Young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) account for approximately 10% of the total HIV infection in the United States but represent <1% of the population. Few interventions exist that address their unique needs, and those that do adopt a narrow, risk-based framework for prevention. Qualitative data from the Brothers Connect Study were…

Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

Background: Twenty-six young people with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs from Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities were recruited as part of a bigger study to examine the effectiveness of a liaison worker in helping young people and their families access appropriate intellectual disabilities and mental health services. Method:…

This paper is concerned with the problem that elderly persons do not seek or receive mental health services as frequently as their numbers or the incidence of mental health problems would indicate is appropriate. The report focuses on the identification of innovative mental health service delivery programs which have been designed to reach and to…

Issues involved in applying the needs assessment model of the Colorado Social Health Survey to planning and management in Massachusetts are reviewed. The methodology in this special issue provides a new paradigm for mental health needs assessment in general and will be valuable in the Massachusetts plan specifically. (SLD)

The health of women involves their emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, and physical well-being, and is influenced by social, political, and economic factors, as well as by biology. This definition of women's health provides a framework for a relevant and effective approach to patient education, health promotion, and disease prevention.…

Asserts that providing all students with an equal opportunity to succeed in school requires a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that addresses barriers to learning and teaching. Specifically addresses: (1) barriers to learning, development, and teaching; (2) moving to a three-component model for school reform; (3) an enabling component…

Implications of the Colorado Social Health Survey for indirect needs assessment in mental health planning and administration are discussed. The survey model parameters' generalizability to other areas of the nation should be investigated, as well as improved ways of linking specific populations to needs, preferences, and outcome dimensions. (SLD)

Service-planning issues necessary for successful implementation of an indirect needs-assessment model to estimate geographical differences in the prevalence of needs for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services are discussed. The issues include selection of need categories as target groups, estimation model selection, and understanding…

This issue of "Focal Point" describes the need for, and provides examples of, new strategies for meeting the mental health needs of children and adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system. Articles in this issue discuss the particular need for correction in the way that the juvenile justice system interacts with youth who have mental…

A summary is provided of a large-scale needs assessment research project in Colorado that tested the validity of several statistical procedures or models for indirectly estimating the need for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services across geographic subregions using a Colorado Social Health Survey sample of 4,745 adults. (SLD)

The Children's Aid Society believes that innovative funding models should be used to train faculty and to provide school-based mental health services to the more than 90,000 children in New York State who suffer from serious mental illness but do not receive treatment. To treat these children's often disruptive, threatening, aggressive and…

The homeless mentally ill, numbering approximately 300,000 persons, are a group neglected and forgotten by society. While deinstitutionalization promised a bright future, the necessary, long-term support to implement deinstitutionalization never materialized. Government policies have helped produce problems that encourage recidivism and…

This book is a joint venture by 13 scholars, and is a systematic and exhaustive study of a crucial problem. The nature of poverty and the social aspects of health and illness place health and welfare in a sociological framework. In this book the many ramifications of the poverty-health complex are examined and analyzed. Two chapters assess current…