Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exploring The Effects Of Christian Worldviews On Heart Rate, Stress, And Adjustment After Loss In Bereaved Individuals, Emma Radini Ratnavel

Honors Scholar Theses

The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between Christian values, perceptions of God, and physiological stress, assessed through heart rate, among individuals who are experiencing grief due to the loss of a loved one. Previous studies have analyzed various physiological effects on the body. There are very few studies that examine the correlation between Christian values and heart rate in bereaved participants. To explore these topics further, this study analyzes 59 undergraduate students who have recently lost a loved one, identify as a Christian, and are at least 18 years old. The participants' perceptions of God and …

Academic Stress And Anxiety In Nursing Students: An Aerobic Exercise Intervention, Mariko Danielle Aka

DNP Research Projects

Abstract

Background: The demands of rigorous nursing education programs often cause students to experience high levels of stress and anxiety during their schooling. Moderate to high academic stress and anxiety levels impact nursing students around the world. This is significant as academic stress and anxiety contribute to decreased academic success, program completion, and student health.

Local Problem: Students at Kettering College and Southern Adventist University were found to have moderate academic stress and anxiety using the SNSI and GAD-7.

Intervention: Participants (N = 24) engaged in a 4-week aerobic-exercise intervention. They were required to complete a minimum of 80 …

Early Life Exposure To Unpredictable Parental Sensory Signals Shapes Cognitive Development Across Three Species, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Kari Mccormack, Hina Arora, Desiree Sharpe, Annabel K. Short, Jocelyne Bachevalier, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, Hal S. Stern, Mar Sanchez, Tallie Z. Baram

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Exposure to early life adversity has long term consequences on cognitive function. Most research has focused on understanding components of early life adversities that contribute to later risk, including poverty, trauma, maltreatment, and neglect. Whereas these factors, in the aggregate, explain a significant proportion of emotional and cognitive problems, there are serious gaps in our ability to identify potential mechanisms by which early life adversities might promote vulnerability or resilience. Here we discuss early life exposure to unpredictable signals from the caretaker as an understudied type of adversity that is amenable to prevention and intervention. We employ a translational approach …

Cognitive Load Effect On Moral Decision Making, Elise Crause, Liz Eisenga, Caroline Hopper, Merry Bailey

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Cognitive Load Effect on Moral Decision Making

Elise Crause, Merry Bailey, Liz Eisenga, Caroline Hopper

Choices are made each day to determine the outcome of our lives. To better understand the human process of decision making, philosophers and psychologists have examined moral dilemmas. Cognitive load is a type of stress that alters decision-making and the likelihood of choosing a self-motivated behavior over a behavior that benefits another person or group. For this study, moral dilemmas were given in sets of two before and after a cognitive-load-inducing task. The cognitive-load-inducing task required participants to verbally answer subtraction problems until the answer …

Sleep And Stress In The Acute Phase Of Concussion In Youth, Arthur C. Maerlender, Caitlin Masterson, Jessica L. Calvi, Todd Caze, Ross Mathiasen, Dennis Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

This study sought to address the complex interplay between both biological and psychological perceptions of stress and sleep in the acute stages following a mild traumatic brain injury. A secondary goal was to identify potential targets for intervention. Eleven acutely injured youth (mean age 12 years) were studied at home with overnight actigraphy, salivary cortisol and melatonin assays, and subjective ratings of stress and fatigue (injured group). Nine matched control youth also were assessed (control group). Results suggested longer sleep latencies (time to fall asleep) and higher levels of fatigue in the injured group exist (p ¼ 0.025 and p …

The Role Of Stress In The Pathogenesis And Maintenance Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Thomas G. Adams, Benjamin Kelmendi, C. Alex Brake, Patricia Gruner, Christal L. Badour, Christopher Pittenger

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder often identify psychosocial stress as a factor that exacerbates their symptoms, and many trace the onset of symptoms to a stressful period of life or a discrete traumatic incident. However, the pathophysiological relationship between stress and obsessive-compulsive disorder remains poorly characterized: it is unclear whether trauma or stress is an independent cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, a triggering factor that interacts with a preexisting diathesis, or simply a nonspecific factor that can exacerbate obsessive-compulsive disorder along with other aspects of psychiatric symptomatology. Nonetheless, preclinical research has demonstrated that stress has conspicuous effects on corticostriatal and limbic …

Social Status Modulates Restraint- Induced Neural Activity In Brain Regions Controlling Stress Vulnerability , Sahba Seddighi, Matthew A. Cooper

Haslam Scholars Projects

Understanding the cellular mechanisms that control resistance and vulnerability to stress is an important step toward identifying novel targets for the prevention and treatment of stress-related mental illness. Dominant and subordinate animals have been shown to exhibit different behavioral and physiological responses to stress, with dominants often showing stress resistance and subordinates often showing stress vulnerability. We have previously found that dominant hamsters exhibit reduced social avoidance following social defeat stress compared to subordinate hamsters, although the extent to which stress resistance in dominants generalizes to non-social stressors is unknown. In this study, dominant, subordinate, and control male Syrian hamsters …

Sources Of Medical Student Stress, Krishna Subhash Vyas, Terry D. Stratton, Neelkamal S. Soares

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Background: Key elements in the clinical practice of prevention, health and wellness are best cultivated in medical professionals during undergraduate medical training. This study explores students' self-assessed stress relative to gender, academic expectations, and level of medical training to guide development of targeted wellness interventions. Methods: In early 2012, undergraduate (M1-M4) students in four Southeastern U.S. allopathic medical schools were surveyed about health-related attitudes and behaviors. Results: A total of 575 students returned completed questionnaires. Students in the preclinical years (M1-M2), especially females, reported significantly higher stress levels. Academic expectations and satisfaction were also significantly implicated. Discussion: These findings highlight …

Age Differences In Stress And Coping: Problem-Focused Strategies Mediate The Relationship Between Age And Positive Affect, Yiwei Chen, Yisheng Peng, Huanzhen Xu, William H. O'Brien

Psychology Faculty Publications

The present study examined the different types of stressors experienced by adults of different ages, their coping strategies, and positive/negative affect. A mediation hypothesis of coping strategies was tested on the relationships between age and positive/negative affect. One-hundred and ninety-six community-dwelling adults (age range 18-89 years old) reported the most stressful situation they experienced in the past month and coping strategies. Levels of positive and negative affect in the past month were also measured. Content analysis revealed age differences in different types of stressors adults reported. Three types of coping strategies were found: problem-focused, positive emotion-focused, and negative emotion-focused coping. …

Towards A Not Obtrusive Low Cost Biosystem To Assess Risk Perception In Workplace Through Stress Detection, Emanuele Bellini, Serena Benevenuti, Chiara Batistini

H-Workload 2017: Models and Applications (Works in Progress)

The main aim of the article is to build a method to assess risk perception in real time in order to early detect and prevent risk behaviors and possible human errors. To this end, the relation between mental workload and stress as critical factors affecting risk perception has been investigated. In particular the mental-physical activation generated by an increment of the workload has the effect of reducing the resources needed to perceive risk increasing the worker vulnerability. The complexity of the stress phenomenon suggested the adoption of an integrated view. The Functional Model has been adopted to for its holistic …

The Impact Of A Naturalistic Stressor On Spontaneous Alternation Behavior: A New Animal Model Of Ocd, Christina Finch

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

Over the past few decades, various animal models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have been developed. Similarly, various stressors have been used throughout animal research. The Spontaneous Alternation Behavioral (SAB) model is a well-established model of OCD while 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT) has recently become a popular naturalistic stressor. This study linked the two together, thus modeling the effect of stress on OCD behaviors. After living in an enriched or standard environment for 3 weeks, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to either TMT or no odor, and then were examined in the SAB task. Unlike what was hypothesized, the enriched environment proved …

A Non-Pharmacological Intervention To Manage Behavioral And Psychological Symptoms Of Dementia And Reduce Caregiver Distress: Design And Methods Of Project Act3., Laura N Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Marie P Dennis, Walter W Hauck

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Project ACT is a randomized controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness of a non-pharmacological home-based intervention to reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and caregiver distress. The study targets 272 stressed racially diverse family caregivers providing in-home care to persons with moderate stage dementia with one or more behavioral disturbances. All participants are interviewed at baseline, 4-months (main trial endpoint), and 6-months (maintenance). The four-month intervention involves up to 13 visits from an occupational therapist who works with families to problem-solve potential triggers (communication style, environmental clutter) contributing to behaviors, and instruct in strategies to reduce caregiver …