psychology Archives

psychology

Inspiring internship: Bienvenido a Madrid!

August 2, 2021

Abigail Kimball graduated from The University of Tulsa in 2021 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish. She came to Tulsa in 2017 from Fort Worth, Texas, as a walk-on track athlete, but soon realized that track was not her passion. After taking Beginning Spanish, Kimball got involved with TU’s Spanish club, La Tertulia. She became a regular at their meetings, helping with assignments and organizing tasks for the club. Abigail was also involved with RUF Campus Ministry.

During the spring semester of her junior year, Kimball traveled to Madrid, Spain, on a study abroad program with the International Education Services (IES Abroad). After only two months overseas, however, the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm and she had to return to the United States. This fall, Kimball will return to Madrid this year for an internship with Cru, formally known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Before Kimball embarks on this international adventure, we had an opportunity to chat with her to learn a little more about her study abroad experience in Spain, how her studies at TU had prepared her to excel and what her hopes are for the next sojourn.

Where in Spain did you study? Where all did you visit?

I studied in Madrid. When I first considered studying abroad in Spain or Latin America, I initially avoided the idea of Madrid since everyone goes there. But a friend told me about a Spanish-speaking church in Madrid that sounded interesting. After praying and deliberating, I decided Madrid was the best option for me. I was there from January to March 2020 until COVID-19 happened.

I also visited Segovia, which is a small village an hour outside of Madrid and Toledo, another small city. I also went to Caceres in East Spain, close to the border with Portugal. One weekend, I went to Paris. Unfortunately, since I was sent home early, I did not get to go to many of the places I had planned to visit.

What were your favorite places that you visited in Spain?

In Madrid, there is a park called El Retiro which is like Central Park in New York City. It’s like Madrid’s Central Park. I loved to go there after class to journal and watch the sunset. El Palacio Royale, Madrid’s royal palace, had a lookout point to watch the sunset. I’m a huge sunset person! Toledo was also beautiful. There was a picture of Toledo in one of my Spanish classrooms at TU, so it felt surreal to be in that exact place.

How were you able to apply what you had learned from your Spanish minor to your visit to Spain?

I went in with a solid base of knowledge from beginner and intermediate Spanish at TU. I took conversation and composition classes and had so much practice conversing in Spanish. I felt that I had the grammar down and just needed the experience of speaking the language with people from the country. I went to Madrid knowing that if I took anything away from this trip, it was going to be improving my Spanish speaking skills.

Girl smiling and holding the Spain Flag — Kimball next to Kendall Bell with the flag of Spain

It was easy to fall into a comfort zone of speaking English because it was easier, but I knew I had all the tools to effectively speak Spanish and that I just needed to throw myself into situations where I could practice. I also lived with a Spanish homestay, so I made the effort to get to know her by spending time with her, whether it was watching TV or eating meals together I also made a conscious effort to get involved with a Spanish-speaking church and joined a Bible study group to put myself into situations where I was having to speak Spanish, no matter how uncomfortable it was and just powering through my mistakes.

But I didn’t realize how much Spanish I knew until I arrived in Spain! I think TU’s program prepared me for the balance of conversation and grammar. While the classes can be challenging, I was able to learn so much. Something that excited me when I was first learning Spanish at TU was how fast I was learning and progressing — it motivated me to keep going. When I was in Spain, I knew I had a lot to learn, but I was excited to seek opportunities to get out of my comfort zone.

What was it like being sent home at the onset of the pandemic?

It was very hard, because the two-month mark is where you start to really hit your stride. I was feeling more comfortable in Spain and really enjoying my routine. To watch that all come crashing down and to have to leave so abruptly was heartbreaking. It was hard not being able to say goodbye to my study abroad friends and church friends. There was so much buildup to the trip and to be sent home felt like such a loss.

It all happened so fast. Seeing the city shut down was also disappointing. I remember walking down the street and seeing no cars, no people — it was silent. It wasn’t the Madrid I knew. I had to finish my study abroad program online, but I was still able to stay in touch with my homestay and the friends that I made in Madrid.

Where in Spain will you be interning? What company/what will you be doing?

I’m going back to Madrid, which I’m really excited about. I’m going with a missions organization called CRU, formally known as Campus Crusade for Christ. I will be an international intern and I will work on a college campus in Madrid, getting to know students and helping the ministry.

There are a variety of organizations that students can get involved in, such as English clubs, art clubs, movie nights, picnics and more. I’ll be leading a team of three other girls and living in the city and being a friend to the students there. I will be there for a year, and after that year, I will assess if I want to do another year as an intern.

What do you hope to accomplish on this visit to Spain that you didn’t get to last time?

With my work, I won’t have the same freedoms that I had as a study abroad student to travel every weekend, but I do hope to visit some of the places that I didn’t get to after being sent home for Covid, such as Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante.

I was also bad about trying new foods when I was in Spain, so this time around, I want to immerse myself more in their food culture and not just eat pancakes at brunch. I want to honor the Spanish cuisine!

What tips would you give to a student wanting to study abroad?

Girl smiling with a graduation stole — Kimball with her graduation stole

I suggest going in with a defined set of goals. Assess what you want to prioritize while you’re abroad. For me, it meant not going on every excursion I could and going out in the community to meet people and practice speaking Spanish. It ended up being so worth it. I think it’s important to prioritize getting to know people in your country, whether it’s through a specific program or getting to know your homestay. Making relationships that carry on once I left was important. I recommend resisting the urge to only be with Americans and to make an effort to get to know the people in your community. For me, it was church and living with my señora.

Also, go in with reasonable expectations. I went in fantasizing about study abroad, thinking I was going to discover everything about myself and have the best time of my life. While this can be true, there is an adjustment period the first month or two that can be difficult to navigate. You can be in shock thinking everything is supposed to be perfect, but the transition can feel lonely. You have to make new friends in a new culture that don’t speak your native language. Give yourself grace navigating your new life!

Were there any courses, professors or staff members who were particularly inspiring and helpful during your time at TU?

It’s hard to pinpoint one course because I loved all of them. All of them were challenging and they all instilled a sense of confidence in me.

Beginning Spanish with Professor Chamarro was an influential course. She helped me believe that learning the Spanish language was possible. Professor Garmy’s courses were challenging, but the grammar lessons she provided whipped me into shape. Professor Willis was so invested with giving us feedback and involving us in conversation. I was never bored in his course because we were constantly interacting.

Are you eager to spread your wings while learning in another country? If so, get your passport in order and contact the Center for Global Engagement today!

Suicide risk and prevention research published in LGBT journal

June 5, 2020

Few studies to date have examined how certain stressors can cause high suicide rates among minority individuals including transgender individuals. More than 47,000 people die by suicide every year in the United States, and studies show that at least 10% of members in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have attempted suicide at least once in their lives. These startling statistics have enacted new waves of detection, prevention and intervention for those at risk of suicide, but more research and action are needed.

Gender minority theory

Why do minority individuals experience more adverse mental and physical outcomes? One proposed explanation is the gender minority theory involving distal and proximal stressors along with several resilience factors. Distal stressors include gender-based victimization, discrimination, rejection, and non-affirmation of gender identity. Proximal stressors are experienced within the psyche of an individual such as transphobia, negative expectations related to gender identity and concealment of one’s gender identity.

The gender minority stress theory suggests potential reasons why these stressors may increase the risk of suicide, but community resiliency has never been factored into the equation. A group of TU psychology students decided to take on the task of exploring the moderating role of resiliency in the relationship between stressors, trauma exposure and suicide risk. Their findings were published in the Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling this spring.

The original study began in 2017 as the dissertation of PhD student Jim Scholl (BA ’13, MA ’16, PhD ’19) who focused on gender minority stress and trauma within a trans sample. “I talked him into including a four-item self-report measure on suicide risk,” said doctoral student Chelsea Cogan (MA ’18). “He was gracious enough to let me run with different ideas I had on what to look at within his sample.”

Cogan took on the primary role of conducting analyses, writing the results and writing the bulk of the paper’s introduction. Scholl contributed the data and methods, and then-undergraduate student Hannah Cole (BS ’18) assisted with formatting and discussion. Professor of Psychology Joanne Davis served as the project’s faculty adviser.

“The goal was to try and find protective factors within the trans population primarily through the gender minority theory framework,” Cogan explained. “The idea is that this relationship can be moderated by community resiliency, such that the higher levels of community resiliency an individual possesses, the less impact the distal and proximal stressors have on their mental and physical well-being.”

Assessing the role of resilience

A total of 155 self-identified transgender individuals participated in the study and completed a basic demographics measure. Data was collected in the fall of 2017. The TU students used the gender minority stress and resilience measure to assess nine constructs: gender-related discrimination, gender-related rejection, gender-related victimization, non-affirmation of gender identity, internalized transphobia, negative expectations for future events, concealment, community connectedness and pride. Other methods included a life events checklist to determine the total number of traumatic experiences reported by the individuals and a suicide behaviors questionnaire that looks at suicidal ideation, behaviors, communication and likelihood of future suicide attempts.

Analyses revealed the community resilience factors specified in the gender minority stress theory were not sufficient to mitigate the risk of suicide. Community resilience did not significantly moderate the relationships between minority stressors, trauma exposure and suicide risk.

“Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer as to why community resilience was not a significant moderator,” Cole said. “One theory that we touch on briefly in the paper is that in order to access the community and draw resilience from it, individuals would likely need to be out and visible in a way that could potentially expose them to greater stigma and even violence, which could wash out the benefits gained from community resilience. Another thing to consider is that we only looked at community resilience, rather than individual level factors like hardiness, and therefore may have limited the complete picture.”

Sharing the findings in a national journal

According to Cogan, the TU team was surprised to learn that community resilience was not a factor. She said this is the first study to include all three components of the gender minority stress theory as they relate to suicide risk. As a result, they felt it was crucial to submit their findings to the Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling to reach a broad range of clinical providers who regularly interact and work with trans individuals.

“This study is important because it demonstrates the need for much more research into protective factors to help decrease suicide risk within trans individuals,” Cogan said. “It also further demonstrates how integral assessing for the presence of distal and proximal stressors (in addition to trauma exposure) is when assessing suicide risk with trans clients.”

Although Cole has since graduated from TU, she says her involvement in the project and other TU research has sparked her passion for research and advocacy in sexual and gender minority communities. She plans to begin a clinical psychology program in the fall under the mentorship of a professor who studies violence prevention and intervention in the LGBT population. “I hope to continue this work throughout my career with the ultimate aim of increasing access to competent, sensitive care for historically underserved communities,” she stated.

Cogan explained next steps in this research would involve further examining the gender minority stress theory variables and replicating the findings in another sample to explore other potential protective factors, such as social connection, etc. Now that the research is published, more work remains to be accomplished, but Cogan and Cole agree the study is beneficial in reducing trauma exposure, violence and negative mental and physical health outcomes in the transgender and gender diverse communities.

See the published paper The Moderating Role of Community Resiliency on Suicide Risk in the Transgender Population.

TU psychology faculty and students helping kids and teens with nightmares

September 10, 2019

When traumatizing nightmares plague a child’s sleep routine, parents often search for answers. University of Tulsa faculty and student researchers in the Department of Psychology have investigated this psychological condition since the early 2000s. Today, Associate Professor of Psychology and clinical psychologist Lisa Cromer leads a team of graduate and undergraduate students in nightmare treatment for children and adolescents.

The University of Tulsa’s specialization in sleep among children began with graduate student research that was mentored by Professor of Psychology Joanne Davis. She focuses on nightmare and sleep problems in trauma-exposed individuals and when Cromer joined the psychology faculty, Davis invited her to expand upon the original project. With her expertise in children and adolescents, Cromer developed manuals and workbooks to adapt the research more broadly. Since then, graduate and undergraduate students have helped her establish a children’s sleep lab. Cromer and her students currently are conducting their second clinical trial that provides a five-session therapy series for youth, ages 5 to 17, who experience nightmares.

Combining sports and child psychology

Second-year grad student Jack Stimson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked with traumatized, abused and neglected children in Seattle, Washington, before beginning the psychology Ph.D. program at TU. A former rugby athlete, he is interested in both sports and child psychology. “That’s the reason I chose TU and Dr. Cromer in particular,” he said. “She is an expert in a lot of areas, and I have an immense passion for working with kids.”

Stimson contributes to the clinical trial by asking questions and assessing participants once they have received therapy for nightmares. So far, 14 kids and teenagers have entered the treatment with encouraging results. Stimson said the youth and teens are “almost glowing” when he meets with them following the successful therapy sessions. They sleep sounder, feel better and experience fewer nightmares. “In supervision, we’ll sometimes watch tapes from earlier assessments before they went through treatment, and it’s amazing to see the shift in body language,” he said. “Instead of having nightmares every single night, they now maybe have one once or twice a month.”

As an undergraduate, psychology senior Andrew Helt also serves an important purpose in Cromer’s lab. He discovered his career interests in trauma psychology while working with children with communicative disorders at Happy Hands Education Center his freshman year. Helt’s research is the focus of a Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC) project and his final class project. After learning about the enriching environment of Cromer’s lab, basic literature reviews and data entry led him to explore a sub-study within her clinical trial. “We started to notice that while there’s a lot of kids with nightmares, some of them were reluctant to get into research,” Cromer said. “We wanted to understand the hesitation for either seeking treatment or seeking treatment for a research study when the therapy is free.”

During the summer, Helt learned how to use software systems and review literature to understand the psychological constructs associated with children who suffer from frequent nightmares. Overcoming barriers to treatment can help make it more accessible for children who desperately need relief. “I’m looking at what factors play into whether a parent decides to express interest in joining the trial (before) and what impact the nightmare treatment has in reducing symptoms (after) related to cognitive, behavioral functions,” Helt said.

Additional benefits of nightmare treatment

Published findings show parents who pursue therapy typically are of a higher socioeconomic status, and Cromer’s lab wants to learn how to make therapy and research more accessible to diverse groups. Helt’s sub-study also looks at how treatment can improve executive functions such as impulse control, working memory, task switching and goal-directed behavior. “For most of the medical studies I’ve read about, it’s not about convenience but rather factors like a person’s evaluation of the risks vs. benefits of participating,” Helt explained. “Underprivileged populations, for various reasons, have lower executive function, which plays into poor academic and social outcomes. It’s important to find any way possible to improve those executive functions in kids. We want nightmares to go away, but we also want to see if nightmare treatment can help in other areas too.”

The main objective of the second clinical trial is to determine if nightmares decrease in severity and frequency after the five-session therapy series. To accomplish this, Cromer is teaming up with Dr. Tara Buck, assistant professor of psychiatry and Oxley Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. The university collaboration allows OU to recruit participants for the study while TU graduate students conduct the therapy and post-therapy assessments.

Resilience amid adversity

Cromer and TU have built a credible reputation nationwide for sleep research, but her lab also encompasses other important areas of study, including psychological resilience amid adversity. “Dissertations that have come out of my lab have focused on special populations such as athletes and military families,” she said. “Through the ongoing SHAPE (Student Health, Academic Performance and Education) program, we work directly with TU teams and coaches on goal setting, mental toughness and preventing anxiety.”

Cromer’s research in child and sports psychology is extensive, and her special interest in how sleep affects other aspects of physical and emotional health inspires students like Stimson and Helt to continue working in the field. “The cool part of being in Dr. Cromer’s lab is that we view sleep as this underlying thing that we’re finding pops up in so many disorders and problems,” Stimson said. “We’re on the leading edge of this kind of research.”