The parenting partnership: The evaluation of a human service/corporate workplace collaboration for the prevention of substance abuse and mental health problems,and the promotion of family and work adjustment

A partnership between corporate worksites, a community-based prevention agency, and families in those worksites is described. Its primary goals were the reduction of family risk and enhancement of family protective factors that predispose children and youth to substance abuse and related social and emotional difficulties. A related goal of the program is to reduce family stress levels and attitudes that may influence the parents' levels of risk for substance abuse and related disorder. The program delivery strategy is conceived of as part of the necessart efforts of prevention programs to reach target populations in host settings in which they may naturally participate, thereby reducing obstacles and barriers to participation that often impede prevention efforts. Evaluation revealed that the program was generally better able to retain parents for a fairly lengthy period, and with high rates of attendance. Program attendance was also not affected by parental background characteristics that, in other delivery approaches, are often associated with poor attendance and high drop-out levels. Results also indicated that levels of program exposure (dosage) do make a significant difference in the efficacy of such efforts as those parents in the program who participated in higher percentages and numbers of sessions (i.e. more than 80% of sessions) showed both short-term and longer-term (i.e. across 18 month follow-ups) gains in their ratings of the target child's behavior problems and strengths, substance abuse resistance related knowledge and attitudes, reduced parental stress, depression and irritability, and increased utilization of social support. By contrast, parents who received a low program exposure exhibited a more restricted set of short-term gains. The findings are discussed in terms of their importance for consideration of program dosage for prevention programs, and the need to attend to the context in which programming is offered as it may facilitate or impede efforts to provide levels of dosage and fidelity to create enduring impacts     

Phase II trial of PALA in combination with 5-fluorouracil in advanced pancreatic cancer

Summary Phosphonacetyl-l-aspartate (PALA), an inhibitor of aspartate transcarbamylase that depletes uridine nucleotide pools, selectively potentiates the antitumor activity of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in preclinical models. Due to the promising results we obtained using PALA/5-FU in colorectal cancer, we performed a phase II trial in patients presenting with advanced pancreatic cancer. PALA was given intravenously at 250 mg/m² on day 1, followed 24 h later by 2,600 mg/m² 5-FU given by 24-h infusion. Treatments were repeated weekly. A total of 41 patients who had not previously undergone chemotherapy were entered in the trial; of these, 35 were evaluable for response. Toxicity was generally mild to moderate; neurotoxicity (13/35) and diarrhea (8/35) predominated. Among the 35 patients, 1 achieved a complete response and 4, a partial remission, for an overall response rate of 14%. The median survival was 5.1 months. Pretreatment with PALA alone was not sufficient to enhance the activity of 5-FU in pancreatic cancer.Supported in part by grant CA 06927 from the National Cancer Institute     

The impact of hospital structure and restructuring on the nursing workforce.

OBJECTIVE: Health systems throughout much of the world have been subject to 'reform' in recent years as countries have attempted to contain the rapidly rising costs of health care. Changes to hospital structures (restructuring) have been an important part of these reforms. A significant impact of current approaches to restructuring is the loss of, or changes to, nursing management roles and functions. SETTING: Australian hospitals PRIMARY ARGUMENT: Little evaluation has been undertaken to determine the impact of hospital structure and organisational restructuring on the nursing workforce. CONCLUSIONS: There is some indication that nurses have experienced a loss of key management positions, which may impact on their capacity to ensure that adequate and safe care is provided at the ward level.     

Personal and family risk factors for adolescent suicidal ideation and attempts.

Despite research indicating that suicidal ideation is strongly related to future suicide attempts, there is limited data on variables associated with continued suicidal ideation and behaviors in adolescents. The objective of this study is to investigate whether personal, cognitive and family risk factors can differentiate adolescent suicidal ideation and attempts. Twenty-four attempters, 50 ideators and 50 non-suicidal adolescents (aged 14 to 25 years) were asked during an interview to complete individual and psychosocial measures. Both suicidal groups reported greater personal vulnerability and perceived their family as less functional than did the non-suicidal group. However, no differences were found between both suicidal groups. The results suggest the presence of common factors in both adolescent suicidal ideators and attempters.     

Relaxation Therapy and Compliance in the Treatment of Adolescent Headache

SYNOPSIS
Few controlled studies have examined the effectiveness of relaxation therapy for the treatment of adolescent headaches. In this study, ten chronic headache sufferers (migraine or muscle contraction), ranging in age from 12 to 17 years (M = 13.5 SD = 1.3), were sequentially assigned to either a relaxation therapy or waiting-list control group. Following treatment, subjects in the treatment group demonstrated significantly lower Headache Index scores than subjects in the control group (U = 0, p £ .004). Group differences in Headache Free Days, Peak Headache Rating, and Medication Index scores were not significant; differences in Medication Index scores approached significance at U = 3, p £ .03. Objective compliance to treatment data indicated subjects overreported their actual practice time, on average, by 70%. Results and implications for future research are discussed.     

Technology anxiety as a potential mediating factor in response to medical technology

Technology anxiety, defined as a fear of working with medical equipment, was measured via the use of the Technology Response Questionnaire. Nurses (N=414) working on nine types of nursing units at two hospitals participated in the study. Nurses working on psychiatric units were found to be most anxious about working with medical equipment, while nurses working on surgical and adult intensive care units were least anxious. A comparison of the nurses who were highest and lowest on technology anxiety indicated that those who were most anxious about technology were less positive toward computers, felt more stressed by their work, were lower on job satisfaction, less positive toward the physicians they worked with, lower on personality scales of autonomy and adaptability, were less likely to do care planning regularly or to use nursing diagnoses, and tended to be older than less anxious nurses.