Clinical Psychology Commons^™

A Pathway For Inclusive Innovation In Pediatric Mental Health: Prevention And Intervention Using Technology, Kate Corinne Bennett

DSW Capstone Projects

It is no secret that access to quality healthcare is difficult for citizens to achieve in the United States. Racism, discrimination, and oppression further exist at the root of compounding social problems, including limits in minority access to mental health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health problems for young children, especially those who are already underserved and at risk. For these reasons, it is imperative that the social work profession emphasizes innovative approaches to equitable treatment access, including a focus on early intervention and the use of technology. Product one of this capstone engages a systematic review …

The Interactive Effects Of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Bdnf) Polymorphisms And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder On Neurocognitive Functioning In U.S. Military Veterans, Colton Shafer Rippey

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is associated with mild-to-moderate deficits in neurocognitive functioning. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene, namely, the Met allele, may also be associated with mild deficits in neurocognitive functioning. However, findings are inconsistent and may be sensitive to environmental epigenetic moderators such as psychopathology.

The current study analyzed data from European-American U.S. military veterans (n = 1,244) who participated in the 2011 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (NHRVS). Multivariate analyses of covariances were conducted to evaluate the unique and interactive effects of the Met allele and probable PTSD on …

Psychological Distress And Relationship Satisfaction Among Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Alyssa Campbell

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The World Health Organization (WHO; 2002) has indicated that sexual violence is a serious public health concern, and both the WHO and the United Nations (UN) have declared that violence against women, in particular, is a profound violation of human rights (UN General Assembly, 1993; WHO, 2017). Although the systemic and negative impact of trauma on family and intimate relationships have been well documented, the empirical literature regarding the effects of adult sexual trauma on relationship satisfaction is less robust. These studies are designed to address this gap and will do so with analyses centered on an understudied population: the …

Access To Autism Spectrum Disorder Services For Rural Appalachian Citizens, Angela Scarpa, Laura S. Jensen, Denis Gracanin, Sharon L. Ramey, Angela V. Dahiya, L. Maria Ingram, Jordan Albright, Alyssa J. Gatto, Jen P. Scott, Lisa Ruble

Journal of Appalachian Health

Background: Low-resource rural communities face significant challenges regarding availability and adequacy of evidence-based services.

Purposes: With respect to accessing evidence-based services for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this brief report summarizes needs of rural citizens in the South-Central Appalachian region, an area notable for persistent health disparities.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data during focus groups with 33 service providers and 15 caregivers of children with ASD in rural southwest Virginia.

Results: Results supported the barriers of availability and affordability of ASD services in this region, especially relating to the need for more ASD-trained providers, …

Cancer Patients’ Tobacco Use And Tobacco Treatment Referral Response: Implementation Outcomes At A National Cancer Institute- Designated Cancer Center, Tia Borger

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Smoking after cancer diagnosis is linked to cancer-specific and all-cause mortality among other adverse outcomes. Yet, 10-20% of U.S. cancer survivors are current smokers. Implementation of evidence-based tobacco treatment in cancer care facilities is widely recommended, yet rarely accomplished. This study focuses on the early outcomes of a tobacco treatment program integrated within an NCI-designated cancer center. Participants consist of 26,365 patients seen at the cancer center during the first 18 months of implementation. The study is a retrospective chart review of patients’ tobacco use, and among current users, patients’ treatment referral response. Over 99% of patients were screened for …

Effects Of Multisensory Stop Signals On Sensitivity To Alcohol-Induced Disinhibition In Drinkers With Adhd, Alexandra R. D'Agostino

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Multisensory environments facilitate behavioral functioning in humans. The redundant signal effect (RSE) refers to the observation that individuals respond more quickly to stimuli when information is presented as multisensory, redundant stimuli rather than as a single stimulus presented to either modality alone. Our studies show that the disinhibiting effects of alcohol are attenuated when stop signals are multisensory versus unisensory. The present study expanded on this research to test the degree to which multisensory stop signals could also attenuate the disinhibiting effects of alcohol in those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a clinical population characterized by poor impulse control. The …

Evaluating The Attitudes And Practices Of Exercise Prescription Among Psychotherapists, Igor Vasilj

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Exercise has been shown to improve mood, anxiety, stress, and promote neuroplasticity (Conn, 2010; Donaghy, 2007; Josefsson, Lindwall, & Archer, 2014; Silveria et al., 2013; Stathopoulou et al., 2006). However, limited research on the topic suggests that many psychologists and mental health providers are not incorporating exercise into psychological treatment, and many lack the confidence to do so (Burton, Pakenham, & Brown, 2010; Weir, 2011). The purpose of this study was to evaluate current exercise prescription trends among practicing psychologists and trainees, including identifying their current beliefs, attitudes, training, and the perceived barriers hindering psychotherapists from recommending and prescribing exercise. …

Childhood Drinking And Depressive Symptom Level Predict Harmful Personality Change, Elizabeth N. Riley, Gregory T. Smith

Psychology Faculty Publications

Personality traits in children predict numerous life outcomes. Although traits are generally stable, if there is personality change in youth, it could affect subsequent behavior in important ways. We found that the trait of urgency, the tendency to act impulsively when highly emotional, increases for some youth in early adolescence. This increase can be predicted from the behavior of young children: alcohol consumption and depressive symptom level in elementary school children (fifth grade) predicted increases in urgency 18 months later. Urgency, in turn, predicted increases in a wide range of maladaptive behaviors another 30 months later, at the end of …

Cross-Validation Of The Validity-10 Subscale Of The Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory, Jordan P. Harp

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The present study is a cross-validation of the Validity-10 embedded symptom validity indicator from the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) for the detection of questionable response validity during evaluation for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The sample and data derived from a three-site Veterans Affairs (VA) parent study to validate the TBI Clinical Reminder, a routine set of questions asked of all recently returned veterans at VA facilities to screen for history of TBI. In the parent study, veterans recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan underwent an evaluation for TBI with a physician and completed an assessment battery including neuropsychological tests …

Decision-Making Processes, Driving Performance, And Acute Responses To Alcohol In Dui Offenders, Walter Roberts

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Alcohol-impaired driving is a major cause of motor vehicle accident and death in the United States. People who are arrested for DUI (Driving under the Influence) are at high risk to reoffend; approximately one in three of these individuals will commit another DUI offense in the three years following their first conviction (Nochajski & Stasiewicz, 2006). This high risk for recidivism in these individuals suggests that cognitive characteristics may contribute to a pattern of pathological decision making leading to impaired driving. Indeed, individuals with a history of DUI report higher rates of impulsiveness and behavioral dysregulation compared to their nonoffending …

Effectiveness Of Psychotherapy For Youth In Poverty: A Benchmarking Study Of A Public Behavioral Health Agency Using A Client Feedback System, Jonathan Kodet

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a public behavioral health (PBH) agency that had implemented continuous outcome feedback as a quality improvement strategy.

Method: I investigated the pre-post treatment outcomes of 4,389 ethnically diverse youths (6 to 17 years old) at or under the poverty line participating in treatment (from January 2008 to March 2014) for a broad range of primary diagnoses including depression and anxiety disorders (23%); adjustment disorders (27%); Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (13%), various V-codes (18%); bipolar disorders (3%); and substance use disorders (2%). I also investigated the treatment outcomes …

The Rewarding Nature Of Anger Rumination In Borderline Personality Disorder: An Fmri Investigation, Jessica R. Peters

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Anger rumination, or persistently dwelling on feelings of anger, is associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and related features, such as aggressive behavior and cognitive distortions. To develop more effective treatments, it is crucial to understand why individuals with BPD engage in anger rumination despite its negative outcomes. The activation of energy associated with anger, as well as feelings of justification and validation, may be experienced in the short-term as rewarding. This may prevent individuals with BPD from attempting to reduce their rumination.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral methods were utilized to examine this theory in a sample …

Improving Depression Care For Older Home Health Patients, Sarah R. Schirmer

DNP Projects

Rates of depression in older home healthcare (HH) patients are highly prevalent. Although depression in this population is associated with increased rates of re-hospitalization, falls, and suicides, it is frequently under diagnosed and under treated. This Capstone Report examined this problem through three interrelated manuscripts. The first manuscript explored the problem through a review of the literature. This review determined that while there are many barriers to adequate depression care, programs that train clinicians to screen for depression and connect patients to depression care encourage adequate evaluation and treatment and can result in clinically significant changes in depression scores. This …

Eating Disorder Onset In Young Girls: A Longitudinal Trajectory Analysis, Carolyn M. Pearson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

To investigate whether there are different patterns of development for binge eating and purging behavior among pre-adolescent and early adolescent girls, I conducted trajectory analyses of those behaviors in 938 girls across eight waves of data from the spring of 5^th grade (the last year of elementary school) through the spring of 9^th grade (the first year of high school). Analyses revealed four separate developmental trajectories for binge eating behavior (labeled none, increasing, decreasing, and high steady) and three separate developmental trajectories for purging behavior (labeled none, dabble, and increasing). Fifth grade scores on risk factors that were …

Expression Of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Across The Ovulatory Cycle: A Multilevel Investigation, Tory A. Eisenlohr-Moul

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a disabling condition characterized by chronic emotion dysregulation and behavioral impulsivity. Prospective studies that test proposed mechanisms of within-person change in BPD hold the key to improving symptom predictability and control in this disorder. A small body of evidence suggests that fluctuations in estradiol such as those occurring naturally at ovulation during the monthly female reproductive cycle may increase symptoms in women with BPD (DeSoto et al., 2003). Furthermore, there is preliminary evidence that both self-esteem and feelings of social rejection are highest at ovulation, when estradiol peaks (Durante and Hill, 2009; Eisenlohr-Moul et al., …

Executive Deficits In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Examining The Consequences Of Self-Regulatory Impairment On Quality Of Life, Abbey R. Roach

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that attacks the motor system and contributes to a range of cognitive and behavioral impairments (e.g., behavioral and emotional disinhibition, planning and problem solving difficulties, impulsivity, attention, and personality change). This executive dysfunction may contribute to selfregulatory impairment across several domains, including cognitive skills, thought processes, emotion regulation, interpersonal skills, and physiology, that may be crucial to the quality of life (QOL), or well being, of patients and their caregivers. Given the relentless course and prognosis of ALS, palliative treatments for ALS should target the full range of self-regulatory deficits. Thirty-seven …