Noting that too many children with elevated lead levels are not being identified in the United States, this report presents policy guidelines for increasing screening and follow-up care of children who most need these services, and for helping communities pursue the most appropriate approach to preventing childhood lead poisoning. Following an…

A significant minority of teens and preteens suffer from anxiety disorders, depression and other mood disorders, behavior problems, and drug and alcohol addiction. Others have low self-esteem, difficulty coping, and feelings of insecurity. Given the harmful consequences of such disorders, policymakers and practitioners should be alert to teens…

The U.S. Surgeon General's 2000 Report on Children's Mental Health estimates that one in five children and adolescents will experience a significant mental-health problem during their school years. While the family is the primary source of support for a child's mental health, the increased stress and fracturing of today's life make it imperative…

Primary prevention addresses issues which are not yet identified as problematic for a specific population. Primary prevention programs typically: (1) are oriented toward a group, rather than an individual; (2) have a before-the-fact quality that implies the population is not maladjusted; and (3) offer programs with the intention of preventing…

This report describes lessons learned over the initial 3 years of the implementation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's SafeFutures Program To Reduce Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence, a 5-year demonstration initiative designed to prevent and control juvenile delinquency through a continuum of care in communities.…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the extent to which children's mental health agencies can meet the information needs they consider to be most important and also comply with recommended standards of the Mental Health Statistics Improvement Projects (MHSIP). Three children's data sets representing three different agency…

These four symposium papers provide examples of different states that have experimented with various criteria and approaches in developing youth mental health services. The four states profiled, North Carolina, Arizona, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, are using the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) to assess impairment in…

This paper summarizes results of a study which determined usage of mental health services by children with depressive disorders and whether patterns of service use and parents' perceptions of service use barriers are the same for children with depressive disorders as for those with disruptive disorders. The study used data from the Methods for…

For more than 30 years, school-based health centers have been making an important difference in the health of millions of children by providing an array of medical and other health services at school. This brochure addresses school-based dental care as part of the Caring for Kids program, a multi-site grant program funded through the Robert Wood…

Formal mental health services offered in traditional Western settings may be neither appropriate for nor accessible to Korean Americans who are adjusting to divorce. This paper presents an overview of current research on postdivorce adjustment and single parenting in the United States, examines various cultural differences (e.g., African, Asian,…

The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health solicited public comment from stakeholders in the mental health community on various topics related to the Commissions mission. The goal was to gain a better understanding of the publics experiences with, concerns about, and hopes for the mental health care system. More than twelve hundred…

The role of the consultant in the mental health consultation process has been marked by disagreement. One view maintains that consultation should be a collaborative venture between consultant and consultee. Alternately, another view holds that consultants should make use of their expert power and direct the consultation process. Empirical evidence…

The use of tobacco products is one of the most critical health problems facing the country. Through the use of neuroimaging technologies, it is now possible to see some of the changes in brain functioning that occur from smoking. There may be other chemicals in cigarette smoke that contribute to addiction. The improved understanding of addiction,…

The Minorities and Communication section of the proceedings contains the following 4 selected papers: "Differences in Media by Online Business in Black- and White-Targeted Magazines: The Potential Impact of the Digital Divide on Ad Placement" (Osei Appiah and Matthew Wagner); "Racial Stereotyping and Mass Mediated Contact"…

It was found that the less (but not the more) liberal examiners attributed greater psychological maladjustment to the left politically active female clients than to males. Findings are interpreted as bolstering position of Szasz and others that conventional ideologies are strengthened by certain moral-political consequences of mental health…