2024 Dissertation Research Grant from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology
January 22, 2024
Ti Hsu received the 2024 Dissertation Research Grant from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology. Congratulations on being selected for this competitive award, Ti! Her dissertation project is entitled: How should psychological flexibility be measured? Examining the psychometric properties of a multidimensional psychological flexibility questionnaire across time and item response options. This grant will support her dissertation work, which will make a major contribution to multiple areas of the literature. Well done, Ti!
Just as Essential: The Mental Health of Educators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
January 18, 2024
A team of THRIVE Lab members published work in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. This manuscript summarizes quantitative findings from a survey study conducted in late 2020 with U.S. educators. Thanks to Allie Carlson, Manny Stegall, Zoe Sirotiak, and Felipe Herrmann for their collaboration and hard work on this manuscript!
Undergraduate Honors Thesis
Callahan Morton defended her Honors Thesis research project entitled "Shadows of the NICU: The Effects of Prematurity on Maternal Mental Health and Child Development." Congratulations to Callahan and her mentor on this project, Dr. Ece Demir-Lira!
ABCT 2023 Poster Presentation
Stephanie Nettleton presented a poster at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 2023 conference entitled "Context Matters: The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Environment in Postpartum Veterans".
A population-based investigation into the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in United States military Veterans with chronic pain
Jenna Adamowicz and colleagues have published the first portion of her dissertation project. Jenna examined several interesting questions with this work using a large population-based Veterans Health Administration dataset. This manuscript reports on the period prevalence of co-occurring chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and chronic pain, key sociodemographic differences between those with these co-occurring conditions and those with chronic pain (without CFS), and chronic pain clusters among those with CFS and CP. Great work, Jenna!
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2023.2239977?src=
International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) 2023 Clinical and Scientific Conference
Jenna Adamowicz presented a portion her dissertation work at the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) 2023 Clinical and Scientific Conference in Stony Brook, New York, USA. Her poster presentation was entitled A population-based investigation into the overlap of chronic fatigue syndrome among military Veterans with chronic pain.
Psychological Flexibility and Global Health in Young Adults With and Without a Functional Somatic Syndrome
5/2023
Jenna Adamowicz, Zoe Sirotiak, and Emily Thomas have published a new paper in Psychology, Health & Medicine comparing psychological flexibility (openness, awareness, engagement), physical health, mental health, and general distress in undergraduate students with and without a self-reported functional somatic syndrome. Findings showed that students with a functional somatic syndrome have lower behavioral awareness and more impaired physical health. The article is available online.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13548506.2023.2216940
Psychological Resources and Incident Hypertension in the CARDIA Study
5/2023
A new paper published by Jenna Adamowicz, Emily Thomas and colleagues in Health Psychology examined the association of optimism and mastery on hypertension development over 15-years. The article is available online.
APS 2023 Poster Presentation
Ti Hsu presented a poster at APS 2023 entitled "The effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on psychological flexibility of undergraduate students: A systematic review and three-level meta-analysis."
Congratulations, and great work, Ti!
2023 Simon Award Recipient: Ti Hsu
Ti Hsu received the department's Simon Award. The Simon Award was given to three third-year students who have demonstrated exceptional early scholarship potential. It is named in honor of Dick Simon, who was a long-time faculty member in our department. Congratulations, Ti!
Congratulations, Dr. Adamowicz!
5/1/2023
Jenna Adamowicz successfully defended her dissertation on 5/1/23. Her dissertation was entitled Chronic fatigue syndrome in military Veterans with chronic pain: An investigation into prevalence, sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, and healthcare usage. Congrats, Jenna!
Midwestern Psychological Association Convention Poster Presentation
4/2023
Micah Williams presented a poster regarding some of his work in the lab at the Midwestern Psychological Association convention in April 2023
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science Student Spotlight Award
12/2022
Jenna Adamowicz was selected for the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (link: https://contextualscience.org/) Student Spotlight Award. This award highlights students who are doing important work in the Contextual Behavioral Science community across research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.
https://contextualscience.org/student_spotlight_award_recipient_jenna_lauren_adamowicz#
Iowa Sciences Academy’s Research Symposium Presentation
12/2022
Stephanie Orellana presented at the Iowa Sciences Academy’s research symposium (link: https://isa.uiowa.edu/news/2022/12/isa-2022-fall-symposium). Stephanie presented preliminary findings from a qualitative analyses regarding the mental, physical, social, and occupational health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on educators.
Society for Research in Child Development Conference Presentation Submission
12/2022
Micah Williams submitted an abstract for presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development conference, and the submission was accepted! He will present in Salt Lake City, Utah, in March 2023 as part of his work in Dr. Isaac Petersen’s laboratory. The poster will compare stressors as mediators of the relation between childhood externalizing problems and later parental depressive symptoms. Micah is joined by co-authors Benjamin Swanson and Isaac Peterson.
Ballard & Seashore Dissertation Fellowship
11/2022
Jenna Adamowicz was awarded the Ballard & Seashore Dissertation Fellowship for the Spring 2023. Her dissertation examines the overlap and impact of chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic pain among military Veterans. Fabulous work, Jenna!
Fall Undergraduate Research Festival at the University of Iowa
11/2022
Felipe Herrmann presented a poster at the Fall Undergraduate Research Festival at the University of Iowa (linked text: https://icru.research.uiowa.edu/2022-furf-presenters).
Micah Williams presented a poster at the Fall Undergraduate Research Festival (linked text: https://icru.research.uiowa.edu/2022-furf-presenters) as part of his work in Dr. Isaac Petersen’s laboratory.
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Poster Presentation
11/2022
Allie Schneider presented at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT; linked text: https://www.abct.org/) conference in New York City. Her poster detailed elevations in depressive and social anxiety symptoms among educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we found no differences in symptoms across return-to-learn plans during November – December of 2020.
Using Network Analysis to Examine ACT Processes, Internalizing Symptoms, and Well-being in Undergraduates
11/2022
New paper published in Journal of Affective Disorders using network analysis to examine ACT processes, internalizing symptoms, and well-being in undergraduates.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032722011879
Examining the Role of Mindfulness, Compassion, and Prosocial Behavior on College Student Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic
11/2022
New paper published in Adversity and Resilience Science examining the role of mindfulness, compassion, and prosocial behavior on college student resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42844-022-00083-9
Outstanding Doctoral Student Oral Presentation
10/2022
Ti Hsu was awarded Outstanding Doctoral Student Oral Presentation for her presentation at the Midwest Chapter of American College of Sports Medicine (linked text: https://www.acsm.org/membership/regional-chapters/acsm-chapters/midwest) convention in Indianapolis, IN. This award is given to the top oral presentation given by a doctoral student! Citation is below.
Hsu, T., Jones, M., Gibbs, B.B., Whitaker, K.M. (October 20-22, 2022). Neighborhood environmental support for physical activity is associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity across pregnancy. Oral presentation presented at the Midwest chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, U.S.A.
Examining the Factor Structure of Two Psychological Flexibility Measures (CompACT and TOF) in a Sample of Older Adults
10/2022
New paper published in Clinical Gerontologist examining the factor structure of two psychological flexibility measures (CompACT and TOF) in a sample of older adults.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07317115.2022.2131496
Examining the Association Among Fatigue Severity and Avoidance in Individuals with Chronic Disease
08/2022
New meta-analytic paper published in Journal of Psychosomatic Research examining the association among fatigue severity and avoidance in individuals with chronic disease.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42844-022-00083-9
Examining the Role of Types of Childhood Maltreatment and Alexithymia on Somatic Symptom Severity
07/2022
New paper published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy examining the role of types of childhood maltreatment and alexithymia on somatic symptom severity.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-80207-001
ACBS Virtual World Conference Poster
07/2022
Jenna Adamowicz presented a poster at the ACBS Virtual World Conference on her work comparing psychological well-being, and physical and mental health, in young adults with and without a self-reported somatic syndrome.
Annual Graduate Research Symposium at the University of Iowa
02/2022
Ti Hsu and Allie Schneider delivered oral presentations in the annual Graduate Research Symposium at the University of Iowa.
International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFSME) Poster Presentation
08/2021
Jenna Adamowicz presented a poster at the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFSME) virtual conference on her meta-analytic work examining the association between fatigue severity and avoidance among chronic disease populations.
Health-related Quality of Life in Rural and Urban Head and Neck Cancer Survivors.
03/2021
New paper published in Journal of Rural Health comparing health-related quality of life in rural and urban head and neck cancer survivors.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jrh.12571
CBS2 Feature of Educators Project
11/23/2020
International Marce Society for Perinatal Mental Health Poster Presentation
10/2020
Jenna Adamowicz presented a poster at the International Marce Society for Perinatal Mental Health examining whether glucose-tolerance test results predict postpartum depression.
Paper featured in Forbes and ScienceDaily
10/21/2020
Recently, the paper Psychological flexibility in the context of COVID-19 adversity: Associations with distress by Emily Kroska, Annie Roche, Jenna Adamowicz, and Manny Stegall was featured in IowaNow, Forbes, and ScienceDaily discussing the implications of their findings! Findings suggest that the ongoing pandemic is distressing to most individuals and that those who are more in touch with their emotions are coping better.
Telehealth and The Post-Pandemic World
10/15/2020
Emily Kroska has written a piece in the Iowa Magazine on the long-term changes to mental health care in the post-pandemic world. Emily predicts that telehealth will become more common as it will be able to circumvent barriers that block access to care. You can find her piece here, under the health care section.
ABCT Conference Poster Presentation
10/13/2020
Ti Hsu will be presenting her poster at the 54th annual convention of Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. The study presented examined differences in the presentation of daily social and behavioral correlates of depression across European American and Asian American college students with an intensive longitudinal framework. Results of hierarchical linear models suggest that baseline depression predicted reduced perceptions of daily social support more strongly for European Americans than Asian Americans. Furthermore, baseline depression also predicted reduced daily positive affect in European Americans, but not Asian Americans. Ti's poster can be viewed here.
New Paper On Psychological Flexibility and COVID-19 Adversity
8/26/2020
Emily Kroska, Anne Roche, Jenna Adamowicz, and Manny Stegall have published a new paper in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science that examined a sample of U.S. survey respondents. Findings indicate components of psychological flexibility are related to pandemic adversity and may serve as a crucial point of prevention and intervention. The article is available here online.
Kroska, E. B., Roche, A. I., Adamowicz, J. L., & Stegall, M. S (2020) Psychological flexibility in the context of COVID-19 adversity: Associations with distress. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18, 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.07.011
IGNITE talk at the ACBS Word Conference
07/2020
Jenna Adamowicz presented an IGNITE talk at the ACBS Word Conference about using ACT for individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Seeking Purpose in Times of Uncertainty
6/15/2020
Dr. Emily Kroska has written a new blog in Psychology Today on choosing with intention. You can read the blog here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intentional-zeal/202005/seeking-purpose-in-times-uncertainty
Emily Kroska Interviewed On COVID-19 and Mental Health
4/3/20
Dr. Emily Kroska was interviewed by the Cedar Rapid's The Gazette News Paper on mental health issues related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. You can read the interview here: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/university-of-iowa-psychologist-emily-kroska-mental-health-coronavirus-20200403
New Paper On Effective Time Intervals of Brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
1/28/2020
Dr. Emily Kroska, Anne Roche, and Dr. Michael O'Hara have published a new paper online comparing time-variant single session ACT groups. None of the conditions showed superiority across all measures while demonstrating improvements in targeted ACT processes.
Kroska, Roche, O'Hara (2020) How much is enough in brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? A randomized trial. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.01.009.