Mentoring and Peer-led Interventions to Improve Quality of Life Outcomes among Adolescents with Chronic Illnesses

Advancing adolescent medicine has resulted in increased survival rates for life-limiting health conditions that are now considered chronic conditions. Due to the increased rates of chronic illnesses, the broad outcomes of community-based programs for adolescents with these illnesses need to be examined. Therefore, the present study seeks to examine community-based, mentoring and peer-led programs that have a social support component to increase quality of life outcomes for adolescents with chronic illnesses. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify articles that included a social support component to increase quality of life outcomes for adolescents with chronic illnesses. Six articles were included in the narrative analysis. Programs were divided into two types of interventions: mentoring/coaching (n?=?3) and peer-led interventions (n?=?3). A summary of each study was developed and main themes from each intervention were identified by the research team. This review found six community-based peer-led and mentoring interventions that incorporated a social support component to improve the quality of life of adolescents with chronic illnesses. Critical components for a peer-led or mentoring intervention should include social support components such as health coaching and mentoring by peers or adults. Since the nature of chronic illnesses is lengthy in duration, social support research translated into practice may offer adolescents who have any of these illnesses a means to improve their psychosocial outcomes. The interventions outlined in this present review have yielded promising results. Recommendations for future studies are included.     

No Plaything: Ethical Issues Concerning Child-pornography

Academic discussion of pornography is generally restricted to issues arising from the depiction of adults. I argue that child-pornography is a more complex matter, and that generally accepted moral judgements concerning pornography in general have to be revised when children are involved. I look at the question of harm to the children involved, the consumers, and society in general, at the question of blame, and at the possibility of a morally acceptable form of child-pornography. My approach involves an objectivist meta-ethics and a utilitarian view of practical ethics, and I bring out the advantages of these theories to the consideration of moral issues such as this one.

Suicidal Adolescents' Social Support from Family and Peers: Gender-Specific Associations with Psychopathology

Perceptions of social support from family, non-family adults, and peers were examined in relation to the psychopathology reported by 220 suicidal adolescents (152 females) during a psychiatric hospitalization. Results of regression analyses showed that, among females, family support was negatively related to hopelessness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Among males, peer support was positively associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Across gender, more peer support was associated with more externalizing behavior problems; whereas, family support was negatively related to these problems and to alcohol/substance abuse. Paralleling normative findings, age was positively associated with peer support, and females perceived more peer support than did males. Findings extend previous research on social support to suicidal adolescents, and broaden the literature by examining extrafamilial support and a broader range of relevant psychopathology. That is, perceived social support relates to psychiatric impairment differentially by gender, and normative, age-related variations in perceptions of social support are detected even among highly impaired adolescents. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

DSM-defined anxiety disorders symptoms in South African youths: Their assessment and relationship with perceived parental rearing behaviors

This study investigated DSM-defined anxiety symptoms in South African youths. Children and adolescents (N = 701) from various cultural groups completed the SCARED and a questionnaire measuring perceived parental rearing behaviors. Results indicated that the psychometric properties of the SCARED were satisfactory in the total sample of South African youths, and acceptable in colored and black children and adolescents. Further, colored and black youths displayed higher SCARED scores than white youths, and there were also differences in the perceived parental rearing behaviors of the cultural groups. White youths generally rated their parents' rearing behaviors as less anxious, overprotective, and rejective, but more emotionally warm than colored and black youths. Finally, positive correlations were found between anxious rearing, overprotection, and rejection and anxiety symptoms. The clinical and research implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Love—A Higher Form of Human Energy in the Work of Teilhard de Chardin and Sorokin

Contemporary debates concerning a universal theory about the praxis of love in human society and culture can benefit greatly from the works of two twentieth‐century thinkers, the French paleontologist and religious writer Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the Russian‐American sociologist Pitirim A. Sorokin. Although from very different personal and disciplinary backgrounds, they share amazingly similar views on the power of love as transformative energy for transcending the individual self and for creating radically new, collaborative, and cooperative ways of acting that will transform whole societies, indeed the planet. Traditionally, ideas of love have been associated with religion, but these two thinkers advocate systematic scientific research on the production and application of “love‐energy” for the change of culture, social institutions, and human beings. The article is organized in five parts: (1) altruism, science and love: what is love energy? (2) Teilhard's understanding of the phenomenon of love; (3) Sorokin's approach to creative, altruistic love; (4) comparison of Teilhard's and Sorokin's ideas; and (5) performing works of love. As far as I am aware, this is the first article comparing the remarkable parallels as well as distinctive differences between Sorokin's and Teilhard's ideas on love as the highest form of human energy.     

Psychologists in Academic Health Settings: Key Contributors to Dynamic Interplay Among Research, Clinical Practice, and Policy Domains

Psychologists in academic health systems are in a unique position to impact the dynamic interplay among research, clinical practice, and policy domains. In addition to their specialty expertise in psychopathology, particular types of physical illness and disease, and health promotion, psychologists have substantial knowledge of human behavior, refined scientific skills, knowledge and experience in the effective delivery of clinical services, strengths in written expression, and a collaborative orientation. This combination of strengths makes psychologists extremely well-suited for (a) interdisciplinary efforts to develop and implement evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies with biological, psychological, behavioral, and social components, and (b) leadership and advocacy efforts that impact the quality and availability of health care services.