Depression and Spirituality in Australian Aged Care Homes

SUMMARY

A national survey of Australian aged care homes has found that between 40% and 60% of high care residents and 25% to 51 % of low care residents are depressed, depending on the method used to assess depression. While this survey did not specifically include items on spirituality, an analysis based the Geriatric Depression Scale question “Do you feel that your life is empty?” provides some insights into the type of person who may benefit from spiritual help.

The view is expressed that those committed to the provision of spiritual care must be more assertive in making the positive contribution to the reduction in depression that empirical research carried out over the last thirty years suggests is possible. The basic step of identifying those who are ready to talk about spiritual matters and who are depressed is offered as a starting point and some ways of doing this are described.     

Doctors and diversity: Using interfaith literacy and interfaith dialogue to improve patient care

In an increasingly diversifying world, how can doctors and other healthcare professionals improve patient care? Currently, many doctors do not understand how to approach religious differences or recognize their effect on patient health. Doctors must acquire interfaith literacy in medical school through required courses and learn the skills necessary to engage in interfaith dialogue with patients in their practice in order to provide the best patient care in areas with growing diverse patient populations.     

Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Late Life Depression: Current Status and New Applications

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is an empirically-supported treatment for depression and other mental disorders. This article discusses the structure of IPT, its use with older adults, and research that supports its efficacy with depressed older people. Depressed older persons with significant health problems or cognitive impairment present special challenges for those conducting IPT and other psychotherapies. Promising new psychotherapies developed for depressed older adults with cognitive impairment and those living in nursing homes are reviewed. Recommendations are made for use of IPT with older adults in nursing homes.     

Relationships between the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression in depressed outpatients

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) were used with 300 outpatients diagnosed with DSM-III major depression disorders. A principal-components analysis was performed on the intercorrelations among the 21 BDI and 24 HRSD symptoms. Three orthogonal components were found and interpreted as reflecting differences in self-report and clinical rating methods for measuring the severity of depression. The importance of using both self-reports and clinical ratings for evaluating depression in psychiatric outpatients was discussed.     

Clinical cutoffs for the beck Depression inventory and the Geriatric Depression scale with older adult psychiatric outpatients

The present study developed new clinical cutoffs for the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) with 59 older adult psychiatric outpatients. Maximum discrimination of a current major depressive episode resulted, with cutoff scores of 22 for the BDI and 16 for the GDS. Specifically, the following validity scores emerged for the BDI: sensitivity, 64%; specificity, 73%; positive predictive power, 75%; negative predictive power, 61%; and hit rate 68%. For the GDS the validity scores were as follows: sensitivity, 79%; specificity, 69%; positive predictive power, 77%; negative predictive power, 72%; and hit rate, 75%. Combined BDI and GDS scores did not result in improved prediction of a current major depressive episode as compared to the GDS alone. These results support the notion that the BDI and GDS are valid quick screening instruments in discriminating a current major depressive episode for older adult psychiatric outpatients.     

Qualitative Exploration of an Effective Depression Literacy Fotonovela with at Risk Latina Immigrants

While depression is prevalent among immigrant Latinas, mental health literacy is low. Culturally tailored health narratives can improve mental health literacy and are now increasingly featured in Spanish language fotonovelas (i.e., booklets in a comic book format with posed photographs and dialogue bubbles). The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore why a depression literacy fotonovela proved effective with Latina immigrants at risk for depression in a quantitative randomized control study. This study is the qualitative companion of the previously published quantitative piece of a mixed methods study, the latter revealing posttest improvements in depression knowledge, self‐efficacy to identify the need for treatment, and decreased stigma towards mental health care (Hernandez and Organista in Am J Community Psychol 2013 . doi:10.1007/s10464‐013‐9587‐1). Twenty‐five immigrant Latinas participated in structured interviews, in the current qualitative study, 3 weeks after participating in the quantitative study. Results suggest depression literacy improved because participants evidenced high recall of the storyline and characters, which they also found appealing (e.g., liked peer and professional support offered to depressed main character). Further, identification with the main character was reflected in participants recalling similar circumstances impacting their mental health. Despite some improvement, stigma related to depression and its treatment remained for some women. Future research for the improvement of health literacy tools is discussed.     

The effect of a multicomponent literacy instruction model on literacy growth for kindergartners and first‐grade students in Chile

In the present study we examined the impact of a comprehensive literacy instruction model called Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) on language and literacy achievement over the course of a year by Spanish‐speaking children in Chile. Participants included kindergartners (N = 312) from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds and first‐grade students (N = 305) from high SES families. The CLLIP model targeted phonological awareness, alphabetics and phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing, and included coaching and sustained follow‐up as key elements for teacher professional development. The results showed promise for the CLLIP model in the Chilean context. Kindergartners in CLLIP classrooms had faster growth rates in letter naming, word reading, vocabulary, and phonemic segmentation fluency than those in control classrooms, and had higher scores at the end of the year in phonemic segmentation fluency, letter naming, and word reading. In addition, kindergartners from high SES families had faster growth rates than kindergartners from low SES families in letter naming and word reading. Effect sizes ranged from small (d = .18 in word reading) to fairly large (d = .70 in letter‐naming fluency). First‐grade students in CLLIP classrooms had faster growth rates than students in control classrooms in vocabulary, nonword reading fluency, word reading, and reading comprehension. Effect sizes were small in vocabulary, nonword reading fluency, and reading comprehension (.23 ≤ d ≤ .28) and medium in word reading (d = .50). These results suggest that the present multicomponent literacy instructional model had a positive impact on Chilean children's literacy acquisition.     

Early literacy among Arabic-speaking kindergartners: The role of socioeconomic status,home literacy environment and maternal mediation of writing

We explored the sociocultural context of early literacy development among Arabic-speaking kindergartners in Israel, focusing on the nature of mother–child joint writing. Eighty-nine kindergartners and their mothers participated. Mothers were videotaped in their homes while helping their children write words. Early literacy was evaluated by alphabetic knowledge, concepts about print, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Kindergartners’ early literacy was related to socioeconomic status (SES), home literacy environment (HLE) and maternal mediation level. Hierarchical regressions indicate that HLE predicted alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary beyond SES. Maternal mediation of writing predicted all children's early literacy measures except vocabulary, after controlling for SES and HLE. We discuss maternally mediated joint writing interactions as a possible context for early literacy enhancement among young Arabic-speaking children in Israel.     

Association of financial and health literacy with cognitive health in old age

We tested the hypothesis that higher financial and health literacy is associated with better cognitive health in 755 older persons who completed a literacy measure (M = 67.9, SD = 14.5) and then had annual clinical evaluations for a mean of 3.4 years. In proportional hazards models, higher literacy was associated with decreased risk of developing incident Alzheimer’s disease (n = 68) and results were similar for financial and health literacy subscales and after adjustment for potential confounders. In mixed-effects models, higher literacy was related to higher baseline level of cognition and reduced cognitive decline in multiple domains. Among the 602 persons without any cognitive impairment at baseline, higher literacy was associated with a reduced rate of cognitive decline and risk of developing incident mild cognitive impairment (n = 142). The results suggest that higher levels of financial and health literacy are associated with maintenance of cognitive health in old age.     

中国国民心理健康素养的现状与特点

本研究以系统的全国抽样调查方式, 了解我国国民心理健康素养现状。结果显示, 我国成年公众的心理健康素养总体处于中偏低水平; 其发展水平在地域、人口学分布上比较均衡; 在结构上, 公众心理健康素养的发展表现出心理健康维护和促进的素养高于心理疾病应对的素养, 自助的素养高于助人的素养两个特点。调查还发现, 个体心理健康素养中, 知识观念部分个体差异较大, 态度和习惯部分个体差异较小; 在心理健康素养的社会性影响因素方面, 社会经济地位是所考察变量中效应最大的因素, 且其对素养的知识观念方面影响较大, 对素养的态度习惯方面影响较小。调查结果提示, 要充分认识心理健康素养提升任务的艰巨性; 在实践策略上, 宜以提升心理疾病应对的素养作为当前的工作重点和突破口。     

Understanding print: early reading development and the contributions of home literacy experiences

This study explored the development of children's early understanding of visual and orthographic aspects of print and how this is related to early reading acquisition. A total of 474 children, ages 48 to 83 months, completed standardized measures of phonological awareness and early reading skills. They also completed experimental tasks that tapped their understanding of what constitutes "readable" print. The parents of participants completed a questionnaire regarding their children's home literacy experiences. The data showed systematic development in children's understanding of print conventions and English orthography and spelling. Regression analyses indicated that print knowledge was related to early reading skill, even after accounting for variance due to age and phonological awareness. Furthermore, parents' ratings of the extent of their children's involvement in activities that led to practice in reading and writing most consistently predicted the development of emerging literacy skills, including understanding of the conventions of the English writing system. Little relation between print knowledge and the frequency of storybook reading by adults was observed.     

Evaluating depression severity and remission with a modified Beck Depression Inventory

In an attempt to improve assessment of recovery from depression, a modified Beck Depression Inventory (mBDI) was created that permits endorsement of positive feelings in addition to depressive symptoms. In both normal and clinical samples, the mBDI showed evidence of reliability for measuring varying degrees of depression. In comparison to the original BDI, the mBDI did not significantly improve differentiation in depression severity among depressed individuals and assessment of remission of depressive symptoms. However, the mBDI was significantly better than the original BDI in detecting differences in depression level when overall depression severity was low. Clinical implications for evaluating remission of depression are discussed.     

Bullying experiences and literacy achievement amongst primary school children

This study investigated the association between school bullying and literacy achievements in a sample of primary school children from Johannesburg, South Africa. The children (n?=?443; females?=?56%, males?=?44%) attending six primary schools in the Soweto area suburbs, self-reported their experience of bullying by peers. In addition, they completed tests of literacy. The results indicate that learners who self-reported being bullied performed poorly in literacy tests when compared to their peers, who were not subjected to bullying. In particular, those who experienced bullying scored lower on tasks that required literacy skills in phonics, spelling, and word choice. The findings indicate that learner support for school bullying survivors should aim to address the deleterious effects of bullying on literacy development.     

构建医学院校创新性实验教学体系的思考

医学是一门实践性和应用性很强的学科,实验教学是高等医学教育中的重要组成部分,它不仅是对理论教学的补充,更是培养学生动手能力、综合分析问题、解决问题能力的重要教学环节,是培养学生的科研思维和创新精神的重要手段,具有其他教学环节不可替代的作用.     

Early literacy and early numeracy: the value of including early literacy skills in the prediction of numeracy development

The purpose of this study was to examine whether early literacy skills uniquely predict early numeracy skills development. During the first year of the study, 69 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers were assessed on the Preschool Early Numeracy Skills (PENS) test and the Test of Preschool Early Literacy Skills (TOPEL). Participants were assessed again a year later on the PENS test and on the Applied Problems and Calculation subtests of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Three mixed effect regressions were conducted using Time 2 PENS, Applied Problems, and Calculation as the dependent variables. Print Knowledge and Vocabulary accounted for unique variance in the prediction of Time 2 numeracy scores. Phonological Awareness did not uniquely predict any of the mathematics domains. The findings of this study identify an important link between early literacy and early numeracy development.     

心理健康素养：概念、评估、干预与作用

心理健康素养是促进心理健康的重要途径。狭义概念指帮助人们认识、处理和预防心理疾病的相关知识和信念; 广义概念指综合运用心理健康知识、技能和态度, 保持和促进心理健康的能力。心理健康素养常采用情景案例问卷、单维或多维评估量表等进行评估, 可以通过社会运动、学校教育、自助式应用程序、心理健康急救培训等方式进行有效干预提高, 其中心理健康知识、心理疾病识别、情绪调节、减少病耻感、积极的求助态度等成分都有促进心理健康的作用。未来研究可以在建构评估指标体系、探索作用机制、扩展涵盖群体与内容、加强实证干预研究等方面深入开展。     

The effects of a community-based literacy program on young children's language and conceptual development

Effects of a community-based literacy program on 1−, 2−, and 3-year-old children's language and conceptual development were assessed. University students were trained to teach Head Start parents effective methods for reading to their children. Families were randomly assigned to receive 18, 3, or 0 instructional visits. Results indicated that parents in the 18-instructional-visit program increased their participation in appropriate literacy behaviors such as reading to their children, teaching concepts to their children, and using the library, more than parents in the 0-instructional-visit groups. Children in the 18-instructional-visit program showed greater gains in language and conceptual development than children in the 0-instructional-visit group. Few differences were found between children in the 3-visti and 0-instructional-visit groups. Thus, only a high-intensity community-based intervention designed to train parents was effective in increasing emergent literacy in low-income ethnic children. Supported by Commission on National and Community Service grant 92HELOCA0039, the Dr. Seuss Foundation, Head Start, and the College of Sciences at San Diego State University. The authors gratefully acknowledge William A. Hillix, Leah K. Gensheimer, and Larry Fenson for their helpful reviews of drafts of this article, Florence Goldman for her training of tutors in techniques for developing emergent literacy, and the many students who assisted in the implementation and evaluation of this project.     

Self‐Stigma,Mental Health Literacy,and Health Outcomes in Integrated Care

The authors describe research on the self‐stigma of mental illness and help seeking, mental health literacy, and health outcomes in an integrated care medical center. Results revealed that self‐stigma of mental illness and self‐stigma of seeking help had an inverse relationship with mental health literacy. No statistically significant relationships were found between health outcomes, either type of self‐stigma, and mental health literacy. The authors discuss these and other findings and offer research and counseling implications.