<p> The study investigated the relationship of physical activity (domain, frequency, amount, and intensity) on mental health (depression, stress, and anxiety) in the general population. Two hundred and fifty-three individuals eighteen or older completed either an online or paper survey for the study. Pearson Correlation, T-tests, and multiple regression were used in the data analysis. Results indicated vigorous activity correlated negatively with stress (<i>r</i> = -.16 <i>p</i> &lt; .01) and anxiety, (<i> r</i> = -.15 <i>p</i> &lt; .01). Amount of activity correlated negatively with anxiety, <i>r</i> = -.15 <i>p</i> &lt; .05. Leisure time activity, frequency of activity, and amount of activity were significant predictors of stress among females, R² = .07, <i> p</i> &lt; .05 and anxiety among males, R² = .09, <i> p</i> &lt; .05 (vigorous for men and moderate for female). Males were found to participate in significantly more vigorous leisure activity than females, <i>t</i> = 2.50, <i>p</i> &lt; .01. Given the limited research on factors of physical activity, results of the study offer useful information for future research into the complexities of physical activity and its effects on mental health.</p>

<p> Aim &amp; Objective: The aim of this project is to review the background literature and discuss the PICOt question as follows: In adult nursing students, age 30+, who are experiencing anxiety in the clinical setting, does peer dyad mentoring support in the clinical setting enable these students to decrease their anxiety level and pass their clinical effectively over a 90 day period of time?</p><p> Background: Clinical experience is an integral part of nursing education and prepares students nurses to integrate knowing with doing. Anxiety can cause a disruption in the learning and professional functioning of the student, and subsequently of the graduate nurse. Further to this, many non-traditional mature nursing students are adults entering the college or university setting with life experience unrelated to their new nursing career. They are attempting to balance work, home and school responsibilities. This anxiety has a variety of causes and also appears to have a variety of solutions.</p><p> Design: This project is a mixed method analysis, which contains both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Participants in the project were a convenience sample of Nursing students age 30+, in the BSN program at California State University Sacramento, willing to partake in this intervention, to assist in reducing their anxiety level during clinical. The project engages the use of true peer dyads (students at the same level of education) for the purpose of collaborative learning in the clinical setting. All subjects were given pre- and post-tests consisting of the State form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults&trade; (STAI-AD) is the definitive instrument for measuring anxiety in adults. The participants also completed a written qualitative interview guide at the end of the semester. </p><p> Results: The mean score of the STAI Anxiety Scale shows a definite decrease in anxiety after the peer dyad intervention in clinical. Of interest is the fact that the trait anxiety level also decreased in the final measurement. All sixteen mature students completed the peer dyad experience. The overall quantitative response to the peer dyad experience in clinical was a positive one according to the mature students involved.</p><p> Conclusions: Nursing students, are stressed and anxious in both the clinical setting (State anxiety) and appear to be more anxious in general (Trait anxiety). Formalized peer learning can decrease anxiety, help students learn effectively and is an important addition to the repertoire of learning activities that can enhance the quality of nursing education. Meeting the present and future challenges of educating nurses will require innovative models of clinical instruction, such as collaborative learning using student peer dyads.</p>

<p> Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT), an empirically supported and evidence-based third-wave behavioral approach for treatment of couples, is examined in this multiple case study. Specifically, the qualitative experiences of therapists using IBCT in their work with intercultural couples are examined through each therapist&rsquo;s typed responses to open-ended questions. Each participating therapist in this study contributes by describing one case in which IBCT was used to help the couple navigate cultural differences as part of treatment. This study describes the various stressors faced by intercultural couples, therapists&rsquo; formulations of cultural differences, change processes and change mechanisms during treatment, and similarities and differences across therapists&rsquo; reports. The study concludes with participating therapists&rsquo; recommendations for treatment of intercultural couples in general, and recommendations for utilizing IBCT with intercultural couples. Lastly, implications for future research are provided.</p>

<p> Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) exhibit low motivation to participate in educational leisure activities at Clubhouses accredited by Clubhouse International (CI). This correlational study examined the relationship between each of 4 motives, intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance, to engage in leisure activities, and the perception of recovery from SMI. Knowles&rsquo;s theory of andragogy supported the concept of informal self-directed learning, which occurs with leisure activities. Literature indicates that participating in leisure activities such as those offered at Clubhouses aids in the recovery from SMI. Quantitative data were collected from a convenience sample of 75 individuals at 4 CI clubhouses using 2 Likert-scale instruments, the Leisure Motivational Scale (LMS) and the Recovery Assessment Scale &ndash; Domains and Stages (RAS-DS). Pearson correlation coefficients indicated significant moderate positive correlations between each of 4 motives, intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance, to engage in leisure activities, and the perception of recovery from SMI. These findings were used to design a professional development program on motivation to teach the staff at a Clubhouse about how to engage members in leisure activities. The study has the potential to inspire positive social change by motivating members to improve their quality of life, learn social and work skills, develop friendships and a support system, reengage with society, and to become employed.</p>

<p>In Aotearoa New Zealand, M?ori are overrepresented in criminal and mental health contexts, comprising only 14.9% of the nation, yet over 50% of institutional populations. These figures are not unique, but represent a broader struggle to overcome the legacy of colonization affecting indigenous communities worldwide. In response to these issues, I examine the impacts of M?ori cultural expression in forensic mental health through an ethnography of the kapa haka r?p? (group) in the Kaupapa M?ori forensic psychaitric unit, Te Papak?inga O T?ne Whakapiripiri. This unit reconceptualizes Western frameworks for mental health service provision, incorporating cultural education as an integral aspect of treatment, such as M?ori performing arts (i.e., kapa haka). The unit also imbues M?ori cultural values, practices, and forms of expression into daily life, an act that transforms the experience of institutionalization for t?ngata whai i te ora (patients) and the practice of forensic mental health more broadly. In this dissertation, I first unpack the collaborative methodology developed in this research, providing a set of recommendations for a more ?codetermined? research process. I then explain the research?s broader academic and social contexts, tracing the history of M?ori music scholarship, and then the history of New Zealand?s cultural and political transformation from 1840 to the present. This culminates in an ethnography of T?ne Whakapiripiri, where I examine the impacts of the kapa haka program and the unit?s broader musical activities on t?ngata whai i te ora and the clinical environment in four domains: te taha wairua (the spirit), te taha hinengaro (the mind), te taha tinana (the body), and te taha wh?nau (the community). Overall, this research illustrates that embedding forms of cultural expression such as kapa haka into the clinical model positively impacts t?ngata whai i te ora, improving their understanding and experiences of themselves, their illnesses, and their environment. Such cultural expression also shows how a Kaupapa M?ori framework transforms the institutional environment from a Western model emphasizing individualism, hierarchy, and isolation toward a more holistic, collective, and wh?nau-centered model that holds the potential to shift our understanding of what forensic mental health is and can be.

<p> A traumatic and life-altering event, such as sexual assault, can adversely affect a survivor&rsquo;s psychological well-being. In conjunction with an individual&rsquo;s natural resources, religious and/or spiritual resources can provide additional and critical support as the realities of the Interpersonal trauma come to fruition. However, many mental health professionals do not feel comfortable or prepared to include spiritual or religious issues, within the therapeutic relationship. The objective of this research study was to examine the connection between a female sexual assault victim&rsquo;s perceived God-image, attachment to a perceived God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, when processing Interpersonal trauma. This study employed Bowlby&rsquo;s attachment theory and Rizzuto&rsquo;s God-image theory. A convenience, nonprobability sample of 132 women, 18 years or older, who had experienced a sexual assault (but not within the past two years), completed a demographic questionnaire, Froese and Bader&rsquo;s God Questionnaire, and Lovibond and Lovibond&rsquo;s Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Data was analyzed using a MANOVA. The data concluded a lack of significant difference between the participant&rsquo;s perceived God image, her attachment to a God-image, and her selfreported levels of psychological distress due to the traumatic, Interpersonal experience. In the future, qualitatively analyzing this population would further explore valid themes and personal perspectives on the relationship between perceived God-image, an individual&rsquo;s attachment to a God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, which may further be used to inform mental health professionals on the most conducive treatment for sexual assault survivors. </p>

The purpose of the present study is to develop an operationally defined standard of psychological health which will be proposed as: 1) one of the goals of psychotherapy; 2) a device for aiding in the evaluation of psychotherapy, and 3) a tool for screening those individuals in the general population who are in need of counseling in order to maintain their mental health.

<p>This study explores the phenomena of birth and life in the womb and the possibility that much of the psychological suffering experienced throughout the lifespan is a result of deep wounds felt in the maternal womb. The findings of this thesis were honed from a heuristic process of investigation, and the analysis was informed by the theories and approaches of depth psychology. This thesis conceptualizes the human psyche by exploring Jung?s structure of psyche and his notion of the conscious and the unconscious in correlation with development of the fetus in utero. Using Jungian and object relations theory alongside the science of fetal development, it is found that trauma occurring before birth impacts psychological well-being of children later in life. This thesis sheds light on the importance of nurturing and caring for unborn children and brings awareness to this essential fact in the clinical world of psychology.

<p> Journey with the myth of Lethe, spring of oblivion and mother of anxiety, into the land of radical forgiveness and forgetfulness, healing the soul of the world. Forgetfulness is defined as proactive and positive, not reductionist or regressive. The research includes a comprehensive research survey of over 300 papers and 100 works of literature related to concepts of forgiveness and forgetfulness. Qualitative, alchemical hermeneutics, intuitive inquiry, and shamanic participatory epistemology methodologies are applied to investigating how life might be improved by a deeper level of healing of the soul provided by forgiveness and forgetfulness. The findings indicate that forgiveness and forgetfulness heal the individual, collective, and the planet as a whole. Recommendations are made for further psychological research, clinical implementation, and inclusion of forgiveness and forgetfulness in the areas of general psychotherapeutic theory and practice; wisdom psychology; posttraumatic embitterment disorder (PTED); and transgenerational transmission of trauma, suicide, and trauma. </p>

<p>Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), a systemic autoimmune disease, affects more than one million people within the United States and disproportionately impacts women of color particularly in their childbearing years, 15-44. Research on living with lupus post-diagnosis has expanded within the past decade. While research on SLE is increasing, little is known about the often-protracted journey women of color experience along the way toward diagnosis. The journey to accurate diagnosis is fraught with unexplained symptoms and uncertainty within the women?s spheres of life and influence. Therefore, the following research question arose: What are the lived experiences of women of color aged 22-44 who have experienced a protracted journey toward diagnosis with SLE? Utilizing a qualitative, phenomenological design, the researcher strove to document the lived experiences of 12 women of color who reported the experience of a protracted journey to SLE diagnosis of 6 months or more. The women were recruited from various methods of contact including message boards, lupus support groups, and social media. After recruitment and informed consent measures, interviews were conducted and transcribed. The coding and analysis of the interviews revealed the presence of various individual textural and structural themes involving aspects of the wait for answers: recurrent symptoms, significance of family, lack of answers from healthcare providers, work, uncertainty of life, desiring normalcy, and pain. Three themes overlapped throughout the interviews: Ambiguity while accessing the medical community, family matters and pushing through. The findings reveal the physical, psychological, and relational complexity surrounding the protracted journey to diagnosis and how the individual journey and collective experiences can aid healthcare professionals, lupus patients and their caregivers in timely, accurate, patient-centered care. Recommendations include further research on SLE and protracted diagnosis, the development of practical steps towards the empowerment of patients within the autoimmune community, and a call for more women in research and clinical trials that contribute toward the overall improvement of women?s healthcare.