Investigating the possibility of using an AR mask to support online psychological counseling

Mental health problems are prevalent issues in modern society. While psychological counseling has been a traditional solution, it faces such barriers as negative societal perceptions and limited accessibility. To overcome these, researchers have explored remote counseling via video/voice calls. Despite its advantages of accessibility, convenience, and anonymity, the lack of personal interaction continues to be a drawback. This study investigates the feasibility of using an augmented reality (AR) mask in remote counseling and whether it could increase the level of self-disclosure-which is often used to measure the effectiveness of counseling-while maintaining anonymity. We conducted a controlled experiment and a qualitative user study to assess the effects of AR masks on counselees' level of self-disclosure during remote counseling. The results suggest that AR masks can increase this level more effectively for people with a low disposition for self-disclosure

Exposed Online: Why the New Federal Health Privacy Regulation Doesn't Offer Much Protection to Internet Users

Provides an analysis of how the HIPAA regulation may or may not cover consumer-oriented health Web sites and Internet based health care. Comments on what new standards will be required for those sites covered by the regulation

Improving Homeless Student Identification in an Urban High School

Homelessness has a profound effect on the education of many students; a majority of whom do not seek support services that could be of benefit to them. The exacerbation of emotional pressures on homeless students, those already overburdened by external stressors, impacts the educational environment. This study theorized that schools perpetuate homeless stereotypes and racial disparity, increasing homeless students\u27 discomfort in school. An intersectional relationship of these pressures decreased a student\u27s willingness to self-disclose their homeless status. This study conducted interviews with 15 students experiencing homelessness to document why students would avoid seeking school-based support. This research aimed to increase awareness of educational limitations for the proper identification of student homelessness. The research uncovered the stereotype and racial restrictions with identifying students eligible for homeless support. This study identified the need for improved teacher understanding of student discomfort with homelessness, and made recommendations on how a public school system could improve the identification of homeless students; thus increasing the number of eligible students that received support services

Screening and Assessment in TANF/Welfare-to-Work: Local Answers to Difficult Questions

Welfare reform efforts and significant caseload declines have resulted in a commonly held belief that those remaining on welfare face multiple barriers to employment, or are in some way "hard-to-serve." Clients with complex barriers to employment, disabilities, or medical conditions, are often grouped under this broad heading. One of the most significant challenges facing states and localities related to serving the hard-to-serve population is identifying the specific conditions and disabilities clients have that may be a barrier to finding and maintaining employment.In 1999, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with the Urban Institute to conduct a Study of Screening and Assessment in TANF/Welfare-to-Work (WtW). The first phase of the study involved a review of the issues and challenges faced by TANF agencies and their partners in developing strategies and selecting instruments to identify substance abuse and mental health problems, learning disabilities, and domestic violence situations among TANF clients. The issues and challenges identified through that review are presented in Ten Important Questions TANF Agencies and Their Partners Should Consider (hereafter referred to as Ten Important Questions). The second phase of the study involved case studies of a limited number of localities to further explore how TANF agencies and their partners responded to the issues and challenges identified during phase one. The findings from the case studies are presented in this report.Findings are based on discussions held between November 2000 and February 2001 with TANF agency staff and staff of key partner agencies in six localities: Montgomery County, KS, Owensboro, KY, Minneapolis, MN (the IRIS Program), Las Vegas, NV, Arlington, VA, and Kent, WA

Opening Closed Doors: A Rationale for Creating a Safe Space for Tutors Struggling with Mental Health Concerns or Illnesses

Because writing centers exist to help students find success in academia—to enter doors that may otherwise be closed to them—writing center literature rightly discusses the need to work with students of all backgrounds and abilities (Pemberton; Neff; Hamel). Writing center personnel have written about how writing centers and other campus resources can support students with disabilities (Hewett; Logan; Zimmerman), as well as the diverse ways in which these students learn and what we, in turn, can learn from them. The field actively recognizes that writing centers and student support centers in general are actually engaging in political advocacy, a fact that has been noted in this very publication.University Writing Cente

HIV positive young people's experiences of participating in support groups on whatsapp and facebook and perceptions of impact on HIV-related behaviour

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health. Johannesburg, June 2017Introduction South Africa is grappling with the challenge of providing lifelong treatment, care and support to young people living with HIV (YPLHIV). The 2012 HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey placed HIV prevalence among young people aged 15-24 at 7.1% (Shisana et al. 2014). Concerns abound around young people, and centre around low testing rates in this age group (Shisana 2014), their propensity for risky behaviours such as unprotected sex, age disparate relationships (Shisana et al. 2014) and high loss to follow up of ART-eligible youth (Cornell et al. 2010, Nglazi et al. 2012; Wang 2011). In the Western Cape province where HIV prevalence is 4.4% (Shisana et al. 2014) Clinic X provides integrated adolescent and youth-friendly health services including HIV counseling and testing, sexual and reproductive health, ART and other services for adolescents and youth aged 12-25 years. Services include facilitator-led support group meetings and private WhatsApp and Facebook groups for HIV-positive youth (van Cutsem et al. 2014). The aim of the study was to explore how social support is experienced by HIV positive young people from Clinic X who participate in support groups at the clinic, on WhatsApp and Facebook and to understand how support group membership is perceived to impact their HIV-related behaviours, if at all, during 2015 and 2016. The specific objectives were to (1) identify dimensions of social support experienced by YPLHIV, aged 18-25, in clinicbased and online support groups at Clinic X; (2) explore perceived social cohesion among YPLHIV aged 18-25 who participate in online support groups compared to those who only participate in clinic-based support groups and (3) explore perceptions of HIV positive young people at Clinic X in Khayelitsha regarding the influence of support groups on their behaviour during 2015 and 2016. Methods A cross-sectional exploratory qualitative study was conducted, namely focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). Ethical clearance was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) of the University of the Witwatersrand in October 2015. The researcher collected data for the study during December 2015 and November 2016 at Clinic X, which is one of two youth clinics in the Khayelitsha Health District of the Western Cape Metro Region. Participants were purposively sampled for the FGD component of the study from the population of young people aged 18-25 years old who attended support group meetings at Clinic X. The researcher purposively sampled interviewees for the IDIs from participants identified during the FGDs. Male and female individuals aged 18 to 25 years old who had been diagnosed HIV-positive, were enrolled in pre-ART or ART care at Clinic X Youth clinic and were participating in a youth club were included. Two FGDs were held, one for users of the online platforms and another for participants in face-to-face youth clubs meetings only. Twenty participants in total were included in the FGDs. Another nine in depth interviews were held with participants purposively sampled from the FGDs. Thematic analysis was used to analyze all data, which were recorded electronically, professionally transcribed and coded using MaxQDA. Key themes from data analysis included types of social support experienced, sense of belonging, desire to remain in the support groups and susceptibility to peer influence. Inductive themes included HIV-related behaviours, barriers to use of online platforms and sources of social support. Results Exploring the dimensions of social support revealed that peers within the youth clubs experienced emotional and informational support during youth club meetings as well as online. Emotional support was underpinned by the youth’s positive affect for each other based on shared experiences and the resultant feelings of being understood by their peers. The youth also received emotional and instrumental support from various other sources: health workers, family, and intimate partners as well as friends. The youth opened up about barriers to their seeking or accepting support from family or online as well as their perceptions about the consequences of the attitudes of individuals in their lives and community members about HIV. Participants’ perceptions about various indicators of social cohesion within the group showed that, while there was a sense of belonging, there were also limits in the extent to which youth felt susceptible to influence from peers in the youth clubs. Youth expressed a desire to remain in face-to-face youth clubs but were ambivalent about continued participation in the virtual clubs. Findings on the third objective revealed that the youth felt that the youth clubs had improved their knowledge and they were confident to maintain health-protecting behaviours. Seeing other youth looking healthy and overcoming challenges also motivated the youth. The behavioural intentions of YPLHIV were underpinned by gendered motivations for maintaining health, with young women being especially motivated by the desire for motherhood. Discussion To the body of evidence, this study contributes a qualitative understanding of how young people living with HIV experience social support online, showing that the dimensions of social support experienced are the same as those of participants of online health forums for other chronic conditions, namely information and emotional support (Gaysyknsky et al. 2014). Further, the study shows that for YPLHIV, online support groups may act as a barrier to the exchange of instrumental support, which research (Atukunda 2017) identifies as a salient need in this context. In seeking to understand why there may be disjuncture between the intention of pre-ART YPLHIV in the study to remain in care and the actual retention reported in numerous studies, the chapter proposes that social comparison, structural determinants and low risk perception may play a role. The major limitations of the study are the short time of engagement and exclusion of adolescents below 18 years of age who access services at the youth clinic. Conclusion and recommendations In conclusion, online peer groups foster peer support among YPLHIV, with implications on their emotional health. Still, more needs to be done to change perceptions about the use of online platforms for social support, design community-focused programmes to address gaps in support and reduce the financial burden on young people using mobile phones for health.MT201

Understanding the Two Sides of Online Counseling and their Ethical and Legal Ramifications

AbstractThe rise of the Internet has drastically changed the means by which people obtain information and communicate in the Malaysian society. The Internet has become possibly the most popular medium to connect with others particularly through social networking tools, like Facebook, Twitter and other. For the field of counseling, the Internet offers a new way to reach, facilitate and communicate with individuals who need help from all over the world. Little is known, however, about the implications of interacting with clients online. The purpose of this writing, therefore, is to address the possible advantages and disadvantages of online counseling, as well as ethical and legal considerations in the use of online counseling by summarizing the past research. Additionally, suggestions for better practice are also discussed so that counselors and therapists are able to have a better preparation before practicing online counseling. Overall, this writing has several important implications for counseling practitioners in Malaysia and beyond. It contributes to a better understanding of the role of the Internet in counseling practice in an increasingly electronic world

Adult Male Survivors’ Disclosure of Childhood Sexual Abuse: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The lack of understanding of the experience of disclosure to mental health professionals for adult male survivors of child sexual abuse means that counseling assessment instruments and diagnostic criteria are problematic and may contribute to counselors inadvertently perpetuating social stereotypes that prevent disclosure. The purpose of this study is to understand how adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse understand their experiences of disclosure to mental health professionals. The conceptual framework is existential and approaches the problem from a phenomenological perspective. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) design was employed to answer the research question of how adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse understand their experiences of disclosure of the abuse to a mental health professional. Data were collected using semi-structured, in-person interviews and analyzed according to IPA procedures of data analysis. Four themes were identified, Alone and Not Alone, Throwing Grenades, Monsters in the Deep, and That’s Not What I Wanted. These experiences derive from a deep desire for connection in the act of disclosure. Understanding that disclosure is a relational experience rather than a unidirectional, linear experience has implications for clinical practice, for counselor supervision and counselor education. Implications for social change to support male survivors include raising awareness, addressing legal disparities, and identifying leadership organizations who can help diffuse more inclusive messaging concerning childhood sexual abuse

Practice-based conundrums and existentialist quandaries of a professional code of ethics

Ethical codes have long been considered indispensable tools in defining the proper conduct of counseling professionals. Revisions reflect the ideals of the industry to accommodate the evolving needs of clients and trends in treatment models, but the essence of the code is to convert principles befitting of the profession into concrete actions or considerations that abet professional decision-making. Acculturation into the profession involves ethics training intended to improve professionals’ ability to apply the code to situations that might arise in their practices, resulting in the most ethically appropriate action. However, such assumptions may be problematic. The idea of ethical competency and improvement in the code itself should be qualified to reflect the uncertainty of moral truths, including counselor training tailored to test competency, both before and during professional practice. In this article, the consideration that morals and ethics are distinct is spelled out and then challenged by drawing on Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialist critique of moral decision-making reality. In light of this critique and John Stuart Mill’s argument regarding the value of vigorous debate over philosophical ideas, suggestions are made regarding a potential approach to ethics competency education