Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Digital Music Making: Developing A Method For Using Technology In Music Psychotherapy, Sangeetha Kavety

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The use of technology, specifically digital songwriting and music making, in the context of psychotherapy is a subject that is not yet as well researched or practiced in the field of music therapy. The majority of the existing literature acknowledges the assistive function that technology such as tablets, smartphones, and computers can play in treatment of populations with cognitive and motor difficulties. However, there is little regarding the use of technology as the main means of creating music, and even less in the context of treatment of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents in family settings. For this capstone project, …

Considering Art Therapy For Adults With Fear Of Cancer Recurrence (Fcr): A Literature Review, Max Roberts

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is a major problem for many cancer survivors. As cancer treatments improve and more people are surviving cancer, FCR will likely become a larger problem in general for the healthcare system. Art therapists working with cancer survivors need to be prepared for addressing FCR as they are likely to encounter this clinical issue. A literature search was conducted and no research investigating art therapy specifically for FCR was found, indicating there is currently no empirically supported approach to art therapy for FCR. Mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies appear to be efficacious for reducing effects of FCR. …

Exploring The Usage Of Found Objects In Art Therapy For Bereavement: A Literature Review, Bridget Bogan

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Bereavement is a multifaceted, evolving, and intensely individual experience. Moving away from a linear theoretical framework towards a constructivist theoretical model promotes the healing properties of self-narrative while incorporating the story of the loss of a loved one. Most important to bereaved individuals, as indicated by current research on the topics of death, grief, and bereavement are memory keeping, meaning making, and continued bonds with the deceased. These common themes have remained consistent since the Victorian age.

Traditional mourning jewelry represents a form of memorialization and continued bonds with the dead. Alternative forms of art using found objects belonging to …

Integrating Digital App Technologies Within Traditional Expressive Arts Therapy For Children And Adolescents, Sarah Storjohann

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In recent years, technology in the form of digital applications (apps) has emerged as a fundamental aspect of everyday life as well as a practical, convenient, and inexpensive tool for artistic self-expression, most notably amongst children and adolescents. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. households currently possess some form of mobile device (Rideout, 2017), with an estimated 95% of U.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 owning a Smartphone (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). As digital natives, children and adolescents are more likely to identify with and connect to these arts-based methods. Clinician perspective concerning digital integration varies across a wide spectrum. Through a …

Expressive Mindfulness: A Trauma-Sensitive Expressive Arts Therapy Group Method, Meghan Daly

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Mindfulness and expressive arts therapy are both supportive of directing attention in a manner that promotes integration and function of a person. In this paper, a trauma-sensitive method was created for use in a day treatment setting for adults with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI). This method utilized expressive movement, visual art making with three different materials, and creative writing to encourage mindful, non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment; a sense of relaxation; and an overall increase in quality of life. During development of the method arts-based research informed the choice of materials, music, and structure of the group. …

A Laughing Matter: Transforming Trauma Through Therapeutic Humor And Expressive Arts Therapy, Alison M. Landoni

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Humor and trauma share two characteristics: they are both perspectival in nature and hold incongruity at their core, however, their impacts are profoundly different for the perceiver. As humor and laughter open one’s psyche and invite positive social exchanges, trauma produces more dissociative, dysregulated and dysfunctional interactions. While fundamental to interpersonal experiences, there has been limited research about the use of humor and laughter as essential tools within the mental health therapeutic alliance. Neurological research and case studies have shown that humor and laughter can have hormonal, physiological and psychological benefits. Due to the perspectival nature of humor and trauma, …

A Literature Review On Substance Related Grief And Expressive Art Therapy Support Groups, Holly N. St. Cyr

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In the year of 2017, 18.7 million Americans aged 18 years or older were reported to have a substance use disorder and the pervasiveness of substance related deaths escalated (McCance- Katz, 2017). Researchers have examined how grief experienced by substance users and their loved ones is often disenfranchised by social stigmatization, loss of support, and feelings of regret, blame, humiliation, and shame. According to Valentine, Bauld, and Walter, (2016) “bereavement following a drug or alcohol related death has been largely neglected in research and service provision, despite its global prevalence and potentially devastating consequences for those concerned,” (p. 283). Studies …

The Impact Of Cleft Lip/Palate And Clp Surgical Intervention On The Social Integration Of Adolescents In India, Mustafa Zahid

Master's Theses

Cleft Lip/Palate, a congenital orofacial anomaly, carries an incidence rate of approximately 1 in every 1000 births. In addition to the stigma associated with the condition, the varying levels of cleft severity might result in lower life outcomes which could include lower cognitive ability, physical and psychological well-being, social and behavioral outcomes of adolescents. This paper focuses on the social integration element of life outcomes, which is composed of the social inclusion and prosocial behavior of the adolescent. Despite the affordability of restorative surgeries, patients in rural areas of Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) such as India face accessibility and …

Stress Management: A Group Curriculum For Female Adolescents, Taylor Schaible

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

In recent years, research has found that adolescents are experiencing stress at an astounding rate, even compared to adults. With a thorough review of the literature, it has been found that schools in the United States are experiencing an adolescent stress epidemic. Furthermore, students are experiencing stress in ways beyond an academic arena. With that being said, there seems to be a connection between stress leading to anxiety, as well as stress having a profound affect for students who have experienced traumatic experiences. Additionally, the research has shown that there are structural differences within a developing brain that may cause …

Experiences Of Single-Session Improvisational Group Music Therapy: Therapist And Patient Reflections From Inpatient Psychiatry, Yu-Ying Chen

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore therapists’ and patients’ experiences in order to draw a composite picture of single-session improvisational group music therapy. This phenomenological study included ten therapist participants and nine patient participants. Each participant engaged with a single-session group musical improvisation and verbal discussion in a pre-designed protocol. The data analysis was conducted in three stages. In the first analysis stage, participants’ verbal feedback and discussion were analyzed using Moustakas’s (1994) method, yielding key words with quotations. In the second stage, Moustakas’s (1994) method of analysis was also adapted for an analysis of the music, yielding …

Watering Black Roots: Exploring Black Ecological Identity Development Within Nature-Based Expressive Arts Therapy, Stormy Saint-Val

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Nature-based expressive arts therapy promotes the holistic healing and recovery of individuals by interweaving the practices of ecopsychology, ecotherapy, and expressive arts therapy. These interventions have been proven to mediate ranges of symptomologies, such as anxiety disorders and PTSD. Research conducted by the U.S. National Park Services indicates that African- Americans are less likely to have a positive relationship to nature than all other racial groups. The amplification of this report without introspection of its context perpetuates racialized generalizations. This can limit a black individual’s ability to embrace their ecological identity and be receptive of nature-based expressive arts therapy interventions. …

Orthorexia Nervosa Among Collegiate Female Student-Athletes, Maryse Bard-Martel

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a specific style of disordered eating defined as an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food, or going to extremes in the pursuit of a diet that is supposed to be good for you. The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa tendencies in college female soccer players in the NCAA Division 1. Purposive sampling was used, and participants were current student-athletes from the Missouri State women’s soccer team (n=18). Survey research was utilized to assess athletes’ attitudes and behaviors related to various aspects of diet and training, and the control it …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Peer Engagement And Knowledge (Peak): A Community-Based Group Intervention For Youth In Hawai‘I, Jennifer T. T. Ho

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a program evaluation with a mixed methods design that evaluated the effectiveness of Peer Engagement and Knowledge (PEAK), a six-week community-based group intervention that incorporates mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to address multiple health behaviors for multiracial youth in Hilo, Hawai‘i. A total of 51 youth, ages 12-23 years old, participated in this study which included pre-/posttest analyses of health risk factors such as substance use and depression and health promoting factors such as resilience, self-esteem, and mindfulness. Responses from two subsets of participants, who engaged in a focus group (n = 11) and composed gratitude letters ( …

Efficacy Of Integrated Mental Health Care With Dual Diagnosis Patients And Their Utilization Of Psychiatric Emergency Services, Denton Scott

Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, patients with dual diagnosis have been subjected to ineffective treatment and negative attitudes from healthcare providers. Further, these patients are plagued with myriad afflictions that exist beyond substance abuse and mental illness. The treatments and collateral damage associated with the diagnosis impose excessive healthcare costs and can be of significant detriment to society. Largely, patients suffering from dual diagnosis do not receive adequate treatment. As such, psychiatric emergency services are frequently utilized as an alternate treatment, wherein the main focus of care is on the substance abuse alone. This study argues that solely treating the substance abuse is not …

Perilous Times Call For Emergency Preparedness, Sonia K. Wrate, Ronda Christman

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

As disasters become more frequent it is important that people are ready to respond. University students along with community volunteers learn with and from each other during a disaster simulation. Learn how participant’s perceptions of spirituality and civic engagement has changed following a disaster simulation.

Ten Questions Concerning The Built Environment And Mental Health, Andrew J. Hoisington, Kelly A. Stearns-Yoder, Steven J. Schuldt, Cody J. Beemer, Juan P. Maestre, Kerry A. Kinney, Teodor T. Postolache, Christopher A. Lowry, Lisa A. Brenner

Faculty Publications

Most people spend the majority of their lives indoors. Research over the last thirty years has focused on investigating the mechanisms through which specific elements of the built environment, such as indoor air quality, influence the physical health of occupants. However, similar effort has not been expended in regard to mental health, a significant public health concern. One in five Americans has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder in the past year, and, in the United States, the number of suicide deaths are similar to the number of deaths due to breast cancer. Increases in mental health disorders in …

Trajectories Of Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance Across Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment Predict Clinical Outcome In Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder And Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Elizabeth M Hartwig, Katrina A Rufino, Cara A Palmer, Christopher Shepard, Candice A Alfano, Bella Schanzer, Sanjay J Mathew, Michelle A Patriquin

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: As there has been a demonstrated link between sleep disturbance and suicide, the present study investigated the relationship between self-reported sleep disturbance during inpatient psychiatric treatment and clinical outcomes at discharge and six months post-discharge.

Methods: Participants were 2,970 adults receiving care in a long-term inpatient psychiatric hospital. Greater than 90% of inpatients reported at least mild sleep disturbance throughout treatment. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to determine patterns of sleep disturbance changes over time.

Results: Participants fit into distinct categories based on their trajectories of sleep problems across treatment: No Sleep Problems (10.3% of participants, no sleep problems …

A People's History Of Art Therapy, Jessie Mccurdy, Alexandria Richardson, Kathaleena Thirtle

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The following research examined a survey on the identity and feelings of inclusion among alumni of Loyola Marymount University’s Marriage and Family Therapy with Specialization Training in Art Therapy graduate program. The survey found that a majority of the responding alumni did not feel their identities were represented in multiple aspects of the program, and there was a clear call to action for more representation of diversity. More research on the subject is needed to expand a variety of art therapy programs to better understand implications of art therapy pedagogy on identity, representation, and inclusivity within the art therapy community.

Exploring Individual Experiences Obtaining Medication-Assisted Treatment For Opioid Use Disorder In Rural New Mexico, Krista L. Scorsone

Nursing ETDs

In the United States, more than 2.5 million people struggle with opioid use disorder. Compared to people living in urban areas, rural residents are twice as likely to overdose from opioid misuse. Reasons for this increase include excessive opioid prescribing and illegal diversion of opioids. This holds true in the rural counties of northern New Mexico, where drug overdose deaths are among the highest in the nation. Although medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone is globally accepted as the most effective treatment, it is still accessed half as often rurally. The reasons for this imbalance are unknown, and …

Use Of Smartphone Application To Facilitate Weight Loss And Promote Accountability In Obese And Overweight Patients, Angela M. Turner

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) on obesity from 2011 through 2014. From the survey, it was determined that the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. was 36% in adults and 17% in young adults/children (Ogden et al., 2015). Lifestyle modifications including moderation of caloric intake and increased exercise have been shown to be effective for both prevention and treatment of obesity. The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project involved the design, administration, and evaluation of a technology-assisted weight loss intervention to address the health problem of …