Thirty-five subjects were studied who met the Center for Disease Control Clinical Definition for Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). Demographic and Family History data were gathered, and Olson's constructs of Family Adaptability and Family Cohesion were examined in light of their relationship to Onset, Key Symptoms, and Course of CFIDS. In addition, the relationship of Family Support with Key Symptoms and Course was evaluated. / Family Adaptability and Family Cohesion were significantly related to Onset, and Family Support was significantly related to both Key Symptoms and Course. No relationships were found for Family Adaptability or Family Cohesion with Key Symptoms or Course. / These results were discussed in light of current applications of Family Systems models to physical disease. Also, some practical ways in which psychologists and other counselors can assist families in the management of CFIDS were presented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: B, page: 5540. / Major Professor: James P. Sampson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

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Impact of psychoeducational advocacy training as compared to psychoeducational support group as an empowering tool for female survivors of domestic violence

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb 4, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-04, Section: A, page: 1433. Adviser: Jane D. McLeod.

Although several studies have alluded to the importance of reinforcement as a component of interventions involving Alzheimer's Disease patients, no studies have looked specifically at the effect of reinforcement on effort within this population. Bandura's social learning model posits that any effect of reinforcement is mediated through a change in self-efficacy. Alternatively, the behavioral perspective states that reinforcement would increase effort, regardless of self-efficacy change. Support for behavior change without a corresponding change in self-efficacy is found in the implicit learning literature discussing its dissociation from explicit learning. This study found that reinforcement did not consistently affect self-efficacy, nor did self-efficacy affect effort. Implications for Bandura's social learning model are discussed. Reinforcement was found to affect effort only when given later in the testing period. This differential effect is discussed in terms of fatigue.

The purpose of this multifaceted research project was to explain and predict mental health outcomes through testing of a systems research organizing model using pre-existing behavioral health consumer-oriented data. Community Partnership of Southern Arizona provided the setting for the participation of its members in the statewide 2001 Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program Consumer Perception Survey. The sample for this study consisted of 214 adult member survey respondents. The Systems Research Organizing Model for Behavioral Health (SROM-BH) provided the conceptual framework for examining client risk adjustment characteristics and cost and access factors that interact with consumer participation processes to affect consumer perception of quality and health related quality of life. The American Academy of Nursing's Quality Health Outcomes Model and The University of Arizona Nursing Systems Core's System Research Organizing Model informed the development of the SROM-BH that extends this work through its adaptation for use within the context of behavioral health. Composite indices were developed for five model variables, implying that composites or latent variables can be developed from existing data when there is fastidious attention to theory and the conceptual definitions of the constructs. Eight hypothesized positive predictor and three unhypothesized negative predictor relationships were supported. Three hypothesized positive predictor relationships were not supported. Consumer participation in treatment planning, the intervention of interest in this study had an effect (either direct or indirect) on all five outcome variables. Reexamination of model relationships with a larger sample and continued testing of the survey instrument for psychometric performance is recommended. Further model testing using separate scales or methods is needed in order to reduce method effect and to determine the full strength of the findings. Use of structural equation modeling may offer a more precise test of the theoretical framework, strengthen support for instrument subscale construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis, and may provide an opportunity for analysis of recursive paths. Further development of recovery authentication, a concept developed as a result of this study, may contribute to a broadened understanding of opportunities to promote recovery and moderate the loss of self that is associated with mental illness.

Depression is being diagnosed worldwide at rapidly increasing rates. The World Health Organization has identified depression as the second leading cause of disability worldwide. Women are diagnosed with depression at twice the rate of men. Although much research has been conducted on depression in women, there is very little research on depression in lesbians. The impact of living within a heteronormative society upon lesbians' experiences of depression is unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore lesbians' subjective experiences of depression. Critical ethnographic methods were used to study the ways that lesbians construct their experiences of depression. Twelve self-identified lesbians participated in up to three in-depth interviews conducted over an eight month period. Social constructionism and critical theories underpinned the study's methodology. Thematic analysis led to a schema of themes, domains, and categories that described the participants' experiences. The analysis found no commonalities across the narratives linking being a lesbian with experiences of depression. However, many patterns did emerge describing the ways that the participants construct their experiences of depression. Four themes were identified: Being depressed: Describing the experience, The roots of depression: Emotional dissonance, Managing depression: Desire for relief, and Explaining depression: Needing to know why . The dominant discourses of depression forwarded by psychiatry and psychology have penetrated the popular culture and shaped the participants' understandings of their feelings of depression. These discourses assist in the maintenance of social hegemonies. Further analysis of the study themes led to the discovery that experiences of depression are class-mediated, with study outliers offering glimpses into alternative class-based constructions of depression. The participants shared a number of constructs in formulations of their sexuality. Lesbian identity and radical-cultural feminist discourses underpinned the participants' narratives of identity. Class privilege was identified as significant in these women's abilities to comfortably negotiate their marginalized sexuality within a heteronormative society. Implications of the study for nursing practice, education and research include the formulation of new understandings of lesbianism and sexuality. Findings indicate future depression research must explore of the ways social class influences experiences and perceptions of depression.

The research reported consists of the study of the application of Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST), a form of sensory restriction, as a technique to supplement conventional outpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependence in preventing relapse to substance abuse. Through a thorough review of the literature in several addictions, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, the proposition is put forth that there may be a neurological relationship between anomalous laterality, field dependency and addiction. By applying REST, a technique which has been already researched in the treatment of various forms of tobacco addiction and eating disorders, as a treatment to reinforce new found abstinence from alcohol and drug abuse, a test is made indirectly of the hypothesis that there is a commonality to the spectrum of addictions which is impacted by the application of 24 hours of sensory restriction. Thirty-one subjects, who had been enrolled for 3 to 8 weeks in outpatient treatment for alcohol and/or drug dependence, were recruited from several treatment programs in Tucson, Arizona, and participated in the study's pre-test. Through severe attrition a total of 12 subjects completed three questionnaires over a two month follow-up period. Of those, seven subjects, randomly selected, spent 24 hours in a soundproof, dark room. Five control subjects completed all questionnaires while participating in their pre-existing treatment programs. A disproportionate percentage of the twenty males completing the pretest were found to be mixed laterals while ten females reported an inordinate number of left-handed male relatives. Findings support the thesis that various addictions share a common neurological basis. Two months after the pre-test the treatment group reported having more confidence they would be able to resist the urge to use drugs than did the control group. Due to the small sample size, no other statistically significant effects of the REST treatment were found. In spite of that fact, results are promising in support of the thesis that REST is a viable tool in reinforcing abstinence from alcohol and drugs.

The cognitive processes involved when an individual is asked to determine a rating of their own quality of life has received little attention. This study sought to take the initial steps in developing and validating a measure of experience-expectation discrepancy and utilize the measure to evaluate the construct's relationship with quality of life. Experience-expectation discrepancy is defined as the gap between what a person is experiencing ("how things are going right now") versus what they are expecting ("how things ought to be"). The Experience-Expectation Questionnaire (EEQ) was evaluated with two samples of undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses (validation sample, N = 950; primary study sample, N = 206). The psychometric properties, from both a classical test theory perspective and item response theory perspective, indicated that the EEQ demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. The role of experience-expectation discrepancy and depression in predicting quality of life was evaluated using hierarchical regression analysis. Participants completed the EEQ, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-100). Correlations indicate that greater levels of experience-expectation discrepancy (r = -.63, p < .001) and greater levels of depressive symptomatology (r = -.69, p < .001) were related to lower quality of life. Hierarchical analyses suggest that experience-expectation discrepancy (β = -.40, p < .001) is an important predictor of quality of life after the variance attributable to depression (β = -.51, p < .001) is accounted for. This model explains 61% of the variance in quality of life. Results indicate that the EEQ is a viable measure and that experience-expectation discrepancy may be an important predictor of quality of life. Primary implications for quality of life research include improving the understanding of how an individual selects a rating of quality of life and providing an explanation for the "disease paradox" (when a person reports higher quality of life than would be expected based on their impairments). Clinical implications of the results suggest that clinical interventions to improve quality of life may focus on altering a client's experiences to meet expectations, altering a client's expectations to meet experience, or a combination of these two strategies.

This study was a 4-year longitudinal evaluation of a therapeutic community for drug addicted women. Pre-treatment variables of interest included 3 major indices of resources that served as predictors of women's response to treatment. Psychological measures and a willingness for treatment comprised the personal resources index. Early family environment factors and current family relationship measures comprised the family resources index. The third index, social resources, included social support networks and social adaptation measures, including pre-treatment length of drug use, criminal involvement, employment, and level of education. In-treatment variables included 4 psychological status instruments, a social support network interview, and a treatment environment scale. All in-treatment repeated measures were administered at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Outcome variables included retention and post-treatment measures of the 3 resource indices. Follow-up interviews were administered at 6, 12, and 24 months after termination of treatment. Pre-treatment psychological scores predicted their respective outcome variable scores. Pre-treatment scores on family relationship variables did not predict post-treatment scores. Pre-treatment measures of social support failed to predict follow-up involvement in social networks. However, prior years of drug use, legal involvement, and level of education predicted post-treatment abstinence, pursuit of continuing education, and involvement in aftercare. Discussion addresses the problems inherent in field research.