Mental Health & Trauma

We explore a variety of psychological and psychiatric topics, including trauma-related stress and growth.

Mental health is the capacity of an individual's emotional and cognitive functioning. A person's mental health shows itself through their mood and emotions, behavior, and thinking and processing. Poor mental health can be attributed to many factors, including organic (abnormalities in the brain and hormones), genetic, social (such as gender, ethnicity, social class, and trauma), and situational (like stressful situations and substance abuse).

Trauma, in the context of mental health, is the psychological response caused by a distressing event (also known as a traumatic experience). Some survivors of trauma develop Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that can severely impact a person's mental and physical health and limit their ability to function in society. Posttraumatic growth, by contrast, is when trauma survivors make personal improvement in their lives following the traumatic experience.

Kent State nurse researchers are exploring the mental health of patients across the lifespan, posttraumatic stress and growth, and the preparedness of psychiatric/mental health care providers.

Affiliated Faculty

• Stacy Miner, Ph.D., RN, CCRP
  Focus: Evaluating and improving the symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders
• Amy Petrinec, Ph.D., RN
  Focus: Family member posttraumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms and coping strategies when making decisions for chronically, critically ill patients.
• James Tudhope, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
  Focus: Better alignment for early entry APRNs in community mental health with patients who have established complex integrative needs.
• Andrea Warner Stidham, Ph.D., MSN, RN
  Focus: Psychiatric and/or mental health issues, as well as children, adolescents, and adults with posttraumatic growth; posttraumatic growth in people who have experienced traumatic life events, including sexual violence, spousal deployment, foster care, and HIV.

Recent Publications & Presentations

Stidham, A. W., & Schoenewald, C. (2019, October). Experiences of post traumatic growth among foster care alumni. Poster presented at the Sigma Theta Tau International Rho Nu-at-Large Fall Scholarly Meeting, Ashland, Ohio.

Stidham, A. W., & Schoenewald, C. (2019, October). The experience of post-traumatic growth by foster care alumni. Poster presented for the APNA 33rd Annual Research Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana

Stidham, A. W., & Ross, R. (2019, October). The experiences of post-traumatic growth among very low resource people living with HIV. Poster presented for the APNA 33rd Annual Research Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Schoenewald, C., & Stidham, A. W. (2019, October). Perspectives of foster care among college student foster care alumni. Poster presented at the APNA 33rd Annual Research Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Warner Stidham, A., & Schoenewald, C. (2019, March). The experiences of posttraumatic growth among foster care alumni. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Kansas City, MO.

Petrinec, A., & Chen, K. (2019, March). Post-intensive care syndrome-family: Feasibility of cognitive behavioral therapy app. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Research Conference of the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Kansas City, MO.

Stidham, A. W. (2018, August). Correlates of posttraumatic growth in spouses of U.S. Service members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Poster presented at the 2018 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), Kissimmee, Florida.

Ross, R., Shahrour, G., Warner Stidham, A., & Delahanty, D. L. (2017). The psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF among Thai women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 25(3), 389-399. doi:10.1891/1061-3749.25.3.389

Recent Grants