Behavioral Disciplines and Activities Commons^™

Reconceptualizing The Interaction Between Adhd Symptoms And Environmental Context, Oliver G. Mcfadden

University Honors Theses

Difficult questions regarding etiology, prevalence, and individual treatment allude to the heterogenous and complex neurocognitive profile ADHD. Current understandings do not point to there being any yet-undiscovered, succinct set of features for the condition that will answer these questions. ADHD in fact has a heterogeneous etiology and neurocognitive profile, suffers from both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis, and a variety of styles of treatment are conceivable to address this. Sociocultural factors have crucially guided the direction of ADHD pathology and medicalization and are woven into institutional environments. These extant problems have eluded ADHD research, and the debate over the construction and validity …

Therapeutic Gardening For Addiction Recovery, Hayley Milleson

Master's Projects and Capstones

The following study examines the potential benefits of implementing therapeutic gardening and outdoor activities as a supplemental resource for adult males with a history of substance abuse issues who have been affected by the criminal justice system and are seeking sobriety while in a residential treatment program. The goal is to investigate how therapeutic gardening can add to traditional addiction treatment methods. Through a review of current evidence-based practice, this study focuses on how alternative interventions such as therapeutic gardening and outdoor activity can improve overall mental health and well-being, promote a sense of community, improve social connections, alleviate stress …

The Motherhood Crusade: Rural Low-Income Mothers, Support, And Empowerment, Christina Castellano

Dissertations

Previous research has shown that postpartum women with untreated mental health conditions are more likely to fail to manage their own health, have inadequate nutrition, abuse substances, experience abuse, be less responsive to their baby’s needs, have fewer positive interactions with their baby, experience difficulties breastfeeding, and question their abilities as a mother. Rural culture plays a complex role in the transition to motherhood, influencing whether mothers seek out and use resources. While more is known about location and access issues, less is known about how rural culture and, more specifically, how empowerment and social support impact postpartum experience. The …

Implementation Of A Novel Social-Emotional Learning Program To Advance Integration Of Wellness In Education Practice, Kit Knier, Gauri Sood, Will Ruffin Ii, Jennifer Arroyo, Ankit Sabharwal, Michael Bostwick, Chris Pierret

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

Social-emotional learning (SEL) programs aim to enhance emotional intelligence by teaching problem solving, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship building skills. SEL interventions have been shown to improve quality of life and wellbeing, increasingly important outcomes in the wake of the staggering effects of the COVID-19 crisis on mental health. HappiGenius is a novel SEL program with the addition of mindful attention and self-compassion. We hypothesized HappiGenius would improve positive emotions, self-compassion, attention, mindful self-awareness, and social skills in a group of students. This observational cohort study took place at a diverse elementary school in a midsize midwestern city and …

Implementation And Outcomes Of The Trauma Ambassadors Program: A Case Study Of Trauma-Informed Youth Leadership Development, Jeanne Felter, Phd, Lpc, He Len Chung, Amanda Guth, Stephen Didonato, Phd, Lpc, Ncc

Counseling and Behavioral Health Faculty Papers

Community-based programs serve a critical need for vulnerable youth and families. In recent years, researchers and practitioners have urged programs to adopt a trauma-informed care (TIC) approach to address adversity in young people's lives. The purpose of this article is to describe the implementation and outcomes of the Trauma Ambassador (TA) Program, a pilot youth leadership program guided by a community-university partnership that utilized a TIC approach in an underserved East North Philadelphia neighborhood. Fourteen youth engaged in interactive trainings to build their understanding of trauma and develop practical tools to support encounters with individuals with trauma histories. Focus groups …

Assessing 4-H And Its Circle Of Courage In A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility: A Case Study, Elizabeth Steering

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This 4-H case study takes place in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) in Kentucky. The PRTF provides clinical services to youth that are not able to be safely maintained in their homes due to having demonstrated unsafe or harmful behaviors. Youth admitted to the PRTF stay for an average of three to six months while they receive intensive therapeutic and psychiatric care as well as medical treatment and public schooling. The current case study incorporates programming from 4-H, which is the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), …

Changes In Mental Health As A Predictor Of Cannabis Coping Motives And Consequences: Examining The Impact Of Covid-19 Among College Students, Rebecca Dunaief, Adrian Jorge Bravo, James Henson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: Cannabis use is common among college students and many students use cannabis to cope with negative affect. The COVID-19 pandemic was a particularly stressful time for college students. Subsequently, the present study compared college students who reported increases in anxiety/depression symptoms since COVID-19 stay at home orders to those who reported no change in anxiety/depression symptoms on cannabis coping motives, use frequency, and negative consequences. Specifically, we examined whether self-reported changes (i.e., group that indicated increases) in poor mental health during COVID-19 were associated with problematic cannabis use via higher cannabis coping motives. Method: College students (analytic n = …

Blind Spot: Implicit Bias In Health Care And Its Awareness Among Nursing Students At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Debora Skaliks

Doctoral Projects

While prejudice and bias are eminent topics in our society, implicit bias or unconscious bias is not as easily detected. Even though implicit bias may be a familiar concept to many, numerous healthcare workers frequently do not recognize the extent of harm such biases can impose on patients' health and outcomes. The Blind Spot DNP project exposed in this research paper explores the relentless question of the correlation between implicit bias awareness, implicit bias education, and its impact on health care. This Doctor of Nursing Project (DNP) project aimed to analyze whether implicit bias education and testing could increase unconscious …

Serious Leisure, Job Task Load, & Satisfaction, Carson Matsick

All Theses

The study examined the relationship between degree of leisure seriousness and leisure, job, and life satisfaction, as moderated by perceived job mental workload. Serious leisure has largely been studied in reference to general life satisfaction and health outcomes, and less research exists to examine whether serious leisure participation may influence work. This study tested the following hypothesis: the relationship between serious leisure participation and employee well-being is moderated by mental workload on the job, such that a) as mental workload increases, then serious leisure participation and satisfaction will be less strongly positively correlated, and b) as mental workload decreases, then …

Does Time Equal Money? Temporal Discounting And Self-Control: Insight Into The Rationality Of Personal Financial Decision-Making, Joshua Epstein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exponential and hyperbolic intertemporal choice models have been widely investigated to measure an individual’s degree of impulsivity in behavioral economics. Hyperbolic discounting research identifies subject’s disproportionately high subjective value to immediate rewards, to the extent that it is not in their best interest. Furthermore, preference reversals have shown subjective value demonstrates an inversely relationship proportional to delay.

Investigation into whether visual representations influence conservative personal finance savings behavior was demonstrated in this study by presenting a multitude of visualizations before allocation of limited monetary resources. Evaluation of the neighbor effect was tested to determine whether comparing individuals to their peers …

Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For People With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Feasibility Study, Ujjoyinee France Barua

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can experience high levels of emotional distress, leading to decreased quality of life and increased health care costs. Bowen's feasibility framework was used to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and limited efficacy of an innovative clinician-guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy program (ICBT) specialized for people with mTBI to improve their wellbeing. The data illustrated strong adherence and program satisfaction from participants. Likewise, statistically and clinically significant changes in symptoms of unhappiness and anxiety were found, along with improved self-efficacy and quality of life. The findings of this study contribute new knowledge to the emerging …

Deceptive Appeals And Cognitive Influences Used In Fraudulent Scheme Sales Pitches, Rafael J. Toledo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fraud schemes exploit the complex interplay that results from utilizing deceptive appeals to activate underlying cognitive influences. This study was designed, first, to identify the deceptive appeals present in the messaging of fraudulent schemes and, second, to identify the underlying cognitive influences being exploited by the deceptive appeals utilized. Findings reveal that effectively used deceptive appeals work to keep viewers’ mental processes in a state of cognitive ease. This state allows cognitive influences--such as heuristics, cognitive biases, and the System 1 mind--to remain in control of mental processing; however, System 1 is prone to accept deceptive beliefs. The results of …

Full Issue, Winthrop Mcnair Research Bulletin

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin Volume 5, Full Issue

Predictors Of Frequency And Type Of Social Support Seeking In Response To Stress, Marissa T. Mcneace

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

This research focuses on predictors of social support seeking in response to stress, and the link between well-being and different modes of support seeking. The main research questions focused on the type of venue preferred for provision of support (online or face to face), how different person-level variables influence support seeking behaviors, how different types of stressors influence the choice of venue for support seeking, and how different types of support seeking relate to happiness. Survey data was collected through social media and university classes via Qualtrics. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare means of overall online social support …

Leveraging Technology To Assess Caregiver Stress And Quality Of Life, Kristina R. Shekoouh

Theses and Dissertations

Caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) report high levels of caregiver stress and burden, poor health outcomes, and low quality of life. Resourcefulness, a collection of cognitive-behavioral skills, has been identified as a protective factor associated with more adaptive functioning and greater life satisfaction among diverse caregiver samples which may further impact caregiver well-being. Little research has focused on the role of resourcefulness on caregiver stress and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Further, no studies to date have evaluated caregivers of children with ASD through real-time data using mobile ecological momentary assessment (mEMA). The current study addresses the …

Children’S Positive Peer Relationships And Their Bullying Behaviors: A Latent Profile Analysis, Lauren Mutignani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the current study, I aim to expand upon traditional methods for classifying children based on positive peer nominations and contribute to the field’s understanding of high-status bullies who maintain social resources despite bulling behaviors (e.g., van der Ploeg et al., 2020). Both reciprocated and one-sided (i.e., received and sent) positive peer nominations were used to distinguish socially meaningful subgroups. Participants included 659 children from 34 classrooms (M Age = 9.31 years, SD = .49 years; girls = 50.6%; Hispanic/Latino/a/x = 42.5%, White/European American = 29.9%, Black/African American = 2.3%, Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander = 11.7%, Native American = 2.3%, Bi/Multiracial …

Reducing The No-Show Rate At A Community Mental Health Organization., Philip E. Pippen

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

Relative to other outpatient healthcare specialties, appointment nonattendance (no-shows) is most prevalent in psychiatric settings. Upon meeting with a community-based mental health organization in Louisville, KY (LCMHO), referral no-shows for intake appointments were identified as a significant issue. LCMHO’s intake appointment no-show rate, estimated at 25 – 40%, exceeded nonattendance trends in the literature. The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to develop and implement a referral engagement reminder intervention for improving intake appointment attendance. A systematic approach guided by the Model for Improvement was applied to foster this evidence-supported practice change. The project’s findings included a 16% …

Examining The Social Validity Of Parent Training: Post-Participation Parent Perceptions And Reflections Of Group Triple P, Nycole C. Kauk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Child behavior problems are highly prevalent and impactful on the child and their family system, bringing both short-term and long-term consequences (Sanders, 2012). Many risk factors for child behavior problems are modifiable via the use of Behavioral Family Interventions, such as behavioral parent training programs (Kazdin, 1991). Behavioral Family Interventions (BFI) modify factors within the family system to minimize modifiable risk factors and engineer protective factors to produce behavior change (Kazdin, 1991). While several manualized behavioral parenting interventions exist, the Triple P parenting program is one of the most researched and effective programs used internationally, particularly the Level 4 package; …

Utility Of The Motivation To Change Lifestyle And Health Behaviors For Dementia Risk Reduction Scale (Mclhb-Drr) Based On A North American Sample, Angelina E. Witbeck

Dissertations

As the population ages, the prevalence rates of dementia continue to increase. Without a cure or promising treatment for dementia, the best course of lowering the prevalence rates of dementia is through preventative measures. Through an electronic survey, the study utilized the MCLHB-DRR scale to determine whether (1) gender, age, educational background, and socioeconomic status will impact the motivational factors to change lifestyle and health behaviors to reduce the risk of developing dementia and (2) direct experiences with individuals that have a dementia diagnosis are likely to impact one's motivational factors to change lifestyle and health behaviors to reduce the …

Increasing Mental Health Literacy In The Black Church, Jonathan Allotey

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to increase mental health literacy, assess stigmatizing attitudes, and increase help seeking behavior in leadership within an African American church.

Background: The Black church has historically been a central institution for community support and leadership within these churches are often ill equipped to address the mental health needs of congregants. African Americans underutilize mental health services and are reported to have more chronic mental illnesses. Lack of mental health literacy may result in difficulty recognizing the risk factors, signs, symptoms, and treatments related to specific mental illnesses.

Evidence Based Intervention and Methods: Participating …