A meaningful health assessment course for baccalaureate nursing students

In response to the challenge of teaching health assessment to large groups of entry-level BSN students with minimal experience in the health professions and a faculty belief that theory and practice are best actualized with small groups, a new health assessment course was implemented. Based on a philosophy of student accountability and self-direction in learning, faculty willingness to try new teaching strategies, and using computer testing, a successful course was developed. Students rotated through specific small group clinical labs while preparing with textbooks, study questions, videotapes, and computer-assisted instruction. Evaluation methods based on case application and the use of computer testing technology were implemented for this course. The result was increased satisfaction for the faculty and the students with enhanced application experiences supportive of the clinical practice.     

School-based disaster mental health services: Clinical, policy, and community challenges.

The consequences of Hurricane Katrina have far-reaching implications for the mental health system in the Gulf Coast region, with some of the most vulnerable survivors being children and adolescents. School-based services have been proposed as an ideal way to provide care; however, significant challenges remain in providing trauma-informed services in schools postdisaster. The authors discuss the consultation and training activities of the Los Angeles Unified School District Trauma Services Adaptation Center for Schools and Communities following Hurricane Katrina. Issues related to the dissemination of evidence-based treatment in schools following a disaster are discussed, as are the particular needs of providers and school staff and the importance of community collaboration in identifying ways to adapt implementation strategies for specific communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of carers in evaluating mental health services for older people

OBJECTIVES: To examine, using the published literature and local service experience, the contributions that carers can make to the development and evaluation of specialist mental health services for the elderly. METHODS: MEDLINE search for relevant papers about carers and the elderly, especially with mental disorders; review of recent experience of service planning, implementation and evaluation in the Cambridge area. RESULTS: Increased emphasis on the role of carers in recent literature, extending into acknowledgement of the carer perspective in official publications; few papers on the role of carers specifically in evaluating services, with only one study looking solely at an old age psychiatry service. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable scope for involving carers in the development and evaluation of services, though there are also some potential concerns, not least that carers and users may have different perspectives. These issues are discussed, along with possible future developments, such as the need for a standardized assessment of carer satisfaction.     

A six-year follow-up study of graduate students in public health education.

Using the predictors available from a study of academic success, how well can future occupational success be predicted? 19 students reported in the Barthol and Kirk study (see 31: 6666) were used as Ss here. The predictors included standardized tests such as the SVIB, MMPI, Concept Mastery Test plus academic rankings. The criterion of job success was psychologists rankings based on a study of work records of the Ss. Although those with the best preparation and MMPI profiles did the best on the ratings for vocational success. Ratings of 3 faculty judges of the academic success of the Ss predicted vocational success most accurately. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4LB40G. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A general family practitioner approach for Asian-American mental health services.

A psychologist in general family practice functions as a primary care provider, who is similar to the traditional family doctor who provides treatment for clients and their families. The psychologist has an ongoing interaction with the family and serves as a resource for the family to consult when in difficulty; he or she uses knowledge of the client, as well as knowledge of the client's family, community, and social environment. This approach seems particularly suitable for Asian Americans whose culture emphasizes the role of the family. It helps to minimize the client's inhibition against seeking mental health services and provides the psychologist with certain clinical advantages. Two cases are presented to illustrate the application of this approach to Asian American clients. Situations in which family members should not be seen by the same psychologist and the issues of transference, countertransference, and confidentiality are also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Economics and mental health services.

J. A. Buck and R. Hirschman (see record 1980-26240-001) may have applied the tools of supply and demand analysis somewhat casually. The existence of sizable externalities, poor consumer information, and a maldistribution of services across the nation must be incorporated into the economic models that are applied to the mental health services system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public and private responsibility for mental health services.

Relative to public services, private sector corporate mental health care has significantly increased since the late 1960s. The many tensions encountered in assigning public and private responsibility for mental health services give rise to significant value-laden questions for psychologists. These questions go to the heart of community mental health, deinstitutionalization, mental health policy development and evaluation, and many other areas in which psychologists are playing major roles. The public–private issue should be understood historically, from the twin vantage points of developments in general medicine and in mental health. Among the many public interest and public policy matters psychologists and others concerned with mental health should address are the emergence of corporate chains; the nature, cost, and quality of private sector services; the compatibility of profit motivation and the motivation to provide care; and patient selection issues (e.g., cream-skimming). Public and private cooperation and planning are certainly in order if the public interest is to be served in addressing the nation's mental health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The selection of graduate students in public health education.

Using as criteria ranking of the students on academic performance by 3 faculty judges, and of those who subsequently graduated on field performance, the validity of the SVIB, MMPI, Concept Mastery Test, and the American Public Health Association Examination for selecting graduate students for a public health education curriculum was studied. Only the APHA Examination, an achievement test, ranked the students in approximate order of later success, although the others gave evidence of usefulness for negative screening to eliminate poor students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of a national plan for disaster mental health.

In this article, the author provides a history of the development of the national plan for disaster mental health, discusses its present state, and provides some suggestions for the future of theory, research, and practice in the field. The focus is on the provision of mental health services in the emergency phase of a disaster, rather than on the long-term follow-up. Consequently, the focus is on the American Red Cross's disaster mental health program and, to a lesser extent, the American Psychological Association's Disaster Response Network. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecological constraints on mental health services.

Proposes 4 principles for community mental health programing that are consistent with an ecological thesis: (1) Assessment methods are focused on the total population rather than on those persons who presently receive a mental health service. (2) Mental health services are designed to reduce a high risk for community service. (3) Professional and research services are created as local community resources. "By initiating the informal coordination of current services, the community mental health program helps to create specific new community services as needed." (4) The program plans for change; this involves mobilizing anticipatory problem-solving resources not only for clients but for professionals as well. A "conception of community mental health work based upon the ecological thesis that adaptive programs change" is presented. (39 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Capitating mental health services

Many employers are contracting mental or behavioral health services separately from other types of health care. Capitation rates are paid for a defined set of benefits. Mental health services are capitated in two ways; both approaches are discussed.     

Innovations in disaster mental health: Psychological first aid.

Professional psychologists are called upon to deal with a broad array of crises and traumatic events. However, training and expertise in crisis response varies widely among practitioners, and there has been considerable controversy about the value of widely disseminated mental health crisis intervention protocols that include "debriefing" as an essential feature. This article gives an overview of the developmental process, guiding principles, and core actions of the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (PFA Guide), which provides guidance for practitioners in responding to immediate mental health needs of children, adults, and families who have recently experienced a disaster or terrorist event. Issues in training, provider self-care, and evaluation research are also presented. The PFA Guide presents approaches thought to be most consistently supported by current research and practice so that they can be taught, used, and evaluated in field settings. Although we expect further refinement as more systematic research becomes available, the PFA Guide represents a sustained collaborative effort to define current evidence-informed best practices that can be utilized now by practitioners involved in disaster mental health responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managed care strategy for mental health services

In the UK, managed care is beginning to be recognized as a cost effective, quality-driven system which can be used to structure patient care. This article examines the potential use of managed care pathways in mental health services, focusing on clients with schizophrenia. The strengths of managed care include the effective coordination of healthcare resources, the clear accountable audit of mental health practice and the re-engineering of mental health practice to improve patient outcomes. Problems in designing representative care pathways and encouraging healthcare providers to implement care pathways are some of the disadvantages of this system.     

Integrating mental health services within primary care. A Canadian program

The increasingly prominent role of the family physician in delivering mental health care can be enhanced if productive and collaborative relationships can be established with local mental health services. This paper describes a Canadian program that has achieved this by bringing mental health counselors and psychiatrists into the offices of 87 family physicians in 35 practices in a community in Southern Ontario. The paper describes the program, the activities of counselors and psychiatrists within the practices, and the administrative structures set up to coordinate these activities. Data is presented from the evaluation of the first year of the program's operation (13 practices and 45 family physicians) during which time 3085 referrals were received. The program made mental health care more available and accessible, increased continuity of care, provided additional support for the family physician, offered new opportunities for continuing education, and led to a reduced and more efficient use of other mental health services. The components of the program can be adapted to most communities.     

Challenges of providing mental health services in Spanish.

The disparity in mental health services to Spanish-speaking clients is well documented. This study examines the service delivery experiences of Spanish-speaking mental health providers by exploring their perceptions and concerns regarding their competence and training to provide services in Spanish. It also identifies practitioner priorities for improving training experiences specific to bilingual mental health service delivery. Implications for graduate psychology programs are discussed in an effort to promote and enhance necessary competencies regarding bilingual training endeavors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building national capacity for child and family disaster mental health research.

Disaster mental health is a burgeoning field with numerous opportunities for professional involvement in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Research is essential to advance professional understanding of risk and protective factors associated with disaster outcomes; to develop an evidence base for acute, intermediate, and long-term mental health approaches to address child, adult, family, and community disaster-related needs; and to inform policy and guide national and local disaster preparedness, response, and recovery programs. To address the continued need for research in this field, we created the Child and Family Disaster Research Training and Education (DRT) program, which is focused specifically on enhancing national capacity to conduct disaster mental health research related to children, a population particularly vulnerable to disaster trauma. This paper describes the structure and organization of the DRT program, reviews the training curriculum, discusses implementation and evaluation of the program, and reviews obstacles encountered in establishing the program. Finally, key lessons learned are reviewed for the purpose of guiding replication of the DRT model to address other areas of community mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles for psychologists in emerging models of school-related health and mental health services.

Describes contributions of school, clinical, community, and health psychology to emerging school-based and school-linked health and mental health service delivery models. The author contends that these 4 areas integrate well to inform the development and targets of health service delivery approaches in and linked to the schools and to set the stage for defining the emerging and future roles of psychologists providing health and mental health care in these contexts. Emerging and future roles of psychologists as health care providers through schools include roles in development, implementation, and administration of these models, direct and indirect service provision, interfacing of health and educational outcomes, and applied research and evaluation activities. Implications for the education and training of current and future psychologists are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Providing mental health care services to Americans.

Summarizes legislation introduced or cosponsored by the author, a US Senator from Minnesota, to respond to Americans' need for mental health services. This legislation included the Medicare Ambulatory Mental Health Services Access Amendments of 1987; S.123, a bill that would amend Part B of the Medicare program to recognize and reimburse psychologists as independent mental health providers; S.763, the Services for Homeless Mentally Ill Individuals Act of 1987; S.809, the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act; and S.1663, the Child Abuse Prevention Act of 1987. The author encourages mental health professionals to promote public policies that expand Americans' access to public health services through research, effective communication of this research, and preventive mental health efforts (such as programs aimed at preventing teen suicide). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)