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Childhood obesity is at crisis levels in the United States. Risk factors for obesity can begin as early as infancy. Approximately 12 million children up to five years of age spend about 22.5 hours per week in child care centers where they receive a significant portion of their daily nutrition. Child care center personnel may not know how to select nutritious meal and snack choices. A health sciences librarian, a child care center director, and a dietitian designed an outreach program on nutrition that helped child care center teachers gain increased nutrition literacy. The teachers indicated that they gained increased personal understanding of formerly confusing nutrition issues (e.g., how to read a nutrition label and what defines a whole grain). Teachers were also able to identify aspects of web sites linked from MedlinePlus that indicated the sites served as reliable sources of health information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reviews the use of debriefing and support groups for children who experienced the deaths of family members in the traumatic events of September 11, 2001. An overview of children's normal age--related responses to bereavement and of the special circumstances of trauma and grief provides the foundation for understanding the unique family and community stressors of 9/11 that impacted the children and group leaders. Stress--reduction exercises suitable for use with traumatized children in bereavement groups are presented together with specific drawing and written activities to encourage the processing of feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of expressive therapies permit bereaved children to express and process their feelings through a variety of child‐friendly non‐verbal methods such as art, creative writing, and music. The selection of a particular method depends on considerations related to the particular needs of each child, the circumstances of the death, and the family/community narrative about it. This article demonstrates how expressive therapies may be used in individual, family, or group sessions which, through play and other modes of expression, provide children with an opportunity to communicate feelings about and reactions to their bereavement experiences in symbolic form. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Time limits, task assignments and mutual aid underpinnings form the basis for this six-session model of group work, specifically adapted to meet the needs of parents-to-be. Grounded philosophically in the developmental life model of social work practice, this time-limited mutual aid group approach incorporates elements from Schwartz' reciprocal (mutual aid) model, crisis, and task-centered approaches. The article stresses the preventive implications of group support and psychological preparation for couples in the critical period of their transition to first-time parenthood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Because of the potential risk associated with unrecognized or misunderstood countertransference in therapeutic work with children, the supervisor of the child's therapist must routinely help the therapist anticipate, identify, understand, and monitor his or her inevitable countertransference reactions. Two aids have been developed to assist the therapist and supervisor in analyzing probable an the actual countertransference responses based on the therapist's family of origin and other self-descriptive characteristics. A case example illustrates the successful identification of unrecognized and potentially detrimental countertransference. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fostering competence in clinical practitioners is a goal easier stated than accomplished. This article translates selected concepts from ego psychology and communications theory into specific guidelines for developing competent clinical practitioners. The "life model" approach to supervision presented here emphasizes building from the strenghts of the supervisee and promoting growth in a nuturing, supportive supervisory environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]