The Relationship Between Caregiver Capacity and Intensive Community Treatment for Children with a Mental Health Crisis

We studied 9,220 children referred to a comprehensive mental health crisis stabilization program to examine the impact of caregiver capacity on crisis worker decisions to refer children for intensive community-based treatment as opposed to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. Due to the different role of caregivers in the child welfare system, analyses were stratified by state custody status. Among both groups, there was a significant inverse association between child mental health need and referral to intensive community-based treatment. For children not in state custody with low mental health need, there was no difference in the likelihood of referral to intensive community-based treatment across levels of caregiver capacity. However, for children not in state custody with medium and high mental health needs, those whose caregivers were deficient or severely deficient were significantly more likely to be referred for intensive community-based treatment than were those who had capable caregivers. Multivariate analyses demonstrated similar results after controlling for potential confounding variables and confirmed that caregiver capacity contributes significantly to the logistic model’s classification accuracy. Results suggest further investigation of the impact of caregiver capacity on mental health crisis worker referral decisions is needed.     

Translating Evidence to Practice: Two Stories from the Field

Translating research evidence into daily practice is a challenging process at the organizational level. Conceptual models about this process point to the importance of resources for change and environmental influences as two key factors that need to be addressed in translation efforts. Two organizational case studies focused on improving care for adults with depression are described that illustrate lessons about translating evidence to practice that may be helpful to others.     

Student interracial interactions and perceptions of school as a community

Communally organized, as opposed to bureaucratically organized, schools are expected to provide significant advantages to students in terms of their cognitive and social growth. However, for students to avail themselves of these benefits, they need to experience school as a community. One factor that may influence whether students view their school as a functional community is the kind of teacher–student and peer interactions they observe or personally experience. This study examines the effects of positive and negative interracial interactions on whether students sense that their school is a community. Analysis of a large sample of elementary and secondary schools in a major urban school district show that positive interracial interactions contribute to students’ sense of school community while negative actions inhibit that sense.

An evaluation of counselling and rehabilitation courses for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the services offered by Action for ME to sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome using measures developed and validated in previous research. Preliminary studies had suggested that clients attending rehabilitation residential courses were benefiting from the service. A further, more in‐depth evaluation process with a greater number of health‐related outcome measures was warranted. In addition, assessment was widened to include other services offered to sufferers of the illness. Data relating to the usefulness and success of the services (rated by the clients) were also collected. Data from client volunteers were collected at baseline (that is, before intervention) and approximately six months later. Quantitative comparative analyses were conducted using within‐group comparisons to assess any improvements in scores at six‐month follow‐up from baseline. Fifty‐six participants completed wide‐ranging questionnaires assessing illness history, psychopathology, psychosocial factors and health and well‐being. Data relating to improvements in illness status and acceptability of treatment were also collected by means of global outcome measures. Both the counselling and residential groups showed improvements in many areas assessed at follow‐up. Most importantly, improvements were indicated in areas such as fatigue and the levels of disability suffered by patients. In addition, there were significant improvements in ratings of mood, anxiety, depression and physical symptoms. Overall, clients reported satisfaction with the care received and most found the services useful. All of the participants who completed the evaluation stated that they would recommend Action for ME services to fellow sufferers. The outcome of the current study is encouraging. The data presented provides evidence of the high level of support and advice Action for ME offers to sufferers of this illness. Furthermore, measurable improvements in scores relating to illness status were accompanied by improvements in mental health and psychosocial variables in the patient group.     

学校心理健康教育教师胜任力培养初探

学校中小学心理健康教育的效果与其教师的胜任力有关。心理健康教育教师胜任力特征可以概括为：职业理念与专业意识、职业人格特质、专业知识与技能等。要提高中小学校心理健康教育教师胜任力,应从胜任力特征分析角度出发,设计相关课程与活动传授心理健康知识与技能,并将内隐心理健康教育理念及其人格特质融合于其中。     

关于中国心理健康服务体系建设的若干问题

从我国心理健康服务的基本模式、技术体系、服务主体、教育培训、管理监督等五个方面回顾了我国心理健康服务体系的现状。近二、三十年来,我国心理健康服务体系从无到有,发展迅速,但也存在若干亟待解决的问题:服务的技术体系不完善,心理服务的从业机构和个人良莠不齐、总体水平偏低,从业人员的教育培训、从业人员和机构的资质认证缺乏有效的监督管理机制等。目前我国的心理健康服务体系难以适应社会对心理健康服务的需求。需要立足国情,借鉴外国的成功经验并结合我国传统文化,以扎实的研究和细致的工作来完善我国的心理健康服务体系。     

现代中国人心理健康和谐观的理论构念

本文分析显示中国人的心理是自我的关系状态,中国人的健康是和谐状态,传统心理健康的本质是自我关系世界的和谐。基于对传统的继承和发展。提出现代中国人心理健康的本质是自我关系世界的全面积极和谐,内容包括人自身的和谐、人与社会的和谐、人与自然的和谐和人与意义世界的和谐。     

中国青少年心理健康素质·归因风格的研究

应用《青少年心理健康素质调查表·归因风格分量表》对全国23个省市地区的44063名青少年进行了调查,对不同年级阶段青少年归因风格的发展特点进行了分析。结果发现：（1）青少年归因风格的发展存在明显的阶段性,随着年级的升高,其内在归因倾向逐渐减弱;（2）在不同年级阶段,青少年归因风格不同维度的发展方向具有一致性。     

Capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations

Since the 1970s mental health consumer-run organizations have come to offer not only mutual support, but they have also adopted agendas for broader social change. Despite an awareness of the need for system level efforts that create supportive environments for their members, there has been limited research demonstrating how their system level activities can be documented or their impacts evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to feature a method of evaluating systems change activities and impacts. The paper is based on a longitudinal study evaluating four mental health consumer-run organizations in Ontario, Canada. The study tracked system level activities and impacts using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The article begins by describing the development and implementation of these methods. Next it offers a critical analysis of the methods used. It concludes by reflecting on three lessons learned about capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations.     

Putting the system back into systems change: a framework for understanding and changing organizational and community systems

Systems change has emerged as a dominant frame through which local, state, and national funders and practitioners across a wide array of fields approach their work. In most of these efforts, change agents and scholars strive to shift human services and community systems to create better and more just outcomes and improve the status quo. Despite this, there is a dearth of frameworks that scholars, practitioners, and funders can draw upon to aid them in understanding, designing, and assessing this process from a systemic perspective. This paper provides one framework--grounded in systems thinking and change literatures--for understanding and identifying the fundamental system parts and interdependencies that can help to explain system functioning and leverage systems change. The proposed framework highlights the importance of attending to both the deep and apparent structures within a system as well as the interactions and interdependencies among these system parts. This includes attending to the dominant normative, resource, regulative, and operational characteristics that dictate the behavior and lived experiences of system members. The value of engaging critical stakeholders in problem definition, boundary construction, and systems analysis are also discussed. The implications of this framework for systems change researchers and practitioners are discussed.