“Evidence for Population-Based Perspectives on Children’s Behavior Adjustment and Needs for Service Delivery in Schools.” By Jean A. Baker, Michigan State University, and others. IN: School Psychology Review, vol. 35, no. 1 (2006) pp. 31-46.

[“American schoolchildren show tremendous academic as well as intra and interpersonal behavioral differences in the classroom. Current service delivery models within schools may be insufficient to meet the demand and diversity of students' needs, especially in schools serving students placed at risk by adverse life circumstances, such as poverty. This article presents empirical findings about the range of normal behavioral variability within schools serving students at risk. Our findings suggest that a population-based perspective on behavioral adjustment captured this variability and was useful in predicting children's educational risk status. Our data are best explained by a model associating behavioral risk and educational status that aligns with prevention-oriented service delivery approaches specifying the needs for universal, selected, and indicated interventions in schools. We discuss our findings relative to the needs for schools to afford timely and efficient use of academic supports and mental health resources in schools serving children placed at risk.”]

[Request #S70362]

“The Interface between Mental Health Providers, Families, and Schools: Parent and Child Attitudes about Information Sharing.” By Teresa L. Kramer, University of Arkansas, and others. IN: Journal of Child & Family Studies, vol. 15, no. 4 (August 2006) pp. 377-392.

[“Youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are at an increased risk for school problems and negative consequences into adulthood, increasing the need for collaboration between families, school personnel and mental health providers. Current treatment guidelines emphasize the importance of information-sharing between providers and schools, yet few studies have addressed parents’ or students’ attitudes and preferences about this process or about the disclosure of mental health-related information to school professionals.

Using a sample of 73 pairs of parents and their adolescents seeking outpatient treatment, this study assessed parental and adolescent attitudes about disclosure of mental health treatment information to school personnel. The majority of parents reported that the school should be informed that their adolescent was receiving counseling or medication for EBD, and that they should be the primary informant, rather than providers. By comparison, adolescents preferred more discretion about their involvement in treatment. Taken together, the study results highlight a number of implications relevant to the therapeutic relation and the process of obtaining and sharing mental health-related treatment information with various school personnel. Future research directions regarding the consultative and collaborative process with school personnel are also discussed.”] This item is available for a 3-day loan.

[Request #S70363]

“Risk Factors Predictive of Problem Behavior of Children at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.” By Ron J. Nelson, University of Nebraska, and others. IN: Exceptional Children, vol. 73, no. 3 (Spring 2007) pp. 367-379.

[“Logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict borderline/clinical levels of problem behavior (i.e., a t score at or above 60 on the Child Behavior Checklist Total Problem scale) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Results showed that among the 11 risk factor domains considered, 5 were most predictive of borderline/clinical levels of problem behavior: externalizing behavior pattern, internalizing behavior pattern, early childhood child maladjustment, family functioning, and maternal depression. Within these 5 domains, the most robust set of individual risk factors were difficult child (i.e., temperament, parent management skills, interaction between temperament and parent management skills), destroys own toys, and maternal depression. Results, limitations, future research, and implications are discussed.”]

[Request #S70364]

“Evidence-Based Services in a Statewide Public Mental Health Services System: Do the Services Fit the Problems?” By Jason Schiffman, University of Hawaii, and others. IN: Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, vol. 35, no. 1 (February 2006) pp. 13-19.

[“This study examined the degree to which a literature review of evidence-based services identified services appropriate for the actual problems of youth involved in intensive public mental health services. The diagnostic profiles and specific intervention targets reported by treatment providers were coded to determine whether a relevant empirically supported treatment was identified in the literature by the Hawaii Evidence-Based Services Committee for each problem.

Of the 2,197 youth with diagnostic information available, 721 youth (33%) had a pure diagnosis for which an evidence-based service was identified in the literature, and 1,953 youth (89%) had a primary diagnosis with a relevant evidence-based service. Of the 1,220 youth with treatment target information, 1,094 (90%) had 1 or more problem areas targeted for intervention with an identified evidence-based service; thus, the vast majority of youth receiving intensive public mental services experienced a mental health difficulty for which an evidence-based service was identified through a review of the empirical literature. Nevertheless, many youth had additional problems for which evidence-based services have not yet been identified through research.”]

[Request #S70365]

“Behavioral Health Service Use and Costs among Children in Foster Care.” By Marion Becker, University of South Florida, and others. IN: Child Welfare, vol. 85, no. 3 (May/June 2006) pp. 633-647.

[“This article compares behavioral health service use and cost for foster care versus nonfoster care children; children before, during, and after foster care placement; and successfully reunified versus nonsuccessfully reunified foster care children. Behavioral health service costs for children in foster care were higher than for children not in foster care. Children in foster care used more services during their foster care placement than before placement and after discharge. Nonsuccessfully reunified children received a significantly larger quantity of services than those successfully reunified….

The purpose of this article’s study was two-fold: to examine the use and cost of behavioral health services for children in Florida’s foster care system, and to explore the effect of parent-child reunification on the pattern and cost of the behavioral health services used. The study compares behavioral health service use and cost patterns for children in foster care to a random sample of Medicaid-enrolled children not involved with the foster care system. The policy implications of study findings also are explored.”]

[Request #S70366]

“Characteristics Associated with Involuntary Versus Voluntary Legal Status at Admission and Discharge Among Psychiatric Inpatients.” By Jason Craw and Michael T. Compton, Emory University. IN: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, vol. 41, no. 12 (December 2006) pp. 981-988.

[“The objective of this analysis was to determine the ways in which patients’ legal statuses at hospital admission and discharge are associated with select sociodemographic and clinical variables. This study specifically investigated differences between patients who were voluntary during both admission and discharge, patients who were involuntary on admission but voluntary on discharge (having converted to voluntary status during hospitalization), and patients who were involuntary during both admission and discharge.

Data were collected from the charts and treating clinicians of 227 consecutively discharged patients from two psychiatric units in a large, urban, county hospital in the southeastern United States. Based on results of bivariate tests, sociodemographic and clinical factors were entered into a polytomous logistic regression model to determine effect estimates (adjusted odds ratios).

In the bivariate analyses, 15 variables were significantly associated with the trichotomous legal status. In the model, three factors were independently significantly associated with legal status, while controlling for four potential confounders: (1) whether or not the patient was experiencing psychotic symptoms at discharge, (2) whether or not the patient had documented medical problems requiring medication at discharge, and (3) the number of psychiatric medications.

A generalized lack of treatment engagement and adherence among involuntary patients likely underlies significant differences between the groups in terms of psychotic symptoms, diagnosed medical problems requiring medications, and number of psychiatric medications at discharge. Studying legal status (and the process of legal status conversion from involuntary to voluntary) and its correlates is an important topic for further research.”]

[Request #S70367]

“An Independent Effectiveness Trial of Multisystemic Therapy with Juvenile Justice Youth.” By Jane Timmons-Mitchell, Case School of Medicine, and others. IN: Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, vol. 35, no. 2 (June 2006) pp. 227-236.

[“This study examines the effectiveness of an evidence-based practice, multisystemic therapy (MST), conducted in a real-world mental health setting with juvenile justice involved youth and their families. Importantly, this is the first randomized clinical trial of MST with juvenile offenders in the United States conducted without direct oversight by the model developers.

This study reports outcomes achieved for 93 youth randomly assigned to MST or treatment as usual (TAU) services through 18-month follow-up posttreatment for offense data and 6-month follow-up posttreatment for ratings of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS). Outcomes include significant reduction in rearrest and improvement in 4 areas of functioning measured by the CAFAS for youth who received MST. Implications for delivery of empirically supported treatments in real-world settings are discussed.”} This item is available for a 3-day loan.

[Request #S70368]

“Postpartum Depression: A Major Health Problem.” By Katherine L. Wisner, University of Pittsburg, and others. IN: The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 296, no. 21 (December 2006) pp. 2616-2618.

[“Postpartum psychiatric disorders, particularly depression, have received increasing attention in the United States for several reasons. Postpartum depression is very common. One of 7 new mothers (14.5%) experience depressive episodes that impair maternal role function. The neurobiology of women with postpartum mood instability appears differentially sensitive to the destabilizing effects of hormonal withdrawal at birth. Coupled with entry of the newborn into the family, postpartum depression affects crucial infant and adult developmental processes. The disruption to the early mother-infant relationship contributes to short- and long-term adverse child outcomes. The negative effects of maternal depression on children include an increased risk of impaired mental and motor development, difficult temperament, poor self-regulation, low self-esteem, and behavior problems.

Postpartum psychosis has been associated with tragic outcomes, such as maternal suicide and infanticide. As one example of a policy response to concern about postpartum disorders, legislation that mandates education and screening was enacted recently in New Jersey. The Safe Motherhood Group, which included representatives from multiple agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services, commissioned an evidence-based evaluation of data about perinatal depression that could be used to inform national policy. In response, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed an evidence report. In the AHRQ report, perinatal depression is defined as an episode of major or minor depression that occurs during pregnancy or the first 12 months after birth. The authors noted that the diagnosis and timing of perinatal episodes have not been consistently identified.”]

[Request #S70373]

“Collaboration between Primary Care and Psychiatric Services: Does it Help Family Physicians?” By Stephen Kisely, Dalhousie University, and others. IN: Canadian Family Physician, vol. 52, no. 7 (July 2006) pp. 876-877.

[“This study in Nova Scotia compares physicians’ knowledge, skills, and comfort in managing psychiatric patients; and the satisfaction with mental health services among physicians who have formal collaboration with mental health teams and physicians who do not. The collaborative model allowed family doctors better access to mental health workers, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. Twice-yearly educational meetings were also part of the package.

For most diagnoses, physicians reported greater knowledge, skills, and comfort when they were involved in collaborative care, and these physicians were more satisfied with mental health services. The findings remained true after controlling for sex, level of interest in mental health, and years in practice.”]

[Request #S70374]

“How Clinical Diagnosis Might Exacerbate the Stigma of Mental Illness.” By Patrick Corrigan, Illinois Institute of Technology. IN: Social Work, vol. 52, no. 1 (January, 2007) pp. 31-39. Academic Search Premier

[“Stigma can greatly exacerbate the experience of mental illness. Diagnostic classification frequently used by clinical social workers may intensify this stigma by enhancing the public's sense of "groupness" and "differentness" when perceiving people with mental illness. The homogeneity assumed by stereotypes may lead mental health professionals and the public to view individuals in terms of their diagnostic labels. The stability of stereotypes may exacerbate notions that people with mental illness do not recover. Several strategies may diminish the unintended effects of diagnosis. Dimensional approaches to diagnosis may not augment stigma in the same manner as classification. Moreover, regular interaction with people with mental illness and focusing on recovery may diminish the stigmatizing effects of diagnosis.”]

[Request #S70375]

“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Part I: Historical Development of the Concept.” By G. C. Lasiuk and K. M. Hegadoren, University of Alberta. IN: Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, vol. 42, no. 1 (February 2006) pp. 13-20.

[“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a significant health problem, characterized by high rates of chronicity and comorbidity. This is the first of three articles examining the sufficiency of the current PTSD construct to articulate the spectrum of human responses to trauma, in particular as it relates to women and interpersonal trauma. This paper reviews the conceptual history of PTSD from the nineteenth century up to its inclusion in the DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) and existing bodies of theoretical and research literature related to the effects of trauma. Although there is strong evidence that gender plays a role in responses to stress and trauma, gender specificity is not well-incorporated into clinical services or research in the area of PTSD.”]

[Request #S70376]