For the past several years, mental health professionals have been asked to testify as expert witnesses in court cases involving child sexual abuse. There is much controversy within the mental health profession and law about the propriety of such expert testimony. The controversy consists of three main issues. The first issue, the conflict between…

The success of crisis intervention work with international students is highly dependent not only on the skill of the professional staff involved, but also the availability and use of other student services that may be provided to the International Student Services (ISS) Office. There are many cultural issues that must be considered when counseling…

A project was developed to prevent problem behaviors in elementary school students. One of many projects initiated in recent years by the DePaul Mental Health Clinic, this project aims to create an ongoing, self-sustaining cmputer-assisted tutoring program at St. Mary of the Lake, a school located in Chicago's economically disadvantaged Uptown…

This paper reports the effects of Hurricane Hugo on mental health workers and indigenous community members. The response and perceptions of mental health staff from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (Go Teams) from areas unaffected by the hurricane were compared and contrasted with those of a subsequent Hugo Outreach Support Team…

Previous studies which have suggested that masculinity is a strong predictor of mental health have been generally limited to college student populations, or have focused specifically on women. The present study investigated the relationship of masculinity to self-esteem and self-acceptance in male professionals (N=96), clients (N=55), and…

Previous research has suggested that satisfying interpersonal relationships help promote psychological well-being. This study examined the influence that social relations at work have on the individual's mental health. Data were collected in two phases. In phase 1, a volunteer sample of nonmanagerial employees (N=302) from 37 bank branches rated…

A recent review of published and unpublished data suggests that the elderly are underrepresented in most self-help groups. Some national groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous do serve the aged but many others such as widow groups do not. A recent national survey of over 3,000 households conducted by Mellinger and Balter examined the use of…

Research findings have confirmed the view that if mental health practice is to be relevant and responsive to minorities, it must consciously and deliberately take into account their ethnic heritage and culture. The world views of ethnic minorities, or the ways in which they perceive their relationship to nature, institutions, other people, and…

As self-help groups have grown in number, mental health professionals have found themselves increasingly involved in such groups. This study examined how mental health professionals viewed the appropriateness of a variety of roles sometimes assumed by mental health professionals when they work with self-help groups. Social workers, psychologists,…

The needs assessment literature has not systematically addressed the special problems involved in evaluating the mental health needs of children. In an attempt to provide a low-cost, comprehensive approach to assessing these needs, a multi-modal design, which sampled the impressions of parents and key informants, along with agency and government…

Historically, family counseling grew from a focus on the individual to an emphasis on the importance of the entire family as the unit of treatment and the structure of the family as the key ingredient in family functioning. Strategic family therapy (SFT) has evolved from these traditional intervention approaches to the use of a brief, directive,…

An indication of the failure of the mental health system in this country is reflected in the increasingly visible homeless population, many of whom suffer from some form of untreated mental illness. Public policy priorities have shifted from proactive, treatment-oriented policies to reactive, punitive institutionalization. The…

In a longitudinal study, subject attrition constitutes a potential threat to the usefulness of data collected from subjects remaining in later waves of the study. If attrition is selective, then the sample at later waves of the study may be representative of a different population than that represented at the outset of the study. This study…

Ambivalence about expressing emotion has been suggested as mediating the relationship between inhibition and psychological and psychosomatic distress. A study was conducted to examine the relationship of ambivalence over emotional expression to psychological and physical well-being through the "personal striving" framework. Measures of…

The introduction to this Technical Committee Report describes the committee's procedures, provides an overview of long-term care, and enumerates assumptions and values identified by the committee as important factors in the formation of recommendations. Four major findings and seven key issues of the committee are also listed. Eight…