Mindful Continuing Education

Recommendations to Support the Mental Health of Young People

Overview

1. In recent years, prominent experts have promoted changes to help foster wellness for all, and for children in particular, to identify and address the needs of those at risk, while also improving the mental wellness supports and services available to all young people.

A. True B. False

The Economic Burden of Business-As-Usual

2. When a child's mental health challenges are not properly addressed, costs may include those associated with unsuccessful attempts at treatment, and may encompass expenses for special education services as well as parent's lost productivity when providing extra care.

A. True B. False

The High Cost of Stigma

3. People facing mental health challenges are subject to social exclusion and stigma comparable to that associated with skin color, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, a response that has been described as a:

A. Double disability B. Supporting disorder C. Second illness D. Supplementary syndrome

Accessing and Paying for Services

4. The disconnect between the needs of children and youth and the availability of appropriate mental health care for this population has long been recognized, and has resulted in only about half of the adolescents who need mental health treatment receiving it.

A. True B. False

Mental Wellness and Illness Over the Life Course

5. Nationally representative data suggest that about half of Americans will experience a mental health concern at some point in their lives, and most will originate in childhood, as demonstrated by:

A. In a study of adults who had been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point during their lives, about three-fourths said that they had experienced symptoms by their mid-teens B. The majority of children who had been diagnosed with depression or oppositional defiant disorder recalled their first symptoms occurring while they were still in elementary school C. Research found that anxiety and impulse-control problems were particularly likely to appear early in life, with more than half appearing before adolescents entered high school D. Those diagnosed with a phobia or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had experienced symptoms by kindergarten or first grade

Sensitive Periods

6. While sensitive periods for ideal development of vision, hearing, and language acquisition occur relatively early in life and have short duration, much of the foundation of emotion regulation is built in the latter childhood years.

A. True B. False

Genes and Early Experience

7. Although genes play a role in how different individuals respond to the same circumstance and can contribute both to vulnerability and to resilience, experience can either amplify or diminish the behavioral expression of genes.

A. True B. False

Resilience

8. Studies have identified several protective factors that make it more likely someone will be able to respond resiliently to toxic stress, including easy-going temperament, confidence, and problem-solving skills, which are all considered:

A. Social-level protective factors B. Individual-level protective factors C. Emotional-level protective factors D. Personal-level protective factors

A Different Way to Think About Wellness

9. The critical needs of U.S. children and youth with mental health challenges call for fresh thinking and a new set of responses, with each of the following features EXCEPT:

A. Wellness is an attainable necessity B. Mental and physical wellness are inseparable C. Wellness is more than the absence of illness D. Wellness is a resource

10. Most scholars believe that wellness is not adequately represented by a single continuum, with disease at one end and its absence at the other, but is better understood as a state that is influenced by two distinct dimensions: 'abnormal to normal' and "content to conflicted.'

A. True B. False

The Model, in Brief

11. To support wellness for children, the two most critical factors are likely sustained patterns of caring relationships and wellness-promoting routines and practices.

A. True B. False

Drawing from the Wellness Account

12. When children have adequate wellness reserves, they are able to respond to a challenge or an opportunity in ways that are more likely to result in positive outcomes, which leads to ________ rather than simply surviving.

A. Growth B. Thriving C. Evolution D. Perseverance

Opportunities to Improve Well-Being Within a Re-Framed Model of Mental Wellness

13. Cultivating caring relationships and nurturing healthy habits among children requires strategies at multiple levels, including community-level tasks such as supporting parents to engage in positive parenting and teaching young people how to resolve conflicts with adults or peers peacefully.

A. True B. False

Nurturing Parenting

14. Nurturing parenting promotes emotional wellness by subtly guiding children and responding consistently to their needs, and more overtly by helping children label and react constructively to their emotions, which is known as:

A. Temperament skill-building B. Character training C. Emotional coaching D. Feelings education

Parenting Programs that Promote Children's Mental Wellness

15. Most parenting programs support behaviors that promote positive parent-child relationships, and high-quality programs draw from research on parenting styles in order to inform parents, support their positive practices at home, and reduce their stress.

A. True B. False

Recommendations

16. Which of the following in NOT recommended as an overall strategy to promote wellness among families and ensure healthy development for children?

A. Increase screening for parental depression in locations such as pediatric and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) offices B. Expand guaranteed, paid job-leave to all new parents C. Develop community capacity for respite care for parents of a child with mental illness, and support the inclusion of respite care as a covered service under insurance plans D. Promote "strengths-based, skill-driven" parenting through comprehensive parenting programs or other outreach

Developing Caring Relationships

17. Having close friends can reduce the likelihood of depression among children, as well as increasing well-being and social competence, and among adolescents, being accepted by a peer group can have powerful protective effects, even in the absence of close friends.

A. True B. False

Developing Their Own Positive Routines and Practices

18. For children, routines such as maintaining a regular pattern of sleep, getting sufficient exposure to natural light during the day, and not reading or watching TV in bed are part of what is known as a healthy 'sleep regimen.'

A. True B. False

19. Mounting evidence finds that school climate affects both students' well-being and academic performance, and it includes the values promoted in the school setting, the messages conveyed regarding students' physical and emotional safety, the physical environment, and the:

A. Interpersonal relations and social interactions B. Organizational processes and structures C. Culture of learning D. Student norms and goals

Training Community Members to Assist Young People in Getting Help Early

20. Gatekeeper training is an approach designed to provide an education about mental health in order to reduce the stigma that often stands in the way of seeking help, and it includes mental health first-aid that assists in:

A. Recognizing early warning signs of distress B. Assessing the severity of a situation C. Providing non-professional support including helping young people access more intensive community resources as needed D. All of the above

Promote Wellness in Other Environments Where Children Live, Learn, Play and Grow

21. Promoting wellness requires addressing the epidemic violence in today's society by interventions such as renaming physical punishment and other harsh discipline as violence, and providing public education on the damaging effects on children who witness violence.

A. True B. False

Identify Children at Risk and Those with Current Needs

22. While universal wellness promotion is essential, targeted services for those children who have risk factors for or early signs of distress are also needed, such as youth who are homeless, in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, or who have physical disabilities.

A. True B. False

23. The skills of mental health providers may be enhanced through increased training and a review of the competency and endorsement systems for professionals and by:

A. Incentivizing evidence-based practices B. Adopting clinical, financial, and leadership standards C. Enabling comprehensive, high-quality healthcare for all D. None of the above

Policy Option One: Zero-Tolerance

24. While the focus of zero-tolerance policies used to be to provide punitive consequences for inappropriate or dangerous behavior, such policies currently focus more on using evidence-based practices to teach important social and emotional skills to all students.

A. True B. False

25. When students are suspended for violating zero tolerance policies as a last resort, school staff are able to enforce a systematic process for enforcing consequences when behavioral expectations are not met, which leads to an overall increase in positive future behaviors.

A. True B. False


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