An on-line computer-based system for determining social costs and benefits

An on-line computerized program for determining social costs and social benefits for individuals in psychiatric treatment is described. The use of such a program yields a dollar value indicating how much a patient contributes to society. Mental health administrators and program evaluators can therefore be provided with information regarding the economic impact that their mental health programs have upon society. The program displays a series of multiple-choice questions on a CRT which reflect possible costs and benefits. Through the use of branching logic, unnecessary questioning is omitted. Each item is “costed” such that, upon completion of testing, a cost-benefit index is provided.     

Developing a Partnership Model for Cancer Screening with Community-Based Organizations: The ACCESS Breast Cancer Education and Outreach Project

There is growing enthusiasm for community-academic partnerships to promote health in underserved communities. Drawing upon resources available at a comprehensive cancer center, we developed the ACCESS program to guide community based organizations through a flexible program planning process. Over a three-year period, ACCESS partnered with 67 agencies serving various medically underserved populations. Organizations included hospitals, parishes, senior centers, harm reduction programs, and recreational facilities. Program outcomes at the organizational level were quantified in terms of introduction of new cancer information, referral or screening programs, as well as organizational capacity building. ACCESS represents a viable model for promoting partnership to transfer behavioral health programs and adapt interventions for new audiences. Plans to further evaluate and enhance this model to promote cancer screening efforts are discussed. We argue that, ultimately, formation and development of community partnerships need to be understood as a fundamental area of practice that must be systematically integrated into the mission of major academic medical institutions in every area of public health.     

Family characteristics and health behaviours of adolescents and families

Abstract

The relationship between general family characteristics, represented by family cohesion and adaptability, and health behaviours (smoking, alcohol use, food choice, sleeping, Body Mass Index, and physical activity) is studied in a first study of 429 adolescents and young adults, and in a second study of 522 family triads (adolescent-mother-father). Using cluster analysis, adolescent groups with four different profiles of health behaviour were identified. Very similar results were found in the two studies. The health behaviour patterns in the different subgroups show that forms of (un)desirable health behaviours are interrelated in some clusters. Adolescents in the most healthy clusters, consistently reported highest levels of family cohesion. The relationship between family adaptability and health behaviours showed only limited significance. In families characterised by a high level of emotional bonding between family members together with stability and regularity in roles rules and power structure, adolescents' behaviour is the most healthy. The findings suggest that parental involvement is desirable in health promotion intervention. Further, it seems possible that health behaviours originate from a relatively small set of family Characteristics and that modifying family interactions might be powerful, albeit very difficult to do so, in changing a variety of health behaviours in adolescents.     

Personal and family determinants of dietary behaviour in adolescents and their parents

Abstract

The first aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of personal and family determinants in explaining variance in dietary behaviour using objective as well as subjective food scores as dependent variables. The second aim was to provide insight into the aggregation of determinants of dietary behaviour within families. 104 family dyads (n = 208) consisting of an adolescent and his/her parent were recruited. All participants went through a computer routine and completed questionnaires to investigate personal determinants, family interactions around food and more general family characteristics. Results revealed that family determinants explained a maximum of 10% additional variance in dietary behaviour over and above personal determinants. Further, considerably more variance in subjective food scores could be explained (R mainly between .35 and .65) when compared to variance in objective food scores (R mainly between .10 and .40). Finally, the family aggregation was rather low. This argues against the hypothesis of a strong family base of the traditionally used personal determinants. It also shows that a subject?s reports of family interactions are mainly a reflection of an individual's perception and can hardly be considered to be objective truth.     

Relationships among optimism, coping styles, psychopathology, and counseling outcome

This study had two objectives. The first objective was to evaluate the discriminant validity of optimism by examining the relationships between optimism and coping styles, while controlling for psychopathology. The second objective was to evaluate how well optimism, coping styles, and psychopathology predicted counseling outcome. Participants consisted of 96 college students involved in individual counseling at a university counseling center located in the southeastern United States. Consistent with previous studies, optimism was positively correlated with task-oriented coping and social diversion (social support), and it was negatively correlated with emotion-oriented coping and avoidance (distraction) coping. However, after partially out psychopathology, only the relationship between optimism and task-oriented coping remained statistically different from zero. Both optimism and psychopathology predicted two measures of counseling outcome. In contrast, coping styles were not useful for predicting any of the outcome measures. Results provide limited support for the discriminant validity of optimism in general and the Life Orientation Test in particular.     

Predicting premature termination from counseling using the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory

This investigation examined the extent to which premature termination from counseling could be predicted from selected scales on the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory (BTPI). Ninety-five new clients at a university counseling center agreed to participate in the study and completed the BTPI as part of the intake evaluation. Premature termination occurred when a participant missed a scheduled appointment and unilaterally dropped out of counseling. Higher scores on Closed-Mindedness, Problems in Relationship Formation, Somatization of Conflict, Self-Oriented/Narcissism, Perceived Lack of Environmental Support, and the Treatment Difficulty Composite were associated with premature termination. The General Pathology Composite, a general index of symptomatic distress, also enhanced the prediction of premature termination by suppressing irrelevant variance in other BTPI scales. The results provide support for the validity of the BTPI in identifying clients at risk for premature termination from counseling.     

Reaching high risk infants via their high risk fathers

This article addresses itself to helping psychiatrically disturbed fathers from repeating their pathological pasts on their infant children (0-3). The mother-infant dyad is uniquely reached via the father so that the bonds of human attachment can be protected and/or preserved. This is paralled by focusing on the social and emotional problems and adjustments of both parents. The 0-3 year old is made a live interview participant. This seems to insure a positive opportunity for their unfolding cognitive and object-related development to develop more healthfully. Their infantile behavior gives license to their parents to realize therapeutically their painful personal memories and makes material which was previously considered irretrievable, available for intervention and possible change.     

Long-term continuous, but not daily, environmental enrichment reduces spatial memory decline in aged male mice

Although environmental enrichment improves spatial memory and alters synaptic plasticity in aged rodents, it is unclear whether all types of enrichment treatments yield similar benefits. The present study examined the effects in aged male mice of three types of enrichment on spatial memory in Morris water maze and radial arm maze tasks, and on levels of the presynaptic protein synaptophysin in several brain regions. Non-enriched young and aged males were compared with males exposed to one of the following treatments for 10 weeks: 5 min of daily handling, 3 h of daily basic enrichment, or 24 h of continuous complex enrichment. Young controls outperformed aged controls in both tasks. Neither daily handling nor daily enrichment affected spatial memory or synaptophysin levels. In contrast, continuous enrichment significantly reduced age-related spatial memory decline in both tasks, such that this group was statistically indistinguishable from young controls in most measures of performance. Continuously enriched mice were also significantly better than other aged mice in several spatial memory measures. Despite these improvements, synaptophysin levels in the continuous enrichment group were significantly lower than those of young and aged controls in the frontoparietal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, suggesting a negative relationship between synaptophysin levels and spatial memory in aged males. These data demonstrate that different types of enrichment in aged male mice have disparate effects on spatial memory, and that the relationship between enrichment-induced changes in synaptophysin levels and spatial memory in aged males differs from that we have previously reported in aged female mice.