American journal of preventive medicine
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The U.S. spends more than any other country on health care, yet Americans have lower life expectancy than people in most industrialized countries. Recent studies suggest that lower expenditures on social policies in the U.S. may contribute to less-favorable trends in life expectancy. This study tests the hypothesis that greater social spending will be positively associated with life expectancy across the countries of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development and that the magnitude of these associations will outweigh those between government healthcare spending and life expectancy. ⋯ The U.S. life expectancy lag could be considerably smaller if U.S. expenditures on education and incapacity programs were comparable with those in other high-income countries.
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Serving as the center of community-engaged health programs, local health departments can play a critical role in promoting community mental health. The objectives of this study were to explore the association between local health department activities and (1) preventable hospitalizations for individuals with mental disorders, and (2) associated racial disparities in preventable hospitalizations. ⋯ Improving care coordination and integration are essential to meeting the growing demands for healthcare access, while controlling costs and improving quality of service delivery. These results suggest that it will be effective to engage local health departments in the integrated behavioral health system.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of incorporating a mobile application, Stay Quit Coach, into an integrated care smoking-cessation treatment protocol for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ⋯ Although results must be interpreted with caution given the lack of control group and small sample size, findings indicate that integrating Stay Quit Coach into integrated care was feasible and acceptable.
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This study examined whether increasing availability of mental health services at school-based health centers in Oregon public schools would be associated with a decrease in the likelihood of depressive episodes and suicide risk among adolescents. ⋯ This study suggests that increasing availability of school-based mental health services can help to reduce depressive episodes and suicide risk among adolescents.