Patients' rights legislation makes the determination of possible danger to self and others extremely important for patients about to be discharged from mental institutions, especially patients who were admitted because of suicidal behavior. Because evaluation methods which rely on patient self-reports may be manipulated by clever patients, a new…

Relationships between 15 family, psychological and demographic variables and reading and math achievement are reported for more than 500 hearing impaired children (8 to 15 years old) in a residential state school. The data are also examined for subgroups of children (i.e., hereditary and nonhereditary deafness, rubella, nonrubella, and those with…

The Children in Custody (CIC) report provides biennial information, in the form of statistical charts, on public and private residential facilities holding juveniles in custody across the country, and on the juveniles they hold. The reference date for this CIC census was February 1, 1983. Annual data are for the calendar year 1982. The major…

The State of Virginia has had a statewide nursing home preadmission screening program since 1977 and has made efforts to ensure appropriate placement of individuals in long term care settings. In a major effort to divert certain individuals from institutionalization, a personal care option has been provided. Using data from the Preadmission…

This paper examines the variety of legal rules and processes which have been established to assess and ensure that the quality of care provided in nursing homes satisfies an acceptable level. It begins with a general overview of nursing home law. Areas discussed in this section include: (1) sources of nursing home law; (2) theories of liability;…

This paper describes the Cleveland Veterans Administration inpatient Vocational Rehabilitation Unit (VRU), an intensive vocational assessment and counseling program designed to maximize the self-reliance and productivity of patients. The VRU is presented as a minimal care, 3-month maximum treatment program in which patients work on incentive pay…

The report examines data from three sample surveys of admissions during 1980 to the inpatient psychiatric services of state and mental hospitals and private psychiatric hospitals and the separate inpatient psychiatric services of non-federal general hospitals. Findings revealed that an estimated 81,532 persons under 18 years were admitted to…

Depression is regarded as the most prevalent mental health disorder in the elderly. Reminiscence, a normative and universal process which can facilitate the resolution, integration, and reorganization of past conflicts can have positive or negative effects on depression. One environment where the elderly are particularly at risk for the negative…

Nursing home patients suffering from dementia had a desire for placement in a setting where their special needs could be addressed. This resulted in the creation of special nursing home units designed to meet patient needs. Recent reports have provided evidence that nursing home residents suffering from dementia who receive care on these special…

Over the past two decades, the chronic mentally ill elderly have begun to receive care in residential health care facilities (RHCF) such as domiciliary care, intermediate care, and skilled nursing facilities. While there is justification for this increase, as the mentally ill elderly also present with significant physical illnesses, there are…

In order to provide regular read-aloud programs in nursing homes, to mentally stimulate and enrich the institutionalized elderly, and to improve access to library materials and services a project, proposed by the Seattle Public Library, provided training for volunteers in read-aloud techniques, sensitivity to nursing home residents, and meeting…

This report examines issues concerned with the use of aversive behavior modification techniques in actual treatment practices at one intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded. The review of these practices reveals how, once the philosophy of using aversives takes hold at a program (to deal with seemingly intractable behaviors), its…

The Community Aging Program is a demonstration outpatient, mental health program designed to study and treat elderly individuals. The individual's skills relevant to living independently are assessed and those individuals with deficits enter an appropriate treatment program. Two of the treatment programs or modules help the individual adjust to…

Preliminary findings are presented from a study of the performance of 99 institutionalized retarded children on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS), a revised form of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS). No significant sex or race differences were revealed on test performances. Mental age was found to correlate with VABS scores with…

Eleven papers from a June, 1984, seminar on siblings of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled persons are presented. The following papers are included: "An Adult Sibling Network: A Sharing of Experiences" (B. Cohen); "Siblings as Change Agents for Their Brothers and Sisters: Opportunity or Problem?" (G. Wolpert); "Adult Siblings: The…