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Purpose: To examine 2-week nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) starter kit quit outcomes and predictors and the impact of adding this new service on treatment reach. Design: Observational study of a 1-year cohort of QUITPLAN Services enrollees using registration and utilization data and follow-up outcome survey data of a subset of enrollees who received NRT starter kits. Setting: ClearWay Minnesota’s QUITPLAN Services provides a quit line that is available to uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans and NRT starter kits (a free 2-week supply of patches, gum, or lozenges) that are available to all Minnesota tobacco users. Participants: A total of 15 536 adult QUITPLAN Services enrollees and 818 seven-month follow-up survey NRT starter kit respondents. Measures: Treatment reach for all services and tobacco quit outcomes and predictors for starter kit recipients. Analysis: Descriptive analyses, χ2 analyses, and logistic regression. Results: Treatment reach increased 3-fold after adding the 2-week NRT starter kit service option to QUITPLAN Services compared to the prior year (1.86% vs 0.59%). Among all participants enrolling in QUITPLAN services during a 1-year period, 83.8% (13 026/15 536) registered for a starter kit. Among starter kit respondents, 25.6% reported being quit for 30 days at the 7-month follow-up. After controlling for other factors, using all NRT and selecting more cessation services predicted quitting. Conclusion: An NRT starter kit brought more tobacco users to QUITPLAN services, demonstrating interest in cessation services separate from phone counseling. The starter kit produced high quit rates, comparable to the quit line in the same time period. Cessation service providers may want to consider introducing starter kits to reach more tobacco users and ultimately improve population health.

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program was first developed to reduce violence in encounters between the police and people with mental illness as well as provide improved access to mental health services. Although there is overwhelming popular support for this intervention, scant empirical evidence of its effectiveness is available—particularly whether the program can reduce the use of force. This investigation seeks to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the factors that influence use of force in encounters involving people with mental illness and evaluating whether CIT can reduce the likelihood of its use.

The Crisis intervention team model (CIT) is possibly the most well known and widely adopted model to improve police response to persons with mental illness. A primary goal of CIT programs is to divert individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system to mental health services. In this paper we examine the effectiveness of fielding CIT trained and supported officers for influencing call outcomes using data from patrol officers (n = 112) in four Chicago Police districts. Results from regression analysis indicate that CIT certified officers directed a greater proportion of persons with mental illness to mental health services than their Non-CIT certified peers. CIT did not have an immediate effect on arrest. Moderator analysis indicates that CIT had its biggest effect on increasing direction to services and decreasing "contact only" among officers who have a positive view of mental health services and who know a person with mental illness in their personal life. Additional moderators of the CIT effect on call outcomes include level of resistance and the presence of a weapon. Findings from this study have important implications for policy, practice and future research.

For people with mental illness, diminished quality of life and loss of personal goals does not result solely from the symptoms, distress, and disabilities caused by their psychiatric disorder. Quality of life and personal goals are also hindered by people who embrace the stigma that accompanies mental illness and mental health care. This paper reviews evidence of the impact of mental illness stigma and strategies for seeking to ease its impact. To achieve these goals, we (a) describe the ways in which stigma harm people with mental illness, (b) summarize models that explain the development and maintenance of these stigmatizing effects, and (c) review strategies that have been shown to decrease the impact of stigma. Concerns about stigma are on the political agendas of many mental health advocacy groups. It has recently also become the focus of extensive research. Our goal in this paper is to balance the practical concerns raised by mental health advocates against data that support or contradicts specific assertions.

Background Effective communication is critical to formulating responses to emergent events in health care settings. However, the range of factors that influenced communication in health care settings during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic has received limited attention. Methods Cross-sectional semistructured interviews were conducted by telephone with 33 infection control key informants at nationally dispersed Veterans Affairs health care facilities. Interviews were guided by an interview script that addressed topics on infection control practices, including information sources, methods of dissemination, barriers and facilitators to effective communication, and recommendations for future practices. Results Communication was facilitated when information was timely, organized, disseminated through multiple channels, and included educational materials. Barriers to effective communication included feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information received, encountering contradictory information, and restrictions on information dissemination because of uncertainty and inconsistent information. Participants offered recommendations for future pandemics, including the need for standardized educational content, clearer guidance from national organizations, and predefined communication plans for hospital staff. Conclusion The findings of the present study provide insight about improving communication efforts within Veterans Affairs health care facilities during emergent events. The communication experiences discussed—and barriers and facilitators identified—can also be used in planning for future pandemics and other emergent situations.

Police encounters are believed to be particularly dangerous for people with mental illness and police officers. Despite widespread concern among advocates, researchers and police professionals, little is known about the details of these interactions including the occurrence of injuries. In the current study, we explore injuries to people with mental illness and officers to determine the extent to which situational and individual factors predict injuries. Findings suggest that injuries during police calls involving persons with mental illness are infrequent and rarely require medical attention. Predictors of injuries in these calls are similar to those in police encounters with the general population.