Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Relation Between Academic Advisor And Cohort Support With Well-Being In Graduate Students, Morgan Delong

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Well-being issues like the limitations of typical treatment protocols and common mitigating factors for mental health problems for graduate students, specifically the importance of therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLCs) were explored. The current study aims to determine if TLCs, individual engagement in the TLCs as well as support of them by mentors and peers, predict overall well-being, satisfaction with the graduate program, and job stress in masters’ students. This study was conducted during COVID-19 which is a limitation.

Prevalencia Mensual De Trastorno De Ansiedad Generalizada Durante La Pandemia Por Covid-19 En México, Pablo Gaitán-Rossi, Víctor Pérez-Hernández, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Graciela Teruel-Belismelis

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective. Estimate the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) from April to June 2020. Materials and methods. Repeated cross-sections design based in the Encovid-19, a series of monthly mobile surveys with represen- tative samples of Mexico (N= 833-1 674).The questionnaire includes the GAD-2 scale, and, in July, the GAD-7 scale was added; we examined its internal validity with confirmatory factor analysis and its concurrent validity with sociodemo- graphic variables. Using GAD-7 as criterion, we analyzed the predictive validity of the GAD-2.We estimated the monthly prevalence with the GAD-2. Results. The GAD-7 and the GAD-2 are reliable and valid.The GAD-2 has …

Dependability And Reliability Of The Direct Behavior Rating Classroom Management Forms, Kaitlin Angela Cassidy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Classroom management skills are evidence-based strategies used to maintain a positive and productive learning environment. Utilizing classroom management strategies has been proven effective; however, limited tools are available for assessing such skills and further assessment of the reliability and dependability of such measures is needed. The Direct Behavior Rating – Classroom Management (DBR-CM) forms are measures for assessing classroom management and come in three forms: external rater (DBR-CM ER), self-report (DBR-CM SR), and student rater (DBR-CM ST). This study extended on the information obtained from the Cassidy (2018) study that examined the DBR-CM ER form. The study evaluated the inter-observer …

Different Pathways To Cognition: An Erp Investigation Of Enhanced Perceptual Functioning And Autistic Traits In School-Aged Children, Elizabeth Anne Kaplan-Kahn

Dissertations - ALL

Autistic individuals show enhanced perceptual functioning on a range of behavioral tasks. Neurophysiological evidence, from both fMRI and event related potential (ERP) studies, also supports the conclusion that autistic individuals utilize perceptual processes to a greater extent than neurotypical comparisons to support problem solving and reasoning. Despite substantial evidence supporting differential information processing streams in autism, the relationship between these processing streams and autistic traits is not well understood. One study has investigated the relationships between autistic traits, early perceptual ERPs, and subsequent cognitive ERPs in neurotypical adults; however, these relationships have yet to be explored in autistic and neurotypical …

A Systematic Review Of The Effects Of The Body Scan On Stress And Psychopathology, Melissa Morton

Dissertations - ALL

Mindfulness-based practices (MBP) have risen in popularity in research especially as an applied practice to buffer against the deleterious effects of stress and reduce psychopathology (Brown et al., 2012; Khoury et al., 2015). There are significant health problems implicated with stress and psychopathology and as such interventions, such as MBP, are frequently the topic of research to reduce stress and improve health and well-being (Juster et al., 2010; Goldberg et al., 2018). The body scan is an intervention component of MBP that involves a systematic allocation of attention through the somatic sensations of different parts of the body. Body scans …

A Measure Of Expectancies For Alcohol Analgesia: Preliminary Factor Analysis, Reliability, And Validity, Lisa Renee Larowe

Dissertations - ALL

Rates of alcohol consumption are substantially higher among persons with pain, and recent research has focused on elucidating bidirectional pain-alcohol effects. Expectancies for alcohol analgesia could influence the degree to which alcohol confers acute pain-relieving effects, and may amplify the propensity to respond to pain with drinking behavior. However, no validated measures of expectancies for alcohol analgesia are available. The goal of this project was to examine psychometric properties of a measure of Expectancies for Alcohol Analgesia (EAA) across two samples (current alcohol users with and without chronic pain). Study 1 included 200 moderate-to-heavy drinkers with no current acute/chronic pain …

Supporting Special Education Student's Academic Engagement Behavior With Mindfulness-Based Programming, Adam Clawson

Dissertations - ALL

Student engagement in the primary school classroom has major implications for academic achievement, school dropout rates, later adolescent delinquent behavior, and adult psychopathology and incarceration (Broidy et al., 2003; Greenwood et al., 2002; Fredricks et al., 2004; Schaeffer et al., 2003). Soles of the Feet (SOF; Felver & Singh, 2020) is a standardized mindfulness-based program that has demonstrated effectiveness in increasing general education and special education student rates of academic engagement while employing a multiple-baseline across subjects design. The present work was designed to extend previous research by exploring the efficaciousness and acceptability of the SOF program delivered as a …

Epilepsy In Older People In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Over one-fourth of new onset epilepsy occurs after age 60. However, the burden of epilepsy and other seizure disorders among this special population in Africa is largely unknown, despite a growingnumber of elderly persons on the continent. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors for epilepsy among persons aged 60 years or older in Africa. Methods: We conducted a systematic review by searching MEDLINE (via) and EMBASE databases from inception to 30th October 2020. Primary researches reporting prevalence or incidence of seizures or epilepsy in older persons (≥60 years) were included. Review articles were excluded. Results: …

Christianity And Fear: The Neuropsychological Processes Involved In The Relationship Between Fear And Religion, Courtney Welch-Horstman

Obsculta

Religion frames the lives and minds of individuals who practice the Christian faith. Regarding the mind, this statement can be understood both figuratively and literally. The thought processes of human beings who claim to believe in God are strongly influenced by their perspective of Deity and what they think God's primary characteristic is. While some view God as loving, others view God as mainly angry and punishing. The way this question is answered by an individual reveals much about his or her neurocircuitry and which brain structures are most active and developed. These circuits and structures then impact the behaviors …

Medical Schools Ignore The Nature Of Consciousness At Great Cost, Anoop Kumar

Journal of Wellness

The essential question of the relationship between consciousness and matter is ignored in medical school curricula, leading to a machine-like view of the human being that contributes to physician burnout and intellectual dissatisfaction. The evidence suggesting that the brain may not be the seat of consciousness is generally ignored to preserve the worldview of the primacy of matter. By investigating new frameworks detailing the nature of consciousness at different levels of hierarchy, we can bring intellectual rigor to a once opaque subject that supports a fundamental reality about our experience: We are human beings, not only human bodies.

Implementing A Depression Screening In A Pediatric Acute Care Setting For Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes, Kelcie Marler

Dissertations

Problem: Depression among adolescents with Diabetes Mellitus type 1 (DM 1) is three times more prevalent than adolescents without chronic disease. Diagnosis of depression has been found to negatively affect the quality-of-care management, quality of life, and results in an increase in hospital admissions with hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia events.

Methods: A depression screening, the patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), a validated screening tool for use among adolescents was implemented in this quality improvement (QI) project. It was the first cycle of a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle for in a pediatric ICU. Adolescents between the ages of 12 – 18, were …

Examining Treatment Acceptability Of An Eight-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Protocol, Blake William Palmer

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine whether levels of perceived stress, experiential avoidance, personality traits including openness to experience and agreeableness, and demographic variables will predict the treatment acceptability (indicated by responses on the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale) of an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. This study collected data in the Spring of 2019. The final number of participants in the study was 116 (40 females, 76 males, Mage = 36, age range: 22-69 years). Participants completed measures including the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), the agreeableness and openness to Experience domains …

Cerebellum-Seeded Functional Connectivity Changes In Trait-Anxious Individuals Undergoing Attention Bias Modification Training, Katherine Elwell

All NMU Master's Theses

Anxiety and anxiety related disorders are increasing at a drastic rate in the past decade, with the NIMH reporting that 31.1% of U.S. adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Anxiety is commonly characterized by increased attention bias to threat. Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is a new treatment used to reduce individual’s attention bias towards threat. The extent to which ABM leads to underlying neural changes is still unknown. The cerebellum is a neglected brain structure, with new research provides evidence that cerebellum’s functional connectivity and shared networks with threat processing regions has a direct …

Does Feminine Gender Role Stress Moderate The Relationship Between Disordered Eating And Depression?, Paige Nichols

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the moderating effect of feminine gender role stress on disordered eating behaviors and depression. It was hypothesized that feminine gender role stress would significantly moderate the relationship between disordered eating and depression, such that disordered eating behaviors would be more strongly associated with depression when FGRS total and subscale scores were high. These hypotheses were tested by surveying a sample of 334 university students (mean age = 20.54 years), all of whom were cisgender women. Participants completed self-report measures including the Eating Attitudes Test-26, Beck Depression Inventory, Feminine Gender Role Stress Scale, …

Negative Urgency's Influence On State-Level, Emotion-Based Changes In Alcohol-Related Cognitions, Noah Wolkowicz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project expanded on the Acquired Preparedness Model of Risk (APMR) by examining how Negative Urgency (NU), the tendency to act rashly in negative emotional states, affects emotion-based changes in alcohol cognitions to produce risk for alcohol use. The APMR prioritizes the role of outcome expectancies as the means through which traits such as NU, convey alcohol use risk. However, this model treats these cognitions as static and often fails to assess their valence; further, alcohol-cognitions fluctuate in response to negative emotions and may become more salient during these states. Therefore, this study examined: 1) how NU impacts negative emotion-based, …

Manassis' "Launching Your Autistic Youth To Successful Adulthood: Everything You Need To Know About Promoting Independence And Planning For The Future" (Book Review), Leslie Starasta

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Postpartum Depression: Development Of A Screening Protocol In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Kelsey T. Langdale

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects approximately 19% of all postpartum women. Evidence indicates an increased risk for mothers of hospitalized infants, with estimates ranging from 28% to 67%. The American Academy of Pediatrics and Bright Futures recommend mothers be screened for postpartum depression at the infants’ well-child appointments. During hospitalizations, there are no well-child appointments; thus, no postpartum depression screening. This project aims to 1) improve knowledge of PPD in the staff of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and 2) investigate the staff’s interest level in implementing a PPD screening protocol. Utilizing the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, a protocol was developed …

Content Analysis Of Digital Media Coverage Of The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine School-Entry Requirement Policy In Puerto Rico, Vivian Colón-López, Vilnery Rivera-Figueroa, Glizette O. Arroyo-Morales, Diana T. Medina-Laabes, Roxana Soto-Abreu, Manuel Rivera-Encarnación, Olga L. Díaz-Miranda, Ana P. Ortiz, Katelyn B. Wells, Coralia Vázquez-Otero, Pamela C. Hull

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In August 2018, Puerto Rico (PR) became the 4th state or territory in the United States to adopt a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine school-entry requirement, for students 11-12 years old. Evidence suggests that the content of media coverage may impact people's perception of HPV vaccine and their willingness to vaccinate. This study aimed to analyze the content of digital news coverage related to the implementation of the policy in PR.

METHODS: A content review was conducted of digital media published from January 2017 through December 2018. The content reviewed was carried out in two steps: 1) creating a matrix …

An Evaluation Of Distributed And Accumulated Reinforcer Arrangements On Skill Acquisition And Preference, Natalie R. Mandel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Discrete trial training (DTT), an evidence-based instructional procedure (Wong et al., 2015), is often used to teach skills to individuals with autism. Manipulations to the reinforcement component of DTT have increased its instructional efficiency, resulting in acquisition of skills in less time (e.g., Cividini-Motta & Ahearn, 2013). Results of previous studies (e.g., DeLeon et al., 2014) indicate that some individuals prefer to complete larger work requirements that result in a larger amount of a reinforcer (i.e., accumulated arrangement), rather than receiving access to small amounts of a reinforcer dispersed throughout the work requirement (i.e., distributed arrangement). In addition, accumulated reinforcer …

A Multi-Faceted Approach To Understanding Acceptability Of Docs K-5: A Qualitative Analysis, Andrea Guarnieri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the acceptability of DOCS K-5, a behavior parenting program adapted for parents of elementary aged children. Despite proven efficacy in preventing maladaptive behaviors, parenting programs have historically suffered from low attendance and engagement. Participants (N = 13) attending the pilot DOCS K-5 program took part in six group interviews while enrolled in the program to examine the facilitators and barriers to attendance, perceived effectiveness, and collateral benefits received from participation in the program. This study considered possible cognitive, affective, instructional, and pragmatic facilitators or barriers to attendance and engagement. Participants described motivations to learn various types …