Sense of Belonging Among First-Generation College Students: Studies of Instruments Validation and Program Evaluation
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| Veröffentlicht in: | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (2025) |
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| Abstract: | Sense of belonging (SB) greatly influences student success, notably in the case of first-generation college students (FGCS) who usually struggle with the complexity of higher education. The purpose of this dissertation is to delve into the concept of SB with the help of three interconnected studies: a scoping review of instruments to measure the sense of belonging, an evaluation of the River Hawk Scholars Academy (RHSA) Support Pod Program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), and an instrument validation study that was done to confirm the psychometric properties of four SB-adapted instruments tailored to FGCS.The first study is a scoping review of 15 SB instruments in higher education that have been utilized to highlight key theoretical frameworks, psychometric properties, and validation methods. This review follows the scoping review protocols to extract the SB conceptual definitions and their corresponding measurement instruments. The paper reports that among the identified 15 instruments, 60% of multi-dimensional instruments were used. However, none of these instruments are tailored to FGCS, indicating the need for validated instruments to capture the experiences of students from various backgrounds, e.g., FGCS.Expanding on the previous research on SB measurement, the second study is designed to evaluate the RHSA Support Pod Program’s impact on improving students’ SB, academic planning, financial agency, and other important outcomes among FGCS. The participants involved are 433 freshmen FGCS who enrolled in the RHSA program. This research followed Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model. It utilized a mixed method to analyze the secondary data, pre- and post-survey comparisons, support pod feedback surveys, and focus group interviews. The pre- and post-survey survey analysis included responses collected from 212 students from the pre-survey and 369 students from the post-survey. Additionally, 103 students from both pre- and post-survey. Furthermore, open-ended and pod feedback survey responses were analyzed using text mining, providing a more vivid picture of the students’ SB understanding and the program’s influence. The study reveals that most students were quite supportive of the RHSA Support Pod Program as it facilitated their SB and connected them with academic advisors and career services. However, based on students’ pre- and post-survey responses, they still face challenges like academic pressure, mental health issues, and financial worries, with commuters mainly being the ones affected. Faculty advocates (FAs) echoed most of the viewpoints and acknowledged that the program had created a conducive learning environment and offered academic help. However, they also expressed reservations about student engagement in class. Both interviewed students and FAs agreed on the areas where the program could be improved: a change in the session structure, making the sessions more interactive between students-students and students-FAs, and providing a more available support system to enhance the program’s impact.The third study provided psychometric properties of four adapted SB instruments tailored to FCGS. Specifically, the psychometric evidence includes Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Cronbach’s alpha, and Correlation Tests to assess the reliability and validity of four SB instruments from the evaluation data: perceived peer inclusion, university support, and acceptance, belonging to RHSA, and belonging to UML. This study utilizes the 103 matched pre- and post-survey responses from the second study. The findings found that 1) EFA results support the one-factor structure in each instrument that can be used independently to measure different facets of FGCS’s SB. 2) The Cronbach’s alpha range is between .714 to .905, indicating a high internal consistency. 3) The correlation test with all positive scores and the correlation coefficients under 0.6 supports the EFA results that these four adapted instruments can measure the specific aspects of the SB. Therefore, these adapted instruments tailored to FGCS can be used to evaluate and strengthen programs in the area of FGCS.  |
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| ISBN: | 9798280723757 |
| Quelle: | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global |