Few articles in the professional counseling literature address the healthcare crisis. This paper examines the current state of the United States healthcare affairs. Topics discussed include the problems in healthcare, including an inspection of the uninsured, the underinsured, rising healthcare costs, and the growing inequality in the healthcare…

Background: Schools are in a unique position not only to identify mental health problems among children and adolescents but also to provide links to appropriate services. This article describes the characteristics of school mental health and social services in the United States, including state- and district-level policies and school practices.…

Public health, once the gem of American social programs, has turned to dross. During the 20th century, the public-health sector wiped smallpox and polio off the U.S. map; virtually eliminated rickets, rubella, and goiter; stopped epidemic typhoid and yellow fever; and brought tuberculosis--once the leading cause of death in U.S. cities--under…

Rates of mental health problems in mothers and children in families affected by maternal HIV as compared to those not affected by maternal HIV but living in similar inner-city, low-SES, primarily ethnic-minority neighborhoods were examined. In addition, correspondence between mother and child mental health was explored. Interviews were conducted…

The terror attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax terror campaign that followed had profound implications not only in the political world but also in the realm of professional school counseling. School counselors nationwide were thrust in the position of responding to a traumatic situation on a scale previously…

This book is a compelling indictment of the use of high-stakes assessments with punitive consequences in public schools. The authors trace the history of the policy and document the inequities for children of poverty that undergird high-stakes testing practices. Lack of dental and medical care, environmental violence, insufficient school funding,…

A study was conducted to assess the impact of three anticipated changes in the health care system on the future requirements for registered nurses. The changes investigated were the introduction of national health insurance (NHI), the increased enrollment in health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and the reformulation of nursing roles. Following…

The Invitational Conference on the Future of School Psychology held at Indiana University in Fall 2002 included a number of paper presentations and group discussions. Toward the end of the conference, four participants were asked to present their reactions, reflecting input from a practitioner, a graduate student in school psychology, a faculty…

Objective: To survey teachers' beliefs about mental health service needs in inner city elementary schools. Method: A total of 119 teachers from six elementary schools in a major city in the midwestern United States were surveyed to assess their beliefs about the major mental health problems facing their schools, the major barriers to surmounting…

Despite U.S. world leadership in research in child healthcare and development, in all the statistical indicators of children's well-being the United States lags well behind most advanced industrialized societies. This book discusses U.S. public policy issues concerning the healthcare and development of children under age three. Studies are cited…

A study assessed the needs of disabled persons living in four rural counties in Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. Using a combination of forced-choice and in-depth probe questions, researchers surveyed a sample of 456 disabled Americans to identify the problems that these people were facing in their day-to-day living, the consequences of their…

This document summarizes some of the major developments now underway in health promotion and disease prevention and reviews the federal contribution to achievement of prevention objectives. The first chapter focuses on opportunities in health promotion which offer the key to many potential improvements in the national health status profile and…

As elderly people become a larger proportion of the rural population, it is important to identify those at risk for poor health. Predictors of health-related quality of life can be useful in designing interventions. Purpose: One objective of the present study was to profile the health-related quality of life of community-dwelling, elderly people…

When patients do not possess the same background knowledge, or schemata, as the Western medical practitioner, they are unable to understand fully what is communicated because they do not have the necessary conceptual framework for integrating the information presented. A study demonstrated how the absence of shared concepts between doctor and…

The authors surveyed 243 urban public university students who were born in the United States, China, and India to compare the health beliefs of the China-born, India-born, and US-born students. Although the China- and India-born students shared beliefs in many preventive and therapeutic practices of Western medicine with the US-born students, they…