Serving High-Risk Youth in Context: Perspectives from Hong Kong

Background: High-risk youth are often defined in occupational therapy terminology as adolescents and young adults who experience personal, contextual, or environmental barriers to effective participation in healthy, age-appropriate occupations. Without assistance for participation, these youth may acquiesce to daily routines of unhealthy risk-taking or isolation, failing to achieve developmental milestones needed for successful transition to adulthood. There are known therapeutic services targeting this population, but occupational therapy involvements have been sparsely documented. Method: Having been affiliated with a community-based occupational therapy program serving high-risk youth for many years in the US, the principal investigator of the study used a sabbatical opportunity to explore services provided to high-risk youth in Hong Kong (HK). This paper reports preliminary findings obtained from an exploratory study of analyzing transcripts of 13 one-on-one interviews with service providers in HK. Results: Two major themes are discussed in this paper: the prevalent behavioral risks among high-risk youth as perceived by the service providers and the intervention approaches used by the service providers with the high-risk youth population in HK. Conclusion: Reflecting on the preliminary outcome of the study, the authors suggest that occupational therapy may contribute to mitigating youths’ risk factors through ecological occupational engagement

The Investigator Who Vanished

Excerpt Stepping outside the glass doors of the Phoenix airport was like prying open a mummy’s tomb. The dry, stifling air caught like dust in my throat. Had Finn thought the same thing when he passed through these doors? Gathering the sun’s last rays, Phoenix shimmered from the center of a massive volcanic crater surrounded by low ridges. Mountains to the north and south stood as hulking pyramids. Of course, my assumption about Finn being in Phoenix could be a total mistake. I might have placed too much weight on the flimsy evidence of a mysterious postcard, and he had never made it to Phoenix at all. If so, like the ancient pharaohs, he had disappeared completely

Paper Cuts

Excerpt Alexandra Stark? Lexy? The soft male voice outside my apartment hauled me out of hibernation

The Snow Angel

Excerpt Greta’s voice snaked along the murky corners of her dorm room. “When the police broke down the door, they found the kid staring at them from the middle of a pool of blood on the coffee table. Just the head.

The Investigator Who Vanished

Excerpt Stepping outside the glass doors of the Phoenix airport was like prying open a mummy’s tomb. The dry, stifling air caught like dust in my throat. Had Finn thought the same thing when he passed through these doors? Gathering the sun’s last rays, Phoenix shimmered from the center of a massive volcanic crater surrounded by low ridges. Mountains to the north and south stood as hulking pyramids. Of course, my assumption about Finn being in Phoenix could be a total mistake. I might have placed too much weight on the flimsy evidence of a mysterious postcard, and he had never made it to Phoenix at all. If so, like the ancient pharaohs, he had disappeared completely

The Snow Angel

Excerpt Greta’s voice snaked along the murky corners of her dorm room. “When the police broke down the door, they found the kid staring at them from the middle of a pool of blood on the coffee table. Just the head.

Paper Cuts

Excerpt Alexandra Stark? Lexy? The soft male voice outside my apartment hauled me out of hibernation

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Depressotypic Cognitions and Suitability for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Although some researchers have suggested that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) might be an effective treatment paradigm for minority clients, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. In addition, few studies have explored the cross-cultural expression of the maladaptive cognitions that CBT targets for change in the treatment of major depressive disorder. The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to compare the applicability of CBT approaches and assumptions in Caucasians and American Indians, and (b) to evaluate whether depressotypic cognitions found in the literature related to CBT are equally prevalent in both groups. In study one, an applicability scale for CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Applicability Scale; CBT-AS) was constructed to explore the first aim of the study. The standardization sample for the CBT-AS was composed of 222 undergraduates from the University of North Dakota. The extracted factor structure and reliability data of the CBT-AS provide preliminary evidence that the instrument is a conceptually meaningful and psychometrically sound measure. Three factor scales were derived: focused in-session behavior, active stance, and structured therapeutic relationship. In study two, the generalizability of depressotypic cognitions and CBT applicability between American Indians and Caucasians were compared. American Indian participants (n = 41) were recruited from the Time-Out Wacipi Pow-Wow, whereas Caucasian participants (r. = 41) matched for age and gender were recruited from a community blues festival. Consistent with expectations, a discriminant analysis procedure revealed significant differences between the two groups in terms of perceived CBT applicability. Caucasian participants rated a stronger preference for CBT’s focused in-session behavior and structured therapeutic relationship than the American Indian participants. Both groups rated the active stance ./\u27•.I %! j . ft domain of CBT as mutually acceptable. In contrast, no significant differences were found between the groups in-terms .of depressotypic cognitions. Based upon the American Indians’ preferences found in this study as well as the treatment literature, several modifications to CBT were proposed for future investigation