Engagement of individuals with suicide ideation into mental health treatment is a considerable challenge. Previous studies examining barriers and facilitators to service use among suicidal individuals have primarily focused on observed correlates (e.g., demographic characteristics). While there is utility in delineating these characteristics, treatment engagement and retention efforts can be strengthened by assessing belief systems about treatment itself and by determining the association between severity of suicide ideation and views of mental health treatment. In this regard, the first aim of this study was to determine if greater severity of suicide ideation is associated with elevated negative views of treatment. Further, understanding modifiable psychological motivational processes that may underlie the association between suicide ideation and beliefs about treatment may provide insight into appropriate interventions to promote treatment engagement and to retain suicidal individuals who initiate treatment. One useful framework through which to understand these relationships is Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which posits that humans have three basic psychology needs—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—that, when fulfilled, motivate human behavior. Thus, guided by SDT, the second aim of this study was to determine if autonomy, relatedness, and competence separately and/or collectively moderate the association between suicide ideation and negative views of treatment. To test these aims, data were analyzed from a sample of 215 individuals who presented to a community mental health training clinic. Severity of suicide ideation was assessed via the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSS). The psychological needs posited by SDT were assessed via the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). The Negative Treatment Indicators (TRT) content scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2) was utilized as an indicator of views of treatment. The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale was included as a covariate. A series of regression analyses were employed to test relevant main effects and interactions. As predicted, severity of suicide ideation was associated with greater negative views of treatment in both an unadjusted model and a model adjusted for GAF score. There were significant main effects of Self-Determination Theory constructs on negative views of treatment, such that greater psychological needs fulfillment was associated with less negative views of treatment. However, the analyses testing the interaction between suicide ideation and basic psychological needs in the prediction of negative views of treatment were generally not statistically significant. Thus, our finding that, among psychiatric outpatients, greater severity of suicide ideation was associated with more negative views of treatment, even after adjusting for overall functioning, underscores the critical need for further efforts to engage and retain these high-risk individuals into mental health treatment. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 28, 2015. / negative views of treatment, self-determination theory, suicide ideation / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas E. Joiner, Jr., Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Natalie J. Sachs-Ericsson, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Roy F. Baumeister, Committee Member.

In residential treatment settings, it is essential for many clinical and research purposes to conduct high-quality assessments of the integrity of treatment, that is, the extent to which the intended therapy is occurring. When psychosocial treatment integrity has been measured in these settings, retrospective ratings by direct-care staff have often been utilized. The current study was designed to empirically evaluate the potential of both self-ratings by staff and ratings by their supervisors for accurately assessing treatment integrity. Forty staff members of an inpatient psychiatric unit rated their own behavior toward clients. In addition, 11 unit supervisors completed a similar rating-scale measure on 29 of the workers. When the data were examined at the level of the individual worker, self-ratings by staff and ratings by their supervisors were at best only moderately similar to data on the Staff-Resident Interaction Chronograph, a direct-observational-coding instrument. These results clearly do not warrant use of rating-scale data for clinical decision-making, which often has profound effects on peoples' lives. However, when administered under certain conditions and averaged across respondents, both self-ratings and supervisor ratings did fairly accurately reflect the actual interactional pattern exhibited by the staff group, suggesting some potential for uses requiring information that is accurate at this level (e.g., program evaluation). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6560. / Major Professor: Mark H. Licht. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This study investigated the applicability of the MMPI-based criminal classification system to people hospitalized by the court after being tried on criminal charges (i.e., those adjudicated to be mentally disordered sex offenders or people who were not guilty by reason of insanity). There were two purposes for this research. One was to investigate the generalizability of a typology found useful with various penal populations. The second was to discover if that classification system could serve as a means of communication between penal institution mental health staff and forensic hospital personnel concerning viable differential treatment and prediction for offenders. / Subjects for the research were drawn from the population at the Forensic Service at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, Florida. Their MMPI profiles were obtained along with a variety of data from the patients' hospital medical files. To test the applicability of the typology to that population, statistical analyses were performed comparing the hospital patients to the prison subjects studied by Megargee et al. (1979). / There were two hypotheses tested. The first stated that different proportions of people would be classified within each typological category when comparing samples from the two settings. That hypothesis was supported. The second stated that people classified within each category would not differ in their demographic and behavioral correlates, regardless of the institution from which they came. Results did not tend to support that hypothesis. Some procedural flaws were noted, though the investigator still concluded that there was a lack of support for the use of the MMPI-based classification system with forensic hospital populations with the same meaning it has acquired within penal settings. Future research directions are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: B, page: 3928. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The present study investigated relationships between the MMPI and multiple validational referents within an experimental-laboratory situation, where Ss underwent provocative interpersonal stress. / The subject sample comprised an N of 176 black and white, male, prison inmates, ages 18 to 26 years. Subjects with valid MMPI profiles were counterbalanced in assignment to black and white experimenters. The data were collected during a larger research project in 1970-1974. / Experimental procedures resulted in a 3 x 2 factoral design across three classes of dependent variables. Thus, the results were analyzed for MMPI high, medium and low categories, on each standard clinical scale for each of 26 dependent variables. These included reports of subjective feelings, social behaviors and autonomic responses. / Findings were nonsignificant and discussed in light of homogeneity and chance factors as being salient features. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-11, Section: B, page: 3538. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This research posed several questions: Can normal subjects produce a frontal lobe profile on the Luria-Nebraska, Form I, and what effect might coaching have on this ability? In addition, can subjects maintain profile stability over one week's time, and what effect might coaching have on this ability? / Uncoached subjects had considerable difficulty in dissimulating a frontal lobe profile. Coached subjects, on the other hand, produced significantly more profiles that were classified as having frontal lobe damage when critical scale elevations were used to make the classification. In absolute terms, more coached subjects were also classified as "frontal" by judges, but this difference did not reach significance. / In terms of profile stability, the results of this study indicate that a test-retest method for the detection of faking has some promise. Despite subjects being told to try to match their previous performances, the Motor and Expressive Speech scales demonstrated significant differences on retest for both groups. / The question of whether coaching effects profile stability must remain unanswered for the moment. The failure to demonstrate significant differences means little in light of the small sample size. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, Section: B, page: 1907. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Test Anxiety affects many college students. It is viewed theoretically as a construct consisting of several components which impair academic performance and general health of students. One theory views the anxiety as being composed of worry, task-generated interference, and self-perceived autonomic arousal that interfere with information processing. Another views it as a result of deficits in study and test-taking skills. Results of treatment outcome studies are equivocal on areas to target for optimal treatment. This study addresses these inconclusive results. / Students enrolled in introductory psychology classes at Florida State University were screened for test anxiety. Those meeting inclusion criteria were asked to volunteer for the study, resulting in 110 subjects who were randomly assigned to either a Stress Inoculation Training treatment (SIT), a study skills training treatment (SST), a combined treatment consisting of SIT and SST, and a delayed treatment control group. Anxiety and study skills measures, along with examination scores, were obtained after two classroom examinations, given at 4-week intervals. A 4-week follow-up after a third examination, assessing strength of treatment, was made. Also, pre- and post-semester noncumulative grade point averages were compared. After the first examination, treatment subjects were provided a 3-week self-directed treatment (appropriate to the experimental condition) that was explained by the experimenter to subjects in small groups. / It was hypothesized that test anxiety is the result of both interference and skills deficits and treatment should target both. Thus, the combined treatment group was expected to demonstrate significant anxiety reduction increased performance following treatment. Results did not support the hypothesis. A significant reduction in anxiety was reported on several measures for both the combined and SIT treatment groups, as compared with the SST and Control groups; however, exam scores and GPA did not significantly improve for any group. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: B, page: 6469. / Major Professor: Charles H. Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The present study was designed to develop a causal model of variables important in predicting various outcomes with chronic, psychiatric patients who were hospitalized. Four pre-hospital and nine in-hospital variables were included in the model predicting three different outcomes. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationships among the variables. / Although each model was statistically related to each outcome, the proportions of variance explained were smaller than expected. Several variables related consistently to outcomes. Pre-hospital variables were found to be more related to outcome than in-hospital variables, contrary to predictions. All significant effects were direct rather than indirect effects, also contrary to predictions. The best-explained outcome was an index developed to reflect independence of the setting to which a patient was discharged. This finding suggested that historical variables (i.e., pre-hospital variables) and functioning at the time of discharge (i.e., in-hospital variables) were more related to discharge type than to the two other outcomes traditionally used to index success of discharge. / The present study suggested that the proposed model was either not complete enough or not specified correctly. Suggestions were made regarding possible revisions to consider in future studies. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: B, page: 3767. / Major Professor: Mark H. Licht. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The present study surveyed a panel of 29 family therapy experts and AAMFT-approved supervisors knowledgeable of the therapist system and the family therapist's use of self. The goal of the study was to derive a consensual definition of the term use of self, to a level consistent with theory building, for the purpose of contributing to therapeutic alliance theory. The preferred term for the concept, Therapeutic Use of Self, was selected by 65% of the panelists. / The methodology utilized three qualitative approaches. First, the Delphi technique was chosen to explore group opinion and decision formation. Second, computer-aided content analysis provided methodological rigor. Last, interviews complemented the Delphi process. / Panelists' assertions were rated on a 7 point scale. Medians were utilized as parameters to determine inclusion/exclusion in the final definition of use of self. Fifty-one percent of panelists' 328 assertions met the criteria for inclusion. Eighty-eight percent of the investigator's composite statements also met the criteria for inclusion. Further, the composites were broken into constituent elements and rated, with 69% of the elements meeting the criteria for inclusion in the final profile. Only 4% of panelists' assertions met the definition of greatest disagreement or division. None of the constituent elements met the criteria of greatest division or disagreement. / With regard to theory building, the essential elements of a real definition of therapeutic use of self were delineated. Parameters were established for a sensitizing concept and groundwork was laid to operationalize the term. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: B, page: 3797. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The role of hyperventilation in producing symptoms in a non-clinical population as well as its relation to anxiety were investigated. A group of likely hyperventilators (n = 18) and unlikely hyperventilators (n = 16), balanced with regard to sex, were selected from a student population (N = 385) using a screening questionnaire of hyperventilation-related symptoms. Along with the screening questionnaire, all subjects were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Speilberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene, 1970). The experimental groups were given an overbreathing test using room air and a control overbreathing test using carbon dioxide enriched air, which was expected to produce fewer symptoms. In addition, subjects' normal breathing rate and volume were measured and they were given two clinical questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist (Derogatis, 1977) and a subscale of face valid hyperventilation-related items from the MMPI. / Likely hyperventilators were found to report more symptoms than unlikely hyperventilators after overbreathing room air but not after overbreathing carbon dioxide enriched air. In addition, the symptoms reported by the likely hyperventilators after overbreathing moderately matched those originally reported on the screening questionnaire. Further, the likely hyperventilators' normal breathing showed higher volume and rate than the unlikely hyperventilators. Likely hyperventilators also scored higher on all the scales of the Symptom Checklist as well as the face-valid scale of hyperventilation-related items from the MMPI. Finally, a correlation of .42 was found between the original screening questionnaire of hyperventilation symptoms and the trait half of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results supported a relation between chronic hyperventilation and symptom experience in a non-clinical population, and between hyperventilation and anxiety. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-07, Section: B, page: 2339. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Forty-four pairs of college roommates were studied across their first academic quarter. In 22 pairs, one person was depressed at the outset (Beck Depression Inventory (GREATERTHEQ) 10). They completed written measures of depression and their perceptions of themselves and their roommates three times (Interpersonal Checklist, Impact Message Inventory) and attended two laboratory sessions in which they engaged in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game procedure and were interviewed. In addition to major analyses (primarily repeated measures anovas), subjects who remained depressed were compared with those who did not; and regression analyses addressed which factors predicted the depressive's view of the relationship and satisfaction with it. / Depressed subjects described themselves as consistently more dependent and self-effacing and their relationships as ultimately involving fewer egalitarian solutions to conflicts. In terms of perceptions and communications, depressed pairs showed patterns over time that did not occur in the nondepressed pairs; Depressives were initially viewed as more nurturant; their roommates, in contrast, as increasingly sociable. Similarly, the depressives' roommates communicated a high depress of ingratiation initially but less so over time, whereas the depressives increasingly communicated ingratiation. These group-by-time interactions suggest a pattern wherein the roommates exchange roles, with the depressive initially adopting a more positive and dominant style than previously reported. Depressed pairs also interacted in a more ingratiating and less exploitive manner and remained unchanged whereas the other pairs became more cooperative and less exploitive. Subjects who stayed depressed differed from those whose depression remitted, both initially and in changes over time. Regressions indicated that the nature of the depressives' relationships could be predicted by initial elements of the relationship and the lifting of depression. / Results are discussed as partially supporting the interactional sequences proposed by Coyne (1976a) and Hokanson (Note 1). The most notable finding, that depressives were initially more dominant and appear to exchange roles with their partners is discussed as a pattern that may only occur in relationships of ongoing importance to the depressive. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-09, Section: B, page: 3031. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.