The Trials of Homecoming: Odysseus Returns from Iraq/Afghanistan

This lecture introduces some of the poignant challenges and stressors facing service members and their families as they return from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. A focus on the nature of psychological injuries, as compared with disorders, sets the stage for discussing some central factors necessary for a harmonious transition back home. The article stresses the vital role played by a community of Veterans in healing moral injuries. The importance of effective leadership, sound sleep, and supportive unit cohesion are stressed as vital protective factors in theater. To assist mental health and health clinicians working with Veterans, the article asserts that the prevention of secondary trauma should be ethically obligatory self‐care supported by mental health centers and academic institutions.     

Who Attends Senior Centers?

Abstract

Logistic regression analysis was used to compare users and non-users of senior centers. Variables assessing linkage to the service system were more significant predictors of senior center utilization than predisposing, enabling, or need variables. More specifically, users of senior centers were older and more likely to live in rural areas. They also had more social contacts, better mental health, and fewer ADL problems. Senior center users were also more aware of specific service agencies, more likely to consult formal resources in making service decisions, and more likely to have used other services.     

The Legal Regulation of Irrational Elements in the Operations of Boards of Directors

The operating processes of boards of directors are delicate and complex, so corporate legislation cannot simply equate board structure law with board governance law. It is therefore necessary to start from China’s actual conditions and grasp the operating processes of Chinese boards with a sober appreciation of the irrational elements in their operating mechanisms. Board governance has entered a new stage of institutionalization, and the law should shift from its emphasis on structure to give equal attention to structure and process in optimizing institutional structure. In the construction of board operating mechanisms, we should treat differently such “living laws” as customs, experiences and traditions, give full play to the functionality of boards’ strategic choices, and provide legal regulation of irrational elements, so as to distinguish between different roles, develop consensus, select strong points and improve efficiency. We should build control over board operational procedures, improve the system of functional allocation, correct assessment mechanisms, develop a mechanism for judicial scrutiny of the affective relationships in society and curb such behavioral tendencies as relational identity, structural bias and group polarization, with a view to controlling such “living laws” within the framework of the basic values and principles of board governance.     

Goal setting in recovery: families where a parent has a mental illness or a dual diagnosis

Goal setting is an important element within mental health recovery models; however, parenting and children are rarely recognized in such approaches. This study outlines a family recovery planning model where a parent has a mental health or dual substance and mental health problem. The differences between family types (parent with a mental illness or parent with dual diagnosis) and family members (parent and children) are illustrated in terms of goals across 11 domains. There were a total of 33 parents and 50 children from 10 mental illness and 10 dual diagnosis families. Education and specifically mental health knowledge are important goals across all families and appear especially important for children whose parent has a dual diagnosis. Specific goals and achievement levels for each type of family and parents and children are also outlined. Clear areas for action by clinicians and family members are indicated by this study.     

Currency boards,depoliticization and macroeconomic stability: the political economy of institutional complementarities*

This article analyzes the potential for institutional design to depoliticize macroeconomic policy-making by examining currency board arrangements. It develops a novel argument to understand the effects of institutional design based on institutional complementarities. This argument highlights that the functioning of a given institution is conditioned by the broader institutional context. The article contrasts this framework with two common approaches – here termed the institutional design and the epiphenomenalism views – and argues that the centrality of institutional complementarities can account for the mixed record of currency boards. The most important complementarities of a currency board are with fiscal, labor market and informal institutions, which are important prerequisites for successful currency boards. By drawing on recent advances in the study of depoliticization, we show how these institutions contribute to governmental, societal and discursive depoliticization. This argument is evaluated by examining three case studies of currency boards – Argentina, Estonia and Lithuania. The article also explores some broader implications of this analysis for understanding the depoliticization of economic policy.     

Friendship Across the Life Cycle

Abstract

Using a group work model, this article discusses a short term group for older women developed to explore the importance of friendship in late life. In collaboration with group leaders, group members determined weekly topics that explored the significance of friendship through the life cycle. Social work group practice that focuses on the meaning and development of friendship for and with older women is presented as an effective therapeutic intervention for practitioners in settings such as community mental health clinics, senior centers, elderly housing, home care agencies and nursing homes.     

Contractual audit and mental health rehabilitation: a study of formulating effectiveness in a Finnish supported housing unit

Saario S, Raitakari S. Contractual audit and mental health rehabilitation: a study of formulating effectiveness in a Finnish supported housing unit Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 321–329 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. Mental health NGOs in Western Europe are increasingly managed by contractual audit procedures. This article concerns how contractual audit and its emphasis on effectiveness of care impact on the practices of long‐term mental health rehabilitation. To demonstrate this, a case study of a Finnish NGO that provides supported housing is presented. The study looks at how service purchasing practices, as stated in the contract between the municipality and the NGO, are reflected in the meetings among practitioners. Documentary and meeting data were utilised together with Mitchell Dean's notion of technologies of agency. It was found that practitioners actively sought to show the effectiveness of their everyday work in terms of contractual audit by demonstrating both the economic and progressive aspects of care. Thus, professional competency in mental health rehabilitation appears to entail both the skills of care interventions and the ability to perform these interventions as efficient and financially accountable activities.     

Racial and ethnic diversity in senior centers: comparing participant characteristics in more and less multicultural settings

The 2008 Health Indicators Project surveyed a probability sample (N = 1,870) of New York City senior center participants. Attendees of racially and ethnically diverse and nondiverse senior centers were compared across 5 domains: demographics; health and quality of life; social support networks; neighborhood perceptions and engagement; health service access/utilization. Although homogeneous and diverse center participants demonstrate similar health and quality-of-life outcomes, those from diverse centers demonstrate greater risk of social isolation, receive less family support, and more likely seek medical care from hospitals or community clinics. Implications and future directions for research, practice and policy are discussed.     

Implementation of individual placement and support in a first‐episode psychosis unit: A new way of working

The aim of this study is to explore the IPS implementation process in a first‐episode psychosis (FEP) mental health service team in Sweden. More specifically, the study explores how integration processes and critical situations are perceived over time by team members who originated from two diverse welfare organizations. A serial interview design was used (initially, at 6 and 12 months) to describe experiences of 16 team members. Material was analyzed using a constant comparison grounded theory approach. Team members dealt with the ambivalence of sharing mental health information, and whether the new way of working was a risk or benefit for users. They gradually learned new perspectives and knowledge, built trust and shared common views. After a year, the team workload perceived reduced and became person‐centred. Some members described remaining unclear roles and requested further support. Negotiated goals for integration and early knowledge transfer are critical. Organizational change and trusting team relationships have to be facilitated. Anticipated gains of integration should be clearly described and discussed early on, and continuous support for sustainability should be considered. This study confirmed the importance and potential of integrating IPS into FEP teams.     

Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Senior Centers: Comparing Participant Characteristics in More and Less Multicultural Settings

The 2008 Health Indicators Project surveyed a probability sample (N = 1,870) of New York City senior center participants. Attendees of racially and ethnically diverse and nondiverse senior centers were compared across 5 domains: demographics; health and quality of life; social support networks; neighborhood perceptions and engagement; health service access/utilization. Although homogeneous and diverse center participants demonstrate similar health and quality-of-life outcomes, those from diverse centers demonstrate greater risk of social isolation, receive less family support, and more likely seek medical care from hospitals or community clinics. Implications and future directions for research, practice and policy are discussed.     

影响农民工精神健康的社会因素

本项研究运用定量数据从个体的社会经济地位、迁移压力和社会资本三个角度,分析了影响农民工精神健康的社会因素。研究发现：（1）相对社会经济地位对农民工的精神健康产生的影响远大于绝对社会经济地位的影响;（2）农民工群体的迁移过程面临的压力,例如被排斥、不公平待遇等会对他们的精神健康产生较大的消极影响;（3）相较于其他群体,社会资本和精神健康的关系在农民工群体中的表现更为复杂。有的社会资本对精神健康有积极的影响,例如信任和网络密度;而有的社会资本则对精神健康产生消极影响。     

The power of boards in service providing agencies: three models

Tensions in the relationship between boards and staff are a common feature of voluntary and nonprofit agencies which deliver services. Many of the difficulties reflect lack of clarity about the power of boards. The author describes three models of governance: traditional, membership, and entrepreneurial. Each model has different implications for the power of a board in relation to staff. Practitioners in nonprofit service delivering agencies in the UK have found the models to be a useful tool for explaining the practical difficulties they experience.     

Experiencing breast cancer in the context of mental illness in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore the experiences of women with mental illness who had also experienced breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, in particular, to identify barriers and facilitators to cancer treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten breast cancer survivors who had had contact with secondary mental health services prior to their cancer diagnosis. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes. Participants described positive experiences of cancer treatment, expressing surprise at both how well they coped with diagnosis and treatment and how well they were treated by services. Many contrasted this with their less positive experience of mental illness and mental health services. The women interviewed were active participants in their cancer treatment and did not report feeling stigmatised because of their mental health experiences. A lack of connection between cancer and mental health services was described, but this was not regarded as necessarily a bad thing. This study begins to counter the stereotypes of the difficult patient or the person unable to understand and cooperate in their own care which are prevalent in the literature. Further work is needed to understand the reasons for disparities in cancer outcomes.     

社会网络与城乡居民的身心健康

本文根据大型抽样社会调查的数据,集中讨论了个人的社会网络对其精神健康和身体健康的影响,以及这种影响在城乡居民之间的差异。研究结果发现,个人的社会网络规模对身心健康均起着积极作用：紧密度高、异质性低、强关系多的“核心网络”对精神健康有积极影响,而相反特征的松散网络则对身体健康更有利,个人在网络中的相对地位对精神健康起着积极作用。此外,社会网络对健康的作用在农村地区表现得更为明显。作者还进一步讨论了这些研究发现的理论与政策意义。     

Two‐dimensional mental health and related predictors among adolescents in Korea

This study examined whether the factor structure of mental health consists of two dimensions (positive and negative mental health) and whether the two dimensions are associated with different predictors. For this purpose, data from the 471 adolescents who participated in the 2012 Children Supplementary Survey of Korean Welfare Panel Study were used. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the two‐factor correlated model fits the data significantly better than the one‐factor model. Multivariate analyses revealed that factors associated with positive mental health differ from factors associated with negative mental health. These findings suggest that mental health professionals should consider the dual structure of subjective well‐being and suicidal ideation in the process of assessment and intervention.     

Group Work: Theories and Practices by Siddiqui,H. Y.

This paper describes the use of structured board games as the sole program activity for a small group of maladap- tive Israeli adolescent boys in attendance at a socio-educational community center. The extensive use of groups by non-social work center staff necessitated intensive pre-group planning which included consideration of the setting, the social worker's role, the abilities of otential group members and the classifica- tion and selection orgames. The group met for ten weeks with the social worker actively participating in the games. Positive changes were reported and both emotional growth and behavior change were vistble to the boys and the staff.     

Changes in flourishing from adolescence to young adulthood: An 8-year follow-up

Most research on mental health among adolescents and young adults concentrates on understanding mental illness. However, mental health is more than the absence of mental illness. Among adolescents and young adults, positive mental health—a combination of emotional, social and psychological well-being—is related to higher prosocial behaviour, school integration and self-concept. However, much of the research on positive mental health among young adults has been with college students. Limited research has examined the presence and correlates of positive mental health, or flourishing, among a nationally representative sample of US young adults. This study extended from another researcher's original examination of positive mental health among US adolescents to describe the prevalence of flourishing among these same individuals in young adulthood. Our sample included 1090 individuals from the 2011 Panel Study of Income Dynamics Transition into Adulthood Supplement. Univariate and bivariate tests were used to describe the prevalence of flourishing during young adulthood and changes from adolescence to young adulthood. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the relationships among indicators of healthy development and flourishing. Results suggest that flourishing improved during the transition into young adulthood and that targeting factors like life skills and civic engagement may enhance flourishing.     

Attachment and Coping Strategies in Middle Childhood Children whose Mothers Have a Mental Health Problem: Implications for Social Work Practice

Mental health has implications for the quality of relationshipswithin a family, particularly between parents and children,but also between other family and non-family members. Previousresearch has investigated parental reports of attachment infamilies with mental health problems, but relationship representationsas experienced by these children, especially in middle childhood,have not been so frequently investigated. An understanding ofchildren’s representations of attachment relationshipsand the different coping strategies that may result is importantfor social work practice when offering support, not only tothe children, but also other family members. Methods of investigatingattachment, such as the Separation Anxiety Test, have been usedto understand the relationship issues, fears and coping strategiesof other vulnerable children, and this study was designed specificallyto investigate relationship issues in middle childhood childrenwhose mothers had previously been hospitalized with mental healthproblems. We found that these children tended to be less emotionallyopen and secure, and generated fewer adaptive coping strategiesthan children whose mothers had never had mental health problems.Other themes also emerged from the interviews, such as a senseof trust in the parent–child relationship and the ‘containment’of fears. Implications for social work practice are discussed.     

USE OF GROUPS AT INTAKE

In 1976, Children's Center, like many public mental health centers, had long waiting lists for service. In response to this need, a group intake and orientation program was developed. After screening, clients with mild to moderate problems were assigned to "Group Intake," where a general orientation is presented and simple screening tests are administered, followed by a diagnostic conference. The majority of clients then proceed to the "GO Group, " a structured group designed to deliver immediate problem-solving assistance. The impact of these group therapy projects on clients, staff, and overall outpatient programming has been dramatic: waiting lists were almost immediately eliminated, clients expressed positive responses about the program, staff experienced increased group practice, and graduate students benefited from the training. Specific procedures used and experiences of the staff are presented as well as a review of of the history of other agencies establishing the program.