Clinical Psychology Commons^™

“More To Life Than Mental Health”: Investigating The Roles Of Community Mental Health Case Managers In Promoting Community Integration For Adults With Psychiatric Disabilities, Betsy A. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The recovery movement in the field of community mental health has brought attention to more holistic outcomes of services for adults with psychiatric disabilities, including community integration. However, there is a lack of empirical investigations of the roles that service providers, and case managers (CMs) in particular, can play in promoting such outcomes for their clients. The present study took an exploratory, hypothesis-building approach to describing the ways in which CMs supported the community integration of their clients with serious mental illness. A cross-sectional design was used with qualitative and quantitative data collected from 6 CMs and a sampling of …

Predicting Attitudes Towards Telemental Health Therapy Among U.S. Military Veterans, Rebekah L. Gingras

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The recent U.S. military conflicts have brought to light the destruction of war. The amount of stress involved in deployment and exposure to combat has been found to increase the risk of mental health disorders. Many veterans are at risk for mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries. The purpose of this study was to examine age, education level, computer technology skills, personality, and barriers to seeking treatment to determine if these variables would predict attitudes towards the use of telemental health (TMH) treatment. Participants from student veterans’ organizations across the country …

Loneliness And Perceived Stigmatization Among Older Adults Enrolled In Opiate Substitution Treatment Programs And The Utilization Of Mental Health Services, Jennifer B. Armstrong

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Little research has examined the role that loneliness and perceived stigmatization play in the decision to seek mental health services among older adults enrolled in opiate substitution treatment. Researchers studying this at-risk population have called for more studies to examine services that can be implemented within current opiate substitution treatment settings. This study advances research in the field by utilizing standardized self-report measures to examine the relationship between loneliness, perceived stigmatization, and the impact of said variables on the utilization of available mental health services among older adults enrolled in opiate substitution treatment programs. Ninety-four 50-71-year-old adults from an opiate …

Designing A Data-Tracking System For A Private Therapeutic Day School, Olin J. Bittner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The Children's Institute on Mercer Island (CHILD) is a private therapeutic day school in the Seattle area serving students in elementary and secondary education. Their stated mission is to "provide innovative school programs and therapies that promote social, emotional and academic development for children with special needs." In the fall of 2012 they engaged in a program evaluation that in many respects resembles a needs assessment in order to explore and improve aspects of their functioning. Through preliminary evaluation processes, including dialogue with CHILD's Leadership Team and a survey of internal stakeholders, an area of interest in student mental health …

Exploring The Inner Experience Of Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Stacy Reger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Military veterans have returned from combat changed by exposure to trauma for as long as history has been recorded. The field of psychology contains a vast literature describing and attempting to understand Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its detrimental effects on the lives of individuals with the disorder. Despite the volume of study dedicated to PTSD in the literature, in-depth accounts of the lived experience of individuals with PTSD are rare. The current study utilized Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES), a method based on apprehending high-fidelity accounts of momentary inner experience, to explore the inner experience of eight Operation Iraqi Freedom …

A Parent At War And The "Invisible Wounds" They Carry Home: Ptsd In Military Veterans And A Review Of Psychosocial Family System Challenges, Melina Sofia Calle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom have created a new generation of military veterans and military families, many of which must manage and cope with psychosocial challenges such as posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse induced by the psychological trauma(s) faced during war. Risk factors, buffering factors, and war zone stressors influencing the development of PTSD following military-related trauma will be reviewed. As many of these affected veterans return to living with spouses and children, these psychosocial issues show to bring forth tension, stress, and friction to the family system. This thesis explores the literature of family system …

Training Law Enforcement In Mental Health: A Broad-Based Model, Rachael Elaine Hatfield

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Police officers respond to many calls involving people suffering from a mental illness; yet many law enforcement training programs and workshops do not include mental health training. A literature review was conducted to explore the problems resulting from the lack of mental health training available for law enforcement officers and identify specialized training programs currently being implemented to address those problems. The review identified several program models being implemented throughout the United States including: Joint Police/Mental Health Team Model, Mobile Crisis Unit Model, Crisis Intervention Team Model, and the Broad-Based Training Model. These models include empirically supported components used to …

An Exploration Of The Benefits Of Working As A Certified Peer Specialist (Cps) And Predictors Of These Benefits, Tricia M. Angilletta

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The mental health recovery movement has promoted the use of certified peer specialists (CPS) as an indispensable component of the recovery process when working with individuals with severe mental illnesses (SMI) (Solomon, 2004). In addition to assisting others, the literature indicates that the CPS may gain a shared benefit from the CPS experience (Solomon, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits that working or volunteering as a CPS can have on the CPS’s personal recovery process and health care costs. Two benefits that were explored are a CPS’s service utilization (outpatient therapy, case management, and inpatient …

Recovery Knowledge, Skills, And Attitudes Of Doctoral Students In Apa-Accredited Clinical Psychology Programs, And Interns In Apa-Accredited And Appic-Member Internships, Carmella R. Tress

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The concept of Recovery can be understood as an attitude or perspective about people, an attitude that encompasses beliefs about the respect, power, responsibility, empowerment, and hope that people deserve. Knowledge of and attitudes towards Recovery principles are instrumental to the development of Recovery-oriented approaches to mental health care. However, until the present study, information had not been gathered regarding the knowledge and attitudes that clinical psychology doctoral students and pre-doctoral interns have towards Recovery principles and the provision of Recovery-oriented services. A survey of a national sample of 189 doctoral students in APA-accredited programs, and 185 pre-doctoral interns in …

Testing A Brief Treatment To Reduce The Frequency Of Panic Attacks In A Clinical Outpatient Population, Benjamin N. Daniels

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Panic attacks, the key symptom of panic disorder and an associated feature of various anxiety disorders, are extremely distressing events that can negatively impact an individual’s mental health, physical health, and quality of life. This study validated a brief treatment for panic attacks, designed to reduce the frequency of panic attacks after the first session, in an outpatient clinical population. One participant was recruited to participate in this single case experimental ABA design with follow-up, where a reversal was not expected, due to the maintenance of positive effects. The treatment included both cognitive and behavioral techniques. The results were analyzed …

The Effects Of Mental Health Stigma On Treatment Attitude Within The Therapeutic Dyad: Therapist Beliefts In The Mental Health Recovery Process For Patients With Schizophrenia, Michele R. Miele

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: Stigma maintains a belief that a recovery process is infeasible for patients with schizophrenia. As clients internalize stigma and therapists maintain a conceptualization of non-recovery, their core beliefs about recovery may become treatment barriers. This study investigated clinicians’ attitudes towards recovery by evaluating the relationship between knowledge of schizophrenia, attitudes of stigma, and attitudes of tolerance held towards people with schizophrenia; included in the evaluation are years of experience working as a mental health professional.

METHOD: This study is a cross-sectional survey design using a sample of 319 participants. The survey consisted of the following measures: knowledge of …

Youth Treatment Adherence At A Rural Community Mental-Health Clinic, Asma S. Ali

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study examined the relationships between youth and adult psychopathology, and sociodemographic factors and treatment adherence for youth attending outpatient treatment at a rural community mental-health clinic. “Adherence” was defined as attending more than five sessions, while “non-adherence” was defined as attending fewer than or equal to five sessions. Results revealed no significant differences between youth adhering or not adhering to treatment depending on the relation of caregiver to youth or the mode of transportation taken to the clinic. Furthermore, caregiver and youth psychopathology and caregiver’s estimated travel time to the clinic did not predict treatment adherence. Incidentally, examination of …

Culture Ontogeny: Lifespan Development Of Religion And The Ethics Of Spiritual Counselling, Glen Milstein, Amy Manierre

Publications and Research

The counsellor has an ethical obligation to treat the whole person. Humans are cultural beings and the foundation of most cultures is religion. Religion and culture are received from our early relation~ ships and modified through later relationships across the lifespan. The paper introduces the term "culture ontogeny" to emphasize that this is a biological process wherein abstract ideas of culture and religion become material in the developing neurophysiology of each brain. A framework and methods are offered to examine the changing roles of religion in clients' emotional self~ structure, inclusive of those who describe themselves as spiritual, not religious. …

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Bullying Typologies In A Mental Health Population Of Adolescents, Jamie M. Bolton

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Despite the well documented mental health consequences of bullying behavior, bullying has not been studied in a mental health population. This study has examined psychosocial factors (symptoms of internalizing disorders and cognitive style) in a population of adolescents admitted into a partial hospitalization program. Sixty-four participants completed five self-report measures. This study was not able to differentiate among bully typologies based on internalizing symptoms (PTSD and depression) or self-debasing cognitive style. Instead, a more relevant finding was that more than half of the sample had clinical levels of PTSD and depressive symptoms. Because this sample was more similar than it …

Attitudes Toward Help-Seeking And Mental Health Among College Athletes: Impact Of A Psycho-Educational Workshop, Sandra R. Ackerman

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Development And Validation Of A Scale Of Subjective Well-Being For Cambodian Refugees , Gertha Anne Sicobo

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This is a study of the Subjective Well-Being (SWB) of refugees from Cambodia. A correlational study design composed of questionnaires was used to assess subjective well-being in a Cambodian population in the USA. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a newly constructed Scale of Subjective Well-Being for Khmer Refugees (SSWB-KR), to be used with Cambodian refugees living in the US. The scale is a 49-item, 4-pt. Likert -Type scale that was administered to a sample of 20 Cambodian refugees in Philadelphia, PA. It was administered along with three other measures, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), …

Assessing Mental Health Literacy Of First- And Third-Year Medical Students : Knowledge And Beliefs About Mental Disorders, Patricia A. Cheslock

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Mental health literacy is the knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders that influence their identification, treatment, and prevention. It is highly pertinent for the primary care physician to possess appropriate mental health literacy, because it is in that sector that the majority of individuals first seek treatment. As many as 90% of individuals who experience symptoms of a mental disorder are first seen by their primary care physician. However, general practitioners often do not detect or diagnose the presence of a mental disorder, and as many as 50% of these disorders remain unidentified and untreated. This study explored the mental …

Elian: Projective Icon Of Psychology, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes how the Elian Gonzalez story has served to expose shortfalls in clinical psychological practice.

Program Evaluation: A Look At A Case Management Program Of Big Spring State Hospital Community Services, Sharon Root Treadway

Graduate Theses

Case management services are an expanding program in the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (TXMHMR) system's treatment for chronically mentally ill individuals (CMI). CMI’s are individuals who are unable to maintain a stable adjustment to community life because of persistent and serious emotional disabilities. Previous research findings as to the effectiveness of this type of service in other programs have been mixed, and because of differences in program guidelines are not directly applicable to the TXMHMR program. The hypotheses of this study, which was a program evaluation of one specific program of case management, were two-fold; one, …