C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein found in the blood that is synthesized by the liver and has been extensively studied due to its role in inflammatory and atherosclerotic processes. The importance of this biomarker in its role in vascular risk factors is increased with several lines of evidence pointing to its association with cognitive decline. The association between CRP and depression has been increasingly analyzed by various cross-sectional studies. The research between CRP and depressive symptoms in older women has yet to generate consistent trends. In the present study, a series of regression analyses was used to explore the association between CRP and both cognitive function and depressive symptomatology among a group of rural-dwelling women. Associations were evaluated through the use of data from Project FRONTIER, a rural-based research looking at both physical and cognitive aspects of health in rural-dwelling adults and elders. Comparisons were made between Mexican American women and a group of non-Hispanic Caucasian women. CRP was a significant independent predictor of total depression (beta = -.11, t = -1.99, p =.048). CRP was also a significant independent predictor of symptoms associated with meaningless within depression (beta = -.16, t = -2.94, p =.004). Contrary to prediction, CRP was not a significant independent predictor of overall cognitive function or performance in five specific cognitive domains. There is still needed evaluation on racial/ethnic differences present in regard to the impact of varied health factors on mental health within a culturally rich, rural cohort. It is recommended that future studies utilize standardized measurement of cognitive function to facilitate a more thorough understanding and comparison of change in this particular population.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics between professional knowledge and the power to construct social realities. The focus is on the institutions which contributed to mental hygiene as a protocol for public policies directed toward children. The social history of the child in the twentieth century is juxtaposed with shifts in the configurations of private and public institutions in a sociology of mental illness. The mental hygiene movement created one of the twentieth century's major paradigms. Mental hygiene was conceptualized as the development of a science of promoting mental health and preventing mental illness. The' working premise of the movement was that early life experiences determined adult competence and constituted the root cause of major social problems from crime and dependency to labour unrest and war. The National Committee for Mental Hygiene was established in the United States in 1909 and a second National Committee was established in Canada in 1918. Mental hygienists developed an ideology of child oriented prevention in public health, welfare and educational policies which legitimated public intervention into the private spheres of family relations and child rearing. The idea of mental hygiene was based on a medical model and as such it was part of the new psychiatry and public health movements of the Progressive Era. As a paradigm mental hygiene fostered the identification of children according to scientific standards. Mental hygiene contributed to the transformation of juvenile delinquency into a psychiatry of maladjustment in childhood. As a positivistic approach to public health, mental hygiene research elaborated criteria to determine age related stages of normal psychological and biological progress. Mental hygiene was a product of professional researchers and policy makers. The knowledge base of mental hygiene grew with the expansion of higher education in the United States especially in regard to scientific medicine. The medical model was subsequently applied to research in the behavioural and social sciences. Scientific philanthropy provided funds for research, professional education, and the distribution of knowledge. The accumulation of monetary resources by nineteenth century entrepreneurial capitalists, who applied these funds to further the growth of scientific models, were a sustaining factor in twentieth century mental hygiene. The agents of power described as part of the mental hygiene movement include: 1) the National Committees for Mental Hygiene in the United States and Canada; and, 2) general purpose foundations in Rockefeller related philanthropy and the Commonwealth Fund. By mid-century, the federal, state/provincial and local governments of the United States and Canada had assumed major aspects of the former role of the National Committees and philanthropy in mental health advocacy. The theoretical foundation of mental hygiene evolved in conjunction with the development of the scientific method as applied to preventive medicine, especially in fields related to psychiatry. Mental hygiene was a primary carrier of the medical model into applied disciplines in the social and health sciences. The professionalization of education, social welfare and psychology, as imbued with mental hygiene, translated technological change into revised concepts of public and private spheres in relationship to family and child life. The medicalization of human differences limited the potential for radical revisions in social organization. It justified unequal access to political and economic power on the basis of psychological and biological characteristics. The mental hygiene paradigm served to maintain established social configurations in the face of social change. The function of justifying inequalities was especially important in the United States but less so in Canada for reasons of the timing of nation-building, national history, character, and culture. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This study explored how students utilized spirituality as an effective coping mechanism for the stress they faced while in the Master's of Social Work program at California State University, San Bernardino. A stress and spirituality scale was used to measure each student's spirituality and perceived stress. Most students stated that spirituality and religious activity was helpful in coping with the stress of the MSW program. In addition, spirituality was found to have a strong positive impact on a person's abilities to cope with the stress of the program.

This mixed-methods research study was conducted for the purpose of examining school-based occupational therapists' child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes, along with how therapists developed this knowledge and attitudes. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, the study addressed the following broad research question: What meaning do school-based occupational therapists give to their experience in developing child psychosocial knowledge? Using a quantitative approach, a survey instrument was used to answer the following questions: (a) What level of child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes do school-based occupational therapists possess? (b) How do the following variables impact child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes: (1) level of education, (2) academic course content, (3) participation in mental health fieldwork, (4) application of psychosocial knowledge in non-mental health fieldwork, (5) professional practice experiences, and ( 6) continuing education experiences. Snowball sampling was used to select 11 school-based occupational therapists for the phenomenological portion of the design. Data were analyzed using Giorgi and Giorgi's (2008) method of phenomenological analysis. Random sampling was used to select 1,000 school-based therapists who were mailed the Occupational Therapy Child Mental Health Questionnaire based upon The Teacher Mental Health Opinion Inventory (Morris, 2002). The response was N = 630. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of association. Using the mixed-methods triangulation convergence model, where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time and the results converged during interpretation by comparing and contrasting them, the following conclusions were made: (a) school-based occupational therapists possess and use child psychosocial knowledge: however. they do not believe it is sufficient; (b) school-based occupational therapists have a difficult time articulating psychosocial knowledge; however. through case descriptions they are able to give many examples of psychosocial knowledge they use in practice; (c) school-based occupational therapists believe that holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered practice, along with additional psychosocial intervention strategics, help them maintain a positive attitude toward children with emotional disturbance; (d) school-based occupational therapists experience tension when attempting to apply their holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered practice in an environment that is typically focused on students changing to meet the environmental demands; (e) due to the constraints of the educational system and the IEP, school-based occupational therapists practice holistically by incorporating psychosocial knowledge in a hidden fashion; (f) school-based occupational therapists believe that mental health fieldwork and rich experiences with individuals who have mental illness is important to developing a comfort level with people who have mental illness; (g) school-based occupational therapists do not readily connect the learning from adult mental health fieldwork that they apply in their school-based practices.

The current study examined the impact of resilience and self-compassion on the relationship between combat exposure and psychological outcomes, specifically post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. Service members and veterans with combat exposure (N = 143) completed an online survey, through which they were administered a Background Questionnaire, the Combat Exposure Scale, the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Self-Compassion Scale. Results of a path analysis revealed a positive direct effect of combat exposure on post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth and a negative direct effect of self-compassion on post-traumatic stress symptoms. Furthermore, self-compassion moderated the relationship between combat exposure and post-traumatic growth. Implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.

The present study tested a stress-problem-solving and stresssocial support etiological model for depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation for a group of Asian foreign students in the United states. Problem-solving skills and social support were hypothesized as two mediators between life stress and dependent variables, such as depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. The results from a series of stepwise regression analyses and a path analysis supported the hypothesis. The results were also compared with other significant studies in this area and similar findings from cross cultures were addressed. The important role of social support and problem-solving confidence in depression and hopelessness were discussed. The results also suggest that depression and hopelessness may be two separate and complementary pathways in the etiology of suicide ideation. In addition, two new measures for life stress and social support for this specific population were designed and employed in the study. Satisfactory psychometric properties of these two new scales were indicated, including test-retest reliability, internal consistency, concurrent validity, incremental validity, and construct validity. Results from factor analysis and regression analyses for factors of the new scales were also discussed in relation to depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. Given the correlational nature of the study, some precautions regarding how to interpret the results were discussed. / Master of Science

With the current military mental health crisis, it is important to understand the role of the leader in military mental health. First, the impact of military leader behaviors on the well-being of military personnel is reviewed. Next, the role of leader attitudes as a precursor to leader behaviors is discussed. The relation of leader behaviors to leader personality using the NEO Five Factor Model (FFM) is reviewed, as well as the relation of prejudicial attitudes to the NEO FFM personality factors. A research project is described that attempted to draw these concepts together, assessing the NEO FFM personality dimensions and mental health attitudes of US Army ROTC cadets, the future leaders of the US Army. No significant relations were observed between NEO FFM personality traits and mental health attitudes, even after controlling for Impression Management. Also, the predicted positive correlation between positive mental health attitudes and Impression Management was not found. These results suggest that more research and more refined measures are needed in the area of leader attitudes toward soldier mental health problems, and how those attitudes might impact the soldiers.

Today’s military encompasses a wide variety of families who are affected by deployments in multiple and complex ways. Following deployments, families must reconnect in their relationships and reestablish their way of life. Appropriate and effective communication during this time is critical, yet many military couples struggle with this process. Moreover, student service members/veterans and their families are in a unique position. In addition to coping with changes in their marital relationship, student veterans may feel isolated or unsupported on college campuses, often experiencing anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, or suicidality. The current study seeks to bridge the gap between the military family literature and the student service member/veteran literature by examining how deployment experiences, mental health issues, and communication patterns influence post-deployment relationship adjustment among student veterans. Analyses tested whether communication style and/or current mental health concerns mediate associations between combat experiences and couples’ relationship adjustment, as well as between experiences in the aftermath of battle and relationship adjustment. Results suggest that although posttraumatic stress is significantly related to deployment experiences among student veterans, participants report no significant negative effects of deployment on relationship adjustment. Communication style, however, was significantly associated with relationship adjustment, and a lack of positive communication was found to correlate with PTSD diagnosis. Research and clinical implications are discussed.