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Parents' Experiences Of Camp For Siblings Of Pediatric Oncology Patients, Kristen Lauren Krueger May 2020

Parents' Experiences Of Camp For Siblings Of Pediatric Oncology Patients, Kristen Lauren Krueger

MSU Graduate Theses

The diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer is oftentimes a stressful experience for individuals other than the patient, such as parents and siblings of pediatric oncology patients. Parents and siblings may be impacted in many ways, but there are interventions to help. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand parents’ lived experiences of having a child who has attended a camp designed for siblings of pediatric oncology patients. Parents (n=5) of siblings that have attended camp for siblings were interviewed with open-ended questions. Data was analyzed using phenomenology procedures. Results from this study indicated that mothers and fathers …


Development And Validation Of Implicit Measures Of Organizational Climate, Kailey Ann Meyer May 2020

Development And Validation Of Implicit Measures Of Organizational Climate, Kailey Ann Meyer

MSU Graduate Theses

Organizational climate is the shared perceptions that employees hold about their experiences in the workplace. The current research on organizational climate relies upon explicit (self-report) measures, which can be contaminated by impression management and inaccurate self-knowledge artifacts. This research used Implicit Association Test (IAT) procedures to develop implicit measures of selected aspects of organizational climate. The study examined the relationships of the implicit organizational climate measures with theoretically related explicit measures according to a multitrait-multimethod design. A series of confirmatory factor analyses of latent trait models were used to assess convergent and discriminant validity evidence. While results provided some construct …


Evaluating Correlations Between The Peak Equivalence And Transformation Assessments With Intelligence Quotient Scores And The Relational Acquisition Of Skills In Children With Autism, Hannah L. Wallace May 2020

Evaluating Correlations Between The Peak Equivalence And Transformation Assessments With Intelligence Quotient Scores And The Relational Acquisition Of Skills In Children With Autism, Hannah L. Wallace

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate correlations between PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessment scores to Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores in children with autism. An assessment called the Relational Acquisition of Skills in Children with autism (RASC) was created as a pilot test. This method was used to test relational responding in young children with autism. The scores of this assessment were correlated with scores obtained using PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessments and IQ. It was found that PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessments had a strong positive correlation with IQ. No significant relationship between the Relational Acquisition of …


Effects Of Chair Testing In Orchestra On Student Motivation: Student Perspectives And Applications From Motivational Theories, Rosanna Christine Honeycutt May 2020

Effects Of Chair Testing In Orchestra On Student Motivation: Student Perspectives And Applications From Motivational Theories, Rosanna Christine Honeycutt

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how string students perceive achievement on chair testing through the lens of attribution and achievement goal motivational self-theories. A teacher survey was administered to identify the goals of chair testing in two high school and seven middle school orchestra classrooms. A student survey was used to collect data in those same classrooms on (a) the reasons why students do and do not do well on chair tests, (b) the perceived goals of chair testing and (c) the ratings of motivation and self-achievement. Qualitative techniques were used to analyze attributions within both …


Evaluating The Construct Validity Of The Peak Comprehensive Assessment: Measuring Language And Cognition, Nicole Rae Mcdonald May 2020

Evaluating The Construct Validity Of The Peak Comprehensive Assessment: Measuring Language And Cognition, Nicole Rae Mcdonald

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of the current study was to conduct a pilot investigation of the internal construct validity of the four modules of the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA). The PCA has been developed through robust research over the past five years (Dixon et al. 2017) and is designed to evaluate language and cognitive skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, including neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although the PCA contains four modules exemplifying four distinct learning processes (Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, and Relational Learning), these four processes may represent one singular learning construct, described loosely as “executive functioning” or “cognitive …


Does Aging Identity Moderate The Impact Of Experiences With Familial Ageism On Well-Being?, Emily E. Kinkade May 2020

Does Aging Identity Moderate The Impact Of Experiences With Familial Ageism On Well-Being?, Emily E. Kinkade

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to begin investigating the effects of ageism in the family context. The current literature has documented the negative impacts that negative stereotypes and negative perceptions of aging has on older adults’ health, mortality, and well-being (Levy, 1996; Levy, 2003). However, the majority of extant research on ageism focuses on age discrimination in the workplace and in healthcare despite the majority of peoples’ time being spent in the family context. Therefore examining experiences of ageism sourced from family members merits study. Walker, Bisconti and Kinkade (in preparation) found evidence that the experience of ageism within …


Delay And Geographic Discounting Exert Multiple Control Over Climate Change Policy Preference, Celeste Noelle Unnerstall May 2020

Delay And Geographic Discounting Exert Multiple Control Over Climate Change Policy Preference, Celeste Noelle Unnerstall

MSU Graduate Theses

The procedures were informed by a pilot investigation conducted by this research team that is described below. In the primary study, students attending Missouri State University chose between a policy with no restrictions or taxation on their carbon emissions versus a restriction on the amount of mileage driven per month and taxation related to the mileage. The main study also included an added variable of the influence a redistribution taxation policy into different geographic distances would have on policy preference. Results were interpreted in terms of a multilevel hyperbolic discounting model using the “R” program. The results suggest that there …


A Pilot Investigation Of The Relationship Between Derived Relational Responding And Challenging Behavior Function, Kaitlin N. Beason May 2020

A Pilot Investigation Of The Relationship Between Derived Relational Responding And Challenging Behavior Function, Kaitlin N. Beason

MSU Graduate Theses

The study evaluated the relationship between participants derived relational responding across arbitrary stimuli and parent or teacher endorsed functions of challenging behavior as assessed on the Questions About Behavior Function (QABF). Supplemental analyses were conducted to directly observe the frequency and intensity of challenging behavior using the Challenging Behavior Index (CBI), as week as direct observation of presenting autism symptoms in session using the PEAK Autism Symptoms and Behavioral Observation Summary (PAS-BOS). Derived relational responding was assessed using the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Equivalence Pre-Assessment (PEAK-E-PA) and the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Transformation Pre-Assessment (PEAK-T-PA) taking …


A Needs Assessment For The Utilization Of Child Life Specialist Bereavement Support Services In An Emergency Veterinary Hospital Setting, Jared R. Negin-Fryers May 2020

A Needs Assessment For The Utilization Of Child Life Specialist Bereavement Support Services In An Emergency Veterinary Hospital Setting, Jared R. Negin-Fryers

MSU Graduate Theses

Studies indicate that there is an affective attachment bond, and related emotional involvement that exists between the companion animal and their human owners. Patient companion-animal death within the veterinary hospital, is a daily occurrence, with death rates per patient being significantly higher than in human health care. This comparatively higher death rate is due to the commonplace utilization of professionally sanctioned euthanasia to relieve animal pain and suffering. Companion animal death, may elicit grief reactions that are identical to what is experienced upon the death of a family member. A void currently exists in family centered veterinary care in terms …


The Effectiveness Of Implementing A Collaborative Mental Health Approach On Quality Of Life For Individuals Of Low Socioeconomic Status, Tyler Z. Tooley May 2020

The Effectiveness Of Implementing A Collaborative Mental Health Approach On Quality Of Life For Individuals Of Low Socioeconomic Status, Tyler Z. Tooley

MSU Graduate Theses

The ultimate purpose of this study is to provide insight and education to mental health clinicians, politicians and the general public of the numerous effects poverty has on mental health, in addition to the most beneficial ways to combat those insidious effects. The specific barriers met by individuals of low socioeconomic status severely affect psychological and physical health, as well as social and environmental relationships, which therefore diminish overall quality of life. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of implementing a collaborative mental health approach for low income individuals on length of engagement in services and …


Diversity Pep-Talk: Finding Strengths In Differences – An Examination Of Diversity Workshops In Middle School, Taylor S. Smith May 2020

Diversity Pep-Talk: Finding Strengths In Differences – An Examination Of Diversity Workshops In Middle School, Taylor S. Smith

MSU Graduate Theses

Negative views regarding diversity can lead to bullying, decreased empathy, and overall detrimental academic and social environments. The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate diversity workshops designed to raise awareness about and illuminate barriers among middle school children that manufacture from real and/or perceived differences. These workshops utilized activities that fostered communication between students about diversity but also the commonalities among themselves. A goal of the discussions was to prevent issues associated with infrequent peer group intermingling, because infrequent contact can result in diminished empathy, unmet basic needs, and reduced effectiveness of contact hypothesis. Specifically, the design …


Goal-Setting And Prompting To Increase Id-Checking Behavior, Samantha N. Carton May 2020

Goal-Setting And Prompting To Increase Id-Checking Behavior, Samantha N. Carton

MSU Graduate Theses

Credit card fraud is an important issue that occurs in many different business settings and locations across the world (Federal Trade Commission, 2018). The United States shifted to the use of Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) system to help with this issue but credit card fraud continues unabated. ID-checking is infrequently performed by employees when customers are purchasing items with debit/credit cards and results in an increase in fraudulent charges that cost businesses and consumers a considerable amount of time, frustration, and money. Two studies (Geller 1997; Geller 2001) showed that by using goal-setting, feedback, prompting, and utilizing managerial involvement …


Does Change In Anxiety Predict Changes In Metacognitions?, Heather Lynn Clark Aug 2019

Does Change In Anxiety Predict Changes In Metacognitions?, Heather Lynn Clark

MSU Graduate Theses

In recent years an increasing number of studies have examined anxiety-related metacognitive beliefs and their relationship to anxiety disorder diagnoses and treatment outcome. However, no study to date has examined changes in metacognitive beliefs following induced anxiety. The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between changes in state anxiety and worry-related metacognitive beliefs. Participants completed baseline measures of anxiety and metacognitions before either being exposed to a control stimulus or worry-inducing stimulus. Following exposure participants completed anxiety and metacognition measures once again. Group means comparison analyses and correlations are reported. Results suggest state anxiety can be …


The Use Of An Individualized Levels System And Extinction To Increase Task Compliance And To Decrease Aggressive Behavior With A Child With Autism, Savanna A. Chojnacki Aug 2019

The Use Of An Individualized Levels System And Extinction To Increase Task Compliance And To Decrease Aggressive Behavior With A Child With Autism, Savanna A. Chojnacki

MSU Graduate Theses

In a token economy level system, as an individual progresses from one task level to the next, there is an increase in the demand of tasks and an increase in the magnitude of reinforcers earned. The motivation for the individual in level systems stems from the increasing of value of reinforcers earned at each level. In this study a level system in concordance with an extinction procedure for aggressive behaviors was employed as a behavioral intervention. In this single-subject design study, a 5-year-old boy with autism was observed across a variety of 15 minute teaching sessions, implementing synchronously, the reinforcement …


Expertise Within Working Memory And Fluid Intellgence, Addie Wikowsky Aug 2019

Expertise Within Working Memory And Fluid Intellgence, Addie Wikowsky

MSU Graduate Theses

Working memory, fluid intelligence, and expertise are all psychological concepts that have been explored in the field. Working memory, defined by Baddeley (1986), is the temporary storage of stimuli presented to a person. The relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence is a common theme among studies. Fluid intelligence is one of the components of general intelligence (g). Specifically, fluid intelligence can be described as being able to adapt thinking, even with no previous knowledge (Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Perrig, 2008). Expertise is another critical factor in these studies and is the acquisition of knowledge and being able to apply …


Learning To Relax: The Impact Of Brief Biofeedback Training On Salivary Cortisol Reduction, Dallas N. Robinson Aug 2019

Learning To Relax: The Impact Of Brief Biofeedback Training On Salivary Cortisol Reduction, Dallas N. Robinson

MSU Graduate Theses

Chronic stress has been linked to several health related and psychological problems. There is evidence that relaxation techniques can be useful in the reduction of stress and psychological complaints. Short-term interventions like computer-based biofeedback could provide a brief and independent way to manage stress and anxiety. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the ALIVE biofeedback program (a relatively new software that allows individuals to play a game requiring proper smoothness of breathing and heart rate) on the stress response after the Trier Social Stress Test, a laboratory stress task shown to elicit changes in cortisol …


Differences And Similarities In Male Body Image In Young, Middle-Aged, And Older Men, Amy K. Jordan Aug 2019

Differences And Similarities In Male Body Image In Young, Middle-Aged, And Older Men, Amy K. Jordan

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of the present study was to explore differences and similarities in multiple aspects of male body image across age groups, including body dissatisfaction, coping strategies, functional appreciation, and mood. It was first hypothesized that younger men would report greater dissatisfaction with muscularity and body fat than middle-aged and older men. The second hypothesis stated that body dissatisfaction would predict depressive symptoms. The third hypothesis predicted that age and functionality appreciation for the body would be positively correlated. Finally, researchers evaluated the relationship between body image coping strategies and age from an exploratory perspective. Participants included 344 men ages …


Yoga To Decrease The Stress Response: Gentle Yoga Encourages Faster Decline In Salivary Cortisol Concentrations Following Participation In Tsst, Tabetha Gaile Hopke Aug 2019

Yoga To Decrease The Stress Response: Gentle Yoga Encourages Faster Decline In Salivary Cortisol Concentrations Following Participation In Tsst, Tabetha Gaile Hopke

MSU Graduate Theses

Short-term, activation of the human stress response system is beneficial as it prepares the body to deal with stressors at hand (McEwen & Stellar, 1993). If this system is overactive or chronically active however, it can negatively impact health and longevity (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007). According to a review conducted by Ross & Thomas (2010) implementation of a yoga practice has been shown to down-regulate the stress response system. The present study aimed to expand on current research involving yoga for stress reduction by exploring whether participation in gentle yoga could decrease the stress response more quickly than naturally …


Making A Tiger's Day: Free-Operant Assessment And Environmental Enrichment, Trista Yvonne Shrock Aug 2019

Making A Tiger's Day: Free-Operant Assessment And Environmental Enrichment, Trista Yvonne Shrock

MSU Graduate Theses

Problem behaviors occur often in captive wild animals due to stress and boredom. Environmental enrichment is one of the most successful methods to help minimize these types of behaviors in many captive wild animals. The current study investigated preferences of play items and scents for seven adult Bengal tigers in a Tiger Sanctuary using a free-operant preference assessment. Two subspecies of Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) are represented. Six of the tigers are Panthera tigris tigris and one is Panthera tigris altaica. Three phases were run on each tiger, ultimately establishing a hierarchy of preferred play items and …


Moral Foundations Of U.S. Political News Sources, William Edward Padfield May 2019

Moral Foundations Of U.S. Political News Sources, William Edward Padfield

MSU Graduate Theses

The media ecosystem has grown, and political opinions have diverged such that there are competing conceptions of objective truth. Commentators often point to political biases in news coverage as a catalyst for this political divide. The Moral Foundations Dictionary (MFD) facilitates identification of ideological leanings in text through frequency of the occurrence of certain words. Through web scraping, the researcher extracted articles from popular news sources’ websites, calculated MFD word frequencies, and identified words’ respective valences. This process attempts to uncover news outlets’ positive or negative endorsements of certain moral dimensions concomitant with a particular ideology. In Experiment 1, the …


Best Predictive Factor For Knowledge Of How To Appropriately Respond To Suicidal Individuals, Sadie Elizabeth Flood May 2019

Best Predictive Factor For Knowledge Of How To Appropriately Respond To Suicidal Individuals, Sadie Elizabeth Flood

MSU Graduate Theses

Suicide is a major health crisis affecting all parts of the world. Although extensive research has been conducted on suicide and numerous suicide prevention programs are in place, there still exists a gap in our knowledge as to how to encourage the public to reach out to individuals who may be suicidal. The aim of the current study is to examine methods of responding when confronted by an individual with suicidal tendencies. Participants completed four scales measuring their knowledge of suicide, personality characteristics, level of suicide stigma, and knowledge of how best to respond to an individual with suicidal tendencies. …


Orthorexia Nervosa Among Collegiate Female Student-Athletes, Maryse Bard-Martel May 2019

Orthorexia Nervosa Among Collegiate Female Student-Athletes, Maryse Bard-Martel

MSU Graduate Theses

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a specific style of disordered eating defined as an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food, or going to extremes in the pursuit of a diet that is supposed to be good for you. The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa tendencies in college female soccer players in the NCAA Division 1. Purposive sampling was used, and participants were current student-athletes from the Missouri State women’s soccer team (n=18). Survey research was utilized to assess athletes’ attitudes and behaviors related to various aspects of diet and training, and the control it …


Executive Function Deficits In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Exploring The Impact Of Substance Use, William C. Dooley May 2019

Executive Function Deficits In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Exploring The Impact Of Substance Use, William C. Dooley

MSU Graduate Theses

Substance use is pervasive in the United States. With overdose deaths on the rise for the past decade, studies have examined the detrimental effects of a range of substances. Substance use has been shown to affect the domains of executive functioning, while diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis-C (Hep-C) have been shown to increase the severity of these deficits when comorbid with substance use. Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD) also affects many of the same domains of executive functioning as substance use. However, because of the rapid degenerative nature of the disease, individuals clinically determined to have Mild Cognitive …


Quantitative Reasoning: Individual Differences In Heart Rate And Response Latency, Abigail L. Van Nuland May 2019

Quantitative Reasoning: Individual Differences In Heart Rate And Response Latency, Abigail L. Van Nuland

MSU Graduate Theses

Math is something that all students are required to use at some point during their academic careers. Then they must use it again in the real world. Unfortunately, many students struggle with quantitative processing. In the current study, participants answered first grade level math problems in order to assess cognitive effort when solving math problem. Participants were then assigned randomly to one of two conditions; Answer or Equation. In the Answer Condition participants were asked to solve a series of math problems, whereby they were given a math equation and then they were asked to choose an answer. In the …


The Impact Of Black Lives Matter Movement Publicity On Juror Decision Making, Emily R. Nerness Dec 2018

The Impact Of Black Lives Matter Movement Publicity On Juror Decision Making, Emily R. Nerness

MSU Graduate Theses

Others have investigated separately whether general pretrial publicity (PTP) or racial salience have an impact on juror decision making, but no one has explored a potential connection between the two. With information about the Black lives matter (BLM) movement recurring in the media, the question arises of whether news about the BLM movement can increase racial salience, thereby influencing juror decision making. The present research addressed whether 1) exposing participants to pro-BLM or negative-BLM news articles would influence verdicts and guilt ratings when compared to a control group, 2) whether this PTP effect would be different for Black versus White …


Effects Of Goal Training On Goal Structures, Charlotte S. Redhead May 2018

Effects Of Goal Training On Goal Structures, Charlotte S. Redhead

MSU Graduate Theses

In this study, a goal training intervention was developed and evaluated. The main purpose of this investigation was to provide evidence that training, constructed according to implications drawn from goal theory, can affect student goal setting and achievement. Unique to this investigation was that training targeted both short- and long-term goal setting processes linked to career goal pursuits. Findings indicated that goal training resulted in students’ productions of career goal hierarchies consistent with theoretical prescriptions of quality goal structures. This study has implications for those in positions to develop and mentor individuals’ pursuit of long-term meaningful goals across settings.


Memory Complaint Profiles In Dementia Populations Utilizing The Memory Complaints Inventory, Becca N. Johnson May 2018

Memory Complaint Profiles In Dementia Populations Utilizing The Memory Complaints Inventory, Becca N. Johnson

MSU Graduate Theses

The Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI) is a self-report questionnaire developed by Paul Green to provide further effort-related evidence in neuropsychiatric practice. It is comprised of nine subscale scores, in addition to the imbedded Plausible and Implausible symptom validity scales. The current study utilized archival MCI scores in dementia populations to determine the presence of, and difference between, genuine memory impairment profiles in separate subgroups of cognitive impairment. The study sample consisted of 244 adults presenting to an outpatient neuropsychology practice for evaluation of memory impairment. The diagnostic categories of the sample consisted of Alzheimer’s Disease (n = 21), Vascular …


Generativity And Other Buffers Of Death Awareness In First Responders With Ptsd, David Joseph Herr May 2018

Generativity And Other Buffers Of Death Awareness In First Responders With Ptsd, David Joseph Herr

MSU Graduate Theses

Anxiety buffer disruption theory (ABDT) is an application of terror management theory to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ABDT predicts that posttraumatic stress reactions occur when buffers of awareness of death, such as meaning in life, self-esteem, and social intimacy, fail to suppress overwhelming death-anxiety. The author suggested that generativity may also serve as an effective buffer of awareness of death. The present study investigated the presence of anxiety buffering disruption in first responders with PTSD via a mediation path model of self-report measures of PTSD symptoms, anxiety buffer variables, and death-though accessibility. While results indicate PTSD symptoms have a small …


Interactions In Social Settings: The Relationship Between Alcohol And Sexual Assault Among College Students, Heather Lepper May 2018

Interactions In Social Settings: The Relationship Between Alcohol And Sexual Assault Among College Students, Heather Lepper

MSU Graduate Theses

Research has linked alcohol to violence and sexual assault, especially within the college student population. Most of this research focuses on the effects of alcohol on victims or perpetrators of sexual assault and not on bystanders of such situations. This study examines how self-reported drinking behavior affects students' ability to recognize risk of sexual assault in written scenarios and the various barriers that would inhibit their willingness to intervene. A sample of 275 students (183 female, 92 male) were asked to read one of three scenarios and respond to a brief questionnaire adapted from Burn's (2009) Barriers to Bystander Intervention …


Controlling The Uncontrollable: Understanding The Relationships Between Psychological Distress, Physical Impairment, And Acceptance Among Women With Gynecological Cancer, Kirby L. Williams May 2018

Controlling The Uncontrollable: Understanding The Relationships Between Psychological Distress, Physical Impairment, And Acceptance Among Women With Gynecological Cancer, Kirby L. Williams

MSU Graduate Theses

As women age, the risk for being diagnosed with any gynecological cancer increases. Despite outnumbering the number of breast cancer diagnoses in a given year, there are significantly fewer studies addressing gynecological cancers. Treatment for gynecological cancers can be incredibly debilitating, both physically and psychologically. Although previous studies have evaluated and shown a relationship between physical impairment and perceived control on psychological distress in cancer patients during treatment, none have evaluated the influence of willingness and acceptance. The present study sought to expand this theory by assessing 25 gynecological cancer participants via self-report measures. Utilizing structural equation modelling, a moderated …