Socioeconomic Status,Gender Inequality and Women's Mental Health: Some Findings from the Canberra Mental Health Survey

Data from the Canberra Mental Health Survey are utilized to answer questions concerning the mental health status of women (especially married women). Using the Langner Scale as the main index it is shown that there is a complex relationship between the socio-economic status of a married woman's occupation, and the status of her husband's job. It is also shown that there is an association between sex, marital status and mental health that runs in the direction of Jessie Bernard's summary ‘marriage is good for men, but not for women’.     

The Social Impact of Industrial and Resource Development on Local Communities: A Survey of Residents' Views

This paper describes the results of two surveys of public attitudes, perceptions, and expectations regarding large-scale energy development projects in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria. A baseline survey was conducted in 1974, before plans for a massive increase in planned energy generation for the Valley had begun to be instituted (projected to inject 440MW per year additional capacity to the year 1989, compared with an average annual increase of 52MW per year which characterized the period from 1921 to 1974 (State Electricity Commission of Victoria 1981)) and before construction commenced in 1977, on the first of two 2000MW power stations, located at Loy Yang, six kilometres from the town of Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria. A subsequent survey was undertaken in 1981, with construction well-advanced on the first two 500MW units. The community studies represent part of a major project concerned with impact assessment of new industrial and resource projects in settled (as distinct from isolated) regions of Australia.     

重庆市城市社区心理卫生现状调查及其对策思考

本文通过问卷调查、现场走访等方式,分析、描述了设为直辖市后重庆主城区社区居民心理健康观念、社区心理健康教育状况及其成因。作者认为,在现代社会,由于生活节奏的加快,各种竞争的加剧,人们在享受不断丰富的物质生活的同时,精神生活方面却越来越觉得并不十分完美,“亚健康”成为一个相当普遍的社会问题,增加人文关怀,进行城市社区心理健康教育,建立心理危机干预系统就显得很有必要。     

Providing Mental Health Services to Older People Living in Rural Communities

Summary

Rural dwelling elders who experience mental health problems often have difficulty finding help since rural communities often lack adequate mental health service providers. This paper reports on the initial phase of a 5-year, interdisciplinary clinical research study that is testing the effectiveness of providing a home delivered, therapeutic psychosocial intervention, aimed at improving the emotional well-being and the quality of life of medically frail elders who live in rural communities. In the early phases of this study, the clinical research team encountered a number of interesting and often unanticipated challenges as it attempted to recruit study participants and provide services to them. In this article, we examine these challenges and share what we have learned so far about providing mental health services to elderly persons living in rural environments.     

Informal Care in Asian and Afro/Caribbean Communities: A Literature Review

Correspondence to Karl Atkin, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD. Summary The multi-racial nature of British society can no longer beignored by those responsible for planning and implementing socialcare policy, particularly since community care is presentlyat a crossroads. Informal care provides a useful starting pointfrom which to introduce the notion of race into social caredebates. The paper, by reviewing a mix of empirical studiesand policy debates emerging from the literature on informalcare and black communities, examines the experience of informalcare within black communities. By discussing topics such asthe demography of care, the nature of informal care, and serviceprovision to black carers, it gives coherence to a fragmentedliterature and illustrates gaps in present understanding.     

Accommodation and Employment: A Survey into the Circumstances and Expressed Needs of Users of Mental Health Services in a Northern Town

Correspondence to Barbara Hatfield, Mental Health Social Work Research and Staff Development Unit, University of Manchester, Department of Psychiatry, Mathematics, Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary A sample of 120 mental health service users in a Northern Townwas interviewed about satisfactions and expressed needs in arange of life domains. Most of the 120 users were male, in theolder age ranges, and not in current partnerships. Most hadservere and long-term conditions. Living situations includedhospital wards, hostels, a group home, living with family orfriends, and living alone. The domains of accommodation andemployment are discussed in this paper. The majority of peopleexpressed themselves as ‘satisfied’ with their accommodation,although a sizeable monority were not satisfied. Lack of choiceof alternatives emerged as an underlying feature of ‘expressedsatisfaction’. A sizeable group expressed the need forhelp in obtaining employment, particularly those living in thecommunity. It is argued that for consumer choice to have a realisticmeaning, people with severe mental illnesses need the experienceof choice from more than one alternative.     

美国卫生外交:一种历史与现实的考察

全球卫生危机的加剧使得卫生议题成为国际关系的一项显性议程,卫生议题也逐渐进入外交政策领域。美国自19世纪伊始就十分重视卫生在其外交政策中的作用。通过分析美国卫生外交在不同历史阶段呈现出的不同特点,有助于我们理解美国卫生外交发展的历史轨迹,对我国卫生外交也具有十分重要的借鉴意义。     

Prevention Programmes in Community Mental Health: A Review

Allocation of resources to community mental health care in Australia has escalated rapidly in recent years. The major conceptual advance has been the balancing of traditional therapeutic or remedial intervention with the goal of preventing psychological distress. The authors argue that the implementation of preventive programmes has fallen short of expectation. Two reasons are advanced: the differing status accorded the two activities, and the lack of goal definition in prevention programme development. Recommendations are made for the successful implementation of prevention programmes in community mental health care.     

Structuring Mental Health Within Senior Services: A Case Study of an Outpatient Mental Health Clinic Serving Latinos

The article presents a case study of an outpatient mental health clinic serving Latino older adults. The study explored staff perceptions on the clinic development and the context within an immigrant multicultural community. The study used in-depth, semistructured interviews with support staff, clinical social workers, and administrators. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic content analysis. The mental health clinic formation was perceived by staff as an ecological process stemming from the needs of the Latino immigrant senior clients. A close knit and interdependent culture allowed the clinic to adjust to diversity and changing cultural contexts.     

Asian Pacific Islander Dementia Care Network: A Model of Care for Underserved Communities

This study presents the results of the work of the Asian Pacific Islander Dementia Care Network (APIDCN)—a collaborative model of care created to develop community capacity to deliver dementia capable services, build community awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and offer direct services to caregivers in the API community in Los Angeles. Through trainings, mentoring, and outreach campaigns, the APIDCN expanded the availability of culturally competent services in the API community. The knowledge that was embedded within partner organizations and in the community at large assures sustainability of the services after the project ended.     

On the Inside: A Narrative Review of Mental Health Inpatient Services

This paper describes and discusses the results of a narrativereview of inpatient mental health services in the UK. Four mainthemes emerge from the review: the growing pressure on inpatienthospital services; the negative experience of inpatient servicesreported by many service users; the problematic nature of hospitaldischarge; and possible alternatives to hospital admission.This review also suggests that a failure to recognize and acton what appears to be happening in hospitals could result ininpatient care once again being subject to the scrutiny andcriticism that cast a shadow over psychiatric services in the1960s and 1970s. To stop this happening, current governmentpolicy is right to focus attention back onto acute care throughnew guidance and by commissioning research. However, changesalso need to take place at a practice level so that front lineworkers are familiar with conditions in local acute servicesand can challenge unacceptable behaviour/services in supportof their service users. With current changes in the make-upof local mental health services and a greater emphasis on partnershipworking between health and social care, it may be that socialcare practitioners can do this not only from the outside, butincreasingly ‘on the inside’ (from within integratedhealth and social care organizations).     

本科生与研究生新生心理健康状况比较研究——基于T大学的调查

采用《中国大学生心理健康量表》考察了T大学2016级9914名本科和研究生新生的心理健康状况,结果发现:(1)不论从心理问题的筛选情况以及总体状况来看,还是从性别、是否独生子女、城乡以及专业方面来看,研究生新生的心理健康状况均优于本科新生;(2)从心理问题的筛选情况来看,本科和研究生新生均表现为总体心理健康状况良好,但仍有一些新生可能存在较严重的心理问题,需重点关注和进一步诊断;(3)从心理问题的总体状况来看,本科和研究生新生均表现为强迫型人格倾向问题相对最多,性心理障碍问题相对最少.     

Unemployment and Mental Health: Some British Studies

Within the context of the British labor market, 11 investigations into the mental health impact of unemployment are described. These reveal significant decrements for people of all ages as a result of moving into unemployment, and for middle-aged men additional effects of continuing joblessness. Research into factors mediating the harmful impact of unemployment has covered time since job loss, employment commitment, social relationships, gender, ethnic group membership, social class, local unemployment rate, and personal vulnerability. Findings with respect to each are summarized, and a model of influential environmental characteristics is introduced. Additional British investigations are cited throughout the paper.     

A Model for Community-Based Mental Health Services for Older Adults:

The mental health needs of older adults have historically been underserved by existing mental health service delivery systems. This paper presents a model for the delivery of comprehensive mental health services to older adults in their own homes, based on sound clinical practice, and incorporating a cross-cultural perspective coupled with a strong social and community support base.     

Mental Health Policy in South Australia: A Job Half Done

Though the emphasis in South Australian mental health policy on deinstitutionalisation is based on sound principles of civil liberties and psychiatric treatment, serious social problems have followed in the wake of the new initiatives. This paper attributes many of the problems to the simultaneous pursuit of deinstitutionalisation and centralisation of resources within psychiatric hospitals. It is argued that the policy of deinstitutionalisation demands a commensurate decentralisation of resources to enable the development of community-based residential and nonresidential alternatives to hospital.     

Housing and Mental Health: A Review of the Evidence and a Methodological and Conceptual Critique

Despite the fact that people invest more financial, temporal, and psychological resources in their homes than in any other material entity, research on housing and mental health is remarkably underdeveloped. We critically review existing research on housing and mental health, considering housing type (e.g., single-family detached versus multiple dwelling), floor level, and housing quality (e.g., structural damage). We then discuss methodological and conceptual shortcomings of this literature and provide a theoretical framework for future research on housing quality and mental health .