Much has been written in recent years about the issues of disclosing and communicating health information (including genetic information) in biomedical research and medical practice. Various guidelines and policy statements have been adopted internationally, but these are contradictory and the criteria they set out sometimes vague. Given the complexity of the ethical landscape surrounding this
Health Care Careers Background The origins of medicine began with prehistoric people who believed that diseases were derived from supernatural powers. To destroy the evil spirits, they performed trephining, which involved cutting a hole in the victim’s skull to release the spirit. Skulls have been found in which the trephine hole has healed, demonstrating that
Mental health courts (MHCs) are specialty courts designed to divert adults with mental illnesses from jail into behavioral health services. At any given time, the large and growing number of persons with mental illnesses in jails and prisons and under community supervision arrangements (i.e., probation and parole) presents significant challenges to mental health and criminal
Although life expectancy at birth of women in western societies is significantly longer than that of men (e.g., 80 versus 74 years in the United States), women experience more sickness and non-fatal health problems than men (e.g., higher morbidity). Specific biological and behavioral explanations for these gender differences are largely unknown. It remains unclear whether
Health promotion has been defined in a number of different ways and used in reference to a constellation of behaviors, such as eating, exercise, and stress management. For the purposes of this entry, we consider health promotion to be defined as strategies that (1) facilitate awareness of the benefits of, and opportunities for, physical activity;
Mental health screening refers to the administration of a measure (typically self-report or interview) to offenders entering a criminal justice agency for the purposes of identifying those offenders who have a mental illness. Screening is necessary to ensure that appropriate interventions can be administered or referrals to community resources can be made. This topic is
Mental health screening refers to the administration of a brief measure to children and adolescents entering a juvenile justice agency for the purposes of identifying individuals who have a mental health problem or behavioral health concern. Screening ensures that mental health treatment or interventions to prevent self-harm are given to juvenile offenders who are in
While screening can include a wide range of activities (e.g., laboratory tests, genetic screening), in the criminal justice system screening typically refers to a brief, but systematic process to aid in the detection of mental illness. Screening tools can often be administered by nonmental health professionals, including correctional officers. They may also be self-report questionnaires
International research evidence has suggested that persons with mental health problems are overrepresented within criminal justice systems. This is a matter of significant concern for professionals and policy makers involved in law enforcement, courts, community supervision of offenders, and the management of correctional institutions. Mental health treatment refers to interventions intended to ameliorate problems in
Development communication engages strategic social change in a variety of areas, yet a great proportion of resources in this field are allocated toward the field of health communication (Hemer & Tufte 2005). There is no universal strategic communication response to complex health-related challenges, but rather a framework of general principles, ranging from behavior change through