Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1977.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2006. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 243 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study was an investigation of the phenomenon of dementia caregiving burden and breakdown in community caregiving situations. 109 carer subjects participated in the study, with 91 current carers - 17 via face-to-face interview and 74 via the internet, and 18 past carers - two via face-to-face interview and 16 via the internet, contributing their experiences of dementia caregiving. Two new carers' assessment tools were devised to meet more fully the requirements of the 'Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995' (DoH, 1995), namely the 'Dementia Caregiving Problems Questionnaire (DCPQ)' and 'Dementia Caregiving Burden Questionnaire (DCBQ)'. These new assessments were tested and demonstrated to be reliable, with Cronbach Alpha scores of 0.7029 and 0.8430 respectively, and are recommended for implementation in clinical practice. The key predictive risk factors for high caregiving burden in this study were perceived stress; omission of caregiving satisfactions; carer depression; perceived impact on quality of life; perceived helpfulness of community care services; behaviour problems - especially shouting, swearing and screaming, irritability and night disturbance; poor quality carer/dependant relationship; mood problems; perceived helpfulness of informal support; perceived impact of caregiving on dependant emotional well-being and, to a lesser extent, hours spent in caregiving. The key predictive risk factors for expected relinquishment of home caregiving were DCBQ score; perceived impact on quality of life; perceived stress; carer depression and, to a lesser extent, geographical distance in caregiving; perceived helpfulness of community care services and omission of positive feelings in the carer. Based on the above risk factors, a new 'Dementia Caregiving Breakdown Risk Assessment Tool (DCBRAT)' is proposed for use by community care managers to identify 'at risk' caregiving situations so that service interventions can be targetted more towards carers who are highly burdened in their role, who are at risk of developing psychological health problems or who may be nearing breakdown in their caregiving situation. Thus the effectiveness of service interventions may be maximised and optimal health gain for carers achieved, resulting in improved outcomes for people with dementia. The DCBRAT and the similarly proposed 'Conceptual Model of Dementia Caregiving, Burden and Breakdown' will need to be further tested in post-doctoral research.

AN ABSRACT OF THE THESIS OF Greg Steinsdoerfer, for the Master of Arts degree in psychology, presented on October 25th, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: QUALITY OF NATURAL MENTOR RELATIONSHIPS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OUTCOMES IN A RURAL AFRICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SAMPLE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Kathie, Chwalisz, Ph.D. In response to the general call of the American Psychological Association (APA) for more multicultural and multinational research (APA, 2002), this study is an examination of natural mentor relationships in a rural sub-Saharan African high school student sample. A total of 200 rural Zambian high school students completed a set of self-report questionnaires to test three hypotheses. First, those with a natural mentor were hypothesized to have significantly better psychological health outcomes than those without a natural mentor, as measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE), the General Health Questionnaire - 12 (GHQ-12), and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Second, it was hypothesized that high school students with a natural mentor would report better health risk choices as measured by alcohol, smoking, drug, sexual activity, and bullying behavior. Finally, quality of the natural mentoring relationship (i.e., frequency of contact, emotional closeness, and longevity of the relationship) was hypothesized to be related to better psychological health outcomes. As hypothesized, sub-Saharan African high school students with a natural mentor reported significantly better psychological health outcomes on all measures than those who did not have a natural mentor. High school students with a natural mentor did not have significant differences in health choice behaviors, and the quality of the natural mentor relationship was not a significant predictor for psychological health. These findings have implications for prevention and intervention programs in rural community settings in Zambia. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

American culture supports a colorist system that values lighter skin tones in women of color, and these norms are communicated in some part by images present in our society. Previous research has not explored the impact that colorist images may have on the psychological health and appearance concerns of women of color. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether exposure to images of Black women who more closely meet colorist beauty standards (i.e., lighter skin) would negatively impact women’s psychological health and general appearance concerns. It was hypothesized that participants exposed to colorist images of Black women would experience greater increased negative affect, skin tone dissatisfaction, and appearance concerns; and greater decreased self-esteem. It was hypothesized that these relationships would be weaker in Black women who self-identify more closely with their ethnic background. It was further hypothesized that these relationships would be stronger in women with higher levels of internalization, poorer satisfaction with their skin tone, darker skin tones, greater desire for lighter skin, and lower trait levels of self-esteem. Results suggest images of Black women with varying skin tones do not impact the appearance concerns, negative affect, or self-esteem of Black women exposed to such images. However, trait self-esteem, self- identification with Black values, skin tone dissatisfaction and desired skin tone were found to moderate these relationships. This study makes an important contribution to the area of appearance and body image concerns specific to women of color. The dissemination of this research may contribute to the improvement of body dissatisfaction constructs specific to women of color.

Cruel teasing can be pernicious for targets' psychological health. In this thesis I examined the extent to which trait mindfulness might mitigate the negative psychological effects associated with cruel teasing. Correlation results confirmed cruel teasing history related significantly and directly, and mindfulness inversely, to poorer psychological health. Moderated regression analyses confirmed that among targets of frequent cruel teasing those with high levels of mindfulness did not evidence the detrimental psychological effects as did those low in mindfulness. Subsequent moderated regression analyses with cruel teasing history, mindfulness, and sexual identity status suggest that when people are low in mindfulness cruel teasing experiences affect their psychological health systematically regardless of sexual identity. Discussion focuses on the role of mindfulness for well-being, particularly in mitigating the negative effects of cruel teasing for psychological health, the individual and social implications for promoting mindfulness, and other directions for future research.

This study aims to examine to what extent Dutch GPs are at risk for burnout, and to identify personal, professional and practice related characteristics that are associated with high burn out scores. In the extant literature, physicians are identified as professionals who are high risk for burnout. In the past decade, working conditions for general practitioners (GPs) in the Netherlands have changed for the worse. There are no recent data on GP burnout in the Netherlands. Although much is known in the literature about factors that are associated with burnout and the role job demands and resources play in getting burned out, the extent to which these findings apply in the context of Dutch GPs is unknown. This study is designed as a quantitative, survey based, empirical study. An invitation to complete an online survey was sent to 4,000 GPs in the Netherlands, of whom close to 1,300 participated in this study (33% response rate). The data were analysed using IBM SPSS 22.0. The data analysis consisted of a descriptive analysis of the data with an emphasis on the outcome of burnout measurements, as well as an inferential analysis of the data with an emphasis on the association between respondents’ characteristics and burnout measurements. The results from this study indicate, that one in seven practicing Dutch GPs could be classified as burned out with fulltime working GPs reporting an average working week of 62 hours. According to the findings, the amount of hours worked per week is the most important determinant of emotional exhaustion. Variation in emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and professional efficacy can to a large extent be explained by variation in demands (administrative burden, work-home conflict, psychological job demands) and resources (decision latitude, co-worker support and home support). Increased job demands are predominantly associated with emotional exhaustion, while a scarcity of resources predominantly leads to increased depersonalisation and reduced professional efficacy. The findings demonstrate, that a bigger job size, more hours worked and a more responsible position held, are associated with higher experienced demands, which is in turn associated with unfavourable burnout scores, particularly increased emotional exhaustion. Working in a group setting, being professionally active outside of one’s own practice and being in a relationship were found to be associated with increased resources, which is in turn associated with favourable burnout scores, particularly decreased depersonalisation and increased professional efficacy. Based on the findings of this study, three recommendations for government bodies, healthcare providers and other healthcare stakeholders were formulated: 1) Reduce the length of the working week, predominantly by reducing the number of allocated patients per GP. This recommendation implies an increase in the GP workforce; 2) Undertake a comprehensive analysis of the quantity, type and purpose of administrative duties currently performed by GPs and trim unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy within the GP practice and 3) Increase co-worker support, either within the GP practice or by using the existing collegiate support infrastructure.

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