Mental Health App Evaluation: Updating the American Psychiatric Association's Framework Through a Stakeholder-Engaged Workshop.

The app evaluation framework of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has emerged as an adaptable tool for those seeking to navigate the ever-growing space of mental health apps. The authors describe a meeting convened in December 2019 to refine the APA framework. The expert panel comprised 16 individuals across health care fields, with representation from psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, clinical informatics, peer support specialists, and individuals with lived mental health experience. This meeting resulted in an update to the APA framework with the addition of clearer question descriptions and the release of an eight-question screener that may be useful in clinical settings.

Practices Changes in the Child Protection System to Address the Needs of Parents With Cognitive Disabilities.

Parents with cognitive disabilities (PCD) are over-represented in the child protection system. However, the current state of the child protection system is not well prepared for working with them. Biases that exist against their parenting, the need for accommodations in assessment and intervention practices, and specific training in staff and cross systems barriers need to be addressed. This paper argues for changes that will ensure such parents are more effectively served and that child protection staff and contract providers are better equipped to work with them. Specific changes are discussed in assessment and intervention practices. These changes will require human capacity building and organizational restructuring. Although empirically based behavioral approaches with PCD will be emphasized, recent empirical work suggests that social information processing and neurocognitive problems occur in PCD. Approaches to working with such problems are emerging and must also be considered and integrated into a blueprint for change.

Chronic Neglect and Services Without Borders: A Guiding Model for Social Service Enhancement to Address the Needs of Parents With Intellectual Disabilities.

Child neglect has negative effects throughout the lifespan. Although an argument for a link between intellectual disabilities and neglectful parenting can be made, this paper argues for a more fine grained view of the cognitive problems that underlie child neglect perpetration and provides evidence for a social information processing model of etiology. Based on this model and what is known about the efficacy of behaviorally-based interventions, implications for enhancements to the social service system to adapt to the needs of parents with intellectual disabilities are presented. The areas covered include improvements to screening and assessment of parents; provision of adapted services; and changes in selection processes and training of staff. Future directions for integrating social information processing elements into interventions are discussed with examples from empirically tested prevention programs.