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This study examines child welfare case managers' perceptions of parental substance use disorders (SUDs) on child safety and describes their experiences conducting newborn crisis assessments. Qualitative focus groups with case [...]

The last several years have been difficult for many of us. The far-reaching physical, emotional and financial effects of the pandemic--combined with other societal risk factors like isolation, loneliness and [...]

Designing an effective, safe and aesthetically pleasing behavioral healthcare facility can be a delicate balancing act. While safety measures are imperative for eliminating risk among patients, moving away from the [...]

Primary care settings are particularly prone to complex relationships that can be ethically challenging. This is due in part to three of the distinctive attributes of primary care: a whole [...]

Byline: Yong-Beom Cho (1,2), Nick Haslam (3) Keywords: Acculturation; Adolescence; Immigrants; Korea; Parents; Social support; Suicidality Abstract: Acculturative stress and social support play important roles in suicide-related phenomena among adolescent immigrants. To examine their contributions, measures of acculturative and general life stress and a measure of multiple sources of social support were used to predict psychological distress and suicidal ideation among Korean-born high school students residing in the US. Korean students who were sojourning without both parents were compared to Korean students who immigrated with both parents, Korean students who remained in Korea, and American high school students in the US (total N = 227 56.8% female). The sojourning group reported higher levels of life stress, distress, psychological symptoms, and suicidal ideation than the other groups. Within the two acculturating groups, levels of distress, symptoms, and suicidal ideation were associated with life stress, lack of parental support, and not living with both parents. The findings have important implications for suicide prevention among immigrant adolescents, and imply that parental support is particularly protective. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Psychology, New School University, New York, USA (2) Dialectical Behavior Therapy Center of Korea, Seoul, South Korea (3) Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia Article History: Registration Date: 06/05/2009 Received Date: 25/03/2009 Accepted Date: 06/05/2009 Online Date: 23/05/2009

As accountable care takes hold, behavioral health organizations can expect to take a more prominent--and trusted--role in health system integration. In doing so, providers and their patients are likely to [...]

This study sought to identify the future directions in three domains: clinical practice, research, and training of clinical child and adolescent psychologists in the upcoming decade. Doctoral-level active members in the field were surveyed via a two-round Delphi survey (45 in round 1; 35 in round 2). Evidence-based practice received the greatest consensus by the participants and highest rank in each of the three domains. Other highly ranked clinical practice directions included prevention and early diagnosis and treatment, and clinical services for specific psychological problems. Research directions focused on biological and social factors interactions in the etiology and treatment and specific child and adolescent disorders. In the training domain, major directions included the pursuit of specialty training in child and adolescent psychology and training emphasizing the biological basis of behavior. Implications of these future directions are discussed. Keywords: Delphi survey; clinical child psychology; clinical practice; research; training

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.025 Byline: Jane Dixon, Cathy Banwell Abstract: Recent social network analyses have suggested that common chronic disease risk factors are more mutable than expected; raising practical considerations for public health interventions. Within this context, it is timely to assess the alternative social science reasoning being offered to explain behavioural health risk transitions. This paper takes up this challenge by critically reviewing the major theories applied to the temporal trends and sub-population variations in affluent country smoking behaviour. Three explanations dominate: a materialist approach; Bourdieu's distinctive class-based cultures; and, the spread of norms and emotions within social networks. We note conceptual tension when integrated theories are adopted. We also report on the relative absence of theoretical interrogation for the persistent adoption of smoking behaviours among present and successive lower socio-economic status (SES) cohorts. While unequal rates of persistence within cohorts has received some attention, the ongoing adoption of a non-innovative and health damaging behaviour is not well understood. To this end, we suggest the incorporation of several underused concepts: namely Bourdieu's 'rules of the game' and 'symbolic violence' and 'mimesis', an aspect of social contagion. We conclude by describing the implications for social action of the alternative theories, and argue that theory driven research designs could deliver more efficacious evidence for interventions than the post hoc application of theories to existing data sets. Author Affiliation: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Building 62, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2008.06.004 Byline: Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti (a), Michael Fendrich (b), Timothy P. Johnson (c) Keywords: MSM; Drug dependence; Alcohol dependence; Substance treatment; HIV Abstract: This study compares a sample of urban men who have sex with men (MSM) with a general population sample of men in the same city on self-reported problems with substance use indicative of dependence and history of substance use treatment. Both samples were randomly selected using multistage probability methods. All participants completed audio computer-assisted self-interviews, including questions on substance use, problems related to substance use experienced in the past 12 months, and substance treatment. Problem use of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine did not differ between samples. Compared to men in the general population sample, MSM were significantly more likely to experience problems related to the use of sedatives, tranquilizers, or prescription pain relievers. Among MSM, history of substance treatment was associated with a positive HIV test, and treatment usually preceded HIV diagnosis. Research is needed on effective methods for integrating HIV prevention for MSM into substance treatment settings, including physician-administered buprenorphine treatment for opiate addiction. Author Affiliation: (a) Community Outreach Intervention Projects, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA (b) Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA (c) Survey Research Laboratory, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA Article History: Received 29 February 2008; Revised 2 June 2008; Accepted 22 June 2008

This article discusses the unique behavioral health issues facing Puerto Rican-descended adolescents in the mainland United States, and their particular challenges in accessing behavioral health services. Utilizing interview data with in-treatment and not-in-treatment youth, and with behavioral health providers who work with this population, this paper elucidates the range and scope of behavioral health needs for youth of Puerto Rican descent, and documents the social, cultural, and economic barriers faced by Puerto Rican youth and their families in accessing culturally and linguistically appropriate treatment. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for addressing the behavioral health disparities and barriers to treatment that this population faces. Key words: Puerto Ricans, adolescents, behavioral health access, disparities, migration

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2006.06.002 Byline: Brenda D. Smith, Cristina Mogro-Wilson Keywords: Collaboration; Child welfare; Substance abuse treatment; Organizations; Multi-level models Abstract: Inter-agency collaboration in child welfare and substance abuse treatment is encouraged and sometimes required, but rarely adequately achieved. This study addresses inter-agency collaboration as a practice of frontline staff and seeks to illuminate organizational conditions and staff characteristics that can promote or hinder collaborative practice in everyday settings. Frontline staff (n =216) and administrators (n =20) in child welfare and substance abuse treatment agencies were surveyed about specific collaborative practices and potential individual and organization-level influences on practice, including beliefs, perceptions, knowledge and organizational policy. Multi-level models suggest that most variation in collaboration is within rather than between organizations, that staff member beliefs, knowledge, and perceptions of policy are associated with collaboration, and that collective perceptions develop within organizations. The findings have implications for efforts to promote inter-agency collaboration and other innovative practices. Author Affiliation: School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA Article History: Received 10 April 2006; Revised 3 June 2006; Accepted 17 June 2006

This study examined the status of children and the types of support available from children as reported by women in substance abuse treatment. Findings indicate that children are viewed as sources of social support to women on treatment. Children were viewed as providing as much sobriety support to respondents as that provided by adult network members. In addition, both children living with the respondent and children in the care of others were viewed as providers of specific types of social support. Implications are drawn for practice and research. Keywords: Maternal substance abuse; Social networks; Children with substance-abusing parents; Social support

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2005.04.003 Byline: Patricia A. Engler (a), Janis H. Crowther (b), Ginnie Dalton (b), Jennifer L. Sanftner (c) Abstract: The purpose of this research was to examine and extend portions of the sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa (Stice, E. (1994). Review of the evidence for a sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa and an exploration of the mechanisms of action. Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 633-661; Stice, E., & Agras, W. S. (1998). Predicting onset and cessation of bulimic behaviors during adolescence: A longitudinal grouping analysis. Behavior Therapy, 29, 257-276). Participants were women who reported engaging in binge eating at baseline and the 1-year follow-up (n = 26), women who began binge eating between these 2 points (n = 25), and women who did not report binge eating during the course of the study (n = 199). Results of the first discriminant function analysis provided support for the sociocultural model. However, the results of subsequent analyses suggest that additional variables, including stress, escape-avoidance coping, and interoceptive awareness, emerged as important. Implications of these findings for our understanding of the development and maintenance of binge eating are discussed. Author Affiliation: (a) Brown University, USA (b) Kent State University, USA (c) Slippery Rock University, USA Article History: Received 18 March 2004; Accepted 25 April 2005

The broad array of economic and cultural diversity in the U.S. population correlates with and impacts on the study of behavioral aspects of health. The purpose of this article was to provide a selective overview of behavioral medicine research on sociodemographically diverse populations, with a focus on ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Suggestions are provided with regard to methodological refinement of research and insights into possible future directions in behavioral medicine research on ethnically and economically diverse populations.

In 1996, the Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine developed standards for cost-effectiveness analysis. The standards include the use of a societal perspective, that treatments be evaluated in comparison with the best available alternative (rather than with no care at all), and that health benefits be expressed in standardized units. Guidelines for cost accounting were also offered. Among 24,562 references on cost-effectiveness in Medline between 1995 and 2000, only a handful were relevant to behavioral medicine. Only 19 studies published between 1983 and 2000 met criteria for further evaluation. Among analyses that were reported, only 2 studies were found consistent with the Panel's criteria for high-quality analyses, although more recent studies were more likely to meet methodological standards. There are substantial opportunities to advance behavioral medicine by performing standardized cost-effectiveness analyses.