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Predictors Of Healthcare Utilization Among Latinos And Non-Latino Whites : Trauma, Generation Of U. S. Residency, Perceived Health, And Protective Factors, Kristin N. Conlon

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Examining The Interactions Among Family Dynamics, Acculturation, Spiritual Well-Being And Asian American Culture , Brian C. Chao

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Is Conformity A Mediating Variable On Increased Risk-Taking Behavior Across Years Of Membership In The Greek System?, Chloe Elizabeth Lee-Zorn

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Correlates Of Resilience Among American Indians In A Northwestern Us State, Bruce M. Bradway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite low life expectancy, high suicide and homicide rates, and excessive levels of poverty and violence, American Indians continue to survive. However, few researchers have assessed the correlates of resilience among adult American Indians. Current researchers assessing American Indian resilience have focused primarily on adolescents and preadolescents, resulting in a definition of resilience that is more often than not defined by the lack of negative youth outcomes. In this quantitative survey study, data were collected from 103 American Indians living off-reservation in a northwestern state. Gender, age, education level, degree of enculturation (using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure), level of …

Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training And Its Impact On Attitudes Toward Help Seeking, John Angelo Cascamo Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Trainings such as Question Persuade and Refer (QPR) are used to increase suicide awareness and teach participants basic suicide intervention skills. Previous researchers showed that QPR training increases knowledge of suicide risk factors and increases participants' willingness to intervene with individuals at risk of suicide. It was hypothesized that completion of QPR would also increase positive attitudes toward the utilization of mental health services and that this outcome would be more pronounced among male participants. The examination of attitudes was rooted in the theoretical framework of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior. The Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking …

The Effects Of Implementing Restorative Justice In An In-School Suspension Program, Nikki Brown-Kersey

Dissertations

The purpose of the proposed study was to assess the effects of implementing an in-school suspension program with a Restorative Justice component on office referrals, suspensions and grade point averages. The combination of Restorative Justice and inschool suspension as an alternative to out-of-school suspension warrants empirical evaluation. According to recent research, neither Restorative Justice nor in-school suspension alone have enough empirical evidence to support their success and continued use in schools in isolation. The positive aspects of each combined may produce a more successful alternative to suspension. A group design procedure was used to assess if significant changes in the …

Testing The Effectiveness Of An Interactive Multimedia System To Train Clinicians In Behavioral Activation, Suzanne E. Decker

Dissertations

Although many treatments for mental health disorders have been found to be effective in research, community clinicians may not receive training in such empirically supported treatments, and therefore, individuals suffering from disorders may not have access to empirically supported treatment in the community. This study examined the use of an interactive multi-media computerized therapy program, Building a Meaningful Life through Behavioral Activation, as a training tool for mental health clinicians (N=21) using a pre-post study design. Participating clinicians were invited to complete this computer program over the course of several weeks, and to complete knowledge quizzes and written responses …

The Influence Of A Personal Practice Of Meditation On One’S Therapeutic Practice, William W. Fitzgerald

Dissertations

The focus of this study was to examine counseling professionals’ personal experience with meditation and how it influences their clinical work, including the formation of a therapeutic relationship. Using phenomenological methods, data were gathered from 10 psychotherapists and then analyzed.

There has been a great deal of effort devoted to investigating what contributes to positive counseling outcome for clients. One constant in the therapeutic process is the person of the therapist. While the person of the therapist is frequently mentioned in the literature, much less attention has been given to the examination of personal development paths of the therapist. Little …

Living With Bipolar Disorder: A Qualitative Investigation, Richard P. Freedberg

Dissertations

The specific aims of this study were to gain a broader understanding of the lived experience of adults with bipolar disorder and to explore how people diagnosed with bipolar disorder used cognitively, affectively, and spiritually oriented strategies to cope with life stressors and circumstances. The cognitive domain in this investigation was defined as those activities related to how one knows, thinks, or perceives phenomena in a way distinct from emotion. The affective domain referred to the feelings and emotions associated with phenomena that are distinct from cognitive reasoning or knowledge. The spiritual domain was defined as values, attitudes, and beliefs …

Social Justice Advocacy And Counselor Education: A Study Of Counselor Educators' And Counseling Interns' Perceptions Of Social Justice Advocacy Training, Darryl C. Steele

Dissertations

Social justice and advocacy have become increasingly important topics in counselor training. The 2001 Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) training standards require counselor education programs to provide studies in social justice and advocacy processes. Moreover, 2009 CACREP standards stipulate that accredited programs must provide advocacy training specific to each specialty area. The American Counseling Association (ACA) adopted advocacy competencies, in part, to guide this training (Goodman, 2009; Lewis, Arnold, House, & Toporek, 2003). Despite training standards and frameworks such as the ACA Advocacy Competencies to help prepare students for advocacy, few studies have explored …

The Religiosity And Spirituality Scale For Youth: Development And Initial Validation, Brittany C. Hernandez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The literature cites multiple definitions for religiosity and spirituality, with little consensus among researchers. Religiosity/spirituality has been associated with a myriad of positive outcomes in both adults and youth. Despite the importance of these constructs, there are little to no psychometrically sound measures created to assess religiosity or spirituality in youth. Adult measures are psychometrically strong for use with older populations, but none were developed for use with young people. The purpose of the current study was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of religiosity and spirituality for use with diverse samples of youth. A sample of 307 youth, aged …

School-Based Juvenile Probation And Police Partnerships For Truancy Reduction, Leanne F. Alarid, Barbara A. Sims, James Ruiz

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Truancy places students at risk in primary and secondary education and is linked to conduct disorder, drug use, and delinquency. To prevent truancy and reduce risk, school-based proba-tion supervision has emerged within school districts in partnership with local law enforcement officers in an effort to enforce probation conditions for truant youths and prevent future delin-quency. This research uses key information interviews of knowledgeable stakeholders to examine the delivery of school-based probation supervision. Home visits and court hearings were perceived to be effective at reducing truancy and tardiness. This study affirms that strong lead-ership, information sharing, and involvement of parents were …

Psychologists' Understanding Of Resilience: Implications For The Discipline Of Psychology And Psychology Practice, Lynne Cohen, Julie Ann Pooley, Catherine A. Ferguson, Craig A. Harms

Research outputs 2011

Current adoptions of strength-based approaches, as suggested by the positive psychology movement, asks professionals to develop different perspectives on familiar constructs. Given that we have little understanding how psychologists define and work with psychological phenomena, this current study sought to determine how Western Australian registered psychologists understand resilience. The 213 participants were asked to provide definitions and information about their understanding of resilience via an open-ended questionnaire. Demographic questions included the level and year ofqualification(s) and nature of psychological work undertaken. The definitions obtained from the participants were rated against definitions of resilience in the literature. The participants understandings of …

Perceived Racial Expectations Of Children, Jessica R. Roesslein

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study concerns the presence of prejudice among children, especially concerning ambiguous everyday situations. Racism can be a source of a variety of health issues, and everyday acts of prejudice can be even more harmful that overt acts of racism. Therefore, this study aims to identify racial preferences among children, in the form of everyday ambiguous situations by having them identify what is occurring in a picture involving ambiguous interactions between white and black children on a playground. Identifying racism early in life could help combat the cumulative stress effects that racism has on the individual. By reducing this stress, …

Probation Officer Role Orientation, Helping Alliance, And Probationer Readiness For Change:The Impact On Juvenile Offender Recidivism, Wendy E. Wild

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to investigate the individual and collective influences of officer role orientation, the helping alliance, and probationer readiness for change on the reduction of recidivism rates among juvenile offenders. Archival data from a sample of 33 officers and 314 juvenile probationers were examined. Data included an officer demographic form, a probationer demographic and recidivism form, the Subjective Role Orientation and Strategy Scale, the Dual Role Inventory-Revised Probationer Version, and the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment. Results demonstrated that the sample of probation officers overwhelmingly adopted a balanced approach to supervision. This limited a …

A Positive Psychological Approach To Student Impairment: A Model For Schools, Jessica M. Kajfasz

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Despite increasing interest in the issue of clinician impairment over the past 25 years, relatively little research has been conducted regarding the occurrence and management of impairment during the predoctoral and trainee stages of clinical psychology education. This is a particularly notable gap in the literature, given the unique stressors associated with that stage of professional development that may make students and trainees especially vulnerable to impairment. Failing to properly address this issue at an institutional level can present training programs with a variety of potential problems, including legal repercussions, resource drain, impact upon the overall student body, and possible …

Assessing Personality In The Dsm-5: The Utility Of Bipolar Constructs., Douglas B. Samuel

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

All previous editions of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) have described and assessed personality solely in terms of pathological categories. Nonetheless, there is compelling evidence that normal-range personality traits also provide clinically useful information, emphasizing the importance of thoroughly assessing both adaptive and maladaptive aspects of personality within a clinical context. The proposed inclusion of a dimensional trait model in the upcoming DSM-5 represents an important shift in the understanding of personality pathology and provides an ideal opportunity to integrate the assessment of normal personality into clinical practice. Building upon research conceptualizing personality …

The Investment Model Of Commitment Processes, Caryl E. Rusbult, Christopher Agnew, Ximena Arriaga

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

The investment model of commitment processes is rooted in interdependence theory and emerged from the broader scientific zeitgeist of the 1960s and 1970s that sought to understand seemingly irrational persistence in social behavior. The investment model was developed originally to move social psychology beyond focusing only on positive affect in predicting persistence in a close interpersonal relationship. As originally tested, the investment model holds that commitment to a target is influenced by three independent factors: satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, and investment size. Commitment, in turn, is posited to mediate the effects of these three bases of dependence on behavior, …

The Role Of Mental Health Professionals In Cases Of Child Sexual Abuse As Seen Through The Eyes Of Judges, S. Lynn Etheridge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The involvement of Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) is complex and intimidating. There are legal rules and academic suggestions to guide the MHP in this endeavor, but in experience, these rules and suggestions are lacking. Current literature and research indicates that there is little if any direct knowledge on how judges perceive MHPs who testify before them in court. A qualitative phenomenological inquiry that directly interviefive judges about their perceptions of MHPs in cases of CSA was undertaken. The results indicate that MHPs should be more intentional about their choices regarding involvement in court, …

Intrapsychic Predictors Of Professional Quality Of Life: Mindfulness, Empathy, And Emotional Separation, Jacky T. Thomas

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

A growing literature documents the inherently stressful nature of working with persons who are suffering or traumatized, and the potential for the development of stress disorders among social workers and other helpers. Previous studies of compassion fatigue and burnout have provided important information about professional and workplace variables that might influence risk, but little attention has been given to studying intrapersonal skills/abilities that might reduce risk and/or increase resilience and work satisfaction among helping professionals. This exploratory study asked whether levels of mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation would influence professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. …

Personality And Simulated Employment Decisions In Perceived Gay And Lesbian Applicants, Megan Brianne Morris

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Currently, there is no research that assesses how individual's perceptions of personality and other characteristics in gay male and lesbian applicants affect employment decisions. I examined individuals' perceptions of personality in gay and lesbian applicants and the effect of these perceptions on employment outcomes. I hypothesized that individuals would prescribe gender atypical traits to gay male and lesbian applicants, and that qualification ratings for these applicants would depend on job-type match with the applicants' gender atypical traits. In the current study, I used a sample of undergraduate students. Each participant evaluated a resume that potentially contained cues reflecting a homosexual …

Predicting Conflict In Group Psychotherapy: A Model Integrating Interpersonal And Group-As-A-Whole Theories, Kyle G. Barry

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Literature on group dynamics has typically focused on six content areas; (1) cohesion and group identification, (2) attributions and perceptions in group, (3) leadership and performance in groups, (4) power and relationships among group members, (5) knowledge and cognitive process in groups, (6) group psychotherapy (Kivlighan and Miles, 2007). While this literature base has built sophisticated theories, these theories tend to be disconnected and lack applicability to clinical practice. This dissertation will integrate interpersonal and group-as-a-whole theories in order to predict the probable dynamic interactions that theoretically occur as individuals move through conflict within group psychotherapy. Recommended interventions are included …

Meanings Of Old Age: A Story In Three Voices, Rivka Tenenbaum-Precel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the population of the Western world grows older, the need to understand the meaning of this stage in life grows in importance. Psychological research into the meaning of old age is posing questions on diverse levels, from that of individual ontogenesis to those of the family, community and society at large. Traditionally, developmental psychology has investigated different aspects of aging using measures of cognition, emotion, self-concept and well- being. Other approaches have examined the meaning of old age as embedded in cultural and social relations.

The present study uses a narrative approach to elicit the particular voices and interpretations …

Understanding Psychosocial Rehabilitation Workers' Perceptions Of Difficult Psychiatric Situations, James B. Arnold

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) is a community-based service that addresses the challenges faced by people diagnosed as having psychiatric disabilities. While working with co workers and clients, PSR workers may harbor perceptions that could lower the effectiveness of their work and hinder recovery by their clients. Although cognitive-behavioral theory has suggested an association, research has not yet connected PSR worker attitudes about psychiatric situations to their feelings and behavior. In this nonexperimental factorial design, 196 PSR workers were surveyed about the frustrations presented by stressful interpersonal job situations using the Psychiatric Situations Scale to identify whether occupation (case workers, residential workers, …

Discrete Trial Instruction: Comparing The Abbreviated Performance Feedback And Lecture Test Models, Tammy J. Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Growing media attention and a high diagnosis rate of autism places significant demand on the service industry to provide qualified staff to work with individuals who have autism. Discrete trial instruction (DTI) is one of the most sought-after treatment approaches for those individuals. However, there is a gap in research regarding the efficacy of training methods for those who train direct staff to implement DTI. This quantitative study used an applied behavior analysis basis, deriving from foundations of behavior theory, to compare the abbreviated feedback form (AFF) to the lecture test model (LTM) to understand which will improve direct staff's …

Development Of A Positive Psychology Intervention For Patients With Acute Cardiovascular Disease, Jeff C. Huffman, Carol A. Mastromauro, Julia K. Boehm, Rita Seabrook, Gregory L. Fricchione, John W. Denninger, Sonja Lyubomirsky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The management of depression and other negative psychological states in cardiac patients has been a focus of multiple treatment trials, though such trials have not led to substantial improvements in cardiac outcomes. In contrast, there has been minimal focus on interventions to increase positive psychological states in cardiac patients, despite the fact that optimism and other positive states have been associated with superior cardiovascular outcomes. Our objective was to develop an 8-week, phone-based positive psychology intervention for patients hospitalized with acute cardiac disease (acute coronary syndrome or decompensated heart failure). Such an intervention would consist of positive psychology exercises adapted …

Characteristics Of Advocates: An Exploration Of Skills And Skill Development Used In The Performance Of Advocacy Work In The Mental Health Profession, Lydia R. Wiede

Dissertations

This dissertation sought to explore the skills necessary to become an effective advocate in the mental health profession. Additionally, this study sought to discover how and where mental health professionals learned the necessary skills to be advocates. This qualitative study examined the factors identified by individuals actively engaged in advocacy work.

Work Interrupted: A Questionnaire Assessing The Relationship Between Work-Related Distress And Psychological Adjustment To Cancer, Betsy A. Bates Freed

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Cancer is an increasingly survivable disease that significantly impacts the ability of individuals to negotiate successfully the developmental task most distinctly affiliated with middle adulthood: creating meaning through achievement, creativity, and service. For many adults, these goals are accomplished through employment. When cancer intrudes, patients may be deprived of the ability to participate fully in the “generativity” that developmental psychologist Erik Erikson deemed essential to a healthy adulthood. In qualitative studies, patients’ narratives speak of many work-related losses — of routine, normality, economic stability, social connection, purpose, and identity. While psychosocial issues and quality of life are viewed with increasing …

A Training Curriculum For Assessing And Treating Sex Offenders With Mental Illnesses, Shawna Elizabeth Walker Boles

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this paper was to develop a continuing education program to teach sex offender-specific treatment providers (SOSTP) in the community how to appropriately assess, treat and manage adults with severe mental illness who are also sex offenders (SMISOs) in an outpatient setting. This paper begins with an overview of the most relevant literature associated with the treatment of sex offenders and a presentation of some of the current programs developed to treat sex offenders with severe and persistent mental illnesses. This review also outlines the paucity of resources and the need for SOSTPs to receive expanded training to …

Life Experiences That Contributed To The Independence And Success In The Lives Of Foster Care Alumni, Dawn Elizabeth Montgomery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the factors which helped these foster care alumni to persevere and to succeed. The intent was to provide a framework for equipping youth in foster care more effectively by building on their strengths and the resources available in foster care. The study’s method incorporated the interviewing of ten ethnically diverse individuals who had experienced the foster care system. Based on their insights and the themes which emerged, the WARRIORS Model was created. This acronym represents the key themes derived from the interviews: Wounded, Advocacy, Reality of Belonging, Resources, Inspired to Succeed, …