Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Therapist Self-Disclosure With Children And Adolescents: A Guide, Katia Goga

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Therapist self-disclosure is a multifaceted aspect of psychotherapy that holds significant implications for therapeutic rapport, alliance, and client outcomes. The use of self-disclosure by therapists in working with children and adolescents has received little attention in the literature. This paper examines the theoretical underpinnings and therapeutic rationale behind therapist self-disclosure, highlighting its potential benefits and risks in the context of child and adolescent therapy. It delves into developmental considerations, exploring different factors that may influence the appropriateness and effectiveness of self-disclosure interventions. Building upon this foundation, the paper offers a practical guide to assist clinicians in judiciously incorporating self-disclosure into …

Conducting Culturally Responsive, Strengths-Based Assessment In Schools, Eileen Cullen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Special education assessment has a significant impact on the lives of children with disabilities and their families. However, traditional assessment practices have been critiqued as being deficit-based, overly focused on “labeling” students, and failing to provide a holistic understanding of the student. Assessment models such as strengths-based assessment (SBA) and culturally responsive assessment (CRA), have potential to addresses these critiques and be more appropriate for the growingly diverse school population. Despite this, these models of assessment are under studied and there is a lack of clear guidance for how practitioners should implement them.

In these manuscripts, CRA and SBA are …

Playing With Weplay!: Adapting A Caregiver-Child Group For Caregivers Of Young Children With Early Signs Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Louisa A. Cahn-Gambino

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

WePlay! Denver, a collaboration between the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology and the Children’s Museum of Denver, Marsico Campus, began providing caregiver-infant playgroups to the community in 2019. WePlay! and Nosotros Jugamos, the English and Spanish-speaking groups, teach caregivers with young children about play-based exploration, provide psychoeducation, and offer resources. Qualitative data from WePlay! Denver’s initial groups and input from the WePlay! Denver team emphasized interest in expanding WePlay! to include families with children of varying developmental stages and who have specific developmental needs and considerations (Gross et al., 2021), such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD …

Safest Kid (A Sexual Assault Framework In Education To Support Trauma In Kids With Intellectual Disability): Delphi Study Development Of A Model And Utilization, Ashley M. Hudson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a grave need for additions to the school psychologist’s toolbox to support students with intellectual disability (ID) and sexual trauma. These children are especially vulnerable to adverse life experiences overall and are at a particularly high risk of experiencing sexual abuse and resulting trauma. Children with ID are less likely to have their trauma symptoms identified by those around them, as symptoms do not always present in the same way as their neurotypical peers and trauma symptoms are more likely to be grouped into the rest of their disability through diagnostic overshadowing. Additionally, individuals with ID are at …

Building Teachers’ Capacity To Implement Equitable Family, School, And Community Partnerships Through School Psychologists’ Consultation: The Partnership Capacity Building Consultation Model And Case Study, Bryanna S. Fatigate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The urgency to prioritize equity-driven policies is amplified by the disproportionate education and health outcomes that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eradicating inequity demands the prioritization of robust family, school, and community partnerships (FSCP). For decades, research has highlighted the benefits of FSCP, which may include improvements in student academic achievement, behavior, ratings of school climate, and attendance; furthermore, FSCP is associated with higher guardian involvement, mentor opportunities, career development, and a reduced need for more intensive services such as special education (Adelman & Taylor, 2015; Anderson- Butcher & Anderson, 2018; Constantino, 2016). To reap the benefits of such partnerships, …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Weplay Denver: The Why And How: Background And Implementation Manual, Lauren Gross

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

WePlay Denver (WePlay and Nosotros Jugamos; see glossary) is a program providing caregiver-infant playgroups designed to teach families with young children the value of play as well as provide information and resources on topics related to child development, family wellbeing, and mental health. WePlay and Nosotros Jugamos are a collaboration between the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology (GSPP) and the Children’s Museum of Denver, Marsico Campus, and are based on a similar program from the Chicago Children’s Museum. WePlay offered its first playgroup in 2019, while Nosotros Jugamos began in 2020.

Perinatal Through 5-Years-Old Referral List, And Full Referral Flow Process For The Professional Psychology Clinic And Associated Clinics, Lauren V. Cruz

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Referrals are an important and underacknowledged component of ethical clinical practice. While clinical care is understandably the core focus for most organizations, effective and efficient referrals can aide in improving client outcomes through successful connections to services, effective use of conjunctive services, and increased trust in mental health and healthcare systems/providers. In addition, improvements in the referral process can serve to decrease undue burden on providers and organizations. This document aims to review the literature on the need for and use of referrals, as well as elements of successful referrals, to inform the development of a referral self-assessment and flow …

Affirming Care: Lessons From Minority Stress Model To Bolster Mental Health Outcomes For Lgbtq+ Youth In Primary Care, Kyrie Lampert

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Individuals in positions of power influence youth wellbeing, self-perception, and overall mental health. According to the minority stress model, individuals who hold marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ youth, face unique, chronic, and socially based additive stressors. Research shows that these additive stressors contribute to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing disproportionate rates of mental health concerns. Queer youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their non-queer identifying peers. Additive stressors that LGBTQ+ youth face include prejudiced events, stigma, decisions of concealment or disclosure, and internalized homophobia and transphobia. This paper will review and integrate research, utilizing the minority …

Defining Business As Usual In Preschool Interventions For Challenging Behavior, Eleanor Bold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Challenging behavior (CB) is a major barrier to service delivery in preschool classrooms. Persistent CB has been found to significantly impact children’s academic and social success long-term, especially amongst children from historically minoritized populations and those with disabilities. Numerous evidence-based intervention strategies exist to prevent and reduce CB, yet preschool teachers continue to voice a desire to increase their capacity to do so in the classroom due to high rates of CB continuing to be observed. This dissertation seeks to address this research to practice gap by ascertaining the current baseline intervention practices utilized to manage CB in preschool classrooms …

Associations Between Cumulative Risk, Childhood Sleep Duration, And Body Mass Index Across Childhood, Tiffany Phu, Jenalee R. Doom

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Background: Although associations between cumulative risk, sleep, and overweight/obesity have been demonstrated, few studies have examined relationships between these constructs longitudinally across childhood. This study investigated how cumulative risk and sleep duration are related to current and later child overweight/obesity in families across the United States sampled for high sociodemographic risk.

Methods: We conducted secondary analyses on 3690 families with recorded child height and weight within the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. A cumulative risk composite (using nine variables indicating household/ environmental, family, and sociodemographic risk) was calculated for each participant from ages 3-9 years. Path analyses …

Preconception Maternal Posttraumatic Stress And Child Negative Affectivity: Prospectively Evaluating The Intergenerational Impact Of Trauma, Danielle A. Swales, Elysia Poggi Davis, Nicole E. Mahrer, Christine M. Guardino, Madeleine Shalowitz, Sharon L. Ramey, Christine Dunkel Schetter

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

The developmental origins of psychopathology begin before birth and perhaps even prior to conception. Understanding the intergenerational transmission of psychopathological risk is critical to identify sensitive windows for prevention and early intervention. Prior research demonstrates that maternal trauma history, typically assessed retrospectively, has adverse consequences for child socioemotional development. However, very few prospective studies of preconception trauma exist, and the role of preconception symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains unknown. The current study prospectively evaluates whether maternal preconception PTSD symptoms predict early childhood negative affectivity, a key dimension of temperament and predictor of later psychopathology. One hundred and eighteen …

Development And Testing Of Remote Facilitation Of Prevent-Teach-Reinforce For Families To Address Challenging Behavior In Young Children (Ptr-F:R), Abby Hodges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As children advance through developmental stages, they often present behavioral difficulties such as tantrums, lack of cooperation, and aggression. For some children, behaviors are serious enough that they interfere with the child’s ability to engage in positive relationships, participate in necessary routines, and learn new skills, warranting behavioral intervention (Dunlap et al., 2017). Being responsive to the needs of the family and appreciation for the central role that they play is crucial to the success of behavioral interventions and the maintenance of positive outcomes (Bailey, 2013; Campbell, 1995), thus, their input should be at the center of all recommendations and …

Paving Pathways For Success: The Role Of Transition Models And Disability Services In Postsecondary Education For Students With Disabilities, Jillian Talley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students have dreams and goals outside of school. School psychologists can play a vital role in helping students with disabilities reach their dreams, particularly when the dreams ask the question “What do I want to do after high school?” Often, the answer lies in postsecondary goals, which require transition planning while the student is still in school. Manuscript One (M1) explores how families, teachers and school psychologists can all play supportive and distinct roles in helping a student with disabilities reach their postsecondary goals. There have been several transition models proposed to help students with disabilities shift from PK-12 to …

A Missing Narrative: The Creation Of A Trauma-Informed Children’S Book For Children In The Foster Care System, Elizabeth Hoff Saunderson

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

This article includes a review of literature relevant to the experiences of children in the foster care system including demographics, trauma and stressful experiences, attachment challenges, and useful interventions. Limited research has been conducted to inform resource tools for children in foster care. The aim of the present study was to create a trauma-informed resource tool for children in the foster care system in the form of a children’s book. A review of children’s books related to foster care yielded four major themes including the importance of mindful language, the need for a resource tool, a focus on safety, and …

Exposure To Prenatal Maternal Distress And Infant White Matter Neurodevelopment, Catherine H. Demers, Maria M. Bagonis, Khalid Al-Ali, Sarah E. Garcia, Martin A. Styner, John H. Gilmore, M. Camille Hoffman, Benjamin L. Hankin, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

The prenatal period represents a critical time for brain growth and development. These rapid neurological advances render the fetus susceptible to various influences with life-long implications for mental health. Maternal distress signals are a dominant early life influence, contributing to birth outcomes and risk for offspring psychopathology. This prospective longitudinal study evaluated the association between prenatal maternal distress and infant white matter microstructure. Participants included a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 85 mother–infant dyads. Prenatal distress was assessed at 17 and 29 weeks’ gestational age (GA). Infant structural data were collected via diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at 42–45 weeks’ …

Timing Of Childhood Adversities And Self-Injurious Thoughts And Behaviors In Adolescence, Samantha J. North, Kathryn R. Fox, Jenalee R. Doom

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Greater childhood adversity predicts a higher likelihood of later self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB). There is little research focused on whether the timing of childhood adversity predicts SITB. The current research examined whether the timing of childhood adversity predicted parent- and youth-reported SITB at age 12 and 16 years in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) cohort (n = 970). We found that greater adversity at age 11–12 years consistently predicted SITB at age 12 years, while greater adversity at age 13–14 years consistently predicted SITB at age 16 years. These findings suggest there may be sensitive …

Parental Buffering In The Context Of Poverty: Positive Parenting Behaviors Differentiate Young Children's Stress Reactivity Profiles, Samantha M. Brown, Lisa J. Schlueter, Eliana Hurwich-Reiss, Julia Dmitrieva, Elly Miles, Sarah Enos Watamura

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Experiencing poverty increases vulnerability for dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis functioning and compromises long-term health. Positive parenting buffers children from HPA axis reactivity, yet this has primarily been documented among families not experiencing poverty. We tested the theorized power of positive parenting in 124 parent–child dyads recruited from Early Head Start (Mage = 25.21 months) by examining child cortisol trajectories using five samples collected across a standardized stress paradigm. Piecewise latent growth models revealed that positive parenting buffered children's stress responses when controlling for time of day, last stress task completed, and demographics. Positive parenting also interacted with income such that …

Clinical Considerations For Treating Adult Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse: A Proposal For Integrating Intersubjective Systems Theory And Feminist Perspectives, Kristen Schrijver

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The goal of this paper is to offer clinical considerations for clinicians working with adult survivors of extrafamilial child sexual abuse (CSA) by 1) defining the stages of sexual abuse grooming of the child and their entire family system, 2) defining and integrating intersubjective and feminist approaches to treatment, and 3) providing methods for depathologizing CSA survivors’ experience of shame. These three objectives aim to increase awareness and knowledge of sexual abuse grooming, as well as offer an integrative theoretical framework for individual therapy with adult survivors of CSA.

New Teachers Are Your Friends: A Multiple Case Study Examining School Psychologists’ Experiences Consulting With Beginning Teachers, Sayani Das Chaudhuri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School psychologists’ training, knowledge, and skillsets in school-based consultation can play a key role in supporting beginning teachers, but the consultation research base provides limited information about how beginning teachers’ concerns and characteristics relate to consultative practice (Babinski & Rogers 1998; DeForest & Hughes, 1992; Robertson & Briedenstein, 2007). This qualitative multiple case study investigated the perceptions and experiences of four expert school psychologists who engaged in consultation and provided support to beginning teachers. Factors related to the school psychologists' and beginning teachers' cognitions, behaviors, and school environment emerged in the data. Participants perceived beginning teachers as being enthusiastic and …

Child Abuse And Revictimization: Improving Models Of Revictimization Risk, Julie M. Olomi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child abuse (CA) puts women at risk for later victimization by a different perpetrator, referred to as revictimization (RV); however, how this risk is conveyed is not well understood. CA is associated with a diverse set of negative sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic symptomology, emotion regulation difficulties), many of which could plausibly affect risk for RV. To date, most empirical studies of RV have mainly compared groups of women with and without abuse and RV histories using variablecentered approaches. This approach has led to a focus on differences between abused and non-abused women on a few CA-related variables tested at a time. …

Co-Constructing Stigma: Treating Trauma In Adolescence, Isabelle Sanderson

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Public stigma and self-stigma are major factors that impede the seeking of mental health treatment as well as the development of an effective therapeutic alliance. This paper explores the co-creation of stigma dynamics from an intersubjective systems theory lens suggesting these dynamics may play a role for adolescent clients who have experienced significant trauma. Specifically, the potential overlooking and/or misdiagnosis of trauma-related experiences and symptoms often occurring with adolescents diagnosed with ADHD may be contributing to a co-constructed dynamic between the therapist and client to avoid an exploration of trauma that would be experienced as more stigmatizing, more threatening, and …

Urban School Violence Prevention: A Suggested Intervention Utilizing Liberation Psychology, Meghan K. Hogan

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

In the past decades, numerous programs have been developed in attempts to reduce the rates of violence facing students in American schools. The spotlight on these programs have increased since horrific mass shooting events have taken place throughout the country. Many of these programs have utilized varied methods in their attempt to reduce school-based violence, from the implementation of hardline policies meant to act as violence deterrents to the development of risk assessment teams aimed at identifying and intervening against potential threats; however, few of the existing programs have shown substantial efficacy rates. Additionally, several of the violence prevention programs …

Sensitive Periods For Psychosocial Risk In Childhood And Adolescence And Cardiometabolic Outcomes In Young Adulthood, Jenalee R. Doom, Kenia M. Rivera, Estela Blanco, Raquel Burrows, Paulina Correa-Burrows, Patricia L. East, Betsy Lozoff, Sheila Gahagan

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Greater psychosocial risk in childhood and adolescence predicts poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood. We assessed whether the timing of psychosocial risk from infancy through adolescence predicts cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood. Young adults and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study beginning in infancy in Santiago, Chile (N = 1040). At infancy, 5 years, 10 years, and adolescence, mothers reported on depressive symptoms, stressful experiences, support for child development in the home, father absence, parental education, and socioeconomic status (SES) to create a psychosocial risk composite at each time point. Young adults (52.1% female; 21–27 years) provided fasting serum samples …

The Casc Framework: An Assessment Model For Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Laurel A. Snider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School psychologists pay a critical role in providing assessment and intervention services within the realm of special education. Within this role, they are highly likely to interact with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Students with IDD are characterized by significantly lower than average cognitive and daily living skills that may be comorbid with difficulties with communication, social skills, or other domains. With these differences in mind, dominant assessment practices have been criticized as lacking social and empirical validity when applied to this population. Although students with IDD frequently undergo evaluations, they continue to face significantly poorer post-school outcomes …

How 6-12th Grade Staff Support Students With Depression: A Pilot Study To Develop Measures Of Implicit Associations, Explicit Attitudes And Helping Behavior, Paul M. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students with emotional disabilities are disproportionately suspended and expelled in K-12 schools. Attribution theory suggests individuals are less likely to provide assistance to others if they believe the individuals are responsible for their own difficulties. To test attribution theory, this study created new measures of explicit attitudes and implicit associations of licensed 6-12th grade staff regarding students with depression as well as a helping behavior measure of staff toward students with depression. The survey was distributed within a single school district in the western United States. A majority of the sample (N = 52) held a mental health license (60%), …

Xylo-Bot: A Therapeutic Robot-Based Music Platform For Children With Autism, Huanghao Feng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication skills, including motor control, emotional facial expressions, and eye gaze / joint attention. This Ph.D. dissertation focuses on studying the feasibility and effectiveness of using a social robot, called NAO, and a toy music instrument, xylophone, at modeling and improving the social responses and behaviors of children with ASD. In our investigation, we designed an autonomous social interactive music teaching system to fulfill this mission.

A novel modular robot-music teaching system consisting of three modules is presented. Module 1 provides an autonomous self-awareness positioning system for the …

A Qualitative Study Of Non-Relational Foster Families Experiences Navigating The Education System, Emma Grace Topf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to capture the lived experience of non-relational foster families navigating the Colorado public education system. While most research on children in foster care looks at all sub-populations of foster care combined, this is the first known study to focus solely on non-relational foster families navigating the education system. I explored non-relational foster parents experience navigating the education system for the school-age children in their care through a semi-structured two-interview approach. Four levels of data analysis were completed (descriptive coding, emergent coding of themes, a priori coding of research questions, and a priori coding …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Military Families, Who Have Children With Disabilities And Maladaptive Behavior, With School-Based Mental Health Personnel, Londi J. Segler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to capture the lived experiences of military families who have children with disabilities and maladaptive behavior to note risk and protective factors that might impede the mental health development of that population of student. Through interviews with at-home-caregivers, I explored their experiences with public school staff, outside mental health services, and school psychologists. Study findings revealed that participants felt they were going to battle with school staff who were not willing to incorporate culturally responsive practices when working with their children. School staff who implemented regular bi-directional communication were more likely to gain …

Clinician’S Resource Guide: A Compendium Of Child Treatment Resources, Carleen Knauf

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

As an early career clinician in a fast-paced field that is dedicated to working with others, saving time and energy where possible is invaluable. When I first started working with children, I was overwhelmed by the amount of time I was having to dedicate to research to find reputable resources to use in my clinical settings. I realized so much of my time and energy was going towards this research that by the time I entered the therapy room with my clients I was tired, frustrated, and overwhelmed by the lack of easily accessible resources. After working with and learning …