Are the unstable residential and personal lives of homeless mentally ill (HMI) individuals so difficult as to preclude their inclusion in rigorous, longitudinal research protocols? The continued presence of HMI individuals in U.S. society has prompted the mental health research community to reconsider the question of whether clinical trial and demonstration research protocols are feasible with this population. This article briefly examines the existing research literature on recruitment and retention rates in recent studies of this population and, in more detail, the specific strategies used by researchers to recruit and retain HMI individuals as research participants. In general, with sufficient resources and the persistent use of existing strategies for recruitment and retention, HMI individuals can be successfully studied over time. Finally, to demonstrate this potential, the recruitment and retention strategies of the San Diego McKinney Homeless Mentally Ill Demonstration Research Program are described.

Thk paper reports on the reactions of a portion of the population of

The economic burden of late-life schizophrenia to the public mental health system is at least as high as that of schizophrenia in younger adults.

This article presents a series of personal guidelines for promoting the culturally sensitive psychiatric diagnosis of Mexican American/CNcano clients. These guidelines are primarily based on the authors' collective experiences in diagnosing and treating this population.Diagnostic assessment can be especially challenging when a clinician from one ethnic group uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-Tv; American Psychiatric As- sociation, 1994) to evaluate an individual from a different ethnic or cultural group. A clinician who is unfamiliar with the nuances of an individual's cultural frame of reference may incorrectly judge as psychopathology those normal variations in behavior, belief, or experiences that are particular to the individual's culture (DSM-N 1994). The purpose of this brief article is to present some of our personal insights into the psychiatric diagnosis of Mexican American or Chicano clients. These insights are intended to (a) supplement those made by other clinicians who have previously examined issues related to M g r a Gonzales is a doctoral student in counseling psychology at Michigan State University. Zdalia Castillo-Canez is a graduate student in clinical psychology at San Diego State University. Henry Tarke is regional manager of San Diego Mental Health Services. Fernando Soriano is a research associate for the Child and Family Research Group in San Diego. Piedad Garcia is regional manager for San Diego Comty Mental Health Services. Roberto J . Velasquez is an associate professor of Psychology at San Diego State University. Correspondence regarding this arlicle should be sent to Myra Gonzales, Michigan State University, 11 2 Paolucci Bldg., E. Lansing, MI 48824-1 11 0.

This paper reports on the reactions of a portion of the population of San Ysidro, California, to the McDonald's massacre in 1984. Recently immigrant, poor, Mexican American women, 35–50 years of age, who were not directly involved in the accident were surveyed to determine their emotional reactions approximately 6 months following the massacre. Approximately one third of the women indicated they were seriously affected by the event. Some 12% reported had mild or severe levels of Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology at some point in time since the massacre and some 6% still felt symptoms 6 to 9 months after the event. The women most affected were those having relatives or friends involved in the massacre and those with general social vulnerability (e.g., the widowed, separated, or divorced, unemployed and those with less income and fair to poor health). These women reported relatively little impact on their children. Onset and chronicity of PTSD and health care utilization patterns were also explored. Results of more intensive, open ended interviews with the women most affected by the event are summarized.