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Biomedical subjects

J W Lounsbury

Publications and source records attributed to J W Lounsbury.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1983

Changing expectations: a longitudinal study of community attitudes toward a nuclear power plant.

Initial and 5-year follow-up interviews were conducted with 213 residents of the host community for a nuclear power plant. The purpose was to determine possible changes in attitudes toward the plant and expectations about potential outcomes associated with construction. Large negative changes in attitudes toward the plant were noted and were accompanied most notably by decreased expectations of positive outcomes. The structure of the expectations remained essentially stable over the 5-year period. Perceptions of hazards, community disruption, and economic benefits as measured early in construction and during peak construction were found to be the best predictors of acceptance of the nuclear plant. Initial expectations were found to predict overall attitude toward the plant 5 years later. Results were discussed in terms of implications for social impact assessment, large-scale community change, and the predictability of community attitudes toward nuclear power plant construction.

Female↗
PubMed1982

Community mental health ideology presented in high school health textbooks: a content analysis.

The present study examined the community mental health ideology presented in high school health textbooks. A content analysis of texts in national use revealed that a hygiene model of mental health predominated. Further, substantial attention was devoted to drugs and alcohol as central issues for high school students, with particular emphasis on prevention through "consumer" education. Community mental health approaches were largely ignored, with brief mention made of the community mental health center as place where one can go to receive individual treatment. Mental illness was consistently presented as an individual's internal problem, unrelated to the social or ecological context of the individual. The findings were discussed in terms of implications for the exposure to mental health received by high school students and in terms of the need for public education about community mental health issues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

An analytic review of research in community psychology.

A content analysis was conducted on all 478 empirical articles published from 1973 through 1978 in the American Journal of Community Psychology and the Journal of Community Psychology. Results indicate a substantial emphasis on policy analysis/research and program evaluation. The delivery of mental health services was extensively researched; however, a wide diversity of other topics such as work, substance abuse, and attitudes toward mental illness were also represented. There was a relatively high degree of participation by authors with nonuniversity affiliations. Also, in 65% of the studies subjects were not identified as having a psychological problem; in one-third of the studies children served as subjects; and in 71% of the studies both males and females served as subjects. A number of problems with the typical research design are noted, including: unrepresentative sampling of subjects, nonequivalent comparison groups, and small sample and cell sizes.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

An analysis of topic areas and topic trends in the Community Mental Health Journal from 1965 through 1977.

A content analysis of all (N = 604) published articles in the Community Mental Health Journal from 1965 through 1977 was performed (a) to provide a cross-sectional view of the community mental health field, and (b) to identify topic trends over time. Sixty-one content categories were used to classify topic areas. Results revealed major and growing emphases on organizing for the delivery and measuring of the effects of mental health service systems. Topics found to be increasing in relative frequency over time included training, measurement and research methodology, and intervention; those decreasing included planning and needs assessment, therapy, and suicide. Topic areas were compared with key characteristics of the field. Topic trends were interpreted in terms of open systems theory.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1978

Validating procedures for selecting social work personnel.

This article reviews techniques for validating procedures of personnel selection, including construct, content, and empirical validation. An actual validation study of a procedure designed to select workers for social service positions is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of this approach for the social work field.

Civil Rights↗
PubMed1976

An experimental comparison of two community-based drug abuse treatment programs.

An experimental comparison was made of the drug abuse treatment effectiveness of a halfway house and a community lodge program. Drug abusers, mainly heroin addicts, were randomly assigned to one of the two programs. After a three-month follow-up period, no significant differences between the two conditions were observed on four outcome variables: number of reinstitutionalizations, number of jailings, time spent in the program, and percentage of drug-free urines. The finding of no differences between the two approaches was interpreted as casting doubt on the argument for the need for highly structured programs for the treatment of chronic drug abusers. The factors that were found to be related to outcome generally supported the hypothesis that increased assimilation into the drug culture (as measured by longer time spent mainlining heroin, greater habit cost, illegal support of the habit, and more time spent in jail after beginning illegal drug use) leads to unfavorable treatment outcomes. No evidence was found that related treatment outcomes to social class, age, education, employment history, or marital status.

Halfway Houses↗