CFS Faculty Contribute to Special Issue of the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research Focusing on Transition to Adulthood
Young people with serious mental health conditions, especially those who are transitioning from child mental health, juvenile justice, or foster/residential care, are faced with extremely difficult challenges as they approach adulthood. Findings show they are more likely to drop out of school, live in poverty, have higher rates of criminal justice involvement, and greater interference in daily activities from mental health and substance abuse.
Studies released this month in the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research (JBHS&R) document the nature of these challenges and also demonstrate that community transition programs can improve the outcomes for youth and young adults with mental health disorders.
"This Special Issue of the JBHS&R will contribute further to our understanding of typical service utilization and related outcomes for subgroups of this population," said CFS's Dr. Hewitt B. "Rusty" Clark, who served as the Senior Guest Editor of the JBHS&R Special Issue. Two of the journal articles in the October 2008 Special Issue, entitled Transition to Adulthood Research: Process & Outcome Findings, provide program evaluation data to demonstrate the types of developmentally appropriate services and supports that community behavioral health organizations can use to create new opportunities for the youth, young adults, and families to experience better outcomes.
"Congratulations on conceptualizing and organizing this Special Issue," said Editor-in-Chief Dr. Bruce Lubotsky Levin to Dr. Clark. "These collective papers have formed one of the best JBHS&R special issues in my several decades of editing the JBHS&R."
"My co-editors and contributors for this Special Issue are hopeful that the articles will not only add to the current research, but will also guide the creation of developmentally appropriate and effective services and supports for youth and young adults diagnosed with a serious mental health disorder and their families," added Dr. Clark.
Additional CFS faculty, Dr. Mary I. Armstrong and Nicole Deschênes, and MHL&P faculty member Dr. Roger A. Boothroyd also contributed to the special issue.
Articles Co-edited by Dr. Clark and additional CFS & FMHI Faculty/Staff
- Introduction to Special Issue - Research on Transition to Adulthood: Building the Evidence Base to Inform Services and Supports for Youth and Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Disorders
Hewitt B. “Rusty” Clark, PhD, Nancy Koroloff, PhD, Jeffrey Geller, MD, MPH, Diane L. Sondheimer, MSN, MPH, CPNP
This article introduces the reader to the other articles in this special issue, illustrates how each is contributing to the research base available to more fully understand these challenges as well as guide the creation of developmentally appropriate and effective services and supports for youth and young adults and their families. It also suggest future directions for continuing to advance this field of research and program implementation to improve outcomes though practice and policy improvements. - Predicting Improvement of Transitioning Young People in the Partnerships for Youth Transition Initiative: Findings from a Multisite Demonstration
Mason G. Haber, PhD, Arun Karpur, MBBS, MPH, Nicole Deschênes, MEd, Hewitt B. Clark, PhD
This study describes rates of improvement on indicators of transition progress and challenges among young people enrolled in a multisite demonstration of transition support programs. Young people in the study showed increased rates of progress and decreased rates of challenges over four quarters of enrollment. Moderation of these changes by individual characteristics including demographic, historical, and diagnostic variables suggested ways of improving transition support programs and avenues for future research.
- Predictors of Emotional Well-Being in At-Risk Adolescent Girls: Developing Preventive Intervention Strategies
Mary I. Armstrong, PhD and Roger A. Boothroyd, PhD
This article examines the degree to which various demographic characteristics, personality traits, and environmental factors are associated with overall emotional well-being of 125 adolescent girls whose mothers were involved in welfare reform. Daughters participated in a 4-year, mixed method study and annually completed a structured interview protocol and a sub-group also completed a qualitative interview.
Now in its thirty-fifth year of publication, the quarterly JBHS&R is the official publication of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH). The peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal publishes articles on the organization, financing, delivery, and outcomes of behavioral health (including mental health and substance abuse) services.
The Department of Child and Family Studies is committed to improving the well-being of individuals, children, and families within communities across the country through promoting respect, inclusion, development, achievement, mental health, and an optimum quality of life.