A microcosting approach for planning and implementing community-based mental health prevention program: what does it cost?

Background: Estimating program costs when planning community-based mental health programs can be burdensome. Our aim was to retrospectively document the cost for the first year of planning and implementing Healthy Minds Healthy Communities (HMHC), a mental health promotion and prevention multi-level intervention initiative. This Program is among the first to use the Community Initiated Care (CIC) model in the US and is aimed at building community resilience and the capacity for communities to provide mental health support, particularly among those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Coping during the COVID-19 pandemic among young adults experiencing homelessness and unstable housing: A qualitative study.

Background: Young adults experiencing homelessness (YAEH) experience more stressors compared to housed peers, yet little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these youth. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how YAEH perceived the pandemic's impact on their well-being and coping.

Methods: YAEH were recruited from those participating in an HIV prevention study.

Experiences of discrimination among young adults experiencing homelessness: Relationship to mental health outcomes.

Young adults experiencing homelessness (YAEH) are at high risk for discrimination. Limited research has documented the extent of discrimination experiences and their relationship to mental health outcomes among this group. This study used data from YAEH who completed self-administered surveys across seven U.

The intersection of housing and mental well-being: Examining the needs of formerly homeless young adults transitioning to stable housing.

We examine the challenges formerly homeless young adults (FHYAs) face after they transition out of homelessness. Considering the adversities FHYAs face, it is unclear how transitioning to stable housing may affect their mental well-being or what types of stressors they may experience once housed. This study investigates the social environment young adults encounter in their transition to stable housing and examines trauma and social coping predictors of mental health symptoms in a sample of FHYAs to generate new knowledge for better intervening to meet their needs.

A mixed-methods investigation into the perspectives on mental health and professional treatment among former system youth with mood disorders.

Research has shown that how people think about their health (or illnesses) shapes their help-seeking behavior. In this mixed-methods study, we employed a simultaneous concurrent design to explore the perceptions of mental illness among an understudied population: marginalized young adults. Participants were 60 young adults (ages 18-25) who had experienced mood disorders and used multiple public systems of care during their childhoods.

Prior Experiences of Behavioral Health Treatment among Uninsured Young Adults Served in a Psychiatric Crisis Setting.

This study qualitatively explored the past treatment experiences of uninsured young adults who sought public emergency psychiatric care. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a racially diverse sample of 55 young adults (ages 18-25) using a semi-structured interview guide, and analyzed using a team-based open coding approach. Findings emerged in three broad areas-provider-related factors, treatment-related factors, and environmental factors.

Relations between mental health diagnoses, mental health treatment, and substance use in homeless youth.

Background: Youth experiencing homelessness have elevated rates of mental illness and substance use compared to the general population. However, the extent to which underlying mental health issues may contribute to substance use as a way to manage symptoms and whether mental health treatment may reduce risk for substance use is unclear. This paper investigated these relations in a community sample of homeless youth.

Symptoms, circumstances, and service systems: Pathways to psychiatric crisis service use among uninsured young adults.

Young adults have low rates of outpatient service utilization and higher rates of emergency service use compared to older adults. This study explored pathways to crisis service use for uninsured young adults who accessed emergency psychiatric treatment. Participants were 55 young adults (ages 18-25) who were on an inpatient short-term stabilization unit and had qualifying diagnoses for outpatient services (bipolar, major depression, or schizophrenia).

Managing and Mentoring: Experiences of Assistant Professors in Working with Research Assistants.

Support from research assistants (RAs) is often framed as a resource to facilitate faculty research productivity, yet most assistant professors have received minimal training on how to effectively make use of this resource. This study collected data from a national sample of assistant professors to examine tasks RAs are asked to perform, satisfaction with RA work, challenges in working with RAs, and lessons learned to be successful. Authors used a sequential mixed-methods design, first conducting a Web-based survey with 109 assistant professors in social work schools with doctoral programs, then qualitative interviews with a subset of 13 respondents who volunteered to talk more about their experiences.

Perception of Need and Receipt of Mental Health Treatment: A Three-Group Comparison of Young Adults With Psychological Distress.

Objective: This study examined mental health service use among three groups of young adults with assessed psychological distress: no perceived need for treatment, reported unmet need, and received treatment.

Methods: Data came from participants ages 18 to 25 in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008-2013) who met criteria for psychological distress (N=19,775). Demographic, access-, and need-related predictors of perceived need and treatment group were examined by using multinomial logistic regression.

Development and piloting of a treatment foster care program for older youth with psychiatric problems.

Background: Older youth in out-of-home care often live in restrictive settings and face psychiatric issues without sufficient family support. This paper reports on the development and piloting of a manualized treatment foster care program designed to step down older youth with high psychiatric needs from residential programs to treatment foster care homes.

Methods: A team of researchers and agency partners set out to develop a treatment foster care model for older youth based on Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC).

Pregnancy Risk Among Older Youth Transitioning Out Of Foster Care.

Youth served in the foster care system have higher rates of pregnancy than general population youth; yet we have little information about risk and protective factors to target in order to prevent early pregnancy in this population. We assessed early pregnancy risk and protective factors known for general population adolescents for their relevance to youth in the foster care system. Using data from a longitudinal study of 325 older youth from the foster care system, we examined bivariate and multivariate relationships between these factors and pregnancy between age 17 and 19 using logistic regression.

Pioneering the psychiatric nurse role in foster care.

Older youth served in the foster care system have elevated rates of mental health disorders and are high users of mental health services, yet concerns have been raised about the quality of this care. This paper describes the details of a psychiatric nurse's work within a multidisciplinary team to address gaps in care for older youth with psychiatric disorders. We describe the process, outcomes, and lessons learned in developing and piloting a psychiatric nurse intervention for older youth in the foster care system as part of a multidimensional treatment foster care program.

Postsecondary education and employment among youth with an autism spectrum disorder.

Objectives: We examined the prevalence and correlates of postsecondary education and employment among youth with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: Data were from a nationally representative survey of parents, guardians, and young adults with an ASD. Participation in postsecondary employment, college, or vocational education and lack of participation in any of these activities were examined.

Stepping Down and Stepping In: Youth's Perspectives on Making the Transition from Residential Treatment to Treatment Foster Care.

Older youth preparing to emancipate from the foster care system are often served in residential treatment settings where they have limited opportunities to practice skills for independent living in a community setting. Stepping these youth down to less restrictive environments such as treatment foster care is a growing trend, especially for youth with mental health issues. Yet, few studies have explored the youth's perspective on making this transition.

Prevalence and correlates of psychotropic medication use in adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder with and without caregiver-reported attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Background: Many youths with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) benefit from psychotropic medication treatment of co-morbid symptom patterns consistent with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The lack of clear indications and algorithms to direct clinical practice has led to a very poor understanding of overall medication use for these youths. The present study examined the prevalence of psychotropic medication use compared across individuals with an ASD without a caregiver-reported ADHD diagnosis (ASD-only), ADHD without ASD (ADHD-only), and an ASD with co-morbid ADHD (ASD+ADHD).

Mental health service use among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder.

Objective: This study examined prevalence and correlates of mental health service use among adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder.

Methods: Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 were used to examine mental health service use among 920 youths with this disorder. Estimates are nationally representative of students enrolled in the special education autism category.

Knowledge of and Attitudes Towards Behavioral Health Services Among Older Youth in the Foster Care System.

This study examined knowledge of and attitudes toward services among 268 17-year olds with psychiatric diagnoses preparing to exit foster care. A structured interview assessed knowledge of services with vignette scenarios and attitudes with a standardized scale. Descriptive statistics described the extent of knowledge and attitudes among this population and regression analyses examined predictors of these dimensions of literacy.

Diagnosis and medication overload? A nurse review of the psychiatric histories of older youth in treatment foster care.

Prior research has raised concern about the appropriateness of psychotropic medication use and the validity of psychiatric diagnosing for youth in child welfare but has lacked in-depth case information. This study reports results from a psychiatric nurse review conducted with eight youth entering a foster care intervention using case records and multiple key informant interviews. Results revealed extensive histories of unique (nonoverlapping) psychiatric diagnoses (M = 8, range 7-9) and past psychotropic medications (M = 13, range 9-21).