Publications by authors named "Keisha O'Garo"

Background: Nosocomial infection (NI) is common in health care settings. Educational strategies such as mobile teaching methods for health care providers may help to resolve this problem. This pilot study assessed the influence of a text messaging program to improve intensive care unit nurses' knowledge, attitude, and practice related to NI prevention.

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Background A considerable number of the persons living with dementia rely on family members for care and assistance when performing activities of daily living. As a result, caregivers may be at increased risk for mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and caregiver burden. This study examined if and how spiritual coping and stigma-related family stress impacted the associations between the patient activities of daily living impairment and caregiver mental health.

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Background: Traumatic experiences can cause ethical conflicts. "Moral injury" (MI) has been used to describe this emotional/cognitive state, and could contribute to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or block its recovery. We examine the relationship between MI and PTSD, and the impact of religious involvement (RI) on that relationship.

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Introduction: To develop a short form (SF) of the 45-item multidimensional Moral Injury Symptom Scale - Military Version (MISS-M) to use when screening for moral injury and monitoring treatment response in veterans and active duty military with PTSD.

Methods: A total of 427 veterans and active duty military with PTSD symptoms were recruited from VA Medical Centers in Augusta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; Durham, NC; Houston, TX; and San Antonio, TX; and from Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia. The sample was randomly split in two.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a multi-dimensional measure of moral injury symptoms that can be used as a primary outcome measure in intervention studies that target moral injury (MI) in Veterans and Active Duty Military with PTSD. This was a multi-center study of 427 Veterans and Active Duty Military with PTSD symptoms recruited from VA Medical Centers in Augusta, Los Angeles, Durham, Houston, and San Antonio, and from Liberty University in Lynchburg. Internal reliability of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale-Military Version (MISS-M) was examined along with factor analytic, discriminant, and convergent validity.

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This study explored how locus of control (LOC), depression and quality of life (QOL) interplay in patients with sickle cell disease. One hundred and forty-three sickle cell clinic patients with consecutive clinic consultations completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control and Short Factor 36 (SF-36) scales as well as the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants in this study had higher scores on the "chance", "other people" and "internal" domains of LOC than persons with a number of other chronic illnesses in a previous study.

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For many years, we have known of deficits in our system of training mental health professionals, particularly in recognizing and integrating diversity. Recently, we have begun to understand that our literature must more authentically reflect the experiences of all people that we serve. The current paper suggests that a comprehensive biopsychosocial conceptualization of normal and abnormal behavior for all individuals is necessary to truly begin to reduce mental health disparities.

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