Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Relations Between Ptsd Symptoms And Pain Interference Among Older Adults, Laura E. Travers

Theses and Dissertations

Both the older adult population and the frequency of natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes) increase in the U.S. each year. Consequently, understanding the health experiences that affect older adults specifically following a natural disaster is important for providing effective healthcare and promoting health expectancy. For example, the extent to which PTSD symptoms following a natural disaster contribute to pain severity (beyond the contributions of other psychosocial experiences such as depression) among older adults is not yet clear, and whether this contribution differs by gender or age has yet to be established. The aims of this study were (1) to determine whether …

Approaches For And Barriers To The Long-Term Execution Of A Recovery-Oriented Rehabilitation Model Of Treatment In A Community Day Psychiatric Rehabilitation Setting, Sarah Fischer

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation explores the process of creating, implementing, adapting and evaluating a program of care that is composed of specific program features that promote the acquisition of independent living skills, prosocial behavior, progress toward personal recovery goals, and more integrated community living. This program was created and implemented at a community mental health agency that provides integrated mental health care services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI).

The goals of this dissertation were to (1) compare initial and long-term fidelity to the psychiatric rehabilitation model in order to establish the program’s ability to prevent drift, (2) explore the culture …

Psychometrics Of A Measure Of Sexual Assault Coping Self-Efficacy: A Comparison Of Across Age Groups, Thomas Pankau

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Sexual assault affects people of all ages and is associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Coping self-efficacy (CSE) refers to how capable an individual feels they are able to handle stressors, including sexual assault, and it is a strong predictor of psychosocial outcomes. This dissertation assessed the psychometrics of the Sexual Assault Coping Self-Efficacy Measure (SACSEM), an instrument developed to measure sexual assault CSE across different age groups. Since the majority of research has focused on CSE following sexual assault in adults, I examined CSE across groups of adolescents, emerging adults, and adults (N = …

Virtual Manhood Acts Within Social Networks: The Enactment Of Toxic Masculinity On Reddit, Christian D. Haase

Dissertations, 2020-current

Toxic masculinity (TM) has emerged as a label for the western hegemonic masculine ideal, which is generally defined by the pressure for boys and men to be aggressive and dominant, restrict emotional expression, and marginalize women and others that do not adhere to these values (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005; Kupers, 2005). This phenomenon increases the risk for male identified individuals to engage in general acts of bigotry, especially gender-based violence (APA, 2018; Baugher & Gazmararian, 2015; FBI, 2007; Feder, Levant, & Dean, 2010). A contemporary touchpoint associated with proliferating TM ideologies is participation in online anonymous “toxic technoculture” social network …

The Relationship Of Hope To Goals And Psychological Outcomes In Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer: A Test Of Hope Theory, Kelly A. Hyland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background. Hope is an important positive psychological construct that may help to explain how individuals cope in the context of life-threatening illness. Snyder’s hope theory states that humans are goal-oriented, and that goals link hope to psychological outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship of hope to emotional well-being, meaning and purpose in life, and positive and negative affect in a sample of patients with advanced stage lung cancer. The study also sought to identify how hope relates to patients’ goals and to explore whether goal characteristics and progress in achieving goals mediated the relationship …

Telehealth Best Practice: A Call For Standards Of Care, Donna S. Sheperis, Arielle Smith

Journal of Technology in Counselor Education and Supervision

Teletherapy is an approach to working with clients that mental health providers have used in some form for years. However, the onset of COVID forced the provision of therapy into teletherapy almost exclusively for a period of time. Currently, mental health providers conducting therapy virtually are not required to be trained in telehealth and are operating without consistent uniform standards of practice. This manuscript pulls from the current literature and guidelines across counseling, psychology, psychiatry, family therapy, and social work to provide a Proposed Standards of Practice for Telehealth. Such standards benefit mental health counselor by grounding practice in common …

How Social Support Affects Career Adaptability Through The Academic Career, Megan Fox

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period where individuals begin to learn about themselves, their interests and abilities, and begin to lay foundations for their adult occupations (Arnett, 2014). During this life stage, individuals are faced with increased challenges that they must navigate in order to launch into adulthood. Career adaptability refers to the ability for an individual to cope with these expected and unexpected challenges including career tasks, transitions, and traumas (Savickas, 2013). It has been shown that supportive networks can help individuals navigate these and move into a more successful career (Len, Hackett, and Brown, 1999; Creed et al., …

Mhealth For The Treatment Of Depression In Primary Care: A Feasibility Study, Krista Herbert

Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of implementing three mobile applications (apps) designed to ameliorate depressive symptoms within primary care. The secondary aim was to examine whether participants utilizing a mobile app would experience reductions in depressive symptoms and improvements in quality of life when compared to a waitlist control condition. Participants (n=3) were recruited from two primary care practices and randomized to: (a) a cognitive-behavioral app, (b) a mindfulness app, (c) a social problem-solving app, or (d) the waitlist control condition. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms and quality of life at …

Consensual Qualitative Analysis Of Self-Criticizing Using The Two-Chair Technique, Júlia Halamová, Alžbeta Dvoranová, Slávka Zlúkyová, Viktória Vráblová

The Qualitative Report

Level of self-criticism has a significant impact on people’s psychopathology because severe self-criticism activates the sympathetic nervous system, and that further stimulates the physiological and psychological stress response which lead to impairment of mental health and wellbeing (Singer & Klimecki, 2014). Therefore, self-criticism is widely studied, but authors use mainly quantitative approaches which allow generalisation of knowledge but do not allow in-depth insights into the phenomenon. Hence our research aim was to identify the kinds of statements individuals utter when self-criticizing using the two-chair dialogue technique which enable to expose inward dialogues people lead with their self-critical parts. Out of …

Cognitive Ability And Ambivalence Toward Alcohol: An Examination Of Working Memory Capacity’S Influence On Drinking Behavior, Emily T. Noyes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research stemming from dual-processing theories suggest that working memory capacity may have an important role in the ability to inhibit automatic tendencies when there is the motivation to do so (Barrett, Tugade, & Engle, 2004). Ambivalence, the simultaneous desire to engage in (approach motivation) and inhibit (avoidance motivation), often occurs with problematic behaviors like alcohol abuse. The current study sought to determine whether individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relationship between approach, avoidance and subsequent drinking behavior in a clinical sample. A total of 66 individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) participated in a baseline assessment of working …

Mental Health Problems, Traumatic Brain Injury, And Offending Behavior Among Persons Incarcerated In A County Jail, Lauren F. Fournier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous work has found that although mental illness is positively related to offending behavior, it is a fairly poor predictor of aggression, violence, offending, and recidivism after controlling for sociodemographic and historical risk factors (i.e., criminal history, age, race, gender). This refutes the model that mental illness is a direct cause of crime. Instead, risk for recidivism or crime related to mental health problems may be higher when combined with other risk factors. The current study evaluated traumatic brain injury (TBI) and associated symptoms of post-concussion syndrome (PCS) as potential moderators of the relationship between mental health problems and concurrently …

Theory Of Mind, Social Relationship Perception And Stigma Experiences In Individuals At Clinical High-Risk For Psychosis, Francesca Maria Crump

Theses and Dissertations

The clinical high-risk (CHR) state for psychosis has been established in order to prevent the transition to full psychosis; however, demonstrates a high false positive rate (Fusar-Poli et al., 2012). Consequently, many CHR individuals may face increased labeling and symptom-related stigmatization through accessing early intervention services (Yang et al., 2015). As a result, CHR individuals may employ negative coping responses (Link et al., 1989) and exhibit increased social preoccupation in order to help conceal their mental health status (Link et al., 2015), which may hinder social cognitive ability and have lasting impacts on social functioning. This study aimed to delineate …

The Heterogeneity Of Selective Mutism: A Primer For A More Refined Approach, Christopher A. Kearney, Melanie Rede

Psychology Faculty Research

Selective mutism is a persistent and debilitating psychiatric disorder in which a child fails to speak in situations where speaking is expected. Although listed as an anxiety disorder, the multifaceted and heterogeneous nature of selective mutism indicates that a more accurate conceptualization may be as a neurodevelopmental disorder. This article serves as a primer of historical and clinical presentations, empirical clinical profiles, clinical distinctions, assessment, and treatment related to the complexity of selective mutism. The article includes a brief discussion of selective mutism within a developmental psychopathology perspective with an eye toward reformed efforts for prevention, assessment, and treatment regarding …

School Violence And Suicidal Ideation: The Mediating Roles Of Perceived School Safety And Substance Use Among Adolescents, Jordan Skalisky

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Substance use and suicidal ideation are prevalent among adolescents. An adolescent’s school environment, such as threatening or violence-related experiences at school, may influence their perceived sense of safety, thus influencing their substance use and potentially increasing suicidal ideation. The current study examined the mediating roles of perceived school safety and substance use (alcohol use, binge alcohol use, cannabis use, and vaping) on the relationship between experienced weapon threat/violence at school and suicidal ideation. Data was used from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey and participants were 13206 adolescents attending high school in the United States. Preliminary analyses indicated significant …

The Many Faces Of Schizophrenia Risk: Can Measures Of Risk Be Aggregated?, Thomas W. O'Kane

Theses and Dissertations

There are currently many different conceptualizations of schizophrenia risk, which we argue is detrimental to any efforts to build a cumulative science in this area. This paper sought to evaluate various conceptualizations of schizophrenia risk and the extent to which they overlap. This paper attempts to identify overlap by utilizing meta-analytic methods in conjunction with data collected from a sample of undergraduate college students (n = 80). To do so, we first collected estimates of various schizophrenia risk measures and risk correlates from the literature. These estimates were subsequently combined with collected data. This paper attempted to analyze review data …

Failure To Report: The Detrimental Effects Following Sexual Assault, Lindsey R. Osborne

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Sexual assault is a prominent issue in society, yet many people remain unaware of the serious effects following sexual assault. Victims who report to legal authorities tend to experience disbelief and blame because of the prevalence of rape myths. Due to the severity of the trauma, hormones released by the brain hinder proper brain functioning and can cause a little-known evolutionary response termed tonic immobility (TI). The psychological outcome of sexual assault commonly results in or worsens several psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and drug and alcohol abuse. Guilt, self-blame, and adverse emotions are accelerated with negative interactions while …

Shame Proneness As A Vulnerability Factor For Negative Emotions In The Context Of Interpersonal Stressors: An Experience Sampling Study, Oxana L. Stebbins

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Shame proneness is associated with psychopathology and may serve as a risk factor for experiencing distressing emotions at subclinical and clinical levels across diagnoses. Additionally, shame-prone individuals may have increased sensitivity toward interpersonal stressors and negative shifts in self-evaluations. However, little to no research has examined shame proneness as a prospective risk factor for distressed moods following interpersonal stressors using experience sampling methods. Furthermore, disagreement on theories of shame make it difficult to achieve consistent results in the literature. The purpose of this study was to assess whether shame proneness acts as a risk factor for distressed moods in the …

An Ecological Momentary Assessment Of Disordered Eating Behaviors Within Alcohol Use Episodes: Determining Temporal Sequencing In Food And Alcohol Disturbance, Emily M. Choquette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The co-occurrence of disordered eating and alcohol use has been well documented in the literature. Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD), previously referred to as “drunkorexia,” refers to the use of disordered eating behaviors within an alcohol use episode for the purpose of increasing alcohol effects and/or offsetting caloric intake from alcohol. There is a relatively limited literature base which examines FAD; however, there is evidence that FAD is associated with alcohol-related consequences and health risk behaviors. As such, further study into this phenomenon is necessary. The current study aimed to address significant limitations in the literature. While the aims of …

The Impact Of The Transgenerational Cycle Of Prison On Attachment Among Black Individuals, Meagan Scott

Dissertations

This empirical study assessed the impact of incarceration on an individual’s attachment style and explored protective factors that moderate these overall outcomes. The study sought to answer the following questions: (a) Are there differences related to the gender of Black participants and the gender of their incarcerated parent? and (b) Will affective expression and/or sense of community serve as protective factors and mediate the attachment style of Black individuals who have been incarcerated? The sample consisted of 98 adults (45 of whom indicated being a part of the transgenerational cycle of prison) ranging from 18 to 68 years old. Participants …

Perceived Discrimination Within The Patient-Provider Relationship And Its Impact On Help-Seeking Behaviors, Lechey S. Hibbler

Dissertations

Racial and ethnic minorities have faced discrimination for hundreds of years. When patients experience discrimination in healthcare settings, help-seeking behaviors decrease. Many patients choose to refrain from seeking treatment until their psychological or physical health issues are unmanageable, often resulting in acute visits to the emergency department. Patients that have experienced previous discriminatory encounters with health care providers are more likely to choose not to seek help for physical or mental health concerns, resulting in overall poorer physical health and mental health outcomes. With the use of critical evaluation of previous studies, this paper has demonstrated that perceived discrimination negatively …

The Effects Of Military Leadership And Its Implication On Mental Health Stigma And Treatment Seeking Behaviors Of Veterans In Garrison And Noncombat Deployment Environments, Alexis May Charrys

Dissertations

Military service members are more likely to endure a significant amount of stress and experience multiple traumatic events than civilians due to the nature of their job. Many studies have focused on the traumatic stressors encountered during combat despite the fact that many service members encounter stressors related to serving in the military. A study conducted by Dursa, Reinhard, Barth, and Schniderman (2014) found that 10.9% of nondeployed veterans screened positive for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the highest prevalence of PTSD (13.8%) amongst nondeployed soldiers. Military mental health stigma is rampant due to the need to be ready for …

Social Media, Bullying, And Preadolescent Eating Disorders: Psychoeducation And Prevention Model, Agnes Zalesna

Dissertations

The purpose of this theoretical project was to examine the available research surrounding preadolescent eating disorders with particular focus on prevalence and risk factors. The author proposed that social media and bullying should be considered as specific risk factors for this demographic in light of the increased media device use among children. Next, the author examined cognitive functioning, child development, and learning theories as they relate to the influence of social media an bullying on the development of eating disorders in children as well as current research on protective factors, prevention, programs, and treatment recommendations. Finally, the author proposed a …

Four Positive Lessons Learned During The 2020–2021 Covid-19 Global Pandemic: Implications For Spirituality In Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

While the COVID-19 global pandemic has wrecked havoc for over a year in ways that we have not seen in our lifetimes, many important positive lessons have been learned during these tumultuous and what has felt like apocalyptic times. Upon close reflection, four critical and positive lessons were learned by this author that have implications for how we productively move forward in our efforts to provide spiritually and religiously informed psychotherapy services both now and in the future. These important lessons include the benefits of telehealth and “telespirit” services as well as highlighting the advantages of reflection, discernment, and resetting …

Children As Mischievous Spirits: Legitimizing Child Cruelty And Filicide In Contemporary Africa, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritually possessed can be found across histories and cultures. While these individuals are not always viewed in the negative or treated inhumanely, cases abound whereby degrading and inhumane treatments are meted out to some of them. In the African continent, certain groups of people, particularly children are linked to certain mischievous spirits due to their unusual appearance, aberrant behavior, disability, chronic illness, psychopathology or exceptional ability. Some are also suspected and consequently mistreated due to events surrounding their birth. Such children are known by different …

Disinhibition And Persistent Maladaptive Behavior, Angela T. West

Student Theses

Objective: There is an urgent need to reduce overpopulation in U.S. prisons, which are inundated with individuals needing substance use treatment. Research on both substance use and antisocial behaviors highlight maladaptive beliefs and behaviors, while also implicating disinhibition as an important factor. Disinhibition is a dynamic trait that can be targeted with therapeutic interventions. The current study explored the relationships between neurocognitive disinhibition, substance use, and recidivism among incarcerated men. The study hypothesized that disinhibition would be associated with history of substance use, history of antisocial behavior, and institutional misconduct, as well as predicting recidivism over and above history of …

Therapists’ Willingness To Access Client Social Media Accounts In The Context Of Suicide Risk, Jacob A. Vermeersch

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The past two decades has seen a proliferation of social media use, leading to a growing body of research on the potential utility for clinical contexts. In the current study, we examine willingness of psychologists to utilize client social media to inform suicide risk-assessment and risk-related treatment decisions, and the ethical principles they used to guide their considerations. Participants were asked of the likelihood they would engage in 1) a social media-informed risk assessment, where the therapist uses client social media to inform their initial determination of risk level, and 2) a digital welfare check, where the therapist accesses an …

Learning To Feel Safe: A Translational Study Of The Influence Of Safety Learning On Anxiety-Related Overgeneralized Fear, Hyein Cho

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health diagnoses, affecting about a third of the population in their lifetime. However, approximately a third of individuals with anxiety do not respond to current treatment approaches, highlighting the need to identify additional potential therapeutic mechanisms. Safety learning is one such mechanism, but methodological challenges and a dearth of research have prevented the field from advancing the understanding of the role of safety learning in the etiology and remediation of anxiety disorders. Animal research, using single-cued safety learning paradigms, has yielded promising early findings, demonstrating that safety learning directly reduces anxiety-related behaviors …

A Psychological Perspective On Police Brutality: Current Statistics, Characteristics, And Trends Regarding Excessive Use Of Force, Ashley Salter

Dissertations

The purpose of this literature review was to utilize a psychological perspective on police brutality to identify current statistics, characteristics, and trends concerning excessive use of force. There were four fundamental goals of this literature review: (a) examine current statistics, characteristics, and trends regarding excessive use of force by law enforcement officers; (b) examine which populations are most likely to suffer from excessive use of force; (c) examine current methods in training law enforcement officers; and (d) propose a new model for training law enforcement officers. Also included is a discussion of a proposed idea for the training of police …

Colombian Women’S Experiences Of Cosmetic Surgery And Its Relationship To Body Image, Austin Gonzalez-Randolph

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand women’s experiences of cosmetic surgery and its effects on body image on women from the Colombian cities of Bogotá and Pereira. The participants of this study were women of Colombian descent, who reside in Colombia. This was done with the hopes of better understanding how culture impacts views on cosmetic surgery. Colombia appears to have a culture that is very enmeshed with cosmetic surgery. This study provides an initial exploratory and qualitative investigation into the perception of body image as it relates to cosmetic surgery among six young women living in Colombia; …

Traces Of Absence: How The Trauma Of The Yemenite, Mizrahi And Balkan Kidnapped Children Affair Is Present In Photographs And Home Movies, Natalie Haziza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between 1948 and 1956, an estimated thousands of babies and young children were kidnapped through the state medical system, in the newly established State of Israel. They were offered for adoption to barren parents (often Holocaust survivors), sold to international adoptive families (often in the United States), and in the most disturbing cases used in medical experiments. Parents were often told that their children had died during routine medical care, but were provided with neither death certificate nor body. The majority of the victims of these kidnappings were Mizrahi - Jewish immigrant families from Arab and Muslim countries. Most families …