Browsing by Author "Hirai, Michiyo"

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    A Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Factors Related to Help-Seeking Attitudes for Psychological Disorder
    Hirai, Michiyo (Virginia Tech, 1999-04-19)
    It has been reported that Asian people have negative views of mental illness, including beliefs that it is incurable and shameful. Asian people also tend to attribute causes of mental disorders to factors less susceptible to personal influence such as supernatural factors, and are likely to have an external health locus of control which reflects beliefs that health outcomes are a product of external factors such as luck. In the present study, each of the above constructs were compared between American and Asian students. In addition, the above constructs were used to predict self-report of utilization of various treatment modalities. Four inventories were developed to assess the above constructs and treatment preferences. Reliability and validity of the new measures were examined. Results revealed that Asian students were more likely than American students to identify psychological disorder as shameful and its sufferers as socially untrustworthy and dangerous. Asian students were also more likely to attribute the causes of psychological disorder to supernatural factors than American students, and were more likely to seek folk medicine remedies for psychological disorder than were American students were. Both American and Asian students endorsed family care as the most preferable treatment approach, followed by psychological intervention, medical intervention, folk medicine intervention, and no treatment. An internal mental health locus of control predicted participants' willingness to seek no treatment. Among Asian students, beliefs in the untrustworthiness of the mentally ill predicted their willingness to seek folk medicine treatment. Attribution of psychological disorder to supernatural causes predicted their unwillingness to seek medical treatment. Among American students, an internal mental health locus of control predicted participants' willingness to seek no treatment. Attribution of supernatural causes and an internal mental health locus of control predicted their willingness to seek folk medicine treatment. A belief that mentally ill people were untrustworthy predicted a preference for medical interventions.
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    An Internet-Based Self-Change Program for Trauma Sequelae
    Hirai, Michiyo (Virginia Tech, 2002-11-19)
    The purpose of this study was to examine whether a newly developed Internet-based, eight-week self-change program, Self-Help Intervention Program for the Consequences of Trauma (SHICT), was effective to treat trauma consequences. The SHICT consisted of education, anxiety management skills, cognitive restructuring, and exposure modules that included writing exposure and in vivo exposure. It also provided a mastery approach where individuals begin treatment with the least anxiety-provoking component (i.e., relaxation) and progress to the most fearful component (i.e., exposure). This approach was employed to ensure that trauma victims learn and become skilled users of anxiety-reducing coping techniques and decrease the likelihood of untoward responses to writing exposure. Thirty-three participants were randomly assigned to either a SHICT condition or a wait-list condition and 27 completed participation. Trauma-related symptoms, state anxiety, depression, coping skills, social support, and self-efficacy were assessed at pre and post-treatment. Results indicated that overall the SHICT group reduced symptoms and increased coping skills more significantly than the control group. Particularly, individuals in the SHICT group decreased intensity and frequency of avoidance behavior, frequency of intrusion, state anxiety, and depression more significantly than those in the control group. The SHICT group also increased general coping skills and coping self-efficacy more significantly than the control group. The SHICT produced medium to large effect sizes in many symptom and coping-related measures. The SHICT group demonstrated more clinically significant improvement than the control group in several symptom and coping-related measures. Increased coping self-efficacy and perceived social support levels and decreased wishful thinking coping were significantly correlated with symptom improvement. Both exposure and cognitive skills mastery levels were significantly correlated with decreased intensity and frequency of avoidance behavior.