Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a modified form of Meichenbaum's (1985) Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) on the anxiety-induced challenging behavior and coping skills of middle school students with Asperger's Syndrome. Many individuals with Asperger's Syndrome (AS), most often described as a disorder on the autism spectrum, contend with significant anxiety in addition to the other social, sensory, linguistic, and behavioral components of the disorder. This anxiety can frequently lead to high rates of inappropriate and/or aggressive behavior. A single-subject multiple-baseline research design, replicated across three participants was used in this study. This was an AB design with a time-lagged control as the intervention was introduced across the participants. Three middle school students with Asperger's Syndrome participated in this study and all demonstrated a decrease in challenging behavior and an increase in adaptive coping skills during the course of the intervention. Two of the three students maintained these positive changes throughout the follow-up phase of the intervention. These two students continued to show behavioral improvement after the conclusion of the study.

Stress has long been reported to play a prominent role in the onset and course of diabetes mellitus. The present study first reviews the literature addressing the impact of stress on this disease, the physiological mechanisms and pathways the stress response might utilize, and psychotherapeutic tacts taken to date to ameliorate this response. A stress management package was then assembled, comprised of relaxation training, hypnosis, stress inoculation training, and imagery induction.

Critical incidents (CI) have increased over the last several decades, with police officers experiencing more trauma and a rise in psychological problems. Stress inoculation training (SIT) could possibly lower symptoms of posttraumatic stress experienced by the police officers who have responded to CIs. To date, little research exists specific to using SIT to lower symptomatic effects of CIs in police officers. The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to examine and compare symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety for police officers who have or have not received SIT prior to a CI. The theoretical foundation was Selye's general adaptation system, a 3-stage response to a stressor: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion. Survey data from a convenience sample of 85 police officers were collected using a demographic survey and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist--Civilian version. A Cronbach's Alpha test and a multivariate analysis of variance were used to determine whether SIT has affected anxiety and depression. According to study findings, police officers who received SIT showed no statistical significance for anxiety and depression compared to police officers who did not receive SIT. This study promotes positive social change by contributing knowledge and awareness to the law enforcement field who may find these results important to consider when planning training courses for their personnel.

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The present investigation sought to explore the efficacy of stress inoculation in the management of pain with severely burned adults. Subjects were 16 adult burn patients randomly assigned to either the stress-inoculation or no-treatment comparison group. The focus of the analysis was the amount of change or improvement from pretreatment to posttreatment periods. The stress-inoculation group showed significant improvement on all nine dependent measures, while the no-treatment group improved significantly on only two (physical and emotional self-ratings). The overall comparison of the amount of change between groups revealed that the stress-inoculation group showed significantly greater improvement in pain management than the no-treatment group during this time. It was concluded that stress inoculation, as a flexible treatment package, was efficacious in the management of pain experience of burn patients.

The major purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a stress-inoculation treatment and an equally credible attention-placebo control in alleviating self-reported test anxiety and in facilitating intellectual performance in nontraditional (aged 50 and over) college students. Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral approaches in the treatment of test anxiety among young college students. The literature suggests that persons returning to school after a long absence who have subsequently enrolled as college students experience greater test anxiety and decrements in test performance in evaluative situations than their younger counterparts.

Utilizing a sample of community-residing older adults, this pretest-posttest design evaluated the short term (approximately 1 week) impact on everyday functioning of Stress Inoculation (SI) training, a cognitive-behavioral intervention that is essentially a coping skills enhancement program. The targets of training were anxiety and concern about being able to successfully perform everyday living tasks. The training program was contrasted with a no contact (waiting list) control. In an effort to maximize the practical aspects of this study, the assessment battery included the use of two ecologically valid measures of everyday problem solving skills (one self-rated and one interviewer-rated). Also included were a measure of everyday intelligence widely used in gerontological research, two measures of self-efficacy, a geriatric depression scale, a state-trait anxiety scale, and a self-report measure of failures in perception, memory, and motor function. The results suggest that Stress Inoculation training is an effective intervention for improving everyday competence but that personal perceptions of self-efficacy and the emotional states of anxiety and depression mediate treatment effects. In general, only persons with lower levels of self-efficacy and higher levels of anxiety and/or depression saw improvement in their cognitive performance following SI training.

No description available.

No description available.

The phenomenon of migration has given rise to prolific research emphasising the psychological adaptation of persons post-immigration. This study focuses on psychological preparation pre-immigration. Literature study and empirical research establish that an immigrant's adaptation is influenced by migration motivation and expectations. Several phases of adaptation occur, during which time individual stress is influenced by one's perception of the balance between the stresses of the new environment and one's personal and external resources. Various migration stressors could be identified in the sample group of South Africans living in Australia. Personal and external resources include effective coping strategies, a positive, committed outlook, strong self-esteem as well as a cohesive family and an acquired support system. Finally, guidelines were produced reflecting that the preparation for immigration is a complex and highly individualised task comprised of providing information, encouraging self-assessment and supplying training to improve the coping startegies of the individual. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counseling)