Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Pretreatment Characteristics Of Legally Coerced Drug Treatment Seekers, Bridgett Augustino

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examines the sociodemographics, drug use, criminal, and treatment histories of 598 residential and outpatient legally coerced drug treatment seekers in the Kentucky Treatment Outcome and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement Project. Analyses examined whether users/addicts entering chemical dependency treatment under legal coercion differed from nonlegally coerced treatment seekers. Stanley Cohen's theoretical model of social control provided the theoretical framework for the study. Results showed demographic and behavioral differences were noted between respondents under no coercion and those under legal coercion on gender, age, educational status, pretreatment criminality and current treatment modality. In addition, differences between the legally coerced and …

Temporal, Perspectives, Dispositional Styles, And Subjective Well-Being, Mary Naeger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study investigated the relationship between time perspective (TP) and the personality dispositions of optimism, pessimism, and realism with regard to their proposed influence on three measures that collectively assessed subjective well-being (SWB). The Depression-Happiness Scale (McGreal & Joseph, 1993) assessed happiness or the presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect, the cognitiveaffective components of SWB. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) provided the measurement of subjective life satisfaction, the essential final cognitive-judgmental component of SWB. The Life Orientation Scale-Revised (LOT-R) (Scheier, Carver, and Bridges, 1994) and a Reality Scale, composed …

A Harm Reduction Intervention For Drinking Games, Nicholas A. Lind

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Binge drinking is not only responsible for the leading cause of death of 18-21 year olds (alcohol-related accidents), but is also associated with alcohol dependence, sexual assault, and school failure. Little research has addressed one of the major contexts in which college binge drinking occurs, namely participation in drinking games. The current study used a quasiexperimental pre-post design to examine the effectiveness of a drinking game intervention based on Marlatt's (1996) Harm Reduction model of prevention. Six male residence hall floors and seven fraternities were randomly identified as experimental groups and three floors and three fraternities were designated as controls. …

State Regulations Of Smoking In Public Places: Determinants And Implications On The Demand For Smoking And Consumers' Behavior, Ioana Raluca Mazare

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Involvement Of Females As Authors, Editors, And Participants In Journals Concerned With Mental Retardation And Related Topics, Cari L. Porter

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Refugee Experiences Of Trauma And Ptsd Effects On Psychological, Physical, And Financial Well-Being, Karen J. Cusack

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Review Of Family Experience With Mental Illness. Richard Tessler And Gail Gamache. Reviewed By James W. Callicutt, James W. Callicutt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Richard Tessler and Gail Gamache, Family Experiences with Mental Illness. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 2000. $19.95 papercover.

Attitudes Toward And Usages Of Humor Among Practicing Marriage And Family Therapists, Nicholas Todd Wilkens

Dissertations

A descriptive study was conducted exploring attitudes toward and usages of humor among marriage and family therapists. This was an internet study, novel for both St. Mary's University and for marriage and family therapy research in general.

The literature review highlighted the research and theory that has evolved over the past century, addressing the topic of humor in mental and physical health and development. It was noticed that humor has not been a significant topic of study in marriage and family therapy research, nor have attitudes toward and usages of humor been measured among any of the health professions, though …

Injury Mortality In Texas And The Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1980-1998, Jan M. H. Risser, Carrie Shapiro, William Spears

Population and Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Aims: To compare age-adjusted injury mortality rates between Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) Hispanics, Texas Hispanics and Texas Whites. Methods: Using data from the Texas Department of Health, we examined deaths from injuries including: motor vehicle accidents, homicide, and suicide from 1980 through 1998. Results: Injury deaths are the fourth leading cause of death in Texas. Mortality rates for all-cause injuries among LRGV Hispanics were 25% lower than rates among Texas Whites. Traffic accident mortality were quite similar among the study groups. From 1980, the average mortality from traffic accidents per 100,000 persons was 21.9 among Whites and 27.2 among …

Brief 9: Practices And Policies For Dealing With Students With Mental Health Issues, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

One of higher education’s crowning achievements is that colleges and universities are currently educating many groups of people who have been denied access to this resource in the past. A growing percentage of the new population of students arrives on campus with unique mental health needs, which until now campuses have been largely unprepared to accommodate. This new student profile may be more familiar to Student Affairs’ offices, but the educational implications extend to the whole campus. Members of NERCHE’s Student Affairs Think Tank discussed this topic at one of their meetings and offer the following insights.

Mental Health Needs Of Tanf Recipients, Layne K. Stromwall

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reports findings of a study of female Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and non-recipients ages 18-40, receiving behavioral health services in the rural Southwest in 1998-9. TANF recipients (N = 119) were more likely to be seriously mentally ill than non-recipients (N = 370), suggesting that a subgroup of TANF recipients may face significant barriers to employment given the new TANF regulations. The author argues that responsibility for recognizing the needs of TANF recipients for behavioral health services is shared by both the public welfare and behavioral health systems. Suggestions for meeting this challenge in both systems …

Thinness In Women: The Impact Of Female Body Weight On Relationship Satisfaction And Commitment, Wendy Walter Campbell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study represents an investigation of the impact of weight change on romantic relationships, and the hypothesized gender difference in the importance assigned to a partner's weight. Participants were 221 undergraduate students (148 women and 73 men) from a medium sized Midwestern University. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions in which their weight in a photo image was increased, decreased or left unchanged. Upon inspecting the image, participants were asked to complete measures of relationship satisfaction and commitment (including among others, items from the Dyadic Adjustment Scale [DAS]), the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale [KMSS], as well …

Quality Of Life Factors Among Recovering Alcoholics, George Edwin Compton Jr.

Dissertations

The inspiration for undertaking the current research came from the Student Investigator’s own experience of 19 years in recovery from alcoholism. During his early years in graduate school, the Student Investigator witnessed occasional misunderstandings among some academics and helping professionals regarding the nature of alcoholism, and, specifically, the tasks involved in sustaining enduring recovery from alcoholism. Thus, this dissertation research, which has sought to examine, through qualitative research methodology, the factors involved in achieving and sustaining quality of life in extended recovery from alcoholism was undertaken.

Several authors have noted the need for research which focuses on long-term recovery from …

A Model For Hiv/Aids Risk Behaviors Of Students In Armenia, Talin Babikian

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Without a cure in now its third decade, AIDS is a concern for both the medical and social science disciplines. Most at risk for a nationwide AIDS epidemic are developing countries, which often lack the necessary resources and knowledge to minimize the spread of the disease. There are an estimated 1500 HIV cases in Armenia, 81.5% of which occur in the 20-39 age group. Armenia’s current economic and political instability, increase in sexually transmitted infections (STI), prostitution, and injecting drug use, and the alarming incidence rates in neighboring countries amplify its risk for a national epidemic.

The goals of this …

Ethics As Therapy: Philosophical Counseling And Psychological Health, Mike W. Martin

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

From the inception of philosophical counseling an attempt was made to distinguish it from (psychological) therapy by insisting that therapy could not be more misleading. It is true that philosophical counselors should not pretend to be able to heal major mental illness; nevertheless they do contribute to positive health—health understood as something more than the absence of mental disease. This thesis is developed by critiquing Lou Marinoff’s book, Plato not Prozac!, but also by ranging more widely in the literature on philosophical counseling. I also interpret philosophical counseling as a form of philosophical ethics.

Internet Facilitation Of Opioid Dependence., D Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Parenting Behaviors Related To Young Adult Depressive Symptomology, Rebecca D. Abramson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Parental stress, hostility, warmth, acceptance, amount of control, and overall security of parent-child attachment appears to influence childhood and adult adjustment. Several relationships have been found between parenting style and the emotional and psychological well being of children and adolescents (e.g., Baumrind, 1967, 1971; Parker, 1979a, 1979b; Ge, Conger, Lorenz, & Simons, 1994; Ge, Best, Conger, & Simons, 1996). The present study examined the effects of perceived parenting styles on young adults' reported psychological distress and depressive symptomology. Participants viewed both mothers and fathers as equally attentive, supportive, and controlling, while viewing mothers as slightly more caring. However, participants' perceptions …

Attitudes Towards Guns: Associations With Alcohol Use And Impulsive Behaviors, Catherine A. Martin, Arch G. Mainous, Harriett H. Ford, Rosalie Mainous, Susan Slade, David Martin, Hatim A. Omar

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

This study was an investigation of the association of attitudes toward guns with self-reports of alcohol/drug use, and impulsivity. Participants included 160 male and female high school students, who completed five questions regarding attitudes toward guns, in addition to questions about alcohol/drug use. Data were analyzed using t-tests. Males were more likely to feel that a home was safer with a gun. Feeling positively about a gun was associated with alcohol use in males and impulsive, aggressive behavior in males and females. A greater understanding of attitudes toward guns must take into account gender, alcohol use, and impulsive and aggressive …

Trends. The Privileged Status Of The Physical In Health Ideology: The Security Consequences Of Aids, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the importance of recognizing both physical and psychological factors of the AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) pandemic on security.

Adolescent And Young Adult Substance Use: Association With Sensation Seeking, Self Esteem And Retrospective Report Of Early Pubertal Onset. A Preliminary Examination, Catherine A. Martin, T. K. Logan, Carl Leukefeld, Rich Milich, Hatim Omar, Richard Clayton

Psychology Faculty Publications

Structured questionnaires were administered to investigate the relationship between early pubertal onset, substance abuse, sensation seeking, and self-esteem. The current study presents data from 1,002 subjects, who were followed from the 6th to the 10th grades and again at the age of 20. In females, early pubertal onset was associated with greater cigarette use and lower self-esteem. Further the interaction of early pubertal onset and low self-esteem was predictive for cigarette use in females, as was early pubertal onset and high sensation seeking. Late pubertal onset was associated with decreased alcohol use and lower sensation seeking in males, with the …

The Differential Impact Of Sexism In Latino Men And Women’S Psychiatric Symptoms, Astrid Magalij Reina-Patton

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The study assessed the reliability of the Spanish and English versions of the Schedule of Sexist Events General Form (SSE-G). The extent to which Spanish and English-speaking men and women differed in their responses on the SSE-G was investigated, as was the degree to which men and women differed in their report of psychiatric symptoms. Further, the extent to which the SSE-G predicted psychiatric symptomology for Spanish and English-speaking men and women was assessed, as was the extent to which sexism (i.e., gender-specific stress) accounted for additional variance in symptoms, above and beyond that accounted for by acculturation, language, and …

Changing Patterns Of Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization Under A Public Managed Care Program, Christopher G. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study evaluates changes in patterns of acute psychiatric hospitalization under Massachusetts' Medicaid-funded Mental Health and Substance Abuse (MMHSA) carve-out program. The data consists of the Case Mix Database, for FY 1996 and FY 1997, compiled by the state's Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, on all acute hospital episodes in the state. Key comparisons involve hospital utilization during the nine months preceding the 1996 implementation of the current expanded carve-out program and the subsequent 15 months of its implementation. Secondary comparisons are made between patients funded by the state's two major Medicaid programs, its behavioral carve-out and its …

Managed Care And Social Work: Practice Implications In An Era Of Change, Sophia F. Dziegielewski, Diane C. Holliman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of the clinical social worker in a time of unprecedented change. The events of the last decade have transformed health care delivery as well as professional performance expectations. To facilitate understanding, the environmental considerations that surround these changes are traced and discussed. A direct linkage is made to clinical social work practice and suggestions for the future survival of the profession is discussed. These suggestions include: (1) a greater focus on behaviorally-based outcomes that result in cost-beneficial service provision; (2) increased marketing of social work services to health care providers; …

A Question Of Neutrality: Divorce Mediation Literature, The Role Of The Mediator, And Perspectives On Bias, Cory Michael Mathews

Dissertations and Theses

Research on mediation processes have addressed the role of the mediator, but often obliquely. In divorce mediation, the literature has sketched various approaches to the role, which diverge from each other in some significant ways. What is lacking is an integrated picture as to how these approaches to the field differ on key questions in the practice of divorce mediation.

This thesis is a preliminary attempt at such an integrated sketch, focusing on the question of whether or not the mediator is truly neutral in the process. Two major schools of thought of emerge from the literature, here referred to …

The Relationship Between Drug Usage, Mental Well-Being And Felony Convictions Among A Sample Of Adult Recreational Drug Users: Case-Control Analyses, Venkata Chilakapti

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Changing lifestyles in today's world have resulted in the evolution of many human activities. One of them is recreational drug use. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between drug usage, mental well-being and felony convictions among a sample of adult recreational drug users. The primary purpose of this analysis was to develop a set of predictor variables from the DRUGNET data set (i.e., lifestyle, drug usage, GWBS) that were able to account for the criterion variables (i.e., drug-related felony vs. no drug- related felony and non-drug felony vs. no felony ). The analyses attempted to differentiate …

The Effect Of Individual Counseling On Hope And Its Impact On The Utilization Of Services By Individuals With Hiv Disease, Barry Michael Vesciglio

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interrelationships of participation in counseling, level of hope, and care service utilization in a sample of individuals with HIV disease was the focus of this study. It was hypothesized that individual counseling would improve an HIV-positive person's level of hope, and would increase participation in additional care services. It was also hypothesized that individuals with more hope would seek a greater number of care services. The Health Status Questionnaire, which contains the Hope Scale, and the Social Support Questionnaire were used to collect data. Participation in individual counseling was not related to level of hope. Additionally, stage of illness …

Nsu Achievements - Spring 2001, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Achievements

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Psychological Reactance And Desire For Control On Perceptions Of Common Elements Of Cognitive, Affective, And Behavioral *Change, Morgan Edward Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was designed to assess the impact of two dispositional variables, psychological reactance and desire for control, on individual perceptions of common elements of psychological change. These common elements represent cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of psychological change. The study tested whether individuals with different levels of psychological reactance and desire for control systematically differed in their perception of the importance of elements relevant to psychological change. Participants (N = 420) completed three self-report assessment instruments: (a) the Common Elements of Change Questionnaire, (b) Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale, and (c) the Desirability of Control Scale. As hypothesized, …

From Correctional Custody To Community: The Massachusetts Forensic Transition Program, Stephanie W. Hartwell, Donna Haig Friedman, Karin Orr

New England Journal of Public Policy

Offenders with mental illness who are serving correctional sentences are released to the community.Without support systems linking their transition to community-based programs following release from prison, the services necessary for their community reintegration are often fragmented and attenuated. Nearly two thirds of all inmates return to prison, and offenders with mental illness face major challenges during reintegration and have an even more difficult time living in the community without specialized, informed services. This article describes a Massachusetts program designed to bridge the transition of offenders with mental illness from incarceration to the community.The authors review historical and recent trends that …

Review Of Independent Practice For The Mental Health Professional: Growing A Private Practice For The 21st Century. Ralph H. Earle And Dorothy J. Barnes. Reviewed By Rafael Herrera, University Of California At Berkeley., Rafael Herrera

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review for Ralph H. Earle and Dorothy J. Barnes, Independent Practice for the Mental Health Professional: Growing a Private Practice for the 21st Century. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel, 1999. $24.95 hardcover.