The College Student Psychiatric Emergency: II Diagnosis and Disposition

Abstract

Student psychiatric emergencies are a cause of great concern on college campuses, and they merit further study. The authors elucidate some of the characteristics of 1,156 visits to a hospital psychiatric emergency department made by 933 students over an eight-year period. The diagnoses given to students in emergencies were found to be equally divided among psychosis, neurosis, personality disorder, and “other.” Only about 30% of the students' visits to the psychiatric emergency department resulted in admission to the hospital; the implications, for college mental health programs, of having 70% of psychiatric emergencies returned to campus is discussed.

“Prevention of Acute Mountain Sickness by Dexamethasone,” T. Scott Johnson, et al. Acute mountain sickness is a syndrome that occurs when unacclimatized persons ascend rapidly to high altitudes. It is postulated that cerebral edema causes its symptoms. Since dexamethasone is useful in treating some forms of cerebral edema, we investigated its role in the prevention of acute mountain sickness. Using a double-blind crossover design, we exposed eight young men to a simulated altitude of 4570 m (15,000 ft) on two occasions. By random assignment, each subject received dexamethasone (4 mg every 6 hours) or placebo for 48 hours before and throughout the 42-hour exposure. The presence of symptoms of acute mountain sickness was established by two methods: a questionnaire and an interview by a physician. Dexamethasone significantly reduced the symptoms of acute mountain sickness. During dexamethasone treatment, the cerebral-symptom score (mean ± S.E.) decreased from 1.09 ± 0.18 to 0.26 ± 0.08, and the respiratory-symptom score decreased from 0.64 ± 0.09 to 0.31 ± 0.06 (both, P < 0.05). As judged by the interviewing physician, the symptom score decreased from 1.10 ± 0.11 to 0.28 ± 0.07 (P = 0.01). We conclude that dexamethasone may be effective in preventing the symptoms of acute mountain sickness. (New England Journal of Medicine 1984;310:683–6.)     

The College Student Psychiatric Emergency: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

The authors utilized computerized records of a psychiatric emergency department to study the nature of psychiatric emergencies among college students. The 1156 visits made by students over an eight-year period are described using demographic variables, times of visit, and accompaniment. Implications of the findings for campus administrators and mental health service providers are discussed.     

Psychiatric Symptomatology in a Deaf College Population Affecting Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

As the mental health needs of the deaf receive increased recognition, issues of diagnosis and treatment become vital. Several characteristic behavioral patterns are frequently encountered which often confuse diagnosis, particularly in clinicians inexperienced with hearing-impaired individuals. These behavioral characteristics of suspiciousness, the use of odd or idiosyncratic language, difficulties in expression of affects, and acting out behaviors may create a tendency to overdiagnose serious mental illness. In addition, an understanding of the impact of deafness on an individual's personality development is crucial to an intelligent choice of treatment approach. These difficult issues of differential diagnosis and treatment are discussed in the context of the psychotherapeutic experiences of a hearing and nonsigning clinician working with deaf college students.     

Editorial Note: Referees

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area.     

The Role of a Psychiatric Pharmacist in College Health

Abstract

Published evidence indicates there is a growing prevalence of psychiatric illnesses on college campuses, and that approximately one quarter of students may be taking psychotropic medications. But attracting and retaining experienced mental health care professionals to college health settings is a challenging task. The psychiatric pharmacist is one professional resource that can serve as both a clinical and educational consultant for college mental health services. A pilot psychiatric pharmacist service project is described.     

College Student Behavior: A Ten-Year Look

Abstract

Lester and Perez¹ have suggested that student behavior can be usefully construed in terms of a traditional-hedonic, implicit value system. They demonstrated that drug use and sexual activity provide simple behavioral anchors for this dimension, and observed an increasingly hedonic orientation among students. Ten years after their initial study, the student population at the same institution was again sampled using an anonymous questionnaire. The 1980 sample included 208 subjects, and these were compared with 688 subjects who responded to the 1970 survey. This comparison was supplemented by an intensive week-long study of 53 students within one campus living unit.

Significant increases in pre-college sexual activity were noted for both men and women. Marijuana use in high school also increased for both men and women during this period, while alcohol use increased only among women. Previously observed differences between male and female pre-college sexual activity and marijuana use had largely disappeared by 1980. Significant increases in sexual activity while in college were found for women but not for men. For men, overall marijuana and alcohol use in college did not change during the study period, but there was an increase in the frequent use of these drugs. Increases in all categories of marijuana use were noted among women, along with overall increases in their alcohol use. The significant differences between male and female marijuana use noted in the 1970 study were absent in 1980. The intensive week-long study revealed that alcohol use was part of the daily lives of one-third to two-thirds of the students sampled, although they reported interpersonal conflicts, absences from class, accidents, and injuries among the consequences of their drinking. A significant inverse relationship between sleep and alcohol use was observed among women, but not among men.

These data suggest that student behavior has become increasingly hedonic during the past ten years, with women in particular closing the gap which previously differentiated their behavior from that of their male peers. Institutions of higher learning must take these changes into account in the planning of academic programs, residential life, and health services.     

高职院校学生顶岗实习之浅见

高职院校学生顶岗实习是一项新的教学环节,也是培养面向第一线需要的,实践能力强,具有良好职业道德的高技能、高素质人才的实践性教学环节。通过实践,取得了一些经验,为高职院校学生顶岗实习打下了基础。     

School Spillover and College Student Health

This article uses a stress carryover perspective to examine the association between school spillover and mental and behavioral health outcomes among college undergraduates. School spillover occurs when the obligations and pressures of student life extend into other domains through shared behaviors or stress. The sample (N = 250) consisted of undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 29 enrolled at a midsized midwestern university. Findings showed that on average, students reported a moderate level of school spillover. Among mental health outcomes, school spillover was positively associated with feeling nervous, restless or fidgety, worthless, depressed, and hopeless. Among behavioral health outcomes, results showed that school spillover was negatively associated with sleep hours per night and positively associated with number of sex partners. Contrary to past empirical studies, school spillover was not significantly associated with drinking or binge drinking. Findings have implications for those who work in student support and campus mental health services.     

大学生社团与马克思主义大众化

大学生社团作为学生自发形成的以共同志趣、爱好为出发点的非正式群体组织,具有独特的价值导向功能,是高校推动马克思主义大众化的有效载体。以大学生社团为载体推动高校马克思主义大众化,不仅是重要的,而且是可行的。     

The Price of Opportunity: Race,Student Loan Debt,and College Achievement

This paper examines racial differences in student loan debt and concurrently assesses the potential payoffs and countervailing risks inherent in reliance on loans in a cohort of black and white first‐year college students. Using the 1996–2001 Beginning Postsecondary Student study we find that the use of loans results in greater enrollment persistence and higher odds of college completion, especially for black students. However, black students acquire larger amounts of student loan debt and face a higher risk of default than white students. This is in part due to associated racial differences in family socioeconomic status and type of institution attended. We suggest these findings illuminate the dual‐sided nature of college loans that makes them an imperfect, but overall positive, tool for reducing educational inequality. On the one hand, student loans reduce educational inequality that otherwise results from disadvantaged students' struggles to pay for college and complete college in a timely fashion. At the same time, the degree to which loans reduce racial inequality is diminished by black students' higher loan amounts, the large number of black students who borrow but do not finish college, and the large racial difference in the odds of defaulting on a loan.     

Disability Services and College Students with Psychiatric Disabilities

Abstract

Weiner (1999) has suggested that the process of accepting a disability and its associated limitations is often protracted for students with psychiatric disabilities, thus leaving many students unable to fully participate in services or in the design of academic accommodations. This research examines the relationship between psychiatric disability identity and use of academic accommodation services for 57 undergraduates with psychiatric impairments who are experiencing problems in their academic functioning. Willingness to utilize services was related to students' identification as having a psychiatric disability. Social work interventions are needed to support students in accepting psychiatric disabilities while concurrently crafting necessary accommodations.     

Social Support and College Student Contraceptive Use

The present study investigated the relative levels of four sources of perceived support for contraceptive use-mother, father, best same-sex friend, sexual partner-and motivation to comply with influence from those sources by young men and women who used or did not use effective contraception. Overall, best friend and coital partner were perceived as providing the most support, and the same-sex parent the least. However, among nonusers of effective contraception, best friend support exceeded partner support, which was seen as no greater than parental support. Only partner support was related to contraceptive use, and motivation to comply with partner was greater than for the other sources. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.     

学分制下医科院校学生工作的思考

针对医科院校实行学分制后学生工作观念的变化、管理体制的变化、可控性降低、"个性化"使学生的集体意识、团结协作和进取精神淡化等问题,提出了转变观念,改革学生工作内容、体制的具体措施。     

Family Size and College Aspirations: A Note on Catholic-Protestant Differences

Data from a study of college aspirations among 40,000 Minnesota adolescents indicate that the relationship of family size to aspirations is somewhat higher among Protestants than Catholics. Overall aspirational differences between religious groups are minor. Further analysis suggests that these differences are probably not a function of financial capacities but rather of more basic socialization practices. The data are used to illustrate an alternative approach in analyzing the relevance of religion to contemporary society: examining processual differences between religious groups rather than concentrating only on outcomes–such as net differences in aspirations. The paper concludes by speculating that social process may be critical in distinguishing Protestants from Catholics but has generally been neglected in contemporary research on religion.     

College Time: Implications for Student Mental Health Services

Abstract

Time conditions on campus are in many ways extreme and contribute to the distinctiveness and stress of the college or university experience. This paper studies college time by examining the variables of duration, change, and degree of structure across the perspectives of the overall college career, the course of a single semester, and day to day student life. The most salient features that are identified are the interruptions in the college experience caused by vacations and leaves from campus, the extent and pace of change both over the college career and over the semester, and the lack of a set time structure in daily student life. These and other time features, it is proposed, have a dual effect on student mental health services, influencing the content and timing of students' issues in psychotherapy and the nature of the psychotherapy that mental health offices provide. In light of the special features of college time, recommendations are offered regarding waiting lists, duration of therapy, distribution of sessions, scheduling of sessions, and time-based evaluations and interventions.

“Primary Plague Pneumonia Contracted from a Domestic Cat at South Lake Tahoe, Calif,” S. Benson Werner, et al. Primary plague pneumonia occurred in a 47-year-old South Lake Tahoe woman shortly after face-to-face exposure to her plague pneumonia-infected cat. Both died. Field investigation revealed a recent plague epizootic in squirrels and chipmunks around the patient's home. Control measures included active surveillance and chemoprophylaxis of 197 contacts to the victim, a community alert on methods of self- and pet-protection, and application of insecticide to reduce rodent flea populations. No secondary cases occurred. (Journal of the American Medical Association 1984;251:929–931.)     

The Virtuous Drinker: Character Virtues as Correlates and Moderators of College Student Drinking and Consequences

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined the relationship between alcohol use and positive psychology's character virtues ¹ Peterson, C and Seligman, M EP. 2004. Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook of Classification, Oxford: University Press.  [Google Scholar] in a college student sample. Each of the virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence were examined as protective factors and moderators of drinking consequences. Participants: This sample included 425 undergraduate students at a large Northwest University (69% female; 52% Caucasian, 34% Asian). Methods: Participants completed paper and pencil questionnaires during October and November 2006 in exchange for extra credit in psychology classes. Results: Higher temperance scores were associated with abstinence, lower risk drinking, and fewer consequences among heavy drinkers; both increased justice and transcendence were independently associated with abstinence only; and wisdom, courage, and humanity were not associated with any outcomes. Conclusions: The associations between virtues and college student drinking support a collaboration between addictive behaviors and positive psychology to address college student drinking and minimize consequences.     

College Health Professionals and Academic Librarians: Collaboration for Student Health

College health professionals must find new ways of educating students on finding and evaluating consumer health information, specifically in the online environment. Librarians are trained as information professionals; however, librarians at general academic libraries are not taking a lead role in providing consumer health information. Objective: The authors' purpose in this research was to determine the health information resource needs of college and university students and provide a model for collaboration between college health professionals and academic librarians. Participants and Methods: The authors compared data from a national survey on college health (N = 54,111) with their own results from a survey of general academic librarians (N = 17) to create recommendations for synching students' reported health information needs with librarians' resources. Results: Although the Internet was students' second most-often consulted health information source, they ranked the believability of online health information above only television. In the librarian survey, although 12 respondents indicated that health information provision is a library's responsibility, the majority (n = 11) believed their library's consumer health outreach to be passive. Conclusions: The authors offer recommendations for partnerships between college healthcare professionals and academic librarians to better provide this information to students.