Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
9 MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION
9 MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION
Pages 333-356
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 333... ...
They tend to incorporate appraisals that relate to the development and sustenance of the concept of self including individual competence, activity, and self-efficacy (Mechanic and Hansell, 1987~-. The importance of this more complex view of health, for programmatic as well as theoretical purposes, is underscored by a strong link between the subjective assessment of health status and many health measures, including mortality (Idler, 1992; Ware, 1986~.
|
From page 334... ...
As explained in Chapter 2, mental health promotion activities are offered to individuals, groups, or large populations to enhance competence, self-esteem, and a sense of well-being rather than to intervene to prevent psychological or social problems or mental disorders. In many respects, the goals of decreasing risk and increasing protection in the disease-oriented model and the goals of promoting mental health are not mutually exclusive, either in practice or in outcome.
|
From page 335... ...
One of the major theoretical forerunners of the contemporary literature on psychological well-being is found in work on the dimensions of positive mental health and the related concept of happiness (Bradburn, 1969; lahoda, 1958~. The initial writings focused on the individual traits that were thought to define the mentally healthy person (Heath, 1977; lahoda, 1958)
|
From page 336... ...
The importance of self-esteem maintenance and enhancement has achieved a broad disciplinary acceptance as a unifying concept, helping explain behaviors intended to attain psychological well-being. This desire to sustain self-esteem may partly explain why humans perceive it as a threat to be defined as an object (Kelman, 1975)
|
From page 337... ...
Societies and their respective cultures vary in their ability to provide institutionalized means for preserving and enhancing the self-images and cultural identities of their members. Several theorists have pointed to the inherent interdependence of humans in finding an effective, socially adaptive fit between social structure and environmental demands.
|
From page 338... ...
As a subsequent section of this chapter suggests, many contemporary mental health promotion activities in the United States can be construed as expressions of attempts to
|
From page 339... ...
, especially insofar as natural support groups can form the basis for promoting desirable behaviors and empowering individuals (Albino and Tedesco, 1987; Mechanic, 1985~. Supporting and strengthening family functioning is, of course, a focal issue in many mental health promotion efforts (Duffy, 1988; Bowman, 1983)
|
From page 340... ...
on interpersonal, cognitive problem-solving deserves to be included among mental health promotion efforts, especially since it has gained relatively broad acceptance in school-based efforts to promote self-esteem and prosocial behavior (Groves et al., 1989~. This program, "I Can Problem Solve: An Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving Program," is included as an illustrative preventive intervention research program in Chapter 7 and is an example of how the same program may serve both preventive and promotive functions.
|
From page 341... ...
Rather, her study demonstrated that alternative healing had considerable appeal to weD-educated, economically secure, middle- and upper-middle-cIass residents of suburban communities. A similar conclusion probably can be drawn with respect to the consumers of contemporary mental health promotion activities.
|
From page 342... ...
, Eastern meditation practices in the United States trace their historical roots to the latter part of the nineteenth century but did not receive much public recognition until they were popularized through press coverage beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. Their increasing popularity was brought about in part by the growth of the self-realization goals of the human potential movement, whose adherents subsequently turned to Eastern spirituality for their longer-term development.
|
From page 343... ...
There are striking parallels between the beliefs and practices of Eastern meditation and human potential adherents derived from nonWestern cultures and those articulated in the more formalized conceptual framework of generalized resistance resources and sense of coherence proposed by Antonovsky (1987, 1979~. In Csikszentmihalyi's (1990)
|
From page 344... ...
It also assumes that the effectiveness of any health promotion activity can be enhanced through the coordination of individual and group action at different levels: family members who attempt to improve their health practices, corporate managers who shape organizational health policies, and public health officials who supervise community health services (Green and Kreuter, 1990; Winett et al., 1989; Pelletier, 1984~. This particular perspective has encouraged promotive policies and community interventions at municipal, regional, national, and even international levels.
|
From page 345... ...
Regardless of the particular form such enterprises take, all value citizen action in, mutual investment toward, and shared responsibility for promoting health, well-being, and positive life-styles. GAPS IN OUR KNOWLEDGE The current level of knowledge about the mental health promotion activities that are occurring in this country is sparse.
|
From page 346... ...
Perhaps it is time to consider how the psychological, biosocial, cultural, and spiritual dimensions intersect in contemporary definitions of psychological well-being and mental health promotion. Cultural variations in mental health promotion activities and the ways in which specific cultural practices might inform mental health promotion might grove to be oarticularlv significant areas of inauirv.
|
From page 347... ...
A critical issue concerns how to determine the actual outcomes of participation in different potential mental health promotion activities.
|
From page 348... ...
The social and economic costs and benefits of conventional mental health promotion activities figure prominently in any research agenda. Are alternative mental health promotion efforts more socially acceptable and cost-effective than those provided through conventional means?
|
From page 349... ...
· Enthusiasm for the health promotion movement should not interfere with a willingness to evaluate potential harm from such activities. For example, although mental health promotion activities do not use an illness model, persons with severe mental disorders may seek out such activities, viewing them as alternatives to standard treatment.
|
From page 350... ...
(1984) Promoting healthy emotional development in children.
|
From page 351... ...
American Journal of Community Psychology; 5: 165-177. Flynn, B.; Rider, M
|
From page 352... ...
(1991) Health perceptions and survival: Do global evaluations of health status predict mortality?
|
From page 353... ...
(1987) The San Francisco Depression Prevention Research Project: A randomized trial with medical outpatients.
|
From page 354... ...
Primary Prevention in Mental Health: An Annotated Bibliography. Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services.
|
From page 355... ...
American Journal of Community Psychology; 19~3~: 40~426. Zautra, A.; Sandier, I
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.