Speech Language Pathologist Ensign Fulshear, Texas
Abstract: Mental health issue in long-term care residents can greatly impact their safety, quality of life, and ability to age in place. An interdisciplinary approach can be an effective way to manage mental health issues and the associated behaviors. The goal of this approach is to ensure residents can fully participate in their living environment with the support they need to be successful.
Description: In long term care, there is a wide variety of medical complexities that can impact a residents ability to safely participate in their current environment. Mental health related illness is often associated with behaviors, lack of interest in socialization, and interruptions in daily activities. Standard practice for handling a resident who is experiencing issues related to mental health include pharmacological interventions, counseling and psychological services, or in extreme cases referring out to psychiatric hospitals for inpatient stays. We believed there was a missing piece to mental health intervention. We sought out information to build a more holistic and comprehensive approach to help promote safety and quality of life for these residents. In order to combat these issues, we wanted to empower the interdisciplinary team to appropriately support the residents who were experiencing negative impacts of mental health issues. First, we completed a free and easily accessibly training call "Mental Health First Aid for Adults" in order to gather evidence based information on identifying, understanding, and responding to situations related to mental health. We created a mental health "menu" with different activities and interventions for staff to use with the residents to help them successfully participate in all aspects of their care and social activates. We surveyed the staff prior to any training or introduction to the mental health "menu" about their understanding of mental health issues in long term care and their abilities to support a resident with mental health issues. After the training and implementation of the protocol, we will ask the staff to re-do the survey. The goal is for everyone to feel confident caring for residents with mental health issues. If long term care staff has the tools and knowledge to support their residents experiencing issues related to mental health, they will be successful in providing quality care and a safe environment for everyone.
Supporting Research: Reference 1: Morgan AJ, Ross A, Reavley NJ (2018) Systematic review and meta-analysis of Mental Health First Aid training: Effects on knowledge, stigma, and helping behaviour. PLoS ONE 13(5): e0197102. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197102
Supporting Research: Reference 2: Grabowski DC, Aschbrenner KA, Rome VF, Bartels SJ. Quality of mental health care for nursing home residents: a literature review. Med Care Res Rev. 2010 Dec;67(6):627-56. doi: 10.1177/1077558710362538. Epub 2010 Mar 11. PMID: 20223943; PMCID: PMC2981653.
Supporting Research: Reference 3: Debby L. Gerritsen (2023) Well-being in long-term care: an ode to vulnerability, Aging & Mental Health, 27:2, 230-235, DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2021.2008869
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Learning Objectives:
As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to recall the impact mental health issues have on long term care residents..
As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to identify if mental health needs to be addressed collaboratively in their practice.
As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to implement an interdisciplinary approach to supporting long term care residents with mental health issues.
