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Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a culturally congruent group treatment model, entitled "Claiming Your Connections" (CYC) aimed at reducing depressive symptoms and perceived stress, and enhancing psychosocial competence (i.e., locus of control and active coping) among Black women. Method: A total of 58 Black women recruited from health and human service community-based organizations were randomly assigned to either the CYC intervention or a wait-list control group. Women in the CYC program attended weekly group intervention sessions over a 10-week period, and the wait-list control group did not receive any treatment for the same duration. Results: At pretreatment both groups indicated moderate levels of depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and psychosocial competence. After the intervention, the CYC group reported a significant reduction in depressive symptoms and perceived stress. There was no statistically significant change on these variables for the control group. Implications: Results suggest that the CYC group intervention program is effective with Black women who report having difficulty managing stressors of daily life. (Contains 3 tables.)

This article examines the use of outpatient mental health services in a sample of low-income women (Mothers' Well-Being Study [MWS]) and compares the findings with a sample of similar-aged women in the general population (National Comorbidity Survey [NCS]). Overall, the prevalence of any 12-month mental health disorder was significantly greater for MWS respondents compared with NCS respondents. Only a quarter of each sample with any disorder had received treatment at an outpatient mental health service in the past year. The authors identify implications for social workers who seek to improve access and quality of care for women in need of specialty mental health and substance use services.

This qualitative study addresses the experiences of paid professionals and volunteers who worked through nonprofit human service organizations to help people obtain health insurance in the first wave of open enrollment for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Focusing on the state of Alabama, we compare and contrast the experiences of ACA navigators in different settings: (1) established nonprofits that received federal contracts to provide navigation services, and (2) a new nonprofit started specifically to help people sign up for ACA coverage. Findings contribute to the policy implementation literature by illuminating how policy implementation in different nonprofit settings can result in varying experiences of personal and political transformation. Findings contribute to the policy feedback literature by illustrating the potential for policy feedback effects on frontline workers. The study also illustrates again that human services nonprofits can create organizational conditions to promote empathy, excitement, and dedication at the frontlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on social control perspectives and results from prior studies, we test hypotheses about the extent to which characteristics of family and social networks are associated with substance use disorders (SUD), and whetherthese associations vary by sex. In this study an SUD is alcohol or illicit drug abuse or dependence as defined by criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. With nationally representative data of adult Latinos from the National Latino and Asian American Survey (NLAAS), we found that respondents' language use with family, rather than language proficiency, appears to be a more efficient proxy for social assimilation to represent differential levels of risk of SUD. SUD was positively associated with problematic family relations for men but not women and was positively associated with more frequent interactions with friends for women but not men. The results suggest that the salient features of social assimilation associated with SUD include the context of language use and transformations in family and social network relationships that differ in important ways between Latino men and women.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify developmental trajectories of problem drinking from adolescence into young adulthood and to determine if alcohol use initiation experiences and family history of alcoholism, as well as their interactions, would predict trajectory group membership. Method: Five waves of data were collected from respondents who were 12 years old at the time of recruitment to the Rutgers Health and Human Development Project and followed until age 31 (n = 438). A standardized measure of problem drinking (Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index) was used to develop trajectories with growth-mixture modeling. Differences across groups in first-use experience (age of onset, pleasantness of the experience, and feeling intoxicated), a family history of alcoholism, and gender were analyzed with chi-square and analysis of variance tests, and logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the odds of group membership. Results: Three trajectory groups of drinkers were identified: no or low problem (66.2%), adolescence-limited problem (ALP; 21.6%), and escalating problem (EP; 12.1%) drinkers. Age at drinking onset, feeling drunk during the first alcohol experience, and family history of alcoholism were associated with significantly greater odds of being in a problem trajectory group relative to the no or low problem trajectory. Early experiences did not differentiate the ALP and EP trajectories. None of the interactions was significantly associated with membership in any of the groups. Conclusions: The levels and patterns of problem drinking during early to mid-adolescence point to a need for secondary prevention efforts that target problematic users in addition to the current emphasis on primary prevention of alcohol consumption. Prevention-based research may benefit from special focus on the meaning and consequences of self-perception of drunkenness when alcohol is first used. (J Stud. Alcohol Drugs 68: 56-65, 2007), ONE OF THE MOST CONSISTENT FINDINGS in the alcohol literature is that early age at first alcohol use is significantly associated with alcohol-related problems and disorders in adulthood (Chou and [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.11.008 Byline: Lynn A. Warner (a), Kathleen J. Pottick (b) Keywords: Preschoolers; Mental health services; Child development; Medicaid; Global Assessment of Functioning Abstract: Serious emotional disturbance that develops before the age of 6 can interfere with crucial developmental processes, presaging a lifetime of problems. We identify the social stress and illness characteristics of children under the age of 6 years in U.S. specialty mental health programs, and estimate the relative influence of these characteristics on functional impairment with data from the national Client/Patient Sample Survey in order to recommend strategic interventions. Between one-third and three-quarters of preschoolers were seriously impaired, based on Global Assessment of Functioning scores of [less than or equal to]50 and [less than or equal to]60, respectively. Nearly 40% were admitted to mental health services without a psychiatric diagnosis or were identified as having psychiatric problems that stemmed from family stress (e.g., assigned an adjustment disorder). Factors associated with functional impairment in multivariate analyses were (1) minority versus non-minority, (2) public-insurance versus private insurance coverage, and (3) a psychiatric diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder versus no diagnosis. Programming that addresses the complexities of early childhood development and the social stresses that contribute to poor outcomes will be necessary for effective preventative services and psychiatric treatment for the youngest youths in mental health care. This will require collaboration between mental health clinicians and child welfare professionals. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, State University of New York, Richardson Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, United States (b) School of Social Work and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, United States Article History: Received 9 September 2004; Revised 24 November 2004; Accepted 27 November 2004

500 college biology students were asked to predict the axisymmetry (horizontal-vertical position) of the water surface and a swimming goldfish in a masked, sealed container. Subjects were shown the fish submerged in the semifilled container before it was slipped into a terry cloth stocking. The researcher then asked subjects to predict the position of the fish and the water surface as the sealed container was rotated to different angles. Many college students did not understand that liquids and submerged organisms remain invariantly horizontal regardless of the rotation of the container.

Using an intervention based on referent power, self-help sponsors sought to encourage attendance at self-help meetings. They encouraged patients with major depression or bipolar disorder to attend self-help meetings following their hospitalizations. The intervention successfully increased the attendance of the experimental group compared to those in the control group. Implications for practice are discussed.