Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

On-Campus Mental Health Service Use Among College Students With Autism: A Case Study Applying The Andersen Behavioral Model Of Health Services Use, Estella C. Lilyquist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unique set of impairments and limitations presented by students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make the accessing of campus-based nonacademic resources more difficult and complicated than their typically developed peers. Each year, the rate of students entering college with disabilities continues to grow, but their mental well-being is relatively poor. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to apply the conceptual framework of the Andersen behavioral model of health services use (ABMHSU) to the experiences of college students with ASD to understand and predict their utilization of campus-provided mental health resources. The participants were seven college students with …

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder In Youth And Young Adults With Depression: Clinical Characteristics Of Comorbid Presentations, David B Riddle, Andrew Guzick, Abu Minhajuddin, Orri Smárason, Gabrielle M Armstrong, Holli Slater, Taryn L Mayes, Lynnel C Goodman, Denise L Baughn, Sarah L Martin, Sarah M Wakefield, Joseph Blader, Ryan Brown, Wayne K Goodman, Madhukar H Trivedi, Eric A Storch

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders are highly comorbid, and each contribute to significant functional impairment for affected youth. Comorbid anxiety disorders in depressed youth have been associated with greater depressive symptom severity and impairment, but the impact of comorbid OCD in this population remains unclear. Accordingly, the present study examined the differential clinical characteristics of youth with depression and comorbid OCD relative to age/gender matched depressed youth with no such comorbidity and to those with depression and a comorbid (non-OCD) anxiety disorder. A sample of 797 youth and young adults ages 8-20 years who met diagnostic criteria …

Comparison Between The Effects Of Acute Physical And Psychosocial Stress On Feedback-Based Learning, Xiao Yang, Brittany Nackley, Bruce H. Friedman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Stress modulates feedback-based learning, a process that has been implicated in declining mental function in aging and mental disorders. While acute physical and psychosocial stressors have been used interchangeably in studies on feedback-based learning, the two types of stressors involve distinct physiological and psychological processes. Whether the two types of stressors differentially influence feedback processing remains unclear. The present study compared the effects of physical and psychosocial stressors on feedback-based learning. Ninety-six subjects (Mage = 19.11 years; 50 female) completed either a cold pressor task (CPT) or mental arithmetic task (MAT), as the physical or psychosocial stressor, while electrocardiography and …

Predictors Of Self-Reported General Health Status In People Experiencing Homelessness With Serious Mental Illness, Landon Presnall, Robert Suchting, Gaybrielle Hicks, Jane Hamilton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: The growing homeless population in the U.S.A. is disproportionately impacted by poor mental and physical health status, including a higher incidence of acute and chronic health problems, increased hospitalizations, and premature mortality compared to the general population. This study examined the association between demographic, social, and clinical factors and perceptions of general health status among the homeless population during admission to an integrated behavioral health treatment program.

METHODS: The study sample included 331 adults experiencing homelessness with a serious mental illness or co-occurring disorder. Participants were enrolled in services at a day program for unsheltered homeless adults, a residential …

Dog Guardians’ Subjective Well-Being During Times Of Stress And Crisis: A Diary Study Of Affect During Covid-19, Lori S. Hoy, Brigitte Stangl, Nigel Morgan

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The impacts of companion animals on human well-being have been receiving increased media and research attention, especially in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, there have been calls for research to consider the major components of subjective well-being separately and for research designs to include assessments over time. In line with this suggestion, the purpose of this study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how being a dog guardian can impact affect and contribute to the overall assessment of subjective well-being. This study used a seven-day diary design to capture 31 dog guardians’ day-to- day feelings and thoughts …

Improving The Subjective Well-Being Of Autistic Youth Utilizing A Positive Psychology Intervention, Nicolette Bauermeister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized a single-case multiple-baseline design to analyze the effects of a ten-week multi-component positive psychology intervention, the Well-Being Promotion Program, on the subjective well-being of Autistic youth. This thesis addressed a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions when administered to Autistic middle schoolers. Three Autistic middle schoolers participated in this single-case design study. Dynamic decision-making was used to stagger intervention implementation across the three participants. Life satisfaction and positive/negative affect data were collected via a Qualtrics survey that was administered twice per week. Through visual analysis and Baseline Corrected Tau calculations, it was …

Tattoos And Trauma: Are Tattoos Healing For Trauma?, Krystal Bell

University Honors Theses

Prior research and literature reviews suggest that there is medicinal value in tattooing for the healing of trauma. However, tattooing is still a burgeoning topic in academic studies and still mostly taboo as a western societal practice, so there are gaps in qualitative and quantitative data that could further validate the healing benefits of tattoos for trauma. This literature review analyzed 30 peer reviewed articles that focus on "contemporary tattoo data," "indigenous traditions and practices," "tattoos and trauma," and other alternative healing such as "MDMA, psilocybin, EMDR" to establish a well-rounded investigation into tattoos as an alternative healing option. The …

Assessing The Correlation Between The Socioeconomic Level And Cognitive Function Among Older Adults In Egypt, Macy Abougabal

Theses and Dissertations

The number of older adults is increasing worldwide at an unprecedented rate. Some countries began to understand the challenges of aging, while others are still at the stage of comprehending the true dimensions of the situation. There is a global focus on aging research to appropriately mitigate the negative impact of aging and cognitive decline. Not only that dementia add economic pressure on governments, it also increase the psychological and physical burden of the caregivers. Scholars have previously studied socioeconomic level in three variables, namely work, education, and income, and their relationship with cognitive function. It was concluded that the …

Initial Understanding Of Public Stigma Against Childhood Cancer Survivors, Nele Loecher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As childhood cancer survival rates climb to new records, it is increasingly important to focus on improving the psychological wellbeing of survivors living years beyond their diagnosis. One potential contributor to psychological distress for childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) is stigma. The fear of stigma can lead to CCSs concealing their identity as a CCS, which in turn can strain workplace and intimate relationships, creating a strain on CCSs’ social and work life. Additionally, the internalization of negative stereotypes or rejection of falsely positive stereotypes around cancer can exacerbate psychological distress. To establish what stereotypes and stigma CCS might be contending …

Snx3 Is Important For Mammalian Neural Tube Closure Via Its Role In Canonical And Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling, Lei Dong, Mengchuan Xu, Yang Li, Wanting Xu, Chengwei Wu, Hanfei Zheng, Zhenyu Xiao, Guochen Sun, Lei Ding, Xiaobo Li, Wenming Li, Liying Zhou, Qin Xia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer cells consistently utilize the unfolded protein response (UPR) to encounter the abnormal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced by the accumulation of misfolded proteins. Extreme activation of the UPR could also provoke maladaptive cell death. Previous reports have shown that NRF2 antioxidant signaling is activated by UPR and serves as noncanonical pathway to defense and reduce excessive ROS levels during ER stress. However, the mechanisms of regulating NRF2 signaling upon ER stress in glioblastoma have not been fully elucidated. Here we identify that SMURF1 protects against ER stress and facilitates glioblastoma cell survival by rewiring KEAP1-NRF2 pathway. We show that …

Exenatide As An Adjunct To Nicotine Patch For Smoking Cessation And Prevention Of Postcessation Weight Gain Among Treatment-Seeking Smokers With Pre-Diabetes And/Or Overweight: Study Protocol For A Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial, Luba Yammine, Christopher D Verrico, Francesco Versace, Heather E Webber, Robert Suchting, Michael F Weaver, Thomas R Kosten, Husein Alibhai, Paul M Cinciripini, Scott D Lane, Joy M Schmitz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Obesity and smoking are the two leading causes of preventable death in the USA. Unfortunately, most smokers gain weight after quitting. Postcessation weight gain (PCWG) is frequently cited as one of the primary barriers to a quit attempt and a common cause of relapse. Further, excessive PCWG may contribute to the onset or progression of metabolic conditions, such as hyperglycaemia and obesity. The efficacy of the current treatments for smoking cessation is modest, and these treatments have no clinically meaningful impact on mitigating PCWG. Here, we outline a novel approach using glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA), which have …

Infant Effortful Control Predicts Bmi Trajectories From Infancy To Adolescence, Lillybelle K. Deer, Jenalee R. Doom, Kylie K. Harrall, Deborah H. Glueck, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Effortful control, or the regulation of thoughts and behaviour, is a potential target for preventing childhood obesity.

Objectives

To assess effortful control in infancy through late childhood as a predictor of repeated measures of body mass index (BMI) from infancy through adolescence, and to examine whether sex moderates the associations.

Methods

Maternal report of offspring effortful control and measurements of child BMI were obtained at 7 and 8 time points respectively from 191 gestational parent/child dyads from infancy through adolescence. General linear mixed models were used.

Results

Effortful control at 6 months predicted BMI trajectories from infancy through adolescence, …

An Erp Measure Of Non-Conscious Memory Reveals Dissociable Implicit Processes In Human Recognition Using An Open-Source Automated Analytic Pipeline, Richard J. Addante, Javier Lopez-Calderon, Nathan Allen, Carter Luck, Alana Muller, Lindsey Sirianni, Cory S. Inman, Daniel L. Drake

Psychology Student Publications

Non-conscious processing of human memory has traditionally been difficult to objectively measure and thus understand. A prior study on a group of hippocampal amnesia (N = 3) patients and healthy controls (N = 6) used a novel procedure for capturing neural correlates of implicit memory using event-related potentials (ERPs): old and new items were equated for varying levels of memory awareness, with ERP differences observed from 400 to 800 ms in bilateral parietal regions that were hippocampal-dependent. The current investigation sought to address the limitations of that study by increasing the sample of healthy subjects (N = …

Community Awareness Of Youth Sport Related Concussion: A Neuropsychological Perspective, Ryan D. Bennett, Claire Stafford, Shanna K. Williams, Vijay Bajnath, Chris Burley, Alison Datoc, Alexis Hartman

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

There continues to be growing public awareness regarding concussions and the detrimental effects sustaining such an injury can have on one’s life. Of increased importance is the understanding of how concussions impact children and adolescents, particularly as a result of sport engagements. Contact sports involving youth account for 41% of the concussions seen in emergency departments (Waltzman et al., 2020). Of note, hospital estimates tend to underrepresent the total number of sport-related concussions as they do not factor patients treated in a community setting (Bazarian et al., 2020). In consideration of this public health epidemic, there is a current projection …

Humanity In Trauma, Alyssa K. Thompson

University Honors Theses

The main objective of the literature review is to use the trauma-informed care paradigm to argue that the current implementation of trauma-informed care reinforces hierarchies of harm, leading to feelings of moral obligation and moral injury while perpetuating othering. This literature review criticizes trauma-informed care, emphasizing lived experiences against the characteristics trauma-informed care aspires to reflect. The review centers on the broad themes of understanding, universality, and acceptance of the present trauma-informed care paradigm. The critique comes from the silently excluded group of healthcare workers, with a personal perspective from a professional who worked in an urban hospital emergency department …

Effects Of Daylight On College Students’ Physical And Mental Well-Being, Sathya Thenappan

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

While existing literature predominantly deals with the impact of daylight on adults in general and more specifically at the workplace, less is known about its impact on the college student demographic and daylight exposure levels at college residences. Given its considerable impact on both the physical and mental well-being of individuals, daylight has been used in the treatment of an assortment of diseases from seasonal affective disorder to depression. With college students constituting the majority of today’s people who suffer from mental health issues in society, uncovering the link between daylight exposure and its impact on the physical and mental …

Bridging Empathy, Qianwen Lu

Masters Theses

As a jeweler, ally, and sympathetic witness to the traumatic stories of survivors, my work aims to support the process of reconstruction and reintegration for victims and the greater community. To move beyond isolation, resentment, and debilitating helplessness requires care and support. I want my jewelry to act as catalysts in the healing process by straddling both sides of the trauma-induced situation, to create greater awareness and empathy. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence shows that women are more likely to become victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or other forms of physical and psychological abuse in unhealthy emotional relationships. These …

Moving At The Speed Of Trust, Sun Ho Lee

Masters Theses

Moving at the Speed of Trust is a workbook of strategies — practices, definitions, and techniques — to nurture community-building in support of inbetweeners who live between power structures and cultures and are often left out. Inbetweeners are those individuals whose lives are in transition through recent immigration or forced translocation from Asia to America.

These strategies revolve around threads of trust: kin, giggles, vulnerability, and shared experience. With these threads, we can question power. We can preserve stories, expand the ways we connect, shift perspectives on what is “standard,” and cultivate a community rooted in understanding. To understand each …

The Meaning Of A Choice, Julie-Louise Zeitoun

Masters Theses

If you are disabled or disadvantaged, you will be dismissed and stifled. Few people will actively care for your struggles. As a person with autism, I was deeply fearful of the persecution I had faced throughout my life; it was a fear that followed me with terrifying determination. I desperately wanted to blend into society. So I designed myself to be devoid of any weakness, and productivity was the way I chose to conceal any difficulties I faced. It was a way to measure my success — a way to measure my normalcy.

Standard medical textiles are generic, cumbersome devices. …

Pressures To Comply Or Defy: How Social Values Influence Perceptions Of Healthcare Workers As Villains, James K. Beggan, Scott T. Allison

Heroism Science

During the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians, the media, and the public labeled frontline workers as heroes. The goal of this article is to examine how certain aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic—such as the nature of the Covid-19 virus, coupled with insufficient governmental and institutional responses—created a situation where it became possible for people to characterize healthcare workers as villains. This approach to medical professionals is rather novel in heroism studies and social sciences. A qualitative review of available data sources provided evidence that frontline healthcare workers were perceived negatively. Experiencing a lack of cooperation from patients and their families, healthcare personnel …

Effects Of Controllability And Language On Stigma Toward Mental Illness, Claire E. Shaver, Kevin M. Summers, Gina A. Paganini, E. Paige Lloyd

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Although past work consistently demonstrates perceivers stigmatize mental illness; which dimensions of stigma are relevant for specific conditions remains debated (Brohan et al., 2010). In the current work, we manipulated (between subjects) the controllability of fictitious mental illnesses and examined participants stigmatization across six dimensions (Fear, Help, Forcing Treatment, and Negative Emotions; Brown, 2008). We also examined whether effects of controllability were moderated by language (within subjects; person-first vs identity-first). We consistently found effects of controllability such that participants in the low (compared to high) condition responded with more fear, empathy, negative emotion, and intention to force treatment, but also …

Patient Engagement In A Multimodal Digital Phenotyping Study Of Opioid Use Disorder, Cynthia I. Campbell, Ching-Hua Chen, Sara R. Adams, Asma Asyyed, Ninad R. Athale, Monique B. Does, Saeed Hassanpour, Emily Hichborn, Melanie Jackson-Morris, Nicholas C. Jacobson, Heather K. Jones, David Kotz, Chantal A. Lambert-Harris, Zhiguo Li, Bethany Mcleman, Varun Mishra, Catherine Stanger, Geetha Subramaniam, Weiyi Wu, Christopher Zegers, Lisa A. Marsch

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Multiple digital data sources can capture moment-to-moment information to advance a robust understanding of opioid use disorder (OUD) behavior, ultimately creating a digital phenotype for each patient. This information can lead to individualized interventions to improve treatment for OUD.

Objective: The aim is to examine patient engagement with multiple digital phenotyping methods among patients receiving buprenorphine medication for OUD.

Methods: The study enrolled 65 patients receiving buprenorphine for OUD between June 2020 and January 2021 from 4 addiction medicine programs in an integrated health care delivery system in Northern California. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA), sensor data, and social media …

The Effects Of Music Therapy On Elderly Adults With Dementia, Jeante J. Jackson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As people age, the brain is more susceptible to changes that diminish cognitive function. In recent years neuroscience has found convergent evidence between music therapy and brain architecture, as it has shown the generation of new connections in the brain or a reorganization and possible strengthening of existing connections already in the brain. However, the literature regarding music training’s effects on executive control, selective attention, and speech processing is lacking particularly when it comes to older populations.

This study investigated Verbal Working Memory, Visuospatial Attention and Task Initiation, and Auditory Selective Attention in a 91-year-old adult (B.P.) diagnosed with dementia. …

The Co-Occurrence Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Mental Health Among Latina/O Adults: A Latent Class Analysis Approach, Michael Niño, Kazumi Tsuchiya, Shaun Thomas, Christian Vazquez

Sociology and Criminology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to poor mental health among Latina/os. Few studies, however, have attempted to understand the extent to which ACEs co-occur and whether different forms of ACE co-occurrence differentially shape poor mental health patterns among Latina/os. The present study begins to address this gap by (1) identifying latent classes of ACEs and (2) determining whether and how different ACE classes shape high depressive symptoms among Latina/o adults. Data were drawn from two waves of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, a longitudinal, community-based sample of Latina/os living in four urban communities. Latent Class Analysis …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Latinx And Black Communities, Carolina Zuluaga

Dissertations

This critical literature review project explored the impact of COVID-19 on Latinx and Black communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of September 28, 2022, around 16% of COVID-19 cases in the United States were among Latinx people, and 14% of cases were among Black people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Since COVID-19 began, clinicians have become more conscious of the effects of health disparities within racial and ethnic minorities, which has warranted increased advocacy by educating health and mental health providers and creating and providing resources to these communities and clinicians. The review …

Evidence-Based Practices And Self-Efficacy: A Quantitative Study Of Mental Health Counselors Treating Clients With Substance Use Disorder, Carl Bastien

Dissertations

Substance use disorder affects a substantial number of individuals in the United States. The specific problem of this research is that it was not known to what extent their use of evidence-based practices is driven by their sense of self-efficacy. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research was to examine to what extent the use of evidence-based practices covary with a sense of self-efficacy for mental health counselors treating individuals diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The study population was 121 mental health counselors who specialized in substance use disorder treatment who completed a digital survey. The study findings did …

A Gift To My Self: A Psychoanalytic Approach To Understanding The Experiences Of Women Who Choose Not To Have Children, Irina D. Tchania

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although motherhood has long been a normative female experience, individual decisions regarding bearing and mothering children vary among women. Partly due to shifts in gender roles and contemporary societal expectations, the conflation of womanhood with motherhood – and the centrality of motherhood within female identity – is being increasingly challenged. Women who choose to remain childless make up a growing, unique, and understudied population group. Decisions regarding intentional childlessness have been considered through the lenses of sociology and feminist critique, while psychologically and psychoanalytically oriented scholarship is more limited. This study aimed to further our understanding of the voluntarily childless …

The Lived Experience Of Using Opiates Among Young Adults, Catherine Mbewe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research study is to explore the lived experience of using opiates, as described by young adults aged 18 to 25 years. Over the last 2 decades, opioid use disorders (OUDs) and opiate overdose deaths have increased dramatically in the United States. What used to be a problem primarily contained to minority groups in poor inner-city areas is now increasingly common in all races, genders, ages, and classes. There has also been an alarming increase in opiate use—including fentanyl, both legal and illegal—among young adults. While much of the literature has been focused on the opiate use …

The Effects Of Gender And Country Of Origin On Acculturation, Psychological Factors, Lifestyle Factors, And Diabetes-Related Physiological Outcomes Among Mexican Americans: The Starr County Diabetes Prevention Initiative, Sharon A Brown, Heather A Becker, Alexandra A García, Mary M Velasquez, Hirofumi Tanaka, Mary A Winter, William B Perkison, Eric L Brown, David Aguilar, Craig L Hanis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Examine acculturation and psychological, lifestyle, and physiological factors based on gender and country of origin (U.S. vs. Mexico).

METHODS: Baseline data from the Starr County diabetes prevention study (

RESULTS: Participants were: predominantly female (73%); 51 years of age, on average; born in Mexico (71%); and Spanish-speaking. Individuals spent 11 of their waking hours (range = 0-18 h) in sedentary activities. Compared to females, more males spoke English and reported fewer hours in sedentary activities. Compared to participants born in Mexico, those born in the U.S. were more likely to: speak English; report depressive symptoms; and exhibit elevated BMI …

Aibp Regulates Trpv1 Activation In Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy By Controlling Lipid Raft Dynamics And Proximity To Tlr4 In Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons, Juliana M Navia-Pelaez, Julia Borges Paes Lemes, Leonardo Gonzalez, Lauriane Delay, Luciano Dos Santos Aggum Capettini, Jenny W Lu, Gilson Gonçalves Dos Santos, Ann M Gregus, Patrick M Dougherty, Tony L Yaksh, Yury I Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nociceptive afferent signaling evoked by inflammation and nerve injury is mediated by the opening of ligand-gated and voltage-gated receptors or channels localized to cholesterol-rich lipid raft membrane domains. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) nociceptors express high levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which also localize to lipid rafts. Genetic deletion or pharmacologic blocking of TLR4 diminishes pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). In DRGs of mice with paclitaxel-induced CIPN, we analyzed DRG neuronal lipid rafts, expression of TLR4, activation of transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), and TLR4-TRPV1 interaction. Using proximity ligation assay, flow cytometry, and …