Health Services
Sarah Curfman, sarah.curfman@unh.edu
University of New Hampshire, with Dr. Joan Beasley
Health Sciences
Investigating the Relationship Between Medical Conditions and Emergency Service Use Among Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mental Health Conditions
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience mental health needs (ASD-MH) at high rates among those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In addition, people with ASD experience a significant number of medical conditions and report increased emergency service use when compared to those without ASD. In this study, the relationship between medical conditions and emergency service use (including psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency department visits) within the ASD-MH population will be analyzed. It is hypothesized that people with ASD-MH who also have medical conditions will have reported greater emergency service usage in comparison to people with ASD-MH without medical conditions. This study will analyze data collected from individuals enrolled in START (an acronym of Systemic, Therapeutic, Assessment, Resources and Treatment) programs across the United States from January 2020 to December 2022. START is a national model to provide mental health crisis services to people with IDD and mental health services experiences including people with IDD-MH. Data collected from individuals with ID and individuals without ID will be analyzed separately and compared. Not all individuals with ASD have ID, which suggests that there may be differences in health outcomes between individuals with ID and individuals without ID. This study will help provide a greater understanding of the specific health challenges experienced by people with ID, particularly focusing on those with ASD, a group that is particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges. This study may also help inform the need for an integrated health approach to care.
Ashlynn Main, Ashlynn_Main1@baylor.edu
Baylor University, with Dr. Ashley Barrett
Communication
Compassionate Healthcare and Marginalized Patients
There has been a growing focus and need on the examination of compassionate communication in healthcare. Many marginalized patients have experienced uncompassionate care from physicians in healthcare visits. Under my mentor’s project, we are examining how compassionate healthcare relates to serving marginalized and underserved populations. The research questions of the study is to discover how providers can better suit marginalized patients and in what way. Additionally, how is marginalized-patient care different from non-marginalized patient care? The focus of this project was to conduct a survey of the academic literature on the research areas of compassionate literature, marginalized healthcare populations, and how best to serve marginalized patients. The purpose of the literature review was to discover the extant, current literature on compassionate and marginalized healthcare populations, what methods have been implemented to help serve marginalized patients, and on compassion and organizational communication. Results from this review suggest that it is difficult to implement a more structured approach to compassionate communication in healthcare as it needs to be implemented by an organization. However, there are ways to ease this structural transition such as compassionate communication training or models that allow physicians to move towards a more compassionate shift when communicating to marginalized patients in particular. The insights from this literature review can serve as a valuable resource to see the different methods being discussed for implementing compassionate communication in healthcare. Moreover, the insights from this review can be used in an initial research proposal.
Kamila Montenegro, Kamila_montenegro1@baylor.edu
Baylor University, with Dr. Emilie Cunningham
Maternal and Child Health
Enhancing Maternal Support and Infant Feeding: A Pilot Review of One FQHC Lactation Clinic
Although most women opt to feed human milk to their infants, a vast majority do not meet their breastfeeding goals. Facilitating forms of lactation support that extend the duration of breastfeeding may lead to significant physical and emotional benefits that are dose responsive. The purpose of this study is to measure the duration of breastfeeding among participants in the Waco Family Medicine lactation clinic compared to breastfeeding rates resulting from usual care at one Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The research methods include comparing breastfeeding duration among clinic participants to standard rates at one FQHC. The study specifically targets low-income individuals, most of whom are enrolled in a Medicaid managed care organization. The results of this pilot may provide initial insights into the potential benefits of lactation support interventions in improving breastfeeding outcomes in underserved populations. Compared to usual standard care, patients that received lactation support through the Waco Family Medicine lactation clinic extended lactation duration by at least 32.2%. Results from this study may suggest early indications that primary care lactation support is related to breastfeeding duration. The findings may contribute to the implementation of analogous interventions in other underserved communities. Additionally, this pilot study may be used to inform future breastfeeding interventions aimed at extending breastfeeding duration and enhancing maternal and infant health outcomes among FQHC patient populations.
Session Location
- Foster 226
Session Date/Time
- Thursday, 10:00 - 11:00am
Session Type
- Oral Student Presentations
- Student Presentations