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UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection https://hdl.handle.net/2152/11

This collection contains University of Texas at Austin electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The collection includes ETDs primarily from 2001 to the present. Some pre-2001 theses and dissertations have been digitized and added to this collection, but those are uncommon. The library catalog is the most comprehensive list of UT Austin theses and dissertations.

Since 2010, the Office of Graduate Studies at UT Austin has required all theses and dissertations to be made publicly available in Texas ScholarWorks; however, authors are able to request an embargo of up to seven years. Embargoed ETDs will not show up in this collection. Most of the ETDs in this collection are freely accessible to all users, but some pre-2010 works require a current UT EID at point of use. Please see the FAQs for more information. If you have a question about the availability of a specific ETD, please contact [email protected].

Some items in this collection may contain offensive images or text. The University of Texas Libraries is committed to maintaining an accurate and authentic scholarly and historic record. An authentic record is essential for understanding our past and informing the present. In order to preserve the authenticity of the historical record we will not honor requests to redact content, correct errors, or otherwise remove content, except in cases where there are legal concerns (e.g. potential copyright infringement, inclusion of HIPAA/FERPA protected information or Social Security Numbers) or evidence of a clear and imminent threat to personal safety or well-being.

This policy is in keeping with the  American Library Association code of ethics  to resist efforts to censor library resources, and the  Society of American Archivists code of ethics  that states "archivists may not willfully alter, manipulate, or destroy data or records to conceal facts or distort evidence."

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Use the right resources and take your studies to the next level

• Post author By Library
• Post date November 3, 2021
• No Comments on Use the right resources and take your studies to the next level

We provide a wide array of high-quality resources to help make your studies a success. We have a web page that lists our new resources , and generally, as a starting point, we recommend you use Library Search  – the gateway to the Library’s information resources in both print and electronic form, including books, journals, newspapers, databases and much, much more.

Some resources will be more relevant to your studies than others. To help you decide what is a good academic resource for your subject, check out this elearning .

Some recommended resources and study aids are listed below, each offering a different way of extending your knowledge.

Newspapers are a valuable source of information. They provide an insight into what interests and concerns people both now and in the past.  

The quality of newspaper articles can vary considerably. This means you’ll need to evaluate what you find carefully for bias or misleading information. Nevertheless, newspapers can be very helpful if used thoughtfully. 

• They allow you to see what people thought and how they viewed an event when it happened. Whether it be a film review, a protest march, or a change to legislation. Newspapers can provide insight from several angles.
• They can help you to look at the historical detail of an event, the context around it and help you to follow changes over time. 
• Newspapers are useful for dissertation research, critical thinking, and employability research. For example, Factiva and FT.com are great for doing pre-interview research in areas that you’re looking to get a job in.

Many UK newspapers allow access to recent content free via their websites. However, the Library provides some excellent newspaper sources that allow you to search simply and easily across many newspapers at once. All of these sources can be found through Library Search .

The University offers more than 350 databases that you as a student can search through. Using either Library Search or the Databases web page, you can search by subject and look for resources tailored to you and your course. The Library offers databases for Newspapers, Dissertations, Theses and many other categories depending on your subject need.

Your Academic Support Librarian can help you use databases effectively.

Audiobooks & Ebooks

The new Audio Books Collection in The Library consists of many titles, and novels. These Audio Books are expected to assist our visually impaired students’ access to resources. Academics are also showing an interest in purchasing Audio Books for Reading lists to assist students with their learning.

The University offers more than 825,000 Ebooks titles that are accessible from any device, anywhere, any time! You don’t have to wait for physical copies to come off loan or wait for requests to go through. You can also write notes on the Ebooks and print them out for studying and later use. Another helpful feature is being able to search for keywords without having to read through the book to find specific content.

Seriously, you can watch films as part of your studies! Film and television offer brilliant, engaging, and valuable sources across subject areas. With more than tens of thousands of films and television programs, we’d really recommend you explore our online television and film databases Kanopy and Box of Broadcasts .

Included are classic documentaries on social and political issues like Harlan Country USA , and a vast number of in-depth video courses through The Great Courses .

The Library also holds specialist online video collections. Sage Video: Counselling and Psychotherapy offers over 130 hours of tutorials, interviews, and counselling demonstrations.

And if you’re still doing it the old fashioned way, The Library stocks a plethora of DVDs which you can search using Library Search .

Dissertations & Theses

During the course of your studies, you may find that you need to search for dissertations or theses. There are many reasons why using this type of research can be useful. Maybe you would like to see what other research has been undertaken in relation to your topic? Or perhaps you would like to see what a dissertation or thesis looks like?  

You can access dissertations and theses by previous University of Salford students using the ‘Advanced Search’ option in Library Search . Take a look at our  University of Salford e-theses collection which covers mostly PhD level research.

There are a number of  dissertation and theses databases  you can use to find dissertations and theses from other academic institutions. You can also access these through  Library Search .   

Some of the databases you can access include: 

• EBSCO Open Dissertations
• EThOS – Electronic Theses Online System
• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

Find out more about the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database on our blog post:  ProQuest Dissertations and Theses – You can do more

Popular resources

Some individual resources that are popular are:

• Macmillan Social Work Tool – An online toolkit of resources which helps Social Work students develop the knowledge, core skills and confidence to succeed on their course and placements.
• Birds of the World – A powerful resource that brings deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology into a single platform.
• Business Source Ultimate – Provides access to more than 3,500 full text journals (including Harvard Business Review), industry and company profiles, trade publications, case studies and SWOT analyses.

This blog is written by library staff at the University of Salford. We're here to help you make the most of your studies.

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Salford Public Health

A blog from the Public Health team at the University of Salford

The combined effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and childhood trauma: findings from a four-year research project at the University of Salford.

By Alan Price, PhD

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the range of conditions that can be caused by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). People with FASD can have a wide range of physical and mental difficulties, especially with planning, attention, impulsivity, coordination, social communication, emotional arousal, and memory. These difficulties can impact daily living, school, work, social relationships, and long-term health and wellbeing. In the UK, it is estimated that at least 3%, and possibly up to 17% of the population would qualify for a diagnosis on the foetal alcohol spectrum, although the majority will never be diagnosed. FASD has been known about for several decades but does not yet receive appropriate attention in schools and universities, meaning that many doctors, teachers, social workers and other professionals are not trained to spot the signs of FASD. This can leave children and adults with FASD struggling with the academic and social demands of everyday life without the support they need. Unsupported , people with FASD are more likely to be excluded from school, lose their job, struggle with addictions, and be convicted of a crime. FASD is thought to be especially common in looked after and adopted children and care leavers. Many of these individuals also have histories of traumatic experiences such as abuse or neglect in early childhood, which are also known to lead to developmental difficulties similar to those seen in FASD.

I came to the University of Salford in 2015 to conduct research on the combined effects of PAE and childhood trauma. The project was offered as a funded PhD in partnership with the National FASD clinic in Surrey. I had just completed my degree in psychology and already had some experience in alcohol research, but like many others I had never heard of FASD. The first stage of the project was a thorough review of the published literature on FASD and trauma. I was surprised to see that very little research had been published on the combined effects of both exposures, only five studies in fact, but there did seem to be an interesting pattern of results emerging. Taken together, the studies suggested that children with both PAE and trauma were functionally similar to children with just PAE but tended to have more difficulties than children with just trauma. This suggests that, where children have both exposures, PAE is more likely to be the primary driving force behind those children’s difficulties. The published studies had tended to focus on speech, language and communication, but other areas of functioning still needed to be addressed. Therefore, during the next stage of the project I conducted studies into brain functioning, intelligence, working memory (the ability to hold and manipulate information in the short-term), inhibitory control (the ability to stop oneself from performing an action that feels natural), empathy (an understanding of the perspective and emotional state of other people) and behavioural difficulties in children with PAE, about half of whom also had a history of trauma. I was interested to see whether the children with both exposures had similar or more severe difficulties than the children with just PAE.

Since FASD is largely a hidden condition , I suspected that recruitment of participants would be challenging. Most of my participants were recruited via social media, especially online FASD support groups, which had been set up by families affected by FASD to provide mutual support and information. In order to access as many participants as possible, I used an anonymous online questionnaire to ask parents and carers about their children’s PAE, trauma, empathy and behavioural problems. The strategy worked, and 245 parents or carers completed the questionnaire, many more than I had expected. As well as UK respondents, many were from the United States and Canada, which reflected the populations of the online support groups. To make as much use as possible out of the participants, I invited the UK respondents to bring their children in for some further assessments. Many of the families lived outside of the Greater Manchester area where we are based, and I only had funding to offer £10 for travel expenses, but an amazing 25 families affected by FASD came into the university, some travelling hundreds of miles at their own expense to get here. In the lab, I used a brain-imaging technology called functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fnirs) to look at brain activity, a standard IQ test to measure intelligence, and puzzles to assess working memory and inhibitory control. Finally, I also conducted interviews with 12 parents and caregivers, to explore their experiences of raising a child or children with FASD.

The results of the questionnaire and lab studies between them supported the findings of the literature review. Children with both PAE and trauma had similar brain activity, intelligence, empathy, inhibitory control, and working memory to children with just PAE. In terms of behavioural difficulties, children with both exposures had a slight tendency to have more severe conduct problems than children with just PAE, but their emotional functioning was similar. The studies also showed that children with PAE have high levels of childhood trauma, severe behavioural difficulties and poor empathy compared to typically developing children, although intelligence, working memory and inhibitory control were within the average range. In the interviews, parents’ experiences were fairly consistent, and there was little difference between the experiences of parents of children with and without trauma. I asked parents about their children’s behavioural difficulties, which I expected would be described as stress inducing. This was the case, although parents also described many positive experiences. However, even though I didn’t specifically ask, every family described some level of stress caused by dealing with service providers. Doctors and other healthcare workers often didn’t understand and were unable or reluctant to diagnose FASD. Adoption agencies and social workers were accused of playing down the impact of PAE in order to secure a placement, then leaving families to deal with FASD with no specific support or training. Parents and children were offered services designed for trauma and attachment issues, even when children had no history of trauma. There was a widespread lack of understanding and lack of services designed to deal with FASD, and this seemed to be the most stressful part of their experiences. 

Taken together, the results of the published studies, questionnaires, lab studies and interviews show that children with both PAE and a history of trauma appear to function similarly to children with just PAE and tend to have more severe difficulties than children with just trauma. Therefore, the difficulties seen in children with both of these exposures seem to be primarily caused by PAE rather than childhood trauma. Based on these findings, my recommendation would be that children seen in care, school, or in a medical setting, who have both PAE and a history of trauma, should be thought of more as a child with FASD than a child with a history of trauma. The trauma absolutely should not be overlooked, as it will definitely have had an impact, but in terms of interventions, therapies and strategies, those designed specifically for FASD may be more effective than those designed for trauma. These conclusions have led to a new project; my colleagues and I are currently developing a parent training programme designed specifically for FASD issues, something which is currently missing in the UK. The full thesis is available in the University of Salford institutional repository.

Twitter:  @alandavidprice1

Email:  [email protected]

2 thoughts on “The combined effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and childhood trauma: findings from a four-year research project at the University of Salford.”

Hello Deanne, thank you for this comment! We are extremely pleased to hear that the research is practically helpful. Please also see our main site for reporting on our FASD research: https://hub.salford.ac.uk/fasd/ . With best wishes from the Salford FASD Research Team

I have just attended a FASD training session by Martin Clarke from TACT. He gave a link to your research. I have found this both fasinating and practically helpful in trying to understand the impact of trauma and attachment issues and exploring PAE in the children I currently look after as a foster carer.

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Emerging digital banking service quality dimensions and their impact on elderly customer satisfaction and engagement: a study in Sri Lankan context

Gunaratne, t.

T Gunaratne

Contributors

T Rashid [email protected] Supervisor

This research is based on the impact of emerging digital banking service quality dimensions on elderly customer satisfaction and engagement in Sri Lankan context. Security and privacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived personalization and web aesthetics have been identified as the emerging service qualities in this new age of digital banking. Research on emerging service quality dimensions has become very crucial to both academics and practitioners; however, very little scholarly research has directed service marketers as to how they can influence on elderly customer satisfaction and engagement. In recognition of these current gaps of knowledge, this thesis investigates three research gaps that are addressed through three research questions. First, the research explores how security and privacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived personalization and web aesthetics influence the elderly customer satisfaction (RQ1). Second, the research investigates the influence of perceived personalization on elderly customer engagement (RQ2). Third, it investigates the impact of in-person engagement and digital engagement on elderly customer satisfaction (RQ3). To address the three research questions, research in this thesis employed a theory building study, followed by a theory-testing study, using a mixed-method approach. Study one used convergent interview method to collect data from 30 elderly customers who are engaged with a digital banking service provider for more than 6 months. The study qualitatively explored the interviewees’ perceptions of the security and privacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived personalization, web aesthetics, in-person engagement and digital engagement. Study two collected data from digital banking customers (above the age of 60) of two leading retail banks in Sri Lanka, resulting in a sample of n=275. The data was collected using a web-based survey that contained 28 items. The factors contained in the conceptual model were drawn from both the literature and the theory-building study. The measurement items were drawn from prior research and thematic findings. Five-point Likert scale was used to measure the items. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was then used to analyse the hypothesized relationships in the model. Four out of nine hypothesized relationships were supported by the results of this theory-testing study The results of the study confirm that, all the five service quality dimensions identified (security and privacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, web aesthetics and perceived personalisation) are distinct constructs. The results also indicate that all five service quality dimensions have appropriate reliability and each dimension has a significant correlation with other dimensions and make a significant influence on digital banking habits of elderly customers on digital platform. Findings suggest that the perceived usefulness is the key driver of elderly customer satisfaction on digital banking, followed by in-person engagement, perceived personalization, security and privacy, perceived ease of use and web aesthetics respectively. It means that elderly customers are more satisfied and engaged if the digital banking service provider augment the value proposition of digital banking with a clear understanding of the special needs they have. In other words, elderly customers are willing to engage and learn more on digital banking and have a much better and fully fledged customer experience on digital platform. Key words: Service quality dimensions, digital banking, perceived - personalization, engagement and usefulness, customer satisfaction, in-person and digital engagement.

Gunaratne, T. (2022). Emerging digital banking service quality dimensions and their impact on elderly customer satisfaction and engagement: a study in Sri Lankan context. (Thesis). University of Salford

Thesis_FV 02.04.23.pdf (3 Mb) PDF

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