UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
15 results
Search Results
Item Decolonizing in Individual Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Exploration(2024) Bansal, Priya; Hill, Clara E; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)We interviewed 12 therapists experienced in practicing decolonizing about their understanding of decolonizing and its relevance to therapy, as well as how they implemented this approach with at least one client. Interviews were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) and revealed that colonial paradigms had negative individual, relational, and societal impacts; therapists used a range of interventions aligned with decolonizing, including interventions to help clients gain insight about the systemic context of psychological problems and to facilitate client resistance of colonial ideologies; sociocultural identity interactions between therapist and client considerably shaped the therapy work; therapists encountered conceptual, practical, and systemic barriers to decolonizing practice; and clients experienced improvements across intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning. Implications for practice and research are discussed.Item Are We Ready to Serve? Couple and Family Therapists’ Attitudes Toward BDSM and Their Perceived Competence Helping BDSM Practitioners(2020) Berman, Zachary Lane; Fish, Jessica N; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cultural competence is a core component of delivering effective psychotherapy to clients with diverse sexual lifestyles, including BDSM practitioners, who constitute a substantial minority of the population. Couple and Family Therapists (CFTs) are uniquely prepared to explore relationships and power dynamics, but no research has explored CFTs’ psychotherapeutic relationship with BDSM practitioners. This study measures CFTs’ BDSM attitudes, perceived competence, and the relationship between these and related professional factors. Results indicated that CFTs (n = 132) have positive attitudes and moderate perceived competence; attitudes and perceived competence were negatively correlated. Controlling for various professional factors such as AASECT certification, we found that participants with at least three or more hours of BDSM-specific training had significantly more positive attitudes and significantly higher perceived competence. Including these hours in graduate training or continuing education credits could help CFTs to feel more “kink aware” and competent to deliver ethical care for this population.Item Cultural humility, therapeutic relationship, and outcome: Between-therapist, within-therapist, and within-client effects(2019) Morales, Katherine Chante; Kivlighan, Jr., Dennis M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study longitudinally examined the association between client-perceived cultural humility (CH) of the therapist, dyadic working alliance (WA), and dyadic session evaluation (SES). We analyzed cultural humility scores at three levels: a) between therapist b) within-therapist and c) within-client. Using a sample of 79 clients, 15 therapists, and 231 time periods, we conducted two multilevel analyses using dyadic WA and dyadic SES as predictors. We found that high between-therapist, within-therapist, and within-client CH yielded higher dyadic WA scores. We also found that within-therapist and within-client CH yielded higher dyadic SES scores. However, importance of client identity did not act as moderator as predicted for CH and dyadic WA; nor did importance of client identity moderate the relationships between within-therapist and within-client CH and dyadic SES. We did find that importance of client identity moderated the relationship between-therapist CH and dyadic SES. Implications for future research will be discussed. Keywords: cultural humility, working alliance, session evaluation, psychodynamic, HLMItem Resilience in Formerly Incarcerated Black Women: Racial Centrality and Social Support as Protective Factors(2019) Yee, Stephanie Elza; Shin, Richard Q; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The United States incarcerates a larger percentage of its population than any other country in the world. Women are entering prison at higher rates than men in recent years, especially Black women, who are underrepresented in the criminal justice literature. Very little is known about formerly incarcerated Black women, who experience unique sociocultural challenges such as disproportionate rates of mental health issues, gendered racism, intimate partner violence, and recidivism to prison. This study examined how social support and racial centrality played a role in challenges faced by a sample of 54 formerly incarcerated Black women living in a large metropolitan city in the mid-Atlantic. Two multiple hierarchical regressions were used to explore whether social support and racial centrality moderated the relationship between gendered racism and depression. There was no evidence to indicate that racial centrality predicted depression or acted as a moderator between gendered racism and depression. However, social support was found to moderate the relationship between the variables. Implications for practice and future directions are discussed.Item DOES PAIN INTENSITY AND PAIN TOLERANCE INFLUENCE ONE’S WILLINGNESS TO SEE A COUNSELOR IN ASIAN AMERICANS?(2017) Huh, Gloria; Miller, Matthew J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Asian American population continues to underutilize psychological services. This study examined whether pain tolerance and pain intensity played a role in the help-seeking process for Asian American individuals. Moderated mediation was tested to explore whether the relationship between psychological distress and willingness to see a counselor was mediated by pain tolerance and pain intensity, separately; and moderated by Asian American values. Moderation with two moderators was tested with Asian American values and pain tolerance or pain intensity, separately, as two moderators in the relationship between psychological distress and willingness to see a counselor. Moderated mediation and moderation with two moderators were tested using the bias-corrected bootstrapping confidence interval method. There was no evidence to indicate that pain intensity or pain tolerance acted as mediators between the relationship between psychological distress and willingness to see a counselor. However, pain intensity was found to moderate the relationship between psychological distress and willingness to see a counselor. Post hoc analyses were conducted to test specific subscales (depressive symptoms, emotional self-control, willingness to see a counselor for personal problems) and gender differences. Pain tolerance moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and willingness to see a counselor for personal problems for women. Emotional self-control moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and willingness to see a counselor for personal problems in the full sample and male sample.Item The Effect of Indirect Interpersonal Exposure to Counseling on Willingness through Attitudes(2014) Huh, Gloria; Miller, Matthew J.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study examined whether attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help partially mediated the relationship between the frequency and valence of Asian Americans’ indirect interpersonal exposure to counseling and willingness to see a counselor. Statistically significant indirect effects were found. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that indirect interpersonal exposure to counseling through family members and friends emerged as two distinct factors. Partial mediation was found only for the frequency of indirect interpersonal exposure to counseling through family members on willingness to see a counselor (personal, academic/career, health problems) through attitudes. Using hierarchical linear regression, this study examined whether collectivism moderated the relationship between the frequency and valence of indirect interpersonal exposure to counseling on attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Moderation was not found. Collectivism and conformity to norms did not moderate the relationship between indirect interpersonal exposure to counseling through family members and friends on attitudes.Item PREDICTING YOUNG WOMEN'S CAREER PLANS: DO FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHILDREN PREDICT OUTCOMES OVER AND ABOVE INSTRUMENTALITY?(2013) Savela, Alexandra; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study assessed factors related to career development in a sample of undergraduate women. The roles of instrumentality, anticipated work-family conflict, and willingness to compromise career for children in the prediction of career choice traditionality, career aspirations, and occupational engagement were examined. Additionally, the moderating role of willingness to compromise career for children on the relationship between instrumentality and each career outcome was tested. Results indicated that instrumentality predicted leadership aspirations, recognition aspirations, and occupational engagement. Anticipated work-family conflict predicted career choice traditionality, leadership aspirations, and occupational engagement over and above instrumentality. Willingness to compromise career for children added to the prediction of occupational engagement after controlling for instrumentality and anticipated work-family conflict. No moderation findings were detected. Findings are discussed in terms of future research directions and in the context of career counseling with undergraduate women.Item Therapist reactions to a client facing terminal illness: a test of ego and countertransference(2013) Hummel, Ann Martha; Gelso, Charles J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When a therapy client presents with thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that trigger a therapist's own unresolved conflicts, the therapist may experience countertransference. Client concerns that may trigger countertransference include sexuality, aggression, and death (Gelso, Fassinger, Gomez, & Latts, 1995; Latts & Gelso, 1995; Hayes & Gelso, 1993; Lacocoque & Loeb, 1988). Countertransference has been found to relate negatively with client outcome (Hayes, Gelso, & Hummel, 2011), but countertransference management can mitigate the negative effects of countertransference, and can even result in curative therapeutic responses (Gelso & Hayes, 2007). A phenomenon known as ego depletion may cause a therapist to be more vulnerable to countertransference. Ego depletion occurs when self-resources related to impulse control, decision-making, and willpower are low (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007). Because of the relation between ego depletion and impulse control, the effect of ego depletion on countertransference was tested. Forty-five participants were randomly assigned to either a neutral or ego depletion condition, and were then presented with a scripted analogue client who discussed a potential terminal illness diagnosis. Participants responded verbally to the client, and their responses were transcribed and coded for behavioral indicators of countertransference. Participants also completed measures of affective and cognitive countertransference. Countertransference management and ego defense maturity were assessed as potential predictors of resilience to ego depletion. The participants in the ego depletion reported higher levels of content-specific affective countertransference (death anxiety), but general affective (state anxiety), behavioral, and cognitive countertransference did not differ between conditions. Countertransference management and ego defense maturity did not significantly account for variance in the relation between ego depletion and countertransference. However, the relation found between ego defense maturity and countertransference management suggests that ego defense maturity could be a precursor to countertransference management. Overall, ego depletion led to increased death anxiety, but therapists were resilient to having this content-specific reaction generalize to other forms of countertransference.Item THE ROLE OF SELF-DETERMINATION ON QUALITY OF LIFE, STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, AND ENVISIONING A CAREER/LIFE GOAL OR FUTURE FOR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A BEST PRACTICES TRANSITION INTERVENTION(2012) Ferguson, Terri Kay; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Self-determination has been identified as a major predictive factor for positive postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of self-determination in productive student engagement, perceived quality of life, and the ability to envision a career/life goal or future for students with multiple disabilities participating in a promising practices transition intervention. Results indicated significant results in the areas of student engagement and quality of life indicating the importance of self-determination on these factors. The results indicated a negative correlation between two of the self-determination subscales and envisioning a career/life goal which was an interesting and contradictory finding to the existing literature. Implications and recommendations are discussed.Item Teacher Identification of Students for a Social-Emotional Intervention(2009) Sedlik, Samantha Lynn; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study described how students received services for social-emotional issues in several schools where a social competence program was implemented. The study examined several variables including a) teacher referral practices in the context of a program designed as a prereferral intervention for these issues in elementary school-aged children; b) child characteristics; and c) group dynamics. Referring teachers completed pre and post-test behavior rating forms for 45 children (N=45) in the program. All students completed pre and post-test measures of listening comprehension and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and anger. A case study of two children with different initial profiles highlights how initial child characteristics affect performance and progress in the group situation. The variability in child performance demonstrates the need for careful selection of participants when conducting group interventions in schools. Implications for prereferral interventions are discussed.