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The Impact Of Self-Affirmation On Individuals’ Stress Levels And Performance - A Longitudinal Study, Tarana Jhunjhunwala

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

The self-affirmation theory postulates that when an individual is faced with a threat, they have an inherent motivation to affirm the positive beliefs they carry about themselves. (Steele, 1988). The use of these affirmations has been shown to be extremely effective in academic environments, boosting performance in students and also reducing their stress levels. However, there is very little research on the long-term effects of Self-affirmations on performance, and negligible research on its long-term effects on stress. This present study will aim to further understand the immediate effects as well as the longitudinal impact of these affirmations on individuals …

Impact Of Parent Presence On Stress In Infants In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Susan M. Horner

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine potential relationships between cumulative stress exposure in infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), as measured using a resting salivary cortisol level at NICU discharge, and the amount (hours per week) or frequency (days per week) of parent presence and skin-to-skin care (SSC). This descriptive study was conducted via a secondary analysis of a dataset representing 78 NICU families from a tertiary level NICU in the Midwest. Median length of stay was 33 days, and a resting salivary cortisol level collected at one month of age was used for infants not discharged …

Interactions Of International Pilots' Stress, Fatigue, Symptoms Of Depression, Anxiety, Common Mental Disorders And Wellbeing, Marion Venus, Martin Grosse Holtforth

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Objective

This study Investigates more dimensions than previous studies simultaneously: pilots’ duty rosters, stress, sleep difficulties, fatigue levels, wellbeing, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and common mental disorders (CMD), and how they are interrelated.

Background

Several scientific studies have confirmed that fatigue can pose a significant risk to flight safety. Other studies reported positive depression screening results for more pilots, compared with the general population.

Method

A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 406 international pilots, who reported their duty rosters of the last two months. Pilots also self-assessed their stress-levels, sleep problems, fatigue, wellbeing, and mental health.

Results

Although pilots …

Stress And The City: The Impacts Of City Living And Urbanization On Mental Health, Natalie Akins

Scripps Senior Theses

Urbanization is causing a demographic and cultural shift to the landscape of cities across the globe. Although urban living can be advantageous for both individual and societal growth, it can negatively affect mental health and wellbeing. Individuals living in urban environments have an increased risk for mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia. Certain challenges common in urban environments and associated with increased stress, may be causing the increase with mental illness. Chronic stress and the subsequent hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sustained synthesis of glucocorticoids is detrimental to metabolic, endocrine, and immunologic processes. The overexposure to glucocorticoids can lead …

Time Management And Stress, Krisselle Nwokeji

First Year Composition Colloquium

Stress is a very common element that affects many high school students today. The purpose of this project is to teach high school students of the importance of time management and how it can be used to reduce stress because stress is something that tends to run very prominently in the lives of adolescents, and if they could understand the importance of time management and why it’s needed, the more they can use it to reduce their stress and have more time for themselves.

Effects Of Depression And Stress On Oral Self-Care Among Perinatal Women In Appalachia: A Longitudinal Study, Jeongwi An

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Oral health during the perinatal period has an impact on the health of women and their offspring. Oral self-care behaviors are preventive methods that can be employed to maintain or improve oral health but may be compromised during the perinatal period. Identifying factors affecting oral self-care behaviors might provide direction on how to intervene in oral health during and after pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to investigate independent and interactive effects of depression and stress on oral self-care behaviors of perinatal women in Appalachia, given the burden of oral disease in this region. A total of 1,172 women …

Zonulin As A Mediator Of Psychological Stress And Periodontal Disease, Casey D. Wright

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases is on the rise. Some have posited the permeability of tight junctions in gastrointestinal epithelium tissues as a potential mechanism for precipitating inflammatory processes throughout the body. Zonulin is the only known modulator of tight junction permeability and has been implicated in numerous chronic inflammatory processes (e.g., proinflammatory cytokine production) and diseases, more generally. The role of zonulin in oral inflammation, however, has yet to be explored. Periodontal disease is the most common oral inflammatory condition and primary perpetrator of tooth loss. Periodontal disease also is associated with a number of other health problems …

Superwoman Schema: Fighting Back With Holistic Therapy, Chavonne Good

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

For decades, Black women have upheld the stereotype of being consistently strong, capable, tenacious, and unwavering throughout life’s many challenges. Unfortunately, while being resolute in their desire to succeed against all odds, many Black women have unknowingly embraced the characteristics of a phenomenon known as Superwoman Schema. Superwoman Schema consists of five characteristics that are not inherently negative. However, when Black women consistently embody these traits which include the determination to succeed and to be strong, and an obligation to help others; they may neglect their own self-care needs. Subsequently, while neglecting themselves, focusing on others, and continuously trying to …

Systematic Review Regarding The Use Of Mindfulness-Based Mobile Applications To Reduce Psychological Symptoms And Enhance Well-Being Among General And Clinical Population Adults: Benefits, Limitations And Future Directions, Brian Clawson

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness is now utilized throughout Western Society and is part of the growing behavioral health, self-help, and wellness movements. Mobile applications have become increasingly popular for a wide variety of uses related to physical health, mental health, and self-improvement. Therefore, mindfulness-based mobile applications have promise both as stand-alone tools for end-users seeking self-help resources and as clinician-recommended adjunctive tools to enhance the process and outcomes of professional therapy. This systematic review identified, reviewed, and synthesized the findings from studies (n = 29) concerning the impact of mindfulness-based mobile applications on specific aspects of psychological functioning in both the general population …

Exploring The Interconnections Of Role Satisfaction, Self-Efficacy, Negative Affect, And Stress Among College Students, Jonathan Emmons

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has explored the connections between various psychosocial factors among students, such as the negative association between self-efficacy and stress, or the influence of affect on stress. A separate vein of research has explored the nature of roles and how expectations and behaviors arise for particular roles such as those associated with work or school. As of yet, little to no research has attempted to bridge the gap between these veins of research in order to explore student satisfaction with various roles and what effect, if any, those perceptions have on overall levels of stress. The current study focused …

Nature Effects On Stress, Jaclyn Griffith

Graduate Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Psychological Resilience In Student-Athletes During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Henley Lapid

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the psychological resilience process in student-athletes during the unique adverse context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sought to answer the following research questions guided by Fisher et al.’s (2019) heuristic framework: (1) What resilience mechanisms, (2) promoting factors, and (3) resilience outcomes were experienced by participants in their resilience demonstrations? and (4) How does the resilience process unfold over time across adverse contexts including the COVID-19 pandemic? Nine student-athletes from Wilfrid Laurier University were interviewed on their experiences demonstrating resilience within and outside of the pandemic. A thematic analysis (Braun …

Community Stress And Resilience During Covid-19: Assessing The Emotional Profile Of The City Of Hamilton Using A Social Media Analysis, Senyo Agbeyaka

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study investigated stress and resilience at the neighbourhood level in Hamilton Ontario in pre- and peri-pandemic conditions using a social media analysis. Sentiment analysis of geo-located Twitter posts produced within Hamilton census tract boundaries was conducted using Stresscapes and EMOTIVE, validated software that extract and code emotional information from human language expressions about stress and hope (a proxy for stress), respectively. Baseline levels of both emotions were measured using aggregate scores at the census tract level in Hamilton from tweets produced during two pre-pandemic periods (March 2019 to July 2019; and August 2019 to February 2020), with a replication …

Chronic Adolescent Stress As A Predictive Factor For The Risk Of Developing Ptsd-Like Symptoms In Adulthood, Grace K. Young

Theses and Dissertations

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress and trauma based psychological disorder that is defined by the DSM-IV as an anxiety disorder that affects approximately 7.8% of people in the United States. PTSD is when those who suffer a traumatic event have intense and distressing feelings, emotions, and memories for a prolonged period of time after the event. A prominent feature of PTSD is the impaired ability to properly extinguish a fear response after a dangerous trigger or stressor is no longer present, also known as safety learning. Stressors are threats perceived within the environment that activate a response within the …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Child Anxiety Symptoms: The Influence Of The Caregiver-Child Relationship, Rebecca Hoppe

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that youth are dealing with a myriad of worries during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ellis et al., 2020), which highlights the need for investigations focused on child anxiety. However, to date little research has examined children’s anxiety in the COVID-19 pandemic nor the potential protective effects of the caregiver-child relationship. Therefore, this research aimed to contribute to the literature by investigating the influence of COVID-19 related stressors in younger children and leveraging children’s report of their own attachment security within their relationship with their caregiver and mental health. The current study used a national, quantitative survey of young children …

Stress, Stress Appraisal And Coping In Athletic Trainers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lawson Holton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: There have been many studies conducted on the stress and mental health of frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) over the past months since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Very limited literature has examined the effect of the pandemic on athletic trainers (ATs). Objective: The aim of this investigation was to examine the stress, stress appraisal, and coping measures of ATs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants were recruited members from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA). The Perceived Stress Scale-10 was used to measure stress, the Stress Appraisal Measure was used to measure stress appraisal, and the Brief COPE was used …

Capitalizing On Stress: Improving Affect And Self-Efficacy Through An Arousal Reappraisal Intervention, Angel Long

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Stress is a non-specific reaction to the body (Jamieson et al., 2018), defined as a feeling of tension when one’s personal resources are taxed or exceeded (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Coping mechanisms for stress often focus on reducing associated features (Connor-Smith & Flachsbart, 2007). However, stress can produce challenge states, mindsets where individuals perceive personal resources as greater than situational demands (Jamieson et al., 2013). Challenge states are more likely to elicit positive behavior (Jamieson et al., 2018) and improved cognitive performance (Jamieson et al., 2010). One prospective mechanism to foster challenge states is arousal reappraisal, a cognitive mechanism …

Religion And Meaning: Its Moderating Effects On Stressful Life Events And Mental Health, Kalie B. Chambless

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The present study was designed to examine the relationship among religion, mental health, stressful life events, and people’s sense of meaning and purpose in life using data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey (BRS), a publicly available dataset. This survey obtained data from a nationwide study of 1,501 United States adults, 1,402 of whom are included in the current analyses. The first three hypotheses of this study were that (1) religion is positively associated with meaning to an individual’s life, that (2) meaning is positively associated with mental health, and that (3) stress is negatively associated with mental health. Finally, …

Caregiver's Nicu Experiences And Its Impact On Services, Crystal L. Hence

Theses and Dissertations

Having a child spend time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is documented as a stressful experience for caregivers. Previous literature documents caregivers’ difficulties navigating the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, showing that this problem has persisted for close to 20 years. Early Intervention can provide benefits to infants born prematurely, who may be more at risk for developmental delays and since the goal of Early Intervention is to provide services that help families in their daily lives, it has benefits for caregivers as well. Yet, Early Intervention enrollment remains low across the state of Virginia. This study using a qualitative …

Investigating The Influence Of Stress On Motivational Dysfunction In Male And Female Rodents, Emily Laine Errante

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Motivational dysfunction is present in a variety of disorders, including major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and Parkinsonism and can negatively impact social functioning, employment, and treatment response. Interestingly, outside stressors and stress hormones have been shown to contribute to depressive episodes in humans and depressive-like behaviors in rodents, including reducing motivated behaviors. Effort-related decision making procedures have been utilized in both humans and animals in order to examine motivational dysfunction, as it offers a subject a choice between high effort/reward and low effort/reward options, but little research has examined the effects of stress on effort-related decision making behaviors. Moreover, almost all …

Ethnic Differences In The Way College Students Cope With Stress, Temavulane N. Motsa

Masters Theses

Stress is one of the key concerns for students and has also been labelled the highest factor impacting students’ academic performance in colleges. A student’s ability to adequately cope with their stressors could determine their academic success or failure. This study examined whether there are any ethnic differences in the way African American and Caucasian American Students cope with stress. Data were collected from Students at Eastern Illinois University which included 45 African American Students and 40 Caucasian American students. The results revealed no significant differences in the way Caucasian American and African American students cope with stress. This paper …

Social Support Networks As Buffers Against The Association Between Covid-19 Related Stress And Depression: A Latent Profile, Three-Way Interaction Approach, Kathleen Kelly

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the pandemic, approximately one in four people in the general public have experienced moderate to severe levels of stress, which precures the development of depression. Young adults were extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 related stressors developing into mental health disorders (Wang et al., 2020). PURPOSE: The study aimed to explore this vulnerability in a young adult, undergraduate sample. The main purpose was to explore to what extent profiles of sources of social support networks can strengthen or weaken the proposed association between various types of COVID- 19-related stress and depression and whether social support was a …

Civiic: Cybercrime In Virginia: Impacts On Industry And Citizens Final Report, Randy Gainey, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Jay Albanese, Thomas Dearden, James Hawdon, Katalin Parti

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Victimization from cybercrime is a major concern in Virginia, the US, and the world. As individuals and businesses spend more time online, it becomes increasingly important to understand cybercrime and how to protect against it. Such an understanding is dependent on valid and reliable baseline data that identifies the specific nature, extent, and outcomes of cybercrime activity. A better understanding of cybercrime activity is needed to target and prevent it more effectively, minimize its consequences, and provide support for both individual and corporate victims. Before that can occur, however, better baseline data are required, and this project was …

A Gastrointestinal-Specific Antibiotic As An Experimental Treatment For Anxio-Depressive Disorders, Yuang-Tai Huang

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic stress is a predisposing factor for various disease states, including neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety [1]. Stress-related disorders have complicated multifactorial etiologies [2]. Advances in psychotherapeutic and psychotropic treatments have occurred, but anxiety and depressive disorders are still prevalent and remain a burden to our societies [3]. More than 30% of major depressive disorder patients fail to remission despite an FDAapproved medication [4]. Meanwhile, the contribution of microbiota-gut-brain axis signaling in both etiologies and treatment of stress-related disorders is increasingly being recognized [5]. More evidence has shown that the gut microbiota has the potential to alter the …

The Lived Experience Of Individuals Thinking About Food And Coping With Stress, Tobi Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stress results in many people altering their eating patterns, often consuming food high in sugar and fat. Such behavior is a factor in the growing obesity epidemic and can potentially cause the development of chronic diseases, resulting in employment problems and billions of extra dollars spent on national health care programs. Researchers have focused on the concept of “emotional eating” while overlooking the overarching research question of this study, which was about exploring the experience of individuals using eating behavior as a coping mechanism to deal with stress. All responses were viewed through the lens of social cognitive theory. Interviews …

Staff Education On Reducing Burnout In Mental Health Professionals Through Restorative Yoga Practice, Rina Buenaventura Vickery

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health professionals (MHPs) are at considerable risk for stress and burnout because of the nature of their work. Management and prevention of stress and burnout (e.g., through restorative yoga) may enable MHPs to avoid feelings of anxiety, depression, and apathy; lack of energy; and the development of unhealthy coping skills, such as substance and drug use. The purpose of this project was to create a staff education to assist MHPs in managing stress and burnout through yoga practice and mindfulness. The theoretical framework for the staff education was Kapp’s adult learning theory. An evidence-based PowerPoint presentation containing the staff …

The Biopsychosocial Impact Of Racial Discrimination Among African Americans, Amy Renae Amin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between racial discrimination and anger, stress, and obesity. The stress-disease model provided a theoretical perspective of the biological, psychological, and social pathways from stress. Past research regarding the correlation between racial discrimination, anger, stress, and obesity reported a possible connection, but results have been mixed. This research expanded upon existing literature that proposed that blatant or subtle experiences of racial discrimination are pathways to mental and physical health consequences. The hypothesis was that there was a significant relationship between racial discrimination and the levels of stress, anger, and obesity. Racial …

Education Of Staff On Promoting Yoga Activities In Women With Depression, Ahaoma Roselima Nnebedum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractMajor depression is a serious global health issue and one of the most common mental health problems women face in the United States. The problem in this DNP project, Education of Staff on Promoting Yoga Activities in Women with Depression, was the lack of staff knowledge in using yoga activity to treat women with depression resulting in suboptimal care of women with depression. The DNP project questions were addressed by collecting evidence-based information from the literature to develop the education and to explore if the DNP project would improve the staff knowledge of yoga allowing for the application of the …

Correctional Officers’ Lived Experiences Of Stress When Working In Solitary Confinement Units In U.S. Prisons, Labianca Q. Champion

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to shed light on the lived experiences related to the stressors that a sample of nine correctional officers (COs) encountered while working in solitary confinement (SC) units in U.S. prisons. Cognitive behavioral theory served as the theoretical framework to help to explain different ways that COs can manage their work stressors. These stressors, including lack of a sense of belonging, lack of reward, negative perceptions of policies and procedures while conducting daily duties, lack of independent decision making, and perceived danger, were addressed by the research question. Data were obtained from a semistructured online …

The Role Of Work In Animal Shelter Volunteers' Experiences Of Compassion Fatigue, Andria L. Corso

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Animal shelter volunteers are a critical part of the operation and maintenance of animal shelters across the United States, and risk developing compassion fatigue (CF) that can impact their ability to volunteer. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of work in animal shelter volunteers’ experiences of CF. The compassion stress and fatigue model and aspects from several occupational stress models were used as conceptual frameworks. A basic qualitative design was used to recruit 12 animal shelter volunteers experiencing compassion fatigue symptoms. These volunteers came from 10 different animal shelters across the U.S. Three research questions were …