Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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The poor general health of the severely mentally ill: impact of schizophrenic diagnosis
- Authors:
- CHAFETZ Linda, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 41(2), April 2005, pp.169-184.
- Publisher:
- Springer
This study focused on poor health among the severely mentally ill and additional risks associated with schizophrenia. Records of 781 clients in short-term residential treatment programs provided data. The schizophrenic subgroup was compared to others in bivariate analyses, with significant findings included in logistic regression. Those with schizophrenia were more likely to be male, unemployed, and insured by MediCal/Medicare. Most health problems occurred at similar rates across diagnoses, reflecting common environmental risk factors. Those with schizophrenia had less substance abuse and fewer liver conditions, but more diabetes and chronic respiratory problems. Implications for providers and for research are discussed.
Factors influencing social distance toward people with mental illness
- Authors:
- LAUBER Christoph, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 40(3), June 2004, pp.265-274.
- Publisher:
- Springer
When identifying ways to reduce stigmatization because of mental illness it is crucial to understand contributing factors. Social distance—the willingness to engage in relationships of varying intimacy with a person—is an indicator of public attitudes toward persons with mental illness. Multiple linear regression analysis of the results of a vignette-based opinion survey conducted on a representative population sample in Switzerland (n = 594). The level of social distance increases if situations imply social closeness. The vignette describing a person with schizophrenia, attitudes to general aspects of mental health (lay helping, community psychiatry), emotions toward those affected, and the attitude toward consequences of mental illness (medical treatment, medication side effects, negative sanctions, e.g. withdrawal of the driver license) were found to predict social distance. Demographic factors such as age, gender, and the cultural background influence social distance. The explained variance (R2) is 44.8%. Social distance is a multifaceted concept influenced by, e.g., socio-economic and cultural factors, but also by the respondent's general attitude toward (mental) health issues. These results suggest that more knowledge about mental illnesses, especially schizophrenia, may increase social distance. The findings presented here may help to focus anti-stigma campaigns not only on transmission of knowledge, but on integrating different approaches.
A positive aspect of caregiving: the influence of social support on caregiving gains for family members of relatives with schizophrenia
- Authors:
- CHEN Fang-pei, GREENBERG Jan S.
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 40(5), October 2004, pp.423-435.
- Publisher:
- Springer
This study examines family members'' caregiving gains as a result of caring for their relatives with schizophrenic spectrum disorders, and the influence of formal and informal social support on these positive experiences. The results from interviews with 560 family members support that the experience of caregiving gains is prevalent. Moreover, formal support from mental health professionals through information sharing and collaborative interactions with family members, and informal support from other family members, support group participation, and contributions from the relative with mental illness all have significant, positive associations with family members' experiences of caregiving gains.
The Camberwell Assessment of Need and Behaviour and Symptom Identification Scale as routine outcome measures in a psychiatric disability rehabilitation and support service
- Authors:
- TRAUER Tom, TOBIAS Glen
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 40(3), June 2004, pp.211-221,.
- Publisher:
- Springer
While routine outcome measurement is being progressively introduced into mental health services, there is little evidence of its potential in disability rehabilitation and support services. We report the introduction of a measure of need and a self-report measure of mental health problems in such a service in which most of the consumers have a principal diagnosis of a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. The authors found that just over half of the consumers with a key worker were able and willing to complete these instruments. On average, consumers' self-ratings suggested only moderate levels of mental health problems, and consumers with schizophrenia identified lower levels of need than their key workers. Assessments of need showed more stability over time than assessments of mental health problems.
Relocating madness: from the mental patient to the person
- Authors:
- BARHAM Peter, HAYWARD Robert
- Publisher:
- Free Association
- Publication year:
- 1995
- Pagination:
- 189p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Reports on how people with mental health problems perceive the community care reforms, focusing in particular on a group of people with schizophrenia. Their experiences of housing, poverty, stigma, medication, psychiatric services in the community, and the meaning of madness are examined. The relocation of madness is explored as a process that involves the creation and negotiation of new frames of understanding, and new styles of relationship, between former mental patients and 'normal' society.
Medication clinics
- Authors:
- MILLER Keith, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 9.11.94, 1994, pp.50-52.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Looks at the role community mental health teams have in monitoring the progress of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
The least worst option: user experiences of antipsychotic medication and lack of involvement in medication decisions in a UK community sample
- Authors:
- MORANT Nicola, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 27(4), 2018, pp.322-328.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Background: Treatment decision-making that fully involves service users is an aim across medicine, including mental health. Aim: To explore service users experiences of taking antipsychotic medication for psychotic disorders and their perceptions of decision-making about this. Method: Semi-structured interviews with 20 users of community mental health services, conducted by service user researchers and analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Antipsychotic medication was perceived to have beneficial effects on symptoms and relapse risk, but adverse effects were prominent, including a global state of lethargy and demotivation. Weighing these up, the majority viewed antipsychotics as the least worst option. Participants were split between positions of “willing acceptance”, “resigned acceptance” and “non-acceptance” of taking antipsychotics. Many felt their choices about medication were limited, due to the nature of their illness or pressure from other people. They commonly experienced their prescribing psychiatrist as not sufficiently acknowledging the negative impacts of medication on life quality and physical health concerns and described feeling powerless to influence decisions about their medication. Conclusion: The study highlights the complexity of agendas surrounding antipsychotic medication, including the pervasive influence of coercive processes and the challenges of implementing collaborative decision-making for people with serious mental health problems.
Dropping out of care: inappropriate terminations of contact with community-based psychiatric services
- Authors:
- ROSSI Alberto, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 181(10), October 2002, pp.331-338.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
The aim of this article is to identify patient and treatment characteristics associated with dropping out of contact with community-based psychiatric services. It was found that drop-outs were younger, less likely to be married and their previous length of contact with services was shorter. No drop-outs had a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Work interventions in mental health care: some arguments and recent evidence
- Author:
- SCHNEIDER Justine
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 7(1), February 1998, pp.81-94.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Evidence of the effectiveness of work in psychiatry in the UK is limited to studies conducted a generation ago, when mental health care was still hospital-based, and the level of unemployment in the general population was lower than today. Employment is scarcely considered directly in mental health policy, while purchasers have few guidelines on which to base their strategies. This article offers five perspectives on work in psychiatry, ideological principles; macro-economic considerations; demand on the part of service users themselves; the changing context of mental health care, with its effects on the public presentation of mental illness; and evidence of clinical benefits from constructive occupation. Each of these cases is presented, with particular attention paid to the clinical benefits which are relevant to evidence-based health care.
High anxiety
- Author:
- McEVOY Phil
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 29.1.97, 1997, pp.70-72.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Drug use is common among people with mental health problems, providing temporary relief but also longer-term problems. The author, a community mental health nurse, tells one clients story, describing what nursing services can do to help.