Publications by authors named "Alyssa Rheingold"

Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) is an evidence-informed, early intervention for teaching survivors coping skills in the aftermath of recent disasters. Although SPR has not been tested following recent sexual assault, there is theoretical support for applying SPR to the needs of recent sexual assault survivors. The current study is the first to describe the application of SPR among survivors of recent sexual assault.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Problematic alcohol use (PAU) is common among bereaved adults, with nearly one-third of participants in the study screening positive for PAU, which is higher than the general population.
  • Factors such as time since the death and having depression or prolonged grief disorder significantly increase the likelihood of experiencing PAU.
  • Despite the high rates of PAU, only about half of those diagnosed received mental health services, indicating a gap in support for bereaved individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Acute and chronic pain caused by sickle cell disease (SCD) significantly impacts patients' quality of life and often requires ongoing medication for management.* -
  • A project was launched to create a bedside mindfulness intervention aimed at improving self-efficacy in pain management for SCD patients experiencing vaso-occlusive episodes, utilizing feedback from both healthcare professionals and patients.* -
  • Preliminary results indicated that participants found the mindfulness intervention helpful, reporting increased mindfulness and interest in tailored, non-pharmacological approaches to manage their pain and psychological stress.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health issue, with a 25% lifetime prevalence. Screening for IPV in primary care is a recommended practice whose effectiveness is debated.

Objective: To assess the effect of an electronic health record (EHR)-based multifactorial intervention screening on the detection of IPV risk in primary care practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Rates of grief-related psychiatric conditions, such as prolonged grief disorder (PGD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and major depressive disorder (MDD), among bereaved adults in the US are largely unknown due to limited studies that leverage national samples.

Objective: To assess risk factors for and prevalence rates and co-occurrence of PGD, PTSD, and MDD among bereaved adults in the US.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Data for this survey study were collected from a large US panel sample between October 10 and 28, 2022, using a web-based survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To slow the spread of COVID-19 many mental health providers transitioned to telehealth delivery of trauma-focused treatment for maltreated children. However, these providers faced myriad challenges, including equitable access to equipment and technical demands of telehealth software. Training clinics overseeing pre-doctoral clinical psychology interns experienced the added challenge of providing quality supervision and training via telehealth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recent survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) are at a high risk for traumatic stress and alcohol misuse. IPV and SA survivors face barriers to services for traumatic stress and alcohol misuse and have low service utilization rates. One way to increase access to services for this population is the use of web-based screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT), an evidence-informed approach for early identification of traumatic stress and alcohol and drug misuse and connecting individuals to treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Interventions in post-disaster environments may be accelerated by identifying protective behavioral factors adding incremental value to models of psychopathology using longitudinal methods. One protective behavior applicable to post-disaster contexts is behavioral activation (BA). BA is defined here as a behavioral pattern involving presence of valued activity engagement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Health care workers (HCWs) are at heightened risk of adverse mental health events (AMHEs) and burnout with resultant impact on health care staffing, outcomes, and costs. We piloted a telehealth-enabled mental health screening and support platform among HCWs in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting at a tertiary care center.

Methods: A survey consisting of validated screening tools was electronically disseminated to a potential cohort of 178 ICU HCWs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

With the spectacular rise of US overdose deaths, bereavement for these affected families has become a matter of increasing concern. Qualitative research has highlighted the role of stigmatization as well as guilt and shame among this population. However, the magnitude and pre-death predictors of stigmatization, guilt, and shame have yet to be assessed quantitatively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most people living with HIV have experienced potentially traumatic events (e.g., physical assault, sexual assault, intimate partner violence) and, consequently, are at risk of trauma-related mental health difficulties, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Survivors of sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) report high rates of alcohol misuse and often receive services from community agencies. We conducted a qualitative study to examine barriers and facilitators to treatment for alcohol misuse after experiences of SA/IPV among survivors ( = 13) and victim service professionals (VSPs; = 22) at community-based agencies using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Survivors discussed seeking treatment for alcohol misuse when alcohol is being used to cope with SA/IPV-related distress and when alcohol use becomes problematic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Individuals bereaved by intrafamilial homicide, in which the perpetrator and decedent were both members of the same family, experience an elevated risk for risk for mental health complications. Given the contextual complexity of intrafamilial homicide (IFH) and the negative sequalae this form of loss can engender, psychological interventions may assist survivors with adjustment on a number of fronts. This scoping review therefore addresses an important knowledge gap by summarizing the limited information on interventions specific to intrafamilial homicide survivors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We examined the associations between women's behavioral coping responses during sexual assault and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and the moderating role of alexithymia in college women (  =  152). Immobilized responses (  =  0.52,  < .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Children who experience the traumatic (i.e., violent and/or unexpected) death of a loved one are at risk for a range of adverse developmental and mental health problems, including pathological processes of grief.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Following traumatic loss, defined as the death of a loved one due to unexpected or violent circumstances, adults may experience a myriad of grief-related problems. Given the addition of Prolonged Grief Disorders into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, Text-Revision and influx of unexpected deaths due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, there is heightened interest in the measurement of grief-related processes. We conducted a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to identify measures of grief used in studies of adults who experienced traumatic loss.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is a public health intervention to address overuse and risky use of alcohol and illegal substances. In order to increase SBIRT in clinical practice, training should start with future health care provider students and faculty. The main objective of this program was to improve and enhance the training of health professions students to provide competent screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for persons who have or are at-risk for substance use disorder.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Chronic insomnia is a common and debilitating disease that increases risk for significant morbidity and workplace difficulties. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first-line treatment, but there is a critical lack of behavioral health providers trained in CBT-I because, in part, of a bottleneck in training availability and costs. The current project developed and evaluated a web-based provider training course for CBT-I: CBTIweb.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although substance use problems are highly prevalent among adolescents and emerging adults, this population does not regularly receive substance use prevention programming in their communities. Low perceived risk of substance use, which is linked to actual behavior, may contribute to low rates of engagement in community prevention efforts for substance use. To examine this, the current study used a mixed methods approach to: (1) examine the relationship between engagement in prevention education and substance use; and, (2) analyze qualitative data on education programs offered in the community to help identify strengths and gaps in prevention resources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Survivors of sudden death losses frequently experience vivid imagery associated with the events surrounding their loved one's death. This paper describes the development and psychometric validation of the Dying Imagery Scale-Revised (DIS-R), a 15-item measure assessing three forms of death imagery, including Reenactment, Remorse, and Revenge imagery. The first study details the development of the DIS-R in a sample of suddenly bereaved college students.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The nature of intrafamilial homicide is complex and traumatic. Child survivors are at significant risk for maladjustment, including negative psychological sequela, grief complications, and contextual challenges associated with the homicide. Thus, children may benefit from services addressing specific psychosocial challenges following intrafamilial homicide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The first randomized controlled trial of psychological first aid (PFA) was conducted, using crime victims as participants. For study Aim 1, investigators tested whether paraprofessional victim advocates could be trained to deliver PFA to crime victims. For study Aim 2, investigators tested the effect of PFA delivery on victims' psychiatric (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

African American youth are disproportionately represented among trauma-exposed youth; yet, they are significantly less likely to access and complete mental health services. Research suggests that barriers to accessing and engaging in trauma-focused treatment include both logistical factors and engagement factors. This multiple case study sought to illustrate the initial feasibility and acceptability of delivering culturally tailored, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) via telehealth in a school setting with three African American youth presenting with multiple barriers to accessing treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Researchers and policy makers are devoting considerable attention to the development and evaluation of sexual violence prevention programming for college campuses. Although several programs have been developed over the last decade, questions remain about whether programs can be effectively implemented across diverse campuses and whether individual-level factors like alcohol use moderate program effectiveness. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of a brief, sexual violence prevention program-The Men's Program-on two diverse campuses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF