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Preventive Counseling for Chronic Disease: Missed Opportunities in a Community Mental Health Center
Journal article   Open access

Preventive Counseling for Chronic Disease: Missed Opportunities in a Community Mental Health Center

Lydia Chwastiak, Maria-Cristina Cruza-Guet, Amy Carroll-Scott, Michael Sernyak and Jeannette Ickovics
Psychosomatics (Washington, D.C.), v 54(4), pp 328-335
01 Jul 2013
PMID: 23274008
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003306511-38View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Maybe Open Access (Publisher Bronze) Open

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Psychiatry Psychology Science & Technology Social Sciences
Background: The tremendous burden of cardiovascular risk among persons with serious mental illness underscores a critical need for prevention. Counseling by primary care clinicians increases patient smoking cessation, physical activity, and the consumption of fruits and vegetables. The extent to which community mental health clinicians counsel about cardiovascular risk factors has not been reported. Methods: This cross-sectional study examines the rates of counseling about cardiovascular risk factors by mental health providers at an urban community mental health center (n = 154). Logistic regression analyses identified clinician characteristics associated with counseling more than 50% of clients about diet, exercise, and smoking. Results: 72% of clinical staff members responded to the survey, for a sample of 154 mental health clinicians; 26.6% of the clinicians counseled more than half of their clients annually about all three cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Logistic regression showed that mental health providers who counseled clients about CVD risk factors were less likely to be obese, and were more likely to have received formal training about how to counsel clients about CVD risk. Discussion: This is the first study to examine the routine clinical practice of community mental health clinicians in addressing CVD risk at an urban community mental health center. Both training mental health clinicians about CVD risk and also support for improving clinician health status may improve the preventive care provided to clients at community mental health centers.

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31 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Psychiatry
Psychology
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