The United States has been named the country with the highest number of mental illnesses in the West, according to a study carried out in 14 countries by W.H.O ( Demyttenaere et al., 2014) . Mental health is broad, originating from innate conditions to environmental pressures. The youth, who are often stuck between childhoods and adulthood, are the most affected and comprise a significant population of patients in mental facilities. Pennsylvania is the most affected state, with a bias in children and the youth ( Demyttenaere et al., 2014) . Mental health is a concern among the youth since it advances into adulthood, and could affect their relationships at home and in school, lead to drug abuse, depression, or suicide.
Mental Health in Pennsylvania
Students who have a mental disorder also drop out of school and are likely to commit suicide. Mental disorder is the leading cause of suicide among the youth (Green et al., 2015). Mentally disturbed youth are also more likely to engage in crime and have to undergo counseling other than punishment for them to reform. Most youth in correction facilities also report having been under the influence of drugs that caused them mental instability when committing a crime. One in seven youth suffer a mental disorder before the age of eighteen (Green et al., 2015), but most of them never develop into severity with parental counseling and love. Youth who harbor unresolved mental disorders into adulthood are likely to have conflict at work and in marriage. They find it difficult to concentrate for long hours, work under pressure or receive orders, and most leave their workplaces due to conflict with colleagues and the management.
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According to the Mental Association of Pennsylvania (MAHPA), (2018) anxiety disorder is the most common mental disorder. The condition causes children and teens to be afraid of situations, thus significantly affecting their activities of daily living such reading a book in front of their peers. The disorder tempts them to recoil and cut social interactions. When required to be in public, some are so anxious that they could suffer panic attacks. Attention deficit hyperactivity and conduct disorders, which make a teen too aggressive over trivial matters, are also prevalent among the teens. As they grow into young adulthood, depression, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and eating habits may appear. Young adults prefer to spend most of their time alone and lose contact with reality. They also have severe mood swings and eat in an unusual way. They could overeat or starve themselves. It is also at this stage that they want to keep up with the trendiest music, fashion, and identify with a particular group. Suicide is, in most cases, the run-to-solution for most youth between 15 and 25, and is the second leading cause of death among the youth after accidents (MAHPA, 2018).
II. Community Description
According to MAHPA (2018), one in every five children has a mental issue. Nine percent of young people between nine and seventeen years live with Severe Emotional Disturbances (S.E.D.) that interferes with their healthy lives. The high number could be because 80% of this age group does not receive mental health attention. According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), report of 2015, the state of Pennsylvania alone has drug usage that is related to mental health almost as high as the whole of the U.S. combined. SAMSA is an affiliated body of the Department of Health and Human Services therefore has carried out mental health research in all the States. Most parents are not keen to note mental instability, and confuse it for teenage mood swings, which explain why mental disorders are discovered later in life when they persist past teenage.
III. Needs Assessment
Qualitative Assessment
Evaluation on the need for mental health attention can be assessed qualitatively through observation, focus groups, update meetings, one-on-one interviews with the affected, and seeking expert opinions. Observation of the youth in a general set up as well as in mental health facilities will give insight on behavior patterns, which explain the intentions of their actions. Silent observation also allows the researcher to see their target audience in their normal daily life, which eliminates false conclusions due to pretense. Mental facilities and parents spend most time with the youth, thus meeting with them to get their suggestions and concerns will give the researcher a picture of what those closest to them endure. Listening to and interacting with the youth, especially those recovering from mental illness or in correction facilities during group therapy will also give the researcher firsthand information on their experiences on with mental health. During these sessions, the researcher could also conduct one-on-one interviews to hear different stories on mental health. With all these done, the researcher will need to get expert advice to draw correct conclusions from the collected data.
Quantitative assessment
Quantitative assessment is done by checking frequency, numbers and records. Combined with qualitative assessment, it gives the researcher a deeper insight on the needs of the target population. Quantitative methods of assessment include utilizing previously written sources, checking on old records and performing tests. Written literature will provide data, interpretation and education on signs, symptoms and conclusions for mental health. Data on prevalence among different age groups also shows where the need is highest. Looking on recorded behavior patterns of the affected will also give the researcher an idea of any common trends and reactions among the youth. Having the data, tests to confirm the exact disorders will also be necessary, as a final step towards determining which disorders need the highest and most urgent attention. However, this will be done on voluntary basis only.
IV. Community Link
Current Solutions for Mental Health among the Youth in Pennsylvania
Mental specialists for the youth face a challenge of fragmented systems and a struggle for limited funding, in addition to them being insufficient for their target group. However, the Department of Health and Human Services has put in place strategies to deal mental health. With the introduction of public insurance, more youth are bale to assess medical care and counseling. Mental health has also been incorporated into primary healthcare to increase the number of care providers who can attend to mental cases. In Pennsylvania, primary care providers such as family physicians and pediatricians, nurses and physicians’ assistants are supposed to monitor the mental health of children and the youth ( Wissow, Ginneken, Chandna & Rahman, 2016) . School medical services have also been trained to deal with mental disorders, as well as educating parents on their role in maintaining the mental stability of their children.
Complementarity
The proposed approach will work in complementarity with the existing interventions. The assessment will also determine the changes that can be done to improve the existing interventions for mental health. Although most facilities have tried digitizing their services, most youth do not trust the privacy of the systems, thus are reluctant to share their struggles. The project will create a platform where individuals can have webinars and ask questions that will be answered instantly by using codes other than their names. The project will be a solution to the shortage of psychiatrists and increase the number of youth who come out to deal with depression, drug abuse, and suicidal thoughts and self-harm, among other struggles of mental illness.
References
Abuse, S. (2015,). Behavioral Health Barometer Pennsylvania, 2015. Retrieved from https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/sma16-baro-2015-pa.pdf
Demyttenaere, K., Bruffaerts, R., Posada-Villa, J., Gasquet, I., Kovess, V., Lepine, J., & Kikkawa, T. (2014). Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Jama , 291 (21), 2581-2590.
Green, J. G., McLaughlin, K. A., Alegría, M., Costello, E. J., Gruber, M. J., Hoagwood, K., & Kessler, R. C. (2015). School mental health resources and adolescent mental health service use. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 52 (5), 501-510.
MAHPA (2018) Children and Youth Mental health. Retrieved from https://www.mhapa.org/children-youth/
Wissow, L. S., van Ginneken, N., Chandna, J., & Rahman, A. (2016). Integrating children’s mental health into primary care. Pediatric Clinics , 63 (1), 97-113.
