Donna Schuman | University of Texas at Arlington (original) (raw)
Papers by Donna Schuman
Abstracts, 2021
Results Quantitative findings demonstrated significant associations between incarceration history... more Results Quantitative findings demonstrated significant associations between incarceration history and poor mental health, operationalized as higher levels of psychological distress, increased severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms, and delayed treatment of psychosis. Factors associated with this relationship included discrimination, negative police encounters, solitary confinement, and difficulty finding housing and employment. Four themes emerged from the qualitative synthesis including: (1) Social Determinants of Mental Health (2) Pushing Through Emotional Despair (3) Challenges to Health Care Engagement and (4) Gender, Race, and Intersectionality. Black men recently released from incarceration also described neighborhood violence as a contributor to poor mental health and barrier to mental healthcare. Conclusions This review affirms the pervasiveness of mental health concerns in formerly incarcerated Black men but illuminated several gaps in knowledge needed to support individual and community-level interventions. Significance Unmet mental health needs are associated with a multiplicity of injury and violence concerns including substance abuse and suicidality. Addressing gaps in current understandings of the mental health of formerly incarcerated Black men will strengthen opportunities for evidence-based interventions.
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Innovation in Aging
Solo agers are an at-risk population of almost 14 million older U.S. adults currently living alon... more Solo agers are an at-risk population of almost 14 million older U.S. adults currently living alone (Administration for Community Living, 2018). Having been independent for most of their lives they often enter older age unprepared for declining health. Even though the numbers of solo agers are rapidly increasing with the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, research remains scant on this population (Colby & Ortman, 2014). A mounting concern facing solo agers is finding themselves “unbefriended” (i.e., having no one to act as health care proxy in the event of incapacitation due to a medical crisis). The risk of unbefriended status emphasizes the critical importance of advance care planning; however, many solo agers have no advance directives and factors influencing advance care planning in this group are unclear. In this mixed-methods study, we examined factors influencing advance care planning among solo agers. Survey data were collected from 467 members of a Facebook group for self-...
Journal of Veterans Studies
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Abuse: An International Journal
The construct of resilience is usually entered into statistical models as an independent variable... more The construct of resilience is usually entered into statistical models as an independent variable even though scholars assert it should be conceptualised similarly to other post-trauma mental health outcomes (Kalisch et al., 2017). To the best of our knowledge, there are no other published papers using a dependent variable from a standardised resilience assessment and individual trauma exposure item-level responses as predictor variables. 93 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) professionals completed the Life Events Checklist (LEC) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Each response to all LEC questions was entered into a backwards stepwise regression predicting resilience. The backwards stepwise regression was significant F(7, 85) = 9.14, p < .001 and accounted for 38.3% of the variability in resilience. Gender and LEC items 3, 10, 12, and 13 negatively predicted resilience, whereas prior military service and LEC item 14 (sudden violent death) increased resilience. Even 20 months in...
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences
Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by t... more Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects their mental health and makes them a vulnerable population warranting further study. However, to date, no published research has compared non-treatment and treatment-seeking EMS professionals in the same greater metropolitan area. In this study, we examined differences and similarities among the non-treatment-seeking EMS professionals (n = 57) from a local EMS agency and treatment-seeking EMS personnel (n = 53) from a non-profit community treatment center on six assessment instruments that measure attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidality. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, depression, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were significantly higher in the treatment-seeking sample compared to ...
The Journal of Rural Health, 2021
PURPOSE Caring for a family member with chronic illness increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) ri... more PURPOSE Caring for a family member with chronic illness increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by 82%, and rurality imparts additional CVD disparities. The purpose of this study was to describe a profile of rural caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses to determine the prevalence of CVD risk factors, and psychosocial and socioeconomic burden, as well as to compare these variables across gender. METHODS Baseline data from a trial of CVD risk reduction in rural caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses were used. We measured depression and anxiety with the PHQ-9 and Brief Symptom Inventory; social, economic, and environmental factors using the MOS-Social Support and Economic and Environmental surveys; body mass index (BMI); blood pressure (BP); and lipid profile. RESULTS Of 181 caregivers (age 53±14 years, 80% female), 69% were married; 88% were caring for a family member, including 46% caring for a spouse and 18% for a parent. A total of 51% were anxious, 25% depressed, and 25% reported lack of social support. Most (51%) caregivers had one or more types of CVD; and 49% were smokers. By examination, 76% had elevated BP; 35% had total cholesterol >200; 50% low-density lipoprotein >100; 56% triglycerides >150; and 79% high-density lipoprotein <60. Based on BMI, 91.5% were overweight or obese. Gender comparisons revealed that women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than men. CONCLUSIONS Rural caregivers, regardless of gender, are at increased risk of CVD and struggle with factors that make caregiving burdensome and contribute to their own poor cardiac health.
Three papers on military-related posttraumatic stress and emotional numbing symptoms are proposed... more Three papers on military-related posttraumatic stress and emotional numbing symptoms are proposed for this three-paper dissertation. The first paper will be a systematic review of the literature on the psychosocial impact of combat-related emotional numbing symptoms in veterans. The second paper will utilize a phenomenological approach to analyze veteran's posttraumatic stress stories using transcripts of 'milvlogs' (military video web blogs) and interviews with vloggers. The third paper will present the results of a pilot study analyzing the impact of a single session of heart rate variability biofeedback on military-related emotional numbing symptoms and the use of a mobile phone app to reinforce practice. In aggregate, these three papers underscore the impact of emotional numbing symptoms in military populations with posttraumatic stress injury, and alternative paths to healing that utilize technology.
Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies
Older Congolese refugees face more challenges upon resettlement in the U. S. compared to younger ... more Older Congolese refugees face more challenges upon resettlement in the U. S. compared to younger refugees. We compared the convoy and bioecological models to explicate the challenges faced by older...
Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
Researchers using online ethnographic methods to study military communities must employ higher st... more Researchers using online ethnographic methods to study military communities must employ higher standards of ethical practice. Military populations may face significant risk if reidentified in research. These requirements are especially salient for online data collection. This review questions how and to what extent military online ethnographers are addressing ethics considerations. We charted evidence from seven military studies using an online ethnographic method. Findings reveal that most online military ethnographers did not utilize sufficient ethical safeguards in their studies. Additionally, they did not document or transparently disclose the ethical steps they may have taken. This study argues implementing ethical safeguards is especially important for protecting vulnerable military populations. We present a strategy for evaluating ethics practices in online ethnographic research and provide best practices for military online ethnographers.
Journal of Teaching in Social Work
Abstracts, 2021
Results Quantitative findings demonstrated significant associations between incarceration history... more Results Quantitative findings demonstrated significant associations between incarceration history and poor mental health, operationalized as higher levels of psychological distress, increased severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms, and delayed treatment of psychosis. Factors associated with this relationship included discrimination, negative police encounters, solitary confinement, and difficulty finding housing and employment. Four themes emerged from the qualitative synthesis including: (1) Social Determinants of Mental Health (2) Pushing Through Emotional Despair (3) Challenges to Health Care Engagement and (4) Gender, Race, and Intersectionality. Black men recently released from incarceration also described neighborhood violence as a contributor to poor mental health and barrier to mental healthcare. Conclusions This review affirms the pervasiveness of mental health concerns in formerly incarcerated Black men but illuminated several gaps in knowledge needed to support individual and community-level interventions. Significance Unmet mental health needs are associated with a multiplicity of injury and violence concerns including substance abuse and suicidality. Addressing gaps in current understandings of the mental health of formerly incarcerated Black men will strengthen opportunities for evidence-based interventions.
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Innovation in Aging
Solo agers are an at-risk population of almost 14 million older U.S. adults currently living alon... more Solo agers are an at-risk population of almost 14 million older U.S. adults currently living alone (Administration for Community Living, 2018). Having been independent for most of their lives they often enter older age unprepared for declining health. Even though the numbers of solo agers are rapidly increasing with the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, research remains scant on this population (Colby & Ortman, 2014). A mounting concern facing solo agers is finding themselves “unbefriended” (i.e., having no one to act as health care proxy in the event of incapacitation due to a medical crisis). The risk of unbefriended status emphasizes the critical importance of advance care planning; however, many solo agers have no advance directives and factors influencing advance care planning in this group are unclear. In this mixed-methods study, we examined factors influencing advance care planning among solo agers. Survey data were collected from 467 members of a Facebook group for self-...
Journal of Veterans Studies
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Abuse: An International Journal
The construct of resilience is usually entered into statistical models as an independent variable... more The construct of resilience is usually entered into statistical models as an independent variable even though scholars assert it should be conceptualised similarly to other post-trauma mental health outcomes (Kalisch et al., 2017). To the best of our knowledge, there are no other published papers using a dependent variable from a standardised resilience assessment and individual trauma exposure item-level responses as predictor variables. 93 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) professionals completed the Life Events Checklist (LEC) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Each response to all LEC questions was entered into a backwards stepwise regression predicting resilience. The backwards stepwise regression was significant F(7, 85) = 9.14, p < .001 and accounted for 38.3% of the variability in resilience. Gender and LEC items 3, 10, 12, and 13 negatively predicted resilience, whereas prior military service and LEC item 14 (sudden violent death) increased resilience. Even 20 months in...
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences
Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by t... more Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects their mental health and makes them a vulnerable population warranting further study. However, to date, no published research has compared non-treatment and treatment-seeking EMS professionals in the same greater metropolitan area. In this study, we examined differences and similarities among the non-treatment-seeking EMS professionals (n = 57) from a local EMS agency and treatment-seeking EMS personnel (n = 53) from a non-profit community treatment center on six assessment instruments that measure attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidality. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, depression, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were significantly higher in the treatment-seeking sample compared to ...
The Journal of Rural Health, 2021
PURPOSE Caring for a family member with chronic illness increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) ri... more PURPOSE Caring for a family member with chronic illness increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by 82%, and rurality imparts additional CVD disparities. The purpose of this study was to describe a profile of rural caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses to determine the prevalence of CVD risk factors, and psychosocial and socioeconomic burden, as well as to compare these variables across gender. METHODS Baseline data from a trial of CVD risk reduction in rural caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses were used. We measured depression and anxiety with the PHQ-9 and Brief Symptom Inventory; social, economic, and environmental factors using the MOS-Social Support and Economic and Environmental surveys; body mass index (BMI); blood pressure (BP); and lipid profile. RESULTS Of 181 caregivers (age 53±14 years, 80% female), 69% were married; 88% were caring for a family member, including 46% caring for a spouse and 18% for a parent. A total of 51% were anxious, 25% depressed, and 25% reported lack of social support. Most (51%) caregivers had one or more types of CVD; and 49% were smokers. By examination, 76% had elevated BP; 35% had total cholesterol >200; 50% low-density lipoprotein >100; 56% triglycerides >150; and 79% high-density lipoprotein <60. Based on BMI, 91.5% were overweight or obese. Gender comparisons revealed that women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than men. CONCLUSIONS Rural caregivers, regardless of gender, are at increased risk of CVD and struggle with factors that make caregiving burdensome and contribute to their own poor cardiac health.
Three papers on military-related posttraumatic stress and emotional numbing symptoms are proposed... more Three papers on military-related posttraumatic stress and emotional numbing symptoms are proposed for this three-paper dissertation. The first paper will be a systematic review of the literature on the psychosocial impact of combat-related emotional numbing symptoms in veterans. The second paper will utilize a phenomenological approach to analyze veteran's posttraumatic stress stories using transcripts of 'milvlogs' (military video web blogs) and interviews with vloggers. The third paper will present the results of a pilot study analyzing the impact of a single session of heart rate variability biofeedback on military-related emotional numbing symptoms and the use of a mobile phone app to reinforce practice. In aggregate, these three papers underscore the impact of emotional numbing symptoms in military populations with posttraumatic stress injury, and alternative paths to healing that utilize technology.
Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies
Older Congolese refugees face more challenges upon resettlement in the U. S. compared to younger ... more Older Congolese refugees face more challenges upon resettlement in the U. S. compared to younger refugees. We compared the convoy and bioecological models to explicate the challenges faced by older...
Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
Researchers using online ethnographic methods to study military communities must employ higher st... more Researchers using online ethnographic methods to study military communities must employ higher standards of ethical practice. Military populations may face significant risk if reidentified in research. These requirements are especially salient for online data collection. This review questions how and to what extent military online ethnographers are addressing ethics considerations. We charted evidence from seven military studies using an online ethnographic method. Findings reveal that most online military ethnographers did not utilize sufficient ethical safeguards in their studies. Additionally, they did not document or transparently disclose the ethical steps they may have taken. This study argues implementing ethical safeguards is especially important for protecting vulnerable military populations. We present a strategy for evaluating ethics practices in online ethnographic research and provide best practices for military online ethnographers.
Journal of Teaching in Social Work