Award Date

12-1-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

Daniel Allen

Second Committee Member

Michelle G. Paul

Third Committee Member

Shane Kraus

Fourth Committee Member

Jennifer Kawi

Fifth Committee Member

Shane Kraus

Sixth Committee Member

Jennifer Kawi

Number of Pages

78

Abstract

Ethnically and racially diverse youth athletes underutilize mental health services, resulting in social and economic costs to society (Gudiño et al., 2008; Snowden & Yamada, 2005). Almost half of all children and adolescents participate in sport, and sport participation is especially common in youth from ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods (Holt, 2008; NSCH, 2017). Therefore, sport may be an effective strategy to permit diverse youth to receive mental health services. The current case study examines The Optimum Performance Program in Sports (TOPPS; a sport-specific family behavior therapy) in an Asian American youth athlete evidencing Social Anxiety Disorder (DSM-5). A within subjects AB experimental design was used to examine outcomes. Baseline measures were obtained, including severity of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, school attendance; mental health factors affecting sport performance in training, competition and life outside of sports; and specific to family, coaches, teammates and peers, happiness in relationships, relationships affecting sport performance, contributions of significant others to sport performance, and program satisfaction. Evangeline, an alias given to protect her identity, then received the experimental intervention. Protocol checklists were used to standardize intervention implementation. Evangeline completed outcome assessments immediately before and after treatment and at one-month follow-up. It was hypothesized that Evangeline will show improvements in all relevant outcome measures from pre- intervention to post-intervention and maintain these improvements at one-month follow-up. The results will provide preliminary support for an engaging, non-pathologically-focused optimization approach to mental wellness in ethnically and racially diverse youth, reducing health disparities in this population.

Keywords

Case; Clinical; Intervention; Marginalized; Optimization; Youth

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology

File Format

pdf

File Size

982 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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