Health Psychology Commons^™

The Restorative Effects Of Virtual Reality Nature Simulations: An Empirical Investigation, Isabel T. Folger, Yichen Zhang, Kenneth B. Abrams

Psychology Faculty Work

Although extensive research demonstrates that nature films can facilitate recovery from stress and cognitive overload, it remains unclear whether more immersive media, such as virtual reality (VR), are more effective than similar two-dimensional films. The present study examined the effects of immersiveness on affective, cognitive, and physiological restoration. Three levels of immersiveness for film viewing were employed: 2D (computer monitor), standard VR (visual and auditory input), and enhanced VR (standard VR plus olfactory and haptic input). All participants were exposed to parallel versions of a six-minute nature film. We hypothesized that greater immersiveness would produce stronger restorative effects. All versions …

Injury To Insight: Exploring The Influence Of Media On Acl Rehabilitation Experiences Of Female Soccer Players, Chynna Ho-Young Cadogan, Jill Tracey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Participation in soccer inherently carries a risk of injury, with female athletes facing a significantly higher susceptibility to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries (Campbell et al., 2014; Le et al., 2025; Silvers-Granelli, 2021). The increasing participation in women’s soccer, coupled with the growing demand for its consumption through spectatorship, has contributed to a rise in ACL injuries, and increase in media coverage on this phenomenon (Parsons et al., 2021). Understanding how media narratives surrounding ACL injuries and recovery may influence rehabilitation experiences can educate coaches, mental performance consultants, athletic therapists, and female soccer players to better understand and navigate ACL …

More Than Surviving: Brazilian Immigrants' Stories Of Growth And Wellbeing In The United States, Virginia Veronica Lemos

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Immigration in the United States is often conceptualized within clinical psychology through deficit-oriented frameworks that emphasize risk, trauma, and psychological distress. While this work is essential for documenting vulnerability and inequity, it offers limited guidance for understanding how immigrants sustain wellbeing and meaning amid ongoing sociopolitical and institutional constraints. Brazilian immigrants represent a large and growing population in the US whose experiences remain comparatively understudied, particularly from strengths-based and interpretive perspectives. To address this gap, this qualitative study explores how Brazilian immigrants make sense of immigration and wellbeing through the narratives they construct about their lives in the US. Grounded …

Cultural Schemas Regarding Resilience And Strength In Blacks: Implications For Well-Being And Academic Success, Aniya G. Ashford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Culturally shaped strength-based coping frameworks among Black college students, particularly the Strong Black Woman Schema and John Henry’s Active Coping, are associated with responses to racism-related stress and academic pressure, yet the ways these internalized expectations interact with emotional regulation, perceived cultural norms, and academic functioning remain unclear. Prior research has primarily examined these constructs in isolation or focused on psychological distress or physical health outcomes, often relying on single-method self-report designs that do not capture how culturally embedded coping processes are reflected in lived experiences; as a result, limited work has integrated identity-based schemas, behavioral coping strategies, and narrative …

Barriers To Mental Health Care Among Emerging Adult Women Across Racial, Ethnic, And Lgbtq+ Identities, Tikyla M. Euline

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period characterized by increasing mental health concerns, yet many young adults do not seek professional psychological services. The present study examined barriers to mental health care among undergraduate women, with particular attention to the intersecting identities of sexual minority status and racial/ethnic minority status. Guided by intersectionality theory, the study investigated whether LGBTQ+ women, women of color, and individuals holding both identities reported greater perceived barriers to treatment, higher levels of medical mistrust and discrimination in healthcare settings, and lower mental health service utilization. Participants included 373 undergraduate women between the ages of 18 and …

Expanding Assessment Of Adverse Childhood Expereneces(Aces) To Include Childhood Disabilties And Medical Trauma., Cassidy E. Chergi

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are considered a fair predictor of future physical and mental health outcomes. However, historically, the ACEs framework has not fully incorporated chronic stressors associated with childhood physical disabilities and health conditions. This study proposes an expansion of ACEs to include serious childhood medical issues and events as well as disability-related adversity—such as early experiences of functional limitations, social adversity, and system-wide barriers. This study also explores the correlation between these serious medical issues and disability-related adversity in childhood and psychological issues in early adulthood, including signs of trauma, depression, and anxiety. Understanding these relationships can contribute …

Visual Aids And Numeracy In Healthcare: Leveraging The Drawing Effect, Zephyr J. Markley

Capstone Showcase

Healthcare decisions often require patients to interpret numerical risk information under stress, yet many struggle with low numeracy, which can distort comprehension and undermine informed consent. Well-designed visual aids can improve diagnostic inference, calibrate confidence, and support better choices, especially for patients with limited numeracy, but their impact depends on whether users can actually interpret the format accurately. Drawing may further enhance these tools by adding a tactile, generative layer that engages visual, semantic, and motoric processing while helping patients organize information into concrete models.

Passive visual aids appear useful but limited because they often position patients as observers rather …

Moving Positively: A Review Of Positive Psychology Interventions In Counseling, Spencer M. Fleming, Ingrid Weigold Ph. D

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Positive psychology is a relatively new and developing subfield of psychology which examines the machinations and roles of various character strengths and traits such as growth, well-being, meaning, life satisfaction, character strengths, and more. Positive psychology holds various implications for counseling, therapy, individual growth, and self-determination. However, current literature on positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are scattered, nuanced, and lack overall consensus. Thus, encompassing research is necessary to identify common trends, areas for improvement, and a clear direction moving forward. The present review analyzes positive psychology interventions (PPIs) within psychology and counseling. This review examined forty-eight articles, including fifteen meta-analyses, on …

Examining The Physiological Stress-Reducing Effects Of Virtual Nature Exposure And Slow Breathing, Jesse Benefiel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In a time of excess stress, it is essential to examine accessible stress-reduction methods. Research has demonstrated that virtual nature exposure and slow breathing can independently reduce stress, but the literature is lacking with regard to their combined effects. The present study aimed to replicate independent effects of breathing and nature on stress and to test for potential effects, including whether their combination would produce an interaction effect. Using a 2 Environment (Natural v. Control) by 2 Breathing (Slow v. Normal) between-subjects design, 63 participants completed a modified color-word Stroop task to induce stress and were then exposed to either …

Fit Ideal Internalization And Muscularity-Oriented Disordered Eating Among College Women: Examining Social Comparisons And Body Dissatisfaction As Serial Mediators, Nicole Graumann

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Muscularity-oriented disordered eating (MODE) comprises rigid eating behaviors driven by a desire to be toned and muscular (Cunningham et al., 2021; Murray et al., 2019). While MODE has been widely studied among men, it is increasingly prevalent among women, and it is vital to explore its associated risk factors. In particular, the fit ideal (thin but also toned) is an emerging issue among women’s body image and could be a factor for women engaging in MODE; however, there is limited research exploring this relationship. The present study examined the relationship between the fit ideal internalization and MODE among college women …

Reconnecting The Body With Nature: Inspired By Advances In Biomimicry, Elyse M. Orosa

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Reconnecting the Body with Nature: Inspired by Advances in Biomimicry will visually address the symbiotic relationship between nature and humans. The drawing series is inspired by the growing design field of biomimicry and its technological and architectural innovations influenced by nature’s systems and physical adaptations. Just as nature is limited by human misuse, humans are physically and neurologically limited by the state of the environment, and with this, form and function of both nature and humans will be equally represented and explored throughout the body of work presented. Biomimicry can help solve environmental issues such as rising CO2 emissions and …

Associations Between Oral Hormonal Contraceptive Use, Digestive And Other Health Symptoms In Young Women, Silviana E. Buzatu

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Oral hormonal contraceptives (OHCs) are widely used among reproductive-age women; however, their gastrointestinal (GI) side effects remain understudied. The present study examined associations between OHC use, GI, physical, and psychological symptom burden in a large sample of undergraduate women. Participants (N = 669) aged 18 to 25 years were recruited from UCF’s SONA system and classified into three groups based on self-reported contraceptive status: no birth control, combined estrogen–progestin OHC, and progestin-only OHC. Participants completed GI questionnaires, as well as physical and mental health symptoms ones.

Multivariate analyses indicated that overall GI symptom profiles did not differ significantly by birth …

Family- And Cultural-Level Influences For Latine Adolescent Nicotine Use: A Qualitative Study Informing Prevention, Cindy M. Hernandez Castro

Theses and Dissertations

Early tobacco use among Latine adolescents represents a critical public health concern, with 23.8% reporting current use and exceeding rates among other racial/ethnic groups (Birdsey et al., 2023; Gaddy et al., 2022). This early initiation elevates risks for nicotine dependence and related morbidity in adulthood (Tsao et al., 2023). Guided by Structural Ecosystems Theory (Szapocznik & Coatsworth, 1999) and contemporary grounded theory analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Charmaz, 2006; Noble & Mitchell, 2016), this study examined multilevel influences on nicotine-related attitudes among Latine youth, including: (1) familial factors (i.e., parental monitoring, caregiver-youth communication), (2) cultural dynamics (i.e., cultural values and …

What’S Sleep Got To Do With It? A Mixed Methods Exploration Of The Feasibility, Acceptability, And Initial Outcomes Of Group Cbt For Insomnia In Parkinson’S Disease, Claire M. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is commonly associated with sleep disturbances, affecting up to 80 percent of individuals with Parkinson’s. Effective and accessible treatments for sleep problems in Parkinson’s disease remain limited. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) is a well-established, non-pharmacological treatment for insomnia but has been minimally studied in Parkinson’s populations. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a group-based CBTi intervention adapted for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Participants engaged in a six-week group intervention that incorporated Parkinson’s-specific adaptations. Preliminary findings indicated that the adapted group CBTi intervention was generally feasible and …

Internalizing Symptoms In Lgbtq+ Young Adults: Understanding The Roles Of Social Support And Resilience To Social Stigma, Chloe M. Sobolewski

Theses and Dissertations

LGBTQ+ young adults are at increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes including internalizing symptoms. The current study seeks to better incorporate strengths when modeling internalizing symptoms outcomes in LGBTQ+ young adults. The present study is secondary analysis of data collected as part of a three-wave longitudinal study. LGBTQ+ young adults (N = 250) completed baseline questionnaires assessing resilience to social stigma, types of perceived social support (i.e., family, friend, significant other), and internalizing symptoms. Moderation models were not practically or statistically significant; however, covariates (i.e., age, socioeconomic standing, and childhood basic needs) stood out in their significant contribution in …

The Effect Of Social Buffering And Gender On Cortisol Response In Emerging Adults, Ashley G. Molchany

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Abstract

Cortisol, the primary stress hormone in the body, is released in times of challenge, including challenges faced throughout the transition to college. The experience of acute stress can be assessed through cortisol measures. The present study involved a 60-minute lab assessment for first-year students to analyze their physiological response to stress. Previous research has illustrated factors which impact cortisol responses, two of which are social support and gender. In the current study, participants (n = 71) were assigned to work either by themselves (Student Alone Condition) or in a peer triad group (Peer Triad Condition). Additionally, participants identified …

How Does Language Influence Interest In Psychological Treatment?, Alexis B. Dixon

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In 2022, approximately 59 million adults in the United States were diagnosed with a mental health disorder, and approximately half received mental health services (NIMH, 2023). Given the number of individuals whose mental health concerns remain untreated, it is vital to investigate mechanisms predicting treatment-seeking behaviors. Health literacy, which influences treatment-seeking, is largely absent from research on barriers to mental health treatment. Health literacy is related to readability, the ease of reading (Adkins & Singh, 2001), and jargon, the technical language used by professionals in a field (Shulman et al., 2020). Health materials are often written at a high reading …

A Brief Measure Of Decisional Balance For Health Equity Engagement Among Health Professionals, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Racial health and healthcare inequities are sustained in part by health professionals’ beliefs about the benefits and costs of equity-focused action, yet no validated decisional balance measure exists for this domain. This study introduces and evaluates the Health Equity Decisional Balance (HEDB) scale. Eighty-eight health professionals completed the scale of ten proposed items assessing perceived pros and cons of engaging with health and healthcare equity work, along with a measure of Anti-Racist Efficacy (ARE) (Eschmann et al., 2023). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the latent structure of the scale and its predictive validity. A …

Dispositional Mindfulness And Autonomic Reactivity, Thomas Dylan Boyer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To explain how different facets of mindfulness were associated with task performance in distinctive ways, Lindsay and Creswell (2017) proposed the Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT). According to this model, the mindfulness facet of monitoring present state awareness was thought to influence task performance differently than the nonjudgmental acceptance facet of mindfulness, but no studies to date have examined this model with respect to an individual's physiological response to stressful tasks. Because dispositional mindfulness has been associated with both increased and decreased physiological and affective reactions to stress in previous studies, the present study tested whether the Monitoring facet of …

The Phenomenon Of Professional Burnout Among Military Chaplains In Ukraine, Artem Makovskyi, Oleg Mateyuk, Oleksandr Bilovskyi, Anton Datskov, Dmytro Oleshko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article presents a comprehensive study of the phenomenon of professional burnout among military chaplains in Ukraine in the context of their personal experience of being in extreme (combat) conditions. The relevance of the problem is due to the prolonged impact of combat operations, high psycho-emotional stress, and the special role of military chaplains in the system of moral and psychological support for Ukraine's security and defense sector. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the concept of professional burnout by K. Maslach, the provisions of the person-centered approach, and the theory of personal experience. The empirical study …