Mantram Repetition Program Decreases Insomnia Among Homeless Women: A Pilot Study.

The current pre-/posttest pilot study recruited homeless women from "safe" car parks and transitional housing to evaluate the use of mantram in regard to insomnia. At baseline, study participants completed measures of cognitive function, depression, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). In 40 minutes, women were taught three skills of the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP) in the natural environment: (a) silently repeating a mantram several times, several times per day; (b) repeating the mantram slowly every night before sleep; and (c) focusing full attention on the mantram during repetitions. One week later, participants completed a second ISI. Of the 29 women recruited, 83% completed 1-week follow up. After 1 week, 88% were using their mantram daily and one half were using it prior to sleep. Insomnia severity significantly decreased (p = 0.03), with a mean difference of 2.36 (SD = 4.75). The practice of MRP, an intervention that is portable and easy to teach, shows significant promise in decreasing insomnia in this unique population.

Impact of war on American adolescents.

PROBLEM: The impact of the Persian Gulf war on adolescents in Columbia, Charleston, and Sumter, SC. METHODS: Four semiannual surveys measured adolescents' exposure to and evaluations of the Persian Gulf war, and the relationship between this exposure and mental distress. FINDINGS: Of the sample, 814 (65.9%) reported being distressed by the war and 849 (69%) reported feeling better after the war ended. More than half the sample had a friend or relative sent to the war (n = 725, 58.8%), and of these, 458 were African American. Nine percent (n = 111) of the sample had a mother, father, or both a mother and a father in the war. CONCLUSIONS: There was a positive correlation between adolescents' ratings on the Negative Impact of War Scores and Mental Distress Scores despite the easy victory and public support for the war in the United States. Females and African Americans viewed the war more negatively than did Caucasian males.

Effects of a long-term psychosocial nursing intervention on adolescents exposed to catastrophic stress.

This research tested the effects of a long-term psychosocial nursing intervention designed to decrease mental distress in adolescents following a catastrophic event. Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses conducted the Catastrophic Stress Intervention (CSI) in two South Carolina high schools for three years following Hurricane Hugo. The CSI consisted of nine protocols designed to decrease adolescents' mental distress by increasing their understanding of stress and by enhancing their self-efficacy and social support. Adolescents (N = 1030) were randomized to intervention or control groups and completed one baseline and five postintervention measures of mental distress, self-efficacy, and social support. The hypothesis was that intervention adolescents would have less mental distress than control adolescents. The research also addressed the particular time points at which differences between intervention and control adolescents might be shown. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance, with exposure to the hurricane, self-efficacy, and social support as control variables, showed that intervention adolescents reported less mental distress than control adolescents at 12, 18, and 24 months but that this difference dissipated by 30 and 36 months. Implications for the CSI and timing of interventions with adolescents after a catastrophic event are discussed.