Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association

Implementation and Evaluation of a High-Fidelity, Interprofessional Simulation Project Using Standardized Patients to Address Aggression in a Psychiatric Emergency Department
Bowllan NM, Obrien H, Blackwood C, Cross WF and Walsh P
Increased aggression in a regional Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) led to a significant rise in physical assaults, restraints, and use of security personnel. Root cause analysis revealed a need for more extensive training on de-escalation, teamwork and communication.
Improving Medication Adherence in Psychiatric Patients With a Medication Adherence Program
Peterson W
It's estimated that over 50% of patients prescribed antipsychotic medication are nonadherent to the prescribed treatment. Medication nonadherence impedes the patient's safety, leads to relapse, and the need for rehospitalization. Thus bolstering the importance of routine nursing follow-up interventions to improve adherence rates in patient with SMI.
Parents' Role as Care Managers During and After Adolescent Suicide Crises
Weissinger GM, Bluteau-James VA and Mensinger JL
Adolescent suicide crises usually require mental health services (inpatient and/or outpatient) to address their needs. Navigating the health care system, especially around suicide crises, is difficult and parents of adolescents usually manage their treatment access and engagement. Little research has examined how parents take on this care management role, vital to maintaining safety and improving adolescent menta health, and the barriers and facilitators they experience in these processes.
A Novel Training Modality for Providers in the Emergency Department Using a Computer-Based Scenario: A Pilot Study
Kehler SA, Abufarsakh B, Seng S and Okoli CTC
Individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) are increasingly admitted in emergency departments (EDs) nationwide. However, ED providers often have limited knowledge about and lack confidence in treating SUDs. This limited knowledge often results in poor treatment outcomes among patients with SUD in the ED setting.
Earthquake From the Perspectives of Amputee Children and Their Parents/Caregivers: A Phenomenological Study
Suna Dağ Y, Zengin M, Yayan EH and Suna E
Earthquakes cause significant psychological and physical trauma in children, especially when leading to amputations, as they disrupt physical, emotional, and social well-being.
Chatbot-Based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program for University Students With Depressive Symptoms: Intervention Development and Pilot Evaluation
Li Y, Chung TY, Lu W, Li M, Ho YWB, He M, Mei X, Chen D and Bressington D
Depression is a growing concern among university students. Chatbots provide flexible, accessible, personalized psychosocial support. Delivering Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) sessions via chatbots may reduce depressive symptoms in university students.
Exploring Nurses' Perceptions of Nursing Presence in the Mental Health Setting
Scharfman J
Nursing presence is a core relational phenomenon in nursing. It is the process of devoting attention to being with and connecting with another, requisite to providing quality, holistic, person-centered care. Presence has been incorporated in the newly revised scope and standards of nursing, as an intervention. There is a paucity of research on the experience of nurses practicing in mental health settings who employ presence to provide unique, relational care.
Improving Oral Nutrition Intake Through One-on-One Meal Support for Patients With Eating Disorders
Dzelambong TY
Treatment for eating disorders (EDs) after hospitalization requires structured environments such as residential care programs where treatment options such as meal support therapy can help manage the physical and psychological effects of their illness. The residential center for this project follows a multidisciplinary approach that uses cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) as a treatment modality for ED. Structured meal support is an essential part of implementing the center's CBT program. The project aimed to determine if one-on-one mealtime support training for staff can help increase oral nutrition intake in adolescents with ED. : Meal consumption data for five residents of the ED center was used for this project. First, 2 weeks of meal consumption data were collected (210 meals). Then residential center staff were trained on using meal support strategies adapted from the Auckland Eating Disorder Manual. After training the staff and having them implement the strategies with ED clients for a week, another 2 weeks of meal consumption data were collected (210 meals). The preimplementation and postimplementation data were compared to determine if the intervention had an impact on the overall meal intake by residents of the ED center. Before implementing the project, patients completed 122 meals in 2 weeks, representing 58.1% of their meals and after the intervention, patients completed 141 meals representing 67.14% of their meals. Project findings show that the use of mealtime support strategies while providing one-on-one support for patients with EDs led to an increase in the overall oral intake.
Cultural Competemility Training and Use of a Standardized Assessment Tool in Reducing Misdiagnosis of Black Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and Psychotic Disorders
Ballard T and Campinha-Bacote J
Research studies have highlighted disparities in diagnosing schizophrenia between Black and White patients, with Black individuals being diagnosed at rates three to five times higher than their White counterparts. Moreover, studies have postulated that a lack of cultural awareness and biases leads to providers' misinterpretation and misdiagnosis of these patients.
A Pilot Feasibility Study of Delivering a Quit & Win Tobacco-Free Contest in Community Mental Health Programs
Okoli CTC, Abufarsakh B, Seng S, Xie W, McGovern C, Arrows T, Koyagi E and Robertson H
Quit & Win contests are a community-based tobacco cessation strategy that has demonstrated success in supporting tobacco cessation efforts in the general population. However, such contests have not been implemented and evaluated among people living with mental illnesses (MIs). This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing Quit & Win contests in terms of program delivery, engagement, and cessation outcomes among people with MIs.
Clinical, Quality of Life, and Health Care Utilization Outcomes of Switching the Administration Route of Antipsychotic Medications Among People With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Kappi A, Wang T, Abu Farsakh B and Okoli CTC
Using long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic medications can improve the outcomes of patients with schizophrenia, such as reducing symptom severity and hospitalization risk. However, the outcomes of switching from oral to LAI antipsychotic medications are unclear.
Feasibility and Preliminary Evaluation of Theory-Based Training Program on Daily Living Skills Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Findings From Rural Regions in Egypt
El-Monshed AH, Loutfy A, El-Boraie H, Eweida RS, Fayed SM, El-Gazar HE and Ali Zoromba M
One of the most crucial objectives in the education and treatment of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is independence in daily living skills (DLS). Therefore, as a child with ASD condition grows, measures of everyday functioning including adaptive behaviors should be more regularly monitored and regulated.
Four Years of Pandemic
Pearson GS
The Connection Paradigm
Peppard L
Development and Acceptability of Provider Training to Increase Treatment Engagement of Parents in Their Children's Behavioral Health Care Need
Oruche UM, Holladay CM, Chacko A, Nakash O and Draucker CB
Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct disorders (DIC) affect 5 million children in the United States and often require comprehensive and long-term behavioral health care for which sustained parental involvement is essential. Our research team is developing an intervention to improve parental engagement in the behavioral health care of their children with DIC. The intervention, which will be a modification of an evidence-based shared decision-making intervention called DECIDE, will include a parent component and a provider component. : To determine the acceptability of the provider component of the modified DECIDE intervention. : The provider intervention is an asynchronous self-paced online training program made up of five modules: introduction, shared decision-making, perspective-taking, attributional errors, and being a responsive provider. The training was piloted with 41 providers in two public child and adolescent treatment programs. Following completion of the training, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the providers to assess the acceptability of the training. The interviews were analyzed with conventional content analysis. : The provider training was well received by providers, and many had made practice changes based on what they had learned. Several offered recommendations for improvement, most notably the need to tailor the training based on provider role, discipline, and level of expertise. : The feedback given by providers will be used to refine future iterations of the provider training component of the modified DECIDE intervention. Psychiatric nurses and other clinicians may draw from strategies incorporated in the training program to improve parent engagement in the treatment of children with DIC.
Passing the Baton: A Conversation With Outgoing Editor, Dr. Geraldine Pearson
Hampton MD and Pearson GS
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses: Providers of Care Excellence
Shea JM
Thoughts on Connections and Control: A Letter From 2024 APNA Award for Distinguished Service Recipient, Dr. Diane Allen
Allen DE
The Influence of Writers on Psychiatric Mental Health Care Policy and Practice
Hampton MD
Institutional Betrayal in Military and Veteran Populations: A Systematic Scoping Review [Formula: see text]
McAdams M, Henninger MW, Bloeser K and McCarron KK
Institutional betrayal (IB) refers to the wrongdoings, encompassing both action and inaction, committed by institutions against their affiliated individuals. Military members are particularly vulnerable to IB due to strong social identification with the military, values of loyalty and self-sacrifice, dependence on the institution, the military power structure and legal system, and the complexity of morality in an occupation centered around war. This review examines the state of IB literature within the military/Veteran population, identifying research gaps and implications for future policy and clinical care. Conducting a systematic scoping literature review across seven databases resulted in 16 eligible publications out of 44 found. Findings indicate a high prevalence of IB experiences within the studied population, correlating with increased psychiatric symptoms and clinical features. The existing literature primarily focuses on military sexual trauma, with limited exploration of IB in the context of combat, politics, return from deployment, illness, military exposures, and moral injury. Future research should expand on IB in other military experiences, evaluate intervention efficacy and policies, and validate a standardized IB measure. These insights highlight the need for provider education, revised assessments, and interventions tailored to address the complex impact of IB on military and Veteran populations.
Preparing for the Future While Honoring the Past
Shea JM