The women's mental health research agenda: Violence against women.

The focus of this article is violence against women: scope, impact, community response, clinical treatment, and prevention. Conclusions include the following: (a) Nationally representative data on the scope of violence are lacking. (b) The mental health implications of violence are not currently addressed by the practices of mental health professionals. (c) Discontinuity exists between clinical understanding of the impact of violence and empirical treatment research. (d) Victim services are proceeding in program development without direction from empirical data. (e) Prevention efforts have been isolated from the social context in which violence against women occurs. Nine directions for future research are highlighted that intersect with the stated priorities of the National Institute of Mental Health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward mental health: The benefits of psychological androgyny.

Addresses the importance of psychological androgyny—defined as possessing a high degree of instrumental and expressive qualities—to considerations of sex roles, equality, and mental health. The personality and behavioral correlates of androgyny are summarized, implications for mental health professions, such as readjustment of their conceptions of what constitutes "healthy" personal value systems, are discussed. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The needs of prisoners' wives: a challenge for the mental health professions

This research assessed the needs of prisoners' wives in six areas (information, finances, relationships with friends, family relationships, grief, and relationships with children) and determined if stage of separation or previous experience with the correctional system affected those needs. High levels of need were found in each area. Women in the initial stage of separation had significantly greater need for information than women in the pre-reunion stage, but prior experience with the correctional system did not predict needs. Results suggest giving more information to the women at the time of their husbands' trials and the formation of self-help groups.     

Doomed and double doomed?: Health care reform and the mental health policy challenge.

Comments on C. A. Kiesler's (see record 1993-10935-001) article on health care reform and mental health policy. Much of the current debate is driven by economists, sociologists, political scientists, and physicians, who specialize in health policy analysis and research. To the degree that psychologists are not involved in health policy analysis and research, their interests and perspectives are not likely to be sufficiently represented. Kiesler's work and that of others can serve as models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workplace harassment: Double jeopardy for minority women.

To date there have been no studies of how both sex and ethnicity might affect the incidence of both sexual and ethnic harassment at work. This article represents an effort to fill this gap. Data from employees at 5 organizations were used to test whether minority women are subject to double jeopardy at work, experiencing the most harassment because they are both women and members of a minority group. The results supported this prediction. Women experienced more sexual harassment than men, minorities experienced more ethnic harassment than Whites, and minority women experienced more harassment overall than majority men, minority men, and majority women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality assurance: A challenge for community mental health centers.

Reviews the quality assurance requirements that are currently being applied to community mental health centers. The requirements were initially developed from an inpatient perspective. Application to an outpatient mental health area presents many problems, not the least of which is that no generally accepted standards exist for mental health care. Suggestions are presented regarding how a center might develop some quality assurance procedures, particularly utilization and peer review committees. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The aging woman: Developmental issues and mental health needs.

Reviews findings that support the conclusion that adult women across all age categories are more distressed than their male counterparts although the source of this distress may differ for middle-aged and older women cohorts. Underlying the disturbance for the middle-aged woman are role loss, lack of marketable skills, and general inability to "break into" the larger social arena. For elderly women, the key issue underlying mood and behavioral dysfunction is identified as social isolation. Literature on widowhood and retirement is briefly examined, a short review of the relevant psychotherapy literature is undertaken, and forms of support for middle-aged and elderly women in the community are presented. The possibility of linking women in both age categories into community networks and the development of adult counseling centers are discussed. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Latex allergy in patients with myelodysplasia and in health care providers: a double jeopardy

Latex-associated allergic reactions have been increasingly reported since first recognized as a potential problem. Allergic reactions are discussed, nonlatex products suggested, and preventative efforts outlined.     

An agenda for coaching-related research: A challenge for researchers.

The practice of coaching by individuals who consider themselves professional coaches has proliferated, yet coaching is not recognized as a profession. Through a metareview of scholarly works and a qualitative content analysis, an agenda for coaching-related research is proposed and applied to the criteria for a profession as a means of illustrating how coaching-related research can be utilized to support the professionalization of coaching. Recommendations for further study and their linkage to the criterion for professionalization are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward implementation of an urban health agenda: the role of government

Government has several essential roles in the implementation of an urban health agenda. Government acts as a direct agent in the financing and delivery of services, as a rule maker for the financing and provision of care by others, and as a forum for political debate. Discussions of access to care, control of health care costs, and the maintenance of quality all include a role for government. A period of apparent rejection of comprehensive governmental health care policy has nevertheless included numerous examples of the persistence of government's many roles.     

Toward institutionalization of a research capacity in mental health service organizations.

Barriers to the integration of research and practice in mental health service organizations are delineated, and organizational practices to promote research institutionalization are developed. On the basis of our experiences and a literature review, key barriers are identified: inadequate rationales for research models, flaws in research implementation, divergences in clinical and research perspectives, and a paucity of long-term funding for research. Criteria by which to evaluate organizational readiness to engage in institutionalization are delineated. Then sustaining rationales for research program development, specific implementation practices, and strategies for procuring funds are reviewed. (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)     

Conceptual models of aging: The challenge of a new frontier.

Explores a range of social, professional, and scientific conceptual models to examine their potential impact on the scientific and professional approach to the aging. These models include an economic/productive model, the behavioral medical model, and conceptual models of mental health care. Narrow models have led to beliefs, training, and approaches to practice that reinforce the models and perpetuate a mythology of aging to the detriment of all involved. An opportunity to broaden conceptual horizons by learning about the aged is described. It is proposed that a biopsychosocial model best conceptualizes the complexity of the situation. A commitment to a broad model must incorporate a stance by which strategies are examined in terms of how effective they are, where they are best applied and where they are appropriate, what insights they provide, what risks and benefits accrue to patient and family, and who makes decisions about care. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a viable community health psychology: Caveats from the experiences of the community mental health movement.

Discusses opportunities and pitfalls in the development of a health psychology, with particular reference to the community mental health movement and community psychology. Health psychology in its preventive rather than curative aspects is stressed. Health psychology should adopt a community or public health perspective rather than an individual disease or individual treatment model. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dorothy and The Wizard. Intergenerational issues in mental health and aging

Among patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis, a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can be observed. In a prospective study, sera of 273 patients were examined for the presence of HCV infection by serological tests and by PCR. Thirty-five patients (12.8%) were HCV antibody positive, and in 31 of them HCV RNA could be detected by PCR. Among the 238 seronegative patients HCV infection was detected in 12 cases (5.0%) exclusively by PCR. Only in 1 of these patients seroconversion could be observed within the 18-month follow-up period. These findings demonstrate that in hemodialysis patients PCR is necessary for the diagnosis of HCV infection.     

Mental health outcome assessment: The new agenda.

Reviews the new market-driven demands for mental health outcomes research, summarizes issues pertaining to choice of outcome measures, describes the implementation of an outcome assessment system in a clinical environment, and suggests directions for the future. Rising health care costs and resulting reimbursement limitations imposed by 3rd-party payers have led to increased demands to justify mental health services. Profiling, report cards, instrument panels, and benchmarking have emerged as methods for understanding, documenting, and reporting quality and outcomes of treatment. Several national efforts are underway to achieve consensus on a core battery of measures to serve as a standard for a national mental health "report card." An example of an outcome assessment system within a clinical setting is presented along with outcome profiles for age, gender, and diagnostic subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strengthening mental health services in Head Start: A challenge for the 1990s.

Steps must be taken to strengthen mental health services by building on Head Start's philosophy and by translating innovations in mental health services for older children and adolescents into improved services for young children and their families. Recommendations for strengthening Head Start's mental health program include creating a unified vision that reaffirms a holistic, family-focused, and comprehensive services approach; ensuring that mental health services are responsive to the diversity in families served; increasing coordination of mental health services and linkages with new initiatives; increasing resources and providing assistance in gaining access to new sources of funding; supporting innovation; and integrating the new paradigm for children's mental health services into more traditional approaches to intervention within Head Start. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward reflective practice: A multicultural competence training model from a community mental health center.

Despite the importance of multicultural competence in clinical practice and training, there is a surprising dearth of innovative training models from fieldwork sites that would be replicable in other practicum settings. The authors illustrate a multicultural competence training model from a community mental health center that highlights the Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organization Change for Psychologists (American Psychological Association, 2003). The model focuses on providing multicultural training through two separate but linked training teams for the dual purposes of internal reflection and reflective practice. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of this training model for practice, research, and organizational change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)