Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Bmi Among People With Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder, Nicholas Guenzel

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Many health disparities among individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are due to obesity-associated diseases. Several causes of obesity have been discovered, but few risk factors are known. In the general public, low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with obesity.

Objective: Examine the relationship between SES and body mass index (BMI) among people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Design: A secondary analysis of the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys dataset. The psychiatric group (N=480) included individuals with symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Those reporting no symptoms were controls (N=5,161). Childhood SES variables included mother and father education and profession, …

Psychiatric Comorbidities And Bmi: An Exploratory Analysis, Nicholas Guenzel

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Individuals with most forms of mental illness have higher rates of obesity than members of the general public putting them at an increased risk for many physical health problems that reduce both quality of life and life expectancy. The presence of multiple comorbid psychiatric disorders has been associated with poorer clinical outcomes in other mental health measures such as disability and sobriety and is proposed as a risk factor for elevated BMI (body mass index) in this study.

Objective: Determine if multiple psychiatric comorbidities are associated with elevated BMI and, if so, which combinations are linked with the greatest …

Association Between Adverse Events In Childhood And Bmi Among People With Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder, Nicholas Guenzel

Theses & Dissertations

Background: People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder die significantly earlier than members of the general public (16-18 years and 12-13 years, respectively). Diseases associated with obesity such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke account for much of this discrepancy. People with mental illness often have difficulty losing weight despite intensive interventions. As a result, nurses caring for patients with mental illness need to monitor their weight diligently and implement individualized interventions to promote achieving or maintaining a healthy weight. Because intensive interventions come with some risk and expense, programs must target individuals with the most potential to develop obesity. In …

Circle Of Care And Hope: An Adaptation And Empowerment Mental Health Healing Model For Blacks, Judy Edvaline Vansiea

Theses and Graduate Projects

PURPOSE- To engage and empower Black people with a "Circle of Care and Hope" that helps them to overcome their unequal access to effective mental health treatment. PROJECT DESCRIPTION- Black people in the United States have experienced unequal access to effective mental health care treatment due to centuries of oppression by the dominant Caucasian culture in the United States. This history has caused many Black people to distrust the purely Western and Caucasian-dominated model of mental health treatment. In response to this problem the author has adapted and integrated three healing modalities: multiple Western, theoretically-based therapies; culturally appropriate practices for …

Boarding Patients Who Require Involuntary Mental Health Examinations In Florida, Laura H. Brennaman

Nursing ETDs

This study addressed the gaps in knowledge about psychiatric boarding with the aims of (a) determining the extent of psychiatric boarding in Florida hospitals for individuals meeting criteria for involuntary psychiatric examination and (b) explaining what health services system resources and individual patient determinants contribute to psychiatric boarding. Individuals who go to general hospital emergency departments (EDs) in need of involuntary mental health examinations sometimes must wait in EDs for admission to inpatient units because of the critical shortage of inpatient or crisis mental health services. The process of keeping patients in the ED who are waiting 4 hours or …

Examining Provider Perspectives On Implementation Of An Integrated Primary And Behavioral Health Care Model In The Outpatient Setting: A Qualitative Study, Holly Gray

DNP Projects

AIM The purpose of this qualitative descriptive research study was to identify and describe primary and mental health provider perspectives, including attitudes and knowledge related to integration of primary and behavioral health care in the outpatient setting. One objective of this project was to gather information from providers in both primary and behavioral health settings to ascertain how they perceive the idea of integrated care. Another objective of this project was to gather information about provider perception of current practice protocols for treatment of patients with comorbid physical and mental health issues, perceived facilitators and barriers to integrated care, and …

The Effect Of Personal Contact On Attitudes Toward Mental Illness In Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Jessica Ashe

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Many people who suffer from serious mental illness also suffer from the stigma associated with such illness. Because nurses frequently come into contact with the mentally ill, it is important that they do not stigmatize these individuals. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a guest lecture by an individual with a serious mental illness on attitudes about mental illness in a sample of baccalaureate nursing students. The theoretical framework that guides this study is Goffman’s (1963) theory of social stigma. The sample used for this research is a convenience sample of 50 junior level nursing …