Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet – Mental Illness
Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid
Identify the Population Health concern you selected. | The selected population health concern is mental illness. | |
Describe the Population Health concern you selected. | Mental illnesses are conditions that affect the individual’s psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Mental health helps determine how an individual handles stress, makes healthy choices, relates to others, and affects how they act, feel, and think. Mental illness is categorized into any mental illness and serious mental illness. Any mental illness includes all known mental illnesses, while serious mental illness includes more severe illnesses that subset any mental illness. In 2021, approximately 57.8 million adults aged 18 years and older, which translates to 22.8% of the United States population, were diagnosed with any mental illness. The younger population had a higher prevalence of any mental illness compared to adults. On the other hand, approximately 14.1 million adults in the U.S. had severe mental illness in the same year, which translates to 5.5% of the population. Similar to any mental illness, the prevalence of serious mental illness in the young population was high compared to the older population (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). | |
Administration (President Name) | President Joe Biden | President Barack Obama |
Explain how each of the two presidential administrations approached the issue. | President Biden has published an all-inclusive nationwide strategy to change mental health understanding, treatment, access, and integration of healthcare settings. The strategy entails strengthening system capacity and mental health workforce by increasing the diversity and size of behavioral health workers, expanding peer support access, crisis response enhancement, and proven models of care expansion. In addition, the strategy aims to connect more Americans to care through the provision of mental health services in schools, making it easier to find help and support workers in mental health (The White House, 2023). | President Obama played an important role in intertwining health and mental health. His administration aimed at the expansion of mental health access to all Americans, enabling them to stay and get healthy. Obama oversaw the passing of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008. The established regulations ensured substance use and mental health disorders benefits equal surgical and medical benefits by healthcare insurers. Furthermore, insurance companies were now required to cover a variety of behavioral services and treatments. (Mental Health Care Centre, 2014). |
Identify the allocations of resources that the current and previous presidents dedicated to this issue. | President Biden’s budget includes the following;
· $2 billion allocation for a Mental Health System Transformation Fund to expand mental health services access. · Approximately $628 million has been allocated for the school-based mental health workforce and youth incarceration expansion. · An additional $1.778 billion was put into the Community Mental Health Block Grant to enable parity and access. · $2.45 billion has been awarded to the National Institute of Mental Health to support better diagnosis and treatment. · $936 million was allocated for response to a crisis (The White House, 2023). |
President Obama’s budgetary allocation was as follows:
· Obama’s total budget amounted to $4 trillion · An annual budget of $31.3 billion was awarded to mental health research. · $3.666 billion was allocated to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration · Approximately $177 million was awarded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support lower-income people with disabilities that are long-term. · $7.5 billion in funding was allocated to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for the mental health care of veterans (The White House, 2015). |
Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis
Administration | |
Which administrative agency (like HHS, CDC, FDA, OHSA) would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected? Why is this agency the most helpful?
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the most likely governmental organization in authority that would help address the mental health issue. It is a principal agency of the United States tasked to protect Americans’ health and provide indispensable human services. Moreover, it plays a role in the formulation and implementation of healthcare initiatives and policies, including mental health programs (Brach & Borsky, 2020). The department has different offices and departments, such as the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, whose purpose is mental health prevention, treatment, and promotion. The department is also tasked with ensuring that Americans have access to quality mental health services. The department’s role is to inform healthcare decision-makers on various public health concerns, develop healthcare workforces, and develop and evaluate health practices and technologies. Moreover, it is their duty to monitor the quality of healthcare offered by various providers (Brach & Borsky, 2020). |
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the presidential agenda? How does it stay there? | Mental illness is a public health concern that is continuously increasing. More than 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with any serious mental illness. On the other hand, over 1 in 5, youths are currently or have had a mental illness in their life. Approximately 1 out of 25 adults in the U.S. lives with a serious mental disorder like major depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. This can be attributed to the increase in the number of pre-existing conditions that directly or predispose one to mental illness. These factors include drug abuse, biological factors, isolation feelings, and adverse childhood experiences such as child abuse and sexual assault. In addition, the mental health access status across the country is not well operational. It is estimated that one mental health provider is responsible for 350 individuals. About 59.8% of youth and 22.87% of adults are reported not to get any mental health treatment (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). These statistics show only the tip of the iceberg of real mental illness among the population. The numbers further call for passing regulations and policies to tackle the public health issue. For this reason, these health issues must remain on the presidential agenda until the statistics are appealing. |
Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor (this can be a celebrity, a legislator, an agency director, or others) of the healthcare issue you selected? An example is Michael J. Fox, a champion for Parkinson’s disease. | Lady Gaga would be my preferred sponsor. She is a renowned musician, advocate, and champion of mental health. She has gone public about her mental health struggles and has used her huge following on social platforms to promote and raise awareness of mental health initiatives. Lady Gaga’s influence, passion, and experience make her stand out as the perfect advocate who can effectively bring in public support and engage legislators in addressing the health issue. |
Part 3: Mental Illness Fact Sheet
Mental illness is an epidemic that is growing and becoming more common in the United States. In the USA, it is estimated that more than 1 out of 5 adults live with a mental illness. This translates to approximately 57.8 million people with any mental illnesses and 14.1 million individuals with serious mental illnesses. This surge can be attributed to the increase in predisposing factors of mental illness, such as unemployment and hard economic environments. Both any and serious mental illnesses have had a growing prevalence in all age population brackets. Young adults had a higher prevalence of any mental illness and serious mental illness compared to other age groups. Gender-wise, females had a higher prevalence of both types of mental illness compared to males. Painting further the mental illness picture, the population diagnosed with mental illness does not fully get the appropriate mental health care to have them get and stay healthy. In 2021, out of the 57.8 million people diagnosed with any mental illness, only 47.2% received mental health services. On the other hand, of the 14.1 million people with serious mental illnesses, only 65.4% received the appropriate mental health treatment (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023).
The gap between those diagnosed with a mental disorder and those who obtain the respective mental health treatment can be associated with many reasons, including unawareness of where to seek help and being unable to afford mental health treatment. Therefore, it is important that mental illness discussions continue to ensure that mental health access is increased. Consequently, mental health issues will rise and continue to be part of the presidential agenda until there are indicative statics that it has been solved.
Role of Nurses in Agenda Setting
Dealing with mental health issues requires all hands on deck, including those of professionals, especially nurses. Firstly, nurses are the primary caregivers to patients; therefore, they understand the early signs and symptoms of a person with a mental illness. In addition, nurses are the perfect point source for promoting mental health and advocating for people with mental illness. Lastly, nurses have first-hand information about the experiences and needs of individuals with mental illness, which makes them a critical input in policy implementation and development.
References
Brach, C., & Borsky, A. (2020). How the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Promotes Health Literate Health Care. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 269, 313–323. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI200046
Mental Health Care Centre. (2014). Making Health Care Better. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/mental_health_report_final.pdf
National Institute of Mental Health. (2023, March). Mental illness. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
The White House. (2015, December). Improving Health for All Americans. Whitehouse.gov; Whitehouse. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/health-care
The White House. (2023, May 18). Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Tackle Nation’s Mental Health Crisis. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/18/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-actions-to-tackle-nations-mental-health-crisis/
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Question
It may seem to you that healthcare has been a national topic of debate among political leaders for as long as you can remember.
Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet – Mental Illness
Healthcare has been a policy item and a topic of debate not only in recent times but as far back as the administration of the second U.S. president, John Adams. In 1798, Adams signed legislation requiring that 20 cents per month of a sailor’s paycheck be set aside for covering their medical bills. This represented the first major piece of U.S. healthcare legislation, and the topic of healthcare has been woven into presidential agendas and political debates ever since.
As a healthcare professional, you may be called upon to provide expertise, guidance, and/or opinions on healthcare matters as they are debated for inclusion in new policy. You may also be involved in planning new organizational policies and responding to changes in legislation. For all of these reasons, you should be prepared to speak to national healthcare issues making the news.
In this Assignment, you will analyze recent presidential healthcare agendas. You also will prepare a fact sheet to communicate the importance of a healthcare issue and the impact of this recent or proposed policy on this issue.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
To Prepare:
Review the agenda priorities of the current/sitting U.S. president and at least one previous presidential administration.
Select an issue related to healthcare that was addressed by two U.S. presidential administrations (current and previous).
Consider how you would communicate the importance of a healthcare issue to a legislator/policymaker or a member of their staff for inclusion on the agenda.
Use your Week 1 Discussion post to help with this assignment.
The Assignment is (a 1—to 2-page Comparison Grid, 1-page Analysis, and 1-page narrative) with a title page. This is an APA paper. Use 2-3 course resources and at least 2 outside resources.
Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid
Use the Agenda Comparison Grid Template found in the Learning Resources and complete Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid based on the current/sitting U.S. president and the previous president, and their agendas related to the population health concern you selected. Be sure to address the following:
Identify and provide a brief description of the population health concern you selected.
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.
Identify the allocation of resources that the presidents dedicated to this issue.
Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis
Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid on the template, complete the Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis portion of the template, by addressing the following:
Which administrative agency (like HHS, CDC, FDA, OHSA) would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected and why is this agency the most helpful for the issue?
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might be included on the presidential agenda? How long do you think it will stay there?
An entrepreneur/champion/sponsor helps to move the issue forward. Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/champion/sponsor (this can be a celebrity, a legislator, an agency director, or others) of the healthcare issue you selected and why would this person be a good entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor? An example is Michael J. Fox, who is a champion for Parkinson’s disease.
Part 3: Fact Sheet
Using the information recorded on the template in Parts 1 and 2, develop a 1-page fact sheet that you could use to communicate with a policymaker/legislator or a member of their staff about this healthcare issue. Be sure to address the following:
Summarize why this healthcare issue is important and should be included in the agenda for legislation.
Justify the role of the nurse in agenda-setting for healthcare issues.