Schools and adolescent mental health: education providers or health care providers?

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liza Hopkins

Purpose – The issue of mental health amongst students in the senior years of secondary schooling is one which has recently gained traction in mainstream media and public discourse across Australia. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the ways in which schools and other education providers are responding to mental health issues amongst their students both proactively (for prevention) and reactively (for referral and treatment). Design/methodology/approach – The project took a qualitative research approach to gathering data from student support staff based in schools and out-of-school learning settings, through a focus group methodology. Findings – The project found that despite policy rhetoric and research evidence supporting pro-active, curriculum integrated, early intervention to prevent and avoid mental illness and mental distress amongst secondary school students, most schools still take a reactive, piecemeal approach to prevention of mental illness and provision of mental health care. Individual schools and learning providers are responding to issues in a variety of ways, along a continuum of care. Research limitations/implications – The project had a small sample size and restricted geographic area. The divergence in findings between staff from schools in this area and staff from other education providers suggests much more work needs to be done in establishing the implications of bureaucratic sector and school governance on health and wellbeing outcomes. Originality/value – This paper begins to explore an under-researched area of school and other education provider responses to rising concern about student mental health.

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s899-s899 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Banerjee ◽  
G. Desai ◽  
P.S. Chandra

BackgroundContrary to popular myth, majority of mentally ill women are mothers with increasing number of them seeking help. Little is known about their own experiences in this regard and the extent to which their needs are met.ObjectivesTo assess the barriers and facilitators in seeking help from mental health care providers in matters of pregnancy and parenting.MethodsThe study used qualitative design with social constructivist paradigm. A purposive sample of 30 mothers with severe mental illness was obtained. Data was collected through one-to-one in-depth semi-structured interviews. After verbatim transcription, inductive thematic analysis was used to explore transcripts.ResultsMost women considered motherhood “central” to their lives and almost all of them experienced the burden of the “dual role”. Main barriers in seeking help were stigma, treatment side effects, wrong information and time constraints. Whereas self-advocacy, early engagement, education of women and involvement of the family with service providers were the facilitating factors. The prime expectations of the mothers as identified were early and direct communication, patient audience and basic guidance in regards to child health and parenting issues.ConclusionWomen who are mothers and also users of mental health services face special challenges in managing the contradictory aspects of their dual identity. Hearing their voices are essential for service provision and ensuring adequate mental health needs. Early and direct intervention along with understanding and addressing critical areas are necessary for proper care of both the mother and child.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayse Bengi Ozcelik ◽  
Kaan Varnali ◽  
Sebnem Burnaz

Purpose Hospitals have become competitive organizations striving to serve the needs of empowered consumers seeking positive experiences. As a result, the patient experience turns into a critical driver of performance for hospitals. Accordingly, the question “what are the critical dimensions for creating a well-designed patient experience?” has been drawing increasing attention from the industry and academia alike. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of patient experience by using multiple source data obtained from experts and patients. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative research approach to examine the perspectives of both health-care experts and patients about the experience. A semi-structured interview series is conducted with health-care professionals, academicians, researchers, physicians and patients. Findings The results suggest a novel framework for the patient experience including five critical dimensions as follows: provider, physician, patient, personnel and periphery. This framework, 5Ps of patient experience, provides a holistic picture, which integrates the perspectives of patients, health-care providers and experts including scholars and researchers. Practical implications The 5P framework can be used by health-care professionals to better understand the driving factors of patient experience and to create a strategy to improve patient satisfaction. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first qualitative study, which provides a holistic approach to patient experience independent from the branch and considers the perspectives of both health-care experts and patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawsan Abuhammad ◽  
Heyam Dalky

Stigma towards mental illness is a widespread phenomenon not just in the developing world, but also in developed countries. Unfortunately, this stigma is not only restricted to the general population, but is also prevalent among professional health care providers. Research from developing countries is scarce. Thus, the aim of this paper was to explore health care providers’ attitudes toward mental illness stigma in the primary health care settings. The review sheds light on the ethical implications of mental health stigma as perceived by primary health care providers, and the proposed recommendations for responsible conduct of research and policy initiative in the context of mental health research. Utilizing CINAHL, Medline and Scopus electronic data bases, results are reported for the 41 studies that are grouped according to being from USA, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia and Arab World. The results from this review confirmed that stigma associated with mental illness have many ethical implications in the context of research including use of consent form, fair treatment, and good respect for individual rights concerning treatment choices. To counter stigma and prevent the ethical implications of such stigma, interventions in the form of awareness and training programs would be the best way to minimize and stop it. Further, govermnetal and political are needed to initiate a national code of ethics for mental health research in their respective coutries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-70
Author(s):  
Iril Panes

Background: Mental illness affects the entire family structure. The family members are the main provider of care that results in caregiving burden. Thus, the care given should encompass the entire family system, termed as family centeredness. Purpose: This study clarifies the concept of "family centeredness" in mental health to enhance individual and family cares living amid mental illness. Methods: This research employed Walker and Avant's method of Concept Analysis. Literature was reviewed, and the characteristics that appeared repeatedly were noted and categorized. Data were mapped according to its definition, antecedents, attributes, and consequences. Results: Three key defining attributes were identified: (a) A mutual, collaborative partnership between the patient, family and health care providers based on knowledge exchange, open communication and cooperation; (b) A supportive, professional relationship/bond/engagement among health care providers, patient and family characterized by empathy, understanding, respect and empowerment; and (c) Individualized care wherein the process is defined by the family is supported, enabling the opportunity to choose, control over decisions and empowerment. Conclusion: The result of the study clearly defines family centeredness as a health care approach in mental health that acknowledges the patient and family as the experts on themselves, involves families as collaborative partners in all aspects of services and decisions about care through mutually beneficial supportive partnerships with health care providers; to help patients make progress towards recovery.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. e277-e278
Author(s):  
Himabindu Lanka ◽  
William Zirker ◽  
Igor Dorokhine

e277 Background: Physician communication with patients is vital to deliver a proper diagnosis. In addition, it is important to appropriately answer questions to improve the quality of care especially with geriatric patients with cancer. However, patients feel their questions are not being answered in a timely manner. Multiple international studies involving oncologists have identified communication barriers such as cultural differences, paternalistic views and family dynamics. Furthermore, barriers to communication in geriatric patients are cognitive impairment and hearing loss. The aim of this study is to assess health care providers’ perspective on communicating cancer diagnosis and treatment plan in geriatric population. Methods: A ten-question survey was created and was emailed to health care providers using Survey Monkey. Data analysis consisted of distribution frequency and Chi-squared test/Fischer test. Results: 69 health care providers’ participated in the survey. 13 of the 69 (18.8%) did not see any geriatric patients with cancer and were excluded from the study. Amongst the communication parameters assessed, 85% of them said they had a particular approach to diagnosis. 76.9% of them included side effects of chemotherapy, risks and benefits of treatment and an option of no treatment in their initial treatment plan. Also, 67.3% of them included advance directives, hospice and prognosis in their initial plan. (Table 1) An adequate comparison was not possible due to the small sample size. Conclusions: In communicating cancer diagnosis and treatment plan, health care providers’ feel that they adequately answer questions and address needs of their geriatric patients. [Table: see text]


2020 ◽  
pp. 002076402098589
Author(s):  
Bruna Sordi Carrara ◽  
Raquel Helena Hernandez Fernandes ◽  
Sireesha Jennifer Bobbili ◽  
Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura

Background: Health care providers are an important target group for anti-stigma interventions because they have the potential to convey stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness. This can have a detrimental impact on the quality and effectiveness of care provided to those affected by mental illness. Aims and methods: Whittemore & Knafl’s integrative review method (2005) was used to analyze 16 studies investigating anti-stigma interventions targeting health care providers. Results: The interventions predominantly involved contact-based educational approaches which ranged from training on mental health (typically short-term), showing videos or films (indirect social contact) to involving people with lived experiences of mental illness (direct social contact). A few studies focused on interventions involving educational strategies without social contact, such as mental health training (courses/modules), distance learning via the Internet, lectures, discussion groups, and simulations. One study investigated an online anti-stigma awareness-raising campaign that aimed to reduce stigmatizing attitudes among health care providers. Conclusion: Anti-stigma interventions that involve social contact between health care providers and people with mental illness, target specific mental illnesses and include long-term follow-up strategies seem to be the most promising at reducing stigma towards mental illness among health care providers.


Author(s):  
Alice Good ◽  
Arunasalam Sambhanthan

E-health has expanded hugely over the last fifteen years and continues to evolve, providing greater benefits for patients, health care professionals, and providers alike. The technologies that support these systems have become increasingly more sophisticated and have progressed significantly from standard databases, used for patient records, to highly advanced Virtual Reality (VR) systems for the treatment of complex mental health illnesses. The scope of this chapter is to initially explore e-health, particularly in relation to technologies supporting the treatment and management of wellbeing in mental health. It then provides a case study of how technology in e-health can lend itself to an application that could support and maintain the wellbeing of people with a severe mental illness. The case study uses Borderline Personality Disorder as an example, but could be applicable in many other areas, including depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. This type of application demonstrates how e-health can empower the individuals using it but also potentially reduce the impact upon health care providers and services.


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