Development and initial validity and reliability of the Rural Practice Awareness and Skills Scale.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and provide initial evidence of the validity and reliability of the Rural Practice Awareness and Skills Scale (RPASS).

Methods: A pool of 63 items was reviewed by an expert panel, subjected to 2 additional face validity checks, and reduced to 39 items. The scale was then completed by 333 participants, and an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted.

Examining collaborative leadership through interprofessional education: findings from a mixed methods study.

Collaborative leadership is essential as recent trends in healthcare service delivery necessitate interprofessional collaboration and care. Interprofessional education (IPE) efforts, therefore, have to prepare students for this type of leadership. The purpose of this study was to understand how students' perceptions of leadership change as a result of embedding a collaborative leadership model, the Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership, in an IPE course.

Substance abuse treatment engagement among mothers: Perceptions of the parenting role and agency-related motivators and inhibitors.

This qualitative study explored 1) the parenting role as a motivator and inhibitor to engaging in substance abuse treatment and 2) parenting-related, agency-imposed barriers and facilitators to substance abuse treatment engagement. Nine focus groups (n=45) were conducted with current and former male and female recipients of treatment services in one south eastern state. Using inductive thematic analysis, transcripts were analyzed to identify key themes related to parenting.

An Exploratory Study Examining Risk Communication among Adolescent Children, Their Incarcerated Mothers, and Their Caregivers.

Adolescent children of incarcerated mothers (ACIM) are typically left in the care of adults (primary caregivers) who play a crucial role in children's care and guidance, as well as in the facilitation of contact and communication with incarcerated mothers. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of relationships and communication among adolescent children of incarcerated mothers, primary caregivers, and incarcerated mothers using pilot data. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with youth aged 12-17 (n=7) and caregivers (n=6) recruited through a non-profit organization working with incarcerated mothers and their children.

Trauma experiences and mental health among incarcerated women.

Objective: Female offenders have different risk factors for offending than do male offenders, and elevated rates of interpersonal victimization such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and family and community violence, are common in histories of incarcerated women. We used factor analysis to examine patterns of traumatic events experienced by women in jail and explored how these patterns were associated with 4 psychiatric disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], major depression, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorder) observed in this sample.

Method: A total of 464 women from 9 jails in 4 geographic regions in the United States comprised the sample.

Poly-victimization among girls in the justice system: trajectories of risk and associations to juvenile offending.

Life History Calendars and the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire were used to collect data from 100 delinquent girls to (a) examine range and co-occurrence of different types of violence over the life span, (b) examine independent and cumulative trajectories of risk for varied types of victimization, and (c) examine the relationship of victimization to girls' offending. Risk trajectories demonstrate critical risk periods for different forms of violence exposure. Cox regression was used to examine the predictive value of different forms of violence exposure for the onset of delinquent and criminal behavior.

A multisite study of the prevalence of serious mental illness, PTSD, and substance use disorders of women in jail.

Objectives: This multisite study aimed to answer the following research questions about women in urban and rural jails. First, what is the current and lifetime prevalence of serious mental illness (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and psychotic spectrum disorders) of women in jail? Second, what level of impairment is associated with their serious mental illness? Third, what is the proportion of incarcerated women with serious mental illness who also have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a substance use disorder, or both?

Methods: Participants were 491 women randomly sampled in jails in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, and the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C.

Institutional responses to self-injurious behavior among inmates.

To date, little research has systematically investigated perceptions of mental health professionals regarding motivations for self-injury among prison inmates. To help fill this gap, the authors used descriptive techniques to examine self-injurious behavior among inmates from the perspective of correctional mental health professionals. A quantitative survey assessed perceptions of mental health staff regarding etiology, motivations, and manifestations of self-injury.

Pathways to prison: impact of victimization in the lives of incarcerated women.

This study examines ways in which victimization may contribute to criminal involvement among incarcerated women. The authors conduct interviews with 60 women in a maximum-security prison to gather each woman's perspective on psychological, physical, and sexual victimization in her life. Qualitative analyses indicate ways that victimization relates directly to women's crimes as well as influences health, psychosocial functioning, or systemic involvement to create difficult situations with which the women struggle.

Breast health behavior among lesbians: the role of health beliefs, heterosexism, and homophobia.

The Health Belief Model was used as a conceptual framework for exploring how health beliefs and perceptions of heterosexism and homophobia in health care related to lesbians' breast health behaviors, including use of breast exams and mammograms, visits to health care providers, and use of complementary/alternative care. A total of 173 exclusively homosexual women completed survey measures assessing health beliefs, experiences of heterosexism/homophobia, and health maintenance behaviors as these related to breast health. Findings indicated that women perceived heterosexism and homophobia from providers to influence the amount of discussion they had with providers and, to a lesser extent, care received, frequency of service use, and health outcomes.

Psychologists' judgments of psychologically aggressive actions when perpetrated by a husband versus a wife.

Research literature suggests that clinical judgments of men's versus women's behavior and symptoms typically rate the men as more pathological and dangerous. To determine whether this view would extend to assessments of psychologically aggressive actions, two separate versions of a survey listing potentially psychologically abusive behaviors perpetrated by either a wife toward her husband or the identical actions perpetrated by a husband toward his wife were sent to a nationwide sampling of practicing psychologists. Results indicated that psychologists, irrespective of demographics, rated the husband's behavior as more likely to be psychologically abusive and more severe in nature than the wife's use of the same actions.