Health Psychology Commons^™

Parent-Adolescent Communication About Health Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Ashley Charlene Moss

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Health risk behaviors, like drinking alcohol or using tobacco, are a common problem among adolescents in the United States. For healthy adolescents, health risk behaviors may be hazardous to their health; for adolescents with chronic illnesses, the risks associated with these types of behavior are compounded and may further impact their health status. This is particularly true for adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), whose blood sugar may be directly impacted by consumption of alcohol or use of tobacco. Parent-child communication has been found to act as a protective factor against adolescent engagement in health risk behaviors; however, this …

The Paradox Of Commercial Photography: Power And Sexuality In Models, Christina Bell

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Commercial photography has a tendency to force upon us a standard template of what the ideal person is or looks like. Unfortunately, the artificial standard is horribly unachievable and detrimental to physical and mental health, which produces sentiments of insufficiency and abjection with the self, especially among young impressionable girls. In a sick - and very modern - twist of evolutionary progress we find ourselves idealizing the depictions of models appearing to be on the verge of starvation. This article examines the power and sexuality in models produced through commercial photography and its effects on society at-large.

The Relationship Between Mindfulness And Burnout Among Master Of Social Work Students, Jolanta Maria Piatkowska

Dissertations and Theses

Social work students frequently endure elevated levels of prolonged stress and psychological affliction that might result in serious consequences, such as development of burnout. Some experts suggest that burnout originates in the exposure to chronic interpersonal stressors in the work environment. Yet, there is emerging evidence suggesting that mindfulness practice might be beneficial in alleviating stress. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between mindfulness and burnout among Master of Social Work students. Burnout, mindfulness, religiosity, spirituality and their potential relationship were discussed and related to previous scholarly literature. Specifically, this study focused on testing …

Collaborative Treatment Of Late-Life Depression In Primary Care (Germanimpact): Study Protocol Of A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial, Iris Wernher, Frederike Bjerregaard, Iris Tinsel, Christiane Bleich, Sigrid Boczor, Thomas Kloppe, Martin Scherer, Martin Härter, Wilhelm Niebling, Hans-Helmut König, Michael Hüll

Institute on Aging Publications

Background: Depression is not a normal side effect of aging, however it is one of the most prevalent mental health issues in later life, imposing a tremendous burden on patients, their families, and the healthcare system. We describe the experimental implementation of a collaborative, stepped-care model for the treatment of late-life depression (GermanIMPACT trial) in the German primary care context. GermanIMPACT was developed as an adaptation of a successful and widely used American model. The aim of the study is to evaluate the model’s applicability to the German primary care setting and its cost-effectiveness.

Methods/Design: The study will be conducted …

Concussion Guidelines Step 1: Systematic Review Of Prevalent Indicators, Nancy Carney, Jamshid Ghajar, Andy Jagoda, Steven Bedrick, Cynthia Davis-O'Reilly, Hugo Du Coudray, Dallas Hack, Nora Helfand, Amy Huddleston, Tracie Nettleton, Riggio Silvana

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is no evidence-based definition for concussion that is being uniformly applied in clinical and research settings.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of the highest-quality literature about concussion and to assemble evidence about the prevalence and associations of key indicators of concussion. The goal was to establish an evidence-based foundation from which to derive, in future work, a definition, diagnostic criteria, and prognostic indicators for concussion.

METHODS: Key questions were developed, and an electronic literature search from 1980 to 2012 was conducted to acquire evidence about the prevalence of and associations among signs, symptoms, and neurologic and …

The Effect Of Exercise On Cigarette Craving And Withdrawal Symptoms While Using A Nicotine Lozenge, Amelia Tritter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is imperative that smoking cessation aids effectively alleviate cigarette craving and withdrawal symptoms because their intensity has shown to predict relapse. The nicotine lozenge is a pharmacotherapy that has shown to reduce symptoms of craving and withdrawal. Research has also shown that a single session of exercise can provide temporary relief from craving and withdrawal for smokers who are both temporarily abstaining and undergoing a real quit attempt. Applying two efficacious monotherapies concurrently may provide additive benefit and greater symptom relief. Thirty recently quit smokers were randomized to either the experimental (exercise and lozenge) or control (lozenge alone) condition. …

Possible Psychological Effects Of Ultrasound Scanning On Women, Hang Wu

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Questionnaires were designed and given to 30 female subjects to investigate the possible psychological effects caused by the use of ultrasound scanning. The answers were analyzed in a numerical way and correlation tests were run to explore the relations among various factors. No significant correlation was found between any pair of the four selected factors. Further interviews with the subjects and detailed qualitative study of the answers provided answers for the results, and suggested that the possible psychological effects introduced by the ultrasound scanning, if any, were very limited.

Using Social Cognitive Theory To Predict Behavior, Gretchen Walker, Amy Posner

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model where self-efficacy is hypothesized to influence people’s behavioral intentions directly and indirectly through effects on outcome expectancy. Data on self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and intention to jog two consecutive miles were collected from 115 college students enrolled in general education classes. As anticipated, path analyses indicated that efficacy had both a direct impact on intention and an indirect impact through its effects on outcome expectancy. The more efficacious people were, the more positive the outcomes they associated with jogging and the surer they were they would jog. The model tested …

Correlation Between Health And Stress, Hang Wu

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This study examined participants’ level of stress and their perceived level of stress and success in school. The subjects were given the stress questionnaire in order to determine the level of stress they were experiencing and the frequency of health issues experienced during the previous year. The results of the study suggest that although level of stress may be similar between individuals, how they perceived the stress impacted their health level. Students who perceived the stress in a negative fashion were more likely to be sick than individuals who were less impacted by the stress. By identifying the correlation between …

At Risk For Ptsd: The Public Health Implications Of Trauma, Madeline Peyton

Master's Projects and Capstones

The fieldwork experience is the summation of six semesters of graduate level public health training. At commencement, students are to be proficient in basic data analysis and epidemiological principles, in how environmental risks impact health, and demonstrate strong program planning, evaluation and leadership skills. Throughout, students are encouraged to focus their academic work on an area of public health that interest them and on a problem that they hope to impact in their professional work. I continued in an area I began as an undergraduate student of medical anthropology and explored the systems that interact to influence mental health of …

The Impact Of Weather Conditions On Mood Variability In Geographically Relocated Versus Non-Relocated Individuals, Jamie M. Scott

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

A void exists in the literature in regards to how identical weather conditions impact individuals from different geographic locations. It is believed relocated individuals are more susceptible to fluctuations in mood stemming from novel weather conditions than indigenous individuals. The sample consisted of 70 life-long Minnesota residents and 25 individuals who have spent minimum of one year living outside of Minnesota. Participants completed a mood self-report measure online for four consecutive weeks to determine positive and negative affect levels. Data was then matched with corresponding weather data for the same time period. No support was found for the hypothesis. However, …

Utilizing Emotionally Responsive Virtual Human Role-Play Simulations To Train Users To Identify, Talk To And Refer Students In Psychological Distress Including Those At-Risk For Suicide: A Meta-Analysis, Glenn Albright, Jesse Davidson, Ron Goldman, Kristen Shockley, Sue Eastgard, Joy Himmel

Publications and Research

Background: The American College Health Association found that over 30% of students reported difficulty in functioning due to feeling depressed, overwhelming anxiety (50%) and anger (36%). Suicide is the second leading cause of death among US adolescents and over half of mental illnesses emerge prior to adulthood. A similar study found that nearly half of student veterans met criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and 46% had suicidal ideation. Left untreated, mental illness can lead to increased absenteeism, lower academic performance, disrupted classroom behaviors and compromises school safety. Educators and students are well positioned to identify and refer students in …

Masculinity, Male Empowerment, And Hiv/Aids Risk In Caprivi, Namibia, Mark Perry

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Namibia has a generalized HIV epidemic, with 13% of adults being infected. Its East Caprivi Region has the highest prenatal HIV prevalence in the country, 21%, among girls and women aged 15-24 years. In recent years, researchers have pointed to men who express their masculinity through high-risk sex as driving the epidemic in East Caprivi. This exploratory study examined the role that men and their masculinity concepts played in transmission, how those concepts were evolving over time, what was influencing the change, and in which directions. Employing grounded theory methods and guided by Robert Connell's theoretical framework on masculinities, the …

A Comparison Of Descriptive And Injunctive Norms Brief Interventions For College Drinkers, Mark A. Prince

Dissertations - ALL

College drinking remains a major public health concern. One contributing factor is the overestimation by college students of their peers' alcohol use (DN: descriptive norm) and their peers' acceptability of excessive drinking (IN: injunctive norm). Normative re-education interventions have traditionally focused on changing descriptive norms even though the Theory of Normative Conduct identifies both DN and IN as beliefs that motivate behavior. The current study developed a brief, manualized, personalized, IN intervention, delivered face-to-face, in a Motivational Interviewing style that can be used as a stand alone treatment or added to existing descriptive norms interventions. This randomized controlled trial compared …

Do Social Control Motives Combine With Perceptions Of Social Support To Predict Relationships Between Interpersonal Stress And Blood Pressure In The Normal Environment?, Gavin James Elder

Dissertations - ALL

Social support is related to lower risk for cardiovascular disease development. Yet, research has failed to yield consistent evidence for psychological mechanisms of relationships between social support and health outcomes. Explanations for these failures include limitations of research design and statistical analysis, inadequate theory-building, and a failure to investigate implicit psychological processes that operate during normal everyday social interactions. The present study utilized a promising theoretical framework (i.e., social action theory) to evaluate implicit mechanisms within a naturalistic observation study design using multilevel modeling. The primary aims of this study were to evaluate the role of between-person differences in agonistic …

Relationships Among Constructive Communication, Self-Efficacy, And Motivation In Latino Men Who Smoke: A Path Analysis, Alexander Malik Khaddouma

Masters Theses

Previous authors have posited that the health and functioning of romantic relationships may play a role in individual partners’ motivation to engage in healthier behavioral patterns. This effect of romantic relationship functioning may be particularly applicable to Latino couples, given the cultural value of familismo (Galanti, 2003). Utilizing specific factors of Lewis and colleagues’ (2006) Interdependence Model, the present study tested a model of motivation for smoking cessation in which self-efficacy mediates the effect of perceived spousal constructive communication patterns on male partners’ motivation to quit smoking. The model was tested in a sample of 173 Latino couples who underwent …

Objective Measures And Insight Assessments Of Muscle Dysmorphia, Austin Blake Lowe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Muscle dysmorphia is a relatively new psychological disorder primarily affecting males who engage in weightlifting or bodybuilding. Individuals with this disorder are obsessed with the idea that their body is not sufficiently lean or muscular when compared to others and engage in several, risky behaviors (i.e., frequent exercise sessions, anabolic steroid use, structured diets) to increase muscularity. As obtaining and maintaining a muscular physique is so important to his or her self-worth, an individual may have little insight to how their behaviors are affecting their social and occupational lives and are reluctant to seek out psychological treatment. The purpose of …

Hair Cortisol As A Biomarker Of Stress In Mindfulness Training For Smokers., Simon B Goldberg, Alison R Manley, Stevens S Smith, Jeffrey M Greeson, Evan Russell, Stan Van Uum, Gideon Koren, James M Davis

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

OBJECTIVES: Stress is a well-known predictor of smoking relapse, and cortisol is a primary biomarker of stress. The current pilot study examined changes in levels of cortisol in hair within the context of two time-intensity matched behavioral smoking cessation treatments: mindfulness training for smokers and a cognitive-behavioral comparison group.

PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen participants were recruited from a larger randomized controlled trial of smoking cessation.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Hair samples (3 cm) were obtained 1 month after quit attempt, allowing for a retrospective analysis of hair cortisol at preintervention and post-quit attempt time periods. Self-reported negative affect was also assessed before and after …

Basic Psychological Needs, Suicidal Ideation, And Risk For Suicidal Behavior In Young Adults, Peter C. Britton, Kimberly A. Van Orden, Jameson K. Hirsch, Geoffrey C. Williams

ETSU Faculty Works

Associations between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with current suicidal ideation and risk for suicidal behavior were examined. Two logistic regressions were conducted with a cross-sectional database of 440 university students to examine the association of need satisfaction with suicidal ideation and risk for suicidal behavior, while controlling for demographics and depressive symptoms. Suicidal ideation was reported by 15% of participants and 18% were found to be at risk for suicidal behavior. A one standard deviation increase in need satisfaction reduced the odds of suicidal ideation by 53%, OR (95% CI) = 0.47 (0.33–0.67), …

Impulsivity, Executive Cognition And Reward Sensitivity In Relation To Excessive Or Problematic Alcohol Consumption, Michael Lyvers, Mark Edwards

Mike Lyvers

Background: Deficits of frontal lobe functioning and associated cognitive impairments are well known correlates of chronic alcoholism and are commonly interpreted as reflecting cumulative effects of high alcohol exposure (Lyvers, 2000). Alternatively, such associations may reflect traits predating alcohol exposure which predispose to risky drinking . For example, university students have a higher prevalence of alcohol use as well as risky drinking than do non-students of the same age, yet not all students drink at risky levels, suggesting that excessive alcohol use by young adults may be influenced by underlying trait factors in addition to social factors. Recent studies using …