The purpose of this study is to examine rural children's sedentary time during school days vs non-school days Currently, childhood obesity research has focused predominantly on urban-dwelling children. However, existing literature indicates that rural children have higher rates of obesity than their urban counterparts. There is a current lack of evidence investigating the obesogenic behaviors of rural children, such as physical activity levels, sleep duration, sedentary behaviors and diet. With this project, I aim to observe sedentary time (time spent sitting, screen time etc.) as research has shown that independent of physical activity, sedentary time is associated with weight gain. A secondary aim of this research is to test the Structured Days Hypothesis which states that children engage in less-favorable obesogenic behaviors (e.g., prolonged sitting, higher screen time) during non-school versus school-days due to the removal of ‘structure' during non-school days.

Introduction: Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate poor health-related behaviors, such as nutrition, compared to their typically developed (TD) counterparts. With the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory stay-at-home orders, such health-related behaviors may be complicated and there is a need to focus on feasibility and acceptability of in-person and remote-based nutrition programs. Methods: Eleven high school students with ASD were recruited to participate in a modified nutrition program utilizing Zoom software during COVID-19. The duration was once a week for four weeks, and concepts reviewed included shopping for healthy food on a budget, introducing non-perishable but nutritious food items, and food preparation safety measures. Results: Ninety-seven percent of participants attended the remote-based nutrition program, while 87% attended the in-person nutrition program. While in-person demonstrated benefits including face-to-face interaction and hands-on cooking, the remote-based component demonstrated a high degree of feasibility and acceptability. Half of the students felt their health-related behaviors were negatively impacted by COVID-19 but reported that the implementation of the remote-based nutrition program positively impacted their nutrition choices. Conclusion: The enforcement of health-related behaviors in adolescents with ASD is significant especially during disaster-related situations. Future research should focus on efficacy and intertwining methods of in-person and remote-based learning of a nutrition or other health-related behavioral interventions in this population.

The Covid-19 pandemic had global consequences for billions of individuals, including high rates of mortality and morbidity, lost income, and prolonged social isolation. In the short and long term, this crisis will have an impact on people's lives and mental health. The current correlational study looks at how internal state language, stress, and coping are used in college students' narratives concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown experiences in relation to psychological well-being. A sample of 216 undergraduate students completed surveys that recorded their narrative experiences of COVID-19, psychological well-being, depression severity, and measure of how stressful occurrences in one’s life are perceived. The participants’ narratives, stress, coping, stress categories, and coping categories were all coded from the obtained data. According to the findings, the more internal state language individuals used to describe their COVID-19 experiences, the greater their depression levels were. The use of greater internal state language in Covid-19 narratives was also linked to improved overall psychological well-being. In Covid-19 narratives, more stress is linked to worse mental health, depression, perceived stress, and environmental mastery. Greater attempts to cope are linked to improved mental health. We also observed that people become less autonomous when they are under a lot of social and relational stress. Overall, our findings expand existing knowledge about trauma narratives and coping in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by giving significant theoretical and practical insights into how narrative processing of the pandemic helped students cope with stress.

Mental health has received more attention and stigma associated with it has decreased over time in the United States. However, subpopulations have differing views on mental illness since cultural factors can shape perceptions of and influence access to mental health information. Previous studies have investigated such cultural factors among Sunni Muslims (the majority sect of Islam) and less so among Shia Muslims (the minority sect). To address this gap, two research questions were investigated in this project: (1) What are the mental health attitudes among Shia Muslim adults in the United States, and (2) How much mental health knowledge or literacy do Shia Muslim adults in the United States have? A survey was created to assess Shia Muslim mental health attitudes (including stigma) and knowledge. Using snowball sampling, 256 responses were collected. Analysis showed Shia Muslims believe biological, sinful, spiritual, and external factors contribute to mental illness and have low social stigma towards the mentally ill. They also have high mental health knowledge/literacy. Barriers to care reported include cost, time, mistrust of the mental healthcare system, social/self-stigma, and lack of culturally competent care.

This study utilized Moustakas’ heuristic methodology as the vehicle in which art creation was explored as a coping mechanism to fend off vicarious trauma when working with incarcerated juveniles with extensive trauma histories. During Moustakas’s initial engagement phase, the following questions were considered: What healthy coping mechanisms help a student deal with the harsh realities encountered in practicum? Can the art creation process fend off vicarious trauma? Can the art making process help the counter-­‐transference and help as a container for residual emotions after contact with a client? The data gathered for the study included twenty pieces of art and twenty journal entries, along with a culminating art piece for the Creative Synthesis. Six major themes were found in the researcher’s art work: Figure drawing, Stream of Consciousness Narrative, Duality, Powerlessness/Trapped, Schema Shifts, and Color. The findings of this study suggest that art making acts as a container for negative emotions that result from working with more challenging clinical populations and assists in fending off vicarious trauma.

The purpose of this research was to explore the integration of restorative justice approaches within the structure of group art therapy. The research approach was based on a mixed methods design that incorporated both a survey and a case study of a group. The open group structure posed some challenges; however, four of the adolescents agreed to participate in the research study. Each of the eight group art therapy sessions was structured to include an art directive, psychoeducation, and group discussion. Based on the analysis of the data, restorative justice approaches can be successfully integrated into group art therapy. Findings suggest that the participants experience an ambiguity between the roles of victim and offender and had difficulty distinguishing the short-­‐term and long-­‐ term effects of behavior. The developed curriculum can be beneficial for incarcerated and anger management populations, as well as in school-­‐based programs. Future research may include explorations into the efficacy of the curriculum in a school setting with a closed group format. This research has opened the door for several future studies and has provided valuable information to the art therapy field.

This qualitative case study examined the influencing factors of runaway behavior, trauma, and the survival response of “flight.” The participant, an 18-year-old male residing at a transitional living program, ran away at age 17 and experienced a significant trauma history. Throughout the course of treatment, artwork and clinical notes were used as data. Many themes surfaced in the analysis process, including controlled chaos, body fragmentation, sun symbols, female imagery, and lack of color. The act of running away emerged subtly, whereas, traumatic experiences, chronic in nature and beginning early in life, were acutely evident. While the study was specifically concerned with the “flight” response, due to the age of the client when the traumatic events began, the “freeze” response was more prevalent in his artwork. This suggested that further research with this population may reveal the thread that connects these two survival responses and specifically when the “freeze” response shifts to a “flight” response related to running away behavior.

This research explores the experience of participation in a pilot program that integrated poetry and photography for a group of seven adults living with severe and persistent mental illness. Data was gathered in the form of written, visual and verbal responses generated through a semistructured, qualitative focus group that took the week after the end of the pilot program. The data was categorized and coded using a analytical procedure based on Photovoice, a participatory action research model that seeks to empower research participants by providing them with cameras to document and share issues of importance to their lives. Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of six overarching themes: 1) The group experience 2) Self vs. other 3) Accomplishment and challenge 4) Confinement vs. freedom 5) Observing vs. Being observed/new perspectives and 6) Memories recalled. These themes were examined against existing literature about the use of photography and poetry in therapy, arts-based and group therapy treatments of severe and persistent mental illness, and the use of participatory and artsbased research in mental health. The findings of this research emphasize the rich possibilities for incorporating linked language/written and visual interventions in the treatment of severe and persistent mental illness, as the two offer complementary but distinct opportunities for healing, growth and self-expression. Moreover, this study demonstrates the importance of including mental health clients as participants in qualitative research regarding their perceptions of treatment, and the fundamentally empowering experience of being viewed and treated as experts on their own lives.

In this heuristic exploration, data was collected through in vivo reflections using the cultural humility model. The researcher used art making, journaling, and a process of indwelling to collect data exploring the relationship between multiple identities and cultural humility. Through this exploration, four main themes emerged. These themes were explored in a final creative synthesis art process. This research serves as a starting point for developing a culturally humble stance as an art therapy trainee. In addition, this exploration highlights the way that art making can enhance the heuristic research experience by deepening the reflection and pulling out themes not readily seen.

This study is an art exploration of the combined use of mindfulness practice, cultivated through a body-scan meditation, and art-making in mitigating compassion fatigue for a beginning clinician. The researcher used an arts-based inquiry with a quantitative component in her data collection and analysis. A reliable, evidenced-based test was self-administered at the beginning and end of the data collection to measure compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. The arts-based inquiry included the researcher engaging in a body-scan meditation, journaling, and art-making over a period of four weeks as methods to process the relationship between mindfulness practice, art-making practice, and compassion fatigue in her clinical work at a community based mental health agency. The body-scan meditation provided insight into the clinician’s experiences and conceptual understandings. Journaling provided a tool for reflection and analysis of the researcher’s engagement in mindfulness and art-making. The art-making process offered a more in-depth understanding of the researcher’s application of mindfulness, as a tool, in clinical practice with her clients. The One-Canvas Process Painting can be utilized as a tool to reflect the researcher’s transformative learning process about her countertransference with clients. The data analysis in this study indicates that engaging in mindfulness practice and art-making practice can increase a beginning clinician’s compassion satisfaction within her clinical work.