Diabetes status and being up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening, 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

INTRODUCTION: Although screening rates for colorectal cancer are increasing, 22 million Americans are not up-to-date with recommendations. People with diabetes are an important and rapidly growing group at increased risk for colorectal cancer. Screening status and predictors of being up-to-date on screening are largely unknown in this population. METHODS: This study used logistic regression modeling and data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the association between diabetes and colorectal cancer screening predictors with being up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening according to criteria of the US Preventive Services Task Force for adults aged 50 or older. State prevalence rates of up-to-date colorectal cancer screening were also calculated and mapped. RESULTS: The prevalence of being up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening for all respondents aged 50 or older was 65.6%; for respondents with diabetes, the rate was 69.2%. Respondents with diabetes were 22% more likely to be up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening than those without diabetes. Among those with diabetes, having a routine checkup within the previous year significantly increased the odds of being up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening (odds ratio, 1.90). Other factors such as age, income, education, race/ethnicity, insurance status, and history of cancer were also associated with up-to-date status. CONCLUSION: Regardless of diabetes status, people who had a routine checkup within the past year were more likely to be up-to-date than people who had not. Among people with diabetes, the duration between routine checkups may be of greater importance than the frequency of diabetes-related doctor visits. Continued efforts should be made to ensure that routine care visits occur regularly to address the preventive health needs of patients with and patients without diabetes

EVALUATING THE EFFICACY OF SYSTEMATIC PATIENT FEEDBACK IN AN INTEGRATED MENTAL HEALTH AND PRIMARY CARE SETTING

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, 2010) has resulted in efforts to make healthcare more affordable and effective. One strategy for making healthcare more affordable and effective is the integration of behavioral health and primary care. In today’s healthcare system, it is estimated that approximately one in three patients seen in a primary care setting meet the criteria for a mental health disorder and another third – while not meeting those criteria – are experiencing psychological symptoms that impair their functioning (Kessler, 2005). Despite the evidence supporting behavioral health services in a primary care setting, treatments tend to be diagnosis specific (Archer et al., 2012; Lemmens, Molema, Versnel, Baan, & deBruin, 2015) and as such do not capture patients’ varied presentations. Patient feedback offers a potential strategy to improve the quality of services provided. Patient feedback is the use of measures administered at each session to assess distress and track progress. There is a robust psychotherapy literature demonstrating the effectiveness of using routine progress monitoring in clinical practice but it has not been evaluated in an integrated care setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of patient feedback in this setting. Preliminary results of this ongoing study revealed there was a moderate feedback effect using both the ORS (d = 0.38) and PHQ-9 (d = 0.12) as the outcome measures. Using the ORS as the outcome measure, patients in the feedback condition demonstrated faster treatment gains, which suggests that they improved faster compared to those patients in the TAU condition. Additionally, patients in the feedback condition incurred significantly more reliable change compared to TAU. However, this result was not replicated when the PHQ-9 was used to measure outcome. Overall, the results suggest that PCOMS may be a potentially useful quality improvement strategy

Lambda Pi Eta holiday party for Delaware County foster children : operations binder : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

In recent years, social consciousness has become more prevalent in our society. With huge celebrities becoming United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors and popular television shows finding ways to give back, little acts of community service are beginning to be unnoticed. It is important that these acts remain seen in the public eye because they are the heart of social awareness. Here at Ball State, members of Lambda Pi Eta, the Communication Studies Honors Society, has dedicated themselves to improving the local community through many acts of community service. One such act is their annual holiday party for Delaware County foster children. This party brings area foster families and Ball State students together help foster children celebrate the holiday season. I have been responsible for this event since its conception in 2006. Now that I am leaving, it is important for new Lambda Pi Eta members to learn how to plan and facilitate this party so that it may continue in future years. Consequently, I have put together this binder as an operations manual for future members. Contained in it are all steps that the event planner must go through to make the party a success.Thesis (B.?.)Honors Colleg