A Self-Affirmation Intervention For Responsible Parties in Restorative Justice

Background and purpose: Restorative justice is a response to crime in which the offender, or the “responsible party,” engages in a process with community stakeholders in which they learn about the harm caused by the crime and complete a “contract” in which they take action to make amends and participate in community engagement and personal development activities (Zehr, 2002). Research demonstrates that responsible parties who can adopt the difficult mindset of responsibility taking, perspective taking, and motivated engagement accrue the most benefits from restorative justice (Hipple et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to test the effect of a values-affirmation intervention (Steele, 1988) on psychological processes and contract completion among responsible parties. Method: I recruited 116 responsible parties undergoing a restorative justice process from nine restorative justice centers to complete a Qualtrics study. Qualtrics randomly assigned participants to write for ten minutes about either their values (self-affirmation condition) or a neutral control topic. Next, participants completed measures of two mediator variables: self-integrity and existential connection, and measures of three dependent variables: responsibility taking, cognitive empathy, and contract readiness. Four months later, I documented whether or not the participant had completed their contract. Results: Compared to the control condition, those in the values-affirmation condition reported higher contract readiness and cognitive empathy, but did not report greater responsibility taking or contract completion. The effect of self-affirmation on contract readiness was mediated by self-integrity but not by existential connection. The effect of self-affirmation on cognitive empathy was mediated by existential connection but not by self-integrity. Conclusion: Restorative justice practitioners might incorporate values-affirmation into the process to help prepare responsible parties for the difficult tasks of empathy and motivation

Advancing Quantitative Research Of Smoker Stigmatization

The ongoing tobacco epidemic has wrought devastation on the health and prosperity of United States citizens for decades. Though tobacco denormalization efforts successfully reduced population-level smoking rates in recent decades, these declines are not uniform across some minoritized segments of the population. Tobacco denormalization strategies themselves often emulate facets of stigmatization, and thus unsurprisingly are associated with increases in perceived and perpetrated smoker stigma. The consequences of this stigma are largely unknown, and the available research relies on scales of dubious theoretical and psychometric merit, or on purely qualitative methods with small sample sizes. This dissertation presents a series of studies introducing quantitative measures of both implicit and explicit stigma. The first two studies validate self-report measures of public stigma and self-stigma toward smokers in large samples. Both measures demonstrated excellent fit through confirmatory factor analysis and expected relationships with hypothetically related constructs. The second two studies introduced and validated a novel web-based task measuring implicit stigma, and then applied that task to measuring implicit smoker stigma. The results indicated an overall pro-nonsmoker bias and some group differences based on smoking status and endorsement of explicit smoker stigma. Overall, the four studies substantively advance the field and together they constitute the most comprehensive investigation of smoking stigma to date

Concurrent Associations Between Sweet And Cooling E-Cigarette Use And Combustible Cigarette Use And Quit Attempts Among Adult Dual Users

Combustible cigarette (CC) smoking is a leading cause of premature death in the United States. Federal regulators have signaled their intention to position electronic cigarettes (ECs) as a widely available, appealing, and well-regulated alternative nicotine product in the context of an overarching reduced nicotine content mandate in CCs. Prior research supports the efficacy of ECs as a smoking cessation tool in clinical contexts through the complete substitution of ECs for CCs. However, little data exists regarding the day-to-day naturalistic patterns of flavored EC use, or the role of non-tobacco flavored ECs in facilitating CC reduction and cessation. The current study examined the fine-grained naturalistic patterns of CC and flavored EC use among fifty-nine participants who used both products and desired to quit smoking CCs. Participants reported their daily use of both CCs and ECs over eight weeks. Study aims were to characterize flavored EC use patterns and investigate associations between the use of specific flavors of ECs and brief CC abstinence, CC reduction, and CC quit attempts. Sweet flavors were most commonly used by participants, followed by cooling- and tobacco-flavored ECs. Participants were statistically significantly more likely to be non-abstinent from CCs on days that they had used ECs, though this relationship was cross-sectional. Associations between the use of specific flavors of EC and CC cessation-related outcomes were not significant, suggesting that models were underpowered. Sensitivity analyses suggested that hybrid sweet/cooling flavors may be associated with different CC-related behavioral correlates than cooling-only flavors. Overall, findings suggest that participants who use ECs concurrently with CCs without external guidance may not intuit how to use ECs as complete substitutes for CCs. Research and policy related to flavored ECs must also grapple with issues of consistency in defining and categorizing different types of EC flavors

Ultra-Brief CBT for Primary Care Visits: Pilot Training and Implementation

This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of an Ultra-Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (UB-CBT) intervention for depression and anxiety symptoms in routine primary care visits. The UB-CBT is responsive to the limited access to specialized mental health services, particularly evidence-based interventions, for individuals with depressive and anxiety disorders in the U.S. Most Americans with symptoms of depression and anxiety first report their concerns to their primary care provider (PCP) in routine visits, and the UB-CBT was designed to provide tools for managing these symptoms during these interactions. The UB-CBT training workshop was developed and piloted with 38 providers at three adult primary care and four family medicine sites in Vermont. PCPs completed questionnaires before and after the training. Data were analyzed using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Regarding training targets, most providers (79.7%) reported that they learned new information about depression and anxiety treatment and even more providers (88.6%) learned new information about how to address these symptoms in visits. From pre- to post-training, mean scores for provider attitudes toward psychotherapy and perceived competence talking to patients about mental health symptoms and therapy increased, but means scores for perceived comfort in talking to patients about mental health concerns decreased slightly. Data illustrated that most providers found the training and intervention highly feasible and acceptable. Providers especially liked the user friendliness and general feasibility of the intervention. Providers offered ideas about developing online versions of the material and raised some concerns about their ability to administer the intervention in a timely manner. The discussion outlines several steps that will address these concerns and improve the UB-CBT training experience and intervention. The UB-CBT intervention and training program have potential to increase patient access to mental health tools in primary care

African Swine Fever Prevention In The United States: A Behavioral And Policy Perspective

Transboundary animal diseases (TADs) decimate millions of livestock annually, withestimated costs in the billions. These diseases threaten global food security, production, trade, supply chains, human health, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. Addressing and mitigating TADs, such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and African Swine Fever (ASF), requires implementing on-farm biosecurity measures. However, human behavior and decision-making on farms or at ports of entry may compromise these efforts. Moreover, current biosecurity policies seek to reduce the impact of disease outbreaks. However, because investments in biosecurity are not tied to indemnification, these policies may inadvertently create a perverse incentive for producers to reduce their biosecurity expenditure before or during an outbreak. Traditional economic approaches have addressed such issues through financial incentives. However, a more profound understanding of producers\u27 and public perceptions and motives about disease prevention and indemnification can inform public policy on animal health, improve market incentives, and reduce the associated cost of disease prevention. This dissertation fills this gap by using a mix of surveys, choice experiments, and simulation games to understand human behavior in epidemic prevention in the US. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior, the first paper aimed to understand the complex socio-psychological and demographic factors influencing farmers\u27 biosecurity decisions. I conducted a national survey of 422 swine producers to assess their attitudes and intentions toward biosecurity. Using a latent class analysis, I identified three distinct classes of producers: Biosecurity Sceptics, Biosecurity Compliant, and Biosecurity Ultra-Compliant. The results show that producer characteristics significantly influence biosecurity attitudes and class membership, with small-scale producers less likely to adopt ultra-compliant biosecurity practices. Attending at least one eradication program encouraged biosecurity compliance, and a larger share of income derived from production operations influenced biosecurity compliance. After identifying the risk profile and attitudes of the producers, the second paper analyzed these responses concerning their ex-ante motivation to self-invest in biosecurity to be eligible for indemnity, the likelihood of buying livestock insurance before an outbreak, and readiness to report suspected infections on their farms. Using a partial proportional odds model, findings from this paper revealed that the intent to call a veterinarian, trust in government agencies, and farmers\u27 risk perception were instrumental in the willingness to self-invest in biosecurity, buy livestock insurance, and promptly report infections on their farms. This provides evidence that biosecurity compliance would increase if indemnification were tied to a demonstration of biosecurity effort. In the third paper, I developed a choice experiment to elicit the preference between the current unconditional and alternative conditional indemnity policies. Findings from the study revealed a strong preference for the conditional indemnity policy. A decomposition of the factors revealed that females and older people preferred the conditional indemnity policy. Moreover, factors like anticipated regret and salience of biosecurity revealed a strong preference for the conditional indemnity policy. This finding supports implementing a conditional indemnity policy, which can potentially reduce the costs associated with disease outbreaks while incentivizing biosecurity adoption and addressing the moral hazard problem in the current indemnity policy. Theoretically, the study contributes to the literature on risk management and moral hazard by demonstrating that socio-psychological factors, such as anticipated regret and salience of biosecurity, play a critical role in shaping preferences for indemnity policies

The Association Between Body Image Dissatisfaction and Mental Health in Men

The objective of my dissertation was to contribute to the understanding of body image dissatisfaction in men. Study 1 was a systematic review of the literature from the past decade, focusing on studies which examined the association between body image and mental health, specifically depression, anxiety, and self-esteem, in men. The results and methodology of the reviewed studies were highly heterogeneous. There were more than 55 different measures of body image utilized, which could generally be classified as thinness-oriented, muscularity-oriented, or general measures of body image satisfaction. The associations between body image and mental health were highly heterogeneous, and differed based on measurement type and sample characteristics, including sexual orientation and age-range of the sample. Study 2 expanded on these findings to improve understanding of the extent to which the type of BID assessed impacts the relationship between body image and mental health in men, and whether these potential differences differ based on sexual orientation and age. A Qualtrics survey was administered to 325 gay and 325 straight men between the ages of 18 and 91 (M = 47.74, SD = 17.59). Data was analyzed using a multiple group path analysis with drive for thinness, drive for muscularity, and body appreciation predicting anxiety, depression, and self-esteem, with age moderating these associations. The results indicated that all three measures of BID are important predictors of mental health in straight men, but only body appreciation is associated with mental health in gay men. Age appeared to have a moderating effect on only select associations between body image and mental health in the present study. This study highlights the importance of considering type of body image assessed and sexual orientation important factors when examining concepts related to body image and eating disorders in future research

Change in Percent Coral Cover Across Main Hawaiian Islands Between 2000 - 2017 using the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

The current methods being used to study coral fails to account for coral health at a scale that encompasses the entire reef ecosystem. Hyper-spectral remote sensing through an airborne visible infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) sensor was used to quantify benthic cover of reef ecosystems. The images were processed pixel by pixel to retrieve benthic cover of coral, algae, and sand. The difference between the two data sets were calculated and used to quantify percent coral cover change. Studying benthic cover on a reef-wide scale through remote sensing can allow us to better understand spatial and temporal trends of coral health

Lessons From the Colchester Bog: Translations of Plant-Environment Interactions

How scientific insights and conclusions are communicated to broad audiences is an important consideration. Sharing knowledge about ecosystems and places can help to create greater connection between the human and non-human world. Creative and approachable means of scientific communication can create interest, build curiosity and connection, and encourage further questioning among audience members. This project uses artmaking as a means of ecological storytelling. Information, centered around plant species, and their patterns of distribution, adaptive life strategies, and connections to environmental conditions in bog ecosystems, was established as a background. Attaching ideas from scientific literature to a specific place, the Colchester Bog, helped to contextualize ecological themes and form experiential connections. Regular visits to this place allowed for observational practice. Learning from a specific place allowed for questioning that was guided by curiosity and holistic interactions. To track ideas, and translate processes that were observed at the Colchester Bog into a visual form, tools within drawing and painting were used. Hopefully, sharing this body of work can help to create greater awareness of the function and importance of bog ecosystems, as well as explore human relationships to local ecologies

Histone modifications mediate sublethal insecticide stress response in an agricultural insect pest

The ability of agricultural insect pests to rapidly evolve resistance to chemical and microbial insecticides undermines the sustainability of pest control. Agricultural insect pests such as the Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata, display a remarkable ability to rapidly adapt to insecticides and other stressors. Although insecticide resistance is considered inevitable, the processes underlying its development in insect pests remain poorly understood. One possible explanation is that exposure to insecticides may alter epigenetic modifications, which change patterns of gene expression without affecting the underlying DNA sequence. Surprisingly, no studies have tested how the intensity of insecticide exposure alters changes in histone modifications and how those changes affect phenotypic plasticity. We found key differences in histone acetylation among stressed and unstressed pests, and observed hormesis (low-dose stimulation) and intergenerational differences in performance after exposure to imidacloprid. Our results describing the role of histone modifications in stress response will be a crucial starting point for developing more sustainable and targeted pest control

Wanted: Engaged Writers and Practical Writing Experiences

This Practitioner Perspective paper discusses literacy as a vital skill that empowers users. After an initial discussion of the twin aspects of literacy, I present a student teacher’s overly complex seventh-grade lesson, which served as a springboard for reflection about alignment of assignments and student interest. The transformative classroom experience yielded a powerful insight—that effective pedagogy contributes to writer confidence