Jeffrey R. Lacasse

Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature

Many ads for SSRI antidepressants claim that the drugs boost brain serotonin levels. Lacasse and Leo argue there is little scientific evidence to support this claim.

Is Graduate Social Work Education Promoting a Critical Approach to Mental Health Practice

A sample of 71 psychopathology course syllabi from 58 different graduate schools of social work was analyzed to determine whether different viewpoints and the concomitant empirical evidence were presented regarding 4 significant mental health topics: concepts of mental disorder, reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnoses, biological etiology, and drug treatment. There is little evidence that graduate psychopathology courses cover viewpoints other than the most conventional and institutional—that of biomedical psychiatry. A small handful of secondary (textbooks) rather than primary (research articles) sources provide the majority of the mental health content in these courses. Implications are discussed. The article includes an overview of both the relevant conventional and critical literature.

RANKING DISCIPLINARY JOURNALS WITH THE GOOGLE SCHOLAR H-INDEX: A NEW TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTING CASES FOR TENURE, PROMOTION, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL DECISIONS

Given the importance of journal rankings to tenure, promotion, and other professionaldecisions, this study examines a new method for ranking social workjournals. The Google Scholar h-index correlated highly with the current goldstandard for measuring journal quality, Thomson Institute for Scientific Information(ISI) impact factors, but provided data for more than 4 times as manydisciplinary journals. Eighty disciplinary periodicals are identified and rankedusing the Google Scholar h-index. The vast majority of these were ranked higherthan the lowest ranked social work journal indexed by Thomson ISI.Although the results hold salience for many professional stakeholders, theymay be of particular interest to faculty who publish in disciplinary journals notindexed by Thomson ISI. The Google Scholar h-index provides faculty with anadditional tool to document the quality of the venues in which they publish.

Ghostwriting at Elite Academic Medical Centers in the United States

Jeffrey Lacasse and Jonathan Leo assess ghostwriting policies at 50 academic medical centers in the United States and find that only 10 explicitly prohibit ghostwriting.

Evaluating Journal Quality: Is the H-index a Better Measure than Impact Factors?

Objectives: This study evaluates the utility of a new measure—the h-index—that may provide a more valid approach to evaluating journal quality in the social work profession. Method: H-index values are compared with Thomson ISI 5-year impact factors and expert opinion. Results: As hypothesized, the h-index correlates highly with ISI 5-year impact factors; but exhibits closer agreement with expert opinion, particularly with high familiarity disciplinary journals. Conclusions: This evidence of convergent and discriminatory validity suggests that the h-index may have some utility in assessing social work journals. Notable advantages of the h-index include its compatibility with the profession’s applied research culture and its ability to be used with essentially all journals in which social workers publish.

Evaluating the Productivity of Social Work Scholars Using the h-Index

Objectives: This article reports the first estimated h-index values for social work faculty. Methods: Multiple raters blindly assessed two samples of faculty (1) tenure-track faculty at institutions listed in the U.S. News and World Report top 10 (n = 337) and (2) tenure-track editorial board members of 5 highly ranked social work journals (n = 215). Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients for h-index values among the multiple raters ranged from .83 to .92, indicating good reliability. For faculty at top 10 institutions, mean estimated h-index values were 3.97 (SD = 2.87) for assistant professors; 8.59 (SD = 3.72) for associate professors; and 16.14 (SD = 8.35) for full professors. Values for editorial board members were generally similar. Conclusions: These are the first such published data; further research is needed.

A Parent's Tears: Primary Results from the Traumatic Experiences and Resiliency Study:

This study examined health/mental health status, family functioning, and resiliency among a sample of bereaved parents (N = 503). Participants were recruited from an online support community to complete an online survey instrument (response rate = 51.75%). The questionnaire contained an array of self-report instruments, such as the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD), as well as open-ended questions. Many respondents scored over the clinical cut-off for the HSCL-25 (51.3%, n = 258) and IES-R (42.3%, n = 213). IES-R scores were negatively correlated with years-since loss (r = −0.24, p < .05). In narrative responses, participants described a wide range of deeply impactful mental and physical health problems. The results indicate significant clinical distress in this sample of bereaved parents, with many reporting enduring psychological, familial, and health consequences following the death of a child.

Questionable Advertising of Psychotropic Medications and Disease Mongering

David Healy raises intriguing questions regarding the rapid increase in bipolar diagnoses and the use of “mood stabilizing” medications [ 1]. Although this phenomenon is multifactorial, surely consumer advertising has played a role.

Prescribing of Psychiatric Medication to Bereaved Parents Following Perinatal/Neonatal Death: An Observational Study

To examine psychiatric prescribing in response to perinatal/neonatal death, we analyzed data from a cross-sectional survey of 235 bereaved parents participating in an online support community. Of the 88 respondents prescribed medication, antidepressants were most common (n = 70, 79.5%) followed by benzodiazepines/sleep aids (n = 18, 20.5%). Many prescriptions were written shortly after the death (32.2% within 48 hr, 43.7% within a week, and 74.7% within a month). Obstetrician/gynecologists wrote most prescriptions given shortly after loss. Most respondents prescribed antidepressants took them long-term. This sample is select, but these data raise disturbing questions about prescribing practices for grieving parents.

Social Support in Family Reunification: A Qualitative Study

When children are removed from their parents due to child maltreatment, the goal remains to reunite families whenever possible. Although extensive research exists regarding barriers to reunification, little is known about the families who are successfully reunited. The aim of this study was to examine the strengths families found helpful in the process of achieving and maintaining reunification. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 reunified families. Thematic coding of these narrative interviews was completed, uncovering the ways the families perceived intrafamilial and external social support that was given and received played an important role in their stories of reunification.