Mental and Social Health Commons^™

A Social Exchange Approach To Explaining Satisfaction With Therapy, Brenda B. Counts

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the effect of Reward, Cost, Comparison Level, Comparison Level of Alternative, and Investment on Satisfaction and Commitment in therapy from the perspective of social exchange theory and the investment model. Relationship variables were assessed by 114 subjects for the beginning of therapy, the first few sessions: middle of therapy, when therapy was clearly underway and issues were being dealt with; and the end or last few sessions. Results confirmed that Satisfaction and Commitment were significantly predicted by greater Reward, lower Cost, and Comparison Level. Investment was consistently positively related to Commitment and not to Satisfaction. However, …

Blue Ribbon Commission On The Regulation Of Health Care Expenditures, State Of Maine, 113th Legislature

Maine Collection

Blue Ribbon Commission on the Regulation of Health Care Expenditures

State of Maine, 113th Legislature (January, 1989)

Office of Policy and Legal Analysis, Room 101, State House--Sta. 13, Augusta, Maine 04333.

Contents: Preface / Executive Summary of Recommendations / Introduction and Background / Detailed Recommendations

Predictors Of Depression In American Indian Adolescents, Quang Duong-Tran

Dissertations and Theses

Discriminant analysis was conducted to examine the empirical use of psychosocial variables and stressful life events scales in classifying depressed and non-depressed American Indian adolescents using a standardized criterion measure. Subjects attending a Bureau of Indian Affair boarding school were administered a mental health screening survey and were interviewed within four weeks using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule f or Children-Revised (DISC-R). Three models of discriminant analysis were used to determine the overall and incremental variance contributed by the stressful life events scales and the related psychosocial variables (i.e., gender, perceived social support from family and from friends, self-esteem, and depressive …

Toward Predicting Completion Of Substance Abuse Treatment, Rebecca Lee Bragg

Dissertations and Theses

This investigation attempts to identify factors which influence whether or not someone is likely to drop out of a chemical dependency treatment program. Dropping out is defined as someone who leaves treatment against medical advice.

The subjects were patients from a private, non-profit, medically based, residential program. Nine demographic characteristics were abstracted from the charts on file for the patients at the treatment center. Two groups of 45 patients each were selected from the inpatient population. One group, the Completed Treatment group, comprised patients who had completed the 28 day program. The second group, the AMA Discharge group, comprised patients …

Introducing The Living With Illness Group: A Specialized Treatment For Patients With Chronic Schizophrenic Conditions, Thomas G. Plante, Stephanie L. Pinder, David Howe

Psychology

This paper introduces a specialized psychotherapy/psychoeducational group treatment for patients with chronic psychotic symptoms who receive only partial benefit from psychotropic medications, psychotherapy, and milieu/activities therapy. The goal of the group is to assist patients to accurately identify the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that are dysfunctional symptoms of their disability and then use the functional aspects of their brain as well as learned coping strategies to compensate for their disability. The group format, philosophy, procedures, and typical topics of discussion are detailed.

The Psychological Needs Of Sex Offenders Of Children As Measured By The Personality Research Form, Shirley Anne Miller

Dissertations

Major contributors in the field of child sexual abuse have agreed that sex offenders who sexually abuse children are not primarily motivated by sexual desire and have proposed that the simultaneous satisfaction of a number of psychological needs is the prominent motivation of sex offenders of children. Few attempts have been made to empirically validate the clinical and theoretical impressions regarding the psychological needs of this group using psychological measures designed to assess needs or motives.

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the assumptions about the psychological needs of sex offenders of children would be …

A Cross-Cultural Analysis Of Psychiatric Symptom Expression Using Langner's Twenty-Two Item Index, Robert Nishimoto

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An analysis of psychiatric symptom response using Langner's twentytwo item index was conducted across three cultural settings. Respondents were Anglo-American, Vietnamese Chinese, and Mexican. Some similarities did exist in response patterns and in those symptom items highly correlated with the total psychiatric screening score. Close examination revealed between-group differences indicating that not all twenty-two items were valid indicators of psychological disorder across cultures. The study highlights issues in the development and use of symptom checklists to measure and assess mental health constructs across cultures.

Community Mental Health: A View From American History, Mary Ann Jimenez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The limitations of the movement for deinstitutionalization of the chronically mentally disordered have been the subject of a repeated series of investigations and analyses in the last 10 years. These critiques can be summed up in the undeniable observation that the chronically mentally disordered have by and large failed to benefit from deinstitutionalization in the ways that the original advocates and planners of this policy had hoped. The promise of community mental health, at least as articulated by the scores of witnesses before Congressional committees in the early 1960's, has not been realized for this population.

Ua12/1 Apple Tips, Vol. I, No. 1, Wku Apple

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by APPLE a planned program in life enrichment regarding drug and alcohol awareness programs.

Mental Health Treatment Refusal In Correctional Institutions: A Sociological And Legal Analysis, Rudolph Alexander Jr.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Recently, the courts have recognized the right to a minimum level of mental health treatment for individuals confined in both mental and correctional institutions, utilizing a different rationale for each system. As mental health administrators in state mental hospitals accepted that they were responsible for providing an increased level of mental health services, they were disappointed that courts had subsequently ruled that individuals in state hospitals had a right to refuse treatment. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate, sociologically and legally, upon treatment refusal in the correctional system since most of the attention on treatment refusal has focused …

A Review Of Surveys Of Professional Practice In Psychology Since 1961: Trends And Future Challenges, Geoffrey E. Buck

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychology has enjoyed tremendous growth and increasing professionalization in the years following WWII, with the major thrust of this growth being in professional practice. This period has also witnessed a rapid transformation in the educational and sociopolitical underpinnings of professional training and practice. Many authors have studied the growth of practice by periodically surveying practitioners and commenting on a wide variety of demographic, professional and practice-related characteristics. This paper reviews these surveys, noting trends in the characteristics of the human resource pool and the factors both within and external to the profession that have contributed to the shape of those …

What Social Workers Do: Implications For The Reclassification Debate, Charles Green

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The reclassification trend is one of the most formidable issues facing American social work today. Social work's vulnerability stemming from a general ambiquity about its distinct role and boundaries, competition from emerging helping occupations, and its debated professionalism is a major contributing factor. Often ignored in recent efforts to address reclassification is empirical evidence of social work's distinct performance in the human services versus other occupational groups. In this article comparative research findings supporting social work's unique performance are presented and their relevance for reclassification discussed.

Development And Testing Of The Stress Adaptation Scale For Parents With Chronically Ill Children (Sasp), Carolyn M. Rutledge

Ellmer School of Nursing Theses & Dissertations

This research study consisted of four phases used to develop and test the Stress Adaptation Scale for Parents with Chronically Ill Children (ASP). The first phase dealt with developing the items on the SASP from a review of the literature and the researcher's professional experience. The SASP was then divided into the six categories of health care, social, personal, familial, financial, and spiritual. In phase II, content validity was evaluated by a panel of experts. In phase III, stability over time and face validity was demonstrated using 26 parents of chronically ill children. The SASP achieved a Pearson's r=.85 with …

The Effects Of A Wilderness/Adventure Program On The Self-Concept, Locus Of Control Orientation, And Interpersonal Behavior Of Delinquent Adolescents, Timothy J. Zwart

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 26-day therapeutic wilderness program for delinquent adolescent males on three conceptually distinct but closely related constructs: self-concept, locus of control orientation, and interpersonal behavior. Justification for the study was derived from the limitations of past wilderness/adventure research which suggested that there was a need for additional research on the effects of this type of alternative program for delinquent adolescents.

It was hypothesized that following participation in this program the youths would exhibit increased self-concept, more internal locus of control orientation, would express higher needs for inclusion and affection …

The Social Class And Mental Illness Correlation: Implications Of The Research For Policy And Practice, Christopher G. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ongoing efforts to unravel the causal issues involved in the correlation between socioeconomic status and mental illness suggest that the hypothesis of a recursive or interactive relationship may be the most tenable, at least with the psychoses. Implications of this research are explored, with particular attention paid to the mental health costs of economic policies, the principles with which states allocate mental health resources, and the use of this knowledge-base in service planning.

A Commentary On The Social Class And Mental Illness Correlation: Implications Of The Research For Policy And Practice, Julius A. Roth

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper represents an extraordinary review of literature on the association between SES and mental illness. I think most social scientists would find it impressive. It also conveys some cogent reasoning about the relevance of these findings for social policy. I think most social workers would find it impressive.

Technology In Clinical Practice And The "Technological Ethic", John W. Murphy, John T. Pardeck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Computers are being introduced into practically every area of clinical practice. The use of this technology by practitioners has not gone unchallenged. Specifically, new ethical problems are thought to be associated with using computers to make clinical assessments. Logistical and procedural difficulties, however, have been the primary focus of concern. In this paper the critique of computerized evaluation is expanded, with attention directed to the computer "micro-world." Because the computer micro-world consists of several unwarranted assumptions about the nature of social reality, clinical practice may be affected in many undesireable ways. The theoretical underside of computer use is illustrated to …

A Controlled Evaluation Of Devotional Meditation And Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Charles R. Carlson, Panayiota E. Bacaseta, Dexter A. Simanton

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of devotional meditation (DM), defined as a period of prayer and quiet reading and pondering of biblical material, on physiological and psychological variables related to stress. It was hypothesized that religious persons engaging in DM experience physiological and psychological changes similar to those reported for persons using progressive relaxation (PR) exercises. Thirty-six participants, equally divided by sex into 3 groups: DM, PR, and a Wait List Control, underwent extensive psychophysiological assessment prior to and following a systematic introductio to either DM or PR. The hypothesis that DM could generate positive physiological …

The Relationship Of The Perception Of Choice And Positive Behavior Change In Adolescent Residential Treatment With Future Success In The Community, Rita Harding Mcclellan

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of clients' perception of choice in treatment planning and the clients' positive behavior changes made within the treatment setting, with the clients' successful return to the community after release from the residential treatment setting.

U.S. Women And Hiv Infection, P. Clay Stephens

New England Journal of Public Policy

Women are inadequately provided with HIV services and education and are differentially denied access to these. Divisions of race, ethnicity, economic class, and religion, among others, are compounded by sexual discrimination within each of these categories.

Review of current data on women with AIDS reveals that the reporting methods used convey a false impression that women are not at significant risk. Moreover, the persons indirectly affected by AIDS are predominantly women — mothers, sisters, partners, family members, teachers, and human service workers. Thus, AIDS is more of a women's issue than the statistics imply.

Women, as a gender-defined class, face …

Human Immunodeficiency Virus In Intravenous Drug Users: Epidemiology, Issues, And Controversies, Donald E. Craven

New England Journal of Public Policy

Intravenous drug users are the second most common risk group for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States, and they account for approximately 25 percent of the cases. Drug users may spread human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by sharing contaminated drug injection paraphernalia and through sexual contact; women who use drugs can transmit the virus to their children. The rapid spread of HIV in this risk group and the fact that intravenous drug users are a source for heterosexual and perinatal transmission underscore the need for immediate intervention. In addition, many drug addicts are poor, have limited career possibilities, and …

Development And Evaluation Of An Infant-Care Training Program With First-Time Fathers, Ronald S. Dachman

Dissertations

We evaluated the effectiveness of a multicomponent package in training infant-care skills to first-time fathers. After developing and socially validating a set of infant-care skills, we assessed the effects of training in a hospital-based program with expectant fathers (Experiment 1) and in a home-based program with fathers having varied degrees of experience with their infants (Experiment 2). In both experiments, a multiple probe design demonstrated that the training package was responsible for producing criterion performance by the expectant and first-time fathers. A one-month generalization probe in Experiment 1 showed that the effects transferred across training conditions (training doll to human …

Reconsidering Drug Involvement Among Youth And Young Adults: Implications For Targeted Primary Prevention, Mark W. Fraser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this; paper is to review two dominant social perspectives on the etiology of substance abuse among youths and young adults-the stage and risk factor outlooks-and to discuss them in light of recent demographic and ecological research. The differential demography of drug abuse strongly suggests that the environmental context influences the use and abuse of substances. In an era of great public concern about substance abuse, the use of individually-focused perspectives appears to have resulted in person-centered skills training programs and "say no" media campaigns. Consideration of community-level factors in the etiology of drug abuse permits the identification …

Historical Perspectives On The Care And Treatment Of The Mentally Ill, Albert R. Roberts, Linda Farms Kurtz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An examination of the history of mental illness and its treatment over the centuries reveals that the mentally ill have few advocates except each other and that their treatment has consisted of confinement and neglect. Reformers have pioneered for change, experienced brief success, but ultimately conditions for the mentally ill regress. Society continues to abhor mental illness as though its collective consciousness still believes in possession by evil spirits. Discussion of the early history moves from banishment to ships of fools, to European asylums, and to institutions run by the states in America. More recent history focuses on the National …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of An Infant-Care Skills Training Program On Fathering Behaviors, G. Joseph Vrazo

Masters Theses

This study replicated the findings and expanded the assessment procedures of a previous study that had established the effectiveness of a multi-component infant-care skills training program for first-time fathers. A multiple probe design was used in this study to demonstrate that the training program produced criterion performance of the infant-care skills by four experimental fathers; also, an increase in the frequency of infant stimulation activities initiated by these fathers was observed. A pre/post training evaluation of the effects of the training program on the fathers' performance of play and affectional behaviors and daily infant-care activities yielded negative results. Four control …

Community-Based Self-Help Groups For The Treatment Of Agoraphobia, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The design and conduct of community-based self-help groups for the treatment of agoraphobia are discussed. Such groups incorporate procedures encouraging members to engage in prolonged therapeutic exposure to anxiety-evoking situations. Exposure therapy and its variants have been empirically established as the treatment of choice for agoraphobia, and self-help groups lend themselves extremely well to community mental health outreach and service efforts.

The Efficacy Of Biofeedback In The Treatment Of Tension Headaches, Micahel Earl Waters

Graduate Theses

Fifteen adults from the general population with chronic tension headaches were divided into four groups. Four were assigned to relaxation instructions, biofeedback (EMG and temperature), and home relaxation practice; four were assigned to relaxation instructions and biofeedback; four were assigned to biofeedback alone; and three were assigned to a no-treatment group. Subjects completed a ten-day baseline period followed by a three-week treatment period. Measures were taken of headache frequency, duration, intensity, frontalis EMG, and temperature recordings. Comparisons of pre- and post-treatment data indicated that not one treatment group was significantly different from any other treatment group, including the no-treatment group, …

Depression In Caregivers Of Alzheimer’S Patients: Concurrent Validity Of Two Depression Scales, Joyce Sutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Forty-five male and female family caregivers of institutionalized and noninstitutionalized Alzheimer’s Disease patients were assessed for depression, using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Internal consistency and concurrent validity for the BDI and GDS were acceptable, based on item-total correlation, coefficient alphas, and a Pearson’s Product-moment correlation. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was carried out to determine which variables predict depression in Alzheimer’s caregivers. Using the traditional cut-off score of 11 for each scale, it was found that 42% were depressed on the BDI, while 58% were depressed on the GDS; these rates were not significantly …

Depression In College Students: Construct Validity Of The Student Experience Inventory, Angela Kramp

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research suggests that the population of undergraduate college students may be especially prone to depression. While the prevalence of depression within the general population ranges from 3 to 9 percent (Boyd & Weissman, 1981), it has been shown that between 15 and 46 percent of undergraduate college students suffer the symptoms of mild to severe depression (Beck & Young, 1978; Oliver & Burkham, 1979). Although depression is prevalent among college students, there are no known instruments yielding indices of depression specific to the college population. In fact, depression measures frequently employed in college settings seldom recognize the unique features of …

Stress Of The Caregiver: Effective Management Of Dementia Patients In Hospital And Community Settings, Ruth E. Dunkle, Michael Nevin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study explores the management problems among elders with dementia and their medical and family caregivers. Twenty-five patients were interviewed as well as professional health care personnel and a family member. Findings indicated that professional assessment facilitates home caregiving but has little bearing on successful coping by the caregiver. Variability of coping relates to the strategy employed.