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)     

Mental health services to children and adolescents: A national view of public policies.

Summarizes and discusses the implications of a national study conducted by the present author (1982) on public policies affecting the delivery of mental health services to disturbed children and adolescents. Relevant state officials and advocacy organizations were surveyed, state reports and child and adolescent mental health statutes were analyzed, federal programs and policies were reviewed, and responsive program models were identified. Findings suggest that there is more knowledge about how to help children and adolescents in need of mental health services than is reflected in the organization, funding, and delivery of these services. Three encouraging developments, policy recommendations, and implications for psychologists are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality characteristics of therapists: Description of relevant variables and examination of conscious preferences.

Summarized and discussed recent studies of the significance of the psychotherapist's personality with the aim of developing measures for clinical research. 10 variables are described, comprising a relatively comprehensive and discrete list of potential importance. They include: objectivity, dependability, sincerity, sureness, directiveness, empathy (both affective and cognitive components, i.e., responsiveness and understanding), respect, interest, and warmth. The measurement of conscious attitudes toward these variables in 54 psychiatrists, 77 psychologists, and 78 social workers is described. The method uses a questionnaire requiring forced choices between paired adjectives and provides rankings among the variables. The results indicate both similarities and differences among therapist groups in relative preferences for these characteristics. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)