Reducing Psychotropic Medications in an Intensive Residential Treatment Center

Medication rates in behaviorally disordered children and youth have greatly increased to current high levels and are very controversial. This study examined changes in psychotropic medication use, levels of behavioral disturbance, and use of personal restraint and seclusion in a population of youth with serious behavioral disorders receiving medically directed cognitive-behavioral treatment in an intensive residential setting. The hypothesis was that there would be significant reductions in medication rates, without the unintended consequences of increased rates of problem behavior or offsetting increases in the use of seclusion or personal restraint. Results showed significant reductions in both the number of youth on medication and the average number of psychotropic medications during the residential stay. There were also significant reductions in behavioral disturbance, seclusions, and personal restraints. These results demonstrate that psychotropic medication can be significantly reduced without increases in problem behavior or the use of seclusions or personal restraints. We conclude that it is possible to significantly reduce psychotropic medication rates to far more conservative levels within the context of a clinically directed cognitive-behavioral treatment milieu.     

Psychotropic Medication Management Within Residential Treatment Centers: Physician Opinions About Difficulties and Barriers

Research has shown that between 40 and 98 % of youth entering residential treatment are taking at least one psychotropic medication and that psychotropic medication management is often an integral component of treatment in residential settings. To determine physician opinion about the difficulty of managing psychotropic medications for youth in residential treatment and to determine the resources that are used in the process, a survey study was conducted. Overall, physicians indicated that youth involved in residential settings were much more complex than those in traditional outpatient settings, due to multiple mental health diagnoses, polypharmacy, and unknown treatment histories. They also reported that many existing resources are not applicable to youth, particularly those in residential settings, and that they are difficult to read and interpret.     

Interaction Between the Parenting Alliance and Parent–Child Activities in a Clinic-Referred Sample of 2 to 18-year-olds

Several decades of research have demonstrated a link between marital, parenting, and child domains. The present study examined the nature of these links by testing the moderating effect of the parent–child relationship on the association between the parenting alliance and internalizing and externalizing problems in 324 dual-parent families of 2-to-18-year-old clinic-referred youth. Findings indicated that positive parent–child activities directly related to children’s internalizing and externalizing problems, and modified the nature of the association between the parenting alliance and internalizing problems in families of 6-to-10-year-olds. Interestingly, in families where parents engaged in fewer positive activities with their children, a strong parenting alliance actually related to greater child internalizing problems. Findings support the importance of understanding the interaction between the marital and child domains in order to effectively intervene with families of children experiencing behavior problems.     

Prospective memory in children and chimpanzees

Prospective memory (PM) involves remembering to do something at a specific time in the future. Here, we investigate the beginnings of this ability in young children (3-year-olds; Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) using an analogous task. Subjects were given a choice between two toys (children) or two food items (chimpanzees). The selected item was delivered immediately, whereas the unselected item was hidden in an opaque container. After completing an ongoing quantity discrimination task, subjects could request the hidden item by asking for it (children) or by pointing to the container and identifying the item on a symbol board (chimpanzees). Children and chimpanzees showed evidence of prospective-like memory in this task, as evidenced by successful retrieval of the item at the end of the task, sometimes spontaneously with no prompting from the experimenter. These findings contribute to our understanding of PM from an ontogenetic and comparative perspective.     

Minding the ($500,000) Gap: Accounting for the Gender-Driven Gap in Executive Severance Agreements

Journal of Business and Psychology - As the number of women in leadership positions continues to rise, it is important to closely examine the gender pay gap at the executive level. Prior studies...     

Caregiving Arrangements and Caregiver Well-being when Infants are Born to Mothers in Prison

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Each year in the United States, over 1000 women give birth while in prison. Little is known about who cares for the infants after they are separated from their...     

Anti-Racism Strategies in Pediatric Psychology: Using STYLE Can Help Children Overcome Adverse Experiences With Police

Black children are exposed to police violence at alarming rates. Such stress impacts development and treatment of physical health problems. In the current discourse, we introduce STYLE (Self-examination, Talk about community-police relations and racism, Yield space and time to anti-racism work, Learn about how structural racism impacts child health, Evaluate policies and practices through an anti-racism lens). STYLE offers a framework through which professionals in pediatric psychology can engage in anti-racist work across contexts from clinical care to academic and advocacy settings. Pediatric psychologists have a responsibility to be on the frontline as interventionists, educators, researchers, organizers, and advocates for racial justice through anti-racism practices. The current paper introduces STYLE in clinical care, community service, training/supervision, and academic and advocacy contexts. Case examples are provided. Professionals in pediatric psychology must first focus on changing their STYLE to promote individual and infrastructural change consistent with anti-racism work.

     

The Experience of Self-conscious Emotions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Thematic Analysis

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Few studies have investigated emotional experiences in people living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, self-conscious emotions,...     

Validation of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale in Measuring Parental Self-Efficacy of Australian Fathers

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parental Self Efficacy (PSE) is a key predictor of positive parenting practices and child outcomes. The Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS) is a global...     

Social-emotional need satisfaction,prosocial motivation,and students’ positive behavioral and well-being outcomes

Social Psychology of Education - This study investigated the extent to which students’ social-emotional basic psychological need satisfaction (of social-emotional autonomy, social competence,...