Physician Assistant Student Attitudes About People With Serious Mental Illness.

Introduction: This study explored the attitudes of physician assistant (PA) students toward the future care of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). Physician assistant student education offers a unique opportunity to confront and reduce bias toward individuals with SMI. However, no previous literature has documented PA student attitudes toward SMI.

Dental pre-doctoral student perceptions about serious mental illness: Concerns and role clarification.

Purpose/objectives: Little is understood about dental student perspectives providing care to people with serious mental illness (SMI), a population with significant oral health disparities. This study explored student perceptions, questions and beliefs about people with SMI using the Social Ecological Model as a framework to better understand perspectives and identify potential educational needs in dental medicine curricula for providing care to this population.

Methods: Survey data was collected in spring of 2021 from predoctoral dental students (n = 126) enrolled in a required course at a mid-Atlantic university.

Multidimensional wellness for people aging with mental health conditions: A proposed framework.

Objective: This project aimed to develop a synthesized framework of multidimensional wellness for people aging with serious mental health conditions (SMHC) using existing frameworks to serve as a guide for policy and interventions to address the unique needs, experiences, and strengths of the population.

Method: A concept analysis compared a widely used wellness approach (Swarbrick, 1997) for people with SMHC and one for older adults (Fullen, 2019) to synthesize into a practical framework for people aging with SMHC.

Results: Nine dimensions were proposed for conceptualizing the wellness of this population including: (a) Developmental, (b) Intellectual/Cognitive, (c) Physical, (d) Emotional, (e) Social, (f) Occupational, (g) Spiritual, (h) Environmental, and (i) Financial.

Old before their time: Comparisons of people with SMI and healthy older adults.

Objective: Compare physical functional measures of people with severe mental illness (SMI) to standardized geriatric values.

Method: Retrospective analysis of physical functioning sample data of middle-aged people with SMI was compared to standardized older adult data. Compared: Sit to Stand Test (STS; = 68), 6 min Walk Test (6MWT; = 71), and Single Legged Stance Test (SLS; = 55).

Tools for Moving On: Adapting an Evidence-Based Housing Curriculum for Individuals Receiving Services in an Inpatient Psychiatric Setting to Prepare for Community Living.

Individuals with serious mental illness transitioning from state psychiatric hospitals to community living need specialized skills to enter community housing programs. There are few examples of best practice hospital group programs to improve community living skills. To address this gap, the authors developed a community skills training and discharge readiness program, Tools for Moving On (TFMO), adapted from materials from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Permanent Supportive Housing: Tools for Tenants toolkit.

Multi-dimensional wellness interventions for older adults with serious mental illness: A systematic literature review.

Objective: Aging persons with serious mental illness present unique challenges for community mental health services. This population is increasing in numbers in mental health treatment settings. The combination of serious mental illness with the vicissitudes of aging suggest that a broader conceptualization of this population may improve services.

Sensitizing Inpatient Mental Health Staff to the Challenges of Aging.

Although the aging inpatient population in state psychiatric hospitals is growing significantly, there are few examples of available training to improve staff knowledge and practice. The current article describes a 10-week training series developed through a university and psychiatric hospital collaboration. Training was attended by 135 direct care nursing and rehabilitation staff and focused on improving aging awareness, problem solving, using person-centered therapeutic techniques, and engaging older adults.

Predictors of physical activity in persons with mental illness: Testing a social cognitive model.

Objective: This study examined whether the social cognitive theory (SCT) model can be used to explain the variance in physical exercise among persons with serious mental illnesses.

Method: A cross-sectional, correlational design was employed. Participants from community mental health centers and supported housing programs (N = 120) completed 9 measures on exercise, social support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, barriers, and goal-setting.