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NOTEWORTHY FEATUREReducing smoking in the mental health community
Sharon Bennett, RN, DNS, is concerned about the high rate of smoking among U.S. mental health patients. About 50 percent of those patients smoke, compared to 21.9 percent of the general population. As a newly appointed member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Tobacco Dependence Task Force, Bennett will assist in the development of goals and an action plan to help psychiatric nurses reduce smoking in the mental health community. Bennett, an assistant professor in the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) Department of Biobehavioral Nursing, is one of 15 psychiatric nurses selected for the task force, created in partnership with the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, a national program office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Many people with chronic mental illness are on psychotropic medications that increase the chance of metabolic syndrome, which is the combination of hypertension, obesity and diabetes,” Bennett says. “That chance significantly increases when you add smoking to the mix.” Smoking also exacerbates social and economic problems in the mental health community, she says. “There’s a stigma associated with smoking, and people with chronic mental illnesses are already ostracized,” she says. “Because many patients with serious mental illness have low incomes or are disabled and unable to work, a disproportionate amount of their incomes is spent on cigarettes.” Nicotine dependence is recognized as a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but is often overlooked in treatment. Bennett would like to see that changed. “Mental health professionals have always been more concerned with the mental health aspect of the patient and think of tobacco dependence as a low priority in comparison,” Bennett says. “I would like to see tobacco treated as a high priority like other substance addictions, because it has devastating physical effects on the body and is still the number-one preventable cause of death and disability in the country.” Bennett, who joined the faculty in 2004, is director of clinical services for MCG’s Tobacco Treatment Clinic. She is a certified clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatric and mental health nursing and a certified tobacco treatment specialist. Noteworthy items: |
