Thank you for the heads up Dennis.

I wonder if you could be more specific on which of the attitudinal skills
that will be focused on during the interventions, are potentially
problematic?  This will be important information and I'll be glad to have it
in order to make alterations before we are up and running.

In collaboration with the school staff, we are using strategies outlined in
a manual titled "Counseling Toward Solutions, A Practical Solution-Focused
Program for Working with Students, Teachers, and Parents by Linda Metcalf
Ph.D currently a lecturer at the University of Texas at Arlington in the
Department of Education.  The program is, as the name implies, based on
principles of solution-focused brief therapy as well as other
competency-based models that address solutions rather than problems.  I used
these principles of counselling with favourable outcomes in my former role
as a Mental Health Nurse with the adolescent population in schools.  Metcalf
has taken the principles and developed a well-resourced manual for use with
groups of adolescents.  We would like to measure the health outcomes of
using this solution-focused program with groups of adolescents.

When we, collectively talk about self-esteem, are we talking about the same
thing?  There are so many spins on self-esteem.  Nathaniel Brandon, Ph.D C.
Psych in Six Pillars of Self-esteem identifies self-acceptance,
self-responsibility, self-assertiveness, living with integrity, living with
purpose, and living consciously as the components of self-esteem.  Constance
Dembrowsky has developed a model where self-esteem is a continuum; external
and internal self-esteem are the two poles.  Children start out with
acquiring self-esteem externally, but need to make a shift toward developing
internal self-esteem during pre-adolescence.  The attitudinal skills she
identifies as necessary to make that shift are
*       choosing a positive focus
*       identifying your own talents and skills
*       practicing personal integrity
*       recognizing its OK to make mistakes
*       recognizing that self-esteem has an internal source
*       Students in the program we starting will have opportunities to rate
themselves on a scale with where they are at in being in control of their
problem / vs the problem in control of them.  They will journal at the end
of each session what they discovered about themselves that will help them
move to a different point on their scale.  They will learn how to
externalize problems and be encouraged to 'notice exceptions' in a
classmate.  In this way they practice noticing competancies not just in
themselves, but in others too, so the sessions will be a time to share
successes and feel supported.
> *
*       At this point, I will sign off, anyone wanting more details can
contact me directly.
*       [Rusnell, Shelley]
Shelley Rusnell PHN
Burlington School / Youth Liaison
Halton Region Health Department
5353 Lakeshore Rd. Unit #2
Burlington, ON L7L 2K7 C
825-6060 ext. 7826
Fax (905) 333-0971
[log in to unmask]

*
> *
> *     -----Original Message-----
> From: Dennis Raphael [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 10:57 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Request for health measurement instrument
>
> You should be aware that self-esteem is a potentially problematic idea to
> wrap your health promotion actions around.  You may wish to consider the
> monograph:
>
> HP-10-0104
> Self-Esteem and Health: Should it be a Focus?
> Dennis Raphael, Ph.D., C. Psych, University of Toronto, Canada
> $20.00, 1993, 35 pages
> Examines the relationship between self-esteem and health status and
> health-related behaviours. Reviews recent health-related research focused
> upon self-esteem as an indicator of health, a mediator of life stress and
> a
> reinforcer for health-related behaviours.
>
> The Series in Health Promotion is a collection of educational monographs
> produced by the Centre for Health Promotion in co-operation with
> ParticipACTION. Resources can be ordered by printing the order form and
> sending to ParticipACTION.
> http://www.utoronto.ca/chp/p-titles.htm#_Hlk476405637
>
> Please email ParticipACTION or phone (416) 954-1212 for more information.
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Dennis Raphael
> Visit our Web Site for information about our Seniors Participatory and
> Community Quality of Life Projects!  Free Reports Also.
>
>   http://www.utoronto.ca/qol      http://www.utoronto.ca/seniors
>
>   ********************************************************************
>   Long have I looked for the truth about the life of people together.
>   That life is crisscrossed, tangled, and difficult to understand.
>   I have worked hard to understand it and when I had done so
>   I told the truth as I found it.
>
>   - Bertolt Brecht
>   ********************************************************************
>
> Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor and Associate Director,
> Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
> Department of Public Health Sciences
> Graduate Department of Community Health
> University of Toronto
> McMurrich Building, Room 101
> Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8
> voice:    (416) 978-7567
> fax: (416) 978-2087
> e-mail:   [log in to unmask]