Library: Psychology

This dissertation is an evaluative research study of supportive intervention tools for tackling anti-social behaviour implemented by a large housing association, since the Home Office Respect Agenda Action Plan was launched in 2006. The dissertation set out to explore the use and evaluate the effectiveness of supportive interventions as compared to enforcement interventions, and especially where people with mental health problems are involved The phenomenological theoretical underpinning of the research is informed by the philosophy of reaching far beyond the facts to identify the meaning a...

Across all disciplines, research needs to follow certain ethical guidelines in order to protect participants from harm. These principles include autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence. Previously within trauma research, these principles have been adhered to by means of subjective assessments due to the absence of empirical data. This created difficulties in accurately identifying the possible costs and benefits of research participation in trauma studies. The Reactions to Research Participation Questionnaire (RRPQ) by Newman, Sinclair and Kaloupek (2001) is a recently developed empirically ...

In the United States, divorce is estimated to occur in approximately 50% of all marriages. As a result, children are increasingly being exposed to the divorce process and are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties. The maternal preference for child placement following a divorce is well documented and often places fathers in the role of the nonresidential parent. Parent-child relationships frequently continue after divorce and fathers have been shown to play a critical role in child development. Factors that contribute to the quality of the nonresident father-child relation...

The aim of this study was to establish what is known about the treatment of schizoid personality disorder using psychodynamic psychotherapies, by conducting a systematic review of the literature. The limitations of this approach are set out, followed by an account of the development of the use of the term in descriptive psychiatry and the psychodynamic literature. The inclusion criteria used were studies in English and of adults, that had a methodology, had confirmed a diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder in the subject during the study, that used any type of psychodynamic approach, and ...

Salvia divinorum is a hallucinogenic herb that was originally used in the Mazatec Indian culture of Oaxaca, Mexico for spiritual and medicinal purposes (Wasson, 1962). Salvia divinorum produces powerful hallucinogenic effects when the leaves are chewed, orally consumed in a liquid state, or dried and smoked. Its active ingredient is Salvinorin-A (Roth et al., 2002; Siebert, 1994), a highly selective kappa-opioid receptor agonist (Roth et al., 2002), that researchers consider to be the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen (Ortega, Blount & Manchand, 1982; Siebert, 1994; Valdes et al., 1...

This research, undertaken with children's services social workers who have worked in an urban Local Authority in South Wales, UK, sets out to explore whether statutory social services departments meet the psychological needs of refugee children. The study is in the form of a comparative study of refugee and non-refugee children. The comparison was made in relation to the children's psychological presentation pre- and post-intervention by the statutory social services department. This investigation was undertaken in response to general observation and research evidence that suggest the possibil...

The following is a qualitative study regarding the experiences of law enforcement operatives engaged in deep-undercover persona. There were four participants in this study, although in keeping with the study's safeguards, no demographic or other identifying information concerning those participants is provided. Face-to-face, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with the participants. Those interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and redacted for de-identification purposes in keeping with safeguards. The transcribed interviews were then analyzed using a grounded theory pro...

This project began as an investigation into the high rate of suicide among members of the Coast Guard in comparison to other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The course of research revealed Coast Guard officials' chronic reluctance to disclose information about suicide. Therefore, the new focus of research became a comparative investigation of the Coast Guard's resistance to discussing suicide within the organization. The study was conducted through interviews with a sample of Coast Guard and other military members as well as through discussion boards on the Internet. Questions centered on m...

United States Air Force Officers are not often given the choice of career fields when they enter active duty. This may have some impact on performance on an academic measure in the assigned field. In addition to choice, levels of two causality orientations were assessed using Deci and Ryan's 1985 General Causality Orientation Scale, 12-Vignette version. Causality orientations are posited to exist in varying degrees in every individual and, for the purposes of this study, are tested to determine their association with academic achievement in a situation of limited choice. The overall aim of thi...

This paper presents a conceptual model that integrates multi-disciplinary findings in order to develop a more comprehensive view of the etiology and development of schizophrenia. The model attempts to compile the various variables that may place an individual at risk for or protect them from developing schizophrenia. The model utilizes a feedback loop, in order to depict a continuous state of interaction with all relevant variables. Consistent with this continuous interaction, the model assumes schizophrenia can develop through multiple pathways. This is critical in order to understand a disor...