Lynn Bye

A Preliminary Investigation of Barriers to Achieving Patient-Centered Communication with Patients Who Have Stroke-Related Communication Disorders

Abstract This article reports on research investigating barriers to achieving patient-centered communication (PCC) with patients who have stroke-related communication disorders. A focus group, including people who had strokes and their family members, identified PCC issues they encounter when communicating with health care providers. The two key themes that emerged from this research were the desire to be treated with respect and the importance of allowing adequate time for a person with a speech disorder to communicate. Suggestions are given for improving PCC with people who have stroke-related communication disorders.

Factors affecting mental illness hospitalization rates: analysis of state-level panel data

Abstract Previous studies have shown that social conditions such as poverty may place large segments of the population at greater risk for mental illness. However, most studies have been very limited in time and scope. This study involves a state-level statistical analysis of economic and demographic factors that may influence rates of clients receiving inpatient mental health treatment in all organizations (excluding prisons) for selected years over a 12-year time period spanning most of the 1980s through the mid-1990s. Explanatory factors in our model include poverty, real per capita income, unemployment rate, age, race, education, and region-wide effects. Regression results indicate that poverty rates, real per capita income, and percent of the population age 20–24 are all significant and positively associated with the rate of clients receiving inpatient mental health treatment. Another finding of this study is that after accounting for all of the above factors, there still remain significant differences across Census Divisions in hospitalization rates for mental illness. For example, the Middle Atlantic states, East North Central states, and Pacific states have the highest share of inpatients and the New England states, Mountain states, and East South Central states have the lowest share of inpatients.