<p> This study explored the contributing factors to defending behaviors which are characterized as the actions of those who stand up for peers who are victims of peer aggression. These factors were cognitive empathy, affective empathy, appreciation of differences, peer group status, gender and age. The factors were examined in the context of a path model among adolescents aged 12 to 14. The results of this study supported the proposed model and it was determined to be a good fit to the data. Five out of seven hypotheses were supported. Affective empathy was found to mediate the relationship between cognitive empathy and defender status such that greater affective empathy indicated greater defender status. Cognitive empathy alone was not found to predict defender status. Peer group status mediated the relationship between affective empathy and defending behaviors such that higher peer group status indicated greater likelihood of defender status. Appreciation of differences did not mediate the relationship between affective empathy nor predict defender status alone. Age was significant in moderating the relationship between appreciation of differences and defender status such that it was a greater predictor for younger students than older ones. Gender did not moderate the relationship between peer group status and defending behaviors. Post hoc analyses indicated that the model was a better fit for males than females. Conclusions inform best practices for interventions to promote defending behaviors and the development of factors that contribute to defending behaviors.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal to develop a mental health program for foreign born Latinos with depression. The goal of this project is to provide mental health services consisting of individual and group therapy to this at risk group in Service Provider Area 6 (SPA 6).</p><p> Research shows that SPA 6 in Los Angeles County is an area lacking adequate mental health services for foreign born Latinos. SHIELDS for Families, Inc. is the target agency chosen to provide services with staff co-located at St. Francis Medical Center in the city of Lynwood. The California Wellness Foundation was chosen as the funding source.</p><p> If funded, the project would provide culturally modified treatment in depression at no cost to adult Latino immigrants, a high risk group, in SPA 6. Actual submission of this grant was not a requirement for this project. </p>

<p> Recovery from alcoholism and substance abuse has had an ignominious history. There does not appear to be any statistics that stand up to any rigorous fact-checking which show how well treatment centers do at helping their clients to stay sober. Statistics that are used to show success rates are not considered credible and they are shockingly low. Despite these issues, substance abuse research has failed to link the historical knowledge of why people stay sober for long periods of time with what is being taught in treatment centers in hopes of creating a better, more accurate outcome. </p><p> The qualitative, phenomenological research study was conducted to ascertain whether a treatment center was teaching the curriculum components that prior research studies had found allowed an addict or alcoholic to stay sober for 20 plus years. Twelve volunteer participants (i.e., nine clients and three counselors), at a treatment center located in Southeast Florida, were interviewed regarding their perceptions of the curricula being taught in the treatment center. </p><p> Patterns emerged with the clients regarding their perceptions of spirituality and 12-step programs, believing that spirituality and 12-step programs were significantly emphasized in treatment and that they were very important to their recovery when they left treatment. Counselors agreed with this finding, but felt stronger about the importance of family and social support than did the clients. Overall, the clients felt that what was emphasized in treatment was important to their recovery and intended to use their new knowledge in helping them stay sober. Implications for treatment centers and recommendations for future studies are discussed.</p>

<p> An ever-increasing number of international counselor education students are faced with the challenge of meaningfully incorporating and translating international training experiences to counseling settings in their home countries. There has been limited research on the returning process of international counseling students and specifically on their &lsquo;adaptation and re-integration&rsquo; experiences in the home counseling context. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the challenges, and experiences of current doctoral level Turkish counselors-in-training (TCITs) who are studying in the United States (U.S.) and Turkish counselor educators (TCEs) who previously trained in the U.S. and are presently teaching and practicing in Turkey. </p><p> A panel of eighteen (18) experts, including both TCITs and TCEs, participated in the study. Participants responded to two rounds of questions based on a modified Delphi method procedure. The questions addressed knowledge, skills and awareness of core counselor education competencies and the transferability, applicability and usefulness of content as experienced in U.S. settings to counseling contexts in Turkey. The initial round of questions focused on perception of five main essential counseling areas: (a) multicultural constructs, (b) theoretical approaches, (c) developmental growth/wellness, (d) organization/professional development, and (e) counseling practice/teaching/research. Thematic content analysis using open coding generated 37 themes which were used to formulate the questions for round two. A second round involved exploration of consensus on qualitative themes emerged from round 1 responses. </p><p> The findings of the study indicated that both groups of panel experts, particularly, identified the following most important themes regarding to Turkish counseling context: multiculturalism, counseling profession, supervision, counseling theories and basic skills, ethics, counseling training and clinic, and bureaucratic issues. </p><p> The results of this present study, which emerged from the discussion based on the direction of the modified Delphi method, addressed several implications and recommendations for both counselor educators, who prepare international students and international counselors-in-training.</p>

<p> This dissertation explains and highlights a scholar-artist-practitioner research model that blends existing theories rooted in social constructionist, narrative, and creative arts therapies with cutting edge digital art practices that better serve the needs of transition age youth (TAY) within the foster care system. This dissertation is an accumulation of work that traverses the fields of child welfare, mental health, and digital media learning. Two research questions are answered in this dissertation (a) What does a digital artistic intervention look like? and (b) How can digital media art be used in therapeutic group sessions with TAY?</p><p> This dissertation draws on my background in behavioral health with youth, work as a videographer and my experience in the realm of hip-hop culture as a disc jockey (DJ). Throughout this dissertation an emphasis is placed on the idea and application of <i>remixing.</i> DJs use remixing as a technique of expression, taking existing songs and mixing them up (blending, cutting, fading, and scratching) to create something new and powerful in return. This dissertation uses the word <i>remix</i> as a metaphor for therapeutic techniques that play with the idea of narrative transformation.</p><p> In particular, I demonstrate how to use iPad applications and a process called digital storytelling (mixing audio and video formats) for the purpose of evoking a client&rsquo;s personal story construction and story transformation through a remix process. Two underlying themes comprise the framework of this dissertation: (a) the construction of narratives and (b) the remix (or creative transformation) of narratives using various forms of digital media.</p><p> The literature review discusses the disciplines of art therapy, expressive arts therapy, narrative therapy, and digital media art and digital art therapy. I also discuss a portion of the foster care system called TAY, and finally I discuss how personal stories and belief systems are subjectively created but more importantly remixed or recreated using the strategies highlighted in this study. The methodology of this dissertation is broken down into three sections: a pilot study, a case study, and a vignette, which display how digital media art is used as a therapeutic intervention.</p>

<p> While studies have highlighted the role of gendered power in relationships, many assumptions have not been quantitatively tested due to a lack of measures for power. This study uses exploratory factor analysis to construct a dyadic assessment of relative power and equality in relationships. This assessment would be useful for research and for clinical work with couples to help raise awareness of the balance of power in their relationship. Equality is defined as a mutual process in which both partners demonstrate that they hold equal value in the relationship, whereas inequality is when there is a relative imbalance of value in the couple. Relative power is a dyadic outcome related to the recognition of one&rsquo;s value to a relationship, and is therefore important in relationship satisfaction. A review of the literature on how power predicts satisfaction has shown a shift in focus away from monetary resources and decision-making towards examining relationship processes and the connection between gender and power. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and test a new scale of equality for couples, the Relationship Balance Assessment (RBA). Exploratory factor analysis of individuals and couples identified 12 latent factors underlying relationship equality. While the study looked for significant correlations with their score averages, this study indicated that power is revealed more in the <i>differences</i> between partners&rsquo; responses. Contrary to expectations, couples&rsquo; differences in the perception of power, and especially the woman&rsquo;s perspective, were highly correlated with their satisfaction. This is consistent with previous qualitative research that asserted that mutual attunement is a critical link between equality and satisfaction. Furthermore, gender shapes couples&rsquo; perceptions, which ultimately affect their level of attunement. For couples in this study, the balance of power was often predicted by gender, gender role orientation and gender ideology&mdash;beliefs about how one should perform their socially-defined roles in family. This study will help researchers and therapists who work with distressed couples to have a clearer understanding of the factors in equality and to assess them. It can also serve as a road-map to improving relationship satisfaction.</p>

<p>The purpose of this project was to develop a flexible, adaptable curriculum (Treadway) designed to meet the specific developmental needs of preadolescents who have been identified as being high risk for developing a substance use problem. Substance use among preadolescents has been reported with increasing frequency. Preadolescents (individuals ages 11 to 13) differ from their older adolescent counterparts behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, and socially; differences which impact how to approach the preadolescent?s use of alcohol and drugs. Stakeholders are inclined to help younger clients, but have limited information on how to intervene effectively with preadolescents. In the space between substance abuse prevention and substance abuse treatment, there exists a strong need for a diversionary curriculum targeting preadolescents. The Treadway program was designed to meet this need. Key Words: Preadolescents, adolescents, substance use interventions, substance abuse, treatment manuals

<p>In recent years, there has been a shift in the field of psychology to consider a more holistic approach to therapy, with body-based therapies often classified as such. This study looked at relationships between participation in a trauma-informed, body-based, group therapy treatment (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy) and levels of overall symptoms, mindfulness, social connectedness, and post-traumatic growth. Participants were eight adult Caucasian women with a history of interpersonal trauma who participated in 20 weekly sessions of a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy-informed group intervention. They were assessed five times over 20 weeks plus at one month post-group. Results indicate that participants showed decreased levels of overall symptoms, increased levels of mindfulness, and increased social connectedness. This study adds to the limited research regarding Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and indicates that a group intervention based on the principles of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy may be effective for survivors of interpersonal trauma.

<p>The Health Managerial Appraisal (HMA) is a competency-based assessment that measures a test-taker?s ability to evaluate interpersonal effectiveness and decision-making capabilities in others. The instrument was developed for assessing managers in Health, Human, and Community Service (HHCS) organizations for skills that are essential to managing staff as they provide person-centered care. This study evaluated the construct validity of the HMA through a correlational method. HMA scores were correlated with the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, California Psychological Inventory, and Behavioral Observations. The sample included 77 managerial job applicants in the HHCS industry. The results yielded convergent and discriminant evidence that the HMA as a valid measure of these necessary constructs for managing in the HHCS industry. The HMA has potential to be used to inform selection of HHCS managerial applicants as well as help current HHCS managers identify areas for professional development.

<p>The initial development and content validation of the Health Managerial Appraisal (HMA) is outlined in this study. The content of the HMA was developed based on a Health, Human, and Community Service (HHCS) Managerial Competency Model that was created by subject matter experts. In today?s HHCS organizations, managerial roles now include empowering direct support professionals. Empowerment requires that managers accurately evaluate staff?s interpersonal effectiveness and decision-making capability. The HMA measures a test-taker?s ability to evaluate these two skill sets. The HMA was first administered to initial job applicants across all job levels (N = 2,072). Based on these test-taker responses, the HMA was revised from six scenarios to four. The revised form was then administered to final candidates for managerial and executive level jobs (N = 77). These executive and managerial candidates performed better on the HMA than initial stage job applicants, suggesting that more qualified managerial candidates were more likely to perform well on the HMA. Additionally, internal consistency reliability of the HMA test scores was .735, suggesting that the HMA produced reliable test scores. The HMA has the potential to inform selection of HHCS managerial candidates as well as help current HHCS managers identify areas for professional development.