Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Big Boys Don't Cry : Understanding Barriers To Seeking Support For Mental Health Problems Among Adolescent Males, Amanda Miraudo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explored the possible barriers encountered by adolescents in developing and achieving positive mental health. Male adolescents in Perth, Western Australia were consulted in an attempt to provide insight into the motivating and inhibiting factors influencing help-seeking as a coping strategy. Barriers to seeking help for mental health problems were investigated through the inductive process of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to obtain a more detailed understanding of help-seeking than previous studies have provided; The study found that the coping responses most frequently enacted by the adolescent males sampled included avoidance, diversion, and private resolution. Help-seeking was far …

Promoting Total Wellness In The Health Education Curriculum: A Holistic Approach, Alicia Marie Mciver

All Graduate Projects

The benefits of exploring, understanding, and balancing the social, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions in one's life were researched. The research suggests that providing students in health education classrooms with meaningful avenues to learn about these dimensions within themselves would lead to higher levels of wellness and an overall higher quality of life. A handbook for educators was created to supplement parts of the existing curriculum, as well as show readers that this type of supplemental health handbook can be created by anyone to be used with any type of health curriculum. This handbook contains three health units. Each …

High School Coaches' Perceptions Of Sport Psychology And Sport Psychologists, Jonathan W. Barnes

Legacy ETDs

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Cultural Appropriateness Of Service Delivery Models In The Australian Mental Health System, Mong L. Connell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study is an attempt to examine the cultural appropriateness of the mental health system in relation to the Vietnamese refugee community in Australia. Culture and mental health, as widely acknowledged in the field of transcultural psychiatry, are closely linked. No aspect of the diagnosis or treatment methods can be justified without reference to the cultural traditions of the mental health system and the client. In a country like Australia, where multiculturalism is a dominant feature of the society, the need is even greater in incorporating culture into every aspect of the mental health system, if it desires to provide …

Effect Of Relaxation On Neuro-Immune Responses Of Persons Undergoing Chemotherapy, Patricia K. Taylor Pothier Phd, Ms, Rn

Dissertations

Chemotherapy can be considered both a physiologic and a psychological stressor. Anxiety, nausea, emesis, and immunosuppression are commonly associated with chemotherapy, and may adversely affect the outcome or the process of treatment. Chemotherapy-related anxiety can exacerbate negative side-effects. Some psychological stressors, such as anxiety, can result in down-regulation of certain immune functions. Studies have demonstrated that behavioral interventions, such as specific relaxation strategies, can modify stress-related immune modulation. These behavioral interventions have also been shown to decrease the degree of nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a relaxation intervention would result …

The Use Of The Cognitive Status Examination In Detecting Cognitive Impairment In Elderly People, Geoff Mccann

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Dementia is a growing social problem in Australia because as the population ages, the incidence of dementia increases. While the prevalence rates are only about I% at age 65, they double every five years until by 85 years of age the rate is over 24%. It is expected that by the year 2030, the number of elderly people with dementia will increase by 200%. Dementia is easily recognized in its advanced stages but can be overlooked in the early phase. Family members, care-givers and even the treating medical practitioner may mistakenly attribute the early decline in mental function to the …

Relationships Between Posttraumatic Stress, Acculturation, And Maternal Sensitivity In Vietnamese And Hmong Mothers, Gwendolyn F. Foss Dnsc

Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to determine if posttraumatic stress (PTS), depression, and anxiety occurred in a community sample of Vietnamese and Hmong mothers and to describe relationships between PTS, depression, anxiety, acculturation and maternal sensitivity. Transition theory (Bridges, 1980), and a conceptual model of parenting in immigrant populations building on Belsky's (1984) work, provided the theoretical framework (Foss, 1996). The sample was divided evenly between Vietnamese and Hmong participants. Ages ranged from 17–43 years, time lived in the United States ranged from 3–21 years, and education ranged from no formal education to completion of college. Maternal sensitivity was …

Perceptions Of Discharge Planning Needs : A Study Of Discharge Planning In The Mental Health Setting, Michael P. Finn

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Major mental disorder, with prolonged periods of dysfunction that require long term care, is an issue of concern amongst mental health professionals. Although substantial effort and resources are devoted towards returning mentally ill individuals to the community, one of the most distinctive and consistent features of the persistently mentally ill (PMI) is their high rate of readmission to hospital. Existing studies into discharge planning revealed that no research had been undertaken to determine if this is the case in Western Australia. This study sought to investigate perceptions of discharge planning held by patients, carers, nurses and allied health workers involved …

Elders Caring For Elders: Risk Of Abuse And Neglect?, Marjorie F. Bendik Dnsc, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the phenomena of mood disturbance and associated potential to abuse in an elderly caregiver population. The data from which the results were obtained came from structured interviews, using quantitative measures, with 110 men and women caregivers aged 55 and over, living at home and caring for another physically or mentally ill elder (usually a spouse or other relative) who was living with them. A causal model was developed to examine the effects of locus of control, social support, physical health, stress perception, and coping efficacy on total mood disturbance and potential to abuse. Standardized …

Mental Status And Time Of Day In Elderly Nursing Home Residents, Lynn S. Lashley

MSN Research Projects

The purpose of this quantitative and qualitative descriptive study was to examine the differences in mental status at morning and evening hours of the day among elderly nursing home residents and to describe behaviors and environmental cues associated with changes in mental status. Residents, aged 70 to 90 years who were mobile, were selected from a sample of convenience at a 100-bed rural nursing home in West Central Alabama. A total of 48 residents, 33 females and 15 males, participated in the study. Demographic data were obtained from the health care records. Mental status of each subject was measured, using …

The Relationship Between Self-Concept And Locus Of Control In Physically Abused Women, Betsy Wright Shires

Theses and Dissertations

History can provide some clues concerning the physical abuse of women by men. Beginning in biblical times, women were viewed as the property of men (Steinmetz, 1977). Until 1824 by law, a man was allowed to strike his wife if provoked (Bell, 1977). Under the law, some states still grant "spouse immunity" in cases of assault and battery, where married couples are involved.The focus of this research was to examine the problem of wife abuse through the perspective of social learning theory. Using Roy's theory of adaptation (Roy, 1976), the investigator also examined the area of self-concept as it related …

Mental Health Status Of Vietnamese Refugees In Utah County, Utah, David A. Acree

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to measure mental health status of Vietnamese refugees in Utah County, Utah. The test instrument used was the Cornell Medical Index (CMI). Two subproblems were considered: First, to see if refugee complaints on the CMI were predominantly physiological or psychological. Second, to see if there was a relationship between CMI scores and a related list of demographic variables.

Results showed the mean CMI score for the sample under study was well above the suggested score indicative of possible psychological dysfunction. For 80% of participants, psychological complaints were predominant over physical complaints. The only variables showing a relationship …

Anxiety And Fear In Personality Structure, Robert Robert Mickelson

Graduate Student Research Papers

The problem to be studied is the effect of anxiety and fear on the personality. Concern with this problem stems from the fact that on many occasions anxiety and fear blocks a person's free approach to experience and often anxiety and fear prevent one from building sound interpersonal and intergroup relations.

Ways To Mental Health: West And East, George F. Melody

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

What is the psychosocial condition of Western man? What has happened to Apollonian man, characterized by order, harmony and leisure? Why has the ideal or Apollonian man (so well described by Nietzsche and Spengler) given way to Dionysian man ... Faustian man? Whence has gone the Apollonian safeguard, essential to measure, constraint, health and love?

How really sick is Western man? Why is he not at peace with himself, his family, his associates, people in other countries who may have political philosophies different from his own ... nay, with God? An inventory of the concrete condition of Western man may …