William Ellery Samuels | Hunter College, CUNY (original) (raw)

Papers by William Ellery Samuels

International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences

Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology

Executive functions (EFs) help regulate and direct thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. They also p... more Executive functions (EFs) help regulate and direct thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. They also play vital roles in many areas of life. However, few studies address the role EFs play in adolescents’ lives, including their academic performance. We investigated the effects of EFs on standardized exams in mathematics, reading, and English language arts. The main findings were that: 1) adolescents’ EFs—especially when measured by their current teachers—predict performance on standardized academic assessments throughout the middle and high school grades; 2) this effect existed among a rather diverse sample of students both with and without diagnosed disabilities; 3) the predictiveness of EFs tended to increase across these grades when measured by the teachers, but not those gauged by the students themselves; and 4) EFs were somewhat more strongly associated with performance on standardized reading and English language arts exams than on math exams. In addition, students who identified as...

Nursing Ethics

Background Licensed nurses working in long-term care facilities experience ethical challenges if ... more Background Licensed nurses working in long-term care facilities experience ethical challenges if not resolved can lead to moral distress. There is a lack of an English-language validated tool to adequately measure moral distress in the long-term care setting. Aims To describe the modification and psychometric evaluation of the Moral Distress Questionnaire. Methods Instrument development and psychometric evaluation. Internal consistency using Cronbach’s α to establish reliability was conducted using SPSS version 27.0 while SPSS Amos version 27.0 was used to perform a confirmatory factor analysis of the Moral Distress Questionnaire Participants A national sample of US-licensed nurses who provided direct resident care in long-term care settings were recruited via a targeted sampling method using Facebook from 7 December 2020 to 7 March 2021. Ethical Consideration The study was approved by the university’s human research protection program. Informed consent was provided to all participa...

Nursing Science Quarterly, Mar 24, 2017

A confirmatory factor analysis of data from the responses of 12,436 patients to 16 items on the C... more A confirmatory factor analysis of data from the responses of 12,436 patients to 16 items on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems-Hospital survey was used to test a latent factor structure based on Peplau's middle-range theory of interpersonal relations. A twofactor model based on Peplau's theory fit these data well, whereas a three-factor model also based on Peplau's theory fit them excellently and provided a suitable alternate factor structure for the data. Though neither the two-nor three-factor model fit as well as the original factor structure, these results support using Peplau's theory to demonstrate nursing's extensive contribution to the experiences of hospitalized patients.

Health emergency and disaster nursing, 2023

Aim: This research evaluated the effect of a nurse-facilitated intervention on elderly or medical... more Aim: This research evaluated the effect of a nurse-facilitated intervention on elderly or medically frail community members' level of household emergency preparedness as measured in knowledge, actions taken, and supplies gathered. These community members had access and functional needs that must be accommodated during disasters to mitigate their increased risk of injury, illness, and death because of the disaster. With adequate preparedness, it is plausible these community members may survive the aftermath of a disaster without needing assistance from disaster responders. Methods: This was a non-randomized, single group, before-after feasibility study (N = 31) conducted in a one-on-one session with a nurse interventionist in an urban community setting in the United States of America. We used the Household Emergency Preparedness Instrument to measure intervention effectiveness and a Participant Experience Survey to evaluate participant satisfaction with the intervention. The intervention included an educational booklet that provided instruction to participants on how to create a disaster-related evacuation and communication plan and identify community resources. Upon completion of the booklet, participants received a complimentary disaster supply kit. Results: Mean general preparedness scores increased from 5.5 (SD = 4.1) pre-intervention to 20.2 (SD = 3.1) post-intervention (p < .001). Preparedness in all sub-scales also increased significantly (all ps < .001). Conclusions: Study findings provide support for the feasibility of the intervention to increase all measured aspects of emergency preparedness (knowledge, behaviors, and supplies) among elderly and medically frail adults with access and functional needs during disasters.

Journal of Nursing Measurement, Jun 20, 2022

Background and Purpose:We evaluated the construct validity of the Genetics and Genomics Nursing P... more Background and Purpose:We evaluated the construct validity of the Genetics and Genomics Nursing Practice Survey by investigating the factoral structure, while attempting to account for varied response structures of the items.Methods:Exploratory factor analyses provided insights into item loadings. Confirmatory factor analyses and a version of common methods bias analyses evaluated construct validity while considering the instrument’s structural limitations. Structural equation models provided information regarding model fit.Results:The 7-factor model fit these data slightly better (AIC ≈ 169,405; RMSEA = .052) than did the 5-factor model (AIC ≈ 183,599; RMSEA = .063). Neither the CFI or TLI met commonly-accepted thresholds for adequate model fits.Conclusion:The response format of the GGNPS created challenges in evaluating the instrument for construct validity. Nonetheless, these results support the theory-based construct validity of the GGNPS.

Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners

Journal of Nursing Measurement

International Journal of Educational Research, 2018

Research suggests that school-based programs can increase the frequencies of children's prosocial... more Research suggests that school-based programs can increase the frequencies of children's prosocial behaviors. However, extant research nearly exclusively studies relatively small studies in Western schools. Through a large evaluation conducted over 3 separate years in 25 public elementary schools in 5 cities across eastern China, we tested whether the Caring for Life humane education program-which employs animal-and nature-related content and activities-improved the prosociality of first and second grade students. Students who participated in the program displayed significantly greater gains in prosociality than similar students who didn't. Students who participated in an expanded version of the program appeared to realize even greater gains. The study supports the ability of school-based programs to benefit children in the vast but understudied area of humane education in non-Western cultures.

The European Educational Researcher, 2019

Executive functions (EFs) show promise as important mediators of adolescent academic performance.... more Executive functions (EFs) show promise as important mediators of adolescent academic performance. However, the expense of measuring EFs accurately has restricted most field-based research on them to smaller, non-longitudinal studies of homogeneous populations with specific diagnoses. We therefore monitored the development of 259 diverse, at-risk students' EFs as they progressed from 6th through 12th grade. Teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) for a random subset of their students. At that same time, those same students completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Self Report (BRIEF-SR) about themselves; teachers generally reported stronger EFs in students than students reported in themselves. Results further indicated that both BRIEF and BRIEF-SR Global Executive Composite (GEC) scores-measures of overall executive functioning-significantly predicted overall GPAs more than was already predicted by students' gender, IEP status, and eligibility for free/reduced school lunch. BRIEF (teacher) scores were better predictors and contributed more to predictive accuracy than the BRIEF-SR (student) scores; BRIEF scores even added additional predictiveness to a model already containing BRIEF-SR scores, while the reverse did not hold. This study provides evidence for valid use of BRIEF and BRIEF-SR GEC scores to predict middle and high school GPAs, thereby supporting practitioners use for this purpose within similar, diverse, at-risk populations. The study also illuminates some of the EF development for this population during adolescence.

Action in Teacher Education, 2016

This study compared changes in attitudes toward inclusion and efficacy of 98 general and 76 speci... more This study compared changes in attitudes toward inclusion and efficacy of 98 general and 76 special education students completing their master's degree. Data were collected at the beginning of the program, at the end of the first semester-upon completion of an Introduction to Inclusion course-and at the end of the program. Results indicated that, though attitudes toward inclusion became significantly more positive among special education students throughout the program, general education students' attitudes became significantly more positive only after completion of the inclusion course but later significantly regressed. These findings support those of other studies that demonstrate improvements of attitudes after one course. Efficacy scores followed a similar pattern for general and special education students with significant increases from the beginning to the end of the program. Implications for elementary education programs for general educators are discussed, taking into account that all teachers should be prepared to teach all students.

The Journal of Educational Research, 2016

ABSTRACT Executive functioning (EF) is a strong predictor of children's and adolescents' ... more ABSTRACT Executive functioning (EF) is a strong predictor of children's and adolescents' academic performance. Although research indicates that EF can increase during childhood and adolescence, few studies have tracked the effect of EF on academic performance throughout the middle school grades. EF was measured at the end of Grades 6–9 through 21 teachers' and 22 teacher assistants' assessments of 322 adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds who attended an urban, chartered middle/high school. Assessment of EF was done through the completion of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). BRIEF global executive composite scores (GEC) predicted both current and future English/language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and Spanish annual grade point averages (GPAs). The effect of BRIEF GEC scores often overshadowed the effects of gender, poverty, and having an individual education plan; the other, non–BRIEF-related effects retained slightly more impact among teacher assistant–derived data than teacher-derived data. The strong relationships between BRIEF GEC scores and these GPAs also remained constant over these 4 years: There was little evidence that EF changed over the measured grades or that the relationship between EF and grades itself regularly changed. The findings indicate that EF scores during early middle grades can well predict academic performance in subsequent secondary-school grades. Although methodological constraints may have impeded the abilities of other factors (i.e., poverty) to be significantly related to GPAs, the effects of EF were strong and robust enough to prompt us to recommend its use to guide long-term, academic interventions.

Frontiers in Veterinary Science

CAIs (canine-assisted interventions) include “canine-assisted therapy” in which a therapist sets ... more CAIs (canine-assisted interventions) include “canine-assisted therapy” in which a therapist sets client-oriented goals, 'canine-assisted activities' with recreational goals for clients, and 'canine-assisted education/learning' in which teachers or coaches create learning goals for students or clients. CAIs vary in nearly every way; their only common trait is the involvement of dogs to respond to human need. However, the benefits of involving dogs are highly dependent on the animal's health and behavior. A dog exhibiting negative behavior or an unwell dog might pose a risk, especially for CAI target groups, specifically individuals with immunosuppression, chronic illness, children, elderly, etc. Therefore, positive animal welfare as preventative medicine to avoid incidents or transmission of zoonosis is an attractive hypothesis, with implications for human and animal, health and well-being. This review aims to summarize the current published knowledge regarding di...

Journal of Applied Animal Ethics Research

Although animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) share specific characteristics, their differences c... more Although animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) share specific characteristics, their differences can be quite significant (Lajoie, 2003). Most research on AAIs focuses on the human side (Muñoz Lasa et al., 2011). The autonomy and well-being of the animals involved are seldom studied, as well as the possible values of conflict between humans and animals (Glenk, 2017). The COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world starting in 2019–2020, greatly affected human-animal interaction projects, such as animal-assisted interventions (Kumar et al., 2020). To control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, several (inter)national organisations, came up with new safety protocols. We focus on scientific insights and anecdotal observations, as well as the ethical implications of the COVID-19 safety protocols on AAIs in Belgium and Italy. The paper aims to give the reader an insight into the complexity of AAIs and its future relevance for developing protocols to handle the current and maybe future pandem...

Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 2010

having established that the number of dogs in the kennel (n 5 8-13) did not correlate with measur... more having established that the number of dogs in the kennel (n 5 8-13) did not correlate with measures of noise intensity or habituation. Mean time taken for the dogs to habituate (692.5s vs 358.8s) and number of vocalization bouts (29 vs 13.75) were both significantly (p , 0.05) greater in the transparent conditions. There was no difference between the two conditions in the mean volume (58.61dB vs 60.23dB) or peak volume (85.7 vs 88.2dB) during habituation. The long term effects and the general applicability of this intervention have not been assessed, but deserve investigation as they might offer a simple way to reduce the amount of barking in kennels.