Revisiting goa's mental health

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 573-573
Author(s):  
A.E. Ribeiro ◽  
M. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Major Public Health Issue

Despite Goa's privileged economic and environmental position, research has demonstrated that mental health is in fact a major public health issue in this Indian state.Besides learning difficulties, child abuse, and high suicide rates, depression and anxiety seem to affect more than one third of the patients in primary care attenders. Medically unexplained physical symptoms are common clinical features, frequently misdiagnosed by the primary care physicians. Alcohol consumption has always been an integral part of Goan lifestyle, with alcohol dependence being a major public health issue. Drug abuse, in particular heroin and more recently LSD and ecstasy, are of concern in the coastal areas, and foreign influence might not be the only explanation for this fact.Goa has one of the most extensive health systems in India. Private psychiatry is also relatively well represented, and fortunately there are some NGOs working in this field, providing care in areas where government services have been inadequate.Despite those facts, the majority of persons with mental health disorders have never come in contact with mental health care providers. Persons prefer to consult non-mental health professionals, and frequently continue to seek help from Religious and Spiritual Leaders, Informal Counsellors, priests and Gurus with healing powers. Many of such practices are unregulated, expensive and potentially dangerous.Priority mental health issues in Goa include sensitizing health workers to mental illnesses, and improving access to care in existing health services.

scholarly journals Talk weight: an observational study of communication about patient weight in primary care consultations

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 309-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Laidlaw ◽  
Calum McHale ◽  
Heather Locke ◽  
Jo Cecil
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Video Analysis ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Obese Patients ◽  
Major Public Health Issue ◽  
Primary Care Practitioners ◽  
Overweight Or Obesity

BackgroundObesity is a major public health issue and primary care practitioners are well placed to opportunistically raise the issue of overweight or obesity with their patients.Aim and methodsThis study investigated the prevalence of weight discussion in primary care consultations with overweight and obese patients, in a practice in Fife, Scotland, and described weight-related communication using video analysis.FindingsWeight was raised in 25% of consultations with overweight and obese patients. GPs initiated weight discussion more often than patients; however, these attempts were often blocked by patients. Weight-related outcomes were more common when patients initiated the weight discussion. This study confirms the potential of video analysis for understanding primary care weight discussion. It also suggests that GPs may benefit from a communication-based intervention to tackle patient blocking behaviours and contributes to the evidence suggesting that interventions targeted to increase the prevalence of weight-related discussions with their patients are needed.

How Should Mental Health Professionals Respond to Outbreaks of Mass Psychogenic Illness?

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Bartholomew ◽  
M. Chandra Sekaran Muniratnam
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Psychogenic Illness

The management of episodes of mass psychogenic illness poses a challenge for mental health professionals who have a history of inadvertently exacerbating episodes. This article identifies the two major presentation types (anxiety vs. motor), discusses their significance as a public health issue, and offers guidelines for responding to outbreaks and addressing the media.

The Bridge Program: A Model for Delivering Mental Health Services to Asian Americans through Primary Care

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongtu Chen ◽  
Elizabeth Kramer ◽  
Teddy Chen ◽  
Jianping Chen ◽  
Henry Chung
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Bridge Program ◽  
Community Awareness

Compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, Asian Americans have the lowest utilization of mental health services. Contributing factors include extremely low community awareness about mental health, a lack of culturally competent Asian American mental health professionals, and severe stigma associated with mental illness. This manuscript describes an innovative program that bridges the gap between primary care and mental health services. The Bridge Program, cited in the supplement to the Surgeon’s General’s Report on Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity as a model for delivery of mental health services through primary care; (2) to improve capacity by enhancing the skills of primary care providers to identify and treat mental disorders commonly seen in primary care; and (3) to raise community awareness by providing health education on mental health and illness. Results are presented and the potential for replication is addressed.

scholarly journals VitalSign6: A Primary Care First (PCP-First) Model for Universal Screening and Measurement-Based Care for Depression

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhukar Trivedi ◽  
Manish Jha ◽  
Farra Kahalnik ◽  
Ronny Pipes ◽  
Sara Levinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Universal Screening ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Similar Treatment ◽  
Measurement Based Care

Major depressive disorder affects one in five adults in the United States. While practice guidelines recommend universal screening for depression in primary care settings, clinical outcomes suffer in the absence of optimal models to manage those who screen positive for depression. The current practice of employing additional mental health professionals perpetuates the assumption that primary care providers (PCP) cannot effectively manage depression, which is not feasible, due to the added costs and shortage of mental health professionals. We have extended our previous work, which demonstrated similar treatment outcomes for depression in primary care and psychiatric settings, using measurement-based care (MBC) by developing a model, called Primary Care First (PCP-First), that empowers PCPs to effectively manage depression in their patients. This model incorporates health information technology tools, through an electronic health records (EHR) integrated web-application and facilitates the following five components: (1) Screening (2) diagnosis (3) treatment selection (4) treatment implementation and (5) treatment revision. We have implemented this model as part of a quality improvement project, called VitalSign6, and will measure its success using the Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. In this report, we provide the background and rationale of the PCP-First model and the operationalization of VitalSign6 project.

scholarly journals Dry eye researchers and their publications in Asia and Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Yuh Leong ◽  
Louis Tong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Dry Eye ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Major Public Health Issue

Dry eye, a visually disabling disease that has been reported to be a major public health issue in many countries, is known to induce a significant decrease in quality of life. In this report, we aim to compile information on the investigators of dry eye that published most frequently in peer reviewed scientific journals and the publications in Asia and Europe.

scholarly journals Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Nurses in China: A Nationwide Survey During the Outbreak

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Youlin Long ◽  
Yifan Cheng ◽  
Qiong Guo ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Second Line ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Major Public Health Issue

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health issue and challenge to health professionals. In similar epidemics, nurses experienced more distress than other providers.Methods: We surveyed both on-duty nurses caring for infected patients and second-line nurses caring for uninfected patients from Hubei and other provinces throughout China.Results: We received completed surveys from 1,364 nurses from 22 provinces: 658 front-line and 706 second-line nurses. The median (IQR) GHQ-28 score of all nurses was 17 (IQR 11–24). The overall incidence of mild-to-moderate distress (GHQ score > 5) was 28%; that for severe distress (GHQ score > 11) was 6%. The incidence of mild-to-moderate distress in the second-line nurses was higher than that in the front-line nurses (31 vs. 25%; OR, 0.74; 95 CI, 0.58–0.94). Living alone (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44–0.86) and feeling supported (OR, 0.82, 95% CI, 0.74–0.90) independently predicted lower anxiety.Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological problems of all nurses were generally serious. The interviewed second-line nurses face more serious issues than the front-line nurses.

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