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- Creators: Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
For my thesis/creative project, I created a prototype for a mental health app. Each section of the prototype has a purpose of instilling mindfulness and healthy habits that can promote and lead to sustainable mental health. Throughout the paper I explain my reasoning for starting this project, the science of mindfulness and how it can bring about positive mental and physical changes, and the design theory behind the prototype.
Stress for college students is nothing new and as more kids go to college the number of cases are on the rise. This issue is apparent at colleges across the nation including Arizona State University. StreetWise aims to help students prevent or appropriately deal with stress through interactive lessons teaching students life skills, social skills, and emotional intelligence.<br/>In order to prove the value of our service, StreetWise conducted a survey that asked students about their habits, thoughts on stress, and their future. Students from Arizona State University were surveyed with questions on respondent background, employment, number one stressor, preferred learning method, and topics that students were interested in learning. We found that students’ number one stressor was school but was interested in learning skills that would prepare them for their future after graduation. We used the results to make final decisions so that StreetWise could offer lessons that students would get the most value out of. This led to us conducting a second survey which included mock ups of the website, examples of interactive lesson plans, and an overview of the app. Students from the first survey were surveyed in addition to new respondents. This survey was intended for us to ensure that our service would maintain its value to students with the aesthetic and interface that we envisioned.
Pediatric anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and while pharmacological intervention seems to be an effective treatment, the validity of reported adverse side effects remains unclear. <br/><br/>Objective: To analyze the nature of evidence regarding adverse side effects in the pharmacological treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders. <br/><br/>Approach: A search using Google Scholar, PubMed, and PsychInfo was conducted for meta-analyses of pharmacological treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders as well as randomized controlled trials. The focus was on adverse events.<br/><br/>Results and Conclusion: Reportings of a limited number of adverse events were found among resources available to clinician and patient informed sources to inform pharmacological treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders. Only a small fraction of adverse side effects were found in the research literature. This finding raises concerns about making informed decisions to treat pediatric anxiety disorders with pharmacotherapy.
The thesis project merges interdisciplinary research to develop a self-directed creative intervention for immigrant youth, allowing them to make sense of their social and cultural identities. It takes research on self-awareness, multicultural identification, perceived belonging, and bibliotherapy to create a guided journal titled "Unearth," filled with art and writing prompts that are age-appropriate for adolescents and that serve as avenues for self-exploration. The project ultimately engages a focus group discussion to understand the usability and accessibility of the intervention.