No abstract

Meaningful family involvement is a modifiable factor that can potentially enhance resident QOL. Facilities can become more family-oriented through encouraging communication between staff and families, helping spouses and other family members fulfill their desired caregiving role, and discussing the family's motivations for providing personal care during visits.

ABSTRACT. This study examined the impact of having a female family member with a substance use or co-occurring disorders on family caregivers. Predictors of subjective burden (worry, stigma, and displeasure) and objective burden (family disruption) on caregivers and on types of burden were explored. Subjects were 82 women receiving substance abuse treatment and their family member providing most social support. Behavioral problems of the recipient and lack of social support for caregivers predicted higher levels of family member burden, with different types of social support predicting different types of burden.

There are significant knowledge gaps concerning the experiences of families of persons with co-occurring substance and mental disorders and the impact of families on treatment of individuals with these disorders. This paper presents a conceptual framework for examining family involvement of adults in treatment for co-occurring substance and mental disorders. An overview of the characteristics, problems, and needs of these individuals and their family members is presented. The extant literature pertaining to our conceptual framework is reviewed with focus on predictors of family involvement with clients, predictors of family member involvement in clients' treatment, and consequences of family involvement for client treatment outcomes. Gaps in the research literature and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to extend the investigation of criminal thinking of persons with mental illness beyond prison and community settings to a jail setting. Participants consisted of 122 individuals incarcerated in a county jail who were diagnosed with a severe mental illness, including schizophrenia spectrum and major mood disorders. Results indicated that people with mental illness in this sample of jail inmates presented with thinking styles that support a criminal lifestyle, and have criminal thinking styles that follow a pattern that is very similar to a sample of prison inmates with serious mental illness. These findings support the need for therapeutic programs for justice-involved persons with serious mental illness to develop a multipronged treatment approach that integrates interventions for individuals' criminal thinking and antisocial attitudes with treatment for their mental illness and substance abuse issues.