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Psychology Department Theses and Dissertations
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Item A Pilot Study Of A Mental Health Education Program (AMUSE) For Restaurant Employees(2024-08) Muth, A. J.; Salyers, Michelle; Cyders, Melissa; Williams, Jane; Rand, KevinRestaurant workers in the United States (US) face multiple stressors and mental health concerns. Additionally, there are indications that restaurant workers may hold stigmatizing mental health beliefs and are less likely to seek help for mental health concerns. Despite this, there have been no interventions assessed that target restaurant workers’ mental health, well-being, and mental health stigma. The purpose of this study is to provide an initial evaluation of one such intervention, a mental health education course (AMUSE) developed by a restaurant nonprofit (CHOW) focused on mental health in the restaurant industry. As an initial pilot study, we assessed the feasibility and acceptability of AMUSE, and sought to identify potential outcomes, and explore potential moderators and confounds. A combination of quantitative (pre and post measures) and qualitative (follow-up interviews) methods were utilized to collect data. Initial indications show that AMUSE is feasible to deliver and well accepted by those who have taken it. Additionally, participants demonstrated positive changes in help-seeking and self-efficacy after completing the course. Positive changes appeared to be moderated by characteristics of participants’ restaurant work. Despite our expectations, no significant changes were observed for stigma, motivation, social support, well-being, psychological distress, or stress. Future directions and recommendations for AMUSE were discussed based on these findingsItem Accepting a Terminal Cancer Prognosis: Associations with Patient and Caregiver Quality-of-Life Outcomes and Treatment Preferences(2024-05) Krueger, Ellen; Mosher, Catherine E.; Rand, Kevin L.; Wu, Wei; Hickman, SusanPatients who are aware of their terminal cancer prognosis are more likely to receive end-of-life care consistent with their values. However, prognostic awareness has shown mixed associations with quality of life (QoL) outcomes. Based on theories of acceptance (i.e., Erikson’s stages of life development, Kubler-Ross’s stage model of grief, coping theories) and the Ottawa Decision Support Framework, acceptance of cancer may moderate relationships between prognostic awareness and QoL outcomes and end-of-life treatment preferences. Dyadic coping theories, such as the Systemic Transactional Model and the Dyadic Cancer Outcomes Framework, suggest that patients’ degree of prognostic awareness and acceptance of their illness may also impact their family caregivers’ QoL and end-of-life treatment preferences for the patient. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential moderating role of patient acceptance of cancer in the relationships between patient prognostic awareness and both patient and caregiver QoL and end-of-life treatment preferences. This study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from advanced cancer patients (n = 243) and their caregivers (n = 87) enrolled in the multi-institutional Coping with Cancer-II study. Patient outcomes of physical, psychological, and existential QoL were examined in a moderation path analysis. Caregiver physical and psychological QoL were examined in separate moderation regressions. Patient and caregiver end-of-life treatment preferences were examined in multiple logistic regression moderation models. Results did not support my hypothesis, as patient illness acceptance did not moderate the relationships between patient prognostic awareness and patient and caregiver QoL outcomes and end-of-life treatment preferences. However, there were significant main effects of patient illness acceptance on their own physical, psychological, and existential QoL as well as caregiver psychological QoL. There were also significant main effects of patient prognostic awareness on their own physical QoL and both their own and their caregivers’ end-of-life treatment preferences. Findings suggest that increasing patient’s prognostic awareness and illness acceptance may help improve values-consistent end-of-life care and QoL outcomes in advanced cancer patient-caregiver dyads. Findings support timely conversations to promote advanced cancer patients’ prognostic awareness as well as further research examining the impact of acceptance-based interventions in advanced cancer.Item Achieving pharmacologically relevant IV alcohol self-administration in the rat(2012-09-27) Windisch, Kyle Allyson; Czachowski, Cristine L.; Grahame, Nicholas J.; Kosobud, Ann E. K.Alcohol consumption produces a complex array of effects that can be divided into two types: the explicit pharmacological effects of ethanol (which can be quite separate temporally from time of intake) and the more temporally “relevant” effects (primarily olfactory and taste) that bridge the time from intake to the onset of the pharmacological effects. Dissociating these effects is essential to untangling the neurologic underpinnings of alcohol abuse and dependence. Intravenous self-administration of ethanol allows for controlled and precise dosing, bypasses first order absorption kinetics allowing for a faster onset of pharmacologic effects, and eliminates the confounding “non-pharmacological” effects associated with oral consumption. Intravenous self-administration of ethanol has been reliably demonstrated in both mouse and human experimental models; however, consistent intravenous self-administration of pharmacologically relevant levels of ethanol remains elusive in the rat. Previous work has demonstrated reliable elevated intravenous ethanol self administration using a compound reinforcer of oral sucrose and intravenous ethanol. The present study sought to elucidate the role of each component of this reinforcer complex using a multiple schedule study design. Male P rats had free access to both food and water during all intravenous self-administration sessions and all testing was performed in conjunction with the onset of the dark cycle. Once animals achieved stable operant responding on both levers for an orally delivered 1% sucrose solution (1S) on a FR4 schedule, surgery was conducted to implant an indwelling jugular catheter. Animals were habituated to the attachment of infusion apparatus and received twice daily sessions for four days to condition each lever to its associated schedule. Animals were then trained to respond on a multiple FR4-FR4 schedule composed of alternating 2.5 minute components. During one component only oral 1S was presented, while in the second component a compound reinforcer of oral 1S + IV 20% ethanol was presented (25 mg/kg/injection). Both levers were extended into the chamber during the session, with the active lever/schedule alternating as the session progressed across components. Average ethanol intake was 0.47 ± 0.04 g/kg. A significant increase in sucrose only reinforcers and sucrose lever error responding was found suggesting that sucrose not ethanol is responsible for driving overall responding. The current findings suggest that the existing intravenous ethanol self-administration methodology remains aversive in the rat.Item Addressing Formal Thought Disorder in Psychosis through Novel Assessment and Targeted Intervention(2020-08) Marggraf, Matthew P.; Minor, Kyle; Salyers, Michelle; Lysaker, Paul; Stewart, JesseFormal thought disorder (FTD) is a debilitating symptom of psychosis. It is linked to functional deficits and generally demonstrates poor response to interventions. Metacognition has emerged as a potential therapeutic target that may be effective in reducing FTD, as metacognitive deficits and FTD both arise from disruptions in associative thought processes. This study’s primary aim was to determine whether FTD could be reduced with metacognitive therapy. Pre-post changes in FTD severity were assessed using clinician-rated and automated measures in 20 individuals with psychotic disorders who received 12 sessions of evidence-based metacognitive therapy. We also examined whether reductions in FTD were larger when assessed with automated instruments versus clinician-rated measures. Aim two compared associations between FTD and three outcome variables (social functioning, role functioning, metacognition) across FTD-measurement approach. Results indicated that automated FTD, but not clinician-rated FTD, was significantly reduced post-intervention. This effect was more robust within a subsample exhibiting greater levels of FTD. Strength of associations between FTD and outcome variables did not differ across FTD measurement approach. These findings provide initial evidence that a targeted metacognitive intervention can reduce FTD. Effects were strongest for automated instruments, which may be more sensitive to detecting change; however, differences in measurement type did not extend to associations with selected outcome variables. This study provides preliminary support for future efforts to reduce FTD. Large-scale studies with longer intervention periods may further our understanding of the effectiveness of metacognitive intervention on FTD.Item Adolescent and Adult Two-Bottle Choice Ethanol Drinking and Adult Impulsivity in Genetically Selected High-Alcohol Preferring Mice(2012-09-20) O'Tousa, David Scott; Grahame, Nicholas J.; Czachowski, Cristine; Boehm II, Stephen L.Abuse of alcohol during adolescence continues to be a problem, and it has been shown that earlier onset of drinking predicts increased alcohol abuse problems later in life. High levels of impulsivity have been demonstrated to be characteristic of alcoholics, and impulsivity has also been shown to predict later alcohol use in teenage subjects, showing that impulsivity may be an inherent underlying biological process that precedes the development of alcohol use disorders. These experiments examined adolescent drinking in a high-drinking, relatively impulsive mouse population, and assessed its effects on adult drinking and adult impulsivity. Experiment 1: Selectively bred High-Alcohol Preferring (HAP II) mice, which are shown to be highly impulsive, were given either alcohol (free choice access) or water only for two weeks during middle adolescence or adulthood. All mice were given free choice access to alcohol following 30 days without access, in adulthood. Experiment 2: Adolescent HAP II mice drank alcohol and water, or water alone, for two weeks, and were then trained to perform a delay discounting task as adults to measure impulsivity. In each experiment, effects of volitional ethanol consumption on later behavior were assessed. We expected adolescent alcohol exposure to increase subsequent drinking and impulsivity. Adolescent mice consumed significant quantities of ethanol, reaching average blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) of 142 mg/dl in Experiment 1 and 108 mg/dl in Experiment 2. Adult mice reached average BECs of 154 mg/dl in Experiment 2. Mice pre-exposed to alcohol in either adolescence or adulthood showed a transient increase in ethanol consumption, but we observed no differences in impulsivity in adult mice as a function of whether mice drank alcohol during adolescence. These findings indicate that HAP II mice drink intoxicating levels of alcohol during both adolescence and adulthood, and that this volitional intake has long-term effects on subsequent drinking behavior. Nonetheless, this profound exposure to alcohol during adolescence does not increase impulsivity in adulthood, indicating that long-term changes in drinking are mediated by mechanisms other than impulsivity. Importantly, this research demonstrates that the HAP II mouse is a good candidate for a model of heavy adolescent alcohol consumption.Item Affective traits and adiposity : a prospective, bidirectional analysis of the African American Health study data(Proquest, 2013) Hawkins, Misty Anne; Stewart, Jesse C.; Rand, Kevin L.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Miller, Douglas K.; Grahame, Nicholas J.Research indicates that negative affective traits (e.g., depression) are predictors and consequences of excess adiposity. Given that racial minorities and positive affective traits have been underrepresented in past investigations, more prospective studies are needed which examine multiple affective traits in relation to obesity in these populations. The objective of the current study was to investigate the prospective, bidirectional associations between multiple affective traits and multiple adiposity indicators in African Americans using data from the African American Health (AAH) study. The AAH study is a prospective cohort study of African Americans aged 49-65 years at baseline (N = 998). The longest follow-up period in the current study was 9 years (N = 579). Self-reported and measured body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and body fat percent (BF%) were used as adiposity indicators. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 11-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and anxiety was assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) scale. Positive affective traits were assessed with the Vitality subscale of the Short Form-36 and Positive Affect subscale from the CES-D. Latent variable path analysis, a structural equation modeling technique, was conducted. Although fit statistics indicated that the models fit the data (RMSEA < .06), examination of the structural paths revealed that the CES-D and GAD-2 were not predictors or consequences of self-reported BMI, measured BMI, or BF% (ps > .05). Likewise, Vitality and CES-D Positive Affect were not related to any adiposity indicator (ps > .05). The results of this prospective cohort study suggest that affective traits are not predictors or consequences of adiposity in middle-aged African Americans and that this group may require obesity prevention or intervention programs with little to no emphasis on affective traits. Possible explanations for the current results include ethnic differences in the mechanistic pathways between affective traits and adiposity.Item Ally motivation to confront prejudice: understanding how a sense of emergency and responsibility influence the likelihood of confrontation for pitied groups versus envied groups(2018-07) Teets, LeClaire Marie; Ashburn-Nardo, LeslieResearch indicates that stereotypes influence how people behave towards different social groups, and this study investigated how allies (individuals who will confront prejudice on behalf of targets or groups) differentially confront a discriminatory comment as a function of the groups’ associated stereotypes. The Confronting Prejudiced Responses (CPR) model would suggest that when someone feels an increase in a sense of emergency and a sense of responsibility to address discrimination, they will be more likely to confront that discrimination. Results indicate that although the group that was being discriminated against did not influence whether or not the participant would confront, the higher sense of emergency and sense of responsibility were indicators of a stronger likelihood of confrontation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Item ALTERATIONS IN THE SEEKING AND SELF-ADMINISTRATION OF ETHANOL AND ANXIETY-LIKE BEHAVIOR FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO YOHIMBINE IN RATS SELECTIVELY BRED FOR HIGH ALCOHOL INTAKE(2011-08-16) Bertholomey, Megan Lee; Grahame, Nicholas J.; Czachowski, Cristine; Stewart, Robert; Chester, Julia A.Stress has been shown to contribute to alcohol drinking; however, inconsistencies in both the clinical and pre-clinical literature speak to the need for better paradigms to study this interaction. The present experiments compared animal models of the propensity to consume ethanol, the selectively bred alcohol-preferring (P) and high-alcohol-drinking (HAD) rat lines, in their response to yohimbine on ethanol seeking and self-administration and anxiety-like behavior. The P and HAD lines consume similar amounts of ethanol, yet differ in apparent motivation to drink ethanol, in anxiety-like behavior, and response to stress in alcohol drinking. Therefore, it was of interest to determine whether stress may differentially affect ethanol-motivated behaviors between the P and HAD lines. Acute administration of yohimbine, an α-2 adrenoreceptor antagonist that increases anxiety and activate stress systems, increased operant ethanol self-administration and reinstatement of ethanol seeking in P rats, and free-choice ethanol drinking in both P and HAD rats. However, acute yohimbine administration decreased ethanol drinking when given limited access in the home cage, an effect that was diminished by extending the pre-treatment interval or increasing the number of ethanol exposure sessions. Yohimbine did not alter appetitive responding during a non-reinforced trial, nor did yohimbine alter the acquisition of free-choice ethanol drinking. Exposure to alcohol deprivation resulted in modest increases in ethanol intake, but yohimbine did not potentiate this effect. While acute yohimbine administration increased anxiety-like behavior, prior experience with repeated yohimbine exposures or with repeated deprivation periods did not. P rats were shown to be more active and less anxious and to display greater responding during a non-reinforced trial than HAD rats. Taken together, the results of these experiments demonstrate that the timing of yohimbine exposure relative to ethanol access is a critical component to determining its effects on ethanol seeking and self-administration and anxiety-like behavior. Further investigation into the parameters under which stress alters the motivation to seek and consume ethanol between these selectively bred lines is warranted, and future work that incorporates therapeutic agents aimed at reducing stress reactivity and alcohol drinking could elucidate effective strategies in the treatment of alcoholism.Item Analyzing the Effects of Gonadal Hormones on Alcohol Seeking and Drinking in Alcohol-Preferring P Rats(2024-11) Haines, Kari M.; Czachowski, Cristine; Grahame, Nicholas; Logrip, Marian; Lukkes, JodiFemale and male rodents have shown differences in alcohol-seeking and -drinking behaviors, with female rodents typically consuming more alcohol than male rodents. Differences in gonadal hormones may provide one explanation for these sex differences. The current study used selectively bred female and male alcohol-preferring (P) rats to assess sex differences and the possible impacts of circulating gonadal hormones on alcohol seeking and drinking in an operant appetitive/consummatory paradigm. P rats were trained in operant boxes first for water and then 20% alcohol. Rats then underwent ovariectomy (OVX), castration (CAST), or sham surgeries. After recovery from surgery, rats that underwent OVX or CAST surgery then started receiving daily subcutaneous (s.c.) injections of either estradiol benzoate (E2), testosterone (T), or vehicle (Veh) which began five days prior to additional operant testing and lasted throughout the study. Rats were given a response requirement (RR) Monday-Thursday where they had 20-minutes to meet the required lever presses which resulted in 20-minute access to alcohol. Testing occurred over three weeks which resulted in 12 days of alcohol-drinking behavior. On Fridays, rats were given a 20-minute extinction session where number of lever presses were recorded which resulted in three days of alcohol-seeking behavior. Overall, females drank more alcohol than males in both training and testing. This was seen in both Veh and Sham rats. There were no sex differences in alcohol-seeking behavior. There was no effect of E2 or T in either sex as there were no differences in alcohol intake or lever presses during extinction compared to Veh groups. There were also no sex or group differences in blood ethanol concentrations (BEC), but BEC did correlate with alcohol intake. This study is one of the first examining gonadal hormones in a selectively bred line of rat that prefers to drink alcohol and is unique in that it included both females and males in each of the treatment groups. The activational effects of gonadal hormones may have a limited impact on alcohol-related behaviors in P rats, but more research is needed to make definitive conclusions about their role.Item Antecedents and outcomes of work-linked couple incivility(2014) Jones, Morgan Dakota; Sliter, Michael; Devine, Denis John; Williams, Jane R.Workplace incivility has been shown to have negative organizational and individual effects on people who experience this low-intensity deviant behavior. Research has recently begun to look at incivility as a form of modern discrimination that may be used to target out-groups within organizations, where out-groups are broadly defined. The first goal of the current study was to examine the impact of incivility on work-linked couples. Second, the present study sought to determine the effect that experiences of WLC incivility had on individual and organizational outcomes: burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Finally, although the outcomes of incivility have been well-established, the antecedents of this phenomenon have been examined considerably less. Therefore, the present study sought to examine and explain the relationship between a climate for formality, gender, and WLC incivility. To accomplish these goals a snowball sampling method was used to recruit a total of 86 participants for an online survey. Hierarchal regression and bootstrapping mediation were used to analyze the data. Results showed that WLC incivility was predictive of burnout, job dissatisfaction, and turnover intentions. Furthermore, both burnout and job satisfaction were shown to mediate the relationship between WLC incivility and turnover intentions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed as well as potential areas for future research.