The authors describe and illustrate means of engaging depressed African American adolescents in treatment. Twenty-eight youth participated in focus groups or individual interviews. Using grounded theory and transcript based analysis, they derived 5 themes describing African American adolescents’ experience of depression and suggested mechanisms for improving African American youth treatment engagement. Practitioners can educate African […]
Adolescents
Hawaii Community Health Needs Assessment: Mental Health Visits High in Hospitals
A new study of Hawaii’s hospitals mandated under President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul shows more patients were hospitalized for mental health issues in 2011 than any other preventable cause. The state’s Community Health Needs Assessment shows mental health causes accounted for 5,180 hospital visits in Hawaii in 2011. That’s well above the next […]
iQUIT: Smartphone App Helps Teens Quit Smoking Through Text Messages
A smartphone app designed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) texts teens to help them quit smoking. The text messaging program is called SmokefreeTXT and lasts about eight weeks. The messages (written in “teen speak”), and their timing, are based on texts sent by the participating teens, describing their tobacco cravings and moods. One text says, “Smoking 1 […]
Becoming A Man™: School-Based Counseling, Mentoring, Violence Prevention and Educational Enrichment Program
Youth Guidance’s B.A.M. (Becoming A Man™) – Sports Edition is a school-based counseling, mentoring, violence prevention and educational enrichment program that promotes social, emotional and behavioral competencies in at-risk male youth. B.A.M – Sports Edition’s curriculum addresses six core values: integrity, accountability, self-determination, positive anger expression, visionary goal-setting and respect for women, as each value […]
I-bobbly App: Getting Mobile Mental Health into Indigenous Communities
The suicide rate for Indigenous people is four times Australia’s national rate. Many Indigenous people live in remote parts of Australia where therapists able to deliver suicide prevention treatments are rare or non-existent. And most treatments have been developed for European Australians rather than Aboriginal Australians. These are the challenges that a smart phone app […]
Sparx: 3D Animated Fantasy Game Effective in Treating Depression in Adolescents
A study by Dr Sally Merry, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiarty at New Zealand’s Auckland University School of Medicine found that a 3D animated fantasy game, called “Sparx,” proved more effective in treating depression in adolescents than face-to-face therapy. A randomized clinical trial showed that the remission rate among adolescents with mild […]