Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Psilocybin With Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) For The Treatment Of Social Anxiety Disorder (Sad), Aspen E. Allred

University Honors Theses

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a debilitating mental health condition characterized by an overwhelming fear and anxiety of social rejection that can lead to chronic patterns of social behavioral avoidance. Despite the existence of traditional efficacious treatments, a significant number of individuals either do not respond to treatment or experience a recurrence of symptoms over extended periods, spanning 10-12 years. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a form of acceptance-based behavioral therapy considered part of the "third wave" of cognitive behavioral therapies, has shown promising results in early studies, comparable to those of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that is considered the …

Economic Analysis Of Population-Based Next Generation Sequencing For Breast Cancer, Sapphire Curelaru

University Honors Theses

Breast cancer develops due to accumulated DNA replication insults which causes cancer to uncontrollably proliferate. An individual's predisposition to developing cancer, as well as the composition of a tumor, can be sequenced using genetic tests. Myriad's BRACAnalysis CDx^® seems to be the most utilized genetic test. However, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) seems to be a better genetic test for breast cancer when compared to Myriad's BRACAnalysisCDx^® in terms of return-time, accuracy, efficiency, and healthcare cost. By using Next Generation Sequencing tests, stakeholders can save money on genetic testing which can be invested in more genetic tests. Payers can …

Effects Of Language Status, Community Advice, And Parent Beliefs On Heritage Language Maintenance In The U.S.: A Scoping Review, Jasmine Loeung

University Honors Theses

This scoping review examines the effects of language status, community advice to parents, and parents' beliefs on heritage language maintenance within a U.S. context. A total of 34 articles met the inclusion criteria. Four key themes were identified as follows: (1) status of a language in society affects maintenance, (2) parents' beliefs about the impact of the heritage language affect family language practices, (3) community advice impacts parents' beliefs and practices, (4) other factors affecting maintenance of the heritage language across generations. Overall, HL maintenance was observed as a dynamic relationship between a variety of factors, with individuals as well …

The Association Of Patient-Provider Language Concordance With Healthcare Comprehension Among Latino/As In Oregon, Grace Parra

University Honors Theses

Background: The purpose of this study is to describe the need and preferences among Mexican-origin Latinos in Oregon for language-concordant healthcare providers. We hypothesize that the presence of a language concordant provider is associated with greater health care comprehension.

Methods: This is a cross sectional study in collaboration with the General Consulate of Mexico. We developed a 20-item survey that includes questions about socio-demographics, a validated language-based acculturation scale, and questions regarding language concordant care experience and preferences used in previous studies. We are recruiting at the Mexican Consulate 500 Latino/as ages 18 or older who had a healthcare visit …

The Impact Of Period Poverty On Low-Income Adolescents In The United States, Makayla Olson

University Honors Theses

Period poverty is an issue that impacts menstruators globally. This creates a significant health disparity for menstruators, including difficulties accessing menstrual products, inadequate menstrual and puberty health education, and shame and stigma that come from societal misunderstandings and misinformation regarding menstruation. This paper examines the effects of period poverty on low-income adolescents in the United States. It looks at the current literature that addresses how the financial and accessibility barriers that cause period poverty, as well as how these causes impact school-aged menstruators. It aims to address the role that schools play in creating safe environments for menstruators, including staff …

Tattoos And Trauma: Are Tattoos Healing For Trauma?, Krystal Bell

University Honors Theses

Prior research and literature reviews suggest that there is medicinal value in tattooing for the healing of trauma. However, tattooing is still a burgeoning topic in academic studies and still mostly taboo as a western societal practice, so there are gaps in qualitative and quantitative data that could further validate the healing benefits of tattoos for trauma. This literature review analyzed 30 peer reviewed articles that focus on "contemporary tattoo data," "indigenous traditions and practices," "tattoos and trauma," and other alternative healing such as "MDMA, psilocybin, EMDR" to establish a well-rounded investigation into tattoos as an alternative healing option. The …

Classifying Severe And Enduring Anorexia Nervosa: A Literature Review, Phoenix Black

University Honors Theses

Little focus is placed on the subsection of the eating disorder patient population who struggle chronically with their illness. This review synthesizes research on the topic to identify gaps in knowledge and reflect on implications for diagnosis and classification of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa. There was some variability between both clinicians and researchers who focused on this patient population, which is discussed based on different classifying criteria used to include or exclude an individual into the study. This review considers traditional methods used for classifying psychiatric diagnoses in relation to this disorder.

Covid's Impact On Nurses & Their Labor Market, Joshua Stanfill

University Honors Theses

The Covid pandemic has swept across the globe impacting many different kinds of people in many different ways. Businesses and workers experienced changes in how their respective labor markets operated with new incentives. One group of laborers that experienced quite a significant impact are nurses working through the Covid pandemic. The pandemic created new incentives for nurses that heavily impacted their labor market. Through a literature review of scientific studies examining the impacts of working through a pandemic on nurses, I discovered that this was causing psychological and emotional damage to nurses. Covid spurred on an already occurring nursing shortage …

Reflecting On Resilience: Insight Into Resiliency Development And Utilization In Oregon's Older Adults From 2020 To 2022, Riley A. Wilton

University Honors Theses

The events of the last 2 years have complicated the lives of older adults throughout the world. For many, their survival can be traced back to one key trait: resilience. In the state of Oregon, the years 2020-2022 came with a host of issues that expanded past the COVID-19 pandemic. These events provide context for the world our storytellers discuss.

Using a snowball recruitment strategy through the efforts of community organizations and senior centers, 4 storytellers sat down to describe their resilience in different ways. They were asked to reflect on their own life experiences, how it influenced their resilience, …

The Relationship Between Regulation And Care Access In The Doula Industry, Charissa Billings

University Honors Theses

Birth doulas are unregulated service providers in the United States, who provide informational, emotional, and physical support before, during, and after birth. Currently, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate amongst the most developed nations, as well as a serious racial gap, with Black women being twice as likely to die due to pregnancy-related complications when compared to White women. Birth doulas can help close the gaps with trained support and advocacy. Since over 40% of the births in the US are covered by Medicaid, providing birth doula services to Medicaid recipients could result in improved birth outcomes. …

The Psychedelic Renaissance: A Convergence Of Indigenous Knowledge And Science, Ronan K. Peck

University Honors Theses

In recent times, psychedelics have come back into the public eye, mostly through scientific intrigue about their healing potential. In the past decade, hundreds of studies have been conducted to explore the possible benefits, or risks, that these substances could bring to people – and there is great potential being found. This is the psychedelic renaissance, and with this phenomenon in full swing, it is important to take a step back and look at the full picture of our history with these substances. By doing so, it starts to become clear that psychedelics have guided human perception and understanding of …

Treatment Satisfaction And Self-Efficacy In Hispanic Diabetes Patients At A Free Clinic Setting, Lhanze Tum

University Honors Theses

Diabetes continues to be one of the leading causes of death within the United States, with the Hispanic population having an especially high risk of developing diabetes. Understanding the different factors that may affect adherence to diabetes self-care, such as self-efficacy, duration of diabetes, and patient treatment satisfaction is important to reduce diabetes-related health complications. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between patient self-efficacy for diabetes management and satisfaction with treatment, as well as whether the duration of diabetes is associated with self-efficacy for disease management. Baseline data was collected on 16 Hispanic patients with diabetes …

Happy 😊, Sad 😥Or Pizza 🍕: A Review Of Emoji Effects On Reading Times And Their Relation To Mood, Fetheya Alattar

University Honors Theses

With recent advancements in technology, emoji are continuously changing the way that people communicate and process language. Their use continues to evolve as a mechanism to counter the loss of the rich nonverbal cues of face-to-face communication. Subsequently, the need for research examining how emoji are processed and how they affect language and communication has become more important. This research specifically examines the scholarship on emoji effects on sentence reading times (RT) and how this relates to mood. Results on the effects of emoji on sentence RT are mixed. In some instances, emoji slowed RT and in others, they sped …

Where To Draw The Line: Evaluating Visuospatial And Attentional Processing In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Alisha Steigerwald

University Honors Theses

Objective: We investigated visuospatial processing in individuals with autism using bisection and quadrisection tasks to evaluate the presence of a possible downward vertical spatial bias that could provide insights into the preference for attending to the mouth in ASD populations.

Methods: Twenty participants with ASD and 20 age, IQ, and sex-matched control participants were recruited (ages 6-23). Participants were asked to bisect, quadrisect from the top, and quadrisect from the bottom vertical lines placed in their left, center, and right visual spaces. Distance from the true midpoint and quadripoint were calculated and compared between the two groups.

Results: No significant …

Experiences Of Shame, Exclusion, & Appropriation In Mindfulness-Based Wellness Culture, Charlotte Grace Starling

University Honors Theses

Yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness practices provide numerous benefits both physical and mental health to their practitioners. There is less research exploring the role mindfulness-based wellness programs and practices fit within the cultural environment of the United States and how the mindfulness movement influences wellness culture and practices. These practices and spaces have been accused of harming folks who don't fit the dominant social narrative of thin, white, upper-middle-class participants. This paper aims to explore how the United State’s commodification of mindfulness practices contributes to experiences of shame, exclusion, and appropriation in wellness culture. This is done by a literature …

Remote Data Collection: How Broadband Connectivity Affected The Conversion Of Physical Performance Testing To The Remote Setting During Covid-19: A Research Assistant's Assessment, Ramyar Eslami

University Honors Theses

The GET FIT Prostate and Exercising Together trials conducted by Dr. Kerri Winters-Stone incorporate exercise intervention for cancer survivors during or after completing their therapy. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the laboratory assessment of both studies was conducted in-person. However, the transition to remote assessment was required due to the safety precautions of COVID-19. Protocol outcomes for administering tests like the short physical performance battery (sPPB), which includes the 4m usual walk (4MW; m/s), chair stands (CS; sec), and standing balance measurements, were completed via a video conferencing interface called Cisco Webex.

Transitioning to remote testing determined the validity of remote …

Dual Panics: A Media Analysis Of Narratives On The Role Of Unauthorized Migration In America's Overdose Crisis, Morgan Godvin

University Honors Theses

Background: The realms of drug policy and immigration policy have long been fueled by misinformation, where sensationalism and panics help shore up political support. Most recently, the "border crisis" has been invoked to explain the "overdose crisis" in mass media narratives. Although the increase in migration is being blamed for illicit drug flows, drug importation occurs primarily through legal points-of-entry. The extent and excess visibility of false narratives linking overdose to migration in mainstream media is unknown.

Methods: We used the Media Cloud ecosystem to compile and characterize mainstream media content published between June 2021 and July 2021 regarding the …

Exploratory Study Of Obesogenic Commercial School Food Environments In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Sruthi Eapen

University Honors Theses

Objective

The purpose of this exploratory research was to study commercial food environments around high schools in the Portland metropolitan area to explore the question: How do the economic, geographic, and racial demographics of public high schools in the Portland metropolitan area affect the prevalence and make-up of obesogenic commercial food environments surrounding these schools?

Methods

Commercial food environments within a 1 km radius of 35 public high schools in the Portland metropolitan area were surveyed. The “healthiness” of the environment was calculated by establishing a “Food Environment Score.” This score was correlated with economic, geographic, and racial demographics obtained …

How Does The Effect Of Hurricane Katrina Influence Healthcare Infrastructure And Resilience?, Sean Y. Wei

University Honors Theses

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought upon the city of New Orleans, LA one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. This paper looks at how hospitals were prepared before Katrina, responded to, and grappled with the aftermath of this natural disaster. In the aftermath of Katrina, careful investigation of the healthcare system along with its hospitals, physicians, patients, and residents allow us to take innovative measures and provide guidance to create recommendations to better monitor and care for individuals in the future. Frameworks of resilience theories, studies, and recommendations display how and why disaster planning is essential. The …

Exploring Perceptions Of Healthcare Quality In Oregon Male Prisons: Interviews With Individuals Recently Released From Long-Term Imprisonment, Rén Rosz

University Honors Theses

The healthcare that people who are imprisoned receive is inadequate and does not meet the requirements owed to them by the Eighth Amendment. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has repeatedly surveyed inmates about the health care that they receive (Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], n.d.). One of the most recent iterations, in 2004, showed that there were large gaps in the health care that prisoners received: not being able to see a healthcare provider after an injury, necessary medications being discontinued, and lab tests being restricted (Wilper, et al, 2009). The surveys were implemented to highlight policies needing correction and …

Sex Differences In Prevalence And Psychophysiological Profiles Of Adhd, Mckenzie Figuracion

University Honors Theses

Background: Considerable research has been dedicated to understanding the etiology of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the focus has been on a homogeneous subset of the population, and multiple groups go underserved when it comes to support. Previous findings suggest differences in ADHD diagnosis and referral rates based on sex, but it is less clear whether neurophysiological sex differences exist. The current study examines the effect of expert consensus diagnostic practices on rates of diagnosis in males and females, and evaluates sex differences in potential neurophysiological markers of ADHD.

Methods: 860 children and adolescents (Males=519; ADHD=516) were recruited for a longitudinal …

A Public Health Recommendation Countering The Online Anti-Vaccination Movement, Grace M. Neumann

University Honors Theses

The anti-vaccination movement had posed a threat to the health of communities, since the inception of the smallpox inoculation practice. As the anti-vaxx movement continues to grow in strength and reach, public health officials must be prepared to combat the flow of misinformation, with sound scientific data in a way that connects with individuals from all communities. Online platforms such as blogs and social media, allow newfound access to vaccine opinions and information, posing an even greater risk of vaccine misinformation being spread to the public. Different communities hold different reasons for vaccine hesitancy and avoidance. An effective public health …

Frequency Of Limited English Proficient (Lep) Patient Visits And Language Resources: An Assessment Of Rural Oregon's Health Centers And Working With Lep Communities, Gabriel I. Lehrburger

University Honors Theses

Persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) can face barriers when seeking health care. Rural communities often have reduced access to some health resources. However, little is known about how rural communities meet the language needs of their LEP populations. A cross-sectional survey and interview were designed and sent to managerial staff in rural health centers around the state of Oregon. During the months of January – March 2020, survey and interview data were collected to assess the relationship between frequency of LEP patient visits and available language resources in rural Oregon. The study also investigated staff perceptions when working with …

Language And Culture As Barriers To Healthcare For Chinese Immigrants, Edwin Leung

University Honors Theses

Immigrants and their descendants are projected to account for 88 percent of United States population growth through 2065. Currently, immigrants make up for about 13.5 percent of the US population. In addition, 65.5 million Americans speak a language other than English at home. Language and culture are the two most significant barriers faced by immigrants seeking health care. These barriers have a significant impact on immigrants’ ability to receive quality care, make them more vulnerable to poor health outcomes. Many resources exist to help immigrants with various needs including health care. However, more effort is needed to strengthen the resources …