Students Present Research at TAMFT

Paul Mathis helped conduct research to determine the correlation in attachment to human beings and God, and said presenting with his research team was very encouraging. “The people who came by expressed a lot of interest in our topic. It was affirming to hear that other people thought what we were working on had value,” said Mathis.

Another second year, Jenn Cote, said doing research on sexual and religious attitudes of evangelical college students was a great experience to have. “I really liked the opportunity to help Dr. Goff in her longitudinal study. It’s neat to think that the research we did will be used for an overall product several years from now,” said Cote.

Matthew Hale studied emotionally focused therapy (EFT) and hypnotherapy techniques on distress remittance in couples’ therapy. “It was really beneficial to receive extra training in hypnosis to further our research”, said Hale. According to Jordan Smith, “there were a lot of things we could modify in the future, like moving in the direction of mindfulness instead of hypnosis, and we picked that up here at the conference”.

Overall, the research posters were the result of extensive hard work from all the students involved, and the second years represented ACU with class and professionalism. Coincidentally, their hard work also encouraged the first years, who will be presenting their own research posters at next year’s conference.

The titles of all posters presented included:

• Hold Me Tight: The Efficacy of an Emotionally Focused Model of Couple Enrichment – Ryane Clayton, Mike Ford, Abigail Hill, and Hannah Burke (mentored by Dr. Sara Blakeslee)
• Sexual Attitudes of Evangelical College Students – Olivia Keyes, Madison Bishop, McKenzie Goad, and Jenn Cote (mentored by Dr. Jaime Goff)
• Solution Building and Symptom Distress: A Correlational Analysis – Meredith Platt, Taylor Chambers, and Brenton Kirschner (mentored by Dr. Jaime Goff)
• Adult Attachment to God and Personal Relationship: A Correlational Study regarding Intimacy and Isolation – Kendra Arsenault, Paul Mathis, Raelle King, and Eleasha Walker (mentored by Dr. Dale Bertram)
• Hypnotherapy Techniques: Effects on Distress Remittance in Couples Therapy – Matthew Hale, Candace Watson,  Amy Passmore, and Jordan Smith (mentored by Steve Willis and Dr. Sara Blakeslee)
• I Am What I Am: Comparing the Experiences and Perceptions of Gay and Lesbian University Students at Two Christian College Campuses – Zach Austin, Loren Morcomb, Michelle Overman, and Reagan Smith (mentored by Dr. Sara Blakeslee)