Beyond Housing First: rethinking neoliberal policies impacting homelessness.

This article critically examines the Housing First model within the broader context of neoliberal policies impacting homelessness, particularly at the intersection of mental illness, poverty, and addiction. While Housing First is celebrated for its effectiveness in providing immediate housing to chronically homeless individuals, this model's alignment with neoliberal principles prioritizes cost effectiveness and visible outcomes over comprehensive care. As a harm reduction approach, Housing First often overlooks the underlying mental health and addiction issues that maintain homelessness, resulting in a cycle of dependency rather than long-term recovery.

Social processes during recovery: An expansion of Kelly and Hoeppner's biaxial formulation of recovery.

Recent conceptualizations frame addiction recovery as a complex process involving changes across behavioral, physical, psychological, and social domains. These broad conceptualizations can be difficult to apply directly to research, making detailed models of individual dimensions necessary to guide empirical work and subsequent clinical interventions. We used Kelly and Hoeppner's (2015) biaxial formulation of recovery as a basis for a detailed examination of social processes in recovery using social network approaches.

Examining Criminogenic Risk Levels Among People with Mental Illness Incarcerated in US Jails and Prisons.

This study examines criminogenic risk levels of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) involved in the justice system compared to justice-involved individuals without mental illness. The sample (N = 436) consisted of ninety-three individuals with SMI incarcerated in a county jail in a mid-size Midwest city, 217 individuals with SMI incarcerated in a state prison in the US Northeast, and 126 individuals without mental illness incarcerated in a state prison in the US Southwest. Results indicated that people with SMI incarcerated in jail and prison had higher overall criminal risk levels than prison inmates without mental illness.

Acceptability and Demand of Therapy Dog Support Among Oral Health Care Providers and Caregivers of Pediatric Patients.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the acceptability and demand for therapy dog support in pediatric dentistry (TDSPD). Caregiver surveys measured acceptability and demand for TDSPD using a five-point Likert scale (one equals "not at all", five equals "very much"). Provider surveys measured acceptability for TDSPD using a five-point Likert scale.

Interventions That Target Criminogenic Needs for Justice-Involved Persons With Serious Mental Illnesses: A Targeted Service Delivery Approach.

This research describes the development of a targeted service delivery approach that tailors the delivery of interventions that target criminogenic needs to the specific learning and treatment needs of justice-involved people with serious mental illnesses (SMI). This targeted service delivery approach includes five service delivery strategies: repetition and summarizing, amplification, coaching, low-demand practice, and maximizing participation. Examples of how to apply each strategy in session are provided, as well as recommendations on when to use each strategy during the delivery of interventions that target criminogenic needs.

Interventions That Target Criminogenic Needs for Justice-Involved Persons With Serious Mental Illnesses: A Targeted Service Delivery Approach.

This research describes the development of a targeted service delivery approach that tailors the delivery of interventions that target criminogenic needs to the specific learning and treatment needs of justice-involved people with serious mental illnesses (SMIs). This targeted service delivery approach includes five service delivery strategies: repetition and summarizing, amplification, active coaching, low-demand practice, and maximizing participation. Examples of how to apply each strategy in session are provided, as well as recommendations on when to use each strategy during the delivery of interventions that target criminogenic needs.

Translating Interventions that Target Criminogenic Risk Factors for use in Community Based Mental Health Settings.

This study explored facilitators and barriers associated with engaging criminogenic interventions in community mental health service settings. Focus groups and guided large group discussions were conducted with 46 consumers, providers and administrators. Results suggest that participants were generally supportive of offering criminogenic interventions to justice involved persons with serious mental illness in community based mental health service settings.

Mother-Child Relational Quality of Women in Substance Abuse Treatment.

Background: Mothers who abuse substances are more likely to have impaired parenting and lose custody of their young children.

Objective: The pilot study described mother-child relational quality of women in substance abuse treatment. The identification of mothers' perceptions of being parented, current level of depression, discrete and potentially modifiable mothering behaviors, and self-appraisals of their role.

An Engagement Intervention for Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions.

Young adults with serious mental health conditions (SMHCs) often do not engage continuously with mental health services, and there are few engagement interventions designed for them. This qualitative study presents a blueprint for conceptualizing and developing an engagement intervention designed for young adults with SMHCs. The blueprint includes the following activities: (1) establishing a strong theoretical basis, (2) designing an initial manual based on previous research and practice, (3) systematically examining feedback on the manual from stakeholders, and (4) examining the feasibility, acceptability, and implementation demands of the intervention.

Criminal thinking styles among people with serious mental illness in jail.

The purpose of this study was to extend the investigation of criminal thinking of persons with mental illness beyond prison and community settings to a jail setting. Participants consisted of 122 individuals incarcerated in a county jail who were diagnosed with a severe mental illness, including schizophrenia spectrum and major mood disorders. Results indicated that people with mental illness in this sample of jail inmates presented with thinking styles that support a criminal lifestyle, and have criminal thinking styles that follow a pattern that is very similar to a sample of prison inmates with serious mental illness.

A methodological pilot: parenting among women in substance abuse treatment.

Background: Mothers who abuse substances are likely to have insecure emotional attachment with their children, placing their children at risk for social-emotional and psychiatric conditions. Sobriety does not inevitably improve parenting.

Objectives: We tested recruitment methods, audiovisual (AV) recording procedures, the protocol for identifying child abuse risk, the coding of mother-child interactions, and retention of the sample for repeated measures as the first phase in examining mother-child relational quality of women in substance abuse treatment.

Collaborative adaptations in social work intervention research in real-world settings: lessons learned from the field.

Social work research has identified the crucial role that service practitioners play in the implementation of evidence-based practices. This has led some researchers to suggest that intervention research needs to incorporate collaborative adaptation strategies in the design and implementation of studies focused on adapting evidence-based practices to real-world practice settings. This article describes a collaborative approach to service adaptations that was used in an intervention study that integrated evidence-based mental health and correctional services in a jail reentry program for people with serious mental illness.

Living with the loss of a child: mothers in the criminal justice system.

Objective: Bereaved mothers have expressed the need to maintain a bond with their children who have died, to retain control over the funeral rituals, and to express their loss to others who are empathetic. This study describes grief over the loss of a child in women who have been or are currently incarcerated, and the influence of the women's family members.

Method: This descriptive qualitative study consisted of open-ended interview questions to encourage the women to describe their experience in their own words.

Alcohol use, daily hassles, and religious coping among students at a religiously affiliated college.

Objective: This article presents empirical findings which suggest that religious coping moderates the relationship between daily hassles stress and alcohol use among female college students.

Method: This study utilized a cross-sectional data collection strategy and convenience sampling to examine the relationship between alcohol use, daily hassles stress, and religious coping among 423 undergraduate students (269 females and 154 males) at a religiously affiliated college in the Midwestern USA. Data were collected in 2008.

Assessment of benefits of a universal screen for maternal alcohol use during pregnancy.

Introduction: The objective of this report is to estimate the benefits of universal meconium screening for maternal drinking during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), including its most severe manifestation fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), is preventable and remains a public health tragedy. The incidences of FAS and FASD have been conservatively estimated to be 0.

Spirituality, Religiousness, and Alcoholism Treatment Outcomes: A Comparison between Black and White Participants.

This study addresses an unexplained finding in the alcoholism treatment field: despite the health and socioeconomic disparities that exist between blacks and whites at intake, blacks and whites achieve equivalent treatment outcomes. Using Project MATCH data, this study explores religiousness and spirituality as strengths in the African American community that may account in part for equivalent outcomes. Using binary logistic regression, this study found that as purpose in life increased, blacks were more likely to achieve sobriety than whites.

Impact of childhood abuse and neglect on substance abuse and psychological distress in adulthood.

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship of childhood trauma, educational level, and the use of avoidant coping on substance abuse and psychological distress in a community sample of 285 women. Results indicated that self-reported childhood trauma was significantly related to greater substance abuse and psychological distress, through educational attainment and avoidant coping strategies. Lower level of education affected substance abuse through greater use of avoidant coping, but had no significant relationship with psychological distress.

Cognitive outcomes of preschool children with prenatal cocaine exposure.

Context: Because of methodological limitations, the results of the few prospective studies assessing long-term cognitive effects of prenatal cocaine exposure are inconsistent.

Objective: To assess effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and quality of caregiving environment on 4-year cognitive outcomes.

Design: Longitudinal, prospective, masked comparison cohort study from birth (September 1994-June 1996) to 4 years.

Improvement of sternal closure stability with reinforced steel wires.

Background: Sternal dehiscence occurs when steel wires pull through sternal bone. This study tests the hypothesis that closure stability can be improved by jacketing sternal wires with stainless steel coils, which distribute the force exerted on the bone over a larger area.

Methods: Midline sternotomies were performed in 6 human cadavers (4 male).

Correlates of service utilization among midlife and older adults with HIV/AIDS: the role of age in the equation.

Objectives: To determine the role of age on service utilization among persons with HIV/AIDS:

Methods: The study examined 571 individuals diagnosed with symptomatic HIV or AIDS ranging in age from 30 to 81 years. All individuals had been enrolled in case management services from July 1995 through June 1996. It was hypothesized that older persons would utilize higher rates of health and medical services and lower rates of psychosocial services.

Cognitive and motor outcomes of cocaine-exposed infants.

Context: Maternal use of cocaine during pregnancy remains a significant public health problem, particularly in urban areas of the United States and among women of low socioeconomic status. Few longitudinal studies have examined cocaine-exposed infants, however, and findings are contradictory because of methodologic limitations.

Objective: To assess the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on child developmental outcomes.

Effects of cocaine/polydrug exposure and maternal psychological distress on infant birth outcomes.

To assess teratogenic effects of cocaine exposure and maternal psychological distress on birth outcomes, we conducted a longitudinal prospective study of 415 infants (218 cocaine-exposed--CE, 197 nonexposed--NE). Drug exposure was determined through a combination of maternal self-report, urine, and meconium screens. Maternal psychological distress postpartum was evaluated through a standardized, normative, self-report assessment.

The Impact of Infant Disability on Maternal Perception of Stress.

Twenty-seven mothers of infants and children with long-term tracheostomy were given a modified version of the Impact-on-Family Scale as part of a study designed to describe maternal perceptions of the impact of infant disability on various components of family life. Maternal perceptions of intensity of stress in different life areas were also examined as a function of salient medical, social, and demographic factors associated with the child's disability. Mothers report a high degree of stress in caring for their young disabled children, most notably in financial status.