Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Reconsidering Drug Involvement Among Youth And Young Adults: Implications For Targeted Primary Prevention, Mark W. Fraser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this; paper is to review two dominant social perspectives on the etiology of substance abuse among youths and young adults-the stage and risk factor outlooks-and to discuss them in light of recent demographic and ecological research. The differential demography of drug abuse strongly suggests that the environmental context influences the use and abuse of substances. In an era of great public concern about substance abuse, the use of individually-focused perspectives appears to have resulted in person-centered skills training programs and "say no" media campaigns. Consideration of community-level factors in the etiology of drug abuse permits the identification …

Historical Perspectives On The Care And Treatment Of The Mentally Ill, Albert R. Roberts, Linda Farms Kurtz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An examination of the history of mental illness and its treatment over the centuries reveals that the mentally ill have few advocates except each other and that their treatment has consisted of confinement and neglect. Reformers have pioneered for change, experienced brief success, but ultimately conditions for the mentally ill regress. Society continues to abhor mental illness as though its collective consciousness still believes in possession by evil spirits. Discussion of the early history moves from banishment to ships of fools, to European asylums, and to institutions run by the states in America. More recent history focuses on the National …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of An Infant-Care Skills Training Program On Fathering Behaviors, G. Joseph Vrazo

Masters Theses

This study replicated the findings and expanded the assessment procedures of a previous study that had established the effectiveness of a multi-component infant-care skills training program for first-time fathers. A multiple probe design was used in this study to demonstrate that the training program produced criterion performance of the infant-care skills by four experimental fathers; also, an increase in the frequency of infant stimulation activities initiated by these fathers was observed. A pre/post training evaluation of the effects of the training program on the fathers' performance of play and affectional behaviors and daily infant-care activities yielded negative results. Four control …

A Comparison Of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Relaxation Therapy And Cognitive Restructuring On State And Trait Anxiety In Speech Anxious Adults, Bernard C. Sefchick

Masters Theses

This study tested the following hypotheses: (a) Cognitive-Behavior Therapy would be more effective than either Relaxation Therapy in reducing speech A-state anxiety or Cognitive Restructuring in reducing speech A-trait anxiety; (b) Relaxation Therapy would be more effective than Cognitive Restructuring in reducing speech A-state anxiety; and (c) Cognitive Restructuring would be more effective than Relaxation Therapy in reducing speech A-trait anxiety.

Fifteen volunteers from a speakers organization were screened and randomly assigned to one of three treatments. The Speech Anxiety Inventory was administered before and after treatments to assess subjects' levels of speech A-state and A-trait anxiety.

Results indicated that …

Development And Evaluation Of An Infant-Care Training Program With First-Time Fathers, Ronald S. Dachman

Dissertations

We evaluated the effectiveness of a multicomponent package in training infant-care skills to first-time fathers. After developing and socially validating a set of infant-care skills, we assessed the effects of training in a hospital-based program with expectant fathers (Experiment 1) and in a home-based program with fathers having varied degrees of experience with their infants (Experiment 2). In both experiments, a multiple probe design demonstrated that the training package was responsible for producing criterion performance by the expectant and first-time fathers. A one-month generalization probe in Experiment 1 showed that the effects transferred across training conditions (training doll to human …

The Relationship Between The Dsm-Iii Borderline Personality Disorder And The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, John Thomas Heroldt

Dissertations

Psychotherapeutic efforts with borderline patients have been frustrated for many years because identification of the disorder has been vague, and because the etiology of the disorder has been unknown. Without adequate diagnosis and knowledge of the etiology, it has been impossible to design treatment strategies. The basis for undertaking this project centers on the amelioration of this basic diagnostic consideration.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory responses of 50 patients, 16 men and 34 women, meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (APA, 1980) criteria for a borderline personality disorder were compared to a mixed diagnostic group of 50 …

Neuropsychological And Socioemotional Subtypes Of Childhood Externalizing Disorders: Cluster And Validation Analyses, Grant Jackson Butterbaugh

Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory and confirmatory contrasted-group classification study was to determine if specifically predicted (Hypothesis 1) and externally valid (Hypotheses 3 and 4) subtypes of childhood externalizing disorders could be identified, using previously obtained neuropsychological (NP), socio-emotional (SE), and historical variables. Cross-classification validity was evaluated to determine if subjects NP and SE subtype memberships could be predicted using either their SE and NP subtype memberships or their SE and NP variable scores, respectively (Hypothesis 2). Subjects (n = 117) were 6-to-14-year-old boys and girls with normal intelligence, elevated scores on the Delinquency and/or Hyperactivity scales of the Personality …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Women And Depression, Denise Twohey

Dissertations

There is increasing evidence that new conceptualizations of women's development are leading to important revisions in current psychological theories and practices. In this study, these theories were examined to enhance the treatment of depressed women. Toward this end, a phenomenological laboratory was established consisting of an 11-week psychotherapy group for depressed women which was videotaped and observed by six trained evaluators.

The primary outcome was the development of a conceptual framework for understanding women and their experience of depression. The framework was created from the identification of five content themes which emerged as a synthesis of the observations made by …

Community-Based Self-Help Groups For The Treatment Of Agoraphobia, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The design and conduct of community-based self-help groups for the treatment of agoraphobia are discussed. Such groups incorporate procedures encouraging members to engage in prolonged therapeutic exposure to anxiety-evoking situations. Exposure therapy and its variants have been empirically established as the treatment of choice for agoraphobia, and self-help groups lend themselves extremely well to community mental health outreach and service efforts.

A Comparison Of Awareness Training And Competing Response Training In The Treatment Of Muscle Tics And Nervous Habits, Gregory A. Wright

Masters Theses

This study examines two components of Azrin and Nunn's (1973) habit reversal procedure in an attempt to separate the effects of awareness training from the effects of competing response training. Research (Miltenberger, Fuqua, & McKinley, 1985) has indicated that an intervention combining awareness training and competing response practice is as effective as the entire habit reversal package in suppressing muscle tics. However, because the competing response component is always administered in conjunction with awareness training, the effects of each component are obscured. Four subjects, two with muscle tics and two with nervous habits, received an intervention of either awareness training …

Effects Of Assertiveness Training And Cue Controlled Relaxation Training On Cardiovascular Reactivity To Social Stressors, Bernardine M. Pinto

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of two interventions (assertiveness training and cue controlled relaxation training) on cardiovascular reactivity to role play simulations of social stressors. For this purpose, a single subject multiple-baseline experimental design was employed. Four subjects (three female and one male) received assertiveness training (which focused on behavioral components of assertiveness) and cue controlled relaxation training. Following assertiveness training, subjects responded assertively to the role plays but their blood pressure reactivity was not reduced. Cue controlled relaxation appeared to reduce blood pressure reactivity to a limited extent. Factors associated with the effects of …

The Effects Of Activity Group Structure On Cohesion, Engagement, And Affective Meanings In Acute-Care Psychiatric Patients, Hope L. Brucki

Masters Theses

Through activity analysis, occupational therapists identify various components of group structure and group processes for use in therapeutic activities. This study compared the effects of individual activity group structure (members engage in individual projects) and common activity group structure (members share a common project) in a sample of 38 acute-care psychiatric patients. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of eight theme-oriented poster-making groups, four for each experimental condition. Cohesion among group members was measured by the Group Environment Scale (GES), engagement was assessed by the Group Climate Questionnaire-Short Form (GCQ-S), and affective meanings were evaluated by Osgood's short-form semantic differential …

The Effects Of Rational Emotive Education On The Rationality, Neuroticism And Defense Mechanisms Of Adolescents, Daniel John Kachman

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of Rational Emotive Education (REE) as a mental health prevention program for adolescents. The subjects included 109 eleventh and twelfth grade students who were enrolled in four introductory psychology courses. A nonequivalent control group design was used with experimental subjects receiving 12 biweekly sessions of REE. Subjects were pre and posttested on three measures of psychosocial adaptation: the Rational Behavior Inventory (RBI), the Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI), and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). The effects of REE upon behavior were also examined by comparing academic effort grades, number of detentions …

The Effect Of Assertiveness Training On Assertive Behavior And Corresponding Self-Descriptive Statements, James Scott Boland

Masters Theses

This study examines the changes in subjects' assertive behavior and corresponding changes in self-perceptions/-cognitions after assertiveness training. Based on the findings from cognitive dissonance studies, it is suggested that nonassertive subjects would begin to evidence assertive self-perceptions/cognitions if they learned to behave assertively via behavioral skill training methods. Three males and five females volunteered to undergo one session of baseline measures and four training sessions. Pre-treatment RAS, EIBS, and Baseline measures of behavior and cognitions as measured by changes in behavioral ratings and post-trial form responses. Post-training RAS and EIBS responses were similar to those found in assertive subjects. Results …

An Experimental Study Of The Effects Of A Prescriptive Mental Health Consultation Approach On The Adjustment Of Children Enrolled In The Blue Water Head Start Program St. Clair County, Michigan, Michael J. Duffy Jr.

Dissertations

Head Start mental health services have the goal of primary prevention. The principal vehicles for achieving primary prevention are education and consultation. In St. Clair County, Michigan, the Blue Water Clinic's Early Intervention Program provides Blue Water Head Start participants with mental health services.

This study was concerned with mental health consultation as a service delivery vehicle for achieving the goal of primary prevention. More precisely, aspects of primary prevention were investigated particularly as they relate to the Blue Water Clinic's Early Intervention Program and the Blue Water Head Start Program and specifically, to two mental health consultation approaches used …

Guilt, Ego Development, And Christian Faith, Dane Ver Merris

Dissertations

This research addressed the problem of whether a relationship exists between a particular level of ego development and guilt engendered by a rigid conscience based upon orthodox Christian beliefs. It was anticipated that forty-five graduate students at a conservative midwestern seminary who experienced higher levels of guilt and demonstrated a more rigid conscience/superego would score at the Conscientious stage of ego development measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test. Guilt and rigidity of conscience were measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire.

Object relations theories of the origins of guilt were examined along with the relationship between object relations …

Stress Of The Caregiver: Effective Management Of Dementia Patients In Hospital And Community Settings, Ruth E. Dunkle, Michael Nevin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study explores the management problems among elders with dementia and their medical and family caregivers. Twenty-five patients were interviewed as well as professional health care personnel and a family member. Findings indicated that professional assessment facilitates home caregiving but has little bearing on successful coping by the caregiver. Variability of coping relates to the strategy employed.

Professional Autonomy In Community Mental Health Centers, William E. Buffum

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Professional community mental health workers want considerable autonomy in doing their work, but too much autonomy can lead to frustration and less satisfaction with work. This finding of a study of 93 mental health professionals in three community mental health centers is in sharp contrast with a comparison group of 60 professionals in a chemical plant. The article cautions against the direct translation of research on all professionals to community mental health professionals.