An assessment of a community's mental health needs

Summary This study tested the potential utility of social indicators and survey data in the prediction of community mental health sevice utilization and construction of a model of community need. The results showed that both kinds of data are strongly associated with rates of usage across census tracts within the community. The social indicator data appeared to describe the social forces acting with various segments of the community. The strength of these forces were unevenly distributed, and disadvantaged areas were most likely to have higher rates of mental health center utilization rates, although to a lesser extent than the social indicators. The two sets of data were highly convergent and both were seen as useful to planning of mental health sevices. The social indicators appeared to identify best where to look in the community for high-risk populations, while the survey data showed what to look for as mental health problems for the people of a given locale.The authors contributed equally to this research. They wish to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of Dennis McSharry, Director of Research and Evaluation, Granite Community Mental Health Center.     

Socioeconomic Status,Emotional/Behavioral Difficulties,and Social Competence among Preschool Children in Japan

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important contextual factor influencing children’s development. However, there have been limited attempts to examine either the impact of relative poverty on child development or the relationships between specific SES indicators and mental health domains. This study elucidates these relationships in Japanese preschool children who experience high levels of relative poverty. Participants were 3218 Japanese children aged 5–6 years. Their mothers completed self-report questionnaires on SES indicators and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to measure emotional/behavioral problems. Children’s teachers evaluated children’s social competence using the Social Skills Questionnaire for Preschoolers. Each SES indicator had an inverse relationship with all emotional/behavioral problem domains in the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, lower family income consistently predicted higher scores on all emotional/behavioral problem domains, whereas lower maternal and paternal education levels independently predicted higher scores in specific domains. Each SES indicator had positive relationships with all social competence dimensions in the univariate analysis. Higher family income consistently predicted higher social competence in the multivariate analysis. However, paternal education level only predicted self-control, and maternal education did not predict social competence. Family income and parental education levels were significant independent predictors of emotional/behavioral problems and social competence. Thus, this study suggests that SES does affect child outcomes in a country where there is a high level of relative poverty and underscores the importance of assessing income and education status separately in order to identify their potentially unique associations with development among preschool children.     

人工智能辅助下的心理健康新型测评

近年来,人工智能技术的飞速发展及应用催生了"智能化心理健康测评"这一领域。智能化心理健康测评能够弥补传统方法的不足,降低漏诊率并提高诊断效率,这对于心理健康问题的普查及预警具有重大意义。目前,智能化心理健康测评处于初步发展阶段,研究者基于在线行为数据、便携式设备数据等开展主要以数据驱动为导向的探索研究,旨在实现更高的预测准确率,但是测评结果的可解释性等指标尚不够理想。未来的智能化心理健康测评需要强调心理学领域知识和经验的深度介入,提高测评的针对性和精细化程度,加强信效度检验,这对于智能化心理健康测评工具的进一步发展和应用至关重要。     

Community Participation Needs of Families With Children With Behavioral Disorders: A Systems of Care Approach

The purpose of the current study was to convey findings regarding the community participation needs of families who have children with behavioral disorders. The changing focus of community-based service provision to the systems of care approach for children with mental health needs requires family input to identify and better address their needs. This study identified characteristics of community participation in families of children with mental health needs through a survey, using mixed methods design and purposeful sampling. Evolved themes supported challenges for policymakers to make changes in professional, school, and community supports. Occupational therapists have a strong skill set to offer these families and must work collaboratively with family organizations, provide support for successful engagement in desired social activities, and build adaptive behaviors in children with mental health needs.     

心理健康双因素模型在大学生及其心理素质中的有效性研究

采用大学生心理素质量表、一般健康量表、生活满意度量表、快乐感量表进行问卷调查,检验西方学者提出的心理健康双因素模型(DFM)在中国大学生及其心理素质中的有效性。结果发现： ⑴心理健康两维结构的拟合指数优于单维结构;⑵DFM成功地将中国大学生划分为了完全心理健康、部分心理健康、部分病态、完全病态四种类型,并在年级的分布上存在显著差异;⑶心理素质水平在四种心理健康状态上存在显著差异;⑷心理素质对积极心理健康的发展性功能相比对消极心理健康的治疗性功能更为突出。研究表明,DFM与中国学者提出的心理素质与心理健康关系模型理论存在相互支持。     

Spirituality and Health Outcomes in the Elderly

The purpose of this mail survey was to examine the relationship of attitudinal and behavioral measures of spirituality to physical and mental health outcomes in a sample of elderly community residents. Frequency of prayer, importance of faith, and reliance on religion for their coping were compared for their association with eight categories of physical and mental health. All three measures, prayer, faith and religious coping, correlated strongly with positive mental health, but not with the other seven physical health categories. Multiple regression analyses indicated importance of one's faith had the strongest association with positive mental health, even after controlling for the effect of other significant variables, age and education. The behavioral measure of prayer was a component of importance of faith to mental health, with no independent impact. This study highlights attitudes rather than practices, as the stronger spiritual variables related to mental health in the elderly.     

流动儿童歧视知觉与心理健康关系的元分析

本研究基于心理健康双因素模型,通过运用元分析技术探讨流动儿童歧视知觉与各项心理健康指标的关系,以及调节变量对二者关系的影响,以期为提升流动儿童心理健康提供有效借鉴。经过文献检索和筛选,共纳入原始文献3篇,含49个独立样本,被试总数达到40351名。根据同质性检验结果,选择随机效应模型分析发现,流动儿童歧视知觉与积极心理健康指标存在中等程度的负相关(r=-0.323,95%CI为[-0.378,-0.266]),与消极心理健康指标存在中等程度的正相关(r = 0.41, 95%CI为[0.36,0.458])。流动儿童歧视知觉测量工具、学龄段对流动儿童歧视知觉与积极心理健康的关系存在显著的调节效应,而对流动儿童歧视知觉与消极心理健康的关系不存在显著的调节效应。同时,元回归分析结果发现,性别对二者的关系不存在显著的调节效应。后续研究应该进一步探索流动儿童歧视知觉与心理健康间的调节变量,结合中国流动儿童心理发展特点, 探索提升流动儿童心理健康水平的新路径。     

Cognitive Behavioral Principles Within Group Mentoring: A Randomized Pilot Study

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a group mentoring program that included components of empirically supported mentoring and cognitive behavioral techniques for children served at a community mental health center. Eighty-six 8- to 12-year-old children were randomly assigned to either group mentoring or a wait-list control group. Group mentoring significantly increased children's reported social problem-solving skills and decreased parent-reported child externalizing and internalizing behavior problems after controlling for other concurrent mental health services. Attrition from the group mentoring program was notably low (7%) for children. The integration of a cognitive behavioral group mentoring program into children's existing community mental health services may result in additional reductions in externalizing and internalizing behavior problems.     

The Glory of God is a Human Being Fully Alive: Predictors of Positive Versus Negative Mental Health Among Clergy

Clergy fulfill vital societal functions as meaning makers and community builders. Partly because of their important roles, clergy frequently encounter stressful situations. Further, studies suggest that clergy experience high rates of depression. Despite this, few studies have examined protective factors for clergy that may increase their positive mental health. We invited all United Methodist clergy in North Carolina to participate in a survey. Of church‐serving clergy, 85 percent responded (n = 1,476). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the predictors of three positive and four negative mental health outcomes. The three sets of predictors were: demographics, which explained 2–10 percent of the variances; variables typically related to mental health (social support, social isolation, and financial stress), which explained 14–41 percent of the variances; and clergy‐specific variables, which explained 14–20 percent of the variances, indicating the importance of measuring occupation‐specific variables. Some variables (e.g., congregation demands) significantly related to both positive and negative mental health, whereas others (e.g., positive congregations, congregation support) significantly related primarily to positive mental health. In addition to their intervention implications, these findings support separate consideration for negative versus positive mental health.     

Women's mental health during pregnancy influences fetal and infant developmental and health outcomes

Women's mental health during pregnancy has important implications not only for the well-being of the mother, but also for the development, health, and well-being of her unborn child. A growing body of empirical evidence from population-based studies suggests that two indicators of women's mental health during pregnancy--psychosocial stress and social support--may exert a significant influence on fetal development and infant birth outcomes, such as birth weight and length of gestation, even after controlling for the effects of established sociodemographic, obstetric, and behavioral risk factors. This paper describes the role of three major biological systems involved in the physiology of pregnancy and stress physiology: neuroendocrine, immune/inflammatory, and cardiovascular systems. These systems have been hypothesized to mediate the effects of maternal mental health on fetal developmental and health outcomes, and a central role has been proposed for placental corticotropin-releasing hormone in this process. However, not all women reporting high prenatal stress and/or low social support proceed to develop adverse birth outcomes, raising the question of the determinants of susceptibility/vulnerability in the context of high stress and/or low social support. In this context, the role of race/ethnicity and genetic predisposition are discussed as two promising avenues of further investigation.     

Quality of life and mental health among women with ovarian cancer: examining the role of emotional and instrumental social support seeking

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of emotional and instrumental social support seeking in the quality of life (QOL) and mental health of women with ovarian cancer. Participants were recruited through the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry, and one hundred women took part in a mail questionnaire that collected information on their demographics, medical status, social support seeking, QOL and mental health including anxiety, depression and stress. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the influence of emotional and instrumental social support seeking on QOL and mental health. After controlling for remission status, greater emotional social support seeking was predictive of higher overall QOL, social/family QOL, functional QOL and lower depression scores. Instrumental social support seeking was not significant in the models. The results illustrate that social support seeking as a coping mechanism is an important consideration in the QOL and mental health of women with ovarian cancer. Future studies should examine the psychological and behavioral mediators of the relationship to further understand the QOL and mental health of women with ovarian cancer.     

歧视知觉与心理健康的关系:基于中国留守儿童的元分析

研究以心理健康双因素模型为视角,运用元分析技术梳理了留守儿童歧视知觉与积极和消极心理健康的关系,并探究了影响其关系的调节变量。通过文献检索与筛选,共27篇中英文文献,56个独立样本纳入元分析,包含被试17146名。结果显示,歧视知觉与积极心理健康指标呈显著的负相关关系(r=-0.298),与消极心理健康指标呈显著的正相关关系(r=0.365)。调节效应分析发现,留守儿童歧视知觉与积极心理健康的关系受到歧视知觉测量工具的影响,与消极心理健康的关系受到歧视知觉测量工具、学龄段以及消极结果类型的影响。同时,元回归分析发现,文献年份对歧视知觉与积极心理健康指标关系的调节效应显著; 性别对歧视知觉与积极和消极心理健康关系的调节作用均不显著。研究结果进一步明确了留守儿童歧视知觉与积极和消极心理健康的关系,为探索提升留守儿童心理社会适应的新路径提供了借鉴。     

Exploring the Role of Social Support in Promoting Community Integration: An Integrated Literature Review

Community integration has emerged as a priority area among mental health advocates, policy makers, and researchers (Townley, Miller, & Kloos, 2013; Ware, Hopper, Tugenberg, Dickey, & Fisher, 2007). Past research suggests that social support influences community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses (Davidson, Haglund, Stayner, Rakfeldt, Chinman, & Tebes, 2001; Davidson, Stayner, Nickou, Styron, Rowe, & Chinman, 2001; Wong & Solomon, 2002), but there has not yet been a systematic review on this topic. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the influence of social support on community integration through a review of the existing literature. An extensive literature search was conducted, resulting in 32 articles that met the search criteria. These articles were organized into three categories: defining community integration, supportive relationships, and mental health services. The search results are analyzed according to the types of support being provided. Article strengths, limitations, implications, and future directions are also addressed. Overall, the findings of this review suggest that social support, which may be provided by a variety of individuals and services, plays an important role in promoting community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses. Therefore, as community mental health research and practice continues to promote community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses, the mental health field should emphasize the importance of social support as a key factor influencing community integration.     

Negative consequences of community group participation for women's mental health and well‐being: Implications for gender aware social capital building

Participation in community groups is argued to be an important way to create health‐promoting social capital. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which gender affects the health promotion potential of participation. This paper reports on a qualitative study of women's experiences of participation in a diverse range of community groups, and considers how such involvement can potentially have a negative impact upon mental well‐being. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 30 women in Adelaide, South Australia. Women's accounts of their group involvement reflected that their identities as mothers were particularly important in shaping their participation. Some women reported difficulties in combining group involvement with their family responsibilities. Stress attached to negotiating social interaction within groups was also raised as an issue. It was found that participation can reinforce gender inequality and potentially have severe negative consequences for mental health, issues that need to be considered alongside the potential health benefits. The findings are considered in light of Bourdieu's critical conceptualization of social capital. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of Poverty on Mental Health of Children in Rural China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital

Underprivileged children are a relatively special vulnerable group in rural China, but the relationship between poverty and children’s mental health has been rarely examined. This study aimed to investigate the effect of poverty on children’s mental health and the mediating role of social capital in their family, peer, school, and community level. Data used in this study were collected in 2015 from a school-based survey of 1314 children in grades 4–9 through a multi-stage cluster random sampling method in Xiushui, a poverty-stricken city in Mainland China. The result of structural equation modeling indicated that poverty elicited a significant predictive effect on children’s negative and positive mental health. Family social capital and peer social capital played intermediary effects between poverty and children’s mental health. However, the mediating effects of school and community social capital are not significant. The implications of these findings on theory, social policy, and social work services were also discussed.

     

Public Health Asks of Community Psychology…

As the field of public health has increasingly recognized the social and behavioral aspects of the changing epidemiology of diseases and injuries, it has added social and behavioral scientists to the faculties of schools of public health and most federal and state public health agencies. Community psychology can play a crucial role in helping to bridge the dominant psychological theories with the family and community contexts in which individuals are conditioned and reinforced in their tendencies toward violent behavior. Public health asks of community psychology a helping hand in bridging the clinical endpoints of most NIH-sponsored behavioral research with the community endpoints of most CDC-sponsored programs such as injury control.     

Factors That Predict Premature Termination Among Mexican-American Children in Outpatient Psychotherapy

The role of demographic variables, acculturation, and therapy attitudes and expectations in predicting treatment dropout for Mexican-American families who presented for mental health treatment for a young child at a community mental health center was examined. Univariate analyses indicated that less educated parents who felt that they should be able to overcome their child's mental health problems on their own, and who felt that emotional and behavioral problems should be handled by increasing discipline were more likely to terminate prematurely. In addition, parents who perceived more barriers to treatment and expected their child to recover quickly were more likely to drop out of treatment after attending just one session. Measures of household income, acculturation, therapist–client ethnic match, perceptions of stigma, and expectations of therapist directiveness were not related to treatment dropout. When multivariate analyses were examined, parental education, perceived barriers to treatment, and belief in increased discipline remained significant predictors of treatment dropout, and client–therapist ethnic match became a significant predictor of dropout. Results are discussed in terms of implications for culturally-sensitive interventions.     

Economic predictors of mental health service utilization: A time-series analysis

This research was designed to understand the relationships between economic indicators and mental health service utilization. Six monthly and three quarterly time-series analyses were done to assess the time-dependent association between three state-level economic indices and two measures of mental health service utilization. Consistent with the existing literature, increases in manufacturing employment were inversely related to both first admissions in state hospitals and case openings in community outpatient facilities. Labor force participation was also inversely related to first admissions to state hospitals. No relationship was found between service employment and either of the mental health service use indices. The specific findings suggest that two processes may be operating in the relationship of labor force participation and manufacturing employment with mental health service utilization. Some of the findings suggest a "crisis" process, in which service use increases rapidly following an economic stressor, whereas other findings suggest a more insidious process, in which economic stressors slowly weaken the mental health of the community and eventually lead to increased mental health service use. These results can be used to better inform social policy and preventive interventions by highlighting the human costs of changes in economic well-being. The need for more ecological research is discussed.     

Developing coordination of services between a mental health center and a public school system

A child-and-family oriented community mental health center of necessity is concerned with the manner in which the school system in its community is providing for the psychological, social, and emotional development of children. Fortunately, over the last decade, the number of school systems that are aware of their responsibility in this regard has greatly increased, and many affluent and enlightened school systems have moved to develop extensive pupil personnel services, functioning in many ways as in-house mental health programs. Where there are mental health providers both within the community and within the school system, however, problems may develop such as professional competition, overlapping functions, and differences with regard to how mental health problems are best dealt with. This paper will examine the relationship of a town-supported mental health program and the town's public school system. Highlighted will be the variety of problems which develop, including those mentioned above, and strategies adopted to resolve the problems.     

Portrait of the self-enhancer: well adjusted and well liked or maladjusted and friendless?

Research has variously portrayed self-enhancement as an indicator of narcissistic defensiveness or as a concomitant of mental health. To address this controversy, the present study used multiple measures of self-enhancement along with multiple measures and judges of mental health, comprehensively assessing their relationship. The results indicated that self-enhancement is positively associated with multiple indicators of mental health and with a more favorable impact on others. Discussion centers on a reconciliation of discrepant portraits of the self-enhancer.