Psychology Commons^™

Sense Of Community In Young Adulthood And Its Relation To Early Childhood Experiences, Madeline Gritzan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study focused on sense of community and community involvement in emerging and young adulthood and examined how these relate to involvement in an early childhood developmental (ECD) program. This study explored the effects of early childhood participation in the Better Beginnings Better Futures (Better Beginnings) program on entrance into communities later in life. The research objectives were to (i) identify factors related to developing sense of community in emerging and young adulthood and (ii) understand differences in adulthood sense of community based on early childhood experiences. The sample consisted of young adults who participated in three …

“Invisible” Parent Experiences Of Homelessness And Separation From Their Children In Canada, Rachel A. Caplan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Family homelessness includes a sub-group of individuals whose experiences remain largely hidden or “invisible” within Canadian homelessness systems: parents who have been separated from their children. Yet, to date, little research has focused on the experiences of “invisible” parents who have experienced homelessness, mental illness, and separation from their children in Canada. The purpose of this dissertation was to help fill this notable gap in the literature, as well as to inform community psychology and family homelessness theory, research, practice, and policy in Canada.

The Canadian At Home/Chez Soi (AHCS) research demonstration project included a subset of parents with mental …

Building Young People’S Capacity For Critical And Transcendent Engagement: Examining The Institution, The Community, And The Individual As Protagonists Of A School Setting, Livia Dittmer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a powerful socializing force in Western society, schools have significant influence on young people’s development into adulthood. As powerful agents of societal maintenance and change, adolescents have significant influence on communities and institutions such as schools. In this embedded case study, I use structuration theory, German Critical Psychology, and systems thinking to examine the dynamic relationship between institutional structures and student agency in a school setting. I specifically examine the influence of this relationship on young people’s capacity for critical and transcendent engagement, constructs described further in this work. In the setting of Nancy Campbell Academy (NCA), an international …

Changing The Narrative Of Social Determinants Of Health: Messaging For Ontarians, Emily Churchill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are conditions in which people live, such as physical environment or political context, which impact health. In Canada, SDOH are the greatest determinants of life expectancy. Despite evidence that broader social structural factors are key determinants of health, a majority of the public Ontario hold an individualistic view of health and do not see the government as having a role in decreasing health inequities. It is imperative to address the gap between public opinion and existing evidence as governmental policy will have the greatest effect on decreasing health inequities caused by SDOH. This thesis is …

Older Adults’ Social Networks And The Role Of A Telephone Helpline Program, Harmanpreet (Preet) Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over the past century, advances in health care, higher levels of education, and improved living conditions have resulted in increased human life expectancy. However, with longer life expectancy comes potential challenges to quality of life, as individuals may face numerous transitions in older age: children leaving home, employment to retirement, or physical declines possibly leading to lack of mobility. As a result, older adults may experience social isolation and difficulty in building new relationships. This is problematic, as lack of social connection is a strong predictor of lower physical and mental health (Fiori & Jager, 2012; Fiori, Smith, & Antonucci, …

Youth-Adult Community Partnerships: Student Voice And Choice In Addressing Racism, Sarah Ranco

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Researchers have documented many benefits of youth engagement, however there is a need for more systematic research on participation in different contexts. This study has investigated how a youth-adult partnership addressed racism within a high school, as well as the experiences of participants during this process. This project was a case study of a school-based, youth-adult partnership consisting of eight (N = 8) participants. Five participants were students in Grades 11 and 12, two were school/school board staff, and one was the author; I directly participated in the partnership as a facilitator. Qualitative data were collected through field notes, interviews …

Access To The Healthcare System For Acb People Living In Waterloo Region, Ontario: A Racial And Socio-Ecological Examination, Tiyondah Fante-Coleman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Little research has investigated the barriers and facilitators to accessing healthcare for African, Caribbean, and Black people in Canada. This thesis identifies barriers and facilitators using a socio-ecological framework in two papers. Five focus groups were held with 22 ACB participants in Waterloo, Ontario. Thematic analysis guidelines informed the analysis of focus group data. The first paper identified barriers at the social (racism and employment, immigrant status) and institutional (wait times, out-of-pocket expenses) levels. Community connections was the sole facilitator at the social level. The second paper identified four barriers at the interpersonal level: physicians’ style of care, lack of …

Long-Term Effects Of A Universal Program On Child Welfare Youth's Psychosocial Outcomes, Alexis Gilmer, Colleen Loomis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present project conducted two studies to better understand the impacts of former involvement with the child welfare system on young adults’ psychosocial outcomes at ages 18 and 30. In the first study (N = 598, M_age = 18.47 years) participants who were involved with child welfare during youth had higher rates of depression than those not involved in care. Using a quasi-experimental design, we hypothesized that participation in a universal community program would moderate the relationship between child welfare system involvement and negative outcomes; the hypothesis was not supported. The second study explored trends ten years later …

Exploring Profiles Of Lgbtq Social Wellbeing In Waterloo Region, Canada, Kendra Hardy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Literature on the wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people has predominantly examined the negative experiences associated with LGBTQ identity; however, a growing body of literature explores the positive wellbeing of LGBTQ people. The present study examines social wellbeing as the connections across six elements identified in previous literature: discrimination, sense of safety, outness, social support, sense of belonging, and community acceptance. Latent profile analyses (LPA), a person-centered approach, was used to explore these elements of social wellbeing with cisgender LGBQ (n = 406) and transgender (n = 110) participants from a sample of LGBTQ …

Health Equity Through Spatial Justice: A Critical Phenomenology Of Urban Trail Makers, Arvin Simon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has increasingly demonstrated that race, class and place are powerful predictors of health and social justice. This study was conducted to identify the lived experiences of individuals who were hired and trained as part of a green job program that created trails within a city park in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington Community. This program has historically hired individuals who were formerly incarcerated, many of whom identify as African American. We explored the personal and social experiences of working in nature to better appreciate the intersections of race, class and environment in an urban community. This current study is based on …

Speaking From Places: A Phenomenological Deconstructive Study Of Children’S Places, Child-Centric Methods, And Politics., Sugandh Dixit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation adopts an innovative phenomenological and deconstructive methodology to create a child-centric research process sensitive to facilitating, integrating, and representing children’s voices in designing their school playground. The study developed and employed two novel child-centric methods, an Embedded Walk and a Communal Child-Map Project in order to integrate parents’ and children’s experiences of the school spaces the authorities planned to renovate. Both methods reveal and complicate the socio-political dynamics that structure children’s, parents’, and researchers’ stances towards children’s places and worlds. During the Embedded Walk, children led their parents through their play spaces and they collaboratively documented the childrens’ …

Self-Compassion And Cultural Values: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Self-Compassion Using A Multitrait-Multimethod (Mtmm) Analytical Procedure, Jesus Montero-Marin, Willem Kuyken, Catherine Crane, Jenny Gu, Ruth A. Baer, Aida A. Al-Awamleh, Satoshi Akutsu, Claudio Araya-Véliz, Nima Ghorbani, Zhuo Job Chen, Min-Sun Kim, Michail Mantzios, Danilo N. Rolim Dos Santos, Luiz C. Serramo López, Ahmed A. Teleb, P. J. Watson, Ayano Yamaguchi, Eunjoo Yang, Javier García-Campayo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Self-compassion is natural, trainable and multi-faceted human capacity. To date there has been little research into the role of culture in influencing the conceptual structure of the underlying construct, the relative importance of different facets of self-compassion, nor its relationships to cultural values. This study employed a cross-cultural design, with 4,124 participants from 11 purposively sampled datasets drawn from different countries. We aimed to assess the relevance of positive and negative items when building the self-compassion construct, the convergence among the self-compassion components, and the possible influence of cultural values. Each dataset comprised undergraduate students who completed the “Self-Compassion Scale” …

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review Fall 2018

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Young Adult Exposure And Engagement With Social Media Tobacco And Nicotine Product Marketing And Messaging, Stephanie L. Clendennen

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Tobacco use remains a critical public health issue in the United States. Young adults are disproportionately affected by high rates of tobacco use and heavily targeted by tobacco marketing. Social media has become an important source of exposure to tobacco and nicotine product marketing and messaging for young adults. This dissertation examined the prevalence and socio-environmental characteristics associated with young adults’ exposure to and engagement with tobacco-related social media (paper 1); the prospective associations between young adults’ exposure and engagement and tobacco and nicotine product use (paper 2); and young adults’ experiences with tobacco and nicotine product messaging on social …

Identifying Risk Factors Associated With Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Lesbians, Sofia S. Velazquez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of female deaths in the United States (1). While women, in general, are at risk for CVD, current research indicates that sexual minority women (i.e. lesbians and bisexual women [SMW]) may be at greater risk for CVD than heterosexual women. This heightened risk potentially stems from an increased prevalence of traditional CVD risk factors in SMW, creating health disparities between SMW and their heterosexual counterparts (2). Further research into this high-risk population is needed, in order to minimize these disparities.

The purpose of this study was to establish differences in the prevalence of …

Hemoglobin A1c Improvements And Better Diabetes-Specific Quality Of Life Among Participants Completing Diabetes Self-Management Programs: A Nested Cohort Study, Abhinav Khanna

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background: Numerous primary care innovations emphasize patient-centered processes of care. Within the context of these innovations, greater understanding is needed of the relationship between improvements in clinical endpoints and patient-centered outcomes. To address this gap, we evaluated the association between glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and diabetes-specific quality of life among patients completing diabetes self-management programs.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study nested within a randomized comparative effectiveness trial of diabetes self-management interventions in 75 diabetic patients. Multiple linear regression models were developed to examine the relationship between change in HbA1c from baseline to one-year follow-up and Diabetes-39 (a diabetes-specific quality …

Relationship Between Nursing Safety Culture And Patient Perception Of Safety In Inpatient Units Of An Academic Specialty Hospital, Miguel Angel Lozano Garcia

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The objective of this research was to analyze the relationship between nursing safety work culture in inpatient nursing units of a specialty academic hospital and their patients’ perception of safety using quantitative and qualitative methods. The aim of the quantitative study was to quantitatively evaluate whether nursing safety culture, as measured on the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) safety questions of the institutional employee opinion survey, was associated with patients’ perception of safety during their inpatient care, as measured by responses on the inpatient Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. The aim of the …

Factors Contributing To Lower Cancer Screening Utilization In A Sub-Sample Of United Way 2-1-1 Callers, Jason M. Rhoton

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

This dissertation was a secondary analysis of data from a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)-funded [grant # PP100077 & PP120086] cancer-control intervention with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and United Way 2-1-1. The aims of the three dissertation papers were addressed by examining a sub-sample of 2-1-1 callers that were drawn from the parent study baseline data. Participants were required to need at least once cancer prevention service to be included in the parent study and dissertation analyses. This dissertation was a cross-sectional analysis of de-identified data examining the …

Sex-Specific Effects And Gene-Sex Interactions In Serum Metabolome Levels: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Zhe Wang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Metabolomic signatures associated with complex disease have been identified. Metabolomic profiling and the integration of genomic data have proven to be powerful tools to investigate genetic effects underlying intermediate phenotype levels and may facilitate improved understanding of pathophysiologic processes of disease. However, most published studies did not consider sex as an effect modifier, analyze sex-specific effects, nor gene by sex interactions. One reason can be incomplete knowledge of the power of statistical methods used in a given dataset.

I first investigated sex-specific genetic effects by performing sex-stratified exome-wide association studies for 271 chromatography-mass spectrometry measured metabolites in the Atherosclerosis Risk …

Relating Rsv Genetic Diversity To Global Transmission Dynamics, Rebecca J. Fisk

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Many studies of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) have relied on analyses of the Major Surface Glycoprotein G gene (G gene). Global transmission patterns have not been well studied due to lack of systematic global surveillance efforts. This study used phylogenetic analysis of full genome data, categorized by geo-region, to determine the sources of RSV A and B infection in Chile and Houston, Texas. Additionally, disease severity studies have generally focused on outcomes associated with a single genotype. In this study we developed a statistical phylogenetic approach to explore the relationship between tree topology and disease severity. Disease severity data included …

Bayesian Based Semiparametric Multidimensional Approaches To Analysis Parkinson's Disease, Jun Zhang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In the slow progression of Parkinson's Disease (PD), impairments arise and affect multiple domains (e.g., motor, cognitive, and behavioral). Mixed types, multivariate longitudinal data are commonly used in PD studies. Challenges exist in assessing PD status and investigating disease progression due to lack of biomarkers and ubiquitous impairment in the disease. We proposed a model framework by combining the semi-parametric approach and multi- dimensional framework, and used the proposed model to investigate the heterogeneous disease development and the non-linear treatment effects in the multiple domains predefined in PD.

Furthermore, we extended the semi-parametric multidimensional approach to the data with multi-types …

Censored Count Data Analysis – Statistical Techniques And Applications, Xiao Yu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Count data are commonly used to report frequency statistics of diverse health outcomes. However, some data are marked intentionally to avoid leaking information that could be used to identify individuals when population sizes are small. The situation hinders the further use from those data in public health research. Thus, an accurate and efficient method for dealing with censored count data is needed.

We developed Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation algorithm to censored Poisson regression model to deal with censored count data and improve the computational efficiency. In addition, we applied three methods to deal with censored count data: 1) multiple imputation …

Observed Cooking Behaviors Of Families With And Without Childhood Cancer Survivors And The Development Of A Healthy Cooking Assessment Tool, Margaret Pleta Raber

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Diet is a modifiable risk factor for several cancers and other chronic diseases. Cooking skills are a target for dietary intervention, with much of the general population reporting infrequent and inadequate home preparation of meals. Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are a population at high risk of several chronic conditions including secondary cancers that may be influenced by home cooking behaviors. We conducted observations of food preparation practices in 29 parents of healthy school-aged children and 11 parents of CCS. Observations included an audio and video recording of one evening meal per family. Parents were asked to wear a small body …

Chagas Disease Awareness Amongst Texas Physicians, Gerardo J. Pacheco

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

An estimated 300,000 people in the U.S. are living with Chagas Disease (CD), many of whom may not yet know they are infected. Approximately 20% to 30% of individuals with CD are expected to develop clinical symptoms that may manifest as heart disease and result in death if left untreated. The prevalence of CD in humans is not well understood. Given its asymptomatic manifestation and the rarity in cases seen by physicians in general, CD may be under-recognized by physicians.

The purpose of this research was to explore the understanding and knowledge of CD in Texas HCP populations (cardiologists, infectious …

Sequential Monitoring Of Adaptive Randomized Clinical Trials With Sample Size Re-Estimation, Jun Yu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Clinical trials are complicated and involve human beings. Therefore, lots of ethical and efficient objectives are expected to be achieved. These objectives include maximizing the power of detecting the treatment effects, assigning more patients to the better treatments, saving the cost and time, and controlling the type I error rate. A variety of adaptive designs have been proposed to achieve different aims, among which sequential monitoring and sample size re-estimation are very popular in real clinical trials. In addition, adaptive randomization designs sequentially update the allocation probability aiming to target different allocation proportions and achieve different aims. Hu and Rosenberger …

Validation Of A Type 2 Diabetes Risk Stratification Tool In A Low Income Hispanic Population, Dara Grieger

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

A pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the appropriateness of a previously published diabetes risk stratification tool in a diabetic population. The tool was applied to a sample of 500 prediabetic and diabetic adults receiving primary care services at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Cameron County, Texas. The study population was largely Hispanic and underserved. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 data set was used as a comparison group. The risk assessment tool was applied to separately to the prediabetic and diabetic subset of both study groups. The tool stratified the patients into three risk …

Impacts Of Cold Weather On Health In Texas, Tsun-Hsuan Chen

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recent events with recorded low temperature and unusual snow accumulation in the United States and Europe have raised the public awareness of the potential health impacts of extreme winter weather. Excessive cold was the leading cause of weather-related death during 2006-2010 in the U.S., accounting for 63% of weather related deaths. Several studies worldwide have demonstrated that, in general, mortality rates are higher in winter compared to summer. Studies have also shown that the association between cold temperature and death vary across cities, regions and countries and is especially relevant with decreasing latitude or in regions with mild winter climate. …

Collateral Benefits Of Diabetes Self-Management Associated With Self-Administered Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy, Anisha P. Ganguly

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Self-administered outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (S-OPAT) is a self-care treatment modality in which patients requiring extended courses of intravenous antibiotics are trained to safely self-administer treatment via an indwelling catheter in their home. Many patients seen in the S-OPAT program have a diagnosis of diabetes and present with infections associated with poor glycemic control, including skin and soft-tissue infections and osteomyelitis. Given the degree of patient activation required to successfully complete the S-OPAT process, we hypothesized that participation in this self-care program may benefit patients in self-management of other chronic health conditions, such as diabetes. The study team included Anisha …

Alternative Tobacco Products & Depressive Symptoms Among Young Adults, David Marsden

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The association between cigarette use and depression has been documented in many studies. Fewer studies have examined other tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and hookah that are used by young adults. This study examined whether increased frequency of use of these products was associated with depressive symptoms in a cohort of n=5,236 Texas college students followed from 2014 to 2017. A hierarchical model showed that increased frequency of single product use of cigarettes, refillable e-cigarettes and hookah was associated with depressive symptoms. Refillable and disposable e-cigarettes were examined separately and results did not provide evidence of a different …

Investigation Of Hantavirus And Leptospira As Possible Contributing Factors Of The Unexplained Kidney Disease Epidemic In Nicaragua, Nicole J. Delgado

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Throughout Latin America, an epidemic of a kidney disease of an unknown etiology has been occurring since the late 1990s, and this disease is being called “Mesoamerican nephropathy.” Mesoamerican nephropathy predominantly affects male sugarcane workers. In Chichigalpa, Chinandega, Nicaragua, there is sugarcane plantation that is being heavily impacted by the Mesoamerican nephropathy epidemic, and they invited researchers from Baylor College of Medicine to investigate the epidemic. The prospective epidemic investigation began in 2015, and it is an ongoing investigation. Based on the compilation of data collected during the preliminary investigation, our hypothesis is that a possible zoonotic disease, such as …