Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Youth Characteristics, Home Ecology, And Child Maltreatment In The Severity Of Problematic Sexual Behaviors And Conduct Problems, Ariel K. Berman

Dissertations

A multitude of individual, familial, and environmental variables have previously been identified as contributing to the development of problematic sexual behaviors (PSB) and general conduct problems (CP) in youth. The majority of these studies have focused either on individual youth characteristics or parenting behaviors such as child maltreatment. Although researchers examining contributions to PSB and CP generally acknowledge the importance of the impact of the home environment on youth behavior, few researchers have included family characteristics of both parents and siblings in their analyses. Additionally, some factors that have been identified as having great importance in general juvenile delinquency, such …

Mental Health Treatment In Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Utilizing Assessment To Inform Treatment, Sarah Riccio

Dissertations

Youth in juvenile correctional facilities face a wide range of mental health difficulties. Over the years, the juvenile justice system has prioritized the need for providing appropriate and effective treatment services to youth throughout their detainment. Despite these ongoing efforts, treatment practices in juvenile correctional facilities continue to fall short. This study will first focus on assessment practices within these facilities and the impact current practices have on diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of comprehensive evaluations for informing diagnosis and determining the individual treatment needs of detained youth. An integrated approach to assessment will …

Preclinical Behavioral Assessment Of Chronic, Intermittent Low-Dose Psilocybin In Rodent Models Of Depression And Anxiety, Harmony I. Risca

Dissertations

Recent studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Amidst the overall success of recent clinical trials using a single high dose of psilocybin, anecdotal reports indicate anxiolytic and antidepressant effects following a repeated low dose regimen. As therapeutic outcomes are often tightly intertwined with the individual’s subjective experience, animal models are used as objective measures to investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the putative antidepressant/anxiolytic effects of psychedelics. Three rodent models predictive of anxiolytic or antidepressant effects were used to evaluate effects of chronic intermittent low dose (CILD) psilocybin treatment; the Light/Dark conflict …

Exploration Of Patient Variables And Characteristics Best Suited For Medical Marijuana Treatment For Anxiety And Depressive Disorders, Corey Gazoo

Dissertations

Individuals with posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depressive disorders are currently being prescribed medical marijuana as a treatment in many states across the United States. However, marijuana is still considered a schedule one narcotic by the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal government, which provides several barriers and challenges to conduct research such as approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and following guidelines from the National Institute on Drug Abuse issued by the DEA. Additionally, individuals prescribed medical marijuana for mental health disorders are not always thoroughly instructed on the type of medical marijuana, the dosage, and how frequently to …

Implementing A Depression Screening In A Pediatric Acute Care Setting For Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes, Kelcie Marler

Dissertations

Problem: Depression among adolescents with Diabetes Mellitus type 1 (DM 1) is three times more prevalent than adolescents without chronic disease. Diagnosis of depression has been found to negatively affect the quality-of-care management, quality of life, and results in an increase in hospital admissions with hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia events.

Methods: A depression screening, the patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), a validated screening tool for use among adolescents was implemented in this quality improvement (QI) project. It was the first cycle of a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle for in a pediatric ICU. Adolescents between the ages of 12 – 18, were …

Examining Treatment Acceptability Of An Eight-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Protocol, Blake William Palmer

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine whether levels of perceived stress, experiential avoidance, personality traits including openness to experience and agreeableness, and demographic variables will predict the treatment acceptability (indicated by responses on the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale) of an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. This study collected data in the Spring of 2019. The final number of participants in the study was 116 (40 females, 76 males, Mage = 36, age range: 22-69 years). Participants completed measures including the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), the agreeableness and openness to Experience domains …

Respecting The Spectrum: Creating A Gender Inclusive Structured Diagnostic Intake Interview, Natalia Andino-Rivera

Dissertations

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people, more than ever, are in need of and actively seeking out services in order to cope with the reality of being transgender in the United States. This includes requiring assistance from local and federal governmental systems that do not provide protections for equal housing, workplace discrimination, and healthcare provisions, much less hate crime investigation and prosecution. In 2011, 75% of transgender people were or had been in therapy in the past, with a further 14% intending to participate in therapy in the future. Recently, the newly elected President Joseph Biden issued an executive order (EO) …