Digital Commons Network^™

Creating Healthy Communities Across Minnesota: Investing In Integrated Health Care, Leah Jacobson, Nicole Lidstrom, Jenna Lipovetz, Jamie Schuller

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

In Minnesota, behavioral health homes have become an efficient resource for individu­als on Medical Assistance to receive integrated behavioral and primary health care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The rising popularity of behav­ioral health homes in Minnesota introduced the concept of integrated medical care with a patient's primary care physician as the "home-base". Figure 1 illustrates the inte­grated approach that supports the patient and their family, provides care that covers an entire continuum of care with a comprehensive care team focused on the whole person, is accessible with short waiting times, and is committed to quality and …

A Mental Health Workforce Crisis: Roadmap For Enhancing Recruitment & Retention In Minnesota, Iowa & Wisconsin, Lindsay Duenow, Rebecca Kobernick, Mckenzie Sohre, Kim Wallgren

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Building and maintaining an adequate mental health workforce requires successful recruitment and retention of qualified workers. Identifying recruitment and retention factors specific to behavioral health providers is essential in determining strategies for increasing the rural health behavioral workforce. The World Health Organization estimates there are 1.18 million additional mental health workers needed to end the mental health treatment gap between patients and providers worldwide. In the U.S., there has been a nationwide shortage of mental health professionals, and this shortage is more pronounced in rural communities,with twenty percent of rural areas lacking mental health services, compared to five percent of …

Marriage And Family Therapy And The Law: Discovering Systemic Common Ground, Jason C. Richards

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Many important decisions regarding couples and families are made by the legal system. However, this system’s adversarial nature often results in relational losses for clients, even when one “wins” a case. Some believe a solution may exist in legally-minded marriage and family therapists, who, as experts in family systems theory, are in a unique position to help facilitate healing in a flawed, but well-meaning family court system (Brooks & Madden, 2012; Madden, 2008). However, the literature reveals that new therapists may lack appropriate legal knowledge when they graduate, suggesting a need for different preparation by marriage and family therapy programs …

The Art And Skill Of Delivering Culturally Responsive Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy In Tanzania And Kenya., Briana Woods-Jaeger, Christine M. Kava, Christopher F. Akiba, Leah Lucid, Shannon Dorsey

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the facilitators, barriers, and strategies used to deliver a child mental health evidence-based treatment (EBT), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), in a culturally responsive manner. In low- and middle-income countries most individuals with mental health problems do not receive treatment due to a shortage of mental health professionals. One approach to addressing this problem is task-sharing, in which lay counselors are trained to deliver mental health treatment. Combining this approach with a focus on EBT provides a strategy for bridging the mental health treatment gap. However, little is known about how western-developed EBTs are delivered in …

Communicative Behaviors Elicited By Leisure Activities In Memory Care Units, Tarynn Clune

Honors Projects

A wide variety of leisure activities used in reminiscence care have been studied for their merits in terms of preventing cognitive decline, and increasing quality of life; however, little is known about what different types have to offer in terms of communicative opportunities. Communication with peers is imperative for quality of life, and is crucial for maintenance of relationships between the person with dementia (PWD) and their loved ones. As a result of this importance, an exploration of communication elicited by different activities facilitated in a unit was conducted. The communication explored in this study was solely vocal, and included …

A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Of Different Mobile Messaging Interventions For Problem Drinking, Frederick Muench, Katherine Van Stolk-Cooke, Alexis Kuerbis, Gertraud Stadler, Amit Baumel, Sijing Shao, James R. Mckay, Jon Morgenstern

Publications and Research

Introduction
Recent evidence suggests that text messaging may help to reduce problem drinking as an extension to in-person services, but very little is known about the effectiveness of remote messaging on problem drinking as a stand-alone intervention, or how different types of messages may improve drinking outcomes in those seeking to moderate their alcohol consumption.

Methods
We conducted an exploratory, single-blind randomized controlled pilot study comparing four different types of alcohol reduction-themed text messages sent daily to weekly drink self-tracking texts in order to determine their impact on drinking outcomes over a 12-week period in 152 participants (≈ 30 per …

A Qualitative Examination Of Pain Centrality Among Veterans Of Iraq And Afghanistan Conflicts, Samantha D. Outcalt, Christina Nicolaidis, Matthew J. Bair, Laura J. Myers, Edward J. Miech, Marianne S. Matthias

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective. Centrality of pain refers to the degree to which a patient views chronic pain as integral to his or her life or identity. The purpose of this study was to gain a richer understanding of pain centrality from the perspective of patients who live with chronic pain.

Methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 26 Veterans with chronic and disabling musculoskeletal pain after completing a stepped care intervention within a randomized controlled trial. Qualitative data were analyzed using an immersion/crystallization approach. We evaluated the role centrality plays in Veterans’ lives and examined whether and how their narratives differ when centrality …

Evaluation Of A Community-Based Positive Youth Development Program For Adolescents With Greater Psychosocial Needs: Views Of The Program Participants, Daniel T. L. Shek, Cecilia M. S. Ma, Moon Y. M. Law, Zoe Zhao

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The present study attempted to investigate the perceptions of Chinese secondary school students with greater psychosocial needs of the Tier 2 Program in the community-based phase of P.A.T.H.S. Project in Hong Kong (n=4245). Using a subjective outcome evaluation tool (Form C), the results revealed that a great majority of the students held positive attitudes toward the program, implementers and the effectiveness of the program. Also, the three domains of the program (“program quality”, “implementer quality” and “program effectiveness”) were significantly associated with each other. In line with previous findings, both program content and program implementer quality were significant predictors of …

Addictions Content Published In Counseling Journals: A 10-Year Content Analysis To Inform Research And Practice, Edward Wahesh, S. Elizabeth Likis-Werle, Regina R. Moro

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This content analysis includes 210 articles that focused on addictions topics published between January 2005 and December 2014 in the journals of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), Chi Sigma Iota (CSI), the American Counseling Association (ACA), and ACA member divisions. Results include the types of addictions content and behaviors studied as well as the populations and data analytic techniques used in the addictions research articles. Whereas most articles discussed addictions counseling techniques, addictions issues among non-clinical populations, and professional practice issues, fewer articles addressed clients in treatment, utilized clinical populations, or analyzed intervention outcomes. Implications for addictive behaviors …

The Effects Of Rape Myth Acceptance, Benevolent Sexism, Characterological Self-Blame, And Behavioral Self-Blame On Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity, Jacob Whitaker Camp

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Roughly 35 to 50 percent of victims of sexual assault begin to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relatively early after the assault (Elklit, Due, & Christiansen, 2009). Many victims of sexual assault who are diagnosed with PTSD continue to experience symptoms long after the incident occurred (Peter-Hagene & Ullman, 2015). Rape has serious effects on the psychological health of the victims. Although no study had been done directly examining the relationship between rape myth acceptance and PTSD symptom severity, studies have shown that benevolent sexism affects rape myth acceptance and that rape myth acceptance affects how individuals attribute blame …

A Conversation Analysis Of Therapist-Client Interactional Patterns In Single Session Therapy: A Researcher's Interpretation, Nozomu Ozaki

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

In response to the growing awareness of the issue of accessibility to mental health services (World Health Organization, 2013), single session therapy (SST) has been implemented in various settings throughout the world. (Hoyt &Talmon, 2014b; Miller, 2008; Miller & Slive, 2004; Talmon, 2014). Although there has been much advancement in the knowledge and application of SST, an understanding of therapist-client interactional patterns that enfold in SST is extremely scarce. In this study, I investigated how therapists collaboratively improved the talk in SST turn by turn in such a way that promoted therapeutic improvement. I utilized conversation analysis (Sacks et al., …

Preparing To Parent: Mindfulness In Expectant Parents Exposed To Adversity, Laurel Marie Hicks

Wayne State University Dissertations

Expectant parents who have been exposed to psychosocial risk encounter deleterious psychological (Ashley et al., 2016), and physiological (V. H. Pereira, Campos, & Sousa, 2017) effects. This not only affects the parent-to-be, but also may affect the developing fetus (E. P. Davis et al., 2011) and is linked to poorer infant development (Lefmann & Combs-Orme, 2014). However, not all risk-exposed individuals experience this, many are resilient and still thrive in the face of adversity. Understanding potential risk and resiliency factors in expectant parents is advantageous, so tailored interventions can be devised to improve outcomes. One potential resiliency factor, mindfulness, is …

Depression In Low-Income Adolescents: Guidelines For School-Based Depression Intervention Programs, Gopika Hari

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Adolescent depression is growing in interest to clinicians. In addition to the estimated 2 million cases of adolescent major depressive episodes each year, depressive symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies indicate that being low-income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only an estimated 1 in 4 children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come through schools. Thus, this study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools …

The Effect Of Clinician Competence And Religiosity On The Trainee Clinician’S Ability To Identify Problematic Sexual Behavior, Cody Butcher

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Models in psychology do not consider the concept of sex addiction the same way as other substance or behavior addictions. For example, sex addiction, which is not a DSM-5 disorder, is often assigned as a label to clients based off of high frequency of sexual behavior. Despite sex addiction not being a diagnosable disorder, sex addiction therapists are conducting treatment with people who identify as sex addicts. Due to this lack of a definition, previous research has found that clinicians may identify sex addiction in clients based on their own preconceived worldviews of what types of sexual behaviors or frequencies …

Sex Education In Montana Schools: An Assessment Of The Needs Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth, Elizabeth A. Redinger, Annie Sondag

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Youth are particularly vulnerable to infection from HIV and STIs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, youth between the ages of 13 and 24 accounted for about 26% of all new HIV transmission cases in the United States in 2010, In young MSM specifically, there was a 22% increase in new infections from 2008 to 2010 (CDC, 2015). Education is one of the factors that plays a role in sexual health practices starting in high schools, yet in Montana there is no clear set of guidelines as to what is covered during sex education classes in the …

Behavioral And Mental Health In Nevada, Ruth Condray, Kyle Devine

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health is responsible for providing public and mental health services to people living in or visiting the State. The Division is organized into four branches: Community Services Branch, Regulatory and Planning Services Branch, Clinical Services Branch and Administrative Services Branch. The Clinical Services Branch provides statewide inpatient, outpatient, and community-based public and mental health services. State employees provide mental health services, and contract providers deliver substance use services. Mental health services are additionally organized by age and geography. Adults with mental disorders are treated statewide through the Division of Public and Behavioral Health. …

Exploring The Role Of Escapism In The Dsm-V Criteria For Internet Gaming Disorder : A Meta-Analytic Investigation, Yeonggeul Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been included in the DSM-5 in a preliminary endorsement of excessive video gaming as a behavioral disorder. Further research is required to validate IGD because some criteria are controversial in diagnostic accuracy. Escapism is one such criterion. Despite some research evidence of escapism as the strongest motivational predictor of IGD, recent investigations found that the escapism criterion is highly questionable. Because of the inclusion of escapism in initial IGD measures, previous studies have produced evidence of escapism as a predictor of IGD owing to a tautology. Thus, the present study examined the effect of gaming …

Factors Asociated With Mental Health Help-Seeking Attitudes Among University Students In South Korea, Hee Chul Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current study investigated factors associated with mental health help-seeking attitudes among university students in South Korea. In particular, the study examined the moderating effects of culturally relevant factors (religiosity, social support, social stigma, and self-stigma) on the relationship between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes and the mediating effect of stigma (social and self) on the association between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes. A total of 240 students at 4 universities in South Korea completed in-class surveys in Spring 2016. Data was analyzed using a series of multiple regressions, hierarchical moderated multiple regression, and 3-step mediation regression. Results indicated that …

Parental Understandings Of The Meaning Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Kylara Leyva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines how parents understand autism, their child's behavior and development. Parents can understand their child's behavior and development through a medical model perspective, which sees the childâ??s autism as a series of deficits and deviations. However, a growing number of parents understand their child's behavior and development through a neurodiversity perspective, where a child is seen as having differences in behavior, instead of deficits. Parents' understandings of autism can influence how they see their child's behavior and development and be a driver for seeking diagnosis. In-depth interviews were conducted with parents of children with autism to probe for …

Emergency Department Use Among Asian Adults Living In The United States: Results From The National Health Interview Survey (2006 – 2013), Kathleen M. Sullivan, James Davis, Angela Sy

Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal

This paper presents secondary analyses of the National Health Interview Survey data focused on emergency department (ED) utilization among Asian adults residing in the United States. National Health Interview Survey data provided from survey years 2006-2013 was pooled and disaggregated by single-race Asian ethnic subgroups (Filipino, Chinese, Asian Indian, other Asian). We explored trends in reports of an ED visit over the survey years for the purpose of determining whether reports of an ED visit increased or decreased over survey years. We also explored background/biologic, environment, access to care, and behavior factors and their associations with having an ED visit. …

A Case Study Exploration Of Teachers' Perspectives On Children's Mental Health Service Needs In Title I Elementary Schools, Natalie Denise Yates

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Children go to school for approximately 32 hours each week of an academic year. Many children who are in need of mental health treatment do not get the services they need because of barriers such as lack of access and stigma. Teachers are one of the primary sources of referrals for children's mental health services, and they often make referrals based on their perceptions of their students' mental health needs. Although teachers are typically the primary source of referrals for mental health services, they usually do not have any specialized mental health training. The purpose of this study was to …

Adolescents' Experiences Returning To School After A Mental Health Hospitalization, Pamela Iverson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This qualitative study explores how adolescents experience transition when they return to school after an acute mental health hospitalization. For this study, the term transition is used to describe the process of adjusting to the return from an acute mental health hospital to school. Eight adolescents from southern Minnesota, ages 15-17, were interviewed about their transition experience for this study. Each participant had experienced an acute hospitalization within 12 months of their interview. Each participant interview was recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using phenomenological research methods. For each participant, an individual textural description, structural description, and textural/structural description was provided through …

Dismantling Motivational Interviewing: Effects On Initiation Of Behavior Change Among Problem Drinkers Seeking Treatment, Jon Morgenstern, Alexis Kuerbis, Jessica Houser, Sijing Shao, James R. Mckay

Publications and Research

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an efficacious treatment for alcohol use disorders (AUD). MI is thought to enhance motivation via a combination of two therapeutic strategies or active ingredients: one relational and one directional. The primary aim of this study was to examine MI’s hypothesized active ingredients using a dismantling design. Problem drinkers (N=139) seeking treatment were randomized to one of three conditions: MI, relational MI without the directional elements labeled spirit-only MI (SOMI) or a non-therapy control (NTC) condition and followed for eight weeks. Those assigned to MI or SOMI received four sessions of treatment over eight weeks. All participants …

A Pilot Study Of Online Feedback For Adult Drinkers 50 And Older: Feasibility, Efficacy, And Preferences For Intervention, Alexis Kuerbis, Lisa Hail, Alison A. Moore, Frederick Muench

Publications and Research

Normative (NF) and personalized feedback (PF) are moderately effective brief interventions for at-risk drinking middle-aged and older adults. This study tested the feasibility of online feedback for drinkers 50 and older. This study’s aims were to identify whether there is differential effectiveness of PF over NF in prompting drinkers 50 years old and older to plan for change and to determine potential preferences for intervention among adult drinkers 50 and older with practical knowledge about computers. Method—Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 138 male and female drinkers aged 50 to 75+ were recruited to complete an online survey that asked about their: …

The Scope Of Social Work Practice In Transition To Adulthood Care, Teresa Hickam

Posters

This is a study of roles executed by social workers and nurses to address common transition planning needs in a pediatric hospital. Duties were stratified based upon tasks assigned only to social work versus those shared with nursing or other team members.

Occupational Profiles Of At-Risk Youth: A Multi-Case Study, Abigail Catalano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Occupational therapy’s work with at-risk and adjudicated youth is a practice area currently possessing a limited base of evidence. One significant need in this body of literature is for examination of evidence-based evaluation practices. This project describes implementation and results of an evaluation protocol, Primary Occupations for Work and Employment Readiness (POWER), designed to elicit comprehensive occupational profiles from participants. POWER consists of five assessment tools, supplemented by clinical observations and program data. The assessments included are the Occupational Self-Assessment (OSA), Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool (MOHOST), Double OT (DOT), Kawa River Model, and Role Checklist Version 3 (RCV3). …

Experiences Of Postpartum Women In One Residential Treatment Facility For Substance Use Disorders: A Qualitative Case Study, Rebecca Jo Williams

Online Theses and Dissertations

A growing opioid crisis in the United States has sparked a need for gender-specific research and treatment to address unmet needs and promote positive health outcomes for both women and children. The primary purpose of this research is to provide insight into the experiences and perceptions of postpartum women with substance use disorders receiving care at one residential treatment facility. Two women, aged 22 and 27 years old, participated in semi-structured interviews designed to elicit perceptions about barriers to treatment, the value of various programs, the role of physical, social, and temporal contexts in treatment, and beliefs about the effect …

Racial Identity, Phenotype, And Self-Esteem Among Biracial Polynesian/White Individuals, Kawika Allen, Patton O. Garriott, Carla J. Reyes, Catherine Hsieh

Faculty Publications

This study examined racial identity, self-esteem, and phenotype among biracial Polynesian/White adults. Eighty-four Polynesian/White persons completed the Biracial Identity Attitude Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory, and a Polynesian phenotype scale. Profile analyses showed participants identified more with their Polynesian parent. A mediation analysis revealed that phenotype did not mediate the relationship between biracial identity and self-esteem.

Testing Cross-Sectional And Prospective Mediators Of Internalized Heterosexism On Heavy Drinking, Alcohol Problems, And Psychological Distress Among Heavy Drinking Men Who Have Sex With Men, Alexis Kuerbis, Ethan Mereish, Marie Hayes, Christine Davis, Sijing Shao, Jon Morgenstern

Publications and Research

Objective: Minority stress theory is often used as a causal explanation for substance use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. This study tested whether drinking to cope with stress (DTC), loneliness, and gay community participation (GCP) mediated the relationship between one type of minority stress (i.e., internalized heterosexism, IH) and behavioral health outcomes. Method: Utilizing secondary data analysis and the PROCESS procedure, relationships between IH, the mediators (DTC, loneliness, and GCP), and outcomes (heavy drinking, alcohol problems, and psychological distress) were explored, both cross-sectionally and in a lagged manner, among both treatment seeking and non-treatment seeking problem drinking men who …

"You're Doing Fine, Right?": Adolescent Siblings Of Substance Abusers, Cynthia E. Clarfield

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There has been a rising interest in addiction medicine and addiction treatment in both the medical and behavioral health science fields. Research suggests having a family member with a substance abuse problem has negative impacts on both physical and mental health (Orford, Copello, Velleman, & Templeton, 2010a). Despite advances toward understanding the experiences of family members affected by a loved one's addiction, the siblings of substance abusers have been largely excluded from scientific research and literature. As a result, little is known about how siblings experience the impacts of a brother or sister's addiction; even less is known about the …