School of Nursing, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Nurs Clin North Am. 2010 Dec;45(4):627-34, vii. doi: 10.1016/j.cnur.2010.06.005.
Americans are living longer than ever before in history. With age comes an increased risk for chronic mental health disorders. About 1 in 8 baby boomers is expected to be diagnosed with Alzheimer disease, which will amount to some ten million members of this age cohort. The prevalence of mental health disorders among the elderly is often unrecognized. One in four older adults lives with depression, anxiety disorders, or other significant psychiatric disorders. Mental health disorders are frequently comorbid in older adults, occurring with a number of common chronic illnesses such as in diabetes, cardiac disease, and arthritis. The public is becoming more aware of the aging of the population and the difficulties that are exacerbated by unmet services and limited access to mental health services. This article describes policy issues related to chronic mental health disorders and the older population. Mental health parity, a recent policy issue occurring at the national level, is discussed first followed by workforce issues specific to the discipline of nursing.
美国人的寿命比以往任何时候都长。随着年龄的增长，患慢性心理健康障碍的风险也会增加。预计每 8 名婴儿潮一代中就有 1 人将被诊断出患有老年痴呆症，这将使这一年龄段的成员达到 1000 万左右。老年人的心理健康障碍往往未被识别。四分之一的老年人患有抑郁症、焦虑症或其他严重的精神疾病。在老年人中，精神健康障碍常常同时存在，与许多常见的慢性疾病如糖尿病、心脏病和关节炎同时发生。公众越来越意识到人口老龄化以及由于服务不足和获得心理健康服务的机会有限而加剧的困难。本文描述了与慢性心理健康障碍和老年人口相关的政策问题。首先讨论了最近在国家一级出现的精神健康平等政策问题，然后讨论了护理学科特有的劳动力问题。
