Natural hazards have become increasingly common in the United States, wherein across the nation residents are exposed to floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and a host of other events that occur due to changes in the climate. Amid providing care for communities that have encountered a natural hazard, the volunteers and rescuers are also exposed to the trauma caused by the natural hazard. The primary focus of the study was to elucidate differences in mental health symptoms of the volunteers by race and to determine if years of experience with previous trauma predicts and has a relationship with the development of mental health symptoms. A total of 182 social work students from 3 public universities that were from areas impacted during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and volunteered in the aftermath, consisted of our sample. The participants completed surveys regarding demographics, mental health symptoms, various stressors, and the presence of social support. Depression scores among Black participants were significantly higher (M = 17.74) compared to White participants and participants of younger age were more likely to experience depression. A final statistical model revealed negative emotion among Black participants indicated a decreased likelihood of developing depression when compared to White participants. The findings indicate the importance of providing adequate training and mental health resources for volunteers and particularly Black volunteers in an effort to prevent the occurrence of depression, which could potentially decrease their overall mental health after a natural hazard.

Exposure to trauma at a younger age has been associated with an increased likelihood of developing PTSD. School-based interventions have been utilized to address traumatic stress and PTSD symptoms in children. However, to date, no meta-analyses have been performed to evaluate the strength of intervention impacts on PTS symptoms in school-aged children, ages 5–11. Thus, the current review sought to address these gaps. Nine international databases were searched during the study’s timeframe. Inclusion criteria were: (1) randomized controlled trials of an intervention or prevention program, (2) implementation in a school-based setting, (3) children aged 5–11, and (4) an outcome variable for PTS or PTSD. Although 26 studies met the above criteria, 21 studies met all inclusion criteria, including the data necessary to run the analysis, and were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. Random effects models were used; the standard mean difference was reported at -.30, which was determined as statistically significant (t =  − 2.70, p = .01; 95% CI: [− 0.52, -0.07]). The results indicate that school-based interventions can effectively reduce posttraumatic stress in young children. These results indicate that school-based programs to address trauma in children may be an effective strategy to reduce PTS-related symptoms. Some limitations include a small number of studies included in the meta-analysis. Additionally, few studies reported enough detail to determine racial and ethnic demographic and specific age outcomes. As a result, it was not possible to isolate the specific effects on the intended age group and conduct moderator effects for racial and ethnic demographic data.

The purpose of this article is to present an innovative, culturally and age-appropriate design and implementation of an intervention with at-risk youths in a rural community. This article discusses the use of a participatory action research model to develop and inform a culturally adapted intervention to reduce depressive symptoms and prevent the onset of major depression among middle school girls. The design and development of this intervention is outlined, as are several innovative concepts to depression-prevention research with at-risk rural adolescents, and a review of the quantitative and qualitative findings of the peer facilitators' manual feedback, training, and facilitating experiences and overall satisfaction. Within a modular, manualized, treatment protocol, cultural adaptation to address this very real issue is essential to engaging and retaining rural youths.

The present study tested the model minority and inferior minority assumptions by examining the relationship between academic performance and measures of behavioral health in a subsample of 3,008 (22 %) participants in a nationally representative, multicultural sample of 13,601 students in the 2001 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, comparing Asian Americans (N = 408) and African Americans (N = 2,600). Specifically, the study examined associations of students' self-reported grades with suicide risk, substance abuse, and violent behaviors. The findings revealed that high academic performance is a protective factor against behavioral health problems for both ethnic groups. The results raise questions about the focus on high achievement among Asian Americans versus academic underachievement among African Americans. Implications for theory, research, training and practice in addressing the mental health implications of achievement behavior in Asian American and African American youth are discussed.

The present analyses examined the differential risks of and protective factors against depressive symptoms of African American and Non-Hispanic White American student volunteers, respectively after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (H-KR). A total sample of 554 student volunteers were recruited from mental health professional programs at five universities located in the Deep South, namely areas severely impacted by H-KR during fall semester 2005. The response rate was 91% (n = 505). African American respondents (n = 299) and Non-Hispanic White Americans (n = 206) completed the survey questionnaires. Respondents retrospectively provided information on peritraumatic emotional reactions and previous trauma that were recalled by H-KR and H-KR stressors. African American respondents reported higher levels of depressive symptoms (65.2%) than their Non-Hispanic White counterparts (34.8%). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that disaster related stressors affected African Americans (p < 0.001), but not Non-Hispanic Whites. However, African Americans who experienced peritraumatic positive emotions had lower depression levels. Lower rates of recollection of prior traumas during H-KR were reported by African American respondents, whereas previous trauma recollections predicted symptoms among Non-Hispanic White Americans (p < 0.05). Exhibiting more optimism had lower depression levels among Non-Hispanic White Americans. Peritraumatic negative emotion was the only shared risk for depressive symptoms of both groups. Findings underscore racially different levels of depressive symptoms that may contribute to varying degrees of resilience among student volunteers. Future research and practice may address these racial differences by understanding the risk factors for depressive symptoms to develop appropriate interventions for racial groups, and cultivating the protective factors that contribute to resilience from traumatic experiences.

Screening and detection are essential building blocks for prevention and early treatment of depression. Despite their critical role in early identification and treatment, primary care physicians fail to recognize depression in about half of their patients. Because depressed patients of color tend to seek treatment in primary care settings, the need for greater attention to, and understanding of, ethnic and racial disparities in general practitioners' ability to detect cases of depression is compelling. The purpose of this article is to discuss the screening and detection of depression among patients from different U.S. ethnic/racial and cultural groups. Specifically, the objective is to identify within-and between-culture factors that may impact on symptom presentation for African-Americans, Asians, Hispanic/Latinos, and Native Americans, and subsequently on the diagnosis of depression in primary care settings. Implications for the role of allied health professionals, especially social workers, in enhancing the cultural competence of primary care doctors are discussed.

This study focused on the influence of risk and protective factors on juvenile delinquency in South Korea. The study also investigated the relationship between risk and protective factors. The first wave of data in the Korea Youth Panel Survey included 3,449 adolescents. Data analysis included exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis, and analysis of variance. Analysis revealed that parental monitoring and teacher attachment as protective factors were both associated with lower levels of delinquency. Moreover, delinquent peers and poor parenting as risk factors were associated with high levels of delinquency. The relationships between parent attachment and delinquency and between academic performance and delinquency were found to be nonsignificant. Finally, protective factors mitigated risk factor effects on delinquency levels.

Objectives: Discuss initial findings of a randomized clinical trial comparing the effects of telephone-based and face-to-face (f-to-f) cognitive behavioral therapy (CRT) on changes in caregiver (CG) burden, assistance support, depression, and health status for African American (AA) CGs with depression. Design: Pilot study using a prepost, two-group design with 14 enrolled and randomized participants. Measures: Subjective Burden subscale of the Caregiver Appraisal Inventory, Assistance Support subscale of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, Physical Symptoms subscale of the Caregiver Health and Health Behavior Inventory and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results: Prepost improvements were found on 11 completers across all measures for both telephone and f-to-f CBT. Moderate and similar effects sizes for CG subjective burden and assistance support were found for both the telephone and f-to-f groups. Effect sizes for physical symptoms and depression varied from low to moderate, respectively, with a trend toward smaller improvements in f-to-f CBT than in telephone CBT. Qualitative analysis highlighted CGs' perceptions of the active ingredients of treatment and provided indirect support for similar gains in emotional and psychosocial functioning across the two treatment modalities. Conclusions: Both telephone-based and f-to-f CBT showed improvements in depression, subjective burden, and assistance support in dementia AA CGs. Replication with a larger sample size (N = 106) is currently in progress. Study limitations and future directions for research are also addressed.

The focus of the research study was to explore chronically ill African American, Latino, and White patients' causal attributions for symptoms of depression and factors that may impact depression care treatment preferences among these groups. With a community sample of African Americans, Latinos, and White HIV-positive adults receiving services in central Austin, Texas, a binary logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between causal beliefs and predictor variables and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between treatment and provider preferences for the symptoms of depression and ethnicity. Differences were found across race/ethnicity with regard to treatment preferences and patterns of causal beliefs were associated with treatment preferences among HIV-positive participants.

School social workers face requests for a myriad of mental health services. Because practice tasks are usually completed according to the services requested, different types of request may affect school social workers' perceived competency in completing mental health tasks. The objective of this study is to classify practice tasks in terms of request for services and perceived effectiveness in task completion. The study further examines how these groupings of service requests, as well as years practiced in a service area, influence groupings of perception of practice task effectiveness. Using data from a sample of Midwestern school social workers, a hierarchical cluster analysis was used in requests and perceived task effectiveness classifications. Three regression models, one for each perceived effectiveness cluster, were conducted using the request for services and years practiced clusters. The findings indicate that request types had a varying effect on the perceived efficacy of different tasks. Discussion follows on how future school-based social work interventions could use these findings to tailor their efforts on the basis of school service requests and the social worker's perceived efficacy to deliver the necessary tasks to predict intervention effectiveness.

Some theories have posited that African American youth are academic underachievers because of sociocultural factors. We label this point of view the cultural incompatibility perspective. Ogbu's oppositional culture theory and Steele's stereotype threat theory are selected as popular examples of this viewpoint. A critical review of the literature on these particular theories was conducted. It was concluded that there is limited empirical support for the cultural incompatibility perspective on African American academic achievement. This raises questions about the focus on academic underachievement among African Americans versus high achievement among other ethnic/racial groups. Implications of the empirical findings on the incompatibility perspective for the role of African American culture in Black student achievement are discussed.

One of the most exciting developments in the field of telehealth has been the use of telecommunication technologies to provide health information, education, and ­support to family caregivers of individuals with chronic illnesses. Telehealth has been defined as the use of telecommunications and information technologies to provide access to health information and services across a geographical distance, including (but not limited to) consultation, assessment, intervention, and follow-up programs to ensure maintenance of treatment effects. Internet, point-to-point videoconferencing, e-mail, telephone, biosensor, and virtual reality interactions between providers and family caregivers are all subsumed under the definition of telehealth (Glueckauf & Ketterson, 2004; Glueckauf, Pickett, Ketterson, Loomis, & Rozensky, 2003).

Purpose The purpose of the study was to explore African American, Latino, and Non-Hispanic White adult patients with type 2 diabetes cultural perceptions of symptoms of depression and factors that predict depression care treatment preferences between these groups. Methods A community sample of African Americans, Latinos, and White diabetic adults receiving services in 1 of 2 central Austin, Texas facilities participated in the study. Each participant was given a survey, which consisted of the following 5 components: (1) illness screener questions, (2) demographic questions, (3) Patient Health Questionnaire, (4) Depression Treatment Questionnaire, and (5) Illness Perception Questionnaire. A binary logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between cultural perceptions of symptoms and the predictor variables. A multinomial logistic regression analyses was used to examine the relationship between treatment and provider preferences for the symptoms of depression and ethnicity. Results The first research question addressed whether there were differences across ethnicity in how symptoms of depression are attributed among patients with diabetes. There were 7 causal beliefs that were associated with differences in cultural endorsements of the causes of depressive symptoms. In addition, culture was associated with treatment preferences but not with provider preferences. Conclusions The utility of assessing a patient’s understanding of symptoms of depression to determine how personal illness models impact treatment preferences and clinical implications of how knowledge of patient’s causal attributions can aid medical and behavioral health providers working in collaborative management of diabetes and depression are discussed.