Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mothers Know Best: Guidance For Healthcare Providers On Early Identification Of Perinatal Mental Health Disorders, Klarissa I. Garcia Orellana

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Introduction: The perinatal period has been associated with an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders among women. Perinatal mental health disorders (PMHD) are highly prevalent, yet highly underrecognized and untreated. The involvement of medical providers, especially obstetrics/gynecology and pediatric providers, in the early identification of PMHD is critical to ensure women with PMHD receive appropriate supports. However, providers lack the education, training, and ability to identify and screen for PMHD as well as the knowledge of appropriate referrals. Objective: This study explores the existing issues with healthcare providers’ early identification practices of PMHD from the perspective of ten mothers and …

School-Based Mental Health Screening: Improving Outcomes Through Interprofessional Communication And Collaboration, Tiffany Gishizky

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

For the adolescent population, the immediate impact a mental health disorder has on academics,relationships, and even suicide risk cannot be understated. Access to mental health care in low socioeconomic communities for adolescents is fraught with barriers. These include lack of transportation, lack of insurance coverage, fear of stigma, and a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding available resources. It is therefore a two-fold problem that exists for those in the care and observation of these adolescents; underutilization of appropriate routine screening and navigation to access care. This project aimed to remediate both of these issues at a high school located in …

What's In Your Cup? Increasing Transparency And Confidence In Alcohol Use Screening And Brief Intervention, Dylan C. Koundakjian

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

19% of Vermonters report drinking alcohol at levels which puts their health at risk, but many healthcare providers do not feel confident in addressing their patients' usage. This can stem from lack of experience with alcohol use, worries about stigma, and time constraints. However, data has shown that even 5-15 minute interventional conversations can significantly reduce a patient's risky drinking. This project aims to provide real-world, practical advice for having conversations around alcohol, and provides a conversion chart converting popular alcoholic beverages into standard drink equivalents.

An Evaluation Of Differences In Motivations To Receive Cervical Cancer Screening And Follow-Up Care Between Black And White Women, Ashlee Sawyer

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Cervical cancer among Black women is a major individual and public health concern. Despite advancements in medical technology and policy, disparities in cervical cancer diagnosis and mortality still exist between White and Black women, with Black women having higher rates of diagnosis (10.0 vs 7.1 per 100,000) and mortality (4.1 vs 2.0 per 100,000). Previous studies have focused heavily on barriers to obtaining cervical cancer screening among Black women and efforts to improve screening rates. Despite speculation by researchers that gaps in receipt of quality follow-up care may contribute to disparities, its role in disparate mortality rates between Black …

Examination Of A Screening Tool For Athletes’ Mental Health And Its Direct Implications To Sport Training And Competition, Jesse Scott

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Sport Interference Checklist (SIC) is a psychometrically validated instrument designed to assess how often cognitive and behavioral factors interfere with athletes performance during training and/or competition as well as the extent to which athletes are interested in pursuing sport psychology to address these problems. The success of this scale inspired an interest in developing new items that assess the influence of specific mental health concerns on sport performance using the SIC format. The Sport Interference Checklist’s Sport Specific Screen for Mental Health (SIC-SSSMH) was empirically developed using 259 athletes to assist in the identification of mental health problems explicitly …

Provider Based Interventions To Mitigate Risk For Opioid Pain Medication Abuse Among Adult Patients In A Primary Care Setting, Sheree Lamara Conley-Donaldson

Doctoral Projects

Mental and substance use disorders are predicted to exceed all physical disease processes causing major disability by 2020. Misuse and overdose of opioid pain medications is a significant public health concern in the United States. Approximately 1 in 4 patients receiving prescription opioids in primary care settings struggle with misuse. Half of all opioid prescriptions are written by primary care providers, including nurse practitioners. The purpose of this DNP project was to determine if nurse practitioner providers are implementing evidence-based practice guidelines including screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) to mitigate risk of prescription opioid pain medication misuse …

Symptoms, Contributing Factors, And Screening For Perinatal Mood And Anxiety Disorders In U.S. Latinas: A Literature Review, Jennifer N. S. Massie

Master's Projects and Capstones

This literature review was conducted to gather the published information on the topic of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in the Latina population in the United States. Academic databases were searched for articles published between 2005 and 2016. 60 articles were considered, and a final sample of 36 articles and websites was included in this review.

Evidence suggests that Latina women in the perinatal period (pregnant and up to one year postpartum) in the United States of America tend to have a higher risk and incidence of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders than White women, and a higher risk and …

Profiling At-Risk Gamblers, Tapio Jaakkola, Kari Vuorinen, Mirka Smolej

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The majority of gambling research has been concentrating on problem gambling and on the association between gambling behavior, game design and gambling harm. Much less attention has been directed at recreational gambling or on players that do not suffer from any gambling related problems. However, when it comes to preventing gambling harm we should also target those at risk as well those who are gambling moderately.

As a part of a project on prevention of adult gambling harm we did a study of at-risk gamblers in order to recognize and to define the socio-economic background of our target group. Prior …

Identifying Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy In Prenatal Care Settings, Tifani R. Fletcher, Andrea D. Clements, Beth Bailey

International Journal of Health Sciences Education

More than 324,000 women each year are estimated as having experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy. Correctly identifying women experiencing all forms and severity of IPV is necessary to inform the implementation of interventions to prevent and treat IPV. This can optimally be accomplished with data from accurate screening instruments. The United States Preventative Services Task force has recently recommended that all women who are pregnant should be screened for IPV over the course of their pregnancy and postnatal visits. Currently, clinical practice and research are hindered by the lack of validated IPV screening measurements for a pregnant population. …

Depression Intervention Programs In Low-Income High Schools, Gopika Hari

Undergraduate Research Posters

It is estimated that 2.6 million adolescents suffer from major depressive episodes each year. Research has noted that symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies reveal that low income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically-disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only roughly 25% of children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come from schools. This study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools and on designing novel guidelines for effective protocols. A compilation …

Improving Depression Care For Older Home Health Patients, Sarah R. Schirmer

DNP Projects

Rates of depression in older home healthcare (HH) patients are highly prevalent. Although depression in this population is associated with increased rates of re-hospitalization, falls, and suicides, it is frequently under diagnosed and under treated. This Capstone Report examined this problem through three interrelated manuscripts. The first manuscript explored the problem through a review of the literature. This review determined that while there are many barriers to adequate depression care, programs that train clinicians to screen for depression and connect patients to depression care encourage adequate evaluation and treatment and can result in clinically significant changes in depression scores. This …

The Development Of The Barriers, Elizabeth Hagelsieb-Escalera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Estimates of undiagnosed diabetics are as high as 50%. Early intervention and management can reduce the complications of diabetes; however, this is possible only after the disease has been diagnosed. A review of diabetes screening literature revealed a dearth of information regarding the diabetes screening behavior of individuals. Unlike barriers to cancer screening, little is known about barriers and facilitators to diabetes screening. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a logical theoretical framework to apply for the examination of screening intentions because it allows inference of behavioral predictors via survey item responses. Using the TPB framework, the Barriers and …

Effects Of Colon Cancer Risk Counseling For First-Degree Relatives, Karen Glanz, Alana D. Steffen, Lauren Taglialatela

Faculty and Research Publications

Background: Individuals with a first-degree relative who has had colorectal cancer are at increased risk for colorectal cancer and thus can benefit from early detection. Tailored risk counseling may increase adherence to screening guidelines in these persons. The present study evaluated a culturally sensitive Colon Cancer Risk Counseling (CCRC) intervention for relatives of colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: A randomized trial evaluated personalized CCRC sessions with print materials and follow-up phone calls compared with a comparable General Health Counseling (GHC) intervention. One hundred and seventy-six siblings and children of colorectal cancer patients, living in Hawaii, were assessed at baseline and 4 …

The Bender Gestalt And Symbol Digit Modalities Tests As Cerebral Dysfunction Screening Instruments :A Comparative Evaluation, Bruce R. Wright

Dissertations

Problem

One of the problems confronting the psychologist in an institutional setting is the selection of appropriate instruments for the screening and diagnosis of a variety of psychological problems. Among the more subtle and yet far-reaching problems of this sort are those associated with disease, trauma, or congenital defect of the central nervous system. It was the purpose of this study to evaluate the usefulness of two well-known psychological tests as screening instruments for neurological dysfunction in a large and varied institutional population.

Method

The Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BGT) and Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) were administered to one …