Violence Exposure, Mental Distress, Substance Use Behaviors, and Overdose Experiences Among People who Inject Drugs.

Rates of exposure to traumatic events are up to two times higher among people with substance use disorders (SUDs) compared to the US general population. Overdoses (OD) and overdose fatalities have continued to increase nationally and in Kentucky and are associated with elevated trauma symptoms. This paper examines the impacts of witnessing and experiencing OD among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Kentucky.

Early vs. Later Experiences of Violence and Polysubstance Use Among Adults Who Inject Drugs.

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) experience high rates of violence, especially in early childhood, increasing their likelihood of engaging in risky substance use behavior in adulthood. Additionally, complex trauma has been reported among PWID due to witnessing and experiencing an overdose, further highlighting the need to examine the role of multiple experiences of trauma on their vulnerability to substance misuse.

Methods: Our study of 350 PWID from rural Kentucky examined differences in polysubstance use between participants who experienced violence earlier (≤15 years old) versus later (≥16 years old) in their childhood.

Optimizing team science in an academic medical center: A qualitative examination of investigator perspectives.

Introduction: Optimizing the effectiveness of a team-based approach to unite multiple disciplines in advancing specific translational areas of research is foundational to improving clinical practice. The current study was undertaken to examine investigators' experiences of participation in transdisciplinary team science initiatives, with a focus on challenges and recommendations for improving effectiveness.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with investigators from twelve multidisciplinary teams awarded pilot research funding by the University of Kentucky College of Medicine to better understand the barriers and facilitators to effective team science within an academic medical center.

Enhancing Provider Delivery of Tobacco Treatment Within the Inpatient Psychiatric Setting.

People with mental illnesses (MI) smoke at higher rates than the general population. However, few mental health providers (MHPs) deliver tobacco treatment to patients with MI especially within inpatient psychiatric settings. According to evidence, fewer than half of MHPs in the US mental and behavioral health settings provide the recommended evidence-based tobacco treatment interventions to their clients with MI.

The Impact of a Nurse-Led Service on Tobacco Treatment Provision Within a Psychiatric Hospital: A Time Series Study.

Introduction: Psychiatric hospitalization is an opportunity to provide evidence-based tobacco treatment to optimize cessation efforts among people living with mental illnesses (MI). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of nurse-driven initiatives to enhance tobacco treatment within an inpatient psychiatric setting.

Aims: We assessed the 4-year impact of implementing a nurse-led tobacco treatment service offered to 11,314 inpatients at admissions in a tobacco-free psychiatric facility in Kentucky.

Evaluating Simulation-Based Tobacco Treatment Scenarios for Providers Delivering Treatment for People Living With Mental Illnesses.

Background: People living with mental illnesses (PMI) experience elevated tobacco use and related morbidity and mortality. Despite the availability of effective and safe tobacco treatments along with evidence that PMI are motivated and able to quit successfully, few Mental and behavioral healthcare providers (MHPs) engage PMI in such treatment. MHPs may lack the confidence or skills to engage their clients in tobacco treatment.

Factors associated with workplace violence among healthcare workers in an academic medical center.

Purpose: We examined demographic, work-related, and behavioral factors associated with witnessing and/or experiencing workplace violence among healthcare workers.

Design And Methods: Utilizing a correlational design, we analyzed the data to determine the associative factors related to workplace violence among the participants.

Findings: More than half of the participants (54.

Healthcare stigma and HIV risk among rural people who inject drugs.

Introduction: The HIV epidemic is increasingly penetrating rural areas of the U.S. due to evolving epidemics of injection drug use.

Quit and win contests in community-dwelling mental and behavioral health populations: A systematic review and pilot feasibility findings.

Background: People with mental illnesses (MI) benefit from incentives to promote tobacco cessation. "Quit and Win" contests are community-based approaches that incentivize cessation. However, little is known about "Quit and Win" contest effectiveness among people with MI.

Examining Factors Associated with Non-Fatal Overdose among People Who Inject Drugs in Rural Appalachia.

Overdose (OD) deaths have continued to rise in the United States posing a critical public health challenge. Various factors have been associated with increased likelihood of OD, including history of injection drug use. This study examined multi-level factors associated with non-fatal OD among current people who inject drugs (PWID) in Appalachian Kentucky.

A cross-sectional examination of factors associated with compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue across healthcare workers in an academic medical centre.

Compassion satisfaction (CS) among healthcare professionals is a sense of gratification derived from caring for their suffering patients. In contrast, compassion fatigue, often a consequence of burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS), is detrimental to healthcare professionals' productivity and patient care. While several studies have examined CS, BO, and STS among healthcare professionals, the majority have assessed samples in specific disciplines.

Motivation to Change and Treatment Participation Among Syringe Service Program Utilizers in Rural Kentucky.

Purpose: Kentucky experiences a disproportionate burden of substance use disorder (SUD), particularly in rural areas of the state. Multiple factors increase vulnerability to SUD and limit access to services in rural communities. However, the recent implementation and expansion of syringe service programs (SSPs) in rural Kentucky may provide a leverage point to reach at-risk people who inject drugs (PWID).

Reasons for Tobacco Use and Perceived Tobacco-Related Health Risks in an Inpatient Psychiatric Population.

People with mental illness (MI) have a disproportionate tobacco-related disease burden and mortality. Tobacco-use rates in people with MI are nearly twice that of the general population. Reasons for tobacco-use in this population may be a result of diminished tobacco-related disease risk perceptions.

Assessing opinions and barriers to providing evidence-based tobacco treatment among health care providers within an in-patient psychiatric facility.

: Tobacco-related morbidity and mortality is high among people with mental illnesses (PMI); yet tobacco treatment (TT) is often not provided by mental health care providers (MHPs). Studies that examine barriers to TT for people with MI are critical in addressing this disparity.: To determine factors associated with MHPs' opinions of, self-efficacy in, barriers to and training needs for providing TT by job role.

Factors Associated With Staff Engagement in Patients' Tobacco Treatment in a State Psychiatric Facility.

Background: Persons with mental illnesses (MI) who use tobacco are likely to experience poorer physical health and worsened psychiatric symptomology as compared to their non-tobacco-using counterparts. Therefore, engaging them in treatment is an important aspect of evidence-based care.

Objective: To use the theory of planned behavior to examine factors associated with intentions to provide and the provision of evidence-based tobacco treatment.