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Improving Mental Health Support For Nursing Students Through Mental Health First Aid (Mhfa) Training Of Clinical Faculty, Amy Sands

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This project aimed to implement a process improvement program at the Louisville campus of Galen College of Nursing to improve the mental health support for nursing students through the training of Clinical Instructors (CIs) in using adult Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and the ALGEE actions described within that program.

Improving The Mental Health Nursing Competencies Of Nurses Caring For Patients With History Of Substance Use Disorder In Long-Term Care Settings, Nancyver Lafleur-Omeler

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background

While nurses are often on the front lines of working with patients with a history of substance use disorders (SUD), most have limited training in this area. Nurses who work in Long Term Care (LTC) settings are often challenged to resolve the practical issue of needing more competency in caring for SUD patients. Horner et al. (2019) agreed that the deficiency of mental health knowledge and skills in healthcare workers is linked to decreased quality of care, which can diminish patient outcomes. This lack of competency must be addressed (Margoliese & Vandyck, 2019).

Purpose

The goal of this project …

The Use Of Therapeutic Gardening In Addiction Recovery, Sophia Agne

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Numerous recent studies have emerged detailing the benefits of horticultural therapy on mental health and wellness. Despite this, substance use disorder treatment facilities rarely include an outdoor component in their programming. The project seeks to examine the advantages of incorporating therapeutic gardening as a complementary part of addiction treatment.

Context: The microsystem where the study was conducted was at a 32-bed residential substance abuse treatment facility for adult men who have previously been involved in the criminal justice system. The treatment approach employed at the facility aligns with the Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) curriculum, which emphasizes mental health-informed …

The Effects Of The Transition From Pre-Nursing To Nursing On Mental Health, Andrew J. Davis, Paige R. Mullins, Kimberly A. Sell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mental health is an ever-growing crisis among adolescents and young adults, with suicide as second leading cause of death and the number of those negatively affected continually on the rise. Transitions are one of the major stressors prevalent among these age groups, placing individuals at risk for mental health deficits. This quantitative voluntary response comparative study assesses the transitional mental health of pre-nursing students and students in the nursing program at East Tennessee State University. Emailed to all with a declared major of pre-nursing or nursing, this study measured mental health using evidenced based assessment tools. The PHQ-9 for depression …

Impact Of Social Isolation In Hiv-Positive Individuals During A Pandemic, Corina Jane Bakoylis

Dissertations

Problem: The global pandemic of COVID-19 caused concern for immunocompromised individuals. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to assess the impact of social isolation on feelings of loneliness, depression, and social isolation experiences in HIV-positive individuals residing in a long-term care facility.

Methods: A mixed-method convergent design with a purposeful sample of HIV-positive adult residents residing in a long-term care facility was utilized. An evaluation of loneliness using the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (Version 3) and depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) were completed. Personal experiences were also assessed with five predetermined open-ended …

Evaluation Of A Dirfloortime® Program For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jennifer L. Pipitone

Dissertations

Problem. Parents with children who have neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience high levels of parenting stress. The prevalence of ASD is on the rise in the United States. As a result, there has been an increase in the use of treatment modalities, in effort to better understand which modalities have the most positive impact on children and their parents. DIRFloortime® is a developmental treatment modality used to help strengthen the parent-child bond and used to decrease parental-child stress. The Autism Parenting Stress Index (APSI) measures the impact of an intervention …

Trends And Factors Associated With Suicide Deaths In Older Adults, Eada Novilla-Surette

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Suicide in older adults is a significant overlooked problem worldwide; particularly in Canada where a national suicide prevention strategy has not yet been established. This population-level study utilized and analyzed linked administrative health care databases (from 2011-2015) that were available at ICES (provincial health care administrative data steward), to build a better understanding of suicide (rate; trends; risks/preventive factors) in older adults living in Ontario, Canada. The findings suggest that suicide remains a persistent cause of death in older adults (with an average annual suicide rate of 0.1 per 1000 people over 5 years; the risks include being male, living …

Mitigating Suicide Risk Post-Discharge From Inpatient Crisis Stabilization: Safety Planning Intervention, Leighia M. Mcghee

Dissertations

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this program evaluation is to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly implemented safety planning intervention (SPI) tool, comparing patient outcomes relating to suicide attempt rates, emergency department (ED) encounter rates, and inpatient rehospitalizations rates pre and post its integration to care in a suburban behavioral health hospital.

Methods: A descriptive cohort design utilizing a retrospective chart review was completed over six months, three months pre, and three months post implementation of the SPI program. A convenience sample of inpatient charts was reviewed to assess the rate of suicide attempts, ED encounters frequencies, and hospitalization rates …

The Mental Health Experience Among Parents Of Children With Autism, Thao Tran

Doctoral Projects

Parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges, stress, and mental health issues than parents of children without autism. Mental health experience of parents in underserved communities are not adequately studied. This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to understand the mental health experience of eight parent caregivers residing in San Joaquin Valley, California. All parents reported the journey was stressful but not all parents described the point when they received the diagnosis as being more stressful than before and after the ASD diagnosis. Parents’ responses to the semi-structured interview that assesses for the degree of ambiguous …

Stigma For Caring For Those With Mental Health Issues In The Student Nurse Community: A Survey, Matthew Boyd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

People living with a mental health issue is elevated both nationally and internationally, and the likelihood of a person interacting with someone who has a mental health issue is high. It is even higher for those who work in the health care profession, so understanding their attitudes on this matter is important. As a review of current literature reveals, there is not only stigma in the health care system, but there is also stigma among health care professionals and students. One of the groups of students that has not been researched to a great extent is nursing students and the …

School Nurses' Knowledge And Perceived Role In Mental Health Issues, Kayla Bakker

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background:

There are 74.5 million children in the United States, 17.1 million currently or have previously dealt with a mental disorder (Children’s Mental Health, 2015). Unfortunately, the negative stigma associated with mental health often causes those affected to not seek treatment. School nurses are on the front line of public health problems and deliver safe, effective evidence-based practice to their communities. To rebuild our broken mental health system, community nurses need to build upon school mental health services and encourage more in-school programs (Stephan, Weist, Kataoka, Adelsheim, & Mills, 2007). School nurses must be included in the discussion when …

Elementary School Teachers' Student Health Concerns And Knowledge Of Resources, Aubrey Gahagan

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Teachers are with their students an average of seven to 10 hours a day, five days a week. The substantial amount of time teachers spend with their students allows them to provide helpful insight into health problems children face. The purpose of this study was to identify elementary school teachers’ concerns for student health and to assess their knowledge of resources that address those health concerns. A convenient sample of 86 teachers from three elementary schools in Northwest Arkansas was surveyed. Surveys were used to identify the three main concerns teachers have for their students. A cross-sectional design was used …

A Demonstration Project To Address Juvenile Drug Addiction, Mary Ellen Broaddus

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The rise in adolescent drug use and addiction is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. An eleven year study of youth in European countries found drug use widespread and increasing (Molinaro, Sicilian, & Curzio, 2011). In 2013 there were over 2.8 million new users of illicit drugs, over half of whom were under 18 years of age (‘Drug Facts’, 2015).

Adolescents are at unique risk because biochemical distinctions in their brains, when compared with adults, prompt more risk-taking behaviors (Gallager, 2014). Health risks are considerable and include hypertension, stroke, convulsions and seizures, and liver disease such as cirrhosis and hepatitis. In 2013 …

The Role Of A Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner As Part Of A Mobile Health Unit For The Homeless Population, Joan Alviar Fraino

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

An estimated 2.3 to 3.5 million people are homeless in the U.S., often living with chronic medical and mental illnesses. The underserved population, such as the homeless, continues to experience gaps in services, resulting in poor healthcare outcomes and readmission to the hospital setting. They often present in crisis through the emergency room, contributing to an already overburdened healthcare system. Increased spending and overutilization of healthcare services continues to rise in the United States (U.S.). Due in part to advancements in technology and expanded health insurance coverage, American healthcare continues be one of the most expensive commodities in the U.S. …