Child Mental Health Programs Research Articles

PPBS in a community mental health center

In contrast to the traditional line item budget, PPBS is portrayed as a method to relate program costs to achievements and assess the efficiency of a CMHC. The authors describe the application of PPBS to the planning and design of a grant for the development of a child mental health program.

Abortion, Contraception and Child Mental Health

The experience of 87 girls, 15 years of age and younger, who were seen at Preterm, a freestanding abortion facility in Washington, D.C., from June-August 1972, is reported. Each girl was about 10 weeks pregnant and had vacuum aspiration abortions performed at Preterm. 65 of these girls had never used contraception. In postabortion counseling, 42 patients chose the pill for subsequent protection; 23 had an IUD inserted; 22 refused contraception. 32 records were selected at random from these 87 cases for more detailed study. The patients liked school with a ratio of 2:1. 1/3 came from a single parent home; most had siblings. The extent of their sexual experience was minimal. 3 cases are described in more detail. The main concern of this report is with the implications for prevention of mental disorder resulting from unwanted pregnancy. Abortion is an important form of birth control for this group because teenagers are least adept at getting and using contraception. Abortion is a lifesaving procedure and is decisive in preserving the options for personal development and mental health. It is suggested that sex education, available contraception and safe medical abortion be implemented and the child mental health programs include education on sex and family life for all age groups, including parents.

College students and mental health programs for children.

THE manpower shortage in the helping professions is an old story by now, but people in high places keep reminding us of the problem. Earlier this year the Surgeon General, Dr. William Stewart, announced that 500,000 additional persons were required today in the health professions. Stewart suggested, as have others in the past several years, that the far exceeds the national training capacity, and therefore we must give greatly increased effort . . . to the development of meaningful technician and assistant groups...... While our concern here will be with assistant groups, the emergence of new technician groups invites brief attention. The Department of the Army presently has twice as many social work specialists as it has professionally trained social workers, and the Veterans Administration plans to use one social work technician for every four social workers in its hospitals and clinics.2 In 1954; the state of Florida introduced a new position-the Mental Health Worker. Selected college graduates give services ranging from community consultation to individual counseling. One reported value is that the mental health worker is less likely to see certain needed services as beneath his dignity. He is ready to take on unglamorous tasks such as arranging for transportation or making sympathetic visits; thus he has been able to supplement the work of others without encroaching.3 In contrast to the slowly developing technician categories, programs using nonprofessional assistants are rapidly proliferating. The antipoverty programs in particular have demonstrated how imaginative use can be made of persons, often regarded as unequipped, in performing tasks previously assumed by professionals alone.4 In the mental health field, a sizable number of college students have been working with hospitalized mental patients,5 and even mental patients themselves have been systematically used in one state hospital as therapists for fellow inmates.6 Mention should also be made of the colorful self-help groups which have cropped up throughout the country. These have ranged from leaderless self-exploration groupsto need groups such as Synanon for drug addicts.7 Nonprofessionals have also

Community Programs for Mental Health

This book should be of general interest to all pediatricians and of specific interest to those physicians who, as part of their community responsibilities, are interested in supporting preventive mental health programs for children and parents. This book provides an excellent over-all view of mental health promotion. Perhaps the most interesting is the discussion of the problems in evaluation. Saul W. Ginsburg, M. D., presents a clear and provocative picture of the mental health movement and its theoretical assumptions. Certainly today with so much emphasis on preventive and educational movements toward the goal of a "positive mental health approach," the attempt of certain agencies and bodies to apply an epidemiological approach to mental disease requires real thought and consideration for those of us active or interested in the emotional problems of our citizens. In addition to theoretical considerations, there are sections of this book dealing with the setting up and