to answer questions and engage in thoughtful discussion. Additionally, each of the first eight lessons has a corresponding question worksheet, which the students are required to fill out during class time. These are the unit's main form of formative assessment. The summative assessment is delivered in lesson nine in the form of a game-show style trivia competition. In this lesson, students will compete in predetermined-teams to answer questions pertaining to each of the areas covered in the first eight lessons. Because of the lessons’ flexible nature, this document is not supposed to be a step-by-step guide of how to teach them. Rather, it will provide the main ideas behind each lesson, some strategies of how to deliver the content, and the different assessment tools being employed. Lastly, do not treat these lessons as individual entities, but as part of a larger whole. Take any opportunity to have students recall information from previous lessons to inform the current lesson. This is not only a great way of tying the material together, but also an opportunity to assess students’ knowledge.
The impacts of experiential learning travel courses on student education, professionalism, and interpersonal relationships
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Gilbert, Alyssa; Corbin, Joseph; Matthews, Lowell Chris
This research study aims to explore the academic, professional, and interpersonal impacts experiential learning travel courses are having on undergraduate college students. Current research demonstrates that many educational formats do not provide optimal educational outcomes to students. Empirical observations from multiple faculty suggest experiential learning travel courses do provide these outcomes as well as highly impactful lifelong skills. Focus groups with diverse populations were conducted with current students on how experiential learning travel courses (ELTC) impacted their education, career, and interpersonal relationships with other students and faculty. Faculty were surveyed on their perception of how students were impacted by these courses. The research collected from the focus groups was analyzed through a combination of thematic content and narrative analysis. Searching for insightful narratives and recurring themes allowed conclusions to be drawn about the overall academic, professional, and interpersonal impacts these experiential courses have on students. The research hypothesis of this study is that experiential learning travel courses will positively impact academic, professional, and interpersonal aspects of students’ lives and these aspects will interact with each other as well. The research aims to provide a better understanding of how experiential learning travel courses are impacting the lives of students who participate in such courses. (Author abstract)
Global refugee crisis and system reform: National response comparison of the United States and Germany
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Liriano Trejo, Arielys; Clamp, Christina; Matthews, Lowell Chris
Migration policy faces the new challenges of the 21st century such as civil unrest, climate change, and health concerns. Nearly 26 million people were refugees in 2019 (UNHCR, 2020), which showcases the human rights and political magnitude of the situation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the policy initiatives taken by the United States and Germany in response to increased numbers of refugees and concerns about opening borders to determine ways to improve the refugee intake and resettlement process. Varying nations have differences in policy and acceptance of refugees. Nations need to determine where they lie in the spectrum concerning acceptance or denial of refugee entrance to their borders. By focusing on the United States and Germany, the study aims to assess government responses to the situation and determine whether there are ways to improve policies that impact the current resettlement model. Interviews of key informants in the refugee resettlement process in the United States and literature review of both the United States and Germany will be conducted. In this way, the experiences of service agencies will serve as feedback to determine ways that policy can address gaps in the system and policy implications. An approach of literature review analysis and interviews will allow the audience to gain perspective on a critical examination of German and American immigration law and policy and suggestions to improve the current scheme. (Author abstract)
The dissipation of the skilled labor force
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Spangler, Bethany; St. Jean, Nathaniel; Matthews, Lowell Chris
Currently, the skilled labor industry is facing a huge gap in the number of working laborers. This gap is shown in the quickly declining numbers of workers in the trades and in the 7 million open jobs that are unable to be filled. Unfortunately, this is due to the general lack of interest in the trades, the lack of skills that individuals possess to excel in these fields, and individual attitude towards the trades that influence the decision to learn these skills. This gap affects companies and the amenities that they give to society. With a shortage of workers, many companies are shutting down because they are unable to complete the work needed. High school Career and Technical Education programs are a great way to gain awareness in this issue and begin to help this problem. There are a multitude of personal benefits for students linked to attending CTE programs as well, which in turn enhances their education. Public perception is a huge influencing factor in why the skills gap is so large today. On a refined level, perception directly impacts vocational school attendance, which is arguably the first steppingstone that many take into the trades. With lower vocational school attendance, there are automatically less individuals that enter into the trades which then contributes to the labor gap. In order to help with this issue, we first need to begin with understanding perception. This paper aims to begin to understand this. (Author abstract)
When and why the Roman Republic collapsed
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Kelly, Ryan; Healow, Christopher; Matthews, Lowell Chris
The effects of remote learning on students in an urban school district
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Soucy, Kaitlin; Tapley, Colleen; Matthews, Lowell Chris
Remote learning is a new concept to our entire country. Does the equity and accessibility in a school district play a role in academic performance for students through remote learning? For this study, I am going to be surveying teachers on how they perceive student performance levels during and after remote learning. Typically, it is the in-person teaching that has the greatest effect on students to increase their academic performance in content area subjects. With COVID-19 prohibiting in-person instruction, schools were forced to transition into remote instruction for their students. With this study, I am going to ask teachers a series of questions on how remote teaching went for them as well as their students in the spring of 2020. Once school restarts in the fall of 2020, I will re-conduct the interviews to see how remote learning affected students’ performance levels. I hypothesize that if schools remain online, academic performance levels will continue to decrease, and if schools reopen to in-person instruction, students will be at the equivalent, or lower academic performance levels as they were when schools originally transitioned to remote learning. This study will be conducted in grades 1, 3, and 5. In grades 1, it may be hard to gauge their academic performance levels because their brains are at a very young developmental age and it may be harder to retain information, however in grades 3 and 5 their retention rate is higher and they should be apt to recall more information. (Author abstract)
Let's talk about mental health!
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Montpelier, Lindsey; Samii, Leila; Matthews, Lowell Chris
In today’s society, mental health is taking a toll on millions of people, yet it is still not a topic we openly discuss with one another. When one has a mental illness, they are often looked down upon by others or themselves because society has made it seem like the illness makes you weaker. We are living in 2021 and yet we still cannot openly discuss what is going on inside of our heads. This narrative needs to change and normalizing the conversation of mental health needs to continue. This paper outlines research on mental health and mental illness in relation to social media. The findings present within this paper showcase the connections made between the three topics as well as how social media can be used positively in regard to mental health. Social media impacts on mental health, the categories of mental illness, as well as educational aspects of social media will be explored further within this paper. In the end, the hope is that promoting mental health and discussing mental illness online will continue to help normalize these topics on social media platforms as a whole. (Author abstract)
Children born to substance abusing mothers
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Joyce, Shannon; Nordmeyer, Ann; Matthews, Lowell Chris
In our world today, we are facing an increase in mental health awareness. A major topic in this category is babies being born to addicted mothers. Children born to these mothers are entered into this world already needing help. What is important to focus on is whether the baby is born with withdrawal symptoms right away. As well as focusing on what type of environment they will be entered into. Is the mother going to get sober? Is she going to get treatment? As well as, is she addicted to drugs or alcohol. All of these will be examined and related back to how the child is affected mentally, emotionally, and physically. The main focus of this paper is, the life of the children born to mothers who struggle with substance abuse. This project will break down scholarly journals, findings from local counselors in my community, and formulate a way to improve my own community when it comes to helping these mothers and children. By focusing on my local community, I can see how families are affected by substance abuse, and see where our mental health system needs help. (Author abstract)
Origami in STEAM
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Boisvert, Alexis Leigh; Gilbert, Adam; Matthews, Lowell Chris
This thesis explores origami’s past, present, and future applications. Inspired by the Between the Folds documentary from PBS, we survey a wide variety of state of the art technologies which are possible because of origami. Throughout this thesis, readers will learn about the history of origami, it’s place in mathematics, and it’s potentially surprising applications in medicine, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). We make the case that there are great opportunities to use origami to supplement various aspects of STEAM topics in the early childhood, elementary and middle school curriculums. In addition, we provide sample origami applications for use in the kindergarten through eighth grade classroom which provide fun hands-on learning experiences and could inspire future scientists, mathematicians, doctors, engineers, and/or artists. (Author abstract)
Why so few women in STEM?
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Anctil, Madeleine; Carrobis, Jennifer; Matthews, Lowell Chris
I will be researching why are there so few women in STEM career fields. I will first look into the statistics of women within STEM fields compared to men in STEM fields. How does the pay differ for women and men working in STEM fields? How does the hiring rate of women into STEM fields differ from men? I will also look into the history of women in STEM as a whole. I will also research how to get girls interested in STEM careers, specifically looking into how we can improve our education system, specifically looking at how we can help girls become passionate about STEM. I will research the current initiative to promote STEM in school systems and the gaps that exist for low-income school districts. (Author abstract)
Mammogram more like mammogreat
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Einsmann, Sara; Eshed, Anat; Matthews, Lowell Chris
Studying engineering has allowed me to develop a unique perspective on the technology used every day. My goal for this research project is to take the knowledge acquired through my studies of engineering and apply it to improving the mammogram machine. Viewing my mother’s struggles with breast cancer and witnessing the difficulties of receiving a mammogram have inspired my interests in this research. In this paper I will use, my mother’s personal experience along with scientific journals, and research studies. Through this I will gain background knowledge on how the design of the machine intimidates patients. Along with, how the procedure can cause anxiety and how that’s anxiety affects the people receiving these exams. I will further learn about recent improvements in the testing procedure and the design of the machine. Based on this knowledge I will offer an improved design and a new method for running the exams. (Author abstract)
How flexible seating can benefit students and challenges caused by COVID-19
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Gemas, Hannah L.; Whitmore, Linda; Matthews, Lowell Chris
when using flexible seating to discover how these changes can be related to the lack of flexibility in classrooms currently. The results from the survey will be compared to previous research done with young learners, and learners with disabilities to discover how flexible classroom designs can assist students who have diverse needs. This research will assist current and future teachers with designing their classroom in a way that will fit these student needs in the future. (Author abstract)
The benefits of sport on young girls: Increasing female sport participation rate through effective marketing strategies for organized sport programs
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Wile, Meaghan; Sheehan, Elizabeth; Matthews, Lowell Chris
health disorders found in teens” (Herren Wellness, 2019). Knowing this, it is important to recognize the correlation between young individuals’ health and sport participation. Throughout such a critical time in adolescence, young individuals need to adopt healthy habits and sports provide young athletes with just that, structure. Specifically, transitioning towards the young female population, it is known that, “By age 14, many girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys” (Women’s Sports Foundation, n.d.). This unsettling statistic represents the disinvolvement of young women in the world of sports, which then results in them losing the ability to reap the benefits of physical activity. To change this, there are various organizations nationwide which are established in hopes to increase young female participation within sport; however, these organizations may not be getting the recognition or participation rates in which they deserve. (Author abstract)
Discovering the appropriate business venture
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021) Trindade, Olivia; Losapio, Susan; Matthews, Lowell Chris
The goal for this thesis research was to analyze a noticed gap in the market of the Lakes Region of New Hampshire and see if a known piece of property had potential to fit this gap. The research looked at the property itself to analyze the location and property value of the land but also in the local area to compare its value. The research also identified local businesses within the properties radius to see competitors and to see what types of businesses were prominent, old, or new. The researcher identified an idea for the property based on the property value and the businesses around it and from that idea came a process of trying to identify the appropriate business venture based on the collected information. Because the property is family-owned, meaning it has the chance to be passed on, the purpose of the research was to discover the most appropriate business venture for the property based on these many factors to better the Lakes Region and provide something that is missing in the market, but also to keep the property in good use and in the family as a profitable business. In this research, there is a section that is analysis of actual answers from residents of the Lakes Region that were done via surveys. (Author abstract)
Reducing and reusing: The difference you can make when you stop supporting fast fashion and start creating
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2020-05) Salter, Kasey H.; Konya, Tara K.; Matthews, Lowell Chris
The world is facing a crisis. Global citizens are not considering the consequences of their purchasing and therefore, with each purchase, they are further polluting our land, air, and water. The Penmen Press Party Dress exhibits the need for global change. Like most universities, Southern New Hampshire University is riddled with excess marketing materials from admissions, including printed publications such as the Penmen Press. The potential for the utilization of such materials in the construction of non-conventional material apparel is what encouraged the creation of the Penmen Press Party Dress. The dress construction is the result of an initiative to reduce pollution and the accumulation of waste, and to make the most of the materials that are already present in our everyday life. Various methods such as weaving, fringing, sewing, and folding will be prominent within the design and used to add texture and complexity to the garment. (Author abstract)
Neuropsychology for kids: Concussions
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2020-04) Hippert, Fallyn; Matthews, Lowell Chris
The overall objective of this Southern New Hampshire's honors thesis is to create and solve a problem or project that incorporates a topic that challenges the individual but also works to make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small. Specifically in engaging in a course at this University, I have found myself in very challenging classes based on difficult topics. In the spring of 2019 I was taking a biopsychology class and a lifespan development class that tend to overlap sometimes in topics. I found various topics and subtopics in biopsychology to be hard to understand, apply, and explain myself. Therefore I have created a project that involves explaining biopsychology topics in a children's book for the ages including in Piaget's concrete operational stage, which is ages 9 to 12 years old, which incorporates what I have learned from lifespan development courses (Cherry, 2019). In this stage children can think logically and perform mental operations about concrete events. However, conceptual, theoretical and speculative thoughts have not developed in children so far. Based on a study measuring the ability of children in the concrete operational categories ability to understand Chemistry, Biology, and Physics to some extent in learning general science (Ghazi & Ullah, 2015). Therefore this study shows that children in the concrete operational stage have the ability to understand topics related to biopsychology to some extent but not fully. Therefore I believe creating a children's book about these topics, in a language and in pictures that are easy to follow for their age can help to better the ability to understand such concepts. Concepts that even college students and adults struggle to fully understand. (Author abstract)
Strategic job placement solutions for veterans using data
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2020-05) Ocampo, Sarah; Dhakar, Tej; Matthews, Lowell Chris
The United States has a large population of military veterans and spouses who are experiencing difficulty transitioning from military life to civilian life. This particular population faces difficulties in finding jobs that are fitting to their work experience and personal needs. Headquartered in Georgia and North Carolina, Hire Heroes USA is a free, non-profit service that empowers United States military members, veterans and military spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce. Each Hire Heroes USA client works will a counselor discussing their individual needs such as location preferences, occupation, disabilities, and desired salary. The data sets provided by Hire Heroes USA provides insight into how the organization currently drives results. The data reveals key objectives which highlight diversity gaps, both racial and gender, how starting salaries correlate with ending military pay grade, and which geographic areas to focus on which have larger military populations. The analysis of the data results in recommendations for Hire Heroes USA to reach more clients and understand why certain individuals are not being placed into their desired industry. In addition to the Hire Heroes USA data, the analysis incorporates employment and industry statistics from a federal level. This provides more insight into why veterans and military spouses face more challenges regarding job placement than the rest of the population. With the insight provided from the Hire Heroes USA datasets, retired military and spouses will have a more enhanced experience finding jobs through the Hire Heroes USA database. (Author abstract)
Characters and creatures: Know the difference
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2020-04) Dys, Nicholas M.; Brilland, Edward; Matthews, Lowell Chris
Throughout television shows, video games, movies, myths, and novels, creators share worlds through detailed settings and especially interesting characters and creatures. If someone were to create their own characters and creatures, one would have to learn what distinguishes a character from a creature. To find out what is crucial in creating characters and creatures, I evaluated various video games and cartoon shows to see what defining qualities I could gather from different characters and creatures, humans, and natural animals in the real world. From this research, I have concluded there are two key factors that distinguish characters and creatures: appearance and intelligence. The appearance factor is outlined via examples from video games and cartoons; while the intelligence factor is explained using a spectrum of intelligence, natural animals, and humans. (Author abstract)
The impact of international travel on college students' development of intercultural competence
(Southern New Hampshire University, 2020-04) Harper, Lindsay R.; Monk, Kimberly; Matthews, Lowell Chris
As the world becomes more interconnected, the need for graduates to have the skills and confidence to communicate with individuals from other cultures is important. This study explores the impact of international travel on Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) students’ development of intercultural competence. The paper consists of a literature review in addition to primary research using data from a survey completed by fifty-one (51) SNHU students who participated in international experiences during their time at the university. The analysis of survey data reveals that international travel adds value to a student’s ability to communicate with individuals from other cultures. The findings of this research also show that valuable intercultural competence is caused by the amount of interaction with the locals in the host countries; not the amount of time spent abroad. (Author abstract)

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