GAP-REACH: a checklist to assess comprehensive reporting of race, ethnicity, and culture in psychiatric publications.

Growing awareness of health and health care disparities highlights the importance of including information about race, ethnicity, and culture (REC) in health research. Reporting of REC factors in research publications, however, is notoriously imprecise and unsystematic. This article describes the development of a checklist to assess the comprehensiveness and the applicability of REC factor reporting in psychiatric research publications.

The Medical Education Commission Report 2003: GME production renews physician supply.

Louisiana data for the match entry into Graduate Medical Education, and the renewal of the practicing physician workforce, are essentially parallel to comparable data for the United States as a whole. The State of Louisiana Medical Education Commission offers reports and publications in the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society compiling yearly and trend data and analysis. The 2003 result of the match follows the trend of successful completion over the last five years.

The Medical Education Commission Report 2002: trends indicate a steady state supply of physicians.

This summary report for 2002 provides the detailed and updated data on all Graduate Medical Education (GME) residents and fellows in Louisiana for the last academic year. The 2002 match results and the trend in matching over the last 4 years depict the consistent successful match by Louisiana institutions. The totals and components of GME in Louisiana are steady.

Future of genetics of mood disorders research.

This report summarizes the deliberations of a panel with representation from diverse disciplines of relevance to the genetics of mood disorders. The major charge to the panel was to develop a strategic plan to employ the tools of genetics to advance the understanding, treatment, and outcomes for mood disorders. A comprehensive review of the evidence for the role of genetic factors in the etiology of mood disorders was conducted, and the chief impediments for progress in gene identification were identified.

The Medical Education Commission report on trends in graduate medical education 2001.

The state of Louisiana Medical Education Commission offers the second publication in the Journal of Louisiana State Medical Society on Graduate Medical Education (GME) in Louisiana. The four previous annual reports of the Commission have provided data to focus on trends in size, status, proportions, and issues on GME. The Commission was established by Act 3 of the 1997 Louisiana Legislature.

The Medical Education Commission report at the turn of then new millennium 2000.

The State of Louisiana Medical Education Commission was formed by Act 3 of the 1997 Louisiana Legislature. The members are appointed by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Tulane University Medical Center, and Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation and report to and advise the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH). This summation from the Medical Education Committee is designed to answer three questions.

Advocating for persons who are mentally ill: a history of mutual empowerment of patients and profession.

The author reviews the history of advocacy for mentally ill individuals. Through organizations such as the National Mental Health Association and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, collaboration among professionals, consumers, and concerned citizens is enhanced. The common causes and differences among organizations are discussed within the context of how psychiatrists can realize leadership strategies to further advance advocacy for mentally ill persons and for the profession.

Racial identity and its assessment in a sample of African-American men in treatment for cocaine dependence.

Substance abuse treatment studies frequently include subjects from different ethnic and racial groups, but many investigations limit the examination of race and ethnicity to the use of nominal labels. This approach reveals little about the social or psychological significance of racial and ethnic group membership to the subjects of study or about the potential effects of these factors on substance-involved behaviors. In this study, a principal components analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was conducted on the 50-item long form of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS) (1) in a sample of 294 African-American men in treatment for cocaine dependence.

A two-rate hypothesis for patterns of retention in psychosocial treatments of cocaine dependence: findings from a study of African-American men and a review of the published data.

In this article, we examine patterns of retention in psychosocial treatment programs for cocaine dependence. We present new data from a comparison trial of Drug Counseling and Supportive-Expressive Psychotherapy and review published data from all studies utilizing psychosocial interventions alone. We compared Drug Counseling and Psychotherapy on rates of pretreatment and during-treatment attrition in a sample of 294 African-American men seeking treatment for cocaine dependence (mean age, 37.

Clinical relevance of contemporary cultural psychiatry.

In recent years, the field of cultural psychiatry has gained recognition and accumulated evidence of its clinical relevance. This article examines the intersections of culture and psychopathology and describes five independent but interrelated clinical dimensions that identify and define culture as: a) an interpretive/explanatory tool, b) a pathogenic/pathoplastic agent, c) a diagnostic/nosological factor, d) a therapeutic/protective element, and e) a service/management instrument. Along these lines, conceptual boundaries, clinical findings, specific applications, and research implications for each of the five dimensions are systematically reviewed.

Ethnicity and psychotherapy. A component in the treatment of cocaine addiction in African Americans.

With a focus on the use of psychotherapy as a component in the comprehensive treatment of African Americans addicted to cocaine, this article reviews the literature on ethnicity and psychotherapy and discusses the main problems relevant to the planning of mental health and substance abuse services to minority populations in the United States. Some of the more salient areas are the relationship of cultural factors and substance abuse, the culturally determined possibilities and constraints in the treatment of substance abuse, the establishment of a culturally responsive psychotherapeutic approach that takes into account notions such as ethnic consciousness and self-esteem, and the therapist's effects on the proximal treatment situation. Research issues also are discussed, among them therapist-matching strategies, therapist's clinical skills, culturally responsive adaptations of psychotherapeutic frames and processes, and their effect on outcome.

Personality disorders and culture: contemporary clinical views (Part B).

This article reviews the basic concepts surrounding the clinical relationships between culture and personality disorders (PDs). Part A of this article, which appeared in Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, Vol. 1, No.

Personality disorders and culture: contemporary clinical views (Part A).

This article reviews the basic concepts surrounding the clinical relationships between culture and personality disorders (PDs). Culture plays a significant role in the construction of self-concept and self-image, the egocentric/sociocentric dichotomy, and the determination of biases in the clinical study of PDs. Cultural contextualization is, therefore, crucial in the demarcation between normal and abnormal personalities.

Psychologic sequelae of chronic toxic waste exposure.

Exposure to toxic industrial substances has been a topic of increasing concern to environmentalists, government agencies, industrial engineers, and medical specialists. Our study focuses on the psychologic symptom responses of a community to perceived long-term exposure to toxic waste products. We compared their symptom clusters, as shown by their responses to questions on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90 Item (SCL-90) and the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS), with symptom levels of normal and depressed subjects.

Reflections on dream material from Arctic Native people.

This article presents several theoretical and methodological perspectives from which psychoanalytic understanding of the dreams of people in a foreign culture might be obtained. The dreams of two Inuit (Eskimos) are examined as they reflect the cosmologies, narrative styles, and individual psychologies of each dreamer. Caveats are noted regarding notions of universal symbolism, typical cultural character, and facile interpretations of dreams.

Misalliances in the Barrow Alcohol Study.

The Center for Research on the Acts of Man conducted a survey of the use of alcohol among the Inupiat of Barrow, Alaska, in 1979. The study resulted in grievances among many individuals and institutions associated with the community. In a retrospective analysis of the factors contributing to these misalliances, the author raises important ethical and procedural questions to be considered carefully in future projects of this nature.

The effect of patients' beliefs about their illnesses on compliance in psychotherapy.

Sixty patients treated in the outpatient psychiatric clinic of a large urban teaching hospital were surveyed regarding their beliefs about the causes of their illness. Patients' beliefs were found to be related to two measures of compliance: number of visits and manner of termination from therapy. Subjects endorsing more medical and fewer nonmedical explanations for their illness made more visits to the clinic and ended treatment in a more compliant manner than did patients who endorsed more nonmedical beliefs about the causes of their illness.