Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Assessing Sexual Minority Women’S Barriers And Facilitators To Seeking And Accessing Mental And Physical Healthcare: A Mixed Methods Study, Charlotte A. Dawson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority women (SMW) experience greater mental and physical health concerns when compared to heterosexual women. Three key areas of health SMW report these disparities are: mental health, binge eating/body size, and sexual and reproductive health. SMW also report difficulties accessing healthcare in these three areas. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was utilized to assess barriers and facilitators to healthcare access for young SMW. Study 1 included 20 semi-structured interviews with SMW, resulting in themes of barriers and facilitators identified by participants. These themes were converted into scale items. In Study 2, an expert panel of mental and physical …

The Influence Of Minority Stress, Coping, And A Pandemic On The Relationship Between Sexual Orientation And Mental Health: A Mixed Methods Study, James Michael Macchia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

For decades, scientific literature has shown that sexual minority individuals across populations are disproportionately affected by negative mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. These disparities are largely attributable to minority stress. Coping is a significant factor that can impact the content and severity of mental health outcomes and coping behaviors have been shown to vary based on sexual orientation. Mental health outcomes may also differ between sexual minority subgroups due to additional factors such as double discrimination and bisexual invisibility/erasure. Moreover, factors such as internalized homophobia and community connectedness have demonstrated strong associations with sexual minority mental …

The Effect Of Minority Stress On Sexual Minority College Students' Mental Health: The Role Of General Social Support And Sexuality-Specific Social Support, Lee A. Golembiewski

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority (SM) college students continue to face greater mental health problems relative to their heterosexual peers (Woodford et al., 2014; Wilson & Liss, 2022). According to minority stress theory, SM individuals face distal (e.g., heterosexist discrimination) and proximal (e.g., expectations of rejection, internalized homophobia, and concealment) stressors related to their SM identity which can have negative effects on their mental health (Douglass & Conlin, 2020; Meyer, 2003). However, social support has been hypothesized to help protect against the effects of minority stress experienced by SM individuals (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Moody & Smith, 2013). Most of the existing research …

Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating Among College Women’S Social Networks: An Investigation Of Perceived Changes Following A Dissonance-Based Body Image Intervention, Rachel I. Macintyre

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Body dissatisfaction is associated with numerous health consequences and is pervasive among college women. Effective interventions exist that reduce body dissatisfaction in college women by helping them resist sociocultural pressures to conform to the appearance ideal, such as the Body Project. Yet research is limited on whether social and behavioral processes help participants reduce their engagement in sociocultural appearance-ideal messages and contribute to the intervention’s effectiveness. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine these social and behavioral processes, including the changes in college women’s social networks associated with their participation in the Body Project. Undergraduate and graduate …

A Model Of Individual, Relationship, And Societal Factors And Mental Health And Well-Being In Partnered Sexual Minority Women: The Central Role Of Relationship Satisfaction, Charlotte A. Dawson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sexual minority women (SMW) are at increased risk for mental health disorders, substance abuse, and physical health problems compared to heterosexual women. For heterosexual individuals, romantic relationships have been found to be protective against a variety of health issues. Less research, however, has focused on the association between romantic relationships and health in same-sex couples. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential protective nature of being in a relationship for SMW and to test a model investigating the central role of relationship satisfaction in the association between individual, relationship, and societal factors and mental health and well-being …

A Three Article Study Examining Sexual And Gender Minority Competency Of Health Service Providers, Corrine N. Wilsey

Health Services Research Dissertations

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals endure a number of health disparities, such as higher rates of violence, mental health conditions, and more medical conditions. These disparities are exacerbated by the fact that SGM individuals face issues such as accessing health insurance, social support programs, and health service providers who are knowledgeable about SGM health issues. Certain health service provider governing organizations (i.e., the American Psychological Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association) have recognized the need for guidelines regarding SGM care in recent years and published guidelines for health service providers regarding …

Intersectional Identities And Microaggressions: The Experience Of Transgender Females, Cory Daniel Gerwe

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Historically, attention given to privileged LGBT minorities such as white LGBT individuals, renders those who experience multiple minority identities as unacknowledged. There is a scarcity of research exploring the intersectional experiences of transgender individuals and how these experiences impact their mental health and well-being. For that reason, the intent of this study was to learn more about transgender females who hold additional minority statuses, their transition experiences, their circumstances, and the nature of their social environment. Specifically, I investigated trans female experiences of transitioning with a specific focus on the intersection of gender identity, race, socioeconomic status (SES), and age. …

Sexual Violence Victimization, Mental Health, And University-Based Health Service Use Among College Females, Julie E. Stoner

Health Services Research Dissertations

Females between the ages of 18 and 24 consistently experience higher rates of sexual violence compared to females in any other age group (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Approximately one in five college women experience sexual violence victimization (SVV; Krebs, Lindquist, Berzofsky, Shook-Sa & Peterson, 2016) during the academic year. Among undergraduate female students, 23.1% are victims of sexual violence due to physical force, violence or incapacitation (Cantor et al., 2015). Sexual victimization has been associated with several short- and long-term psychological health consequences, accounting for enhanced symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide risk (Basile, Smith, Breiding, Black & Mahendra, …

Predictors Of Medical Students’ Attitudes Towards Abortion And Their Changes Overtime, Rebecca Elizabeth Morales

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

As new legislation is regularly being introduced to minimize Roe v. Wade’s protection of women’s right to choose in a medical setting, it is imperative to study what predictors may have an impact on abortion attitudes within the demographic of medical students, as well as how these predictors impact one’s willingness to provide the service in the future. The current study then, uses data collected in 2000 and 2015 from a medical school located in Virginia, and in collaboration with a research university in the state to examine what factors are associated with a willingness to provide an abortion, as …

An Exploration Of Health Providers' Responses To Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv) In Malaysia, Kee Pau

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

This grounded theory study aimed to examine factors that influence Malaysian health providers' attitudes, knowledge, and responses to IPV survivors, including health providers' perceptions of IPV, factors that influenced the ways they work with IPV survivors, factors they perceived toward influencing IPV survivors' help-seeking behaviors, and their recommendations for improving IPV training. Seventeen (N = 17) participants were recruited using snowball sampling and theoretical sampling was utilized to ensure the data was saturated. The results found nine superordinate themes that highlights health providers' perceptions of IPV in general, conceptualization of IPV, institutional factors, health providers' personal factors, sociocultural factors, …

Securing South Africa's Future Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids As A Model For Social Development Change, Savannah Lynn Eck

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on the role of elder women in South Africa as a lens to understand the central connections among HIV/ AIDS, poverty and Human Security provides a distinct approach to analyze women's contributions to community development and social change. Drawing from the theories of Gender and Development and Human Security, this research aims to highlight HIV/ AIDS as a social and political security issue, while underscoring the vitality of the inclusion of women in the processes of peace building, reconciliation, education and social development. Furthermore, the influential role of elder women in South Africa will serve as a model in …

The Influence Of Interlimb Differences On Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk Factors In Female Collegiate Soccer Athletes, Eric Kevin Greska

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Female collegiate soccer athletes suffer anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries at a rate of 0.31 per 1000 athlete-exposures, with 67% of injuries expected to be from a non-contact mechanism. As well, previous studies have demonstrated dissimilarity in non-contact ACL injuries relative to dominant and non-dominant legs; with the non-dominant leg being the involved side in 48-67% of reported incidents. The aim of this study was to examine lower extremity neuromechanics relative to leg dominance during an unanticipated sidestep cutting task, with differing states of fatigue and training.

Twenty female collegiate soccer players performed three valid trials for both the dominant …

A Study Of The Factors That Impact Female Military Beneficiaries Obtaining Preventive Health Services, Cynthia Andrea Chargois

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what factors predict whether female military retirees or the female beneficiary of a military retiree, ages 40 to 64, will obtain preventive health services, specifically, Pap smears, mammograms, and clinical breast examinations. Based on the findings of the study, it is suggested that it may be important for the Department of Defense to broaden their scope of interest to include those areas that are most prominent in affecting female military retirees or the female beneficiary of a military retiree, particularly those 40 to 64, in obtaining preventive health services.

The study comprised …

A Study Of The Knowledge And Attitudes Of Physicians Toward Victims Of Spouse Abuse, Ramani N. Garimella

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to measure the knowledge and attitudes of physicians toward victims of spouse abuse. All 150 practitioners in the specialities of emergency medicine, family medicine, obstetrics-gynecology and psychiatry, in a large area general hospital are included in the sampling frame; 76 responded (RR = 51%). Knowledge and attitudes were measured using the Physician Survey on Spouse Abuse. Rosenberg's Tripartite Model of Attitude formed the theoretical basis for this study. Participants were 72% male, 90% white, 88% currently married, with a mean age of 44 years (SD = 7.99). Mean years in practice was 14.61 (SD …

Passage Or Pathology: Current Attitudes Toward Women's Aging In The Literature Of Menopause, Kaaren Gearhart Ancarrow

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Menopause is currently portrayed in the medical literature as a pathological 11 process resulting from "hormone deficiency." However, feminist writers contend that the climacteric is part of the normal female aging process and oppose the medicalization of menopause and the consequent inevitable hormone replacement therapy (HR T) promoted by the hegemonic medical and pharmaceutical industries. This paper explores the historical development of these two paradigms of menopause and their manifestations in samples of three classes of contemporary literature on the subject: gynecological textbooks, popular advice books written by physicians, and women's accounts. Five major themes are investigated using quantitative and …

Views Of Feminist Family Therapy: A Q-Methodological Inquiry, Bronwen Cheek

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The feminist critique of family therapy has had a growing impact on theory and practice for almost two decades (Hare-Mustin, 1978; Bograd, 1990). Writings on feminist family therapy (FFT) reveal both common and diverse opinions about what FFT is. The present study examined how views of FFT are segmented using Q-methodology (Stephenson, 1953; Brown, 1980; McKeown & Thomas, 1988), a small-sample empirical technique for identifying emergent viewpoints and studying their similarities and differences. A Q-sort instrument of 60 statements was constructed to sample diverse discourse on FFT. Magraw's (1992) interviews with leading experts in FFT served as a primary source …

The Relationship Between Needs And Interpersonal Problems Of Women In Four Interpersonal Categories, Valarie Elaine Sikes-Nova

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study empirically assessed the relationship between needs structure and interpersonal presentation in women. Proposed indices for selective attention were assessed as to their ability to detect pathology. The relationship between interpersonal presentation and interpersonal problems were also studied. The measures used were The Picture Identification Test (Chambers, 1976), The Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Revised (Wiggins, 1985), The Inventory for Interpersonal Problems (Horowitz, 1986), and The Marlowe-Crowne Social-Desirability Scale (1964).

Subjects were assigned to one of four interpersonal categories (Friendly-Dominant, Friendly-Submissive, Hostile-Dominant, Hostile-Submissive) on the basis of their self-reported IAS-R and one category on the basis of their counselor-reported IAS-R scores. Subjects …

Health Status And Perceived Health Care Needs Of Female Veterans Of The Armed Services, Nancy Einstein Camp

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of genderspecific health problems within the female veteran population of Tidewater, Virginia. A secondary purpose was to determine the perceived quality of care which the Veterans Administration delivers. The study was accomplished by receiving 149 mailed questionnaires regarding health status and health care received from the Veterans Administration. Chi square was utilized to determine significant differences between branch of service served and heal th status. Army veterans had significantly higher incidences of heart disease, diabetes and stomach ulcers. Among the other branches of service (Air Force. Navy, Marines, Coast Guard), …

Dental Hygiene Students' Perceptions Of Themselves And The Typical Dental Hygienist In Regard To Feminism, Christine M. Berg

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to assess dental hygiene students' perceptions of themselves and the "typical dental hygienist" in regard to feminism. The accessible population was composed of all first-year, second-year, and post-certificate dental hygiene students at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Data were organized according to a 3x3x3 factorial research design with age, Q.P.A., and educational level as the assigned independent variables. The dependent variable, students' perceptions of themselves and the "typical dental hygienist," was measured by the Feminism II Scale.

Repeated measures analysis of variance yielded no statistically significant difference …