Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Religious Multicultural Competence Amongst Dance/Movement Therapists, Jaclyn Abramson

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand how dance/movement therapists, with BC-DMT or R-DMT credentials, acquire, foster, and perceive their own religious multicultural competence. The research question was how do dance/movement therapists develop religious multicultural competence? Through the methodology of a qualitative case study and the data collection method of a focus group, I examined the selfperception of each participant’s own religious multicultural competence. After I transcribed and analyzed the data, I uncovered several themes, highlighted in the Results section. Once the analysis was complete, I utilized the data analysis method of intuitive inquiry. Findings included a) a definition …

An Annotated Bibliography Of Dance/Movement Therapy Appraoches To Eating Disorders, Apryl Marie Grasty

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

This thesis is an annotated bibliography of dance/movement therapy approaches to eating disorders. The leading question of this research was: What information exists on dance/movement therapy approaches to eating disorders? Through data collection of articles, book chapters, online interviews, and the suggestions of therapists in the field, a total of twenty-six sources were annotated in this bibliography. The bibliography is organized by the author’s last name and each citation provides the author’s qualifications, analysis of content, and assessment of strengths and weaknesses. During the research process, the writer discovered that the selection of sources, such as master’s theses, were not …

Enhancing And Sustaining The Personal Wellness/Self-Efficacy Cycle Of A Dance/Movemet Therapy Intern, Lynn R. Chapman

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the personal wellness/self-efficacy cycle of a dance/movement therapy (DMT) intern, in order to deepen understanding of the interrelatedness of personal wellness and professional self-efficacy, as well as explore how to enhance and sustain them. Interns must develop the skill of self-care in order to promote health, wellness, and confidence in their work and prevent burnout and low self-efficacy. By focusing on process, this study highlighted the skill development of self-care. Therefore, two questions guided this heuristic study: What DMT techniques enhance and sustain my personal wellness/self-efficacy cycle? What is the process that …

Unfolding Self-Esteem Adolescent Girls' Self-Esteem And The Dance/Movement Therapy Intervention Of Improvisation And Planned Movement Formation: A Pilot Study, Mallory Ingram

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this mixed methods single-subject case study pilot was to examine the impact that the dance/movement therapy intervention of improvisation and planned movement formation, created by dance/movement therapy pioneer Trudi Schoop, (Levy, 2005) can have on self-esteem. The research question was: How is adolescent girls’ self-esteem affected by the dance/movement therapy intervention of improvisation and planned movement formation? The hypothesis stated: If the dance/movement therapy intervention of improvisation and planned movement formation is utilized in dance/movement therapy sessions, then adolescent girls’ selfesteem will increase. The study occurred at a private high school with four participants for six sessions. …

The Lived Experience Of Vicarious Trauma For Providers: A Narrative Phenomenoleogical Study, Ambryn D. Melius

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

This research seeks to gain a greater understanding of the first-hand, lived experience of vicarious trauma for providers who have worked with individuals experiencing trauma. Through the application of phenomenological and participatory action methodologies, the experience of vicarious trauma is illuminated. Narrative exchanges between the co-researchers–the author and eleven providers–further explore the roles of the body and narrative process within this phenomenon. A conceptual evolution of vicarious trauma is presented, along with literature connecting the body and narrative within the trauma field. Data includes co-researcher’s recorded and transcribed interviews, vicarious trauma narratives, and written feedback. Embodied writing selections conducted by …

Counselor Identity Development: A Heuristic Look Into The Past, Present, And Future Role Identities, Jaquel Stokes

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this research was to explore and gain further insight into personal and professional roles. Through personal self-reflection, this researcher sought to better understand how her religious/spiritual and teacher roles influenced her professional identity as an emerging dance/movement therapist and counselor. This research study utilized and completed two full cycles of the heuristic methodology by engaging in two stages of data collection and data analyses, and therefore produced two creative syntheses through expressive movement. Nine co-researchers assisted during the investigation of personal and professional role identities. After analyzing and synthesizing the data as a whole, a movement piece …

A Journey Through The Embodiment Of Aggression, Anson Relick

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this research study was to understand what I could learn from my body as I experienced movements based on the observation of children’s aggression. There were several research questions that guided this study: how could the embodiment of aggression prepare me in my journey of becoming a dance/movement therapist? What would develop for me on a body level when I embodied movement qualities I associated with aggression? How could I gain a greater sense of empathy for my patients who act out aggressively? And are there recuperative or preventative measures I could help my patients take, based …

The Phenomenon Of Play Within A Dance/Movement Therapy Setting With Adults, Alison Teichart

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this research was to explore the phenomenon of play and its integration into a dance/movement therapy (DMT) setting with adults. This research focused specifically on adults because play is often neglected during adulthood—despite the fact that play continues to be vital throughout life and has many therapeutic properties. In this phenomenological qualitative study, data was collected through interviews with dance/movement therapists, who identified themselves as using play within their clinical work. From the data, themes were identified, which revealed how dance/movement therapists integrated play into their work and what they experienced as a result of this integration. …

Media's Influence On The Drive For Muscularity In Undergraduates, Brooke Cramblitt, Mary Pritchard

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although research has found that body ideals presented by the media influence women's body dissatisfaction, less is known about media's influence on men's body satisfaction. An online survey examining media use, the drive for muscularity, and internalization of appearance and body shape ideals was given to a sample of 311 participants comprised of both men and women. Results indicated (a) the more time men and women reported watching television, the higher their reported drive for muscularity (b) total hours of viewing sports-related, image-focused, and entertainment television related to increased drive for muscularity in women (c) drive for muscularity in men …

Examining The Inner Experience Of Four Individuals With Bipolar Disorder Using Descriptive Experience Sampling, Johanah Kang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong mood disorder with diagnostic criteria that provide a description of expected experiences of individuals diagnosed with BD (e.g., elevated mood, sadness, difficulty concentrating). Despite these criteria, the inner experience of these individuals is largely unknown. Understanding the inner experience of individuals diagnosed with BD may prove essential in understanding and treating BD. The present study examined the inner experience of four individuals diagnosed with BD using the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method (Hurlburt 1990, 1993, 2011). Results revealed all our participants had clear and prevalent experiences of sensory awareness. They also had difficulties apprehending and …

Evaluation Of Modafinil In Preclinical Behavioral Assays Of Abuse Liability, Amanda J. Quisenberry

Dissertations

Modafinil is an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of narcolepsy with efficacy in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea, and shift-work sleep disorder. Modafinil’s wake-promoting and cognitiveenhancing effects are reportedly similar to those of traditional psychostimulants, but without the side effects typically associated with these substances. Modafinil has also been investigated as an agonist replacement therapy for psychostimulant dependence, although results of clinical trials are equivocal. Few studies have examined its behavioral effects in combination with psychostimulants and the neuropharmacological actions of modafinil are not well understood. The primary aim of this study was to assess modafinil’s …

Anxiety In Children With Williams Syndrome : Association With Negative Reactivity, Self-Regulation, And Sensory Modulation., Nicole A. Crawford-Zelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a submicroscopic deletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23 (Hillier et al., 2003). This genotype is associated with a characteristic set of phenotypic features including mild to moderate intellectual disability, a distinctive cognitive profile, facial dysmorphology, common personality traits, cardiovascular problems, and connective tissue disorders (Morris, 2010). In addition, behavioral difficulties such as anxiety symptoms (e.g., Leyfer, Woodruff-Borden, & Mervis, 2009), negative reactivity (e.g., Davies, Udwin, & Howlin, 1998), problems with self-regulation (e.g., Woodruff-Borden, Kistler, Henderson, Crawford, & Mervis, 2010), and sensory modulation difficulties (e.g., John & Mervis, 2010) are …

Predeliberation Activity In Prefrontal Cortex And Striatum And The Prediction Of Subsequent Value Judgment, Uri Maoz, Ueli Rutishauser, Soyoun Kim, Xinying Cai, Christof Koch

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Rational, value-based decision-making mandates selecting the option with highest subjective expected value after appropriate deliberation. We examined activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and striatum of monkeys deciding between smaller, immediate rewards and larger, delayed ones. We previously found neurons that modulated their activity in this task according to the animal's choice, while it deliberated (choice neurons). Here we found neurons whose spiking activities were predictive of the spatial location of the selected target (spatial-bias neurons) or the size of the chosen reward (reward-bias neurons) before the onset of the cue presenting the decision-alternatives, and thus before rational deliberation …

Prenatal Development: Annotated Bibliography, Victoria J. Molfese, Amanda Prokasky, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Ibrahim H. Acar, Xiaoqing Tu, Kate Sirota, Brian Keiser

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

For decades, researchers have investigated how events in the prenatal period impact women and their infants. These studies, particularly by researchers in the medical, neuroscience, and behavioral science fields, led to discoveries of important information regarding the prenatal events that were strongly associated with mortality (or death) and morbidity (or incidences of injury, pathology and abnormalities/anomalies, and neurobehavioral sequelae) in the neonatal and infancy periods. Among the many common findings from early research studies, two are particularly noteworthy. First, maternal and fetal risk conditions arising in the prenatal period do not do so in isolation. Sameroff and Chandler characterized this …

The Concomitant Relationship Shared By Sleep Disturbances And Type 2 Diabetes: Developing Telemedicine As A Viable Treatment Option, Pennie S. Seibert, Jennifer Valerio, Codieann Dehaas

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Individually, sleep disturbances and type 2 diabetes pose pervasive challenges to health. In addition, the negative symptomology associated with each condition is exacerbated further when presenting concomitantly. This relationship formulates a destructive loop wherein those with diabetes experience decreased sleep quality, which, in turn, worsens a wide range of health threats experienced by those with diabetes, including obesity and glucose intolerance. Because major lifestyle changes and daily care are needed to effectively manage both diabetes and sleep disturbances, an efficient and timely modality of treatment is essential. Advanced technology incorporating telemedicine and telehealth has the potential to enhance treatment by …

Personality Disorders And Health Problems Distinguish Suicide Attempters From Completers In A Direct Comparison, Lucas Giner, Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla, M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez, Rebeca Garcia-Nieto, Jose Giner, Julio A. Guija, Antonio Rico, Enrique Barrero, Maria Angeles Luna, Jose De Leon, Maria A. Oquendo, Enrique Baca-Garcia

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

Background

Whether suicide attempters and completers represent the same population evaluated at different points along a progression towards suicide death, overlapping populations, or completely different populations is a problem still unresolved.

Methods

446 Adult suicide attempters and knowledgeable collateral informants for 190 adult suicide probands were interviewed. Sociodemographic and clinical data was collected for both groups using semi-structured interviews and structured assessments. Univariate analyses and logistic regression models were conducted to explore the similarities and differences between suicide attempters and completers.

Results

Univariate analyses yielded significant differences in sociodemographics, recent life events, impulsivity, suicide intent, and distribution of Axis I …

Males Show Improved Perspective-Taking Performance When Females Images Occupy Locations In The Spatial Array: Preliminary Evidence Consistent With Sexual Selection Of Spatial Skills?, Bradley R. Sturz, Karen Z. Naufel

Psychology: Faculty Presentations (2009-2022)

One tenet of sexual selection theory posits that females select males on the basis of physical attributes because these attributes serve as indicators of fitness. Relatively recently, evolutionary psychologists have suggested that females also select males on the basis of cognitive attributes because such attributes also serve as indicators of fitness. Spatial abilities are hypothesized to be one such cognitive attribute, but evidence supporting this hypothesis is lacking. We tested this hypothesis by having human male participants engage in a perspective-taking task (imagine standing at object A, facing object B, point to object C). We manipulated the content of the …

Reducing Multi-Sensor Data To A Single Time Course That Reveals Experimental Effects, Aaron Schurger, Sebastien Marti, Stanislas Dehaene

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Multi-sensor technologies such as EEG, MEG, and ECoG result in high-dimensional data sets. Given the high temporal resolution of such techniques, scientific questions very often focus on the time-course of an experimental effect. In many studies, researchers focus on a single sensor or the average over a subset of sensors covering a “region of interest” (ROI). However, single-sensor or ROI analyses ignore the fact that the spatial focus of activity is constantly changing, and fail to make full use of the information distributed over the sensor array.

Methods: We describe a technique that exploits the optimality and …

Sex Differences In White Matter Development During Adolescence: A Dti Study, Yingying Wang, Chris Adamson, Weihong Yuan, Mekibib Altaye, Anna W. Byars, Scott K. Holland

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Adolescence is a complex transitional period in human development, composing physical maturation, cognitive and social behavioral changes. The objective of this study is to investigate sex differences in white matter development and the associations between intelligence and white matter microstructure in the adolescent brain using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). In a cohort of 16 typically-developing adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, longitudinal DTI data were recorded from each subject at two time points that were one year apart. We used TBSS to analyze the diffusion indices including fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity …

Do Interactions Between Motor And Visual Codes Facilitate Visuospatial Memory?: The Influence Of Action On Memory Performance: When Does It Help You, When Does It Hurt You, Michael Dodd

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

One of the hallmarks of human cognition is that we have a limited number of cognitive resources available and successful performance in the environment requires an appropriate number of these resources to be directed towards one's primary task. As such, it is unsurprising that when attention is divided between two tasks simultaneously, performance on each task suffers relative to if each task was done in isolation. At the same time, however, it has also been shown that when individuals process information in multiple ways (e.g. across more than one modality) that performance is enhanced. In the present talk I will …