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Background: Career options available to psychology graduates are often underestimated despite psychology being a marketable and versatile degree with hundreds of career options. Objective: This article identifies which career options students perceive as available to psychology graduates and assesses student interest in psychology-related careers. Method: In Study 1, 12 focus groups consisting of 59 psychology majors were asked to list the career options available to psychology graduates. In Study 2, 430 psychology students rated their interest in 273 psychology-related careers. Results: Study 1 revealed careers perceived as available to psychology graduates were most often in counseling (92%) and applied-settings (50%) with child-related (42%), business (25%), and research (25%) careers listed less often. Study 2 revealed psychology majors were most interested in counseling and child-related careers, with 18 of their top 20 careers of interest involving mental health or working with children. Conclusion: Students are often unaware of career options in psychology beyond counseling. Consequently, they tend to be most interested in careers related to counseling and children, particularly careers involving the mental healthcare of children. Teaching Implications: Findings may encourage psychology departments to communicate the broad range of psychology career options for the recruitment and advising of psychology majors.

This section shares recent dissertations and theses with the "Journal of International Students" readers. There were about 139 graduate dissertations and theses related to the issues and challenges of international students in 2016. The complete versions of these selected dissertations are available in the ProQuest, Michigan-based electronic publisher. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day. This database has found 17,164 results from 1922-2018 while searching the keywords "international student" in its search engine. Across the 139 dissertations that came out in 2016, the authors found about a dozen themes. The most common theme was acculturation, with 32 dissertations. Other themes in order of the frequency were writing/academic skills (16), retention (13), language (9), counseling (9), global awareness (8), social media technology and online education (6), discrimination (6), identity (7), recruitment (5), teaching assistants (4), community engagement (4), career (4), college choice and mobility trends (4), community college (3), and miscellaneous (9). This article provides a more detailed list of key ideas that were addressed in these various themes.

The increasing emphasis on school-based mental health services is likely to increase the demand for school psychologists to provide counseling with students. Providing counseling in the school context can be challenging, especially given time constraints and limited number of sessions. Solution-focused brief counseling (SFBC) is an approach that warrants consideration for use with children at school. This synthesis provides a brief overview of the extant scholarship regarding SFBC, describes the guidelines for implementing this approach, explores considerations and implications for school psychologists who use this approach to provide counseling services, and recommends future directions for scholarship. Lessons learned through a university and school collaboration to provide student support services are also included. (Contains 3 tables.)

Plunges represent a type of education that is experiential, meaningful, interesting, challenging, confidence-building, growth-inducing and rewarding for most students. They represent a significant means towards students' greater understanding and acceptance of others, as well as of enhancing self-awareness; they thus have great potential as a viable educational approach in a full range of academic, business and government training programs. Given the myriad challenges that confront teacher education in terms of preparing future teachers for the increasingly diverse students they will serve, the cultural plunge provides one means of helping to sensitize student teachers to social and cultural realities, to their own values and biases, and to the students of today's and tomorrow's classrooms. For some years several professors at San Diego State University have been using a cultural immersion activity called a "cultural plunge." They have used this activity in a sociology program, in counselor education, and most recently, as described in this article, in teacher education. The author has been using the cultural plunge in teacher education since 1989, at which time he incorporated it in classes in that department, and several other teacher education faculty now use it as well. While faculty who utilize the cultural plunge tend to do so in a similar manner, there are some differences among the approaches. This article describes the way in which the author approaches this activity. (Contains 1 table.)

The Los Angeles Unified School District is experiencing a new wave of unaccompanied minor immigrants coming to its schools--some with mental health issues related to their past lives and their trek into the U.S. The district has a bevy of programs intended to help those students with their trauma, their home relationships, and their legal status.

Background: Between 9.5% and 31.3% of college students suffer from depression ("American college health association national college health assessment II: reference group executive summary spring 2013." "Amer. Coll. Health Assoc." 2013; Eagan K, Stolzenberg EB, Ramirez JJ, Aragon, MC, Suchard, RS, Hurtado S. "The American freshman: national norms fall 2014." "Higher Educ. Res. Inst."; 2015). Universities need to understand the factors that relate to care-seeking behavior. Objective: Across 3 studies, to relate attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control to intention to seek mental health services, and to investigate barriers to care-seeking. Participants: University college students (N = 845, 64% female, 26% male, and 10% unspecified). Methods: New measures were created in Studies 1 and 2, and were examined using structural equation modeling in Study 3. Results: Partially consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, I, Fishbein, M. "Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1980), a model with an excellent fit revealed that more positive attitudes about care and higher perceived behavioral control directly predicted higher intention to seek mental health services. Conclusions: Educating college students about mental health disorders and treatments, enhancing knowledge about available services, and addressing limited access to long-term care might improve treatment rates for students suffering from depression.

This study explores community college student mental health by comparing the responses of California community college and traditional university students on the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA II). Using MANOVA, we compared community college and traditional university students, examining overall group differences on four multicomponent questions; pairwise comparisons also were used to examine individual survey items. This study found significant differences in reported mental health issues and needs between the students. More specifically, a pattern of difference in psychological concerns, available resources, and resource utilization emerged, with community college students having more severe psychological concerns and less institutional mental health resources than traditional university students. Findings suggest that both community colleges and traditional universities would benefit from increased mental health resources, though community colleges are particularly in need.

The paucity of mental health studies with Orthodox Jews makes culturally competent counseling care unlikely. In this large-scale investigation of marriage among Orthodox Jews, most respondents reported satisfaction with marriage and spouse, although satisfaction was highest among recently married couples. The most significant stressors were finances, communication, physical intimacy/sexuality, time pressures, and in-law conflicts. Counseling interventions are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Background: Evaluations of substance use screening and brief intervention (SBI) curricula typically focus on learner attitudes and knowledge, although effects on clinical skills are of greater interest and utility. Moreover, these curricula often require large amounts of training time and teaching resources. This study examined whether a 3-hour SBI curriculum for internal medicine residents utilizing a team-based learning (TBL) format is effective for SBI skills as measured by a standardized patient (SP) assessment. Methods: A waitlist-controlled design was employed. Results: Twenty-four postgraduate year 2 (PGY-2) and PGY-3 residents participated in a SP assessment prior to the TBL session (waitlist control group) and 32 participated in a SP assessment after the TBL session (intervention group). The intervention residents demonstrated better brief intervention skills than waitlist control residents, but there were no differences between the groups in screening and assessment skills. Residents receiving the TBL curriculum prior to the SP assessment reported increased confidence in all SBI skills. Conclusion: Findings indicate that a brief educational intervention can improve brief intervention skills. However, more intensive education may be needed to improve substance use screening and assessment.

Background: Federal zero-tolerance policies require the exclusion of students exhibiting violent behaviors, with the intent of maintaining a safe school environment for other students to learn. In California, legislation has been passed that provides for the placement of expelled students in community day schools (CDSs). Purpose: This study examines the daily practices of teachers in one CDS in order to begin to build a literature base about these contexts. Drawing from the theory of pastoral care, the study examines the way teachers implement casework, classroom management, and curriculum and instruction. Setting: Data collection for this study occurred at Vista Hermosa Community Day School (VHCDS), which serves at least 100 district students throughout the course of a given school year and represents a typical urban CDS. During the semester that data collection occurred, enrollment ranged from 21 to 52 students. Participants: All the teachers, administrators, counselors, and support staff at Vista Hermosa agreed to participate. In comparison with the district and state, students at Vista Hermosa are disproportionately male and from low-income, ethnic minority backgrounds. Conversely, teachers are disproportionately Caucasian, though also disproportionately male. Research Design and Data Collection: This study used a multiple case study approach by first analyzing individual teachers' practices at one urban CDS and then generalizing across classrooms to draw conclusions. Seventy-five hours of school-based observations, semistructured interviews with 9 teachers, 17 students, 14 counselors and administrators, and relevant documents provided data for analysis. Data Analysis: Codes for this study drew directly from the theoretical framework of pastoral care. Case reports for each teacher provided material for interpretive analyses. The creation of narrative case summaries finalized the data reduction process and then became material for cross-case analyses. Findings: Data show that casework, curriculum, and classroom management mutually reinforce each other in educating persistently disciplined students at this school. This finding is significant because it suggests that teachers' success or failure in CDS contexts depends on their attention to, and successful implementation of, all three areas of practice. Typically, each of these constructs stands alone in discussions regarding teaching and learning. Conclusions: This study suggests that CDS teachers need access to high-quality, relevant professional development tailored to the CDS context. Providing such support as a prevention strategy to teachers in comprehensive schools rather than after students commit disciplinary offenses may successfully preclude their exclusion from comprehensive schools.

This article integrates the guidelines of American Red Cross and the "Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide" (Brymer et al., 2006) with adult development theories to demonstrate the promotion of adaptive functioning in adults after a disaster. Case examples and recommendations for counselors working in disaster situations are included.

This study investigates rates and predictors of school-based services (SBSs) for 390 youth meeting criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and served in the San Diego public sectors. Only 60% of youth had received an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnosis; these youth were younger, male, Caucasian (versus Latino), and active to public mental health and special education (Emotional Disturbance category) at enumeration of study participants. Higher rates of SBSs (64%) were revealed than in community samples. Only 26% accessed multimodal treatment including SBSs, medication, and mental health. In multivariate modeling, SBSs displayed a curvilinear relationship with age, which may explain previously conflicting results regarding that relationship. Youth with private insurance or receiving mental health or medication were more likely to receive SBSs. Gender, race/ethnicity, and caregiver education, health, and mental health were not related to SBSs use. These findings may reflect sample characteristics. Further exploration of factors influencing SBSs use in different populations is warranted. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)

One particular campus of the California State University system is a comprehensive metropolitan university located in the center of California's agricultural heartland. This campus is one of many universities incorporating approaches to better address the needs of their students. Throughout the article the campus will be identified as the University. When a student drops out of a college or university the impact is significant both personally and financially. Attaining a college or university degree increases a person's earning power by 50 percent when compared with the earning power of non-graduates. Yet, a significant number of students leave the university before earning a degree, and do not return. At the University an experience known as the "sophomore slump" manifests itself as students leave after they complete their first year. This slump also includes community college transfer students who enroll at the University and stop attending after their first year. While some students stop out and then return, this article addresses the need to encourage students enrolled in the university to remain, to persist, and ultimately to graduate. This article highlights the factors that impact access, admission, academic progress, retention, and persistence at the University, and presents a review of the predictors of attrition among college students found in the literature. One way for the University to fulfill its educational promise to the large, diverse Latino population living in its service area is to continue in its efforts to assist students to succeed and to graduate. In this regard, this article outlines the implementation of an idea whose time has come. Mentoring is a culturally appropriate method for first-year students to learn how to navigate the complicated maze called university life. Mentoring gives back to the community and honors people who take time and energy from their life to mentor others. Data indicates that mentoring is beneficial to the student mentee as well as to the university-trained mentor. Lastly, the integration of counseling methods into mentoring allows mentors to understand that a student mentee who has missed scheduled meetings and has not answered emails and therefore does not deserve compassion is someone who probably needs it the most

Using a semi-structured survey and convenience sample of pregnant/recently delivered Hispanic (n = 453) and non-Hispanic (n = 904) women in four California counties, this study compared rates of timely prenatal care (PNC) initiation, HIV test counseling, test offering, and test acceptance in PNC between Hispanic and non-Hispanic women. Hispanic women were less likely to report timely PNC initiation (69.3% vs. 80.4%, p less than 0.0001), receiving test offer (69.5% vs. 76.7%, p = 0.002), and ever having been tested (77.3% vs. 87.9%, p less than 0.0001) than non-Hispanic women. Hispanic women were more likely to report not knowing where to go (p = 0.04) and having no insurance (p less than 0.001), transportation (p = 0.001), and child care (p = 0.007) as reasons for late PNC start. Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic women most commonly accepted a test offer for their health/health of their baby; Hispanic women were more likely to accept based on doctor/nurse recommendation (80.1% vs. 62.7%, p less than 0.001). A quarter of Hispanic and non-Hispanic women reported they didn't feel they had a choice or that test was done automatically. Efforts to improve perinatal HIV prevention opportunities for all women in California are required. Furthermore, Hispanic women may have disparities in receipt of prenatal care and HIV test offer that need additional attention.

To identify rates and factors associated with timely prenatal care (PNC) initiation, HIV test counseling, test offering, and test offer acceptance, we conducted a semistructured survey of a convenience sample of pregnant/recently delivered Hispanic women (n = 453, 418 with analyzable data) in four California counties in 2000. Only 68.4% and 43.5% of Hispanic women reported receiving an HIV test offer and counseling, respectively, though 88.8% of those offered a test accepted. After controlling for the effects of age, education, years lived in the United States, health insurance coverage, delivery status, and parity, Hispanic women who initiated prenatal care in the first trimester were 1.7 times more likely to be offered an HIV test and almost 3 times more likely to receive counseling than women with a later prenatal care start or no prenatal care. Factors associated with timely PNC initiation on multivariate analysis were private/HMO insurance (OR = 10.7, p less than 0.001), Medi-Cal insurance (OR = 4.32, p less than 0.001), being 25-30 years old (OR = 3.0, p = 0.008), and completion of high school (OR = 2.07, p = 0.01). Key opportunities to prevent perinatal HIV transmission are being lost for Hispanic women in California. Interventions to increase timely PNC initiation, and to improve test offering by health care providers, may help to improve counseling and testing rates for this population.

The literature provides ample evidence of the relationship of substance abuse to crime. Research over the last 20 years has established a strong correlation between substance abuse and juvenile delinquency (held, 1998). Currently, there are more than 350,000 juveniles on probation and in continuing care programs in the U.S. who have substance abuse histories (75-95%) but who rarely receive appropriate treatment (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment/ Department of juvenile justice [CSAT/DJJ], 1999). Furthermore, 60% of the 1.7 million adjudicated youth in the United States each year experience some substance abuse related problem (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2001). Systematic methods to assess the course and incidence of treatment across juvenile systems are in the early stage. However, a 1997 survey of juvenile correction facilities suggested that only 36% offered some type of substance abuse intervention (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, [SAMHSA], 1997). Substance abuse is one of the most common problems in the juvenile justice system, with prevalence estimates as high as 67 percent (Dembo et al., 1993). In fact, surveys of juvenile probation departments identified substance abuse intervention services as among the most critical expansion needs (National Council of juvenile justice, 1999). In 1999, there were 23,000 juveniles on probation in California. Crimes against persons were the major types of offenses, followed by property and drug crimes. Nearly 80% of these crimes were related to substance use by the offender and/or offenders were arrested for drug-related crimes.

The present study sought to identify drug treatment issues unique to corrections-based residential drug treatment programs for youthful offenders. Based upon qualitative data collected from program administrators and wards at three institution-based substance abuse treatment programs in California, four themes were identified which hold important implications for the delivery of substance abuse treatment services in these settings: screening/assessment, quality and intensity of services, appropriateness of program elements, and anticipated problems once paroled. Our data revealed a substantial amount of overlap in perceptions shared by program administrators and wards, as well as across programs. Of particular concern were low treatment intensity within the institution and insufficient social support upon release. (Contains 3 tables.)