Clinical Psychology Commons^™

National Survey On Equine Assisted Therapy: An Exploratory Study Of Current Practitioners And Programs, Patricia J. Mcconnell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Equine facilitated psychotherapy (EFP), a new field in psychology, is an alternative method of therapy that uses horses to facilitate therapeutic outcomes. There is minimal peer reviewed literature and few published studies examining efficacy. The conceptual lens of this study was grounded theory, as there is insufficient evidence of theoretical frame-works guiding equine assisted therapy. The purpose of this exploratory concurrent mixed methods study was to examine the theoretical foundation of practitioners; program make up; client populations; efficacy of program; and why the horse serves as the therapeutic catalyst of this model. A 43-item survey was sent to 800 programs, …

The Impact Of Symptom Severity On Parent-Child Interaction And Relationships Among Children With Autism, Nicole M. Beurkens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent estimates indicate that 1 in 100 children in the United States is diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Although research has demonstrated the bidirectional nature of parentchild relations, the effect of child autism symptom severity on parent-child interaction and overall relationships has not yet been explored. This study examined the impact of child symptom severity in children ages 4-15 years, as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), on parent-child interaction, as measured by the Dyadic Coding Scale (DCS), and parent-child relationships, as measured by the Parent Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI). The bidirectional model of socialization informs the study, …

Evaluating Outcomes And Response Profiles Of A Psychological Treatment For People With Chronic Pain, Amanda J. Burger

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic pain is a leading cause of suffering, disability, and high health care costs. Traditional treatment approaches such as medical or cognitive-behavioral interventions have produced variable and often limited results. Research has suggested

that increased rates of stressful life events, emotional disorders, and emotion regulation deficits contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain problems that lack clear, peripheral, biological causes. This study examined the effectiveness of an

innovative, emotion-focused treatment that directly targets patients' unresolved stress and emotional avoidance and sought to identify predictors of treatment outcome. Additionally, this study explored the effects of a novel, emotional assessment …

Awareness Of Deficit And Driving Simulator Performance After Stroke., Carolyn A. Scott

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AWARENESS OF DEFICIT AND DRIVING SIMULATOR PERFORMANCE AFTER STROKE

by

CAROLYN A. SCOTT

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Lisa J. Rapport

Major: Psychology (Clinical)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Fifty-four stroke survivors completed a driving evaluation. Measures included predicted, postdicted, and actual performance on a driving simulator evaluation and a modified Biber Cognitive Estimation Test. Survivors nominated a significant other to serve as a knowledgeable informant about their abilities. Awareness of deficit was assessed via survivor-significant other difference scores on the Awareness Questionnaire. Five predictors (age, stroke severity, and awareness of cognitive, behavioral/affective, and motor abilities) reliably distinguished between survivors who …

The Effective Use Of Confrontation In Family Therapy: A Process Study, Timothy Michael Digiacomo

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Although contemporary practitioners have rejected the confrontational style and perceived aggressiveness of earlier family therapists in favor of a more "collaborative" stance, confrontation, as a technique, is still widely used in almost all forms of psychotherapy, including family therapy. The present process study explored what makes confrontation more or less effective in motivating clients to recognize and reevaluate counterproductive ways of interacting. Using videotaped family therapy sessions, confrontation clarity, emotional reactivity, and the use of suggestion were examined in relation to client levels of acceptance of confrontation immediately following the confrontation, as well as in relation to overall …

The Applicability Of The Megargee Classification System For The Mmpi-A, Joel Andrew Dillon

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Megargee (1977) originally developed a classification system for MMPI profiles for male offenders, and eventually expanded this system to also accommodate the MMPI profiles of female offenders (Megargee, 1992). Recently Megargee expanded and modified this system for use with the MMPI-2 (Megargee, Carbonell, Bohn, and Sliger, 2001). The purpose of the current study was to examine the utility of Megargee's systems as applied to adolescents in correctional facilities based on MMPI-A results. The Megargee classification criteria were modified for the purposes of this study, generally based on quite limited modifications to accommodate the lower profile ratings typically found for adolescents …

Psychometric Properties Of The Mmpi-A Harris-Lingoes And Si Subscales In A Forensic Sample, Ashley K. Winkleman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the internal and external psychometric properties of the Harris-Lingoes subscales. This was accomplished by use of both self-report and caregiver-rated external criterion measures. The present study employed an archival data set consisting of 760 adolescents (470 boys and 290 girls) who completed the MMPI-A at an outpatient adolescent treatment facility as part of a court-ordered psychological evaluation. Overall, a number of subscales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (e.g., D4 and Hy3) whereas other subscales (e.g., Pd2) demonstrated unacceptable internal consistency reliability for both genders. Correlations with external self-report scores and caregiver …

Inpatient Group Psychotherapy: Predicting Attendance And Participation, Sharon E. Silverberg

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Inpatient group psychotherapy is one of the primary talk therapy interventions offered to patients necessitating acute psychiatric treatment. Research indicates that patients who attend and participate in group psychotherapy sessions while admitted to psychiatric hospitals have a lower rate of recidivism and are more successful in the community utilizing lower levels of psychiatric care. Unfortunately, not all patients attend group psychotherapy while admitted to a psychiatric facility and therefore do not benefit, possibly contributing to non-compliance with community-based treatment and readmissions to inpatient psychiatric institutions for stabilization and safety. This lack of participation in group psychotherapy deprives the patient the …

No, I’M Really, Really Bad At Math: Competition For Self-Verification, Alexandra E. Wesnousky

Honors Theses

In their theory of self-verification, Swann and Read’s (1981) postulate that people like feedback that is consistent with their self-concept. Researchers have yet to examine what happens when two individuals are both seeking feedback from each other to verify their self-concept on the same domain. When individuals are competing against someone to verify a similarly held self-concept, they should try to seek more polarized feedback, especially when the domain is highly important. In two experiments, participants expected to receive computer feedback on their responses to identity-related questions, either based on their own responses or on how they compared to the …

Social Support, Social Control And Health Behavior Change In Spouses, Kieran T. Sullivan, Lauri A. Pasch, Katherine Hanson, Kathrine Bejanyan

Psychology

Our work on support processes in intimate relationships has focused on how partners in committed relationships help one another contend with personal difficulties, and how partners elicit and provide support in their day-to-day interactions. We are particularly interested in how these support skills relate to marital outcomes (Pasch & Bradbury, 1998; Pasch, Harris, Sullivan, & Bradbury, 2004; Sullivan, Pasch, Eldridge, & Bradbury, 1998) and how they relate to behavior change in spouses (Sullivan, Pasch, Johnson, & Bradbury, 2006), especially health behavior changes. In this chapter, we review research examining the effects of social support and social control on spouses' health …

The Effects Of Web-Based Interactive Emotional Disclosure On Stress And Health: A Randomized, Controlled Study, Jonathan Beyer

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the relative effectiveness of two novel alternatives to standard written emotional disclosure for coping with stressful traumatic experiences. In addition to standard emotional disclosure and time management writing control conditions, two guided feedback conditions were created with a goal of enhancing the disclosure paradigm by eliciting the most effective components of disclosure writing. All of the writing conditions in the study utilized the internet for both completion of the writing and receipt of feedback in the indicated conditions. The guided conditions included a feedback writing condition in which guidance was …

Do You See What I See? : Testing The Effects Of Race And Social Class On Therapists' Recognition Of And Attributions For Intimate Partner Violence, Susana Blanco

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

An estimated 5.3 million intimate partner violence (IPV) victimizations occur among U.S. women each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). Because of the high prevalence, Harway and Hansen (2004) recommended that therapists assume that all women presenting for therapy may be at risk for violence. However, assessment for IPV is not standard practice. In fact, studies repeatedly indicate that therapists tend to under-identify IPV (e.g., Harway & Hansen, 1993).

Cognitive Factors In Childhood Social Anxiety : The Role Of Hostile Intent And Fear Of Social Evaluation, Julie Lynn Ryan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current study sought to expand the literature on the cognitive process of interpretation bias associated with social anxiety in youth. The interpretation bias in social anxiety includes an assumption that others are inherently hostile and critical therefore the child perceives or anticipates social evaluation of the self by others. Despite the studies examining interpretation bias and self-evaluation, no studies examine whether individuals with social anxiety evaluate others critically and hostilely. Additionally, hostile intent has been conceptualized as a single construct. However, we propose that hostile intent is a two-dimensional construct involving hostile thoughts about others and perceiving that others …

The Influence Of Contextual Family Stressors On The Relationship Between Parental Psychological Adjustment And Parenting Constructs, Ilana Rebecca Luft

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The present investigation seeks to examine relationships among predictors of three parenting constructs: parental discipline, monitoring and warmth. Specifically, the current investigation examines the relationship between a broad, continuous measure of parental psychosocial adjustment and these parenting constructs, and also the influence of two contextual stressors, family life changes and family economic pressure on this relationship. It was hypothesized that parental psychosocial adjustment and the contextual stress constructs would be predictive of the parenting constructs, such that with greater psychosocial adjustment problems and/or greater contextual stressors, quality of parenting would decline. Additionally, a moderation model was proposed in which it …

Biological And Behavioral Correlates Among Young Adults Exposed To Harsh Parenting Practices, Christy Lyn Olezeski

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Whereas the subject of harsh parenting has been a source of debate for many years, research has shown that harsh parenting practices are associated with an increase in behavioral problems, including aggression toward others. However, not all youth who have been subjected to harsh parenting develop problems. Researchers have begun examining moderators of the effects of harsh parenting and other psychosocial stressors, specifically whether functioning in physiological stress response systems buffers or exacerbates the effects of harsh parenting on later functioning. Research also suggests that exposure to stressful situations (including harsh parenting) may affect the biological stress system. In particular, …

The Neuropsychological Deficits In Cannabis Users : Does Motivation Play A Role?, Rayna Beth Ericson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prior research of the neuropsychological functioning of cannabis users has yielded mixed results, in that some studies identified differences compared to non-users, while others found no group differences at all. A meta-analysis revealed a small effect of cannabis use on the cognitive domains of learning and forgetting, while domains such as attention and processing speed yielded no effect (Grant et al., 2003). However, none of the previous studies assessed the participants' motivation to perform well on the assessment, which may have influenced the results. The present study sought to determine whether motivation is differentially demonstrated in cannabis users compared to …

Brief Motivational Interviewing : An Intervention For Alcohol Abusing College Students, Kelly Jane Horner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Efforts to curtail alcohol abuse in college with traditional alcohol education programs have been unsuccessful as heavy drinking on college campuses has remained remarkably constant. Brief Motivational Interventions (BMIs) have recently emerged as a viable alternative that facilitates behavior change in students who engage in heavy drinking. The present study recruited college students who violated campus drinking policies and were referred to the University's judicial system. The efficacy of an individualized BMI intervention was compared to that of a group oriented educational intervention and a control condition consisting of a sanction. Possible interaction effects between specific individual characteristics and the …

Prospective Effects Of Temperamental Reactivity, Emotion Dysregulation, And Stress On Risk For Anxiety And Depression In Elementary School-Age Children, Jeremy Kyle Fox

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Temperamental reactivity and emotion dysregulation are both considered important vulnerability factors in the development of childhood anxiety and depression. Little is known, however, about how these emotional processes work together to shape developmental pathways to internalizing difficulties.

Psychosocial Factors Contributing To Medication Non-Adherence, Health-Related Quality Of Life, And Disease Activity In Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Alejandra Halperin Faust

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are chronic and are characterized by periodic exacerbations followed by symptom-free intervals. Symptoms can have a detrimental impact on quality of life. Medication non-adherence in adults with IBD has been well-documented in the literature; continuous medication use is necessary to prevent flares of the disease. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was three-fold: (1) to examine associations between medication non-adherence, disease activity, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), (2) to examine if group differences were present for patients who were high versus low in anxiety or depression in terms of their medication non-adherence, …

The Role Of Organizational Commitment In Practitioner Implementation Of Evidence-Based Practices In Substance Abuse Treatment Settings, Irene Teresa Manfredo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Organizational commitment (OC) has been linked to different types of work-related behaviors including innovation implementation and professional behavior change but the influence of OC on technology transfer or research to practice processes is as yet unknown. Using a social exchange perspective, the study employed constructs derived from Klein & Sorra (1996) - perceived implementation climate and practitioner innovation-values fit - to understand the association between practitioner level OC and evidence-based practice implementation (EBP) in substance abuse treatment settings. Method: A secondary data analysis was conducted utilizing a 2008 cross-sectional survey of outpatient substance abuse practitioners in eastern New York State …