Developing a comprehensive school suicide prevention program

ABSTRACT: Since the 1950s, the suicide rate for adolescents more than tripled, and suicide currently ranks as the third‐leading cause of death among 15‐to‐24 year‐olds. Comprehensive school suicide prevention programs should include primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention components. This paper discusses these components as they relate to suicide prevention, and it provides practical steps for incorporating each component within a school system. All steps are based on a review of the professional literature. Three questions are explored: What can school professionals do to help in preventing adolescent suicide? What should school professionals do when a student threatens suicide? What should school professionals do after a student commits suicide?     

Rites of Passage in Adolescent Development: A Reappreciation

This paper explores rites of passage as a way of understanding and working with adolescents in contemporary contexts. It raises questions about the insights and approaches that rites of passage may offer us in working with adolescents as they come of age and seek to be connected, to value, and to matter in their world: What do rites of passage suggest is critical in the formation of adults? What can we learn from rites of passage that would assist us to act as mentors and guides? What are some implications for our work with contemporary adolescents?     

Training and supporting hospice volunteers: a regional survey

We surveyed volunteers from 8 hospices in the Delaware Valley regarding training, perceived needs, and role satisfaction. Results were consistent with previous studies: satisfaction with preservice training and with volunteering was very high; respondents reported feeling very prepared and confident about doing hospice work as a result of their volunteer training. In addition, longer volunteer preservice training was associated with higher levels of overall satisfaction with training; levels of volunteer satisfaction and fulfillment tended to be lower during the first year of volunteering; and participation in volunteer support teams was associated with finding volunteer work rewarding and with feeling a part of the hospice team. Implications for preservice training and ongoing support and education of hospice volunteers are discussed.     

Volunteering and community service in adolescence

Since the 1980s, volunteering has been studied as an avenue for positive development in adolescents. Reviews in the early 1990s were mixed regarding the benefits of volunteering, questioning the ability to transfer volunteer skills to other aspects of life as well as the true reduction in risky behaviors the adolescent will go on to undertake. This article addresses the gaps in the prior reviews and looks more closely at the benefits of volunteering. The author suggests that adolescent volunteers develop fewer problem behaviors in their later teens, enjoy a sense of connection to their community, maintain a better work ethic, and show a greater concern for the welfare of others. There are innumerable options for integrating volunteering into the life of an adolescent. This article offers many options, reviews some of the most popular, and suggests conditions that may increase the success of a volunteering program.     

Exploring Social Service Providers’ Perspectives on Barriers to Social Services for Early Adjustment of Immigrant Adolescents in South Korea

Recently arrived immigrant adolescents experience difficulties in adjusting to school in South Korea. However, the existing social services do not meet their psychosocial needs. This study investigates the perspectives of social service providers about challenges in providing services for immigrant adolescents early in their adjustments. We conducted qualitative, in-depth interviews with 27 South Korean social service providers. We identified barriers to social services, categorized into three themes: (1) Initial Contact Phase; (2) Service Delivery Phase; and (3) Structural Challenges. We suggest interventions concerning work-related stress for the social service providers, family-level involvement, diversity training, and integrated and collaborative immigration services. An examination of social service providers’ challenges in working with immigrant adolescents is a necessary first step toward the development of programs and policies.     

Effects of volunteering on the mental and physical health of senior citizens: significance of senior-volunteering from the view point of community health and welfare

In such an aging society as Japan, with decreasing number of children. Social activity of senior citizens is important for the well-being and the activation of whole societies. Promoting volunteer activities of senior citizens may serve as one useful plan; however, few researchers have examined the impact of volunteer work on the physical and mental health of senior citizens in Japan. In this study, a survey of previous studies that appeared after 1970 in North America, several findings were obtained: (1) Volunteering among senior citizens improves their mental well-being; (2) Few previous studies reported volunteering improves physical health such as protection for mortality and incidence of disability, compared to mental well-being; (3) Effects of volunteering might depend on gender, race, health status, socioeconomic conditions, and social networks of senior citizens--more impact can be expected on physical health of persons of advanced age; (4) Few previous studies focused on interactions of contents of volunteering programs; (5) Although several studies have reported that 40-100 volunteering hours per year were best quantitative level for health, this remains equivocal; (6) The conventional hypothesis that volunteering, through improvement in psychological, physical, and social factors, may improve ones health, needs assessment in terms of actual impact. Moreover, mechanisms of any influence remain to be clarified. From the point of practical use of volunteering as a health promotion program, it is necessary to explore better content and time engaged, as well as the numbers of groups to which senior citizens belong. Long-term longitudinal and intervention studies are desirable in this area in Japan, focusing on older candidates who are still healthy.     

Anorexia Nervosa:

This paper has been written for the health professional in the school and community, and others who come into contact with the anorexic. Although hardly a rare disease today, misinformation and fear continue to surround anorexia nervosa. Few people, including health professionals, are well informed about the illness, and this ignorance sometimes impairs early detection and effective treatment of the problem. Perhaps, this paper will help make the disorder more comprehensible and less frightening for both sufferers and health professionals in the school and community. Among other things, it will draw implications for health education and attempt to answer the following questions: What is anorexia nervosa? How prevalent is it? What individuals are at high risk? How does a person become anorexic? What treatment programs work? Can the problem be prevented?     

Should I stay or should I go: a study of hospice palliative care volunteer satisfaction and retention

Forty-one hospice palliative care volunteers (from 6 community- and 3 hospital-based programs) participated in informal group discussions regarding (1) what aspects of their work provide them with the most (and least) satisfaction; (2) why they continue to volunteer; and (3) why they might stop. In 5 of the 9 programs, volunteers said that feeling appreciated by the patients/families they support gave them great satisfaction. Boundary issues and/or role ambiguities were among the least satisfying aspects of their work, mentioned by volunteers in 4 programs. Volunteers in all 9 programs mentioned that they continue to volunteer because it makes a difference/helps others/meets a need in other people's lives. Among the reasons given for potentially stopping volunteering were a family crisis, burnout, old age, and other commitments.     

The work of hospitalized patients

Patient's participation in their own care, conceived as work, is the central theme of this paper. A second theme is the patients' work in relation to technology. A third is: the prevalence of chronic illness and how this relates to patients' work in the service of their own care. Data are from a multi-hospital field-research and interviewing study of technology and patient care, carried out in San Francisco and the Bay Area, California. Questions addressed in this paper include the following: What are the sources of patients' work? What types of work do patients do? How does that work relate to courses of illness and the phases? What is the relation of that work to staff work? Under what conditions is the work visible or invisible to staff? Under what conditions is the work appreciated or not by staff? What are some consequences of patient work for staff work, for the management of the courses of illness, and for the patients' own medical and biographical fates? How does patient work at the hospital relate to patient work done at home?     

Nutrition in adolescence

This review discusses five questions concerning nutrition in adolescence. Do adolescents have special nutritional needs? What are the recommended dietary intakes? What do adolescent schoolchildren eat? What nutritional disorders occur at this age? The prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia, rickets, coeliac disease, iodine deficiency, dental caries, weight disorders, zinc deficiency and pellagra are discussed. What is the role of school meals or other food supplementation programmes?     

Doing well by doing good. The relationship between formal volunteering and self-reported health and happiness

In this paper, we examine whether engaging in voluntary work leads to greater well-being, as measured by self-reported health and happiness. Drawing on data from the USA, our estimates suggest that people who volunteer report better health and greater happiness than people who do not, a relationship that is not driven by socio-economic differences between volunteers and non-volunteers. We concentrate on voluntary labor for religious groups and organizations and using second stage least square regressions we find that religious volunteering has a positive, causal influence on self-reported happiness but not on self-reported health. We explore reasons that could account for the observed causal effect of volunteering on happiness. Findings indicate that low relative socio-economic status is associated with poor health both among those who volunteer and those who do not. Low status, however, is associated with unhappy states only among those who do not volunteer, while volunteers are equally likely to be happy whether they have high or low status. We propose that volunteering might contribute to happiness levels by increasing empathic emotions, shifting aspirations and by moving the salient reference group in subjective evaluations of relative positions from the relatively better-off to the relatively worse-off.     

Improving quality and amount of service for volunteers in a telephone counseling service

Conclusions This study suggests that the most valuable volunteers are women between the ages of 25 and 50 who have had some volunteer or workrelated counseling experience. Therefore, telephone counseling services might want to focus recruitment activities on groups such as teachers, nurses, and community service leagues. This study also indicates that allowing volunteers to participate in supervision, advanced training, and social activities increases length of stay and improves quality of work. While this study does not explore causative relationships, it suggests that offering such activities is worthwhile. This is supported by interviews and informal discussions with volunteers who indicate that one of the major satisfactions of volunteering is the inter-personal contact which such activities provide. Therefore, regardless of the social characteristics of available volunteers, crisis centers can increase volunteer quality and amount of service by providing in-service support activities. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A02FC019 00002     

Health Care Voluntourism: Addressing Ethical Concerns of Undergraduate Student Participation in Global Health Volunteer Work

The popularity and availability of global health experiences has increased, with organizations helping groups plan service trips and companies specializing in “voluntourism,” health care professionals volunteering their services through different organizations, and medical students participating in global health electives. Much has been written about global health experiences in resource poor settings, but the literature focuses primarily on the work of health care professionals and medical students. This paper focuses on undergraduate student involvement in short term medical volunteer work in resource poor countries, a practice that has become popular among pre-health professions students. We argue that the participation of undergraduate students in global health experiences raises many of the ethical concerns associated with voluntourism and global health experiences for medical students. Some of these may be exacerbated by or emerge in unique ways when undergraduates volunteer. Guidelines and curricula for medical student engagement in global health experiences have been developed. Guidelines specific to undergraduate involvement in such trips and pre-departure curricula to prepare students should be developed and such training should be required of volunteers. We propose a framework for such guidelines and curricula, argue that universities should be the primary point of delivery even when universities are not organizing the trips, and recommend that curricula should be developed in light of additional data.     

The contribution of volunteers to a successful community-orientated tuberculosis treatment centre in an urban setting in Nepal: a qualitative assessment of volunteers' roles and motivations

PURPOSE: The purpose of the paper is to show that community involvement is a successful way of overcoming certain barriers to the successful management of the current tuberculosis epidemic, namely delayed presentation and non-completion of treatment. Volunteers are an important resource for engaging with the community. This research, conducted in an urban TB treatment centre in Nepal, seeks to investigate the motivations of TB volunteers, and how these motivations can be increased to involve volunteers, and the community, in fulfilling their maximum potential in delivering successful TB treatment programmes. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 26 TB volunteers, followed by volunteer discussion groups. Topics covered included: detailed accounts of the volunteers' many and varied roles; motivations - how they initially became involved and why they continue to be involved; incentives for volunteering; problems they have encountered; family and friends' attitudes to their volunteering, and the future of TB volunteering. FINDINGS: The findings show that the TB volunteers are involved in many important roles. Volunteers initially became involved, having been asked or informed about the programme by area committee members, staff or friends. Most were also involved in other voluntary work. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper gives recommendations for volunteer programmes in developing countries including: sustained communication and contact between volunteers and the organisation; volunteer programmes based in a centre with an established community focus; flexibility of time commitment; regular recruitment drives for volunteers from different generations and status levels; and the use of training as a possible incentive for volunteering.     

Improving quality and amount of service for volunteers in a telephone counseling service

Conclusions This study suggests that the most valuable volunteers are women between the ages of 25 and 50 who have had some volunteer or workrelated counseling experience. Therefore, telephone counseling services might want to focus recruitment activities on groups such as teachers, nurses, and community service leagues. This study also indicates that allowing volunteers to participate in supervision, advanced training, and social activities increases length of stay and improves quality of work. While this study does not explore causative relationships, it suggests that offering such activities is worthwhile. This is supported by interviews and informal discussions with volunteers who indicate that one of the major satisfactions of volunteering is the inter-personal contact which such activities provide. Therefore, regardless of the social characteristics of available volunteers, crisis centers can increase volunteer quality and amount of service by providing in-service support activities. Due to a printer’s error, Dr. Stern’s name was omitted from this article when it was first published in the Spring 1985 issue of theJournal of Mental Health Administration.     

Bioethics, critical solidarity and organic volunteering

OBJECTIVE: The study proposes "critical solidarity" as a value to be incorporated into the 21st century's bioethics agenda and as an instrument to guide people and associations in volunteer praxis. METHODS: To explain how solidarity materializes itself, the motivations for engaging in volunteer activities in associations that integrate the corps of volunteers of the Instituto Nacional do Cancer [National Cancer Institute] in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are analyzed. The data for analysis were obtained by applying two instruments. The first one consists of a questionnaire divided into 2 parts: one part identifies the socioeconomic profile, and the other identifies solidarity as a value that motivates volunteer activity. The second instrument comprises of semi structured interviews utilized to collect supplementary data for analysis. RESULTS: The results indicate that volunteering is based on three basic motivations: a) personal motivations related to life as a volunteer, b) motivations resulting from professed beliefs, and c) motivations aroused by the feeling of solidarity. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the incorporation of critical solidarity requires a rupture with the detected model of patronizing volunteering; it implies explicating the common selfish interests that permeate volunteer activities and qualify an organic volunteering, that is, volunteering which is politically aware and committed to responding to the specific demands of the present time.     

Evaluation of the rural South Australian Tri-division Adolescent Health Project

ABSTRACT: The Adolescent Health Project (AHP) was a rural pilot project aimed at strengthening the relationship between general practitioners (GPs) and adolescents within three Divisions of general practice. The evaluation assessed the implementation of the AHP model and strategies and their impact. The AHP used a centralised management/support and local delivery model. The AHP improved GP relationships and comfort with dealing with young people, and improved GP relationships with school counsellors. Divisional relationships with local schools improved. Students reported increased knowledge about GPs, increased confidence and comfort with accessing GPs. The AHP delivered a popular project to GPs, GP clinics, schools, school counsellors and students, which built the capacity of divisions, GPs, and schools to improve adolescent health care provision. Further research questions have emerged: What are the patterns of relationships between GPs and adolescents, and between GPs and school counsellors, and what strategies work best to sustain such relationships?