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Mental Health Difficulties (mental + health_difficulty)
Selected AbstractsThe European Early Promotion Project: A new primary health care service to promote children's mental healthINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 6 2002Kaija Puura The number of children in Europe with significant psychologic and social problems is large and increasing. This article describes an innovative crosscultural method of working with families to promote the psychosocial well being of children and prevent the development of psychologic and social problems. A study designed to evaluate the effects of the service is also presented. Primary health care workers in five European countries have been trained to conduct promotional interviews with all prospective mothers in their area one month before and one month after birth. They have also been taught to work with mothers identified as in need of support as a parent by using a specific counselling model to try to prevent the onset of child mental health difficulties. Effects of the intervention on children's psychologic development and family adaptation are being evaluated at two years in comparison with matched groups not receiving the intervention. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Stress, debt and undergraduate medical student performanceMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2006Sarah Ross Introduction, Against the background of current debate over university funding and widening access, we aimed to examine the relationships between student debt, mental health and academic performance. Methods, We carried out an electronic survey of all medical undergraduate students at the University of Aberdeen during May,June 2004. The questionnaire contained items about demographics, debt, income and stress. Students were also asked for consent to access their examination results, which were correlated with their answers. Statistical analyses of the relationships between debt, performance and stress were performed. Results, The median total outstanding debt was £7300 (interquartile range 2000,14 762.50). Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and postgraduate students had higher debts. There was no direct correlation between debt, class ranking or General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score; however, a subgroup of 125 students (37.7%), who said that worrying about money affected their studies, did have higher debt and were ranked lower in their classes. Some of these students were also cases on the GHQ-12. Overall, however, cases on the GHQ had lower levels of debt and lower class ranking, suggesting that financial worries are only 1 cause of mental health difficulties. Discussion, Students' perceptions of their own levels of debt rather than level of debt per se relates to performance. Students who worry about money have higher debts and perform less well than their peers in degree examinations. Some students in this subgroup were also identified by the GHQ and may have mental health problems. The relationships between debt, mental health and performance in undergraduate medical students are complex but need to be appreciated by medical education policy makers. [source] Beyond the 50-Minute Hour: Increasing Control, Choice, and Connections in the Lives of Low-Income WomenAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2010Lisa A. Goodman Although poverty is associated with a range of mental health difficulties among women in this country, mainstream mental health interventions are not sufficient to meet the complex needs of poor women. This article argues that stress, powerlessness, and social isolation should become primary targets of our interventions, as they are key mediators of the relationship between poverty and emotional distress, particularly for women. Indeed, if ways are not found to address these conditions directly, by increasing women's control, choice, and connections, the capacity to improve the emotional well-being of impoverished women will remain limited at best. This is the first of 5 articles that comprise a special section of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, called "Beyond the 50-Minute Hour: Increasing Control, Choice, and Connections in the Lives of Low-Income Women." Together, these articles explore the nature and impact of a range of innovative mental health interventions that are grounded in a deep understanding of the experience of poverty. This introduction: (a) describes briefly how mainstream approaches fail to address the poverty-related mental health needs of low-income women; (b) illuminates the role of stress, powerlessness, and social isolation in women's lives; (c) highlights the ways in which the articles included in this special section address each of these by either adapting traditional mental health practices to attend to poverty's role in participants' lives or adapting community-based, social-justice-oriented interventions to attend to participants' mental health; and (d) discusses the research and evaluation implications of expanding mental health practices to meet the needs of low-income communities. [source] Practitioner Review: Assessment and treatment of refugee children and adolescents who have experienced war-related traumaTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 12 2006Kimberly A. Ehntholt Background:, Increasingly clinicians are being asked to assess and treat young refugees, who have experienced traumatic events due to war and organised violence. However, evidence-based guidance remains scarce. Method:, Published studies on the mental health difficulties of refugee children and adolescents, associated risk and protective factors, as well as effective interventions, particularly those designed to reduce war-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, were identified and reviewed. The findings are summarised. Results:, Young refugees are frequently subjected to multiple traumatic events and severe losses, as well as ongoing stressors within the host country. Although young refugees are often resilient, many experience mental health difficulties, including PTSD, depression, anxiety and grief. An awareness of relevant risk and protective factors is important. A phased model of intervention is often useful and the need for a holistic approach crucial. Promising treatments for alleviating symptoms of war-related PTSD include cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT), testimonial psychotherapy, narrative exposure therapy (NET) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR). Knowledge of the particular needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), working with interpreters, cross-cultural differences, medico-legal report writing and the importance of clinician self-care is also necessary. Conclusion:, More research is required in order to expand our limited knowledge base. [source] MENTAL HEALTH AND SEN: Mental health and special educational needs: exploring a complex relationshipBRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2009Richard Rose The relationship between mental health and special educational needs is both complex and misunderstood. In this article, Richard Rose, Professor of Special and Inclusive Education, Marie Howley, Senior Lecturer, Ann Fergusson, Senior Lecturer, and Johnson Jament, a PhD student, all from the Centre for Special Needs Education and Research directed by Richard Rose at the University of Northampton, discuss findings from a national research project which explored the perceptions of pupil mental health needs by staff working in residential special schools. Teachers and other professional colleagues often feel ill-prepared to address mental health difficulties experienced by their pupils. This is, at times, exacerbated by a wider confusion when atypical behaviours are attributed to a diagnosed learning difficulty rather than being recognised as symptomatic of a mental health problem. The article suggests a need for clarification of the relationship between complex special educational needs and mental health and for increases in training opportunities and the development of resources for teaching about and supporting mental health and emotional well-being. [source] Everybody needs good neighbours: an evaluation of an intensive project for families facing evictionCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2002Malcolm Hill ABSTRACT This paper presents details of a largely qualitative evaluation of an intensive multi-method Project, with a residential component, which aims to help families facing eviction to overcome their housing-related difficulties. The families served by the Project had a host of other problems related to parenting, with child care and protection issues, addictions and mental health difficulties figuring prominently. Just over half the referrals came from the local authority housing services, with nearly all the remainder coming from the social work department. The majority of families made good progress, but in some cases it proved harder to have an impact on parenting than on tenancy-related matters. Nevertheless, the Project was deemed to have helped some families stay together or be reunited, resulting in substantial financial savings for social work services. Crucial ingredients were good management, stable staff, shared ,ownership' by other agencies, a repertoire of challenging methods, and a holistic approach. [source] | |||||||||||||