Kenneth P. Drude

Screening Drug Abuse Clients with the Brief Symptom Inventory

A sample of 300 new admissions at a rural outpatient drug treatment agency were administered the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) during the initial screening. This study sought to determine if the BSI had sufficient discriminative validity to distinguish between groups with various levels of drug abuse, between those having fewer or more life areas affected, and between primary clients and their significant others. The results of the study indicated that the BSI does have usefulness in making such discriminations. Suggestions for its use in clinical care and quality assurance are offered.

Mental health needs assessment: Beware of false promises

Needs assessment is considered by experts to be an essential part of mental health planning. Unfortunately, almost anything can pass for a needs assessment. This article briefly examines the methodological limitations of the diverse and unstandardized approaches as well as the conceptual problems associated with needs assessment. The authors suggest that needs assessments could become much more useful if policy-setting and funding bodies would more explicitly state their expectations, if there were greater use of standardized instruments, and if efforts could be directed towards the cataloging of known needs assessment instruments. Further, the state of the art would be advanced if an expert committee could be formed to develop national standards for needs assessments.

Staff Perceptions of Work Environment in a State Psychiatric Hospital

The relationship between staff perceptions of work environment and patient/staff ratios was studied at a state psychiatric hospital. Staff in three separate admission units indicated their perceptions by completing the Work Environment Scale. Significant differences in subscale scores were found among the units and correlated with staff/patient ratios. Hypothesized explanations for these findings are presented along with responses made, subsequent to the study, by the hospital.

A Framework of Interprofessional Telebehavioral Health Competencies: Implementation and Challenges Moving Forward

Interprofessional telebehavioral health (TBH) competencies have been developed to standardize training and improve the quality of TBH care. The seven identified interprofessional TBH competency domains and three levels of expertise (novice, proficient, and authority) are briefly described. More in depth descriptions and examples of several of the competency domains are presented to illustrate what the competencies look like in practice. Some of the challenges faced in using such a competency framework are discussed.

Survey of psychologists’ telebehavioral health practices: Technology use, ethical issues, and training needs.

As telecommunication technologies have become more widely available and affordable, opportunities for psychologists to engage in telebehavioral health (TBH) have expanded greatly. A national sample of 164 professional psychologists completed a 28-item survey focusing on (a) current and anticipated use of telecommunication technologies in delivering TBH services, (b) types of telecommunication modalities currently used in clinical practice, (c) ethical and legal/regulatory concerns related to delivery of TBH services, and (d) educational and training needs for TBH practice. Associations between demographic factors (i.e., age, gender, practice setting, practice region, and years since completion of highest academic degree) and responses on survey items were examined. In descending order, the technologies most commonly used by psychologists were: landline telephone, mobile telephone, e-mail, and videoconferencing. A lower proportion of psychologists working in public settings used landline telephones, mobile telephones, or e-mail to deliver TBH than that of psychologists engaged in independent practice. In regard to respondents’ age, the proportion of psychologists delivering TBH collapsed across technologies was substantially higher among respondents 37 years of age or older compared with that of 36-year-olds or younger. Respondents also noted several ethical/legal barriers in providing TBH services, particularly managing emergencies, licensure requirements, and uncertainties about security, as well as confidentiality, Health Insurance Portability and Account Act (HIPAA) compliance, and malpractice insurance coverage. Overall, a substantial discrepancy was noted between psychologists’ positive appraisals of TBH and actual implementation, underscoring the ongoing barriers in the adoption of telehealth technologies in practice. Future directions addressed the need for training and education in TBH best practices.

Correction to: An Interprofessional Framework for Telebehavioral Health Competencies

The ESM should have been labeled Appendix Table 5 Interprofessional Framework for Telebehavioral Health Competencies