This report is the first phase of a larger project to generate indicators of disparities in care and unmet need in Alaska. It provides prevalence estimates of serious behavioral health disorders. Prevalence estimates provide a standardized basis for defining the need for services in a population. The second phase of this larger project assesses the number of individuals who actually receive services. The third phase combines the information to generate indicators of unmet need and disparities in care. The project is an initiative of the Division of Behavioral Health (the Division) of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The Division contracted with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program to facilitate the project. Phase I prevalence estimates were generated by an epidemiologist who has developed a technology specifically for this purpose. The synthetic estimation technology has been used for mental disorders by ten western states; Alaska is the first to use the substance use estimates.
Abuse of women in domestic relationships has become an epidemic. Research studies have documented that abuse does not end when a woman with children leaves the abuser but, in fact, the danger increases. A father's legal right to custody of and access to his children and the children's bond with their father prevent a woman from truly breaking free of her abuser. Theoretical literature has addressed how custody and access can serve as a means for an abuser to continue his abuse and expose his children to ongoing abuse and discord. Research on how custody and access issues are affecting abused women is limited. Key details about this phenomenon are not known. Hence, a research study using the qualitative methodology of phenomenology was conducted on abused women's experiences with custody and access and the ongoing exposure to abusive ex-partners. Six single mothers who had left abusive relationships and were at the time sharing custody of and/or access to their children with their abusive ex-partners participated in the study. Unstructured, non-directive interviews were conducted. Direction for analysis was taken from the specific steps outlined by Giorgi. Data analysis revealed that all of the women were living in great fear for their safety and that of their children. The ongoing danger and stress of living with the restrictions of the law took its toll on the women and ultimately affected their physical health and psychological well-being. The women described their experiences as having four components: (1) safety--living with ongoing danger; (2) stress--living with the restrictions of the law and the legal system; (3) coping--social support systems; and (4) to heal and move forward in life.
To assess the acceptability and face validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHOs) located in the greater Sydney region.
A qualitative study was conducted in three ACCHOs located within the greater Sydney region in 2008-2009. A semi-structured approach was used in focus groups and small group interviews (n = 47) to elicit participants' views on the appropriateness of the SDQ and any additional issues of importance to Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health.
The SDQ was found to cover many important aspects of Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health, however, the wording of some questions was considered ambiguous and some critical issues are not explored. The peer relationships subscale did not appear to fit well with Aboriginal concepts of the relative importance of different interpersonal relationships.
Overall the SDQ was acceptable in ACCHOs in Sydney; however, changes to the wording of some questions and the response scale may be indicated to improve cultural appropriateness and clarity. A further set of issues which are not covered by any commonly used screening tools but are of critical importance to Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health should also be considered by clinicians.
Psychophysiology Laboratory, State Research Institute of Physiology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 4 Timakov Street, 630117, Novosibirsk, Russia.
The aim of the present work was to identify possible associations between individual balances in the activity of the positive and negative reinforcement motivation systems using a method based on emotional modulation of the startle reaction (EMSR) by motivationally significant emotionally positive and negative contextual visual stimuli and measures of cardiovascular system activity. Studies were performed using healthy males (mean age 30.29 +/- 9.8 years) with normal and first-episode excessive increases in arterial blood pressure (systolic blood pressure to greater than 140 mmHg, diastolic to greater than 90 mmHg). Cluster analysis of EMSR data identified groups of individuals with different activity profiles for the positive and negative reinforcement systems. Groups of subjects with changes in the balance of activity towards a lower level of positive reinforcement system activity (smaller startle reflexes to positive contextual stimuli) or a higher level of negative reinforcement system activity (larger startle reactions to threatening contextual stimuli) showed significantly greater baseline SBP and DBP. The possible mechanisms of the modulatory influences of the balance of system activities on autonomic vascular regulatory processes are discussed.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5-10 percent of all fertile women and is associated with anovulation/oligoovulation, hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovaries. Pharmacological treatment is often effective but associated with unwanted side effects. Acupuncture treatments have been shown to improve menstrual bleeding patterns and ovulation as well as hyperandrogenism, without side effects. The purpose of the present study was to describe the experience of acupuncture for women diagnosed with PCOS.
Eight women with PCOS living in western Sweden, were interviewed following repeated acupuncture treatments. Data was analyzed using systematic text condensation as described by Malterud.
The experience of acupuncture for women diagnosed with PCOS can be described in five categories; the experience of hope, getting results, feelings of responsibility, skepticism and proof of effect, and feeling normal.
Since acupuncture is a promising treatment for the symptoms of the common syndrome PCOS, the present study adds to the knowledge base by providing the important experiences of patients receiving the treatment. Acupuncture provides a possibility for patients to gain hope as the treatment shows results. The results show that acupuncture empowers the patients to take responsibility for their future well-being, although they may have been initially skeptical to the treatment. Because the syndrome had affected them for some time, even small changes offered a chance for them to feel that their bodies were capable of normal function.
The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of lived experiences after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and being a partner to an afflicted woman, as it is narrated during rehabilitation. Nine women and their partners narrated their experiences three and twelve months after AMI. The interview texts were transcribed and then interpreted, using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method inspired by the philosophy of Ricoeur. The result showed that their experiences of the illness contained two themes: 'rehabilitation needed' and 'loss of freedom' which contains eight sub-themes; 'adapting to it', 'struggling against it', 'living as normally as possible', 'having insight into how it can be', 'feeling guilty and ashamed about being weak', 'withholding feelings', 'feeling useless', and 'feeling fatigued and losing strength'. After further interpretation, the themes gave a deeper meaning of living with AMI and how it affects women and their partners. The women conceded that they felt distressed and vulnerable but struggled against the fear the illness means. The partner's role appears to be one of trying to adapt to the women's experiences of the illness. That the women withheld their feelings and did not talk about them indicates a lack of communication between the couples. As coronary care nurses often come very close both to the afflicted persons and the relatives they fill an important function in each patient's recovery. The nurses could help and prepare the patients and their relatives to understand better such feelings and reactions as could appear after discharge from hospital.
Adding "Circle of Security - Parenting" to treatment as usual in three Swedish infant mental health clinics. Effects on parents' internal representations and quality of parent-infant interaction.
This study presents effects of adding Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) to an already established comprehensive therapeutic model for early parent-child intervention in three Swedish infant mental health (IMH) clinics. Parents' internal representations and quality of parent-infant interaction were studied in a clinical sample comprised of 52 parent-infant dyads randomly allocated to two comparable groups. One group consisted of 28 dyads receiving treatment as usual (TAU) supplemented with COS-P in a small group format, and another group of 24 dyads receiving TAU only. Assessments were made at baseline (T1), 6 months after inclusion (T2) and 12 months after inclusion (T3). Changes over time were explored in 42 dyads. In the COS-P group, the proportion of balanced representations, as assessed with Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI), significantly increased between T1 and T3. Further, the proportion of emotionally available interactions, as assessed with Emotional Availability scales (EA), significantly increased over time in the COS-P group. Improvements in the TAU-group were close to significant. Limitations of the study are mainly related to the small sample size. Strength is the real world character of the study, where COS-P was implemented in a clinical context not otherwise adapted to research. We conclude by discussing the value of supplementing TAU with COS-P in IMH treatment.
In a Russian Orthodox Church drug rehabilitation program in St. Petersburg, drug addiction was often described as a disease of frozen feelings. This image suggests that rehabilitation is a process of thawing emotional worlds and, thus, allows the emotions to flow once again. In this article I argue that "frozen feelings" is better understood as the unsocial emotional worlds many drug users experience, and that rehabilitation in this church-run program particularly focuses on the cultivation of an emotional world that supports sociality. This is done, I argue, by means of ethically training rehabilitants to learn how to control and manage their emotional worlds, and in so doing, rehabilitants become new moral persons better able to live in the social world.
This study investigated the role of friendships and social acceptance in self-perceptions of appearance and depressive symptoms, comparing adolescents with and without a facial difference. Adolescents with a visible cleft (n=196) were compared with adolescents with a non-visible cleft (n=93), and with a comparison group (n=1832). Boys with a visible difference reported significantly more positive perceptions of friendships and less depressive symptoms than the comparison group. These results were interpreted in the context of indicators of emotional resilience. The objective measure of facial difference did not explain levels of depressive symptoms, while subjective measures did. Subjective ratings of appearance mediated the association between social acceptance and depressive symptoms in all samples. Gender did not contribute in explaining the paths between friendships, appearance, and depressive symptoms. The associations between perceptions of social acceptance, appearance, and emotional distress, support the possible utility of strengthening social experiences in preventing and treating appearance-concerns.
