Search Results Within Category "Mental & Behavioral Health"
Parent-to-child anxiety transmission in early childhood: Capturing in-the-moment mechanisms through emotion modeling and biological synchrony
Anxiety can emerge as early as pre-school age (4-7) and is often linked to anxiety in the parent. This study will examine patterns of brain and behavioral synchrony in parent-child pairs as they complete puzzles together and other social activities.
Participation requires three steps; a remote video session with the primary parent, an in-lab visit scheduled with the primary parent and child, and then an additional set of questionnaires given to the secondary caregiver.The remote session consists of obtaining consent, 2 questionnaires, and a clinical interview. The in-lab visit typically lasts about 2-3 hours, consisting of two parent-child activities and several child-only activities. Participants will be asked to wear mobile eye-tracking glasses and special caps used to measures brain activity during some of the tasks.
$125, $100 for the primary parent/or child and $25 for secondary parent
Children ages 4 to 6
Children less than age 4 or over age 6
Longitudinal Associations Between Food Insecurity, Diet, Mental Health, Sleep and Academic Outcomes in College Students
This is a questionnaire study that seeks to discover the prevalence of food insecurity at PSU's University Park campus over the course of a semester and the relationship between long-term food insecurity and academic outcomes, as mediated by mental health and sleep outcomes.
Must be in their 2nd semester during Spring 2021
Must have internet access
Must be at least 18 years old
Must not have children or other dependents
Has diagnosed mental disorders
Is unable to read, write or understand English fluently
Women, Opioid Use Disorder, and Criminal Justice: A Qualitative Study
Opioid-related overdose deaths and incarceration rates have skyrocketed and have disproportionately affected women. Despite having a higher burden of substance use disorders and HIV/AIDS than criminal justice-involved (CJI) men, CJI women are less likely to have access to substance use and HIV treatment. This qualitative study will conduct in-depth interviews with CJI women, MAT providers, and criminal justice professionals to identify facilitators and barriers to illicit opioid use cessation and related issues among CJI women.
substance use
opioid use
criminal justice
drug treatment
Childhood Adverse Experiences: Impacts in Young Adulthood
The purpose of the study is to examine how individuals change over time and what impacts their development. In particular, we are interested in mental health outcomes in young adulthood. Participants will be required to complete a survey one time that will take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Participants will be eligible to win a $10.00 amazon gift card.
The Role of Parental Emotion Regulation in Parent-Child Conflicts
This study seeks to examine parenting skills in responses to child misbehavior. Parents complete rating scales about their child's symptoms and behaviors and also participate in computer tasks to measure brain wave activity through EEG. There is an optional section where parent and child will be video recorded while completing activities together. Following the testing sessions are 8 weeks of counseling sessions for parents to help better manage their child's attention and behavior symptoms.
Participants will complete C-DISC while caregiver will complete rating scales around ADHD, ODD, and CD symptoms during initial visit. On the second visit, participants will complete emotion regulation tasks while EEG data is collected. Caregivers will also complete a monetary task while connected to EEG equipment. Parents will use LifeData to report inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and oppositional behaviors over 14 days. Optional parent child interaction and 8-week parenting intervention are offered to participating families.
$50
Child must have mild to moderate symptoms of ODD
Non-English speaking
Child with ADHD has diagnosis of mental retardation or prominent traits of autism
No additional child in the family can be enrolled simultaneously in this study
Interoception, the 8th Sensory System, Is it measurable?
Sensory processing is often affected in children and adolescents with ASD (autism). The 8th sensory system, coined interoception, is under studied in how it affects children with autism. Our study will compare children with and without autism (ages 11-18 years) using a tool we are developing. Our study hopes to develop psychometric properties of a tool to measure this new sensory sense.
Reading at 5th grade level in English
Healthy controls OR high functioning Autism
Under age 11 or over age 18
Cannot read English
Social Media Usage Effect on Symptomatology for Those with Obsessive-Compulsive
This study seeks to explore how social media use may result in increased severity of compulsions and/or obsessions in those with symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will complete questionnaires, digital sleep and social media journals.
social media user
Individuals who display symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (self-reported)
Has unlimited access to device for social media
Non-English speakers
The opioid epidemic among Pennsylvania immigrants: Implications for treatment practices
We plan to interview PA immigrants who have first-hand experience with opioid abuse or who have friends/family/neighbors with opioid abuse experiences. The goal is to highlight areas for improvement, regarding access to treatment and quality of treatment for immigrants. We hypothesize that immigrant status uniquely impacts this group and their rehabilitation journeys, but this has not yet been studied.
There will be one semi-structured, qualitative interview over Zoom, for about 45 minutes. Interviews may be in-person if there is no Zoom access.
$75.00 gift card
PA resident
18 years of age and older
Experience with opioid abuse
Friend or family member with opioid abuse experience
U.S. citizen
Below 18 years of age
No opioid abuse experience
diagnosis of an intellectual/developmental disability
Factors that contribute to use or abandonment of high-tech AAC among parents and direct supports
The study will survey parents, caregivers, and direct care professionals who support children and adults with intellectual disability, autism and limited vocal speech. The survey will ask questions specifically related to participants' experiences supporting an individual with communication needs. The study will gather information on factors that contribute to the use of high-tech AAC as a mode of communication compared to other types of AAC.
Participants should click on the link below to participate. Participants will answer questions about their experiences in supporting children and adults with intellectual disabilities, autism and limited vocal speech. The questions will relate specifically to supporting their communication needs. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete, and participants will have an option to provide additional information which could take another 10 minutes to complete.https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0MuXHc2fLOWVfy6
Participants can choose to be entered into a monthly drawing to receive a $25 gift card.
2.Must older than 18 years of age
3.English-speaking
2.Has not supported an individual with autism, intellectual disability and limited functional vocal speech in the past year
3.Under the age of 18
4.Non-English speaking
Linking brain network dynamics to smoking-related behavior
Most attempts to quit smoking end in relapse, or a return to regular smoking. One of the biggest threats to cessation is a lapse (i.e., any cigarette use during a quit attempt). Thus, characterizing why lapses occur is essential to understanding and preventing smoking relapse. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a promising method for characterizing the psychological processes that lead to smoking lapses because it provides a way to measures patterns of brain activity thought to reflect relevant mental processes as they change over time. However, methodological issues have hindered the ability to capitalize on this potential and prevented an understanding of how brain activity and corresponding psychological processes unfold in the critical moments that immediately precede a smoking lapse. The proposed project will address this knowledge gap using a novel fMRI paradigm adapted from a well-validated behavioral lapse task. The goals of the project are to characterize changes in brain activity that lead up to a lapse and to investigate how these changes are related to concurrent affect and subsequent cigarette use.
There will be two in-person visits, both will involve completion of computerized questionnaires and one will involve completing and MRI scan
175
Age 21-65
Claustrophobic
Health Apps to Mitigate COVID-19 Risk Survey
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting everyone’s daily routine, our lives have changed drastically. The health of ourselves, families, friends, and communities is our biggest concern and finding a cure to this problem is still underway The purpose of this survey is to analyze how people are taking control of their health using various health applications forms.
Examining contextual factors associated with food-related reward and eating restraint
Rates of obesity have risen sharply throughout the world over the past several decades. The increase in the availability of highly palatable, high-calorie foods may be one factor that has contributed to this trend. That is, the availability of such foods may lead to their over-consumption and corresponding weight gain. Currently, relatively little is known about how the availability of foods, per se, affects things such as the motivation to eat and the ability to resist doing so. The current study is designed to help address this knowledge gap by examining the effects of food availability in people with high levels of dietary restraint. Dietary restraint, which refers to the intention to restrict food intake deliberately in order to prevent weight gain or to promote weight, is linked to problematic patterns of eating. This project uses laboratory tasks and brain imaging to study the effects of food availability on various outcomes, including food choices, food craving, and responses in brain areas linked to motivation.
Participants will be asked to fill out some online questionnaires and complete some computerized behavioral tasks. They will be asked to attend a one-hour virtual screening/baseline session via Zoom, and a 3-hour MRI session in the Penn State campus, University Park. In the MRI session, participants will be performing on a task involving asking them to view a series of colorful food pictures inside an MRI scanner while their brain activity is being scanned.
80
Participants must be right handed.
Participants must be fluent English speakers.
Participants must have a body mass index (BMI) >= 25.
Participants must have experienced food eating/weight issues.
If participant have a lifetime history of diagnosed eating disorders, diabetes, hyperglycemia, high levels of triglycerides, or high cholesterol or other related medical conditions.
If participants have any known risk from exposure to high-field strength magnetic fields (e.g., pace makers), any irremovable metallic foreign objects in their body (e.g., braces), or a questionable history of metallic fragments.
If participants report that they are vegetarian/vegan.
If participants are not willing to refrain from using alcohol for 24 hours or from using nicotine products/recreational drugs for 3 weeks, or unwilling to fast from food for 5 hours prior to two of three lab visits.
Self and community spiritual resilience in LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming individuals
The goal of this research is an assessment of spirituality as a coping mechanism related to self and community stigmatization faced by gender nonconforming individuals and those in the LGBTQ+ community. Examination of discriminatory events, spiritual coping, and sense of community belonging will also be conducted.
Participants will complete a series of online questionnaires
Not straight but don't identify as LGBTQ+
Parent-to-child anxiety transmission in early childhood: Capturing in-the-moment mechanisms through emotion modeling and biological synchrony
Anxiety can emerge as early as pre-school age (4-6) and is often linked to anxiety in the parent. This study will examine patterns of brain and behavioral synchrony in parent-child pairs as they complete puzzles together and other social activities.
This is a longitudinal study examining the role that parent-child synchrony and emotional modeling plays in the transmission of anxiety. Participants will complete yearly laboratory visits and 6-month follow-up visits. The yearly laboratory visits (V1,3,5) will include a battery of tasks and questionnaires, but the six-month follow-up visits(V2,4) will only include online questionnaires. Participants at both Penn State and Washington University, St. Louis will follow the same procedures.
Participating families will be given $100 at each of V1 and V3, $25 for each of the follow-ups at V2 and V4, $100 and a $50 completion bonus at V5, for a total amount of $400.
Children without serious medical issues or complications
Parents or caregivers aged 18 or older
Children diagnosed with any neurological disorders and/or diseases
Children unable to communicate at a level similar to their peers
Children that have experienced a head injury with a loss of consciousness
Children 0 to 3 years of age; Children 7 and older
Designing for Supportive Accountability: Using Conversational Agents to Sustain Patient Engagement in PTSD
The purpose of this study is to better understand the use and acceptance of conversational agents (CAs) aiming to support individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Specifically, we will focus on examining CA prototypes that can provide useful information and support individuals with PTSD while sustaining adherence and engagement. This study corresponds to Phase 1 of the NSF grant (e.g., participatory design). The outcomes of the study will be used to advance to Phase 2 of the grant (i.e., system development"). A separate IRB application will be submitted for Phase 2. Toward this goal, we will interview individuals living with PTSD to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and correctness of the prototype of CAs.
1. Individuals who self-report having been diagnosed with PTSD2. Participants are adults, aged 18 years or older.
$30 gift card
Adults, aged 18 years or older.
Participants pass the screening test (the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5(PC-PTSD-5) and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)) identifying whether a participant have PTSD based on self-reported scales
English-speaking participants
Emotion dynamics and alcohol use in NIAAA-defined recovery from alcohol use disorder
This study uses a baseline assessment and 28 days of ecological momentary assessment to examine the association of emotion dynamics to craving and alcohol use among people in the first year of cessation of heavy drinking and remission from DSM-5 AUD.
There will be one in person visit. Participants will be asked to complete baseline questionnaires. After the baseline assessment, participants will complete 28 days of daily diary questions on their cell phone. A prompt will be sent to the phone 3 times per day. It should take 5 minutes (15 minutes total/day) to complete the questions.
189
Have a history of a previous (AUD) in the past year
Live within commuting distance of the Penn State Clinical Research Center
Bipolar disorder
Cognitive impairment
Active drug use disorder other than nicotine or cannabis dependence
Lack of sufficient familiarity with the English language to comprehend recruitment and consent procedures
Contempt as a Mixed Emotion
This study will investigate whether contempt is a positive, negative, or mixed emotion.
Interpersonal contrast avoidance of anxiety and depression
This research aims to learn more about your daily thoughts, behaviors, and their impact on social relationships. We want to understand the different qualities of day-to-day thoughts, how these might affect your mood, and how this may influence how you behave in social interactions. We will first ask you to complete a set of structured questionnaires and a brief 30-minute psychological interview via Zoom. This will be followed by a training session in which you will learn how to use your smartphone to track your social interactions and related daily thoughts and behaviors eight times a day for eight days.
You will undergo an initial assessment visit conducted on Zoom, where you will provide informed consent and undergo screening through a brief 30-minute clinical interview. Based on your responses, we will know if you can participate in the study. If eligible, you will be invited to the second part of the study. If so, during the same session, you will then receive a brief half-hour training session reviewing instructions on using a mobile application to complete daily surveys and then complete a series of online questionnaires.When you leave this session, for the next eight days, you will complete eight (approximately 2-minute) questionnaires daily between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. On the third day, you will attend a compliance check via Zoom to review your progress in the present study.
$20
Scores on self-report questionnaires suggest person does or does not struggle with anxiety and/or depression
Owns a smartphone
Fluent in the English language in terms of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Does not own a smartphone
Unable to speak, read, listen, and write English fluently.
Effects of Individualist and Collectivist Culture on Emotional Empathy in Counselor Trainees
This research is an attempt to understand the components of empathy and the cultural factors that shape its development. I am seeking about 200 Master's-level counseling students in the U.S. to complete the online survey. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and participants will have chances to win Amazon gift cards and to learn the study results.
over 18-year-old
under 18-year-old
Perceptions of online learning and well-being of medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic – a multicenter international study
This study will allow us to explore the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as sociodemographic factors on undergraduate and graduate medical students’ mental health measured by stress, anxiety, and resilience, and to study their online learning experience during the pandemic.
English Speaking
Undergraduate & Graduate Medical Students
Adult who is 18 years of age or older
Adults unable to provide consent
Individuals who are not yet adults
Pregnant women
Prisoners
A more naturalistic interaction: using back-channeling in smart-speakers to indicate active listening
In this project, we aim to extend the capabilities of smart-speakers (such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri, etc.) to support more engaging interactions with their users. Specifically, we would like to make the future of smart-speakers more conversational. One of the key aspects in developing a conversation is to be an active listener; showing interest in the speaker and allowing them to extend their turn in talk. In this study we investigate how smart-speakers can become better listeners by incorporating some of the human-human conversational features of active listening. Our question is, how can smart-speakers extend the users' turn in talk by being better listeners?
English speaking individuals
non english-speaking individuals
Elucidating the Necessary Active Components of Training (ENACT) Study
This study will examine the effects of different brain games on cognitive and everyday activities in middle-aged and older adults. Participants will play either 20 or 40 hours of ENACT brain games on a study provided laptop. They will also complete daily surveys on a study-provided mobile phone for the duration of the study. These surveys will take approximately 5-6 minutes to complete per day. The study will last either 6 or 9 months depending on the brain game training time. The study will be done remotely from the comfort of home using study-provided mobile devices. Participants are compensated for their time.
Participants will play either 20 or 40 hours of ENACT brain games on a study provided laptop. They will also complete daily surveys on a study-provided mobile phone for the duration of the study. These surveys will take approximately 5-6 minutes to complete per day. The study will last either 6 or 9 months depending on the brain game training time. The study will be done remotely from the comfort of home using study-provided mobile devices.
$230
Strong English writing and comprehension
Willing to participate for 5 to 9 months
History of dementia or Alzheimer's Disease
Use of video games for more than 2 hours/week over the previous 2 years
Testing a Biosocial Model of Borderline Personality Features in Youth
In this study, we hope to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying risk for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in adolescent girls. BPD is a condition that is usually found in adults. However, it may be possible to identify risk for the disorder before adulthood. Understanding who is at risk for BPD early in development is important in order to develop preventative interventions.
There will be a total of three visits - one main visit and two follow-ups. Participants will be completing questionnaires, participating in a parent-child observation task, and children will be doing an EEG assessment during the first visit. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires and participate in a parent-child observation task during the follow-up visits.
$100
Girls
With or without a current or past history of mental health disorder
Fluent in English
Diagnosis of intellectual or developmental disabilities (e.g., Autism, Asperger's) , or any psychotic disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder)
Males
Not fluent in English
Investigation of Semantic Processing in Context
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of context on the processing of words in young adults with and without an autism spectrum disorder. The knowledge gained may lead to further understanding of the cognitive and linguistic processing of individuals with autism spectrum disorder—how they understand and see the world around them. The study is being conducted at our on-campus lab and includes the completion of some standardized paper and pencil tests and some computer-based activities. Participants receive compensation for their participation.
Normal or corrected to normal vision
Normal hearing
With or without a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome
Vision problems (uncorrected)
Hearing problems
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Psychiatry
This study intends to improve detection of depression and anxiety by examining speech features recorded by a voice app and analyzing the voice data using cutting-edge artificial intelligence approaches. Eligible participants who are interested in this study will speak on various questions related to lifestyle choices, physical health, and mood to the voice app briefly, fill in some questionnaires, and complete a brief clinical interview. All of the procedures for this one-session study will last up to 90 minutes.
Participants who are eligible based on the screening questionnaire will be invited to participate in a single 1.5 hour Zoom session. During this session, you will be prompted to speak about various topics to a voice app for a few minutes, fill in some questionnaires, and complete a brief clinical interview.
Up to $60 can be earned for completing the 1.5 hour Zoom session. No compensation is given for completing the screening survey.
Meets one of the following criteria: 1) Male 2) Black or African American 3) Hispanic, OR 4) Age 23 or older
Executive Functioning in Young Adults
This study is designed to better understand how people complete complicated tasks, and the best ways in which to measure their performance. If you agree to the study, you will be asked to fill out questionnaires on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; take a short interview on the same; and complete brain teasers and computerized tests of attention and learning.
There are several steps to determining whether you are a good fit for the study. If you agree to be in the study, then we will send you a link to complete online questionnaires (~10 min) on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If you are a good fit, then we will schedule a laboratory visit in Moore Building at the University Park campus (maximum length of time = 3 hours). During that visit you will complete an interview and more questionnaires, brain teasers, and computerized tests of attention and learning. The visit will be video recorded for quality assurance.
$50
Speak English as first language, or are fluent in English
Participants must meet study guidelines based on screening process
If taking a stimulant medication (e.g. Ritalin), must be willing to discontinue its use for a period of 24-48 hours prior to the lab visit
Neurobehavioral Effects of Frequent Co-use of Alcohol and Cannabis
This study will examine neural reactivity to stress in young adults who use alcohol and cannabis and link these responses to behaviors in everyday life.
You will be asked to complete the following:1) An in-lab intake appointment for interviews and questionnaires, and a smartphone-based training session2) A 14-day burst of smartphone-based reporting in daily life3) An in-lab neuroimaging training session and scan, and bloods draws4) Two additional 14-day bursts (total of 28 days) of smartphone-based reporting in daily life, one at 6 months post-MRI and one at 12 months post-MRI5) 6-month follow-up appointment for interviews and questionnaires6) 12-month follow-up appointment for interviews and questionnaires
717
Use an android or apple smartphone
Cannabis use
Alcohol use
Willing to do MRI scan
Inability to give informed consent
Any contraindications for MRI (e.g., medical devices in the body, claustrophobia, etc.)
Caregiver's Perceptions of High-quality Early Education and Care
This is an exploratory study which looks at how caregivers define high-quality early education and care. Participants will fill out a questionnaire containing open-ended and closed-ended questions. It will take participants no longer than 20 minutes to complete.
Adults who are fluent in English
Adults who are regular caregivers of children between birth and age 5
Individuals who can read and respond to written close- and open-ended survey questions electronically
Individuals who live in the United States
Individuals who are not fluent in English
Individuals who are not regular caregivers of children between birth and age 5
Individuals with poor reading comprehension and are otherwise limited in their ability to read and respond to survey questions
Individuals who do not currently live in the United States of America
Emotion Regulation During the Transition to Parenthood
The purpose of this study is to understand parents' experiences of emotion regulation in parenting and coparenting contexts and how individual differences in parents' emotion regulation are associated with well-being and relationship functioning.
Coparents will be asked to fill out questionnaires and engage in interviews with the researchers during three online sessions across the transition to parenthood.
110
One parent is pregnant and in their third trimester
First-time parents
English-speaking
NSF Proposal 2000047: Understanding the contribution of individual differences todomain-general and domain-specific components of false memories in both young and older adults
This research study investigates the neural processes underlying how people process, store, and remember visual or auditory information.
There will be two in person visits completing tasks on a computer and some verbal tasks.
$10.00/hour for behavioral tasks, $20.00/hour for fMRI scanner tasks.
Ages 60-85
High school education