Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Oh No! Avoiding Suits And Malpractice, Rodger K. Bufford

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

The Discrepancy Between Subjective And Objective Measures Of Sleep In Older Adults Receiving Cbt For Comorbid Insomnia, Hannah Lund

Theses and Dissertations

Clinical research on insomnia has observed that many individuals with this sleep disorder exhibit a significant discrepancy between their subjective reports of symptom severity and objective measures of the same parameters. This study sought to more closely examine this discrepancy by comparing sleep diary estimates with polysomnography data in a population of 60 older adults with comorbid insomnia. Consistent with previous research, results show that participants significantly underestimated sleep efficiency and total sleep time and significantly overestimated sleep onset latency. Participants receiving CBT-I exhibited significantly reduced discrepancy at post-treatment, particularly with regard to sleep latency, compared to those in a …

The Effect Of Military Deployment On The Parents Of Those Deployed, Ashley Hinkamper, Cody Carson, Erica N. Johnson

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

This study proposes to examine the psychological effects of military deployment on the parents of those deployed. Questionnaires will be administered to parents of active-duty and recently discharged marines via the internet. Whether deployment is to an area where there is substantial risk of injury or death or to an area without such risk will be assessed. Parents’ personal distress, efforts to cope with stress, and attitudes towards mental illness and its treatment will be evaluated. We hypothesize that parents of those deployed in danger zones will report greater distress, and that distress will be influenced by media exposure and …

Effects Of Mental Illness Characteristics On Stigmatizing Attitudes, Mariclare Kanaley, Jena J. Gomez, Erica N. Johnson, Andrew W. Newsom

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Background: In this study, we build on previous work by evaluating whether stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness are affected by illness characteristics. Based on modifications to a survey that was developed by Corrigan (2003), we examined undergraduate participants’ responses to a character, described in a brief vignette. Method: “Joe” was described as having problems associated with either schizophrenia or depression. We examined whether indications of dangerousness towards self or others (dangerous versus not) and controllability via medications (controllable versus not) influenced perceptions in a 2 x 2 x 2 (illness type vs. dangerousness vs. controllability) ANOVA design. After reading one …

Addressing Religious/Spiritual Concerns In Psychotherapy, Rodger K. Bufford

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

Policy And Practice: An Analysis Of The Implementation Of Supported Employment In Nebraska, Heng-Hsian N. Liu

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supported employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice (EBP) for persons with severe mental illness (SMI) aimed at competitive employment.  SE has a large evidence base, demonstrating outcomes across settings and populations. SE has been promoted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and widely disseminated through the internet via a “community tool-kit” sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The SE literature expresses the opinion that state governments can successfully implement SE.  Researchers have developed implementation guidelines and identified stages of statewide implementation; however, most SE implementation …

Longitudinal Behavioral Assessment Of Neonatal Traumatic Brain Injury, Joel Kamper

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and infants is a primary cause of cognitive and behavioral problems that can persist through adulthood. In this study, the long-term behavioral effects of neonatal and juvenile TBI (jTBI) were characterized using mice. At an age of post-natal 7 or 10 days, mice underwent moderate or severe closed skull impact or sham surgery. Behavioral testing was conducted at 6 and 8 months post-injury. Tests administered included the open field activity (general activity levels), zero maze (anxiety), forced swim (depression), rotarod (coordination and balance), and water maze (general/spatial learning). jTBI mice showed elevated activity levels, …

Cultural And Personal Influences On Body Satisfaction In Mexican American Women, Melissa Y. Snyder

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The current study extended prior research examining the impact of acculturation on body satisfaction while integrating possible mediating variables for a sample of Mexican American women. Specifically, the study examined the relationships among acculturation (ARSMA-II), acculturative stress related to racism and immigration (HWSSS), objectified body consciousness (OBCS), SES, age, BMI, and body dissatisfaction. Outcome measures of body dissatisfaction included the EDI subscales of Body Dissatisfaction, Bulimia, Drive for Thinness, and Ineffectiveness, as well as the Body Esteem Scale (BES). Participants were 352 women of Mexican descent between the ages of 18 and 50 years recruited through California State University, San …

Modeling Treatment Outcomes In Eating Disorders, Kathryn Grace Truitt

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Eating disorders are notoriously difficult and costly to treat, with only 40% of individuals with an eating disorder making a full recovery. Individually Tailored Service Allocation provides a dynamic treatment model defined by empirically accepted theory and consistently informed by data provided by the patient. The use of patient feedback allows for the tailoring of individual treatment plans to meet the unique and varied needs of each patient. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the effect of Individually Tailored Service Allocation on eating disorder treatment outcomes. A total of 51 adult women meeting diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder …

The Alliance-Outcome Association In Cbt And Usual Care For Youth Depression Delivered In Community Settings, Shelley Avny

Theses and Dissertations

The child-therapist alliance is believed to be a critical ingredient of successful psychotherapy for youth depression. However, only a few studies have examined the association between the alliance and clinical outcomes in the treatment of youth depression. The present thesis examined the alliance-outcome association in two treatments for youth depression: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and usual clinical care (UC). Data were from an effectiveness trial conducted in six community clinics (see Weisz et al., 2009). Forty-one youth were randomly assigned to receive CBT or UC from community clinicians. The observed early alliance, alliance shifts, and self-reported alliance did not significantly predict …

What's Good About Feeling Bad: Developing A Theology Of Suffering, John C. Thomas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Mediating And Moderating Factors In Associations Between Physical And Relational Victimization And Social And Academic Competence Among Urban Adolescents, Lisa Ulmer

Theses and Dissertations

Peer victimization is prevalent among school-aged youth and is associated with difficulties including decreased academic and social competence. Although relations between victimization and academic and social competence have been examined, fewer studies have considered how underlying processes linking these constructs are related or whether relations differ for adolescent subgroups. The current study’s purpose was to examine potential mediating and moderating effects in associations between physical and relational victimization and academic and social competence. Participants included a predominantly African American sample of 271 adolescents participating in a longitudinal violence prevention project. Path models showed significant negative associations between teacher-rated physical victimization …

Re-Examining The Stop-Signal Task To Test Competing Theories Of Ad/Hd, Laura E. Santerre-Lemmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study tested two competing models of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), the inhibition and state regulation theories, by conducting fine-grained analyses of the Stop-Signal Task and another putative measure of behavioral inhibition, the Gordon Continuous Performance Test (G-CPT), in a large sample of children and adolescents. The inhibition theory posits that performance on these tasks reflects increased difficulties for AD/HD participants to inhibit prepotent responses. The model predicts that putative stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) group differences on the Stop-Signal Task will be primarily related to AD/HD participants requiring more warning than control participants to inhibit to the stop-signal and emphasizes …

Molecular Genetic Basis Of Opposite Gene By Environment Interactions In Reading Disability And Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Jennifer Rosenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to better understand the genetic basis of Reading Disability (RD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by examining molecular G x E interactions with parental education for each disorder. Research indicates that despite sharing genetic risk factors, RD and ADHD are influenced by different types of G x E interactions with parental education - a diathesis stress interaction in the case of ADHD and a bioecological interaction in RD. In order to resolve this apparent paradox, we conducted a preliminary study using behavioral genetic methods to test for G x E interactions in RD …

The Impact Of Shyness On Loneliness, Social Anxiety, And School Liking In Late Childhood, Charity M. Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shyness is associated with several emotional, social, and academic problems. While there are multiple difficulties that often accompany shyness, there appear to be some factors that can moderate negative effects of shyness. Research has demonstrated that certain parenting factors affect the adjustment of shy children in early childhood, but there is minimal research illuminating the effect of parenting factors in older age groups. The first purpose of this study was to examine relationships between shyness and loneliness, social anxiety, and school liking. The second purpose was to investigate whether the quality of the relationship between a parent and a 10- …

Parental Attachment And Risk For Intimate Partner Violence In Latino College Women, Janeth Berenice Schmidt

Theses Digitization Project

This study addresses the risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) in a sample of Latina college women. The study also provides data that takes into account both maternal and paternal attachments of Latina women in relation to the incidence of IPV in their romantic relationships.

Testing The Impact Of Anger Awareness And Expression Training And Relaxation Training On Chronic Headaches, Olga Slavin-Spenny

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic headache is a serious and common problem (World Health Organization [WHO], 2004). There is a heavy social and economic burden associated with chronic headaches. Relaxation training, which is thought to work by decreasing arousal/anxiety, is a commonly used behavioral treatment for chronic headache and has been shown to be effective. However, other research has suggested that anger may be an important emotion in the experience of pain, and that suppression of anger may lead to worse pain (Quartana et al., 2006). Although existing literature has demonstrated that anger suppression leads to worse pain, it has not addressed the question …

Individual Differences In Hemispheric Lateralization Of Language Processing, Sarah Ann Van Dyke

Wayne State University Dissertations

Conclusions in the literature regarding the relationship between a lateralized bias in the processing of information and individual differences (e.g., biological sex, gender identity, ability, personality) are inconsistent. We compared two different measures of laterality: dichotic listening and lateralized semantic priming and their relation to sex, verbal and visual-spatial ability, gender identity, and personality.

Eighty-nine adults (44 women, 45 men) were administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Bem Sex Role Inventory, and Big Five Inventory in addition to a dichotic listening task and a lateralized semantic priming task that compared ipsilateral and contralateral priming in order to determine the …

An Application Of A High-P Low-P Procedure To Improve Recall Memory In Elderly Patients With Mild To Moderate Cognitive Impairment, Dawn Amber Seefeldt

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Memory problems are a hallmark symptom of dementia. Although memory problems can take various forms, anomia is a common type of cognitive deficit that involves difficulty recalling names of people or objects. The purpose of the current study was to test the effectiveness of two interventions designed to improve the ability to recall the names of objects. Two elderly individuals with memory impairment participated in this study. Baseline involved identifying low and high probability images, with low-probability (low-p) items serving as the target images during the intervention phases. Two interventions were compared using an alternating treatments design. The first intervention, …

Ecological Momentary Intervention [Emi]: Incorporating Mobile Technology Into A Disordered Eating Treatment Program For College Women, Kristin E. Heron

Psychology - Dissertations

Psychosocial and health behavior treatments can be extended beyond research and clinical settings by using mobile technology to provide Ecological Momentary Interventions [EMI] to individuals as they go about their daily lives. This study integrates the assessment (i.e., Ecological Momentary Assessment; EMA) and intervention (i.e., EMI) capacities of palmtop computers to provide individually tailored EMI to participants in real time. The feasibility and efficacy of using EMI to augment a disordered eating treatment intervention for college women was evaluated. Participants were randomized to view psychoeducational videos on a computer (attention control), complete an interactive CD-ROM-based intervention aimed at reducing body …