People with intellectual and developmental disabilities sometimes engage in challenging behaviours. When behaviours escalate to the point where they pose imminent risk to the safety of people and environments, a crisis occurs that jeopardises community living and participation. In these situations, timely access to crisis stabilisation services is…

The prevalence of mental health and emotional well-being difficulties in children is increasing, and schools play a key role in addressing this. Whole-school approaches have been suggested as an effective way of supporting children's mental health and well-being; however, there appears to be no consistent approach to their evaluation, and…

In times of crisis, schools are expected to help students deal with the situation and any help offered should consider the social and emotional problems arising from the critical event. Therefore, school-based activities enabling children to recognize the experience and work through it are essential to sustain their normal development and prevent…

Objectives: The authors aim to summarize the pedagogical approaches and curriculum used in the training of researchers in cultural psychiatry at the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University. Method: We reviewed available published and unpublished reports on the history and development of the McGill cultural psychiatry…

Bertram S. Brown, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, discusses conflicts between scientific and value dimensions of evaluation. He relates this conflict to: usefulness of mental health program evaluations; conduct of internal evaluations; release of findings; training; rating of reports; and planned change consultation.…

Compares the codes of ethics of 13 professional organizations for community mental health service providers. Results suggest that only two of the codes of ethics address many of the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing." Provides implications and recommendations for professional organizations. (Contains 20 references and…

Discusses computerized management information systems (MIS) data in mental health program evaluation. Using an actual evaluation with data from the Multi-State Information System as an example, practical problems in collecting and assembling useful information are presented. MIS data can be useful; however, care must be taken to assure the quality…

College student personnel and mental health workers need psychological education programs whose effectiveness can be empirically verified. This report describes such a program in sufficient detail to give professionals a clear model for study and application to their particular populations. Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory was used to…

A review found that only 15 Canadian youth suicide programs were evaluated over the last decade. Descriptions of the programs were incomplete and theoretical bases for programs were not presented. Only two programs led to a reduction in suicidal behavior. Suggests that future evaluative research needs to place greater emphasis on content and…

Premature application of quantitative indicators formerly used for individual assessment and research to bureaucratic decision making can produce side effects that are dysfunctional in nature. In order to illustrate this phenomenon, the author reviews a general literature and utilizes examples form mental health care. (Author/BW)

Describes conceptual framework for mini-series on mental health programming. Model includes five components considered to be critical for comprehensive and effective programming. Components include: action research, ecological perspective of program development, collaborative/participatory approach, prevention to treatment via mental health…

From mid 1998 to mid 1999, The Australian Network for Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health (Auseinet) provided funding and intensive support for eight agencies that provide services to young people to reorient an aspect of their service to an early intervention approach. The agencies developed a range of tailored,…

Background: Schools are in a unique position not only to identify mental health problems among children and adolescents but also to provide links to appropriate services. This article describes the characteristics of school mental health and social services in the United States, including state- and district-level policies and school practices.…

A literature review describes evaluation activities in mental health services in financial, programmatic/clinical, and new constituency areas. Expanding reimbursement for alternative mental health services is offered as a way of developing a formal structure to ensure better utilization of evaluation results. (SLD)

Studies corporate in-house, human resource programs. Suggests these programs provide psychological assistance for problems considered to be normal episodes of human development. Proposes most of the developmental crises encountered by the corporate psychologist are associated with stress, midlife, or career development. (Author)