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This article examines the current realities and illusions of caring for suicidal people. Treating suicidal persons concerns a wide range of professionals, namely, physicians, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, pastoral counselors, social workers, nurses and staff members of suicide-prevention centers. Problems of suicide care are problems of the dying, for every suicidal person is someone who finds life unbearable because of physical or psychic pain. The concern here is not with the dead but with the dying and the care that they receive. Numbers for this group are far larger. Psychiatrists did not become involved in organizing suicidal services until twenty years after these first voluntary efforts. Vienna was the center of psychiatric activities, which began in 1910 with psychoanalytic meetings devoted to suicide. Like most social movements, even professional ones, the suicide prevention movement was too optimistic to evaluate its major premises. There also appears to have been no serious questioning of how suicide prevention centers should be organized.

81 young children were Ss in a study of the effects of institutionalization on development. A Foster-Grandparent Program (FGP) group received part-time "mothering" by elderly institutional aides for a period of up to more than 4 years. A control group resided in a similar institution which did not provide supplementary "foster grandparent" care. There was a significant difference in IQ in favor of the FGP children. IQ results indicated that the experimental group made average intellectual progress over long periods of institutionalization. The FGP group also made average progress in the development of social competence, as measured by Vineland Social Maturity Scale SQs, over long periods of residence in the institution. Draw-a-Man IQ scores were significantly lower than Stanford-Binet IQ scores for both experimental and control groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infants born at low birth weights (< 1,800 g) to disadvantaged mothers are at developmental risk for both biological and social reasons. A stimulation program to enhance sensorimotor development was implemented for the first year of life. 30 consecutively born infants were alternately assigned to experimental (E) and control (C) groups. The E group received visual, tactile and kinaesthetic stimulation during 6 weeks in the nursery. Weekly home visits to improve maternal care were made until the infants reached 12 months of age. Newborn tests at 4 weeks and Cattell IQ scores at 1 year indicated greater developmental progress for the E than for the C group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the manifestation of child archetype in the care of regressed patients. Types of dependent patients; Factor contributing to the false independence of patients; Appearance of independence and maturity based on a persona or false self.

Discusses the role of nursing on the changing society. Assessment of the health care system; Functions of nurses; Preparation of nurses for the future society.

Focuses on the role of nurses in caring for blind patients. Definition of blindness; Importance of nurse-patient relationship; Information on orientation training for blind patients.