Psychology Commons^™

Adult Intellectual Developmental Disorder: Adverse Childhood Experiences And Problem Behaviors, Jacqueline R. Dye

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have detrimental effects on health and psychological outcomes in the general population (Felitti et al., 1998). Individuals with the diagnosis of intellectual developmental disorder (IDD) are at increased risk for adverse events and may be vulnerable to poor outcomes, including problem behaviors (Hatton & Emerson, 2004; Hulbert-Williams et al., 2014). The present study examined relationships among Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998) items, total score, and problem behaviors for adults with IDD receiving community-based care. Participants (N = 41) were referred by a developmental services agency for a review of their archived records, …

Saving A Seat For A Sister: A Grounded Theory Approach Exploring The Journey Of Women Reaching Top Policing Executive Positions, Nicola D. Smith-Kea

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The world of women in law enforcement is a thought-provoking one that has received increasing attention both in academia as well as in practice over the past few decades. Even more intriguing, and despite advances in the profession, is the low number of women in executive leadership positions in law enforcement. There is a vast underrepresentation of women in top executive leadership positions across the 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the complex journey of women to top executive policing leadership positions. Embracing a positive psychology approach, …

The Experience Of Children's Mental Health Leaders During Times Of Constraint: A Narrative Study, Jody Levison-Johnson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Across the United States, each state has a public mental health system that is designed to support children and youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. This is critically important as recent estimates show that one in six children in the United States has a diagnosed mental health condition (Whitney & Peterson, 2019). The design and structure of these systems vary by state, but consistent across them is the presence of a state-designated leader who is faced with an array of constraining factors that influence their behavior and shape the resulting system. This study describes the experience of leaders in children’s …

School Psychologist Self-Care Practices And Burnout Symptoms, Mary Jean Rainsford

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

School psychologists face a host of responsibilities and stressors in their profession. Burnout is a common issue among school psychologists and other helping professionals. Self-care has been noted as a preventative measure against burnout, but there is little extant research on its relationship to burnout. A survey was conducted with currently practicing school psychologists in the United States to find a connection between the presence and frequency of self-care practice and burnout symptoms. The survey found considerable differences in burnout scores between school psychologists who reported practicing self-care, compared to those who did not. Moreover, significant inverse correlations were found …

An Exploration Of Graduate And Medical Students’ Perception And Knowledge Of Other Healthcare Disciplines Contributions To Patient Care, Ashley Poole

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Multidisciplinary teams have been identified as an effective approach to improving patient treatment outcomes for a number of health conditions, including cancer and depression. Interprofessional education (IPE) facilitates learning opportunities for health professional students to gain exposure to the ways different healthcare professions can work together to provide patient care. The objective of this study was to assess graduate and medical students’ ratings of health care professional characteristics after engaging in an IPE experience. A survey using the Student Stereotypes Rating Questionnaire (SSRQ), which consists of a five-point Likert-type scale was utilized to carry out the study goals. Each student …

Impaired Self-Awareness And Brain Injury Outcomes: Comparing The Awareness Questionnaire And Patient Competency Rating Scale In A Post-Acute Rehab Setting, Sitara Shanmugam

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to examine impaired self-awareness among persons with moderate-to-severe brain injuries, and how it related to functional outcomes in a post-acute rehabilitation setting. Specifically, two self-report measures, the Awareness Questionnaire (AQ) and the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS), were used to assess deficits in awareness by comparing the patients’ ratings with the clinicians’ ratings. In addition, the study also explored impaired self-awareness as it related to poorer community reintegration (as measured by the MPAI-4 Participation Index Subscale). Of the 40 participants in this study, 40% of participants were found to have impaired self-awareness (based …

The Effects Of Early Parental Loss To Death On Intimate Relationships In Adulthood: A Qualitative Study, Leslie Mauras Fernandez

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the possible effects of early parental loss to death during childhood between the ages of 8 and 13 years old on adults and intimate relationships.  Intimate relationships are defined as relationships with a parent, sibling, relative, partner, or friend.  By using a qualitative approach, this study was designed to gather information on each participant's unique understanding of how early parental loss to death may have impacted his or her ability to form and maintain relationships with others throughout adulthood.  Moreover, the researcher explored changes in mood following the death of a …

Training Music Therapists And Music Therapy Students To Provide Trauma-Informed Care: Training Development And Pilot Feasibility Study, Mckenna B. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Adverse childhood experiences are considered a serious public health problem and can lead to complex trauma. Due to the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in the general population, it is likely music therapists frequently treat clients who have experienced trauma; however, there appears to be no published research on music therapy training and education regarding validated trauma-informed approaches. This study examined the impact of a three-hour educational training on music therapists’ knowledge of trauma-informed care and perceptions of preparedness to practice trauma-informed music therapy. Seven training attendees chose to participate and completed a pre-test and post-test covering demographic information, knowledge, …

Exploring Predictive Variables Of Burnout In Students Attending Eastern Caribbean Medical Schools, Denise Deloris Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The medical students of the Eastern Caribbean medical schools form a cohort of international students completing their clinical years of training on the Islands. They experience a degree of burnout though to a lesser extent than indicted in the literature. The Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey Student (MBI-GS(S) and a structured questionnaire of sociodemographic qualities and the medical education process items, were used to assess the relationship between the predictive variables and burnout. An N=96 was obtained from the student population. The data collected was analyzed using a series of multiple linear regression. The findings of the linear regression were …

The Cultural Construct Of Stress In Luganda-Speaking Women In Uganda, Courtney Skiera

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Luganda, the primary language spoken in Uganda has no word for stress, but this does not necessarily preclude the Luganda-speaking population from experiencing stress. There is currently no research that reveals the stress phenomenon from a Ugandan’s perspective. The purpose of this study was to examine how Luganda-speaking Ugandans conceptualize stress. Two theoretical foundations formed the basis of this study: the cognitive appraisal of stress theory and the coordinated management of meaning. Using a qualitative interpretive design, this study examined the conceptualization of stress by Luganda-speaking women in terms of understanding, experiencing, and communicating the stress phenomenon. Participants were 7 …

Battered Women's Help-Seeking In The Rural Southwestern United States, Celina Gerese Bryant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many victims of domestic violence who seek help are never able to break the cycle of abuse. Many studies address the stages and types of domestic violence, but few focus on successful recovery from abuse. The purpose of this study was to fill the gap in the literature concerning battered women's help-seeking processes in rural southwestern United States. The specific focus was on how victims and survivors of intimate partner violence seek help for domestic violence issues and whether their help-seeking processes determine successful recovery from domestic violence situations. This study was a qualitative case study based on symbolic interactionism …

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 …

Undercover Law Enforcement Operatives’ Perceptions Of Post Critical Incident Mental Health Services, David B. Spinella

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Undercover officers experience unique job-related stressors due to the covert nature and sometimes long duration of their tasks. Undercover officers adopt false identities that involve taking on a personality and lifestyle that the officer might find personally objectionable. If this identity is ever compromised, they and family members are in great danger. Officers are faced with the daily possibility of encountering abrupt and unforeseen traumatic events, such as gang retaliation, terrorism, and other events rarely experienced by civilians. Such events that exceed the range of normal experience are critical incidents, and they may be so overwhelming that they are beyond …

How Teachers And Counselors Collaborate Formally And Informally To Improve The Precollege Curriculum, Amanda Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers and counselors in a large suburban district in the Southeastern United States strive to collaborate to equip students with key skills needed to succeed in their first year of college. The problem is that little was known about the collaborative challenges teachers and counselors faced as they implemented the precollege curriculum in secondary schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how teachers and counselors collaborate formally and informally to improve the precollege curriculum as recommended by the guidelines of the American School Counselor Association and adopted by the local district. Knowles’s theory of andragogy provided …

Quantitative Analysis Of Public Perceptions Of Female Sex Offenders, Michael Buckley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public perception may have formed a consensus belief regarding sex offending. Males have considerably outweighed females with offenses, which may have created a bias against males. This study was a quantitative examination and review of the public's perceptions of female sex offenders (FSOs) as it related to their crimes and differences in sentencing when compared to male sex offenders (MSOs). There may be many reasons why females sexually offend, but there is a lack of understanding of these reasons and how FSOs are viewed by the public and the sentencing by the judicial system. The theoretical framework for the study …

Sentience In All Organisms With Centralized Nervous Systems, Lori Marino

Animal Sentience

Mikhalevich & Powell (2020) argue for considering the welfare of invertebrates, especially insects, by asking whether invertebrates have the cognitive and neural characteristics necessary for sentience. This approach assumes that human neural and cognitive complexity is the basis of sentience. But insight might also be gained by turning this approach on its head and examining the notion that sentience may be a fundamental biological property, appearing very early in the evolution of life in all organisms with centralized nervous systems.

Impact Of Perception Of Supervisors’ Knowledge-Sharing Behaviors On Newcomers’ Information-Seeking Behaviors, Melissa Denton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During their first year, new employees rely on their supervisors to share knowledge that will help them adjust to their new jobs. The purpose of this quantitative, correlation study was to examine the relationship between newcomers’ perceptions of supervisors’ knowledge-sharing and the information-seeking tactics of (a) direct inquiry, (b) indirect inquiry, (c) third-party inquiry, (d) testing limits, and (e) observing. The theoretical foundation used in this study was social exchange theory. The independent variable was measured using items from the Attitude Towards Knowledge Sharing Scale developed by Bock and Kim, and the dependent variables were measured using Miller’s Information-Seeking Strategies …

Inhibition Of Pain Or Response To Injury In Invertebrates And Vertebrates, Matilda Gibbons, Sajedeh Sarlak

Animal Sentience

In certain situations, insects appear to lack a response to noxious stimuli that would cause pain in humans. For example, from the fact that male mantids continue to mate while being eaten by their partner it does not follow that insects do not feel pain; it could be the result of modulation of nociceptive inputs or behavioural outputs. When we try to infer the underlying mental state of an insect from its behaviour, it is important to consider the behavioural effects of the associated physiological and neurobiological mechanisms.

The Lived Experience Of Monogamy Among Gay Men In Monogamous Relationships, Kellie L. Barton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on male gay relationships spans more than 50 years, and the focus of most of this research has been on understanding the development processes, consequences, and risk factors of nonmonogamous relationships. Few researchers have explored the nature and meaning of monogamy in the male gay community. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore the lived experience of monogamy to give voice to other expressions of gay male relationships and potentially add to the literature surrounding clinical implications of treatment. The framework for developing the research emerged from the construct of the monogamy gap, derived from theories of …

Afriican American Students' Experiences Of Stress From Discrimination In Online Doctoral Education, Senovia Wyche

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

There is a lack of current research about the experiences of stress related to discrimination encountered by African American students in online doctoral programs. Such discrimination can negatively impact the academics, educational experiences, and overall health of this student population. In this generic qualitative study, how African American students in online doctoral programs interpreted, perceived, and responded to their experiences of stress regarding discrimination was explored. Using the conceptual framework of Lazarus and Folkman’s cognitive appraisal theory, the research questions addressed stress related to discrimination encountered in online educational institutions, discriminatory factors perceived as inhibitors towards earning a doctoral …

Community-Based Counselors’ Experiences Counseling Female Adjudicated Youth: A Basic Qualitative Study, Ericka Pinckney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Licensed professional counselors (LPCs) have encountered difficulties engaging at-risk youth in meaningful treatment. Youth who faced great stress such as abuse, neglect, truancy, family problems, homelessness, and traumatic events have presented with challenging behaviors. Literature suggested adjudicated youth engaged in relational and physical aggression; these behaviors increased the risk for out-of-home placement. Research on community based LPCs’ professional experiences in working with adjudicated female youth is scarce. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore community-based counselors' experiences treating female adjudicated youth. Professional counselors' techniques and strategies were explored. The relational-cultural theory provided the conceptual lens through which …

Information Security Ambassadors’ Perceptions Of Peer-Led Motivation In Phishing Detection, Kingkane Malmquist

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Phishing rates are increasing yearly and continue to compromise data integrity. The need to guard business information is vital for organizations to meet their business objectives and legal obligations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore security ambassadors’ perceptions of motivating their peers to adopt safe internet behaviors in a large medical campus in Minnesota. Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristic motivation theory was used to frame the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 20 security ambassadors. Data coding and analysis yielded 7 themes: rewarding, value, personal interest, limited information security knowledge, increased interest, communication, and topics …

No Room For Speciesism In Welfare Considerations, Jennifer Vonk

Animal Sentience

Speciesism should play no role in determining welfare outcomes. Cognition may vary within species as well as between species, but broad classifications such as invertebrates are functionally meaningless in this context. Cognition should relate to welfare only to the extent that it relates to the capacity to suffer or to experience pleasure.

Zoonotic Realism, Computational Cognitive Science And Pandemic Prevention, Tyler Davis, Molly E. Ireland, Jason Van Allen, Darrell A. Worthy

Animal Sentience

Using animals in food and food production systems is one of many drivers of novel zoonoses. Moving toward less dependence on animal proteins is a possible avenue for reducing pandemic risk, but we think that Wiebers & Feigin’s proposed change to food policy (phasing out animal meat production) is unrealistic in its political achievability and its current capacity to feed the world in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. We suggest that improvements in communication strategies, precipitated by developments in computational cognitive neuroscience, can lead the way to a safer future and are feasible now.

A Psychological Perspective On Elephant Rewilding, Janet Vt Pauketat

Animal Sentience

Baker & Winkler describe the complexities of captive elephant conservation efforts in Thailand through multiple lenses. They advocate rewilding captive elephants within mixed elephant-human communities based on the benefits to captive elephants as well as to Karen mahout communities, given the entrenched economic and social systems in Thailand. From a psychological perspective, this advocacy is grounded in considerations of culture, cognition, speciesism, the differential valuing of others in social hierarchies, and the potential for positive interaction to build positive emotions and trust that enable successful rewilding in a world of elephants and humans.

Insect Sentience And The Rise Of A New Inclusive Ethics, David Baracchi, Luigi Baciadonna

Animal Sentience

Welfare protections for vertebrates are grounded in the belief that vertebrates are sentient and capable of feeling whereas invertebrates are not. We agree with Mikhalevich & Powell that the exclusion of small-brained invertebrates from bioethics is not warranted by the current state of the scientific evidence. The choice to promote protection for certain invertebrates should be based on the Animal Sentience Precautionary Principle (ASPP). This principle should not prevent us from conducting experimental research with non-human animals to advance knowledge. However, we believe that it is important to outline practical guidelines to manage the wellbeing of invertebrates, while accumulating further …

Attitudes Towards Immigration-Relevant Decision-Making: The Roles Of Fairness Judgements And National Identity, Tessa Phipps

Theses : Honours

The worldwide movement of migrants has increased rapidly in recent years and the resulting increase in cultural diversity can lead to tensions in receiving societies. In the Australian context, while negative attitudes towards Australia’s immigration intake remain the minority, such attitudes have increased over the past two years. Concepts of fairness, both procedural and distributive, have been shown to be important factors in attitudes towards immigrants and the very nature of the immigration context brings to the fore concepts of in- and out-group dynamics and national identity. This study created a reliable procedural fairness scale for utilisation in the immigration …

Does Providing Pill Testing At Festivals Increase Intention To Use Ecstasy?, Sherri Lee Murphy

Theses : Honours

Calls to provide sanctioned pill testing (drug checking) at music festivals has met with resistance from most Australian governments due to a concern that such services would increase use of ecstasy and other drugs. To address an important gap in current knowledge, I investigated how a pill testing service might influence intention to use ecstasy. I also drew from the Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine what determinants of behaviour predict intention to use a pill testing service. Music festival attendees (N = 247) were presented with three hypothetical pill testing scenarios: The current legal circumstance where consumers only …

Exploring The Influence Of Emotional Labour, Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Regulation, And Emotional Valence On Employee Job Satisfaction And Burnout, Kirsty Lee Wilson

Theses : Honours

This thesis investigated the measures of emotional labour surface acting and deep acting, emotional intelligence, emotional regulation and positive and negative affect as influences on employee wellbeing outcomes of job satisfaction and burnout. A questionnaire was administered to over 2,000 client-facing employees in the USA and Canada. Results from the data analysis found that employees subjected to high levels of emotional labour in client facing roles experienced higher levels of negative affect or outlook. Those scoring higher on the emotional labour surface acting subscale scored significantly higher for negative effect. Additionally, higher scores in deep acting emotional labour were also …

Development And Psychometric Properties Of The Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales (Socs), Jenny Gu, Ruth A. Baer, Kate Cavanagh, Willem Kuyken, Clara Strauss

Psychology Faculty Publications

Compassion has received increasing societal and scientific interest in recent years. The science of compassion requires a tool that can offer valid and reliable measurement of the construct to allow examination of its causes, correlates, and consequences. The current studies developed and examined the psychometric properties of new self-report measures of compassion for others and for the self, the 20-item Sussex-Oxford Compassion for Others Scale (SOCS-O) and 20-item Sussex-Oxford Compassion for the Self Scale (SOCS-S). These were based on the theoretically and empirically supported definition of compassion as comprising five dimensions: (a) recognizing suffering, (b) understanding the universality of suffering, …