Faculty Bibliography

RESEARCH FINDINGS: The purpose of this article is to describe current education policies as they relate to the promotion of social, emotional, and academic (SEA) development and competence for young children. Academic and social-emotional competencies are described and conceptualized as developmentally linked, reciprocal processes that should be supported by education in an integrated, holistic manner. PRACTICE OR POLICY: The article reviews major public policies and national initiatives that have implications for the education of young children (e.g., Head Start, No Child Left Behind, IDEA) and highlights opportunities within these policies to promote programs that can support SEA competencies, as well as the limitations of these policies. The article also includes a review of the limitations of existing resources available to educators to identify evidence-based programs that support SEA competencies and concludes with recommendations for better alignment between research and policy to support SEA competencies.

Although schools can improve children's access to mental health services, not all school-based providers are able to successfully deliver evidence-based practices. Indeed, even when school clinicians are trained in evidence-based practices (EBP), the training does not necessarily result in the implementation of those practices. This study explores factors that influence implementation of a particular EBP, Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS). Semi-structured telephone interviews with 35 site administrators and clinicians from across the United States were conducted 6-18 months after receiving CBITS training to discuss implementation experiences. The implementation experiences of participants differed, but all reported similar barriers to implementation. Sites that successfully overcame such barriers differed from their unsuccessful counterparts by having greater organizational structure for delivering school services, a social network of other clinicians implementing CBITS, and administrative support for implementation. This study suggests that EBP implementation can be facilitated by having the necessary support from school leadership and peers.

BACKGROUND: Although schools are often the first institutions to provide recovery efforts for children post-disaster, few studies have involved the school community in research to improve the delivery of these mental health services on campuses. This community-partnered study explores post-disaster counseling services 10 months following Hurricane Katrina. METHODS: In July 2006, nine focus groups, consisting of 39 school-based mental health counselors and six program administrators (10 men, 35 women), were conducted following a 2-day clinical training regarding a youth trauma intervention following Hurricane Katrina. Participants discussed the types of services they had been providing prior to the training and potential barriers to delivering services. RESULTS: Participants identified high mental health needs of students and described populations that did not seem to be adequately supported by current funding sources, including those with pre-existing traumatic experiences and mental health issues, indirect psychological and social consequences of the storms, and those students relocated to communities that were not as affected. Participants also described the need for a centralized information system. CONCLUSIONS: Participants described the need for greater organizational structure that supports school counselors and provides system-level support for services. Implications for next steps of this community-partnered approach are described.

PURPOSE: To examine perceived need for care for mental health problems as a possible contributor to ethnic disparities in receiving care among low-income depressed women. METHODS: The role of ethnicity, somatization, and stigma as they relate to perceived need for care is examined. Participants were 1577 low-income women who met criteria for depression. RESULTS: Compared with U.S.-born depressed white women, most depressed ethnic minority women were less likely to perceive a need for mental health care (black immigrants: OR 0.30, p < 0.001; U.S.-born blacks: OR 0.43, p < 0.001; immigrant Latinas: OR 0.52, p < 0.01). Stigma-related concerns decreased the likelihood of perceiving a need for mental health care (OR 0.80, p < 0.05). Having multiple somatic symptoms (OR 1.57, p < 0.001) increased the likelihood of endorsing perceived need. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that there are ethnic differences in perceived need for mental healthcare that may partially account for the low rates of care for depression among low-income and minority women. The relations among stigma, somatization, and perceived need were strikingly similar across ethnic groups.

Mental health care preferences are examined among 1,893 low-income immigrant and U.S.-born women with an acknowledged emotional problem (mean age = 29.1, SD = 89.6). Ethnicity, depression, somatization, and stigma are examined as they relate to mental health care preferences (medication, individual and group counseling, faith, family/friends). Seventy-eight percent of participants counseling would be helpful; 55%; group counseling; and 32% medication. Faith was cited by 81%; family and friends were endorsed by 65%. Minorities had lower odds than Whites of endorsing medication (Black immigrants: OR = 0.27, p < 0.001, U.S.-born Blacks: OR = 0.30, p < 0.001, immigrant Latinas: OR = 0.50, p < 0.01). Most minorities also had higher odds of endorsing faith compared to Whites (Black immigrants: OR = 3.62, p < 0.001; U.S.-born Blacks, OR = 3.85, p < 0.001; immigrant Latinas: OR = 9.76, p < 0.001). Being depressed was positively associated with endorsing medication (OR = 1.93, p < 0.001), individual counseling (OR = 2.66, p < 0.001), and group counseling (OR = 1.35, p < 0.01). Somatization was positively associated with endorsing medication (OR = 1.29, p < 0.05) and faith (OR = 1.37, p < 0.05). Stigma-concerns reduced the odds of endorsing group counseling (OR = 0.58, p < 0.001). Finally, being in mental health treatment was related to increased odds of endorsing medication (OR = 3.88, p < 0.001) and individual counseling (OR = 2.29, p = 0.001).

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the extent to which stigma-related concerns about mental health care account for the underuse of mental health services among low-income immigrant and U.S.-born black and Latina women. METHODS: Participants included 15,383 low-income women screened for depression in county entitlement services who were asked about barriers to care, stigma-related concerns, and whether they wanted or were getting mental health care. RESULTS: Among those who were depressed, compared with U.S.-born white women, each of the black groups were more likely to report stigma concerns (African immigrants, odds ratio [OR]=3.28, p=.004; Caribbean immigrants, OR=6.17, p=.005; U.S.-born blacks, OR=6.17, p=.06). Compared with U.S.-born white women, immigrant African women (OR=.18, p<.001), immigrant Caribbean women (OR=.11, p=.001), U.S.-born black women (OR=.31, p<.001), and U.S.-born Latinas (OR=.32, p=.03) were less likely to want treatment. Conversely, compared with U.S.-born white women, immigrant Latinas (OR=2.17, p=.02) were more likely to want treatment. There was a significant stigma-by-immigrant interaction predicting interest in treatment (p<.001). Stigma reduced the desire for mental health treatment for immigrant women with depression (OR=.35, p<.001) to a greater extent than it did for U.S.-born white women with depression (OR=.52, p=.24). CONCLUSIONS: Stigma-related concerns are most common among immigrant women and may partly account for underutilization of mental health care services by disadvantaged women from ethnic minority groups.

OBJECTIVE: To examine symptomatology and mental health service use following students' contact with a large urban school district's suicide prevention program. METHOD: In 2001 school district staff conducted telephone interviews with 95 randomly selected parents approximately 5 months following their child's contact with the district's suicide prevention program, a School Gatekeeper Training model. Parents provided information regarding service use, their child's depressive symptoms (using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Predictive Scale, Depression module), and their perceptions of their child's need for services. Information about the crisis intervention was abstracted from a standardized assessment form. RESULTS: More than two thirds of students received school or community mental health services following contact with the suicide prevention program. Depressive symptoms, but not past year suicide attempt, predicted community mental health service use. Latino students had lower rates of community mental health service use than non-Latinos. School-based service use did not differ by student characteristics including race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Most students identified by a school-based suicide prevention program received follow-up care, although Latinos were less likely to access services outside the school. School-based mental health services may be an important way in which underserved populations at risk of suicide can receive care.

This study examined language, living arrangements, and various outcomes among Latina adolescent mothers. Living with mothers was associated with increased self-esteem for all adolescents, and lower depression for English-speaking and bilingual adolescents only. Spanish speakers reported higher welfare enrollment and better educational outcomes. Living with partners appeared to have negative implications.