1,897 research outputs found

    Alcohol Addiction Recovery Experiences Among Christian African Immigrants

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    AbstractThe problem of alcohol addiction is heightened when other psychological factors are present, such as the stress of acculturation. The purpose of this research was to describe the experiences of Christian African immigrants in America who have used faith-based treatment approaches while in recovery from alcoholism and to determine how their faith may have been a way of coping with their recovery. In this hermeneutic qualitative phenomenological study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. The data were analyzed to explore the experiences of Christian African acculturating to America who endorse a faith-based approach to their recovery, and the following three main categories emerged: (a) acculturation stress and its relationship to alcoholism; (b) factors that affected recovery; and (c) integrating psychological, spiritual, and medical factors in recovery. In addition, 13 subcategories emerged: (a) job and settlement stress; (b) using alcohol to cope; (c) stress from helping people at home country; (d) culture shock, accent, communication, and respect differences; (e) social drinking/peer pressure; (f) family support; (g) church and related activities support; (h) personal faith/spiritual growth support; (i) spiritual leaders and relationship support; (j) role of spirituality; (k) the place of psychology and therapy; (l) the role of medication; and spiritual support system. The findings of this research will provide a better understanding of the experiences of participants who have endorsed faith as crucial to their recovery. This has potential implications for positive social change by providing a clearer understanding of this phenomenon, which can help with addiction counseling, especially for the population of the study

    Addiction in context

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    The dissertation provides a comprehensive exploration of the interplay between social and cultural factors in substance use, specifically focusing on alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD). It begins by introducing the concept of social plasticity, which posits that adolescents' susceptibility to AUD is influenced by their heightened sensitivity to their social environment, but this sensitivity increases the potential for recovery in the transition to adulthood.A series of studies delves into how social cues impact alcohol craving and consumption. One study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigated social alcohol cue reactivity and its relationship to social drinking behavior, revealing increased craving but no significant change in brain activity in response to alcohol cues. Another fMRI study compared social processes in alcohol cue reactivity between adults and adolescents, showing age-related differences in how social attunement affects drinking behavior. Shifting focus to cannabis, this dissertation discusses how cultural factors, including norms, legal policies, and attitudes, influence cannabis use and processes underlying CUD. The research presented examined various facets of cannabis use, including how cannabinoid concentrations in hair correlate with self-reported use, the effects of cannabis and cigarette co-use on brain reactivity, and cross-cultural differences in CUD between Amsterdam and Texas. Furthermore, the evidence for the relationship between cannabis use, CUD, and mood disorders is reviewed, suggesting a bidirectional relationship, with cannabis use potentially preceding the onset of bipolar disorder and contributing to the development and worse prognosis of mood disorders and mood disorders leading to more cannabis use

    Gendered Bodies, Engendered Lives: Bioarchaeological Exploration of the Intersectionality of Gender, Health, and Trauma at Turkey Creek Pueblo, Arizona (AD 1225-1286)

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    This dissertation examines the relationships between sex, gender, and health at Turkey Creek Pueblo (AD 1225-1286), the earliest aggregated Pueblo community in the Point of Pines region of east central Arizona, to better understand their roles in producing differential health outcomes. To gain a view of these interactions, I use osteological, mortuary, and ethnohistoric data to explore how gender, as a social institution, informed divisions of labor and experiences with traumatic injury at Turkey Creek Pueblo, because this site was occupied during a socially dynamic and important period in the pre-contact American Southwest. Using these data, I explore how sex, age, life history, and social status/prestige, as bioarchaeologically recoverable axes of gender identity, intersected to structure experiences of disease, heavy workloads, and traumatic injury between individuals and groups at Turkey Creek Pueblo. Through this research, I identify which bioarchaeologically detectable axes of gender (e.g., sex, age, and social role/status) were significantly promoting or buffering against experiences of disease and physical trauma within this community. I show that, at Turkey Creek Pueblo, osteological sex is not the most significant axis of identity structuring differences in experiences of trauma, health, and social status or social power within this community. This challenges Euro-centric, binary assumptions and portrayals of Indigenous gender roles and inequalities in the past. Gender roles among pre-contact Puebloan communities were complex and not rigidly defined by sex, nor were labor activities, poor health, trauma, and social power/prestige expressly divided along binary dimensions, in contrast to how they have been portrayed by traditional ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources. This research is significant in that it provides another line of evidence that gender and gendered experience are relational social scripts informed by the intersection of multiple axes of individual identity and life history. These analyses shed light on the social consequences of early population aggregation in the Mogollon Highland region and its implications for health, disease, and traumatic injury for aggregating communities

    Reshaping Higher Education for a Post-COVID-19 World: Lessons Learned and Moving Forward

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    Impaired risk avoidance in bipolar disorder and substance use disorders

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    Comorbid substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD), with up to 60% of individuals with BD developing an SUD at some point in their lifetime. In addition, research suggests that individuals with this comorbid presentation (BD+SUD) typically have worse outcomes -- including increased mortality, morbidity, and functional impairment -- than individuals with BD alone. Given the increased illness burden associated with BD+SUD, I conducted a systematic review evaluating existing psychosocial treatments for individuals with these comorbidities. Results from this review indicated that no existing psychosocial treatments for these comorbid conditions effectively target both the substance use and mood domain of symptoms. An alternative path to treatment development is to identify mechanisms that underlie BD+SUD that can subsequently be targeted in treatment. Accordingly, I evaluated impairments in risk avoidance (a tendency to engage in a persistent pattern of problematic behaviors despite negative outcomes resulting from such behaviors) as a potential mechanism underlying negative illness outcomes in BD+SUD. Participants with BD (n = 45) or BD+SUD (n = 31) in a relatively euthymic mood state completed clinical risk behavior assessments, laboratory-based risk avoidance assessments, and neurocognitive assessments in a single study session. I hypothesized that the BD+SUD group would exhibit increased clinical risk behaviors, increased impairments on laboratory-based measures of risk avoidance, and increased deficits on neurocognitive assessments relative to the bipolar disorder alone group. Contrary to my hypotheses, results indicated a lack of notable between-group differences in clinical risk behaviors, laboratory-based risk avoidance assessments, and neurocognitive assessments, with the exception of self-reported executive dysfunction which was elevated among individuals with BD+SUD. Collapsing across group, I found that increased discounting of delayed rewards, older age, and an earlier age of (hypo)mania onset predicted increased clinical risk behaviors. These findings underscore the potential importance of delay discounting as a mechanistic target for reducing clinical risk behaviors among individuals with BD both with and without comorbid SUDs. I also discuss the neurocognitive correlates of delay discounting and interventions for addressing delay discounting as potential new directions for treating the disability associated with BD

    Removing the Obstacles that Confront: The Impact of a Nontraditional School Reform Model on the Graduation Rate in an Urban School District

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    Although access to education in the United States has improved for students across race, class, ethnicity, and gender, not all demographic groups’ progress has kept pace with access (Mujic, 2015). Over the past two decades, more high school dropouts have been enrolled in public schools serving predominantly African American and Hispanic students of low socioeconomic status (Mujic, 2015). This portraiture study involved interviewing and observing six participants in an established nontraditional educational setting. The study aimed to examine educators’ perceptions regarding using a nontraditional school reform model to improve graduation rates in an identified urban school district serving predominantly African American and Hispanic students of low socioeconomic status. National, state, and local education may benefit from these findings to improve graduation rates nationwide. School districts and individual schools may also benefit from these findings and adopt the strategies employed to increase the graduation rates for the students they serve.Ruttencutter, Gwen S.Gunn, Nicole P.Ed.D.Educational leadershi

    Teachers’ Experiences with Providing Multi-Tiered Student Support for Students With Borderline Intellectual Functioning: A Qualitative Case Study

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    The purpose of this qualitative case study is to understand the obstacles that rural public school teachers encounter while delivering Multi-Tiered Student Support interventions for students with borderline intellectual functioning. The central question guiding this study was: What are the experiences of rural South Carolina public school teachers tasked with providing Tier III interventions for students with borderline intellectual functioning? The theory guiding this study was Bandera’s self-efficacy theory in that teachers are more effective when they are confident in their ability to use appropriate strategies and materials. The setting for the qualitative study was in a small rural district within Central, South Carolina and included 12 teachers. The data collected included questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups and was analyzed by identifying keywords, phrases, specific obstacles, as well as themes that emerged from each set of data

    New perspectives on A.I. in sentencing. Human decision-making between risk assessment tools and protection of humans rights.

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    The aim of this thesis is to investigate a field that until a few years ago was foreign to and distant from the penal system. The purpose of this undertaking is to account for the role that technology could plays in the Italian Criminal Law system. More specifically, this thesis attempts to scrutinize a very intricate phase of adjudication. After deciding on the type of an individual's liability, a judge must decide on the severity of the penalty. This type of decision implies a prognostic assessment that looks to the future. It is precisely in this field and in prognostic assessments that, as has already been anticipated in the United, instruments and processes are inserted in the pre-trial but also in the decision-making phase. In this contribution, we attempt to describe the current state of this field, trying, as a matter of method, to select the most relevant or most used tools. Using comparative and qualitative methods, the uses of some of these instruments in the supranational legal system are analyzed. Focusing attention on the Italian system, an attempt was made to investigate the nature of the element of an individual's ‘social dangerousness’ (pericolosità sociale) and capacity to commit offences, types of assessments that are fundamental in our system because they are part of various types of decisions, including the choice of the best sanctioning treatment. It was decided to turn our attention to this latter field because it is believed that the judge does not always have the time, the means and the ability to assess all the elements of a subject and identify the best 'individualizing' treatment in order to fully realize the function of Article 27, paragraph 3 of the Constitution

    When giving up is not an option, out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls: Coping, meaning making, and adversarial growth among young adults with refugee backgrounds

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    The main focus in psychological research about refugees has been on trauma and psychopathology, and researchers and practitioners have called for more holistic and strength based approaches to post-trauma development (e.g., Keles et al., 2018; Oppedal et al., 2013). Theories about posttraumatic or adversarial growth, broadly defined as positive psychological changes resulting from the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004, p.1), builds on existential, humanistic and positive psychology, and were developed to account for positive changes following adversity (Joseph & Linley, 2005). The last 20+ years, research on adversarial growth among survivors of various forms of trauma show that at least 70% report some positive change in at least one domain of life (Linley & Joseph, 2004). However, adversarial growth among refugees has received less research attention (Chan et al., 2016; Sims & Pooley, 2017). The main aim of this study was to explore the role of coping, meaning making, and adversarial growth in explaining how many young refugees show healthy functioning and manage to adapt successfully in their new lives, despite their experiences of trauma and adversity. Data was collected through qualitative in-depth interviews with 15 young men and women (age 20-28) who had received protection as refugees, and lived in Norway for on average 7 years. The interview material was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings lend support to explanations from growth theories and humanistic and existential psychology concerning the how and the why of positive adaption. The participants emphasized the learning value of adversity and that giving up is not an option, perceived themselves as survivors, drew on cultural strengths, and were optimistic and open to experience – all of which facilitated coping. Despite previous trauma, and challenges related to asylum policies, stigma and stereotypes, the participants displayed several characteristics of growth. They were feeling stronger, wiser, and had changed their perspectives, and were giving meaning to their experiences through helping others. Taken together, the findings stand in contrast to portrayals of refugees as singularly vulnerable, and make up an impressive account of the human capacity for coping and growth. This often co-existed with distress and suffering, and the findings highlight the importance of applying a broadened, curious, contextual, and strengths-based psychological approach that acknowledges the complexity of post-trauma outcomes, and how these are shaped by interplay between individual, cultural, social, and structural factors.Sammendrag Hovedfokuset i psykologisk forskning om flyktninger har vært på traumer og psykopatologi, og forskere og praktikere har etterlyst mer bruk av helhetlige og styrkebaserte tilnærminger (f.eks. Keles et al., 2018; Oppedal et al., 2013). Teorier om posttraumatisk vekst, definert som positive psykologiske endringer som følge av prosesser med å håndtere svært utfordrende livsomstendigheter (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004, s.1), bygger på eksistensiell, humanistisk og positiv psykologi, og ble utviklet for å gjøre rede for positive endringer etter motgang (Joseph & Linley, 2005). Forskning på posttraumatisk vekst de siste 20+ årene blant overlevende etter ulike former for traumer viser at minst 70 % rapporterer positive endringer i minst ett livsdomene (Linley & Joseph, 2004). Imidlertid har posttraumatisk vekst blant flyktninger fått mindre oppmerksomhet i forskning (Chan et al., 2016; Sims & Pooley, 2017). Hovedformålet med denne studien var å utforske hvilken rolle mestring, meningsskaping og vekst spiller i å forklare at mange unge flyktninger fungerer godt helsemessig og lykkes i sin nye tilværelse, til tross for opplevelser av traumer og motgang. Data ble samlet inn gjennom kvalitative dybdeintervjuer med 15 unge menn og kvinner (alder 20-28) med flyktningbakgrunn, som i gjennomsnitt har bodd i Norge i 7 år. Intervjumaterialet ble analysert ved bruk av tematisk analyse. Funnene støtter forklaringer fra vekstteorier og humanistisk og eksistensiell psykologi vedrørende hvordan og hvorfor positiv tilpasning skjer. Deltakerne la vekt på læringsverdien av motgang og at det å gi opp ikke er et alternativ, beskrev seg selv som overlevere, trakk på kulturelle styrker og ressurser, og var optimistiske og åpne for nye opplevelser – faktorer som sammen bidro til mestring. Det var også flere kjennetegn på vekst i deltakernes fortellinger, til tross for opplevelser av traumer og motgang både før og etter ankomst til Norge. Eksempelvis beskrev at de følte seg sterkere, klokere, og hadde endret perspektiver og verdier, og ga mening til sine opplevelser gjennom å hjelpe andre. Samlet står funnene står i kontrast til fremstillinger av flyktninger som ensidig sårbare, og ikke minst utgjør de en imponerende beretning om menneskers kapasitet for mestring og vekst. Styrker og vekst sameksisterte ofte med vansker og stress, og funnene peker på viktigheten av å bruke en kontekstuell og styrkebasert psykologisk tilnærming som anerkjenner nyanser og kompleksitet, samt at helse og fungering formes i samspill mellom individuelle, kulturelle, sosiale og strukturelle faktorer.publishedVersio
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