<p> Massive demographic changes have coincided with rise of the importance of evidence-based treatment across the health sciences and widespread awareness of the failure of psychology to address and serve the mental health needs of historically underrepresented groups. Researchers, theorists, and clinicians demand that empirically supported treatments be adapted to better address and better &ldquo;fit&rdquo; clinical needs. Based on existing approaches in the literature, this dissertation presents a four-part model of cultural adaptation of psychological interventions and reviews 101 current culturally adapted empirically supported treatments through the lens of this model. The dissertation project comprehensively describes the current state of the field in terms of the theoretical bases, processes, and outcomes of culturally adapted psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions in the context of evidence-based practice, provides suggestions, and illuminates implications for future research and practice.</p><p>

<p> Male childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a traumatic experience that is prevalent, under-reported, and under-treated. CSA leaves males with feelings of shame, low self-esteem, and interpersonal problems, which put them at risk of developing mental health disorders that persist into adulthood. Although expressive arts therapy has been used as a treatment for trauma in children and adolescents, existing literature on the use of expressive arts with adult CSA survivors is limited to female survivors. The current study aims to explore the experiences of male CSA survivors who have participated in expressive arts therapy, including the effects that expressive arts has on their sense of self, relationships, and trauma symptoms. Participants (<i>N</i> = 8) were recruited from the Greater Los Angeles area, and included in the study if they were male CSA survivors and had previously been in expressive arts therapy. A mixed-methods approach was used, using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as the primary research approach, which generated emergent themes that were supported with concurrent measures, including the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 and a demographics measure. Results suggested that male survivors perceived expressive arts to be a positive experience and useful tool in the therapeutic process. The study provided exploratory findings on the use of expressive arts as a way for male survivors to release emotions, find their voice, rediscover their self, reconnect interpersonally with others, and facilitate a sense of empowerment. Results also suggested that male survivors perceive judgment and limited art modalities to be negative experiences in expressive arts therapy. Since the sample included primarily ethnic minority men, this study also provided contributions to the literature on the use of expressive arts with ethnic minority male survivors. Due to these findings, it is recommended that further research be conducted on the use of expressive arts with male survivors.</p><p>

<p> Previous studies have linked poor cognitive-motor dual-task performance to increased fall risk in older adults. However, the degree to which cognition and vision influence gait is disputed. The current study investigated the impact of two executive function tasks (working memory versus executive inhibition) and peripheral vision on gait performance during dual-task in healthy younger and older adults. It was hypothesized that there would be an interaction effect between 1) cognitive tasks and age groups, and 2) vision and age groups on overall gait performance interference. It was also hypothesized that there would be a main effect for 3) cognitive tasks, 4) vision, and 5) age groups. Participants performed two separate cognitive tasks (serial subtraction by 3s and a Stroop task) while walking under a normal-vision and peripheral vision-loss condition. Gait parameters were measured under single and dual task conditions. Results showed that the Stroop task produced greater gait interference for all age groups and vision conditions. Also, older adults had greater gait interference compared to younger adults, regardless of the type of concurrent cognitive tasks. Findings from this study can be implemented into fall prevention programs in community-dwelling and clinical populations. </p><p>

The goal of this dissertation was to test the hypothesis that great apes can solve both visible and invisible displacements, whereas monkeys can solve only visible displacements. First, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and orangutans received visible and invisible displacement tests that correspond to Stages 4, 5, and 6 of object permanence. Monkeys and orangutans were successful on the visible displacement tests. Most orangutans were successful on all invisible displacement tests except the double displacements. The monkeys were not successful on invisible displacement tests and they had a location preference. Subsequent testing revealed that (1) rhesus monkeys eventually solved single and control invisible displacements, (2) two rhesus monkeys eventually solved double displacements, (3) using a familiar containment device improved performance on invisible displacements and (4) most orangutans eventually solved double invisible displacements when the object was concealed in a cup. In the second part of the dissertation, I determined if poorer performance on invisible displacements was related to increased memory requirement. The primates received three types of problems that had equivalent memory requirement. On Invisible transfer problems, the object was hidden in a box and then invisibly transferred to another box, whereas on Visible transfer problems the object was visibly transferred, and on No transfer problems, it was not transferred. The rhesus monkeys and the squirrel monkeys solved the Visible and the No transfer problems. Only one monkey was successful on the Invisible transfer problems. Given that all problems had equivalent memory requirements, this variable cannot account for poorer performance on Invisible transfer problems. Most orangutans solved all three types of problems. Nevertheless, the performance of the orangutans on Invisible transfer problems was poorer than that on the other problems. Next, cueing sessions were instituted during which a clear box was used in order to allow the primates to see if and how the object was transferred. Then, the primates were re-tested on the three problems. Cuing helped monkeys and orangutans find the object on Invisible transfer problems. In summary, the results of this dissertation indicated that overall, the orangutans outperformed the monkeys on invisible displacements. However, a few orangutans performed as poorly as the monkeys on invisible displacements, and a few monkeys performed as well as the orangutans. Thus, individual differences must be taken into account to adequately portray the distribution of object permanence skills in non-human primates.

Three experiments investigated whether morphological constituents influence word processing during reading. Individuals read sentences containing free stem, bound stem, and pseudo-prefixed words. In Experiments 1 and 2, a parafoveal display change manipulation indicated that the morphological constituents of a prefixed word are not available for preprocessing in the parafovea as reading times on the target word did not differ for prefixed versus pseudo-prefixed words. Interestingly, parafoveal preview of word initial and word final letters resulted in an equivalent amount orthographic facilitation for all word types. In Experiment 3, a fast priming manipulation indicated that morphological priming effects for prefixed words are obscured during sentence processing. However, the form of the prime did facilitate subsequent word processing for all three word types. The results suggest that English prefixed words are accessed via their whole word form, as there was no evidence of morphological decomposition for prefixed words during sentence processing.

This dissertation investigates the ways in which speech perception is guided by the expectation that the stimulus is an utterance in the perceiver's language, with a particular focus on how phonotactics affects the interpretation of acoustically ambiguous segments. A model is proposed in which phonological grammar, expressed here as a system of ranked and violable constraints within the framework of phonological Optimality Theory, is used to select among competing candidate parses of the acoustic input. This grammar-based theory is contrasted with two grammarless alternative accounts of perception: the connectionist network TRACE, which derives phonotactic perceptual effects from the lexicon, and a statistical theory based on transitional probabilities. Experimental evidence is presented to show (1) that English listeners' judgments of vowels and of consonant clusters disfavor configurations which are grammatically illegal in the language, (2) that the dispreference for illegal configurations is far stronger than that for configurations which are legal but have zero frequency, and (3) that it is due to a response dependency, rather than to auditory or other stimulus factors, and cannot be explained by foreign-language exposure. Two experiments with Japanese listeners find that (1) the lexical stratum membership of nonsense words can produce a phonotactic perceptual effect, (2) that the triggering and target segments can be up to three segments distant, and (3) that the stratum-phonotactic effect is larger than a word-superiority effect obtained with the same listeners and paradigm. These results are shown to be consistent with the grammar-based model, but inconsistent with the two grammarless alternatives. Analysis of the three models reveals that the shortcomings of the alternatives is due to their inability to abstract over phoneme classes and larger linguistic structures. It is concluded that the mechanisms of speech perception have access to a full-fledged phonological competence.

<p> One commonly accepted protective factor, social support, is hypothesized to be both helpful and harmful following exposure to traumatic events (Bonanno, 2008; Ellis, Nixon, &amp; Williamson, 2009; Lyons, 1991). Although at least 10 theoretical models have been proposed to explain the relationship between social support and post-traumatic responses, existing theories do not adequately capture the multidimensional experience of social support, which is comprised of several constructs and structures (e.g., received and perceived support; support functions and content). Moreover, existing social support theories have not been studied in research related to therapy with traumatized clients. The present study, therefore, examined how clients who experienced trauma expressed social support in psychotherapy. A qualitative content analysis was conducted using a directed coding system developed for this study that was based on the constructs and structures commonly discussed in psychology literature on post-traumatic experiences, namely: (a) received support, (b) perceived support, (c) extended support, (d) social support functions, and (e) social support contents. </p><p> The current study observed that clients who have experienced trauma are likely to mention social support in sessions but that salient factors related to the benefits and harms associated with social support were discussed less. Although many expressions of social support fell into "not otherwise specified" categories because the quality or type of support experienced was not clearly stated, inductive analysis identified the following salient factors: support needs, relationship elements, planned future support activities, past perceived support, and past support that did not occur. The study also provided support for some existing models of social support and trauma (i.e., network orientation, stress-buffering, erosion, social-cognitive processing, and COR models). </p><p> Clinical implications related to social support discussions in individual therapy include the need to examine and potentially change therapists' views of social support. Psychotherapists are encouraged to explore the support relationships identified by clients, as well as the quality and types of support experienced and perceived, in order to understand the role and impact of social support and address the benefits and risks associated with support. Clinicians should also recommend that clients engage in adjunctive mutual aid and affiliative support groups.</p>

Mindfulness meditation is increasingly being incorporated into psychotherapeutic interventions. However, whilst much research has addressed the question of whether mindfulness-based interventions work, less has been directed at how they work. The current thesis describes four studies that explored potential mechanisms by which mindfulness interventions may bring about change. Study 1 employed a correlational design to examine whether mindfulness practice is associated with increased attentional control. Studies 2 to 4 used experimental methods to examine the ways in which individual mindfulness-based techniques might exert their effects on a health- related behaviour (chocolate consumption). Study 1 (N=125) showed no evidence that meditation practice was associated with reduced attentional bias (assessed using dot-probe and emotional Stroop tasks). Study 2 (N=135) showed that a cognitive defusion task (but not an acceptance task) helped individuals to resist chocolate over a five-day period. There was evidence to indicate that the defusion task worked by interrupting automatic links between chocolate-related thoughts and chocolate consumption. Study 3 (N=108). however, failed to find evidence that the defusion strategy worked either by reducing automaticity or increasing the accessibility of competing goals. Study 4 (N=60) further showed that the defusion strategy did not influence chocolate cravings. In conclusion, the current research demonstrated the need to go beyond merely describing the positive effects of mindfulness on changing self-control related behaviours. The findings also highlighted the potential problems of current mindfulness-based interventions due to their complexity, and that one mindfulness-based intervention does not 'fit' all health-related behaviours to bring about change. Ensuring the population maintains a healthy diet is important. Brief mindfulness training may be a useful means of helping people choose more healthy options. Further dismantling design studies were however advised before the evidence can be used to inform public health policy and services.

<p> In the United States, there are 507 amputations each day, a number expected to grow with the increases in obesity and diabetes. This study investigated the lived experience of yoga for amputees. The researcher studied the phenomena of amputees doing yoga&mdash;<i>ampyogis</i>&mdash;for the first time, what the amputees learned about their soma through yoga on the mat, and the significance of transference of their learning from the yoga mat to their lives off the mat. Existing literature defines rehabilitative practices for amputees to take care of daily life necessities, such as learning to walk with a prosthetic, as well as the impact of yoga on multiple populations, such as cancer survivors, those with multiple sclerosis, trauma victims, and children with attention deficit disorders. There is a current body of literature on somatic practices, moving the body with the intention to produce a certain outcome in the soma. This was a qualitative study informed by phenomenology. The researcher designed semistructured interviews to follow the participants' narratives about events that led to amputation, their postamputation felt sense of self, and the impact of yoga on shifts in their felt sense of self. Findings indicate themes of organizing principles for the ampyogis that reflect the embodied motivation to enact change on, through, and with their bodies. Themes observed included demonstrated increased capacity among ampyogis to self-accept, to appreciate their bodies and minds, and to self-generate their choices and decision-making. Findings suggest that participants shifted their somas; and increased capacity for self-accountability regarding somatic choices from, for example, feeling depressed and frustrated, to feeling more alive, balanced, and graceful. Participants reported increased capacity for self-confidence, self-appreciation, and self-accountability. This research adds to literature on yoga as a rehabilitative practice for amputees. It also adds to the body of literature on somatics and shifting the soma through intention and practice. Additionally, this study demonstrates that somatics in action creates change in the soma.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2001. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-03, Section: B, page: 1632. Adviser: Amy Wisniewski.