Programs and Communities
The collection collates collections by schools, centers, programs, and research groups.
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- Creators: DeWeese, Robin
- Creators: Chen, Angela
There is an increase in the prevalence of mental health problems in the United States. Healthy People 2020’s leading mental health indicator is to increase the delivery of care to those with mental health issues and lower the number of youth who experience a major depressive disorder. Teachers and non-teaching staff are well placed in the community to identify youth undergoing emotional distress and facilitate early interventions, yet do not receive adequate training in mental health.
A project was undertaken to determine if a mental health training intervention affected the community youth mentors knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy towards helping youth with mental health issues. Three instruments with good validity and reliability namely Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS), Attitudes to Severe Mental Illness (ASMI) scale, and Gatekeeper Behavior Scale were used in pre intervention, immediately post intervention and two weeks post intervention questionnaires. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated changes in the pre and post intervention scores as significant in knowledge, and attitude between pre intervention and immediately post intervention time periods. Cohen’s effect size value suggested large, medium, small, and minimum clinical significance in the variables over period of time.
Mental health literacy narrows the gap between symptom onset and intervention. Numerous mental health trainings are currently available worldwide. Schools and after school clubs in collaboration with hospital mental health and other community agencies are better equipped to bridge the gap. School staff report better confidence in addressing mental health and behavioral health issues among youth when equipped with additional resources within the school in the form of psychologists, social workers, and counselors.
Method: This project aimed to provide an evidence-based education for intake nurses to understand prevalence of PTSD and to use a screening tool Primary Care PTSD for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) in a non-VA behavioral health facility.
Setting: The project site was a civilian behavioral health facility located in West Phoenix Metropolitan area. The behavioral health facility serves mental health and substance abuse needs. Project implementation focused on the intake department.
Measures: Sociodemographic data, PTSD diagnosis criteria, prevalence and PC-PTDSD-5 screening tool knowledge collected from pre and posttest evaluation. Patients’ charts for those admitted 6-week before and 6-week after the education to calculate numbers of screening tools completed by nurses at intake assessment.
Data analysis: Descriptive statistics was used to describe the sample and key measures; the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to examine differences between pre-test and post-test scores. Cohen’s effect size was used to estimate clinical significance.
Results: A total of 23 intake nurses (87.0% female, 65.2% 20-39 years old, 52.2% Caucasian, 95.6% reported having 0-10 years of experience, 56.5% completed Associate’s degree) received the education. For PTSD-related knowledge, the pre-test score (Mdn = 6.00) was significantly lower than the post-test score (Mdn = 10.00; Z= -4.23, p < .001), suggesting an increase of PTSD knowledge among nurses after the education. Regarding the diagnosis, the percentage of patients who were diagnosed with PTSD increased from (0.02% to 20% after the education).
Discussion: An evidence-based education aimed at enhancing intake nurses’ knowledge, confidence and skills implementing a brief and no-cost PTSD screening tool showed positive results, including an increase of PTSD diagnosis. The implementation of this screening tool in a civilian primary mental health care facility was feasible and helped patients connect to PTSD treatment in a timely fashion. Continued use of paper version of screening tool will be maintained at facility as an intermediary solution until final approval through parent company is received to implement into electronic medical records.
Methods: A project was undertaken at an outpatient behavioral setting in urban Arizona to determine the use and effectiveness of a mental health app called insight timer to reduce anxiety symptoms. Adult clients with anxiety symptoms were provided with the insight timer app to use over a period of eight weeks. Anxiety was evaluated with the GAD-7 scale initially and after the eight weeks of app use. Usability and the quality of the app were assessed with an app rating scale at the end of the eight weeks.
Results: Findings of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicated changes in pre and posttest assessment scores as significant (p = .028), which is a significant reduction in anxiety among seven clients who completed the 8-week intervention. the mean TI score was 15.57 (SD = 4.9), and the mean T2 score was 7.71 (SD = 5.7). Besides, Cohen's effect size value (d = 1.465) suggested large clinical significance for GAD7 in pre and posttest.
Discussion: Evidence suggests that the use of an evidence-based app can effectively reduce anxiety symptoms and improve the quality of life. The use of mental health apps like insight timer could reduce health care costs associated with unnecessary hospital admissions as well as re-hospitalizations. The routine use of apps such as the insight timer may also be beneficial to all the clients who have anxiety symptoms in outpatient as well as inpatient settings.
The epidemic of overweight and obesity and its multiple causes have captured the attention of researchers, program administrators, politicians, and the public alike. Recently, many stakeholder groups have started investigating the role that food and nutrition assistance programs play in the etiology of the problem and in identifying possible solutions. As a result, policy changes have been recommended and implemented for programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to improve the nutritional quality of foods they offer to their participants. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is also attracting attention as a potential vehicle to reduce the burden of obesity among its users. Because of the tough economic and political climate in which all federal programs currently operate, the need for making nutrition assistance programs more efficient and effective in addressing health and nutrition related problems affecting the country has never been greater.
This document proposes a set of strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of SNAP. These strategies are based on a review of research literature, recommendations from expert groups, and the experiences of other communities and states. We include information that pertains to potential stakeholder arguments for and against each strategy, as well as the political feasibility, financial impact, and logistical requirements for implementation. We drew candidate strategies from the range of options that have been tested through research and from policies that have been implemented around the country. The order of strategies in this document is based on overall strength of supportive research, as well as political and implementation feasibility. The four proposed strategies are improving access to healthy foods to provide better choices, incentivizing the purchase of healthy foods, restricting access to unhealthy foods, and maximizing education to more effectively reach a larger population of SNAP participants.
Frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables has been linked to better dietary quality and positive health outcomes. Unfortunately, fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school children falls far short of the recommendations. Therefore, finding strategies to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in children is a public health priority. One such strategy is the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), which provides fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks, at least twice per week, in elementary schools with high student enrollment from low-income households. The program aims to expand the variety of fruits and vegetables children experience, impacting their present and future health outcomes. Another USDA initiative, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed), offered in community and school settings, aims to improve the likelihood that SNAP eligible individuals will make healthy food choices consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. SNAP-Ed is a potential resource for FFVP schools, providing nutrition education, staff training, and promotional materials.
