Health Psychology Commons^™

Prison Reformation: A Five- Step Plan And Evidence Of Community Support, Nicole Borger

Honors College Theses

The federal prison model is one that provides better service than state prisons for offenders both during and after their incarceration. I would like to lay out a plan for the New York State prison system that amplifies the federal prison system’s small scale ideas into ones that can reach thousands of offenders as well as prove, through a research study I, along with two colleagues Colleen Kelley and Adisa Alghali, conducted called “Effect of Information Regarding Mentally Ill Offenders on Community Perception of Sentencing,” that community support can be garnered for such a plan. This five-part plan includes the …

Relative Deprivation, Relative Gratification, Status, And Health, Samuel A. Holland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The role of perceived inequity in health was assessed and compared to other social constructs predicted to be relevant in the relationship between inequity and health. Four studies were conducted that demonstrated that a social comparison-based measure of relative deprivation (RD) and relative gratification (RG) can predict health and continues to do so even after accounting for perceived stress, personal income, perceived control, and social participation. A measure of RD/RG was developed that was based on prominent social comparisons and objects of comparison. This measure was reliable and predictive of health in two samplings of different populations. Comparisons of the …

Jumping To Conclusions Bias And Attitudes Towards Body Image And Food, Heather Anne Sperry

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Poor body image and eating disorders are highly prevalent in Western cultures. In the United States alone, 10 million women and 1 million men struggle with an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association, 2008). In addition to these individuals with DSM classified disorders, evidence has been found that over 80% of American women are unhappy with their appearance (National Eating Disorders Association, 2008). There is evidence to suggest that negative body image is one of the key factors in determining whether or not an individual has or will develop dysfunctional eating habits (Cash & Deagle, 1996). The other key factor …

How To Help Your Community Recover From Disaster: A Manual For Planning And Action, Judah J. Viola,, Society For Community Research & Action Task Force For Disaster, Community Readiness, And Recovery

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

College Students Who Self-Injure: A Study Of Knowledge And Perceptions Of Self-Injury, Stacey Edwards Clinard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Archived data was utilized for the present study which examined self-injurious behaviors in a college population. College students, who engage in non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI, were expected to evidence a higher knowledge base for the behavior than those who do not. The demographic variables of gender and sexual orientation were predicted to be over represented in the NSSI group. Further, this study examines the perceived riskiness of the behavior in individuals who self-injure, as well as their perceptions of others who engage in NSSI. The survey consisted of four sections: demographics, knowledge ofNSSI, experience with NSSI, and perceptions ofNSSI. Individuals …

Effects Of Perceived Fitness Level Of Exercise Partner On Intensity Of Exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Meghan Madden, Sonia Mann, Grace Lee

Psychology

Problem statement: Social comparison theory was used to examine if exercising with a research confederate posing as either high fit or low fit would increase the exertion in exercising. Approach: 91 college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Biking alone, biking with a high fit confederate, or biking with a low fit confederate. All participants were instructed to complete 20 min of exercise at 60-70% of their maximum target heart rate. Results: Results indicated that participants in the high fit condition exercised harder than those in the low fit condition. However, no mood differences emerged between conditions. …

Locus Of Control And The Age Difference In Free Recall From Episodic Memory, Paul Amrhein, Judith K. Bond, Derek Hamilton

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors investigated the relation of locus of control (LOC) to age differences in free-recall memory performance. Older and younger participants completed P. C. Duttweiler's (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI) and subsequently performed free-recall memory tasks. Compared with the younger participants, the older participants exhibited poorer recall with more intrusions and uncorrected repetition errors as well as reduced categorical clustering. For the older participants with less internal LOC, recall proportion and item-pair associative recall clustering were lower than for the older participants with more internal LOC. By contrast, the younger participants did not exhibit any LOC effects in their recall …

Predictors Of Retention In Physical Therapy: Client-, Disease-, And Treatment-Related Factors, Marc A. Silva

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to (1) document the incidence of veterans who prematurely terminate physical therapy before medically indicated, and (2) identify reliable predictors of treatment retention and attrition. The potential benefit of this study is the identification of reliable variables that predict who is at risk for terminating physical therapy prematurely, which may lead to targeted interventions designed to increase treatment retention. RESEARCH DESIGN: This study will be a retrospective design involving a review of medical records of veterans receiving referral to physical therapy. METHODOLOGY: Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) will be used to examine the effects …

Latino Family Variables And Sexual Activity In Latino Adolescents, Brittany Nicole Barber

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Researchers’ focused examination of Latino adolescents’ cultural values and sexual activity has yielded questions regarding the cultural- and gender-specific attitudes and practices of these youth (Deardorff, Tschann, & Flores, 2008). Cultural values include family-related variables such as different aspects of familism, parent-adolescent communication, and parental monitoring, which have been found to decrease adolescents’ engagement in other negative activities such as aggressive behavior, (Dishion & McMahon, 1998), substance use (Estrada, Rabow, & Watts, 1982), and delinquency (Clark & Shields, 1997). Research investigating these risk behaviors has often implicated Latino adolescents’ level of assimilation to White, mainstream society as a potential risk …

Cultural Influences On Sexual Activity Among Latina Adolescents, Keyona M. Jarrett

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Early sexual activity among Latina adolescents has serious consequences (Chesson, Blandford, Gift, Tao, & Irwin, 2004; Mokdad, Marks, Stroup, & Gerberding, 2004; Schuster, 2003). Researchers have examined the influence of cultural variables such as assimilation, enculturation, gender roles, and ethnic identity on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of Latina adolescents (Benson & Torpy, 1995; Gómez & Marín, 1996; Jacobs, 2008; Kirby, 2002). Although there are some inconsistencies, the majority of the research in this area suggests that assimilation functions as a risk factor for engaging in sexual activity. Enculturation, gender roles (e.g., marianismo), and ethnic identity function as protective factors …

Effects Of Leas And Mecury On The Blood Proteome Of Children, Robert E. Birsall, Michael P. Kiley, Zaneer M. Segu, Christopher D. Palmer, Milan Madera, Brooks B. Gump

Falk College Research Center

Heavy metal exposure in children has been associated with a variety of physiological and neurological problems. The goal of this study was to utilize proteomics to enhance the understanding of biochemical interactions responsible for the health problems related to lead and mercury exposure at concentrations well below CDC guidelines. Blood plasma and serum samples from 34 children were depleted of their most abundant proteins using antibody-based affinity columns and analyzed using two different methods, LC-MS/MS and 2-D electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF/MS and tandem mass spectrometry. Apolipoprotein E demonstrated an inverse significant association with lead concentrations (average being one microgram/deciliter) as …

Developing Mindfulness In College Students Through Movement Based Courses: Effects On Self-Regulatory Self-Efficacy, Mood, Stress, And Sleep Quality, Karen Caldwell, Mandy Harrison, Marianne Adams, Rebecca H. Quin, Jeffrey M. Greeson

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Objective—This study examined whether mindfulness increased through participation in movement based courses and whether changes in self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, and perceived stress mediated the relationship between increased mindfulness and better sleep.

Participants—166 college students enrolled in the 2007-2008 academic year in 15 week classes in Pilates, Taiji quan, or GYROKINESIS®.

Methods—At beginning, middle, and end of the semester, participants completed measures of mindfulness, self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, perceived stress and sleep quality.

Results—Total mindfulness scores and mindfulness subscales increased overall. Greater changes in mindfulness were directly related to better sleep quality at the end of the semester after adjusting for sleep …

Evaluating An Insurance-Sponsored Weight Management Program With The Re-Aim Model, West Virginia, 2004-2008, Christiaan Abildso, Sam Zizzi, Bill Reger-Nash

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Introduction: Evaluations of weight management programs in real-world settings are lacking. The RE-AIM model (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance) was developed to address this deficiency. Our primary objective was to evaluate a 12-week insurance-sponsored weight management intervention by using the RE-AIM model, including short-term and long-term individual outcomes and setting-level implementation factors. Our secondary objective was to critique the RE-AIM model and its revised calculation methods.

Methods: We created operational definitions for components of the 5 RE-AIM indices and used standardized effect size values from various statistical procedures to measure multiple components or outcomes within each index. We used chi(2) …

A Mixed-Method Evaluation Of A College Student Fitness Program Using The Re-Aim Framework, Michelle L. Bartlett, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: The consistently rising obesity rate in college student population illustrates the need for organized and effective interventions. The purposes of this study were to evaluate an eight-week fitness program implemented at university student recreation center using mixed-methods along the reach, effectiveness, and implementation dimensions of the RE-AIM framework for evaluating health-promotion programs and to illustrate how qualitative data can be used to enhance the capabilities of the RE-AIM framework to evaluate such programs via providing recommendations to improve the intervention not possible with just a quantitative RE-AIM evaluation. Methods: Quantitative (participation rate, changes in % body fat, and resting …

Implications Of Skinner's Verbal Behavior For Studying Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Daniel Houlihan, Peter J.N. Linnerooth

Psychology Department Publications

Persons with dementia experience continual declines in a number of abilities. Language abilities are particularly hard hit and become increasingly impaired as the underlying disease progresses. These language impairments make verbal communication very challenging for family and professional caregivers. As a result, caregivers may inadvertently punish verbal behavior, thereby exacerbating the deterioration of verbal repertoires. Although the topography of language impairments associated with dementia have been well described, less empirical work has been conducted concerning how to minimize these impairments and their deleterious effects. In 1957 B.F. Skinner outlined his conceptualization of language and cognition in his book Verbal Behavior. …

Correlates Of Weight Concern And Control In A Hispanic College Student Sample., J. Blow, T. Taylor, Theodore Cooper, C. Redfearn

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Exercise Intervention, Thomas Earl Loney

Graduate Research Papers

Depression is a major cause of hardship in the U.S., both in terms of individual mental health and cost of treatment. Exercise and physical activity presents a low-cost alternative to achieve the same positive alleviation of depressive symptoms as medications and psychotherapy. There is a large body of research linking exercise to an increase in positive emotions, as well as a range of other benefits.

This paper will discuss some reasons counselors may consider exercise intervention for clients suffering from clinical depression, describe the use of this intervention, as well as leading theories explaining the mechanics behind the emotionally lifting …

Evaluation Of A Health Environment Training For Childcare Providers, Brianna Nicole Uhlhorn

Theses Digitization Project

This qualitative study sought to identify barriers for supporting preschoolers' healthy eating habits and physical activity levels. Almost 800 childcare providers throughout Riverside County were trained on Healthy Habits for Life from July 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. Centers were for-profit commercial chains, state-funded preschools, or private centers, but they were not affiliated with a school district or a Head Start program. This preschool training is designed to make preschool providers aware of their role in preventing childhood obesity, and to instill good nutrition and physical activity related to the values in young children. This study is a short-term …

Listen Carefully: The Risk Of Error In Spoken Medication Orders, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Clinicians and patients often confuse drug names that sound alike. We conducted auditory perception experiments in the United States to assess the impact of similarity, familiarity, background noise and other factors on clinicians' (physicians, family pharmacists, nurses) and laypersons' ability to identify spoken drug names. We found that accuracy increased significantly as the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio increased, as subjective familiarity with the name increased and as the national prescribing frequency of the name increased. For clinicians only, similarity to other drug names reduced identification accuracy, especially when the neighboring names were frequently prescribed. When one name was substituted for another, …

Correlates Of Weight Concern And Control In A Hispanic College Student Sample., J. Blow, T. Taylor, Theodore Cooper, C. Redfearn

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.