Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
Filtering by
- Creators: College of Health Solutions
Description
Objective: To examine the change in caregiver burden, stress, and heart rate variability (HRV) scores when family caregivers (FCG) of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) used heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB). Additional factors that could potentially moderate the effects of HRVB, such as education and income level, were separately examined.
Methods: An 8-week HRVB intervention was compared to a music listening control (MLC) condition for 30 family caregivers (FCGs) of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (and related dementias: ADRD). Analysis per education and income level were separately conducted.
Results: The HRVB intervention with higher education and lower-income individuals showed more favorable HRV outcomes (noted to be slightly decreased in higher-income individuals). Perceived stress was reduced for both intervention groups, and caregiver burden levels decreased for all income groups, particularly in those with lower incomes.
Discussion: Future researchers should increase the sample size, explore stratification based on income and education levels, and consider gender-based divisions, as these factors could yield valuable insights.
ContributorsMathews, Megan (Author) / Vizcaino, Maricarmen (Thesis director) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / James, Darith (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2023-12
ContributorsMathews, Megan (Author) / Vizcaino, Maricarmen (Thesis director) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / James, Darith (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2023-12
ContributorsMathews, Megan (Author) / Vizcaino, Maricarmen (Thesis director) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / James, Darith (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Background: First-generation college students (FGCS) often experience more stress compared to continuing-generation students (Holden et al., 2021). This stress can stem from familial and cultural obligations, financial challenges, and the experience of being part of a racial or ethnic minority group. Storytelling is a psychosocial process involving sharing personal experiences or fictional stories, usually reflecting the behavior patterns and orientation to events present in the culture of the teller. Limited research has explored storytelling interventions to address self-compassion and stress levels in first-generation college students
Aims: This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of a storytelling intervention for first-generation college students on perceived stress, resilience, and self-compassion, as determined by pre- and post-intervention. In addition, the incorporation of heart rate variability (HRV) measurements during storytelling quantified the physiological stress levels associated with the intervention and its potential correlation with stress reduction. Of additional interest was to obtain a qualitative characterization of the experiences, stresses, and supportive factors described in the stories told by participants.
Methods: FGCS were recruited at Arizona State University. Participants (N=22, M age=21.18 years, SD=3.172) attended a storytelling session for one hour in person. Heart-rate variability assessment was used to measure participant emotions and psychological coherence during in-person storytelling. The outcome measures included the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF), and HRV coherence was assessed during the intervention. Quantitative analyses were conducted in SPSS Version 27. Using the content of the stories shared in the intervention, qualitative content analyses were conducted with 3 research project members.
Results: A total of 36 participants agreed to be contacted and were emailed. Of these 36, 10 declined to participate and 4 were ineligible due to unwillingness to commit to 2 hours over 2 weeks to complete the study, (including an in-person visit to the lab) yielding 22 consented participants (61% recruitment of those screened). All consented individuals completed data collection, attended a storytelling intervention session, and completed the post-intervention data collection (100% retention). 5 major themes emerged from the data: (1) Barriers within Journey; (2) Immigrant and Immigrant Family Experiences; (3) Facilitators within Journey; (4) Reasoning for Attending University. The direction of change for HRV coherence with self-compassion and depression-anxiety was as expected. T-tests were generated for pre- and post- intervention self-reports: T1-T3 BRS SD= 0.79247, t= -0.673; T1-T3 PSS SD= 5.39540, t= -0.514; T1-T3 PHQ for anxiety SD= 1.91429, t= 0.111; T1-T3 PHQ for depression SD= 1.62302, t= 1.708; T1-T3 SCS SD= 0.46319, t= -1.956.
Conclusions: Participants described telling and sharing their stories as therapeutic and regenerative. Statistical tests of emotional regulation with HRVB demonstrated minimal change in stress response, with an increase in self-compassion. A storytelling intervention demonstrates a promising coping tool as an avenue for retelling distressing events and increasing self-compassion and resilience.
ContributorsKash, Joya (Author) / Kash, Jillian (Co-author) / Kim, Sunny (Thesis director) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05