This study explored the effectiveness of Handle With Care, a mental health promotion training program for child care practitioners working with children between birth to age 6. Handle With Care program content is based on research evidence. Training units are intended to deepen practitioners’ understanding of how children’s social-emotional development, centre and family connections and positive workplace activities link to children’s well-being and practitioners’ roles in these areas. Fifty-seven front-line practitioners from three different regional groups (Rural, Suburban, Urban) completed Handle With Care workshops and were compared to 56 comparison participants, matched according to region, who were not exposed to training. The evaluation utilized a time series repeated measures design and consisted of mixed quantitative and qualitative measures to determine training outcomes related to practitioner’s mental health promotion knowledge and practices. Findings indicated that child care practitioners who participated in Handle With Care training demonstrated increased mental health promotion knowledge. In particular, they acquired better comprehension of issues concerning practitioner and child attachment relationships, children’s self-esteem, emotion expression and regulation and peer relationships. Training participants significantly differed from comparison participants in their knowledge of these topics. In terms of practices, training participants also evidenced significantly improved practices relative to comparison participants. These gains were especially observed in relation to practitioners building trusting relationships with children, fostering children’s sense of self and competence, positive peer interactions and practitioners promoting their own mental health. In contrast, Handle With Care training did not show the intended consistent outcomes with respect to practitioners helping children with emotional communication, dealing with diversity, changes and transitions and practitioners building relationships with children’s parents. Results tended to be discrepant across regional groups, and in some instances, gains in mental health promotion and knowledge were not sustained over time. Overall, the study suggests that Handle With Care is a useful way to augment child care practitioners’ capacity to consider the mental health of all children in their care and flexibly implement strategies to help children reach their optimal potential. The study also provides important information concerning regional differences and areas of training content that may benefit from revision.

This study explored the effectiveness of Handle With Care, a mental health promotion training program for child care practitioners working with children between birth to age 6. Handle With Care program content is based on research evidence. Training units are intended to deepen practitioners’ understanding of how children’s social-emotional development, centre and family connections and positive workplace activities link to children’s well-being and practitioners’ roles in these areas. Fifty-seven front-line practitioners from three different regional groups (Rural, Suburban, Urban) completed Handle With Care workshops and were compared to 56 comparison participants, matched according to region, who were not exposed to training. The evaluation utilized a time series repeated measures design and consisted of mixed quantitative and qualitative measures to determine training outcomes related to practitioner’s mental health promotion knowledge and practices. Findings indicated that child care practitioners who participated in Handle With Care training demonstrated increased mental health promotion knowledge. In particular, they acquired better comprehension of issues concerning practitioner and child attachment relationships, children’s self-esteem, emotion expression and regulation and peer relationships. Training participants significantly differed from comparison participants in their knowledge of these topics. In terms of practices, training participants also evidenced significantly improved practices relative to comparison participants. These gains were especially observed in relation to practitioners building trusting relationships with children, fostering children’s sense of self and competence, positive peer interactions and practitioners promoting their own mental health. In contrast, Handle With Care training did not show the intended consistent outcomes with respect to practitioners helping children with emotional communication, dealing with diversity, changes and transitions and practitioners building relationships with children’s parents. Results tended to be discrepant across regional groups, and in some instances, gains in mental health promotion and knowledge were not sustained over time. Overall, the study suggests that Handle With Care is a useful way to augment child care practitioners’ capacity to consider the mental health of all children in their care and flexibly implement strategies to help children reach their optimal potential. The study also provides important information concerning regional differences and areas of training content that may benefit from revision.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of spiritual experiences, spiritually maturity, and the interaction of spiritual experience and maturity above the additive effects of separate effects, on the engagement in health-promoting behaviors (personal development, sense of purpose, self-awareness and satisfaction; health responsibility; participation in regular exercise and meal patterns; close relationships; and stress management). This study was important because there is a deficit in the literature investigating the effects of spiritual experience and maturity on wellness behaviors.The study's sample consisted of 241 volunteers from various religious and nonreligious groups in a medium sized Midwestern town. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile, Index of Core Spiritual Experiences, the Spiritual Maturity subscale of the Spiritual Experience Index- Revised, and a demographic questionnaire. The combination of spiritual experience and spiritual maturity, with demographic variables held constant, was significant and accounted for 22% of the variance in health-promoting behaviors. Results showed that spiritual experience is a significant predictor of health-promoting behaviors. Spiritual maturity and the interaction between spiritual experience and spiritual maturity were not significantly related to health-promoting behaviors. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Among several difficulties associated with immigration, acculturation process has been recognized as one of the main stressors and one of the major risk factors associated in the incidence of mental disorders. The strategies adopted by individuals to deal with the acculturation process appear to be predictive of different mental health outcomes. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between acculturation strategies and the occurrence of symptoms of depression in the context of the Brazilian immigrant community living in the Greater Toronto Area. The results demonstrated that Separation and Assimilation were the predominant strategies for this sample and that acculturation strategies failed to serve as significant predictors of depression scores. However, participants with Separation as their predominant acculturation strategy exhibited higher depressive symptom endorsement. The significance of these findings in the context of previous research as well as its implications for future research and critical multicultural practice in mental health are discussed.

Thesis (PhD) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2005. / Also held in print (240 leaves ; 30 cm.) in City Campus Theses Collection. (T 362.208999442 MCN)

Mental illness among college students is a significant public health concern. Among mental health issues, one of the most prevalent and impairing is depression. Although many students experience depression, the majority do not seek help. Past research has shown that stigma beliefs are associated with help-seeking, but interventions targeting stigma have been unsuccessful at increasing help-seeking prompting the need to explore alternative models. Currently, there has been little research evaluating the role of threat-based beliefs related to help-seeking processes. As well, it remains unclear how different threat-based beliefs may interact and be related to help-seeking intentions. The purpose of these studies was to develop new measures that assess threat-based beliefs based on facilitating threats, as defined by perceived severity, mortality, loss of functioning, and loss of control threats and obstructing threats, as defined by general stigma, interpersonal rejection, and workplace rejection beliefs. As well, it was hypothesized that facilitating threats would be positively associated with help-seeking intentions and that this relationship would be moderated by obstructing threats such that higher levels of obstructing threats would attenuate the relationship between facilitating threats and help-seeking. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The measurement development phase (N = 240) supported the proposed factor structure with the exclusion of the stigma and severity threat measures. When testing the moderation hypothesis (N = 212), results did not support the hypothesized relationships between facilitating threats, obstructing threats, and help-seeking intentions. The implications of these results for future research, theory, and prevention program directions are discussed.

Background: Project-based organizations have become increasingly important in theory and practice. In these kinds of organizations core activities are performed by means of projects which offer advantages such as adaptability and flexibility. Yet, the project-based work context also bears risks for the mental health of the employees involved. Purpose: The research objective of this study is to enhance our holistic understanding of mental health promotion in project-based organizations from the perspective of individual project workers. The focus is on challenges that project workers face in their project-based work regarding mental health, how they cope with these challenges, and which organizational support mechanisms help them to cope with the challenges they face. Methodology: We chose a qualitative research approach with semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Ten project workers from different industries were interviewed. They worked in PBOs in Germany and Sweden. In addition, we talked to four mental health experts and participated in a workshop and three webinars on mental health at work. Findings: High and complex workload, difficulties in achieving work-life balance, and uncertainty regarding new projects were highlighted as main stressors. The project workers use individual coping strategies to deal with these challenges and they find themselves to be responsible for their mental health. Still, social and structural support mechanisms werefound to be crucial, since they serve as necessary preconditions to effectively make use of individual coping strategies.

The purpose of this sequential exploratory mixed methods study was to develop and test a theory of planned behavior questionnaire that includes both direct and belief-based measures for seeking professional help from a MFT for participants and their spouses during times of relationship distress. To complete this goal, three focus groups (N = 24) were conducted to elicit the salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs associated with seeking professional help from a MFT for participants and their spouses during times of relationship distress. The data was member checked and then analyzed using thematic analysis. Next, two quantitative measures were constructed, one using the salient beliefs elicited during the focus groups and the second using general questions that assessed participants' overall attitude, perceived norm, and perceived behavioral control. Both measures were placed online pilot tested (N = 102) using Qualtrics panels. The results suggest that the measures were accurate predictors of behavioral intention. The main stage then used both measures to assess the predictive ability of the elicited beliefs. The results also suggest that the beliefs accurately predicted participants' behavioral intentions for seeking professional help from a MFT for them and their spouses during times of relationship distress. The results also indicate that an intervention could be used to encourage troubled individuals, couples, and families to seek professional help from a MFT when experiencing relational issues. / Ph. D.

Esta pesquisa visou investigar as representações sociais de transtornos mentais e conflitos psicossociais, que constituem-se enquanto determinantes simbólicos de condutas de promoção ou não de saúde mental em núcleos do Programa de Saúde da Família. A investigação esteve referenciada no método de análise das representações sociais, proposto por Moscovici (1978), que se baseia na análise das práticas discursivas dos profissionais envolvidos na dinâmica institucional dos núcleos do PSF. Enquanto procedimento foi realizado 7 entrevistas individuais em profundidade, com a equipe de um núcleo do PSF em Ribeirão Preto. Com intuito de conhecer as formas pelas quais a doença mental é simbolizada no PSF, neste sentido, percebeu-se que existem relevantes dificuldades e necessidades da equipe em seus vários segmentos profissionais, as quais influenciam no tratamento das famílias e nas estratégias de promoção de saúde mental. / The aim of this survey was investigate the social representation of mental disorders and psychosocial disturbs. The social representation is a health mental promotion symbolic determinant in Family Health Program Centers (PSF). The investigation was based on social representation analysis method proposed by Moscovici (1978). The method is due to the professional discursive practice analyses involved on institutional PSF Centers. Seven individual interviews were made by PSF Centers group on Ribeirão Preto. The objectives was knowing the ways witch the mental disease are symbolized at PSF. We realized that the several professional segment groups had important difficulties and needing witch influences on family treatments and health mental promotion strategies.

Esta pesquisa visou investigar as representações sociais de transtornos mentais e conflitos psicossociais, que constituem-se enquanto determinantes simbólicos de condutas de promoção ou não de saúde mental em núcleos do Programa de Saúde da Família. A investigação esteve referenciada no método de análise das representações sociais, proposto por Moscovici (1978), que se baseia na análise das práticas discursivas dos profissionais envolvidos na dinâmica institucional dos núcleos do PSF. Enquanto procedimento foi realizado 7 entrevistas individuais em profundidade, com a equipe de um núcleo do PSF em Ribeirão Preto. Com intuito de conhecer as formas pelas quais a doença mental é simbolizada no PSF, neste sentido, percebeu-se que existem relevantes dificuldades e necessidades da equipe em seus vários segmentos profissionais, as quais influenciam no tratamento das famílias e nas estratégias de promoção de saúde mental. / The aim of this survey was investigate the social representation of mental disorders and psychosocial disturbs. The social representation is a health mental promotion symbolic determinant in Family Health Program Centers (PSF). The investigation was based on social representation analysis method proposed by Moscovici (1978). The method is due to the professional discursive practice analyses involved on institutional PSF Centers. Seven individual interviews were made by PSF Centers group on Ribeirão Preto. The objectives was knowing the ways witch the mental disease are symbolized at PSF. We realized that the several professional segment groups had important difficulties and needing witch influences on family treatments and health mental promotion strategies.