Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2012, Psychology, Clinical

The present study examined whether stigma toward individuals with mental illness will evidence itself in job performance evaluations. To enhance this potential effect of mental illness stigma, an additional “difference” of race was included as a factor that may affect perception of functioning and attitude towards the individual with a mental illness diagnosis. Additionally, general professed attitudes towards mental illness and direct attitudes when one is exposed to an individual with a mental illness diagnosis were considered. Participants were drawn from the undergraduate population of a midsize private university and responded to three questionnaires after viewing a video clip of an individual experiencing a moderately stressful day at work. Half the participants were given the information that the individual they viewed was undergoing treatment for a mental illness, and the other half were not given this information. Some of the participants viewed an actor of the same race, while the others viewed an actor of a different race. Data were analyzed by condition and race. The results of this study did not support the hypotheses. Contrary to expectations, information that the actor had been diagnosed with a mental illness did not influence job ratings or attitudes toward mental illness. Similarly, results indicated that participants' evaluations were not affected by similarities and differences in the races of the observed and the observer. Finally, attitudes to mental illness generally did predict participants' direct attitudes toward an individual who was presented as having a mental illness. Prior contact and experience with individuals with mental illness did not moderate these results. Possible explanations for the outcome of the study are discussed.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Psychology

Many people with mental illness do not receive treatment (Reinert et al., 2021). Even when they do, 30-50% dropout prematurely (Roos & Werbart, 2013). One barrier to treatment seeking and uptake is the belief that nothing can be done about the symptoms. Not only is such a belief likely to deter treatment seeking, but it may also serve to undermine the treatment options available. Those who see depression or anxiety symptoms as stable or even innate are presumably less likely to actively engage in, and therefore benefit from, treatments that rely on patient-initiated behavior (e.g., modifying cognitions and behaviors). Carol Dweck (2006) highlighted the role of fixed and malleable mindsets in the context of studying children's beliefs regarding intelligence (Hong et al., 1999). Specifically, her research team found that children who viewed intelligence as a malleable feature that can be improved upon with effort performed better academically than those who believed intelligence is fixed and not amenable to change. Subsequent studies have shown that malleable mindsets are associated with fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, lower negative emotionality, and less psychopathology in general (De Castella et al., 2013; Tamir et al., 2007; Schroder et al., 2019). Additionally, given the widespread use of social media to disseminate information about important issues, including psychological health, we sought to understand how the influence of social media communication regarding mental health impacts viewers' own beliefs about mental illness recovery. To do this, we conducted an experimental study with 321 student participants from a large Midwestern university. Participants were randomized into one of three conditions – fixed, malleable, or positive affect – and viewed a series of fictitious tweets. In the fixed condition, participants viewed tweet content presenting mental illness from a fixed mindset perspective. The malleable condition included tweet content presen (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Genetic Counseling

Although there is an abundant amount of research highlighting internalized and associative stigma, studies focusing on the degree of prejudice about mental illness in individuals who do not have close contact to someone with a diagnosed mental illness is limited. With a specific focus on the concept of prejudice driving discriminatory behavior, this study had three specific aims to address this gap in literature; 1. Identify stigmatizing thoughts and attitudes individuals have towards diagnosed mental illness. 2. Assess understanding of causes and risk factors for mental illness. 3. Evaluate the impact of an educational video explaining the multifactorial inheritance of psychiatric illness on attitudes and knowledge about mental illness. To meet these aims, potential study participants were identified and recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Potential participants were screened using worker qualifications that allowed pre-vetting of participants using a list of screener questions. Inclusion criteria was comprised of the following: 1. Participants must be over the age of 18, 2. Participants must live in the United States and Canada, 3. Participants must have access to the internet, 4. Participants must have the ability to read English, 5. Participants must not have a personal history of a diagnosed mental illness, and 6. Participants must not have a first-degree family member with a diagnosed mental illness. Once eligible participants were identified, individuals were invited to participate in the study which was administered online using RedCap. Among 181 individuals screened; 106 individuals completed the entire survey. Participants viewed a 4-minute info-graphic video highlighting the jar model analogy and the complex inheritance of mental illness. They also completed pre- and post-video surveys with questions measuring prejudicial views towards people with a mental illness using the Prejudice towards People with Mental Illness (PPMI) scale and factua (open full item for complete abstract)

DNP, Otterbein University, 2023, Nursing

Now Show Rates in Community Mental Health Clinics No-show rates in community mental health clinics are typically higher than in other areas of healthcare. No show rates have a negative impact upon patients, clinics, and communities. Mental illness has reached an all-time high in the U.S. In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden stated that our country faces an “unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages.” Evidence well supports his statement. To extinguish this crisis, all barriers to mental health care must be evaluated and attacked from all possible angles. Increasing access to mental health care must be a priority considering the magnitude of this problem. One factor affecting mental health care is appointment non-adherence. Even when mental health care is accessible, and even when the initial appointment is scheduled, as many 60% of all clients may not show for their initial appointment. One cannot receive treatment if they do not show up for their appointment. What interventions can be implemented to assist a person with a mental illness to show up for their initial appointment? This project aims to explore and understand some of the possible barriers to accessing mental health care in the United States. Although the barriers may seem numerous, even insurmountable, nursing professionals have a responsibility to analyze and evaluate healthcare policy and clinical practice in order to advocate for social justice and equity of healthcare for all, especially for those individuals who may not have the means to advocate on their own behalf. The project then turns the focus to the question, in a rural Midwest community mental health clinic that serves primarily underserved populations, how does a patient-centered, caring approach, such as a personal engagement intervention, impact patient no-show rates over 90 days? Through the development of a quality improvement project, clients were contacted weekly while waiting for t (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2022, Antioch Seattle: Counselor Education & Supervision

This study examines the social and cultural considerations in accessing mental health treatment in The Gambia, West Africa. Participants were recruited from The Gambia for a qualitative study that included semistructured interviews (N = 17). A team of analysts identified five themes. The results highlighted social and cultural conceptualizations of mental health and mental illness, sociocultural determinants of health, interventions, barriers to care, and the legal framework to support mental health change. These findings are important for counselors to understand different perceptions of mental health and mental illness and the associated stigma. Furthermore, several opportunities for advocacy in The Gambia have resulted from this study.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Counselor Education

Mental illness stigma can be understood as social disapproval directed at those who either experience mental illness or those who seek out professional help for emotional distress. This social disapproval can appear in many ways, such as through stereotypes, prejudice, or discrimination. When mental illness stigma is held by mental health professionals, it is impacted by contact with those who experience mental illness in a therapeutic setting along with potential burnout. This can in turn affect those who seek professional help for mental illness in many ways, such as through rifts in the therapeutic relationship, treatment avoidance, gaps in care, and feelings of shame, discouragement, or embarrassment. Mental health professionals may not intentionally cause harm to mental health consumers, but by not acknowledging or exploring their own stigma, the harm inflicted on those who experience mental illness through stigmatizing thoughts, attitudes, and actions is inevitable. Despite the seriousness of professional stigma, the counseling profession is lacking in research understanding mental illness stigma. Only five research articles explicitly survey or even review mental illness stigma held by counselors, and while each study provides a bit of insight relevant to counselors, each study also contains major limitations that restrict what is understood about counselor's held stigma. In order to address these limitations, the current study determined the severity of mental illness stigma endorsed by counselors and investigated the relationship between demographic factors and endorsed mental illness stigma. A cross-sectional survey design was implemented in this study. The survey included a demographic questionnaire, the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-9), the Opening Mind Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC), and the Short Form Scale of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS). The AQ-9 was used to measure attitudes toward serious mental illn (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism (Communication)

This study examined sourcing and framing in PTSD news coverage published by The New York Times from 1999–2020 using quantitative content analysis. Based on the findings of previous studies, it was hypothesized that the sampled coverage would overrepresent combat trauma relative to other sources of trauma, underrepresent options for treatment and recovery, privilege men and official sources over women and unofficial sources (i.e., men and official sources would speak more often than women and unofficial sources), and favor episodic/individual framing over thematic/social framing. However, these hypotheses were only partially supported. The researcher ultimately found that, while the sampled coverage did overrepresent combat trauma and underrepresent treatment and recovery options, as well as favor men over women in sourcing, it defied expectations in other ways. Namely, it was observed that civilian/unofficial sources predominated over official sources, and that thematic/social framing predominated over episodic/individual framing.

Master of Arts in Medical Ethics and Humanities, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 2020, College of Graduate Studies

Mental illness has been a subject of fictional film since the early 20th century and continues to be a popular trope in mainstream movies. Portrayals of affected individuals in movies tend to be inaccurate and largely stigmatizing, negatively influencing public perception of mental illness. Recent research suggests that gender stereotypes and mental illness intersect, such that some mental illnesses are perceived as “masculine” and others as “feminine.” This notion may further stigmatize such disorders in individuals, as well as falsely inflate observed gender disparities in certain mental illnesses. Since gendered mental illness is a newly identified concept, little research has been performed exploring the way stereotypical gendered mental illness is depicted in mainstream film. This paper analyzes the movie What About Bob? to show that comedic film perpetuates stigma surrounding feminine mental illness in men and identifies the need for further study of gendered mental illness in movies to ascertain the effect such depictions have on the observed gender disparities in prevalence of certain mental disorders, as well as offers a proposal for coursework for film and medical students.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Psychology/Clinical

Research has examined sibling relationships among families dealing with challenging life circumstances such as parental divorce or other high-conflict situations. These studies have primarily focused on the congruency and compensatory hypotheses of relationships to understand how sibling relate to each other in difficult family circumstances. The congruency hypothesis suggests that sibling relationships are reflective of parental or parent-child relationships. In contrast, the compensatory hypothesis contends that sibling relationships can act as buffering in families dealing with high conflict. Few studies have examined these conceptual frameworks as they relate to how adult siblings cope with a parent with mental illness. The present qualitative study examined first-person accounts of young adult siblings with mothers with mental illness (anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder). A multiple perspectives research design was used to examine the accounts of 10 adult siblings from five families to understand their views of sibling relationships and family ties. Participants completed individual semi-structured interviews in which they discussed their relationships with their mother, father, and siblings, caregiving experiences, their personal mental health, and positive experiences related to having a mother with mental illness. Qualitative content analysis found support for both the congruency and compensatory hypotheses of sibling relationships among families living with parental mental illness. Findings also highlighted the potential for positive experiences and growth, as well as the significance of social support, for young adults who have a mother with mental illness. Implications of study findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2018, Honors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gender roles and attitudes toward people with mental illness. Two hundred forty-one participants (207 female, 34 male) took a survey made up of two existing measures. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was used to measure the independent variable of gender role, as it categorized participants as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. The Opinion about Mental Illness (OMI) scale was used to measure the dependent variable of attitude toward people with mental illnesses. This measure was made up of five subscales that evaluate different viewpoints of mental illness. In general, three of these subscales are considered to be more positive viewpoints, while the remaining two are considered more negative. It was hypothesized that masculine individuals would be associated with negative attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. It was also hypothesized that feminine individuals would be associated with positive attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. There was no significant difference in OMI scores across the BSRI categories, indicating that there is no relationship between gender roles and attitudes toward individuals with mental illnesses.

Master of Science in Criminal Justice, Youngstown State University, 2017, Department of Criminal Justice and Consumer Sciences

To gain a better perspective of contributing factors to substance abuse this thesis will examine the relationship between substance abuse, mental illness, previous mental health treatment and health insurance coverage. It is estimated that about 4 million of the 17.5 million people diagnosed with a mental illness also suffer from substance abuse (Important Statistics on Dual Diagnosis, n.d.). This study is a secondary analysis on the results from the 2013 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. The results from this survey is provided by random households in the United States from individuals aged 12 years and older. I test the following research questions: Is there a correlation between a person's mental health and their likeliness to abuse illegal drugs? Does previous mental health treatment decrease the likelihood that an individual will abuse drugs? Lastly, does not having health insurance increase the likelihood of drug abuse? The findings indicate that the presence of a mental illness, especially a severe mental illness, is correlated with a higher substance abuse rate than individuals without a mental illness or who are suffering from a less severe mental illness. It was also found that persons who had received mental health treatment were more likely to abuse substances than someone who had not received treatment. Lastly, the results showed that individuals without health insurance were more likely to abuse substances than someone with health insurance.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Psychology/Clinical

Using a sample of 174 mothers of adult children with serious mental illness, the present study examined the psychometric properties of a newly developed measure of parental involvement. In addition, the present research investigated the role of individual parent and child characteristics, illness severity and parent-child relationship characteristics as they related to mothers' reports of parental involvement and individual wellbeing. Findings suggested that parent reports of closeness with their adult child is the strongest predictor of parental involvement in the lives of adult children with serious mental illness, when controlling for parent and child demographics and illness severity. Findings in the present research study suggested that mothers' perceptions of the consequences of their involvement for their child and their relationship is the strongest predictor of parental wellbeing. Specifically, these effects emerged when controlling for parent and child demographic characteristics, illness severity and parental involvement. Narrative accounts, including advice for other parents, were also described. Implications of study findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Popular Culture

In this thesis I analyze the presence of mental illness, queer identity and Kristeva's theory of abjection in Alexandre Aja's 2003 film High Tension. Specifically I look at the common trend within the horror genre of scapegoating those who are mentally ill or queer (or both) through High Tension. It is my belief that it is easier for directors, and society as a whole, to target marginalized groups (commonly referred to as the Other) as a means of expressing a "normalized" group's anxiety in a safe and acceptable manner. High Tension allows audiences to reassure themselves of their sanity and, at the same time, experience hyper violence in a safe setting. Horror films have always targeted the fears of the dominant culture and I use this thesis to analyze the impact damaging perceptions may have on oppressed groups.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, Art Education

This dissertation critically examines mental illness discourses through the intersecting disciplinary lenses of art education and disability studies. Research from multiple disciplines is compared and theorized to uncover the ways in which discourses, or language systems, have oppressively constructed and represented “mental illness.” To establish interdisciplinary common ground, art education research on disability and disability studies research on art practices are reviewed and juxtaposed. Building on these reviews, art education and disability studies discourses are critically examined and elaborated to advance anti-oppressive scholarship on mental illness. In particular, I examine art education's adoption of special education language, and I explore the limited employment of art practices within disability studies. As an interdisciplinary example, I write about my experience of mental illness and some of the art processes I have used to make sense of mental illness as both a stigmatizing label and as a matter of complex embodiment. My research shows that oppressive, ableist discourses persist in such diverse forms as popular visual culture and special education legislation, while art education and disability studies are generally invested in challenging oppression. Such discourses reinforce stigma by misrepresenting mental illness and by excluding first-hand perspectives of people who experience mental illness and subsequent stigma. Disability studies scholars have used performance and writing to critically express self-revealing, self-disclosing, and therefore educative discourses. Other than performance and literature, however, there are few scholarly examples of using contemporary art practices to critically engage mental illness and other disabilities. As research, guided by my own embodied knowledge, I construct an example of how art education and disability studies practices can be integrated to construct critical disability discourses that challenge sti (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), University of Toledo, 2005, Nurse Educator

The purpose of this study was to discover the lived experience of family members of those who suffer from chronic mental illness. Van Manen's method of phenomenology was used for data collection and analysis. Five participants described their experience of being a family member of one who suffers from chronic mental illness. The nursing framework used to conceptualize this study was Friedemann's Systemic Organization (1995). Five essential themes emerged to reveal their lived experience: (a) participants experienced unmet needs, stigma ,and incongruence within the environment; (b) coping with multiple stressors that stemmed from the unpredictable overwhelming symptomatology and behaviors; (c) the effects of system change on the family system; when a family member suffers from mental illness.(d) a lack of control over changes occurring within the system; and (e) spirituality provided strength, faith, courage, and resilience that facilitated the ability of family members to endure and reach a level of acceptance of the mental illness.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1966, Graduate School

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1966, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism (Communication)

This research assesses the effects of media richness on journalism students' attitudes and readiness to report on mental illness ethically and accurately. Due to the ongoing inaccurate and sensationalized depictions of mental illness in media, future journalists must be trained to combat these issues. This study engaged 280 U.S. journalism students in a posttest-only experimental design. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions through Qualtrics: rich media with a narrated slide deck, moderate media with a non-narrated slide deck, and lean media with a static text page. Results indicated no significant difference in attitudes, self-efficacy, or intentions between the groups, challenging the predicted educational advantage of rich media. These findings suggest alternative factors – such as individual motivation – might also influence learning outcomes. This study calls for further inquiry into rich media educational methods to prepare journalism students to tackle subjects like mental health in their future careers.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Wittenberg University, 2024, Nursing

Research shows that there is an issue with college students obtaining enough quality sleep, and research also shows that college students are especially sensitive to mental health issues. This study will address the correlation between college student's sleep quality and mental health issues. This research looked strictly at college student's sleep and mental health is limited as a result of numerous studies using the variables besides sleep and mental health in their research. The specific mental health issues addressed are anxiety, depression, difficulty focusing, suicidal thoughts, severe mood swings, and insomnia. Research shows that the aforementioned mental health symptoms are most prevalent for undergraduate students. The PICO question posed is: Do college students who report less than ideal sleep quality tend to suffer more adverse mental health issues than those who report having better quality sleep? Data was collected via an anonymous survey sent to undergraduate students; questions involved rating one's sleep quality, sleep quantity, and mental health quality. The results and analysis of this study suggests that sleep quality does impact mental health of university students in the sample. Students who report lower sleep quality tend to rate their mental health lower than those who report a higher sleep quality. The majority of students do not believe college students get enough sleep; they also believe they could benefit from better sleep. The most pressing mental health issues in this sample are anxiety, difficulty focusing, and depression because those were reported as impacting significantly more than half of the sample. More than 90% of the sample reported that they have peers who struggle with depression or anxiety. The vast majority of students reported that their mental health was worse after getting less sleep. Additionally, the majority also reported that even one good night of sleep impacted their mental health positively. In conclusion, the re (open full item for complete abstract)