Depression in the Profession: Social Workers' Experiences and Perceptions

This study reports the findings of interviews with fifty socialworkers who volunteered to describe their personal experiencesof depression in the workplace. The findings confirm the literatureon the stresses of social work and provide an account of theways in which the social workers sought to reconcile their mentalhealth needs with their role as professionals. The study suggeststhe potential for those working at all levels in social workagencies to support social workers who are experiencing depression.At a time of shortages in the profession in the UK, and of effortsto enable those with mental health problems to remain in orreturn to work, the experiences of those social workers interviewedillustrate the managerial, training and human resource imperativesto provide more supportive workplaces.     

Taxonomy of mediated crisis responses

This paper examines how organizations integrate the Internet into crisis communication. The findings of a 7-year longitudinal study provide a taxonomy explaining how mediated communication creates new possibilities for crisis response. We translate the study findings into suggestions for how public relations managers can integrate new communication media into their mix of communication tactics in crisis and risk management.     

Discounting and the evaluation of lifesaving programs

The evaluation of lifesaving programs whose benefits extend into the future involves two discounting issues. The intragenerational discounting problem is how to express, in age-j dollars, reductions in an individual's conditional probability of dying at some future age k. Having discounted future lifesaving benefits to the beginning of each individual's life, one is faced with the problem of discounting these benefits to the present—the intergenerational discounting problem. We discuss both problems from the perspectives of cost-benefit and costeffectiveness analyses. These principles are then applied to lifesaving programs that involve a latency period.The authors are, respectively, Associate Professor of Economics, Univesity of Maryland and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future; and Senior Fellow and Vice President, Resources for the Future. We thank the National Science Foundation for their support under grant DIR-8711083.     

HIV seroprevalence and clinical characteristics of severe inpatient mentally Ill homeless

Two related studies were carried out at a state psychiatric center unit designed for the long-term hospitalization of homeless mentally ill people removed from the streets of New York City and taken to hospitals for psychiatric treatment. The first study, a chart review of 102 patients, documented high rates of severe psychiatric illness, alcohol and other substance use, and untreated medical problems. Patient histories showed significant social disadvantages, including high rates of criminal activity and inability to complete high school or establish long-term relationships. Our second study anonymously tested 87 patients between the ages of 18 and 59 for the presence of HIV antibodies. An overall seroprevalence rate of 5.8% is reported. Men and women in this population are likely to have similar rates of HIV infection. Being young, and Black, or Hispanic appears to be associated with increased risk. This disenfranchised population urgently needs a broad array of social, medical, and psychiatric services. Assertive community outreach programs are necessary to assure delivery of services to this population.     

Trauma adapted family connections: reducing developmental and complex trauma symptomatology to prevent child abuse and neglect

Families living in urban poverty, enduring chronic and complex traumatic stress, and having difficulty meeting their children's basic needs have significant child maltreatment risk factors. There is a paucity of family focused, trauma-informed evidence-based interventions aimed to alleviate trauma symptomatology, strengthen family functioning, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Trauma Adapted Family Connections (TA-FC) is a manualized trauma-focused practice rooted in the principles of Family Connections (FC), an evidence supported preventive intervention developed to address the glaring gap in services for this specific, growing, and underserved population. This paper describes the science based development of TA-FC, its phases and essential components, which are based on theories of attachment, neglect, trauma, and family interaction within a comprehensive community-based family focused intervention framework.     

Efficacy of a web-based, tailored, alcohol prevention/intervention program for college students: 3-month follow-up

This study presents the results of an efficacy evaluation of a web-based brief motivational alcohol prevention/intervention program called Michigan Prevention and Alcohol Safety for Students (M-PASS). Four on-line sessions providing individually-tailored feedback were delivered to first-year college students over 9 weeks. Non- and low-risk drinking participants received risk prevention, while high-risk drinking participants received a risk-reduction intervention. Both intervention and control groups were surveyed at baseline and at a 3-month follow-up. Analysis showed positive effects for both men and women on stage of change, drinking behavior, drinking motivation and attitudes, and use of risk-reduction strategies. These results provided evidence of efficacy and found that M-PASS had both intervention and prevention effects, making it unique among currently developed brief alcohol interventions for college students.     

Using a Community Participatory Research Approach to Understand Satisfaction with Psychopharmacology Among Families of Children with Psychiatric Co-Morbidities

How do parents of children with psychiatric co-morbidities perceive their children’s use of psychiatric medications? To learn more, the Parent/Professional Advocacy League of Massachusetts (PAL), representing families of children with mental health needs, collaborated with researchers on a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study. A questionnaire assessed satisfaction with psychiatric medication as it pertained to children with psychiatric co-morbidities (n = 212). Satisfied parents were likely to employ alternative therapies and feel that prescribers had informed them about medication use and side effects. Results reinforce the need for prescribers to discuss psychopharmacology with families. CBPR improved study relevance and supported PAL’s advocacy efforts.