Does Mental Illness Affect Consumer Direction of Community-Based Care? Lessons From the Arkansas Cash and Counseling Program

Purpose: Previous research from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE) in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Florida suggests that giving consumers control over their personal care greatly increases their satisfaction and improves their outlook on life. Still, some argue that consumerdirected care may not be appropriate for consumers with intellectual disabilities or mental health diagnoses. This study examined how Cash and Counseling— a new option allowing consumers to manage an individualized budget equivalent to what agencies would have spent on their care—changes the way consumers with mental health diagnoses meet their personal care needs and how that affects their wellbeing. Design and Methods: Using the Arkansas CCDE baseline and the 9-month follow-up data for individuals in the treatment and control groups, we compared and contrasted the experience of elderly consumers with and without mental health diagnoses utilizing logit regression. Results: After examining several outcome measures, including satisfaction with care arrangements and the paid caregiver’s reliability and schedule, unmet needs, and satisfaction with the relationship with paid caregivers, this study found evidence that, from the perspective of consumers, the Cash and Counseling program works well for participants with mental health diagnoses. Implications: Considering the growing need for long-term-care services and the limited resources available, a consumer-directed option makes sense, and it can be a valuable alternative for persons with mental health needs.

Imipramine and diet counseling with psychological support in the treatment of obese binge eaters: a randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind study

This study with 31 obese binge eaters (body mass index [BMI] 39.5+/-8.6 kg/m(2) [SD]) was designed to assess whether diet counseling with psychological support and imipramine or placebo has an effect on the frequency of binge eating, body weight, and depression during an 8-week treatment phase. This was followed by an open medication-free phase of 6 months of continuous diet counseling with psychological support.

Multi- and Transdisciplinarity as a Challenge for Environmental Psychology (Symposium)

Since 2008 the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has been funding ten transdisciplinary research projects within the thematic focus ‘From Knowledge to Action - New Paths towards Sustainable Consumption’. A particular challenge which is faced with the programm is the task to build a bridge between individual activities and ecological and social framework conditions. Environmental psychologists are involved in half of the ten transdisciplinary projects. The symposium gives an insight into the new thematic focus and the variety of psychological contributions. The presentations will focus on the specific competence of psychology within the broader research focus of the transdisciplinary projects. An invited discussant will reflect on the role of psychology within the field of sustainable consumption and about challenges of transdisciplinary research in general.