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Psychology

Theses/Dissertations

2016

Mindfulness

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Multiple Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Training, Stephanie Aholt Dec 2016

Multiple Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Training, Stephanie Aholt

MSU Graduate Theses

Mindfulness-based interventions have been related to emotional regulation, reduced stress, and increased psychological flexibility. The current investigation extended previous findings by examining the short-term effects of a brief mindfulness training in undergraduate psychology students. The non-concurrent multiple baseline design evaluated heart rate and cortisol changes in response to a brief mindfulness-based intervention. The results found for some individuals, participation in the mindfulness intervention helped regulate their emotions and heart rate, as evidenced by the decrease in heart rate and cortisol and increase in psychological flexibility by changes in Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 and Perceived Stress Scale-14 scores. Findings suggest more …

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Intra-Individual And Cross-Partner Associations Between The Five Facets Of Mindfulness And Relationship Satisfaction, Katherine Allison Lenger Dec 2016

Intra-Individual And Cross-Partner Associations Between The Five Facets Of Mindfulness And Relationship Satisfaction, Katherine Allison Lenger

Masters Theses

Research has established that mindfulness may be useful to individual and dyadic wellbeing among both early-stage and long-term relationships. Nonetheless, it remains unclear which mechanisms of mindfulness are most relevant to relationship satisfaction among long-term married couples. Furthermore, although previous research suggests that an individual’s total mindfulness is not related to his or her partner’s relationship satisfaction, we have yet to determine whether any specific facets of mindfulness may evidence a significant cross-partner association with relationship satisfaction. The present study seeks to address these gaps in the literature using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Data were collected from 164 …

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Encoding Style Of Positive Autobiographical Memories: Relationship To Mood Repair, Memory Functioning, And Depression, Ena Begovic Nov 2016

Encoding Style Of Positive Autobiographical Memories: Relationship To Mood Repair, Memory Functioning, And Depression, Ena Begovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The recall of positive autobiographical memories is an effective strategy for improving negative mood among healthy persons, yet individuals with a history of depression often fail to derive emotional benefits. Depressed and depression-vulnerable individuals also exhibit deficits in their autobiographical memory characteristics. Scholars have implicated deficits during autobiographical memory retrieval as a cause of mood repair and memory impairments, however the role of memory encoding has largely been overlooked. The current study manipulated encoding style to examine subsequent effects on mood repair efficacy, memory characteristics, and memory accuracy. Fifty-five formerly depressed and 68 never-depressed participants were assigned to employ either …

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Exploring Masculinity For A Healthy Campus Culture, Jason M. Gant Aug 2016

Exploring Masculinity For A Healthy Campus Culture, Jason M. Gant

Master's Projects and Capstones

1 in 5 female students is and will be sexually assaulted in college. This is a public health issue as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sexual violence (SV) is a significant problem in the United States. SV refers to sexual activity when consent is not obtained or not given freely. Anyone can experience SV, but most victims are female. The person responsible for the violence is typically male and usually someone the victim is familiar with. The person can be, but is not limited to, a friend, coworker, neighbor, family member and even classmate. Boys …

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Yoga As An Ancillary Treatment To Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Depression, Jeralee M. Briggs Aug 2016

Yoga As An Ancillary Treatment To Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Depression, Jeralee M. Briggs

Dissertations

It is estimated that up to 30% of college students feel clinically depressed, and these feelings can lead to poor grades, substance abuse, unsafe sex, and suicide (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has shown to be an effective form of psychotherapy for depression and was listed in 2014 as an evidence-based treatment for depressive disorders according to the APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice (2006). In addition to psychological treatment, various exercise interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing depressive symptoms (e.g., Rehorst, Wipfli, & Landers, 2009). Yoga is one such …

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Buffering The Associations Between Negative Mood States And The Incentive Salience Of Alcohol: A Brief Mindfulness Induction, Adrian J. Bravo Jul 2016

Buffering The Associations Between Negative Mood States And The Incentive Salience Of Alcohol: A Brief Mindfulness Induction, Adrian J. Bravo

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined drinking to cope (DTC) motives and state mindfulness (via a brief mindfulness induction) as two distinct factors that may enhance (DTC) and reduce (state mindfulness) the association between negative mood states (i.e., sadness and anxiety) and the incentive salience of alcohol (i.e., subjective alcohol craving and attentional bias for alcohol-related cues) among college student drinkers. Participants were 207 undergraduate students from a large, southeastern university in the United States that consumed at least one drink per typical week in the previous month. The majority of participants identified as being either White, non-Hispanic (n = 81; 39.1%), …

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The Relationship Between Fragile Self-Esteem, Mindfulness, And Hostile Attribution Style, Robyn L. Haertel Jun 2016

The Relationship Between Fragile Self-Esteem, Mindfulness, And Hostile Attribution Style, Robyn L. Haertel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aimed to expand upon existing literature pertaining to self-perception, awareness towards the environment, and related attributions. Specifically, mindfulness and self-esteem, as well as the subset of fragile self-esteem, were examined as predictors of a hostile attribution style (HAS). Additionally, self-esteem and fragile self-esteem were investigated as correlates of mindfulness. Undergraduate students from across the country were invited via social media to participate in this online study. A total of 190 students completed four surveys used for data analyses: the Mindful-Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RES; Rosenberg 1965), Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale (CSWS; …

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An Examination Of The Feasibility And Impact Of A Mindfulness And Nature Based Intervention For At-Risk Middle School Students, Nahal L. Khalatbari May 2016

An Examination Of The Feasibility And Impact Of A Mindfulness And Nature Based Intervention For At-Risk Middle School Students, Nahal L. Khalatbari

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Public schools are faced with the daunting task of both educating students and managing their behaviors exhibited at school. Unfortunately, many schools do not have prevention measures in order to decrease the amount of behavior problems and office referrals. Instead, they handle behavioral issues as they arise in a reactive manner and many times use detention and suspension as consequences. Thus, students miss academic and instructional time and often do not decrease the behaviors. A majority of students who are suspended will be suspended again in the future (Losen & Martinez, 2013). Another issue facing students is a dismal lack …

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The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation On Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Asymmetry, Alexandria Hudeck May 2016

The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation On Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Asymmetry, Alexandria Hudeck

Honors Projects

This study examines the effects of a brief 20-minute single-session mindfulness meditation session on electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, as well as the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS). It was hypothesized that mindfulness meditation would significantly decrease negative emotions through an increase of alpha band wavelengths to the right hemisphere and thereby resulting in greater left hemispheric activity. The results from the experiment using 10 Bowling Green State participants demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the mindfulness condition and the comparison condition in any of the dependent variables. Strengths and limitations of this study were discussed.

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The Relationship Between Dispositional Mindfulness Characteristics And Anxiety In High Functioning Adults Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Max Emanuel Maisel May 2016

The Relationship Between Dispositional Mindfulness Characteristics And Anxiety In High Functioning Adults Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Max Emanuel Maisel

Theses and Dissertations

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience elevated levels of anxiety and worry compared to neurotypical people. However, there is a dearth of extant research on effective interventions for comorbid anxiety and worry in this population. Mindfulness, which is often defined as paying attention to the present moment in a nonjudgmental manner, has been shown to be a propitious treatment for anxiety, worry, and other psychological ailments in neurotypical people. However, in a relatively new area of study, evidence has been growing which suggests mindfulness can also be effective in helping people with ASD cope with anxiety and worry. The …

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Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Induction On Death-Related Anxiety, David Matthew Schultz May 2016

Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Induction On Death-Related Anxiety, David Matthew Schultz

Master's Theses

Terror management theory postulates that the behavior and beliefs of individuals are influenced on some level by an underlying aversion to death. Mortality salience, the conscious awareness of one’s own impending death, creates behavioral changes in individuals compared to non-mortality salient individuals. These changes in behavior are referred to as distal and proximal defense mechanisms. Relatively little research has investigated mechanisms to buffer effects of mortality salience. Mindfulness refers to a conscious awareness and acceptance of moment-to-moment experiences. By allowing individuals to take a regulated view of difficult situations, mindfulness may attenuate the negative effects of mortality salience. The present …

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An Integrated Theoretical Approach For Applying Evidence-Based Practices To Art Therapy, Ashley Walter May 2016

An Integrated Theoretical Approach For Applying Evidence-Based Practices To Art Therapy, Ashley Walter

Senior Capstone Theses

Evidence-based practice is a scientific approach to therapy that uses research to determine whether or not interventions are efficacious. In the field of art therapy, patients may not be receiving the best possible treatment due to the lack of well-researched evidence-based practices. This deficiency means that clinicians cannot be certain of the efficacy of their interventions, thus running the risk of wasting patients’ time and money on treatment that is not healing them, or worse, is actually causing them harm. This ethical dilemma can be somewhat remedied by employing an integrated theoretical approach. So, how then, can an integrated theoretical …

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The Effects Of Self-Care Meditation Behaviour On Undergraduate Students’ Reported Stress, Anna Smallwood Jan 2016

The Effects Of Self-Care Meditation Behaviour On Undergraduate Students’ Reported Stress, Anna Smallwood

Undergraduate Honours Theses

The goal of this research study was to provide undergraduate post-secondary students with a self-care behaviour that: a) was self-help based; b) could become a routine part of their schedules; and c) was effective in lowering their stress responses. One group of participants was asked to rate their stress on a 7-point scale, twice a day, for 10 business days. A second group of participants was also asked to rate their stress following the same instructions however they were also asked to perform a 5-minute mindfulness-based meditation twice a day, immediately following the stress ratings. A 2 (Week 1 vs. …

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The Impact Of Cyberloafing And Mindfulness On Employee Burnout, Sarah Renee Stoddart Jan 2016

The Impact Of Cyberloafing And Mindfulness On Employee Burnout, Sarah Renee Stoddart

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current study examined two behaviors that are becoming increasing more popular: cyberloafing and mindfulness meditation through a coping lens. Cyberloafing, or personal internet usage, is a type of disengagement coping whereas mindfulness is proposed to be a type of engagement coping. Using a longitudinal data collection method, data was collected at three time points to investigate the mediational role of both cyberloafing and mindfulness on the role overload-work burnout relationship. A cross-lagged model, a supplemental path analysis model, and additional analyses were conducted to analyze the relationship between role overload, coping behaviors, and work burnout. The overall hypotheses were …

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The Lived Experiences Of Counselor Educators Using Mindful Teaching Approaches, Abby E. Dougherty Jan 2016

The Lived Experiences Of Counselor Educators Using Mindful Teaching Approaches, Abby E. Dougherty

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that mindful teaching approaches support students and educators throughout the learning process. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of counselor educators with a daily mindfulness practice in the classroom with culturally diverse students. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) was the conceptual framework. Relational cultural theory concepts of relational connections and disconnections were used to explore the participants' lived experiences implementing a mindful teaching approach. Purposeful sampling yielded 10 participants who participated in semi-structured interviews. Using an inductive approach, the data were analyzed to identify essential themes. Thematic analysis was conducted by hand …

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From Intra- To Inter-Personal: Effects Of Mindfulness Training On Emotion Regulation In Social Contexts, Jordan T. Quaglia Jan 2016

From Intra- To Inter-Personal: Effects Of Mindfulness Training On Emotion Regulation In Social Contexts, Jordan T. Quaglia

Theses and Dissertations

The social and emotional lives of people are highly interdependent. Incipient evidence suggests that attention may also play an essential role in determining one’s social and emotional well-being. Mindfulness, as a manner of attending, entails greater moment-to-moment awareness to internal and external events, and is thought to have both intra- and inter-personal benefits. Here a study of mindfulness training (MT) examined whether training mindful attention would improve emotion regulation in social contexts as indexed by neural, behavioral, and experience sampling measures. More specifically, 60 participants in romantic relationships were randomly assigned to either four brief (20 min.) MT sessions or …

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How Therapists Use And Choose Mindfulness To Treat Trauma, Jessica M. King Jan 2016

How Therapists Use And Choose Mindfulness To Treat Trauma, Jessica M. King

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This qualitative study used the phenomenological method to examine how therapists use mindfulness therapies and interventions to address trauma-salient issues with their clients. Specifically, it explored therapists’ use of and choices about mindfulness-based treatments when addressing post-traumatic stress symptoms, and trauma-relevant emotion dysregulation and attachment injury. Informants were associate and fully-licensed local therapists, recruited using convenience sampling and snowball sampling by word-of-mouth referrals. Data was collected by semi-structured interviewing. Interview data was analyzed with Moustakas’ (1994) recommended procedures for analysis of phenomenological data. Results, Discussion, Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research are described at the end.

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Cognitive Complexity, Mindfulness, And Reflection In Mental Health Professionals, Dharshini Goonetilleke Jan 2016

Cognitive Complexity, Mindfulness, And Reflection In Mental Health Professionals, Dharshini Goonetilleke

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In this cross sectional quantitative investigation, the relationships among mental health professionals' cognitive complexity, mindfulness, and reflection were explored. To determine if there was a correlation between mindfulness and cognitive complexity, a Pearson's correlation was conducted: There was a strong positive correlation between mindfulness and cognitive complexity. To determine whether observing and describing (two key variables of mindfulness) could predict counselor overall cognitive complexity, a simultaneous multiple regression was conducted. The observing subscale significantly predicted counselor cognitive complexity and the describing subscale did not significantly predict mindfulness. To determine if there is a correlation between mindfulness and reflection, a Pearson's …

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The Impact Of Mindfulness Meditation On Students' Creativity, Paige Poure Jan 2016

The Impact Of Mindfulness Meditation On Students' Creativity, Paige Poure

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Researchers have suggested a link between mindfulness meditation and increased creativity. Specifically, meditation seems to promote improved divergent thinking (Colzato et al., 2012). I sought to better understand mindfulness meditation and creativity by addressing the differential effects of brief meditation on divergent and convergent thinking, as well as investigating decreased anxiety and increased executive control as potential mechanistic mediators of this relationship. In a laboratory experiment 40 Butler University undergraduate students participated in either a sham or mindfulness meditation exercise, followed by several creativity assessments as well as measures of anxiety and executive control. The findings show that mindfulness meditation …

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Evaluating The Immediate Impacts Of Brief Mindfulness Versus Lovingkindness Meditation, Jamie Rae Forsyth Jan 2016

Evaluating The Immediate Impacts Of Brief Mindfulness Versus Lovingkindness Meditation, Jamie Rae Forsyth

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although meditation has been around for centuries, it’s only recently that the utility of such an ancient practice has gained popularity within Western psychology. A vast body of literature supports the notion that meditation can have important impacts on suffering and psychopathology; however, few studies have evaluated differential effects between various forms of meditation. The aims of this study are threefold: 1) to determine if a brief meditation can have immediate effects on an individuals’ mood, 2) to determine the validity of two different types of meditations (mindfulness and lovingkindness) and 3) to evaluate the differential efficacy of the two …

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Self-Compassion, Mindfulness And Wellbeing In Counselors-In-Training, Lea Fairbanks Jan 2016

Self-Compassion, Mindfulness And Wellbeing In Counselors-In-Training, Lea Fairbanks

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine if self-compassion and mindfulness predict wellbeing in counselors-in-training. The sample was made up of counselors-in-training from CACREP accredited programs in the WACES region of the United States (N=45). Data was collected from three scales including the Self-Compassion Scale, Five Facet Mindfulness Scale and the Psychological Wellbeing Scale. To analyze the data, a simultaneous regression was used to determine if self-compassion and mindfulness significantly predicted wellbeing in counselors-in-training. The results showed that self-compassion and mindfulness was positively correlated with wellbeing and significantly predicted 64.9% of the variance in wellbeing for counselors-in-training. The results …

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Effect Of Mindfulness Training On Interpretation Exam Performance In Graduate Students In Interpreting, Julie E. Johnson Jan 2016

Effect Of Mindfulness Training On Interpretation Exam Performance In Graduate Students In Interpreting, Julie E. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Many graduate interpreting students struggle because the real-time, interactive nature of interpreting dictates that they be able to regulate their attention across different parallel cognitive activities and manage the inherent stress and unpredictability of the task. Within the framework of Cognitive Load Theory, this mixed-methods study explored the effect of short-term mindfulness training on consecutive interpreting exam performance using a quasi-experimental repeated-measures design. It also examined the relationships among mindfulness, stress, aspects of attention, and interpreting exam performance. The sample included 67 students (age M = 26.9 years; 82% female) across seven language programs (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, …

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Clinician Mindfulness Practice And The Implications For Burnout Mitigation: Mindfulness As A Values Component Of Self-Care, Stephanie Wachter Jan 2016

Clinician Mindfulness Practice And The Implications For Burnout Mitigation: Mindfulness As A Values Component Of Self-Care, Stephanie Wachter

Counselor Education Theses

Over 40 years after Freudenberger (1975) introduced the term, burnout remains a critical concern among mental health clinicians. Many researchers in recent decades have focused their attention upon burnout prevention, exploring the practices of clinicians, and proposing the possible factors at-play in counselor, therapist, and social workers’ resiliency in the face of vicarious trauma, and other burnout factors. Mindfulness is a growing area of interest in this course of study, with yoga, meditation, and visualizations as some of the exercises associated with the practice and its apparent benefits. This qualitative study examined mindfulness as a component of mental health clinician …

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