Mary Molewyk Doornbos

The Strengths of Families Coping With Serious Mental Illness

This article outlines a descriptive study that sought to document the strengths of families with members suffering from serious and persistent mental illnesses. The families of the mentally ill were compared with normative families on the variables of family stressors, family coping, and family health. The results indicate that although the families of the mentally ill have significantly more stressors than normative families, they have clear strengths relative to family coping and the family health subconcepts of adaptability and conflict management. The impact of the serious mental illness was found in their affective evaluations of the family unit on the family health subconcepts of cohesion and satisfaction.

Predicting Family Health in Families of Young Adults with Severe Mental Illness

A greater understanding of the factors that predict family health in the families of young adults with severe and persistent mental illness is essential given the complex and challenging nature of the caregiving role into which these families have been drawn. Based upon the perspective of 126 family caregivers from National Alliance for the Mentally Ill chapters across the United States, this study sought to identify the best predictors of family health from among several client, family, and professional factors. The results indicated that family coping, family stressors, and professional communication were most predictive of the outcome variable of family health.

The 24-7-52 Job: Family Caregiving for Young Adults with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness

Few of the studies focusing on family caregiving have dealt with families caring for a young adult member with a serious and persistent mental illness. This qualitative study expands our understanding of the caregiving processes in these families. The narrative responses of 76 family caregivers from National Alliance for the Mentally Ill chapters across the United States were analyzed using content analysis. Five caregiving processes were identified including monitoring, managing the illness, maintaining the home, supporting/encouraging, and socializing. Family caregivers cited a need for information about the illness and available resources with which to prepare themselves for their caregiving responsibilities. Multiple client outcomes were used by the caregivers to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. Comparisons are made between these results and the findings of empirical studies in the broader caregiving literature.

Desired Mental Health Resources for Urban, Ethnically Diverse, Impoverished Women Struggling With Anxiety and Depression:

Depression and anxiety are mental health issues that disproportionately affect women—particularly when access to culturally sensitive care is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify mental health concerns in three urban, ethnically diverse, underserved, and impoverished neighborhoods using the ideological perspective of community-based participatory research. In the context of long-term partnerships between a department of nursing and these neighborhoods, we recruited 61 women aged 18 to 69 years and collected data via homogeneous focus groups comprised of Black, Hispanic, and White women, respectively. We conducted five of the focus groups in English and one in Spanish. The women perceived anxiety and depression as significant concerns for themselves, their families, and their communities. They used unique community resources to manage mental health issues and desired new resources, including support groups and education.

Using community-based participatory research to explore social determinants of women's mental health and barriers to help-seeking in three urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished, and underserved communities.

Depression and anxiety are significant mental health issues that affect urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished women disproportionately. This study sought to identify social determinants of mental health and barriers to help-seeking for this population. Using community based participatory research and focus groups, sixty-one Black, Hispanic, and White women identified economic, family, cultural, and neighborhood issues as perceived determinants of their depression/anxiety. They identified practical, psychosocial, and cultural barriers to their help-seeking behavior. These results can promote womens health by fostering an understanding of social factors as perceived determinants of depression/anxiety and shaping practice and policy initiatives that foster positive aggregate outcomes.

Clinging to Any Bit of Joy: Urban, Ethnically Diverse, Impoverished Women's Descriptions of Anxiety and Depression

Depression and anxiety are mental health issues that disproportionately affect women. This study sought to capture perceptions of anxiety and depression in 3 urban, ethnically diverse, underserved, and impoverished neighborhoods. Using community-based participatory research, in the context of long-term partnerships between a department of nursing and these neighborhoods, the researchers recruited 61 women aged 18 to 69 years. Data were collected via 6 homogeneous focus groups composed of Black, Hispanic, and White women, respectively. The women identified themes pertaining to the manifestations and effects of anxiety and depression as well as unique coping strategies.

Impact of Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Into a Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum

BACKGROUND Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is rapidly gaining respect within the health care community as a means to promote public health and address health disparities. It has also recently been named as one of the competencies needed by public health professionals to be effective. METHOD This article describes an educational innovation where CBPR is integrated into a baccalaureate nursing curriculum as a strategy to create meaningful learning experiences for nursing students while benefitting the health of the community. RESULTS The impact of this approach was analyzed over a period of 12 years. The positive outcomes for the community, students, and faculty are described, along with the unique challenges. CONCLUSION Integrating CBPR into a nursing curriculum is an innovation that is worthy of further assessment.

Attending to Communication and Patterns of Interaction Culturally Sensitive Mental Health Care for Groups of Urban, Ethnically Diverse, Impoverished, and Underserved Women

BACKGROUND: The United States is ethnically diverse. This diversity presents challenges to nurses, who, without empirical evidence to design culturally congruent interventions, may contribute to mental health care disparities. OBJECTIVE: Using Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality, this study documented communication and interaction patterns of ethnically diverse, urban, impoverished, and underserved women. DESIGN: Using a community-based participatory research framework, 61 Black, Hispanic, and White women participated in focus groups around their experiences with anxiety/depression. Researchers recorded verbal communication, nonverbal behavior, and patterns of interaction. RESULTS: The women’s communication and interaction patterns gave evidence of three themes that were evident across all focus groups and five subthemes that emerged along ethnic lines. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest cultural universalities and cultural uniquenesses relative to the communication and interaction patterns of urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished, and underserved women that may assist in the design of culturally sensitive mental health care.

Conducting Research With Community Groups

Nurse scientists are increasingly recognizing the necessity of conducting research with community groups to effectively address complex health problems and successfully translate scientific advancements into the community. Although several barriers to conducting research with community groups exist, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has the potential to mitigate these barriers. CBPR has been employed in programs of research that respond in culturally sensitive ways to identify community needs and thereby address current health disparities. This article presents case studies that demonstrate how CBPR principles guided the development of (a) a healthy body weight program for urban, underserved African American women; (b) a reproductive health educational intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women; and (c) a pilot anxiety/depression intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women. These case studies illustrate the potential of CBPR as an orientation to research that can be employed effectively in non-research-intensive academic environments.

Embedding Research in Undergraduate Learning Opportunities

As a means of promoting scholarship, faculty are increasingly including undergraduate nursing students as team members in faculty-led research projects. Research involvement is a high-impact educational practice that enhances student engagement and retention rates and enables the reflection and integration of learning. The purpose of this article is to describe the benefits and innovative ways of directly involving undergraduate nursing students in faculty-guided research projects. Case examples from four non-research-intensive nursing programs are presented to illustrate the benefits of undergraduate student research involvement to students, faculty, their communities, as well as the nursing profession. Student assistance in all phases of the research process, ranging from research question generation, literature reviews, methods development, and data collection and analysis, to presentations and manuscript publication, motivates and helps faculty progress with their research programs. Benefits also include the creation of effective learning experiences that build nursing knowledge and potentially contribute to community health.