Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

These Places We Walk : Stories Of Mental Illness In American Society., Rachel Grace Trimble

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This paper examines research on mental illness and mental health literacy as well as an examination of literary elements in interlinked stories in order to write a linked collection of five short stories about mental illnesses. Depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

An Integrative Approach To Mindfulness-Based Symptom Management For Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lisa Barer

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic health condition; its etiology is poorly understood, and treatment options are limited to management of symptoms. Current recommended treatment options are controversial, and evidence of effectiveness is limited. This paper proposes a novel model for symptom management of ME/CFS using mindfulness-based interventions, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and relaxation techniques. A comprehensive review of available evidence is used to support this approach. The idea is that, working synergistically, these three approaches, grounded by mindfulness-based principles, can address many of the symptoms of the illness and help patients better cope and manage their day-to-day …

Pro-Anorexia Website Harm, Jane C. Silva Ramirez

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper explores the nature of websites that glorify eating disorders, or EDs. These websites are often referred to as “pro-ED” (pro-eating disorder), “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia), or “pro-mia” (pro-bulimia). For the purpose of this paper, only pro-ED, pro-ana, and pro-recovery website research were the focus. Scholarly articles found in California State University San Bernardino’s database were used to distinguish the different ways that these websites help and cause harm to individuals. Articles about pro-ED and pro-ana websites helped prove harmful to individuals, claiming the disorder as a “lifestyle”. It also showed the support these communities feel when interacting through blogs, comments, …

Demographic Factors, Bmi And Diagnosis That Affect The Administration Of Emergency Treatment Orders In Psychiatric Units, France Leandre Md, Liang Hong, Sarah Fayad Md

Psychiatry

Emergency Treatment Orders (ETOs) are defined by Florida Law as an immediate administration of rapid response psychotropic medications to a person with the purpose of expeditiously treat symptoms that if left untreated, present an immediate danger to the safety of the person or others. Current literature have revealed the effectiveness of psychotropic drugs in treating agitation, however epidemiological studies on this practice are still very lacking.

Health Program Quality Evaluation To Identify Program Improvement Opportunities, Sheila V. Phillips

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Abstract

Objective: to identify Health Program improvement opportunities including reducing risk of unplanned visits.

Background: Health Program is a program in a Midwest community assisting persons with diabetes and Medicaid to help patients better self-manage their diabetes and connect with community resources. Communities are challenged with helping a growing number of persons with diabetes with multiple chronic conditions, medications, and increased use of unplanned visits. Information was needed to understand unmet needs of this population associated with unplanned visits to develop program improvements.

Methods: In a quality evaluation of a single center, a model of baseline prognostic factors associated with …

Great Plains Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Project, Florence G. Duran

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Great Plains American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) experience higher mortality rates than Non-Hispanic Whites from the same region. The National Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey can have limitations of the estimates the health risks behaviors and services from one Tribal community to another. Goals and Objectives: The goal of this project is to address the lack of Tribal specific data among AI/ANs in the Great Plains region (ND, SD, NE, IA) by using Great Plains Tribal BRFSS data that captured information for three tribes in the Great Plains region. Tribal specific data will allow tribes to access, …

Using “Remote” Training And Coaching To Increase Providers’ Skills For Working Effectively With Older Youth And Young Adults With Serious Mental Health Conditions, Janet S. Walker, Caitlin Baird

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since about the turn of the century, a growing awareness of the poor outcomes resulting from “as usual” community mental health care has led to increasing efforts to implement programs and interventions with empirical evidence of effectiveness. However, these efforts have encountered numerous barriers, in particular the high cost of implementation, which has severely limited uptake and sustainment of empiricallysupported programs and interventions. Typically, the largest contributor to cost is the training and coaching required to ensure provider competence and fidelity to the intervention or program model. This paper describes a social innovation that aims to provide high-quality training and …

When Process Becomes Processing: Managing Instructor Response To Student Disclosure Of Trauma In The Composition Classroom, Kelci Barton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In first-year composition courses, there are three aspects of teaching that are researched well so far: disclosure of trauma in student writing, instructor feedback, and emotional labor. The disclosure of trauma is almost completely unavoidable in first-year composition. We encounter an issue with instructor feedback; how do we provide feedback to student writing, like grammar and mechanics, when the student has disclosed trauma in the writing? Additionally, we can build off this with emotional labor, which already occurs consistently in teaching but is heightened in this instance. When providing feedback to a student who has disclosed trauma, this can be …

A Sensory-Based Program To Enhance Occupational Performance For Dementia, Ivy Annahi Torres-Flores, Jacob Gantan, Heather Anne August, Naomi Grace Wong

Occupational Therapy | MSOT Capstone Projects

Dementia is a neurological disease, causing behavioral and cognitive symptoms, that progressively impairs an individual’s ability to engage in meaningful activities. Progressive deterioration associated with dementia impacts occupational performance and independence and quality of life. Sensory based interventions, such as drumming groups, have been hypothesized to be a non-pharmacological intervention for individuals with dementia. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a sensory based intervention program, in this case participation in a drumming group, on functional engagement during self-feeding for individuals with dementia. Researchers gathered data over the course of two days using the Functional Behavior …

Identifying Interest In And Barriers To Psychiatric Genetic Counseling, Samantha Montgomery

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Mental illness is common in the United States and genetic counseling for psychiatric indications can help individuals understand multifactorial inheritance, recurrence risk estimates, and identify ways to protect their future mental health. Despite interest in and efficacy of the service documented in populations outside of the United States, individuals with personal and/or family histories of psychiatric conditions are very rarely accessing psychiatric genetic counseling services. The purpose of our study was to identify interest in and barriers to psychiatric genetic counseling with the hopes of better characterizing this population and improving access to this beneficial service in the future. An …

Social Influence And Moment-To-Moment Changes In Young Adults’ Mood And Psychotic Symptoms, K Powers, K A. Johnson, M Graham, A Cloutier, K Stewart, S Lynch, D Robbins, R Mesholm-Gately, K A. Woodberry

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Background:

• Social situations can have a significant impact on young people’s mood and mental experiences.

• More specifically, we want to know how someone’s perceived social influence in social situations relates to their mood and psychotic symptoms.

• Past studies have found connections between lower perceived social status (rank, comparison, and related concepts) and psychotic symptoms anxiety, depression, and other mood related psychopathology.

• We use experience sampling methods to capture moment-to-moment changes in mood and psychotic symptoms in a variety of social settings.

Characteristics Of Inpatients With Opioid Use Disorder Seen By “Imat” Consult Service From 7/2016 - 6/2017, Katherine Nenninger, Jenny Carwile, Jonathan Fellers, Kinna Thakarar

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Introduction:

• For people with opioid use disorder (OUD), admission to the hospital can provide an opportunity to initiate substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and preventive care

• In 2016, a multidisciplinary “IMAT” (integrated medication for addiction treatment) inpatient team was established to help treat patients with SUD

Identifying Youth At Clinical High Risk: What’S The Emotional Impact?, K A. Woodberry, K S. Powers, C Bryant, D Downing, M Verdi, L Kennedy, D I. Shapiro, R Girgis, G Brucato, D Huang, F M. Crump, C M. Corcoran, L I. Seidman, B Link, W R. Mcfarlane, L Yang

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Background:

Early intervention in major mental illness promises to improve the lives of those identified.

• But could identifying youth as at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis also do harm given that the majority never develop a psychotic disorder?

• Could telling someone they are at risk for psychosis activate internalized stigma that has been associated with increased emotional distress, social withdrawal, non-engagement in treatment, and suicide risk in CHR youth?

• Within the context of a larger study of stigma in CHR, we compared emotional responses to the CHR concept assessed before and after clinical feedback by study …

Reducing Length Of Stay For Mental Health Patients, Faye Collins, Nancijean Goudey

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Background:

Our facility sees an average of over 200 mental health patients every month, with limited community resources. The length of stay (LOS) for these patients had slowly risen to unacceptable levels; the number of patients whose LOS was greater than 24 hours increased in fiscal year (FY) 2017, from 633 patients to 1145. Patients in crisis require expedited transfer to appropriate care locations. Our goal was to decrease the overall length of stay for mental health patients in the Emergency Department.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Homeless Chronicity, And Age At Onset Of Homelessness, Joseph T. Tucciarone Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Childhood adversity is associated with numerous negative outcomes across multiple domains, including mental and physical health, interrelationships, and social functioning. Notably, research suggests that childhood adversity has a dose-response relationship with these outcomes; that is, greater numbers of adverse experiences in childhood are associated with worse outcomes. These outcomes overlap with many risk factors of homelessness. This study sought to address two questions: 1) Does a dose-response relationship exist between childhood adversity and chronic homelessness? 2) Does childhood adversity negatively predict the age at which homelessness first occurs? Adults experiencing homeless who are accessing homeless services in the Tri-Cities area …

Creating The Therapeutic Environment: An Exploration Of Art Therapy And Sexuality, Allison Marx, Lia Verzatt

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research explored how art therapists create a safe and inviting environment for clients to discuss topics related to sex and sexuality in therapy. Our research consisted of three main questions: How do art therapists use art therapy techniques, materials, and directives to create a therapeutic environment in which clients can open up about their sexuality? How comfortable and/or experienced are therapists regarding discussion of topics related to sex and sexuality with clients in therapy sessions? What barriers are there to discussing sexuality in therapy, and how does art help overcome those barriers? Our research subjects were practicing art therapists …

Art As Meaning Making, Zoe Brockway, Tim Cunningham, Lucia Hye Yoon Joo, Jessica Pedroza, Michelle Plotkin

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the meaning-making of art through multiple disciplinary lenses: Art Therapy, Art History, Studio Art, Art Education and Anthropology. Disciplines were selected for their inherent ability to enhance an understanding of meaning-making through the art making process and art product. An arts-based methodology was utilized in conjunction with the Outliers and American Vanguard Art exhibition at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which featured a juxtaposition of formally trained and self-taught artists. Each of the five researchers selected a piece of art included in the exhibition, rendered the piece, documented the rendering process, and viewed each …

Health And Quality Of Life Of Children Undergoing Elective Surgery, Vivian Luong

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Multiple studies have found that poorer health is associated with significantly lower quality of life when comparing children and adults with health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, and ADHD to their normal healthy counterparts. The relationship between health and quality of life, however, has yet to be examined in children who have undergone elective surgery. More than 5 million children in the U.S. undergo surgery each year. These children are often undergoing surgery for a number of health issues that may impede quality of life. Consequently, this study analyzes the effects of health on the quality of life of …

Measuring Neural Time Series Data In A Sensory Deprivation Tank, Jackson Gregory, Tian Lan, Uri Maoz, Amir Raz

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

We are interested in studying the neurological and physiological effects of the float pod, also known as REST therapy, or sensory deprivation tank. Float pods rely on the concept of depriving most senses (from sound and light to temperature and proprioception) in a pool filled with buoyant salt water at body temperature. While float pods are most commonly used in spa environments, we intend to look at the potential benefits of floating under the empirical lens. In this study, we aim to measure neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG). We intend to look at the different levels of relaxation and the …

Female Genital Mutilation In The United States: Estimating The Number Of Girls At Risk, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Female genital mutilation (FGM) destroys the capacity of women to experience sexual pleasure. It causes serious medical complications such as bleeding, painful urination, cysts, dangerous and recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, the growth of scar tissue that make marital intercourse a nightmare and that turns childbirth into an experience of danger and torture. Due to immigration, FGM now poses a potential health crisis in the West, both in Europe and in the United States. To estimate how many girls who live in the West are at risk, one can measure the prevalence of FGM in the non-Western countries where …

Managing Anxiety With Pharmacogenomic Testing, Ashley Pommer

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Anxiety affects approximately three to seven percent of the United States population, and nearly 50% of the diagnosed patients fail to respond to first-line treatment regimens (Boland, Duffy, & Meyer 2018). Traditional first-line treatments include medication therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or the combination of both. With such a high initial failure rate, recent studies indicate promising results in managing anxiety with pharmacogenomic testing. Pharmacogenomic testing is allowing providers to prescribe medication based on individual genetic makeup, focusing on how each patient metabolizes certain medications. The purpose of this literature review was to determine if first-line methods or pharmacogenomic testing …

Can Early Intervention With Group Therapy Or Individual Therapy Improve The Family Dynamic In Ptsd Patients?, Killian Norton

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that affects an individual directly, while also affecting their family members around them. While PTSD is not directly correlated to the development of Secondary Stress Disorder (STS), PTSD has been shown to lead to increased rates of divorce and mood disorders in children whose parents are diagnosed with PTSD. Children who have grown up with divorced parents, or parents with PTSD, have been shown to have an increased chances of developing mood disorders and risky lifestyle behaviors. The combination of having a parent with PTSD who are also divorced, would likely …

Outcomes In Treatment Of Major Depressive Disorder: Pharmacogenomic Testing Vs. Treatment As Usual, Zachary Horoshak

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

The goal of this systematic literature review is to evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of pharmacogenomic testing (PGx) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). According to Huang & Lin (2015), MDD is characterized by multiple signs and symptoms consisting of mood, vegetative, cognitive, and even psychotic behaviors that may cause substantial impairment in the functioning and quality of life in an affected individual. This literature review consisted of articles found in PubMed, Cochrane, and PsychINFO which were extensively reviewed. Articles prior to 2008 were excluded due to the ever-changing landscape of PGx …

The Influence Of Premarital Counseling On Marital Satisfaction For African-American Couples, Christian Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many factors influence marital satisfaction (Ayub, 2010). Some couples prepare themselves with premarital counseling and try to help increase the likelihood of marital satisfaction. When looking at African-American couples, should researchers assume that some African-American couples take premarital education to increase their marital satisfaction? Prior literature has stated that premarital counseling has decreased marital discord and increased marital satisfaction (Parker, 2007). This study will be a qualitative study using a phenomenological design. The researcher collected data from seven participants. Once the interviews were completed, the researcher was able to analyze the data by identifying common themes as well as capturing …

Enmeshment In Military Families, Alexus Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While most research regarding enmeshment has been decidedly negative, researchers analyzing diverse cultures have found that enmeshment can act as a healthy tool for family members. This thesis examines the limits of healthy enmeshment and focuses on military families. It strives to answer whether enmeshment can be a tool utilized to keep the family safely together. This thesis combines narrative and grounded analysis to determine that military families can experience variations of enmeshment that can be healthy and safe.

Power Shift Within A Couple’S Journey Through Addiction, Carly Brack Marketto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addiction is a rapidly growing problem for many couples, but most treatment plans focus solely on the individual with a substance abuse diagnosis rather than taking a systemic approach. Investigating the power dynamics of couples who have been through addiction and recovery could assist future treatment plans to include underlying factors in relationships instead of only addressing symptoms of the problem. This grounded theory research study strives to understand the power shift within couples when one partner goes from being in active addiction to being sober for one year or more. Power is viewed through the four aspects that Knudson-Martin …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Counseling Students In A Co-Facilitated Experiential Group, Alexandra Meyers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research in the fields of experiential learning, group psychotherapy, and neuroscience has supported the inclusion of the experiential group in counseling training programs due to the potential for positive impact on students’ personal and professional development (Badenoch & Cox, 2010; Denninger, 2010). Investigations exploring counseling students’ experiences of the experiential group have been primarily limited to quantitative studies, while in-depth qualitative inquiry has been minimal. Additionally, an extensive review of the literature has found there have been no qualitative studies examining experiential groups co-facilitated by a course instructor and a doctoral student. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Quantitative Assessments In Art Therapy Research With Patients With Cancer In A Medical Setting, Jill Levenberg

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This paper uses a qualitative approach to explore quantitative assessment tools and their use in art therapy research with patients with cancer. An archival method was used to gather articles on cancer research which were compiled from peer-reviewed journal articles available online. The author used a systematic analysis to select articles that met the specific research criteria of working with cancer patients in a medical setting, included the implementation of art therapy, and the administration of a pre- and post-test. Twenty-two quantitative assessments fit these criteria. Further exploration was conducted on the five most common assessment tools. These five assessments …

Art Therapy Based Curriculums With Patients Who Have Or Had Cancer, Gabriela Espinoza

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Patients who have/had cancer are often left with emotional distress, as well as, anxiety, and depression amongst other effects. Art therapy based curriculums have been utilized with patients that have/had cancer with promising results of decreasing emotional distress and other effects. Five different art therapy based curriculums are explored through archival research approach. Through this approach, information is collected to explore five research questions that are presented to understand how these art therapy-based curriculums can help patients who have/had cancer. These research questions explore the type of interventions being utilized in the curriculum when the curriculum is being implemented in …

Art Therapists' Work With Textiles, Sarah Potter

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research project aims to explore how art therapists use textiles in clinical practice and personal artmaking and to learn about the perceived benefits and challenges of this type of work. The study utilizes a Qualtrics survey, with 70 participants, and a focus group methodology, with 4 art therapists. Through the analysis of the participants’ conversations, artwork, and survey information, emergent themes were identified related to examining biases of gender identity, challenges related to considerations of time, the repetitive and slow nature that are particular mindful qualities of textile making, potentially heightened benefits of textile work with children and adolescents, …