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Development And Evaluation Of A Single-Session Expectancy Challenge Intervention To Reduce Alcohol Use Among Heavy Drinking College Students, Hoyee Lau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While overall rates of college student drinking have declined slightly since 1980, extreme forms of drinking are escalating. A comprehensive review of all aspects of alcohol use among college students completed by a panel of scientists and college presidents concluded that very few approaches for dealing with student drinking can be considered empirically validated, and they strongly encouraged additional efforts to develop and validate effective strategies. Expectancy challenge approaches designed to reduce risky drinking through changing key expectancies have been identified as one of the few validated strategies, but this approach has not been developed into a format that is …

School Counselors' Concerns Regarding Effective Crisis Intervention For Students Of Diverse Backgrounds, Michelle Lynn Canada

Theses and Dissertations

Although school counselors routinely provide crisis intervention, minimal research has focused specifically on providing such services in a manner sensitive to multicultural and ethnically diverse students. Responses of a random national sample of school counselors (n = 276, 69% return rate) indicate that approximately half voice some sort of concern related to providing crisis intervention services to students from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of this study is to summarize school counselor's concerns, providing an initial understanding for this aspect of school-based crisis intervention. Additionally, school counselors' comments were further analyzed to examine possible relationships between the type of concern and …

School Psychologists' Perceived Concerns Regarding Crisis Intervention With Diverse Populations, Ana E. Kemple

Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing diversity among students in the United States, American schools are seeing more of a mismatch between school personnel and students. Service provision has traditionally addressed multicultural competencies in the area of assessment and more recently in counseling procedures. With the increased attention given to school-related crises, the role of school psychologists has expanded to include crisis intervention. The current study will present information on the need for multicultural competencies in crisis intervention and assess the current concerns of nationally certified school psychologists in this area of service provision. Responses from a random sample of school psychologists (n= …

The Effects Of Exposure To Feminist Ideology On Women's Body Image, Rachel Diane Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body image disturbance has become an increasing problem among women (Cash & Henry, 1995). Thus researchers have begun to focus on methods of prevention and intervention. Programs utilizing psychoeducation and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, for example, have been found to reduce body image dissatisfaction and related symptomatology. The information provided and potential impact are limited, however, because the interventions do not offer women an adaptive method of interpreting the many appearance-related messages they experience. This study sought to determine if exposure to feminist theory of body image may act as a buffer – a filter through which cultural messages about …

Complementary And Alternative Medicine And Diet Change In Southern Rural Residents Enrolled In A Cancer Prevention Intervention Trial, Amanda Kracen

Theses and Dissertations

Using data from The Rural Physician Cancer Prevention Project, a dietary intervention trial, this cross-sectional, longitudinal study explored predictors of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in a Southern, rural population (N = 375). Participants' dietary knowledge, stage of change, and dietary behavior were examined at baseline and 1 and 12 months after the intervention. More than half the participants (mean age = 48 years; 60% female; 60% Caucasian) reported using CAM. Logistic regression indicated that age, education, ethnicity and trust in physician affect the likelihood of CAM use. Hierarchical multiple regressions suggested that CAM use was associated with healthier …

Innovative Interventions For Disordered Eating: A Pilot Comparison Between Dissonance-Based And Yoga Interventions, Karen S. Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Disordered eating, including bingeing, dieting, purging, and clinical and subclinical forms of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, is prevalent among college-aged women. To date, few interventions have successfully reduced risk factors related to disordered eating. One promising intervention utilizes principles of cognitive dissonance to reduce thin-ideal internalization among women at risk for eating disorders. Additionally, the benefits of yoga, including increased awareness of bodily processes, offer hope that this practice might reduce disordered eating symptomatology. The current study compared cognitive dissonance and yoga interventions for disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that there were …

The Use Of Stress Management In Combination With Parent Training: An Intervention Study With Parents Of Preschool Children, Theresa L. Gunderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many preschool children exhibit a number of problematic, acting-out behaviors. Parents of preschoolers exhibiting behavior problems often experience a great deal of stress associated with these problem behaviors. Consistently robust improvements have been found in the use of stress management for adult stress, pain, and medical wellbeing. Likewise, studies have shown parent training decreases the severity of child behavior problems. However, only a few studies have examined effects of parent training on both child behavior and parent stress. Some studies have found that parents who complete parent training also report lowered stress levels commensurate with improvement of child behavior. It …

Childhood Exposure To Interparental Conflict: Memory Biases And Intergenerational Patterns Of Conflict In Romantic Relationships, Christine A. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Testing a model that explains the ways in which interparental conflict shapes later intimate relationships was the goal of the present study. Participants were 94 college students at Virginia Commonwealth University, a large state university with a diverse student body. The study found that violence occurs with alarming frequency in the dating relationships of university students. Analyses also revealed an intergenerational pattern of violence in which individuals from high conflict homes were more likely to use violent conflict resolution strategies in their own adult romantic relationships. Specifically, young adults from homes characterized by high levels of verbal conflict and minor …

Meta-Analysis Of Home Visiting Research With Low-Income Families: Client, Intervention, And Outcome Characteristics, Christopher H. Morris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Leaders in the field of home visiting and family support research have indicated that the inclusion of home visiting in comprehensive services for low-income families with young children can play a key role in improving a wide variety of outcomes for at-risk children and their families. These recommendations have been based in part on selected empirical findings from the home visiting literature. However, synthesis of empirical findings has proven difficult, due to the heterogeneity of this population and the diverse applications of home visiting as a service delivery strategy.

The present meta-analysis examined a representative sample of the peer-reviewed literature …

Family Perspectives Of The Professional-Paraprofessional Partnership Model Of Home-Based Early Intervention Service Delivery, Amy Sanford Walters

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Current legislation regarding early intervention services has focused on the family unit, rather than the individual child, as the recipient of services. A model of family-centered care has been adopted and as a result, new models for service delivery have been developed. The present study examined family perspectives of the professional-paraprofessional partnership model, and assessed the ecological validity of this model as it relates to the basic principles of family-centered care. Families who participated in an early intervention program that utilized the professional-paraprofessional partnership model were interviewed upon program completion. Families reported receiving a wide range of child and family …

Presentation Of A Standard Intervention During The Intake Interview, Gregory Burns

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The provision of psychotherapeutic services has undergone many changes in its history. Recently the field of therapy has seen an increased emphasis on providing services in briefer periods of time, which has resulted in greater investigation into the parameters that influence rapid therapeutic growth by clients. Despite this push for quick results, many service agencies continue to utilize initial intake interviews that focus exclusively on gathering diagnostic and demographic information. Therapeutic intervention is therefore reserved for some later time when the clients can be accommodated from the agency's waiting list. The present study investigated the influence of a standard intervention …

A Comparison Of Two Techniques For Assessing The Profoundly Retarded: Emphasis On Intervention, Brenda G. Hartman

Theses

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