Attitudinal changes associated with two approaches to training mental health technicians in milieu and social-learning programs.

Gave 2 groups of nonprofessional trainees (n = 21) from a high-unemployment area specific job-related training in behavioral principles and procedures of both milieu and social-learning treatment programs for chronic mental patients. Group 1 received sequential training with professional staff 1st conducting classroom instruction, followed by on-the-job training. Group 2 received abbreviated classroom instruction by professional staff, integrated with clinical observation with experienced technicians. Demographic and personality assessment occurred before training, attitudinal assessment on modified versions of the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale and Paul's Therapist Orientation Sheet was obtained before and after the academic portion of training, and an academic test was obtained after academic training. The sequential-professional mode of training resulted in better academic performance. Attitudinal changes were associated with behavior-specific training, and differential patterns of change were found for the 2 approaches. Trainee attitudes tended toward those of instructors, and attitudinal similarity was related to academic performance. Comparisons with attitudes of other occupational groups indicated that the present nonprofessional trainees after training were unique but more similar to professionals than to nonprofessionals studied elsewhere. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The PREPARE approach to training clinicians in school mental health programs

Contemporary cardioanaesthesia is based on the use of opioid effects, whereby their dosage is steadily decreased. This calls for supplementation of anaesthesia by further pharmacological preparations which ensure adequate anaesthesia. Despite great efforts, neither, substances available at present nor their combinations are sufficient to suppress surgical stress completely. The authors attempt therefore selective influencing of the sympathetic nerve. In this respect preparations which stimulate sympathetic alpha2 receptors seem promising. The general trend of contemporary cardioanaesthesia is an effort to reduce the time spent by patients in the intensive care unit to a minimum. The motivation are in the first place economic reasons.     

Visitation to mental health programs in Eastern Europe.

30 psychologists and psychiatrists surveyed mental health programs in the USSR, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, and East Germany through visits to 19 programs and facilities and contacts with professionals and private citizens. The USSR and several of the other socialist countries have developed sophisticated community health programs. In the USSR, psychiatry subscribes to a physiological conception of mental illness, emphasizing somatic treatment and environmental manipulation. Psychotherapy tends to be directive, superficial, and rational. Psychology is traditional or academic in nature, with emphasis on teaching and research, particularly in child and educational areas. The role of the clinical psychologist varies among countries, although the organic and somatic treatment orientation dominates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community-based behavioral training approaches for people with mental retardation and mental illness.

Reviews challenges associated with behavioral training approaches for individuals with mental retardation and mental illness in the community. Family and non-family facilitated training are considered. Professional practice issues are reviewed, and justification for multifactor behavioral assessment is offered. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can quality survive in public mental health programs? The challenge for training.

Discusses the critical role of training in the cost-effective delivery of mental health services. It is argued that the expanding knowledge base for psychological interventions and the need to ensure the delivery of quality service have produced a growing pressure for continuing professional education. Mandated program evaluation efforts have been a necessary but insufficient response to this challenge because they have not included the corrective component of training. A review of research on training and adult education indicates that the technology exists for competence-based continuing education, but such programs have yet to be developed. Recommendations for the implementation and funding of training programs are presented. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical fitness training and mental health.

Reviews theory and research that have attempted to relate fitness training to improvements on psychological variables among normals as well as selected clinical populations. Theoretical speculations in this area are critiqued, and research designs are evaluated as either experimental or quasi-experimental and therefore interpretable, or preexperimental and therefore largely uninterpretable. The research suggests that physical fitness training leads to improved mood, self-concept, and work behavior; the evidence is less clear as to its effects on cognitive functioning, although it does appear to bolster cognitive performance during and after physical stress. Except for self-concept, personality traits are not affected by improvements in physical fitness. Mentally retarded children demonstrate psychological improvement following physical fitness training, but no conclusion can be reached regarding the effects of physical fitness training with other clinical syndromes. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An approach to training sex-fair mental health workers.

Describes a human-relationship training course designed to foster the adoption of less sex-typed self-perceptions and perceptions of others and increased skills in core counselor competencies. An informal evaluation of the course in the form of (a) observations of 55 undergraduates' reactions and (b) Ss' self-reported changes in the area of psychological masculinity and femininity (Bem Sex-Role Inventory) is presented. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent mental health: Prevention and treatment programs.

Adolescent mental health represents a neglected area of research. Mental health objectives include the promotion of optimal functioning as well as the prevention and reduction of maladaptive functioning. This article examines behaviors and conditions that place adolescents at risk for adverse outcomes and the urgent need for prevention and treatment to promote adaptive functioning. The current status of prevention and treatment programs is discussed along with critical issues including the interrelation and contribution of both prevention and treatment; the interplay of basic and applied research; and the need to extend existing interventions as well as to devise new models to address underserved, understudied, and high-risk populations. Research on the role of adolescent development, paths toward adjustment and maladjustment, and special opportunities that adolescence presents for intervention are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Master's-level training and employment in community mental health.

The training and employment of master's-level psychologists have long been controversial issues. We describe a master's-level program for training community mental health practitioners, and we present information on the placement of program graduates. The information suggests that there continues to be a demand for well-trained, master's-level practitioners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educating health psychologists in traditional graduate training programs.

Discusses potential resources to enhance subspecialty training in health psychology. These include resources within the psychology department, the university, and the community, and also those beyond the geographical area where training is based. Suggestions are offered for assisting students who choose to work toward a subspecialty in health psychology. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Styles of clinical supervision in community mental health programs.

Five styles of clinical supervision were identified. Data collected from 164 clinical staff members working in 22 different community mental health programs suggested that staff prefer the didactic-consultative, insight-oriented, and feelings-oriented styles over laissez faire and authoritative styles. Also, they reported receiving more didactic-consultative supervision than any other type. The greatest discrepancy between actual and preferred levels occurred for insight-oriented supervision. Ratings of supervisory style tended to be correlated with overall satisfaction with supervision but not with reported clinical self-confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal mental health and integrated programs for mothers with substance abuse issues.

To examine the impact of integrated treatment programs (those with substance use treatment and pregnancy-, parenting-, or child-related services) on maternal mental health, we compiled a database of studies of integrated programs published between 1990 and 2007 with outcome data on maternal mental health. There were 18 cohort studies, 3 randomized trials, and 2 quasi-experimental studies. Of the five studies comparing integrated to nonintegrated programs, three studies provided enough information to allow for them to be combined in a meta-analysis. The average effect size was 0.23 (95% CI = 0.15 to 0.31, SE = 0.04), p Q = 5.66, p = .059. This meta-analysis is the first systematic quantitative review of studies evaluating the impact of integrated programs on maternal mental health. Findings suggest that integrated programs may be associated with a small advantage over nonintegrated programs in improving maternal mental health. This review highlights the need for further research with improved methodology, study quality, and reporting to improve our understanding of how best to meet the mental health needs of mothers with substance abuse issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of training model outcomes in clinical psychology programs.

Are the outcomes of clinical psychology training related to training model affiliation, and, if so, how? An examination of 134 accredited clinical psychology programs, espousing a clinical scientist, scientist–practitioner, or practitioner–scholar training philosophy as defined by training group membership, uncovered significant differences among training models across student and faculty activities as well as across employment setting and weekly employment activity outcomes. Suggestions for educators and consumers in their analyses of programs' training activities and outcomes are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of postdoctoral training programs in health psychology.

A survey of 43 postdoctoral programs in health psychology indicated considerable heterogeneity in clinical and research training experiences as well as experiences with varied populations across the developmental life span. A lack of emphasis on industrial and public policy areas was noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syndrome co-occurrence and treatment outcomes in youth mental health clinics.

Despite widespread speculation that syndrome co-occurrence undermines treatment outcomes, this hypothesis has not been fully examined within clinical care settings. To address this gap, the authors investigated the relation between syndrome co-occurrence and outcome among 325 clinically referred youths. For every syndrome, higher initial severity was predictive of greater treatment gains and higher posttreatment symptom levels; contrary to speculation in the literature, co-occurrence effects were rare and modest in size, accounting for 0.6% of outcome variance on average. The results suggest that co-occurrence, though common in youth clinical care, is not an obstacle to treatment success in most cases. In addition to its substantive findings, the study illustrates how a dimensional approach can be used to shed new light on co-occurrence in clinical care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The working alliance and employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness enrolled in vocational programs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the working alliance and employment outcomes in persons with severe mental illness receiving vocational services. Another purpose of this study was to determine whether working alliance differences exist between clients receiving evidence-based supported employment services and those receiving traditional stepwise vocational services. Design: This study was a secondary analysis of a 2-year randomized controlled trial comparing two employment programs providing services to people with severe mental illness. Results: Contrary to expectations, no overall relationship was found between the working alliance and employment outcomes. As predicted, supported employment participants each assigned to a single vocational worker had more positive working alliances than participants served by a team of vocational workers in the traditional vocational program. Conclusions/Implications: The lack of an association between the working alliance and employment outcomes is inconsistent with previous literature. Further research is needed using standardized working alliance measures and larger samples that include both working and nonworking clients. Evidence-based supported employment, which employs individual caseloads, seems to foster better relationships than a team-based vocational approach, although future research is needed to replicate this finding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The training program of the National Institute of Mental Health: Its implications for mental health programs.

The year 1956 marked the tenth anniversary of the Training Grants Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). From very meager beginnings in 1948 they had advanced to the very substantial position which they now occupy in fiscal year 1957. This article looks backward briefly to when the National Mental Health Act was passed with the goal of improving the mental health of our nation. It describes the objectives and growth of the NIMH mental health program, which was established to help attain this goal. The article also describes several ongoing public mental health programs that reflect NIMH training grant support and problems in program implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Systematic comparison of two parent training programs in child management.

14 school counselors were systematically trained to provide 2 varieties of parent-focused instruction. Six of the counselors were subsequently followed as they provided such training. Three elected to base their training procedures on principles of operant conditioning, and 3 elected to provide training in effective communication. 137 mothers were followed through the course of these training sessions. Findings suggest that neither the behavior modification nor effective communication program produced substantially better results. Neither was there evidence that the 2 procedures exerted their effects on mothers who were distinguished by differing need systems. There was some suggestion, however, that those who dropped out of training tended to have lower needs for social inclusion than those who remained. The communication training module had its greatest impact in reducing affectional needs, although this was relatively independent of felt benefit from the program. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics-based training for nonclinical staff in mental health settings.

Under the Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association (2002), psychologists are responsible for ensuring that delegated tasks are performed competently. For staff members who interact with clients or who have access to confidential client information, technical competence may not suffice. Psychologists who want to provide the best protection for clients can offer staff training that fosters “ethical competence” as well. Setting-specific ethics training is important even for personnel who have previously worked in other mental health sites, because it demonstrates how the profession’s ethical standards will be upheld through specific policies in the current setting. From an ethical perspective, staff training is not an end in itself or a risk-management strategy for protecting psychologists; rather, it is a means of protecting clients and their rights. The goal is to create a culture of safety (S. J. Knapp & L. D. VandeCreek, 2006) in which upholding ethical standards becomes everyone’s shared responsibility. This ethics-based training would be appropriate for nonclinical staff, clinical staff, supervisees, and students. It can be adapted to outpatient, inpatient, research, or academic clinic settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing master's clinical training with professional responsibilities in community mental health centers.

100 directors from randomly selected, federally funded community mental health centers and 70 coordinators from university-based, master's-level clinical training programs were surveyed by mail. A 5-part questionnaire sought information regarding (a) relative amount of time spent by master's-level clinicians performing 10 specified professional responsibilities, including psychodiagnostics, psychotherapy and counseling, research, administration, and consultation, or relative time spent at them in training; (b) the same estimates projected 10 yrs into the future; (c) differences in the groups' ratings of master's-level clinician's competency for the same 10 responsibilities; (d) perceived relative importance of each responsibility for the clinicians; and (e) estimates of importance 10 yrs hence. Results are based on return rates of 33% for center directors and 60% for program coordinators and are presented in both between- and within-groups comparisons. Master's-level clinicians were seen as competent professionals having a continuing role in mental health service delivery. Implications for training, provision of service, and degree recognition are considered. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)