Pictures in the classroom: can teachers and mental health professionals identify maltreated children's drawings?

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether teachers and mental health professionals are able to identify drawings produced by maltreated children, at a level greater than chance, when these drawings are presented to them at the same time as drawings created by non‐maltreated matched control children. In a relatively small study, a group of 33 mental health practitioners (MHPs) and a group of 10 teachers were shown sets of drawings and asked whether they could identify the maltreated children's drawings. It was found that there was no significant difference between mental health practitioner and teacher groups in identifying child maltreatment from Favourite Kind of Day Drawings (FKDs) (Manning, 1987) and Kinetic Family Drawings (KFD) (Burns and Kaufman, 1970). The results also point to the KFD as a more reliable drawing technique, but only when it is known that maltreatment is definitely present, and in a situation with no a priori knowledge it should not be used for the identification of maltreatment. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do changes in income,employment and health insurance affect family mental health spending?

Using eight two-year panels from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data for the period 2004 to 2012, we examine the effect of economic shocks on mental health spending by families with children. Estimating two-part expenditure models within the correlated random effects framework, we find that employment shocks have a greater impact on mental health spending than do income or health insurance shocks. Our estimates reveal that employment gains are associated with a lower likelihood of family mental health services utilization. By contrast employment losses are positively related to an increase in total family mental health. We do not detect a link between economic shocks and mental health spending on behalf of fathers.

     

How does language affect decision-making in social interactions and decision biases?

This paper investigates how communication in a particular language affects decision-making in social interactions and risk preferences. We test two competing hypotheses: the cognitive accessibility hypothesis, and the expectation-based hypothesis. The cognitive accessibility hypothesis argues that communication in a particular language will activate the underlying cultural frame and affect behavior. The expectation-based hypothesis argues that different languages will induce different expectations regarding the choices of others and affect behavior. We test these two hypotheses using an extensive range of behaviors in a set of incentivized experiments with bilingual subjects in Chinese and English. We find that the subjects are more prosocial in strategic interaction games (trust games) when the experiments are conducted in Chinese. However, no treatment effects are observed in the individual choice games on social preference. The results are more in line with the expectation-based hypothesis.     

How do adults with intellectual disabilities use Facebook?

Social networking sites have potential to support social relationships and self-determination of people with intellectual disabilities. However, to date, this issue has received little research attention. To help address this need, we conducted an online research survey to reach adults with intellectual disabilities who use Facebook and to include their voices about their online experiences, challenges, and preferences. We used mixed methods for data collection and analysis. Results from 58 respondents indicated that they use Facebook much as non-disabled users do to connect with family members and real-world friends. At the same time, the respondents reported challenges such as privacy setting and literacy demands. We discuss these findings and how to make social networking sites more accessible for users with intellectual disabilities.     

Outcomes in the sociology of mental health and illness: where have we been and where are we going?

Sociologists of mental health and illness have traditionally used outcome measures that they have obtained from other disciplines, especially psychiatry and psychology. These include official statistics, symptom scales, and diagnostic measures. Answers to the central sociological question of how social arrangements affect mental health might require the development of explicitly sociological outcome measures. This introduction provides an overview of several issues that arise in grappling with this question. These include whether symptom scales or diagnoses best capture the mental health consequences of social arrangements; when single or multiple outcomes are necessary to compare the consequences of social arrangements across different groups; if sociologists should explore the positive as well as the negative consequences of social forces; and when sociological attention should be directed toward social-level as well as individual-level outcomes. The papers in this symposium that follow provide more detailed analyses of each of these issues.     

Social context and adolescent health behavior: does school-level smoking prevalence affect students' subsequent smoking behavior?

This paper examines the links between individual adolescent smoking behavior and actual and perceived smoking behavior in the individual's school cohort. We hypothesized that students enrolled in schools with higher smoking prevalence among students in their grade are more likely to smoke subsequently. We also expected perceived school-level prevalence of smoking to have a greater impact than actual prevalence because the former is a more direct measure of perceived norms. Adjusting for demographics, actual school-level prevalence at baseline (grade 7) was strongly associated with smoking frequency one year later. However, the association disappeared after adjusting for individual smoking frequency at baseline. School-level prevalence did not moderate the association between individual's baseline and subsequent smoking frequency. Perceived prevalence of smoking among grade 8 students and two measures tapping the behavior of smaller peer groups--cigarette offers and exposure to friends and other peers who smoke--were associated with increased risk of smoking.     

Genetic counseling students’ experiences with mental illness during training: An exploratory study

Mental illness is a substantive issue for graduate students. We investigated experiences of mental illness during training among genetic counseling students, a subgroup of graduate students for which little data exists on this topic. Genetic counseling students and recent graduates (n?=?227) completed an online survey, from who 11 were selected to participate in semi-structured telephone interviews. Thematic analysis and member checking were employed to interpret the interviews. An overarching theme of importance to participants’ mental health during genetic counseling training was safety, with subthemes of: trust/confidentiality, stigma and fear of labeling, developing a unique professional identity, and ability to engage in self care strategies. Our data could help genetic counseling training programs develop strategies to support students’ mental health.     

How does inequality aversion affect inequality and redistribution?

We investigate the effects of inequality aversion on equilibrium labor supply, tax revenue, income inequality, and median voter outcomes in a society where agents have heterogeneous skill levels. These outcomes are compared to those which result from the behavior of selfish agents. A variant of Fehr-Schmidt preferences is employed that allows the externality from agents who are “ahead” to differ in magnitude from the externality from those who are “behind” in the income distribution. We find first, that inequality-averse preferences yield distributional outcomes that are analogous to tax-transfer schemes with selfish agents, and may either increase or decrease average consumption. Second, in a society of inequality-averse agents, a linear income tax can be welfare-enhancing. Third, inequality-averse preferences can lead to less redistribution at any given tax, with low-wage agents receiving smaller net subsidies and/or high-wage individuals paying less in net taxes. Finally, an inequality-averse median voter may prefer higher redistribution even if it means less utility from own consumption and leisure.     

I’m not playing: gamification,mental illness,and neoliberal subjectivity

ABSTRACT

For many researchers, medical professionals, and politicians, the gamification of mental health treatment is a possibly innovative and efficient means to utilise the popularity of gaming in order to help combat the ever-growing global rates of mental illness. Despite this optimism, critics of gamification point to this trend as an extension of neoliberal governance, warning that gamification only encourages the further quantification and control of life under metrics of utility, productivity, and competitiveness. Accordingly, this article critically examines the politics of gamifying mental healthcare, and the broader question of the link between play and mental health. By engaging with the works of Donald W. Winnicott, and a host of contemporary critical and cultural theorists, this article attempts to open up a space for considering the value of play and games for sufferers of mental illness, that resist the strictures of the neoliberal governance of play.     

How can occupational health services in Sweden contribute to work ability?

Occupational health service in Sweden is often described as an important and strategic resource to reduce work-related diseases, improve work ability and successfully assess improvement of the workplace. However, not much research has been done on how OHS contribute to reduced absence due to work-related illness or improvement of the work ability of employees. In our study, the ambition has been to describe how OHS can contribute and give effects in client companies. Fifteen companies considered to be good examples were selected in cooperation with the social partners. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with representatives of the company and OHS. The results show that efficient collaboration depend strongly on the relationship between the OHS and the company, and were highly correlated with a continuously dialogue and contact. Good occupational safety and health management at company level was a key factor for effective use of OHS. The strategic collaborations also often led to that OHSs contribution was gradually shifted from a reactive or medical focus to a more proactive approach. Several of the interviewed OHSs also held this strategy to work more with prevention, and focusing on "treating the organization", not the individual, leaving the executive measures to the company.     

‘We are not anything alike’: marginalization of health professionals with disabilities

Despite inclusive rhetoric, disabled peoples’ participation in the Health and Human Service (HHS) professions remains limited. This study explores the perspectives of individuals in the HHS sector regarding inclusion-related barriers and facilitators. We found three mechanisms that marginalize disabled people in HHS education and professions: dominant disabling discourses; discriminatory design within programmes and universities; and oppressive interactions. The inclusion of disabled individuals is vital for ensuring HHS professionals represent the populations they serve. By challenging the views of educators, professionals, and scholars, these findings may become part of the foundation upon which change can be created.     

Coping with perceived discrimination: does ethnic identity protect mental health?

Using data (N = 2,109) from a large-scale epidemiological study of Filipino Americans, this study examines whether ethnic identity is linked to mental health and reduces the stress of discrimination. The strength of identification with an ethnic group is found to be directly associated with fewer depressive symptoms. In other words, having a sense of ethnic pride, involvement in ethinic practices, and cultural commitment to one's racial/ethnic group may protect mental health. Self-reports of racial/ethnic discrimination over a lifetime and everyday discrimination in the past month not due to race/ethnicity are associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms. Yet ethnic identity buffers the stress of racial/ethnic discrimination. This suggests that ethnic identity is a coping resource for racial/ethnic minorities that should not be overlooked. The strong link between ethnic identity and better mental health has implications for social-psychological theories on race/ethnicity and assimilation in the United States.     

‘Widening cross-disciplinary research for mental health’: what is missing from the Research Councils UK mental health agenda?

This current issues article is a brief critical examination of the recent Research Councils UK agenda and call for cross-disciplinary research in mental health. Our argument is based on the fact that patient and public involvement (PPI) is the only involvement and influencing strategy for service users and survivors in the agenda. Service user and survivor research as a discipline in itself remains unacknowledged. We conclude that service user and survivor research is distinct and is different to PPI, and should be recognised in any mental health research agenda.     

The effectiveness of stigma coping orientations: can negative consequences of mental illness labeling be avoided?

Recent research has assigned a prominent role to labeling and stigma as factors that impair the social and psychological functioning of people officially labeled mentally ill. But can the effects of labeling and stigma be overcome by adopting a few simple approaches to coping with these problems? If so, the stigma-induced problems of social awkwardness, demoralization and unemployment emphasized by recent research may not be as severe as claimed. Using a sample of psychiatric patients, we examine this issue by assessing whether patients can ameliorate labeling effects by keeping their history of treatment a secret, educating others about their situation, or avoiding situations in which rejection might occur. None of these coping orientations were effective in diminishing negative labeling effects on unemployment or on psychological distress/demoralization. In fact, the three coping strategies show consistent effects in the direction of producing more harm than good, and with respect to withdrawal-avoidance this effect is significant. Based on these results we argue that stigma is powerfully reinforced by culture and that its effects are not easily overcome by the coping actions of individuals. Using C. Wright Mills's (1967) distinction we conclude that labeling and stigma are "social problems" not "individual troubles."     

Does perceived discrimination affect health? Longitudinal relationships between work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health

This study uses longitudinal data to examine the causal relationships between perceived work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health. Using data on 1,778 employed women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, we investigate the structural and individual characteristics that predict later perceptions of discrimination and the effects of those perceptions on subsequent health. We find that perceptions of discrimination are influenced by job attitudes, prior experiences of discrimination, and work contexts, but prior health is not related to later perceptions. However, perceptions of discrimination do impact subsequent health, and these effects remain significant after controlling for prior emotional health, physical health limitations, discrimination, and job characteristics. Overall, the results provide even stronger support for the health impact of workplace discrimination and suggest a need for further longitudinal analyses of causes and consequences of perceived discrimination.     

Black women’s mental health matters: Theoretical perspectives and future directions

Despite recent sociological research exploring how stratification systems impinge on the health of socially disadvantaged populations, Black women’s mental health is rarely a topic of investigation among scholars of medical sociology, sociology of race and racism, or sociology of gender. In this review, we incorporate perspectives from sociology, social psychiatry, psychology, and social work to develop a transdisciplinary intersectional model of Black women’s mental health. We also present critical interventions in the extant literature. First, though stress exposure is generally associated with poor mental health, more research is necessary to ascertain the gendered-racialized stressors to which Black women are exposed, owing to their racial and gender oppression. Second, we admonish mental health scholars to incorporate other status dimensions (e.g., nativity, sexual orientation, age) to provide a more nuanced depiction of Black women’s psychological health. Third, the unique and enduring relationship between the U.S. punishment system and the mental health of Black women should be further explicated in future research. Last, we envision a body of work on Black women’s mental health that captures the ways in which they cope with societal level marginalization, as these forms of resilience and resistance may be mental health protective.     

‘Inching’ towards interculturalism: ambiguities and tensions in teachers’ ideologies and practices in the context of Cyprus

ABSTRACT

This research examines teachers’ conceptualisations of diversity and intercultural education. It also investigates the teaching approaches adopted by teachers within their culturally diverse classrooms. More specifically, the current project investigates the following research questions: how do teachers define and understand the concept of intercultural education; what practices do they adopt (or not) to promote intercultural education in their classrooms; what barriers do they perceive in their efforts to teach in more intercultural ways; what are their suggestions for implementing intercultural education in more successful ways? Observations and interviews took place with twenty teachers from ten schools in Cyprus. Our data shows that two ideological positions co-existed in teachers’ discourses, namely: the monocultural approach (cultural-deficiency perspective), and the multicultural approach (cultural-celebratory perspective). We also examined how the ambiguities and contradictions in teachers’ ideologies influenced their teaching and practices. In their daily routines, teachers seemed to adopt a teaching-as-usual approach, while occasionally engaging in ‘intercultural moments’, which included their rare attempts to differentiate or add cultural content to their teaching.