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)     

Mental health assessment for older people

Marked arteriovenous malformation in the left parietooccipital area manifested only by symptoms of associative migraine involving changes of visual fields indicative of impaired functions of symmetrical compartments of the other brain hemisphere. Visual evoked potentials were changed in this patient because of dysfunction of both hemispheres and largely because of disorders in brain structures symmetrical to the site of arteriovenous malformation. This can be regarded as a manifestation of the so-called stealing phenomenon, when blood supply to one brain compartment is decreased because of excessive blood delivery to other regions of the brain. The results permit us to hypothesize regulation of blood supply to symmetrical compartments of brain hemispheres.     

National research agenda for prevention research: The National Institute of Mental Health report.

This article reports some of the most promising ideas to emerge from a review conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health of the achievements and prospects for research on the prevention of mental disorders. These ideas are organized around 3 conceptual hubs: the development and transformation of biological and social risk and protective factors across the life span, classifying and relating various approaches to preventive interventions in a single logical system, and concepts about community contexts in which prevention trials are executed. These conceptual hubs clarify the relationship between 3 forms of research in prevention: longitudinal studies of risk, randomized preventive intervention trials, and the implementation of successful interventions as part of routine community practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The new research agenda for a cultural psychology.

Qualitative methods are the investigative tools of choice for the field of cultural psychology, in which the study of meaning is central. The process of cultural psychological research calls for an approach that emphasizes the quality of the relationship between researchers and participants. We argue for the importance of this relationship in the development of the validity and usefulness of such work. Methods within this framework often include dialectic communication, respect, participatory partnership, inductive reasoning, and the taking of extra time as necessary. In this paper, research projects with urban Canadian street youth, Inuit prison inmates, and Inuit community members experiencing a youth suicide epidemic are provided as case studies that highlight the relational motif in qualitative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health, not social support, mediates the forgiveness-alcohol outcome relationship.

Religiousness and spirituality are important to most Americans, and evidence suggests that they may contribute to both addiction and recovery. Forgiveness is a specific dimension of religiousness and spirituality that may enhance recovery, but the mechanism(s) through which it operates is unknown. We hypothesized that higher levels of forgiveness would be associated with higher levels of mental health and social support, which, in turn, would be associated with improved alcohol-related outcomes. Baseline and 6-month longitudinal data from a sample of 149 individuals with alcohol use disorders seeking outpatient substance abuse treatment were analyzed through multiple-mediation statistical techniques. While previous research has shown direct associations among forgiveness, alcohol-related outcomes, mental health, and social support, this study found that the direct associations between forgiveness and alcohol-related outcomes were no longer significant when mental health and social support were analyzed as mediator variables. At baseline, for each alcohol-related outcome measured (alcohol-related problems, percent heavy drinking days, percent days abstinent, and drinks per drinking day), mental health individually played a role in the relationship with both forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others, fully mediating or operating through an indirect-only pathway. For alcohol-related problems only, mental health fully mediated the relationship with forgiveness of self at follow-up and operated through an indirect-only pathway with forgiveness of others longitudinally. Social support and feeling forgiven by God were nonsignificant variables at baseline, follow-up, and longitudinally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health treatment outcome by sex, diagnosis, and treatment agency.

Analyzed the effect of client characteristics and treatment on 9 dimensions of functioning (e.g., sociolegal, thought processes, and interpersonal relations) among 1,519 male and 1,877 female patients. MANOVA yielded consistent and significant differences in levels of functioning at admission as a function of sex, treatment setting, and diagnosis. Women with transient disorders showed the most adequate functioning. A Diagnosis?×?Agency interaction was also significant and indicated greater differences in functioning at admission between hospitalized and nonhospitalized Ss with "less severe" diagnoses than for Ss with schizophrenia or personality disorders. Subsequently, MANCOVA was used to partial out the effects of admission level of functioning on terminal level of functioning. Several significant differential effects of treatment and client characteristics were noted. There were fewer differences at termination than at admission, and significant differences in terminal level of functioning were observed by sex, diagnosis, and treatment agency. The interaction of sex and diagnosis was significant as was the interaction between agency and diagnosis. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health technology.

Discusses the acute need for the development of viable technologies in social-behavioral areas, e.g., mental health. Technology is defined as anything that increases the efficiency of some work process, and has the potential for being based on science. By examining the nature and historical development of established technologies, some of their problems can hopefully be avoided. The field of mental health is essentially pretechnological, although, as is true of other social-behavioral areas, potential scientific data bases and directions for technological development are not lacking. 8 such areas are identified and briefly discussed. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The politics of women's health: setting a global agenda

The last decade has been marked by a rapid growth in the women's health movement around the world. There has been a marked shift in activities away from the developed countries, as campaigns increase in intensity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The practice of women's health politics has also become increasingly international with sustained and effective collaboration across the north-south divide. Both the goals of these campaigns and their methods vary with the circumstances of the women involved. But despite this diversity, common themes can be identified: reproductive self-determination; affordable, effective, and humane medical care; satisfaction of basic needs; a safe workplace; and freedom from violence.     

Mental health intensive outpatient programming: An outcome and satisfaction evaluation of a private practice model.

The current economic climate of mental health care requires an adaptation of traditional treatment paradigms for practitioners to succeed in the marketplace. Psychologists have not really capitalized on their training and expertise in developing outpatient treatment models for acute care. A private practice outpatient program, based in crisis intervention and group therapy, is described. The effectiveness of a mental health intensive outpatient program (IOP) in a private practice setting is demonstrated. IOPs represent an opportunity for private practice groups to collaborate with larger systems of care while providing clinically effective, consumer friendly, and safe treatment for acute patients in traditional outpatient settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists and rural services: Addressing a new agenda.

Rural people in the 1990s are struggling with serious individual and community problems that threaten their very survival. The growth of professional psychology into a viable health, mental health, and social service profession places it in a position to be of assistance to rural communities. To do this, however, adequate training models must be developed to equip psychologists to ply their trade in rural areas. A strategy and model for training practicing psychologists is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The challenge of double jeopardy: Toward a mental health agenda for aging women.

The elderly may be considered a group at risk with regard to mental health and the mental health system. Aging women experience a double jeopardy arising from social, economic, and psychological conditions surrounding age and gender—in particular, poverty, widowhood, and the dynamics of family caregiving. This double jeopardy translates into a vulnerability within the mental health system that is seen in issues of service utilization, therapist–client interactions, and diagnosis, most notably in diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease, alcohol and drug misuse, and depression. The failure of the mental health system to consider elderly individuals as psychological survivors further suggests an implicit assumption that mental decline is a normative part of the aging process. Recommendations for change include addressing gender and age interactions in mental health policy and in psychological research, training, and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medicine and public health. Whose agenda?

We present case reports of 2 patients who were admitted to our ward for complications of Morgagni hernias. Both patients were elderly. Morgagni hernia is a rare condition. Its unique and late presentation are presented and discussed.     

Mental health policy: Observations from Europe.

Reviews policies and practices based on a study of 5 European countries (Switzerland, England, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands) with respect to deinstitutionalization and community support and rehabilitation services, health and social security benefits, financing mechanisms, and care for the homeless and young adult chronic populations. Common trends in European mental health and social welfare policies are summarized. Relative to the US, the coordinated system of care in these countries is supported by a strong social welfare system allowing for community-based care administered by the mental health service system. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant imitation: The sensory-motor agenda.

Six different actions were demonstrated by the 2nd author to 9 infants once a month between the ages of 6 and 12 mo. Each action was presented many times, with each trial contingent on the S's making eye contact with the experimenter. From videotapes, 21 categories (CAs) of infant behavior were coded continuously. Each CA could be considered a component act or feature of one of the modeled actions. All CAs were coded during all parts of the session: baseline periods, trials of the tasks of which they were features, and trials of the other tasks. Ss did not confine their performance of features to the relevant trials as construed by the authors, but they did accelerate or introduce features for the first time during those trials. Analysis showed that the Ss "worked up to" precise imitations by accommodating themselves to the features in a consistent order over both months and trials. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The strategic agenda for community health care organizations

This article proposes a vision, strategies, and structure for the organizations that will replace community hospitals. The vision must embrace health rather than health care, and cost reduction as an explicit, measured goal. Strategies must include immediate cost savings, but also longer-term revision of organizations, wage structures, prevention, and medical attitudes. Structures must assure local stakeholders their voice in health issues.     

Testing and assessment ethics for all persons: Beginning and agenda.

The previous American Psychological Association (APA) assessment ethics code (APA, 1990) and the new code (APA, 1992) differ in content that is relevant to culturally sensitive practices (i.e., culture-specific assessment technologies, culture-specific service delivery styles, use of clients' first language, and recognition of non-Anglo-American belief systems). The new code falls short in areas that are in the process of development or remain controversial. Suggestions for implementation and supplementation are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health services for children: The state of the art.

Throughout this century, people in the United States have been concerned about the serious deficiencies in the mental health care of our children. Despite eloquent needs assessment and recommendations for remediation, most of the unserved needs and deficiencies of our mental-health-care-delivery system remain the same. This article reviews the current status of mental health services to children, youth, and families to highlight the necessity of an integrated system of mental health care. The development of a continuum of care that is coordinated across the mental health and non-mental-health systems that naturally occur in all children's lives has the potential to vastly improve mental health services to children, youth, and families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Primary Mental Health Project: Seven consecutive years of program outcome research.

The Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP) is a school-based mental health program for the early detection and prevention of school-adjustment problems. This study assessed the PMHP's effectiveness by evaluating 7 consecutive annual cohorts of children (N?=?2,310; 75% were primary graders) seen through the program from 1974 through 1981. Pre- and postprogram evaluations were based on teacher ratings on the Classroom Adjustment Rating Scale and the Health Resources Inventory and child-aide ratings of problem behaviors. At postevaluation, school mental health professionals rated educational and behavioral changes of PMHP Ss during the year. Results, from all 3 perspectives, strongly and consistently showed that Ss were judged to have improved in adjustment, thus supporting the conclusion that the model is effective and socially useful. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)