DID I? is a feature-length thriller film written, directed, produced, and shot by Sarah Tice as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Feature Film Production from the School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida. This project was created with the intent to challenge the perception of mental disorders in mainstream and commercial media while also experimenting with micro-crew sizes to produce an efficient and high-quality film. This thesis is a record of the research, design, preproduction, and postproduction processes that were completed in order to produce this film.

This critical discourse analysis was conducted to determine how if the language used in the depictions of mental illness (specifically anxiety) in two young adult (YA) fiction texts is accurate in alignment with the diagnostic criteria of anxiety disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Ed., DSM-5). This study analyzes the YA novels You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman (2019) and Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall (2016). Further, this study explored how the depictions of the protagonists in these two realistic YA fiction novels provide authentic behaviors about anxiety disorders. This study determined that You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman (2019) and Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall (2016) are in alignment with the diagnostic criteria provided in the DSM-5. Further, it determined that the depictions in these novels provide authentic behaviors about anxiety disorders through their capacity to provide readers with a safe space to explore the impact of anxiety on the protagonists' experiences, behaviors, identities, and social relationships. This study is significant in that it provides an analysis of two YA novel to determine if the depictions of anxiety disorders that are being provided to readers are accurate and that they align to the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5.

Anxiety, depression, and stress are three of the most common experiences that impact college student functioning and academic achievement. At least one in six college students struggle with anxiety, increasing risk for developing depressive symptoms or disorders that further impact wellness. However, as mental health concerns increase across campuses, universities are not equipped to meet the demand of mental health support for college students. Neurofeedback (NF) training presents as an innovative intervention to treat anxiety, depression, and stress as it is designed to regulate brain processes in an effort to increase more effective brain functioning. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design was utilized to determine differences between treatment group and waitlist control group participants' anxiety, stress, and depression scores at four time points as measured by the: (a) Beck Anxiety Inventory [BAI] (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988); (b) Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition [BDI-II] (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996); (c) Perceived Stress Scale [PSS] (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983); and (d) Social Anxiety Thought questionnaire [SAT] (Hartman, 1984). Furthermore, cortisol testing was used through assessment of saliva samples using Salimetrics Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Key findings for the current investigation include: (a) a marginally significant (p = .051) difference between treatment group and control group participants' PSS (partial η2 = .093), BDI-II (partial η2 = .089), and SAT (partial η2 = .052) scores over time; (b) no significance difference among participant demographics between treatment group and control group assessment scores over time; (c) no significance between treatment group and control group assessment scores and salivary cortisol levels over time; and (d) a negative relationship between the control group participants' salivary cortisol levels at pre-test on the BAI, PSS, and SAT. Finally, results are compared to previous studies. Limitations and implications as well as areas for future research are explored.

Despite the amount of people currently using technology and the overwhelming amount of data already presented on the topic of how technology affects a person's mental health, there seems to be little information on how the different types of activities on the different types of screens affect university student's mental states. This research study examined the amount of time that a University of Central Florida (UCF) student spends on what was defined as educational activities in front of screens and what was defined as recreational. The definitions of what is educational and what is recreational screen time came from a previously published study (Salzano et al., 2021). These dimensions of screen time have never been investigated like this before. This data was then compared to the student's current level of depression (among other factors) to see if more time per day, in a particular screen time group, affects a university student's mental state. This information is extremely important to investigate as understanding if certain activities affect a university student's mental health could lead us to lower the increasing level of depression in this country if those screen activities are limited (Duffy et al., 2019). In the end 449 currently enrolled UCF student responses were recorded and it was determined that the data did not support the hypothesis. According to this study the amount of screen time, whether it be educational or recreational, did not influence any aspect of a university student's mental health whether it be depression, stress, or mindfulness as there was no difference between any of the scores at the different screen time values. If this study was to be conducted again, perhaps more participants could be included, or a different scale of screen time could be used to obtain different results.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between dental and mental health. To dive deeper into seeing this connection, patients with sleep apnea will be asked to share their experiences with the treatments for sleep apnea and how it had affected their mental or dental health.

Although previous research has identified a relationship between insecure attachment styles and symptoms of depression and anxiety, evidence regarding the mechanisms of action driving this relationship has been lacking. Consequently, the current study examined the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between insecure attachment styles (i.e. anxious-avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, helpless-disorganized and frightened-disorganized) and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The current study included a sample of 182 participants (i.e., 87 men and 95 women) who completed six questionnaires that assessed each participants' relationship with their caregivers during their childhood, present symptoms of depression and anxiety, and their resilience. Correlational analyses indicated significant relationships among the variables being studied. The formation of an insecure attachment during childhood predicted significantly symptoms of depression and anxiety in adulthood in both men and women. More specifically, the relationship between anxious-avoidant and anxious-ambivalent with symptoms of depression was partially mediated by resilience for men. There were no significant mediation for symptoms of anxiety for me. Within the women population, resilience served as a partial mediator in the relationship between anxious-ambivalent attachment and depression as well as in the relationship between frightened-disorganized attachment and anxiety. Such findings suggested that resilience could act as a protective factor against symptoms of depression and anxiety. These results demonstrated the importance for promoting resilience, especially for individuals who formed insecure attachments during childhood. The importance of studying the relationships among these variables is discussed further.

The development of the infant from birth to four years will approximately parallel the stages of development of the profoundly retarded children enrolled in the Development Centers for Handicapped Minors ( DCHM ) in California. The retarded child is a human being and may be assumed to have the same basic equipment as the normal child. If we expand and prolong the development stated of the normal child we will be able to lead the DCHM child through these states in slow motion to insure progress. To develop a curriculum, an assessment of the abilities of the child was necessary. A screening device as designed to measure the development of the child in four areas --- Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Social, and Language. Skills leading towards ambulation were included in the Gross Motor area; skills leading toward manipulation of objects in space were included in the Fine Motor area; skills leading toward independent living were included in the Social area, while skills leading to improvement in communication were included in the Language area. Tasks in the Social area were divided into sub-groups of social interaction, feeding, dressing, and toileting. Language included two sub-groups – Receptive Language and Expressive Language. Over 800 tasks were reviewed from 18 sources. Three hundred and fifty-nine tasks were finally chosen on the basis of criteria established. The tasks were to be observable, describable, and development. The tasks were then arranged into areas mentioned above and then into levels of development. Twenty-two levels of development were necessary to show the progress of development sufficiently to be useful in the DCHM. The tasks were organized so that the teacher could determine the child developmental level of the child with very little demand on the child. Most of the assessment could be done by observation or with knowledge of the child already possessed by the teacher. A card for recording the progress and the assessment of the child was designed that would also give the teacher a graphic picture of the level of the child and would also keep an ongoing record of the progress of the child with little interruption of the normal activities in the classroom. Each of the 359 tasks was listed on a separate 5X8 Activity Card. Each Activity Card included the abbreviated description of the task, the area, the level, and a three character code designed for that task. Under this information, a behavioral description of the task was given. Next, the tasks expected at the next level were listed, and then suggested classroom activities associated with the next level were given. The Activity Card was designed so that when a teacher observed a new behavior in a child, he could refer to the card on file to note the level and area of the behavior and plan lessons or activities accordingly. A Gestalt of all tasks is included in the Appendix. The tasks selected were from recognized source and because of this, no effort was made to standardize the results. There were three purposes for this study: (1) To provide a tool for the teachers in the DCGM that would allow them to look at the developmental levels of the children; (2) To assess the functioning level of the children; and (3) To provide information about the curriculum suitable for the various levels of development.

The present study sought to determine whether or not state anxiety levels were significantly reduced when individuals participated in aerobic dance workouts of 15 minutes and 30 minutes. Undergraduate university students and faculty enrolled in an aerobic dance class were volunteers in this study. As hypothesized, subjects in the aerobic dance classes did reduce anxiety acutely following both their 15 minute and 30 minute workout as assessed by the STAI (Y-Form State Anxiety). Thus, results indicate that state anxiety may be reduced through aerobic dance with similar situations and individuals. In addition, the study also looked at the posttest state anxiety score differences between the 15 minutes and 30 minutes. The results were not significant, indicating neither length of aerobic dance workout session was superior to the other. These results contribute to a currently expanding area of research examining the relationship between anxiety reduction and aerobic dance.

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate mindfulness strategies and their influence on working memory. The potential role of music in facilitating mindfulness practice is explored. Various listening exercises were investigated along with their influence on working memory (i.e. attention control). Thirty-four individuals were randomly assigned to participate in one of four listening groups: 1) mindfulness with music, 2) mindfulness without music, 3) music only, and 4) silence. Thirty-four participants engaged in a computerized digit-span task before and after the listening exercise to assess pre- and post-test working memory performance. Thirty participants were included in data-analysis due to technical errors in data collection. Differences between listening exercises were explored and comparisons were made between mindfulness, non-mindfulness, music, and non-music based exercises. Two-tailed independent samples t-tests found no significant differences in working memory when comparing mindfulness versus non-mindfulness and music versus non-music based exercises. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated no significant differences in working memory for any of the listening conditions. Results call for further examination of control variables and methodology to explore the role of music listening in mindfulness practice. Implications for further research and contributions to music therapy and music education are considered.

<p>Substance abuse is a major public health concern. Scholars predict a growing proportion of people aged 50 years and older suffering from addiction to alcohol, prescription or over-the-counter medications and/or illegal substances (Wu & Blazer, 2011; Han et al., 2009). Available Canadian statistics reveal that 6-10% of older adults experience alcohol problems, 1% use illegal substances and approximately 6% seek addiction treatment for prescription opioids (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010; Tjepkema, 2004; CAMH, 2008). Older adults face personal, social, and structural barriers to treatment, which result in a significant number of people living with addiction and remaining undiagnosed and untreated in the community (Crome & Bloor, 2005b). Nevertheless, this issue is significantly understudied and under-recognized, particularly within Canadian literature.</p> <p>This qualitative research study examined the perspectives of addiction service providers regarding the issue of addiction among older adults. A descriptive, qualitative research design was used to explore the perspectives of addiction service providers using in-depth, semi-structured personal interviews. Purposive sampling techniques were used to recruit 24 service providers employed by Hamilton addiction services. Semi-structured interviews included questions on (a) the current provision of addiction services for older adults, (b) characteristics of older adults (c) perceived barriers to treatment, and (d) recommendations for addressing the needs of older adults living with addiction. The interview also collected demographic information to describe the demographic profile of agencies and research participants involved in the study.</p> <p>By using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) phases of thematic analysis, this study observed several key themes that confirmed and extended existing literature. New contributions highlight the following: (1) according to service providers, older adults demonstrate a greater readiness for change and stronger commitment to their treatment plan regardless of whether they are enrolled in a mixed-age or age-specific program. (2) Some older adults use substances to cope with cumulative shame that stems from unresolved, traumatic early-life experiences. This new finding supports principles of the life course perspective by highlighting the impact of early life events on late life experiences. (3) Service providers can address some of the age-specific needs of older adults by assigning them to an older counselor in treatment. (4) In order to enhance treatment outcomes, older adults should <em>direct</em> their care and be viewed as experts in their treatment needs. (5) From the perspective of service providers, older and younger adults benefit from interactions with each other when the older adult is in recovery and the younger adult is recovering. Older adults recovering also benefit from interactions with older peers in recovery, particularly when they are in mixed-age programs. Opportunities for peer interaction during and after treatment can produce favourable recovery outcomes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)