Search Results

open access

Psychological Stress Reactivity and Recovery: The Role of Cognitive Appraisals, Ethnicity and Sex

Description: The aim of this research was to investigate the role of sex, ethnicity and cognitive appraisals, separately and in combination, on the physiological stress response. One hundred and eight undergraduate students from two North Texas universities participated in the study. They were subjected to a laboratory stressor and heart rate, peripheral temperature and cortisol levels were measured pre-, during-, and post- stressor. Perceived stress and cognitive appraisals were measured via self-report. … more
Date: December 2009
Creator: Malhotra, Damini
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Neurocognitive Variables Underlying Group Performance on a Measure of Effort: The Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT)

Description: This study utilized the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT) and a set of standard neuropsychological instruments to determine the underlying construct of the MSVT that accounts for effort in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients by comparing/contrasting mTBI with dementia and an analog simulation. The results indicate that a common underlying neurocognitive construct (memory) exists between mTBI and dementia patients, which may account for poor effort as measured by the MSVT. Other under… more
Date: December 2008
Creator: Covert, Julie Hart
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Religiosity As a Coping Resource for Depression and Disease Management Among Older Diabetic Patients

Description: Compared to the general population, diabetic patients experience a higher prevalence of depression, which can often exacerbate diabetic symptoms and complicate treatment. Studies show that religion is associated with both better physical health and better psychological functioning; however, studies incorporating religion and depression among diabetic individuals are scarce. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by examining archival data from the 2008 and 2010 data waves of the… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Dzivakwe, Vanessa G.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effect of a Brief Acceptance-Based Protocol on Health Related Relational Framing

Description: Behavior analysts who study verbal behavior theorize that people derive relationships between stimuli - forming stimulus classes such that psychological functions transfer among stimuli and therefore affect behavior. Verbal processes are thought to play a role in cancer patients' behavioral flexibility. The current study examined if an analogue intervention produced changes in relations between health-relevant stimuli from pre- to post-test in patient and student samples. A matching-to-sample (… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Autonomic Balance and Control of Stress for Participants Identified as High or Low Hostile and as Having a Positive or No Family History of Cardiovascular Disease

Description: The influence of autonomic activation in response to controllable versus noncontrollable stress, anger imagery induction, and relaxation imagery was studied among 80 participants between the ages of 18 and 34. Participants differed in level of trait hostility as assessed by the Irritability Subscale of The Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (Buss & Durkee,1957) and the Ho scale of the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory (Cook & Medley, 1954). Groups were further subdivided with regards to either havin… more
Date: August 2003
Creator: Nelson, Charles
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Aerobic Conditioning: Effects on Locus of Control, Mood States, and General Well-Being

Description: This study was conducted to examine the sequelae of cardiovascular conditioning on locus of control, short-term mood, and psychological well-being. A pre-post test design, with control group, was used to measure the effects of a one month program of aerobic conditioning on adult volunteers. This study also sought to examine ways in which fitness changes covaried with psychological changes, and to describe patterns of change taking place during aerobic conditioning.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Bertschler, John Joseph, 1948-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Transportation trauma and psychological morbidity: Anxiety, depression, PTSD and perceived control in a hospitalized sample.

Description: Transportation-related collisions are ubiquitous and often traumatic. Identifying post-collision psychological distress and the characteristics of the collision survivor that lead to distress are vital to the development of early and appropriate interventions. The goals of this study were: 1) to use a questionnaire as opposed to a typical diagnostic interview, 2) to confirm that psychological distress is present in currently hospitalized transportation-related collision survivors, 3) to confirm… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Biggs, Quinn M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Acculturative Processes and Their Impact on Self-Reports of Psychological Distress in Mexican-American Adolescents

Description: The current study examined the effects of acculturative processes on the self-report of behavioral problems in Hispanic children ages 11-14. Acculturation was measured by the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II) (ã Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, www.sagepub.com) (Cuellar, Arnold, and Maldonado, 1995) and the self-report of behavioral symptoms was assessed using the Youth Self-Report (ã T.M. Achenbach, Burlington, VT, www.aseba.com) (Achenbach, 1991). It was hypo… more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Garrison, Lance A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Partial Reinforcement in Frontalis Electromyographic Training

Description: This study investigated the role of reinforcement schedule and instructional set in frontalis EMG training. The experiment consisted of four groups participating in 30 minute sessions on three consecutive days. Group conditions were intermittent feedback (alternating 100 second trials), continuous feedback, motivated control and no-treatment control. Excepting the no-treatment controls, each subject was instructed that extra credit points were available contingent on the number of seconds in cr… more
Date: December 1983
Creator: Capriotti, Richard
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Development and Psychometric Validation of the State-Trait Spirituality Inventory

Description: The present study contributes to the widening body of spirituality research by conceptualizing it as a state-trait construct. A new measure of spirituality, the State-Trait Spirituality Inventory (STSI), was created and validated according to psychometric methods of test construction. In its current form, the STSI contains seven state spirituality items and six trait spirituality items. A thorough review of the literature identified common themes in spirituality definitions and assisted in deve… more
Date: August 2004
Creator: Harvey, Michelle B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Cognitive Differences Between Congenitally and Adventitiously Blind Individuals.

Description: It is apparent from the historical perspective regarding the theories of cognitive development and the cognitive functioning of individuals with visual impairments, that sight plays a major role in the development of certain cognitive processes. However, the affects of visual impairment on cognitive development remain to be at issue. Since sight seems to be highly integral in cognitive development beginning in the early stages of physical development, about the sixth month of life, and then beg… more
Date: August 2003
Creator: Hupp, Gregory S.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Psychological characteristics contributing to performance on neuropsychological tests and effort testing.

Description: The issue of effortful patient performance has been an area of clinical interest in individuals with minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Clinical attention to this area has increased largely because of an increase in the number of worker's compensation claims, injury-related lawsuits and/or insanity defense pleas. As patients are presented with the opportunity for secondary gain, the issue of optimum performance on neuropsychological measures becomes salient. In addition to neurocognitive defi… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Hilborn, Robert Scott
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Cognitive Coping Strategies with Chronic Back Pain Patients

Description: Low back pain has long been estimated to be the most prevalent and debilitating source of chronic pain. The present study first reviews the literature addressing the various theories of pain, the physiological and psychological variables important in pain research, and the psychotherapeutic approaches that have been used to date to reduce pain. Thirty-seven hospitalized chronic back pain patients were administered the cold-pressor test and a medical pain stimulus procedure which was medically r… more
Date: December 1985
Creator: Hinnant, Donald Wayne
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Role of Parental Anxiety on Pediatric Feeding Disorders

Description: The proposed study examined the relationship between parental anxiety, measured both subjectively (via self-report questionnaires) and objectively (via salivary cortisol) and the child's feeding progress. Children diagnosed with a feeding disorder were recruited with their parents at Our Children's House at Baylor (n=19; 11 females, 8 males). The patients and their parents were housed in the clinic for an eight-week intensive multidisciplinary pediatric feeding disorder treatment program. Calor… more
Date: May 2009
Creator: Didehbani, Nyaz
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Temperature Biofeedback and Visual Imagery in the Treatment of Migraine Headaches

Description: After an initial four week baseline period, during which headache activity and medication consumption were monitored, 28 migraineurs were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: (a) the biofeedback temperature warming group, (b) the visual imagery group, (c) the combined treatment group, or (d) the comparison group. All four groups continued to monitor their headache activity and medication consumption during the eight week treatment period and the eight week follow-up period. A two w… more
Date: December 1985
Creator: Clark, Susan Matthews
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Measure of Dependency in Patients with Chronic Illness: Clinical Ecology

Description: This study briefly reviews both historical and recent conceptualizations of dependency. In particular, it focuses on this concept's applicability to patients with chronic illnesses, especially those with allergies. Type and degree of dependency were seen as an important factor in the approach to the medical and psychological treatment of clinical ecology patients. The purpose of the study was to develop an objective measure of dependency which could quickly identify patients whose dependency c… more
Date: December 1985
Creator: Jones, Frances McManemin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

QEEG and MMPI-2 patterns of adults reporting childhood sexual abuse: Determining differences and predictor models.

Description: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to a number of adult psychological maladies. The MMPI-2 has shown specific patterns such as an inverted V in the validity scales, a floating profile, and a 4-5-6 configuration to be present more often in adults who have experienced childhood trauma. Both children and adults who have experienced trauma have shown a number of neurophysiological differences when compared to non-traumatized individuals. However, little research has looked at differences … more
Date: December 2003
Creator: Townsend, Alicia
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Total Stress Load Inventory: A Validation Study

Description: The purpose of this study was to validate a stress inventory which would differentiate between a normative group and a patient population suffering from environmental illness. The hypotheses of this study were: (1) the Total Stress Load Inventory would be predictive in discriminating between clinical ecology patients and a normative group; (2) each section or subscale of the Total Stress Load Inventory would be predictive of psychological, cognitive, nutritional, and/or medical factors.
Date: December 1986
Creator: Sherck-O'Connor, Robin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Individual attachment styles and the correspondence/compensation hypotheses in relation to depression and depressive experiences.

Description: Two hundred twenty individuals participated in the present study from a university population. The study examined the relationship among attachment styles to caregivers, relationship with God, depressive symptomology, and depressive experiences. Attachment theorists have suggested a connection between childhood attachment to caregivers and current attachment to God through the idea that individuals have "working models" that form how they interpret present relationships. For the most part, the… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Hill, Mary Kathleen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Personality and the prediction of outcome following rehabilitation in persons with acquired brain injuries: The Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD).

Description: Neuropsychological rehabilitation following acquired brain injury is increasingly recognized as essential with the advancements in research evidence of its effectiveness, particularly as current estimates of disability following the most common forms of brain injury (traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular accident) are so high. Improvements in predictive capabilities of researchers and clinicians are paramount in designing effective interventions. As many variables associated with outcome f… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Beck, Kelley D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Role of Spirituality in Ethnic Minority Patients with COPD

Description: COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is the sixth leading cause of death for low-to middle income countries (Downs & Appel, 2006; GOLD, 2011). COPD is a largely preventable disease due to the lifestyle factors that heavily contribute to disease onset and severity. Although traditionally COPD research has focused on health outcomes related to risk factors, compliance, comorbid psychological and physical conditions, and treatment interventions, a growing body of resea… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Bell, Keisha
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Does Unemployment Become a Major Stressor in the Evolution of Chronic Pain?

Description: Pain has been described as the most complex human experience and most frequent reason patients seek medical treatment. Few people fail to experience the pain associated with disease, injury, or medical/surgical procedures. However, the impact of unemployment that results from chronic pain suffering has not been widely researched. To present a comprehensive view of the effect unemployment has upon the chronic pain experience, this study focused upon stress philosophy, chronic pain, employment, a… more
Date: August 1997
Creator: Rumzek, Harold A.
Partner: UNT Libraries

Treatment Effects Related to EEG-Biofeedback for Crack Cocaine Dependency: Changes in Personality and Attentional Variables

Description: EEG biofeedback (neurotherapy) has been demonstrated as effective in the treatment of alcoholism, as evidenced by Peniston and Kulkosky's research efforts. These neurotherapy pioneers evaluated the efficacy of alpha-theta brain wave biofeedback as a treatment for chronic alcohol abuse, citing 80% abstinence rates as measured by improvements in psychopathology, serum beta endorphin levels, and long-term alcohol abstinence. Most research with alpha-theta EEG biofeedback has addressed alcohol ad… more
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Date: August 2005
Creator: Burkett, Virginia Shannon
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Positive Emotion, Negative Emotion, Flourishing, and Languishing on Cardiovascular Risk

Description: Positive psychology has led a movement that concentrates on positive characteristics. The current study examined the relationship between positive emotions, negative emotions, flourishing, languishing, and cardiovascular functioning. The study uses guided imagery to help participants recall a negative emotional event and positive emotional event in a counterbalanced order. The reverse order allowed us to examine the differential contributions of stress buffering versus facilitated recovery effe… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Purdum, Michael B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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