José A. Villalba

Ethical and Professional Issues in Experiential Growth Groups: Moving Forward.

The purpose of this introductory article is to provide a context for how experiential growth groups are typically used to train counselors, to preview the contributions in this issue, and to suggest future directions for researching and implementing such groups.

Parental involvement in college planning: Cultural considerations when working with African American families

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to describe Hossler and Gallagher’s (1987) college choice model and emphasize the predisposition phase of the model as the starting point for school counselors’ efforts to help African American parents foster their children’s college planning in the college choice process.Design/methodology/approach: The authors wrote this manuscript as a conceptual approach to helping school counselors work with African American parents in their children’s college planning process by including two case studies as examples.Findings: This is a conceptual article.Practical implications: School counselors should be culturally competent and aware of how African Americans reartheir children to help them successfully navigate college planning. For example, schoolcounselors can learn about and share information with families about colleges that have supportprograms assisting African American students toward college completion.Originality/value: This paper is important to the field of education as it contributes to the literature regarding how school counselors can assist students in becoming college and career ready by working with their parents using a college choice model.

The Latino Parents-Learning about College (LaP-LAC) Program: Educational Empowerment of Latino Families through Psychoeducational Group Work.

Parental involvement is crucial to facilitating a childs high school success and enhancing their post-secondary opportunities. Unfortunately, the ability for Latina/o parents and guardians to engage in parental involvement is hindered by a general lack of familiarity with U.S. educational systems and post-secondary options. With these barriers in mind, the Latino Parents-Learning About College (LaP-LAC) program was developed. The LaP-LAC is a psychoeducational group work experience wherein Latina/o parents with high school-aged children learn to understand the high school curriculum and become more familiar with post-secondary options (including financial aid), in an effort to empower themselves and their families.

High neuroticism in caregivers is associated with greater burden independent of degree of cognitive impairment or neuropsychiatric symptoms

Background:There are approximately 800,000 people in the UK diagnosed with dementia. In 2009, the National Dementia Strategy (NDS) sought to improve awareness and access to services for the early diagnosis and support of this patient group 3, with a key aim of a memory clinic in every town. Data published by the Alzheimer Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk) suggest that 63% of people with dementia in Sheffield have been identified and diagnosed. This is one of the highest diagnosis rates in the UK. The memory clinics in Sheffield are divided into a clinic for patients older than 65 and run by old age psychiatry that sees >800 new referrals and the <65 or working age memory clinic run by neurologists, which sees >150 new referrals per year. In this study we reviewed whether raised awareness of dementia has altered the pattern of referrals to a memory clinic.Methods: Service review for all new referrals seen in the <65 memory clinic in Sheffield from 2004, 2006 (both 6 months) & 2012. Results: In 2004 and 2006 showed that approximately 1/3 of patients, whom had been given a diagnosis did not have dementia but had non-progressive memory complaints (either in the context of a mood disorder or Functional Memory disorder defined as subjective memory complaints of duration longer than 6 months, without organic or major psychiatric cause, normal brain imaging and neuropsychological tests of memory above 1.5 SD) but by 2012 this had increased to just over 50%. Conclusions: An early analysis confirms factors previously described in FMD such as work stress (in particular change in work pattern), chronic pain (back pain and migraine) and pre-morbid high achievement with a catastrophising misinterpretation of memory failures as the main triggers of non progressive memory disorders. Raised awareness of the early symptoms of dementia may be increasing the number of inappropriate referrals to memory services and suggests that more should be done to inform practitioners in primary care to achieve better triage. The current economic climate and impact on employment and financial hardship may be contributing to FMD and is also worthy of exploration.

An interdisciplinary counseling center for individuals, couples and families affected by MCI and dementia

Background: Middle Eastern countries have certain cultural, social and economic characteristics in common with similar aspiration. The percentage of elderly in the Middle East is expected to increase with improvement of the health care delivery in the area. The region, like other developing countries, needs to define the policies and programs that will reduce the burden of aging populations on the society and its economy. There is a need to ensure the availability of comprehensive health services for the elderly. Methods: A rising geriatric population, with increasingly unmet health care needs, strongly suggest the necessity for a better educational preparation of those health professions actually or potentially serving them. Results: The absence of sufficient numbers of trained geriatricians and gerontologists, among health professionals, seriously undermines the ability of the country’s health care system to adequately assess, treat, and rehabilitate the growing aging population. This shortage leads to inappropriate care, higher costs, and poorer patient outcomes. Conclusions: As the population age the number of Alzheimer’s patients will increase as well. Specialised services for Alzheimer’s disease in the region are scarce. Usually Alzheimer patients are treated on the same floor of long term stay. There is lack of adequate services for Alzheimer’s patient in the region. Current available services will be reported and at the same time future recommendation will be made.