Behavioral Disciplines and Activities Commons^™

Self-Regulation Processes Of Depressive Symptoms And Participation In Persons With Stroke Using Heart Rate Variability As A Real-Time Biomarker, Yejin Lee

WUSM Theses and Dissertations – All Programs

Depressive symptoms are a key risk factor for restrictions in participation in daily activities in persons with stroke. Thus, many researchers have attempted to develop interventions for relieving depressive symptoms after stroke, however, post-stroke depressive symptoms are still undertreated. To develop evidence-based approaches for reducing depressive symptoms, and thereby ultimately enhancing participation in daily activities, it is important to understand what moderates the associations between depressive symptoms and participation in daily activities in persons with stroke to employ the moderator as an intervention target.

One possible mechanism to moderate such associations is self-regulation – cognitive, behavioral, and emotion regulation. Self-regulation …

Effect Of Motivational Music On Peak Knee Torque, Perceived Exertion, And Enjoyment In College-Aged Individuals, Arianna Cole

Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is a general consensus in previous and current literature that the incorporation of music in exercise has the potential to benefit performance (Karageorghis 2020; Terry et al. 2019). Research on the potential benefits of music in rehabilitative exercise has become more prevalent but has mainly focused on music and the rehabilitation of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease or stroke (Craig et al. 2015; De Bartolo et al. 2020; Grau-Sánchez et al. 2022; Katlen da Silva et al. 2021; Särkämö 2018). Research in a more general rehabilitative setting has not been explored as widely and this is the aim …

Examining The Effects Of A Zoom Interview On Cortisol, Bennett Perkins

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The stress response is an essential physiological process that facilitates survival in threatening conditions. Stress impacts numerous bodily systems, and prior work has focused on cortisol, a steroid derived from cholesterol, as a key biomarker for assessing biological stress reactivity in humans. Social stressors are known to contribute to marked increased in cortisol levels, but to date little work has examined whether social situations known to be stressful in person can influence cortisol when those situations occur remotely. In this study, I investigated the effects of a Zoom-based social stressor on salivary cortisol. Participants were randomly assigned to the Zoom-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 …

Identifying Contributors To Disproportionality: The Influence Of Perception On Student Social, Emotional, And Academic Behavior Ratings, Chelsea Salvatore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores …

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), …

A Lifestyle Management Coaching Intervention For Fear Of Cancer Recurrence In Young Breast Cancer Survivors, Lisa R. Murphy

DNP Research Projects

Abstract

Objective: A significant challenge facing young breast cancer (BC) survivors is learning how to manage fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) during survivorship. Limited tailored FCR interventions and age-appropriate support exist. This Doctor of Nursing (DNP) project, based upon best practice guidelines, aimed to evaluate how a Lifestyle Management Coaching Intervention (LMCI) could help young female BC survivors learn how to decrease and manage their FCR more effectively and experience improved health outcomes.

Method: Eligible participants were female BC survivors aged 18-59 with Stage I-III BC demonstrating elevated baseline FCR screening scores during the extended survival period recruited from the …

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 …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Recreational Therapists Working In Inpatient Mental Health Settings, Summer Matics

All Dissertations

Since 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the lives of the general public, but healthcare workers including those that work in inpatient mental health settings have seen long-lasting impacts in their workplace. Recreational therapists (CTRSs) are among the mental healthcare workers that have been impacted by the pandemic but there is no existing research that specifically studies their lived experiences. This study used the theoretical foundations and methods of hermeneutic phenomenology in order to describe how COVID-19 has impacted CTRSs’ workplace from a safety perspective, their stress and coping, and also their supervisory duties. Seventeen participants were recruited and …

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 …

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 …

Emergency Care For Youth Who Experience Suicidality And Identify As Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning (Lgbtq+): An Interpretive Phenomenology, Theresa Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children; youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are at an exponentially higher risk of suicide. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency care for suicidality when they were adolescents.

Methods: Heideggerian hermeneutics phenomenology is the research method used in this study. Youth, ages 18-25 years, who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency treatment for suicidality when they were adolescents (13-17 years) were recruited to participate;fifteen youth enrolled. Individuals ranged in age from 20 to 25 years. Participants described …

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% …

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 …