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published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-187).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2003.

Health seeking behaviour is important in older people with hypertension and overweight, in terms of managing health factors that are related to their health and illness. However, health seeking behaviour of Thai older people is not well documented. This qualitative study aimed to describe health seeking behaviour of overweight hypertensive older people. Seven older women and three men participated in this study through purposive sampling. Qualitative data were gathered via in-depth interviews and were analyzed using content analysis. The results of this study illustrated that older people started to seek health care after understanding the need to seek health care due to the severity of their symptoms. The older people began illness management by using their knowledge to take care of themselves. If management was ineffective, they would seek health care from professional health care providers and traditional healers. Additionally, family members play important roles in the health seeking behaviour of older people. In particular, Thai older people with hypertension and overweight demonstrate various health seeking behaviours that are useful to health care providers in providing appropriate care to these older people, aiming to promote better health of the older people.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Supervisor: Frank Wicker. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Robertson and Bowlby (1952) found that prolonged separations from the mother lower the extent to which infants seek proximity to their mother. Although prolonged separations are no longer common today, some infants experience extremely long hours of nonmaternal care, which may lead them to seek less proximity to their mother. I examined this hypothesis using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Development: Early Child Care and Youth Development Study (N = 1,281). A series of regression analyses revealed that infants’ hours of nonmaternal care at 4 to 6, 7 to 9, and 10 to 12 months, but not at 1 to 3 or 13 to 15 months, were associated with their proximity-seeking behavior in the Strange Situation at 15 months. Using a polynomial regression analysis, I further found a cubic relation between the number of nonmaternal care hours at 7 to 9 months and infants’ proximity-seeking behavior. Specifically, proximity-seeking behavior rapidly declined during two time periods: when infants spent from 0 to 10 hours per week in nonmaternal care and when they spent over 60 hours per week in nonmaternal care. I also found that mothers’ and nonmaternal caregivers’ sensitivity was associated with infants’ proximity-seeking behavior, and proximity-seeking behavior predicted young children's ability to control their behavior and also the amount of time that they were able to focus their attention on their mother or their experimenter during a developmentally challenging task at 36 months. Findings reported in this dissertation highlight the important role of proximity-seeking behavior in the attachment relationship formed with the caregiver during infancy and the development of self-control and attention during the preschool years. / text

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The purpose of this study was to explore how level of cultural identity was related to help-seeking attitudes among Asian students and to compare between Asian and Caucasian students. A total of 367 undergraduate university students participated in this study, of whom 184 (127 female and 57 male) were Asians and 183 (137 female, 44 male and 2 unspecified gender) were Caucasians. A weak positive correlation was found between Asian cultural identity and positive help-seeking attitudes (r = .158, p = .034, n = 181) (2-tailed); no significant correlation existed between cultural identity and negative help-seeking attitudes (r = .077, p = .305, n = 178) (2-tailed); no significant differences were found among: (a) high Caucasian cultural identity, (b) low Caucasian cultural identity Asian groups, and (c) Caucasian group for both positive help-seeking attitudes (F(2, 186) - .612), p = .544). Mixed results were found indicating that there was no easily identifiable trend between cultural identity and positive and negative help-seeking attitudes. Theoretical, clinical, and research implications are discussed.

There is a discrepancy between men and women in regards to utilization of professional psychological services. It has been estimated that two-thirds of all individuals seeking professional psychological services are women. One reason that has been suggested to explain this underutilization of services by men is negative attitudes toward seeking psychological services and an inability to express emotion. The current investigation examined the relationship between men’s emotional expression, their attitudes toward expressing emotion, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological services, and their perceived barriers to seeking help. Participants were 228 men from a large, Midwestern university. Their age ranged from 18 to 50 years with a mean age of 23.34 years. Level of education ranged from freshmen undergraduate students to Master’s level graduate students. Eighty six percent identified as Caucasian and 90% identified as straight, and 6.6% identified as gay. To assess the relationship between the variables canonical correlation analysis was performed. Results demonstrated that men’s actual emotional expression and attitudes toward expressing emotion were related to stigma associated with and barriers to seeking professional psychological services. In particular, the more negative attitudes men had toward expressing emotion and the less emotional expressive they were, the greater their stigma beliefs associated with seeking professional psychological services and the more barriers they perceived with seeking said services. Findings from this investigation offer areas for future research, including further investigations of the relationship between attitudes toward expressing emotion and stigma associated with seeking professional psychological services. In addition, clinical applications are discussed, including methods to decrease stigma associated with seeking professional psychological services and means to address emotional expression with men in therapeutic settings. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services