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Hardships, Motivations, And Resiliency: Case Study Of Health Implications Of 2022 Russian Invasion On Ukrainian Resistance Members, Jessi Hanson-Defusco Dec 2022

Hardships, Motivations, And Resiliency: Case Study Of Health Implications Of 2022 Russian Invasion On Ukrainian Resistance Members, Jessi Hanson-Defusco

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine caused millions of Ukrainians to flee. Yet most citizens continue to reside in the country, playing critical roles in the Ukrainian resistance. Today the Ukrainian fighting force includes trained military and police as well as citizens who either were conscripted or volunteered to take part in national war efforts. This mixed-method study conducted in Spring 2022 presents data collected from 79 respondents in a semistructured survey, using snowball sampling. Data analysis examined individual self-reported motivations, attitudes toward the conflict, resilience, quality-of-life hardships, and scaled perceived stress. Results indicated that Ukrainian resistance members face …


Mental Health, Chronic Disease, And Substance Use: Findings From Rural Texas, Subi Gandhi, Ryan Glaman, Elizabeth Wachira, Muna Bashir, Sushma Sharma, Chelsea Mowles, Jasmine Luttrell Jul 2022

Mental Health, Chronic Disease, And Substance Use: Findings From Rural Texas, Subi Gandhi, Ryan Glaman, Elizabeth Wachira, Muna Bashir, Sushma Sharma, Chelsea Mowles, Jasmine Luttrell

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

There are vital links among mental health conditions, chronic diseases, and substance use disorders. Simultaneous examination of the relationship among these three conditions is essential for providing well-integrated care to rural residents who have limited resources and for representing medically underserved areas. We aimed to assess the burden of behavioral health conditions and chronic diseases from a rural Texas community to garner context-specific insights and inform effective health promotion strategies in similar communities. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 181 residents from various zip codes in a rural Texas county. A self-administered, 18-item health-needs questionnaire was used to collect data …


Tell Me More: Parent–Child Sexual Talk And Young Adult Sexual Communication Satisfaction With Romantic Partners, Kelsi N. Wilson, Jakob Jensen, Sharon Ballard, Alan Taylor Mar 2022

Tell Me More: Parent–Child Sexual Talk And Young Adult Sexual Communication Satisfaction With Romantic Partners, Kelsi N. Wilson, Jakob Jensen, Sharon Ballard, Alan Taylor

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Young adults (18–30) tend to show insufficient levels of communication about sex with their romantic partners, despite its many benefits to relationships among this age group. Learned sexual shame and guilt can play a role in inhibiting sexual communication with partners, and early messages about sex from parents stemming from narrow cultural boundaries of communication may play a role in fostering sexual shame and guilt from a young age, potentially influencing later sexual communication patterns with partners. We sought to identify whether a significant relationship existed between the sexual communication participants received from parents while growing up and their current …


Organizational Barriers To Effective University Student Mental Health Services, Felicia Evans-Edwards Jan 2022

Organizational Barriers To Effective University Student Mental Health Services, Felicia Evans-Edwards

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was focused on organizational barriers to effective university student mental health services access in the department of student resources (DSR) at a for-profit university in the northeastern United States. Once such barriers are addressed, faculty may be more successful in reaching out to students needing mental health services who are not self-identifying as needing these services. The Baldrige excellence framework guided this descriptive case study to examine the organizational barriers that prevent university leadership from creating clear policies and procedures for faculty to refer students to mental health services. Data sources included interviews with the behavioral health leader …


The Correlation Between Laura’S Law And The Incarceration Of The Mentally Ill In A Southwestern State, Aaron Alarcon-Bowen Jan 2022

The Correlation Between Laura’S Law And The Incarceration Of The Mentally Ill In A Southwestern State, Aaron Alarcon-Bowen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Assisted outpatient treatment and involuntary outpatient treatment laws refer to the power of the court system to order community-based treatment without hospitalization to individuals with a mental illness diagnosis. Studies have linked these laws to a decrease in the use of incarceration among this population. The effectiveness of the assisted outpatient treatment law in a Southwestern state, known as Laura’s Law, has not been studied. With a theoretical foundation based on the social contract and multiple streams analysis theories, a quantitative, casual, comparative study using an independent t test was centered on determining whether the mean numbers of incarcerated individuals …


The Lived Experiences Of Group Practice Ownership By Female Licensed Professional Counselors, Ashley Garrett Jan 2022

The Lived Experiences Of Group Practice Ownership By Female Licensed Professional Counselors, Ashley Garrett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. counseling profession is mostly female, with many practitioners interested in starting their own business. However, little is known about women’s lived experiences of owning a group counseling practice. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used to explore the lived experiences of six female licensed professional counselors who have owned a group counseling practice for at least 5 years. Phenomenology and feminist theory provided a framework for the study. Eight themes emerged from the study: (a) factors associated with the decision to create a group practice, (b) a continuum of preparatory engagement for group practice ownership, (c) the influence …


Black Women, Mental Health Treatment, And Spiritual Healing: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Grace M. Abraham Lewis Jan 2022

Black Women, Mental Health Treatment, And Spiritual Healing: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Grace M. Abraham Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counselor educators are ill-equipped to train counselors to prepare to meet the needs of Black Christian Pentecostal Women (BCPW) because there is a lack of information on this population. To increase cultural competency, counselors need to be more aware of the experiences of this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of BCPW who sought community mental health counseling concurrent with deliverance practices through the church. Using Edmund Husserl’s transcendental phenomenological approach as the conceptual framework, semi-structured interviews via zoom were conducted with 4 BCPW who were active members of the Christ Throne International Ministries …


Experiences Of Maritally Satisfied Black American Couples Serving In Law Enforcement, Amanda Davis-Buie Jan 2022

Experiences Of Maritally Satisfied Black American Couples Serving In Law Enforcement, Amanda Davis-Buie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of maritally satisfied Black American couples when at least one partner is serving in law enforcement. Members of law enforcement, Black American couples, and members of the counseling profession can gain knowledge from the answering of the research question. A family strengths perspective was used to provide a framework to study the phenomenon of marital satisfaction from a positive perspective. Six Black American couples, who are satisfied in their marriage and employed in law enforcement for a period of a least 6 months during their marriage, participated …


How Social Workers Contribute To Outcomes Of Adolescent Participants In Wilderness Programs, Tracy Dockler Jan 2022

How Social Workers Contribute To Outcomes Of Adolescent Participants In Wilderness Programs, Tracy Dockler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The wilderness environment has become recognized as a viable treatment modality for addressing the psychosocial and behavioral needs of treatment-resistant adolescents. Even though social workers provide services in these specialized programs, little is known about how they perceive the contributions they make to the outcomes of the adolescent participants. The conceptual framework of wilderness treatment with a focus on the wilderness experience, as well as on the physical, social, and psychosocial aspects of participant functioning guided this study. In this qualitative study, a semistructured interview guide was used to elicit the thoughts of five master’s level social workers (MSWs) regarding …


Lived Experiences Of Crisis Counselors With Repeat Exposure To Mental Health Crises, Emily Genever Jan 2022

Lived Experiences Of Crisis Counselors With Repeat Exposure To Mental Health Crises, Emily Genever

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the potentially traumatic content that crisis counselors face, members of the counselor education community must understand the psychological implications of repeated exposure to mental health crises to fulfill their responsibility of properly training, supervising, and supporting crisis counselors. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of crisis counselors who had worked full-time with a variety of mental health emergencies. A hermeneutic design and constructivist self-development theoretical lens allowed for the illumination of the perceived positive and negative consequences of crisis work. Purposive sampling strategies were employed to recruit seven crisis counselors for …


Help-Seeking Behaviors For Depression Among Native Hawaiian Women In The Western Region Of The United States Mainland, Marlana Glover Jan 2022

Help-Seeking Behaviors For Depression Among Native Hawaiian Women In The Western Region Of The United States Mainland, Marlana Glover

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Help-seeking for depression, as with other mental illnesses is contingent upon stigmas that one perceives. Although causes for depression differ among indigenous populations, native Hawaiians suffer from the Western acculturation and colonization of their homeland. With lack of trust in the U.S. healthcare system, many native Hawaiians are reluctant to seek help for depression. Furthermore, research has shown that most studies on native Hawaiians are conducted in their native environment when many Hawaiians relocate to the U.S. mainland. Because of the current depression crisis, it is critical to explore depression among native Hawaiians, particularly women on the mainland to see …


Continuity Of Care For Adult Offenders With Severe And Persistent Mental Illnesses: An Action Research Study, Lakeshia C. Gonzalez Jan 2022

Continuity Of Care For Adult Offenders With Severe And Persistent Mental Illnesses: An Action Research Study, Lakeshia C. Gonzalez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For decades, the representation of adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI) in the criminal justice system has steadily grown despite public recognition and increased federal implementation of mental health courts and diversion programs. Though more is known about risk factors associated with psychiatric and criminal recidivism among this population, a gap in the literature remains on collaborative interventions and continuity of care between inpatient mental health and criminal justice facilities. Grounded in resilience theory, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine challenges social workers faced when attempting to facilitate discharge planning between inpatient mental health facilities …


Christian U.S. Army Female Combat Veterans Diagnosed With Ptsd Experiencing A Moral Injury Of War, Kathaleen Graham-Young Jan 2022

Christian U.S. Army Female Combat Veterans Diagnosed With Ptsd Experiencing A Moral Injury Of War, Kathaleen Graham-Young

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Warzone exposure potentially impacts the mental and physical health of veterans who receive a diagnosis of PTSD. There is limited research addressing the adjustments of the potentially morally injurious event(s) (PMIEs) experienced by Christian U.S. Army female combat veterans diagnosed with PTSD who returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan warzones post - 9/11. To better understand the impact of PMIEs experienced by the target population, a study of the integration of the transpersonal-existential meaning-based model was used. A general qualitative research design was selected to understand the complex social phenomena. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted to gather viable data. These …


Intersectional Invisibility Of Black Lgbtqia+ Client Strategies For Bias And Discrimination Prevention, Dr. Tonya Y. Griffith Jan 2022

Intersectional Invisibility Of Black Lgbtqia+ Client Strategies For Bias And Discrimination Prevention, Dr. Tonya Y. Griffith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Those who identify as members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) communities have been victims of bias and prejudicial attitudes. Because LGBTQIA+ people embody all cultures, races, religious convictions, and socioeconomic statuses, this creates additional barriers for some community members who identify as both Black and LGBTQIA+. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore social workers’ perceptions of intersectional invisibility when working with Black LGBTQIA+ clients and the strategies that social workers identify as beneficial in averting discrimination and bias when working with this community. Implicit bias theory and intersectionality theory …


Mental Health-Medical Crisis Team Impact On First Responder Outcomes On Persons With Mental Illness, Mary Josephine Lakey Jan 2022

Mental Health-Medical Crisis Team Impact On First Responder Outcomes On Persons With Mental Illness, Mary Josephine Lakey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Persons with mental illness (PMIs) are 16 times more likely to experience harm when interacting with police than individuals without mental illness. This inequity has recently become prominent in American discourse due to the ubiquitous use of cell phones and social media, where videos of incidents between police and PMIs circulate. In this generic qualitative research, members of a collaborative mental health and emergency medical service professionals (EMSPs) team in an urban area were interviewed to assess the team members’ perceptions of the impact of the program on frequency of adverse outcomes during interactions with PMIs. The theoretical framework for …


Improving Patients' Engagement And Retention In Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment, Leo W. Lavender Jan 2022

Improving Patients' Engagement And Retention In Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment, Leo W. Lavender

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Substance use disorder continues to be a major health crisis in the United States. Thousands of people die yearly due to substance use and related criminal activity. Substance abuse treatment is a remedy to the disorder and treatment centers admit thousands of patients yearly to address the dilemma. Throughout the years retention has been an ongoing barrier to successful treatment. This study explored significant obstacles to retention: motivation and engagement. The Baldrige Excellence Framework was utilized to assess the training, supervision, procedures, and leadership roles at an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment center. This study utilized a qualitative approach case …


Examining Health Care Utilization Among Adult Heart Disease Patients With Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms, Courtney R. Lockett Jan 2022

Examining Health Care Utilization Among Adult Heart Disease Patients With Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms, Courtney R. Lockett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health care costs are most commonly concentrated among small groups of high-cost patients, or high utilizers. Many of these patients receive unnecessary and ineffective care and often critical health care needs can go unmet, even when substantial care from multiple sources is received. Thus, there is a need to look into high utilizing patients for not only quality improvement but also effective resource allocation. The operational problem for health care administrators is managing resources and improving quality of care by targeting specific medical conditions that may be high utilizers of medical resources. The purpose of this study was to identify …


The Experiences Of Female Survivors Of Sexual Assault When They Make A Police Report, Tracy L. Rainey Jan 2022

The Experiences Of Female Survivors Of Sexual Assault When They Make A Police Report, Tracy L. Rainey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nearly 20% of all women will be the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault within the United States, yet less than one quarter of victims will report their experienced crime to law enforcement (LE). Many survivors of sexual violence experience apprehension about reporting sexual assault, due to fear of social consequences, relational consequences, and fear of the reprisal from LE officers. The purpose of this interpretive descriptive qualitative study was to describe and interpret the experiences of adult, female sexual assault survivors when they make a LE report about their victimization. Resilience theory, which is the study of …


Relationship Of Mindfulness To Worldview Defense When Mortality Is Salient, Blake Ausmus Jan 2022

Relationship Of Mindfulness To Worldview Defense When Mortality Is Salient, Blake Ausmus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Humans value self-preservation, and therefore that which is perceived to threaten survival should cause stress. However, humans have also developed the understanding of their own mortality, meaning that they cognitively understand that death is inevitable. The conflict arising from these opposing constructs holds the potential to cause anxiety. Interestingly, this anxiety is not easily observed in most. Terror management theory posits that there are buffer systems in place that help to keep death anxiety at bay so that humans are able to continue to function in their daily lives. These buffers include becoming more stringent to one’s worldviews and less …


Adolescents’ Perspective On Social Media Contributing To Suicidal Ideations And Attempts, Shavon Mariah Brooks Jan 2022

Adolescents’ Perspective On Social Media Contributing To Suicidal Ideations And Attempts, Shavon Mariah Brooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social media has become mainstream over the past decade, with new applications that adolescents can download to stay in consistent contact with their peers. Though social media can enhance the ability for communication, it seems to also have the ability to alienate, burden, and exacerbate depression and potential self-harm. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore five adolescent’s perspective on social media contributing to suicide ideations and attempts. The theoretical research was built upon Joiner’s interpersonal theory of suicide. Two research questions were explored in this study, which were the adolescent’s perspective on social media triggering suicidal ideations …


Fall Clinical Practical Guideline In A Psychiatric Hospital, Wendy Carroll Smith Jan 2022

Fall Clinical Practical Guideline In A Psychiatric Hospital, Wendy Carroll Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Psychiatric hospitals are a unique environment and therefore pose unique challenges in preventing falls. Current evidence suggests that multidisciplinary committees to update clinical practice guidelines (CPG) will reduce falls and improve patient care in the acute inpatient psychiatric setting. The purpose of this study was to examine current evidence and develop new CPG with a goal to decrease falls in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The Iowa model collaborative was used as a framework to develop the CPG to promote quality care and serve as an implementation model that supports the training of evidence-based practice. The methodology, design, and data analysis …


The Impact Of Staff Sexual Misconduct On U.S. Federal Prison Inmates’ Mental And Physical Health, Wanwisa Grover Jan 2022

The Impact Of Staff Sexual Misconduct On U.S. Federal Prison Inmates’ Mental And Physical Health, Wanwisa Grover

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prison staff sexual misconduct is an ongoing issue in the United States, but little is known about how inmates’ perceptions of staff sexual misconduct influence their mental and physical health. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to examine the relationship between staff sexual misconduct with federal prison inmates and prisoner mental health and rates of injury, and why inmates are not reporting sexual misconduct encounters. Ecological theory provided the theoretical foundation. The three research questions were designed to examine the relationships between nonconsensual sexual misconduct of prison inmates with prison staff and (a) serious mental health illnesses and …


Examining Clinical Behaviors That Demonstrate Intersectionality And Cultural Humility In Mental Health Treatment, Loretta Kosi Okeke Jan 2022

Examining Clinical Behaviors That Demonstrate Intersectionality And Cultural Humility In Mental Health Treatment, Loretta Kosi Okeke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractCultural humility is an ethical standard within the social work profession. As the United States becomes more diverse, there are increasing rates of failure to implement cultural humility in social work practice in mental health settings. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to examine how clinical social workers demonstrate cultural humility and intersectionality in mental health settings. The theoretical basis on which the research was conducted includes the person-centered theory and the feminist theories, which provided a strong framework for understanding the influences of cultural dynamics and intersectionality on the quality of patient outcomes in mental health care. …


Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation During Hand-Off In A Mental Health Nursing Unit, Renel Ramos Jan 2022

Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation During Hand-Off In A Mental Health Nursing Unit, Renel Ramos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractCommunication failures, especially inadequate hand-off communication, in U.S. hospitals has accounted for 30% of malpractice claims, resulting in 1,744 deaths over 5 years. This prompted the Joint Commission to recommend utilizing standardized communication tools to reduce the number of medical errors related to miscommunication. The Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) Communication Tool has been used to improve the effectiveness of communication among health care providers. The partner organization noted failures to communicate patient-care-related information between psychiatric mental health nurses (PMHN) during hand-off, given the absence of standardized communication. This project aimed to develop a program to educate PMHNs on the SBAR Communication Tool. …


Therapists’ And Teachers’ Experiences Of Children With Aggression: A Children’S Partial Hospitalization Program, Kimberlee Joy Dunlap Jan 2022

Therapists’ And Teachers’ Experiences Of Children With Aggression: A Children’S Partial Hospitalization Program, Kimberlee Joy Dunlap

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Aggression is an indicator of future criminal behavior. It can be a result of trauma, substance-abusing parents, or executive functioning. Research has shown that aggression in childhood often creates criminal behavior later in life, thus researchers suggest that more studies are conducted on programs that help children with aggression. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of therapists who work with aggressive children in a children’s partial hospitalization program, and those teachers who have had these children in class before entering the program and upon discharge from the program. The qualitative study was done using semi-structured …


A Behavioral Health Organizational Perspective On Eliminating Restrictive Interventions, Malisa Santana Shuler Jan 2022

A Behavioral Health Organizational Perspective On Eliminating Restrictive Interventions, Malisa Santana Shuler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

To manage difficult behaviors and ensure the safety of clients and staff, behavioral health organizations have often relied on restrictive interventions such as seclusion and restraint. Although organizational leaders are increasingly seeking alternatives, there is very little literature or organizational practice knowledge addressing this issue. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore, from an organizational leader’s perspective, sustainable best practices after the leaders of a behavioral health organization in the Southeastern region of the United States adopted a statewide initiative to reduce and eliminate restrictive intervention by transitioning to a no seclusion policy. The Baldrige Excellence Framework was …


Evaluation Of A Public School District Nutrition Education Program In Southern California’S San Diego County, Donielle Cohen Jan 2022

Evaluation Of A Public School District Nutrition Education Program In Southern California’S San Diego County, Donielle Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents has markedly increased in several developed countries in recent years. Researchers have examined different factors that contribute to overweight and obesity in children and adolescents but have not fully explored the psychological impact of obesity on this population. The effectiveness of nutrition education programs in addressing the effects of obesity is also understudied. The primary purpose of this evaluative case study was to examine the impact of the Harvest of the Month nutritional educational program, which was adopted by San Diego County public schools in 2005, on the nutritional habits and psychosocial …


Staff Education On Psychosocial Rehabilitation Management Of Individuals Diagnosed With Severe Mental Health Illness, Evarist O. Oguguo Jan 2022

Staff Education On Psychosocial Rehabilitation Management Of Individuals Diagnosed With Severe Mental Health Illness, Evarist O. Oguguo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Serious mental illness (SMI) is common in America and is associated with behavioral and emotional conditions that can lead to serious functional impairment and interfere with a person's decision making and general life activities, negatively impacting themselves and their caregivers, families, and communities. Psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) is one evidence-based, person-centered approach known to be effective in helping individuals diagnosed with SMI manage their symptoms and improve their daily functioning. To effectively participate in providing PSR, caregivers must have special PSR knowledge. A staff education program was developed to educate and increase staff knowledge about PSR. The purpose of the project …


Moral Distress Among Master’S Counseling Students Attending A Cacrep Accredited Counselor Training Program, Matthew Stevens Jan 2022

Moral Distress Among Master’S Counseling Students Attending A Cacrep Accredited Counselor Training Program, Matthew Stevens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Moral distress, an understudied phenomenon among the counseling profession, has been defined as an experience of knowing the right thing to do but being institutionally prevented from doing what is believed to be right. This phenomenon often occurs in hierarchical relationships, such as those between student and teacher or supervisor and supervisee, and may lead to psychological impairment, deviation from ethical standards, and professional burnout, which threatens the ability of professional counselors to initiate and maintain healthy professional relationships. The purpose of this descriptive, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of six master’s level students attending counselor training …


Reading Teacher Perspectives On Classroom Behavior And Criteria Referral For Adhd Testing, Sharmaine Wilder Jan 2022

Reading Teacher Perspectives On Classroom Behavior And Criteria Referral For Adhd Testing, Sharmaine Wilder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other researchers, the prevalence of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among school-aged children has gained the attention of researchers. Due to the large amount of time children spend in the school context, researchers have found that teachers play a vital role as valuable resources to early identification of children needs of services. The purpose of this qualitative study was to expand knowledge about the in-depth experiences of third grade reading teachers when referring for behavioral health services. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) bioecological model the was theoretical framework for this …