Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Commons^™

Student Healthcare Providers' Illness Narratives: Impact On Family-Focused Care, Lindsey Ann Lawson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In this study, we interviewed 30 students training for three areas of healthcare: medicine, nursing, and medical family therapy (MedFT). Through grounded theory analysis of these interviews, we looked to understand how these providers connected their own experiences with illness to their clinical work, particularly in including patients’ family members in care. The majority of participants, and especially those in medicine and nursing disciplines, described a tension between their desire to connect with patients and families and their developing definition of professionalism. For others, the impact of students’ personal experiences with illness seemed to provide a different definition of professionalism, …

Interpreting Children's Dreams Through Humanistic Sandtray Therapy, Karrie L. Swan, April A. Schottelkorb

April A. Schottelkorb

Children’s dreams often depict waking-life events and experiences. Although dream work therapy for adults is fairly established, recommendations for processing children’s dreams appear fractional. Because of the distinct developmental needs of children, we postulated that sandtray therapy might assist children to express and discover enlarged meanings in dreams. In this article, we present the Sandtray for Interpreting Childhood Dreams (SICD) intervention for the purpose of potentially helping children gain insight into how their dreams may be related to past and present waking-life experiences. An explanation and application of the model is presented, and the developmental rationale for using the SICD …

Bringing Functional Family Probation Services To The Community: A Qualitative Case Study, Denise Lynmarie Austin

Dissertations and Theses

In March 2011, Multnomah County's Juvenile Services Division (JSD) in Portland, Oregon implemented a new program model called Functional Family Probation Services, a case management model based on the principles of Functional Family Therapy. Under this model JSD Juvenile Court Counselors deliver Functional Family Probation Services to medium and high-risk youth on probation; both to the youth and their family in their home. This qualitative case study examined the extent to which the Juvenile Court Counselors and Community Justice Managers implemented Functional Family Probation Service's components and recorded their opinions regarding Functional Family Probation Services as a case management model. …

Study Of Brief Single Session Medical Family Therapy With Low-Income Patients, Mayuri Pandit

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Medical Family Therapy (MedFT) has been promoted as beneficial for vulnerable patient populations. However, there is a need for MedFT effectiveness studies with longitudinal randomized control trials. Thus, this pilot study investigated the results of a brief single session of MedFT over a one-week period with low-income primary care patients. Effectiveness in this study was defined as increasing a sense agency and communion and decreasing psychological distress. Results suggested that over time, MedFT may increase some sense of agency for lower-income patients, increase patient satisfaction with care, increase family support for patients with higher education, and decrease depression symptoms for …

Effects Of Parental Trauma Experience On Second Generation Cambodian Americans, Sophorn Theam Choau

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study explores the parent-child relationship between second generation Cambodian Americans (SGCA) and their first generation parents, as reported by SGCA. Specifically this study examined the effects of parental trauma from the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian genocide), on SGCA in relation to SGCA's mental health status, parent-child communication, cohesion, flexibility, and academic achievements. This study was conceptualized through the effects of intergenerational trauma. A quantitative approach was used to analyze the data. Instruments used to measure the variables in the research included Harvard Trauma Questionnaire Revised Cambodian Version (HTQ), Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18), Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES-IV), and …

An Overview Of The Predictors Of Depression Among Adult Pakistani Women, Aysha Zahidie, Tanzil Jamali

Community Health Sciences

Diseases of women that are due to their gender specific roles and responsibilities result from cultural and social factors prevalent in the environs. World Health Organization has put special emphasis on research need regarding gender related factors for diseases disproportionately affecting women in developing countries. The objective of this write up was to determine the prevalence of depression and the associated risk factors among adult women in Pakistan. PubMed was searched using key words depression, risk factors, women and Pakistan. Out of 20 initially retrieved articles, 12 were directly related to depression and its risk factors among Pakistani women within …

Family Implicit Rules, Shame, And Adolescent Prosocial And Antisocial Behaviors, Jeffrey Paul Crane

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined the relationship between implicit family process rules and adolescent prosocial and antisocial communication behaviors. Data came from two-parent families in wave 5 of the Flourishing Families project which consisted of 322 families (fathers, mothers and children ages 13-17). Both observational and questionnaire data were used in data collection. Prosocial and antisocial behaviors were assessed using observational codes from the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales (Melby, et al., 1998). Each of the family members' perceptions were used to assess constraining family rules and facilitative family rules. Findings showed a direct positive relationship between facilitative family process …

Psychological Control, Parental Support, Adolescent Grades And School Engagement, David Brian Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

As we examined research on the effects of parental psychological control and support on adolescents, we noted that these variables have not been widely studied in relation to academic achievement. Using Flourishing Families data, we examined a subsample of females and males who reported parental psychological control and support as well as school engagement variables from adolescents, fathers and mothers. We also used observed variables of grade point average (GPA). Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether parental psychological control and support would negatively or positively relate with academic achievement outcomes of GPA and school engagement. Psychological control and …

A Randomized Trial Evaluating A Parent Based Intervention To Reduce College Drinking, Diana M. Doumas, Rob Turrisi, Anne E. Ray, Susan M. Esp, Amy K. Curtis-Schaeffer

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parent based intervention (PBI) in reducing drinking among first year college students (N = 443). Students were assigned to one of three conditions: PBI, PBI plus booster brochures (PBI-B), and an assessment only control group (CNT). At a 4-month post-intervention follow-up, results indicated students in the PBI-B group reported significantly less drinking to intoxication and peak drinking relative to the PBI group and CNT group. No significant differences were found between the PBI group and CNT group. Results provide further support for PBIs to reduce college student drinking and suggest that a booster …

Interpreting Children's Dreams Through Humanistic Sandtray Therapy, Karrie L. Swan, April A. Schottelkorb

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Children’s dreams often depict waking-life events and experiences. Although dream work therapy for adults is fairly established, recommendations for processing children’s dreams appear fractional. Because of the distinct developmental needs of children, we postulated that sandtray therapy might assist children to express and discover enlarged meanings in dreams. In this article, we present the Sandtray for Interpreting Childhood Dreams (SICD) intervention for the purpose of potentially helping children gain insight into how their dreams may be related to past and present waking-life experiences. An explanation and application of the model is presented, and the developmental rationale for using the SICD …

The Cost Effectiveness Of Collaborative Mental Health Services In Outpatient Psychotherapy Care, Ashley Ann Maag

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the differences in treatment length, cost, cost effectiveness, dropout, and recidivism between a biomedical, talk therapy, and a collaborative mental health model for outpatient psychotherapy insurance claims. A biomedical model was the most cost effective with fewer sessions, but had a significantly higher dropout rate. Collaborative care had the least dropout, but also had higher costs and recidivism rates. Within collaborative care, differences between modality type, diagnosis, and provider type combinations were also examined. Within collaborative models, mixed modes of therapy had the lowest dropout, but at significantly higher costs and recidivism rates. Family therapy had the …

Intrinsic Religiosity And Adolescent Depression And Anxiety: The Mediating Role Of Components Of Self-Regulation, Brent Charles Black

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the possible mediating role of the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive components of self-regulation as they relate to adolescent intrinsic religiosity and the internalizing problems of teen depression and anxiety. The sample included 459 adolescent respondents from one wave of the Flourishing Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling, results showed that cognitive self-regulation partially mediated the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and adolescent depression. Additionally, emotional self-regulation, but not behavioral self-regulation was found to be negatively linked with both depression and anxiety. These findings provide clinicians with greater direction when working with …

The Relationship Between Romantic Relationship Initiation Processes Of Single Lds Emerging Adults And Change In Attachment Working Models With Implications For Practice, Matthew Lloyd Call

Theses and Dissertations

Relationship initiation is an integral part of romantic relationship development and a key developmental task of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2004). In addition, relationship initiation practices (such as dating) have the capacity to impact the fluctuating levels of attachment insecurity (whether anxiety or avoidance) that an individual experiences over the course of emerging adulthood (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). In the present study, I utilized latent growth curve modeling to examine whether certain dating variables (first dates, second or more dates, relationship breakups, dateless weeks) compiled over a 32 week dating history, as well as age and gender could predict change in …

Buffering Effect Of Relational Support In African American Marriages, Aimee Galick

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Racial discrimination is a common experience for African Americans in this country. Racial discrimination can have a negative effect on the physical and mental health of marital partners, as well the quality and stability of the relationship. Few studies investigate relational support as an important coping strategy. Bodenmann's (1995) divorce-stress model asserts that positive dyadic coping strategies such as relational support can buffer partners and marriages from the negative consequences of stress. Socio-emotional relational therapy (SERT) provides marital and family therapists with a model of relational support in couple relationships. SERT's definition formed the basis for the conceptualization of relational …

Physician Couples: A Qualitative Inquiry Focused On Gendered Power And Marital Equality, Sarah C. Stuchell

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

How couples “do” gender and power in their marriages is a relevant topic for today’s couples. Despite social changes toward equality in many realms, gender continues to organize relationships in ways that give husbands more power than wives. However, some contemporary couples make conscious decisions to resist forces toward organizing according to stereotypical gender ideals and to “do” gender differently in their relationships. For couples in which one or both is a physician, power is also deeply embedded in the physician status, with families tending to organize around the physician’s demands. While these effects reinforce male dominance when the husband …

Negotiating Marital Care: Co-Creating The Connected Egalitarian Relationship, Lena Lopez Bradley

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Research suggests that couples seek connection and equality within the marital relationship, yet they continue to struggle due to the continued impact of traditional gender ideologies (Coontz, 2006; Knudson-Martin & Mahoney 2009). The current body of literature reveals little about how specific relational negotiation practices contribute to attaining an equal and connected relationship over time. This study utilizes grounded theory methodology and a feminist social constructionist framework to explore how traditional gender constructs impact couples’ ability to negotiate connected egalitarianism within relationship over time.

The analysis of 68 interviews with two sets of couples—parents of children 5 years old and …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Women With Breast Cancer: Implications For Counselors, Latasha K. Clay

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to explore the lived experiences of African American women diagnosed with breast cancer. Phenomenology focuses on the meaning of the lived experiences of individuals experiencing a concept, structure, or phenomenon (Creswell, 2007). The purpose of phenomenological research is to identify phenomena as perceived by the individual. Utilizing an existential perspective, the focus of this study was to uncover meaning which defined the essence of the participants’ experiences. Seven African American women diagnosed with breast cancer participated in this study. The participants’ ages ranged from 33-63 years. A semi-structured interview process with open-ended questions was utilized …

Still In The Shadows: A Content Analysis Of Sexual Addiction In Couple Therapy, Austin Ellis, Quintin Hunt, Tod Young, Rebecca Nemecek, Jordan Staples, Stephen Fife, Colleen Peterson

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

There is no universally accepted definition of “sex addiction” in the literature, though it is generally understood as persistent patterns of sexual behaviors acted out despite negative consequences to self or others (Kafka, 2010; Levine, 2010). Though sexual addictions are often addressed individually, most take place within a social context that includes family members and/or intimate relationships. The purpose of this presentation is to present the results of a content analysis of M/CFT peer-reviewed journals and summarize the extent to which this literature addresses sexual addictions and couples therapy. The content analysis adds to the existing literature by examining the …

Integrating Art Therapy And Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing To Treat Post Traumatic Stress, Holland Elizabeth Breed

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This research study explored the integration of Art Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to treat clients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The study explored how art therapy and EMDR can be combined effectively. First, a literature review investigated previous research connecting trauma and its neurological impact, as well as the subsequent causes, symptoms and criteria for PTSD, as well as the connection between neurobiology to art therapy and EMDR. Second, an in-depth interview with a licensed MFT and registered art therapist who is also a certified EMDR practitioner portrays the ways combining art therapy and EMDR to …

An Exploration Of Contemplative Practice In The Life Of The Art Therapist, Kristina Marie Ebsen

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

A six week self-study was conducted to explore the use of regular contemplative practice and art-making to examine effects on the life of an art therapy graduate student. This study examined a three-fold inquiry regarding the use of contemplative practices, namely Buddhist meditation, as well as weekly reflective art making to broaden self-knowledge and enhance general wellbeing. Further implications of the use of contemplative practice and reflective art making were reviewed for clinical application in the field of art therapy, both for the client and art therapist.

Marriage And Religion: The Effect Of Religious Study Materials On Marital Happiness, Rose E M Zell

Honors Program Projects

The purpose of this research was to assess the impact of marital enrichment materials on marital happiness. In addition, the study attempted to determine if gender or number of years married made a difference in regard to the impact on marital happiness. The participants consisted of 56 New Life Christian Church members (28 male and 28 female) who comprised 28 married couples. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or the experimental group. Every participant took a pre-test survey designed to assess marital happiness across ten different variables. Then the experimental group completed the Love Talk study by Les …

A Community Art Exploration Of Bicultural Identity And Acculturation With Latino Adolescents, Stephanie V. Moreno

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an exploration among low-income Latino adolescents, which seeks to explore the experiences and the stressors from immigration, acculturation, and bicultural identity through art. The participants selected from Dolores Mission Parish in Boyle Heights California, created a personal art piece and a collaborative installation. The art explores and expresses their personal journeys with acculturation and bicultural identity. Multiple sources of data were collected including daily observation, group discussions, individual artwork, collaborative installation, and photographs taken during the workshop; to gain an understanding of what acculturation means to adolescents, how this process effects their lives, their experiences with biculturalism, …

An Exploration Of Art Therapy As A Treatment For Cumulative Trauma, Kristina Marie Naff

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study is informed by a grounded theory approach and explores the use of art therapy as a treatment for cumulative trauma. This paper reviews the current literature focusing on both cumulative trauma and related studies which address the nature and impact of “big T” and “little t” events and accumulated lifetime adversity. There are remarkably few studies which highlight the concept of cumulative trauma in both general psychology and art therapy literature, and there appear to be no existing studies addressing the treatment of the state of cumulative trauma to date. For this study, a series of …

Letting Go: Termination Through The Lens Of Attachment And Reflective Art, Brittany Alexandra Peterson

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a personal account of the discoveries made during a heuristic study in which the researcher sought to deepen her understanding of the difficulties of ending treatment with adolescent male clients as a female art therapist in training. Through the analysis of reflective artwork created during and after termination at a boys’ home, the researcher uncovered multiple themes as they related to the therapeutic relationship, attachment, transference/countertransference, dreams, vicarious trauma, self-care, and the ambiguity of termination. After reviewing the potential dangers of harmful termination and the paucity of literature on its effect on at-risk youth in group homes, …

Art In The Terror: An Analysis Of Nightmare Imagery In Art Therapy, Emily Christine Brozyna

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the utilization of participants’ nightmares in art therapy to benefit treatment. The researcher utilized a self-study by means of making art about three of her own nightmares, followed by a comparative analysis in case studies. The researcher asked the participants to make art about a nightmare they reported they had while in a treatment session, and then provided them with the opportunity to alter the image for possible means of catharsis. The researcher then discussed the process with the participants in order to answer the research questions. The participants’ ages ranged from 6-15; with two males and …

Visual Sexuality: Integrating Art And Sex Therapies, Jillien Anne Kahn

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to understand the potential challenges and benefits of an integration between art and sex therapies. Three interviews were performed: two with certified art therapists, one with a certified sex therapist, in order to understand how each of these professionals has chosen to approach issues of sexuality and creative expression within his or her practice. The data from the interviews was critically compared within and between each interviewee, producing three overarching themes that provide a framework for understanding the potential benefits and challenges of this integration. These three themes are defined as: 1) The importance …

Stigma And Identity Formation In Young Adults With Chronic Mental Illness: An Exploration Through Personal Narrative And Art-Making, Kerri Lynn Blackstone

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the experience of stigma and its effect on identity formation in young adults who suffer from chronic mental illness. Data was gathered in the form of personal narratives and art-making through a a semi-structured, qualitative focus group. It was categorized and coded in order to better understand the experience of both public and internalized stigma in relation to the developmental milestones that characterize the important transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of three overarching themes: 1) The challenges of coping with a stigmatizing system, 2) Internalized stigma as it relates …

2013 Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar: Youth At Risk, Part 2, Denise A. Hines, Fern L. Johnson, Donna Haig Friedman, Deborah A. Frank

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

The youth of Massachusetts are of primary concern to legislators and citizens. This briefing report features three essays by experts — Fern Johnson, Deborah Frank, and Donna Haig Friedman — who focus on three aspects of children in need: children in foster care who need adoption, children who are hungry, and children who are homeless. Each report has further and more detailed suggestions for helping these children in need; below is a summary of the problems we face.

Counting The Economic Costs And Policy Implications Associated With Divorce: Texas As A Case Study, David G. Schramm, Steven M. Harris, Jason B. Whiting Phd, Alan J. Hawkins, Matt Brown, Rob Porter

Faculty Publications

Although many adults and children are resilient after divorce, it is common for marital breakups to precipitate the need for government assistance for families who had been self-sufficient. This study focuses on the economic costs of divorce associated with means-tested welfare programs in Texas, which fall into five central areas: medical assistance; cash assistance; food assistance; housing, energy, and utility assistance; and child care and development assistance. The study estimated that Texas spends at least $3.18 billion on divorce and its related consequences each year, accounting for approximately 12% of the total Texas budget in 2008. These results reinforce the …

Luba’S Theme, Amy Clements-Cortés

Music Faculty Publications

The following case study is of Luba, a 4 year old girl diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease and her music therapy process. Foundational information on Tay-Sachs disease is provided alongside a discussion of anticipatory grieving, and the death of a child.