“Chipping Away at Health: More on the Relationship Between Income and Child Health.” By Janet Currie and Wanchuan Lin, Columbia University. IN: Health Affairs, vol. 26, no. 2 (March/April 2007) pp. 331-344.

[“Low-income children are in worse health than other children are. This paper explores the extent to which insults to health and activity limitations are responsible. In the most recent National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, low-income children are more likely than other children to have virtually every measured chronic or acute condition and are more likely to be limited by these conditions. Mental health conditions are particularly common and limiting. But the higher incidence of measured conditions and limits does not explain all of the relationships between income and overall health status, which suggests that unmeasured illnesses and injuries are also involved….

Recent research has shown that the relationship between poverty and child health holds not only in the United States but also in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom that have universal health insurance. If we thought that lack of health insurance coverage as the only reason for the gap in health status between rich and poor U. S. children, then presumably we would not expect to see a gap in Canada and the United Kingdom….

This paper investigates the relationships between poverty, overall health status, health insults, and activity limitations resulting from health problems, using data from the 2001-2005 National Health Interview Surveys.”]

[Request #S704048]

“Containing Persecutory Anxiety: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities.” By Frank Lowe, Tavistock Clinic. IN: Journal of Social Work Practice, vol. 20, no. 1 (March 2006) pp. 5-25.

[“There is a serious problem between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and black and minority ethnic communities; in particular their lack of access to these services, but this is often denied and/or avoided in the practice of CAMHS professionals. This paper explores the reasons for this. It argues that the inaccessibility/way of functioning of CAMHS, is a defence against its members experiencing persecutory anxiety from engaging with black and minority ethnic people. Whilst avoidance and other defences give some relief to staff, it however damages their confidence and prevents them from realising to the full their capacity for concern and for helpful action. This thesis is illustrated and discussed through examples. ”]

[Request #S704049]

“Reconceptualizing Stabilization for Counseling Adolescents in Brief Psychiatric Hospitalization: A New Model.” By Richard S. Balkin, Texas A&M University and Catherine R. Roland, Montclair State University. IN: Journal of Counseling & Development, vol. 85 (Winter 2007) pp. 64-72.

[“This research examined goal attainment as it related to client stability in the process of counseling adolescents admitted to a crisis residence. Data were collected from licensed masters-level clinicians treating adolescent clients admitted to an acute care psychiatric program at 1 of 2 hospitals located in the mid-South…

The efficacy of psychiatric hospitalization, particularly for children and adolescents, has been widely debated within the counseling profession. ‘Little comprehensive or systematic research has been conducted on the experiences of the psychiatric hospitalization of young people.’ (Mohr, 1998). Most outcome studies appeared to be in the context of residential treatment settings, in which adolescents were in treatment for approximately 30 days or more, as opposed to acute care programs with an average length of stay of 5 to 7 days….

We proposed a model to reconceptualize stabilization for counseling adolescents to include a three-step goal-attainment process: (a) The client identified the problem(s) that resulted in being hospitalized, (b) the client processed relevant coping skills to the identified problem(s), and (c) the client committed to follow-up. This new model incorporated the development of problem solving and coping skills in clients to promote client stability.”]

[Request #S704050]

“Risk Factors Predictive of the Problem Behavior of Children At-Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.” By J. Ron 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 #S704052]

“Recent Approaches to Psychological Interventions for People at Risk of Psychoses.” By Lisa J. Phillips, University of Cologne, and others. IN: European Archives of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, vol. 256, no. 3 (2006) pp. 159-173.

[“With the emerging global focus on early psychosis, indicated prevention in schizophrenia has increasingly become a focus of psychiatric research interests. It has been argued that CBT may have some advantages compared with antipsychotics regarding this issue. According to MEDLINE, EMBASE and Psycinfo two completed randomised controlled trials (RCTs; PACE, Melbourne, Australia; EDIE, Manchester, United Kingdom) and one ongoing RCT with only preliminary results published so far (FETZ, Cologne/Bonn, Germany) on indicated prevention in schizophrenia including manualised and standardised psychological treatment can be identified.

The aims of the present paper are to present and discuss the three approaches with regard to (I) inclusion, exclusion and exit criteria, (II) characteristics of interventions and (III) evaluations. All interventions use intake, exclusion and exit criteria, which have been evaluated in prospective follow-along studies. The approaches are based on the general structure and principles of cognitive behavioural therapy which have been developed, applied and evaluated in a wide range of mental health problems. Despite several methodological limitations, the first evaluations indicate some effects with regard to three possible aims of early intervention: (1) improvement of present possible pre-psychotic symptoms, (2) prevention of social decline/stagnation and (3) prevention or delay of progression to psychosis. Even though the first results are promising, we conclude that several ethical issues have to be taken into consideration and further predictive and therapeutic research is needed to judge whether psychological intervention is a realistic option for the treatment of people at risk of psychosis.”]

[Request #S704054]

“Influences on the Mental Health of Children Placed in Foster Care.” By Caroline R. Ellermann, Northern Arizona University. IN: Family & Community Health, vol. 30 (April/June 2007) pp. S23-S32.

[“Qualitative research methods were used to explore stakeholder perceptions of various influences on foster children's health. Semistructured interviews were conducted with focus groups of foster children, foster parents, and foster care professionals. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis procedures. Themes emerging from this analysis focused primarily on the foster children's mental health, including difficulties associated with perceiving oneself as being different, the children's need for coping strategies, problems encountered with the foster care system, transitions between foster homes, and the need for medical homes. Stakeholder groups recognized the necessity of mutual support for one another and proposed potential solutions for addressing concerns. The healthcare needs of foster children are complicated by preexisting health issues as well as issues specifically related to placement in foster care. Once in foster care, ongoing health problems and risk for further complications are exacerbated by (1) removal from the biological home and the trauma of parent separation, (2) failure of medical providers to recognize and follow through with evaluation and treatment of developmental and mental healthcare needs, and (3) failure to receive healthcare services when referred. Inadequate treatment of healthcare deficiencies that existed prior to entering foster care are further compounded by the barriers to healthcare once in foster care.”]

[Request #S704055]

“Involuntary Treatment and Competence to Proceed in the Criminal Process: Capital and Noncapital Cases.” By Robert R. Schopp, University of Nebraska. IN: Behavioral Sciences & Law, vol. 24, no. 4 (July 2006) pp. 495-528.

[“Recent cases raise a series of questions regarding the involuntary administration of treatment intended to restore or maintain competence to proceed in the criminal process. As is often the case, these matters take on a special urgency in the context of capital punishment. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the relevant interests that courts should consider in deciding whether to order the involuntary administration of treatment to restore or maintain competence converge to a greater degree than one might initially expect. When the applicable conception of medical interests is appropriately defined and the state's interest in protecting the integrity of the process is given appropriate weight, the legally protected state and individual interests converge to a substantial degree. Protecting both sets of interests may require a variety of procedures designed to avoid misguided interventions with the potential to undermine both sets of interests. Finally, this analysis provides an approach that allows the courts to grant appropriate weight to the professional ethics of those who perform evaluations and deliver treatment in these contexts.”]

[Request #S704056]

“Psychiatric Hospital Capacity, Homelessness, and Crime and Arrest Rates.” By Fred E. Markowitz, Northern Illinois University. IN: Criminology, vol. 44, no. 1 (February 2006) pp. 45-72.

[“As a result of developments in pharmacology, stricter standards for involuntary commitment, and changes in public expenditures, there has been a dramatic decline in the capacity of public psychiatric hospitals to maintain America's most severely mentally ill. Psychiatric deinstitutionalization has led to an increased presence of persons with mental illness in urban areas, many “falling through the cracks” of community-based services. This is hypothesized to have contributed to homelessness, crime, and arrests. Individual-level research has documented disproportionate and increasing numbers of mentally ill persons in jails and prisons. It has also found higher rates of violence and arrest among persons with mental illness compared to the general population. This study takes a macro-level social control approach and examines the relationships between psychiatric hospital capacity, homelessness, and crime and arrest rates using a sample of eighty-one U.S. cities.”]

[Request #S704057]

“Mental Health Courts Show Promise.” By Bridget M. Kuehn. IN: The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 297, no. 15 (April 18, 2007) pp. 1641-1643.

[“During the past decade, the number of specialty courts designed to divert mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system into appropriate treatment programs has grown from 4 to about 120. This growth has been driven by concern about the large number of inmates with mental illness in jails or prisons nationwide and the hope that connecting them with appropriate treatment will improve their quality of life while reducing communities’ crime rates and incarceration costs.

Alternative programs that divert mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system at the time of arrest, bail, or sentencing are also being explored. Now, a small but growing body of evidence is providing support that mental health courts and similar interventions may indeed benefit individuals and communities.”]

Found in Journal of the American Medical Association

[Request #S704058]

“Psychological First Aid.” By Josef Ruzek and others, National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). IN: Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 29, no. 1 (January 2007) pp. 17-49.

[“Psychological First Aid (PFA) consists of a systematic set of helping actions aimed at reducing initial post-trauma distress and supporting short- and long-term adaptive functioning. Designed as an initial component of a comprehensive disaster/trauma response, PFA is constructed around eight core actions: contact and engagement, safety and comfort, stabilization, information gathering, practical assistance, connection with social supports, information on coping support, and linkage with collaborative services. PFA for children and adolescents focuses on these same core actions, with modifications to make them developmentally appropriate. Formal evaluation of the effectiveness of PFA is needed and it is hoped that development of a PFA Field Operations Guide will facilitate such evaluation…

PFA is aimed at reducing initial post-trauma distress and supporting short-and long-term adaptive functioning. It is designed for delivery anywhere that trauma survivors can be found. Following a disaster, it can be offered in shelters, schools, hospitals, homes, staging areas, feeding locations, family assistance centers, and other community settings. The principles can also be applied immediately following traumatization in many non-disaster settings, including hospital trauma centers, rape crisis centers, and warzones. PFA is designed for simple and practical administration in field settings…. In this paper, we briefly review previous work on early intervention, describe the focus on evidence-informed intervention principles within PFA, outline the basic principles and practices of PFA, discuss adaptation of PFA for children and adolescents, identify key considerations in the evaluation of PFA, and indicate some future directions in development of this approach.”]

[Request #S704062]