Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Post-Conflict Mental Health Policy And Substance Use Among Liberian Adults, Ekua Amonoo-Lartson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe objective of post-conflict countries after an extended period of war and trauma is to maintain peace and stability. However, the physical and psychological effects of substance use to cope with the devastation of war remains long after the crisis has ended. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine substance use among Liberian working-age adults, including their substance use habits, experiences with substance use, and access to mental health rehabilitative treatment. The access to medical care theoretical framework was used to guide the study. Data were collected from face-to-face semistructured interviews with 15 individuals regarding their experiences …

Social Determinants And Academic Success For Online Undergraduates Mediated By Mental Health, Jamie Michelle Claus Getz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractSocial determinants of health (SDH) are social and economic systems that directly contribute to health disparities and inequalities. This study examined SDH and their relation to education, also an SDH. The relationship between SDH and online undergraduate achievement, as measured by grade-point average (GPA), was studied. Cumulative inequality is the theoretical framework that guided the study; it underscores the complexity of interaction between personal, social, and environmental stressors in relation to a student’s academic performance. The quantitative survey design allowed for potential relationships between variables to be observed and studied based on the survey responses per self-report from 212 online …

Examining The Impact Of Mental Health Education On Bias And Stigma In Cit Trained Officers, Jennifer L. Krause

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational nonexperimental research was to examine the relationship between the mental health education received through Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and the perceptions of public mental health stigma, self-stigma, and attitudes toward seeking mental health services among law enforcement officers. The study’s theoretical framework integrated gender-role conflict theory and Goffman’s stigma theory in explaining the influence of the police culture on officers’ adoption of more traditional masculine roles. This research used three instruments: the Attitudes to Mental Illness questionnaire to measure perceptions of public stigma, the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale to measure self-stigma, and …

Lived Experiences Of Haitian Immigrants In The United States During The Trump Administration, Klaudya Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racism that is either blatant or perceived has contributed to all contemporary markings of group advantage and disadvantage along ethnic and racial lines, which includes differences in education, employment, housing, health, and health care. Understanding how these elements are impacting immigrants will be the key to helping this population overcome problems they might experience. One demographic whose emotional experiences have yet to be fully explored are Haitian immigrants. The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore how the political climate under the Trump administration impacted the psychosocial lived experiences of Haitian immigrants who immigrated to the United States …

Attitudes Toward Seeking Counseling Of Women Residing In Public Housing, Belinda M. Newkirk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women living in public housing projects experience adverse outcomes because they do not seek treatment for mental illness. It is unclear whether such women have attitudes toward voluntarily accessing mental healthcare services affected by their optimism, experienced stigma, self-efficacy, and resilience. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether the individual determinants of resilience, self-efficacy, experienced stigma, and optimism predicted attitudes toward seeking professional mental health services of women living in public housing based on the self-efficacy, resilience, stigma, optimism, and help-seeking behavior theories. The first research question focused on bivariate correlations among resilience, self-efficacy, experienced stigma, and …

Teacher Perception On Integrating School Psychology In The Developing Nation Of Grenada, Carla Erica Maria St. Louis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractInternationally, formalized school psychology and related services strive to address the academic and mental health of students in schools. In developing nations, teachers are the primary professionals to address students’ needs in schools. Little research has focused on teachers’ perceptions of students’ needs, available services’ quality, and how formalized structures with qualified certified professionals can further address students’ needs. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems and Nastasi’s participatory culture-specific intervention model are the theoretical underpinnings of this qualitative study and focus group interviews were used to investigate special education needs (SEN) teachers’ perceptions. Data were collected using open ended questions and probes with …

The Influences Of School Counselors' Professional Development On Their Comfort Levels Addressing Mental Health And Substance Use, Megan Lynne Hines

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was an investigation of the comfort levels of school counselors to address PK-12 students’ mental health and substance use concerns. While incidents of bullying and school shootings rise it is unclear how school counselors’ professional development has influenced their level of comfort identifying and addressing PK-12 students’ mental health and substance use concerns. Accordingly, this quantitative descriptive survey examined school counselors’ recognition of mental health and substance use symptoms, frequency of encounter, and whether their developmental stages influenced their comfort levels in addressing students’ mental health and substance use concerns. Rønnestad and Skovholt’s counselor development model was the …

Job Self-Efficacy, Alexithymia And Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Correctional Officers, Paulette Andrea Gayle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Correctional officers work in a volatile environment and are regularly exposed to inmates’ violence or cruelty. These factors negatively affect their job performance, contribute to physiological and mental health issues that could result in secondary traumatic stress (STS) symptoms. Researchers have identified job self-efficacy and alexithymia traits as mitigating factors against elevated stress. Other researchers have identified the traits as strongly associated with mental health illnesses. The purpose of this quantitative study, using a convenience sampling strategy, was to determine whether job self-efficacy and alexithymia traits were predictors of STS among a sample of 79 correctional officers working for Her …

Mental Health Needs In Schools As Predictors Of Burnout In School Counselors, Sondra Junek

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have found an increasing number of students with mental health issues, and

school counselors are often the first resource available to students. School counselors are

faced with many job duties including supporting students’ academic, career, and

emotional needs. Maintaining these duties of school counseling can increase stress and

lead to burnout. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine mental health

needs, mental health knowledge, and mental health skills as predictors of each of the

three subscales of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal

accomplishment) among early, middle, and late career school counselors. Lazarus and

Folkman’s transactional theory …

Rural Community Mental Health Agency’S Strategies To Involve Parents In Children’S Psychosocial Treatment, Kerry Ellen Morrell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The increased prevalence of children’s mental illness and the need for community-based treatment with enhanced outcomes is propelling the need to improve children’s mental health treatment to the forefront of children’s mental health policy reform. Including parental involvement in children’s mental health treatment increases the possibility of improved treatment outcomes. However, policy, social, attitudinal, and fiscal factors have affected the strategies used to overcome the barriers to facilitating parental involvement. The purpose of this in-depth qualitative case study was to understand the strategies that one mental health agency used to overcome the barriers to facilitating parental involvement in the psychosocial …

Experiences And Challenges Of Social Workers Working With Transitioning And Postmilitary Service Members Who Have Mental Health Issues, Joyce M. Hewitt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Active duty service members, veterans, and their family members are faced with a myriad of problems including mental health issues, substance abuse issues, traumatic brain injury, suicide, family integration issues, and family distress. Understanding the organizational, environmental, and person-centered factors that affect the delivery of mental health care treatment to active duty service members, veterans, and their families is urgent to this unique population for social work practitioners (licensed master, advanced, & clinical). This project explored the experiences and challenges that social work practitioners (licensed master, advanced, & clinical) have in providing effective services for mental health care treatment to …

Effects Of Police-Mental Health Collaborative Services On Calls, Arrests, And Emergency Hospitalizations, Sean Russel-Jacque Zauhar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the increasing amount of police calls involving persons experiencing a mental health crisis (PICs), agencies are looking for ways to reduce the overuse of emergency services and criminal confinement. Police-mental health collaborative (PMHC) programs were developed to utilize the expertise of both mental health and law enforcement practitioners to provide immediate linkage to psychiatric services in an effort to prevent unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system. The theoretical framework for this study was built on the sequential intercept model (SIM) along with the theories of social network and social support. The SIM identifies 5 key points where PICs …

Effects Of Psychiatric Hospital Closures On Local Jail Administrators, Correctional Staff, And Inmates, Mark Christian Lasko

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A series of psychiatric hospital closures has led to a movement of care for individuals with mental illness from state-run facilities to managed care centers. Many of the individuals who no longer reside in psychiatric hospitals have become ensnared in the criminal justice system. Correctional facilities have an increased burden to care for the needs of the mentally ill, but lack the training and facilities to do so adequately. In this study, the lived experiences of correctional staff who have experienced the process of a hospital closure were examined. Psychiatric rehabilitation and gatekeeper theories served as the theoretical framework for …

School Counselors' Lived Experiences Supporting Students With Mental Health Concerns, Linda F. Peterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health in schools is a growing concern for many school counselors, educators and communities. School counselors are in key roles in the school setting to support students with mental health concerns. This research was done to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences, beliefs, and attitudes of school counselors supporting students with mental health diagnoses. This hermeneutic phenomenology research used n=4 participants school counselors and each has worked in their field for over 6 years. Additionally, each participant worked in the same school building for a minimum of 3 years or more. Semi structured interviews were used to collect …

Social Workers' Perceptions Of The Effects On United States Soldiers Of Multiple Deployments, Cynthia Louise Wilson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Military personnel who have served during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn have experienced longer and more frequent deployments than U.S. personnel involved in any previous conflict. These multiple tours in combat zones have resulted in complex psychosocial needs for military personnel. The goal of this action research study was to understand social workers' perceptions and experiences of military personnel who experienced 3 or more deployments in a combat zone. The theoretical foundation for the study was narrative theory. Research questions sought to understand the social workers' perceptions of the psychosocial treatment needs of these veterans, …

Increasing Clergy's Knowledge Of Mental Illness, Confidence, And Willingness To Refer, Suzan Mae Davis Merritt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over 43 million Americans suffer from mental illness annually with 40% seeking support from clergy (Polson & Rogers, 2007) who claim to be ineffectively prepared (Farrell & Goebert, 2008). This study investigated if mental health training administered to clergy would increase their knowledge of various mental disorders, alter their opinion regarding helpful resources, grow their self-confidence to help individuals experiencing mental health issues, and increase clergy's willingness to refer out. The theoretical basis for this research was attribution theory that attempts to explain social perceptions (Mannarini & Boffo, 2013) and the struggle individuals (i.e. clergy) have regarding the causation of …

Examining The Relation Of Psychological Distress To Shift Work In Firefighters, Lindsey Marie Lilly

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Firefighters experience stressful job demands. Many of them work in shifts that can extend to 96-hour rotations. Firefighters also tend to suffer from poor sleep quality and psychological distress; however, there are conflicting findings on how these factors may relate to each other. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the relation between symptoms of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol abuse to shift duration in firefighters who work 24-hour shifts compared to those who work 48-hour shifts, with sleep quality as a mediating variable. The repair and restoration theory of sleep was the theoretical …

Adult Character Strength Use And Its Relationship To Physical And Mental Health, Angela Beth Bergen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In this study, the use of human character strengths was evaluated as a component of mental and physical health. The majority of previous character strengths research has been limited to monotonic use of character strengths. This study evaluated subjective outcomes based on a new measure of how much adults reported underusing, optimally using, and overusing their character strengths. This exploratory study was theoretically grounded in the upward spiral model of lifestyle change. The underuse, optimal use, and overuse of character strengths were evaluated as predictors of physical and mental health status, health behaviors, and emotions. Using a convenience sample of …

Efficacy Of A Va Residential Treatment Program For Co-Occurring Disorders, Kathrin Hohenstern

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders among the veteran population can impact numerous aspects of a veteran's life, including self-esteem, relationships, employment, and legal issues. The Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MH RRTP) at the Saint Cloud, Minnesota VA Healthcare System is a program that provides residential treatment for this population. Identifying practical and beneficial treatment methods promotes better coping mechanisms for veterans and impacts social change by providing timely and cost-efficient care for veterans, while also leading the way for overall changes and improvements in other VA residential treatment programs. This study identified how …

Psychosocial Differences In Far Right, Far Left, Islamic, And Single Issue Lone Extremists, Tamara Marie Lamontagne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Acts of lone extremism are on the rise, yet little is known about who commits these acts. Research in this area has failed to delineate by extremist subtype. This has led to the misconception these acts and actors present with such variance psychosocially that they cannot be predicted. The purpose of this research was to assess whether statistically significant relationships exist between lone extremist subtypes on the psychosocial variables of mental illness, substance use, and having radicalized friends or family members. The conceptual framework for this study was De La Corte's psychosocial principles of terrorism, which addressed the social and …

Examining Cultural Humility And Intersectionality In Mental Health Treatment, Sandra Y. Herrera-Spinelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cultural awareness is an ethical standard in the social work profession and, as the diversity in the United States continues to grow, it is a social work practice problem when cultural awareness is not implemented in mental health settings. The National Association of Social Workers revised the cultural awareness standards to include cultural humility and intersectionality as practice indicators. The purpose of this action research study was to examine how clinical social workers demonstrated cultural humility and intersectionality in mental health settings. Person-centered theory guided this study and a total of 17 clinical social workers in New Mexico participated in …

An Exploration Of Mental Health Practitioners' Perceptions Of Ethical Requirements And Self-Care As Means To Maintain Professional Competence, Ebony Denise Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A mental health practitioner must refrain from partaking in any mental health work if personal problems interfere with his or her ability to provide services in a competent manner. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how mental health practitioners manage personal problems to stay ethically compliant. Previous research has indicated that a significant amount of literature has revealed the causes and damaging effects of burnout among mental health workers. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature that links burnout directly with competently providing quality care. Ethical compliance, self-care, and mental health practitioners' perceptions were …

Strong Black Women, Depression, And The Pentecostal Church, Dawn E. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a global health concern and among the top two causes of disability

and disease. African-Americans often seek help from the Black church, but

Pentecostal churches may fail to provide effective support due to doctrinal beliefs.

African-American women with depression struggle due to psychosocial implications

of the diagnosis. This research study used social constructionism and the

biopsychosocial model of health to explore the lived experiences of African-

American women suffering from self-reported depression while attending

Pentecostal churches in the Northeast United States. Fourteen women, ages

20 to 76, participated in this qualitative, phenomenological study. Data obtained

from the semistructured, …

Factors That Influence Whether Mexican Americans With Depression Seek Treatment, Irene Rodriguez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mexican Americans, the largest Hispanic subgroup in the United States, tend to underuse mental health services. Grounded in Andersen's behavioral model of health services use, the purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine the likelihood of birth country, education, income, and insurance predicting which respondents would report seeking mental health services to treat depression. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to diagnose depression in 203 Mexican Americans whose data was archived from the primary study. This archived data was analyzed within this study. The results of the 2 x 2 chi-square tests of independence indicated a significant association …

Reintegration Among Combat Veterans Suffering From Psychological Conditions, Virginia Falck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Active duty personnel as well as combat veterans of the United States often engage in military operations during their service that require deployments to participate in missions, which may lead to extended periods away from home. When active duty men and women are appointed to combat zones, they may return with psychological burdens such as post traumatic stress disorder, which can complicate their reintegration into civilian life. This study explored the experiences of combat veterans who faced challenges when returning home from a war zone, along with the experiences of their family members. The study involved 26 combat veterans, spouses, …

Adolescent Engagement In Home-Based Treatment: An Action Research Study, Krystal Finch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescent engagement in home-based treatment is a challenge within the social work field. Studies have suggested that the foundation of clinical practice relies on the clinician's ability to understand the process of engaging adolescents in treatment, which may also include a period of adaptability, relatability, and connectedness within the treatment setting. The purpose of this study is to explore the clinical practice approaches, roles, and experiences utilized in home-based treatment to adolescents residing in a large city in northeastern United States. This study was grounded in the ecological systems theory which provides social workers with an opportunity to assess the …

A Meta-Analysis Of Video Based Interventions In Adult Mental Health, Lauretta Kaye Montes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Symptoms of mental illness such as anxiety and depression diminish functioning, cause distress, and create an economic burden to individuals and society. This meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of video based interventions (VBIs) for the treatment of adults in mental health settings. VBIs comprise four different ways of using video in mental health therapy, including video modeling, video exposure, video feedback, and videos used for psychoeducation. Bandura's social learning theory, Beck's cognitive theory, and Dowrick's theory of feedforward learning form the theoretical framework for understanding how VBIs work. The research questions were: (a) what is the range of …

Effects Of Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act On Behavioral Health Access, Godwin Oshegbo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

About 50% of adults in the United States suffer from at least 1 mental health challenge in their lifetime. Annually, mental health and substance use disorders cost the United States about $800 billion, leaving individuals with unaffordable cost of care and the nation with diminished productivity and revenue. With the Essential Health Benefits and Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), healthcare resources were created to address gaps in behavioral healthcare. There is a need to understand how the healthcare law has influenced the availability of behavioral health services and access to needed care. This study …

Quantifying The Spectrum Of Depression, Octavious Bishop

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Walden University

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by

Octavious Bishop

has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects,

and that any and all revisions required by

the review committee have been made.

Review Committee

Dr. Thomas Edman, Committee Chairperson, Psychology Faculty

Dr. Ricardo Thomas, Committee Member, Psychology Faculty

Dr. Joanna Bissell-Havran, University Reviewer, Psychology Faculty

Chief Academic Officer

Eric Riedel, Ph.D.

Quantifying the Spectrum of Depression

by

Octavious Bishop

MA, University of Texas at Austin, 2008

BS, University of Texas at Austin, 2001

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment …

Evaluating The Impact Of Integrated Care On Service Utilization In Serious Mental Illness, Heidi C. Waters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Serious mental illness (SMI) affects 5% of the United States population and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Use of high-cost healthcare services is common, including hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits. Integrating behavioral and physical healthcare may improve care for consumers with SMI, but prior research findings have been mixed. This quantitative retrospective cohort study addressed the impact of integrated care on physical health and ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) utilization via a program evaluation of an integrated health clinic (IHC) at a community mental health center (CMHC). The research questions assessed whether there was a predictive relationship between …