<p> The CDC (2016) recommends children engage in 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily to achieve health benefits. Recess in school settings can provide opportunities for children to try and meet these guidelines. However, research suggests that recess alone does not increase physical activity levels. To combat this problem, antecedent manipulations (e.g., manipulating the physical environment or introducing planned activities) are commonly implemented as an intervention to increase physical activity. These interventions, however, do not provide salient consequences for physical activity to ensure the likelihood that these behaviors will occur again in the future. A more promising approach might be to develop interventions that assess the use of group contingencies in an effort to increase physical activity during recess time. The purpose of the current study was to implement the Step it UP! game (a modified version of the good behavior game) in three different classrooms during their recess periods and to evaluate the effect of group contingencies on physical activity levels in elementary school-aged children. The Step it UP! game was compared to traditional recess periods (i.e., without the game) in an alternating treatment design. The overall results of the study indicated that the Step it UP! game engendered higher mean step counts than traditional recess periods. These results suggest that schools should provide contingent reinforcement for children&rsquo;s increased physical activity during recess.</p>

<p> This thesis uses hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies to draw together the myth of Chiron and the phenomenon of spiritual bypassing. Spiritual bypassing is the tendency to use spiritual beliefs, teachings, and practices to avoid dealing with one&rsquo;s psychology, painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental issues. Chiron is a mythological figure who mentored a number of Greek heroes and Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Chiron, like his mentee Asclepius, embodies the Wounded Healer archetype. Chiron&rsquo;s wounding and healing journey can serve as a roadmap for spiritual practitioners on how to navigate out of bypass and deepen their path toward self-realization and individuation. Developing an archetypal awareness of one&rsquo;s wounds appears to reveal the aspects of one&rsquo;s psychology defended against in spiritual bypass. This emerging roadmap and lessons from Chiron&rsquo;s journey may help therapists, healers, and spiritual teachers accelerate their own path and assist clients. </p>

<p> Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) are receiving increasing attention in the treatment of mental illness, and there is good support for their effectiveness as a stand-alone treatment across a range of disorders. It is possible that MBI would also be useful as an addition to standard treatment protocols. To assess this possibility, the present investigation involved a meta-analytical review of studies in which mindfulness techniques were added to treatment as usual to assess the incremental effect of mindfulness. A systematic review was conducted of relevant databases. Studies were included in the meta-analysis if they met the following criteria: (a) mindfulness techniques or mindfulness-based interventions were employed in conjunction with treatment as usual and compared to treatment as usual alone; (b) patients in the sample were assigned a DSM-IV diagnosis or exhibited a specific symptom; and (c) the sample included individuals 18 years of age or older. Only studies using an experimental randomized controlled design were included. Fourteen eligible studies were found with an effective sample size of 695 participants. Effect sizes were calculated overall, and for subgroups (diagnosis subgroups, mean age, type of MBI) separately. Meta-analysis of between-group effects yielded an overall Cohen&rsquo;s <i>d</i> effect size of 0.61. Adding MBIs to treatment as usual appears to yield substantial incremental improvement when used with a variety of symptoms and disorders. </p>

<p> This qualitative study was an exploration of therapists&rsquo; countertransference (CT) in therapy sessions addressing client sexual issues. The purpose of the study was to better understand how therapists experience and manage CT in or between sessions and how they appraise their work when sessions addressing client sexual concerns trigger their vulnerabilities. The study included interviews with 10 licensed, experienced therapists who described their experience and management of CT in and between therapy sessions that focused on client sexual issues. The researcher employed a qualitative methodology to understand the many layers of influence and facets of therapists&rsquo; CT. </p><p> Six conclusions emerged from this study. First, the findings support the claim that CT is a dynamic and co-created process. Second, evidence from this study suggests that cultural CT operates both overtly and subtly. Third, the findings suggest that client sexual issues are not consistent, primary triggers of CT. Therapists in this sample experienced CT related to client sexual issues, but only when an additional client behavior or trait also affected the therapist&rsquo;s vulnerability. Fourth, the data suggest that CT commonly manifests by narrowing therapists&rsquo; perceptual fields and empathetic strain. Fifth, flexibility in the therapeutic process and resolute boundaries that the therapist sets support effective management of CT. Finally, CT events may result in a rupture of the therapeutic relationship or may facilitate therapeutic gains. This study adds to existing research that depicts CT as a dynamic, multifaceted, and layered process that occurs between a therapist and a client.</p><p>

<p> Early literature on leadership focused on the traits of a single individual, usually male, who manages employees within a clearly defined hierarchy for a U.S.-based company. The last several decades have seen the concept of leadership expand to include followers, peers, supervisors, the public and the non-profit sectors, and culture across a diverse sample of populations globally. Indigenous leadership contributes to this discussion by including a social, historical, and political context that acknowledges connection to land. However, leadership theories have yet to address the topic of reconciliation and overall community wellbeing. To address this gap, this paper explored what leadership looks like in a more holistic community context where a community program that includes food production, native reforestation, cultural education revitalization, and healing are all meaningful components of leadership development and community transformation. The following questions were explored: 1) What does leadership look like when one seeks to provide people of a community the freedom and space to build meaningful relationships with land, each other, and themselves? and 2) How can we help leaders flourish in our communities to work towards this and other types of reconciliation? Using phenomenology as a method of inquiry, interviews and participant observations were used to capture the stories of staff and volunteers as part of program connected to a comprehensive health center in Kalihi. Leadership in this program is understood as the matching of gifts to kuleana. This leadership model recognizes the potential for all members of the community to fulfill meaningful leadership roles. The synergistic process of offering a gift, and having it valued is healing for both an individual and a community. Being in a safe and welcoming space offers an environment where people are free to explore what their gift and kuleana may be. Parallels between shared leadership, multicultural leadership, and Indigenous leadership are presented. This model of leadership contributes to the literature by grounding leadership in reconciliation and healing for all. This model and how leaders are developed within it are discussed.</p><p>

<p> This investigation addresses five constituents&mdash;calling, social consequences, imagination, story, and the experience of being gifted. It is grounded in the fundamental human inquiry of identity and purpose and contains both personal and universal answers. Primarily, the author sought to answer one question: How did imagination and story reveal and develop my personal narrative? This led her to Hillman&rsquo;s (1997) contention that our true biography&mdash;the destiny written into our metaphoric <i>acorn</i>&mdash;has been stolen. Three questions arose from the primary question used to organize the literature review: (a) How has the use of this knowledge affected my understanding of the evolution of the human story? (b) What evidence is there to identify when our species developed imagination? and (c) Why is imagination undervalued? </p><p> There were four sub-questions answered through the personal data: (a) How is a quest or calling revealed? (b) Why is the phenomenon of Neverland essential to human well-being? (c) How did social forces impede the expression of imagination and the process of the original human story? and (d) What does it mean to be <i>gifted</i>? </p><p> The method chosen for this work was autoethnography, which, according to Bochner and Ellis (2016), exists in a space between many apparent polarities including facts and meanings,objectivity and subjectivity, and art and science in what Reed-Danahay (1997) explained was how we come to know, name, and interpret personal and cultural experiences. The author was the only participant in this study; however, the meaning emerging from the inquiry could be relevant for many. </p><p> The rationale and significance of this study was based on the assumption that the quality of human lives often suffers when people remain disconnected from experiencing their authentic self. The key finding was that through claiming the state of Neverland, as represented by the Peter Pan story, the author was able to connect with who she is and why she is here. This research allowed the author to reclaim her calling, imagination, and story, and acknowledge her giftedness. The ultimate call is for a new paradigm that welcomes and supports the unfolding human destiny.</p><p>

<p> <b>Background:</b> Previous studies have related adverse childhood experiences (ACE) to heart disease. However, more research needs to explore neural mechanisms and psychological factors that contribute to the pathway of adverse childhood experiences leading to heart disease. <b>Purpose: </b> The present study examines racial identity as a moderator of adverse childhood experiences and cardiac autonomic dysregulation as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia. <b>Method:</b> Forty-six undergraduate students of African descent attending a Historically Black University in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States participated in this study. During the first phase, participants completed consent forms and questionnaires including the ACE Scale and the Cross Racial Identity Scale. Participants returned to the laboratory on a second occasion during which researchers employed an impedance cardiograph to record resting levels of interbeat intervals (IBI) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). <b>Results:</b> Ordinary least squares regression analyses were conducted to test the moderating role of racial identity attitudes on the relationship between ACE prevalence and RSA. The overall regression model which included ACE prevalence, Multiculturalist attitudes, gender, and all interaction terms significantly predicted resting IBI. The overall model that included ACE prevalence, Afrocentric attitudes, gender, and all interaction terms also significantly predicted resting IBI. Participants with ACE and Afrocentric attitudes were more likely to have decreased resting RSA. Furthermore, in addition to ACE prevalence and Afrocentric attitudes, considering gender added 10% more explanatory variance in predicting resting RSA. Male participants with ACE and low Afrocentricity ratings were more likely to have decreased resting RSA. Additionally, considering gender with ACE prevalence and Miseducation attitudes added 10% more explanatory variance in predicting resting RSA. <b> Discussion:</b> Results and limitations are further discussed in the context of existing literature.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explores the healing effects of surrender to and trust in the alchemical nature of the psyche to produce psychospiritual transformation toward wholeness and wellbeing. Through alchemical hermeneutic, heuristic, and intuitive methodologies the research explores healing outcomes of merging with the divine through a relationship with a guru, consciously being in a love relationship, and engaging with astrology as alchemical processes that help to integrate unconscious content into consciousness. The author observes the alchemical process in the merging of heaven and earth, or cosmos and psyche, as it weaves through her own life. She tracks the alchemy through which an interpersonal love relationship and encounters with the guru Mata Amritanandamayi produced both physical and emotional healing. The thesis also explores the psychotherapeutic use of astrology and suggests ways to integrate experiences of the divine, interpersonal love, and one's astrological chart into psychotherapy to support healing and movement toward wholeness.</p><p>

<p> The present study investigated the effects of various fluency aims on the emergence of derived relational responding for various populations. Derived relational responding is a skill needed to develop complex language. Determining fluency aims to ensure derived relations can impact how we teach language and other complex skills. A parametric analysis of various fluency aims was completed using a multiple treatments design with ongoing probes of derived relational responding. Participants&rsquo; performance during accuracy and fluency tasks was assessed using a computer program designed for this study and presented on a tablet computer. The computer program recorded correct responses per minute and number of correct responses out of a total number of responses. A fluency aim could be experimentally verified if participants met criterion during tests of derived relational responding at an initial aim, that aim could be replicated with a novel symbol set, the participant met criterion during a test probe after performing at a higher frequency and failed to meet criterion during a test probe after performing at a lower frequency. Across all populations recruited for this study, a fluency aim that was empirically verified was not found. Participants performance did not match the performance described above and in some cases, performance was opposite, meaning participants passed a test probe after performing at a lower aim and failed the test probe after performing at a higher aim.</p><p>

<p> The prevalence of sexual violence in the United States is a critical issue and the aftermath of sexual assault can have profound effects on psychological well-being. Rape Crisis Centers play a vital role in supporting sexual violence survivors. The framework through which Rape Crisis Center clinicians understand the experiences of survivors has a substantial impact on the course of counseling, how survivors interpret their own experiences, and survivors&rsquo; psychological health. A neoliberal medicalized framework conceptualizes distress post-sexual assault as a disease or disorder and places the responsibility on an individual to &lsquo;fix&rsquo; themselves, situating the problem within the person, rather than in a sociopolitical context. This framework has become increasingly prevalent in Western society and has permeated psychology. </p><p> The goal of the present study was to explore the impact of a neoliberal medicalized discourse on clinicians&rsquo; understandings of survivor distress and provide a counter-dialogue to the often polarizing conversations as to whether medicalization is &lsquo;good&rsquo; or &lsquo;bad.&rsquo; This study aimed to answer: 1) How does a medicalized discourse impact how Rape Crisis Center clinicians make meaning of their clients&rsquo; experiences post-sexual assault? And 2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a medicalized framework to understand the aftermath of sexual assault for survivors who seek services? Engaging in qualitative inquiry, a modified version of interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed. </p><p> Analysis revealed four master themes titled, <i>Wielding the Double-Edged Sword of the Medical Model, Navigating the Healing Process with Survivors, Stay in Your Lane: The Role of the RCC</i>, and <i>Understanding and Honoring Survivor Shame</i>. The themes are discussed in terms of how medical neoliberalism subtly influences clinicians&rsquo; work. Implications for social justice are considered, especially as they relate to Rape Crisis Centers&rsquo; aims to increase access for marginalized populations. Recommendations for researchers and clinicians working with sexual violence survivors are provided pertaining to (a) how to critically adopt a medical framework, (b) how to empower survivors with information about medication, (c) alternatives to individual counseling for survivors, and (d) future research with survivors to further explore the effects of medical neoliberalism on their conceptualizations of distress post-sexual assault.</p><p>