Volume 8, Issue 3

The purpose of this research was to determine the efficacy of the depression section of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), as a screening tool on a psychiatric adolescent and young adult population. Method: The Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and the HADS were administered to 121 Major Depressive patients (according to DSM-III-R criteria. Results: The HADS had a sensitivity of 73.2% using 8 as a cutoff score and a sensitivity of 53.7% using 10 as a cutoff score. No significant ethnic differences or sex differences were noted, except for the BDI, where there was a significant difference in the mean test scores for males and females. Conclusions: The HADS is not a useful screening instrument for adolescent depression. There is a need for primary health care workers to have access to a brief, reliable depression rating scale for this age group.

This study compared the self-concept and anxiety levels of children and adolescents with albinism as compared to a control group of regular subjects. The differences in these two variables within the albino group between children and adolescents and between males and females were also examined. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the subjects with albinism and the controls, but there were significant differences within the albino group related to the sex and age of the subject.

This paper describes the initial stage in the development of a community-oriented primary adolescent care (COPAC) program for an Israeli boarding school within a family practice setting. The process of gathering information in order to prioritize health problems for intervention and to establish a primary care framework for implementing the program is outlined. The overall design of the program and the components of its comprehensive health visits are detailed. Results of the pilot in which two classes of boarding school pupils participated (n=53) are presented. The major concerns reported by these teenagers related to nutrition/weight and physical concerns. Depression/ suicidal intent and dieting were the most common behavioral issues. Very few biomedical problems were revealed as a result of the health visits. These and other issues were addressed by the family physician and nurse. The implications of this approach for adolescent health interventions in other primary health care settings are discussed.

Chinese secondary school students (N=429) were asked to respond to instruments measuring their family environment, psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behavior. Measures of family environment include perceived paternal and maternal parenting styles, family functioning, and conflict with father and mother. Results arising from bivariate and canonical correlation analyses generally showed that adolescents’ perceptions of parenting styles, family functioning, and parentadolescent conflict were significantly related to measures of psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct) and problem behavior (smoking and psychotropic drug abuse). The findings suggest that family factors play an important role in influencing the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.