Thesis (Ph. D.) in Psychology--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Advisory Committee: Sandra T. Sigmon, Assoc. Prof. of Psychology, Advisor; Jeffrey E. Heckler, Assoc. Prof. of Psychology; Mark Jackson, Director, Student Health Services; Michael A. Robbins, Cooperating Assoc. Prof. of Psychology; Geoffrey L. Thorpe, Prof. of Psychology. Bibliography: leaves 140-157.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 72, [3] p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-55).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-174). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

Previous research had demonstrated cognitive biases towards threatening stimuli in anxious individuals, such as in attention, interpretation and memory. The present study aimed to examine the differences in memory-related information processing between anxious and nonanxious children and the effectiveness of a Cognitive-Bias Modification (CBM) based positive training in altering these differences. The study adopted a directed forgetting paradigm, where children with anxiety disorders (N=12) and healthy controls (N=12) were asked to either forget or remember word lists comprised of words of negative or positive valence, and were later asked to recall and recognize target words. The CBM training was subsequently administered, in which subjects were trained to endorse positive interpretations to ambiguous situations, followed by a similar directed forgetting task for post-training assessment. Results revealed that the CBM training was effective in reducing the hypervigilance towards negative words in anxious children, as well as reducing recall of negative words in all subjects. Clinical implications and limitations of the study were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Introduction: Colposcopy is a gynaecological invasive day procedure involving visualization of cervix for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose. Women who are waiting for this procedure often experience high anxiety. Several studies have demonstrated that adopting pre-colposcopy patient education strategy can relieve such psychological distress. In this translational research, a relevant evidence-based education guideline is formulated for a colposcopy clinic in a local public hospital. Objectives: The objectives of this translational research proposal include (1) extracting the current empirical evidence on the education intervention for minimizing the psychological distress among women waiting for their first colposcopy examination; (2) developing an educational protocol; (3) and developing a plan of intervention and evaluation for the proposed protocol. Methods: A literature search for studies dealing with patient education of women at risk of cervical cancer was performed in PubMed and PsycINFO. After data extraction from the identified studies, the methodology quality of the studies was appraised by the methodology checklist of Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) (2011). Then, an evidence-based protocol was formulated according to the recommendations drawn from the evidence. Before putting the protocol into practice, a systematic implementation potential assessment was done by evaluating the transferability of the findings, and the feasibility and cost-benefit ratio of the protocol. Both communication and evaluation plan were developed for a smooth implementation of the protocol. Results: 10 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the literature search and were used for developing an evidence-based protocol of pre-colposcopy patient education. After the assessment, distributing written and audio-visual education materials at patients’ first colposcopy appointment is concluded to be a feasible innovation in the target setting. Conclusion: Based on the extracted evidence from the systematical review, patient education strategy can potentially benefit the first-time colposcopy patient in the target setting to alleviate their anxiety during their wait for the examination. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

Chemotherapy is one of the major treatments for cancer patients to cure or palliate their disease. Cancer patients experience physiological and psychological distress during chemotherapy treatment. Anxiety is the most common symptom observed in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Anxiety has also proven to be highly associated with anticipatory nausea and vomiting (ANV). In the local chemotherapy day ward, almost half of the cancer patients verbalize that they feel anxious and are afraid of turning up for chemotherapy due to the fear of its side effects. However, clinical measure for treating patients’ anxiety during chemotherapy is limited. One of the complementary and alternative medicines (CAM), massage therapy, becomes a useful means for cancer patients to relieve their physical and psychological distress. Yet, massage is not a routine CAM being integrated into the cancer treatment in Hong Kong, including the target center. Thus, a translational study is proposed in order to develop a massage program for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy to relieve their anxiety. A systematic search of five electronic journal databases identified 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the use of massage therapy for cancer patients in relieving their anxiety. The appraisal tool developed by the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme was used to evaluate the quality of the selected studies. The findings of the selected studies concluded that massage therapy is effective in relieving anxiety for cancer patients. A massage program is proposed to be implemented in a chemotherapy day ward. This translational research proposal will illustrate how such a massage program is planned. The implementation potential has been assessed and the potential benefits of massage do outweigh its risks and the costs of running this program. An evidence-based guideline has been developed to ensure patient safety and increase effectiveness of the massage program. The communication process with stakeholders has been planned in order to gain their support for this massage program. Staff training will be organized and a pilot study has been designed to test the feasibility of this program. An evaluation plan has also been developed to assess the effectiveness of this program. Anxiety level, measured by using State Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S), is set as the primary patient outcome of this study. In addition, Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), rating from 0 to 10, will be used as the secondary patient outcome to measure the severity of nausea and vomiting. Lastly, the satisfaction level of patients, volunteers and nurses will be measured using a 4-point Likert scale. Therefore, the proposed massage program can be improved and refined according to the evaluation findings. It is believed that the proposed massage program can reduce anxiety for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and thus improving their quality of life. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

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