Digital Commons Network^™

Self-Compassion As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Emotion Dysregulation And Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms, Priya Loess

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is emotion dysregulation (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Such dysregulation leads to emotions spiraling out of control, hindering reason, and leading to out-of-control maladaptive behaviors (Conklin, Bradley, Westen, 2006). Invalidating environments, coupled with biologically based emotional vulnerability, are thought to account for the development of BPD (Linehan, 1993). Self-compassion (SC) is in contrast to some common symptoms related to BPD, such as self-hatred, intense shame, and negative self-schemas. SC was tested as a potential moderating mechanism in the relationship between emotion dysregulation and BPD symptoms among a sample of college students. SC consists …

An Assessment Of The Health Needs Of The Transgender Community In Montana, Karishma Chainani

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Transgender individuals face a unique set of challenges in their day to day lives. While issues regarding stigma and discrimination are well documented in the literature, most of the information about transgender people has been gathered in urban settings. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore factors that influence quality of life and risk of infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C (HCV), Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) among transgender people living in Montana. A questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of the literature as well as a review of existing assessments. The questionnaire was reviewed by …

Victims' Perspectives Of Their Roles In Unwanted Sexual Experiences When Alcohol Is Consumed, Lindsey C. Grove

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sexual violence among college students is recognized as a serious public health concern in the United States. Among college students, sexual violence is associated with high levels of PTSD symptoms and psychological consequences (Frazier et al., 2009). For ages 18 to 25 sexual violence is the only crime that is found to occur more frequently among college students than the same age group not attending college and is at its highest rate during the first year of attendance(Baum & Klaus, 2005) Research has already uncovered increased risk of victimization for young college students including heavy alcohol consumption (Messman-Moore, Coates, Gaffey, …

Visual Analog Rating Of Mood By People With Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Katarina L. Haley, Jennifer L. Womack, Sharon W. Williams

Faculty Publications

Background:

Considerable attention has been given to the identification of depression in stroke survivors with aphasia, but there is more limited information about other mood states. Visual analog scales are often used to collect subjective information from people with aphasia. However, the validity of these methods for communicating about mood has not been established in people with moderately to severely impaired language.

Objective:

The dual purposes of this study were to characterize the relative endorsement of negative and positive mood states in people with chronic aphasia after stroke and to examine congruent validity for visual analog rating methods for people …

Classroom Modifications With Improved Acoustics Modeled For Cehic, A School For The Deaf, In Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, Polwatte Krishantha Silva

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to model a typical classroom in a school for the Deaf inKelaniya,Sri Lanka. Intense effort by teachers provides intervention for students with significant hearing impairment. The school is an oral school, and the philosophy is to utilize the residual hearing of each student through the use of high-powered hearing aids. Like many schools inSri Lanka, the Centre for Education of Hearing-Impaired Children (CEHIC) has many classrooms that have both high ambient noise with long reverberation times. Both noise and reverberation interfere with the sound signal, the teacher’s voice, and provide a poor learning environment …

Behavioral Effects Of Fluoxetine On Aggression And Associative Learning In Betta Splendens, Benjamin Eisenreich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

While the link between serotonin and the behaviors of aggression and learning has been elucidated, few studies have examined the impact serotonin has on learning for aggressive rewards. In particular, the SSRI fluoxetine has been demonstrated to reduce aggression as well the acquisition of instrumental responding for rewards indicating that this drugs behavioral effect may be related to motivational processes important for learning. To examine the relationship between fluoxetine and motivational process important for learning, two experiments were conducted using Betta splendens, a species well known for their robust aggressive response and drive to engage in aggressive behaviors, to examine …

Stories Of Contaminated Waste Dump Sites In Amskapi Pikuni Blackfeet Country, Kimberly L. Paul

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract:

Significant health disparities affect much of the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Native Hawaiian (NH) populations of America_.^3,6,10,11,14 Inequalities in health care and delivery of services for these populations are a contributing factor to disparate health conditions.² Lack of equity in areas such as social services¹⁸, education, environmental contaminants^5,7,8,17, historical trauma¹ and acute poverty[a1] [KP2] ^{16, 19} strongly influence health conditions⁴. People residing within the remaining tribal lands of the Northern Plains experience markedly higher incidence of disease than other ethnicities within this nation¹⁰, ultimately …

Effectiveness Of Mary Ainsworth's Maternal Sensitivity Scale With Four-Week-Old Infants, Laurel Anne T. Yorgason

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The attachment relationship between a mother and her infant provides a foundation for future development (Bowlby, 1951; Sroufe, 2005). A high level of maternal sensitivity has been deemed one of the most important antecedents to a secure attachment (van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2004). Although Mary Ainsworth originally developed a measure of maternal sensitivity other researchers developed measures to determine a mother’s level of sensitivity (Mesman & Emmen, 2013). The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) was developed to determine the classification of the attachment relationship (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1974). Currently these measures focus predominantly on dyads that include an infant at …

Resilience Through Adversity And Aging: Historical Loss And Resilience In Adults From A Northern Plains Tribe, Desiree L. Fox

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Historical loss is a primary contributor to the well-being of American Indian people and their communities. Research has shown that these losses have contributed to modern-day physical and mental health disparities. Research has also shown that adverse experiences, such as historical loss, are associated with the development of resilience. Additionally, increased age has been found to be related to increased levels of resilience. An informal survey of members of a Northern Plains tribal community identified grief as a major area of concern. The present study is a secondary analysis of data that was collected from two culturally-anchored grief retreats. Participants …

How The Perception Of God As A Transcendent Moral Authority Influences Marital Connection Among American Christians, Toshi Shichida, David C. Dollahite, Jason S. Carroll

Faculty Publications

Dynamics that link individuals' perceptions of God as a transcendent moral authority and marital connection were analyzed in depth using qualitative data from a sample of 48 Christian spouses from California and New England. Thirsty-six individuals expressed their perception of God as a transcendent moral authority, and compared to 12 who did not, they conveyed three distinctive religious-marital dynamics. These were all processes to promote marital unity that engaged God, namely: (1) spouses modified their individual behavior in marriage with reference to their God model, (2) they shared as a couple the goal to obey God together, and (3) they …

Personalized Contact Strategies And Predictors Of Time To Survey Completion: Analysis Of Two Sequential Randomized Trials, Victor D. Dinglas, Minxuan Huang, Kristin A. Sepulveda, Mariela Pinedo, Ramona O. Hopkins, Elizabeth Colantuoni, Dale M. Needham

Faculty Publications

Background

Effective strategies for contacting and recruiting study participants are critical in conducting clinical research. In this study, we conducted two sequential randomized controlled trials of mail- and telephone-based strategies for contacting and recruiting participants, and evaluated participant-related variables’ association with time to survey completion and survey completion rates. Subjects eligible for this study were survivors of acute lung injury who had been previously enrolled in a 12-month observational follow-up study evaluating their physical, cognitive and mental health outcomes, with their last study visit completed at a median of 34 months previously.

Methods

Eligible subjects were contacted to complete a …

Neural Correlates Of Gender Differences And Color In Distinguishing Security Warnings And Legitimate Websites: A Neurosecurity Study, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, C. Brock Kirwan, David Eargle, Scott R. Jensen, Anthony Vance

Faculty Publications

Users have long been recognized as the weakest link in security. Accordingly, researchers have applied knowledge from the fields of psychology and human–computer interaction to understand the security behaviors of users. However, many cognitive processes and responses are unconscious or obligatory and yet still have a profound effect on users’ security behaviors. With this in mind, researchers have begun to apply methods and theories of neuroscience to yield greater insights into the “black box” of user cognition. The goal of this approach—termed neurosecurity—is to better understand and improve users’ behaviors. This study illustrates the potential for neurosecurity by investigating how …

Does The Message Matter? A Field Experiment On Political Party Recruitment, Jessica Robinson Preece

Faculty Publications

Do men and women respond to various party recruitment messages similarly? Working with the Utah County Republican Party, we designed a field experiment in which we invited over 11,600 male and female party activists to attend a free, party-sponsored “Prospective Candidate Information Seminar” by randomizing different invitation messages. We found that women were half as likely as men to respond to recruitment—log on to the seminar website for more information, register for the seminar, and attend the seminar. While we found some suggestive evidence about what recruitment messages may particularly motivate women or men vis-a-vis a control message, our findings …

Interaction Between Helicobacter Pylori And Latent Toxoplasmosis And Demographic Variables On Cognitive Function In Young To Middle-Aged Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Helicobacter pylori and latent toxoplasmosis are widespread diseases that have been associated with cognitive deficits and Alzheimer’s disease. We sought to determine whether interactions between Helicobacter pylori and latent toxoplasmosis, age, race-ethnicity, educational attainment, economic status, and general health predict cognitive function in young and middle-aged adults. To do so, we used multivariable regression and multivariate models to analyze data obtained from the United States’ National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which can be weighted to represent the US population. In this sample, we found that 31.6 percent of women and 36.2 …

Does Pornography Consumption Increase Participation In Friends With Benefits Relationships?, Scott R. Braithwaite, Sean C. Aaron, Krista Joy Dowdle, Kersti A. Spjut, Frank D. Fincham

Faculty Publications

Friends with benefits (FWB) relationships integrate two types of relationships—friendship and a relationship that includes sexual intimacy but without an expectation of commitment. These relationships are often seen as less risky than other casual sexual behaviors, but they still pose a high risk of contracting an STI. Pornography consumption has been connected to increases in risky sexual behavior in other types of casual sex. In two studies (Study 1 N = 850; Study 2 N = 992), we examined the hypothesis that pornography use influences FWB behaviors, specifically through the mechanism of sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent …

Socioeconomic Status And Health: Education And Income Are Independent And Joint Predictors Of Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Wendy C. Birmingham, Jenny M. Cundiff, Bert N. Uchino, Timothy W. Smith

Faculty Publications

Epidemiological research suggests that different indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) such as income and education may have independent and/or interactive effects on health outcomes. In this study, we examined both simple and more complex associations (i.e., interactions) between different indicators of SES and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) during daily life. Our sample consisted of 94 married couples who completed a one-day ABP protocol. Both income and education were independently related to systolic blood pressure and only income was significantly related to diastolic blood pressure. There were also statistical interactions such that individuals with high levels of both income and education …

The Dependability Of Electrophysiological Measurements Ofperformance Monitoring In A Clinical Sample: A Generalizability Anddecision Analysis Of The Ern And Pe, Scott A. Baldwin, Michael J. Larson, Peter E. Clayson

Faculty Publications

Psychometric studies of the ERN, CRN, Pe, and Pc ERPs are increasing. Coherent integration of these results is difficultwith classical test theory because the definition of error depends on the measure of reliability. This study usedgeneralizability theory, which extends the ideas of classical test theory, as a framework for evaluating the influence ofpsychopathology and number of trials on dependability of measurement. Participants included 34 people meeting criteriafor major depression, 29 meeting criteria for an anxiety disorder, and 319 controls. For all ERPs, within-person variancewas larger than between-person variance across groups, indicating many trials are needed for adequate dependability (atleast 13). …

Measuring Participation For Persons With Mental Illness: A Systematic Review Assessing Relevance Of Existing Scales For Low And Middle Income Countries, Ganesh M. Babulal, Parul Bakhshi, Sunyata Kopriva, Sarah A. Ali, Susan A. Goette, Jean-Francois Trani

Brown School Faculty Publications

Background: Participation is increasingly becoming an important outcome for assessment in many fields, including development, disability and policy implementation. However, selecting specific instruments to measure participation has been a significant problem due to overlapping conceptual definitions and use of different theories. The objective of this paper is to identify participation instruments, examine theories/definition supporting their use and highlight scales for use in low and middle-income countries for persons with mental illness. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify instruments intended to measure participation for individuals with severe mental illness. The search was limited to peer-reviewed articles published in …

Time-Limited Case Management For Homeless Mothers With Mental Health Problems: Effects On Caregiver Mental Health., Judith Samuels, Patrick J. Fowler, Andrea Ault-Brutus, Dein-In Tang, Katherine Marcal

Brown School Faculty Publications

Objective: In this study we test the effect of a time-limited case management model targeting homeless mothers who are experiencing mental health problems. Adapted from an empirically informed intervention to prevent recurrent homelessness among individuals, the Family Critical Time Intervention (FCTI) supports mothers with children for a 9-month period as they move from homeless shelters into affordable housing. The case management team uses a structured intervention to encourage mothers to create and maintain necessary connections in the community for key family supports. Method: We use a longitudinal randomized controlled trial (N = 210) to test whether homeless mothers referred to …

Faster-Better-Cheaper Projects: Too Much Risk Or Overreaction To Perceived Failure?, Robert L. Dillon, Peter M. Madsen

Faculty Publications

From1992 until 1999,NASA adopted a Faster-Better- Cheaper (FBC) paradigm—i.e., smaller low-cost spacecraft—for its unmanned missions. When many early missions met their objectives at much lower cost than traditional flagship missions, the FBC approach seemed successful. However, after the failures of two Mars spacecraft in 1999, the FBC paradigm was viewed as a failed experiment. We reflect on the legacy of FBC. In particular, we focus on the organizational learning literature to explore whether FBC, a stretch goal, was a good step for NASA. Previous examinations of FBC have focused on failure rates rather than on cost effectiveness. We revisit the …

A Multi-Experimental Examination Of Analyzing Mouse Cursor Trajectories To Gauge Subject Uncertainty, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Ross Larsen, Robert Bodily, Daniel Sandberg, Parker Williams, Steve Stokes, Spencer Harris, Joseph S. Valacich

Faculty Publications

Providing information online is pervasive in human-computer interactions. While providing information, people may deliberate their responses. However, organizations only receive the end-result of this deliberation and therefore have no contextual information surrounding the response. One type of contextual information includes knowing people’s response uncertainty while providing information. Knowing uncertainty allows organizations to weigh responses, ask follow-up questions, provide assistance, or identify problematic instructions or responses. This paper explores how mouse cursor movements may indicate uncertainty in a human-computer interaction context. Specifically, it hypothesizes how uncertainty on multiple-choice questions influences a mouse-movement statistic called area-under-the-curve (AUC). We report the result of …

The Gardener’S Lament: Rehabilitation And Responsibility Inside Leavenworth Prison, Laccia Bromell

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

In this thesis, I assess the debate over whether inmates should have privileges as a means of rehabilitation within United States prison populations. I focus on the example of Carl Bowles, a convicted murderer residing in Leavenworth Prison, who was given a garden to tend, only to have it taken away by a new regime. My argument is twofold: I will first discuss the normative question of whether an inmate like Carl Bowles ought to be given his garden in the first place. I will then address the empirical question of whether giving him the garden is beneficial to him …

Privacy And The Right To Free Speech, Alejandra A. Uribe

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Because of the nature of their jobs and lifestyles, public figures are more likely to suffer intrusive invasions into their private lives and cannot generally expect to receive privacy in public places. However, the right to respect for a person’s privacy and the right to freedom of expression are both vitally important rights. Drawing on a balancing test similar to that used by the European Court of Human Rights that attempts to give due weight to each right, I argue that, with matters that are considered to be private like medical issues, a right to free speech should not trump …

Thomas Pynchon's Philosopher Detectives: An Investigation Into The Epistemic Cyborg, Jonathan Votypka

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Thomas Pynchon's novels have puzzled audiences for decades, in the same way his conspiracy plots lead his characters into labyrinthine networks of events and people. These two novels feature female detective protagonists pursuing elusive secrets and conspiracies while struggling with technological advancement that is altering the world they think they know. These detectives are Oedipa Maas in The Crying ofLot49 (1966) and Maxine Tarnow in Bleeding Edge (201 3). The Crying of Lot 49 is set in the Cold War mid-1960's, while Bleeding Edge begins in April of2001, and ventures through the events of September 11th, 2001. Pynchon places his …

Are Privileged Individuals More Likely To Make Unethical Decisions?, Lauren Koff

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Growing inequality over the past few decades has been a great problem for the majority of Americans. Inequality is in part a reflection of privilege. The objective of this research was to investigate the association between privilege (including socioeconomic status or SES) and honesty (cheating behavior), along with relationships between privilege and personality and finally personality and honesty. This work furthered our knowledge of perceptions of social justice and the mechanisms underlying unethical behavior. Participants completed a questionnaire on Amazon MTurk that measured constructs of privilege (subjective SES, race, education, occupation, gender) and unethical behavior (participants completed three skill and …

Evaluating The “Family-Centered” Approach Of Pediatric Multidisciplinary Down Syndrome Clinics: A Parents’ Perspective, Devon A. Haynes

Theses and Dissertations

Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. Individuals with Down syndrome usually display mild to moderate intellectual disability, developmental delay, characteristic facial features, and an increased risk for birth defects and various medical problems. Multidisciplinary clinics were established to address the multi-system health concerns for Down syndrome, increase adherence to medical management guidelines, and provide coordinated and comprehensive care for the patient. Research has examined the beneficial effect of a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and medical outcomes; however, no studies have been done which evaluate the psychosocial aspect of the care provided.

We hypothesized that …

Evaluating Changes In Patient Anxiety Regarding Classic Cancer Genetic Testing Versus Expanded Multiplex Cancer Genetic Testing, Andrew Todd Alfonso

Theses and Dissertations

Multiplex cancer genetic testing by next generation sequencing (NGS) offers genetic counselors and patients new options for testing multiple genes beyond BRCA1 and BRCA2, increasing both the yield of positive results and the number of variants of uncertain significance (VUS). This pilot study explored three psychosocial questions related to multiplex cancer genetic testing: 1). Do anxiety levels differ in patients with results of familiar single gene testing versus those with results of multiplex cancer genetic testing of unfamiliar genes? 2). Do different results (i.e., negative, positive, or VUS) affect patient anxiety levels in the post-results period? 3). Is patient anxiety …

Exploring How The Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Death Is Discussed In Families With A Diagnosis Of A Sads Condition, Kristin Anne Wiley

Theses and Dissertations

Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS), where death is secondary to cardiac arrhythmia, is associated with several cardiac ion channelopathies, including long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome, as well as cardiomyopathies such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy. Many of these conditions often present in childhood or adolescence. This study investigates how diagnoses of cardiac diseases associated with SADS are communicated within families. A questionnaire was distributed through cardiac disease-focused support groups and organizations. Data from 114 parents who have a child with a SADS condition were used for analysis. Based on the responses, parents explained the risk of SADS in …

Identity Contests: Litigation And The Meaning Of Social- Movement Causes, Mary Ziegler

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Different Types Of Exercise On The Maintenance Of Approach Motivation Levels, J. A.S. Lowenstein, K. Wright, A. Taylor, N. J. Moberly

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.