Mental health services should be provided which take into account the importance of human contact and social connection for people who live with SMI. Services can be offered which are designed to develop social skills, as well as to create opportunities for social connection and community involvement.
Background: Women with severe mental illness (SMI) are diagnosed with breast cancer at later stages, with greater mortality rates than the general population. Although breast cancer screening is an acknowledged strategy for early breast cancer detection, women with SMI are 32% to 50% less likely to have regular mammography screenings, yet the specific factors related to the disparity in this population have not been determined. Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify the barriers and facilitators toward breast cancer screening in women diagnosed with SMI. Method: In collaboration with a community-based mental health services agency, women aged 40 and older, diagnosed with SMI, and treated at that agency, were identified and asked if they were willing to participate. Fifteen women agreed to be interviewed. An interpretive descriptive approach was utilized to analyze the qualitative data. Results: The themes elicited included barriers and facilitators to screening. Barriers found were: Psychiatric Symptoms, Fear, Distrust in the Health care System, and Not my Priority. Among the facilitators were Support, Good Health care Experiences, Make it Easy, Integrated Care, and Self-Care. Conclusion: Unique to this study was the understanding by participants that physical health needed to be integrated into their mental health care services through direct support and education, primarily because the process of recovery from mental illness itself entailed the increasing ability for self-care, encompassing a focus on both mental and physical health needs and preventive care.
Mental health services have been transforming toward a recovery orientation for more than a decade, yet a robust understanding of recovery eludes many providers, and consensus on a conceptual definition has yet to be reached. This article examines mental health consumers' lived experience of recovery and evaluates the usefulness and comprehensiveness of CHIME, a major framework conceptually defining recovery for adults with serious mental illness. Researchers partnered with a mental health association in a major US city to engage in research with graduates of a recovery and education class for adults diagnosed with serious mental illness. Twelve participants were loaned video cameras and invited to "Tell us about your recovery" through autovideography. Of the 12 participants, six produced videos directly responding to the overall research question and were subsequently included in the present analysis. Data were analyzed thematically, and CHIME adequately represented the major domains presented in consumer videos with two notable modifications: subdomains of "reciprocity" within relationships and "contributing to others" were added to comprehensively represent consumer perspectives about recovery. Adding two subdomains to CHIME more effectively represents consumer narratives about recovery, contributes to the social construction of the personhood of people with serious mental illness, and offers a more robust description of the process of recovery.
The current authors introduced an innovative autovideography intervention asking mental health consumers to use video cameras for 1 month to tell about their recovery. The research approach was based on a participatory research model with workers and consumers of a recovery education center fully involved with the study design and implementation. Twelve individuals who had graduated from a recovery program participated. The participant-produced videos were qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis. The use of autovideography was found to be feasible and can be used clinically to support the process of recovery by providing opportunities for reciprocity, self-reflection, and advocacy. Consumer-produced videos provide a voice to inform others with and without mental illness about the concerns of individuals with mental illness and the process of recovery. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 54(5), 33-40.].
In January 2021, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) presented the findings of a survey of more than 130 National Nurses' Associations, which found that COVID-19 is a unique and complex form of trauma with potentially devastating consequences for nurses and health systems. They went on to suggest that nursing may face an exodus from the profession leading to severe shortages worldwide. The recent findings from the Current Population Survey does indeed reflect a loss of 100,000 nurses in 1 year in the United
Purpose: Little is known about Cuba's mental healthcare system. We present background information and an interview with the President of the Cuban Society of Psychology to learn about current mental healthcare in today's Cuba. Conclusions: Mental and medical healthcare are free and fully integrated. Early diagnosis and intervention is standard as each patient is known by their community doctor/nurse team from infancy through old age and by yearly home visits. Practice Implications: Free and integrated medical and mental healthcare facilitates early detection and intervention. Individuals in Cuba are assisted in maintaining job and schooling during treatment. Therapy is multimodal and eclectic.
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