Counseling Psychology Commons^™

The Effects Of Viewing Patient-Related Physiological Data On Students' Mental Health Stigma, Sabrina Kohls

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Abstract

Figuring out how to reduce the negative stigma of mental illness could prove useful to patients and mental health professionals. Previous research has suggested that emphasizing the biological and physiological components of mental disorders may affect how people with these disorders are perceived. Biogenetic explanations have been shown to lessen stigma towards mentally ill patients in some respects. The present study compared participants’ evaluations of a hypothetical depressed person whose description was accompanied by either an MRI of the patient’s brain or a picture of the patient’s sad face. Analyses compared participants’ responses on three aspects of stigma: social …

Metaphoric Generative Genograms: A Journey To Bring Genograms To Life Through Metaphorical Components, Elisa Garcia

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a greater understanding of the potential of genograms through my clinical work from a Bowen Family Systems lens. I account for how I processed and effectively blended metaphorical components, by examining six cases from my two-year journal entries, of bringing genograms to life in sessions. I also explain how I created a useful tool, the Metaphoric Generative Genogram, that can benefit other clinicians working with children and families in the foster care community.

The Relationship Of Disability Status On Attendance, Behavior, And Achievement Indicators For Students Receiving Intensive School-Based Mental Health Counseling, Meghan Morris Deyoe

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This causal comparative study investigated the relationship of an identified disability (IDEA declared vs. non-declared) on success outcomes for sixth through twelfth grade at-risk students enrolled in a school-based mental health program. Outcome variables included: selected attendance, behavior, and achievement indicators for students who were enrolled in and received intensive school-based counseling.

Do Trust-Based Beliefs Mediate The Associations Of Frequency Of Private Prayer With Mental Health? : A Cross-Sectional Study., Patrick Pössel, Stephanie Winkeljohn Black, Annie C. Bjerg, Benjamin D. Jeppsen, Don T. Wooldridge

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Significant associations of private prayer with mental health have been found, while mechanisms underlying these associations are largely unknown. This cross-sectional online study (N = 325, age: 35.74, SD: 18.50, 77.5% female) used path modeling to test if trust-based beliefs (whether, when, and how prayers are answered) mediated the associations of prayer frequency with the Anxiety, Confusion, and Depression Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS) scales. The association of prayer and Depression was fully mediated by trust-based beliefs; associations with Anxiety and Confusion were partially mediated. Further the interaction of prayer frequency by stress was association with Anxiety.

A Mental Health Epidemic: The Case For Mental Health Programs On College Campuses And How To Increase Awareness, Connor Deason

Senior Theses

This senior thesis project focused on the problem of mental health on college campuses. Specific interest was placed on students at the University of South Carolina. In the end, the goal was to create a product that could be used by the Counseling and Human Development Center to help increase the use of student mental health services and reduce levels of stigma surrounding mental health problems. In talking with staff members of the Counseling and Human Development Center, staff members shared a desire for a video that would advertise the services of the Counseling Center. Thus, the true purpose of …

Same-Sex Couples' Lived Experiences Of The Repeal Of The Defense Of Marriage Act's (Doma) Section Three, Alicia Anne Bosley

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Same-sex couples are affected by the social and political climates in which they live, as these create the difference between acceptance and legalization, and discrimination and prohibition, of their relationships. This contingence is made increasingly impactful by the privileges and protections afforded to married couples by the federal government; same-sex couples, along with other couples that choose not to, or cannot, marry, are excluded from these benefits. Following the June 26, 2013 ruling that Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional, same-sex couples were given access …

Military Service Members’ And Veterans’ Preferred Approach To Mental Health Services, Lisa Goldberg Looney

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health services are greatly underutilized by military service members and veterans. Among the reasons for this underutilization is that the services offered may not be a good fit for the specific problems facing service members/veterans and/or their families. The current study presented service members with descriptions of several approaches to treatment and asked them to indicate the likelihood of using each. Service members indicated the highest likelihood for using self-directed services, followed by individual treatment with a professional. They reported being least likely to use group approaches. These results may inform decisions about the implementation and dissemination of information …

Notions Of Spirits As Agents Of Mental Illness Among The Akan Of Ghana: A Cultural-Psychological Exploration, Annabella Opare-Henaku

Theses and Dissertations

The study explores lay conceptualizations of mental illness among the Akans of Ghana as influenced by their cultural worldview. Akan, the largest ethnic group in Ghana, is noted for the use of supernatural attributions for various health-related issues. The supernatural attributions are based on Akan ontological belief that the universe is unitary such that there is no clear distinction between physical and spiritual occurrences. This worldview guides Akans in how they deal with a wide range of issues including their mental health. Clinicians and other mental health professionals who rely solely on biomedical approaches to mental health fail to meet …

Applying The Social Norms Approach To Help Seeking Behavior In The Military, Janette Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed the applicability of the social norms approach to help-seeking behavior in the military by exploring whether Service Members are affected by perceptions of peers’ beliefs about stigma related barriers to mental health care. METHOD: Data were collected from members of the Virginia National Guard (N= 84) during Yellow Ribbon events. Using surveys, Service Members’ own perceptions and their perceptions of their peers’ beliefs about barriers to seeking psychological care were gathered. RESULTS: Participants’ own beliefs about barriers to care were positively correlated with perceptions of peers’ beliefs. Variance in help-seeking status was better accounted for by …

Predictors Of Perfectionism In Latter-Day Saint Students, Preston V. Tenney

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to gain insight into the prevalence, nature and etiology of perfectionism in a sample of devout Latter-day Saint college students at Brigham Young University. A number of variables-including self-conscious emotions, mental health, interpersonal/cognitive style, and religious orientation-were entered into multiple regression models to determine the strongest predictors of perfectionism. Participants were 245 students studying at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT in the spring of 1995. The self-conscious construct of shame demonstrated to be the strongest predictor of perfectionism followed by depression and religious fundamentalism. In addition to these findings, it was found …

Supporting Utah's Parents In Preventing Adolescent Suicide: A Literature Review And Handouts For Utah's Youth Suicide Prevention Manual, Jennifer L. Whicker

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide, a public health problem on a global scale, has become the focus in many domains across the United States. With the recent push to provide solutions to the adolescent suicide rate in the U.S., the school setting has become an important venue for prevention and intervention efforts. While there are many risk and protective factors, the majority of suicide completions are concurrent with psychiatric disorders among adolescents; as such, this is an area that warrants further investigation. Additionally, school resources are often overwhelmed by the magnitude of need among the student population; therefore, effective interventions must be identified that …

Identification Of Latent Subgroups Of Obese Adolescents Enrolled In A Healthy Weight Management Program, Cassie Brode

Theses and Dissertations

In obesity research, it is assumed that the population is homogeneous. While this approach has yielded important insights, testing this supposition might reveal information that could impact our understanding of the phenomena and its treatment. In this study, data from obese teenagers (N = 248, Mean BMI percentile = 99%; Mean age = 13.9, SD = 1.8) who were predominantly minority (n = 182), female (n = 169), and enrolled in a weight loss intervention were analyzed. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to segment patients into groups based on their scores on PedsQL 4.0 scales (physical-, emotional-, social-, and …

Randomized Trial Of A Broad Preventive Intervention For Mexican American Adolescents, Nancy A. Gonzales, L. E. Dumka, R. E. Millsap, A. Gottschall, D. B. Mcclain, J. J. Wong, M. German, A. M. Mauricio, Lorey A. Wheeler, F. D. Carpentier, S. Y. Kim

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Objective—This randomized trial of a family-focused preventive intervention for Mexican American (MA) adolescents evaluated intervention effects on adolescent substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and school discipline and grade records in 8th grade, one year after completion of the intervention. The study also examined hypothesized mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Method—Stratified by language of program delivery (English vs. Spanish), the trial included a sample of 516 MA adolescents (50.8% female; M =12.3 years, SD=.54) and at least one caregiver that were randomized to receive a low dosage control group workshop or the 9-week group intervention that included …

Factors Influencing Women’S Psychological Well-Being Within A Positive Functioning Framework, Krista Moe

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Women suffer a high prevalence rate of several mental disorders. National U.S. data (N = 9,282) shows that 23.4% of women meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder, 8.6% for depression, and 11.6% for a mood disorder (Kessler et al., 2005). Compared to men, women are two times more likely to be depressed (Lewinsohn, Rhode, Seeley, & Baldwin, 2001) and two to three times more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders such as panic disorders, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, and Posttraumatic Stress (Kessler et al., 2005). Due to experiencing a high number of mental disorders, women’s psychological well-being (PWB) …

Perceived Racism And Mental Health: A Meta-Analytic Review, Hokulea D. Conklin

Theses and Dissertations

The present study provides a synthesis of extant research examining the association between perceived racism and mental health. The aims of this study were to identify the overall magnitude of this association and to elaborate on the possible influence of participant characteristics (acculturation level, age, gender, race, education, and socioeconomic status) and study characteristics (year of data collection, geographic region of the study, and research design) in moderating this association. A total of 130 studies were included in the final analysis. The omnibus effect size for this meta-analysis was r = -.188 (p < .001), which indicates that higher instances of perceived racism were associated with lower levels of mental health. The overall magnitude of this association suggests a moderately small relationship between these two constructs. None of the participant characteristics moderated the results. However, studies conducted in more recent years appeared to be associated with effect sizes of greater negative magnitude than studies conducted in previous years. The implications of these findings for multicultural psychology are discussed and suggestions regarding future research in this area are presented.

Ethnic Identity And Personal Well-Being Of People Of Color: A Meta-Analysis, Timothy B. Smith, Lynda Silva

Faculty Publications

This meta-analysis summarized research examining the relationship between the constructs of ethnic identity and personal well-being among people of color in North America. Data from 184 studies analyzed using random effects models yielded an omnibus effect size of r = .17, suggesting a modest relationship between the two constructs. The relationship was somewhat stronger among adolescents and young adults than among adults over age 40. No differences were observed across participant race, gender, or socioeconomic status, which findings support the general relevance of ethnic identity across people of color. Studies correlating ethnic identity with self-esteem and positive well-being yielded average …

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, J. Bradley Layton

Faculty Publications

Background: The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality. Objectives: This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk. Data Extraction: Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships. Results: Across 148 studies (308,849 …

The Effects Of Client Therapist Racial And Ethnic Matching: A Meta Analytic Review Of Empirical Research, Raquel Cabral Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

In a widely cited 2003 report, the U.S. Surgeon General criticized mental health and social services within the United States for failing to adequately serve the needs of clients of color. The report highlighted the fact that therapists often do not adequately account for cultural variables in their evaluations or interventions. Clients of color are rarely seen by therapists who adequately understand their cultural values and backgrounds. To address this discrepancy, researchers have explored a variety of therapy process and outcome variables across clients seen by therapists of their same race vs. another race (often called "ethnic matching"). Over 200 …

The Correlation Between The Eating Attitudes Test And Body Shape Questionnaire, Maren L. Kanekoa

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the relationship between eating attitudes and body image dissatisfaction using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Three cohorts of almost 2,000 undergraduate females from Brigham Young University were given the EAT and BSQ twice a year for two to four years, depending upon their year of entrance to BYU. The data collected were analyzed using correlational statistics. Results indicated that a high positive correlation between the EAT and BSQ existed across semesters and cohorts.

Culturally Adapted Mental Health Interventions: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Derek Griner

Faculty Publications

There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients? cultural contexts. Numerous studies evaluating culturally adapted interventions have appeared, and the present study used meta-analytic methodology to summarize these data. Across 76 studies the resulting random effects weighted average effect size was d = .45, indicating a moderately strong benefit of culturally adapted interventions. Interventions targeted to a specific cultural group were four times more effective than interventions …

Effect Of Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders On Measures Of Group Cohesion In Substance Abusers, Sharon Bradford Robbins

Doctoral Dissertations

Substance dependence and treatment have been the focus of research for a number of years. Recently more attention has been directed toward identifying the most appropriate treatments for people with more complicated substance disorders, those with substance dependence and mental illness. The current study examined three aspects of group cohesion, a necessary condition for effective outcomes, in 64 substance abusers with a comorbid mental illness. The rated aspects of group cohesion included overall group climate, individual group members' self-worth, and each member's perception of the relationship with the group leader. Groups were divided according to profiles based on results from …

From The Individual To Individualism: A Critique Of The Helping Professions, Timothy B. Smith, Matthew R. Draper

Faculty Publications

Individualistic values characterize contemporary society and many popular approaches to mental health treatment. This paper critiques the individualistic values embedded in the helping professions that implicitly contradict the teachings ofJesus Christ, the surest foundation for mental health interventions. Members of AMCAP are encouraged to search out and replace problematic values that contradict gospel teachings which have been integrated into contemporary mental health practice.

Trauma And The Use Of Formal And Informal Resources In The Deaf Population: Perspectives From Mental Health Service Providers, Stephanie W. Cawthon, Bentley W. Fink, Paige Johnson, Sarah Schoffstall, Erica Wendel

JADARA

Using grounded theory analysis, the current study identifies the perspectives of therapists and counselors regarding the nature of informal and formal resources supporting the treatment of deaf individuals with trauma. Nineteen counselors and therapists were interviewed, and accessibility, formal support, informal networks, and gaps in resources were identified as salient themes. Subsequent analysis identified concerns with confidentiality as a strong theme. This study emphasizes the need for counselors and therapists to become mindful of utilizing resources to support the treatment of trauma while being concerned with confidentiality.