Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

Background: Protected engagement time (PET) is a concept of managing staff time on mental health inpatient wards with the aim of increasing staff and patient interaction. Despite apparent widespread use of PET, there remains a dearth of evidence as to how it is implemented and whether it carries benefits for staff or patients. This protocol describes a study which is being carried out on mental health wards caring for older adults (aged over 65) in England. The study shares a large proportion of the procedures, measures and study team membership of a recently completed investigation of the impact of PET in adult acute mental health wards. The study aims to identify prevalence and components of PET to construct a model for the intervention, in addition to testing the feasibility of the measures and procedures in preparation for a randomised trial.

Background: Current practice guidelines for schizophrenia care recommend that antipsychotic medication is essential for patients' long-term maintenance treatment but their non-adherence to this medication is still a main obstacle to relapse prevention. This study evaluated the effects of a motivational-interviewing-based adherence therapy for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Methods: This randomised controlled trial was conducted with 134 outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders; 67 of them received a six-session adherence therapy (in addition to usual care) and 67 received usual psychiatric care alone. Participants' outcome measures included symptom severity, medication adherence, hospitalisation rates, insight into illness/treatment, and functioning.

Mental health is an epidemic that is prevalent in all stages of life, but parents have been found to be especially susceptible to thoughts of anxiety and depression related to feelings of guilt or inadequate parenting. Parents with children in acute care and intensive care settings reported new symptoms of anxiety, depression, and difficulty sleeping at night that they did not have prior to their child’s hospitalization. Research finds different mental health stressors during a child’s hospitalization, and their effect on the parents likelihood of developing mental illness. This team aimed to answer the question, in parents with children who are hospitalized, how does their mental health prior to hospitalization compare to their mental health after hospitalization; what influences their likelihood of developing a mental health condition? The analysis found that sleep deprivation and parental guilt were two of the predominating factors in the development of a mental illness. It was a...

The underutilization of mental health services amongst African American families has been a long-standing concern in the African American community within large metropolitan cities in Texas. The metropolitan cities are Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and McAllen. There remain experiences that impede families’ ability to engage in mental health services. These experiences involve the conflict between prayer and therapy, stigma, lack of awareness of local mental health services, and cultural competency. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore experiences of African American families and how those experiences affect mental health engagement, as well as how practicing social workers address the issue. Crisis theory, ecological systems theory, and sociocultural theory were used to explore this study and provide insight into the methods and practices social workers use to combat the problem. An interview protocol was developed via social media to inte...

Purpose/Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have an impact on health throughout the lifespan (Filletti et al., 1999; Hughes et al., 2017). These experiences range from physical and mental abuse, substance abuse in the home, parental separation or loss, financial instability, acute illness or injury, witnessing violence in the home or community, and incarceration of family members (Hughes et al., 2017). Understanding and screening for ACEs in children with urinary incontinence can help practitioners identify psychological stress as a potentially modifiable risk factor. Methods: A 5-month chart review was performed identifying English speaking patients ages 6-11 years presenting to the outpatient urology office for an initial visit with a primary diagnosis of urinary incontinence. Charts were reviewed for documentation of individual or family risk factors for ACEs exposure, community risk factors for ACEs exposures, and records where no related documentation was included....

Patterns and predictors of engagement in peer support services were examined among 50 previously homeless veterans with co-occurring mental health conditions and substance use histories receiving services from the Veterans Health Administration supported housing program. Veteran peer specialists were trained to deliver sessions focusing on mental health and substance use recovery to veterans for an intended 1-hr weekly contact over 9 months. Trajectories of peer engagement over the study's duration are summarized. A mixed-effects log-linear model of the rate of peer engagement is tested with three sets of covariates representing characteristics of the veterans. These sets were demographics, mental health and substance use status, and indicators of community participation and support. Data indicate that veterans engaged with peers about once per month rather than the intended once per week. However, frequency of contacts varied greatly. The best predictor of engagement was time, ...