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A Comparison Of Sexual Health And Sexual Pressure Among Young African American And Caucasian Women, Ann Gakumo

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction. Condom self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward condom use, condom negotiation skills, HIV knowledge, and self-esteem have been associated with decreased HIV risk behavior among young women, but few studies have examined racial disparities that may exist in these social health indicators. Moreover, sexual pressure (inclusive of both coercive and non-coercive pressures to engage in unwanted or unprotected sex) has been understudied in women of different racial groups.

Study Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare racial similarities and disparities in indicators of sexual health and sexual pressure in an urban sample of young African American and Caucasian women …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Psychosocial Adjustment Of Khmer Refugees In Three Massachusetts Communities, Leakhena Nou

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This paper uses a sociological stress process model to explore the Khmer adult refugees' experience in Massachusetts. The analysis is based on the responses of three focus groups in the Khmer communities of Lowell, Lynn, and Revere, Massachusetts. The focus groups provided an in-depth understanding of sources of stress, stress mediators, and psychosocial adjustment/adaptational patterns for Khmer refugees who had experienced the Cambodian genocide. Symptoms and reactions associated with underlying causes of mental health problems had culturally specific relevance to physical illness and mental health.

Financial Anxiety, Physiological Arousal, And Planning Intention, John Grable, Wookjae Heo, Abed Rabbani

Consumer Sciences Faculty Publications

Results from this exploratory clinical study indicate that financial anxiety—holding an unhealthy attitude about one’s financial situation—and physiological arousal—the physical precursor to behavior—play important roles in shaping consumer intention to engage in future financial planning activity. Findings suggest that those who are most likely to engage the services of a financial adviser exhibit low levels of financial anxiety and moderate to high levels of physiological arousal. The least likely to seek the help of a financial adviser are those who exhibit high financial anxiety and low physiological arousal. Results support findings documented in the literature that high anxiety levels often …

Effects Of Participation In Mihow Program On Maternal Smoking And Birthweight, Leah Elise White

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This is a study of how participation in a community-based home-visitation program called Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) can have an effect on maternal smoking behavior and infant birthweight, and how the timing of enrollment can have an impact on those effects. Each participant was randomly assigned to the treatment or control group and answered survey questions during their pregnancies at the time of enrollment and after their babies reached one month of age. Results of this study indicated that the timing of enrollment did not have a significant effect on maternal smoking behavior or infant birthweight; however, the …

Trends In Intellectual Disability Identification In West Virginia, Margaret M. Stephens

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of Intellectual Disability (ID) in each of West Virginia’s Local Educational Agencies (LEAs). Publicly available enrollment and disability counts were aggregated and used to calculate an administrative prevalence rate for each LEA annually, from 2004 to 2013. Prevalence was examined within and between LEAs, as well as between regions. The results indicate a decrease in the administrative prevalence of ID in 50 of 55 LEAs over the 10 years examined. Rates within LEAs varied between years. Additionally, school-based prevalence varied between RESAs, with RESA I and RESA VIII exhibiting the …

Jung In The Academy And Beyond, Mark E. Mattson, Frederick J. Wertz, Harry Fogarty, Margaret Klenck, Beverley Zabriskie

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Perception Of Time Since Smoking Cessation: Time In Memory Can Elapse Faster, Julia N. Soulakova, Brianna C. Bright, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Self-reports concerning smoking behaviors are subject to different types of response bias that may severely affect the data quality. This study examined the evidence and extent of backward telescoping bias in reports on time since completely quitting smoking among former smokers. The study goals were to determine whether the extent of bias differs, on average, across subpopulations with diverse sociodemographic characteristics, prior smoking habits and duration of smoking abstinence, and across the survey administration mode (phone, in-person, mixed). The sample included 1,611 subjects who responded to the 2002–2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Multiple regressions for subjects …

2015 Abstracts Student Research Conference, Student Research Conference

Student Research Conference Select Presentations

No abstract provided.

Uncovering Meanings Of Death, Trauma, And Loss As Experienced By Hospice Bereavement Coordinators: A Phenomenological Study, Rochelle S. Clarke

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

This study examined the experiences of Hospice Bereavement Coordinators (HBCs) and Hospice Chaplains working with grief narratives from patient-family units exhibiting signs of anticipatory or complicated grief. While a significant amount of research has been conducted on Hospice employees, no qualitative studies have examined the interpretation of meaning from employees whose primary role focused on the psychosocial-spiritual aspects of clients exhibiting anticipatory or complicated grief. The researcher identified shared meaning of death, trauma, and loss from six participants in the context of a high stress and high loss environment. This study‘s findings revealed ten central themes: Death is an earthly …

Shift Work And The United States Female Workforce: The Relationship Between Shift Work And Ill-Health Effects, Allison Marie Bondanza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine the magnitude of the relationship between amount, frequency, and length of shift work completed by female transportation employees and the number, degree, and extent of problems related to physical, menstrual and psychological health including depression. It was hypothesized that workers that are employed in areas such as transportation who are working shift work on a regular basis place themselves at higher risk for developing health or psychosocial related effects. These health related outcomes can have a profound impact on an employee’s job performance, daily functioning, and personal life. The present study sought to …

“Goats That Stare At Men” – Dwarf Goats Alter Their Behaviour In Response To Human Head Orientation But Do Not Spontaneously Use Head Direction As A Cue In A Food-Related Context, Christian Nawroth, Eberhard Von Borell, Jan Langbein

Social Cognition Collection

Recently, comparative research on the mechanisms and species-specific adaptive values of attributing attentive states and using communicative cues has gained increased interest, particularly in non-human primates, birds, and dogs. Here, we investigate these phenomena in a farm animal species, the dwarf goat (Capra aegagrus hircus). In the first experiment, we investigated the effects of different human head and body orientations, as well as human experimenter presence/absence, of a human on the behaviour of goats in a food-anticipating paradigm. Over a 30-sec interval, the experimenter engaged in one of four different postures or behaviours (head and body towards the subject, head …

The Effect Of Group Therapy On Diabetes Specific Knowledge, Marci A. Hankins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Type 1 Diabetes is a chronic illness that must be managed 24 hours a day with insulin administration and frequent blood glucose testing to maintain control. Because children spend a significant amount of their day at school, children with Type 1 Diabetes need additional support within the school setting. However, there are few studies investigating the school setting for support for children with Type 1 Diabetes. The current school-based study evaluated the effectiveness of a psychoeducational group therapy intervention on Diabetes Specific Knowledge. One child with Type 1 Diabetes and four peers without diabetes participated in the group therapy treatment. …

The Asymmetrical Bridge: A Review Of James Tabery's Book "Beyond Versus.", David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Burnout, Work Engagement, And Well-Being In The Healthcare Professions: A Proposal For A Digital Intervention, Eric T. Reinhart

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Burnout is a chronic problem for individuals in the helping professions and is particularly pronounced in healthcare settings. Burnout is an extreme stress response characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of patients, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment. Factors unique to healthcare settings include high patient to staff ratios, evaluations of effectiveness based on patient outcomes, and the competing demands of policy makers, patients, and clinicians. Work engagement is a product of the positive psychology movement and developed out of the study of burnout. Work engagement is an affective-emotional state of work-related well-being and is characterized as being positive and …

Why Some Women Eat Too Much: A Qualitative Study Of Food-Dependent Women, Gigi Van Ostrand

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic and limiting one's food intake, or dieting, is usually unsuccessful. The purpose of the study was to explore the effect of food addiction (FA) on the current clinical and behavioral epidemic of obesity. FA, synonymous with food-dependency, is tentatively defined as an eating disorder based on substance dependence, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Measurement of FA has been operationalized by the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) by applying the diagnostic criteria of substance dependence to eating behaviors. This study was based on the biological theory of chemical addiction …

Facilitating Weight Tolerance Among Health And Fitness Majors Toward Obese Persons, Stephanie Boss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Weight bias exists in some health-related degree programs. Overweight and obese persons who experience weight bias in health-related services often delay or avoid medical attention altogether. Guided by the attribution theory, the purpose of this sequential explanatory study was to examine weight bias among health majors at a southwest regional university to illuminate how attitudes can affect the level of care provided to overweight persons. The Attitudes toward Obese Persons (ATOP) scores from a convenience sample of 184 health majors revealed that participants' scores were found to be significantly lower than the midpoint (60) of the ATOP scale, M = …

Best Predictors Of A Person's Long-Term Success With Quitting Tobacco, Nhu-Tam P. Villar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Smoking relapse rates among tobacco users remain high after quit attempts, with or without interventions. Though researchers have examined stress-related factors contributing to high relapse rate, little empirical research has concentrated on variables predicting long-term quit maintenance. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictability of stress management tools, including exercise motivation, eating behaviors, social support, and self-compassion, as well as the significant combined variance of these variables, in a person's long-term maintenance with tobacco use abstinence. Bandura's social cognitive theory was used to highlight the factors contributing to health behavior such as tobacco use. This study involved …

The Longitudinal Effects Of Participation In Structured Extracurricular Activities On Educational Achievement, Future Earnings, And Symptoms Of Depression With School Belongingness As A Mediating Variable In A Low-Income Sample, Christina L. Stacy

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

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential outcomes of participating in structured extracurricular activities (SEA) as an adolescent. Research has previously demonstrated that beneficial outcomes commonly associated with SEA participation include academic achievement and educational/career ambitions, positive social outcomes, and psychological well-being. It is thought that the benefits of SEA participation may be mediated by adolescents’ feelings of school belongingness and positive relationships. By extension, school belongingness is a key contributor to engagement, academic achievement, positive social relationships, and mental well-being. Although the research is typically positive, one must be careful in overgeneralizing that increasing student participation …

The Effects Of Speech Impairment On Quality Of Life Over Time In Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Jacqueline Kelley Blessinger

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Limited research exists on how speech impairments affect quality of life (QOL) factors over time in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A review of the literature, including the history, disease course, and prevalence of ALS, is presented. Physical and psychosocial functioning, especially the decline of bulbar functioning’s potential impact on QOL factors and communication style, are outlined. This study is a follow-up study on a study by Duff, who found a significant difference in QOL relative to level of bulbar functioning in a cross-sectional design. The current study used a longitudinal design to look at bulbar functioning, specifically levels …

Examination Of The Effects Of Media Consumption On Mood And Body Dissatisfaction Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Brooke Lauren Bennett

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The current study aimed to assess the effects of media consumption on body dissatisfaction and negative affect using Ecological Momentary Assessment, a method of assessment over time and in the participants' naturalistic environment. Thirty undergraduate female participants were assessed randomly five times per day for five days via text messages sent to their phones. During each assessment, participants reported the number of minutes spent watching TV, reading a magazine, and using the internet, as well as their current levels of negative affect and body dissatisfaction. Results demonstrated that the total time spent consuming media was a significant predictor of guilty …

The Effect Of Free And Reduced Lunch On Reading And Math Achievement, Landon W. Evans

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examined the effect of participating in the free and reduced price meal program on reading and math performance in first grade. The students were placed in three groups: the first qualified but did not report consuming either free meal, the second qualified, but only reported eating the free breakfast, and the third qualified and reported eating both a free breakfast and lunch. Two sets of standardized assessments (fall & spring) were given to the students in order to measure their academic skills. The fall assessments were used as the covariate to control for prior achievement, and the three …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

Motivational Interviewing For Parent-Child Health Interventions: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Belinda Borrelli, Erin M. Tooley

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Purpose: Motivational interviewing (MI) is a patient-centered approach focusing on building intrinsic motivation for change. This paper presents a meta-analysis of parent-involved MI to improve pediatric health behavior and health outcomes.

Methods: Study inclusion criteria: (1) examined modifiable pediatric health behaviors (< 18 years old); (2) used MI or motivational enhancement; (3) conducted a randomized controlled trial with a comparison group (non-MI control or active treatment group); (4) conducted the intervention with only a parent or both a parent and child; and (5) were written in English. Twenty-five studies (with 5,130 participants) were included and independently rated. Weighted mean effect sizes, using random-effects assumptions, were calculated.

Results: Relative to comparison groups, MI was associated with significant improvements in health behaviors (e.g., oral health, diet, physical activity, reduced screen time, smoking cessation, reduced second hand smoke) and reduction in body mass index. Results suggest that MI may also outperform comparison groups in terms of dental caries, but more studies are needed. MI interventions were more …

Comparing Anthropometric Methods To Quantify Relations Between Adiposity And Headache, Vanessa Lee Moynahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is associated with increased risk for chronic migraine and migraine progression, but associations with episodic migraine (em) and episodic tension-type headache (tth) are unclear. Most studies have relied on bmi as an indicator of adiposity. More accurate anthropometric measures that distinguish adipose tissue from other body tissue are critical to examine adiposity-headache associations, including validated measures of abdominal adiposity and established measurement formulas such as body adiposity index (bai) and body composition equations developed by Peterson et al. (2003) and Garcia et al. (2005). The present study explored adiposity-headache associations by employing established anthropometric measures of adiposity and comparing …

Mediation And Moderation Analysis Of Nutrition, Inflammatory Biomarkers, And Cognition In Older Adults, Elizabeth Handing

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutrition can be viewed as a modifiable factor related to maintaining and preserving health in older adults. Previous studies have found that nutritional factors can influence cognitive abilities, however few studies have examined macronutrients and micronutrients as they relate to cognitive functioning. Research has yet to examine the mechanisms related to nutrition, cognition and aging in an older adult population from a holistic and interactive perspective.

This dissertation examined three research questions to better understand the relationship between age, nutrition, cognition, and inflammatory biomarkers. First, is nutrition related to cognition beyond demographic factors? Do individual nutrients serve as mediators? Second, …

Learned Helplessness And Depression: Comparison Of Skilled Nursing And Assisted Living Facilities, Paul Lynn Susic

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research with geriatric populations suggests high levels of clinical depression and greater financial and psychological costs of treatment in long-term care facilities with more restrictive care. Research on learned helplessness, a construct separate from depression, suggests learned helplessness and perceived control are useful theories for the study of elder depression, but the relationship between depression and learned helplessness in this population is not clear. This cross-sectional quantitative study examined the relationship between depression and learned helplessness by comparing residents over age 65 in less restrictive assisted living (n =42) versus those in more restrictive skilled nursing facilities (n =63). Data …

A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Psychoeducational Program In Postpartum Support Groups, Marina Pesserl

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Postpartum Depression (PPD) affects 15% of women after childbirth. Its etiology includes psychoneuroimmunologic factors with long-lasting postpartum stressors that lead to allostatic overload. Using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for PPD has not yet been studied. Addressing this literature gap, the potential benefits of including an 8-week MBSR component based on Beck's theory of PPD at support groups were examined in this phenomenological study based on a sample of 10 women and 2 group facilitators. Purposes of the study included describing the experience of PPD and the MBSR program, identifying the stage of behavioral change of the participants, and describing the …

The Trends Study : Examining The Relationship Between Executive Function, Temperament, Quality Of Life, And Bmi In Young Adults, Renata Vaysman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study examined the relationship between executive function (EF) abilities, quality of life (QoL),temperamental qualities (EC: effortful control and NA: negative affect), and Body Mass Index (BMI) in a sample of young adults. Previous studies indicated that deficits in various domains of EF are associated with higher BMI and lower QoL. This study did not find statistically significant differences in EF skills based on BMI. Additionally, in this sample, there were no significant relationships between BMI and QoL. However, interesting relationships emerged between EF skills and NA, as well as EF skills and physical QoL. Furthermore, there is some evidence …

Does Self-Care Moderate The Relation Of Stress To Quality Of Life Of Female Doctoral Students In Professional Psychology?, Erin Elizabeth Ayala

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Increasing numbers of women are pursuing doctoral degrees in psychology, and the stress of being a female doctoral student can create a risk for aversive consequences (e.g., ineffective clinical work, impaired competence). Psychologists lack an understanding of the extent to which women can protect themselves from undue stress in professional psychology programs by engaging in self-care. The lack of a comprehensive framework for this phenomenon calls for the need to apply and test the Health Promotion Model to the experience of women in professional psychology programs. The current investigation assessed the extent to which self-care activities would moderate the negative …

Physical Activity And Sports Team Participation As Predictors Of Suicidal Behavior In High School Students, Jacquelyn E. O'Connor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Youth suicidal behavior is a significant and worldwide public health problem. Although a variety of demographic variables and risk factors have been found to be associated with youth suicidal behavior, research on wellness activities that may be inversely associated with youth suicidal behavior is lacking. Using the Center for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data from 2011, this study examined the relationship between physical activity, sports participation, and suicidal behavior in high school students. Results indicated that suicidality did vary by level of physical activity in the sample used in the study (t = 4.679, p = …