Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Unlv Mental Health Initiatives: Unifying Through Innovation And Collaboration, The Lincy Institute, Unlv Practice, Behere Nv, Unlv Department Of Psychology

Lincy Institute Events

Nevada persistently ranks at or near the bottom in the country for overall access to mental health services despite the need (Mental Health America, 2015-2023). UNLV faculty are developing initiatives to change this unacceptable situation. The Lincy Institute, in partnership with UNLV PRACTICE, BeHERE Nevada, and researchers from the Department of Psychology, offered a community forum showcasing three mental health initiatives harnessing faculty collaboration and innovation to drive overdue changes in Nevada’s mental-health landscape. Following the presentations policymakers engaged in open discussion with UNLV presenters and the audience. The three main initiatives showcased in this forum …

Promoting Mammography Screenings In African American Women: Media, Church, And Health Providers, Lasonya Little, Debra C. Wallace, K.Jay Poole

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Due to the underutilization of screening mammography, African American women (AAW) are more likely to experience negative health outcomes after receiving a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis than White Women (WW). The purpose of this article is to examine the roles of the media, health community and the African American church and pastor and their potential impact in AAW screening decisions. Fifteen AAW, ages 45 and older, were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Most women agreed the African American pastor and church as well as the health community, and media are an integral part of their lives. Therefore, specific …

High Illusion Of Control Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Analyses Of The Effects Of Forms Of Counterfactual Thinking And Gender In Problem Gambling And Gaming, Larry Okechukwu Awo Dr., George Nzeadi Duru Mr.

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Abstract

Three studies (Study 1, N = 322 male adolescents, Study 2, N = 401 male and female adolescents, and Study 3, longitudinal, N = 56 male and female adolescents) analyzed the effects cognitive and psychographic variables in the relationships among illusion of control (IC), problem gambling and problem gaming. Moderated mediation analyses results using PROCESS macro in the three studies confirmed: (1) the positive mediating effect of upward CFT in the association between IC and problem gambling and problem gaming; (2) the negative mediating effect of downward CFT in the association between IC and problem gambling and problem gaming; …

Advancing Health Equity In The Us Military, James D. Mancuso, John Young, Jennifer Rusiecki, Shauna Stahlman, Natasha Schvey, Toya Randolph, Candy Wilson, Catherine Witkop, Patrick Hyde, Althea Green, Patcho Santiago, Donald Shell, Tracy Sbrocco

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity are central to US national health objectives and the Military Health System’s “quadruple aim,” which has readiness as its core aim. Because military service members enjoy universal eligibility for health care, it is sometimes assumed that health disparities do not exist in the Department of Defense (DoD). However, while some studies have shown that disparities have been attenuated or eliminated in the DoD, others suggest that significant disparities remain. Reasons these disparities may remain include that universal eligibility for care does not necessarily result in equal to access to care, and that equal …

Correlates Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Anxiety Among Adults In Appalachia, Usa, Ram Lakhan, Louisa Summers, David Tataw, Peter Hackbert, Manoj Sharma

Social & Behavioral Health Faculty Publications

Background: Anxiety problems have increased in the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. However, very little is known about the anxiety rates in the new normal phase of the disease when adults have been assumed to be adjusted. The study aimed to find out the difference in anxiety in a convenience sample of Appalachian adults during the new normal phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, examine its association with sociodemographic factors, and compare it with the anxiety levels before the pandemic as recalled by the participants. Study design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale was used in the present study. The …

Lovingkindness Meditation Alters Sense Of Self In Non-Meditators, John Watt

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest have increased individuals’ stress, anxiety, and social isolation. In response, a resounding call has gone out for more resources to buffer the effects of this psychological burden. One free and accessible resource is meditation; lovingkindness meditation is particularly beneficial and increases positive emotionality, psychological well-being, prosocial behavior, and social connectedness. Meditation is theorized to confer these benefits through fostering an allocentric spatial frame of reference. An allocentric spatial frame of reference is a view of the self that extends beyond the boundary of the body and is accompanied by a heightened sense of connection …

Get Engaged: Results Of Ncpg 2018 National Survey Of Gambling Attitudes & Experiences, Keith Whyte, Don Feeney

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The National Survey of Gambling Attitudes and Gambling Experiences (NGAGE) is the largest published survey of gambling participation and problems in the US. This unprecedented look into how Americans gamble, what they gamble, how they think about it in every state. Includes a special focus on sports gambling. Presenters will review the findings and implications for everyone involved in gambling issues.

Understanding Alcoholics’ “Difficulty In Life”: An Empirical Comparison Of Alcoholics And Nonalcoholics, Keiko Ito

Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal

The Japanese success rate for alcoholism treatment is approximately 30%, indicating high relapse rates. Although “difficulty in life” is thought to contribute to alcoholics’ relapse, the characteristics of the phenomenon are unknown. This study examined the factors contributing to alcoholics’ difficulty in life. Alcoholic self-help group members, who indicated the extent of their difficulty in life and described the factors that contributed to this difficulty, completed a self-administered questionnaire. Participants’ hypersensitivity/grandiosity traits were also examined. A control group of nonalcoholic men also completed the questionnaire. Simple tabulation, descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U tests, and multivariate analyses were used to compare data …

Emotion Learning And Memory In Schizophrenia, M. N. Strong, D. N. Allen

McNair Poster Presentations

• Prior research indicates that processing of emotional information is particularly problematic for individuals with schizophrenia. • An important component of emotional processing is the accurate encoding and recall of emotionally valenced information. • The current study addresses this matter by investigating performance on a task assessing learning, recall, and recognition in patients with schizophrenia. • In this manner, recall of emotionally valenced information may be investigated

A Public Health-Based Approach To German Gaming Regulation, Knut Walter, Gerhard Buehringer

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The current situation of the German gambling market can be characterized by an unrelated framework of different legal systems, different regulatory authorities and different control principles, and has led to (1) an increasing number of court decisions and information requests by European Commission questioning parts of that regulatory system, (2) public tolerance of illicit gambling, and consequently (3) a lack of consumer protection.

Taking RENO Model 1.0 and 2.0 seriously, a new and comprehensive regulatory framework based on common consumer protection standards for all types of gambling – land-based and online, state-owned and private operated – has been developed and …

Etiology And Stability Of Problem Gambling, Robert Williams, Rachel A. Volberg

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Prevention of problem gambling hinges on having research that clearly identifies the variables that are etiologically involved, their temporal sequence, and their causal connections. Longitudinal research is the best way of disentangling the chronology and causal relationships between variables. The present research describes the results of the two major longitudinal studies of gambling in Canada: the Quinte Longitudinal Study (QLS) (n = 4,121) and the Leisure, Lifestyle, Lifecycle Project (LLLP) (n = 1,808). The first part of the presentation describes the stability of gambling classifications over a 5 year period. This is followed by an identification of the univariate and …

Association Between Depression And Aggression In Rural Women, Laetitia Meyrueix, Gabriel Durham, Jasmine Miller, K. Bryant Smalley Phd, Psyd, Jacob C. Warren Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Rural women represent approximately 20% of women living in the United States, yet research on the specific mental health needs of rural women is limited. Given the well-recognized gender-linked disparity in depression, its correlated symptoms in women still need much investigation. While emerging notions of depression in men embrace potential symptoms related to irritability and aggression, less research has focused on the potential role of aggression in depressed women. This connection may be particularly relevant for rural women who face unique mental health stressors in comparison to their urban counterparts. The purpose of this study was to examine if aggression …

Tapping To A Slow Tempo In The Presence Of Simple And Complex Musical Meters Reveals Experience-Specific Biases For Processing Music, Sangeeta Ullal-Gupta, Erin E. Hannon, Joel S. Snyder

Psychology Faculty Research

Musical meters vary considerably across cultures, yet relatively little is known about how culture-specific experience influences metrical processing. In Experiment 1, we compared American and Indian listeners' synchronous tapping to slow sequences. Inter-tone intervals contained silence or to-be-ignored rhythms that were designed to induce a simple meter (familiar to Americans and Indians) or a complex meter (familiar only to Indians). A subset of trials contained an abrupt switch from one rhythm to another to assess the disruptive effects of contradicting the initially implied meter. In the unfilled condition, both groups tapped earlier than the target and showed large tap-tone asynchronies …

Early Life Stress, Drug Abuse, Exercise Effects On Bdnf And Sex-Influenced Excercise Differences, Karissa Dold

Honors College Theses

In 2011, the U.S. reported 3 million child maltreatment cases, an uncomfortably high but recurring figure each year. Research shows exposure to early life stress (ELS) increases an individual’s susceptibility to substance abuse, specifically of nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine. Increased susceptibility may result from dysregulation of the HPA axis sustaining activation into adulthood after ELS. Hyperactivation of the HPA axis significantly reduces hippocampal BDNF, a neurotrophin involved in neuronal growth and plasticity. Reduced hippocampal BDNF may be a factor in substance abuse vulnerability. Additionally, research shows exercise protects hippocampal BDNF from stress induced down-regulation. To explore these relationships, this study …

Primary Care Behavioral Health Consultation Reduces Depression Levels Among Mood-Disordered Patients, Bill Mcfeature, Thomas W. Pierce

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of behavioral health consultative services on levels of depressive symptoms in patients diagnosed with a mood disorder. Two-hundred fifty-one patients with a form of mood disorder completed the PHQ-9 screening tool for depression both before and after a treatment period lasting an average of three months, during which patients received behavioral health consultation services. Results showed that 49.8% of patients participating in this integrated behavioral health care program experienced improvements of at least 50% in PHQ-9 scores from pre- to post-test. Improvements in PHQ-9 scores of at least a five …

Children's Emotional State And False Memory In The Drm Paradigm, Pamela Cornejo

McNair Poster Presentations

Children are called to give testimony for highly emotional during court cases. Research indicates that children in a negative emotional state recall with lesser vividness (Berliner et al. 2003) and are more likely to incorporate false information (Levine, Burgess & Laney, 2008). The present study will examine this further by examining the influence of negative and positive emotional states on recall and recognition in child-normed lists within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. The DRM paradigm is a cognitive task that relies on gist memory for remembrance of the critical lure in semantically associated word lists. It is expected that the eight …

Experienced Clinician’S Understanding And Approach To Treatment With Male Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse, Blendine Perreire Hawkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The number of males abused sexually as children are significant and while the awareness of the needs of this population has increased, the process in treatment has not been sufficiently examined. The purpose of this study was to explore experienced clinicians' approach and understanding within treatment with adult male survivors of child sexual abuse. A qualitative research design was utilized, using purposeful expert sampling procedures. In this study, data was collected from phone interviews with five participants who were identified as highly experienced clinicians in the area of male survivors of child sexual abuse treatment. Using qualitative methods within phenomenological …

2009- 2010 Unlv Mcnair Journal, Kathleen Bell, Danetta Bradley, Vacheral M. Carter, Nydia Diaz, Kathryn E. English, Sarah Harrison, Michelle Israel, Christina Macke, Erica Orozco, Pilar Palos, Sandra Ramos, Soraya A. Silverman, Susan Taylor, Sajar Camara, William Mccurdy, Yvonne C. Morris, Maxym V. Myroshnychenko, Ricardo Rios, Monique Sulls, Bremen Vance, Barbara Wallen

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program

Table of Contents

Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Statements:

Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President

Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach

Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

McNair Scholars Institute Staff

2005- 2008 Unlv Mcnair Journal, Valerie Avery, Shana Bachus, Karmen K. Boehlke, Andrea Flores, Alden Kelly, Erick Lopez, Carol Preussler, Heather Shay, Ava Bookatz, Shaun Elsasser, Veronica Hicks, Shaida A. Jetha, Anthony Quinn, Thurithabhani Seneviratne, Teddy Boado Sim Jr., Liza Ward, Amris Henry-Rodgers, Jacquelynn Kaaa-Logan, Jason Orozco, Juan C. Plata, Bonnie Bartlett, Kathleen Bell, Vacheral M. Carter, Nydia Diaz, Kimberly Hackstock, Julio A. Luna, Charles Mao, Sandra Ramos, Precious Rideout, Benjamin Lee Watrous, Chet R. Whitley

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program

Table of Contents

Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Statements:

Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President

Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach

Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

McNair Scholars Institute Staff