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Improving The Documentation Of Patient Progress In A Mental Health Facility Through The Use Of Training And Feedback, Maria Sonia Acosta

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various conditions, including staff training and feedback to improve the documentation of patient progress in a mental health facility. Forty nursing staff members participated in this study. Subjects were «posed to one of three experimental conditions. Subjects in the training-only condition received two hours of training on how to write progress notes. Subjects in the training plus feedback condition received two hours of training and weekly feedback in the form of group performance graphs and verbal explanation of their progress. Subjects in the third condition served merely as …

The Effect Of Locus Of Control On The Procrastination Behavior Of College Students, Eileen Debra Rudnick

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between locus of control and the Procrastination behavior of individuals in an academic setting. Investigated in this study was the relationship between the two aspects of procrastination, the delaying of a task and the psychological distress that results from that behavior, and locus of controls in terms of an internal or external generalized belief.

The Adult Nowicki - Duke Locus of Control scale and the Procrastination Assessment scale - Students were given to 267 undergraduate students between the ages of 17 and 48 at Pittsburg State University. The data …

Death Preparation: The Construct And A Proposed Predictor Of Death And Death Anxiety, Robert A. Papazian

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In previous studies, death preparation has often been narrowly defined as involving formal and informal educational opportunities (e.g., Bailey, 1976; Miles, 1980; Watts, 1977). In the present study this construct was defined as the quantity (aggregate) and quality (resolution) of experiences, cognitions, and affective processes in response to anticipatory, perceived, analog, and actual loss. A 132 item questionnaire was developed to assess experiential, cognitive, and affective preparation. Quantitative measures of exposure to death-related events as well as the qualitative measure of subjective adjustment to potential loss were evaluated. Reliability and validity for the construct were established and its relationship with …

Ecology Of Depression In Late Childhood And Early Adolescence: A Profile Of Daily States And Activities, Reed Larson, Marcela Raffaelli, Maryse H. Richards, Mark Ham, Lisa Jewell

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study investigated daily states and time use patterns associated with depression. Four hundred eighty-three 5th to 9th graders reported on their experience when signaled by pagers at random times. Depressed youth reported more negative affect and social emotions, lower psychological investment, lower energy, and greater variability in affect. These differences were weaker for 5th and 6th graders, suggesting that self-reported feeling states are a poor indicator of depression prior to adolescence. No differences were found in the daily activities of depressed youths nor in the amount of time spent alone, but depressed youths experienced other people as less friendly …

Serial Conditioning As A Function Of Stimulus, Response, And Temporal Dependencies, William L. Palya, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Six experiments were used to examine the effects of explicit response, stimulus, and temporal dependencies on responding in an interfood interval. The first two experiments demonstrated that 10- segment 60-s interfood clocks controlled similar distributions of key pecking in pigeons regardless of whether response-reinforcement contiguity was required, allowed, or precluded. The third and fourth experiments found that in the absence of an explicit response-reinforcement dependency, systematic explicit stimuli in an interfood interval were sufficient to establish and maintain the characteristic distribution of key pecking and that an interval without an explicit clock failed to establish or maintain key pecking. The …

Sex And Handedness Effects On Two Types Of Cognitive Ability Tasks, Randall Wayne Mccauley

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Priming Effects In Perceptual Classification, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Priming stimuli that spatially flank a fixated target stimulus may cause either facilitation or interference with target classification, depending on experimental context. Two experiments demonstrated distinct effects of response compatibility and semantic congruity between flankers and target. Response competition occurred when targets were flanked by context stimuli associated with the opposite response, but this effect diminished when the target was delayed relative to the flankers. Facilitative priming by response-compatible flankers, in contrast, required prior exposure of the flankers, and was strongly influenced by the semantic congruity of flankers and targets. These differing time courses suggest that perceptual priming encompasses a …

Understanding Dogs Through Kinesthetic Empathy, Social Construction, And History, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Sentience Collection

The term, "come into animal presence," she takes from the title of a Denise Levertov poem. The poem, which reads, in part, "What joy when the insouciant armadillo glances at us and doesn't quicken his trotting across the track into the palm bush. What is this joy?" This joy is the possibility of our being in the presence of animals for "(t)he armadillo has some intention to pursue in the palm forest." This joy, to which I invite you here, consists in dwelling in that presence, in inhabiting that intention, that armored but guileless world of the armadillo. I will …

Distress In A Sample Of Teachers, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Examined the links between job-related stressors and depressive and psychophysiologic symptoms and morale in 67 New York City teachers. The teachers' mean score on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was higher than might be expected from average community residents. The CES-D and a psychophysiologic symptom scale were correlated as highly as their reliabilities would permit, indicating that they measure the same construct, nonspecific psychological distress. The level of job strain (frequency of ongoing stressors) was more closely related to psychological distress and low morale than episodic stressors, including crimes in which the teacher was …

Issues Concerning The Internship Selection Process, Richard H. Dana

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

This article's study examines the issues concerning internship selection. Data was collected from 10 APA (America Psychological Association) accredited internship sites. Initial results suggest that the current process of internship selection is too costly for all participants. Computer based matching is suggested as a solution.

Coping With Job-Related Stress: The Case Of Teachers, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Investigated the relationship between coping measures, psychological distress, and job-related morale among 67 teachers. Five occupational coping scales were constructed: advice seeking (ASK), positive comparisons (PCs), selective ignoring (SEL), discipline, and direct action (DIR). Multiple regression analyses with controls for social-demographic factors and adversity in the job environment indicated that ASK and DIR were most consistently related to lower (depressive and psychophysiologic) symptom levels and that PCs and DIR were most consistently related to higher morale (job satisfaction and motivation to continue in the profession). SEL appeared to buffer the impact of adverse work environments on symptoms. Findings suggest that …

Introduction Of 38th Session Of The Nebraska Symposium On Motivation, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This 38th session of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation coincided with the 100th anniversary of the teaching of psychology at the University of Nebraska (1889) and with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Psychology (1939). The originator of early psychological instruction here, and the person to whom all recent volumes of this Symposium have been dedicated, is Harry K. Wolfe, one of Wilhelm Wundt's first two American students. In part because of the significance of these anniversaries, and because of the identification of this Symposium with psychology at the University of Nebraska, the Symposium Committee and …

Responsible Environmental Behaviour: A Test Of The Hines Model, Karen Hayward

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As the number and salience of environmental problems have increased so have the number of studies which investigate environmentally responsible behaviour. Hines (1984), after conducting a meta-analysis of this literature, identified crucial variables which predict responsible environmental behaviour. While Hines has proposed a crude model which contains the variables thought to explain this type of behaviour, she has failed to hypothesize about the relationships that exist amongst many of these variables. The present study, therefore, was designed to develop a more elaborate model which attempts to explain some of these relationships, as well as predict responsible environmental behaviour. The sample …

School Transitions And Adjustment During Early Adolescence, Lisa J. Crockett, Anne C. Petersen, Julie A. Graber, John E. Schulenberg, Aaron Ebata

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The aim of this investigation was to determine the impact of the timing and number of school transitions on young adolescents’ subsequent adjustment. Three groups of adolescents (total N = 253) were compared: those making a single early school transition prior to sixth grade, those making a single later transition prior to seventh grade, and those making a double transition prior to both sixth and seventh grades. Adjustment was assessed in terms of course grades and self-image. Negative effects were found for both early and repeated school transitions, with the double transition being especially debilitating. In addition, effects were seen …

The Impact Of Parents, Peers, And Socialization Processes On Adolescent Substance Abuse, Andrea M. Wilson

Electronic Dissertations and Theses

Adolescent drug use in the community is widespread social problem. The excessive use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs by our nation's youth has not created a dilemma with no clear-cut reasons or cures for adolescent substance abuse. Alcohol and other drug abuse has the most serious impact on developing children and youth. Initiating drug use at an early age can have far reaching physical, psychosocial, and developmental consequences. This paper gives a general overview of adolescent substance abuse. It examines adolescent substance abuse from a developmental perspective. It discusses various influences upon adolescent substance abuse, as well as the …

Depression In Alcohol And Other Drug Abusers: Prevalence, Nature, Assessment, And Relationship To Short-Term Relapse, Patricia Moulton Guilford

Dissertations

The prevalence of depression was evaluated in 168 inpatients being treated for alcohol and other drug abuse. Patients were divided into three groups according to their pattern of substance use: alcohol only, alcohol and other drugs, and other drugs only. After two weeks of sobriety, 35% of these patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R) (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1987) criteria for one of the Depressive Disorders based upon information from a structured interview using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Change Version (SADS-C) (Endicott & Spitzer, 1978). Prevalence rates did not vary …

Intelligence Quotient Vs Brain Ability : A Correlational Study Of The Brain's Perceptual Ability Through Three Different Sensory Modalities And Intelligence Quotient, Harold A. Wynn

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how an individual's ability to perceive various stimuli through the auditory, olfactory, and tactile sensory systems correlates with his/her ability to perform on the Wechsler standard intelligence test.

Arousal And Physiological Toughness: Implications For Mental And Physical Health, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

From W. B. Cannon’s identification of adrenaline with “fight or flight” to modern views of stress, negative views of peripheral physiological arousal predominate. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) arousal is associated with anxiety, neuroticism, the Type A personality, cardiovascular disease, and immune system suppression; illness susceptibility is associated with life events requiring adjustments. “Stress control” has become almost synonymous with arousal reduction. A contrary positive view of peripheral arousal follows from studies of subjects exposed to intermittent stressors. Such exposure leads to low SNS arousal base rates, but to strong and responsive challenge- or stress-induced SNS-adrenal-medullary arousal, with resistance to brain …

1989-1990 Course Catalog (Graduate), Columbia College Chicago

Course Catalogs

1989-1990 graduate course catalog.

Pig Vocalizations Under Selected Husbandry Practices, H. Xin, J. A. Deshazer, Daniel W. Leger

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Acoustical characteristics of vocalizations of sows, piglets, and nursery pigs under selected husbandry practices were analyzed with a digital signal processing system. The duration (D) and major energy-resonance frequency (P) for each call were determined as follows: a) processing of piglets (D = 0.81 s and f* = 3 700 Hz); b) food anticipation of breeding-gestation sows (2.50 s and 3 000 Hz); c) isolation of piglet (0.34 s and 500, 3 500 Hz); d) startling of nursery pigs (0.29 s and 900 Hz); e) sows in heat (3.07 s and 1 375 Hz); f) farrowing (0.10 s and 3 …

Neurological Soft Signs And School Achievement: The Mediating Effects Of Sustained Attention, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, David Shaffer, Joseph E. Barmack

Publications and Research

Citation:

Schonfeld, I. S., Shaffer, D., & Barmack, J.E. (1989). Neurological soft signs and school achievement: The mediating effects of sustained attention. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 17, 575-596. doi:10.1007/BF00917723

The Psychological Effects Of Exercise, Judith Rodin, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Thousands of businesses in the United States have implemented programs to promote physical fitness among their employees (Falkenberg, 1987). The programs range from company-paid memberships at private health and fitness clubs to complete work site fitness facilities. These programs have been developed not only to improve and maintain employee health but also to promote psychological well-being and productivity and to reduce absenteeism, insurance claims, and stress. Recent research focusing on the use of employee fitness programs to improve work-related behaviors suggests that these programs may improve absenteeism, job satisfaction, tenure. and health care costs, especially among female employees (Baun, Bernacki, …

Creativity And Perception, John H. Flowers, Calvin P. Garbin

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Informal thought about the nature of mental operations important to creative human behavior suggests that perceptual processes are of considerable importance. The ability to “see relationships among elements” is an attribution commonly made toward authors of major scientific discoveries or of noteworthy artistic achievements. For example, Shepard (1978, 1981) documented self-reports from several creative scientists and authors that strongly emphasize the role of visual imagery and the manipulation of visual codes in the creative process.

Given the anecdotal and self-report evidence for a relationship between creative behavior and aspects of perceptual processing, it initially may seem surprising that there is …

Memory For The Absolute Pitch Of Familiar Songs, Andrea R. Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

Four experiments were conducted to examine the ability of people without "perfect pitch" to retain the absolute pitch offamiliar tunes. In Experiment 1, participants imagined given tunes, and then hummed their first notes four times either between or within sessions. The variability of these productions was very low. Experiment 2 used a recognition paradigm, with results similar to those in Experiment 1 for musicians, but with some additional variability shown for unselected subjects. In Experiment 3, subjects rated the suitability ofvarious pitches to start familiar tunes. Previously given preferred notes were rated high, as were notes three or four semitones …

Stress, Social Support And Parental Behavior, Mila M. Buset

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study investigated the relationship between stress, social support and parenting behavior. Eighty-six mothers who had a child enrolled in a daycare center in the Kitchener-Waterloo region volunteered for this study. Participants completed four questionnaires: A Demographic Sheet, the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983), the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (Cohen and Hoberman, 1983), and the Parent Behavior Scale (which was specifically constructed for this study). The overall support scale and the four subscales (tangible, belonging, appraisal, and self-esteem support) were used to determine whether the perceived availability of social support is directly related to parenting behavior …

An Evaluation Of Drama Therapy As A Form Of Secondary Prevention For Children With Social Skills Deficits, Myra Kosidoy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The following study investigated the effectiveness of an intervention that was based on creative drama designed to improve the social skills of school age children identified as deficient in social-emotional development. The intervention, termed the structured fantasy approach, combines theoretical principals from psychodynamic theory, social learning theory, and creative drama. The study was conducted at a public school in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Eight students from the third to sixth grade participated in a ten-week social skills program, while seven students from first to third grade participated in a similar program. Five first to third graders and four third to six …

Drawing With And Without Models: An Examination Of Drawing Behavior In Children And Adults, Jenet Bogles

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research in drawing development has indicated that individuals’ drawing behavior changes with age. Preschoolers, six, nine, twelve year-olds, and adults participated in the present study since these ages corresponded to the most prominent stages noted in the literature. Part one of this study examined drawing behavior in three drawing conditions: a model-absent condition (C1) in which drawing took place following a brief verbal description, a model briefly-present condition (C2) in which the model on which the verbal description was based was examined and drawn when removed from sight, and a model continuously present-condition (C3) in which drawings were made while …

Assessing Socially Skilled Behaviour For Vocational Tenure In Adults With Developmental Disability, Paula M. Daoust

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Socially skilled behaviour is a critical factor in an individual's ability to secure and maintain employment. Due to the very nature of their handicap, persons with mental retardation often exhibit social skills deficits, thus restricting access to competitive employment and the status of full membership in society that such employment facilitates. Previous attempts to train socially skilled behaviour in persons with mental retardation have been hampered by the lack of a valid assessment tool to evaluate program effectiveness and inform program content. The purpose of this paper was to develop such an instrument by extending work done by Lagreca, Stone …

The Relations Of Pubertal Status To Intrapersonal Changes In Young Adolescents, Lorah D. Dorn, Lisa J. Crockett, Anne C. Petersen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between pubertal development and adolescents’ perceptions of their physical and emotional states. Two research questions were posed: (a) What are the effects of pubertal status upon satisfaction with appearance and mood states of the adolescent; and, (b) What are the patterns of those pubertal effects in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades? A nonclinical group of adolescents (N = 253) was selected from two cohorts and was followed from sixth through eighth grade. Multiple measures were used to assess satisfaction with appearance and mood states. Significant multivariate findings were limited to …

Increasing The Self-Esteem Of Junior High Emotionally Disturbed Boys, La Rue Eaton Richey

Graduate Theses

Emotional disturbance can be viewed as an inability to manage one's behavior. This inability to maintain self-control in stressful situations represents a serious problem not only for the individual but for family and school personnel. In this study, Reasoner's (1984) Building Self-Esteem program was used with seventh and eighth grade emotionally disturbed boys in a West Texas community. Their self-esteem scores did increase as measured by Coopersmith (1984) Self-Esteem Inventory. *