There is a lack of instruments evaluating self-stigma among adolescents with mental health issues in the Russian language for today. The questionnaire developed by Tally Moses (Moses, 2009) is convenient to fill that lack.

The study aims to compare the main parameters of the original questionnaire to that of the version translated in Russian.

The original questionnaire was translated into Russian and administered to 40 adolescents (21 males, aged 12 to 17) with mental disorders except for severe cognitive deficits or pervasive developmental disorders. Means and Cronbach’s alpha for each of the four scales were assessed and compared to the author’s questionnaire values.

Reliability analysis revealed similar Cronbach’s alpha for 3 of 4 scales (table 1) except the Secrecy scale (1 of 6 questions showed low consistency; its exclusion increased α from 0.63 to 0.74).

The means for each scale were compared with original data using a one-sample t-test. Only the Personal Rejection scale was significantly low on average than the original data.

Preliminary results showed that Russian adolescent patients perceived the translated questionnaire much the same way as American ones. Thus, our findings provide optimistical perspectives of further adaptation of the questionnaire.

No significant relationships.

The therapeutic alliance is a critical determinant of individuals’ persistence and outcomes in mental health treatment. Simultaneously, individuals’ community networks shape decisions about whether, when, and what kind of treatment are used. Despite the similar focus on social relationship influence for individuals with serious mental illness, each line of research has maintained an almost exclusive focus on either ‘inside’ (i.e. treatment) networks or ‘outside’ (i.e. community) networks, respectively.

For this study, we integrate these important insights by employing a network-embedded approach to understand the therapeutic alliance. Using data from the Indianapolis Network Mental Health Study (INMHS, n = 169, obs = 2206), we target patients experiencing their first major contact with the mental health treatment system. We compare patients’ perceptions of support resources available through treatment providers and lay people, and ask whether evaluations of interpersonal dimensions of the therapeutic alliance are contingent on characteristics of community networks.

Analyses reveal that providers make up only 9% of the whole social network, but are generally perceived positively. However, when community networks are characterized by close relationships and frequent contact, patients are significantly more likely to report that treatment providers offer useful advice and information. Conversely, when community networks are in conflict, perceptions of treatment providers are more negative.

Community-based social networks are critical for understanding facilitators of and barriers to effective networks inside treatment, including the therapeutic alliance. Implications for community-based systems of care are discussed in the context of the USA and global patterns of deinstitutionalization and community reintegration.

Help seeking for online peer and other social support in response to depression and other mental health problems offers an electronic technology alternative to traditional mental health care. Here, with nationally representative samples of adult community residents in the USA, we study online peer support help seeking, estimate its occurrence, and investigate depression and other suspected predictors and correlates, some of which might prove to be causal influences.

The data are from nationally representative probability sample surveys of the non-institutionalized US adult population, with a new independent sample assessed via confidential computerized self-assessment modules each year from 2004 to 2010, yielding estimates about online peer support. A total of 264 431 adults participated in these years.

An estimated three per 1000 adults (0.3%) seek online peer support for mental health problems each year (95% confidence interval 0.0022–0.0036). Individuals with depression and/or serious psychological distress are strongly over-represented among these adult online peer support help seekers (odds ratio >7, p < 0.001). Associations with college education, being non-Hispanic white, being female, and age are also noteworthy (p < 0.05).

Online help seeking for mental health social support is becoming frequent enough for study in large sample national surveys, and might well be fostered by active neuropsychiatric ailments such as depression or other serious psychological distress. Open questions remain about whether the result is beneficial, or conditions required for efficacious online peer support, as might be disclosed in definitive evidence from randomized controlled trials.