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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    Verbal and Nonverbal Expressions as Indicators of Social and Emotional Functioning among Social Anhedonics
    (2006-05-08) Mann, Monica Constance; Blanchard, Jack J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Social anhedonia has received increasing empirical attention and support as a vulnerability marker for the development of schizophrenia. Although social anhedonia implies a reduced capacity for pleasure, the relationship between this construct and the experience and expression of emotion remains unclear. The current study sought to better understand the emotional expression of anhedonics by examining the self-report of emotional experiences and social relationships. Results indicated that social anhedonics used fewer positive emotion words in social descriptions and fewer social words in positive experience descriptions. Social anhedonics did not use significantly fewer positive facial expressions than controls, although gender differences were observed. Correlations with symptom ratings were inconsistent. Thus, this research was able to integrate the study of social and emotional functioning to describe the emotional correlates of social anhedonia which adds to an accumulating body of knowledge on behavioral characteristics for identifying individuals at putative risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
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    An Examination of Treatment Integrity Practices and Behavioral Outcomes When Utilizing the Second Step Curriculum
    (2004-04-30) Reed, Jocelyn G.; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services
    School violence is a major problem in urban schools requiring intensive preventative and intervention practices. Social skills training programs can help teach students the nonverbal and verbal behaviors used in interactions with others that can lead to positive social outcomes (Korinek & Popp, 1997). However, very little research has addressed the degree to which a social skills training program was implemented with integrity. Similarly, little is known about the acceptability of many widely used social skills training programs. This study will contribute to the research base of social skills training by increasing the knowledge base for the treatment acceptability of and treatment integrity practices utilized when teaching the Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum (Committee for Children, 1992). This case study utilized a qualitative approach to evaluate teachers' perceived and actual implementation practices, level of treatment integrity and treatment acceptability when utilizing Second Step. Classroom observations of implementation of critical lesson components revealed that most teachers implemented second step with low levels of integrity. Focus groups conducted with teachers revealed moderate to strong levels of acceptability for Second Step. Teachers were generally aware of the lesson components that they did not implement, but generally tended to over emphasize their use of other lesson components (e.g., role plays). Difficulties with program implementation included the lack of sufficient time to implement the program and relevance of some of the lesson particularly with English language learners. Teacher acceptance was both positively and negatively related to treatment integrity levels.