Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Readiness To Change In Rural Adults At High Risk For Diabetes, Katherine A. Wagner

Dissertations and Theses

Type II diabetes is one of the most devastating chronic diseases in the United States and is associated with decreased lifespan and serious comorbidities. While evidence-based prevention strategies of nutrition and physical activity exist, behavior change is an essential component. Researchers use readiness to change to predict clinical outcomes of chronic disease prevention programs, however, this has not been well studied in rural populations. The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between readiness to change and attrition rates and clinical outcomes among rural dwellers enrolled in a nutrition and physical activity intervention. Article one of this three-article …

Anxiety Explains Self-Differentiation: Implications For Bowenian Approaches To Marriage And Family Therapy, Reagan Thomas, John Shelley-Tremblay, Harvey Joanning

University Faculty and Staff Publications

This study examined the Bowenian construct of Self- Differentiation (SD), defined as the degree to which a person can think according to their personal beliefs while remaining emotionally connected to the family. This study examined the degree to which negative emotionality accounted for the relationship between SD and Relationship Satisfaction (RS). Emotional Cutoff (EC) emerged as the sole predictor of RS. When Trait Anxiety (TA) was entered into the model it mediated between EC and RS. We discuss the importance of treating anxiety of the individual in family therapy and that SD may best be understood when taking anxiety into …

Using Eye Tracking To Explore Visual Attention In Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anne M.P. Michalek, Jonna Bobzien, Victor A. Lugo, Chung Hao Chen, Ann Bruhn, Michail Giannakos

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Video social stories are used to facilitate understanding of social situations for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study explored the use of eye tracking technology to understand how adolescents with and without ASD visually attend to video social story content and whether visual attention is related to content comprehension. Six adolescents, with and without ASD, viewed a video social story of visiting a dental office. Eye gaze metrics, including fixation duration and count, and visit duration were collected to measure visual attention, and a knowledge assessment was administered for comprehension. Results indicated adolescents with ASD fixated and maintained …

Nutrition Risk And Validation Of An Hiv Disease-Specific Nutrition Screening Tool In Ghana, Lauri Wright, Maxwell Bisala Konlan, Laurene Boateng, James B. Epps

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the nutritional status and the most commonly reported nutrition-related factors contributing to nutritional risk in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Ghana and the specificity and sensitivity of the Rapid Nutrition Screening for HIV disease tool (RNS-H) in this population.

Design: A cross-sectional design was utilised. Patients were screened for nutritional status during a one-week period by clinic nurses using the RNS-H. Results were compared with a comprehensive nutritional assessment by a dietitian.

Setting: The research was conducted in a public health clinic at the University of Ghana Hospital, Legon.

Subjects: …

The Roles Of Gsk3 And Reelin In The Modulation Of Behavioral Phenotypes Related To Bipolar Disorder: Implications For The Etiology And Treatment Of Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Angel Sherpa

Pitzer Senior Theses

Deficiency of Reelin, an extracellular glycoprotein, and overactivity of GSK3, a kinase downstream of Reelin, in the brain have been associated with bipolar disorder (BD). Overexpression of Reelin inhibits GSK3 activity by phosphorylation. However, it is unclear if the inhibition of GSK3 in the forebrain is a crucial element of Reelin signaling modulating bipolar-like behaviors. To fill this gap in our understanding, my first experiment proposes to examine if Reelin-deficient mice with reduced activity of GSK3 exhibit BD-like behaviors. If inhibition of GSK3 is indeed a crucial element of Reelin signaling modulating BD-like behaviors, then Reelin-deficient mice with decreased activity …

Peer Victimization And Experiences Of Violence At School And At Home Among School Age Children With Disabilities In Pakistan And Afghanistan, Rozina Somani, Julienne Corboz, Rozina Karmaliani, Esnat D. Chirwa, Judith Mcfarlane, Hussain Maqbool Ahmed Khuwaja, Nargis Asad, Yasmeen Hassan Somani, Ingrid Van Der Heijden, Rachel Jewke

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Children with disabilities are more likely to experience violence or injury at school and at home, but there is little evidence from Central Asia.
Objective: To describe the prevalence of disability and associations with peer violence perpetration and victimization, depression, corporal punishment, school performance and school attendance, among middle school children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Method: This is a secondary analysis of data gathered in the course of evaluations of interventions to prevent peer violence conducted in Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of the 'What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Global Programme'. In …

The Occupational Depression Inventory—A Solution For Estimating The Prevalence Of Job-Related Distress, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

We are concerned about researchers’ reliance on the burnout construct and the MBI-GS to estimate the prevalence of job-related distress. In this paper, we first describe some of the problems plaguing the burnout construct and its measures. Then, we present the Occupational Depression Inventory, a new instrument designed to help occupational health specialists get a clearer view of the mental health status of the workforce (Bianchi and Schonfeld, 2020).

Comparing The Trends Of Postpartum Depression Screening Scores During And Before The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elif S. Duran, Dung Dang, Tony Ogburn

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Introduction:

Postpartum depression includes major and minor depressive disorders affecting women in the time period after childbirth. The studies reviewed in our literature found that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of postpartum depression for women. Our study location, the Rio Grande Valley is one of the hardest-hit locations by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our patient population is also one with the higher risk factors for postpartum depression. As such, we are expecting the psychological impact of the pandemic to be even more magnified, and thus, actions need to be taken to support the vulnerable population …

Binding Moral Values Gain Importance In The Presence Of Close Others, Daniel A. Yudkin, Ana P. Gantman, Wilhelm Hofmann, Jordi Quoidbach

Publications and Research

A key function of morality is to regulate social behavior. Research suggests moral values may be divided into two types: binding values, which govern behavior in groups, and individualizing values, which promote personal rights and freedoms. Because people tend to mentally activate concepts in situations in which they may prove useful, the importance they afford moral values may vary according to whom they are with in the moment. In particular, because binding values help regulate communal behavior, people may afford these values more importance when in the presence of close (versus distant) others. Five studies test and support this hypothesis. …

The Effect Of Motivational General-Mastery Imagery On Reaction Time Performance And Heart Rate, William J. Bean Jr.

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Research suggests that imagery can reduce reaction time (Alikhani et al., 2001; Grouios, 1992; Hanshaw & Sukal, 2016; Iftikhar et al., 2018; Shanks & Cameron, 2000). Previous studies examining the imagery and reaction time relationship have almost exclusively focused on motor imagery. Additionally, a recent study by McNeil and colleagues (2019) concluded that imagery training improved decision time variables, but not overall reactive agility. Individuals may not be able to generate unpredictable stimuli during imagery. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of motivational general-mastery (MG-M) imagery on reaction time and heart rate. Reaction time was measured …

Occupational Depression, Cognitive Performance, And Task Appreciation: A Study Based On Raven’S Advanced Progressive Matrices, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI) was recently developed to assess depressive symptoms that individuals specifically attribute to their work. Research on the criterion validity of the instrument is still in its infancy. In this study, we examined whether the ODI predicted performance on, and appreciation of, a cognitively challenging test. In light of the link established between clinical depression and neuropsychological impairment, and considering that individuals with depressive symptoms are more likely to feel helpless under challenging circumstances, we hypothesized that occupational depression would be associated with poorer cognitive performance and a darkened appreciation of the task undertaken. We relied …

Risk Factors For Suicide In Bangladesh: Case-Control Psychological Autopsy Study, S M Yasir Arafat, M A. Mohit, Mohammad S I. Mullick, Russell Kabir, Murad M. Khan

Department of Psychiatry

Background: Suicide is an important, understudied public health problem in Bangladesh, where risk factors for suicide have not been investigated by case-control psychological autopsy study.
Aims: To identify the major risk factors for suicide in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Methods: We designed a matched case-control psychological autopsy study. We conducted a semi-structured interview with the next-of-kin of 100 individuals who died by suicide and 100 living controls, matched for age, gender and area of residence. The study was conducted from July 2019 to July 2020.
Results: The odds ratios for the risk factors were 15.33 (95% CI, 4.76-49.30) for the presence of …

Depression And Utilization Of Mental Health Services Among Bipoc (Black Indigenous People Of Color) Communities In The United States, Briana Rose Dimartino

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Members of BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) communities living in the United States, whether American born or immigrants, are subjected to various stressors that can impact their mental health, including but not limited to: acculturative stress, discrimination and microaggressions. These factors substantially increase the prevalence of depressive symptoms within this community. In addition to the unique group of stressors that minoritized populations face, oftentimes, these individuals encounter barriers when accessing care and do not receive the same quality of care as a Caucasian American does, especially for mental health care. The aim of this thesis is to review relevant …

An Overview Of Electronic Preference Assessments And Recommendations For Their Use In Telehealth, Giancarlo Anro

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Preference assessments are used to systematically determine an individuals preferred items to be used as potential reinforcers during service delivery. Electronic preference assessments typically do not use tangible items but instead present electronic representations of these tangible items, such as electronic pictures or videos, to the client. The purpose of this overview is to introduce the history and traditional use of electronic preference assessments and then to provide practical recommendations for using an electronic preference assessment while providing behavioral services through a telehealth model. When conducting an electronic preference assessment during a telehealth session two primary considerations need to be …

Grit And Mindset - Unrelated To Performance In A Motor Learning Task, Jacob Smith

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Objective Research has shown grit and mindset can be improved, but no known research has investigated the effect of learning a new skill on grit and growth mindset. While grit and mindset seem to predict success in education and success, it is also not clear if initial grit or mindset have an effect on motor skill acquisition. The purposes of this research are to investigate if grit and growth mindset are predictors of learning a new skill and if learning a new skill leads to improvement in grit and growth mindset. Methods 14 students enrolled in a motor learning course …

Why Do You Wear A Mask? Children’S Conceptualizations Of Covid-19 And Contagion Avoidance Behaviors, Emily Hillman

Scripps Senior Theses

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a need has emerged for psychological research on children’s understanding of infectious disease transmission. However, little existing research examines the link between children’s cognitive reasoning about illness and their subsequent behaviors regarding its transmissibility. This study will examine children’s conceptualizations of contagious illnesses such as COVID-19 and their subsequent contagion avoidance. A mixed methods approach will be used to establish the content of children’s conceptualizations of contagion and level of causal reasoning related to illness transmission. Dyads will be constructed comprising 4-12-year-old children and their parents. It is expected that parental contagion avoidance …

Opioid System's Involvement In Ketamine's Antidepressant-Like Effects, Fan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is one of the most debilitating disorders in the world. The currently available medications typically have a 2-4 week delay in their therapeutic effects and are ineffective for about 40% of patients. In 2000, a subanesthetic dose (0.5 mg/kg i.e.) of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine was reported to have both rapid and robust antidepressant effects in in treatment-resistant depressed patients. However, the mechanisms responsible for ketamine’s antidepressant effects remain unclear. In 2018, a clinical study reported that pretreatment with the nonselective opioid antagonist naltrexone attenuated the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine in depressed patients. The current study investigated the …

Oral Cbd Administration: Assessing Bioavailability And Behavioral Outcomes In A Rodent Model, Jordan Skully

Wayne State University Theses

There has been a recent surge in popularity for cannabidiol (CBD), a major non-psychotropic constituent of cannabis, due to numerous claims of potential therapeutic properties, which include, but are not limited to, anxiolytic, antinociceptive, and anti-inflammatory effects. However, as previous scientific literature on CBD's effectiveness in providing such therapeutic effects is limited, this project was aimed to evaluate the potential beneficial properties of a hemp derived 99% pure CBD compound provided from Ellipse Analytics (Denver, CO) in a rodent model. We analyzed the pharmacokinetics of this CBD product as well as the behavioral outcomes after acute and chronic administration. Pharmacokinetics …

Monstrous And Beautiful: Jungian Archetypes In Wilde’S Salomé, Nayana Rajnish

English (MA) Theses

The subject of my research is the 1891 play Salomé, by Oscar Wilde and my thesis addresses the modern psychological implications of the cultural truths revealed by Wilde's re-vision of the myth of that biblical femme fatale. I argue that in fashioning a tragic heroine out of a female monster figure of “Immortal Vice”, Oscar Wilde created a document that captures two contradictory narratives: one in which Salomé plays the heroine of a tragedy and another in which she performs the role and functions of a villain. By employing Carl Jung's psychology of the archetypes, I am enabled …

Human Development, Portland State University. Human Development Teaching And Learning Group

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This open textbook is designed for Human Development, a core Psychology course. This course provides a bird’s eye view of major milestones and developmental tasks during each age period, starting at conception and ending with old age.