A descriptive qualitative research method was used in this study. In this study, five women were asked to describe their perceptions of how effective the Psychiatric Wellness Clinic interventions were in controlling their depression symptoms. With the decreased availability of state funding, the standard form of treatment was no longer available. This Psychiatric Wellness Clinic concept was developed as a mechanism to provide this patient population with skills that would empower them to take care of themselves and decreased dependency on the system. This researcher wanted to see if the clients felt that the program had make them feel less depressed. If so, it would be inferred that the clients were participating in controlling their own mental health well being. The findings in this study indicate that clients do perceive the Psychiatric Wellness Clinic as effective in decreasing depression symptoms.

Approximately 1.1 million adolescent women become pregnant every year, and nearly 40% choose to terminate their pregnancies. This study explored pregnancy termination decisions of sixteen adolescent females in the southwestern United States. A demographic and decision making survey, Smilkstein's, et al. (1981) Family and Friends' Apgars and a sexual knowledge inventory were used to measure factors relevant to abortion decisions in this age group. Some expected results of the study included a lack of sexual knowledge and a greater degree of satisfaction with friends than with family. Participants reported overall but conflicted satisfaction with their abortion decisions. The small sample size and the fact that the majority of the participants were interviewed immediately after their abortions limits the findings. Recommendation is made for nurses to take a more active role in pregnancy prevention, protection of legal rights, and counseling activities to respond to this health problem.

<p> According to the Centers for Disease Control (2013), every year an estimated 13 to 20% of children in the United States suffer from mental health disorders. School mental health services developed to address the learning barriers experienced by these children achieve variable rates of success (Adelman &amp; Taylor, 2011; Center for School Mental Health, 2011). Reasons for this variability include lack of integration of these initiatives into comprehensive school reform efforts (Adelman &amp; Taylor, 2011), lack of inclusion of school mental health staff in the school improvement planning process (Nastasi, Varjas &amp; Moore, 2004), and lack of consideration of the local school context in their selection and implementation (Ringeisen, Hendersen &amp; Hoagwood, 2003). A group of 15 school teachers and mental health staff of a small Texas school district conducted this action research study about the status of its school mental health services. Individual interviews of the participants served as the initial basis for group meetings during which participants identified weaknesses in their mental health services, prioritized issues to be addressed, and developed an action plan to be presented to school administrators, and the Board of Education. Consistent with the findings of other research studies on school mental health (Center for School Mental Health, 2011), the three main areas of concern identified by the group included poor role clarification among school personnel responsible for mental health functions, lack of teacher training about mental health disorders and related classroom management strategies, and unclear policies and procedures. The process and outcome of the study support the use of participant action research as a method to aid in the development of locally relevant school mental health programs.</p>

Rationale. Potent serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors are the only drugs that consistently exert a therapeutic action in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Given that some hallucinogens were reported to exert a persistent anti OCD effect outlasting their psychotomimetic action, possible modifications of neuronal responsiveness to 5-HT by LSD were examined in two rat brain structures: one associated with OCD, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and another linked to depression, the hippocampus. Methods . The effects of concurrent microiontophoretic application of LSD and 5-HT were examined on neuronal firing rate in the rat OFC and hippocampus under chloral hydrate anesthesia. In order to determine whether LSD could also exert any modification of 5-HT neuronal responsiveness upon systemic administration, after a delay when hallucinosis is presumably no longer present, it was given once daily (100 mug/kg, i.p.) for four days and the experiments were carried out 24 hours after the last dose. Results. LSD attenuated the firing activity of OFC neurons, but enhanced the inhibitory effect of 5-HT when concomitantly ejected on the same neurons. In the hippocampus, LSD also decreased firing rate by itself but decreased the inhibitory action of 5-HT. The inhibitory action of 5-HT was significantly greater in the OFC, but smaller in the hippocampus, when examined after subacute systemic administration of LSD. Conclusions. It is postulated that some hallucinogens could have a beneficial action in OCD by enhancing 5-HT receptor responsiveness in the OFC, and not necessarily in direct relation to hallucinosis. The latter observation may have theoretical implications for the pharmacotherapy of OCD.

Objective. The diagnostic interview for borderline personality disorder (DIB) requires a long duration of administration (45 minutes). This led to the development of a briefer (10 minutes), and therefore more feasible, version of the DIB named the DIB-Ab. It is the aim of this study to test the validity and reliability of the DIB-Ab. Method. Forty-seven previously suicidal adolescents, aged 14--21 years, participated in this study. The DIB-Ab and DIB-R were administered during a battery of tests separated by 130 minutes of unrelated measures. Results. The Pearson correlation coefficient of the DIB-Ab with respect to the DIB-R ranged from .52--.80 with respect to the total scores on three sections (i.e. affect, cognition, and impulse/action). The correlation coefficient of the DIB-Ab ranged from .43--.91 for the total section scores and the same section scores. The standardized alpha for internal consistency of the DIB-Ab ranged from .54--.83 for the total scores and for cognition and impulse/action section scores. Conclusion. The preliminary data analysis revealed that the DIB-Ab is a valid and reliable instrument, and it could replace the parent version in certain research and clinical paradigms.

This study explored the utilization and evaluation of formal support services among caregivers of the elderly who suffer from dementia. Data for the analyses were obtained from the Canadian Study on Health and Aging, funded by Health and Welfare Canada (1991-92). The sample consisted of 327 informal caregivers of non-institutionalized elderly with dementia. / Results indicated that formal support service users cared for demented elderly who had greater ADL/IADL functional limitations, reported more burden, tended to be husbands, tended not to live with the care recipient, reported less informal support, and tended to live in the Prairie region. They also tended to perceive their health to be better than a year ago. Service users' reports indicated that utilization of in-home services was considerably greater than that of out-of-home services. Out-of-home respite and caregiver support groups had the largest number of barriers to use. The most common barriers identified for all services included cost and perceived lack of effectiveness.

<p> This qualitative case study investigated the impact of sand tray on individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer&rsquo;s and other forms of dementia. Four participants successfully completed the creation of sand trays while the researcher observed, interviewed, and documented the individual sand trays. The intervention established that sand tray allows the dementia patient to kinesthetically connect to their inner cognitions through the intentional symbolic expression offered by this unique therapeutic medium. Using a series of eight sand trays of varying thematic concepts, the participants were offered a modality to facilitate a synthesization of their continued individuation, presenting a possible neural pathway to connect and express thoughts, feelings, emotions, concerns, challenges, and fears. The findings of this study include the fact that all trays were classified as &ldquo;empty&rdquo; and that the majority of the participants placed objects almost exclusively on the right side of the tray, which is commonly associated with the concrete or conscious side. The use of sand tray allowed each individual the opportunity to create autobiographies in the sand and literally navigate through time &ndash; past, present, and future, confronting fears, expressing hope and possibilities. The results of the research study offer insight into the psychotherapeutic effects of using sand tray with dementia patients, as well as a better understanding of the cognitive and expressive abilities and limitations of an individual with impaired memory. The results also offer insight into the difficulties with short-term memory in this population and possibly indicate a potential means for monitoring cognitive decline.</p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Neurocognitive disorder, Alzheimer&rsquo;s, dementia, sand tray, play therapy.</p>

<p> A Specialized or Super Intensive-1 (SI-1) supervision level refers to a contact requirement imposed on special needs offenders (SNOs) under Texas parole supervision. SI-1 supervision requires greater contact with parole officers and treatment providers than supervision levels used on regular offenders (ROs), yet little is known about whether SI-1 supervision offenders violate terms of their parole or commit new crimes at a different rate compared to the regular offender population in the State of Texas. Reconstruction theory and the social construction of reality were used as theoretical underpinnings of this study, which examined whether differences in offenders' supervision levels created statistically significant differences in technical or new law violations in Texas parole hearings. A random sample of 200 SNOs and ROs data were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA. Results indicated a positive and statistically significant difference between level of supervision and technical violations, with SI-1 offenders committing a greater number of violations of non-criminal terms of parole, but with SI-1 offenders being less likely than the regular offender population to commit new crimes. These findings challenge the social construction that SI-1 offenders introduce a higher element of risk to the community regarding new criminal activity. The positive social change implications of the study include policy recommendations to the Texas legislature and Texas Department of Criminal Justice to refocus resources on improving outcomes related to technical parole violations, including a reduction in SNOs' contact standards, which in turn, promote fiscal responsibility and improvements in public safety for the people of the state of Texas.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of group supervision on counseling self-efficacy of master's-level counseling internship students. Larson's (1998a) Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (SCMCT) was used as the theoretical framework for the study. SCMCT addresses how counseling knowledge is transitioned to counseling action. The study was a quantitative, causal-comparative research design. The participants were 135 master's-level counseling internship students from a CACREP-accredited, private college in the southeast United States. Data was collected through the administration of online surveys: Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE; Larson et al., 1992), Group Supervision Impact Scale (GSIS; Getzelman, 2003), Supervisory Styles Inventory (SSI; Friedlander &amp; Ward, 1984), and a demographics survey. Group supervisor impact (r = .227, p = .008), peer supervisee impact (r = .240, p = .004), and group supervision environment impact (r = .358, p &lt; .001) were significantly correlated with counseling efficacy. Group supervision environment impact was the best predictor variable of counseling self-efficacy, b = .773, t(127) = 3.210, p = .002. There was no significant difference in counseling self-efficacy between participants with master's-level group supervisors and participants with doctorate-level group supervisors, t(133) = .586, p = .559. There was no significant difference in counseling self-efficacy between participants who had a group supervisor licensed in professional counseling and participants who had a group supervisor licensed in a different field, t(133) = .125, p = .901.</p>

This thesis examines the concept of identity for new migrants in the context of a transcultural child psychiatry clinic. In particular, it analyses the evolution of feelings of otherness and power relations in the clinical request and the therapeutic process. It uses a multiple case study design to analyze six cases in depth and confront the perspectives of the involved actors (child, parents, therapists) at the time of the first encounter in the clinic and six months later. Results show strengths in families in spite of adversity, independence in the perspectives of the different actors, and the centrality of the migration experience. They also show a complexification of representations through time. The clinical space seems to play a mediator role and to be a useful starting point in the reconstruction of community links and in the negotiation of relations with the host society.