Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Salud Y Saludos: The E-News Of The College Of Health Sciences, College Of Health Sciences

College of Health Sciences

Monthly e-newsletter of the College of Health Sciences.

Examining The Effect Of Medical Risk, Parental Stress, And Self-Efficacy On Parent Behaviors And The Home Environment Of Premature Children, Kathryn Woods

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between medical risk and parenting stress and the extent to which parental self-efficacy moderates the relationship between medical risk, parenting stress, specific parenting behaviors (i.e., parental responsivity, acceptance of child, parental involvement) and the home environment (i.e., organization of environment, learning materials, variety in experience, and IT-HOME total score) of premature children. Participants included 72 parent-child dyads with premature children between the ages of 7 and 35 months corrected age. Measures included parent reports of medical risk, stress, self-efficacy, and the IT-HOME. Results show that medical risk was not significantly …

Overview Of The Public Health Pbrn Program, Glen Mays

Glen Mays

The Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks Program is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports the development of research networks for studying the comparative effectiveness, efficiency and equity of public health strategies deployed in real-world practice settings. A practice-based research network (PBRN) brings multiple public health agencies together with research partners to design and implement studies of population-based strategies that prevent disease and injury and promote health. Participating practitioners and researchers collaborate to identify pressing research questions of interest, design rigorous and relevant studies, execute research effectively, and translate findings rapidly into practice. As such, PBRNs …

The Electrophysiological And Neuropsychological Organization Of Long Term Memory, Richard J. Addante

Psychology Faculty Publications

The electrophysiological correlates of recognition memory retrieval were examined in order to identify the neural conditions that precede accurate memory retrieval, characterize the processes that contribute to high and low confidence memory responses, and determine which memory processes are impaired after brain injury. Human electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded during recognition confidence and source memory judgments in three experiments. In Experiment 1, mid-frontal pre-stimulus theta oscillations were found to precede the stimulus presentation of items that were successfully recollected, but they were not found to be predictive of item familiarity. Moreover, during stimulus presentation, recollection was associated with an increase in …

Teachers’ And Parents’ Perspective As How The Social Environment Of Immediate Vicinity Can Affect The Academic Learning Of A Child 4-6 Years Age Group, Salma Amin Rattani, Deedar Shah

School of Nursing & Midwifery

In the process of human development environment plays a pivotal role. At the age of 4 -6 years, children's immediate vicinity expands from home to school and in his social environment parents and teachers play a vital role. Therefore, in this study which was conducted in Phander district Ghizer, Northern areas; of Pakistan, employing descriptive research design five parents and five school teachers were enrolled. Participants shared their definition and understanding about social environment and immediate vicinity and its effects on academic learning. This research is part of Advanced Diploma in Human Development: Early Child Development Programme, Aga Khan University. …

A Study Of Expressed Emotion In Psychiatric Nurses And Its Relation To The General Role And Effects Of Emotions In Nursing, Lauren A. Buck

Senior Honors Theses

Nurses play a vital role in the health and care of a patient. Through that care, the nurse has the ability to improve the patient’s experience or ruin it. A vital component influencing the care provided are the emotions the nurse displays toward her coworkers, patients, and patients’ family members. The emotions of a nurse may positively or negatively impact a patient. The studies that examine the impact of the nurse’s emotions on patient’s outcomes are varied and few. The communication and emotion of nurses are likely to impact their care and, from that, the patient’s outcome; however, there is …

The Role Of Home Environments In Residential Adjustment Decision Making In Later Life, Kimberly Joy Stoeckel

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Using the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, this research explored the multi-faceted influence of the accessibility of housing environments on the occurrence and characteristics of residential adjustments made by older adults aged 70 or older. A range of housing adjustment outcomes were examined, including home modifications and relocation into age-segregated senior housing. Analysis of the accessibility gains following relocation was also included in the empirical analyses.

The Ecological Theory of Aging (Lawton & Nahemow, 1973) provided the conceptual framework for the research. The longitudinal design of the HRS empirically advanced understanding of the key theoretical constructs by sensitizing the …

Empathy-Based Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Conservation Policy And Decision-Making, Kaitlyn Delashmutt

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In the late 20^th century, neuroscientists in Italy discovered a neuron in the brain capable of mentally mimicking the emotions derived from the actions of others (Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004). It is the process that makes your elbow ache when someone else knocks their elbow on the counter or the uncontrollable smile that creeps up when someone smiles at you. No questions asked, people intuitively sense what others are feeling. The old school of thought was that humans deduced through logic and reason the actions of others and interpreted the emotions through a rational process (Carew et al, 2008). …

Lessons From Chimpanzee-Based Research On Human Disease: The Implications Of Genetic Differences, Jarrod Bailey

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Assertions that the use of chimpanzees to investigate human diseases is valid scientifically are frequently based on a reported 98–99% genetic similarity between the species. Critical analyses of the relevance of chimpanzee studies to human biology, however, indicate that this genetic similarity does not result in sufficient physiological similarity for the chimpanzee to constitute a good model for research, and furthermore, that chimpanzee data do not translate well to progress in clinical practice for humans. Leading examples include the minimal citations of chimpanzee research that is relevant to human medicine, the highly different pathology of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C virus …

Randomization Tests For Quantifying Species Importance To Ecosystem Function, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Werner Ulrich, Fernando T. Maestre

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Quantifying the contribution of different species to ecosystem function is an important challenge. We introduce simple randomization tests (and software) for quantifying the average effect of species on ecosystem variables measured in multiple plots with and without the presence of a particular species. These randomization tests formalize the analysis of uncontrolled 'natural experiments' and quantify species effects in standardized deviation units. 2.We tested the method with data on ecosystem function in biological soil crust assemblages of lichens in semi-arid gypsum outcrops in central Spain. In sixty-three 50cm×50cm sample plots, we measured the presence and percentage cover of 17 species …

Emergency Room Use By Undocumented Mexican Immigrants, Ayse Akincigil, Raymond Sanchez Mayers, Fontaine H. Fulghum

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined emergency room use by undocumented Mexican immigrants and their sources of health care information. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents reported that they would use a hospital emergency room (ER) for primary medical care. ER use rates declined with time spent in the United States. Emergency room use rates varied significantly by region. Respondents receiving information from a church reported less ER use, compared to all others; respondents receiving information from U.S. newspapers reported higher ER use rates. Lack of health care access for undocumented immigrants remains a public health issue as well as a social justice concern.

The Triumph And Tragedy Of Tobacco Control: A Tale Of Nine Nations, Eric A. Feldman, Ronald Bayer

All Faculty Scholarship

The use of law and policy to limit tobacco consumption illustrates one of the greatest triumphs of public health in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as well as one of its most fundamental failures. Overall decreases in tobacco consumption throughout the developed world represent millions of saved lives and unquantifiable suffering averted. Yet those benefits have not been equally distributed. The poor and the undereducated have enjoyed fewer of the gains. In this review, we build on existing tobacco control scholarship and expand it both conceptually and comparatively. Our focus is the social gradient of smoking both within …

Specific Contributions Of Ventromedial, Anterior Cingulate, And Lateral Prefrontal Cortex For Attentional Selection And Stimulus Valuation., Daniel Kaping, Martin Vinck, R Matthew Hutchison, Stefan Everling, Thilo Womelsdorf

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Attentional control ensures that neuronal processes prioritize the most relevant stimulus in a given environment. Controlling which stimulus is attended thus originates from neurons encoding the relevance of stimuli, i.e. their expected value, in hand with neurons encoding contextual information about stimulus locations, features, and rules that guide the conditional allocation of attention. Here, we examined how these distinct processes are encoded and integrated in macaque prefrontal cortex (PFC) by mapping their functional topographies at the time of attentional stimulus selection. We find confined clusters of neurons in ventromedial PFC (vmPFC) that predominantly convey stimulus valuation information during attention shifts. …

Women's Cognitive Appraisals Of Their Birth Experience As Predictive And Maintaining Factors Of Postpartum Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity, Lauren Carr Spooner

Dissertations

Empirical support has accumulated for evidence of posttraumatic stress symptoms following approximately 30% of childbirth experiences (Olde, van der Hart, Kleber, & van Son, 2006). Researchers have suggested that there is a complex relationship among predisposing, precipitating, and maintaining factors that impact postpartum PTSD (Slade, 2006). Anxiety, perception of support, and negative cognitions are such factors that have been shown to significantly correlate with PTSD symptoms (Foa & Rothbaum, 1998; Olde et al., 2006; Soet, Brack, & Dilorio, 2003), but have not been studied together in relation to PTSD associated with traumatic birth. The current study controlled for trait anxiety …

Job Stress, Mentoring, Psychological Empowerment, And Job Satisfaction Among Nursing Faculty, Catherine Emily Ebersole Chung

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The National League for Nursing (NLN) endorses mentoring throughout the nursing faculty career trajectory as the method to recruit nurses into academia and improve retention of nursing faculty within the academy (NLN, 2006). One way mentoring assists faculty is by easing socialization to the culture of the employing institution and decreasing faculty stress (Lewallen, Crane, Letvak, Jones, & Hu, 2003). Mentoring can also be a facilitating factor of an individual's psychological empowerment. Academia is an environment able to foster psychological empowerment, a state in which faculty may be self-directed, highly productive, confident, and find a meaningful connection to their work …

A Comparative Study Of Indicator Bacteria Present In Ice And Soda From Las Vegas Food Establishments, Kimberly Jo Hertin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Microbial analysis has long been used as an indicator of water quality. Since the passing of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, microbial standards have been strictly set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that the public health is protected from bacterial pathogens. The bacteriological quality of water generally deteriorates as it travels from water treatment facilities through the main distribution system and into private plumbing and distribution systems. For example, Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) values typically increase once the water has entered plumbing devices such as beverage vending machines. Upon reaching a private facility, the opportunity …

A Brief Content Analysis Of Attachment And Sexual Relationships In Sex Therapy And Research Journals, Kathryn Zambrano Devis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A surge of scholarly publications on attachment within couple relationships prompted this content analysis of attachment articles published in six sex therapy and sex research journals. This study investigates the extent to which these journals attend to attachment in the context of adult sexual relationships. The researcher found 2257 articles published within these journals; 64 of which attend to attachment and 9 of which attend to attachment and sex. Implications for couples therapy in the field of sex therapy and future directions are discussed.

Effect Of A Work Site Exercise Program On Selected Fitness And Psychological Parameters, Kristen Ann Christiansen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The increasing rates of obesity continue to threaten the vitality of our nation. Health care costs are soaring and chronic diseases are reaching even the youngest populations. Physical activity is an integral component in reversing the obesity epidemic and improving the health of today's workforce. The present study sought to determine the effect of a work site exercise program on select fitness and psychological parameters. Five female employees participated in a six-week exercise program utilizing HealthBeat(TM) outdoor exercise equipment in a circuit fashion for 30 minutes, 2 days per week. Eighty percent of participants were categorized as sedentary or low-active …

The Influence Of Ethnic Identity And Family Support On Posttraumatic Symptoms In Maltreated Youth, Harpreet Kaur

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Maltreated children are at greater risk of developing PTSD than nonmaltreated children (Ackerman et al., 1998; Epstein et al., 1997; Famularo et al., 1996; Kilpatrick et al., 2003; Widom, 1999). This study sought to assess the role of ethnicity, ethnic identity, and family support on the effects of maltreatment and trauma in adolescents. Participants (n=145) included adolescents from Child Haven, a Department of Family Services (DFS)-related site in Las Vegas, and youths in foster care assessed at the offices of Dr. Stephanie Holland. The first hypothesis was that non-Caucasian youth would have higher levels of PTSD-related symptoms than Caucasian youth. …

Methodological Quality Of Quantitative Nursing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Research From 2000 To 2010, Michael Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people constitute one of the largest underserved populations in any nursing setting. Despite the large LGBT populations, very little nursing research has been conducted on these populations. Nurse researchers have recommended that nursing researchers end the silence on LGBT research. To accomplish this, the methodological rigor of LGBT nursing research must be evaluated and improved upon. Currently, no literature examines the methodological quality of quantitative nursing LGBT research. Using a cross-sectional design, it was the purpose of this study to evaluate the methodological quality of quantitative nursing LGBT research from 2000 to 2010 using …

Sexuality Education, Eva Goldfarb, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Sexuality education comprises the lifelong intentional processes by which people learn about themselves and others as sexual, gendered beings from biological, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. It takes place through a potentially wide range of programs and activities in schools, community settings, religious centers, as well as informally within families, among peers, and through electronic and other media. Sexuality education for adolescents occurs in the context of the biological, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental progressions and issues of adolescence. Formal sexuality education falls into two main categories: behavior change approaches, which are represented by abstinence-only and abstinence-plus models, and healthy sexual development …

Health Service Access For Rural People Living With Hiv/Aids In China: A Critical Evaluation, Xiying Wang, Xiulan Zhang, Yuebin Xu, Yurong Zhang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The increasingly serious HIV/AIDS epidemic creates a significant burden for the public health system; however, little attention has been paid to the issue of health service access in rural China. Based on a qualitative study of 34 Chinese rural People Living with HIVIAIDS (PLWHA) and 13 health providers, this study fills a gap by examining health service access from both the demand and supply-side. Utilizing access theory, this study explores the availability, affordability and acceptability of health services in rural China. Moreover, this study focuses on access barriers and institutional obstacles that PLWHA meet during their illness and considers the …

Making It Real: Faculty Collaboration To Create Video Content, Claudia J. Dold, Gary Dudell

Claudia J. Dold

Interest in integrative health care is a growing area of health practice, combining conventional medical treatments with safe and effective complementary and alternative medicine. These modalities relate to both improving physical and psychological well-being, and enhancing conventional talk therapy. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and library faculty have created a series of sixteen on-line video interviews that introduce practitioner-relevant experiences to students as supplemental course material. These videos are available through the department web-pages to students in other related disciplines as well, including Social Work, Counselor Education, Psychology, and the Colleges of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine. The video series …

Leaving Home Care: Decision Making, Risk Scenarios & Services Gaps In The Home Care System, Jacey J. Vaughan, Nina M. Silverstein

Gerontology Institute Publications

Home and community-based services (HCBS) enable older and disabled adults to age-in-place in their homes and communities by helping them function independently for as long as possible (Grabowski et al., 2010; Wong & Silverstein, 2011). Previous studies well document that older adults prefer receiving HCBS rather than institutional care at a nursing home (e.g., Walker, 2010; Fox-Grage, Coleman, & Freiman, 2006). Medicaid is a major source of funding for long-term care. Currently, a large proportion of Medicaid funds in most states has been spent on institutional care (National Conference of State Legislatures & AARP, 2009), and older adults and their …

The Effect Of Gender Role And Males' Attitudes Toward Receiving Mental Health Therapy, Christina H. Thomas

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this research study was to build upon previous research pertaining to gender role and young adult male attitudes towards receiving mental health therapy. An additional purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between media exposure and attitude toward mental health therapy. The first hypothesis was that there would be a positive correlation between gender role scores and attitudes with the BEM Sex- Role Inventory (BSRI) and with scores on attitudes with the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) in young adult males. The second hypothesis was that young adult males who watched a …

Effect Of Environmental Conditions On Perceived Psychological Restorativeness Of Coastal Parks, J. Aaron Hipp, Oladele A. Ogunseitan

Brown School Faculty Publications

We investigated the hypothesis that perception of psychological restorativeness during visits to coastal parks is modified by objective and perceived environmental conditions. Visitors (n=1,153) to California beaches completed a survey on perceived weather, environmental quality, and perceived restorativeness. We used generalized ordinal logistic models to estimate the association between environmental parameters and odds of perceiving higher levels of restorativeness. Visitors perceived greater restorativeness at beaches when ambient temperatures were at or below mean monthly temperatures and during low tides. The odds of perceiving the environment as more psychologically restorative were three times greater when visiting on days defined by government …

Guinea Pigging In Philadelphia, Roberto Abadie

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

On June 16, 2001, the national press first reported the death of Ellen Roche, a healthy 24-year-old who volunteered for an asthma study at Johns Hopkins University. The story revealed that a few days into the trial she felt very sick, was discharged, and sent home. Within some hours she checked into the emergency room at a local hospital and fell into a coma. Ellen remained in this state until her death a month later. She had received $375 for participating in seven to nine sessions as an outpatient in the clinical drug study that resulted in her death.

This …

Measuring Accessibility To Primary Care Physicians In The Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area, Sami M. Almudaris

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The growing concern for the shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs) prompted a government legislation to designate areas where shortage in the delivery of primary care services occurs. The implemented systems (e.g., HPSA, MUA, and MUP) analyze utilization of health services within confined administrative units and fail to account for spatial interactions that occur across administrative borders. This research examines the spatial accessibility to PCPs and the underlying demographic and socioeconomic settings. With the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as a study area, this study utilized data from the U.S. Census 2000 and 2010, as well as the known locations …

Fathers And Their Views On Discussing Sex And Sexuality With Their Daughters, Kindann M. Stone

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was to identify characteristics and perceptions of fathers associated with discussions about sex and sexuality with their daughters. Parental communication, education, and value sharing reduces the risk of STD's and teen pregnancy. Participants were fathers (N=108) who were recruited by their daughters who were attending a Southeastern University. Demographics were utilized and researcher developed modified scales used in previous studies (citation). The newly developed scales were the Sexual Knowledge Inventory (SKI), Value of Self-Efficacy of Sexuality Communication (VSESC), Safe Sex of Self Efficacy of Sexuality Communication (SSSESC), Father's Role as Sex Educators Outcome Expectancy …

Chhs December 2011 E-Newsletter, Dr. John Bonaguro, Dean, Vashon S. Wells, Editor, Wku College Of Health And Human Services, Western Kentucky University

College of Health & Human Services Publications

No abstract provided.