Article archive / August 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 12. Source pages: 1, 7, 8.
Researchers from around the state are enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of Honolulu, Hawai’i, while they attend the Annual Convention of the American Psych- ological Association, July 31 to August 4.
However, they are also in the middle of tropical depression, Flossie, which is dumping rain on them as if they were still in our beloved, wet Louisiana.
Interestingly, in August of 2007 another storm, also named Flossie, drenched Honolulu in August of that year.
The Times reported on many of the presenters in our July issue and continue in this issue to report on the Louisiana psychologists, professors, graduate and under- graduate students who are presenting their research and chairing symposiums.
Those presenting at this year’s conference include Tulane’s Dr. Stacy Over- street and Dr. Bonnie Nastasi, University of Louisiana Monroe’s Dr. Karen Kopera-Frye and Dr. Bill McCown, Dr. Darlyne Nemeth, Dr. Lee Matthews, Loyola’s Dr. Janet Matthews, Drs. Greg Gormanous and Warren Lowe, Dr. Kelly Ray, and a number from LaTech including Drs. Guler Boyraz, Mary M. Livingston, Walter Buboltz, Janelle McDaniel, and Steve Jenkins.
Dr. Karen Kopera-Frye from the University of Louisiana Monroe is presenting her research, “Service Learning Involving a CBPE [Community-Based Participatory Evaluation] Needs Assessment in a Rural and Impoverished Community,” with co-author Dr. Pamela Higgins Saulsberry.
“Service Learning (SL) has been defined as structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection …” Kopera-Frye writes. “A rural, small town in Louisiana afforded a wonderful opportunity for Gerontology and Social Work undergraduates to demonstrate ‘good practice in community service learning pedagogy’ […]
She looked at Lake Providence, in northeast Louisiana and its challenges. “Currently, it is considered the poorest town in the US,” she explained.
Dr. Kopera-Frye and Janease Traylor, also from U. of Louisiana at Monroe, participated in a symposium chaired by Dr. Lee Matthews, “Essential Topics for SPTAs––Ethics, Advocacy, Service, and Education.” Traylor surveyed matters regarding state psychological associations.
Louisiana Tech’s Devin Merritt from the counseling psychology doctoral program will present “Sleep Practices and Behavioral Dimensions that Affect Sleep Quality in College Students.” His co-authors include Rebecca Cox, Victoria Felix, and Drs. Walter Buboltz, Janelle McDaniel, and Steve Jenkins from the LaTech faculty. The researchers demonstrated multiple relationships between behaviors and sleep quality in college students, showing how sleep habits and practices significantly affect overall quality of sleep.
Retired LaTech professor Dr. Alice Carter is co-author with first author Dr. Julie Osland, assistant professor of psychology at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV. In their work, “Factor Structure of the Revised Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale.”
Dr. Carter and Dr. Mary M. Livingston are also co-authors with first author Osland, presenting “Evaluating Stereotype Threat Manipulations and Math Performance.”
First author Dr. Guler Boyraz from LaTech’s faulty, along with graduate student coauthors John Waits, Victoria Felix, and Danita Wynes, Lisa Battle, and Aisha Armstrong will present “Integration of Stressful Events and Well-Being Among College Students.”
LaTech doctoral student Danita Wynes will present as first author of “Stressful Events and PTSD Symptomatology Among College Students.” Her coauthors are Victoria Felix, Brandon Waits, and Dr. Guler Boyraz.
“Stressful Events and PTSD Symptomatology among College Students Post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been reported to impact approximately 7.8% of the U.S. population, …” the authors noted.
“Approximately 44% of the participants indicated that they had experienced more than one stressful event within the last two years. The most commonly reported stressful events were loss of a loved one (13%) and financial hardship (10%); violent crime (1%) and combat (1%) were among the least commonly reported stressful events. Using the cutoff score of 50 on PTSD Checklist […] 28.1% of the participants were screened positive for PTSD. These results begin to shed light on the overlooked prevalence of PTSD in college students,” noted the authors.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.