Psychology Commons^™

A Legacy Of Feminism And Advocacy: An Interview With Dr. Lenore Walker, Brandi Diaz

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

Dr. Lenore Walker is a pioneer in feminism and trauma counseling. Her contribution to these fields is vast, including topics of gender violence, battered woman syndrome, child abuse and trauma, false confessions of battered women, sex and human trafficking, and psychology and the law. Her theories and conceptualizations have shaped how providers approach trauma-informed care and the assessment of trauma survivors. Moreover, her work has spanned a variety of functions such as a clinician, researcher, educator, advocate, leader, consultant, and mentor. For the purposes of this article, Dr. Walker engaged in an interview to discuss her career, contributions, legacy, and …

Moderated Mediated Model Of Religiosity, God Image, And Self Compassion, Amanda Strivings

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Religious engagement can be a protective factor as well as contribute to negative mental health outcomes in religious populations. Early experiences in the parent-child relationship influence how individuals view God, which influences how they emotionally experience and engage with religion. Previous research has explored the relationships between religiosity, view of God, and self-compassion. This study explored the influence of three separate views of God on the cross-generational maintenance of religiosity and as sociocultural factors that influence self-compassion within the context of religiosity. Results supported several direct and indirect relationships. The analysis included one simple mediation model to explore the mediating …

Counselors Perception Of Life Experiences Affecting Their Longevity In Counseling, Melissa S. Kennedy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to examine counselor perceptions of life experiences on clinicians remaining in the counseling field. The theory guiding this study is self-efficacy as it relates to clinicians’ positive experiences that supported them in counseling over time. In total, 10 state-licensed mental health counselors participated in semi-structured interviews with the researcher. The data collected was analyzed for common themes from all interviews. The common themes included the following: personal trauma, intrinsic motivation, faith, community building, theoretical application, and enjoyable activities. Counselors should engage in more positive activities to increase longevity in counseling.

Addressing Weight In Primary Care: Perspectives Of African American Young Adults With Serious Mental Illness, Sang Qin, Lindsay Sheehan, Janis Sayer, Kristin S. Williams, Julius Mercer, Ashley Scott, Tevin Anderson

Journal of Human Services Scholarship and Interprofessional Collaboration

Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) experience disproportionate rates of physical illness. Morbidity and mortality are even worse for young African Americans with SMI, especially those who are overweight. Primary care physicians (PCPs) have an important role in addressing weight management. Current research explored these young patient’s perceptions of weight management and how PCPs can best address their weight concerns. Using community-based participatory research, we interviewed 25 African American aged 18-30 who were overweight and had a SMI. Results revealed 1) patient perceptions around weight and 2) patient preferences. Participants identified both positive and negative aspects of being overweight, …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach To Working With Youth, Young Adults And Families, Weston J. Robins

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach to Working with Youth, Young Adults and Families

A focus on experiential mentoring, humanistic counseling and community engagement as a way to work with youth, young adults and families to provide true holistic therapeutic support and guidance.

Teaching Students About Trauma, Stress And Brain Regulation, Kathy J. Van Horn

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

All students are impacted by stress and can benefit by understanding their brains, their stress response, and strategies for regulation. This presentation will provide practical principles and ideas for teaching students strategies and skills for physical, emotional, and cortical regulation.

Defusing Escalating Situations, Louis Lamont Fletcher Phd, David Allen Watson

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The Executive Director of Facilities and Operations and the Director of Safety and Security for a Colorado School district with 28,000 students will share tools, techniques, and experiences with conflict resolution. The presenters will outline the recognizable precursors to conflict, the importance of the individual's initial reaction, and provide tools to facilitate de-escalation. This interactive presentation provides relevant tools to de-escalate conflicts between peers, supervisors and subordinates, teachers and students, teachers and parents, school security officers and students, superintendents and board members, and school districts and community members.

The Relationship Between Social Media Use, Internet Use, And Frequency Of Pornography Habits, Chaela Hastings, Anna Miller

Journal of Graduate Education Research

The purpose of this correlational study is to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the amount of time spent on the internet or social media sites and the frequency of pornography habits, and if gender has an effect on frequency of pornography habits. Participants were a convenience sample of 105 men and women between ages 18-24 among two universities in the Southeastern United States. Each participant completed a survey to determine time spent on internet sites, time spent on social media, and the frequency of pornography habits. An analysis of our results showed that there is not …

Connecting In A Remote World: Psychotherapy & Counselling Students’ Experiences Of Remote Teaching And Learning, Geraldine Sheedy

Dept of Applied Social Science

In 2017 Scholl et al. highlighted a growing trend towards online courses in Psychotherapy & Counselling training. With the emergence of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this growth has accelerated, with more training now taking place in an online setting. This study explored students’ experiences of remote learning on a Psychotherapy & Counselling training, with a particular focus on engagement and interaction in an online setting. A Thematic Analysis was carried out on the data and the central organising theme of Connection emerged. Three sub-themes were identified including, ‘Connection to Self’, ‘Connection to Others’ and ‘Connection to Lecturers’. Findings indicate that …

Examining Help-Seeking Attitudes In College Student-Athletes: Mental Health Literacy And Stigma, Philip Mullins, Jason Li, Jaime Scherer, Rachel Valentine

Journal of Counseling and Psychology

This study aimed to investigate the predictors of the attitudes of student-athletes toward seeking psychological help. Results from data collected from a sample of 79 college students in a Midwestern university indicated that mental health literacy, self-stigma, and public stigma combined significantly predicted attitudes toward help-seeking. However, when self-stigma and public stigma were controlled, only mental health literacy significantly predicted attitudes toward help-seeking. These findings suggest that mental health literacy is a crucial factor in predicting help-seeking behaviors among college student-athletes, and that stigma can impact help-seeking behaviors. Additionally, mental health literacy was positively correlated with attitudes toward help-seeking, indicating …

Acculturation And Immigrant Parental Perceptions Concerning Sexual Communication, Kwame Owura Frimpong

Journal of Human Services Scholarship and Interprofessional Collaboration

Abstract:

Acculturation presents challenges to many immigrant parents that are adjusting to new lives in the United States. The rationale for conducting this study stemmed from the effects that acculturation can have on the wellbeing of immigrants, adversely affecting their health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of Sub-Saharan African immigrant parents concerning having a conversation with their pre-adolescent children about sexuality and sexual practices. Findings revealed communication barriers due to cultural beliefs, cultural taboos, and shame. The findings from this study are beneficial to behavioral healthcare providers that work with immigrant families, parents, and …

Indirect Effects Of Self-Compassion On Self-Forgiveness Through Self-Esteem And Self-Condemnation With Gender Moderation: A Parallel Moderated Mediation Analysis, Jill A. Marin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Two studies explored the relationship between self-compassion and self-forgiveness as well as the role of self-esteem, self-condemnation, and gender in that relationship. Since self-forgiveness is associated with greater well-being, the studies’ importance included gaining knowledge to increase well-being by investigating factors that contribute to self-forgiveness. Research questions were if the relationship between self-compassion and self-forgiveness was mediated by self-esteem and self-condemnation and if gender moderated those mediations. Two quantitative correlational studies, of 94 MTurk and 114 social media participants, used online Qualtrics surveys with established measurements to collect data. Associations, mediators, and moderators were examined by bivariate correlations, mediation analysis, …

An Existential-Phenomenological Exploration Of The Experience Of Being A White Undergraduate Psychology Student In A Multicultural Counseling Course, Mona Lynnette Swallow

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This existential-phenomenological study sought to explore the experiences of White undergraduate psychology students enrolled in a multicultural counseling course to gain an understanding of how White students described their lived experiences while enrolled in the course. This was accomplished by conducting virtual interviews with nine participants recruited through an online university announcement. Three key experiential constituents emerged from the data supporting previous research of the conflicts White students experience as they process understanding their racialized identities as members of the dominant ethnic-racial group in U.S. society in context to the topics discussed in the course. This lack of understanding was …

Cbt And Me: A Beginning Therapist's Journey Utilizing Client Feedback, Haley Scruggs

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Cognitive behavioral couple therapy (CBCT) is a model of therapy targeting cognitions, emotional responses, and behavioral interactions between couples experiencing relationship distress. Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is a tool that clinicians can use to track the progress of their clients in therapy from the perspective of the client. This study aimed to use MFT-PRN, a type of ROM, to gather client progress throughout CBCT treatment. Prototypical change trajectories were created in Microsoft Excel for examination of presenting problem progress, couple satisfaction, and overall relationship functioning. It was found that small data sensitivity affected the trajectories immensely, though ROM outcomes revealed …

Factors That Inhibit And Support The Work Of School-Based Mental Health Providers, David B. Naff, Jennifer Murphy, Alexandra Javna, Wyatt Aldrich, Erin Standish, Jeen Joy, Ciana Cross, Sandra Saji

MERC Publications

This research brief comes from the MERC Supporting Mental Health in Schools study. Launched in 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores research-based strategies for supporting mental health in PK-12 school settings, as well as the emotional and professional capacity of PK-12 faculty and staff in the MERC region to support the social and emotional wellness of their students. This brief shares takeaways from a systematic literature review that highlight the factors that inhibit and support the work of school-based mental health providers, including school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists. It outlines the roles …

Tell Me Yours, I’Ll Tell You Mine: Reciprocity And Self-Disclosure Among Extroverts And Introverts, Heba Muhsin, Marina Gergies, Veen Briefki, Kaniyah Newborn

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Existing research indicates that extraversion is positively correlated with high levels of self-disclosure (Tang et al., 2022; Loiacono et al., 2012), while research on extraversion in online contexts suggests that extraversion is negatively correlated with self-disclosure (D’Agata et al., 2021; Caci et al., 2019). However, introversion influences low levels of self-disclosure in offline friendships (Battle et al., 2024). Self-disclosure reciprocity refers to the process where a person shares personal information in response to another’s disclosure, matching both in depth and level of intimacy (Derlega et al., 1973). Research has yet to explore how initiation of self-disclosure influences reciprocity differently in …

Is The Virtual Therapy Experience A Sufficient Means For Person-Centered Therapy? A Systematic Review, Aaron Feibush

Social Work Theses - Archive

Background: American psychologist Carl Rogers is considered the main originator of person-centered therapy (PCT), a psychotherapeutic approach which focuses on self-actualizing abilities of the client which emerge when engaged in an environment of three core conditions established by the therapist: unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence. Over the last several decades there have been thousands of studies that demonstrate support for these three core conditions as necessary features of effective therapy. However, with the emergence of psychotherapy being conducted via telehealth in the last several years, in particular since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unknown …

Outpatient Fall Prevention In Ambulatory Adults 65 Years Old And Over, Dorothy L. Osborne-White

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: In the United States (U.S.), falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and over, resulting in 36 million falls yearly (Moreland et al., 2020). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2023), one in four older adults experiences a fall each year. Falls are the world's second most prominent cause of accidental deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults (Moreland et al., 2020).

Methods: A quality improvement project that included a fall bundle was implemented in a primary clinic. A …

Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc's "Dear Elia", Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

[...] Inviting readers to reclaim the stigma of unwellness and collectively to "tend to our unwellness, together," Khúc approaches unwellness as a crucial resource for subverting the "wellness and unwellness" dichotomy entirely. After all, the opposite of "wellness" is not "unwellness"; the opposite of "wellness" does not exist. The opposition itself is an artificial framework, one that reductively harms more than it dialogically helps. We need to move away from these simplistic dualisms, Khúc suggests, and towards more generous, trauma-informed epistemologies. [...]

The Experiences Of Religious Students In Counseling Theories Courses, Brian A. Mesimer, Matthew Lyons, Candace Park

Journal of Faith Integration Counseling (JFIC)

We explored the experiences of 10 religious counseling students in their theories course. Analysis using transcendental phenomenology showed that the theory acquisition process is multifaceted, consisting of a variety of affective and cognitive experiences which further student growth.

Examining Stigma In Rural Mental Health Care Settings: A Mixed Methods Approach, Lainie Krumenacker

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

More than half of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness in their lifetime (CDC, 2021), yet stigma towards mental health affects both patients and providers. Although programs exist to address stigma, improve cultural competency among providers, and educate families on the importance of support, facilities are often limited on programs they provide due to allocation of resources and funds. Without a shift in treatment and programing, stigma will continue to impact patient care and outcome.

This study explored stigma among mental health providers in rural communities, while exploring potential differences in treatment among patients due to race. Mental …

Feasibility Of Influencing Clinician Perceived Knowledge And Competence Of Human Trafficking Via A Continuing Education Workshop, Rachel Wakefield

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has examined the complex mental and social health deficits of those who were trafficked that clinicians have to treat therapeutically (Litam, 2017; Pascual-Leone et al., 2017). Other research has explored how continuing education workshops often change the knowledge, competence, and attitudes of attendees to use more effective and evidenced techniques and skills (Neimeyer et al., 2009; Raghavan et al., 2008). However, there is a lack of understanding about how a complex topic, specifically treatment considerations of those who were trafficked, changes the knowledge and competence of continuing education workshop attendees. The purpose of the current study is to …

Exploring The Therapeutic Relationship In Mental Health Therapy With Queer And Disabled Adults, Rachel Womack

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Queerness and disability have been shown to be intimately connected, with members of the LGBTQIA+ community significantly more likely to identify as disabled compared to the general population. Though there are roughly 3-5 million queer and disabled individuals living in the United States, this remains a multiply marginalized and understudied population. Owing partially to stigma, minority stress, and discrimination, these individuals face an increased risk of a variety of mental health problems including depression, anxiety, self-harm, PTSD, and suicidality. Additionally, several barriers to mental health treatment exist, including inaccessible services, lack of provider knowledge, and outright discrimination from providers. Though …

Nursing Care During Natural Disasters, War Zones, And Mass Casualty Incidents: Implications For An Educational And Professional Overhaul, Erin N. White

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Emergency situations around the world are inevitable. Any nurse who practices for any period of time is sure to encounter situations like these. Their hospital may be flooded with traumatic and severely life-threatening patient cases where supplies can become scarce. In these situations, a nurse and all other healthcare personnel are expected to act effectively, efficiently and in a highly organized way. Despite this need, many hospitals fail to implement effective disaster preparedness programs and plans. This leaves healthcare workers at a loss for how to treat patients, communicate within and outside of the hospital, coordinate transport, and all the …

Postpartum Depression: The Effects On Infant Development During The First Year Of Life, Sophie John

Nursing | Student Research Posters

Childbirth is considered one of the most pivotal events in a woman’s life, bringing along profound changes. While often seen as joyful, the experience can be extremely challenging or stressful. This might trigger a wide range of emotions that can hinder a mother’s ability to care for herself as well as her newborn. Unlike temporary “baby blues,” postpartum depression (PPD) is similar to major depressive disorder, with symptoms like guilt, anxiety, hopelessness, and even suicidal thoughts. Though typically diagnosed within 4-6 weeks after birth, it often goes untreated or underdiagnosed due to inadequate screening. Untreated PPD can pose a risk …

Links Between Perceived Mother-Adolescent And Father-Adolescent Conflict And Low Self-Control: A Cross-National Comparative Study, Tory Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The influence of parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent adjustment have been well-documented. Self-control has emerged as a key probabilistic construct in understanding adjustment, well-being, and life success. The present study tests the links between adolescent perceptions of maternal and paternal conflict and self-control. In addition, to understand the extent to which cultural developmental context impacts these associations, the study will employ a cross-cultural comparative lens to test whether cultural context moderates these links. Self-report data were collected from N = 4,924 adolescents (Mage = 16.97 years, 54.08% female) across four countries (China, Czech Republic, Turkey, and the United States). In by …

Disability In Education From A Neurodiversity Standpoint: A Multi-Article Dissertation, Isabelle Kluge

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This theoretical multi-article dissertation is a broad examination of education, including trends in our school system, juvenile justice system, and cultural/media system to address the disproportionate targeted failure of students with disabilities from a neurodiversity standpoint. Research shows how our current education system is not the practice of freedom for all learners, but rather a reproductive practice that teaches forms of group-based privilege that results in the disproportionate outcome of school failure, oppression, and incarceration for students with disabilities. Creating liberatory learning spaces for neurodiverse students of all races must include challenging White supremacy, neurotypical superiority, and a standardized one-size-fits-all …

Cps Workers’ Perspectives On Mst-Ipv And Other Interventions For Child Maltreatment And Intimate Partner Violence: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Malea Lash

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Although the co-occurrence rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child abuse and neglect (CAN) is about 40% (Appel and Holden, 1998; Herrenkohl et al., 2008), little research currently exists on integrated treatment for these concerns. Furthermore, no known published studies investigate child protective services (CPS) workers’ perspectives on such treatment. The present study explores the perspectives of CPS workers on treatment for co-occurring IPV and CAN, specifically focusing on Multisystemic Therapy for Intimate Partner Violence (MST-IPV). A total of 18 Connecticut CPS workers participated in semi-structured interviews. Seven participants had experience working with MST-IPV treatment providers, while 11 participants …

Marginalized Sexual- And Gender-Identified Clients In University Counseling Centers: Best Psychotherapy Practices, Sara M. Cauley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Young adults in college experience significant rates of mental health difficulties. The mental wellness of young adults has shown to have a substantial link to future success, health, and well-being. Individuals with marginalized sexual and gender identities (SGM) often hold additional mental health difficulties due to having identities that typically defy societyʼs assumptions and expectations, and these assumptions/expectations are presented to youth from a young age. The distress experienced by SGM individuals can often be relational in nature due to living in and relating to a heteronormative, cisgender society that stigmatizes and oppresses SGM individuals. University Counseling Centers (UCC) typically …