Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Creating A Tobacco-Free Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility: A Toolkit For Designing An Effective Intervention, Carrie F. Whitney

Public Health Theses

Individuals with a substance addiction and/or mental illness use tobacco at rates much higher than the general population. Approximately 21% of the U.S. population smokes, yet 40%-80% of substance abuse and mental health patients smoke and consume more than 44% of all the cigarettes sold in the United States each year. As a result, these individuals experience increased tobacco related morbidity and mortality. Tobacco use is common and accepted within this population, and has become a norm even within treatment programs. Only 30%-40% of treatment facilities offer smoking cessation resources, and many organizations are hesitant to address cessation or to …

Partnership Development Among Mental Health Organizations, Alicia C. Bunger

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental health organizations can play a key role in enhancing youths' access to care by working together to bridge gaps in service delivery systems. This dissertation study examines partnerships among a network of children's behavioral health organizations. The specific aims are to (1) describe and understand the network of partnerships among members of the Children's Services Coalition, (2) assess the capacity of the system to provide coordinated service delivery, and (3) test how patterns of organizational characteristics influence conditions that facilitate and inhibit partnerships among the Children's Service Coalition organizations.

This dissertation is a predominantly quantitative cross-sectional network study of …

Mental Health And Women’S Receipt Of Recommended Preventive Care, Melanie M. Race

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Recent studies have suggested that individuals with mental health conditions experience higher morbidity and mortality than individuals without mental disorders (Colton and Manderscheid, 2006; Osborn et al., 2007). Improving health outcomes for individuals with mental health conditions may require that providers, policymakers, and insurers pay particular attention to the primary care provided to these individuals. High-quality primary care means having a usual source of care and receiving appropriate preventive care, including routine physical examinations and recommended screenings. Some studies suggest that women with mental health conditions receive preventive care at lower rates than women without mental health conditions.

The Relationship Between Treatment-Seeking And Characteristics Of Depression Among African Americans, Tamara Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Depression is a common psychiatric condition, and despite the availability of effective treatments, this condition is largely under-recognized and undertreated, particularly among African Americans. One reason for this discrepancy may be that depressive symptoms often co-occur with physical health conditions, which can influence both the reporting of depressive symptomology, willingness to seek care, and the type of healthcare provider sought. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between treatment-seeking characteristics and diagnostic attributions of depression among community-dwelling African American adults. Methods: Data come from the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative sample of African …