Save our Children, our next generation leaders. Mental Health, Suicide, and Substance Use

 

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Mental Health, Suicide, and Substance Use The latest research and expert insights about mental health, opioids, and recovery issues.
	The Impact of COVID-19 on Youth Mental Health: An Interview with Leigh Fischer   Emerging research suggests the COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on the mental wellbeing of young people. Leigh Fischer discusses the potential rise in suicidal thoughts and behaviors, mental illness, and substance use—and what providers and communities are doing about it.

 

Measuring Recovery-Oriented Services   Recovery-oriented mental health services and programs are essential for veterans with mental illness. Leigh Evans worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a tool to assess recovery-oriented climate and culture in mental health programs for veterans.

 

Managing Opioid Use and Misuse in Older Adults   Older adults are twice as likely as the general population to have pain, and clinicians often rely on opioid treatment to address that pain. As a result, opioid use, misuse, and opioid use disorder have increased among older adults, who are vulnerable to adverse reactions. Working with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), we’re collecting needed information to help providers improve pain management for older adults.

 

Four Strategies to Improve Mental Health During COVID-19   COVID-19 is hitting younger adults, racial/ethnic minorities, essential workers, and unpaid adult caregivers particularly hard, with disproportionately worse mental health outcomes and increases in substance use and suicidal thoughts. Lisanne Brown discusses four community-level activities key stakeholders should consider.

 

	Screening Tool to Reduce Adverse Drug Effects   How can we reduce the risk of adverse drug events among older adults? In this article, funded by AHRQ, Tara Earl and colleagues explained how de-prescribing interventions—and use of the Screening Tool of Older Persons’ potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) criteria—could reduce multiple drug use and associated adverse drug events.

 

Youth Exposed to Fewer Alcohol Ads on Cable TV   Our new study, conducted with the Boston University School of Public Health, found that youth exposure to alcohol ads on cable TV in the U.S. declined from 2018 to 2019. Reducing exposure may be associated with reductions in underage drinking.