Social networks have been shown to play an influential role in personal health and well-being. This paper reviews research on the relationship of networks to physical health, the life cycle, and psychopathology. Mediating factors such as size, density and composition are examined, and the relation of difference network structures to different needs discussed. A variety of network functions are outlined, including the ability to serve as buffers from the effects of stress, to provide exposure to new ideas and attitudes, and to supply emotional support and instrumental aid. Practical implications for those in helping professions are briefly reviewed.

This study investigated the judged effectiveness of several community telephone “hotline” services in a large Canadian City. All hotlines were staffed mostly by unpaid volunteers, of whom most were female. Several persons (pseudoclients) telephoned each hotline and proceeded to present, through role-playing, a particular theme (e.g., depression, fear of pregnancy) to the hotline volunteer. In general, the hotlines functioned at very low levels of effectiveness on a series of rating scales and other measures, and at times induced callers (helpees) to participate in interactions of dubious relevance to the hotline's role of helping distressed persons. Some implications and observations on the operation of such services are presented, in the context of considerable difficulties faced by hotline workers, as compared to those in conventional counseling situations.

Cette étude a pour but de décrire l'implantation et l'évaluation d'un programme préventif en santé mentale concernant le problème du suicide dans la région de Québec-Métropolitain. Quatre aspects particuliers du programme y sont envisagés: l'historique de l'implantation du programme, sa philosophie, son fonctionnement pratique et son évaluation après trois années de fonctionnement. Dans cette dernière partie, l'auteur décrit les étapes essentielles selon lui à l'évaluation continue d'un programme en prévention du suicide et analyse les résultats obtenus dans une recherche épidémiologique portant sur la comparaison, pour une période donnée, entre la population utilisant le programme et la population qui se suicide effectivement dans la région du Québec-Métropolitain. L'intégration de la recherche évaluative à l'action et à l'intervention, en processus de rétroaction continue, y est considérée comme un élément primordial dans la planification efficace de stratégies préventives face à un problème psycho-social comme le suicide.

The shift to community treatment of psychiatric patients appears to have led to the serious neglect of some chronic or long term patients. Features of both the chronic patient and the community treatment system appear to contribute to this neglect. Consideration is give to features of effective intervention with the long term patient. The need for a flexible pattern of assertive follow-up over extremely long periods of time is emphasized.

This research examined services in Ontario for persons with alcohol-related problems. The sample included 152 alcohol-specific agencies and 670 general health, social and correctional resources. It was found that alcohol-related problems figure prominently in most community resources and incur large costs. However, many more people are identified than actually receive services for their drinking problem. Although some resources (notably those classified as Social Assistance) see large numbers of persons with alcohol problems, few are referred to other resources for management of these problems. When clients are referred to other resources they go primarily to residential alcohol programs or to self-help groups. Finally, assessment procedures are generally very minimal with only hospital-based resources using comprehensive, standardized measures to any extent. The data suggest a number of ways in which the health and social service network in Ontario could more efficiently manage clients with alcohol-related problems.

The clergy are often referred to as gatekeepers of the mental health system. In this capacity, the clergy's attitudes assume considerable importance since they are likely to affect the working relationships between pastors and professional mental health workers. A questionnaire was therefore developed to assess the clergy's attitudes about mental illness, counselling, and the helping professions, and delivered to 163 pastors in British Columbia; 102 (62.6%) returned the completed questionnaire by mail. It was found that the clergy: (a) most commonly selected psychological reasons (e.g., “stress in living”) rather than spiritual reasons (e.g., “stunted spiritual growth”) for mental illness; (b) were strongly in support of the aims of community mental health; (c) felt that counselling was effective when it corrected maladaptive thought patterns and allowed the expression of feelings; (d) ranked pastoral counselling as more effective than psychology, psychiatry, or social work; and (e) were more likely to be sympathetic towards community mental health if they were non-fundamentalistic in theology. Overall, results showed the clergy to be a highly promising resource for the community mental health movement and its workers.

The influx of Vietnamese refugees to Canada has raised questions regarding their resettlement and adaptation. This study examines the psychological adaptation of 72 adult Vietnamese refugees in the City of Kingston, Ontario, by means of an interview and questionnaire consisting of 12 demographic questions and the psychological section of the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), with some modifications, the psychological adaptation of the refugees in this study is compared to other Vietnamese refugee groups, to non-refugee groups undergoing culture change, and to non-refugee groups undergoing no major culture change: all of the groups have been similarly assessed by a modified form of the CMI. It is found that the Vietnamese refugees in this study exhibit high levels of psychological dysfunction, as do the other Vietnamese refugee groups and non-refugee groups undergoing cultural change, whereas the non-refugees undergoing relatively little cultural change exhibit lower levels of psychological dysfunction. Of the twelve independent variables (age, sex, religion, marital status, previous and current education, previous and current employment, a command of the English, French and Chinese languages and sponsorship) examined for their possible language is found to be the major significant variable in predicting good psychological adaptation; this suggests the importance of an established ethnic community in the process of adaptation or refugees.

Thanks to the impact of Critical Theory (Frankfort School), Christian theology has come to criticize its own ideological heritage. In particular it wrestles against the privatistic orientation encouraged by dialogue with existentialism and psychotherapy. Pietism has also helped to privatize the Christian self-understanding. The task of theology today is to ‘deprivatize’ Christian teaching, to move beyond private man to the recognition of political man, and to recover the radical social meaning of the gospel. Yet after the assimilation of these neo-marxist principles and the elaboration of a politically responsible theory of man, human subjectivity does not disappear. People still search for the meaning in life, people still have depressions and are in need of therapeutic counseling, and people still have a life of interiority. This article is concerned with the recovery of a politically responsible subjectivity, especially in the context of a psychotherapeutic practice aware of the political reality.

Analyses of demographic factors associated with admissions rates into institutions for the mentally retarded, by Ontario county of residence, uncovered a paradox: Counties with lesser proportions of children had higher admissions rates. Further analyses showed that proportions of children were directly related to education expenditures, per student, and expenditures were inversely related to, and accounted for 41% of the variance of, admissions rates. This, and other factors extraneous to mental deficit that were revealed, were discussed in terms of the ambiguity of the definition of mental retardation.