Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Rxp Project: Prescription Privileges For Psychologists: Perceptions, Knowledge And Attitude Change Of Oregon Psychologists, Jenna D. Johnson, Amber Hay, Allyna Murray, Jessica C. Lucas, Tanya Tompkins

2012 Projects

The Keck Summer Collaborative Research Program provides opportunities for Linfield College students and faculty to conduct research on issues related to the Pacific Northwest, and to bring the research findings back into the classroom within the subsequent academic year. Students partner with faculty to conduct research and present their work to other students, Linfield staff and faculty, and community members during a series of brown bag lunches. Jenna Johnson, Amber Hay, Allyna Murray, and Jessica Lucas conducted research with Tanya Tompkins and gave this presentation during the summer of 2012.

Over the past two decades, an important, and at times …

Effects Of Gender Composition Of Target And Sender Dyads On The Tendency To Infer Lies, Byron J. Simoneaux

Doctoral Dissertations

Lying is so common in human behavior that some have labeled it a social skill. Despite the ubiquity of lies, humans have consistently been found to be poor lie detectors. Attempts have been made to improve the accuracy of human lie detection. Unfortunately, the most successful training only improves accuracy slightly above the level of chance. Because of its importance to society, considerable effort has been aimed at developing methods to help determine when people are lying. Researching how and why humans infer that another person is lying has the potential to advance the understanding of lie detection. Researchers have …

The Effects Of Combat Exposure On Post-Deployment Coping Deficits In Oef/Oif/Ond Veterans, Alex Emerson Dryden

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

As members of the United States Military return stateside from the combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, an increasing number of veterans exposed to combat are reporting symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as other significant detrimental impacts on their ability to cope with the stressful situations they experienced in the combat arena. The purpose of the current study is to ascertain the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Operation New Dawn (OND), the potential impairment in their abilities to cope with the combat-related stress. The …

Research Brief: "Psychiatric Status And Work Performance Of Veterans Of Operations Enduring Freedom And Iraqi Freedom", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines the relationship between psychiatric status and work impairment among OEF/OIF veterans enrolled in VA healthcare. In practice, mental health services are a high priority for the Veterans Administration, which is now focused on integrating behavioral health services into primary care so OEF/OIF veterans face fewer obstacles in obtaining and sustaining psychiatric care. In policy, policymakers should integrate veterans’ health programs with systematic assessment functioning, and develop treatment geared towards addressing impaired job performance. Suggestions for future study include focusing on whether workers with depression and other psychiatric conditions participate fully in the labor market and function effectively …

Relationships Between Social Self-Esteem, Media Influence And Drive For Thinness, Sofia Fernandez, Mary E. Pritchard

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although media exposure is known to relate to drive for thinness and social self-esteem in women, less is known about how media affects drive for thinness and social self-esteem in men. The present study examined the relationships between drive for thinness, social self-esteem, and media influence among men and women. Two hundred ninety-four college students completed the Texas Social Behavior Inventory, the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale-3, a self-constructed questionnaire measuring the influence of media models, and the Drive for Thinness scale of the EDI-3. We expected to find an association between drive for thinness and media influence and between …

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of "The Happiest Toddler On The Block" Parenting Strategies By Young Mothers, Amye Elizabeth Bock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young parents and their children are considered a high-risk population as they are more likely to lack social support networks, have limited access to opportunities to enhance parenting skills, and are often financially dependent. Young children whose mothers have poor parenting skills are more likely to have persistent problem behavior. Three young mothers living in a transitional housing facility participated in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine if these mothers could implement parenting strategies that are a part of a commercially available parenting book and DVD. This study found that: (1) mothers were able to correctly …

Training And Assessment Of Toothbrushing Skills Among Children With Special Needs, Rachel A. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The success of applied behavior analysis (ABA) interventions relies heavily on adherence to measures of social importance. One area identified by caregivers, educators, and researchers as having social importance is the area of daily living skills; particularly in populations of children with special needs. A number of studies employed the use of a task analysis to objectively measure toothbrushing, with various training procedures utilized. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an effective procedure used to train a variety of skills. Further, research indicates the addition of an in situ assessment promotes generalization of trained skills. The current study examined the use …

The Role Of Engagement Across Conceptually Distinct Treatment Elements For Social Anxiety Disorder, Timothy M. Emge

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There are currently several efficacious treatments for social anxiety disorder (e.g. exposure therapy and cognitive therapy). Each of these treatments is thought to reduce symptoms of social anxiety by disrupting maintenance mechanisms of the disorder, yet mechanism of change research has not supported this view. The current study compared components from each therapy modality in order to better understand why symptoms reduce similarly between conceptually distinct treatments. Participants with high social anxiety were randomly assigned to give a speech with cognitive restructuring and engagement-enhancing procedures, cognitive preparation and video feedback, or a speech alone. Self-ratings of speech performance, confidence in …

Dimensions Of Individuals' Judgements About Sexual Attraction, Romantic Attachment, And Sexual Orientation, Luis F. Morales Knight

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Despite 150 years of scientific interest in sexual orientation, contemporary investigators grapple with a number of serious difficulties. A precise, unified definition of sexual orientation appropriate for scientific use continues to elude researchers, most likely because there is still no single coherent theory of sexual orientation. This lack impedes research into the measurement of sexual orientation. Existing measurements of sexual orientation rely on partial or incompletely empirical research. The present study identified promising avenues for development of credible definitions, theories, and measurements of sexual orientation: (a) mate-selection tasks; (b) the idea that bisexually-identified individuals place a lower priority on partner …

Research Brief: "Employment Outcomes And Ptsd Symptom Severity", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study investigates how the severity of PTSD symptoms relates to employment and earnings. It found that veterans with more severe symptoms of PTSD were more likely to work part-time or not at all rather than have full-time work. In practice, treating PTSD, even if some symptoms remain, could result in better employment outcomes for veterans. In policy, policymakers should consider providing previously successful programs focused on veterans with PTSD for individuals with other mental health conditions. Suggestions for future research include a large, controlled, longitudinal survey that would allow researchers to investigate more thoroughly how PTSD symptoms relate to …

Posttraumatic Stress And Myocardial Infarction Risk Perceptions In Hospitalized Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients, Donald Edmondson, Jonathan A. Shaffer, Ellen-Ge Denton, Daichi Shimbo, Lynn Clemow

Publications and Research

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is related to acute coronary syndrome (ACS; i.e., myocardial infarction or unstable angina) recurrence and poor post-ACS adherence to medical advice. Since risk perceptions are a primary motivator of adherence behaviors, we assessed the relationship of probable PTSD to ACS risk perceptions in hospitalized ACS patients (n = 420). Participants completed a brief PTSD screen 3-7 days post-ACS, and rated their 1-year ACS recurrence risk relative to other men or women their age. Most participants exhibited optimistic bias (mean recurrence risk estimate between "average" and "below average"). Further, participants who screened positive for current PTSD (n …

Linguistic Devices, Emotionality, And Memorability Of Computer Mediated Communication, Angela M. Mion

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

I examined whether college students use shortcuts, pragmatics, and errors in text messages differently depending on their gender and the emotionality of the message. Results indicate that the prevalence of particular shortcuts differed across happy, sad, and angry messages, but gender did not influence use of linguistic devices. In a second study, I examined the emotionality and memorability of text messages versus voicemails. Results indicate that texts may be remembered better than voicemails, and happy, sad, and angry messages may be remembered differently by men and women.

Predictors Of Depression For Low-Income African American Single Mothers, Jennifer Hatcher, Mary K. Rayens, Ann R. Peden, Lynne A. Hall

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Purpose: To test a model of predictors of depression in low-income single African American mothers. Design: Secondary analysis of existing data collected as part of a study of women at risk for clinical depression.

Methods: Cross sectional secondary data analysis of a study of low-income African American single mothers with children ages 2-6. Path analysis was used to test a model of the potential mediating role of negative thinking. It was hypothesized that negative thinking mediates the effects of chronic stressors, general health status, and self-esteem on depressive symptoms

Finding: Negative thinking mediated the relationships of chronic stressors and self-esteem …

Recruitment Of African Americans For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Treatment Research, Georgia Michalopoulou, Pamela Falzarano, David Rosenberg

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

A systematic review of recruitment approaches was conducted as a step towards creating a culturally sensitive approach to enhance participation of African Americans into our Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) treatment research. From this review, a recruitment plan providing a collaborative partnership between the African American community and the clinical investigators was adopted. We sought to increase participation in OCD research by developing culturally sensitive educational materials, implementing strategies such as recruiter ethnic match, encouraging individuals to participate by a pastor, and providing education in the community that attempted to decrease stigmatization of mental illness and target cultural suspicion of institutional …

Descriptive Experience Sampling Interactive Multi-Media Training Tool For Subjunctification And Illustrative Interviews, Stacy Lynne Reger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Modern experience sampling methods attempt to understand the phenomenology of inner experience through a variety of methods, including questionnaires, diaries, and verbalization of ongoing cognitive processes. The goal of such studies is to minimize potential roadblocks to accessing inner experience, such as retrospective recall, memory failures, and bias. The current project focuses on one such method, Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES). DES is an idiographic, exploratory, and ecologically valid method of studying inner experience. In this method, participants wear a beeper with an earphone that emits a random beep. When the beep sounds, the participant is to write down notes about …

Obstacles To Dieting Behavior, Shahram Heshmat

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Despite documented short term success, dieting has a very low success rates, most dieters regain their weight back within 3-5 years. The question is why do people fail to stick to their goal for eating a healthy diet in order to lose weight? One possible answer is that people have self-control problems in the form of a present-biased preference. From a prior perspective, they want to behave relatively patiently, but as the moment of action approaches, they want to behave relatively impatiently. The essay presents some insights from behavioral economics to explain why people fail to maintain healthy behavior.

Using Negative Feedback To Guide Behavior: Impairments On The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Relates To Psychosis, Sally Barney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is increasing controversy regarding the distinction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as separate diagnostic categories because these disorders share many features in common. These and other findings suggest that bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may be better conceptualized along a continuum or within more homogeneous subsets of affective, psychotic, and mixed symptomatology.

Dopamine dysregulation has been found in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, particularly those that experience psychosis during the acute phases of their bipolar illness. Dopamine has been found to play a role in reward and reward learning. Recently, research has found that individuals with schizophrenia experience deficits in reward …

Evaluating The Sustained Psychological Benefits Of On-Site Employee Health Programs, Stephen Spencer Clancy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was conducted to explore whether employee wellness programs actually promote long term changes in participating employees’ psychological health. Forty four participants were included in the final sample from a large southeastern organization currently offering three different structured wellness programs to its employees. A semi-longitudinal study design was implemented involving three data points over a 5 month time frame. Analyses were conducted to examine factors impacting participation in the programs and the changes those programs have on employees’ perceived levels of stress, psychological well-being, job-satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Results suggest that participation in these programs does result improved …

Love Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry, But What About Malpractice? A Look At Verbal And Nonverbal Factors Affecting Perceptions Of Apologies In A Medical Malpractice Case, Sarah Thimsen

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Apologies are part of daily life and occur in a variety of contexts. A large body of literature on the effects of apologies indicated that apologies have a positive effect – those receiving apologies have more positive views of the transgressor (e.g., Bornstein, Rung, & Miller, 2002; Goei, Roberty, Meyer, & Carlyle, 1997; Robbennolt, 2003; Sitkin & Beis, 1993; Takaku, 2000). An area of emerging research in the realm of apologies is in the area of medical malpractice. The research presented here sought to expand on the field of apologies, specifically by examining the effects of an apology in a …

Adolescent Decision Making And Risk Behavior: A Neurobiological Approach, Jennifer M. Wolff

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, the neurobiological theory of adolescent decision making and risk taking and the dual-process decision making theory were tested in a sample of college students. Participants responded to questions in a survey about decision making style, socio-emotional processes, cognitive control processes, and deviant peers. The goals of the research were to test the relation between decision making processes (intuitive and deliberative) and risk behaviors, to test the potential overlap between intuitive and deliberative decision making as described in the more traditional dual-process models and the socio-emotional and cognitive control systems of the neurobiological model, and to extend the …

Family Psychoeducation In Clinical High Risk And First- Episode Psychosis, William R. Mcfarlane, Sarah Lynch, Ryan P. Melton

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

Seventy percent of those who will have an episode of psychosis will have done so by age 25. Data from clinical trials of intervention during the clinical high risk period of psychosis have determined that the mean age is in mid-adolescence, 16-18 years of age. For those reasons, early intervention inherently involves adolescents, and by extension their parents and other family members and supports. Regarding the type of intervention, it is relevant that the current empirically-derived standard of treatment for schizophrenia, as concluded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research survey of the treatment outcome literature, includes family …

Motivation And Loss Aversion In The Health Savings Account Paradigm, Michael Holtje

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This investigation examined the role of “loss aversion” and consumers’ motivational orientations in the context of healthcare purchasing under the individual account paradigm and the defined benefit (insurance) paradigm. Specifically, this dissertation investigated (1) whether Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) encourage more prudent health care spending compared to traditional health insurance plans and (2) the impact of individuals' motivational preferences (either towards “gains” or towards “losses”) between decision tasks under each type of health plan.

Three experiments varied the type of healthcare plan that consumers had and the manner in which they received information (either as a “gain” or “loss”). The …

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Thinnest Of Them All?, Ann Marie O'Brien

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Societal standards of feminine beauty are presented in all forms of popular culture, thus bombarding women with images that portray what our society considers to be the “ideal body type.” These images, as seen on the cover of magazines, in popular films and in all forms of web and print advertising, are consistently depicted and easily described with one word: skinny. The regular use of unnatural, unhealthy and unrealistic models sends the implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must attain this ultra-thin physique. Such adulation of these images encourages women to sacrifice their health …

Research Brief: "Military Training And Personality Trait Development: Does The Military Make The Man, Or Does The Man Make The Military?", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about whether students who join the military in Germany have a difference in personality compared to those who do not, and whether military service changes service members' personalities. In practice and policy, policymakers should consider how military experience affects service members' long-term health and well-being. Suggestions for future research include also studying female service members and expanding the sample to other countries to see whether the same effects occur in other countries' military personnel.

A Comparison Of Dsm-Iv And Dsm-5 Panel Members’ Financial Associations With Industry: A Pernicious Problem Persists, Lisa Cosgrove, Sheldon Krimsky

Counseling, School Psychology & Sport Faculty Publication Series

All medical subspecialties have been subject to increased scrutiny about the ways by which their financial associations with industry, such as pharmaceutical companies, may influence, or give the appearance of influencing, recommendations in review articles and clinical practice guidelines. Psychiatry has been at the epicenter of these concerns, in part because of high-profile cases involving ghostwriting and failure to report industry-related income, and studies highlighting conflicts of interest in promoting psychotropic drugs. The revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), scheduled for publication in May 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), has created a firestorm of controversy …

Perceived Health In Lung Cancer Patients: The Role Of Positive And Negative Affect, Jameson K. Hirsch, Andrea R. Floyd, Paul R. Duberstein

ETSU Faculty Works

Purpose: To examine the association of affective experience and health-related quality of life in lung cancer patients, we hypothesized that negative affect would be positively, and positive affect would be negatively, associated with perceived health.

Methods: A sample of 133 English-speaking lung cancer patients (33% female; mean age = 63.68 years old, SD = 9.37) completed a battery of self-report surveys.

Results: Results of our secondary analysis indicate that trait negative affect was significantly associated with poor physical and social functioning, greater role limitations due to emotional problems, greater bodily pain, and poor general health. Positive affect was significantly associated …

Discerning Reported Suicide Attempts Within A Youthful Offender Population, Christopher A. Mallett, Leaanne Derigne, Linda M. Quinn, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare

Social Work Faculty Publications

With suicide being the third leading cause of death among young people, early identification of risk is critical, particularly for those involved with the juvenile courts. In this study of court-involved youth (N = 433) in two Midwest counties, logistic regression analysis identified some expected and unexpected findings of important demographic, educational, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile court-related variables that were linked to reported suicide attempts. Some of the expected suicide attempt risk factors for these youth included prior psychiatric hospitalization and related mental health services, residential placement, and diagnoses of depression and alcohol dependence. However, the most unexpected …

Preventing Mental Distress In The Military, Charles Nelson, Kate St. Cyr, Bradley Corbett, Elisa Hurley, Shannon Gifford, Jon D. Elhaid, J. Donald Richardson

RDC@Western Research Highlights

No abstract provided.

Preventing Mental Distress In The Military, Charles Nelson, Kate St. Cyr, Bradley Corbett, Elisa Hurley, Shannon Gifford, Jon D. Elhai, J. Donald Richardson

CRDCN Research Highlight/RCCDR en évidence

No abstract provided.

Concurrent And Predictive Relationships Between Compulsive Internet Use And Substance Use: Findings From Vocational High School Students In China And The Usa, C. Anderson Johnson, Ping Sun, Paula Palmer, Thalida E. Arpawong, Jennifer B. Unger, Bin Xie, Louise Ann Rohrbach, Donna Spruijt-Metz, Steve Sussman

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Purpose: Compulsive Internet Use (CIU) has increasingly become an area of research among process addictions. Largely based on data from cross-sectional studies, a positive association between CIU and substance use has previously been reported. This study presents gender and country-specific longitudinal findings on the relationships between CIU and substance use. Methods: Data were drawn from youth attending non-conventional high schools, recruited into two similarly implemented trials conducted in China and the USA. The Chinese sample included 1,761 students (49% male); the US sample included 1,182 students (57% male) with over half (65%) of the US youth being of Hispanic ethnicity. …