Health Psychology Commons^™

Hair Cortisol As A Biomarker Of Stress In Mindfulness Training For Smokers., Simon B Goldberg, Alison R Manley, Stevens S Smith, Jeffrey M Greeson, Evan Russell, Stan Van Uum, Gideon Koren, James M Davis

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

OBJECTIVES: Stress is a well-known predictor of smoking relapse, and cortisol is a primary biomarker of stress. The current pilot study examined changes in levels of cortisol in hair within the context of two time-intensity matched behavioral smoking cessation treatments: mindfulness training for smokers and a cognitive-behavioral comparison group.

PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen participants were recruited from a larger randomized controlled trial of smoking cessation.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Hair samples (3 cm) were obtained 1 month after quit attempt, allowing for a retrospective analysis of hair cortisol at preintervention and post-quit attempt time periods. Self-reported negative affect was also assessed before and after …

Objective Measures And Insight Assessments Of Muscle Dysmorphia, Austin Blake Lowe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Muscle dysmorphia is a relatively new psychological disorder primarily affecting males who engage in weightlifting or bodybuilding. Individuals with this disorder are obsessed with the idea that their body is not sufficiently lean or muscular when compared to others and engage in several, risky behaviors (i.e., frequent exercise sessions, anabolic steroid use, structured diets) to increase muscularity. As obtaining and maintaining a muscular physique is so important to his or her self-worth, an individual may have little insight to how their behaviors are affecting their social and occupational lives and are reluctant to seek out psychological treatment. The purpose of …

Masculinity, Male Empowerment, And Hiv/Aids Risk In Caprivi, Namibia, Mark Perry

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Namibia has a generalized HIV epidemic, with 13% of adults being infected. Its East Caprivi Region has the highest prenatal HIV prevalence in the country, 21%, among girls and women aged 15-24 years. In recent years, researchers have pointed to men who express their masculinity through high-risk sex as driving the epidemic in East Caprivi. This exploratory study examined the role that men and their masculinity concepts played in transmission, how those concepts were evolving over time, what was influencing the change, and in which directions. Employing grounded theory methods and guided by Robert Connell's theoretical framework on masculinities, the …

Do Social Control Motives Combine With Perceptions Of Social Support To Predict Relationships Between Interpersonal Stress And Blood Pressure In The Normal Environment?, Gavin James Elder

Dissertations - ALL

Social support is related to lower risk for cardiovascular disease development. Yet, research has failed to yield consistent evidence for psychological mechanisms of relationships between social support and health outcomes. Explanations for these failures include limitations of research design and statistical analysis, inadequate theory-building, and a failure to investigate implicit psychological processes that operate during normal everyday social interactions. The present study utilized a promising theoretical framework (i.e., social action theory) to evaluate implicit mechanisms within a naturalistic observation study design using multilevel modeling. The primary aims of this study were to evaluate the role of between-person differences in agonistic …

Basic Psychological Needs, Suicidal Ideation, And Risk For Suicidal Behavior In Young Adults, Peter C. Britton, Kimberly A. Van Orden, Jameson K. Hirsch, Geoffrey C. Williams

ETSU Faculty Works

Associations between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with current suicidal ideation and risk for suicidal behavior were examined. Two logistic regressions were conducted with a cross-sectional database of 440 university students to examine the association of need satisfaction with suicidal ideation and risk for suicidal behavior, while controlling for demographics and depressive symptoms. Suicidal ideation was reported by 15% of participants and 18% were found to be at risk for suicidal behavior. A one standard deviation increase in need satisfaction reduced the odds of suicidal ideation by 53%, OR (95% CI) = 0.47 (0.33–0.67), …

A Comparison Of Descriptive And Injunctive Norms Brief Interventions For College Drinkers, Mark A. Prince

Dissertations - ALL

College drinking remains a major public health concern. One contributing factor is the overestimation by college students of their peers' alcohol use (DN: descriptive norm) and their peers' acceptability of excessive drinking (IN: injunctive norm). Normative re-education interventions have traditionally focused on changing descriptive norms even though the Theory of Normative Conduct identifies both DN and IN as beliefs that motivate behavior. The current study developed a brief, manualized, personalized, IN intervention, delivered face-to-face, in a Motivational Interviewing style that can be used as a stand alone treatment or added to existing descriptive norms interventions. This randomized controlled trial compared …

Development Of A Short Version Of The Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale, Brooke N. Jenkins, Michelle Fortier, Sherrie H. Kaplan, Linda C. Mayes, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: The modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) is the current “criterion standard” for assessing child anxiety during induction of anesthesia and has been used in >100 studies. This observational instrument covers 5 items and is typically administered at 4 perioperative time points. Application of this complex instrument in busy operating room (OR) settings, however, presents a challenge. In this investigation, we examined whether the instrument could be modified and made easier to use in OR settings.

METHODS: This study used qualitative methods, principal component analyses, Cronbach αs, and effect sizes to create the mYPAS-Short Form (mYPAS-SF) and reduce time …

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

Practicing Patienthood Online: Social Media, Chronic Illness, And Lay Expertise, Collette Sosnowy

Publications and Research

The use of digital technologies and social media by people with serious illness to find, share, and create health information is much celebrated but rarely critiqued. Proponents laud “Health 2.0” as transforming health care practice and empowering patients. Critics, however, argue that a discourse of developing lay expertise online masks the disciplinary practices of the neoliberal state’s emphasis on individual responsibility. Notably, the perspectives of people who are engaging with social media related to their health and illness are under-represented in this debate. This research examines the experiences and perspectives of women who blog about their lives with Multiple Sclerosis …

Reducing Stigma Toward The Transgender Community: An Evaluation Of A Humanizing And Perspective-Taking Intervention, Tanya L. Tompkins, Kay Livesay, Chloe N. Shields, Caitlyn C. Talbot, Kimberly M. Hillman

Faculty Presentations

Transgender (TG) individuals are an understudied group at high risk of experiencing discrimination and associated adverse mental health outcomes (IOM, 2011). Although many studies demonstrate that contact reduces negative attitudes toward out-groups, few studies have examined the link between contact and attitudes toward the TG community (Hill & Willoughby, 2005; Walchet al., 2012). This study represents one of the first attempts to understand how to effectively reduce stigma toward the TG community. Results indicate that education alone is not enough to change attitudes; in fact, there is some evidence that associating transgenderism with psychopathology may heighten stigma. Consistent with prior …

Dental Anxiety: Personal And Media Influences On The Perception Of Dentistry, Jacqueline Glazman

Honors College Theses

Dental anxiety is a condition that plagues millions of individuals worldwide. The cause of anxiety can arise from an array of negative experiences related to dentistry. Additionally, the media’s persistent deleterious portrayal of dentistry affects the public’s fears and skews the people’s general perception of how dentists really are. Nevertheless, people continue to seek dental care for medial and cosmetic purposes, despite major challenges in the healthcare systems. This study aimed to understand whether negative images of dentists would influence how anxious a sample of undergraduate students felt about various dental procedures. The study also asked participants to express their …

Guidelines For Culturally Based Interventions With Healthcare Professionals, Ifeanyi Anthony Onyemenem

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Early detection is critical to surviving breast and cervical cancer. Unfortunately, Latin American (Latino) women in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of cancer and have poorer rates of repeat screenings when compared to non-Latino White (Anglo) women. One factor identified through research that negatively affect continuity of cancer screening is perceived mistreatment. Guided by Betancourt’s integrative model of culture, psychology and behavior, the current project proposes guidelines for developing culturally informed interventions with healthcare professionals that take into account the socially shared values, beliefs and norms that negatively impact breast and cervical cancer …

Family Criticism And Depressive Symptoms In Older Adult Primary Care Patients: Optimism And Pessimism As Moderators, Jameson K. Hirsch, Kristin L. Walker, Ross B. Wilkinson, Jeffrey M. Lyness

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: Depression is a significant global public health burden, and older adults may be particularly vulnerable to its effects. Among other risk factors, interpersonal conflicts, such as perceived criticism from family members, can increase risk for depressive symptoms in this population. We examined family criticism as a predictor of depressive symptoms and the potential moderating effect of optimism and pessimism.

Methods: One hundred five older adult, primary care patients completed self-report measures of family criticism, optimism and pessimism, and symptoms of depression. We hypothesized that optimism and pessimism would moderate the relationship between family criticism and depressive symptoms.

Results: In …

Child Life Specialists’ Facilitation Of Family-Centered Care: The Importance Of Sibling Support, Carissa L. Lane

Psychology and Child Development

Certified Child Life Specialists’ understanding of family-centered care, and their beliefs and practices involving siblings of chronically/critically ill children were examined using an online survey. Participants were Certified Child Life Specialists recruited form the Child Life Council Forum. Relationships between utilization of certain words and support programs offered to siblings, were examined. Findings revealed a relationship in one area of coded language and support program for siblings, but not the other. Findings also revealed that all CCLS believe in the inclusion of siblings during the treatment process, however they are offered less support services than parents. Diverse results regarding multiple …

To Test Or Not To Test: Barriers And Solutions To Testing African American College Students For Hiv At A Historically Black College/University, Naomi M. Hall-Byers, Jennifer Peterson, Malynnda Johnson

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Young African Americans are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The purpose was to identify reasons that African American college students at a historically Black college/university (HBCU) identified as barriers to HIV testing, and how these barriers can be removed. Fifty-seven heterosexual-identified undergraduate students (ages 18-25) attending an HBCU in the southeastern US participated in the study. Latent content analytic techniques were used to code the transcripts for themes and categories, and representative quotations were used in the findings. Qualitative data indicates three main themes used to avoid testing and three themes to encourage testing. Students were forthcoming …

Lqts Patients’ Satisfaction With Emergency Room Care, Stephanie H. Felgoise, Katherine Lawrence, Victoria L. Vetter

Research Day

Abstract: Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is a genetic condition affecting 1:2,500 that predisposes individuals to cardiac arrhythmias (Ellis et al., 2009). Life threatening symptoms are often unpredictable although there are known triggers to LQTS specific cardiac events. Triggers include physical exertion, emotional upset, and sleep. Events could be triggered by medications, dehydration, and other circumstances that affect cardiac rhythm. Treatments include betablockers, pacemakers, internal cardioverter defibrillators, and automated external defibrillator as precautionary measures. As such, LQTS patients often present to their emergency room (ER) when they become symptomatic. Research suggests that LQTS patients’ experience dissatisfaction in the ER and treatment …

Improv To Improve Interprofessional Communication, Team Building, Patient Safety, And Patient Satisfaction, Candace A. Campbell

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

The purpose of this process improvement project was to implement a test of change within a healthcare team utilizing applied improvisational exercises (AIEs), and to lay the groundwork for more effective inter- and intra-professional communication.

Literature review: AIEs have been shown to facilitate individual participant communication strengths through a process of un-learning certain common behavioral habits, and learning new habits that assist in creating and expanding closed-loop communication. Such un-learning and learning enriches the participant’s awareness of the environment and encourages participant adaptability through positive group interactions.

Method: An all-day AIE seminar/workshop was conducted with members of two healthcare teams …

The Experience Of Stress In Women Diagnosed With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Amanda Canavatchel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder that affects multiple organ systems within the female body, hallmarked by infertility, the possibility of androgen excess, and the possibility of ovulatory dysfunction. Along with a myriad of physiological symptoms, PCOS is also associated with many psychological issues, including an increased incidence of depression, anxiety, and lower reported quality of life among women diagnosed with PCOS. The need for treatment directed to attenuate any psychological implications of the syndrome has become increasingly important are of research. While some researchers have focused on PCOS in a psychosocial perspective, including analysis on depression, …

Physical Activity And Nutritional Behavior Of Overweight College Students Trying To Lose Weight 2014, Santino Vallejos M.S.

Master's Theses

Although there are numerous benefits to increased physical activity and proper dietary behaviors, the decreased participation in physical activity and poor dietary behaviors has emerged as a significant problem within the college student population. The focus of this research study was to identify the relationship between physical activity and dietary behavior to weight loss behaviors within an undergraduate student sample of a small, comprehensive northeastern university. College-aged students (age range: 17 to 27 years old) completed the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) National College Health Assessment II (NCHA) during the years 2009 and 2012. According to the results, there were …

Rural Pediatric Primary Care Practice Patterns As A Result Of An On-Site Behavioral Health Consultant: A Retrospective Analysis, Kayla D. Mccarter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nationally, it has been estimated that 10 to 21% of children with psychosocial concerns are seen in primary care settings (Jellinek et al., 1999; McInerny, Szilagyi, Childs, Wasserman & Kelleher, 2000; Palermo et al., 2002). Often, however, children go undiagnosed with/treated for psychosocial concerns in pediatric primary care due to lack of physician time and poor referral rates to mental health providers. Evaluations of integrated care models, in which a behavioral health consultant is present in primary care practices, has shown to increase the availability of mental health services (Stancin, Perrin, & Ramirez, 2009). Using extant data from patient records …