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An Examination Of Delinquency And Victimization Using Social Bonding And Routine Activities, Everette B. Penn, Jennifer Tanner

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

The study examined the relationship between juvenile delinquency and juvenile victimization using an integration of social bond theory and routine activities perspectives. Data were obtained from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) series of surveys given annually to a nationally representative sample of students. The MTF survey is from the 2005 group of surveys given to tenth grade students. The version of the survey was administered to 5,577 tenth grade students. This research examined the link between a student's commitment to school and guardianship. Specifically, it determined the amount of delinquency to which a student is involved and the extent of …

Personality Traits, Self -Efficacy Of Job Performance, And Susceptibility To Stress As Predictors Of Academic Performance Of Nurse Education Programs, Nancy Wilson-Soga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States is experiencing a shortage of registered nurses, and institutions of higher education are unable to graduate enough prepared nurses to reduce this employment shortage. A significant relationship between personality traits and academic performance has been found; however, how personality traits combine with students' self-efficacy of job performance and stress susceptibility to impact nursing students' academic performance has yet to be demonstrated. This study, grounded in the five-factor model (FFM) of personality traits, self-efficacy, and stress theories, sought to determine whether self-assessments of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, the Nursing Practice Self-Efficacy survey, and the Susceptibility Under Stress Survey …

Violence Against Women Raises Risk Of Cervical Cancer, Ann L. Coker, Claudia Hopenhayn, Christopher P. Desimone, Heather M. Bush, Leslie Crofford

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Background: An emerging literature suggests that violence against women (VAW), particularly sexual violence, may increase the risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and, therefore, may be associated with cervical cancer development. The purpose of this cross-sectional analysis was to determine if women who had experienced violence had higher prevalence rates of invasive cervical cancer.

Methods: Women aged 18–88 who joined the Kentucky Women’s Health Registry (2006–2007) and completed a questionnaire were included in the sample. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to adjust odds ratio (OR) for confounders (e.g., age, education, current marital status, lifetime illegal drug use, …

You Can Take It With You? Student Library Employees, Eportfolios, And “Edentity” Construction, Gabriella Reznowski, Brian Mcmanus

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

ePortfolios have become an important tool for assessing and tracking employee development. In 2008, the Washington State University Libraries became involved in the institution’s ePortfolio initiative. Library supervisors hoped that as a dynamic online tool, the ePortfolio concept would provide an effective method for assessing the library’s body of student employees. Collaborating with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTLT), the Center for Advising & Career Development (CACD), and Student Computing Services (SCS), the WSU Libraries explored the possibility of using ePortfolios to drive employee assessment. The Access Services unit, with the assistance of the Library Instruction, Library Systems, …

Peer-To-Peer Mentoring Programs In The School Setting For Grades 7-12, Jennifer Crawford

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This Capstone project will provide a complete literature review on peer-to-peer mentoring programs; summarize findings; review evidence-based research regarding existing mentoring programs; compare and contrast the review findings; address potential limitations, and make recommendations to the school administration of United South Central School District #2134, regarding design and implementation of a research-based peer-to-peer mentoring program.

Handbook On Sensitive Practice For Health Care Practitioners: Lessons From Adult Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Candice L. Schachter, Carol A. Stalker, Eli Teram, Gerri C. Lasiuk, Alanna Danilkewich

Lyle S. Hallman Social Work Faculty Publications

This handbook is the culmination of a multiphase, multidisciplinary research project that used grounded theory and participatory action research to illuminate ways that healthcare providers can work sensitively (in a trauma-informed way) with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

The research identified nine Principles of Sensitive Practice: respect, rapport, taking time, sharing information and control, respecting boundaries, fostering mutual learning, understanding non-linear healing and demonstrating an understanding of trauma to patients. Specific guidelines were developed for a wide variety of issues pertinent to clinical practice such as, removal of clothing, touch, responding to disclosures of abuse, managing triggers among others. …

Infant Social And Emotional Development: The Emergence Of Self In A Relational Context, Katherine L. Rosenblum, Carolyn Joy Dayton, Maria Muzik

Social Work Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Experiences Of Adolescents With High Functioning Autism (Hfa) And/Or Asperger Syndrome (As) - Their Perceptions And Their Views Of Their Caregivers: An Exploratory Study, Patricia Anne Kunz

Dissertations

This study used the Grounded Theory methodology to investigate, through an exploratory manner, the social experiences of adolescents with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and/or Asperger's Syndrome (AS) as shared by the adolescents themselves, and the views of their parent/caregivers regarding this experience. In addition the adolescents and parents shared their thoughts on having and managing a diagnosis of HFA/AS and the current adaptive behaviors of the adolescents.

Seven adolescents and their respective parent/caregivers participated in video-taped paired interviews. The themes emergent from the interviews regarding the diagnosis of HFA/AS for the parents were: rejection, feeling blamed, emotional toll and management …

Compulsive Hoarding In Children: Six Case Studies, Edward H. Plimpton, Randy O. Frost, Brianna C. Abbey, Whitney Dorer

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the parents of six children who showed signs of compulsive hoarding. The cases revealed a wide variety of hoarding behaviors. Hoarding manifested in difficulties in discarding and maintaining control over possessions. Few cases had problems with clutter or excessive acquisition. In three cases hoarding was episodic and stress-related. Most of the cases showed overlapping ADHD symptoms and a majority demonstrated problems with perfectionism. Only two had clear obsessive-compulsive disorder, although concerns about others touching or moving possessions, which was present in all of the cases, may represent a form of ordering and arranging compulsions. None …

The Importance Of Worksite Supervisors In At-Risk Youths' Lives, Laura Luna

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research study is to learn the importance of supervisory needs for at-risk youth and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24. The researchers examined age, sex, race, education, and living situations to determine if there differences in needs of these groups related to worksite supervisors. Data was collected and analyzed from a sample of 97 youth residing in Blue Earth, Brown, Le Sueur, and Nicollet rural Minnesota counties.

Characteristics Of Evidence-Based Parent-Training Programs, Peggy Sorensen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Purpose: To identify key characteristics in evidence-based parent-training programs that ensure effectiveness and efficiency for agencies serving families with children aged 5–9 with emotional and behavioral disorders. My research strategy will be to do a literature review of evidence-based parent-training programs that strengthen parent competencies, foster parent’s involvement in school, decrease children’s behavioral problems and strengthen children’s social and academic competencies.

Problem to be addressed: When children receive inconsistent or ineffective discipline from parents, they are at risk of developing childhood behavioral disorders. By adolescence, these problems can develop into Conduct Disorders as demonstrated by violence, substance abuse and criminal …

Emotional Reactivity Across Individuals With Varying Trauma And Substance Dependence Histories, Alicia K. Klanecky, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background—Research has reported a high rate of substance dependence in traumatized individuals who do not develop PTSD (TWP). While past studies have failed to consistently demonstrate that TWP individuals experience PTSD symptoms, findings have indicated that TWP and a history of substance dependence aside from nicotine dependence (SDH) are linked to affect disruption.

Aims—The present study explored positive and negative affective mechanisms across four groups with varying SDH and TWP including TWP + SDH, TWP only, SDH only, or no history. Researchers hypothesized that adults (n = 78) would be more emotionally reactive to an experimentally-induced negative mood compared to …

Program Evaluation : The Clinical Programming Of An Adolescent Psychiatric Residential Program And Adherence To Clinical Best Practice Guidelines, Michael K. Colbert

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The structure and delivery of clinical services at an adolescent psychiatric community residential program (PCR), located in New Jersey, was evaluated and compared to national clinical guidelines in order to determine the effectiveness of the services being delivered. A multitude of demographic and clinical variables were examined through the review of 70 closed medical records over a 5-year period. An exploration of the history, rationale, and effectiveness of residential treatment services for adolescents is also presented, along with recommendations for the delivery of more effective clinical services.

Self-Perception And Faith Maturity , Ryan Dale Thompson

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Ask For It: The Impact Of Self-Esteem, Situational Characterization, And Gender On The Propensity To Initiate Negotiation, Anna Beninger

CMC Senior Theses

This study analyzes the impact of self-esteem (high vs. low), situational characterization ("negotiate" vs. "ask"), and gender (men vs. women) on the likelihood an individual initiates negotiation (n = 140). Self-esteem was primed with a prompt and the participants were told they could either "negotiate" or "ask" for more money after completing two tasks. A main effect of situational characterization was found such that negotiation was more likely in the "negotiate" condition than in the "ask" condition. Neither self-esteem nor gender produced significant results. A significant interaction showed that men were more likely to negotiate in the "ask" condition, but …

Métodos Qualitativos E Quantitativos Na Pesquisa Sobre Stress Ocupacional, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Edwin Farrell

Publications and Research

O presente artigo examina as formas pelas quais os métodos qualitativos e quantitativos se apóiam mutuamente na pesquisa sobre o stress ocupacional. Os métodos qualitativos incluem (a) obtenção de informações a partir de descrições livres de vivências no trabalho, (b) observações diretas, cuidadosas no local de trabalho e (c) observadores participantes que descrevem uma determinada experiência de trabalho a partir do local onde ela ocorre. Mostra, também, como a pesquisa qualitativa estimula o desenvolvimento de teorias, a geração de hipóteses e a identificação de estressores no trabalho e de respostas de coping. As limitações da pesquisa qualitativa, especialmente na área …

Best Practices For Increasing Pro-Social Behavior In Adolescents With Mental Health And Behavioral Disorders, Danielle Armbrust-Malone

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Approximately 2 to 16 percent of the general population has a disruptive behavior disorder such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD) (Corcoran & Walsh, 2006). In a school setting, youth with these disorders may engage in acts such as disrespecting teachers, swearing at others, threatening others, assaulting staff or students, stealing, or vandalizing property and may benefit from a day treatment program which provides mental health services in a school setting. (Whitfield, 1999). Micro intervention strategies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and contingency management and mezzo interventions such as family therapy have been used to treat disruptive …

Effective Truancy Prevention Models, Nicole K. Hachfeld

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In the United States, truancy has been identified as one of today’s top ten educational problems (Zhang, Katsiyannis, Barret& Wilson, 2007). Across the country, every day there are hundreds of thousands truant students (U.S. Department of Education, 1996). Attendance can be influenced by mental health issues, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, student employment, family responsibilities, teacher attitudes, size of school, and inconsistent application of truancy policies and lack of meaningful consequences for truancy. Family factors that influence attendance include: domestic violence, poverty, lack of supervision, substance abuse, parental attitudes toward school and education (Kim & Streeter, 2006). The purpose of this …

Attention Shaping: A Reward-Based Learning Method To Enhance Skills Training Outcomes In Schizophrenia, Steven . M. Silverstein, William D. Spaulding, Anthony A. Menditto, Adam Savitz, Robert P. Liberman, Sarah Berten, Hannah Starobin

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Disturbances in sustained attention commonly interfere with the ability of persons with schizophrenia to benefit from evidence-based psychosocial treatments. Cognitive remediation interventions have thus far demonstrated minimal effects on attention, as have medications. There is thus a gap between the existence of effective psychosocial treatments and patients’ ability to effectively engage in and benefit from them. We report on the results of a multisite study of attention shaping (AS), a behavioral intervention for improving attentiveness and learning of social skills among highly distractible schizophrenia patients. Patients with chronic schizophrenia who were refractory to skills training were assigned to receive either …

Qualitative And Quantitative Methods In Occupational-Stress Research, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Edwin Farrell

Publications and Research

The paper examined the ways in which qualitative and quantitative methods support each other in research on occupational stress. Qualitative methods include (a) eliciting from unconstrained descriptions of work experiences, (b) careful first-hand observations at the workplace, and (c) participant‑observers describing “from the inside” a particular work experience. The paper shows how qualitative research stimulates theory development, hypothesis generation, and the identification of job stressors and coping responses. The limitations of qualitative research, particularly in the area of verification, are also described.

The Mental Health Of Low Socio-Economic Populations, Sarah E. Bumgarner

Honors Program Theses

Depression is an illness that has a negative impact on our society. Depression not only lowers the depressed person's quality of life, but it also negatively impacts people close to the person suffering from this illness. This research is in response to the seriousness of this epidemic, particularly in the low socio-economic status (low SES) population. Topics explored include factors of a low SES environment that influence the onset of depression as well as how those factors relate to the quality of mental health care among depressed people of low SES. A review of the literature identified many barriers to …

Developing Evidenced Based Practice For Social Emotional Screenings In Schools, Kim Anderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The social problem being addressed through this project includes several challenges faced by our nation's schools, namely increasing numbers of disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions (Marchant, Anderson, Caldarella, Fisher, Young,Young, 2009). Further research states that "more and more children entering school are unprepared to learn, unable to cope with the social tasks involved in making friends and getting along with others, and unaware of their negative social effect on others," (Marchant et al., 2009, p.131). Only about 20% of children and adolescents with a psychiatric disorder in the United States receive any kind of mental health services (Fritz, 2007). Yet …

School Improvement Programs, Kimberly Barry

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Teachers face a growing number behavior challenges that effect the delivery of classroom instruction (Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice , n.d). This affects how the teacher teaches and how the other students learn. Disruptions in the classroom force teachers to direct their attention to that student resulting in less time teaching. School wide programs help school staff develop expectations for behavior and allows for a common language amongst all staff and students. There are many school wide programs that claim to make behaviors decrease. It can be very cumbersome and time consuming for schools to go through all of …

Bring Mental Health Services Home: Meeting The Mental Health Needs Of Adolescents And Their Families In Rural Minnesota, Laura Filzen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a program that addressed housing and therapeutic support to adolescents experiencing mental health issues, allowed adolescents to remain in the community, and promoted reunification with their families. “An important indicator of success for children in out-of-home care is a timely transition to reunification” (Park and Ryan, 2009). Based on the literature and practice, it is believed that intensive family therapy is needed to promote reunification and reduce recidivism of placement.

Implementation And Data Tracking Of School-Linked Mental Health Services At A Rural Mental Health Agency, Jim Redmond

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In late December of 2007 Tom McNeely, the clinical director for the Sioux Trails Mental Health Center, received a Request for Proposals (RFP) from the Minnesota Department of Human Services soliciting grant applications for a new school-linked mental health program. The school-linked program would provide students (K-12) attending public schools full therapeutic services in an effort to reduce mental health issues as a barrier to learning. This approach mirrored Sioux Trails’ belief that a holistic philosophy incorporating prevention and early intervention is the most effective healthcare service. Since the RTF seemed a good fit for the agency, Mr. McNeely, along …

Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Electric Training Modules, Jennifer Stuehrenberg

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The South Central Crisis Center is a State Operated Services mental health facility in Mankato, Minnesota. The center is designed to offer people suffering an acute mental health episode, such as suicidal thoughts, or who need a medication adjustment or other psychiatric services, up to a few days in a safe, secure environment. The center accepts referrals from law enforcement, county or health care professionals in these participating counties: Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Freeborn, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Rice, Sibley and Watonwan. Recently, the program has been serving a larger amount of clients who have a diagnosis of Asperger’s Disorder …

Parent Training, Support And Psychoeducational Groups As Evidence Based Practice In Children's Mental Health, Dorothy Wagner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The evidence base for programs in children’s mental health has expanded significantly in the last decade (Burns, 2003), yet the implementation of these programs has lagged behind (Walrath, Sheehan, Holden, Hernandez & Blau, 2005). The purpose of this project is to research current evidence based practices and programs that could improve and/or update services that are provided to children and adolescents diagnosed with severe emotional disturbance (SED) in Steele County. Research and analysis of the feasibility of implementing a group intervention to provide support, psychoeducation and/or skills training to families was conducted.

Use Of Empirically Supported Interventions For Psychopathology: Can The Participatory Approach Move Us Beyond The Research-To-Practice Gap?, Carolyn Becker, E. Stice, H. Shaw, S. Woda

Psychology Faculty Research

Dissemination, or distribution, of empirically-supported interventions (ESIs) for psychopathology remains a significant challenge. This paper reviews the principles of community-partnership research (CPR) and explores why CPR might improve distribution of psychological ESIs. Benefits of CPR include building trust, pooling resources and knowledge, and better serving a community by directly involving its members in the design and implementation of research. In addition, after establishing a community’s trust using CPR, researchers are likely to be better positioned to partner with communities in the further distribution of ESIs via community networks. This paper reviews the case of dissonance-based eating disorder prevention interventions to …

Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions Of Voluntarily Childless Couples, Felizon C. Vidad

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Studies conducted in previous decades have examined attitudes toward and perceptions of voluntarily childless men and women. Participants in these studies were usually comprised of high school, college, and university students. The results showed that, compared to those who were parents, voluntarily childless men and women were mostly perceived in a less favorable light. This study sought to investigate how voluntarily childless heterosexual couples are currently viewed and whether attitudes toward the voluntarily childless have changed since the earlier research was conducted. Participants in this study consisted of individuals who were practicing in the field of mental health and who …

Perceptions Of Ethical Behaviors: A Survey Of Human Service Professionals, Tammi F. Milliken, Edward S. Neukrug

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

In addition to helpers' moral obligation and professional commitment to treat clients in an ethical manner, enhanced consumer knowledge of ethically correct helping relationships has increased the need to recognize potential ethical dilemmas and have the skills to respond appropriately. This article describes the development and results of an updated survey of human service professionals' perceptions of ethical behavior. The results may be used to assist in the revision of the NOHS Ethical Standards and inform ethics education.