Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mental Health Provider Shortage In Rural Communities, Barrow N. Tabe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the dire issue of mental health provider shortages in rural communities in the South, exploring the unique challenges faced by rural communities in the United States. Rural communities often struggle with limited access to mental health resources, resulting in disparities in care and exacerbating the burden on individuals facing mental health challenges. This study examines existing literature, highlighting the complex nature of the problem, including geographical, socioeconomic, cultural factors, and biblical perspectives that contribute to the shortage of mental health professionals in rural communities. Instrumental challenges identified include the shortage of credentialed mental professionals, lack of healthcare …

Employing Telepsychiatry Services To Assess The Prevalence And Identify Mental Health Disorders Using The Phq-9 And Gad-7 In Resource-Constrained Regions Of Dadar Mansehra, Pakistan: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study, Iffat Zafar Aga, Sara Saeed Khurram, Mahek Karim, Muhammad Muzzamil, Shahkamal Hashmi, Kashif Shafique

Medical College Documents

Objective: This study aims to measure the prevalence of mental health disorders in low-resource settings through telepsychiatry and evaluate data from Pakistan's Sehat Kahani nurse-assisted online clinics serving low-income communities. This will help to understand the magnitude and nature of the demand for contextual therapies to promote mental health. The paper will discuss the challenges faced in these settings, such as limited access to mental health facilities, stigma and opportunities telemedicine brings.
Design: An observational cross-sectional study of telepsychiatry consultations using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 to screen for depression and anxiety was conducted between October and December …

Potential And Pitfalls Of Mobile Mental Health Apps In Traditional Treatment: An Umbrella Review, Jerica Koh, Germaine Y. Q. Tng, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While the rapid growth of mobile mental health applications has offered an avenue of support unbridled by physical distance, time, and cost, the digitalization of traditional interventions has also triggered doubts surrounding their effectiveness and safety. Given the need for a more comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of mobile mental health apps in traditional treatment, this umbrella review provides a holistic summary of their key potential and pitfalls. A total of 36 reviews published between 2014 and 2022—including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and literature reviews—were identified from the Cochrane library, Medline (via PubMed Central), and Scopus databases. The majority of …

The Feasibility And Utility Of Harnessing Digital Health To Understand Clinical Trajectories In Medication Treatment For Opioid Use Disorder: D-Tect Study Design And Methodological Considerations, Lisa A. Marsch, Ching-Hua Chen, Sara R. Adams, Asma Asyyed, Monique B. Does, Saeed Hassanpour, Emily Hichborn, Melanie Jackson-Morris, Nicholas C. Jacobson, Heather K. Jones, David Kotz, Chantal A. Lambert-Harris, Zhiguo Li, Bethany Mcleman, Varun Mishra, Catherine Stanger, Geetha Subramaniam, Weiyi Wu, Cynthia I. Campbell

Dartmouth Scholarship

Introduction: Across the U.S., the prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) and the rates of opioid overdoses have risen precipitously in recent years. Several effective medications for OUD (MOUD) exist and have been shown to be life-saving. A large volume of research has identified a confluence of factors that predict attrition and continued substance use during substance use disorder treatment. However, much of this literature has examined a small set of potential moderators or mediators of outcomes in MOUD treatment and may lead to over-simplified accounts of treatment non-adherence. Digital health methodologies offer great promise for capturing intensive, longitudinal ecologically-valid …

Identifying App-Based Meditation Habits And The Associated Mental Health Benefits: Longitudinal Observational Study, Chad Stecher, Vincent Berardi, Ryan Fowers, Jaclyn Christ, Yunro Chung, Jennifer Huberty

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Behavioral habits are often initiated by contextual cues that occur at approximately the same time each day; so, it may be possible to identify a reflexive habit based on the temporal similarity of repeated daily behavior. Mobile health tools provide the detailed, longitudinal data necessary for constructing such an indicator of reflexive habits, which can improve our understanding of habit formation and help design more effective mobile health interventions for promoting healthier habits.

Objective: This study aims to use behavioral data from a commercial mindfulness meditation mobile phone app to construct an indicator of reflexive meditation habits …

Depression Symptoms And Covid-19, Kaylee Armendariz

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Student Works

The COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges in behavioral healthcare. Americans may face anxiety surrounding the virus, economic strain, isolation, and grief, putting them at increased risk for depression symptoms. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project aimed to increase depression screening rates and utilized data from a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to identify population groups at higher risk for depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) depression screening tool, a statistical analysis determined if being tested for COVID-19 or testing positive for COVID-19 had an impact on depression symptoms. Additionally, this project …

Telepsychiatry Preferences Among College Students Diagnosed And Undiagnosed With A Mental Health Condition, Wendy Schuh

Health Sciences Publications

College health and counseling centers report an increasing demand for mental health services while students continue to experience barriers such as shortage of providers, transportation, or stigma. Telepsychiatry has been established in some environments to overcome these barriers, but little research has explored an effective higher education model. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in telepsychiatry preferences among college students who have and have not been diagnosed with or treated for a mental health condition in the last year. Students (n = 537; Mage = 21 years; 71% female) at a medium-sized Midwestern university participated in a …

Audience Response Systems And Missingness Trends: Using Interactive Polling Systems To Gather Sensitive Health Information From Youth., Tammy Toscos, Michelle Drouin, Mindy Flanagan, Maria D. Carpenter, Connie Kerrigan, Colleen Carpenter, Cameron Mere Mba, Marcia Haaff

Health Services and Informatics Research

BACKGROUND: The widespread availability and cost-effectiveness of new-wave software-based audience response systems (ARSs) have expanded the possibilities of collecting health data from hard-to-reach populations, including youth. However, with all survey methods, biases in the data may exist because of participant nonresponse.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to (1) examine the extent to which an ARS could be used to gather health information from youths within a large-group school setting and (2) examine individual- and survey-level response biases stemming from this Web-based data collection method.

METHODS: We used an ARS to deliver a mental health survey to 3418 youths …

Teens Using Screens For Help: Impact Of Suicidal Ideation, Anxiety, And Depression Levels On Youth Preferences For Telemental Health Resources., Tammy Toscos Phd, Amanda Coupe, Mindy Flanagan, Michelle Drouin, Maria D. Carpenter, Lauren Reining, Amelia Roebuck, Michael Mirro Md, Facc, Fhrs, Faha

Health Services and Informatics Research

BACKGROUND: High rates of mental illness, stress, and suicidality among teens constitute a major public health concern in the United States. However, treatment rates remain low, partially because of barriers that could be mitigated with tech-based telemental health (TMH) resources, separate from or in addition to traditional care.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze TMH resource usage by high school students to establish current user characteristics and provide a framework for future development.

METHODS: A total of 2789 students were surveyed regarding demographics, recent anxiety and depression symptoms, suicidality, and stress; people with whom they could openly and honestly discuss …

Adult Experts' Perceptions Of Telemental Health For Youth: A Delphi Study., Abigail Howard, Mindy Flanagan, Michelle Drouin, Maria D. Carpenter, Elizabeth Chen, Catherine Duchovic, Tammy Toscos

Health Services and Informatics Research

OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to measure experts' opinions and develop consensus via the Delphi process on the barriers, applications, and concerns associated with telemental health (TMH) for youth.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We delivered 3 online surveys over 2 months in Summer, 2016-2025 adult experts, including adults who experienced youth depression or suicidality, parents of youth with lived experience, and professionals (ie youth mental health researchers, clinicians/staff, or educators). We used the Delphi method to construct Likert and open-ended questions, developing expert consensus over 3 iterative surveys on the barriers and benefits of TMH for youth.

RESULTS: Adult experts identified stigma …

Development Of A Technology-Based Behavioral Vaccine To Prevent Adolescent Depression: A Health System Integration Model, Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, Tracy Gladstone, Stephanie Cordel, Monika Marko-Holguin, William Beardslee, Sachiko Kuwabara, Mark Allan Kaplan, Joshua Fogel, Anne Diehl, Chris Hansen, Carl Bell

Publications and Research

Efforts to prevent depression have become a key health system priority. Currently, there is a high prevalence of depression among adolescents, and treatment has become costly due to the recurrence patterns of the illness, impairment among patients, and the complex factors needed for a treatment to be effective. Primary care may be the optimal location to identify those at risk by offering an Internet-based preventive intervention to reduce costs and improve outcomes. Few practical interventions have been developed. The models for Internet intervention development that have been put forward focus primarily on the Internet component rather than how the program …

The Government Of Kenya Cash Transfer For Orphaned And Vulnerable Children: Cross-Sectional Comparison Of Household And Individual Characteristics Of Those With And Without, Lukoye Atwoli, Lonnie Embleton, Julius Koech, Paula Braitstein, Allan Kamanda

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: The ‘Cash Transfer to Orphans and Vulnerable Children’ (CT-OVC) in Kenya is a government-supported program intended to provide regular and predictable cash transfers (CT) to poor households taking care of OVC. CT programs can be an effective means of alleviating poverty and facilitating the attainment of an adequate standard of living for people’s health and well-being and other international human rights. The objective of this analysis was to compare the household socioeconomic status, school enrolment, nutritional status, and future outlook of orphaned and separated children receiving the CT compared to those not receiving a CT.

Methods: This project analyzes …