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Background: In recent years public health research has shifted to more strengths or asset-based approaches to health research but there is little understanding of what this concept means to Indigenous researchers. Therefore our purpose was to define an Indigenous strengths-based approach to health and well-being research. Methods: Using Group Concept Mapping, Indigenous health researchers (N = 27) participated in three-phases. Phase 1: Participants provided 218 unique responses to the focus prompt "Indigenous Strengths-Based Health and Wellness Research..." Redundancies and irrelevant statements were removed using content analysis, resulting in a final set of 94 statements. Phase 2: Participants sorted statements into groupings and named these groupings. Participants rated each statement based on importance using a 4-point scale. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to create clusters based on how statements were grouped by participants. Phase 3: Two virtual meetings were held to share and invite researchers to collaboratively interpret results. Results: A six-cluster map representing the meaning of Indigenous strengths-based health and wellness research was created. Results of mean rating analysis showed all six clusters were rated on average as moderately important. Conclusions: The definition of Indigenous strengths-based health research, created through collaboration with leading AI/AN health researchers, centers Indigenous knowledges and cultures while shifting the research narrative from one of illness to one of flourishing and relationality. This framework offers actionable steps to researchers, public health practitioners, funders, and institutions to promote relational, strengths-based research that has the potential to promote Indigenous health and wellness at individual, family, community, and population levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative study was to capture the perspectives of individuals representing an urban, predominantly Latinx community who are underresourced by mental health services about the use of telehealth to deliver mental health treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic required hospital- and community-based mental health programs to pivot to telehealth with alarming speed and very little opportunity to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and disparate impact on unique populations of patients. This study aimed to assess perceived strengths and limitations of telehealth mental health service delivery via qualitative focus group methods. Three focus groups were conducted with 13 youth (aged 8–17) who were being treated at an urban, academic children's hospital serving a predominantly Latinx community mental health population; two focus groups were conducted with 19 parents of said children; and one focus group was conducted with four mental health providers providing services to this population. A coding schema was designed to capture themes relevant to the following: (1) privacy and confidentiality; (2) perceived limitations of telehealth; (3) comfort with telehealth; (4) therapeutic relationship; (5) perceived strengths of telehealth; (6) perceived safety of telehealth; and (7) advice for providers engaging in telehealth. Findings were illustrative of both perceived strengths and limitations across these domains that can inform optimized telehealth mental health services moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent-child relationships may have a significant effect on illness characteristics of children with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), and these relationships may, in turn, be affected by the child's illness. We characterized maternal reports of parent-child relationships using the five-factor Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PCRQ) in 60 families (30 PBD youth and 30 matched controls). Data on child proband and parental psychopathology were also obtained. Compared to controls, parent-child relationships in the PBD group were characterized by significantly less warmth, affection, and intimacy, and more quarreling and forceful punishment. Among PBD participants, elevated symptoms of mania, comorbid ADHD, an earlier age of illness onset, living in a single parent home, and the presence of a parental mood disorder were associated with greater parent--child relationship difficulties. These findings have implications for the development of interventions that focus on the quality of parent--child relationships, in addition to symptom management, in the treatment of PBD. Keywords: Pediatric bipolar disorder; parent--child relationships; parental mood disorder

Recent theories suggest that children with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) may exhibit more difficult temperaments premorbidly, including traits such as behavioral disinhibition and difficulty with emotion regulation. We investigated temperament characteristics retrospectively during infancy and toddlerhood in subjects with PBD (n = 25), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n=25), and healthy controls (n = 25). Children with PBD were reported to experience increased difficult temperament in both infancy and toddlerhood compared to children with ADHD. Several characteristics of difficult temperament were associated with residual symptoms of mania and depression. Difficult premorbid temperament characteristics may be a specific indicator of a bipolar diathesis, or might signal underlying dysfunction in affective processes that significantly increase risk for a mood disorder. Keywords: Pediatric bipolar disorder; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; temperament; infancy; toddlerhood

Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) is a serious psychiatric illness that impairs children's emotional, cognitive, and social development. PBD causes severe mood instability that manifests in chronic irritability, episodes of rage, [...]

Despite high rates of suicide ideation (SI) and behavior in youth with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), little work has examined how psychosocial interventions impact suicidality among this high-risk group. The current study examined SI outcomes in a randomized clinical trial comparing Child- and Family-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CFF-CBT) for PBD versus psychotherapy treatment-as-usual (TAU). Although not designed for suicide prevention, CFF-CBT addresses child and family factors related to suicide risk and thus was hypothesized to generalize to the treatment of suicidality. Participants included 71 youth aged 7-13 years (M = 9.17, SD = 1.60) with DSM-IV-TR bipolar I, II, or not otherwise specified randomly assigned, with parent(s), to receive CFF-CBT or TAU. Both treatments consisted of 12 weekly and 6 monthly booster sessions. Suicide ideation was assessed via clinician interview at baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up. Results indicated that SI was prevalent pretreatment: 39% of youth reported current suicidal thoughts. All youth significantly improved in the likelihood and intensity of ideation across treatment, but group differences were not significant. Thus, findings suggest that early intervention for these high-risk youth may reduce SI, and at this stage of suicidality, youth may be responsive to even nonspecialized treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PBD is a complex and multi-faceted disorder that demonstrates a unique clinical presentation and developmentally-specific symptoms compared to late adolescent or adult-onset bipolar disorder. Affect dysregulation is the central feature of this disorder and is associated with substantial psychosocial impairment. The primary goal of pharmacotherapy is mood stabilization, while including problem solving to deal with complex comorbid, residual, breakthrough and/or associated symptoms. It is imperative that any medication management be coupled with evidence-based psychosocial intervention that involves intensive parent and family work. In recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder, some of whom may have been misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated. This review and the information contained herein should help clinicians to improve the diagnostic accuracy of and treatment outcomes in bipolar disorder in younger patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study is a preliminary report of a group adaptation of child- and family-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CFF-CBT) for pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). Methods: CFF-CBT group treatment was provided to twenty six families who had children with a diagnosis of PBD ranging between six- and twelve-years-old. Results: Results indicated that CFF-CBT was feasible and acceptable to families. CFF-CBT resulted in significant improvement in manic, but not depressive, symptoms and in children's psychosocial functioning post-treatment. In addition, although not statistically significant, parents reported an increased ability to cope with their child's illness. Results of this study suggest that group psychosocial treatment provided alongside pharmacotherapy may help attain remission of symptoms, as well as increase overall psychosocial coping and wellbeing in both children and parents. Conclusion: Future work must include a more rigorous test of CFF-CBT in a randomized controlled trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the predation by acanthurus leucopareius on black-band disease in Kauai, Hawaii.

The article discusses an abstract of a study by J. S. Comer and colleagues which was published in a 2013 issue of the "Journal of the American Academy on Child Adolescent Psychiatry" on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on disruptive behaviors of very young children. Also included is a commentary which states that the utmost implication of the study is the need to discover the reason evidence-based treatment approaches are less used than psychotropic medications.

AIM: To review the diagnosis and the pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions for pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). METHODS: A comprehensive literature review of studies discussing the diagnosis and treatment of PBD was conducted. RESULTS: A context for understanding controversies and difficulties in the diagnosis of PBD is provided. An evidence-based assessment protocol for PBD is reviewed. The evidence for the following three categories of pharmacologic interventions are reviewed: Lithium, antiepileptics, and second generation antipsychotics. Algorithms for medication decisions are briefly reviewed. Existing psychosocial treatments and the evidence for those treatments are also reviewed. CONCLUSION: Despite recent developments in understanding the phenomenology of PBD and in identifying pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions, critical gaps remain.