Date of Award

Summer 8-22-2026

Document Type

Dissertation in Practice

Degree Name

Ed.D. in Higher Education

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Higher Education

First Advisor

Michele Tyson

Second Advisor

Sarah Hurtado

Third Advisor

Laura Sponsler

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Arts-based research, Black-out poetry, Higher education staff, Professional staff, Well-being, Wellness

Abstract

It is well documented that burnout and low levels of employee wellness have negative effects upon employees as well as the organizations that employ them (Gallup, 2019; Maurer, 2024; Wright & Bonett, 2007). This study was a program evaluation of the C2 Initiatives program via a constructivist paradigm, responsive evaluation approach, and summative outcome evaluation. The NWI’s Six Dimensions of Wellness model was utilized as the theoretical framework of the study and arts-based research was used as the conceptual framework.

Participants were given documents from the C2 Initiatives program as a text base to create blackout poetry, a type of found poetry that utilizes existing text or documents to create new meaning. The purpose of this study was to reflect upon the C2 Initiatives program and its effectiveness through exploring stories of individual and collective wellness among professional staff in Department A at West University.

The first research question of the study was: “Which area(s) of the Six Dimensions of Wellness model did the C2 Initiatives program influence the most when looking at professional staff as a collective population?” Of the six dimensions, Occupational, Spiritual, Social, Emotional, Physical, and Intellectual, this study found that the area influenced the most was primarily Occupational (with Emotional being the second most frequent categorization) and secondary areas were the Social and Spiritual dimensions. A central goal of the C2 Initiatives program was to increase the Social dimension of wellness by building community between faculty, staff, and doctoral student populations. However this study found that while the program helped build community between staff, participants did not believe it improved the Social dimension of wellness between faculty, staff, and doctoral student populations. The second research question asked: “How do professional staff make meaning of their individual state of wellness?” Professional staff made meaning through three different approaches: Actions, Feelings, and Ideas. Within these categories, themes arose relating to leadership dissatisfaction, academic hierarchy, separation, and stratification, job satisfaction, and opportunities for community.

This study demonstrated the importance of considering the Six Dimensions of Wellness in higher education programs evaluation. It also provides an example of how arts-based research methods can be used in conjunction with program evaluation. This study suggests grassroots change and collective leadership as a way to create systemic change to prevent faculty and staff burnout for sustainable cultures of wellness in higher education.

Copyright Date

8-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Freyja Hofler

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

162 pgs

File Size

1.3 MB

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