Consumer satisfaction with services in a regional psychiatric hospital: a collaborative research project in Kentucky.

Consumer satisfaction with mental health services is a dimension of outcome. This report is on a university and state mental health department research project that involved development of the Kentucky Consumer Satisfaction Instrument (KY-CSI) and a retrospective, cross-sectional study designed to measure consumer satisfaction with services at a regional psychiatric hospital. Triangulation of methods guided the survey of participants (N = 189) near discharge from the hospital during a 6-month period. Research associates, who were former consumers of mental health services, collected data during face-to-face interviews. Most participants were unemployed White men. Factor analysis indicated the 19-item instrument was unidimensional; Cronbach's alpha was 0.90. Multiple regression indicated predictors of satisfaction were levels of education and diagnosis. As education increased, satisfaction decreased; participants with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder tended to be more satisfied than those with other diagnoses. Analysis of qualitative data combined with standardized summary of KY-CSI items indicated participants were most satisfied with opportunities to talk with other patients and least satisfied about lack of involvement of people with whom they lived in discharge planning. Study findings guided recommendations for quality of care and additional studies at other hospital sites.

Environmental context of caregiving for severely mentally ill adults: an African American experience.

Most people with severe mental illness depend on family to provide care. Although an increasing amount of research has examined caregiving, there is much to be discovered about the caregiving experience of African American families. This ethnographic study reports findings from 16 African American caregivers, presenting a picture of how they navigate through their environment to meet the needs of caregiving. Formal resource selection and use, and perceived barriers to and facilitators of care within an urban environment, are discussed. The impact of the African American community's perception of mental illness on caregiving and involvement in policy change also is discussed.

Use of art therapy with post-traumatic stress disordered veteran clients.

1. The post-traumatic stress disordered veteran client may exhibit a cluster of problematic behaviors that are integral to current maladaptive coping patterns. 2. These coping patterns can be successfully addressed through a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach that emphasizes client-controlled expression of emotions and client-focused step-by-step behavior modification. 3. Art therapy and nursing, in a collaborative approach, can facilitate individual and group interventions that promote expression of feelings, congruency between experience and self-concept, and feelings of effectiveness in behavioral change.

A research review: family caregivers of chronically ill African-American elderly.

1. The African-American elderly population continues to have higher incidence of specific chronic illnesses. 2. The African-American caregiver plays an integral part in maintaining the chronically ill elderly in the home setting. 3. Available research has indicated important differences in how African-Americans cope with caregiving that may assist the nurse in better understanding of these caregiving families. 4. As a result of limited research, African-American caregivers are a rich, largely untapped resource that deserves careful study toward improved elderly care.