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Initiatives to expand Veterans' access to purchased health care outside Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities ("community care") present care coordination challenges for Veterans experiencing homelessness.
Among Veterans with homeless experiences, to evaluate community care use and satisfaction, and compare perceptions of care coordination among Veterans using VHA services and community care to those using VHA services without community care.
Cross-sectional analysis of responses to a 2018 mailed survey.
VHA outpatients with homeless experiences.
Self-reported use of community care, Likert-style ratings of satisfaction with that care, and Access/Coordination experiences from the Primary Care Quality-Homeless (PCQ-H) survey.
Of 4777 respondents, 1325 (26.7%) reported using community care; most of this subsample affirmed satisfaction with the community care they received (83%) and its timeliness (75%). After covariate adjustment, Veteran characteristics associated with greater community cad with risks of unfavorable coordination experiences for vulnerable Veterans with limited resources.
Research suggests that growth in Black and Hispanic (minority) older adults' nursing home (NH) use may be the result of disparities in access to community-based and alternative long-term services and supports (LTSS).
We aimed to determine whether minority groups receiving care in NHs versus the community had fewer differences in their functional needs compared with the differences in nonminority older adults, suggesting a disparity.
We identified respondents aged 65 years or above with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease or dementia in the 2016 Health and Retirement Study who reported requiring LTSS help. We performed unadjusted analyses to assess the difference in functional need between community and NH care. Functional need was operationalized using a functional limitations score and 6 individual activities of daily living. We compared the LTSS setting for minority older adults to White older adults using difference-in-differences.
There were 186 minority older adults (community=75%, NH=25%) and 357 White older adults (community=50%, NH=50%). Between settings, minority older adults did not differ in education or marital status, but were younger and had greater income in the NH versus the community. The functional limitations score was higher in NHs than in the community for both groups. Functional needs for all 6 activities of daily living for the minority group were greater in NHs compared with the community.
Functional need for minority older adults differed by setting while demographics varied in unexpected ways. Factors such as familial and financial support are important to consider when implementing programs to keep older adults out of NHs.
Functional need for minority older adults differed by setting while demographics varied in unexpected ways. Factors such as familial and financial support are important to consider when implementing programs to keep older adults out of NHs.
Front-line workers (FLW) are at risk for secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and related psychiatric sequelae depression, anxiety, suicidality, posttraumatic stress disorder, and sleep and substance use disorders. FLW are in need of self-care programs to support their mental health.
Quasi-experimental study to assess the impact of a simple mental well-being and emotional regulation training, the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), using a convenience sample of FLW. Baseline scores of mental well-being and stress measures were compared with follow-up scores at 3 time points. Outcomes were psychological wellness (World Health Organization-5 Well-being Index); resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10); traumatic stress (Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale); physical symptoms (Somatic Symptom Scale-8).
Of the 104 participants who enrolled and attended the CRM training, 73 (70.2%) completed at least 1 posttest. Well-being scores increased at 1 year with a small-moderate effect size (Cohen d=0.32). Resilience scores increased with a small-moderate effect size by 1 year (Cohen d=0.36). Secondary traumatic stress scores declined, with the largest effect at 1 week (Cohen d=0.49). Somatic symptoms decreased at each posttest, with the largest change occurring from baseline to 1 week (d=0.39). Selleckchem AZD8055 Participants reported an awareness of body sensations helped them when overwhelmed as a means of calming themselves.
After a 3-hour CRM training, participants reported improved mental well-being and decreased secondary traumatic stress and somatic symptoms. This simple body awareness intervention may be a good resource during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a 3-hour CRM training, participants reported improved mental well-being and decreased secondary traumatic stress and somatic symptoms. This simple body awareness intervention may be a good resource during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Various metrics predicated on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores denote depression "response" or "remission" over time, but few have been empirically validated. We compare the associations of depression response and remission metrics with concomitant clinical improvement in patient-centered outcomes (PCOs).
Secondary analysis of PHQ-9 and PCO data from the treatment arm (n=906) of the Improving Mood-Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment (IMPACT) trial.
We conducted univariate correlations between 9 depression treatment metrics and 4 PCOs. For each PCO, we specified a multivariate linear fixed-effects regression model with penalized LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) variable selection that included parameters for each incremental absolute PHQ-9 decrease between 0 and 16 points. Model predictive properties were assessed using a split sample analysis.
There was a notable variation in depression improvement rates across metrics. Each metric was significantly associatres. Our findings support a novel PHQ-9 metric defined by an absolute score change of 8 points or greater.
More than 1 million Americans receive primary care from federal homeless health care programs yearly. Vulnerabilities that can make care challenging include pain, addiction, psychological distress, and a lack of shelter. Research on the effectiveness of tailoring services for this population is limited.
The aim was to examine whether homeless-tailored primary care programs offer a superior patient experience compared with nontailored ("mainstream") programs overall, and for highly vulnerable patients.
National patient survey comparing 26 US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers' homeless-tailored primary care ("H-PACT"s) to mainstream primary care ("mainstream PACT"s) at the same locations.
A total of 5766 homeless-experienced veterans.
Primary care experience on 4 scales Patient-Clinician Relationship, Cooperation, Accessibility/Coordination, and Homeless-Specific Needs. Mean scores (range 1-4) were calculated and dichotomized as unfavorable versus not. We counted key vulnerabilities (chronic pain, unsheltered homelessness, severe psychological distress, and history of overdose, 0-4), and categorized homeless-experienced veterans as having fewer (≤1) and more (≥2) vulnerabilities.