How to Talk about Mental Health: Addressing Misunderstandings about Mental Health in the Media

This tip sheet was developed as a collaboration between the Massachusetts Statewide Youth Advisory Council (SYAC) and the Learning and Working Center at the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research (TACR) to clear up some common misunderstandings about mental health conditions and to share strategies to talk about mental health in a more accurate and more helpful way! Read on to learn more about mental health

Documentation of Smoking History and Adherence to the USPSTF Recommendation for Lung Cancer Screening: A Retrospective Chart Review

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to evaluate provider compliance with documentation of smoking history and, if criteria met, referral for lung cancer screening as recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force in 2013. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted using an electronic medical record (EMR) at a large, rural community family practice clinic. Patients meeting inclusion criteria of having a smoking history (current or past) of 30 pack years, aged 55 to 80 years, and no history of lung cancer diagnosis were included for randomization. One hundred patients were selected from 300 randomized charts; five were excluded due to not meeting criteria. The number of patients with completed smoking history and appropriate referral for lung cancer screening were calculated. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: From the electronic medical records reviewed (n = 95), only 48.4% (n = 46) of patients had pack years completed. Among all patients, lung cancer screening criteria eligibility were met in 44.2% (n = 42) of the patients while 51.6% (n = 49) were unknown due to incompleteness of their smoking history. Among patients who had documentation of pack years completed (n = 46), 42 (91%) were eligible for screening. None of these patients had a computed tomography scan (CT) ordered or completed. Only one (1.1%) patient of the 95 reviewed in this practice was referred for lung cancer screening. This patient did not have smoking history completed nor did this patient follow up to complete the screen. Conclusion: Without completion of patients’ smoking history, including length of smoking and packs per day, proper risk assessment for lung cancer cannot be completed. Risk assessment is key to determining eligibility for referral thus prompting providers to initiate referrals for screening. Noting a 20% reduction in death due to lung cancer with low dose CT, 19 patients from this sample of 95 could face death related to lung cancer due to lack of screening. Recognizing that only 1.1% (n = 1) of the reviewed patients was recommended for screening, it is imperative to educate providers on assessing patients for eligibility, providing face to face counseling, making referrals, and evaluating the effectiveness of the EMR screening tool. Implementing such measures can enhance detection of early stages of lung cancer and improve survival rates

Annotated Bibliography: State-of-the-Science Conference Proceedings

This annotated bibliography highlights publications relevant to school and work supports for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions that were published after 2013 through early 2018. Selected publications are limited to those specifically addressing serious mental health conditions; literature related to other disability groups is not included. This bibliography is intended to supplement the Learning and Working During the Transition to Adulthood RRTC’s (L&W RRTC) previous State of the Science Paper (2013). We have also provided executive summaries from our 2013 State-of-the-Science Conference. To see the 2018 SoS conference proceedings please visit, https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/pib/vol16/iss8/1. To see the proceedings from the 2013 conference, please visit hhttps://umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR/publication/conferences/state_of_the_science_conference

WIOA: New Law Helps Youth & Young Adults Get Jobs – What Families Need to Know

A recent law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) P.L. 113-128, 2014, mandates services for youth and young adults (ages 14-24) with disabilities, including those with psychiatric disabilities or mental health conditions, to help them prepare for and obtain jobs and pursue careers that offer competitive salaries and benefits. This tip sheet provides information on who is eligible to receive WIOA Youth Services, where youth and young adults with disabilities can access services, and what services are available. Revised November 2020

Building Teacher Capacity to Support English Language Learners in Schools Receiving School Improvement Grants

The Study of School Turnaround examines the improvement process in a purposive sample of 35 case study schools receiving federal funds through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program over a three-year period (2010 -- 11 to 2012 -- 13 school years). This brief focuses on 11 of these SIG schools with high proportions of English Language Learner (ELL) students (a median of 45 percent ELLs), describing their efforts to improve teachers' capacity for serving ELLs through staffing strategies and professional development (PD). Key findings that emerged from the ELL case study data collected during the 2011 -- 12 and 2012 -- 13 school years include:Few schools reported leveraging staffing strategies to improve teacher capacity for serving ELLs. Administrators in 3 of the 11 schools reported considering ELL expertise and experience when hiring classroom teachers, while respondents in 2 of the 11 schools reported that teachers' ELL expertise and experience purposefully factored into assignment of teachers to specific classrooms.Most teacher survey respondents (54 to 100 percent) in all 11 schools reported participating in ELL-related PD during the 2011 -- 12 school year. On average, teachers reported that ELL-related PD accounted for less than 20 percent of their total PD hours.Teacher survey respondents in schools that reported a greater PD focus on ELL-related topics, such as instructional strategies for advancing English proficiency or instructional strategies to use for ELLs within content classes, also generally appeared more likely to report that PD improved their effectiveness as teachers of ELLs

I’ve Got My Crew: Inviting Community Partners to Your IEP Meeting

A community partner is a person from an organization outside of a student\u27s high school that can help students plan for life after graduation. A community partner should be a person or organization that can help high school students receiving special education services with their post-high school goals. This tip sheet provides high school students with tips on how to identify community partners, how they can help students, and how to students can include them in the student\u27s Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings

What is a 504 Plan and How Can it Help My Teen? [English and Spanish versions]

A Spanish translation of this publication is available for download under Additional Files below. In this tip sheet, we offer parents and guardians some information on 504 plans based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

You Got This: Taking a Leadership Role in Your IEP Meeting

This tip sheet provides tips for how students (ages of 3 to 21) who receive special education services in public schools can take a leadership role in their individualized education programs (IEP) and transition planning. Learn more about IEPs and transition services in our Teens on IEPs: Making My “Transition” Services Work for Me tip sheet. Learn about the Translating Evidence to Support Transitions (TEST) project here

Collecting Histories of Education and Employment Activities from Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions

Young adulthood is a critical time for establishing the foundation of an adult working life. As adolescents mature and explore career interests, they also begin to focus in on particular career pathways. However, lower levels of employment and educational attainment, as well as the demands of parenting, prevent and delay Youth and Young adults (Y&YAs) with serious mental health conditions (SMHCs) from participating in settings where career development and exploration activities typically occur. Of Y&YA parents who do work, the majority will work part-time, at low-level service jobs, and at low salaries (Osgood, et al., 2005). Y&YA parents with SMHCs are particularly vulnerable as they are more likely than their normative peers to experience unemployment, poverty, and dependence on government assistance (Luciano, et al., 2013). Through a one-time, semi-structured interview, this study seeks to describe the education and employment activities of Y&YAs between the ages of 25-30 with SMHCs, explore barriers and facilitators to these activities, and understand how parenting affects these experiences. Preliminary findings will be presented as they relate to themes of career exploration/development, the barriers and facilitators to education and employment activities this population encounters, including the impact that parenthood can have on these activities in young adulthood. We will also describe the education and employment activities and trajectories that were obtained as part of these interviews