The Development of Health Knowledge in Low-Income Mexican-American Children

Children growing up in poverty are at risk for various health problems. For low-income, Mexican-American children, these risks include obesity, diabetes, and accidental injuries, 3 conditions that can largely be prevented by healthy life-styles. Despite the potential for prevention through education leading to health-promoting behaviors, very little is known about the development of health knowledge in this population. The present study examined low-income, Mexican-American children's understanding of the relation between health behavior and health status in 3 areas: nutrition, hygiene, and safety. 79 children (41 boys, 38 girls) ages 4 to 8 years participated. Children's knowledge was assessed in a structured play situation conducted in a laboratory setting. Results revealed that children knew the least about the relation between food consumption and their health, and knew the most about beneficial and harmful practices in the areas of safety and hygiene. Age and gender differences were also significant, with girls and older children more likely to provide elaborate and complex rationales for their responses. Implications of the findings for understanding the role of cognitive development and experience in the development of health knowledge are considered.     

Implementation of school‐based wellness centers

This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of school‐based Wellness Centers operated by the Riverside Unified School District in Riverside, CA, as part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). We describe the program as planned in terms of the theoretical model for the intervention and the evaluation design, and discuss the actual implementation including accomplishments and challenges. The program was designed to promote positive development and wellness for individual students via self‐ and teacher‐referrals for personal and mental health problems handled through a case management and referral process, support groups, and other activities such as after‐school programs, mentoring, tutoring, and parent training. An effort was also made to promote wellness at the school level by providing wellness campaigns, information, and compatible policies and procedures designed to enhance healthy development. Our observations are based on a qualitative assessment that was a component of the evaluation. A more detailed evaluation examining the impact of school‐wide and student‐focused activities on academic and behavioral outcomes is currently underway. However, we do include comments from students suggesting that the Wellness Center concept holds much promise for school‐based mental health and violence prevention services. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 473–487, 2003.     

Emotion Regulation,Coping, and Decision Making: Three Linked Skills for Preventing Externalizing Problems in Adolescence

Research on executive control during the teenage years points to shortfalls in emotion regulation, coping, and decision making as three linked capabilities associated with youth's externalizing behavior problems. Evidence gleaned from a detailed review of the literature makes clear that improvement of all three capabilities is critical to help young people better navigate challenges and prevent or reduce externalizing and related problems. Moreover, interventions can successfully improve these three capabilities and have been found to produce behavioral improvements with real‐world significance. Examples of how successful interventions remediate more than one of these capabilities are provided. Future directions in research and practice are also proposed to move the field toward the development of more comprehensive programs for adolescents to foster their integration.     

The impact evaluation process,part 1: Building a case for demonstrating the worth of performance improvement interventions

Evaluation results and consequences are only as strong as the plan and the partnerships that provide guidance for the evaluation process. This article, the first of a two‐part series on evaluation, is a pragmatic guide for conducting useful evaluations that produce action‐based recommendations for measurably improving performance. The next installment focuses on planning a responsive evaluation by establishing solid partnerships with stakeholders.     

On Becoming Allies: A Qualitative Study of Lesbian‐, Gay‐, and Bisexual‐Affirmative Counselor Training

The authors present a qualitative analysis of a process by which a research team of counselors‐in‐training confronted their heterosexist biases while investigating heterosexual attitudes toward sexual minorities. Members of the research team discovered that it was essential to reflect on and evaluate their attitudes, assumptions, and biases before they could conduct scientific research about affirmative attitudes toward lesbian, gay male, and bisexual male and female individuals. Self‐reflective narratives written by each research team member were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methodology. Results yielded 10 general categories or themes. Implications for counseling theory, training, and future research are discussed.