Arizona Flashcards
**How did you get interested in the field of psychology/ Why do I want to be in this Lab
(Summarized)?
Before College:
A child with autism/epilepsy who had significant mental and physical health challenges. I saw firsthand how interconnected these two factors were to one another.
I often spent weeks at the hospital supporting my client.
Her family was from a very low SES. And felt they had a significant lack of resources.
I became very passionate about finding methods to help improve mental and physical wellbeing for my client.
Additionally, I became very passionate about disseminating resources to clinical populations, that truly benefit from such work, like my client.
Throughout my undergraduate degree, and post bacc research experience, I had research, academic, and clinical experiences where over time I developed an interest in examining interventions, including sleep based interventions that target stress reduction strategies for individuals who have faced health-related challenges, in the hope of reducing stress and promoting overall wellbeing.
Clinical opportunities: to work with individuals from underserved communities And had several opportunities to share resources with these clinical communities that benefited
One clinical experience I’d like to highlight:
At OHSU, one experience to highlight: family-to-family department there (help families navigate health care system and connect families to various resources and support systems they may benefit from).
At that point, I had a serious interest in working with individuals with disabilities (like my client) which included finding ways to reduce chronic pain.
I was able to conduct a literature review there and examine the impact opioid bans have on those with chronic pain and cancer.
My mentor, Shauna, set up a panel of Doctors and nurses for me to present my literature review to (many of which worked closely with clients addicted to opioids).
I also had the opportunity to facilitate a discussion about the need for non-addictive methods for pain management.
This experience led me to become interested in investigating non-addictive interventions that could be used to improve the quality of life/promote well-being for individuals in pain and health related challenges.
ACE: Studied the impact adverse childhood experiences have on college students
-Analyzed data using SPSS by conducting a reliability analysis and bivariate correlation
-Students with higher ACEs have a negative correlation to college satisfaction and quality of life
-Students with higher ACEs have a positive correlation to anxiety and depression.
From this study, I realized research was something I’m very passionate about and wanted to pursue in graduate school.
For my post bacc, I sought out intervention research work, with the hope of improving well-being for various clinical populations,
It got me very interested in examining intervention-based research work, and looking at interventions that may support individuals who have experienced significant adversities.
I joined SHAID lab as a research coordinator and developed excellent project management skills. I Had the opportunity to work on several projects but primarily worked on the SITY and Daily Sleep in Student Athletes. In SITY: we
investigate sleep health before, during, and after the initiation of gender-affirming hormone therapy. This experience ignited my passion for working with underserved and marginalized communities that are often overlooked in research.
In Daily Sleep in Student Athletes: This study acquainted me with the struggles student-athletes may encounter while balancing academic, athletic, and personal responsibilities. It led me to realize the significant stressors athletes experience, which can have a significant impact on their daily livelihood. This drove my interest in utilizing sleep interventions to help improve the well-being of athletes.
(lit review)
Due to this interest, Dr. Dietch
connected me with Dr. Casement at OSL.
At OSL- I helped launch 2 NIH-funded projects, that will be going on for the next 5 years. Now my time is primarily spent running participants through all of our various procedures.
We have two studies:
examined if implementing an earlier bedtime and increasing sleep duration could lead to the reduction of anhedonia and depression symptoms in adolescents or reduce risky alcohol use in young adults. Clinical assessment experience: insomnia
In graduate school I would like to examine the influence of stress and sleep reactivity on the well-being of college student-athletes and individuals struggling with insomnia due to health-related challenges. Additionally, I aspire to investigate how sleep interventions can mitigate the risk of psychopathology, for these groups. Afterward, I desire to examine methods, to disseminate these findings in an easily accessible manner.
My mentors often ask me to reflect on your “why” for conducting research. Especially when you get into the thick/weeds of a challenging project.
I am very enthusiastic about your lab because it directly aligns with my research interests and my “why”.
What appeals to you about this program?// Why are you interested in working with me?
I feel that The University of Arizona’s overall goal to promote underrepresented communities, their Behavioral Sleep Medicine training program, and the intervention science specialization opportunity, makes it the ideal environment for me to pursue my research
I’m also very excited about the work being conducted in Dr. Taylors lab, as it directly aligns with my drive.
l I could learn a lot from you (including grant writing)!
What’s a recent paper you read (relevant to lab) that you found interesting?
- Chorpita Paper.
- Daily reactivity to stress and sleep disturbances: unique risk factors for insomnia:
Paper looking at sleep and stress reactivity in nurses. Examined daily assessments for 2 weeks. Found Baseline stress reactivity and sleep reactivity independently as well as jointly predict greater insomnia symptoms 11 months later. The findings delineate processes underlying the stress-diathesis model of insomnia and highlight the utility of longitudinal and naturalistic measures of sleep and stress reactivity.
Research Idea #1
Athletes, Sleep, & Mental Health:
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Athletes commonly experience disturbed sleep, and this is linked to poorer mental health. Worse sleep is associated with increased depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.
Athletes face unique challenges such as competition pressures and travel demands that may exacerbate their sleep disorders and symptoms.
Sleep disorders and symptoms in athletes are not only linked to burnout and mood disturbances but also to specific issues like suicidal ideation, stress, and burnout. The need for more research is emphasized, particularly with a focus on precise measurement of diverse sleep facets.
Sleep is crucial for various aspects of athletes’ well-being, including musculoskeletal recovery, skill acquisition, and emotional regulation. Insufficient sleep has detrimental effects on athletic performance and increases the risk of injury. Athletes, due to factors like inflexible schedules, stress, travel, and competition timing, commonly face poor and insufficient sleep, impacting both academic and athletic performance, as well as physical and mental health.
Despite the significant impact of sleep on athletes, there remains a limited understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and the risk for mental health issues in college student athletes. This highlights the need for further exploration and awareness in this specific population.
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Sleep and stress reactivity:
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Daily reactivity to stress and sleep disturbances: unique risk factors for insomnia:
Paper looking at sleep and stress reactivity in nurses. Examined daily assessments for 2 weeks. Found Baseline stress reactivity and sleep reactivity independently as well as jointly predict greater insomnia symptoms 11 months later. The findings delineate processes underlying the stress-diathesis model of insomnia and highlight the utility of longitudinal and naturalistic measures of sleep and stress reactivity.
Dr. Taylor works with stress/ sleep reactivity
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Pain and sleep:
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There is a reciprocal relationship where pain during the day affects the quality of that night’s sleep and poor quality sleep increases pain levels the next day1.
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10 years in combination with short sleep were at an especially high risk of experiencing recurrent spinal pain, and improvement in insomnia symptoms was associated with a favorable prognosis
Sleep/Stress:
Pain/stress:
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Dr. Taylor and I have a joint interest in athletes ( I worked on student athlete project: that examined the daily sleep of athletes in the pac-12).
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I’d be interested in examining athletes who experience pain due to injury or health challenges that may lead to pain And have difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Baseline:
Do SCISD-R to get better idea of sleep (inclusion criteria)??
qualitative interview survey to get a better idea of how they perceive their personal relationships between
stress/ pain/ sleep.
14 days: Baseline daily surveys: examine daily sleep diaries (sleep quality, duration, onset sleep latency) wear actiwatch
Daily pain diaries
Daily stress diaries
Intervention: improve sleep duration via tele-cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia
Followed by 14 more days of daily assessments?? (See full paper)!!
At home assessments: look at their sleep motives compared to actiwatch data? (how well they think they will sleep while in pain compared to how well they actually sleep?)
Read Only
Alcohol and athletes
Alcohol and athletes
–Extensive evidence indicates that alcohol adversely affects athletic performance, increases the chance of injury, impairs aerobic metabolism, and has detrimental psychological influence. Alcohol consumption was also shown to be significant in young adults, with many elite athletes reporting alcohol intake.
– Adult elite athletes report consuming alcohol, especially during weekends when the probability for a training session the following day is lower.
–Athletes and coaches should be educated about the impacts of alcohol and insufficient sleep on wellbeing and performance.
–Women athletes reported significantly worse sleep disorder symptoms as a whole. In addition, Black athletes had worse sleep disorder symptoms. There was a trend for women with sleep problems to have higher PC-PTSD scores than women without sleep problems. In addition, athletes in the Other Underrepresented race group with sleep problems also had greater depression, PTSD, and psychotic symptom severity than White or Black student athletes. There was also a trend for Hispanic athletes with sleep disorder symptoms to have greater ADHD symptom severity.
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Read Only
Grants of interest
1) Dissimination: Virtual Insomnia Patients (VIPs) to Accelerate Dissemination of Precision
Diagnosis and Treatment of Insomnia
2) Dissimination: Web-Based Provider Training for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for
Nightmares (CBT-N)
3) Pac-12 Test of the Effectiveness of Bodies in Motion in Reducing Disordered
Eating and Body Image Concerns, and Improving Psychological Well-Being,
Among Male and Female Student-Athletes.
4) The PAC-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Mental Health
Coordinating Unit (MHCU)
(ended 2023: see if you can look at data set).
