scholarly journals Mental Health Issues in Adolescents and Young Adult African Immigrants

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tolu Olupona ◽  
Oluwole Jegede ◽  
Clarety Keseke ◽  
Evaristo Akerele
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
African Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
African Immigrant

African Immigrants in the United States account for a rapidly growing population of immigrants in the country, constituting about four percent of the foreign-born population. The group has seen a significant population increase from 881,300 in 2010 to 1,606,914 in 2010. African immigrants are however not a monolithic population, as this number and diversity increases, there continues to be a growing need for mental health professionals to assess the peculiar mental health care needs and practices of this population. The primary African immigrant groups in the United States include Nigerians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Ghanaians, and Kenyans. The delivery of optimal mental health care to this population involves a thorough comprehension of factors that influence mental health in African Immigrant populations. Such factors include the ethno-cultural background of families, the diversity of religions, immigration status, socio-economic status, language, family and sibling subsystems, identity issues and various forms of mental health stigma. Due to the complexity of these socioeconomic and cultural nuances, the mental illness presented by adolescents and young adult Africans are often atypical and their treatment requires appropriate cultural competence by physicians and mental health professionals. 

Computers and process description for community mental health care

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Rob Bale ◽  
Matthew Fiander ◽  
Tom Burns
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Assertive Community Treatment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
Practice Characteristics

The focus of mental health care has seen a significant shift from institutional care to community based care and has been well described (Thornicroft & Bebbington, 1989). This shift has necessitated the development of new and flexible models for ensuring that patients' needs are met. Mental health professionals have to operate across a wide range of community contexts dealing with a complex range of needs. Intensive Case Management (ICM) also known as Assertive Community Treatment is a model of service provision to the long term mentally ill in the community. The Programme of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) developed by Stein & Test (1980) in the United States has a number of Key elements (figure 1).ACT-based ICM is unusual in that it has been extensively researched (principally in the United States of America), and programmes are relatively well described. Such descriptions, especially of programmes outside America, often focus on underlying principals and philosophies and do little to measure practice. Teague et al. (1995), however, devised clear criteria for measuring practice components and McGrew et al. (1994) asked ACT “experts” to rate the “key” elements of PACT and related a number of these to levels of hospital use. In the United Kingdom, Thornicroft (1991) listed twelve axes for describing the central practice characteristics of case management (a broad concept including ICM). These UK ‘practice characteristics’ also focus more on macro-level programme description rather than on the practices of programme staff. There is a pressing need for research into exactly what teams do.

Mental health services for individuals at risk of suicide in Peru: Attitudes and perspectives of mental health professionals

2020 ◽  
pp. 002076402094678
Author(s):  
Dana Alonzo ◽  
Dafne Aida Zapata Pratto
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Specialized Training ◽  
Mental Health Care System ◽  
Care System

Background: Mental Health professionals often have to deal with at-risk individuals in crises and lack specialized training on suicide risk assessment and intervention. This study examined mental health professionals’ attitudes toward at-risk individuals and their perceptions of the quality of training and treatment available for assessing and intervening with this population. Methods: A total of 32 mental health professionals (13 psychiatrists, 16 psychologists, 2 psychiatric nurses; 1 social assistant) from highly vulnerable communities in Lima, Peru discussed their perceptions in four focus groups conducted by the authors. Results: Participants reported glaring deficiencies in all areas explored including training, knowledge and skills regarding suicide assessment and management. In addition, using ground theory analysis, three domains of findings emerged representing barriers and facilitators of treatment engagement, risk and protective factors of suicide and pros and cons of the current mental health care system including micro-, mezzo- and macro-level factors. The most frequently identified barrier was the perception that suicide is illegal; facilitator was family involvement; risk factor was poor parenting; protective factor was religious beliefs; pro of mental health care system was establishment of community-based services and con of mental health care system was lack of access to psychiatrists. Conclusion: The lack of specialized training available in the institutions that are designed to prepare mental health professionals for working with at-risk individuals is notable and has a direct and known impact self-identified by helping professionals. The need and desire for targeted training is palpable and essential to address growing rates of suicide, particularly among youth, in Peru.

scholarly journals Data Handling for E-Mental Health Professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5_suppl) ◽  
pp. 85S-91S
Author(s):  
Sandeep Grover ◽  
Siddharth Sarkar ◽  
Rahul Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Data Storage ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Fair Use ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Data Handling ◽  
Health Care Data

Digital psychiatry and e-mental health have proliferated and permeated vastly in the current landscape of mental health care provision. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated this digital transformation, and changes that usually take many years to translate into clinical practice have been implemented in a matter of weeks. These have outpaced the checks and balances that would typically accompany such changes, which has brought into focus a need to have a proper approach for digital data handling. Health care data is sensitive, and is prone to hacking due to the lack of stringent protocols regarding its storage and access. Mental health care data need to be more secure due to the stigma associated with having a mental health condition. Thus, there is a need to emphasize proper data handling by mental health professionals, and policies to ensure safeguarding patient’s privacy are required. The aim of useful, free, and fair use of mental health care data for clinical, business, and research purposes should be balanced with the need to ensure the data is accessible to only those who are authorized. Systems and policies should be in place to ensure that data storage, access, and disposal are systematic and conform to data safety norms.

scholarly journals Rates and Associated Factors of Secondary Mental Health Care Utilisation among Ex-Military Personnel in the United States: A Narrative Review

Healthcare ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Mark ◽  
Dominic Murphy ◽  
Sharon Stevelink ◽  
Nicola Fear
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Military Personnel ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Care Utilisation ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Care Utilisation

Little is known about ex-serving military personnel who access secondary mental health care. This narrative review focuses on studies that quantitatively measure secondary mental health care utilisation in ex-serving personnel from the United States. The review aimed to identify rates of mental health care utilisation, as well as the factors associated with it. The electronic bibliographic databases OVID Medline, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, and Embase were searched for studies published between January 2001 and September 2018. Papers were retained if they included ex-serving personnel, where the majority of the sample had deployed to the recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. Fifteen studies were included. Modest rates of secondary mental health care utilisation were found in former military members—for mean percentage prevalence rates, values ranged from 12.5% for at least one psychiatric inpatient episode, to 63.2% for at least one outpatient mental health appointment. Individuals engaged in outpatient care visits most often, most likely because these appointments are the most commonly offered source of support. Post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly re-experiencing symptoms, and comorbid mental health problems were most consistently associated with higher mental health care utilisation. Easily accessible interventions aimed at facilitating higher rates of help seeking in ex-serving personnel are recommended.

scholarly journals Spirituality and Mental Health Care in a Religiously Homogeneous Country: Definitions, Opinions, and Practices Among Polish Mental Health Professionals

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Charzyńska ◽  
Irena Heszen-Celińska
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Spirituality In Therapy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
Human Characteristic

Abstract This qualitative study involved a sample of 121 Polish mental health professionals who were interviewed about their definitions of spirituality and their opinions and practices concerning the inclusion of clients’ spirituality in therapy. Using inductive content analysis, we identified seven categories regarding the definitions of spirituality: (1) relationship, (2) transcendence, (3) dimension of functioning, (4) a specific human characteristic, (5) searching for the meaning of life, (6) value-based lifestyle, and (7) elusiveness and indefinability. The majority of respondents claimed to include elements of spirituality in therapy. However, some participants included spirituality only under certain circumstances or conditions, or did not include it at all, citing lack of need, lack of a clear definition of spirituality, their own insufficient knowledge, lack of experience, fear, or concern over ethical inappropriateness. Implicit techniques were primarily used when working on clients’ spirituality. This article deepens the knowledge on including spirituality in mental health care, with special consideration for a specific context of a highly religious and religiously homogenous culture.

scholarly journals Optimal Well-Being After Major Depression

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rottenberg ◽  
Andrew R. Devendorf ◽  
Vanessa Panaite ◽  
David J. Disabato ◽  
Todd B. Kashdan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Major Depression ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Leverage Points ◽  
Midlife Development

Can people achieve optimal well-being and thrive after major depression? Contemporary epidemiology dismisses this possibility, viewing depression as a recurrent, burdensome condition with a bleak prognosis. To estimate the prevalence of thriving after depression in United States adults, we used data from the Midlife Development in the United States study. To count as thriving after depression, a person had to exhibit no evidence of major depression and had to exceed cutoffs across nine facets of psychological well-being that characterize the top 25% of U.S. nondepressed adults. Overall, nearly 10% of adults with study-documented depression were thriving 10 years later. The phenomenon of thriving after depression has implications for how the prognosis of depression is conceptualized and for how mental health professionals communicate with patients. Knowing what makes thriving outcomes possible offers new leverage points to help reduce the global burden of depression.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document