Health Psychology Commons^™

Review Of Steve Taylor’S Disconnected, Zeke Floro

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article presents a review of Steve Taylor’s (2023) book, DisConnected: The Roots of Human Cruelty and How Connection Can Heal the World. Taylor makes a significant contribution to the study of psychological development, spiritual growth, and the overall evolution of consciousness by thoughtfully examining the disconnection that underlies violent crime, terrorism, dishonest business practices, authoritarianism, religious extremism, surrender of autonomy, culture wars, and polarized politics. He convincingly argues that disconnection is not the default state of humanity, but rather an aberration, and that dark aspects of human nature emerge from an environmentally conditioned sense of separation and inability to …

Guest Delight: The Influence Of Sustainable Performance And Guests' Perceived Health And Safety, Mi Ran Kim, Eunsil Lee, Jisun Lee

ICHRIE Research Reports

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the importance of guests’ health, safety, and well-being in the hotel industry. Further, in today’s highly competitive environment, hotels must orchestrate memorable experiences for guests to realize their value and become ambassadors for the brand. The purpose of this research is to explore the antecedents (i.e., sustainable performance, safety, and health) and the outcomes (i.e., brand love, trust, and willingness to pay more) of customer delight. Surveys will be distributed to hotel guests and the results can provide insights and implications for scholars and practitioners to better understand the concept of customer delight.

Assessment Of Deficits In Specific Cognitive Domains In Older Adults Living With Hiv., Andrea Reyes-Vega, Harideep Samanapally, Rishikesh Rijal, Stephen P. Furmanek, Christopher B. Shields, Brandon C. Dennis, Smita Ghare, Shirish Barve

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A significant proportion of people living with HIV (PLWH) have cognitive impairment. Moreover, approximately 70% of PLWH in the United States will be ≥50 years old by 2030, raising concerns of a higher incidence of dementia as they age. Accordingly, there is a clinical need to monitor their cognitive status. The aim of this study was to delineate specific cognition areas impacted in OALWH with a clinical diagnosis of neurocognitive impairment. We used a comprehensive set of tests (paper and NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery), to assess different cognitive domains in a total of 25 OALWH ≥ 50 years. 64% were …

A Preliminary Investigation Into The Impact Of A First-Year Stress Management Seminar, Lisa B. Smith, Mary E. Ignagni

Perspectives In Learning

Research reveals that high stress levels in undergraduate students may negatively impact their emotional and physical well-being. Short-term approaches to introducing stress management on college campuses have been explored. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether a first-year stress management seminar course helped students reduce their stress a year after completing the course, identify which stress management skills students preferred, and assess the effectiveness of specific teaching techniques on student learning. Participants included students enrolled in two sections of a first-year stress management course. A survey was administered in 4 waves during the 2020 to 2021 academic …

Traumatic Brain Injury Severity In Older Adults: Impact On Anxiety And Depression Symptoms And Community Engagement, Ashley Tomford

Theses and Graduate Projects

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of physical and cognitive disability worldwide. TBI can negatively impact cognitive, physical, social, and psychological functioning.

Objective: This study investigated interactions between TBI severity, mental health symptom severity, and community engagement among older adults. Specific aims included investigating 1) the relationship between TBI severity at the time of injury and psychiatric symptom severity at one-year post-TBI; 2) the relationship between TBI severity and community engagement at one-year post-TBI; and 3) whether mental health symptom severity moderated the relationship between TBI and post-injury community engagement.

Methods: Archival data was analyzed …

Constructing And Validating Of The Covid-19 Fear Scale: Psychometric Evidence And Optimal Cut-Off Score From Palestine, Fakher Khalili

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Background: Various corona-phobia scales have been constructed to measure the levels of fear related to COVID-19. However, probably these scales were established based on the individualistic perspective, without pay attention to fear for others’ destiny. Objective: The current study is addressing the fear of COVID-19 in light of collectivistic values. Method: The present study constructed and validated a new scale measuring fear of COVID-19 among Palestinians (C-19FSP) based on a sample size of (885) respondents. Further, this study was designed to provide an optimal cut-off score for diagnosing corona-phobia. The study was carried out through two phases using a convenient …

Moral Injury, Identity Dissonance, And Reintegration: A Compendium Of Reintegration And Survey Of United States Military Veterans, Thomas Hodges

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

How do military moral injuries affect reintegration? All service members leave the military eventually, but reintegration can be challenging, bringing changes in career, family life, and friendships, potentially prompting a loss of purpose, drive, and connection. Service members may also struggle with a crisis of identity upon separating from the military, feeling their military identity is incompatible with civilian life. While these difficulties are common for service members in reintegration, they may be worsened by moral injury, the adverse biological, social, psychological, and spiritual effects of experiencing an event that deeply offends a person’s sense of right and wrong. People …

Nonmedical Stimulant Use In An Undergraduate College Student Sample: Demographics, Academics, Stress, And Other Substance Use, Ashley Skye Vanover, Meredith K. Ginley, Shelby Whalan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nonmedical use of prescription stimuluants (NMUS) can cause adverse outcomes for college students including academic impediments, such as a lowered GPA, and polyuse of illicit substances (Garcia et al., 2021; Holt & McCarthy, 2019; Norman & Ford, 2018). The current study investigated the demographics, academics, stress, and polysubstance use between students who endorsed NMUS and those who did not in an undergraduate college population sample at a large public university in the Southeast. The sample consisted of 429 undergraduate students who completed online measures of demographics, perceived stress, stressful life events, and substance use. Overall, 3.4% of the sample reported …

Can Affective Symptomology Predict Somatic Complaints In Symptom Checklists?, Catherine E. Scales

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Persistent and medically unexplained somatic symptoms are widespread and pose significant burden to the healthcare system as patients often overuse consultation services when seeking a diagnosis for their symptoms. In turn, this can lead to misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. Since somatic symptoms are commonly associated with affective disorders but are not always associated with any specific medical diagnoses, identifying accessible methods of better guiding diagnostic tendencies for clinicians should be a priority.

Methods: Participants (N = 114, Mean age = 18.9) were undergraduate students recruited from the University of Arkansas with no prescreening requirements. Linear regression analyses were utilized …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Well-Being Of People Incarcerated In United States Prisons, Kimberly Rivera

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the population as a whole. However, the incarcerated population (which also experiences a variety of health disparities) has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Due to overcrowding, poor ventilation, and lack of resources, the incarcerated population already is at a heightened risk for negative health outcomes, made worse by the recent pandemic. To adapt to the rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic in 2020 and into 2022, new safety measures were implemented, but the unintended consequences associated with the implementation of these procedures have yet to be examined empirically. I conducted a qualitative content …

Repeated Treatment With 5-Ht1a And 5-Ht1b Receptor Agonists: Evidence Of Tolerance And Behavioral Sensitization, Jordan Taylor

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Serotonin has been found to regulate several cognitive and physiological functions, and its role in depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders has been a focus of research. More specifically, a wealth of research regarding serotonin focuses on serotonergic medications in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, and stimulates the 5-HT_1A and 5-HT_1B receptors. Within the last decade, there has been an increase in prescriptions of psychotropic medication for children, however, the efficacy and adverse effects of these drugs have not been evaluated in younger populations. While antidepressants reduce symptoms of depression in adults, they are …

The Use Of Deception In Dementia-Care Robots: Should Robots Tell "White Lies" To Limit Emotional Distress?, Samuel R. Cox, Grace Cheong, Wei Tsang Ooi

ROSA Journal Articles and Publications

With projections of ageing populations and increasing rates of dementia, there is need for professional caregivers. Assistive robots have been proposed as a solution to this, as they can assist people both physically and socially. However, caregivers often need to use acts of deception (such as misdirection or white lies) in order to ensure necessary care is provided while limiting negative impacts on the cared-for such as emotional distress or loss of dignity. We discuss such use of deception, and contextualise their use within robotics.

Prevalence Of Anxiety In College And University Students: An Umbrella Review, Gabriel Xing Da Tan, Xun Ci Soh, Andree Hartanto, Adalia Yin Hui Goh, Nadyanna M. Majeed

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The pervasiveness of anxiety has been increasing progressively over the years, becoming one of the most critical concerns among colleges and universities. With implications extending towards poorer academic performance and overall student mental health, there is an urgent need to address this growing concern. As such, we conducted an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to summarize data in the literature on the overall prevalence of anxiety among college and university students. Moreover, this umbrella review also considered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and assessed potential moderators through distinct subgroup analyses. A systematic search was carried out across …

The Effect Of Parent-Child Relationships On Healthcare Utilization Among Children With Chronic Medical Health Concerns, Karina Guerra-Guzman

Theses and Dissertations

Parents of children with chronic health complaints are more likely to utilize healthcare services for their child, and are prone to experiencing increased stress and anxiety related to their child’s compromised health status. As these parents navigate managing their child’s health and integrating parenting behaviors, they are dealt with unique stressors that are likely to impact their parenting styles, anxiety, and use of healthcare services. However, most studies that have examined HCU in the context of parent-child relationships have neglected children with chronic health concerns (CHCs). This study examined the relationship between parenting styles across parents of children with a …

Evaluating The Rates Of Opioid Overdose By County In Middle Tn, Khanh Nguyen, Isha Kapoor, Sarah West

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Opioid misuse presents a well-documented and substantial threat to human health, with potentially life-threatening issues. Improved access to healthcare and increased social support are believed to contribute to better health outcomes for individuals in higher socioeconomic classes (McMaughan et al. , 2020). Conversely, individuals in lower socioeconomic classes may experience poorer health and engage in more hazardous occupations (Ravesteijn et al. , 2013). These disparities are thought to be linked to factors such as limited access to quality healthcare and greater exposure to non-prescription opioid drugs among those in lower socioeconomic classes. Data was obtained from mySidewalk. Specific variables of …

The Ritual Of Therapeutic Artmaking In Long-Term Care, Melinda Heinz Dr., Elissa Wenthe, Alexis Schramel

International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

The transition to long-term care settings can be difficult for residents and feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety are not uncommon in these environments. However, participating in therapeutic artmaking rituals creates opportunities for residents to process their feelings, experience states of flow and mindfulness, engage with others, and focus on their own psychological growth. In long-term care, the physical needs of residents are often prioritized, but psychosocial needs also require attention. For this project, therapeutic artmaking rituals were created at a long-term care facility in three levels of care over 12 months. Older adults engaged with clay, paint, raw fiber, …

U.S. Military Veterans Transition To Two Midwest Universities: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Moral Injury, And Academic Outcomes, Malychanh T. Bartlett

Dissertations

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury (MI) and the extrinsic factors of the degree of negative patterns of healthy behaviors and negative experiences in an academic setting, the moderating effects of social support on PTSD and MI symptomatology, and the perception of academic success and positive perception of academic experience. Additionally, to examine the mediating effect of intrinsic factors (perceived academic experience) on academic outcomes objectively and subjectively.

Background: Student veterans as non-traditional students face challenges transitioning to the academic environment. Some have underlying mental and psychological complications of PTSD and MI, …

The Case For Patient-Reported Pleasure, Preston Long, Tanja Stamm

Patient Experience Journal

Pleasure is a cornerstone of human behavior. Its lack of consideration in the medical sciences has been to the detriment of all patients. The process of including pleasure as a medical outcome has multiple beginnings. A health-related pleasure scale must be developed for clinical purposes and original research must be conducted to establish the added value of measuring pleasure. Treatment comparisons, prediction models for recovery, side-effect investigations, and more may benefit from the collection of patient-reported pleasure. Furthermore, simply inquiring about a patient’s pleasure may serve as a positive intervention by giving them permission to discuss more than the illness …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. Accordingly, three symptoms define the entity: (i) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; (ii) increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism towards one’s job; and (iii) a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. We call into question the definition of burnout embodied in the Maslach Burnout Inventory and incorporated into the ICD-11. We draw stakeholders’ attention to the fact that burnout’s symptoms and etiology …

The Relationship Between Parental Trauma History And Perceptions Regarding Their Child’S Healthcare And Utilization Of Healthcare Services, Krishna Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

TITLE: The Relationship Between Parental Trauma History and Perceptions Regarding Their Child’s Healthcare and Utilization of Healthcare Services

Adverse child events (ACEs) have been associated with a number of physical and mental health problems and have also been linked to increased health care utilization. While parents who have an ACE history may tend to seek healthcare services for themselves, limited studies have examined the impact of their trauma history on seeking healthcare services for their child. Healthcare utilization may also depend on the parents’ level of health anxiety, as well as their anxiety about their child’s health status. This …

Benefits Of The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (Eras) Pathway With Quadratus Lumborum Blocks For Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Paul S Lee, Laurie L Brunette, Intira Sriprasert, Mohamed Eloustaz, Rasika Deshpande, Crystal Adams, Laila Muderspach, Lynda Roman, Shane Dickerson, Michael P Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the effect of the implementation of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol among patients receiving minimally invasive gynecologic surgery.

DESIGN AND SETTING: This retrospective cohort study was performed in a tertiary care hospital.

PATIENTS: A total of 328 females who underwent minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries requiring at least one overnight stay at Keck Hospital of University of Southern California (USC), California, USA, from 2016 to 2020 were included in this study.

INTERVENTIONS: The institutional ERAS protocol was implemented in late 2018. A total of 186 patients from 2016 to 2018 prior to …

Examining The Evidence Base For Burnout, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout has elicited growing interest among occupational health specialists in recent decades. Since 2019, the World Health Organization has characterized burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanageable workplace stress. According to the ICD-11, three symptoms define the entity: feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and a sense of ineffectiveness at work, all of which correspond to the structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The ICD-11 includes burnout among the factors that influence health status. This paper calls into question that conceptualization based on a number of lines of evidence. The evidence includes the following: burnout was …

An Investigation Of Black And White College Students’ Knowledge About The Long-Term Effects Of Aces, Nathalie Goubet, Janique Walker, Pamela Moye, Tyler Keohan, Kasey Higgins

Psychology Faculty Publications

In the past twenty years, multiple studies have shown the relationship between childhood adversity and later negative health consequences. Yet the extent to which the public is aware of this relationship is unclear. We surveyed Black and White college students about their knowledge of the long-term effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Students read vignettes comparing children exposed and unexposed to ACEs, and predicted their mental, physical, and social health as adults. Participants were aware of the effect of ACEs on later mental and social health, but not as aware of the risks on physical health. Black and White students …

Understanding The Work Demands, Resources, And Barriers To Achieving Optimal Well-Being In Immigrant Workers, Amira Marquez Moreno, Kristen J. Black

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

According to recent reports of immigrants working in poor conditions worldwide, the International Committee of Health (ICOH, 2021) has declared the immediate need to create scientific evidence to encourage a preventive culture in occupational health for migrant workers. In 2019, 470,125 immigrants lived in Tennessee, of which 43% are Latino, and Spanish the most common language (76%). The present study aims to identify the work-demands, resources, and barriers to achieve optimal well-being in immigrant workers with a sample recruited from Chattanooga and the surrounding area. Participants will be recruited through convenience and snowball sampling with the inclusion criteria of being …

Outbreak Communication: Exploring The Relationships Between Health Information Seeking Behaviors, Vested Interests, And Covid-19 Knowledge In U.S. Midwest Populations, Alicia Mason, Josh Compton, Elizabeth Spencer, Kaitlin Barnett

Faculty Submissions

On February 15, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director, General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated at a Munich Security Conference, “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,” (Zarocostas, 2020, p. 676). The term ‘infodemic’ refers to the onslaught of both accurate and inaccurate health information surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of an ‘infodemic’ was quickly integrated into mass media, popular culture (i.e., documentaries, podcasts), and eventually scholarly literature. In response to COVID-19, health communication scholars have centered on understanding specific messaging strategies such as the use of fear appeals (Stolow et al., 2020), nature of advertising …

Assessing Effective Communication Styles And Preferences Between Health Researchers And State Policymakers, Shelby Flores-Thorpe

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

This dissertation examined how health researchers and state policymakers can effectively communicate with each other to support the use of evidence-based public health information in the policymaking process. To achieve this, a systematic review, analysis of TX RPC Project data, and semi-structured interviews were conducted among health researchers and policymakers. The systematic review found that email, in-person meetings, and phone calls were the best way to reach policymaking offices at the federal and state levels. When providing policymaking offices with data, health researchers should provide briefs, summaries, fact sheets, or one-pagers to support legislative offices’ need for information. Shorter reports …

One Size Doesn’T Fit All: Attitudes Towards Work Modify The Relation Between Parental Leave Length And Postpartum Depression, Christine Y. Chang, Sabrina R. Liu, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women’s attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work …

Self Determination Theory And Health Behavior Interventions, Anna T. Simpson

The Cardinal Edge

Physical and mental health contribute to a person’s overall sense of well-being. People generally want to live happy and healthy lives, so they make decisions that will increase their well-being. Many factors contribute to our health, but health behavior is something we can modify. Health behavior interventions aim to promote healthy choices and a sense of well-being in patients. Interventions have a theoretical basis that influences the design of the intervention. Public health interventions have used self-determination theory (SDT) and its components to guide interventions that promote health behavior change in various populations. This paper will seek to understand the …

A Longitudinal Study Of Covid Stressors And Wellbeing Outcomes : The Role Of Global Meaning Violation, Mindfulness, Meaning Making, And Meaning Made, David Kansakar

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This longitudinal study explores the hitherto untested role of global meaning violation (GMV) in the longitudinal wellbeing and distress outcomes during the pandemic. It also tests if mindfulness buffers the effect of Covid stress (CS) on GMV. Further, as implored by Park (2021), the potential for meaning making processes to help in longitudinal positive adaptation to CS via meanings made is explored. Using the meaning making model (Park, 2010) it is proposed that CS will be positively related to GMV and mindfulness will moderate this relationship. Further, GMV will predict wellbeing and distress longitudinally. GMV will also trigger the meaning …

Health Care Providers' Attributions Of Blame For Unintended Pregnancy And Hiv Acquisition Among Cisgender Women, Alison J. Goldberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Unintended pregnancy and HIV are both possible but preventable outcomes of vaginal sex, and both can be prevented in similar ways (condoms, daily oral medication, etc.). Despite these similarities, providers more readily prescribe contraception to cisgender women, compared to PrEP (Guttmacher Institute, 2021; Raifman et al., 2019). Providers’ differential willingness to prescribe each medication cannot be attributed merely to differences in women’s need for pregnancy prevention vs. HIV prevention, as women account for nearly 20% of new HIV infections (CDC, 2021). Through three studies, I examined whether perceivers’ support for harm reduction (i.e., prescribing PrEP/contraception) and behavior reduction (i.e., discouraging …