Digital Commons Network^™

The Neurobiology Of The Healing Arts: Expressive Arts Therapy As An Effective Treatment For Adults Diagnosed With Complex Ptsd Due To Complex Trauma In Childhood: A Literature Review, Cheryl Ratliff

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Empirically based therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found to be less effective in treating more severe trauma presentations such as complex PTSD (CPTSD). Neurobiological investigation provides a framework for examining the physical and psychological effects of trauma on brain and nerve structures and provides insight into how to effectively treat CPTSD. This literature review examined symptomology of CPTSD resulting from complex trauma in childhood, neurobiological effects of trauma and their implications for treatment, and the efficacy of the current treatment models, primarily those of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), narrative exposure therapy (NET), and somatic psychotherapies. …

Queering Clinical Spaces Through Gender Discussions Development Of A Method: Collage And Creative Storytelling At An Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, Kierstyn Brady

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

A lack of queer acceptance in all areas of life has been shown in large-scale studies to exacerbate the mental health needs of LGBTQIA+ individuals. LGBTQIA+ youth are at a particular risk for suicidality, self-harm, low self-esteem, and other extreme adverse mental health outcomes if their support network does not accept their identity, according to research. Because LGBTQIA+ youth are at a greater risk of adverse mental health outcomes, it is essential for higher levels of mental health care to address the needs of the queer community. The exclusion of queer-inclusive subjects from the partial hospitalization program (PHP) group curriculum …

Toward A Co-Working Posture In Global Mental Health: A Literature Review On The Use Of Photovoice In Partnership With Forcibly Displaced Populations, Bethany Randolph

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

As of 2020, the number of forcibly displaced people in the world numbered 82.4 million. This radically diverse population, approximately one in every 95 people, only continues to burgeon as wars and conflicts send millions fleeing for their lives. Sadly, on top of the massive allostatic load endured by the forcibly displaced, many are then doubly harmed by global mental health professionals who lack insight into the culture and worldview of the fellow humans they serve. In an effort to support meaningful therapeutic work in the cross-cultural milieu, this paper presents a literature review inquiry into the purpose and …

From Mission To Competition: The Experiences Of 10 Lds Missionary Student-Athletes Returning To Competition In The National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, Matthew J. Moore, Leslee A. Fisher, Lindsey A. Miossi, Zach T. Smith, Jacob C. Jensen,

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

The purpose of the current study was to explore the experiences of LDS missionary student-athletes returning to competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI). Using Consensual Qualitative Research methods (CQR; Hill, 2012) including a semi-structured interview guide, 10 DI student-athletes/returned LDS missionaries were interviewed regarding their experience (i.e., mean age of 25 years; baseball, cross-country/track and field, football, and swimming). A research team with five members constructed four domains and 16 categories representing DI student-athlete/returned LDS missionary chronological identity changes during this experience: (a) the development of an LDS missionary identity; (b) challenges associated with returning …

Othering, Identity, And Recognition: The Social Exclusion Of The Constructed ‘Other’, Salma Ahmed Abdulmagied

Future Journal of Social Science

The ‘Other’ means different things to people in different situations and settings, and the way of defining the other changes from one person’s experience to the other. ‘Othering’ is not about one situation; it is about a pattern of behavior that brings down different minority groups or communities. This research studies the phenomena of constructing an identity for the ‘Other’. The phenomenon of ‘Othering’ creates the notion of becoming socially excluded. ‘Othering’ creates social barriers between a person or a group of people and society. Exclusion happens through different methods such as race, ethnicity, age, sexuality, religion, color, …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works: Abstracts, Emma Aggeler, Elena Arroway, Daisy T. Booker, Justin Bravo, Kyle Bucholtz, Megan Burnham, Nicole Choi, Spencer Cockerell, Rosie Contino, Jackson Garske, Kaitlyn Glover, Caroline Hamilton, Haley Hartmann, Madalyne Heiken, Colin Holter, Leah Huzjak, Alyssa Jeng, Cole Jernigan, Chad Kashiwa, Adelaide Kerenick, Emily King, Abigail Langeberg, Maddie Leake, Meredith Lemons, Alec Mackay, Greer Mckinley, Ori Miller, Guy Milliman, Katherine Miromonti, Audrey Mitchell, Lauren Moak, Megan Morrell, Gelella Nebiyu, Zdenek Otruba, Toni V. Panzera, Kassidy Patarino, Sneha Patil, Alexandra Penney, Kevin Persky, Caitlin Pham, Gabriela Recinos, Mary Ringgenberg, Chase Routt, Olivia Schneider, Roman Shrestha, Arlo Simmerman, Alec Smith, Tessa Smith, Nhi-Lac Thai, Kyle Thurmann, Casey Tindall, Amelia Trembath, Maria Trubetskaya, Zachary Vangelisti, Peter Vo, Abby Walker, David Winter, Grayden Wolfe, Leah York

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Showcase.

The Practice Of Traditional Grading: A Site For Inquiring Into Teacher Identity Friction In A U.S. High School, Sarah Emily Dutton-Breen

Dissertations and Theses

High school teachers' identities and agency are often affected by systems that require their compliance if the teachers are to maintain employment. Sometimes when teachers perform an expected task, they experience identity friction, a term created to explain the residual effect of performing an institutional obligation that is misaligned with a teacher's identity and agency. Considering the potential impact of grades on students' academic opportunities and perceptions of themselves, one teacher obligation that creates identity friction is assigning student grades. And yet, scant research has been done on the impact identity friction -- resulting from working within the traditional grading …

The Effect Of Social Primes On The Perception Of Native- And Nonnative-Accented Speech, Drew J. Mclaughlin

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Listeners use more than just acoustic information when processing speech. Social information, such as a speaker’s race/ethnicity, can also affect listeners’ understanding of the speech signal. In some cases, these social primes can facilitate perception, while in others they may inhibit perception. Indeed, a picture of an East Asian face has been shown to facilitate the perception of Mandarin Chinese-accented English but interfere with the perception of American-accented English. The present dissertation builds on this line of inquiry, addressing novel topics including the generalizability and specificity of social priming effects, their relationship with implicit racial/ethnic associations, and their role in …

Contextual Creativity: The Role Of Ambiguity In Creative Cognition, Sarah K. C. Dygert

Theses and Dissertations

This body of work is composed of three individual papers that each seek to explain individual differences in creative cognition. Paper 1 used structural equation modeling to examine the ways in which creative problem solving and creative idea generation relate or differ. Results from Paper 1 demonstrate that divergent thinking and creative problem solving are best represented as a bifactor model, bearing distinct domain-specific factors, as well as a shared domain-general factor. Though working memory and fluency of memory retrieval explained significant portions of the domain-specific constructs, they only explained ~2% of variance in the domain-general factor. Paper 2 explores …

Training Packages For The Use Of Child Development Tools In Low/Middle-Income Countries: A Review, Maria Neocleous, Katelyn Hepworth, Vanessa Cavallera, Melissa Gladstone

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background We are now moving beyond the focus of ’child survival’ to an era which promotes children thriving and developing rather than simply ’surviving’. In doing so, we are becoming more aware of the large variation of child development screening tools available globally, but in particular, those in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods This narrative review identifies 24 child development tools used in LMICs. We aimed to identify information on training accessibility and training design, assessment methods and cost of training. For those tools with no training information identified or for any tools identified as providing online training, the tool author …

Writing While Black: African American Vernacular English (Aave) And Perceived Writing Performance, Jaylin N. Nesbitt

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In the education system, there have historically been inequities that have severely disadvantaged Black students academically. One area in which these inequities surface is on writing assessments in the form of lower scores. I argue that because the U.S. education system is centered around Standard American English (SAE), it disadvantages those from different linguistic backgrounds, specifically Black students, as they are most likely to be speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Although there are theoretical justifications for this, past literature has not empirically tied inequities on writing assessments to Black students’ use of AAVE. The current study used Natural …

An Examination Of Working Memory In Subtle And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kara Eversole

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is abnormal cognitive decline that may be indicative of an insidious process such as dementia. Individuals with MCI are largely independent in their daily functioning but are at risk of further decline. To more deeply understand the working memory deficits associated with age-related cognitive decline, Lamar and colleagues developed a working memory task with no discontinuation rule: the Backwards Digit Task (BDT). Prior BDT research has demonstrated that individuals with mild cognitive impairment have lower overall scores on this task, and that different subtypes of MCI are more prone to certain errors. Research has not been …

Deaf Early Intervention In Puerto Rico: A Qualitative Study, Jesús O. Barreto Abrams, Latrice L. Dowtin

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Deaf children can develop similarly to hearing children with appropriate intervention. However, when Deaf and hard of hearing children have deferred access to services, they can experience significant delays in language, socioemotional development, and cognition that can lead to problematic behaviors. While early intervention services are free in the United States starting at birth, there is often a lag in Deaf and hard-of-hearing children receiving services, especially when residing in US territories such as Puerto Rico. The current qualitative study was to explore the lived early intervention experiences of three parents and three professionals of Deaf and hard of hearing …

Apoyo Deseado: The Role Of Parental Support For Latinx First-Generation College Students, Grevelin Ulerio

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Underrepresented groups, including ethnic and racial minorities as well as first-generation college students (FGCS), are less likely to attain a four-year college degree than their white counterparts. This is particularly true for Latinx youth that are often the first in their family to go to college. Existing research on the role of parental support in promoting retention among Latinx college students is mixed. The current study used a qualitative, longitudinal method to examine the perceptions of parental support among nine (9) Latinx FGCS attending a medium-sized private university in the Midwest region of the United States. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) …

Supporting Teachers With Psychologically Diverse Populations, Morgan Wilkie

Honors Theses

While the issue of mental health management in education settings has been a focus for research for decades now, much of what is missing from these examinations is direct accounts from educators themselves on how they may be better supported as they navigate teaching psychologically diverse populations. In this study, 20 public-school teachers across the Oxford-Lafayette school district were surveyed through the use of semi-structured interviews in order to understand how they may be better equipped to manage psychological disorders in their classrooms. Each participant was asked the same prompt, and after the interviews were administered, their answers were then …

Effect Of Instruction Language On English-Spanish Bilinguals' Speech Perception, Alexa Andrade

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Throughout the years, researchers have investigated the various advantages that may exist of being bilingual; however, it is unknown how switching between languages affects a person’s basic perception of speech sounds. The goal of this thesis was to determine whether Spanish-English bilinguals respond to auditory stimuli differently based on the language in which they receive task instructions. Participants were randomly assigned to receive instructions and complete the study entirely in English or Spanish, thus thinking in the language that they were assigned. In the study, participants listened to three different sets of recordings, which could be perceived as a word …

Establishing A Generalized Qualifying Autoclitic Repertoire In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Todd M. Owen

Theses & Dissertations

Autoclitics are secondary verbal operants that are controlled by a feature of the conditions that evoke a primary verbal operant (e.g., tact, mand). Among the types described by Skinner, qualifying autoclitics extend, negate, or assert a speaker’s primary verbal response and modify the intensity or direction of the listener’s behavior. In the only study to date on teaching qualifying autoclitics, Howard and Rice (1988) established generalized autoclitics that indicated weak stimulus control (e.g., “like a [primary tact]”) with four typically developing preschool children. However, generalization to newly acquired tacts was limited. In Experiment 1, we extended Howard and Rice to …

Daily Work, Nonwork, And Stress Experiences Of Students, Erika A. Schemmel, Tori L. Crain, Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson

Student Research Symposium

A substantial body of literature exists that examines work, nonwork, and stress in employed adults. Less is known about experiences of stress in adolescents and emerging adults. The goal of the present study is to examine the association between daily activities and next day stress within a sample of students. We propose that students use their personal resources to meet school demands, and then need to replenish those resources, or stress may ensure. One aim of this study is to examine the relationship of hours of exercise and sleep with students’ reports of stress the next day. Additionally, many students …

Mental Health In Student Leadership: Perceptions Of Ability, Rose M. Jardine

Student Research Symposium

This proposal aims to evaluate the relationship between perceptions of mental health and leadership ability among student leaders in university communities.

Over fifty participants, including faculty and students, from Oregon universities and community colleges are expected to contribute to this study. Participants will answer a survey and be randomly assigned to one of four situations describing a student leader’s disclosure or non-disclosure, both with and without Bipolar 1 Disorder. Bipolar 1 Disorder was chosen for this study based on its intermittence, varying severity, higher associated stigma, and symptomatology that can include externally perceived increased productivity. They will respond to this …

Understanding Work And Sleep Through A Machine Learning Approach, Jennifer Saucedo, Josh J. Prasad, Tori L. Crain

Student Research Symposium

The present study will utilize machine learning methods to find the individual factors (e.g, demographic, lifestyle, contextual, work-related) best predict sleep. I will examine (1) whether machine learning techniques better predict sleep over linear prediction methods and (2) what factors are most important when predicting sleep. Using government-funded data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a variety of prediction methods will be utilized to evaluate and compare predictive performance across 2018, 2019, and 2020. Results found will have a variety of theoretical and practical implications for scientists and practitioners.

The Effects Of Approach And Avoidance Dispositions And Sense Of Power On Promotive And Prohibitive Voice Efficacy, Christopher J. Waterbury, Avery N. Waklatsi, Amy Pytlovany Ph.D.

Student Research Symposium

Developments in research on promotive and prohibitive voice in workplaces have important implications for organizational innovation and prevention of unethical behavior. Drawing on theory that approach and avoidance dispositions predict promotive and prohibitive voice, and mediate the effect of a sense of powerfulness or powerlessness to predict voice or silence, the proposed study hypothesizes that approach and avoidance disposition will explain differential effects of personal sense of power on an employee’s perceived efficacy of promotive and prohibitive voice. 200 front-line restaurant workers will be recruited and randomly assigned to receive a (1) powerful prime, (2) powerless prime, or (3) control …

Bias As A Worldview Engine, The Terminus A Quo Of The Problem Of Evil, Eric Spencer Mccrickard

Masters Theses

Evidential evil is an encompassing title for moral evil, natural disasters, disease, famine, divorce, suffering, or other calamities in life that yield dissatisfaction or discernable discomfort. This area of evidential evil is the focus of this paper generally, including the argument posed by William Rowe from evidential evil and contemporary treatments offered by Bruce Russell. The argumentation is God’s nonexistence from the platform, or derivative of no greater good observed or known, of the justification or allowance of evil. It is not a refutation of the premises, per se, but instead, the biases associated with them are de facto statements …

Development And Validation Of The Muslim Identity Socialization Scale (Miss), Mamona Butt

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Racial ethnic socialization (RES) practices are the messages youth receive on race, racism, and prejudice. This paper aimed to extend racial-ethnic socialization (RES) literature to Muslim American families to understand youth identity development. In Study One, focus groups (k = 3, n = 15) were conducted to understand common RES practices in Muslim young adults and create initial items for the scale. Thematic analyses revealed parents promoted their Muslim American youth to have other Muslim friends, however there was a consensus that parent did not prepare them for bias. Additionally, participants varied on cultural socialization and egalitarianism practices. Study two …

Therapist Facilitative Interpersonal Skills In Simulated Text-Based Telepsychotherapy With Cultural Minority Clients, Carly Max Schwartzman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objective: The prevalence of mental health difficulties has increased, yet the availability and use of mental health services remains low, particularly in traditionally underserved groups. Telepsychotherapy via videoconferencing has been advertised as a means of mitigating barriers to accessing mental healthcare for these populations, though less attention has focused on text-based approaches. Indeed, although text-based telepsychotherapy is currently widely available, its efficacy in treating folx from cultural minority identities is unknown. Additionally, no research to date has studied the adaptation of multiculturally competent psychotherapy practice to a text-based platform. Thus, this project aimed to examine therapist facilitative interpersonal skills via …

Coffee, Music, And Taste: Why We Like What We Like, And Why That Matters, Thomas Curdt '22

Honor Scholar Theses

Research Questions

In both my research and performance, I will investigate three aspects of taste:

How do we Taste?

• What are the mechanical and physiological mechanisms through which we taste food and hear music?

How do we communicate Taste?

• How do we translate physical senses and taste into language?
• What is the role of metaphor in communicating taste?

How does our worldview affect our Taste?

• How do our emotions affect our taste?
• How does our identities affect our taste?
• How does technology affect our taste?
• How can we be more intentional about our taste?

Early Mathematical Abilities Of 48-Month-Old Children With Williams Syndrome., Jenna N. Tinnell

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder associated with relative strengths in concrete vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning, and verbal short-term memory and considerable weaknesses in visuospatial construction and relational language. While the cognitive profile of WS has been studied extensively, there have been few studies of the early mathematical abilities of children with WS and the cognitive predictors of these abilities. The purpose of this study was to describe the early mathematical abilities of 48-month-olds with WS and determine the concurrent cognitive predictors of these abilities. The Differential Ability Scales–second edition (DAS-II) was used to determine cognitive and mathematical abilities …

Adjusting For Speaking Rate When Perceiving Speech In Background Noise., Dawson C Stephens

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Speech perception is a very relevant concept occurring every day. Acoustic context effects such as temporal contrast effects (TCEs) influence perception significantly. For instance, when a faster context sentence is spoken, the participant should perceive the following target word as slower and more like /t/ in “tier”; when a slower context sentence is spoken, the participant should perceive the following target sound as faster and more like /d/ in “deer”. Recent work by Bosker et al. (2020) concluded that selective attention (directing attention to a specific stimulus while ignoring surrounding stimuli) had no effect on TCEs, suggesting they were automatic …

The Interaction Of Spaced Retrieval Practice And Element Interactivity., Cameron K. Mattingly

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Our study investigates the interaction of retrieval practice and element interactivity. Spaced practice is the process of breaking up the retrieval of information into smaller chunks across a longer period of time as opposed to learning everything in one time block. Retrieval practice is the process of testing yourself on previously learned material. Spaced retrieval practice is the merger of these two ideas. This style of learning is well-suited for learning many items that must be retained indefinitely (Lyle et al., 2019). Element interactivity describes the amount of learned items (elements) that are interrelated and must be processed together in …

Methodological Considerations For The Study Of Cognitive Reserve And Its Relationship To Cognitive Decline In Older Adults, Kerry A. Howard

All Dissertations

Cognitive reserve (CR) is a key construct in promoting healthy cognitive aging. Methodological inconsistencies have limited the ability for researchers to make broad conclusions about relevant life experiences that may build CR and delay cognitive decline. This dissertation explored notable issues within the operationalization of CR based on proxy life experiences by applying a systematic approach toward understanding the use of CR, as well as an understanding of consequences of inconsistent operationalization. The project had three aims: review and explore the association between various CR proxies utilized in the literature and develop a composite score for CR, describe differences in …

Children’S Social Judgments Of Others On The Basis Of Dialect-Specific Vocabulary, Madison Myers-Burg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many studies suggest that young children prefer speakers who speak similarly to them. Children demonstrate social preferences for speakers of their own native language over speakers of a non-native language as well as for speakers of a familiar accent over speakers of an unfamiliar accent. Recent research suggests that young children will similarly show preference for speakers who use familiar dialect-specific vocabulary over speakers who use vocabulary specific to an unfamiliar dialect. The current study investigated potential motivations behind young children’s preferences for familiar dialect-specific vocabulary. Fifty participants ages fifty-one months to ninety-five months (Mage =72.6 months) viewed an animated …