Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2010 - 20152

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Author: search.filters.author.Ericson, Sara Kate

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    The Effects of Positive Expressive Writing on Postpartum Wellbeing: A Comparison of Mindfulness and Self-Affirmation.
    (2015) Ericson, Sara Kate; Hoffman, Mary Ann; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research on women during the postpartum period has focused primarily on depression, to the exclusion of other aspects of wellbeing and distress. Though research has also described the barriers to getting help with experiences of postpartum emotional distress there is little research on easily accessible and affordable prevention and treatment interventions or consideration of how women’s individual differences may influence the effectiveness of interventions intended to prevent and treat symptoms of emotional distress. In the present study, self-report data was gathered from 257 women at five points in time during the extended postpartum period. Baseline measures of anxiety, depression, wellbeing, and two facets of mindfulness (nonreactivity and nonjudgment of inner experiences) were examined as potential predictors of how two types of positive expressive writing interventions, based on self-affirmation and mindfulness theories, would impact women’s symptoms of depression, anxiety, and complaints related to physical and psychological wellbeing. These conditions were also compared to a waitlist control condition. Contrary to what was hypothesized, there were no significant differences between the writing and waitlist conditions on outcome anxiety, depression, or wellbeing. Additionally, nonjudgment and nonreactivity did not interact with type of writing condition in predicted ways. Compared to the self-affirmation condition, those in the mindfulness condition used more emotion words in their writings, and reported more changes in affect over the course of their individual writing sessions. Post-hoc analyses indicated post-writing negative affect might mediate the relationship between baseline and follow-up depression and anxiety. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed along with recommendations for future study.
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    Reducing Repetitive Thought in Generalized Anxiety Disorder
    (2010) Ericson, Sara Kate; Hoffman, Mary Ann; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study evaluated two computerized interventions intended to reduce the frequency of negatively-valenced repetitive thought and negative emotions that accompany these thoughts in college students prescreened for elevated levels of anxiety. The current study also tested the moderating effects of participants' tendency toward different types of repetitive thought, specifically rumination and worry, on outcomes including the amount of time spent discussing the thought, positive affectivity and negative affectivity. The rumination intervention was created for this study and based on goal progress theory, whereas the worry intervention was adapted from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Findings revealed no moderating effect of the tendency to engage in a specific type of repetitive thought. Instead, participants who received the worry intervention spent less time focusing on their thought and used less negative emotion words during a post-intervention verbalization period than those who received the rumination intervention regardless of the general tendency toward rumination or worry.