Behavioral Disciplines and Activities Commons^™

Development Of A Cohesion Inventory For Children's Sport Teams, Luc J. Martin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to develop an inventory designed to measure cohesion in children’s (ages 9-12) sport teams. To this end, three studies were conducted. In Study 1, children became active agents in the process of test construction. More specifically, children (N = 167) participated in focus groups and completed open-ended questionnaires in order to provide information on their perceptions of cohesion as well as motives for participating, continuing, and ceasing involvement on sport teams. Study 2 involved the use of the information obtained from Study 1 to develop potential items for the questionnaire. In addition, the …

Attributing Mind To Others: The Underlying Mechanism Of The Timescale Bias Effect, Kseniya Zhuzha

Honors Theses

Previous research has demonstrated that, when people speculate about the minds of others, their judgments are subject to the timescale bias. People seem to attribute richer mind experience to humans whose walking speed is closer to the average human walking speed than to those whose speed is faster or slower. The present study investigated if self-projection is the underlying mechanism of the bias by examining dispositional walking speed as a potential moderator of the effect. Participants were asked to watch two videos of a human walking at slow, medium, or fast speeds and then asked to speculate about the targets' …

Evaluation Of Preference For Exergames Among Elementary Students, Christie Ann Cacioppo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obesity in children is a nationwide problem. Physical activity is one way to help children stay fit and prevent obesity. Unfortunately, access to technology involving sedentary behavior is easier than ever. Fortunately, for this generation of students there is a way to combine physical activity and technology through exergaming. In order to encourage students to participate in exergaming, the students should be able to play games they prefer. The purpose of this study was to apply a paired choice preference assessment, rank order card sort, and social validity surveys to determine the preference order of six exergames for six elementary …

Improving Blood Pressure Control In Esrd Through A Supportive Educative Nursing Intervention, Zorica Kauric-Klein

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

IMPROVING BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL IN ESRD THROUGH A

SUPPORTIVE EDUCATIVE NURSING INTERVENTION

by

ZORICA KAURIC-KLEIN

May 2011

Advisor: Dr. Nancy T. Artinian

Major: Nursing

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Problem: Hypertension in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients contributes significantly to their morbidity and mortality. Statistics indicate the hypertension rate amongst HD patients ranges from 75 to 100 %. Studies have indicated that adherence rates to self-care behaviors related to salt and fluid intake and medication regimens are very poor in the HD population. Traditional hypertension management strategies have been found to be largely ineffective. There is modest evidence indicating that interventions …

Effects Of Personality And Situation Upon Appraisal And Coping, Daniel Henry Mcgrath

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Stress and coping represent one of the most studied areas in the field of psychology. There is little agreement regarding the proper conceptualization of coping. Cognitive processesand personality traits have been proposed as important determinants of coping responses. Low correlations have been consistently found between personality traits, appraisal, and coping. Many studies in the stress and coping literature suffer from methodological issues. This study was designed to improve upon typical methodology, determine the relative predictive utility ofpersonality cluster approaches over dimensional approaches, and determine the effect of personality and situation upon appraisal and coping. Participants read hypothetical stressor scenarios. Primary …

Work-Family Boundary Management Strategies: Examining Outcomes, And The Role Of Fit, Madhura Chakrabarti

Wayne State University Dissertations

As more and more people attempt to effectively manage the simultaneous demands of work and family, researchers are now trying to investigate the various ways by which people choose to do so. The present study investigated the concept of boundary management strategies that describes the work-family interface in terms of cognitive, physical, and behavioral boundaries between work and family domains that individuals actively try to manage in order to balance the two worlds. Research in boundary management strategies has been minimal due to the the novelty of the construct. In this study, specific individual and organizational outcomes like work-family conflict, …

An Evaluation Of Booster Training Using Video Modeling With Foster Parents, Anna Katherine Caravello

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order for foster parents to be prepared to manage problem behavior and develop a positive relationship with a child in their home, local foster care agencies require these parents to attend parent training classes. Unfortunately, even foster care agencies that offer empirically validated parent training courses are unable to prevent the parents' performance from decreasing over time (Cowart, Iwata, & Poynter, 1984; Forehand & King, 1977; Mueller et al., 2003). However, researchers have created booster training sessions to counteract this issue. Booster training sessions allow participants to attend a brief refresher course on skills they have previously learned. Another …

Physical Activity Promotion Among School-Aged Children Using Pedometers And Rewards, Kari E. Ek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical activity is important for children as many children are considered overweight or obese. The benefits of exercise have been demonstrated in empirical studies across all age ranges (Horne, Hardman, Lowe, & Rowlands, 2009; Kelly et al., 2004; Louie & Chan, 2003; Southard & Southard, 2006). In the current study, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess the effectiveness of goal setting, reinforcement contingencies, and pedometers that provide feedback to increase step count of 5 participants. During baseline each participant wore a sealed pedometer to assess the average steps the participants took per day. After baseline, each …

Utilizing Probabilistic Reinforcement To Enhance Participation In Parent Training, Errity Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parental participation in parent training programs is necessary for success in behavioral parent training. Prior literature has demonstrated probabilistic reinforcement as an effective intervention for improving a wide variety of behaviors. In the present study, a probabilistic reinforcement program (i.e., lottery) was implemented in order to evaluate its efficacy as part of a behavioral parent training program. The behaviors targeted for increase included attendance, participation, homework completion, and performing role-plays or completing in-class assignments for two 10 week Tools for Positive Behavior Change courses. Participants earned lottery tickets for each of the dependent measures, and drawings took place at the …

Responding To Tobacco Craving: Acceptance Versus Suppression, Erika B. Litvin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs) are based on a model that craving is a primary cause of relapse, and therefore they emphasize skills for preventing and reducing craving. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) provides a theoretical rationale for "acceptance" of drug-related thoughts and cravings, and proscribes suppression, a more intuitive and commonly used coping strategy. However, it remains largely unknown whether various coping strategies differentially affect craving intensity, drug use behavior, or other relevant outcomes during a craving episode. Using a randomized, between-subjects design (acceptance-based coping, suppression-based coping, or no coping instructions/control), the current study compared the effect …

Repeated Binge Pattern Ethanol Administration During Adolescence Or Adulthood: Long-Term Changes In Voluntary Ethanol Intake And Mesolimbic Dopamine Functionality In Male Rats, Antoniette Michelle Maldonado-Devincci

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Binge alcohol consumption is a rising concern in the United States, especially among adolescents as during this developmental period alcohol use is usually initiated and has been shown to cause detrimental effects on brain structure and function. These findings have been established through the use of binge models in animals, where animals are repeatedly administered high doses of ethanol typically over a period of three or four days. While such work has examined the effects of a four-day and repeated three-day binge, there has been almost no work conducted aimed at investigating the long-term behavioral and neurochemical and/or functional consequences …

Making A Splash: Eliminating Water Phobia And Increasing Confident Water Skills, Paula Elizabeth Chan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to utilize a multi-component intervention to increase confident water skills for three typically developing children, and to evaluate whether fearful behaviors decreased as the intervention progressed. The intervention, comprised of goal setting, self-monitoring, behavioral skills training and positive reinforcement, was used in community pools to teach basic water skills. Results suggest the intervention was successful in increasing confident water skills, while intervals with positive affect and fearful behaviors demonstrated variability.

Does D-Cycloserine Augmentation Of Cbt Improve Therapeutic Homework Compliance For Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?, Jennifer M. Park

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist that acts on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor of the glutamatergic receptor complex, may enhance fear extinction learning during exposure-based therapy. Clinical studies in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and non-OCD anxiety disorders - and a recent trial in pediatric OCD - have shown that DCS can improve treatment response to exposure therapy relative to placebo and exposure therapy. Some have hypothesized that improved treatment response is a function of increased compliance and engagement in therapeutic homework tasks, a core component of behavioral treatment. The present study examined the relationship between DCS and homework compliance in …

Disciplinary Outcomes By Race And Gender In Schools Implementing Positive Behavior Support: Does Fidelity Of Implementation Reduce Disproportionality?, Therese Sandomierski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disparities in behavioral outcomes for minority students are a decades-old problem. Recently, the systems-level approach of school-wide positive behavior support (SW-PBS) and its growing research base have garnered attention as a possible remedy. Although SW-PBS has been shown to be effective in reducing a school's overall level of office discipline referrals (ODRs) and suspensions (OSS), and its success has been replicated in schools with large populations of minority students, effective outcomes across all groups of students within a school are not guaranteed. Some reports document increases in the magnitude of disproportionality even when ODRs and OSS decrease for the school …

The Role Of Contextual Associations In The Selection Of Objects, Noah Patrick Sulman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a sequence of experiments addressing basic questions about the control of visual attention and the relationship between attention and object recognition. This work reviews compelling findings addressing attentional control on the basis of high-level perceptual properties. In five experiments observers were presented with a rapid sequence of object photographs and instructed to either detect or selectively encode a verbally cued object category. When these object categories (e.g. "baseball") were preceded by contextual images associated with a given object category (e.g. "baseball diamond"), observers were less likely to accurately report information about the target item. This effect obtained …

The Effects Of Manipulating Conditioned Establishing Operations On The Acquisition Of Mands In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Claudia Troconis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Verbal Behavior, Skinner (1957) suggested that each verbal operant has independent response functions, in which acquiring one does not automatically result in the other, unless transfer between the verbal operants is directly trained. Although several researchers have shown that mands and tacts are functionally independent, more recent research has demonstrated that mands may emerge following tact training. However, this research has not clarified the influence of establishing operations on the emergence of pure mands following tact training. Therefore, the present study investigated the effects of tact training on the acquisition of impure and pure mands in children with autism …

Celestial Bodies, Jared Calvin White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a collection of original poetry written over a span of three years while attending the University of South Florida. The poetry is divided into five numbered sections, marking the major thematic divisions. Preceding the poetry is a critical introduction to the work that outlines the author's developing thematic ideology.

Visual Search For Smoking Stimuli: Detection And Distraction, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has shown that the attentional systems of addicted individuals are biased towards drug-related stimuli, but despite several decades of effort these results have frequently been inconsistent. Though commonly believed to result from addiction and dependence, cognitive research would suggest that frequent exposure to drug-related stimuli could affect the attentional processing of drug-related cues even if no actual drug use occurs. The present investigation examined attentional bias for smoking cues using a novel visual search paradigm amongst smokers currently in nicotine withdrawal and fully satiated smokers, as well as a non-smoker control group. Variables related to smoking behavior, as …