Search results for ‘Subject term:"severe mental health problems"’ Sort:
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Validation of a brief PTSD scale for clients with severe mental illnesses
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHEN Ce, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 22(4), July 2012, pp.420-427.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Rates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more common in individuals with severe mental illnesses (SMI) than in the general population. This article describes the development and validation of a brief screen derived from the PTSD Symptom scale (PSS) for detecting probable PTSD in SMI clients. This study comprised 2 parts using survey data from 2 samples of community mental health clients with SMI diagnosis. Data for study 1 was collected from 220 clients at a community mental health centre in southeastern New England in 2003. Data for study 2 were collected from 327 clients at 4 community mental health centres in southeastern New England in 2009. The results from study 1 revealed that the 3-item Brief PSS showed excellent accuracy for detecting PTSD, good internal consistency, and good concurrent validity with other relevant measures. In study 2, comparable reliability and concurrent validity were found with measures similar to those used in study 1. Implications for practice are discussed.
Subjective distress associated with sudden loss in clients with severe mental illness
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 47(6), December 2011, pp.646-653.
- Publisher:
- Springer
Data from interviews with 276 community mental health clients diagnosed with a severe mental illness were used to examine the association between clients’ distress from sudden loss of a close friend or loved one and PTSD symptoms. Over three-quarters of these clients reported sudden losses in their lives, and regression analysis showed that distress related to sudden losses accounted for significant and unique variance in PTSD symptoms when all other sources of traumatic distress were controlled. Practitioners should routinely assess interpersonal losses among clients with SMI and offer brief interventions specifically aimed at helping clients cope with such losses.
Substance use motives in people with severe mental illness: comparisons among four diagnostic groups
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 12(4), October 2012, pp.370-390.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which substance use, convivial drinking and coping motives vary in 4 diagnostic groups: schizophrenia, schizoaffective, major depression, and bipolar I disorder. The study participants were 283 men and women (aged 18 years and over) receiving services at a community mental health centre in New England as community support or outpatient clients. Social workers and case managers gathered survey information from participants in interviews. The article discusses the background to the study, and sets out the hypotheses being tested and the study methodology. It describes the data analysis and presents the study results. It reports that overall, the findings indicated that mood disturbance rather than positive symptoms of psychosis appears to be more strongly associated with substance use in clients with severe mental illness.
Validating the posttraumatic stress disorder symptom scale with persons who have severe mental illnesses
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHEN Ce, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 17(6), November 2007, pp.720-728.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Interview data collected from 275 clients of a mental health center in southeastern New England with severe mental illnesses are used to test the construct and criterion validity of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (PSS). First, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to test whether the scale reflects the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed., text rev. (DSM-IV-TR). Second, structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to test concurrent validity. A 2-factor PSS reveals an excellent fit to the data, and SEM shows good concurrent validity with key study variables. The PSS reveals a 2-factor structure (Re-experiencing and Avoidance) in this particular sample, and stress from high-risk behaviours and drinking to cope with negative emotions mediate the relationship between subjective distress from trauma and PTSD symptoms.
Lifetime trauma and suicide attempts in older clients with severe mental illness
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Mental Health, 16(5), 2018, pp.505-517.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Research examining links between lifetime trauma and suicide attempts in older clients with severe mental illness (SMI) is scarce. The authors examined associations among six common forms of lifetime trauma and lifetime suicide attempts while controlling for other known correlates of suicide attempts including gender, psychiatric symptoms, thoughts of self-harm/suicide, and lifetime self-injury in 174 community mental health clients with severe mental illness who were 50 years of age or older. Almost all clients reported at least one traumatic event with a mean of twelve, more than half had attempted suicide at least once, and about one-third had made multiple suicide attempts. Regression revealed that four factors were significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempts: lifetime self-injurious behaviours, lifetime physical abuse, lifetime frequency of having witnessed severe violence, and lifetime homelessness. Lifetime self-injury accounted for the most variance in suicide attempts, but having been physically abused accounted for the most variance in suicide attempts among the six trauma items. Lifetime trauma should be carefully screened in older clients with severe mental illness given preliminary evidence that it might be linked to suicide risk. Limitations of this study include the cross-sectional design. (Edited publisher abstract)
Lifetime trauma and suicide attempts in people with severe mental illness
- Authors:
- O'HARE Thomas, SHEN Ce, SHERRER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 50(6), 2014, pp.673-680.
- Publisher:
- Springer
Associations were examined among six forms of common lifetime traumatic/adverse events and lifetime suicide attempts while controlling for gender, psychiatric symptoms, self-injury, and substance use in 371 community mental health clients with severe mental illness. Most clients (88.1 %) reported at least one traumatic event, and more than half had attempted suicide at least once. Regression revealed that three factors were significantly associated with lifetime suicide attempts: lifetime self-injurious behaviours, lifetime physical abuse, and alcohol use. Having been physically abused appears to be uniquely associated with lifetime suicide attempts when other key risk factors are controlled. Limitations include the cross-sectional design. (Edited publisher abstract)