Variables affecting group mental health consultation for teachers.

Examined the contribution of consultant style and group environment to consultee attitude toward the consultant and toward group mental health consultation. Ss were 150 student teachers who participated in 10-wk consultation groups. Consultees completed a consultant-style questionnaire, a 90-item group environment scale, and 2 semantic differentials. Data analysis indicated that identifiable process variables do contribute significantly to consultee attitude toward the consultant and toward group mental health consultation. Specifically, 94% of the variance in attitude toward consultation and 60% of the variance in attitude toward consultant are explained by clusters of items representing consultant style and by group environment subscales. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utilization of mental health consultation and self-perceptions of intraorganizational importance and influence.

Predicted that self-ratings of importance and influence for each of 17 volunteer workers in a mental health crisis center would be positively correlated to each worker's latency in the use of a mental health consultant. Results support the prediction for self-perceptions of influence and importance, but not for perceptions of the value of consultation in general, actual help derived from a consultant, or the number of hours in voluntary service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developing and Applying a Systematic Process for Evaluation of Clinical Outcome Assessment Instruments.

In recent years, there has been increasing demand within the mental health field for practitioners and administrators to evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of psychological services delivered to the populations they serve. In response to these demands, there has been a proliferation of outcome assessment instruments. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and application of a systematic process for evaluating and selecting clinical outcome measures for use by mental health organizations. A group of Veterans Affairs Medical Center psychologists systematically applied criteria to a set of brief, commonly used, self-report outcome instruments. Results of this evaluation process are discussed, and the implications for selecting outcome measures for other mental health settings and outcome measurement in general are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mary Starke Harper (1919-2006).

Presents an obituary for Mary Starke Harper, a leading authority on mental health care for minorities and the aged. Harper earned a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in nursing education with a psychiatric nursing clinical specialty. She moved unpretentiously among the politically influential, showing tireless drive and tenacity on behalf of her causes. She served as an advisor on mental health and aging for Presidents Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, and Clinton; directed the Office of Policy Development and Research for the 1981 White House Conference on Aging; served as a consultant for the 1995 White House Conference on Aging; and cochaired the Clinton administration's Mental Health/Public Sector Task Force for Healthcare Reform. After formal retirement in 1995, she remained an active, outspoken advocate for improved mental health care for minorities and the aged. She served as an expert adviser on women's health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a member of the National Institute of Aging's National Advisory Council, a state of Alabama trustee on mental health, and a consultant or member of the board of directors for a wide array of other organizations, foundations, and universities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health consultant to law enforcement: Secret Service development of a Mental Health Liaison Program

The Mental Health Liaison Program developed and used by the Secret Service is presented as a model for comprehensive, multidimensional interactions between law enforcement and mental health systems, with particular focus on assessing and preventing violent behavior. The structure of the program pairs consultants--psychologists and psychiatrists--with Secret Service field offices to provide (a) consultation regarding risk assessment and case management of individuals who threaten or display inappropriate interest in the President or other protectees; (b) training for agents on risk assessment, mental illness, and mental health care issues; and (c) liaison activities between the Secret Service and the mental health community. Practical benefits to the Secret Service are discussed to encourage more systematic use of broad based psychological and psychiatric consultation to law enforcement, with a goal of enhanced intersystem communication and collaboration. The need for program evaluation and outcome research is discussed in the context of applying the model to improve other mental health and law enforcement systems interactions.     

Mental health consultation in the pediatric intensive care unit.

The need for psychosocial intervention to be integrated with medical care on intensive care units is high, but too often mental health professionals are ill-equipped by traditional training programs for such work. Medical crisis counseling provides a conceptual framework useful in developing the skills needed to effectively intervene in such settings. The pediatric intensive care unit ( PICU ) is arguably one of the most emotionally demanding and high-stress areas where mental health clinicians may be asked to consult. This article describes medical crisis consultation in the PICU setting, suggests survival strategies for the mental health consultant to the PICU, and provides illustrative case examples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Erratum to Glenwick.

Reports an error in the original article by David S. Glenwick (American Psychologist, 1979[June], 34[6], p.559), a misplaced line occurred in the first paragraph, third column. The paragraph should read: I share Goodstein and Sandler's (1978, p. 891) opinion that "community psychology cannot prosper within the community mental health movement" (my emphasis). Nonetheless, there are some aspects of the community mental health movement (e.g., consultation, crisis intervention, use of paraprofessionals, community education, administration of the community mental health center as an organizational system) that can prosper within community psychology, that are consonant with a community psychology orientation and can lead to mutually productive collaborative undertakings. To prevent the baby from being thrown out with the bathwater, it is these aspects of community mental health that can legitimately be embraced by community psychology without comprising its ideological integrity. (The following abstract appears in record 1990-58513-001.) Comments on L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual analysis of community psychology (CP), focusing on program evaluation, multidisciplinary knowledge, and the community mental health movement (CMHM). There are aspects of the CMHM that can prosper within CP, that are consonant with a CP orientation, and that can lead to mutually productive collaborative undertakings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

File review consultation in the adjudication of mental health and chronic pain disability claims.

The role of the psychological file review consultant in assisting disability insurance carriers to adjudicate chronic pain and mental health claims is discussed. The authors advocate an empirical basis for the practice and outline the relevant professional issues and procedural steps to be taken in this consulting role. They examine the role of the consultant in evaluating the quality of assessment, whether empirically evaluated treatments have been applied, and what factors can be used in estimating return to work dates. Specific problems that a file review consultant might encounter and suggested solutions are described as are potential biases and ethical dilemmas that may occur when psychologists take on this emerging consulting role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and the mental health movement.

The following points are elaborated: "1. Among many other things, mental health is a vast social movement which, for better or for worse, will carry us all along with it. 2. Psychologists, for a number of reasons, have not been enthusiastic participators in this social movement. 3. Psychologists have a great deal to contribute to the mental health movement, and they can contribute mightily without loss of identity." Mental health as a social movement seems due to three factors: (a) The tendency to conceive human behavior in naturalistic terms. (b) The American belief in the almost infinite improvability of almost anything. (c) The rising level of aspiration for health and well-being. The scientific humility of the psychologist "can become maladaptive diffidence, and diffidence sometimes becomes irresponsibility." 6 suggestions for dealing with diffidence are indicated. The psychologists perceptions of mental health, the orientation of the movement toward the "pathological," and the focus on the clinical may have discouraged the interests of psychologists in mental health. The unique contribution of the psychologist to mental health is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and national health care.

Presents the position of the American Psychological Association concerning the national movement toward a "comprehensive and coordinated system of health services which will be of high quality and equally accessible to all persons." Provisions for recognition and management of emotional and mental disorders and for the optimum use of all qualified health care professionals are urged. Guidelines for the development of a health care program are enumerated and include concern for accessibility of services, patient rights, adequate funding, consumer roles, grievance provisions, program evaluation, and research into the system itself. Criteria for evaluating the adequacy of proposed legislation for a health care system in terms of the mental health provisions and the utilization of psychological services are also presented. It is concluded that "psychologists, by training and experience, have the qualifications to provide independent mental health services and should be permitted to do so." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responding to an identified need: A joint department of defense/department of veterans affairs training program in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for clinicians providing trauma services.

An earlier study of federal Department of Defense mental health professionals found relatively few trained in the psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder previously identified as effective by both this department and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. In response to that need, a training program for one of the psychotherapies, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), was implemented utilizing personnel from these federal departments with assistance from a nonprofit agency. This article presents an evaluation of that program with rating data gathered from participants as well as treatment outcome data from the application of the training to patients. The program was highly rated by the participants and the impact of EMDR treatment was significant. Suggestions for similar programs and for further research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consumer–survivor movement, recovery, and consumer professionals.

This article presents a brief history of the consumer-survivor movement in the United States, including the basis for various viewpoints within that movement. The authors also describe the concept of recovery that has arisen primarily from within the consumer movement and how it offers an important perspective for mental health providers. Also described is the impact of stigma and discrimination, which are especially destructive when they come from mental health providers. Finally, the authors explore the importance and utility for consumers to have mental health providers who themselves have experienced a serious mental illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social history, mental health, and community control.

Develops 4 themes in discussing community control of mental health services: (a) the community mental health movement is considered from the viewpoint of social history; (b) the movement is discussed in terms of its underlying professional ideology; (c) some of the shifts which have taken place in the field that go beyond the traditional framework of mental health are considered; and (d) community control, one of the newer developments in the field, is discussed, and some of its unforeseen problems examined. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consultation and training with school-based crisis teams.

Schools often bring outside mental health consultants to provide postcrisis counseling after a suicide or another tragedy. This article describes a different role for consultants who specialize in this type of work: training school personnel to provide this valuable service themselves. It is argued that training school-based personnel to provide postcrisis counseling results in greater value to a school system than does direct service provision by an outside consultant. The author's experience as mental health consultant to a large urban/suburban school district's crisis team is used to illustrate various training techniques that can be used and benefits that can be derived from this type of consultation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caplanian mental health consultaiton: Historical background and current status.

Traces the historical roots of Caplanian mental health consultation and lists 9 aspects of the model that have proven valuable over time. A relatively new development, mental health collaboration, is discussed with reference to the internal consultant. The role of mental health consultation in primary prevention is briefly reviewed, and it is argued that consulting psychologists who conduct organization development would do well to consider explicitly the preventive aspects of their work. The paper concludes with some thoughts regarding potential problems of working through intermediary caregivers to achieve the goals of primary prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community mental health: Corpse or phoenix? Personal reflections on an era.

The death of community mental health practice has been predicted for many years. In the US, the community mental health era began in the mid-19th century. However, the movement reached its height, conceptually and programmatically, in the national program of the 1960s and 1970s. Ideological shifts have led to its decline since that time. Nevertheless, the contributions of the community mental health movement have permeated the current service structure, and the future rise of more community mental health activities appears inevitable. These trends are traced in a personal odyssey through the era. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two little magic words.

Discusses the importance of perceived program need and agency and consultant contracts to the development of agency-based community mental health programs. For programs that depend significantly on the contributions of an outside consultant, 2 steps must be taken. First, the nature of the perceived program need and the relevance of the consultants' interests and skills to that need must be established. Second, contracts clarifying the agency's and the consultant's specific roles and responsibilities in the prospective program must be developed. Problems in need determination may involve misidentification of need or disagreement among agency staff about needs. A hypothetical program for training volunteers as companions of discharged mental patients is described to illustrate the steps taken in establishing contractual responsibilities. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consultant as expert witness in school and workplace cases—Part 2.

This article provides a review of both Part 1 and Part 2 of a series of the Consulting Psychology Journal on the consultant as an expert witness in school and workplace cases. Part 1 covered topics such as professional consultants as expert witnesses from a legal perspective, sexual harassment and retaliation cases in the workplace, and special education consultants in due process hearings. In part 2, three articles focus on violence in the workplace and two articles alert the consulting psychologist to the issues related to malingering by clients and how to detect it. These articles are meant to provide a sampling of contemporary issues for which the mental health consultant may provide expert testimony in litigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Psychiatric consultation: concepts and controversies

There are two major models of consultation in the field of psychiatry, differing in their goals, participants, settings, and methods. The psychiatric-therapeutic model entails provision of optimal care for the individual patient; the community mental health model involves provision of assistance to mental health caregivers. The author believes that to enhance the value of consultation the consultation should restrict his or her role to that for which he or she has been trained. Current social needs, coupled with a limited supply of consultants, suggest that psychiatric consultation should be provided within comprehensive health care systems. There is a pressing need to clarify the concepts of formulations concerning the criteria of outcome of psychiatric consultation so that evaluation of its effectiveness can be advanced.