Outcomes of a Metaintervention to Improve Treatment Engagement Among Young Adults With Serious Mental Illnesses: Application of a Pilot Randomized Explanatory Design.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a new young adult-centered metaintervention to improve treatment engagement among those with serious mental illness.

Methods: Young adults, clinic staff, and policy makers provided feedback on the intervention, which is a two-module engagement program provided by a clinician and person with lived experience (peer) during intake. A two-group pilot randomized explanatory trial design was conducted, comparing treatment as usual with treatment as usual plus the engagement program, Just Do You.

Engagement intervention versus treatment as usual for young adults with serious mental illness: a randomized pilot trial.

Background: Young adults have elevated rates of mental health disorders, yet they often do not receive consistent care. The challenge of continuing to engage young adults has been pervasive worldwide. Few engagement interventions have been designed for young adults with serious mental illness.

Race and gender differences in attitudes toward help seeking among marginalized young adults with mood disorders: A mixed-methods investigation.

Objective: Race and gender differences in help seeking are well-established; however, reasons for these differences are less clear. This study examined race and gender differences in two potential contributors-perceptions of illness and attitudes toward treatment-in a sample of marginalized young adults.

Method: Interviews were conducted with young adults (age 18-25) with prior involvement in public systems of care and mood disorder diagnoses (n = 60).

Correlates of Somatic Symptoms Among African American Males Transitioning From a Public System of Care.

Exploration of somatic symptoms and their correlates among adolescent and young adult African American males are limited in the empirical literature. In the current study, correlates of somatic symptoms among African American males ( n = 74) transitioning from a public system of care, namely, foster care, was explored. Potential correlates assessed included indicators of child maltreatment, approach and avoidance coping strategies, as well as the following emotional and behavioral problems: oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Informal and Formal Help Seeking Among Older Black Male Foster Care Youth and Alumni.

Using the behavioral model for vulnerable populations as a framework, this study examined predisposing, enabling, and need factors related to seeking help from formal and informal sources among older Black male foster youth and alumni. Results of logistic regression analyses showed that emotional control, a predisposing variable, was related to help-seeking. Specifically, greater adherence to the norm of emotional control was related to lower likelihood of using informal or formal sources of help.

Negative Social Contextual Stressors and Somatic Symptoms Among Young Black Males: An Exploratory Study.

This study examines whether negative social contextual stressors were associated with somatic symptoms among young Black males ( = 74) after accounting for background and psychological characteristics. Using Cunningham and Spencer's Black Male Experiences Measure, negative social contextual stressors connoted those experiences connected to the personal attributes, devaluation, and negative imagery of young Black males, such as being followed when entering a store or police or security guards asking them what they are doing when hanging out (e.g.

Static, dynamic, integrated, and contextualized: a framework for understanding mental health service utilization among young adults.

Research has illuminated the problem of untreated mental illness among young adults, including evidence that young people who exit public care systems often discontinue mental health services in adulthood. The present study explored mental health service use experiences during the transition to adulthood among sixty young adults, ages 18-25, from a Midwestern U.S.

A steady presence in the midst of change: Nonkin natural mentors in the lives of older youth exiting foster care.

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of the non-kin natural mentoring relationships among 19-year-old youths (N=189) in the process of "aging out" of the foster care system. Data for the present study are from the final interview of a longitudinal study of older youth exiting the foster care system in Missouri. Participants that reported a natural mentoring relationship at age 19 were asked a series of qualitative questions about their reported relationship.

Satisfaction with Counseling among Black Males in Transition from the Foster Care System.

Using the Multidimensional Adolescent Satisfaction Scale (Garland, Saltzman, & Aarons, 2000), satisfaction with counseling and associated variables were examined among Black males (n = 47) transitioning from the foster care system. Potential associated variables assessed were foster care custody status, counseling status, diagnosis of major depression and disruptive behavior disorder based DSM-IV criteria, history of placement in congregate care settings, attitudes toward mental health services, stigma beliefs, and masculine norms. Results from simultaneous multiple regression analysis showed that attitudes toward mental health services contributed significantly to satisfaction with counseling.

Accelerating Research Productivity in Social Work Programs: Perspectives on NIH's Postdoctoral T32 Research Training Mechanism.

This article describes the experiences of four social work researchers who pursued an alternative career path immediately following their doctorate in social work by accepting a postdoctoral training fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As schools of social work look for creative ways to build research capacity, this article describes the authors' perspectives regarding the considerations to accept postdocs, key elements in their training programs, lessons learned, and outcomes from training. To provide an overview of the funding mechanism and distribution of funds to institutes and centers relevant to social work, data were obtained from databases that list NIH training grants awarded each year.

Predisposition to seek mental health care among Black males transitioning from foster care.

This study examined the predisposition to seek mental health care in the future for personal and mental health problems among Black males transitioning from the foster care system (n=74). Results of simultaneous multiple regression analysis showed that custody status, diagnosis of a DSM-IV psychiatric disorder, and emotional control contributed significantly to the prediction of Black male's predisposition to seek mental health care. Specifically, Black males who were still in foster care were more predisposed to seek mental health care, whereas those diagnosed with a DSM-IV psychiatric disorder and who adhered more to the norm of emotional control were less predisposed to seek mental health care.

Religious involvement and its association to risk behaviors among older youth in foster care.

This study examined religious involvement and its association to risk behaviors (sexual behavior, marijuana use, alcohol use, and cigarette use) among older youth in foster care (N=383). Three dimensions of religious involvement were assessed-church or religious service attendance, religious practices, and religious beliefs. Findings showed that gender, ethnic group membership, sexual abuse history, and placement type were significantly associated with older foster care youth's religious involvement.

Experiences of and attitudes toward mental health services among older youths in foster care.

Objectives: This study explored the experiences of youths in the Missouri foster care system who were receiving mental health services in order to identify characteristics that they valued in relationships with mental health professionals and in the services they received and to examine whether their attitudes toward services were associated with their experiences with services.

Methods: As part of a larger study, 389 youths aged 17 years were asked open-ended questions about their experiences with mental health providers. The qualitative responses were classified through thematic analysis, and the frequencies of themes were assessed.

Young, black, and male in foster care: relationship of negative social contextual experiences to factors relevant to mental health service delivery.

Among a small, cross-sectional sample of young Black males transitioning from foster care (n=74), this study explored the relationship of their negative social contextual experiences to two factors relevant to the delivery of mental health services to them: cultural mistrust of mental health professionals and attitudes toward seeking professional help. Three domains of young Black male's negative social contextual experiences were measured: proximal negative experiences, distal negative experiences, and negative imagery experiences. Results of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) controlling for custody status, counselling status and history, and psychiatric history showed that young Black males reporting a high frequency of negative social contextual experiences reported significantly greater cultural mistrust of mental health professionals and significantly less positive attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental health problems than young Black males reporting a low frequency of negative social contextual experiences.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among older youths in the foster care system.

Objective: To estimate the lifetime and past year prevalence rates of major psychiatric disorders in a sample of older youths in the foster care system, to examine the timing of disorder onset and system entry, and to explore variations in past year prevalence rates.

Method: Using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, interviews were conducted with 373 17-year-old youths (90% of those eligible) in one state's foster care system between December 2001 and June 2003.

Results: : Sixty-one percent of the youths qualified as having at least one psychiatric disorder during their lifetime; of these youths, 62% reported onset of their earliest disorder before entering the foster care system.

Use of mental health services among older youths in foster care.

Objective: This study examined lifetime, 12-month, and current mental health service use among older youths in the foster care system and examined variations in mental health care by race, gender, maltreatment history, living situation, and geographic region.

Method: The Service Assessment for Children and Adolescents, the Child Trauma Questionnaire, and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule were used in interviews with 406 youths in Missouri's foster care system who were aged 17 years.

Results: Ninety-four percent of the youths had used a mental health service in their lifetime, 83 percent used a mental health service in the past year, and 66 percent were currently receiving a mental health service.

Correlates of coping with perceived discriminatory experiences among African American adolescents.

This study examined the relation of background and race-related factors to the use of approach and avoidance strategies to cope with perceived discriminatory experiences among a sample of African American adolescents of relative affluence ( n = 71). Results showed that gender, family structure, socioeconomic status (SES), perceived control over discriminatory experiences, discrimination distress, and racism-related socialization were significant correlates of coping with perceived discriminatory experiences. Results concerning gender, perceived control, and stress arousal were consistent with findings from the general adolescent stress and coping literature.