Health promotion and education: application of the ICF in the US and Canada using an ecological perspective.

Health promotion is an issue comprised of complex and multi-layered concepts that involves a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. The aims and applications of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), with its focus on components of functioning, activities and participation, and environmental […]

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Multiple health disparities among minority adults with mobility limitations: an application of the ICF framework and codes.

PURPOSE:   To examine the interface between mobility limitations and minority status and its effect on multiple health and health-related domains among adults, using the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). METHODS:  We combined 8 years of data from the 1997-2004 US National Health Interview Survey to investigate health disparities among […]

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Caring for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities: virtual patient instruction improves students’ knowledge and comfort level.

Nurses play a vital role in providing health care to children with developmental disability (DD) throughout the United States. Unfortunately, most nurses continue to report that they receive little or no clinical education in the area of DDs. In response to this need, a core development team consisting of nurse practitioners and nursing faculty from […]

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Well balanced: 8 steps to wellness for adults with mental illness and diabetes.

Serious mental illness places a tremendous burden on clients, their families, and behavioral and medical health care providers. The co-occurrence of diabetes with mental illness may further compromise daily functioning. Psychiatric nurses can make a significant difference in improving the health and medical outcomes of this client population. A partnership was developed between the University […]

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Beyond “Landscapes of Despair”: the need for new research on the urban environment, sprawl, and the community integration of persons with severe mental illness.

The purpose of this commentary is to discuss important trends in the housing of people with severe mental illness in the past 20 years that require the attention of mental health geographers and other experts on the effects of place on mental health. Issues that are worthy of consideration in new research include: assessing the […]

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Florida: Coming Together for Public Health

In promoting the health of people with disabilities, delivering effective health communication messages, and assessing health risks and the health status of people with disabilities, Florida faces some unique challenges. First, more than 3.2 million Floridians – 22.2 percent – have a disability1 —considerably more than the national average of 19.3 percent. And the number of […]

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Weight gain in newly diagnosed first-episode psychosis patients and healthy comparisons: one-year analysis.

BACKGROUND: Various antipsychotics are associated with body weight gain. However, most study samples include high proportions of patients with chronic schizophrenia. We examined neuroleptic-induced weight gain in drug-naïve first-episode psychotic patients to limit confounding variables such as multiple past medication trials, history of partial adherence; or poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, associated with chronic […]

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Health Education Research: Education of Health Care Professionals

Sexuality in children and adolescents with disabilities. Murphy N.  Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, 50 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA. nancy.murphy@hsc.utah.edu Dev Med Child Neurol. 2005 Sep;47(9):640-4.  Comment in:  Dev Med Child Neurol. 2008 Aug;50(8):563. This review presents a discussion of the sexual development of children and adolescents with disabilities, […]

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Oregon: Charting New Paths to Health and Happiness

The Oregon Office on Disability and Health (OODH) embraces a holistic approach to health and well-being for people with disabilities, which promotes access to quality health care, employment, education, housing, recreation, meaningful relationships, and public and private services. OODH is currently working on two exciting projects: disseminating “Disability and Public Health” to schools of public health and […]

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