Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 9 of 9
Intellectual disability and ill health: a review of the evidence
- Editors:
- O'HARA Jean, McCARTHY Jane, BOURAS Nick (eds.)
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 246p.
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
Whether for reasons of difficulties in communication, diagnostic overshadowing, discrimination or indifference, people with intellectual disability often have health needs that go unrecognised and untreated. There is concern that public health measures aimed at reducing the main health killers in the population will not address these issues for people with intellectual disability and therefore widen the inequality that already exists. The editors draw together a systematic review of physical (arranged by body system) and mental health co-morbidities in people with intellectual disability. Both physical and mental disorders are included as well as aetiology and general health issues. The writers aim is to provide an evidence base for shaping public health policy, healthcare commissioning and the development of more effective healthcare systems, as well as supporting better understanding and practice at an individual clinical level.
Primary care clinicians’ use of standardized psychiatric diagnoses
- Authors:
- GARNER W., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child: Care, Health and Development, 30(5), September 2004, pp.401-412.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Treatment of child mental health (MH) problems should be informed by psychiatric diagnosis. Whether primary care clinicians (PCCs) use standardized psychiatric diagnostic criteria to direct the treatment of child MH problems is unknown. This study investigated PCCs’ use of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria during office visits. The data were obtained from 3674 children ages 4–15 years who were recognized as having one or more MH problems during office visits by clinicians participating in the Child Behaviour Study. Parents completed questionnaires before seeing the clinician. Clinicians completed a survey after the visit. The primary outcome was whether PCCs used standardized criteria to generate a diagnosis for children with recognized MH problems. Clinicians used DSM criteria in 23% of visits in which a psychosocial problem was recognized, and 57% of PCCs reported no use of DSM. DSM criteria were used most frequently (38% of visits) when PCCs reported attention problems. Medications were much more likely to be prescribed during visits when PCCs diagnosed using DSM criteria (63% of visits vs. 19% when criteria were not used). However, only 51% of psychotropic medication prescriptions were based on a DSM diagnosis. Clinicians used standardized criteria infrequently, and primarily to diagnose attention problems.
Depression and dementia: coexistence and differentiation
- Author:
- WARRINGTON Jill
- Publisher:
- University of Stirling. Dementia Services Development Centre
- Publication year:
- 1996
- Pagination:
- 37p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Stirling
This report reviews the complex relationship between these two conditions and gives guidance on the recognition and management of depression in older people. Contents include: defining depression and dementia; how common are depression and dementia in the elderly?; what causes depression; how do depression and dementia relate to each other?; depressive dementia (pseudodementia); depression as a secondary condition to dementia.
What causes problems in Alzheimer's disease: attributions by caregivers. a qualitative study
- Authors:
- PATON Joni, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19(6), June 2004, pp.527-532.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim was to gain insight into caregivers' understanding of the causes of behaviours they find problematic in people with Alzheimer's disease in order to inform the development of educational strategies. A qualitative, semi-structured interview was used. Participants were 205 caregivers for a person with Alzheimer's disease, all of whom were aware of the diagnosis and who had been recruited as part of a larger longitudinal study. Participants were from inner-city and suburban London/semi-rural Essex. The main outcome measures were caregivers' understanding of: the cause of problematic behaviour; the ability of the person with dementia to control this behaviour; the prognosis of the illness. Most carers attribute the cognitive, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia to causes other than dementia; many believe that the person with dementia has control over their behaviour and substantial numbers believe the person with dementia will return to normal. This study suggests that providing facts about the illness to caregivers is not enough, as caregivers may not understand that the symptoms they observe are related to the diagnosis. Education by clinicians should focus on the understanding of caregivers and in particular explore the caregivers' attributions of the symptoms which are present in the person for whom they care.
Associations between behaviour disorders and health status among older adults with intellectual disability
- Authors:
- DAVIDSON P. W., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 7(6), November 2003, pp.424-430.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Few studies have examined the relationship of behaviour and health status among aging persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Behavioural disorders, which often are coincident with functional decline in older persons with I/DD, may be more related to medical morbidity than previously reported. This cross-sectional study examined the association between health status and behaviour disorders with increasing age in a cohort of 60,752 adults with I/DD clustered into four adult-age groupings (21-44, 45-59, 60-74, and >74). Age grouping data suggested an association between morbidity and increased likelihood of behaviour symptoms in all but the oldest age grouping. The magnitude of the association and trend varied by specific disease across age groupings compared to that found in healthy cohorts. About 25% of the adults with I/DD had psychiatric diagnoses and the frequency of such diagnoses did not decrease with age grouping. These results suggest that adverse health status may increase the likelihood of persistent behavioural disturbances in older persons with I/DD. Moreover, behavioural disorders may be sentinels for occult medical morbidity, which in turn may be responsive to intervention.
Assessment scales in old age psychiatry
- Authors:
- BURNS Alastair, LAWLOR Brian, CRAIG Sarah
- Publisher:
- Martin Dunitz
- Publication year:
- 1999
- Pagination:
- 302p.,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
This book brings together various scales that are used to measure the various manifestations of mental and physical diseases that affect older people. All the major assessment scales in common use are included. The scales are divided into eight areas: depression, neuropsychological tests, global mental assessments, physical examination, delirium, care-giver assessments, memory functioning, and other scales.
Crucial diagnosis
- Author:
- KERR Diana
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 5.2.98, 1998, pp.30-31.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Looks at how people with Down's Syndrome are particularly prone to Alzheimer's disease, yet people with a dual diagnosis can fall through the net when services are not equipped to meet their specific needs.
Providing medical evaluations for possible child maltreatment to children with special health care needs
- Authors:
- GIARDINO Angelo P., HUDSON Karen M., MARSH Judith
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 27(10), October 2003, pp.1179-1186.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Children with special health care needs are known to be at increased risk of all forms of child maltreatment when compared to children without such needs. The authors describe a health care team's experience providing medical evaluations for suspected child maltreatment to children with special health care needs. Consecutive cases seen as outpatients in the Abuse Referral Clinic for Children with Disabilities were abstracted and analyzed. Mail and telephone follow-up contact was attempted after the medical evaluation to determine adherence with treatment recommendations. A subsample of cases for which complete financial information was available was reviewed to determine a reimbursement rate. During the study, 49 children received complete outpatient evaluations. Ages ranged from 3 to 16 years old, and 54% were males. Special needs spanned a wide range of physical, developmental/cognitive and behavioral conditions. The largest number of referrals came from child protective services (42%) followed by referrals from physicians (27%). After the team's comprehensive evaluation, 18% of the children were found to have a history or physical examination that was diagnostic for child maltreatment, 13% were thought to be at high risk, 25% were thought to be at low risk and 44% were thought to have non-abusive etiologies. The collection rate was 14% for an average reimbursement of $38 per case. Only 29 caregivers could be found at follow-up and 22 remembered the recommendations made by the team. Of the 25 cases that were referred for outpatient mental health counseling, 12 (48%) complied. Children with a wide range of special health care needs were evaluated in an outpatient special health care needs clinic that offered comprehensive medical evaluations for possible child maltreatment. Medical evaluation services for this group of children were poorly reimbursed. Mental health services were frequently recommended but often not accessed. Child maltreatment teams seeking to serve children with special health care needs will need to plan for service delivery to a potentially diverse group of children and families who may experience difficulty in carrying through on the team's treatment recommendations.
Physical health of adults with intellectual disabilities
- Editors:
- PRASHER Vee, JANICKI Matthew
- Publisher:
- Blackwell
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 286p.,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
In common with the rest of the population, people with intellectual disabilities are experiencing increased longevity. Evidence suggests that mental health disorders may occur in up to half of all persons with intellectual disability and that these disorders accelerate significantly with age. Part one: prevalence and diagnosis; part two: treatments and interventions.