1. June week 3
Do you agree with the following post? Why or why not?Find an online resource related to
health promotion and disease prevention of mental health issues for families that you think
would be helpful to those who are struggling. This resource should focus on families and
their needs, not the person with mental illness.POST 1 Suicide is the 10th leading cause of
death in the United States (Chesnay and Anderson, 2020). Suicide does not discriminate
between age, sex, race/ethnicity, and geographical location however, it is 4 times more
likely in males than females. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention has put in
place an act called, “Zero Suicide”. It is a program used to provide information about suicide
risk screening tools and steps to take when a patient screens positive for suicide risk.
Healthcare settings have a significant role in preventing suicide when screening during
routine appointments. This is due to the large number of patients they see from a variety of
backgrounds (King, Horwitz, Czyz, and Lindsey, 2017). There are many tools used to assess
for mental health concerns and suicide that is encouraged to be utilized by healthcare
providers during routine appointments. These screenings include PHQ-9, PHQ-2, SBQ-R, C-
SSRS, and ED-SAFE Patient Safety Screener. The PHQ-9 is the most common and
incorporates DSM-IV depression diagnostic criteria into a tool for screening, diagnosing,
monitoring, and measuring the severity (King, Horwitz, Czyz, and Lindsey, 2017). Theses
screenings would pertain to John because if the provider would have assessed him with a
PHQ-9 exam, they would have been able to further determine severity of his mental health
and suicidal risk. This would have helped them formulate a better discharge plan other than
returning “home”. What events in John’s life created a “downward spiral” into homelessness
and hopelessness? Which events were related to social needs, mental health needs, and
medical needs, and which could health care have addressed? Events that lead to John’s
“downward spiral” in my opinion started when he was young growing up with two
alcoholics and having an abusive dad. This situation created a high risk for John to abuse
alcohol, engage in abusive behavior, and to have mental health issues. His “downward
spiral” into homelessness and hopelessness began when he lost his job. The stress this
caused him to begin drinking more frequently. With a history of growing up in an alcoholic
home, increased stress later in life puts John at a higher risk for developing alcoholism. His
alcohol usage then created tension between him and his wife, which lead to arguments and
eventually abusive behavior. “Alcohol abuse and alcoholism within a family is a problem
that can destroy a marriage or drive a wedge between members. That means people who
drink can blow through the family budget, cause fights, ignore children, and otherwise
2. impair the health and happiness of the people they love. Of married couples who get into
physical altercations, some 60-70 percent abuse alcohol. In time, family members may even
develop symptoms of codependency, inadvertently keeping the addiction alive, even though
it harms them” (Watkins, 2020). Events that were related to his social needs stem from
when he was younger growing up with two alcoholic parents and an abusive father. He was
neglected of socialization and stability of healthy parents and family life from a young age.
His mental health needs were neglected when he was younger as well as through out his
adult life. Events that are related to his mental health needs are his childhood, stressor of
losing job, engaging in more frequent alcohol use, and becoming angrier and arguing with
his wife. At any point, these events could have been evaluated and he could have received
help in dealing with these situations rather than letting them progress. Events related to his
medical needs did not really develop until after he began engaging in risky behavior and
increase in stressors. He was otherwise healthy, other than smoking a ½ pack of cigarettes a
day as well as occasional drinking. Health care could have addressed all of these needs in
any appointment whether scheduled or an emergency visit through routine examination
questionnaires. utilizing at least two scholarly references per peer post. APA formatPOST
2Do you agree with the following post? Why or why not?Find an online resource related to
health promotion and disease prevention of mental health issues for families that you think
would be helpful to those who are struggling. This resource should focus on families and
their needs, not the person with mental illness. What events in John’s life created a
“downward spiral” into homelessness and hopelessness? Which events were related to
social needs, mental health needs, and medical needs, and which could health care have
addressed? What were some of the barriers John faced in accessing medical care and mental
health care? The purpose of this discussion is to analyze the case study of an
individual referred to as John who lost his job, which led to other cascading events and to
answer the above questions. Some of the cascading effects including his health situation will
be described. John was the sole breadwinner in his home. After losing his job the dynamics
of his relationship with his wife who was a stay at home mother was affected. In addition to
losing his job, certain events that took place forming a downward spiral for John were his
negative coping strategy and losing his family. Individuals engage in either positive or
negative coping behaviors to deal with stressful events in life such as divorce, death, or
some other crisis. Whichever coping behavior is chosen, the individual performs these
actions as a way of dealing with emotions or how they are feeling (Good Therapy, 2018).
Unfortunately for John he chose to manage is stress by drinking alcohol. His situation would
only worsen after fighting with his wife, which resulted in her leaving him. John was left
alone in a home without a job and therefore could not afford a place to live anymore. This
led to his homelessness and hopelessness particularly when he could no longer stay with
family and friends due to his increased drinking and anger outbursts. At the time
where John needed a place to stay, he had some support from family and friends, which
served his social needs. However, a major part of the problem was the absence of his social
needs from his immediate family, which contributed to his downward spiral. John was faced
with depression, a mental health need, which worsened as he began to live on the street.
Since depression is a common risk factor for suicide (Ng et al., 2017), John expressed
3. hopelessness with thoughts of ending his life. Moreover, increased rates of suicidal thoughts
and attempts are common in homeless individuals Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2015). John had medical needs due to recurrent
skin infections, colds, and injuries which required care. However, now that he was homeless
and without a job he did not have health insurance or money, which were barriers that did
not allow him to have the medical or mental health care he needed. Had the providers
screened John for homelessness and mental illness, his social, mental health, and medical
needs could have been addressed. According to SAMHSA (2015), homeless individuals with
disorders such as mental or substance use find themselves isolated from social support.
Additionally, these individuals need services that provide stable housing, financial help,
food, employment, and medical and mental health care. Therefore, John could have
benefitted from screening, which is generally performed at health care settings. Other
services that will address John’s needs are suicide screening and preventive services, and
early intervention and recovery support (SAMHSA, 2015). US Preventive Services Task
Force (USPSTF) has recommended a tool that can be currently used in health care settings
to screen for depression. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) is one of the tools that can
allow Advanced Practice Registered nurses (APRNs) to screen for mental health disorders
and provide treatment accordingly (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, n.d.). Another
widely used tool to screen for suicide is the SAD PERSONs suicide assessment tool. This tool
is a scale with ten items matching the mnemonic that has been noted to enhance
identification of individuals with suicidal tendencies. One point is assigned to each letter in
the mnemonic which measures in order, sex, age, depression, previous suicide attempt,
ethanol abuse, rational thinking loss, social support lacking, organized suicide plan, no
spouse, and sickness (Ng et al., 2017). To conclude, there are many mishaps in life
which can cause an individual to become homeless. A strong determining factor is the type
of coping mechanism they choose to use. Some individuals engage in maladaptive coping
which only worsens the situation. Receiving support from a therapist or mental health
professional can help individuals cope with difficult situations and offer better coping
strategies (Good Therapy, 2018). Getting this type of service early can prevent downward
spiraling of any situation. However, if an individual finds themselves in a predicament of
homelessness and poor health, providers can use the opportunity with repetitive acute visit
encounters to screen for homelessness, mental health disorders and suicide in order to
recognize patients at risk who’s situation may need interception (Ng et al., 2017), early
intervention, and recovery support (SAMHSA, 2015). utilizing at least two scholarly
references per peer post. APA format
