Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

The Effects Of The Transition From Pre-Nursing To Nursing On Mental Health, Andrew J. Davis, Paige R. Mullins, Kimberly A. Sell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mental health is an ever-growing crisis among adolescents and young adults, with suicide as second leading cause of death and the number of those negatively affected continually on the rise. Transitions are one of the major stressors prevalent among these age groups, placing individuals at risk for mental health deficits. This quantitative voluntary response comparative study assesses the transitional mental health of pre-nursing students and students in the nursing program at East Tennessee State University. Emailed to all with a declared major of pre-nursing or nursing, this study measured mental health using evidenced based assessment tools. The PHQ-9 for depression …

Effect Of Computer-Assisted Cognitive Behavior Therapy Vs Usual Care On Depression Among Adults In Primary Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Jesse H. Wright, Jesse J. Owen, Tracy D. Eells, Becky F. Antle, Laura B. Bishop, Renee Girdler, Lesley M. Harris, R. Brent Wright, Michael J. Wells, Rangaraj Gopalraj, Michael E. Pendleton, Shehzad Ali

Counseling Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Importance Depression is a common disorder that may go untreated or receive suboptimal care in primary care settings. Computer-assisted cognitive behavior therapy (CCBT) has been proposed as a method for improving access to effective psychotherapy, reducing cost, and increasing the convenience and efficiency of treatment for depression.

Objectives To evaluate whether clinician-supported CCBT is more effective than treatment as usual (TAU) in primary care patients with depression and to examine the feasibility and implementation of CCBT in a primary care population with substantial numbers of patients with low income, limited internet access, and low levels of educational attainment.

Design, Setting, …

Social Media Use And Mental Health: An Educational Intervention To Reduce Depression And Anxiety In Adolescents, Natalie Catlett

DNP Projects

Background: Most adolescents spend a great deal of their time using various social media platforms. However, excessive and maladaptive social media use is correlated with worsening symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents.

Objective: This project aimed to determine whether an educational intervention could help decrease overall time spent using social media and improve mood and mental health outcomes among adolescents with depression or anxiety disorders.

Methods: This was a quasi-experiment with a pretest and posttest design. An educational intervention about the relationship between social media use and symptoms of depression and anxiety among adolescents and strategies to minimize risk …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Fear Of Evaluation, Social Anxiety, And Depression, Michelle Ingraffia

Masters Theses

This study explores fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) across social anxiety and depression. The following assessment tools were used to measure fear of positive evaluation, fear of negative evaluation, social anxiety, and depression: Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale, Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation - Straightforward, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale – Self Report, The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale – Revised. A sample of two hundred and thirty-one participants completed forms online via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Social anxiety was correlated positively with both FNE and FPE; likewise, depression was correlated positively with both FNE …

The Relationship Between Social Media Use And Depression And Anxiety Symptoms During Covid-19, Tene'sha L. Crews, Christina Sheerin

UROP Posters

The rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global surge in exposure to disaster and crisis-related media. Increases in poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, are associated with increased exposure to such media content (Abbas et al., 2021; Riehm et al., 2020; Zhao & Zhou, 2020). In recent years, social media has become one of the most widely used sources for news; approximately 48% of adult Americans receive their news from social media (Pew Research Center, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in social media use due to social distancing and …

Depression As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Perceived Injustice And Neuropsychological Performance Validity Among Individuals Previously Diagnosed With A Concussion, Jeremiah Lum

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Concussion is one of the most common conditions seen within rehabilitation and neuropsychology. Given that many concussions are diagnosed following litigation-associated injuries, it is unsurprising that malingered neurocognitive deficit (i.e., deliberate underperformance on cognitive instruments in the interest of secondary gain) has dominated the concussion literature. Although the identification of malingering is essential to ethical assessment, its presence or absence is not the sole determinant of performance validity as a whole. Rather, performance validity is a broad construct involving effort, which refers to examinees’ investment in performing at capacity levels; emerging research suggests this can be affected by psychological factors …

In Patients With Mild To Moderate Alzheimer’S, Does Music Therapy Help To Decrease Mood Disturbances When Compared To Those Not Participating In Music Therapy?, Lauren Bauer

Capstone Showcase

Abstract:

Introduction: Affecting both memory and cognitive abilities, Alzheimer’s disease is a growing problem as the baby boomer population ages. Clinical trials for new medications fail or are slow going, researchers have sought alternatives to alleviate symptoms for patients of this disease. This paper will address the effect of music therapy on mood disturbance in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Method: A literature search was completed in November of 2019 using PubMed, EBSCO Search, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Six articles were chosen based on relevance to the research question, study design, outcome, and results.

Results: Based on review, music …

Perceptions Of Executive Functions And Self-Care Actions In Major Depressive Disorder., Melanie G. Walters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation encompasses a study of the effect of impaired executive functions on decision-making and self-care of depressive illness. The first chapter provides an introduction and summarizes the body of literature on the executive functions and its association with depressive symptoms. The second chapter contains the second of two systematic reviews which examines conceptualizations of executive functions, classical and current measures used to assess the executive functions, and challenges and limitations related to current methods of assessment. The third chapter describes the development of a vignette technique and its use in a study to examine the association of depressive symptoms …

Initial Evaluation Of A Wellness Game, Bing Parkinson, Bruce St. Amour

Capital Division GME Virtual Research Day 2020

Physician wellness has recently been a topic of significant national interest.^1-8 The term “wellness” has many definitions, and was best defined by Around et al. ¹ as “one’s personal recipe for thriving and not just surviving.” Wellness refers to interconnected dimensions of physical, mental, and social well-being that extend beyond the absence of illness. Wellness has traditionally been measured in the negative sense by assessing rates of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. It is known that physician burnout is at its highest point during residency^{1, 4, 5} and burnout is linked to many negative outcomes including: substance abuse …

Scope Of Attention Variation As A Function Of Anxiety And Depression, Kathleen Anne O'Donnell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As a social species, correct emotional perception is so vital, that the human brain has evolved a mechanism to control attentional choices by exerting a narrowed field of perception during danger, called the scope of attention (SoA). The SoA determines what information will be focused on or ignored by blocking the perception of non-relevant items and increasing selective focus on danger; even if danger is merely a sad-face. The emotional items blocked from perception cannot be remembered because they were never perceived. But, attention-control to emotional stimuli also varies with mood, as seen in mood-disorders. A mood-disorder’s effect upon the …

Promoting Resilience In Self-Management (Prism): Adverse Childhood Experiences And Impacts On Emotion Regulation, Kasey Ann Macedo

Honors Scholar Theses

PRISM (Promoting Resilience in Self-Management) is a mindfulness-based intervention that aims to strengthen emotion regulation skills among individuals by employing cognitive behavioral therapy components. The purpose of the current study is to identify the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and depression, as well as to examine the changes in emotion regulation strategies of participants by comparing pre and post test data. The participants were voluntarily recruited from the Cornerstone Foundation, a homeless shelter, food pantry, and community center in Vernon, CT. The 13 participants completed PRISM through four weeks of two-hour workshop sessions in a small-group format. Results indicate …

Molecular And Behavioral Mechanisms Mediated Paclitaxel-Induced Changes In Affect-Like Behavior In Mice, Julia Meade

Theses and Dissertations

Paclitaxel and oxaliplatin are two chemotherapeutics that cause acute neurotoxicity and chemotherapy-induce peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in 70-90% of cancer patients. Chemotherapy-induced sensory changes are correlated with depression and anxiety. We characterized the effects of these drugs on sensation and various mood-related behaviors in mice, to determine if changes in sensation are associated with depression-like behavior, to explore putative mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced depression-like behavior (Aim 1), and to develop a mouse model of chemotherapy-induced operant responding deficit (Aim 2). In Aim 1, we observed that a cumulative dose of 32 mg/kg paclitaxel induced mechanical hypersensitivity and transiently reduced preference for sucrose …

Increasing Utilization Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy To Reduce Morbid Obesity In A Primary Care Setting, Erin J. Mccue

Doctoral Projects

Background: Obesity among adults is characterized by a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. The impairment and disability resulting from obesity indicates a significant health problem that is often seen in primary care settings. Research indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an underutilized, but extremely beneficial intervention that may support individuals in achieving weight loss. Adults suffering from obesity with or without comorbid conditions such as psychiatric disorders (e.g. anxiety and depression) have benefitted from CBT.

Purpose: To implement the increased utilization of CBT in the adult population with obesity and depression or anxiety in a primary …

The Influence Of Stressful Life Events On The Development Of Type 2 Diabetes, Joshua Minks

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between distress and the development of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the presence of established risk factors. Distress secondary to mental health disparities, stressful life events, and work conditions has been shown to promote insulin resistance and the development of T2DM.

Subjects (N=79) diagnosed with T2DM within the previous six months were recruited from SSM Health Centers and VA Medical Centers in the greater St. Louis area. They completed the Recent Life Changes Questionnaire, ENRICHD Social Support Instrument, and a demographic survey and analyses were conducted to determine differences between the veteran …

An Examination Of The Relationships Between Attributional Style, Reappraisal, And Depression Risk In Arab Americans, Khadeja Najjar

ETD Archive

While depression is a cross-cultural phenomenon, much of the literature that examines risk factors and mechanisms for its occurrence is examined from a Western perspective. As cultural background and level of acculturation to the host culture is known to shape the expression of depressive disorders, as well as their risk factors, this study examined whether cultural factors influence the relationship between two cognitive emotion regulation processes and depression symptoms. Specifically, this study examined whether the relationship between internal, stable, and global causal attributions for negative events (negative attributional style) and depression is mediated by one’s tendency to reframe the meaning …

Mental Health In Commercial Aviation - Depression & Anxiety Of Pilots, Maurice C. Dehoff, Stephen K. Cusick

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Two landmark accidents invigorated the discussion regarding pilot mental health. Other incidents may also have a mental health component that is related to, but not the direct cause of, the event. It is suspected that these “other incidents” are much more commonplace and while not catastrophic, erode safety. Depression and anxiety are two commonly occurring mental health concerns. Research indicates that a considerable portion of the U. S. population suffers from some form of mental health issue. Most go undiagnosed and untreated. A similar rate of occurrence appears to be found within the airline pilot population. The stigma of mental …

Trait Anxiety And Economic Risk Avoidance Are Not Necessarily Associated: Evidence From The Framing Effect, Ruolei Gu, Runguo Wu, Lucas S. Broster, Yang Jiang, Rui Xu, Qiwei Yang, Pengfei Xu, Yue-Jia Luo

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

According to previous literature, trait anxiety is related to the tendency to choose safety options during risk decision-making, that is, risk avoidance. In our opinion, anxious people’s risk preference might actually reflect their hypersensitivity to emotional information. To examine this hypothesis, a decision-making task that could elicit the framing effect was employed. The framing effect indicates that risk preference could be modulated by emotional messages contained in the description (i.e., frame) of options. The behavioral results have showed the classic framing effect. In addition, individual level of trait anxiety was positively correlated with the framing effect size. However, trait anxiety …

Mental Health Treatment Seeking Patterns And Preferences Of Appalachian Women With Depression, Claire Snell-Rood, Emily Hauenstein, Carl G. Leukefeld, Frances Feltner, Amber Marcum, Nancy E. Schoenberg

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

This qualitative study explored social-cultural factors that shape treatment seeking behaviors among depressed rural, low-income women in Appalachia—a region with high rates of depression and a shortage of mental health services. Recent research shows that increasingly rural women are receiving some form of treatment and identifying their symptoms as depression. Using purposive sampling, investigators recruited 28 depressed low-income women living in Appalachian Kentucky and conducted semistructured interviews on participants’ perceptions of depression and treatment seeking. Even in this sample of women with diverse treatment behaviors (half reported current treatment), participants expressed ambivalence about treatment and its potential to promote recovery. …

Internalizing And Externalizing Dysfunction: An Integrative Model Of Adolescent Drinking, Leila Guller

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Separate externalizing and internalizing pathways to problem drinking have been described. However, internalizing and externalizing are substantially correlated, thus, there is good reason to believe that these two forms of dysfunction behaviors do not operate independently.

We tested an integrative developmental model of transactions among internalizing symptomatology, externalizing personality, and psychosocial learning in the prediction of both drinking problems and future internalizing symptoms. To do so, we studied a large sample (n = 1910, 49.9% female) of children over a critical developmental period, from the spring of 5th (last year elementary school) grade through the spring of 9th grade (first …

The Happy Older Latinos Are Active (Hola) Health Promotion And Prevention Study: Study Protocol For A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Daniel E. Jimenez, Charles F. Reynolds, Margarita Alegría, Philip Harvey, Stephen Bartels

Dartmouth Scholarship

Results of previous studies attest to the greater illness burden of common mental disorders (anxiety and depression) in older Latinos and the need for developing preventive interventions that are effective, acceptable, and scalable. Happy Older Latinos are Active (HOLA) is a newly developed intervention that uses a community health worker (CHW) to lead a health promotion program in order to prevent common mental disorders among at-risk older Latinos. This pilot study tests the feasibility and acceptability of delivering HOLA to older, at-risk Latinos.

Methods/Design: HOLA is a multi-component, health promotion intervention funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). …

Depression And Risk Perceptions In Older African Americans With Diabetes, Barry W. Rovner, Md, Julia A. Haller, Md, Robin J. Casten, Phd, Ann P. Murchison, Md, Mph, Lisa A. Hark, Phd, Rd

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of depression on perceptions of risks to health, diabetes self-management practices, and glycemic control in older African Americans with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The authors analyzed data on depression, risk perceptions, diabetes self-management, and hemoglobin A1C in African Americans with type 2 diabetes.T tests, chi square, and multivariate regression were used to analyze the data.

Results: The sample included 177 African Americans (68% women) whose average age was 72.8 years. Thirty four (19.2%) participants met criteria for depression. Compared to non-depressed participants, depressed participants scored significantly higher on Personal …

The Reversal Effects Of Curcumin, An Herbal Remedy, On The Impairments Induced By Vmat-2 Inhibitor Tetrabenazine, Emily Qian, Samantha E. Yohn

Honors Scholar Theses

Substantial evidence has shown that dopamine (DA), particularly in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), is involved in behavioral activation and effort-related processes, such as overcoming work related response costs. Interference with accumbens DA transmission through administration of the vesicular monoamine transportor-2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ) produces an alteration of response allocation in the concurrent FR5/chow choice procedure, biasing animals toward the lower effort alternative. It has been suggested that these drug-induced shifts in effort-related choice behavior seen in rodents are analogous to symptoms such as psychomotor retardation, anergia, and fatigue, which can be observed in people with depression and other related …

Is Animal Assisted Therapy With Dogs Effective In Improving Psychosocial Variables Of Mood In Hospital Patients?, Kelsey A. Morris

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not animal assisted interventions with dogs are effective in improving psychosocial variables of mood in hospital patients.

STUDY DESIGN: Review of two English language randomized control trial published in 2008 and 2007, and one English language clinical trial published in 2009.

DATA SOURCES: Two randomized, controlled trials comparing animal assisted interventions to absent animal interaction, interaction with a human being, engaging in another interactive activity, or no treatment were found using PubMed and Cochrane System Reviews.

OUTCOMES MEASURED: Anxiety was measured by POMS …

Restoring Effort-Related Functions In Models Of Depression Symptoms: Reversing Fatigue Symptoms Induced By Catecholamine Depleting Agent Tetrabenazine With The Adenosine A2a Antagonist Msx-3, Charlotte Freeland

Honors Scholar Theses

Motivational symptoms related to effort expenditure have been associated with major depression and other disorders that afflict millions of individuals worldwide. In an effort to identify potential therapeutic agents and characterize the underlying biochemical mechanisms related to these behaviors, recent research has utilized animal models to study and characterize such behavior. Previous work in the Salamone lab produced evidence that rats with impaired dopamine (DA) transmission show changes in response allocation in tasks that measure effort-related choice behavior, which are characterized by a decrease in selection of the high-effort choice but increased selection of the low-effort alternative. The present work …

Norepinephrine Involvement In The Intermittent Swim Stress-Induced Deficit In Spatial Learning And Memory, Emily Elgert

Honors Theses and Capstones

Learning and memory impairments are often caused by stress disorders including depression. The present study investigated the involvement of norepinephrine in the swim stress-induced deficits of spatial learning and memory. Exposure to intermittent swim stress (ISS) followed by learning and memory tests in the Morris water maze (MWM) were used to investigate this relationship. The ISS paradigm consists of intermittent exposure to cold water, producing stress responses in rats. Reboxetine, a norepinephrine selective reuptake inhibitor (NSRI), was employed to investigate whether this compound reverses the ISS-induced deficit. In other words, rats exposed to the ISS, were hypothesized to experience impaired …

The Role Of Spiritual Well-Being In Moderating Frail Elders' Affective Response To Functional Difficulty, Marie P. Dennis, Laura N. Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Yeon K. Chee

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Anxiety and depression have been well documented as affective consequences of functional impairment. Little research, however, has examined factors that moderate these associations. The present cross-sectional study examined the role of spiritual well-being in buffering the impact of functional difficulty on the anxiety and depressive symptoms of 319 functionally vulnerable community-dwelling elders, aged 70 or older, participating in a 6-month randomized controlled trial designed to enhance function. As demonstrated in recent research on spirituality and health, we expected that spiritual well-being would moderate the association between functional difficulty and anxiety as well as the relationship between functional difficulty and depression. …

Center For Psychology Studies Newsletter - Summer 2002, Nova Southeastern University

Center for Psychological Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Center For Psychology Studies Newsletter - Spring 2002, Nova Southeastern University

Center for Psychological Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Sexually Abused Children And Implications For Therapy, Robbie Jones

Graduate Theses

This study examined the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in sexually abused children. Sixty-seven children volunteered to participate in this study. Of the 67 children, 33 (26 female and 7 male) were sexually abused and 34 (22 female and 12 male) were non-sexually abused. Several instruments were employed to assess the severity of the symptoms of PTSD including the Children's PTSD Inventory, the Child Behavior Checklist, and the Children's Depression Inventory, as well as others. The results of this study showed that sexually abused children have more symptoms of PTSD than non-sexually abused children. Early diagnosis and treatment of …