Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Grace I. L. Caskie.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3778. Adviser: Wendy Heller. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-98) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989.

<p> By highlighting the profound link between Greenspan and Wieder&rsquo;s (2006) DIR/Floortime and Fonagy et al.&rsquo;s (2002) mentalization theory, this comprehensive literature review makes more evident: 1) the wider applicability of DIR/Floortime to a range of conditions, not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); 2) that parents are the primary mutative agent in their child&rsquo;s life; 3) that ASD symptomology creates obstacles to the parents&rsquo; capacity to construct optimal social-emotional learning environments, which undermines parents&rsquo; unique growth promoting role; 4) parental trauma functions as a barrier to the implementation of DIR/Floortime; and lastly 5) the cultivation of parental mentalization, through attachment-based interventions, must be a central component of DIR/Floortime treatment. Additionally, this dissertation includes a summary of findings from interviews with five professionals with expertise in DIR/Floortime or mentalization-based therapy and who carefully utilize parent work in their clinical practice with children. </p>

The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (PACS; Thompson, Heinberg, & Tantleff, 1991) is a widely used 5-item measure that assesses an overall tendency to compare one's own appearance to the appearance of others in social situations. Research using the PACS and other measures of appearance comparison has shown this construct to be related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. However, the measure is limited in that it only assesses comparison tendencies within a narrow range of social contexts and body sites. In the current investigation, the PACS was revised to examine a broader range of social contexts (e.g., in public, at work or school, at the gym, etc.) and dimensions of appearance (e.g., body shape, weight, body fat, etc.). The PACS-R was administered to 1,176 college females, along with measures of body satisfaction, eating pathology, sociocultural influences on appearance, and self-esteem. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis using one half of the total sample was conducted. Results indicated that a single factor should be retained. Study 2 utilized the remaining half of the total sample to conduct confirmatory factor analysis, item analysis, and to examine the convergent validity and predictive validity of the PACS-R. Modification indices from the confirmatory factor anlaysis indicated several pairs of items with correlated errors, and were used to guide elimination of highly redundant items from the scale. These analyses resulted in an 11-item scale that demonstrated excellent internal consistency, as well as significant associations in the hypothesized direction with measures of body satisfaction, eating pathology, sociocultural influences on appearance, and self-esteem. Regression analyses demonstrated the utility of the PACS-R in predicting theorized outcomes (i.e., body satisfaction and eating pathology). Overall, results indicate that the PACS-R is a reliable and valid tool for assessing appearance comparison tendencies in women.

<p> The current study sought to examine the classification accuracy of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) as an embedded performance symptom validity test (PVT) among three different samples. The sample of interest included 110 participants with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). For comparison, the study included 69 participants with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) (STBI) and 155 non-neurological patients with mixed depression/anxiety psychiatric diagnoses (PSYCH). Furthermore, a logistically derived combination of Number Correct, Perseverative Responses, and Trials to First Category was created as an additional predictor variable named WCSTCOMB. Results indicated significant group differences between the credible performance (PASS) and non-credible performance (FAIL) groups for the PSYCH sample in the following variables: Number of Trials, Total Errors, Perseverative Errors, Perseverative Responses, Number of Categories Completed, and WCSTCOMB. Significant group differences in the STBI sample were found in the following variables: Number of Trials, Total Errors, Perseverative Errors, Perseverative Responses, Number of Categories Completed, and WCSTCOMB. The study found no significant differences in the WCST variables between the PASS and FAIL groups in the mTBI sample. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis found that Perseverative Responses and WCSTCOMB had acceptable classification accuracy of at least .70 in the PSYCH group. In the STBI group, ROC analysis found that the following WCST variables had at least acceptable classification accuracy of at least .70 for the following: Number of Trials, Total Errors, Perseverative Errors, Perseverative Responses, Number of Categories Completed, and WCSTCOMB. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power, negative predictive power, and recommended raw cutoff scores were provided for WCST variables with acceptable classification accuracy. Acceptable classification accuracy was not found among any WCST variables in the mTBI sample. Results do not provide support for the WCST as an embedded PVT among those with mTBI. However, results did provide support for the WCST as embedded PVTs with populations with moderate to severe TBI and depressed/anxious outpatients.</p>

<p> This study examines the lived experience of families who engage in nature. While an emerging research base is developing concerning the impact of natural settings on well-being, this study seeks to add to nascent clinical literature by using phenomenological methods, with the goal of revealing and explicating the constituents of the essence of an experience in nature. In all, 13 participants were recruited, 7 of whom were female and 6 of whom were male, across 5 different families. While each individual participant&rsquo;s experience was unique, 13 key constituent themes emerged from the study. These themes included (a) positive impact on one&rsquo;s state on being, (b) elicitation of a special and unique feeling, (c) expectancy and frequency of outings, (d) heightened feelings of familial connection and closeness, (e) vivid memories of nature experiences, (f) caution toward dangerous aspects of nature, (g) recommendations to build capacity of outings, (h) increased physical activity, (i) lack of distractions innate to the experience, (j) intention and planning, (k) a respect for and desire to protect nature, (l) enhanced communication in nature, and (m) a desire to share aspects of nature with others.</p>

No description available.