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Mental Health Assessments in Community Healthcare: A review
Nursing assessment of mental illness is a complex task – especially in the community health clinics that serve persons of minority groups, the indigent, and uninsured. According to the National Institute of Mental health (2007), and the Surgeon General (2001), approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population suffer from mental illness each year (as cited in Hunt, 2009). According to Genrich and McGuire (2009), the use of evidence-based screening for mental illness has been generally accepted in the clinical setting and is modifiable in different primary care settings (as cited in Russell, 2010). However, despite a general acceptance of mental health screening in primary care, less than 33 percent of primary care providers regularly screen their patients for mental illness (Russell, 2010). This is why community health nurses are tasked to assess patients in diverse environments and “need to accurately assess and identify factors in the psychological, social, and physical environment that may contribute to mental illness” (Hunt, 2009, p. 424).
This project summary is an appraisal of literature on the integration of mental health assessment in community based health organizations – namely the Florida Atlantic University Community Wellness Center, West Gate Wellness Center in West Palm Beach. Dr. Eugenia Millender is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at this location. This center provides primary health care and referrals; however, there is no screening for mental illness. The West Gate Wellness Center serves a diverse population which consists of Hispanic, African American, Haitian, and Non Hispanic Caucasian patients. The majority of these patients either has no ins...
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...entify the limitations on communication with nurses and GPs regarding referrals (2010).
This review summarizes specific recommendations to be utilized by clinicians in the Westgate Wellness Center. It imparts comprehensive knowledge on the assessment of mental illness in a community based setting. Many issues were identified that apply to the center such as, the difficulty in screening for mental health illnesses in minority groups, the need to deliver collaborative care to low-income and uninsured immigrants with mental illness, and the underutilization of clinical pathways for screening and referral by practitioners for mental illness. Therefore, the glaring need for mental health assessment at the Westgate Wellness Center is evident and the absence of this was found to be considerably detrimental to minorities, the uninsured, and low-income individuals.
All minority groups experience discrimination which leads to increased levels of stress in those individuals. As the level of stress goes up, so does the risk for several health complications including those related to mental health. Wells, Klap, Koike, and Sherbourne (2001) conducted a study examining the disparities in mental health care among black, Hispanic, and white Americans. Of those Hispanics in the study (n=617), 16.6% of them had a probable mental disorder compared to 13.4% of whites (n=7,299). Hispanics also had a higher incidence of substance abuse problems with 9% of those surveyed meeting criteria compared to 7.6% of whites. Hispanics also had the least reported perceived need for treatment with 10.4% for mental health and only 1.3% for substance abuse. A clinician treating Antonio should keep in mind that he has a higher likelihood of having a mental illness or substance use disorder than a white client as well as the fact that if he does meet the criteria for either, that he probably does not believe he needs
Mental healthcare has a long and murky past in the United States. In the early 1900s, patients could live in institutions for many years. The treatments and conditions were, at times, inhumane. Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s created programs to protect this vulnerable population from abuse and discrimination. In the last 20 years, mental health advocacy groups and legislators have made gains in bringing attention to the disparity between physical and mental health programs. However, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses continues to be less than optimal. Mental health disparities continue to exist in all areas of the world.
States obtain many services that fall under mental health care, and that treat the mentally ill population. These range from acute and long-term hospital treatment, to supportive housing. Other effective services utilized include crisis intervention teams, case management, Assertive Community Treatment programs, clinic services, and access to psychiatric medications (Honberg at al. 6). These services support the growing population of people living in the...
Many Latinos do not seek treatment because they don't recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions or know where to find help. This is an important aspect of this issue since it is impossible to know if there is a problem with ourselves if they’re not talked about to us. In turn, this increases the stigma associated with mental health issues and worry that they will be seen as weak, crazy or shameful. Even simply spreading the basic information about the common conditions, will help convince people that it is normal to be born with, or develop these
Health care for mental illness is an issue in the African American community for Men, Women and Adolescents due to the underserving and lack of mental healthcare providers, the cultural stigma of having mental illness and the socioeconomic status of African Americans.
Mental health disparities, “the power imbalances that impact practices influencing access, quality, and outcomes of behavioral health care, or a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rate in a specific group of people defined along racial and ethnic lines, as compared with the general population” (Safran, 2011). Although there are many mental health care dipartites, I’m going to focus on the impact of poverty and lack of attention given to mental health. By advocating for a prevention, promotion, and intervention related to mental health, will aid in minimizing mental health disparities. Not only is it important to advocate on a macro level, but it is important to educate
Mental health care disparities can be rooted in inequalities in access to good providers, differences in insurance coverage, or discrimination by health professionals in the clinical encounter (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Surely, those who are affected by these disparities are minorities Blacks and Latinos compare to Whites. Due to higher rates of poverty and poor health among United States minorities compared with whites. Moreover, the fact that poverty and poor health are
In today’s society, the stigma around mental health has caused many people to fear seeking medical treatment for problems they are dealing with. With an abundance of hateful outlooks and stereotypical labels such as: crazy, psycho, and dangerous, it is clear that people with a mental illness have a genuine reason to avoid pursuing medical treatments. Along with mental health stigma, psychiatric facilities that patients with a mental health issue attend in order to receive treatment obtain an excessive amount of unfavorable stereotypes.
Whaley, A. L. (1997). Ethnic and racial differences in perceptions of dangerousness of persons with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 48, 1328-1330.
Eack, S. M., Singer, J. B., & Greeno, C. G. (2008). Screening for Anxiety and Depression in Community Mental Health: The Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories. Community Mental Health Journal, 44(6), 465-474.
One of the goals of Healthy People 2010 is to eliminate health disparities among groups. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR), has been leaders of the Healthy People 2010 initiative to eliminate disparities among racial groups. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) also contributed to this debate by providing definitions and statistics on this issue. Finally, the National Healthcare Disparities Report further gave evidence on this topic and the need to do something to change the situation. All these organizations have seen huge differences that the different communities or populations experience in mental health today in the U.S. All of them have the firm conviction that Latinos suffer a great disservice when it comes to accessing mental health services and they are also in agreement that this disparity needs to change and has therefore decided to make an input on this
Mental health is just as important as physical health in a person’s life. Mental health is critical to a person’s well-being, their ability to live a productive life and to keep a healthy family and interpersonal relationships. Mental health does not just affect the mind it also affects people’s physical health. Some physical health diseases can cause a mental health disorder and vice versa. Mental health disorders are associated with the occurrence, development, and outcome of some of the today’s most chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. When people go untreated from a mental health disorder are at a higher risk for many unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, violent behavior, and suicide.
Whether you are applying to school, or enrolling your child, there is a process that everyone must go through. One of the things that most schools require is health screenings, in order to assure that the student is healthy enough to participate, or to find out if the student has any health issue that they will need special treatment for. Most schools find it necessary to screen for many kinds of diseases and other health issues, but the one thing schools are starting to think about is screening for mental health, illness.
The crowding in mental health hospitals comes from the use of emergency medicine as a specialty that has a federal law that allows any patient to receive treatment there (Barish, McGaudly, & Arnold, 2012, p. 304). Because of the lack of primary care physicians for a proper referral to seek mental health treatment, patients seek medical care in ERs (Barish, McGaudly, & Arnold, 2012, p. 304). Within mental health, patients with severe psychiatric disorder visit the emergency room one or multiple times throughout their diagnosis. These patients with mental health-related emergency department visits were twice as more likely to result in hospital admission to the emergency room
Mental health refers to the state of individuals psychologically, emotionally and socially. Mental health affects a person’s emotions, feelings, thoughts, and sections when exposed to different situations. Furthermore, mental health is responsible for a person’s reaction to stress and other social conditions. Generally, mental health affects how a person relates to others and their ability to understand and interact with them. Therefore, problems that affect a person’s mental health affect the abilities to socialize, their feelings, moods, reaction to situations. The person experiencing mental health problem may portray different behaviors when confronted with different issues. Mental health issues have several