Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Implementation And Model To Model Intercomparison Of 12 Heat Stress Metrics, Jonathan Robert Buzan

Open Access Theses

Earth system models simulate the dynamics of the most complex systems on our planet with some success. Despite the overwhelming sophistication of these models, which include dynamical interactions of ocean, atmosphere, vegetation, ice, and land-surface properties, they fail to include the most important element. People. Humans are also a complex physical-biological system and coupling of human physiology within an Earth Systems Modeling framework is challenging. This thesis presents results that tackle one particular component of human physiological climate interaction--a representation of heat stress on human physiology. Twelve different metrics were implemented and analyzed. These metrics represent a variety of philosophical …

Stress Appraisal, Coping Response, And Acculturation Level As Predictors Of Postpartum Depression Symptoms In Women Of Mexican Origin, Rena M. Digregorio

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Transition into motherhood may be a time of mixed emotion. Though most women embrace motherhood and are optimistic about the role, approximately 13% of all women who give birth suffer from postpartum depression (Beck, C.T., 2001; Beck, C.T., 1996; O'Hara & Swain, 1996). However, some studies report women of Mexican origin suffer postpartum depressive symptoms at much higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups (Diaz, Huynh-Nhu, Cooper, & Munoz, 2007). Understanding how and to what extent postpartum depressive symptoms affect mothers of Mexican origin remains incomplete. This 10 month prospective, repeated measures, proxy pretest study of pregnant and postpartum …

Integrating Mindfulness Meditation Into Undergraduate Nursing Curricula, Michelle Yankowiak

Theses and Graduate Projects

Stress and anxiety impact the lives of undergraduate nursing students. Learning how to cope with the stressful demands of nursing school is essential for student success. Watson's caring and healing philosophy notes that learning to care for self is foundational in learning to care for others. Literature also reports that nursing programs across the country are lacking instruction on alternative therapies as a self-care method. A need to integrate self-care into curricula was identified by personal knowing as a nursing clinical instructor and through a self-care questionnaire to undergraduate obstetric nursing students. The integration of mindfulness meditation, as a means …

The Effect Of Emotional Freedom Technique On Stress And Anxiety In Nursing Students, Susan L. Patterson

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Stress and anxiety have been identified as significant issues experienced by student nurses during their education. In fact, some studies have suggested that the stress experienced by nursing students is greater than that experienced by medical students, other non-nursing healthcare students, degreed nurses, and the female population in general. A recently introduced energy type therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), combines the tapping of meridian points with a focus on the feared object or negative emotion to provide desensitization to the fear. In addition, there is repetition of a statement of self-acceptance suggested to contribute to cognitive restructuring. The purpose of …

Caregivers Of Older Adults: Burden, Perception Of Strain, And Health, Juana Ferrerosa Phd, Msn, Rn, Phn

Dissertations

Background: By the year 2030, the older population in the United States is projected to double from 35 to 70 million. Consequently, increasing the number of informal caregivers required to care for an aging population. Research suggests that levels of caregiver strain and their ability to cope can impact the health of caregivers. Tsai's (2003) Middle-Range Theory of Caregiver Stress guided this study and was modified to present an innovative approach which used perceived caregiver strain as a specific stressor in the Control Process of the model; it provided a basis for examining caregiver strain and its effect on the …

Hard On Your Heart: A Qualitative Description Of Adolescent Prenatal Stress, Candace Clayton Knight

All ETDs from UAB

Introduction: Pregnancy during adolescence is potentially stressful due to the concurrent tasks of navigating the typically tumultuous adolescent stage of development and the life altering experience of pregnancy (Kaye, 2008). There is a growing body of research linking prenatal stress to poor birth and developmental outcomes such as premature birth and low birth weight infants (K. Keenan, Sheffield, & Boeldt, 2007; Mulder et al., 2002), which makes describing the relatively unexplored perceptions and experience of stress during adolescent pregnancy important. The life course framework, with its emphasis on social, environmental, and family risk factors, has implications for reducing disparities among …

What Keeps Us Well? Professional Quality Of Life And Career Sustaining Behaviors Of Music Therapy Professionals, Shane C. Swezey

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Self-care can be seen as not only critical for individual professionals, but also for the growth of the helping professions and the quality of care which clients receive. The purpose of this study was to investigate use of career-sustaining behaviors and the levels of professional quality of life in music therapy professionals. This study investigated research questions regarding use of career sustaining behaviors and levels of professional quality of life, the relationship between these variables, the differences in the use of career sustaining behavior by demographics, and the use of music as a self-care strategy.

An online survey was sent …

Examination Of The Impact Of Race-Related Stress And Culture-Specific Coping On Burnout And Compassion Fatigue In Black Nursing Assistants, Marika A. Maris

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Autonomic And Behavioral Reactivity To An Acute Laboratory Stressor, Jeremy C. Peres

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been widely shown to directly influence people’s emotional and behavioral processing as well as their underlying biological systems. This project examined physiological and behavioral responses as indicators of stress and coping in the context of a psychosocial stressor in a controlled laboratory setting. We examined the association between indicators of behavioral coping and underlying physiological reactivity within participants while experiencing stress. Participants included 68 emerging adults. Physiological measures include autonomic biomarkers (e.g., heart-rate, skin conductance) at rest and during the stressor while behavioral indicators that were coded include acute verbal and non-verbal actions exhibited by participants during the …

The Health Of Rural Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Kimberly Y. Robitaille

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction: Grandparents are becoming increasingly responsible for raising their grandchildren. Previous studies have noted physical and mental health limitations for custodial grandparents. Grandparents face numerous challenges in raising grandchildren and consequently, experience high stress levels. However, coping and social support have been found to mediate grandparent stress. Rural custodial grandparents have been an understudied population. Using the Stress Process Model, this study extends the knowledge of rural grandparents raising grandchildren by describing the relationships among physical and mental health, stressors, coping, and social supports for custodial grandparents living in Western Kentucky.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to examine …

The Use Of Humor For Emotion Management On The Job: An Exploration Of 911 Communication Centers, Jennifer Dell Mclaughlin

Dissertations

This study sought to understand how humor affects a person’s ability to cope and manage their emotions in a high stress organizational environment. 911 communication centers are work environments where stress is commonplace, and the work environment can instantly become erratic and chaotic.

This study explored the role humor has in assisting organizational members with emotion management in a high stress job and the types of humor used by members to handle their job and cope with the stress.

The results suggest that humor is pervasive in 911 communication centers, and dispatchers use humor for personal coping, co-worker bonding, and …

The Effects Of Stress On Delay Discounting Performance For Higher And Lower Intelligence Individuals, Rebecca Brodoff

Honors Theses

Maintaining self-control can be a draining and arduous task, which may be affected by several external factors, such as stress or IQ level. An experiment was conducted on the effects of induced stress on Delay Discounting (DD) performance, or a measure of self-control, and the extent to which IQ level moderated this effect. Participants recorded their SAT or ACT scores (which were later converted to IQ scores), were exposed to a stress-inducing or control task requiring them to place their arms in ice-cold or luke-warm water, respectively, and then completed a DD task where they made a number of hypothetical …

Characterization Of The Vasotocin Receptor Subtype 4 (Vt4r) In The Brain And Pituitary Gland Of The Chicken, Gallus Gallus, Rajamani Selvam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the distribution of the vasotocin subtype four receptor (VT4R) in brain and pituitary gland of the chicken, Gallus gallus. The anterior pituitary cell types associated with the VT4R were also determined. Two polyclonal antibodies were raised in rabbit against a cocktail of peptides, 15 amino acids from the amino terminal region and 17 amino acids from the carboxy terminal region of VT4R receptor. The antibody was validated utilizing the Western blot and immunocytochemistry. A single band at 47KDa utilizing membrane protein extracts of chicken brain and pituitary tissues was shown for the VT4R antibody. A peptide …

Assessing The Effects Of Stress Resilience Training On Visual Discrimination Skills: Implications For Perceptual Resilience In U.S. Warfighters, Andrea Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Current military operational environments are highly improvised and constantly evolving, threatening the lives of U.S. warfighters. For instance, since 2001, 60% of all hostile casualties and 65% of hostile injuries in the Middle East theater have been attributed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). IEDs are powerful physical weapons, and the stressful atmosphere they, and other operational challenges create, can also result in a range of psychological dysfunctions, including anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Not only are these issues concerning for mental health reasons, they are also problematic in terms of combat performance. Extreme arousal (i.e., stress) …

The Self-Described Experience Of Coping And Adaptation Associated With Workplace Stress Of Registered Nurses In The Acute Care Setting In Florida: An Ethnographic Study, Joyce Burr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about how nurses learn and use coping and adaptation skills in the workplace. Quantitative studies have identified the factors, nature, and outcomes of nursing stress. However, qualitative studies describing the human experience associated with workplace stress are lacking. The phenomenon of interest for this study using focused ethnographic method is the self-described experience of coping and adaptation associated with workplace stress of registered nurses working 12-hour shifts employed in acute care hospital facilities in east central and central Florida. Three aspects of the phenomena were examined: the self-described experiences of stress, the manner in which coping skills …

Stressors Experienced By Emergency Department Registered Nurses At The Bedside: A Phenomenological Study, Stephen D. Heglund

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Emergency Department (ED) as a workplace for the Registered Nurse (RN) is a stressful environment. Reasons are thought to include interactions with other members of the interdisciplinary team as well as the situations associated with the environment of the ED such as trauma, death, sadness, joy and the general unpredictability of each moment. Studies have documented general health care workplace stress and its influence on staff, but a very limited number of studies have concentrated on the ED. No widely published studies have identified stressors from the perspective of the ED RN. This dissertation is an interpretive phenomenological study …

Biobehavioral Correlates In Fibromyalgia, Ann Trivigno Mcnallen

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by non-restorative sleep, and fatigue. Over 75% of individuals with FMS complain of poor sleep quality and fatigue. These have been ranked by patients with FMS as having great impact on quality of life. A literature review suggested that poor sleep quality may be a predictor of increased stress and FMS symptom onset in those affected. However, no experimental studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between poor sleep and stress in people with FMS. Methods: Using a single stage cross-sectional design, the primary study aim was to compare 25 women with …

The Health Impacts Of Nursing Shift Work, Amanda Maria Cason Shandor

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This descriptive pilot study was intended to evaluate negative outcomes of shift work stress in nursing. Objective analysis of waist-hip-circumference ratios (WHR) and subjective survey reports were utilized to assess whether differences existed in expressed stress, stress related health disorders, and stress associated behaviors among day shift, night shift, and rotating shift registered nurses (RNs). Statistical analysis of the WHRs indicates that no statistical difference exists in the results from this study across the three nursing shifts. Nonetheless, survey reports do suggest that variance exists between nursing shifts. For example, stress related health problems appear to be most prevalent with …

Association Between Stress And Decisional Procrastination In Parents Of Children With Down Syndrome During Their Developmental Transitions, Laurel Zeisler

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Study Of Stress, Housing Program Use, And Nursing Usage Among Homeless In Chicago, Henry Christian Cheung

Dissertations

Homelessness places people at risk of stressors that translate into stress and subsequently affect their health. Using Neuman Systems Model as a framework to identify modalities for nursing intervention among stressors and health problems of homeless people, this study compared stress levels among homeless people from three different homeless housing program types, investigated variables that predict the presence of stress among homeless, identified the degree of self-reported contact homeless people had with nurses, and measured to what extent nurses are preferred as health care providers by homeless people. This was accomplished through a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of data from …

Parental And Carer Responses To Angelman Syndrome And Prader-Willi Syndrome, Allyson K. Thomson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The research project undertaken as part of this thesis was designed to assess family stress levels and the use of coping strategies among the carers of people with an intellectual disability caused by Angelman syndrome (AS) or Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Both syndromes are genomic imprinting disorders that arise from disruptions in genes located within human chromosome 15q11-q13. Although the disease phenotypes are quite distinct, the genetic mechanisms involved are common to both syndromes but involve paternally-derived mutations in PWS as opposed to maternal mutations in AS. Previous investigations in Western Australia (WA) indicated that people with AS and PWS experience …

Validation Of The Masculine Gender Role Stress Scale In A Diverse Population, Amanda Eliza Sherman

Masters Theses

Adherence to traditional masculinity has been associated with negative physical and psychological health outcomes. Specifically, the standards of masculinity imposed on men have been associated with high levels of stress reactivity, interpersonal violence, and substance abuse. However, previous research has been limited to primarily Caucasian samples. In order to better understand masculinity and the stress associated with adherence to masculinity across ethnicity, we examined the validity of the Masculine Gender Role Stress scale in a diverse sample. We hypothesized that the MGRS in a diverse sample would function similarly to the MGRS in a primarily Caucasian sample in that it …

The Effect Of Combat Exercises On Cardiovascular Response: An Exploratory Study, Melisa Gantt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: Hypertension (HTN) affects one in every three adults in the United States. Often associated with the older population, this silent killer has emerged in an unsuspecting group, young military soldiers. With the rapid succession of multiple deployments, long intervals between blood pressure (BP) assessments, and the absence of cardiovascular (CV) measures during the pre and post deployment health screenings; soldiers may be at higher risk for HTN than their civilian counterparts of the same age. The purpose of this study was to explore real-time continuous CV measures of soldiers before, during, and after exposure to a simulated combat stressor …

The Physiological Correlates Of Race-Related Stress And Health Among African Americans And Latinos, Daniel Cruz

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Exploring The Stress Response In New Army Nurses, Laureen Otto

Theses and Dissertations

The study of stress is limited in professional nursing, but it is nearly non-existent in professional military nursing. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among psychological, environmental, biological and demographic factors of stress in new Army nurses during the Army Medical Department’s 8-week Officer Basic Leadership Course (OBLC). Using a descriptive prospective, correlational repeated measures design, 33 study participants completed two psychological stress measures (Perceived Stress Scale [PSS] and the Impact of Event Scale – Revised[IES-R]), an environmental measure (Life Experiences Survey [LES]), a biologic measure (salivary cortisol) and a demographic questionnaire at three different time …

The Relationship Of Level Of Traumatic Exposure, Perceived Stress, And Resilience With Salivary Cortisol And Salivary Alpha-Amylase Diurnal Rhythm In Palestinian Children 10-12 Years Exposed To Chronic War Violence, Mohammad R. Asia Phd, Rn

Dissertations

Political violence, war, and genocide exist across the world and often the innocent children and civilians become victims. War and long-term violence have potentially harmful psychological and physiological effects on children. There are limited studies on the effect of prolonged armed conflict on the child's physiologic and psychologic stress responses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between level of trauma, stress and resilience with salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) diurnal patterns in Palestinian children, ages 10-12, living in a long standing war zone. Salivary cortisol, a surrogate marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) activity, and salivary …

Relationship Among Stress Of Labor, Support, And Childbirth Experience In Postpartum Mothers, Sasamon Srisuthisak

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Due to the profound and life-changing aspects of giving birth and to each woman’s individualized birthing experience, it is important to understand the myriad of factors that contribute to a positive childbirth experience. The aims of this study were to: (1) identify factors related to a positive childbirth experience; (2) to examine relationships among women’s perceptions and personal evaluations of their childbirth experience, stress associated with labor pain, support from the nursing staff, initial contact with the baby following birth, support from partners, education, age, and obstetric history; and (3) to identify predictors of a positive childbirth experience. Method: …

Multiscale Genomic Analysis Of The Corticolimbic System: Uncovering The Molecular And Anatomic Substrates Of Anxiety-Related Behavior, Khyobeni Mozhui

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Genetic diversity generates variation at multiple phenotypic levels, ranging from the most basic molecular to higher-order cognitive and behavioral traits. The far-reaching impact that genes have on higher traits is apparent in several neuropsychiatric conditions such as stress and anxiety disorders. Like most, if not all, neural phenotypes, stress, anxiety, and other emotion-related traits are extremely complex and are defined by the interplay of multiple genetic, environmental, experiential, and epigenetic factors.

The work presented in this dissertation is a multi-scalar, integrative analysis of the molecular and neuroanatomic substrates that underlie emotion-related behavior. The amygdala is a principle component of the …

Effects Of An Evidence-Based Intervention On Stress And Coping Of Families Of Critically Ill Trauma Patients, Sandra Knapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Problem/Purpose: Critical care nurses are frequently exposed to the stress experienced by their patients' families, yet they often do not have the knowledge or skills to help family members cope with the stress of critical illness. While needs and stressors of families of the critically ill have been researched extensively, no prior studies have been conducted to determine the effects of an evidence-based nursing intervention for reducing family members' stress and improving their coping skills. The purpose of this study was to determine if an evidence-based nursing intervention designed to address the needs of family members would reduce stress and …

Nurse Anesthetists' Perception Of Their Rigorous Training Program A Grounded Theory Study, Joy Kieffer Phillips

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

There is no empirical understanding of the stressors that nurse anesthesia students encounter from their perspective as they negotiate a nurse anesthesia program. The initial research questions for this study examined what stressors these recent graduates encountered during their program and how they successfully negotiated those stressors. This study employed grounded theory methodology and the theory of symbolic interactionism. The data were collected from individual, semistructured, indepth interviews with 12 recent nurse anesthesia graduates who have been out of school for less than 2 years. The interview transcripts were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. The stressors discovered were …