With the advent of new psychotherapeutic agents, many individuals with mental illness are living successfully in communities. However, they may become involved in situations with law enforcement officers, which may lead to potentially negative experiences. During police academy training, new officers may receive training focused on optimizing interactions with people with physical/mental disabilities; however, this may be inadequate to enable effective communication between officers and individuals with mental illness. Given the growing prevalence of mental illness, it is increasingly likely that officers will encounter such individuals. An exemplar educational program geared to staff police officers in the city of Orange, California is described. This program provides law enforcement officers with training about psychiatric disorders and affected individuals, effective communication skills, and interventions that may assist in management of field contacts with individuals with mental illness.

Youth engaging in sexting (texting plus sex) includes behaviors such as sending, receiving, or forwarding of nude or partially nude images via cell phones. The true prevalence of tweens and teens engaging in sexting is unclear. This might be because of the general secrecy of the behavior, the rapid advances in technology, and the lack of a clear definition that accounts for the added developmental factors (e.g., peak sexual development, impulsivity). Additionally, there is a lack of recognition of the consequences and increased risks of sexting (e.g., shame and guilt, earlier sexual behavior, bullying, incarceration, substance abuse, depression, suicide) for youth as a vulnerable population. The purpose of this article is to examine sexting behaviors among youth by exploring factors specific to today's adolescent population that may influence the prevalence and outcomes of sexting behavior. Implications for nursing practice, including the assessment, intervention, and evaluation that is needed to treat adolescents affected by sexting, are discussed.

Seclusion for escalating behavior in psychiatric patients has been a controversial intervention over the past 3 decades. The current study investigated the experience of seclusion from the perspective of inpatient psychiatric patients in the midwestern United States. Twelve patients were interviewed about their experiences; the interviews were transcribed into a written text. A phenomenological method was used to analyze the text, and themes were generated. Three themes emerged: (a) Patient Hope for Respect and Open Communication described patients' desires for discussion about their individual problems before their behavior escalated; (b) Patient Emotional Response to the Seclusion Process described accelerating emotions such as anxiety and anger. Patients perceived disrespect from staff prior to and during seclusion; and (c) Patient Insight into Behavior and the Importance of Positive Coping Skills described the importance of debriefing with staff and learning positive coping skills. Further improved education for nurses is needed to help manage psychiatric patients, for it is the goal of the mental health profession to understand the reasons these seclusion episodes occur and to directly take the steps to eliminate the need for the seclusion process entirely.