Health Psychology Commons^™

A Phenomenological Photovoice Exploration Of Female Exercisers’ Experiences Of Their Body In Fitness Center Environments, Katherine E. Fairhurst

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

For many women, the relationship with their body and exercise is complex. Exercise can have positive effects on body image, however, not all women appear to benefit positively from all types of exercise. To date, body image research has focused on exercise as an activity and less so on the context in which exercise is performed. Women frequently exercise in fitness centers as young adults which, unfortunately, is associated with body dissatisfaction. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach with Photovoice methodology, we explored young adult women’s lived body experiences while exercising in fitness centers. A purposive sample of 11 …

Physiological And Psychological Responses To Six Weeks Of High-Intensity Interval And Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training In Physically Inactive Young Adults, Emily R. Dunston

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been proposed as a public health strategy to promote physical activity; yet, there is limited evidence examining factors related to adherence to HIIT.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of six weeks of HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on physiological and psychological responses to training.

METHODS: Physically inactive young adults (n = 20; age = 21.4 ± 2.2 years) were randomized to the HIIT or MICT group. Assessments of body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior levels were completed prior to and following the intervention. Participants completed 18 training sessions …

The Correlation Between Maternal Postpartum Depression And Child Psychopathology, T'Keyah I. Vaughan

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a phenomenon that affects nearly 10-15% of pregnancies in the US. It is characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia and lasting for more than 2 weeks. PPD changes how moms interact with family members and child-rearing behavior. Depression is a phenomenon that is also known to affect the psychopathology of children. However, the specifics of how postpartum depression impacts children remains controversial. Many studies do not control for major depressive disorder which makes it difficult to disentangle the impact depression has within the first year of life. Furthermore, other PPD risk factors may be confounding …

Examining Provider-Patient Communication And Family Knowledge Of Treatment In Pediatric Asthma Care, Thomas W. Ewell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Asthma knowledge is an essential factor in being able to consistently and effectively manage asthma symptoms over time, which in turn reduces asthma morbidity and improves quality of life. The way in which certain provider factors, such as communication strategies or techniques, may differentially impact pediatric patients and their caregivers has little in the way of prior investigation. The current study involves a secondary analysis from a larger project. This larger study included 45 pediatric asthma patients (ages 8-17 years; M = 11.79) and their primary caregiver recruited from pediatric asthma and allergy clinics within the WVU Medicine system to …

Why Are They Wrong? Exploring Surrogates’ Accuracy When Predicting Patient Treatment Preferences, Rachael Lynn Spalding

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Surrogate decision making is common in medical settings, particularly regarding treatment decisions for patients at end-of-life. When making decisions on behalf of patients, surrogates are most often encouraged to use the substituted judgment standard and make the decision that the patient would make if he or she were able to express a choice. A significant body of research, using patient-surrogate pairs and hypothetical vignettes, has documented that surrogates tend to inaccurately predict patient preferences when making these decisions (Shalowitz et al., 2006). This results in treatment decisions that do not match what the patient would have selected. Various factors that …

The Impact Of Credible And Non-Credible Treatment Information On Depression Treatment Preferences In College Students, Sydney Hayden, Dr. Michael Bordieri, Phd

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of considering client treatment preference when providing treatment for depression. However, little research has focused on the impact of treatment information on client preference. This study investigated differences in treatment preference between potential clients that read credible treatment information and those that read non-credible treatment information. The study was conducted via an online survey that was administered to undergraduate students. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to either read credible treatment information or non-credible treatment information and treatment preferences was assessed via a free response item before and after information regarding treatments was given. Overall, …

Biology Of Binge Eating Related Disorders And Proposal For Integration Into Treatment, Karlyne Morawe

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The concerningly low recovery and high cross over rates of eating disorders with binge eating behaviors suggests there might be a missing element in current treatment approaches commonly used to address eating disorders. Research supports the existence of significant biological correlation between disorders that are characterized by binge eating behaviors. This paper examines some of the biological processes in which these disorders show the most significant correlations. These include the organism’s response to caloric restriction, the brain’s response to feeding, the biological drive for reproduction, sensory association to feeding, and habituated responding to the feeding process. Additionally, we will explore …

Examining The Use Of Mhealth Technology For Weight Management: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial In Family Medicine, Laurel A. Brabson M.S.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Overweight and obesity are prevalent and problematic conditions in the United States and worldwide, and effective weight management interventions are underutilized. Efforts to improve weight management practices have focused almost exclusively on changing physician behavior, without considering the larger healthcare context or the reciprocal patient-physician relationship. The current study explored the possibility of leveraging technology to improve the implementation of weight management clinical practice guidelines and increase patient-physician weight management discussions. 100 patients of five family medicine physicians were randomly assigned to either complete a weight management mobile application (app) prior to their primary care visit (app condition), or to …

Effects Of Appalachian Culture And Pregnancy Status On Pain-Related Fear, Cecelia Irene Nelson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fear of pain during pregnancy is an understudied phenomenon with important implications for prenatal and postpartum functioning. The aim of the current study was to understand the role of pregnancy and culture on pain-related fear in Appalachia. Archival datasets, and a new sample of women recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, were sources of data. Participants completed the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9 and responded to demographic questions in order to ascertain whether they were pregnant at the time of the study as well as the number and nature of prior pregnancies. In support of hypotheses, results indicated that pregnant women reported …

The Role Of Flavors In Electronic Cigarette Abuse Liability In Tobacco-Naïve Young Adults, Ilana Haliwa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A primary public health concern associated with the use of electronic cigarettes (ECIGS) has been the risk of product initiation by vulnerable young adults who are largely naïve to tobacco. The use of ECIGs among such individuals may be influenced by the wide variety of sweet flavored liquids available for purchase. Previous work suggests that one flavor, menthol, increases the likelihood of abuse of cigarettes. Thus, the United States Food and Drug Administration has requested input from the research community regarding the abuse liability of flavored ECIGs in order to inform future product regulation. Using a double-blind, within-subject study design, …

Mindfulness And Engagement In Covid-19 Preventive Behavior, Ilana Haliwa, Jerin Lee, Natalie J. Shook

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents a significant risk to population health. Health organizations worldwide have recommended numerous preventive health behaviors to slow the spread of COVID-19. Yet, considerable variability exists in individual-level adherence to these recommendations. Mindfulness has been associated with greater engagement in health promotive behavior (e.g., physical activity, healthy eating), and may serve as an individual difference factor that encourages adherence. However, no study to date has examined the extent to which mindfulness is associated with preventive health behaviors during a global pandemic. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relations between …

Is Athlete Activism A Predictor Of Resilience?, Travis Robert Scheadler

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Several athletes have taken personal responsibility to engage in activism, often with hopes of bringing social and political change. While scholars have identified several barriers preventing athletes from engaging in activism (e.g., public criticism, status and job loss, withdrawal of funding, anticipated distress; Cunningham & Regan, 2012), other scholars have identified personal benefits from engaging in activism (e.g., improved confidence, self-concept, belief in change, agency, life meaning; Klar & Kasser, 2009; Rabkin et al., 2019). Distress from the barriers, however, may be prerequisites to enhancing resilience, a theoretical construct that may help explain the benefits of activism. Thus, by applying …

A Systematic Review Of Mindfulness Interventions’ Impact On Athlete Emotional Distress & Wellbeing, Trevor Nathan Tierney

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Mindfulness-based interventions’ (MBIs) effectiveness for improving wellbeing and reducing emotional distress is well-documented in both clinical and non-clinical sections of the general population (McAlarnen & Longshore, 2017). Although mindfulness has been shown to be effective with these populations, less is known about the specific effects for athletes. The effects of MBI’s for athletes may be different given that the intention for MBIs in the sport context is typically to improve performance, where in most other contexts it is not (Gardner & Moore, 2012). Furthermore, athletes are a distinct population who possess unique factors on which their wellbeing and mental health …

A Five-Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study Of Burnout-Depression Overlap, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen

Publications and Research

Objective: It has been asserted that burnout—a condition ascribed to unresolvable job stress—should not be mistaken for a depressive syndrome. In this confirmatory factor analytic study, the validity of this assertion was examined.

Methods: Five samples of employed individuals, recruited in Switzerland and France, were mobilized for this study (N = 3,113). Burnout symptoms were assessed with the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)—General Survey, and the MBI for Educators. Depressive symptoms were measured with the PHQ‐9.

Results: In all five samples, the latent factors pertaining to burnout’s components correlated on average more highly with the latent Depression …

Identifying Gaps In Transitional Care For Adolescent Parents And Their Infants Leaving The Nicu: A Needs Assessment, Stevie Griglak

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Parents of infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are more likely to experience posttraumatic stress, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, difficulties caring for or bonding with their infants, and financial concerns than parents who deliver full-term, healthy newborns (Ionio et al., 2016). Some NICU admissions may last several months before the premature and/or critically ill infant is stable enough for discharge, and other times the likelihood of discharge is uncertain. Arguably, teen parents with NICU infants are confronted with even more stressors throughout their newborn's hospitalization and post-discharge when they settle into their role as a new parent. …

Chronic Pain Acceptance: Optimism Mediates The Relation Between Dispositional Mindfulness And Pain Acceptance, Kelli Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Chronic pain is associated with many indicators of maladjustment. We expected that five individual components of dispositional mindfulness would be positively associated with pain willingness (Hypothesis 1) and activity engagement (Hypothesis 2). A mediational hypothesis was tested, whereby dispositional mindfulness would be positively associated with optimism and optimism would in turn be positively associated with both pain willingness and activity engagement (Hypothesis 3). Both Hypothesis 1 and 2 were partially supported. Acting with awareness and nonjudging were the only mindfulness components that were positively associated with pain willingness. Other components of mindfulness were either negatively associated with pain willingness …

Treading The Waters Of Chronic Illness, Janessa Mcquivey

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Examining The Relationship Of Exercise And Sleep In Students Across Multiple Academic Disciplines, Taylor Zewe

Honors Projects

Students in college learn the importance of balancing their academic studies with their sleep and exercise habits. The amount of sleep and exercise a student recieves has been examined in previous research studies. In these studies it was found that exercise had a postive affect on the amount of sleep received. However, there is little research on the affect academic discipline has on sleep habits and/or exercise habits of students in college. The purpose of this study is to examine the sleep and exercise habits among students in multiple academic majors at Bowling Green State University.

Undergraduates And Stress, Mahra Crone

Honors Projects

America is facing a serious mental health crisis, which may be an effect of increased chronic stress. Students, in particular, are vulnerable to this hazard as most face a moderate to extreme amount of stress. The programs which colleges and universities have put into place are outdated. Ineffective treatment of mental health crises leads to disastrous consequences. The present study analyzed the effects of major and grade level on stress level and sources of stress for undergraduate universities at both a large, public university and a small, private college. The author found that a student’s grade level and choice of …

Healing Through Creativity And Creation: Drama Therapy As Treatment For Individuals With Eating Disorders, Hayley Werner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

For those living with eating disorders, intervention and effective treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Conventional treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, forms of talk therapy, and Nutritional Counseling, focus solely on the psychological patterns or nutritional science of eating disorders. Though these treatments are effective for some individuals, there is a gap in treatment options that address both the mind and body as one and appeal to the humanity of patients outside of their disorder(s). Herein lies the power and potential of integrating drama therapy as a widely available treatment. Drama therapy …