Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An External And Internal Understanding: Female Puberty, Shivani R. Patel

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Stress Mindset Interventions On University Students' Health And Functioning, Abigail Fate

Undergraduate Honors Papers

In modern society, the overwhelming cultural narrative proclaims that stress is detrimental to health and should be limited and avoided at all costs. However, recent research has demonstrated that it is one’s stress mindset, rather than their stress level, that determines the psychological and physiological outcomes. Mindsets are lenses that simplify and order the world, and have been proven to influence daily behavioral and physiological responses to create cascading effects. Recent research has demonstrated that one’s mindset about stress is the demining factor in health, performance, and productivity in response to stressful conditions, and that these mindsets can be manipulated …

Unveiling The Mask:Sexual Trauma's Impact On Academic Achievement, Behavior, And Self-Identity, Teshaunda Hannor-Walker, Sarah Kitchens, Lacey Ricks

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Sexual trauma is an unfortunate but a common and often masked experience for many students in America. While sexual trauma in itself is not a mental health disorder, it can become a risk factor for many academic and mental health problems. Trauma-informed schools can play an important role in helping students deal with the aftercare of a traumatic experience.

Mental Health Presentations To Acute Psychiatric Services: 3-Year Study Of Prevalence And Readmission Risk For Personality Disorders Compared With Psychotic, Affective, Substance Or Other Disorders, Kate L. Lewis, Mahnaz Fanaian, Beth Kotze, Brin F. S Grenyer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background The relative burden and risk of readmission for people with personality disorders in hospital settings is unknown. Aims To compare hospital use of people with personality disorder with that of people with other mental health diagnoses, such as psychoses and affective disorders. Method Naturalistic study of hospital presentations for mental health in a large community catchment. Mixed-effects Cox regression and survival curves were generated to examine risk of readmission for each group. Results Of 2894 people presenting to hospital, patients with personality disorder represented 20.5% of emergency and 26.6% of in-patients. Patients with personality disorder or psychoses were 2.3 …

An Expansion Of A Model Of Depression In Multiple Sclerosis : Emotion Regulation And Coping As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Functional Disability And Adjustment To Disease, Elizabeth W. Raffanello

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediate disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS), producing a range of physical and emotional symptoms. Psychological disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, are common in MS, but only partially accounted for by MS symptoms. The associations between common MS sequelae (e.g., fatigue, pain, disability) and mental health indicators are weak and inconsistent, suggesting the presence of moderators. This research study examined two possible moderators of the association between MS sequelae and adjustment to disease: emotion regulation and coping. Emotion regulation refers to the processes used to modulate emotional experiences. It is closely related to coping, …

Los Efectos Del Machismo En El Desarrollo De Los Trastornos De Salud Mental De Las Mujeres En México, Tiffany George

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the role of machismo and how it impacts women in Mexico. Machismo dominates Mexican society where men have complete authority and control over women, thus trapping them under patriarchal rule. This thesis examines how the novel, La Genara written by Rosina Conde, highlights the detrimental effects of machismo through letters between two sisters, Genara and Luisa. This study examines the ways in which Mexican women are silenced, oppressed and abused and the ways in which societal norms affects their mental state, and sometimes to mental disorders, and it also shows that in such a society, there is …

Violence Exposure And Pathways To Hiv Risk Behaviors In Black And White Young Men Who Have Sex With Men, Donald Robert Gerke

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HIV remains a critical public health issue facing men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. Young MSM (YMSM) ages 13-34 years account for the greatest number of new HIV infections in MSM, with Black YMSM bearing the highest burden of disease. Sexual risk behaviors (e.g. unprotected sex) continue to be the leading transmission mode for HIV among all YMSM and studies have indicated that these behaviors are associated with a number of psychosocial and environmental factors, including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), exposure to violence, substance use, and mental health problems. Moreover, recent studies based on the …

An Exploratory Study Of Selected Policy Diffusions In Judicial Settings, Renee Ann Pistone

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Canon and Baum’s (1981) pioneering study examined diffusion of 23 plaintiff-oriented tort doctrines among the state court systems in 1876-1975 provided an early model to study judicial innovation. Meanwhile, Berry and Berry’s (1990) later model featured event history analysis (EHA) that was relevant for this dissertation which sought to explain political behavior. This dissertation used archival data only and was a quantitative research design that was descriptive and exploratory of the judicial policy adoption process. The researcher used quantitative archival data and described what sociological, political, and criminological factors had impacted policy adoptions over time and explored the possible associations …

Parental Perceptions Of Barriers To Mental Health Services For Young People, Wendy Iskra, Frank P. Deane, Tim Wahlin, Esther Davis

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Aim: This study explores a range of barriers that parents encountered in accessing mental health services. The study also explored whether parents experienced similar barriers to accessing services in 2003 and 2013. Methods: One hundred and thirty-four parents of young people attending an initial assessment at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or headspace centre completed a questionnaire assessing 10 general barriers to care. These data were compared to those collected from 129 participants at CAMHS in 2003. Results: The ranking of barriers to mental health care for their children was similar for both survey years, with 'wait …

Consumers’ Perspectives Of The Meaning Of Safety In Acute Mental Health Inpatient Services, Natalie A. Cutler, Lorna Moxham, Moira Stephens

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background and Aim: Safety is a priority in the acute mental health inpatient setting (ACQSHC 2014). Safety is commonly represented in government policy as the reduction or elimination of risk (AIHW 2018). Defining safety as the reduction or elimination of risk means this is where funding and resources are likely to be directed. This has limitations however, as it can lead to environments and processes considered by mental health services to be safe, but are not aligned with what people with lived experience of mental illness deem to be safe (Cutler, Moxham & Stephens 2015). This PhD study explored the …

Law Library Blog (April 2017): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Do Obsessive Beliefs Moderate The Relationship Between Obsessive-Compulsive And Depressive Symptoms?, Joanthan A. Teller

Honors Theses

There has been limited research investigating potential mechanisms that drive the association between obsessive-compulsive (OC) and depressive symptoms. Obsessive beliefs are implicated in the etiology and maintenance of OC symptoms and have been shown to correlate with depressive symptoms amongst OCD patients. I assessed whether obsessive beliefs moderate the relation between obsessive compulsive and depressive symptoms to replicate analyses from a study conducted by Teller et al. (2017). Forty-six participants with elevated OC symptoms were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Each participant completed the obsessing subscale of the Revised Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (OCI-R), Dimensional Obsessive Compulsive Scale (DOCS), the Revised Obsessive …

A Multidisciplinary Learning Experience Contributing To Mental Health Rehabilitation, Lorna Moxham, Christopher F. Patterson, Ellie K. Taylor, Dana J. Perlman, Susan Sumskis, Renee M. Brighton

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Purpose People who access health services often have a range of needs that require the involvement of members from a multidisciplinary team. Teaching future health professionals about the importance of a multidisciplinary approach can be challenging. The aim of this paper is to describe a project called Recovery Camp that enhanced multidisciplinary health education through experiential and immersive engagement with people experiencing mental illness.

Method Future health professionals and people with a lived experience of mental illness took part in Recovery Camp - an innovative five-day therapeutic recreation initiative in the Australian bush. Results are presented in a case study …

Personality Disorder: A Mental Health Priority Area, Brin F. S Grenyer, Fiona Y. Ng, Michelle L. Townsend, Sathya Rao

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Personality disorders have received limited recognition as a public health priority, despite the publication of treatment guidelines and reviews showing effective treatments are available. Inclusive approaches to understanding and servicing personality disorder are required that integrate different service providers. This viewpoint paper identifies pertinent issues surrounding early intervention, treatment needs, consumer and carer experiences, and the need for accurate and representative data collection in personality disorder as starting points in mental health care reform.

Relationships Between Mental Toughness, Barriers To Exercise, And Exercise Behaviour In Undergraduate Students, Elizabeth Stamp, Lee Crust, Christian F. Swann, John Perry

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The present study explored relationships between mental toughness (MT), barriers to exercise, and self-reported exercise behaviour in university students. Perceived barriers to exercise are important since previous work has identified barriers as strong predictors of exercise behaviour. MT was hypothesised to predict exercise barriers and self-reported exercise behaviour. Participants were 173 undergraduate students (45 men, 128 women) from 10 United Kingdom universities. Questionnaires were used to assess MT, exercise levels, and exercise barriers. Path analysis identified that MT predicted barriers to exercise, with higher MT associated with weaker perceived barriers. Regular exercisers were found to have significantly higher MT than …

Impact Of A Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis On Mental Health, Quality Of Life, And Social Contacts: A Longitudinal Study, Xiaoqi Feng, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Aims The aim was to examine whether a type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) diagnosis increases the odds of psychological distress, a worsening in overall quality of life, and a potential reduction in social contacts.

Method Longitudinal data were obtained from the 45 and Up Study (baseline 2006–2008; 3.4±0.95 years follow-up time). Fixed effects logistic and negative binomial regression models were fitted on a complete case on outcome sample that did not report T2DM at baseline (N=26 344), adjusted for time-varying confounders. The key exposure was doctor-diagnosed T2DM at follow-up. Outcome variables examined included the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, self-rated quality …

Mental Health Workers' Values And Thier Congruency With Recovery Principles, Bianca Glajz, Frank P. Deane, Virginia Williams

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Recovery in mental health emphasises the empowerment of clients to discover and develop hope and a more satisfying life often in presence of ongoing symptoms of mental health.

The Relationship Between Neighbourhood Green Space And Child Mental Wellbeing Depends Upon Whom You Ask: Multilevel Evidence From 3083 Children Aged 12-13 Years, Xiaoqi Feng, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Recent reviews of the rapidly growing scientific literature on neighbourhood green space and health show strong evidence for protective and restorative effects on mental wellbeing. However, multiple informants are common when reporting mental wellbeing in studies of children. Do different informants lead to different results? This study utilised nationally representative data on Goodman’s 25-item Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire reported by 3083 children (aged 12–13 years old), and their parents and teachers. Multilevel models were used to investigate whether similar associations between child mental wellbeing (as measured using the total difficulties score and the internalising and externalising subscales) and neighbourhood green …

The Role Of Community Sports Clubs In Adolescent Mental Health: The Perspectives Of Adolescent Males' Parents, Diarmuid Hurley, Christian F. Swann, Mark S. Allen, Anthony D. Okely, Stewart A. Vella

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Adolescent males are at relatively high risk of developing mental health disorders and show low rates of help seeking when mental health disorders arise. Parents are the primary source of support for adolescents and therefore have an important role in mental health promotion and prevention of mental health disorders. The aim of this study was to examine the perceptions of adolescent males' parents on the potential role of community sport clubs in adolescent mental health promotion. Forty-six parents of adolescent males took part in 10 focus groups to investigate parents' mental health knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, perceptions of the role …

The Delaying Effect Of Stigma On Mental Health Help-Seeking In Sri Lanka, Sunera M. Fernando, Frank P. Deane, Hamish J. Mcleod

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Mental health stigma has been associated with delays in seeking treatment. Aims: To describe perceived stigma experienced by patients and carers in Sri Lanka and to determine the effects of stigma on help-seeking delay. Methods: Survey of outpatients and family carers (n = 118 dyads) attending two psychiatric hospitals in Sri Lanka, using the Disclosure and Discrimination subscales of the Stigma Scale. Results: Stigma was positively related to help-seeking delay for carers but not patients. Public stigma experienced by carers accounted for 23% of the variance in help-seeking delay. Conclusion: Reducing stigma may reduce help-seeking delays during the course …

Goal Setting Among People Living With Mental Illness: A Qualitative Analysis Of Recovery Camp, Lorna Moxham, Ellie K. Taylor, Christopher F. Patterson, Dana J. Perlman, Renee M. Brighton, Tim Heffernan, Susan Sumskis

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

People living with mental illness (consumers) often experience difficulty in achieving life goals, particularly those important for their recovery. An innovative approach to address consumers' goals for recovery can be found in the form of therapeutic recreation (TR) initiatives. Recovery Camp is a five-day TR program, bringing together people with a serious mental illness, undergraduate health students, and staff members. This paper aims to examine the types of goals set by consumers in the context of Recovery Camp, and to what extent the self-identified goals were attained. The consumers (n = 27) were invited to set goals that they wished …

Further Examining The Relationship Between Mental Toughness And Dispositional Flow In Sport: A Mediation Analysis, Patricia C. Jackman, Lee Crust, Christian F. Swann

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of the study was to further examine the relationship between mental toughness (MT) and dispositional flow in sport. A sample of 256 athletes (M age = 23.65 years, SD = 5.43), competing at international (n = 59), national (n = 77), and club/university (n = 120) levels completed questionnaires assessing MT and dispositional flow. A significant and positive correlation was found between MT and dispositional flow (r = 0.50, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed that MT had a significant direct effect on the flow dimensions of challenge-skills balance, clear goals, unambiguous feedback, sense of control and concentration on the task at hand, and significant indirect effects on concentration on the task at hand, sense of control, loss of self-consciousness, action-awareness merging and autotelic experience. Findings suggest that MT has direct and indirect effects on the characteristics of flow, offering new insights regarding optimal human functioning

Depression And Anxiety In Emerging Adults : The Impact Of Executive Function And Coping, Elisabeth J. O'Rourke

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period marked by increased anxiety related to academic, social, and professional stressors. The ability to successfully cope with stress is strongly negatively related to mental health outcomes. Furthermore, recent studies indicate a connection between executive function impairment, anxiety and depression. The current study examines executive functioning (EF), coping, anxiety, and depression in a sample of 210 emerging adults (NMales = 131, Mage = 19.14). Additionally, the relation between EF and coping is explored. Finally, coping’s effect on the relation between EF and outcome (anxiety and depression) is investigated. The results demonstrate that males and females …

Perspectives Of Mental Health Treatment, Dale Marie Craig

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study looks at the perceptions of mental health treatment that the general public may have. This study consisted of a sample size of 106 respondents to a survey that was placed on social media web sites. The positivist paradigm was used to assess the general public’s perceptions about mental health treatment and mentally ill persons. Descriptive analyses were used to discover the relationship of possible negative perceptions toward mental health treatment the general public may have on a mentally ill person. Findings of the survey showed no significant relationships of negative public perceptions that would adversely affect a mentally …

The Effect Of Gambling Expansion On Health, Marina Li

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effect of gambling expansion on health and health behaviors. This paper hypothesized gambling expansion decreases individual’s health and increases negative health behaviors. The study is done by observing the health and health behavior of individuals and results generally supports hypothesis.

Creative Counseling Techniques For Elementary-Aged Children, Brian C. Caperton

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Research suggests widespread decline of creative ability in elementary-aged children, particularly kindergarten through 3^rd grade (Kim, 2012). The increase of mental health disorders in children, the exponential rise of technology use, and the surge of psychotropic medication use indicate the need for nuanced, divergent clinical interventions. Creative counseling fills this demand by offering children opportunities to engage in open-ended, reflective abstraction and other therapeutic processes. The author opens with an overview of creativity and psychology, conceptualizes the target population, and discusses theories, models, and interventions of creative counseling with elementary-aged children. The paper will provide clinicians with an understanding …

T. S. Eliot’S ‘Obscurity’ In The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock, Longxing Wei

Department of Linguistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

T. S. Eliot’s earliest verse is composed of observations, detached, ironic, and alternatively disillusioned and nostalgic in tone. Eliot’s mingling of subtle observation with unexpected cliché represents a difficulty that is often magnified because too much ’obscurity’ is assumed. This paper aims at clarifying the ’obscurity’ by means of a stylistic analysis of the linguistic devices that the poet used to create "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and its intended meaning. Adopting the concept of style as ’foregrounding’, the idea that style is constituted by departures from linguistic norms, it analyzes the poem in terms of its lexical …

Gesturing During Mental Problem Solving Reduces Eye Movements, Especially For Individuals With Lower Visual Working Memory Capacity, Wim T. Pouw, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Tamara Van Gog, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Non-communicative hand gestures have been found to benefit problem-solving performance. These gestures seem to compensate for limited internal cognitive capacities, such as visual working memory capacity. Yet, it is not clear how gestures might perform this cognitive function. One hypothesis is that gesturing is a means to spatially index mental simulations, thereby reducing the need for visually projecting the mental simulation onto the visual presentation of the task. If that hypothesis is correct, less eye movements should be made when participants gesture during problem solving than when they do not gesture. We therefore used mobile eye tracking to investigate the …

Surviving The 2015 Mount Everest Disaster: A Phenomenological Exploration Into Lived Experience And The Role Of Mental Toughness, Christian F. Swann, Lee Crust, Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives The 2015 Nepal earthquake and subsequent avalanche at Mount Everest Base Camp is the deadliest mountaineering disaster to date. This study is novel in exploring the lived experiences of survivors and the role of mental toughness in their psychological responses to the disaster. Design Phenomenological study. Method Ten mountaineers, who were on expeditions during the earthquake, participated in phenomenological interviews. Data were analysed inductively and thematically, while strategies to enhance trustworthiness were also employed. Results Seven dimensions emerged from the data, which captured climbers' psychological responses to the disaster, ranging from the moments the earthquake hit to reflections on …

Adesão Ao Tratamento Nas Perturbações Psiquiátricas: O Impacto Das Atitudes E Das Crenças Em Profissionais De Serviços De Psiquiatria E Saúde Mental Em Portugal. Parte I: Aspetos Conceptuais E Metodológicos, Ana Cardoso, Mitchell K. Byrne, Miguel Xavier

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction Among the chronic health diseases are psychiatric disorders and it is well established that within this population there is a particularly high prevalence of non‐adherence to treatment. Methods Narrative review, of relevant literature. Results The majority of the research has focused primarily on the factors related to the patient that interfere with treatment adherence. However, there are studies that seem to indicate that the responsibility for increasing adherence is more related with the health professional than the patient. Conclusions Through the identification of factors associated with clinicians, we enable the development strategies to increase skills in mental health professionals …