Psychology Commons^™

Traumatic Brain Injury Severity In Older Adults: Impact On Anxiety And Depression Symptoms And Community Engagement, Ashley Tomford

Theses and Graduate Projects

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of physical and cognitive disability worldwide. TBI can negatively impact cognitive, physical, social, and psychological functioning.

Objective: This study investigated interactions between TBI severity, mental health symptom severity, and community engagement among older adults. Specific aims included investigating 1) the relationship between TBI severity at the time of injury and psychiatric symptom severity at one-year post-TBI; 2) the relationship between TBI severity and community engagement at one-year post-TBI; and 3) whether mental health symptom severity moderated the relationship between TBI and post-injury community engagement.

Methods: Archival data was analyzed …

Cross-Cultural Dyads In The Psychotherapy Room, Sebastian Del Corral Winder, Katrina Spontak, Mixalis Poulakis

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Therapeutic outcome is often impacted by the psychotherapeutic relationship throughout treatment. These outcomes are mediated by the client’s belief in the psychotherapist’s trust, comfort, and competency while navigating mental health concerns. Cultural differences can impact a client’s perspective on all three factors and thus impact the psychotherapeutic relationship and success of treatment. The Accent Prestige Theory has noted that individuals who speak English with a Latin American Spanish accent are perceived as less competent, friendly, and trustworthy by White individuals in the United States. While this theory has been examined in select contexts, there is no previous work related to …

Does What Doesn’T Kill You Make You Stronger? Examining The Effects Of Resilience And Functional Outcomes On Post-Traumatic Growth In Adults With Acquired Disability, Dominique Renee Ghirardi M.S.

Theses and Dissertations

Disabilities acquired in adulthood are often unexpected and disruptive because a loss of functioning can affect one’s ability to maintain employment, pursue their interests, and participate in social activity without assistance or accommodation. This is especially true for those who experience a life-altering injury or develop a chronic health condition between the ages of 18 and 64, as they likely have not planned for the financial and social adjustments that life with a disability involves. However, factors such as post-traumatic growth can reveal the extent to which someone experiences personal growth and improvement in the wake of a traumatic and …

Self-Reflections Through A Screen: Self-Identity, Social Media, And Psychological Well-Being, Jeremy J. Serio

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Social media use among emerging adults is assumed to be related to a variety of negative psychological outcomes and has, in recent years, become a widely studied phenomenon (Kim, 2017, Pew Research Center, 2018). Despite the widespread assumption, the results from empirical studies of the effects of social media use on mental health in this population have been inconsistent and inconclusive (Keles et al., 2020, Yang et al., 2021). Several meta-analyses (e.g., Keles et al., 2020) demonstrate these inconsistent results across studies and point to the need to consider individual difference factors when researching this issue. Different self-identity styles have …

Nonmedical Stimulant Use In An Undergraduate College Student Sample: Demographics, Academics, Stress, And Other Substance Use, Ashley Skye Vanover, Meredith K. Ginley, Shelby Whalan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nonmedical use of prescription stimuluants (NMUS) can cause adverse outcomes for college students including academic impediments, such as a lowered GPA, and polyuse of illicit substances (Garcia et al., 2021; Holt & McCarthy, 2019; Norman & Ford, 2018). The current study investigated the demographics, academics, stress, and polysubstance use between students who endorsed NMUS and those who did not in an undergraduate college population sample at a large public university in the Southeast. The sample consisted of 429 undergraduate students who completed online measures of demographics, perceived stress, stressful life events, and substance use. Overall, 3.4% of the sample reported …

Anxiety Severity And Prescription Medication Utilization In First-Time Medical Marijuana Users, Karen L. Dugosh, Megan M. Short, Paulina Syracuse, Thomas R. Mccalmont, Michelle R. Lent

PCOM Scholarly Papers

Background

Anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are qualifying psychiatric conditions for medical marijuana (MM) treatment in Pennsylvania. This study examined baseline prevalence and changes in prescription anxiety medication use three months following MM treatment initiation among individuals with these qualifying conditions.

Methods

The study sample was comprised of 108 adults with anxiety or PTSD as a referring condition; they were enrolled in a longitudinal study evaluating biopsychosocial outcomes in new MM patients. Consenting participants completed an assessment battery at baseline and Month 3 (n = 94, 87 % follow-up rate) that included a measure of anxiety severity and …

Taking Songs To Heart: An Investigation Into Musical Appreciation, Anna Kate Lockhart, Eric A. Febles, Valeria Draine, Kaitlin Pendasulo

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Abstract

Music cross-culturally occupies a central part of day-to-day living (Trehub et al., 2015). Research has demonstrated music’s consistent ability to modulate emotional states, through the investigation of properties like tempo and key (Res, 2011; Bella, 2001; Jongwan,, 2018; Schellenberg, 2010). Heartbeat is a steady rhythm that each human alive and well experiences daily, and heart rate, specifically the resting heart rate, has been suggested to set a baseline rhythm that may influence perception of musical valence (Koelsch & Jancke, 2015). The current study aims to investigate this hypothesis by establishing a resting heart rate level and modulating the speed …

Charting And Checking For Suicidality In A Family Medicine Residency Clinic, Bridget Murphy, Stacy Ogbeide

Journal of Human Services Scholarship and Interprofessional Collaboration

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, and many individuals who die by suicide are likely to have seen a primary care physician (PCP) within the month of their death. Thus, the goal of this quality improvement (QI) project was to examine suicidality documentation practices of interprofessional clinicians within a Family Medicine residency clinic, thus providing rationale for continued research and a template for other clinics to emulate. The QI project used the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle to survey 28 Family Medicine residents, faculty, and trainees for the Plan stage of the cycle in 2022 and assessed their …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. Accordingly, three symptoms define the entity: (i) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; (ii) increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism towards one’s job; and (iii) a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. We call into question the definition of burnout embodied in the Maslach Burnout Inventory and incorporated into the ICD-11. We draw stakeholders’ attention to the fact that burnout’s symptoms and etiology …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. According to the ICD-11, three symptoms define the entity: feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and a sense of ineffectiveness at work, all of which correspond to the structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The ICD-11 includes burnout among the factors that influence health status. This paper calls into question that conceptualization based on a number of lines of evidence. The evidence includes the following: burnout was …

A Preliminary Timeline Of The Midbrain Development In The Monodelphis Domestica Animal Model, Ismael Perez, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Introduction: The Brazilian short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis Domestica) is an understudied animal model compared to the Mus musculus that has been identified as a perfect candidate to study neurodevelopment (Baggott, L. & Moore, H., 1990). What makes the Monodelphis Domestica a perfect specimen for neurodevelopment is that the embryo develops outside the pouch of the mother providing easy noninvasive access to track changes across different developmental stages (Mate et al., 1994).

Objective: The objective of the study is to compare the area and volume in the development of the Monodelphis’s midbrain across three different developmental stages. Our research is beneficial because …

Mind, Body And Race: A Look Into How Implicit Biases Influence The Perception Of Emotion, Faiza Ahmad, Adam Anderson, James Dalton Rounds, Christina Chick, Alize Hill

Research Symposium

Background: Most research examining the effects of implicit race-based biases in emotion perception has focused on the perception of Black faces as being angry. Limited work has been done examining the perception of “approach” emotions such as fear. Furthermore, most studies have predominantly used White subjects. Our study examined the role of implicit racial biases in shaping the perception of both anger and fear in White, Black and Asian participants.

Methods: 78 participants completed a Go/NoGo task in which they were asked to categorize different race faces as portraying either anger or fear. Participants would be asked to press the …

One Size Doesn’T Fit All: Attitudes Towards Work Modify The Relation Between Parental Leave Length And Postpartum Depression, Christine Y. Chang, Sabrina R. Liu, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women’s attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work …

Making Mindfulness More Accessible: A Practical Guide To Trauma-Informed Mindfulness, Leslie Formby

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Mindfulness is currently embedded in a growing understanding of how trauma permeates and adversely impacts peoples’ physical and psychological well-being. Increased awareness of the prevalence of trauma and its harmful effects has led to renewed interest in mindfulness to help manage the challenges generated by the detrimental effects of trauma.

These effects may draw people to mindfulness and, in turn, may make the benefits of mindfulness out of reach. Mindfulness methods and practice adaptations have been found to help trauma survivors experience the benefits of what the Buddha taught. As a support for those engaging in mindfulness and meditation, this …

Expressive Arts Therapy To Support Positive Experiences Of Embodiment Among Rural Lgbtq+ Adults: A Literature Review, Ann Stromgren

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper investigates the use of expressive arts therapy to support LGBTQ+ adult clients in rural communities. Caring professionals in rural areas often lack training on how to work with LGBTQ+ clients, and best practices for clinical mental health counseling with rural LGBTQ+ clients have yet to be defined. Some evidence suggests that using “metronormative” best practices with rural clients may be irrelevant or cause harm (Giano et al., 2020). Although some recommendations exist for using expressive therapies with LGBTQ+ clients, they are rarely evidence-based, as very few empirical studies exist evaluating the effectiveness of expressive therapy interventions with LGBTQ+ …

Overcoming The Inner Critic: The Therapeutic Use Of Self-Portraits With Older Adults, Brenda Echeverry

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Older adults are a growing and vulnerable population who experience discriminatory practices that impact their access to equitable housing, employment, and healthcare which was made even more obvious during the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. A community engagement project was developed and facilitated by the writer to support older adults with the psychological effects of surviving the pandemic. This project also helped to increase accessibility to expressive arts therapy in the writer’s local community. Expressive arts therapy is an effective and accessible method to support mental health and wellness for people of all ages. Engagement with the arts helps …

Theories Of Consciousness And A Life Worth Living, Liad Mudrik, Myrto Mylopoulos, Niccolo Negro, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

What is it that makes a life valuable? A popular view is that life’s moral worth depends in some way on its relationship to consciousness or subjective experience. But a practical application of this view requires the ability to test for consciousness, which is currently lacking. Here, we examine how theories of consciousness (ToCs) can help do so, focusing especially on difficult cases where the answer is not clear (e.g. fetuses, nonhuman animals, unresponsive brain-injured patients, and advanced artificial systems). We consider five major ToCs and what predictions they offer: Integrated information theory, Higher-Order Thought Theory, Recurrent Processing Theory, Global …

Terror Management And The News: An Exploration Into The Effects Of Framing On Mortality Salience, Peter Montwill

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The present study explores the link between Terror Management Theory and the use of its principles within news media. Political news media in the digital age undergoes a variety of framing effects, more specifically episodic and thematic frames of stories. To induce mortality salience, college-aged participants were presented with stories framed from the perspective of an individual’s experience or a general theme of experiences regarding the controversial pro-life topic and a non-controversial hiking topic. These stories are presented in the style of Instagram posts to mirror how college-aged people consume news media. The stories also contain wording designed to induce …

Academic Motivation Decreases Across Adolescence For Youth With And Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Effects Of Motivation On Academic Success, Zoe Smith, Marcus Flax, Stephen P. Becker, Joshua Langberg

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This longitudinal study examined growth trajectories of academic motivation in youth with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the important developmental transition from middle school to high school, and associations with academic success. Consistent with self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation, trajectories of amotivation, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation were modeled.

A Review Of The Role Of Anxiety In Diagnosis Of Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Paradigm Shift In Conceptualization And Diagnosis, Evan Wahlquist

Dissertations

Early evidence of co-occurring anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) dates back to the first descriptions of ASD by Leo Kanner (1943) and Hans Asperger (Frith & Mira, 1992). While current research has identified anxiety disorders as one of the most prevalent co-occurring disorders in children and adolescents with ASD, little is known about the nature of the relationship between these disorders. In an effort to explain these high prevalence rates, recent research has started to investigate the relationship between these two disorders. To join these efforts, this clinical research project explored the role of …

Predicting Suicide Attempt History: Self-Report And Objective Measures Of Pain, Boriana Lassiter

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

The aim of this study was to replicate a factor analysis of the Painful and Provocative Events Scale (PPES), to test whether commonly used self-report measures associated with the Interpersonal Theory of (IPTS) would predict suicide attempt status and suicidal history, and to test whether physical pain sensitivity would differentiate suicide attempers, ideators, and those with no suicidal history (controls). Factor analysis of the PPES yielded a 5-factor solution consisting of Rare and Illegal Activities, Abuse Experience, Dangerous Sports, Medical Trauma, and Body Modification. Only Abuse Experience predicted suicide attempt status and overall suicidal history. Abuse Experience, the Psychache Scale, …

Increasing Character Strength Knowledge, Interest, And Skill: Preliminary Evidence For A Collaborative And Multimethod Assessment Procedure, Jeff J. Klibert, Michaela D. Simpson, Brandon J. Weiss, C. Thresa Yancey, Calla Pritulsky, Amy Luna, Hayley Houseman, Hani M. Samawi

Department of Psychology Faculty Publications

Introduction: The study’s objective was to evaluate whether a qualitative, collaborative, and multimethod assessment protocol increased reports of character strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skills.

Methods: Thirty-two participants completed three phases of data collection. Participants were first screened for well-being, which was used as an auxiliary covariate to order participants into experimental conditions. Selected participants were randomly assigned to a control or collaborative and multimethod assessment (card sort × qualitative interview) condition. Participants completed pre- and post-measures of strength interest, knowledge, and perceived skill. In the final phase, second phase participants were invited to report on strength-related outcomes 24 h …

Using Behavior Sequence Analysis To Study Teams During Long- Duration Isolation And Confinement, Andres Käosaar, Dr. Nathan Smith, Dr. David A. Keatley, Pranav Ambhorkar, Dr. Moritz Von Looz, Konstantinos Konstantinidis

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

With a renewed impetus and appetite for human space exploration, both government-funded agencies and private companies are focusing on longer and farther crewed missions into the solar system. Such space missions rely on highly interdependent teams living and working together in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments. Understanding the behavioral patterns of teams in ICE environments is, thus, paramount for the future success of such missions. Due to the complexity of studying ICE teams, several researchers have called for methodological innovations to advance knowledge in this area. In the current research, a proof-of-concept methodological approach is introduced that provides a …

Incorporating Poi As A Therapeutic Modality For Preschool Aged Children In The Care Clinic, Danielle Zirkle

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Affect Variability And Physical Health: The Moderating Role Of Mean Affect, Brooke N. Jenkins, Lydia Q. Ong, Hee Youn (Helen) Lee, Anthony D. Ong, Julia K. Boehm

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Research has only begun to explore how affect variability relates to physical health and has typically not assessed long-term associations nor considered the moderating role of mean affect. Therefore, we used data from the Midlife in the United States Study waves 2 (N = 1512) and 3 (N = 1499) to test how affect variability predicted concurrent and long-term physical health while also testing the moderating role of mean affect. Results indicated that greater negative affect variability was associated concurrently with a greater number of chronic conditions (p = .03) and longitudinally with worse self-rated physical health (p …

Hippocampal Volume And The Detection Of Mild Cognitive Impairment In An Older Adult Population: Assessing Performance On Cognitive Screeners Administered In-Person And Electronically, Kristen Fabrizi

Dissertations

The present study investigated how performance on in-person and electronic neuropsychological assessment measures predicted subcortical hippocampal volume and cognitive decline consistent with mild cognitive impairment. It was hypothesized that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment would display better predictive strength than the Cogstate Brief Battery when evaluating subcortical hippocampal volume measured via structural magnetic resonance imaging. It was further hypothesized that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment would be more sensitive to predicting group membership to the diagnostic classification of mild cognitive impairment compared to the Cogstate Brief Battery. The sample included 445 older adult participants selected from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3. …

On-Campus Mental Health Service Use Among College Students With Autism: A Case Study Applying The Andersen Behavioral Model Of Health Services Use, Estella C. Lilyquist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unique set of impairments and limitations presented by students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make the accessing of campus-based nonacademic resources more difficult and complicated than their typically developed peers. Each year, the rate of students entering college with disabilities continues to grow, but their mental well-being is relatively poor. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to apply the conceptual framework of the Andersen behavioral model of health services use (ABMHSU) to the experiences of college students with ASD to understand and predict their utilization of campus-provided mental health resources. The participants were seven college students with …

Dog Guardians’ Subjective Well-Being During Times Of Stress And Crisis: A Diary Study Of Affect During Covid-19, Lori S. Hoy, Brigitte Stangl, Nigel Morgan

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The impacts of companion animals on human well-being have been receiving increased media and research attention, especially in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, there have been calls for research to consider the major components of subjective well-being separately and for research designs to include assessments over time. In line with this suggestion, the purpose of this study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how being a dog guardian can impact affect and contribute to the overall assessment of subjective well-being. This study used a seven-day diary design to capture 31 dog guardians’ day-to- day feelings and thoughts …

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 …

An Erp Measure Of Non-Conscious Memory Reveals Dissociable Implicit Processes In Human Recognition Using An Open-Source Automated Analytic Pipeline, Richard J. Addante, Javier Lopez-Calderon, Nathan Allen, Carter Luck, Alana Muller, Lindsey Sirianni, Cory S. Inman, Daniel L. Drake

Psychology Student Publications

Non-conscious processing of human memory has traditionally been difficult to objectively measure and thus understand. A prior study on a group of hippocampal amnesia (N = 3) patients and healthy controls (N = 6) used a novel procedure for capturing neural correlates of implicit memory using event-related potentials (ERPs): old and new items were equated for varying levels of memory awareness, with ERP differences observed from 400 to 800 ms in bilateral parietal regions that were hippocampal-dependent. The current investigation sought to address the limitations of that study by increasing the sample of healthy subjects (N = …