Self-Efficacy, Trait Mindfulness, And Self-Compassion As Predictors Of Risk Of Substance Use Relapse, Jonathan Nauser

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous research has demonstrated relationships among mindfulness, self-efficacy, and substance use relapse. Contrasting research has found mindfulness and self-efficacy are not consistently negatively associated with substance use relapse demonstrating a need for further research. An additional factor that has been found to associated with substance use is self-compassion; however, it has yet to be examined in relation to the process of relapse. The current study assessed self-efficacy, self-compassion, and mindfulness and their associations with substance use relapse, with the aim of predicting relapse risk. Higher levels of relapse risk were found to be negatively associated with self-efficacy, trait mindfulness, and …

Politics And Pandemics: An Investigation Of The Potential Covariates In The Relationship Between Conservative Political Ideology And Reduced Facemask Wearing, Danielle M. Foster

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Facemasks have been empirically shown as one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical interventions in preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, research shows that individuals identifying as politically conservative are less likely to comply with mask mandates and engage in less mask wearing. This study investigated five variables that could explain the relationship between political identity and less mask wearing: loyalty to ingroup and obedience to authority moral foundations, trust in science, belief in conspiracy theories, and psychological reactance. Using an online survey system, 138 U.S. adults completed several measures of political identity, mask wearing, and the hypothesized covariates. A simple …

Fostering Music Performers In The 21st Century: A Contemporary Professional Perspective Toward A New Curricular Agenda For Graduate Study In Music, Andre Januario

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

What if the core curriculum for graduate students in music performance were designed to prepare students to succeed in the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

This dissertation offers a hypothetical answer: a structured and systematic academic curricular framework for music graduate students of performance of concert music (especially those in terminal degrees, such as doctoral students), along with music instructors, professional music performers, school administrators, and college professors, seeking to prepare such students for achieving and maintaining a music career more in keeping with the current work environment, especially those skills demanded by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the …

Parenting Stress As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Child Emotional And Behavioral Problems And Parental Readiness For Change, Connor Fais

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The current study applied the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983) to parenting behavior, as past research has suggested that increasing parental motivation and readiness for change is associated with greater client participation and improved therapeutic outcomes (Dowell & Ogles, 2010; Karver et al., 2006). The current study attempted to replicate Jones et al.’s (2017) primary findings and add to the current body of literature on parental readiness for change by examining parenting stress as a moderator of the relationship between internalizing and externalizing child problems and parental readiness for change (Jones et al., 2017; Wade & …

Discriminative Stimulus Effects Of Cannabidiol Oil In Rats, Rebecca L. Chalme

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the major centrally active phytocannabinoid components of cannabis, and has been approved by the FDA only for the treatment of two rare seizure disorders. However, CBD has been touted as a potential treatment for anxiety in place of more traditional treatments like benzodiazepines. Although there is some evidence of anxiolytic effects of CBD, its suitability as a substitute for benzodiazepines is unknown. This experiment was designed to assess to what extent CBD shares interoceptive discriminative-stimulus properties with the anxiolytic chlordiazepoxide (CDP), a benzodiazepine. In the present experiment, a range of doses (0-333.3 mg/kg) of over-the-counter …

An Examination Of The Start Now Dialectical Behavior Therapy-Based Intervention Plus A Behavioral Level System On Male Inmate Misbehavior, Aggressive Behavior, And Mental Health, Victoria Disciullo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the START NOW program + behavioral level system (BLS) in a self-contained therapeutic community (SCTC) on inmate misbehavior at a correctional facility in a southern state. The SCTC includes the START NOW manualized mental health treatment, recreation groups, process groups as needed, and additional positive reinforcement to target inmate prosocial behavior (i.e., level system to obtain privileges). Inmate data was evaluated at 3-months pre-START NOW intervention and 3-months post-START NOW intervention to determine if there were differences in the number of referrals to mental health services for misbehavior, write-ups …

Correctional Officer Opinions About Offenders With Mental Illness: The Relationships Among Opinions, Burnout, Emotional Intelligence, And Mental Health Training, Courtney Hull

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Rates of mental illness among incarcerated individuals in the United States are high and have been well documented. Correctional officers are on the front line of identifying symptoms and alerting mental health professionals to problems as they arise. Correctional officers often lack an understating of mental illness, feel ill-equipped to manage mental health crises, and experience high levels of job-related stress. The objective of this study was to better understand the relationship between correctional officers’ emotional intelligence and opinions about mental illness, and to identify if burnout moderated the relationship between the variables. Additionally, the study sought to understand the …

After The Protests: A Campus Racial Climate Case Study Of The Perception And Curricular Responses For Institutional Reforms, Following The Black Students’ Demands For Interventions At The University Of Missouri-Columbia, Bruce E. Mitchell Ii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This qualitative method single case study explores the phenomenon of a racially tense campus climate at the University of Missouri Columbia, a Predominantly White Midwestern Institution. At the forefront of the media regarding student and athlete protests, leading to the resignation of senior level administrators, African American students put forth eight demands to their administrators. Included, was the creation and implementation of a required racial awareness and inclusion curriculum. The study explores the perceptions of the institutional response to an exceptional campus racial climate issue and the process of formulating and participating in a diversity training course and a semester …

The Effects Of Dementia Knowledge On Dementia Worry, Attitudes, Social Comfort, Empathic Concern, And Personal Distress, Alexandria Rose Ebert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study examined the effects of different types of dementia knowledge on attitudes and affective reactions towards persons with dementia. Work has demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of personhood-based knowledge have lower levels of personal dementia fear and higher levels of social comfort. However, to our knowledge, work has not examined dementia attitudes more broadly or differentiated causal relations among different forms of dementia knowledge and attitude outcomes. Participants (N = 334) aged 19-78 (M = 44.53, SD = 16.57) were randomized into one of five experimental conditions: (1) biomedical-knowledge (BK; read biological and medical facts about …

Effects Of Nonexamples On Concept Formation, Catherine Louise Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Concept formation is affected by the examples and nonexamples provided during training, but the degree to which examples and nonexamples should differ is unknown. Two experiments compared concept formation when different kinds of nonexamples were used during training. Both experiments included a within-subject comparison of concept formation following three training conditions: a) nonexamples that were more similar to the examples, b) nonexamples that are less similar to the examples, and c) no nonexamples. Arbitrary concepts were trained in Experiment 1 and concepts akin to those that could be taught in a classroom were trained in Experiment 2. Before and after …

Doing Kink Vs. Being Kinky: A Systematic Scoping Review Of The Literature On Bdsm Behavior, Orientation, And Identity, Angel Renee Kalafatis-Russell

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This systematic scoping review examines the literature on BDSM/kink as it relates to three core dimensions of sexuality: behavior, orientation, and identity. The main sexuality framework used for defining these dimensions is Sexual Configurations Theory (van Anders, 2015). This search is guided by two research questions. 1) Are there empirical differences between individuals who simply consider BDSM to be something they do (i.e., behavior only) and individuals who consider BDSM to be part of who they are (i.e., kink-identified)? 2) Are there any existing, psychometrically validated, quantitative measures to assess BDSM as an identity component? I hypothesized that a model …

Connections During Times Of Change: The Interplay Between Gratitude Communication, Well-Being And Resilience, Aubrey Carlene Moore

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This pilot study investigates the relationships between gratitude communication, well-being, and resilience in times of change. The 2019 coronavirus, COVID-19, brought on a global pandemic that continues to impact people’s lives daily. However, due to continuous changes, lockdowns, social distancing, mask mandates and more, people have found other ways to stay connected in lieu of face to face communication. This study aims to understand better how people are moving forward during these challenging, ever-changing times. Using an online survey and previously established measures including the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14), …

Synaptic Processes And Immune-Related Pathways Implicated In Tourette Syndrome, Douglas W. Woods

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder of complex genetic architecture involving multiple interacting genes. Here, we sought to elucidate the pathways that underlie the neurobiology of the disorder through genome-wide analysis. We analyzed genome-wide genotypic data of 3581 individuals with TS and 7682 ancestry-matched controls and investigated associations of TS with sets of genes that are expressed in particular cell types and operate in specific neuronal and glial functions. We employed a self-contained, set-based association method (SBA) as well as a competitive gene set method (MAGMA) using individual-level genotype data to perform a comprehensive investigation of the biological background …

Moral Injury: Examining The Role Of Meaning Making In Veterans, Katelyn A. Mccreight

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Moral injury is a transdiagnostic process that spans a collection of symptoms similar to PTSD (Litz et al., 2009). Many veterans develop PTSD symptoms following exposure to potentially morally injurious events (pMIE) occurring in the context of war (e.g., killing an enemy combatant or accidentally killing a civilian; (Currier, Holland, & Malott, 2014; Litz et al., 2009; Purcell, Koenig, Bosch & Maguen, 2016). The potential mediating and moderating variables between moral injury and PTSD may also contribute to pMIE-related PTSD symptoms being overlooked and left untreated (Litz et al., 2009). Furthermore, while extensive research has been conducted on coping and …

A Research Assistant's Perceived Skillset When Utilizing Deception, Ahmad Sarris

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The use of deception in research has been a long-debated topic for several decades. Generally, research on deception has concerned its justifications, common methods, controversies, and uses inside and outside the broad field of psychology. Although the bulk of this research is typically concerned with exploring the potential drawbacks and controversies of deception on participants, the potential advantages and disadvantages to those implementing it has not been explored. More specifically, there are unanswered questions about what skills can be gained or perceived to be gained by research assistants utilizing deception. The present study explored whether deception utilization and/or the presence …

Applicant Religion And Work Qualifications Impacting Hiring Decisions, William T. Cagle

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The underlying effect of religious bias towards Muslims has negatively impacted their chances of receiving equal employment opportunities. The current study attempts to observe this effect by having Christian participants pretend to be a boss of a company and asking them to evaluate a fictitious resume and rate the applicant on their suitability for the managerial job at hand. The applicants were either Christian or Muslim. Based on the justification-suppression model, we also attempted to observe the effect having different hiring qualifications had on the applicant ratings. To do this, applicants either had a high or low GPA, and they …

Understanding Racial Experiences And The Influence Of Family On Stress And Familism Attitudes, Jaqueline Miranda

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Sixty-five percent of undergraduates reported family as their most important in-group and 79% reported family as being in their top three in-groups (McConnell, 2019). Familial bonds are vital for racial ethnic minorities because of their unique experiences as minorities such as experienced racism, acculturative stress, and other forms of adversity. The current study examined the effects of a racially-based stress induction and imaginal exercise on state stress levels and familial attitudes, and the relationship between racial-ethnic socialization and racial battle fatigue including kinship social support as a moderator. The study used an experimental design, manipulating stress induction through a script …

Subjective Social Status And Inflammation: The Role Of Culture And Anger Control, Jose C. Yong, Andree Hartanto, Jacinth Jia Xin Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objective: Research on subjective social status (SSS) and inflammation risk suffers from a lack of cross-cultural data as well as inconsistent findings between SSS and the biomarker C-reactive protein (CRP). The current study addressed these issues by examining possible cultural differences in the SSS-CRP link with anger control as an underlying mechanism while controlling for potential confounds such as wealth, education, and health factors. Method: Participants comprised 1,435 adults from the Biomarker Project of the MIDUS (American) and MIDJA (Japanese) studies. Participants’ SSS and tendency to control anger were assessed through surveys, and their CRP levels were measured through fasting …

Who Is The Stranger Really? A Reluctant Autoethnography Of The Strange Situation Procedure, Tara Yazdani

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper aims to review the cross-cultural application of attachment theory as a western model of thought and practice. That is, this research aimed to recognize and question how embedded attachment theory has become in programming and education within North American academic and practical arenas. In applying the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to a limited sample of Eritrean dyads, important considerations and questions arose regarding the cross-cultural application of this protocol. The aims of this research shifted toward further exploring these considerations and questions, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the new research aim emphasized how to inform future …

Second Generation Christian Korean Canadians: Exploring Their Lived Experiences Of Mental Health Issues And Services, Kyoung Jung Kim

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

This study explores the lived experiences of second-generation Christian Korean Canadian young adults with mental health issues (MHI) and their use of health services (MHS). In addition, this study asked this cohort to discuss their beliefs about the views their parents held about MHI and MHS. All research participants were born and raised in Canada by Korean born immigrant parents. This study was descriptive, phenomenological, and qualitative in nature; it consisted of in-depth interviews with six male and six female participants. In their experience with MHI, seven participants experienced fear and sadness (depression and anxiety) and three of them …

Stress Inoculation Training (Sit-Norcal), Part 1: The Development And Preliminary Evaluation Of A Psychological Performance Training Protocol, Sarah E Jackson, Matthew R Baity, Patrick R Thomas, Douglas Barba, Daniel Jacobson, Madeleine Goodkind, Diane Swick, A Sarah Ivey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Stress inoculation training (SIT) interventions have demonstrated promise within military contexts for human performance enhancement and psychological health applications. However, lack of manualized guidance on core content selection, delivery, and measurement processes has limited their use.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive SIT intervention protocol to enhance the performance and health of military personnel engaged in special warfare and first-response activities.

Methods: Multidisciplinary teams of subject matter experts (n = 19) were consulted in protocol generation. The performance improvement/human performance technology (HPT) model was used in the selection, refinement, and measurement of …

Lived Experience: The Training Of Therapists, Actors & Human Beings, Richard Williams

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

There is much in common between theater and therapy. Both happen live. Both are explorations of human experience. Both require participants to be emotionally and mentally present. Both are hard to do well (and easy to do poorly). Training to be a clinical psychologist requires hours of coursework, administrative work, supervision, and on the job clinical experience. Training to be a professional theater maker or actor requires hours of rehearsal. The elements of acting are deconstructed during training so that rehearsal consists of voice-work, physical theater, scene study, etcetera. Training to be an actor entails much more practice of the …

“Child Witches”: Sexual Exploitation And Abuse Of Homeless Girls In South-Southern Nigeria, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although this problem has attracted much research attention in recent times, some newly emerged factors contributing to the problem have been mostly ignored. This study explored how the abandonment of children following their stigmatization as witches contributes to sexual exploitation and abuse of the girls in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. The study was based on the qualitative research paradigm. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of three senior staff members of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)—a children’s charity …

Therapists' Perspectives On Aiding Individuals To Maintain Social Connection While Struggling With Health Concerns, Shari Howington-Carlin

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to explore therapists’ perspectives on aiding individuals to maintain social connection while struggling with health concerns. Social relationships support physical and psychological well-being, yet individuals struggling with physical or mental health issues often have difficulty maintaining their relationships. Therapists, as health professionals, often discuss physical as well as emotional health concerns with their patients, including components of physiological and psychological heath care. Emerging neuroscience is aiding in understanding how research in this field supports early intervention for health outcomes around healthy social and family relationships during chronic disease or illness onset.The researcher conducted a phenomenological …

How Have You Experienced Being On Testosterone? Narrative Inquiry Into The T-Body Experience, Noah Andrew

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This qualitative research project is an inquiry into understanding how testosterone-bodied (T-bodied) individuals experience testosterone. The term T-bodies is a more inclusive way to describe all individuals who are taking testosterone for the purpose of transition, as not all of those people identify as strictly transgender. This research uses qualitative interviews and storytelling to allow for T-bodied people to tell their stories and allow for better understanding of the bodies undergoing transition. The key result from this study is understanding that while people might finally feel comfortable in their bodies due to the changes testosterone gives them, they also find …

The Internet-Extended Mind: The Psychological Ramifications And Philosophical Implications Of Cognitive Offloading, Gloria Choi

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I explore the internet-extended mind through both philosophical and psychological lenses in order to investigate the questions “To what extent is the mind extended onto the internet and, more generally, outside our bodies?” and “How will an increasingly internet-extended brain change the ways in which humans communicate, remember, and behave?”. First, I introduce the idea of a mind that extends out into the world, instead of lying solely in the brain. Then, I outline existing research that introduces the challenges and implications of an internet-extended mind in an ever-changing internet landscape. Next, I discuss how the internet …

Physiological Measurements For Real-Time Fatigue Monitoring In Train Drivers: Review Of The State Of The Art And Reframing The Problem, Bojana Bjegojevic, Maria Chiara Leva, Nora Balfe, Sam D. Cromie, Luca Longo

Conference papers

The impact of fatigue on train drivers is one of the most important safety-critical issues in rail. It affects drivers’ performance, significantly contributing to railway incidents and accidents. To address the issue of real-time fatigue detection in drivers, most reliable and applicable psychophysiological indicators of fatigue need to be identified. Hence, this paper aims to examine and present the current state of the art in physiological measures for real-time fatigue monitoring that could be applied in the train driving context. Three groups of such measures are identified: EEG, eye-tracking and heart-rate measures. This is the first paper to provide the …

Redefining What's Manly: Using Masculine Attributes To Describe Counseling Services For Men, Riley Nicholas Rodemaker

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Men are diagnosed with mental illness at a similar rate to women, and men deal with similar levels of impairment (Kessler et al., 1994). Despite this impairment, men do not seek help for their mental health as often as women do (Smith et al., 2013). One reason may be that counseling is seen as feminine. In this thesis, I describe an experimental study that examined the effect of using masculine attributes to describe counseling services on men’s attitudes. Adult male participants ages 18 to 35 (N = 818) read a short story that featured a conversation with a friend that …

Quality And Quantity Of Social Support In College Students With Adhd Symptomatology, Chloe J. Reeble

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Social support is an important factor in both physical health and mental well-being. Both the quality and quantity of social support have been found to be a protective factor in some mental illnesses. Individuals with ADHD often have a hard time maintaining peer relationships because of the symptoms of the disorder. This may result in low social support quality and quantity, which may in turn affect social impairment, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. This study examines the relation between ADHD and social support in college students. Findings show that social impairment significantly predicts lower social support quality and …

Examining Individual Differences In Attitudes Toward The Insanity Defense, Dominique M. Kornely

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the present study was to examine how individual differences in stigma against people who are mentally ill, free will beliefs, just world beliefs, and sentencing goals are associated with attitudes toward the insanity defense. Because there are many misconceptions about what the insanity defense is, and how it is actually used as a sentence, the Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) plea may be underutilized due to public opinions reflecting misunderstanding and/or possible biases (Perlin, 2017). Understanding the relation between individual beliefs and attitudes about the insanity defense would help to better understand potential biases present …