Taking what we have and making what we need: Utilizing Natural Helping Support Networks to decrease self directed violence among Adolescents of Color.

Previous research has linked family and community connectedness with decreased risk of self-directed violence among adolescents. Despite the strong correlation between social connectedness and lowered risk of self-directed violence, very few interventions use social connections as mediators. This article identifies the risk and protective factors associated with self-directed violence among adolescents of color. In alignment with Healthy People 2020, this paper highlights the social determinants of self-directed violence including factors associated with individual’s social and physical environments. The authors provide an interdisciplinary review of current trends and historical data on self-directed violence in adolescents of color. The researchers suggest, the lack of culturally appropriate interventions, mental illness and the complex nature of social constructs in communities of color, makes solving the problem of self-directed violence difficult. This article examines how informal helpers can be utilized as an intervention to decrease health disparities experienced by adolescents of Color in the area of self-directed violence. The authors conclude that adolescents of Color are more likely to attempt to access support for mental/emotional concerns from members of their informal helping network before interacting with formal services. This paper offers a theoretical framework for creating culturally tailored strategies that utilizes informal helping networks. The proposed framework focuses on empowering and increasing education and knowledge about self-directed violence within the informal helping network while providing social and emotional support to adolescents of color

Closing the Gap: A Research Agenda for the Study of Health Needs among American Indian/Native Hawaiian Transgender Individuals

Objectives: To explore health research needs of American Indian and Native Hawaiian (AIINH) transgender individuals. Methods: This qualitative study is composed of four focus groups and one informal meeting, totaling 42 AIINH transgender individuals in four major cities. The theoretical and methodological approaches combined grounded theory with the principles of community based participatory research. Results: Healthcare and resiliency are two main themes that emerged as research needs with important subcategories within them. Access to quality care from medical professionals and access to care that is unique to their trans gender status were subcategories within healthcare. Lived experiences, culture, and history were factors found to contribute to their resiliency. Conclusions: There are a number of factors that lead to health disparities among AIINH people. They include the lack of quality care due to the negative encounters with health providers, health care providers\u27 limited knowledge of trans gender issues, and lack of transgender specific services. This must be researched further along with health provider care, attitudes, beliefs, and education. Understanding the lived lives of AIINH trans gender individuals and utilizing their culture and history in health interventions may improve their health and overall wellbeing

Regulating Mobile Mental Health Apps

Mobile medical apps (MMAs) are a fast‐growing category of software typically installed on personal smartphones and wearable devices. A subset of MMAs are aimed at helping consumers identify mental states and/or mental illnesses. Although this is a fledgling domain, there are already enough extant mental health MMAs both to suggest a typology and to detail some of the regulatory issues they pose. As to the former, the current generation of apps includes those that facilitate self‐assessment or self‐help, connect patients with online support groups, connect patients with therapists, or predict mental health issues. Regulatory concerns with these apps include their quality, safety, and data protection. Unfortunately, the regulatory frameworks that apply have failed to provide coherent risk‐assessment models. As a result, prudent providers will need to progress with caution when it comes to recommending apps to patients or relying on app‐generated data to guide treatment

Initiatives for a Stronger Community

Although indicators show that the County as a whole is better off than it was a few short years ago, some of Erie County’s residents are not reaping the benefit of this upswing to the same extent as others. Moreover, poor health outcomes also continue to be more likely here than in other counties in New York State. Initiatives for a Stronger Community is the Poloncarz Administration’s health and human services action plan for Erie County government based on the idea that it is unacceptable for a newly revitalized Western New York to leave behind significant portions of our community when we can effect positive change in their lives. As such, the plan outlines specific measures that Erie County government will undertake to improve the quality of life for residents in need. Initiatives for a Stronger Community is grounded in compassion and premised on two fundamental principles: County government represents everyone (not just taxpayers); and Government is an essential partner, and where appropriate, it can and should lead. This plan reflect these key values. They are inclusive, work to address needs and create opportunities, embrace both leadership and partnership, and support the ongoing efforts of others to build a stronger community

Best Practices in Disaster Grantmaking: Lessons From the Gulf Coast

Summarizes NYRAG members' response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, highlights innovative grantmaking, and outlines best practices, practices to avoid, and strategies for promoting the recovery, transformation, and revitalization of the Gulf Coast

Glu: An Online Type 1 Diabetes Information Community

This research paper examines the online health community Glu (MyGlu.org), a type 1 diabetes social media site. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic medical condition that requires constant and specialized medical attention. Online health communities like Glu, are an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for many of its members. This study discusses the composition of this information community, the motivations of its members, and the benefits members gain through their participation. It describes the major characteristics of the community and focuses on the information needs of type 1 diabetics. It concludes with reflections on how libraries and LIS professionals can better serve the information needs of health communities like Glu and accommodate their needs in the physical space of the library

Community Instruction and Vocational Learning

This meta-synthesis on community-based instruction and vocational learning in special education explores the training and skills individuals with disabilities require need to survive and thrive in employment and post-school activities designed to improve self-reliance, personal responsibility, and increase exposure to the community and all of the activities and opportunities that exist there. Substantial barriers must be addressed for all individuals with disabilities, but particularly for those individuals with moderate to more severe disabilities. Through proper trainings, and the utilization of the necessary tools and equipment, individuals with disabilities will continue to increasingly transition into meaningful employment and community-based programs intended to build self-sufficiency

Application of Smartphone Technology in the Management and Treatment of Mental Illnesses

Abstract: Background: Mental illness continues to be a significant Public Health problem and the innovative use of technology to improve the treatment of mental illnesses holds great public health relevance. Over the past decade telecommunications technology has been used to increase access to and improve the quality of mental health care. There is current evidence that the use of landline and cellular telephones, computer-assisted therapy, and videoconferencing can be effective in improving treatment outcomes. Smartphones, as the newest development in communications technology, offer a new opportunity to improve mental health care through their versatile nature to perform a variety of functions. Methods: A critical literature review was performed to examine the potential of smartphones to increase access to mental health care, reduce barriers to care, and improve patient treatment outcomes. The review was performed by searching several electronic databases using a combination of keywords related to smartphones and mental health interventions using mobile devices. Literature concerning the use of cell phones, handheld computers, and smartphones to improve access to mental health care and improve treatment outcomes was identified.Results: The majority of studies identified were feasibility and pilot studies on patients with a variety of diagnosed mental illnesses using cell phones and PDAs. Authors report that most study participants, with some exceptions, were capable of using a mobile device and found them acceptable to use. Few studies extensively measured treatment outcomes and instead reported preliminary results and presented case illustrations. Studies which used smartphones successfully used them collect data on patients and deliver multimedia interventions. Discussion: The current literature offers encouraging evidence for the use of smartphones to improve mental health care but also reflects the lack of research conducted using smartphones. Studies which examine care provider use of smartphones to improve care is encouraging but has limited generalizability to mental health care. The feasibility of patient use of smartphones is also encouraging, but questions remain about feasibility in some sub-populations, particularly schizophrenia patients. Pilot testing of mobile devices and applications can greatly increase the feasibility of using smartphones in mental health care. Patients who are unfamiliar with smartphones will likely need initial training and support in their use. Conclusion: The literature identified several ways in which smartphones can increase access to care, reduce barriers, and improve treatment outcomes. Study results were encouraging but scientifically weak. Future studies are needed replicating results of studies using cell phones and PDAs on smartphones. Larger and higher quality studies are needed to examine the feasibility, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of smartphones to deliver multiple component interventions that improve access to mental health care and improve treatment outcomes

“The Contempt of the Poor:” A Closer Look into New York City Almshouses in the Nineteenth-Century and the Treatment of the Lower Class

George Beverstock’s poem, “The Silver-Key: or A fancy of TRUTH, and a Warning to YOUTH: Showing the Benefit of MONEY, and the Contempt of the Poor, under the term of a Silver-Key,” emphasizes both the importance of wealth and power and the embarrassment and shame associated with poverty.During the American Revolutionary era and the New Republic, happiness and prosperity, according to Beverstock, were rooted in wealth and power, as symbolized by the silver key. Without wealth, life was meaningless, and families were subject to a lifetime of poverty and hardship. The word “contempt” insinuates that those living in poverty were deemed worthless by society. The upper class controlled the standard of living for the community at large, as represented by the stanza that reads “the Silver Key doth bear the way, where men are good or bad; if you have lost the silver key, but little can be had.”Beverstock suggests that the upper class was seen as the only population worthy of happiness and prosperity, especially compared to those experiencing poverty. This depiction shows a lack of empathy and compassion for the poor. As a result, almshouses began their efforts to try and aid those deemed undesirable in mid-eighteenth-century New York City