Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Policies In Hospital Social Work, Jolene L. Reisdorfer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The goal of this project was to create an environment that provides a professional standard of care to ensure patient safety. This project will address the absence of policies in the Social Service Department at Mayo Clinic Health System, Southwest Region. A standard of care is a detailed standardized model of an intervention process that discusses the goals, objectives, settings, process, procedures and interventions (Gayle, 2005). Policy development must occur to assure that patients with social service needs are being identified appropriately and are being provided necessary interventions to meet their needs (Gordon & Rehrs, 1969). The project also identified …

Wearing Memory Thin: The Effects Of High Fat Diet On Neuroinflammation And Memory, Ashley E.N. Watson, Emily C. Bruggeman, Marise B. Parent

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Social Support, Gender, And Treatment-Seeking Behavior For Substance Abuse: Does Social Support Influence Treatment Attendance Among Substance Abusing Women And Men?, Robyn Borgman, Joanna Akin

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

Women are less likely than men to seek treatment for substance abuse (alcohol and illicit drugs). In 2005, women comprised about 32% of all substance abusers seeking treatment (SAMHSA, 2005). One study found that 23% of men and 15.1% of women with alcohol abuse or dependence had ever received treatment, suggesting that a smaller proportion of substance abusing women receive treatment than substance abusing men (Greenfield et al., 2006). Reduced treatment-seeking among women may be due to an interaction of both external and internal barriers. External barriers are defined as socio-cultural or structural factors discouraging treatment attendance and internal barriers …

Quality Of Relationships And Alcohol Dependence In Young Adults, Darlene Belen, Allie Ramsay

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

Alcohol dependence and abuse in young adults is a growing problem, especially on college campuses. Relationships between young adults and their family members and peers appear to be factors that influence alcohol use. Previous research on alcohol use and relationships has primarily focused on relationship satisfaction or parent involvement, and few studies have investigated the quality of sibling and friend relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine how different dimensions of relationships (i.e., support, depth, and conflict) and relationship type (i.e., parent, sibling, significant other, and same-sex friend) are related to alcohol dependence in young adults. College students …

Teacher Reflective Function And Its Connection To Observed Teacher-Child Interactions In Head Start Classrooms, Katharine Emerson-Hoss

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The primary purpose of this study was to identify reflective function in Head Start teachers. Reflective function (RF) is a measure of a cognitive-emotional capacity that has been measured through interviews with parents and is linked to the parent's ability to create physical and psychological safety for his/her child (Slade, 2005). This study is the first to apply this measure to teacher interviews. Secondly, this study investigated whether a teacher's RF was related to their interactions with children as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS, Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). This qualitative multiple case study investigated archival …

Gender And Empowerment In Supported Housing : A Consumer-Oriented Empowerment Model For Adults With Psychiatric Disabilities And Histories Of Homelessness, Eleanor M. Jaffee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Using data from an evaluation of a supported housing program for adults with psychiatric disabilities and histories of homelessness (n = 59), the relationships of gender and the presence of children with subjective measures of mental health, personal mastery, personal empowerment, social support, and quality of life were explored, and the results informed the development of a revised consumer-oriented empowerment model. Key findings include a significant relationship between gender and personal mastery and empowerment with women scoring significantly lower than men on measures of this construct, and the role of personal mastery and empowerment as a mediator between psychiatric symptoms …

Risk Factors For Homelessness Among Community Mental Health Patients With Severe Mental Illness, Rupert Talmage Van Wormer

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors associated with homelessness, assess the relationship between housing status and consumption of costly publicly funded resources, to identify characteristics associated with service retention, and to evaluate whether length of treatment is associated with better outcomes. The target population was homeless and formerly homeless adults with SMI enrolled in community mental health services at the Downtown Emergency Service Center SAGE mental health program located in Seattle. The sample consisted of 380 SAGE patients who had continuous enrollment in 2005. These patients formed the cohort for the study. Agency records for these …

A Qualitative Study Of Mothers Who Work Full-Time As Hospital Floor Nurses, Michael W. Firmin, Megan Bailey Pathammavong

Psychology Faculty Publications

We conducted qualitative interviews with a sample of 13 female floor nurses in a Midwest hospital. The women worked full-time and also had children at home for whom they provided care. The overall four results reported include particular challenges they faced in their dual-roles, including separating home from work, high stress, sleep deprivation, odd hours, and difficulty in advancing due to home life pressures. The nurses also related perceived assets and drawbacks of their profession for the given season of life. They described what they believed to be necessities for success in the dual-roles of professional nurse and care taker. …

Formative Research On Perceptions Of Biobanking: What Community Members Think, John S. Luque, Gwendolyn P. Quinn, Francisco A. Montel-Ishino, Mariana Arevalo, Shalanda A. Bynum, Shalewa Noel-Thomas, Kristen J. Wells, Clement K. Gwede, Cathy D. Meade, Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network Partners

Community Health Faculty Publications

Preparing healthy community members with timely communications prior to engaging them in a request to donate biospecimens promises to improve the experience of biobanking participation. To this end, a qualitative study was conducted to assess community member knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and informational needs about cancer-related biospecimen collection in a large metropolitan area in southwest Florida. The study utilized purposive sampling techniques to recruit a total of 95 participants to participate in 12 focus groups, segmented by race/ethnicity and language preference (mixed race, African American only, and Spanish speaking) and age (18–29, 30–54, and 55 and older). Focus group interviews were …

Creating A Patient Navigation Model To Address Cervical Cancer Disparities In A Rural Hispanic Farmworker Community, Kristen Wells, Maria Rivera, Sara Proctor, Gloria Arroyo, Shalanda A. Bynum, Gwendolyn Quinn, John S. Luque, Marlene Rivera, Dinorah Martinez-Tyson, Cathy Meade

Community Health Faculty Publications

This report describes the implementation of a pilot patient navigation (PN) program created to address cervical cancer disparities in a predominantly Hispanic agricultural community. Since November 2009, a patient navigator has provided services to patients of Catholic Mobile Medical Services (CMMS). The PN program has resulted in the need for additional clinic sessions to accommodate the demand for preventive care at CMMS.

Perceptions And Experiences Of Women In Karachi, Pakistan Regarding Secondary Infertility: Results From A Community-Based Qualitative Study, Neelofar Sami, Tazeen S. Ali

Community Health Sciences

Background: The prevalence of infertility in Pakistan is 22% with primary infertility at 4% and secondary infertility at 18%. This study explored perceptions and experiences of women in Karachi, Pakistan regarding the causes, treatment-seeking behavior for and consequences of secondary infertility.
Methods: Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with married women explored their perceptions and experiences for issues related to secondary infertility.
Results: The knowledge of women about the causes and scientific treatment options for infertility was limited resulting in inclination for traditional unsafe health care. Infertility was stated to result in marital instability, stigmatization and abuse specially for women …

The Relationship Of Rehabilitation Counselors' Knowledge Of The Americans With Disabilities Act 1990, Attitudes Toward Reasonable Accommodation, And Job Development Efficacy, Joy Elizabeth Inniss-Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between the rehabilitation counselors' level of knowledge, attitudes towards reasonable accommodations and job development efficacy. The more knowledgeable rehabilitation counselors are about ADA, reasonable accommodations, and their attitude toward job development, the less likely their attitudes will be expected to fluctuate. In addition, there has been very little research in terms of evaluating rehabilitation counselor's level of job placement efficacy. A survey-based design was utilized to create both a quantitative description of knowledge of the ADA, beliefs about reasonable accommodations and job placement efficacy and qualitative information concerning the barriers …

Refinement Of An Educational Toolkit To Promote Cervical Cancer Screening Among Hispanic Farmworker Women In Southeast Georgia, Lisa C. Watson-Johnson, Jigar Bhagatwala, Claudia Reyes-Garcia, Andrea Hinojosa, Mondi Mason, Cathy Meade, John S. Luque

Community Health Faculty Publications

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality continue to affect Hispanic women in the U.S. disproportionately. Our project sought to refine a cervical cancer intervention designed for use by community health workers, or promotoras, in rural southern Georgia. We collaborated with Hispanicpromotoras to refine a Spanish language educational flipchart featuring cervical cancer topic areas for use in screening promotion.

Altering A Secondary Tier Intervention To Examine The Effects Of Negative Reinforcement Contingencies On Elementary School Students, Stevie-Marie Swift

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Problem behaviors in the school setting have become more frequent as well as challenging for teachers and faculty to decrease while attempting to help their students attain their academic goals. Within the last decade, school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has become more widespread as an evidence-based practice within the school system. SWPBS uses a multi-tiered support structure in order to affect behavior change across an entire school population. Several common secondary interventions have been utilized with high success rates. However, the research conducted thus far using the Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) program, a secondary intervention, has shown a lesser degree of success …

A Dual-Factor Model Of Mental Health In High School Students: Group Characteristics And Social Functioning, Amanda Lynn Thalji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A dual-factor model of psychological functioning examines the presence of wellness (i.e., subjective well-being; SWB) and psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) in explaining youth mental health functioning. Using a dual-factor model, previous research has yielded four unique groups of elementary and middle school youth as well as college-age adults with distinct levels of wellness and psychopathology. The present empirical investigation included valid data from 500 adolescents from two high schools (grades 9 to 11). This exploratory study produced four groups of students with unique mental health profiles aligned with previous studies investigating the dual-factor model. Tukey-Kramer comparisons determined …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of Stress, Complete Mental Health, And Social Support Among High School Students, Ashley Chappel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Examinations of stress in relation to adolescent mental health have not often utilized a comprehensive definition of psychological functioning. Recent literature has found support for the importance of examining optimal psychological functioning as the presence of high life satisfaction in addition to low psychopathology (Antamarian, Huebner, Hills, & Valois, 2011; Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). Most research on stress has focused on either major stressful events or chronic environmental stressors; further research is needed on the psychological model of stress, which conceptualizes stress as involving both environmental events and one's cognitive appraisals of the stressor. The current longitudinal study determined how …

Ethics Of Clear Health Communication: Applying The Clean Look Approach To Communicate Biobanking Information For Cancer Research, Alexis Koskan, Mariana Arevalo, Gwen Quinn, Shalwea Noel-Thomas, John S. Luque, Kristen Wells, Cathy Meade, Clement K. Gwede

Community Health Faculty Publications

Cancer innovations, such as biobanking technologies, are continuously evolving to improve our understanding and knowledge about cancer prevention and treatment modalities. However, the public receives little communication about biobanking and is often unaware about this innovation until asked to donate biospecimens. It is the researchers’ ethical duty to provide clear communications about biobanking and biospecimen research. Such information allows the public to understand biobanking processes and facilitates informed decision making about biospecimen donation. The aims of this paper are 1) to examine the importance of clear communication as an ethical imperative when conveying information about cancer innovations and 2) to …

Quest For Vaccines To Treat Addiction, Rachel Florence

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

Drug addiction is a prime example of biochemical psychology. When people use drugs such as nicotine, they trigger dopamine receptors in the brain, causing a pleasurable sensation. People want to repeat the feeling and thus get addicted to the drug. With the development of a vaccine to treat addiction, researchers attempt to prevent drugs from crossing over the bloodbrain barrier and triggering the dopamine receptors. Experiments and clinical trials prove the efficacy of the nicotine vaccine. However, Phase III trials and additional research are necessary before the vaccine can be launched for public use.

Stroke Rehabilitation, Length-Of-Stay, And Re-Admission Rates: A Literature Review, Morgen Hagedorn

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Stroke is shown to be a significant U.S. health problem with a profound impact on the nation’s rising healthcare costs (Hall, Levant, & DeFrances, 2012). Longer patient length-of-stay [LOS] and higher re-admission rates have brought consequences to healthcare systems as institutional budgets are unable to reconcile the additional services and the influx of healthcare demands. Through a comprehensive literature review, the author illustrates the general knowledge available on the stroke experience, on stroke care and rehabilitation, and on patient LOS and re-admission rates. The literature review is based on general medical research with a focus on the stroke population. The …

Implementation Of Evidence-Based Practices In Opioid Substance Abuse Treatment, Elizabeth V. Keck

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project is to begin the implementation of evidence-based practices for opioid substance abuse population in the rural community of Owatonna, MN and the surrounding communities.

Influence Of Medical Marijuana Programs On Controlled Substance Utilization, James A. Farley Ii

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Currently there are no studies examining the impact of medical cannabis programs on controlled substance prescribing. The intent of this study is to conduct a preliminary investigation into whether cannabis substitution for prescription drugs results in lower rates of controlled substance use. The hypothesis is that controlled substance use (in this project, defined by controlled substance supply) will decline in states after the introduction of medical cannabis programs.

State and year–specific per capita retail distributions of the seven most commonly prescribed opioid drugs (fentanyl, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, methadone, morphine, and oxycodone) were obtained from the Automation of Reports and Consolidated …

Motivation, Need Support And Need Satisfaction In Youth Soccer Players, Erica Lippitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: Physical activity levels and obesity rates vary greatly across ethnic groups in the United States (CDC, 2011). One popular way to increase physical activity levels in youth is through youth sport participation, which may be influenced by athlete motivation. Numerous studies have determined motivation levels in youth sport participants, but very little done in comparing levels across different ethnic groups. Identifying differences in motivation levels based on ethnicity can allow coaches and sport administrators to adjust practices and program setups to increase participation and meet needs of player competence. The purpose of the study was to determine if …

Quantitative Analysis Of Some Important Metals And Metalloids In Tobacco Products By Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (Icp-Ms), Syed Ghulam Musharraf, Muhammad Shoaib, Amna Jabbar Siddiqui, Muhammad Najam-Ul-Haq, Aftab Ahmed

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Large scale usage of tobacco causes a lot of health troubles in human. Various formulations of tobacco are extensively used by the people particularly in developing world. Besides several toxic tobacco constituents some metals and metalloids are also believed to pose health risks. This paper describes inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) quantification of some important metals and metalloids in various brands of smoked, sniffed, dipped and chewed tobacco products.

Results: A microwave-assisted digestion method was used for sample preparation. The method was validated by analyzing a certified reference material. Percentage relative standard deviation (% R.S.D.) between recovered …

Attentional Bias And Alcohol Abuse, Jessica Jane Weafer

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Selective attention towards alcohol-related cues (i.e., “attentional bias”) is thought to reflect increased incentive motivational value of alcohol and alcohol cues acquired through a history of heavy alcohol use, and as such attentional bias is considered to be a clinically relevant factor contributing to alcohol use disorders. This dissertation consists of two studies that investigated specific mechanisms through which attentional bias might serve to promote alcohol abuse. Study 1 compared magnitude of attentional bias in heavy (n = 20) and light (n = 20) drinkers following placebo and two doses of alcohol (0.45 g/kg and 0.65 g/kg). Heavy drinkers displayed …

Rating Scale Analysis And Psychometric Properties Of The Caregiver Self-Efficacy Scale For Transfers, Daniel Cipriani, Francine E. Hansen, Danielle L. Mcpeck, Gina L.D. Kubec, Julie J. Thomas

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Parents and caregivers faced with the challenges of transferring children with disability are at risk of musculoskeletal injuries and/or emotional stress. The Caregiver Self-Efficacy Scale for Transfers (CSEST) is a 14-item questionnaire that measures self-efficacy for transferring under common conditions. The CSEST yields reliable data and valid inferences; however, its rating scale structure has not been evaluated for utility. The aims of this study were to evaluate the category response structure of the CSEST, test the utility of a revised rating scale structure, and confirm its psychometric properties. The Rasch Measurement Model was used for all analyses. Subjects included 175 …

Jumping Off The Couch: Infusing Creativity Into Counselor Education, Christopher Lawrence

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This study infused key elements of creativity into the process of counselor education, exposing students in a counseling skills and techniques course to a curriculum designed to promote tolerance for ambiguity, appropriate risk-taking behaviors, and improvisational skills. Employing a phenomenological strategy of inquiry, the researcher sought to explore the ways the participants made sense of their experience in the course, as well as the ways the experience informed their perspective of counseling and the role of a counselor. Participants recognized counseling as a profession replete with ambiguity and rife with personal and relational challenges. They came to appreciate a clinician's …

The Effects Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder On Family Relationships, Melissa Leigh Weissmiller

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts that a loved one's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has on family relationships. With the majority of resources focused on the afflicted, the impacts on the family member and the relationship have implications for further programs and resources that should be focused on the family.

Evaluation Of Support Groups For Adults With Diabetes, Julie Angelita Gonzalez

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the study is to evaluate support groups for people with diabetes to find out information about the facilitators, social workers involvement, if any, details of how the groups are facilitated, resources used and the way in which behavioral change is addressed.

Medical Practitioners' Death Anxiety And The Advance Directive, Daisy Macias, Natalie Macias

Theses Digitization Project

This study examined whether there is a correlation between medical practitioner's level of death anxiety and communication about the advance directive. Even though there is a lot of common sense in stating the obvious complexity of issues surrounding end of life, there is also a clear discomfort with accepting the advance directive and the patient's wishes at face value and the underlying reasons for that may lie in the physician's own feelings over death.

Organizational Behavior In Mental Health Services: A Needs Assessment, Geovana Varela

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to know the needs of non-profit organizations that will help increase their effectiveness and enhance the delivery of mental health services.