Publications by authors named "Nancy R Ahern"

Problem: Over 8 million children in the United States live with a parent with substance use disorder (SUD), inclusive of opioid use disorder (OUD). This is an adverse childhood experience (ACE), that often leads to poor outcomes such as developing SUD or mental illness. Interventions and research have focused more on the parent and not their children.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Having a parent with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is a childhood adverse experience (ACE), magnified by other accompanying ACEs. Outcomes for these children tend to include developing mental illness and/or Substance Use Disorders themselves. Few studies address these children's experiences and needs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Substance use disorders (SUDs) have been a priority public health concern for decades, with most recent conversations focusing on the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic. Children of parents with OUD have been impacted through poverty, violence, neglect, and emotional and physical abuse. Although treatment programs may address the family and parental role, few focus on the children.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Opioid use disorder (OUD) has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Children of parents with OUD are an unrepresented population, who often suffer consequences from their parent's substance abuse disorder. Such children may incur numerous psychosocial and physical losses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
An Update on Teen Pregnancy.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

February 2016

After years of high teen birth rates, there is currently a decline in U.S. pregnancy and birth rates among teens.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: College students are becoming increasingly depressed; however, many do not attend university counseling to seek help.

Objectives: What is the relationship between young adults' mental health literacy, perceived stigma of depression and treatment, knowledge of treatment benefits and risks, beliefs about alternative therapies, and influence of his or her social network with usage of university counseling?

Study Design: A survey was administered to N = 107 American undergraduate college students to ascertain the students' understanding of depression and their views of counseling services on campus.

Results: Both likelihood of using alternative therapies and perceived discrimination of social network accounted for 18% of the variance for likelihood of participants seeking campus counseling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Adolescence is a developmental stage marked by risk-taking and limited comprehension of dangers of risky behaviors. Previous research has focused on adolescents' perspective of risk with little evidence on parents' knowledge regarding risk.

Methods: This qualitative study examined parental knowledge and perspectives of child/teen risk behaviors associated with salvia, sexting, inhalant use/abuse, and self/participant-assisted choking.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Choking, cutting, and setting oneself on fire are just a few of the risky behaviors that the YouTube video sharing website has allowed youth around the world to view, emulate, and comment on. Some researchers contend that the viewing of videos may normalize these behaviors for youth. Disturbing current trends are explored to illustrate the darker side of YouTube.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
E-cigarettes: a rising trend among youth.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

June 2014

Electronic cigarettes, known as "e-cigarettes," were designed as a smoking cessation tool for adults. An unintended audience for the product has been found with adolescents, many of whom have never used conventional cigarettes. Broad consequences of e-cigarettes on adolescent health include nicotine addiction-and later nicotine withdrawal-and potential for nicotine overdose.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nurses working with children and adolescents should be cognizant of choking games, risky acts in which pressure is applied to the neck and the airway is obstructed to achieve a high. Evidence supports that many children and adolescents do not understand the grave consequences of choking games nor do they view participation as dangerous. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, nurses, and psychiatric-mental health professionals are not always aware that children and adolescents are engaging in choking games.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a growing problem in the United States. Because of the inability of the Mini-Mental State Examination to detect AD in the early stages, other avenues of assessment must be explored. Two subjective assessment tests have been proposed to help evaluate progression from nonclinical to clinical AD: the Feeling-of-Knowing and Judgment-of-Learning tests.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Inhalant abuse: youth at risk.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

August 2013

Inhalant abuse is a significant problem affecting many people, particularly youth. The easy availability of products containing volatile substances (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Sexting: serious problems for youth.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

July 2013

Youth engaging in sexting (texting plus sex) includes behaviors such as sending, receiving, or forwarding of nude or partially nude images via cell phones. The true prevalence of tweens and teens engaging in sexting is unclear. This might be because of the general secrecy of the behavior, the rapid advances in technology, and the lack of a clear definition that accounts for the added developmental factors (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In contrast to adolescents attending traditional universities, adolescents attending community colleges represent a large but relatively unstudied population with respect to stress and mental health issues. The purpose of this study was to determine what factors increase and decrease stress in a sample of adolescent community college students (N = 166). Findings from a self-administered questionnaire indicated that students had moderate levels of stress and resilience.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive herb and an increasingly popular recreational drug used by young people in our country and abroad. Much of its increased popularity stems from its easy accessibility and affordability; its effects produce an intense and potent "high" and concomitant disorientation and hallucinations. The risks associated with Salvia are poorly defined due to a lack of scientific evidence, leaving Salvia users with false assurances about its safety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In Part 1 of this article, published in the February 2010 issue, the problem of drinking game participation by U.S. college students was described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

College students seek peer acceptance and opportunities for social interaction. For many, it may be the first time away from home, away from the supervision and watchful eyes of parents and other family members. Whether for fun, thrill, competition, or the need to socialize with others, approximately two thirds of U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Risky behavior of adolescent college students.

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv

April 2009

Nurses who provide care to adolescent college students are challenged to meet their diverse health care needs. Recent national survey data on American college students indicate that many participate in risky behaviors, which can have detrimental effects on their physical and psychosocial health. These data also reveal that college students rank health educators and health center medical staff as the most believable sources of health-related information.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Resilience has gained considerable attention over the past four decades since researchers observed that children and youth could cope and adapt in spite of adversity. Adolescence is considered to be a period of vulnerability for most individuals as they often partake in risky behaviour. Using multiple databases and inclusion criteria, a review of the literature was undertaken to determine what is known about this concept in reported studies from 2000-2008.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

One of the primary goals of registered nurse-to-bachelor of science in nursing education is to help registered nurses see things in a new way or to transform their perspective. A package of 4 commonly used reflective writing activities used before, during, and after class is described as it is used for perspective transformation. This learning package goal is to push registered nurse-to-bachelor of science in nursing students in their first course to consider new ways of thinking about their practice and their education.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This pilot study used Cranley's Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) to explore the feasibility of comparing maternal-fetal attachment behaviors of African-American and Hispanic-American gravidas. Data analysis revealed no significant differences between the two groups' MFAS total scale score means; however, the Hispanic-American gravidas displayed significantly higher scores in two of the subscales. While study limitations were apparent, the results lend support to health care professionals' responsibilities to be cognizant of potential similarities and differences in the cultural care needs of pregnant women.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Regardless of the era, youth have engaged in activities that put them at risk and can compromise their health and well-being, in particular sexual experimentation. This article highlights current national and international literature focusing on adolescent sexual health related to health promotion and educational strategies. This information can be useful to family, educators, community health professionals, and policy makers in planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions that target adolescents of diverse cultural backgrounds.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objectives of the study were to evaluate the psychometric properties and appropriateness of instruments for the study of resilience in adolescents. A search was completed using the terms resilience and instruments or scales using the EBSCO database (CINAHL, PreCINAHL, and Academic Search Premier), MEDLINE, PsychINFO and PsychARTICLES, and the Internet. After instruments were identified, a second search was performed for studies reporting the psychometric development of these instruments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Resilience is a concept that has enormous utility in nursing, although there is a need for concept clarity as it relates to adolescence. The purpose of this article is to describe the concept and apply the Evolutionary Model of Concept Analysis to resilience in adolescents. A literature search and an analysis of 22 articles specific to the adolescent population were completed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF