An affective method is identified for increasing the sensitivity of paraprofessional psychiatric helpers to vocal (paralinguistic) expressions of the affect "sadness." Fifty-two male and female psychiatric hospital employees served as subjects and were divided into four groups, each of which was given identical pre- and post-testing. Group 2…

Two basic issues in mental health are how tax monies and resources are being allocated and how the resources are being spent. More could be spent in the area of mental health prevention rather than in treatment. Prevention is action that prevents significant diminishment of function, or the development of organic disability, as a result of…

A model for program evaluation with pertinent data from a variety of methods applied in six settings is described. The settings include two university clinical psychology programs at Alabama and Kansas; the Memphis Internship Consortium; the University of Arkansas Student Development Center component of the Counseling Unit; and two county social…

Presented is a speech by Bertram Brown, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, on the effects of decreased federal funding of mental health research. Brown notes that there has been a 56% slash in the purchasing power of the research grant program when inflation is accounted for. It is suggested that causes of the dwindling support…

Through observation of 26 subjects over a 3 month period, this research project measured the effects of transcendental meditation (TM) on concurrent heart rate, peripheral blood pulse volume, and the alpha wave frequency. The subjects were assigned randomly to three groups. One group practiced TM as prescribed by the International Meditation…

Researchers have largely neglected adolescents' romantic relationships. To help fill this research gap, some of the discrepancies between adolescent couples' and observers' perceptions of couples' conversations are examined here. Two approaches to interaction analysis were used: the divergent realities paradigm, which explores divergences in…

This study specifically explored the relationships among childhood trauma, long-term psychological consequences, beliefs about family violence, and gender role stereotypes in Asian and Asian American women. A prediction was made that childhood physical violence and witnessing family violence would create long-term negative symptoms; higher levels…

Noting that therapeutic nursery programs (TNPs) offer one alternative to mainstream daycare or preschool settings for young children experiencing severe emotional and behavioral difficulties, this study gathered information about TNPs and their services. Response rate to a survey mailed to a nonrandom nationwide sample of 40 programs was 50…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the extent to which children's mental health agencies can meet the information needs they consider to be most important and also comply with recommended standards of the Mental Health Statistics Improvement Projects (MHSIP). Three children's data sets representing three different agency…

These four symposium papers provide examples of different states that have experimented with various criteria and approaches in developing youth mental health services. The four states profiled, North Carolina, Arizona, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, are using the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) to assess impairment in…

This paper summarizes results of a study which determined usage of mental health services by children with depressive disorders and whether patterns of service use and parents' perceptions of service use barriers are the same for children with depressive disorders as for those with disruptive disorders. The study used data from the Methods for…

This meta-analysis seeks to provide a better understanding of the relationship between racial orientation and a person's relationship with social institutions. It explores relationships between racial group orientation and four outcome variables: educational achievement, propensity toward criminal activities, indicators of psychological…

This paper compares the self-reported emotion regulation strategies of individuals classified as depressed, depression-vulnerable (formerly-depressed), and never-depressed. Depressed individuals scored significantly higher than never-depressed participants on thought suppression as measured by the White Bear Suppression Inventory. They also scored…

This presentation will report on the findings of the evaluation of Project SOBEIT a multi-school initiative focused on building partnerships between schools, law enforcement, and community mental health agencies. Guided by a process, context, outcomes, and sustainability framework and grounded in the understanding of the impact of change theory on…

The service delivery model of the Pennsylvania Children and Adolescent Service Systems Program (CASSP) is explained, and the 1983 federal initiative that launched this system is discussed. The federal CASSP initiative was developed to improve systems of care to ensure that the underserved population of children and adolescents with severe…