No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to pilot a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents with co-occurring conduct problems and depression and to examine changes in diagnostic status, symptomatic improvement, and related areas of functioning associated with this treatment. Manualized treatment consisted of 11 to 16 sessions that targeted problem solving skills, cognitive restructuring, affect regulation skills, and parenting strategies. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. A sample of five adolescents, aged 11 to 14 years, participated; all five families completed the protocol. Measures of diagnostic status, symptoms, and global impairment were administered at baseline, post-treatment, and 1-month post-treatment. Decreases in depression and conduct problem symptoms as well as changes in diagnostic status were evident for three of the five participants. Clinician severity ratings improved for all of the children at post-treatment. Preliminary results suggest that integrated cognitive behavioral treatment for adolescents with conduct problems and depression is associated with symptomatic improvement as well. Results of this study have implications for improving treatment outcomes for youth with these comorbid conditions and may also lead to increased conceptual understanding of the nature of these comorbid problems. Randomized clinical trials are required to assess the effectiveness of this combined treatment program. / Ph. D.

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine what professional and personal problems elementary-school teachers face during their initial years of teaching and how they cope with or solve these problems. Beginning teachers abandon the teaching profession at alarming rates causing grave financial burdens to school divisions, schools, and tax payers. The phenomenon has also contributed to the current teacher shortages in particular subject areas and certain geographic locations. Many teachers who left the profession before their fifth year of professional teaching reported the problems associated with teaching as primary reasons for their exodus. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with six in-service elementary teachers. The interviews were conducted in three parts. All of the six participants were between their fifth and tenth year of teaching, and they all taught at the elementary level. The results indicated that they had problems with (a) personal issues and life experiences, (b) school curricula, (c) children with special needs, (d) differentiation of instruction, (e) discipline, (f) workload and time management, (g) parents, (h), student poverty and students' home issues, (j) relationships with students, (k) teacher training, and (l) administration. The participants coped with these problems by using pattern matching indicating that their own life experiences and backgrounds had significant roles in their problem-solving processes. Recommendations are made for preservice and beginning in-service teachers to focus on their educational experiences and biographical information to recall relevant information that will help them to cope with and solve professional problems. / Ph. D.

The current study aimed to test the long-term impact of abuse on immune functioning and to test the mediating role of interpersonal problems in the relationship between early child abuse experiences and immune functioning. A sample of 89 undergraduate adult women (M age = 19.24) completed reports of child abuse histories, interpersonal problems, and negative life events, and provided saliva samples to measure Secretory Immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and antibody level for Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1-sIgA). Participants were divided into three abuse history groups (i.e., no history of abuse, child physical abuse, child sexual abuse). The results failed to support the proposed mediation models. Age and recent unwanted sexual experiences, but not childhood abuse, were associated with reduced sIgA levels. The non-abused group evidenced a higher proportion of participants with detectable HSV-1-sIgA compared to the child physical abuse and child sexual abuse groups. In those with detectable HSV-1-sIgA, both abuse groups appeared to have higher levels, but this needs to be tested in future research with larger sample sizes. These findings suggest that the impact of victimization on sIgA may be more short-lived, while child abuse may be associated with a greater HSV-1 recurrence from latency. Future studies should examine other psychosocial predictors of immune level differences. / Master of Science