Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Sharing Medicine: The Candidacy Of Medicines And Other Household Items For Sharing, Dominican Republic, Michael N. Dohn, Hugo Pilkington

Population and Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background:

People share medicines and problems can result from this behavior. Successful interventions to change sharing behavior will require understanding people’s motives and purposes for sharing medicines. Better information about how medicines fit into the gifting and reciprocity system could be useful in designing interventions to modify medicine sharing behavior. However, it is uncertain how people situate medicines among other items that might be shared. This investigation is a descriptive study of how people sort medicines and other shareable items.

Methods and Findings:

This study in the Dominican Republic examined how a convenience sample (31 people) sorted medicines and rated …

Money Management For The Severe And Persistently Mentally Ill, Simone Kurtz-Dougherty

Theses and Dissertations

Five men diagnosed with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) were recruited from a partial care program to participate in a study on the efficacy of teaching money management skills. The participants were also assessed on perceived stress, financial strain, and symptomology. The men were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a waitlist control group; both groups received an intervention for money management consisting of a workshop on budgeting and weekly coaching based on expenses. Participants in the experimental group received the money management class immediately after a pretest baseline was established and the wait-list control group received …

Trauma-Informed Research And Planning: Understanding Government And Urban Native Community Partnerships To Addressing Substance-Exposed Pregnancies In Portland, Or, Amanda Mercier

Dissertations and Theses

In 2011, representatives from the Multnomah County Health Departments and several Native-serving organizations came together to address substance-exposed pregnancies among urban Native Americans in Portland, Oregon. From these partnerships, the Future Generations Collaborative was formed representing a significant shift toward community-led maternal child health research and planning. Additionally, the Future Generations Collaborative adopted a historical trauma-informed community based participatory research and planning process. This is particularly significant considering government agencies' role in colonization within Native communities. The purpose of this case study is to explore partnerships between government agencies and the Portland Native community within the Future Generations Collaborative. Given …

Kids Alive! Support For Children Of Parents With Cancer: An Exemplar Program For Children Of Parents With Cancer, Shane Spears

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Cancer in a parent or caregiver is an event that affects the whole family. The roles and responsibilities of the diagnosed parent, as well as those of each family member, are affected at the time of diagnosis and throughout the progression of the illness. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed and 585,720 cancer deaths in 2014. This staggering statistic means there are a number of cancer diagnoses that will directly affect thousands of parents and their children. Past research suggests this upheaval in the system is particularly stressful on children …

The Use Of High-Fidelity Simulation In Psychiatric And Mental Health Nursing Clinical Education, Bethany A. Murray

International Journal of Health Sciences Education

Background: High-fidelity simulation recreates real-life situations in a safe learning environment and encourages critical thinking in students. Published research in simulation in psychiatric/mental health nursing is sparse.

Methods: Four scenarios exemplifying drug or alcohol abuse utilizing the computerized, mannequin SimMan® were implemented. Students evaluated their learning experience following completion of the simulation via a 20-item, Likert-scale survey which included open-ended questions.

Results: Results were positive. Students rated all items on the survey as “agree” or “strongly agree” (Mean 4.77, SD=0.55).

Conclusions: High fidelity clinical education simulations are an effective means of facilitating student learning of psychiatric and mental health clinical …

Spirituality, Creativity, Identity, And Art Therapy, Theresa Crooks

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the question: how does an art therapist’s understanding of God as Creator form his/her identity and inform his/her clinical practice? A review was done in the art therapy, spirituality and psychology integration, and creation theology literature to look at existing research that answers this question. A lack of information in the art therapy literature prompted the development of this study to respond to this inquiry. This involved gathering data from LMU MFT graduates who expressed in a survey that they were willing to participate in this study. Four graduates were able to attend an art workshop to …

Integrating Restorative Justice Approaches In An Art Therapy Group, Jenna Walters

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the integration of restorative justice approaches within the structure of group art therapy. The research approach was based on a mixed methods design that incorporated both a survey and a case study of a group. The open group structure posed some challenges; however, four of the adolescents agreed to participate in the research study. Each of the eight group art therapy sessions was structured to include an art directive, psychoeducation, and group discussion. Based on the analysis of the data, restorative justice approaches can be successfully integrated into group art therapy. Findings …

Art Therapy And Runaway Homeless Youth: An Exploration Of Trauma And The Survival Response Of "Flight", Leann K. Marschall

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the influencing factors of runaway behavior, trauma, and the survival response of “flight.” The participant, an 18-year-old male residing at a transitional living program, ran away at age 17 and experienced a significant trauma history. Throughout the course of treatment, artwork and clinical notes were used as data. Many themes surfaced in the analysis process, including controlled chaos, body fragmentation, sun symbols, female imagery, and lack of color. The act of running away emerged subtly, whereas, traumatic experiences, chronic in nature and beginning early in life, were acutely evident. While the study was specifically concerned …

Using Photography And Poetry In Group Therapy For People With Severe And Persistent Mental Illness: An Outcome Study, Sarah H. Eggers

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the experience of participation in a pilot program that integrated poetry and photography for a group of seven adults living with severe and persistent mental illness. Data was gathered in the form of written, visual and verbal responses generated through a semistructured, qualitative focus group that took the week after the end of the pilot program. The data was categorized and coded using a analytical procedure based on Photovoice, a participatory action research model that seeks to empower research participants by providing them with cameras to document and share issues of importance to their lives. Analysis of …

Latino Cultural Implications For Art Therapy: The Influence Of Cultural Risk Factors And Academic Performance In High School, Piera Lynn Carfagno

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Through art therapy, this research examines the influence of the main components of Latino culture as risk and/or protective factors for internalizing and externalizing behaviors and disorders in Latino adolescents. The goal of this research is to also identify how these factors impact academic performance for Latino high school students. First, a literature review examines preexisting research evaluating the presence and influence of particular cultural factors like family expectations and roles, gender, religion, language, and parental involvement in education. Non-cultural factors include peer influence and socioeconomic influences. The literature further examines the impact these factors have been found to influence …

Perceptions Of Healing: Mind, Body And Spiritual Implications For Yoga Therapy And Art Therapy Students, Robin L. Kusilka

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This study employed a mixed method approach to explore perceptions of healing, particularly as it relates to the mind, body and spirit. The data was collected via a questionnaire consisting of word lists, scaling questions, narratives and an art based component among thirty-two yoga therapy students and twenty-one art therapy students at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. The information gathered was used to explore, compare and contrast the perceptions of healing within and between the two groups. The findings suggested that both study groups shared similar concepts about the integration of the mind, body and spirituality in their …

Post-Disaster Group Art Therapy Treatment For Children, Caitlin Frances Murphy

LMU Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative research study presents a thorough examination of a group art therapy curriculum for child survivors of disaster or traumatic events. A review of the existing literature was used to inform the current study. The researcher utilized focus group method of inquiry to gain a better understanding of the topic from experts in the art therapy field. Through the gathering of data and analysis, the findings suggest that the curriculum developed to assist child survivors of traumatic events or disasters has intrinsic value and can assist in the recovery process. The focus group provided a means to analyze the …

Art Making For The Art Therapist: A Study On Clinical Insight, Therapist Identity, Self-Care, And Countertransference, Saira Crawford, Guadalupe Solis, Eliza Ann Pfister

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This arts-based and quantitative study looked at the effects of reflective art making as a tool for stress reduction, clinical insight and therapist identity formation. Research was completed by three Loyola Marymount University, art therapy graduate students. Data was collected over nine sessions consisting of inventory scores from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), as well as artwork made in response to each participant’s client presentation. The research questions answered were: How does the reflective art-making process inform clinical identity as an art therapist? What effect did regular self-exploration have on burnout for the art therapist, as indicated by scores on …

Visualizing Levels Of Family Satisfaction And Quality Of Life In Families With An Autistic Member(S), Sarah Christolini, Camille Werstler

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research served to visualize levels of family satisfaction and quality of life in families with an Autistic member(s). Art-based qualitative survey was the primary method of gathering data. The vast majority of the literature on autism focused on the treatment of the child, yet some literature suggested a re-focusing on the family as the unit of treatment may improve family satisfaction and quality of life. Taking this into consideration this research explored how parents experience family satisfaction through written and visual responses. The theme of independence for the child with autism was present in all five visual responses which …

Organizational Restructuring And The Process Of Image Making: An Arts-Based Inquiry Of The Image Making Experiences Provided For The Delegates Of A Religious Congregation Involved In Restructuring, Donna L. Gibbs

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examines the impact image-making experiences had on the leadership restructuring of a women’s religious congregation. Six Catholic women religious ranging in ages 65-85 participated in an arts-based workshop informed by art therapy theories to explore the meaning of making art during their Province Chapter meetings in which leadership restructuring was on the agenda. In addition, 42 of the 80 Province Chapter delegates responded to a survey about their experience. The data collected includes the survey, the workshop process, the images made by the six participants, their verbal sharing about their image, and their written reflections. Five common …

Toward A Biocommunicable Cartography Of Health Decision-Making In The Amazon Basin Of Ecuador, James Cartwright

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper comprises a critical, ethnographic study of health communication in a rural community of Amazonian Ecuador. By synthesizing approaches from anthropology, discourse studies, and public health, the study explores how conversations influence health decisions, how communities understand health systems, and how macrostructural discourse changes the political economy of healthcare in Ecuador. My work draws on the recent theoretical development of ‘biocommunicability’ in anthropology as well as earlier sociological research on knowledge construction. Most importantly, this paper offers a critique of current interventions by NGOs in the region.

Incorporation Of Equine Assisted Therapy In University Curriculum, Shelby Y. Sabati

Animal Science

Equine-assisted activity and therapy incorporates physical, mental and language treatments through equine movement to remediate medical conditions or impairments in clients. For all the opportunities that equine-assisted therapy provides there is little education on the practice. The focus of this project is to present the process, benefits and limitations of adopting an equine-assisted therapy course at California Polytechnic State University so it may be used as a reference for future course proposal.

Objective: The aim of this proposal is to offer insight into Equine-assisted therapy, understanding how to integrate the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International curriculum into the …

Treatment Preferences Among Problem Drinkers In Primary Care., Daniel Z Lieberman, Anne Cioletti, Suena H Massey, Rochelle S Collantes, Brad B Moore

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol misuse is common among primary care patients, yet many do not receive treatment because doctors believe problem drinkers are "in denial," or are unwilling to change their drinking habits. The real problem, however, may be that patients are being offered treatment modalities that do not meet their needs. This study was designed to measure the acceptability of various treatment options among drinkers who were currently not receiving treatment.

METHOD: Patients in a primary care clinic were given a self-report questionnaire that included: (1) the Alcohol Use Disorders Questionnaire, (2) a measure of readiness to change drinking behavior, and …

Alcohol Use And Church Attendance Among Seventh Through Twelfth Grade Students, Dominican Republic, 2011, Michael N. Dohn, Santa Altagracia Jimenez Mendez, Maximinia Nolasco Pozo, Elizabet Altagracia Cabrera, Anita L. Dohn

Population and Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Excessive alcohol consumption increases the years of life lost to premature death and disability worldwide. Religion is a mitigating factor in alcohol consumption. A survey in the Dominican Republic showed increasing church attendance by middle and high school students (N = 3,478) was associated with a delay in age at first alcoholic drink, fewer students who had consumed alcohol in the past month (current drinkers), lower alcohol consumption levels, fewer episodes of inebriation, and less heavy episodic alcohol consumption (all P < 0.0001). The results suggested that it may be useful to conceive of church-attending youth as a subset of the adolescent social network when planning primary alcohol prevention programs for young people.

Combined Effects Of Mdma And Ethanol On Locomotor Activity And Place Conditioning In Male And Female Adolescent Sprague-Dawley Rats, Keli A. Herr

Masters Theses

MDMA, ("Ecstasy") is commonly abused in combination with ethanol (EtOH). Relatively few preclinical studies have investigated sex differences in animal models of polysubstance use. The current study employed a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure to assess the behavioral effects of the co-administration ofMDMA /EtOH in 32 male and 32 female adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats. Following a 15 min habituation trial, eight 30-min conditioning trials were conducted in two- compartment chambers with different environmental cues. Before each drug conditioning trials, rats were administered intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of MDMA(6.6 mg/kg), EtOH (1.5 g/kg), MDMA (6.6 mg/kg) and EtOH (1.5 g/kg), or saline. Prior …