Community Integration Research: Mental Illness

Social integration of people with serious mental illness: network transactions and satisfaction. Wong YL, Matejkowski J, Lee S.  School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6214, USA. ylwong@sp2.upenn.edu  J Behav Health Serv Res. 2011 Jan;38(1):51-67. Epub 2010 Jan 6. Social integration involves a process through which an individual establishes and maintains […]

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Social determinants of state variation in special education participation among preschoolers with developmental delays and disabilities.

Children with developmental disabilities are at risk for secondary complications and lower academic performance, which contributes to lower health and well-being and may be ameliorated by access to special education services. This paper examines state variability in preschool special education participation among a United States population-based cohort with parent-reported developmental delays and disabilities. Analyses explore […]

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Health Disparities Research: Measurements of Health Status

The myth and reality of disability prevalence: measuring disability for research and service. McDermott S, Turk MA.  Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. suzanne.mcdermott@uscmed.sc.edu  Disabil Health J. 2011 Jan;4(1):1-5. Epub 2010 Nov 5. The concept of disability has medical, functional, and social components. We […]

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Evolving views of disability and public health: The roles of advocacy and public health.

Promoting health, quality of life, and participation of persons with disabilities is a relatively recent development in public health. Its brief history reflects three distinct public health perspectives toward disability—a traditional approach that focuses on preventing disability, a contemporary approach that regards disability as a minority group experiencing disparities relative to people without disabilities, and an […]

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Health Care Reform and People With Disabilities: What’s Ahead?

Nearly three months after the arrival of long-awaited health care reform, many people are not sure how things will change. In May 2010, 44 percent of Americans reported being confused about it, and more than a third of the public do not understand how the new law will affect them and their families.1 The Patient […]

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Confronting a neglected epidemic: tobacco cessation for persons with mental illnesses and substance abuse problems.

Tobacco use exerts a huge toll on persons with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders, accounting for 200,000 of the annual 443,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the United States. Persons with chronic mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population does, and smoking is the major contributor to that premature mortality. This population […]

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Volunteerism among homeless persons with developmental disabilities.

People with developmental disabilities have been historically excluded from mainstream society. Using the strength-based perspective, volunteerism was explored among homeless persons with self-reported developmental disabilities. It was hypothesized that volunteerism would be associated with indicators of healthy community integration. This would include volunteerism associated with unemployment due to disposable time and desire to gain job-related […]

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Varenicline use in patients with mental illness: an update of the evidence.

Importance of the field: Patients with a psychiatric diagnosis have a higher prevalence of smoking compared to the general population. Varenicline is a first-line pharmacotherapy option to assist in smoking cessation. Clinical trials during drug development excluded patients with active psychiatric illnesses leaving the risks associated with varenicline use in this patient population unknown. Areas […]

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Oregon’s RRTC Clearing a Path to Health

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center: Health and Wellness (www.ohsu.edu/oidd/rrtc/index.cfm ) at Oregon Institute on Disability and Development (OIDD) is launching several projects, and Amy Cline, MPH, Dissemination Coordinator withRRTC, is charged with disseminating them. The center promotes the health and wellness of people with disabilities through research, training, technical assistance and dissemination focused on three important […]

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