Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing: More Than a Symbolic Exercise

The 1985 edition of the American Psychological Association's Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has greatly expanded its coverage of the testing of special populations including handicapped students. The enforcement of the Standards depends upon professionals themselves. Yet, recent surveys of practitioners' knowledge of basic testing and measurement concepts raise serious questions about the extent to which they are prepared to administer and interpret not only standard versions of tests but also modified ones. Extensive in-service training to upgrade skills is recommended.     

Ethics and Culture in Mental Health Care

This article examines the complex relationship between culture, values, and ethics in mental health care. Cultural competence is a practical, concrete demonstration of the ethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence (doing good), nonmaleficence (not doing harm), and justice (treating people fairly)—the cornerstones of modern ethical codes for the health professions. Five clinical cases are presented to illustrate the range of ethical issues faced by mental health clinicians working in a multicultural environment, including issues of therapeutic boundaries, diagnosis, treatment choice, confidentiality and informed consent, and the just distribution of limited health care resources.     

Ethics in the Teaching of Mental Health Professionals

Summary

It is the position of the authors that mental health professionals-in-training must be well versed in the ethical/legal matters of clinical practice. Indeed, most graduate programs in the field of mental health require formal training in Ethics. The California School of Professional Psychology (Alliant International University) San Diego campus has developed a model that requires (a) an ethics course integrated with the student's on-campus supervision in the Fall and Spring semesters at the practicum level, focusing on the American Psychological Association's Ethics Code (2002) and California's Licensing Laws; and (b) an advanced ethics course (in the fourth year of training) that focuses on the integration of ethical and legal issues in clinical practice and providing a knowledge base of sound ethical judgment. Syllabi for these two courses are included.     

Mental Health Services Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism

Summary

The Israeli population has been subjected to the stresses of war and terrorist attacks since long before the state was founded. Confronting this extensive experience of terrorism-related psychological trauma, the Mental Health Services of the Ministry of Health designed and implemented a comprehensive emergency response system that operates in general hospitals and community settings to meet the psychological needs resulting from terrorism at both the individual and the population levels. This article describes general premises, basic elements, administrative structure and functioning of this system, as well as training programs for various service providers working with the victims.     

教师心理健康的标准和对策

本文首先讨论了提高教师心理健康水平对建设高质量教师队伍及提高学生心理健康的重要性 ,它也是落实素质教育的重要举措。文章还阐述了教师心理健康的标准 ,最后提出了提高教师心理素质的对策。     

不同阶层心理健康观念及需求状况的调查研究

运用开放式和封闭式问卷调查法 ,对不同阶层共 483人的心理健康观念及心理健康需求状况进行了调查研究。结果表明 :( 1 )不同阶层、不同年龄段的人关于心理健康标准的观念具有显著差异。 ( 2 )人们认为 ,心理健康的人应具有的最典型特征是“处世乐观、热情、诚恳”和“心平气和、与世无争、乐于助人”。 ( 3 )心理不健康的人或心理变态的人所表现的最典型特征是“性格孤僻、与人不合群”和“对生活失去信心、悲观”。 ( 4)虽然不少人认为心理健康与咨询工作者当前最急需开展的工作是“宣传心理健康知识、开展心理卫生服务” ,但只有极少的人能够正视自己的心理健康需求 ,提出自己需要心理健康服务或咨询。     

The Ten Commandments for Community Mental Health Education

Ten guidelines for effective community mental health education were presented at a mental health center as a part of the staff training and development program.     

女大学生心理健康的测试与培养

本研究抽选198名在校女大学生,采用SCL-90临床症状精神量表测试。结果表明女大学生在人际关系、情绪等方面比正常成人分值略高;课题组通过设计多种心理训练活动,力图培养女大学生的良好心理健康,并为此已有初步成绩。     

国外心理健康服务及其启示

在回顾了美国、瑞典等国家心理健康服务概况的基础上提出了以下启示：1．中国心理健康服务体系应以构建和谐社会理论为基础;2．在心理服务的教育与培训中,应当尽量兼顾普及知识与提高专业化水平两个目标;3．政府应当大力支持社区心理健康服务以及包含各种社区可用资源的综合性社区服务;4．中国心理健康服务必须从本国文化与国情出发,因此还需要更多这方面的文献总结与实际诃查工作;5．心理健康服务应当全面而有区别地实施予心理健康水平不同的人群。     

Ethics and Changing Mental Health Care: Concerns and Recommendations for Practice

Recent developments in health care delivery in the United States have left many professionals baffled by the continuing changes in practice sparked by the relatively new managed care environment. Psychologists who practice in medical settings are struggling to balance the seemingly competing needs to deliver quality care to clients and patients, while meeting the demands of third-party payers and trying to remain true to their ethical responsibilities. Critical elements of managed care, which many suggest compromise the ethical provision of quality care, include utilization review, financial incentives, and threats to confidentiality. Recommendations are proposed so that mental health professionals may be proactive in protecting their ethical responsibilities in this changing environment.     

Linking Job Characteristics and Mental Health among Middle Level Indian Managers: Testing the Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

The present study examined the relationship between job characteristics and mental health by testing the mediating role of psychological empowerment. Data were obtained on a sample of middle level Indian managers (n=290) from two manufacturing organizations of North India. Results of the hierarchical regression analyses revealed that all the core job characteristics significantly positively predicted psychological empowerment and mental health after controlling for the effects of demographic variables. The results also showed that psychological empowerment significantly positively predicted mental health over and above the demographic variables. The mediated regression analyses procedure developed by Baron and Kenny (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51:1173–1182, 1986) was used to test the mediating effect of psychological empowerment. Results of mediated regression analyses indicated that psychological empowerment significantly mediated the relationship between overall job characteristics and mental health. Further it partially mediated the relationship between core job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, feedback from work) and mental health. In addition the Sobel test for mediation confirmed the statistical significance of the mediated relationships. The implications of the findings are discussed in order to confirm the importance of core job characteristics to empower employees.     

Community Mental Health in Emergencies and Mass Disasters

Summary

Mass disasters are widespread and intensive, affecting individuals, families, communities, society, and culture. Mental health services must play a crucial role in order to meet non-routine challenges that put basic professional issues to the test both in theory and in practice. In the Tel Aviv Model, responsible planning is based on a broad system of mediators and activities during normal times, supplemented by intervention personnel and techniques set in motion during emergencies. This operation is coordinated with municipal and governmental support systems, which must be aware of the importance of comprehensive and flexible emergency systems for treating the population.     

深化卫生事业改革应关注卫生经济伦理学研究

卫生经济伦理学是应用伦理学的一个分支,相对于经济学和卫生经济学的发展,卫生经济伦理学的建立和发展滞后,导致卫生经济体制改革的经济效果与社会效果的一定程度的偏离.卫生经济伦理学的理论前提是社会结构变迁要求各个相对独立社会领域的规则整合,其研究任务是为社会经济主体的行为提供一个规范性的评判,实现社会的和谐发展.     

深化卫生事业改革应关注卫生经济伦理学研究

卫生经济伦理学是应用伦理学的一个分支,相对于经济学和卫生经济学的发展,卫生经济伦理学的建立和发展滞后,导致卫生经济体制改革的经济效果与社会效果的一定程度的偏离。卫生经济伦理学的理论前提是社会结构变迁要求各个相对独立社会领域的规则整合,其研究任务是为社会经济主体的行为提供一个规范性的评判,实现社会的和谐发展。     

The Ethics of Supervision and Consultation: Practical Guidance for Mental Health Professionals

Studies of academic dishonesty typically rely on potentially inaccurate self-reports or on actual behavior during less realistic tasks. Eliminating the drawbacks of such approaches, we assessed cheating during completion of actual coursework via electronic records of online behavior. Thirty-six college students completed unproctored, online quizzes. The majority of students responding to a follow-up questionnaire reported that they never considered consulting online sources during the quizzes. Computer logs reveal that although some students accessed relevant online information during the quizzes, many did not: 6 instances over 72 quiz attempts are attributable to 3 or 4 individuals. Although online environments may offer more opportunities for academic dishonesty, electronic records of online activity provide a valuable and objective means of detecting such dishonesty.     

Sustaining Engineering Codes of Ethics for the Twenty-First Century

How much responsibility ought a professional engineer to have with regard to supporting basic principles of sustainable development? While within the United States, professional engineering societies, as reflected in their codes of ethics, differ in their responses to this question, none of these professional societies has yet to put the engineer’s responsibility toward sustainability on a par with commitments to public safety, health, and welfare. In this paper, we aim to suggest that sustainability should be included in the paramountcy clause because it is a necessary condition to ensure the safety, health, and welfare of the public. Part of our justification rests on the fact that to engineer sustainably means among many things to consider social justice, understood as the fair and equitable distribution of social goods, as a design constraint similar to technical, economic, and environmental constraints. This element of social justice is not explicit in the current paramountcy clause. Our argument rests on demonstrating that social justice in terms of both inter- and intra-generational equity is an important dimension of sustainability (and engineering). We also propose that embracing sustainability in the codes while recognizing the role that social justice plays may elevate the status of the engineer as public intellectual and agent of social good. This shift will then need to be incorporated in how we teach undergraduate engineering students about engineering ethics.