Social media mental health analysis framework through applied computational approaches

Studies have shown that mental illness burdens not only public health and productivity but also established market economies throughout the world. However, mental disorders are difficult to diagnose and monitor through traditional methods, which heavily rely on interviews, questionnaires and surveys, resulting in high under-diagnosis and under-treatment rates. The increasing use of online social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, is now a common part of people’s everyday life. The continuous and real-time user-generated content often reflects feelings, opinions, social status and behaviours of individuals, creating an unprecedented wealth of person-specific information. With advances in data science, social media has already been increasingly employed in population health monitoring and more recently mental health applications to understand mental disorders as well as to develop online screening and intervention tools. However, existing research efforts are still in their infancy, primarily aimed at highlighting the potential of employing social media in mental health research. The majority of work is developed on ad hoc datasets and lacks a systematic research pipeline. [Continues.]</div

Examining Relationships Between Basic Emotion Perception and Musical Training in the Prosodic, Facial, and Lexical Channels of Communication and in Music

Research has suggested that intensive musical training may result in transfer effects from musical to non-musical domains. There is considerable research on perceptual and cognitive transfer effects associated with music, but, comparatively, fewer studies examined relationships between musical training and emotion processing. Preliminary findings, though equivocal, suggested that musical training is associated with enhanced perception of emotional prosody, consistent with a growing body of research demonstrating relationships between music and speech. In addition, few studies directly examined the relationship between musical training and the perception of emotions expressed in music, and no studies directly evaluated this relationship in the facial and lexical channels of emotion communication. In an effort to expand on prior findings, the current study characterized emotion perception differences between musicians and non-musicians in the prosodic, lexical, and facial channels of communication and in music. A total of 119 healthy adults (18-40 years old) completed the study. Fifty-eight were musicians and 61 were controls. Participants were screened for neurological and psychiatric illness. They completed emotion perception tasks from the New York Emotion Battery (Borod, Welkowitz, & Obler, 1992) and a music emotion perception task, created for this project, using stimuli developed by Eerola and Vuoskoski (2011). They also completed multiple non-emotional control measures, as well as neuropsychological and self-report measures, in order to control for any relevant participant group differences. Parametric and non-parametric statistical procedures were employed to evaluate for group differences in emotion perception accuracy for each of the emotional control tasks. Parametric and non-parametric procedures were also used to evaluate whether musicians and non-musicians differed with regard to their perception of basic emotions. There was evidence for differences in emotion perception between musicians and non- musicians. Musicians were more accurate than non-musicians for the prosodic channel and for musical emotions. There were no group differences for the lexical or facial channels of emotion communication. When error patterns were examined, musicians and non-musicians were found to make similar patterns of misidentifications, suggesting that musicians and non-musicians were processing emotions similarly. Results are discussed in the context of theories of music and speech, emotion perception processing, and learning transfer. This work serves to clarify and strengthen prior research demonstrating relationships between music and speech. It also has implications for understanding emotion perception as well as potential clinical implications, particularly for neurorehabilitation. Lastly, this work serves to guide future research on music and emotion processing

Patient centric intervention for children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder. Can ICT solutions improve the state of the art ?

In my PhD research we developed an integrated technological platform for the acquisition of neurophysiologic signals in a semi-naturalistic setting where children are free to move around, play with different objects and interact with the examiner. The interaction with the examiner rather than with a screen is another very important feature of the present research, and allows recreating a more real situation with social interactions and cues. In this paradigm, we can assume that the signals acquired from the brain and the autonomic system, are much more similar to what is generated while the child interacts in common life situations. This setting, with a relatively simple technical implementation, can be considered as one step towards a more behaviorally driven analysis of neurophysiologic activity. Within the context of a pilot open trial, we showed the feasibility of the technological platform applied to the classical intervention solutions for the autism. We found that (1) the platform was useful during both children-therapist interaction at hospital as well as children-parents interaction at home, (2) tailored intervention was compatible with at home use and non-professional therapist/parents. Going back to the title of my thesis: 'Can ICT solution improve the state-of-the-art ?' the answer could be: 'Yes it can be an useful support for a skilled professional in the field of autis

2021 - The Second Annual Fall Symposium of Student Scholars

The full program book from the Fall 2020 Symposium of Student Scholars, held on November 18, 2021. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1024/thumbnail.jp

Aggression and antisocial behavior in underserved populations : towards a comprehensive treatment approach

Antisocial behaviors are highly prevalent among children and adolescents as well as adults. When these behaviors reach clinical significance they place a high burden on the individual, his or her immediate surrounding and society in general. Better insight into the correlates of antisocial behavior is needed in order to develop adequate prevention and intervention strategies matched to an individual’s personal risk to engage in antisocial behavior and experience associated risk factors. To date, studies have indicated a strong relationship between community violence exposure and antisocial behavior. However, most studies have investigated samples with a mixed composition of healthy children and adolescents as well as those with a clinical diagnosis. Little is known about the specific associations between community violence exposure and antisocial behaviors in healthy controls compared to children and adolescents with existing, clinically significant behavioral problems (i.e., a diagnosis of conduct disorder). Furthermore, little is known about the effectiveness of intervention programs targeting antisocial behaviors in underserved settings with a high prevalence of aggressive behavior disorders, such as correctional institutions or residential youth settings. This dissertation aims to further the understanding of the correlates of antisocial behaviors as well as the treatment of youths and adults exhibiting these behaviors in restrictive settings. First, the specific association between community violence exposure and antisocial behaviors in a healthy child and adolescent sample as well as a clinical sample with a diagnosis of conduct disorder was examined. Second, the effectiveness of an evidence-informed skills training designed to target antisocial behaviors of offenders within correctional settings was evaluated. Third, a comprehensive, randomized-controlled treatment evaluation plan for a skills training adapted to the needs of female adolescents with conduct disorder residing in residential youth settings is introduced. The research presented in this dissertation expands current knowledge on the relationship between community violence exposure and antisocial behaviors. It is shown that there are no clear differences between the association of witnessing community violence and antisocial behavior between healthy controls and those with a diagnosis of conduct disorder. Thus, any potential confound with regard to studies that have used mixed samples can be ruled out. Furthermore, this work provides evidence for the effectiveness of a skills training targeting behavioral problems in inmates. The more sessions are completed the fewer disciplinary infractions are received. Finally, a treatment evaluation protocol adhering to the rigorous standards of the CONSORT guidelines is introduced. The protocol introduces a comprehensive implementation and evaluation guide to evaluate the effectiveness of a skills training designed for antisocial, aggressive female adolescents within residential youth settings. The results of this work encourage future studies to further investigate the association between community violence exposure and antisocial behaviors in healthy youths compared to those with a diagnosis of CD in a longitudinal approach. Design and evaluation of interventions for antisocial youths who are exposed to violence are called for, especially in settings with high prevalence rates of aggressive behavior disorders. In addition, treatment evaluation studies should use rigorous standards for scientific evaluation as exemplified in the final study to provide instructive implications and increase the clinical gain