HealthForumOnline Updates Online CE Course on Stress and Health for Mental Healthcare Providers
Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 27, 2016 -- HealthForumOnline (HFO), a nationally-approved (APA, ASWB, NBCC, NYSED Social Work Board) provider of online continuing education (CE) for psychologists, social workers, counselors, therapists, and other allied professionals announces recent updates to its online CE course, Stress and Health: An Introduction to Mind-Body Approaches to Healing from their extensive online CE resource library.
Exposure to stress is widespread and inevitable. “Stress in America,” a recent survey by the American Psychological Association (1), found 25% of Americans believe stress has a strong or very strong impact on their physical health -- this percent is even higher among millennials (30%) and parents (31%). Chronic stress may be the most common contributor to ill health in modern societies (2).
As the link between stress and illness becomes more evident, it is important for healthcare providers to understand patient’s stress-related symptoms, as well as to remain knowledgeable about effective, yet simple, techniques to manage it. Ancient non-pharmacologic “Mind-Body” approaches, like meditation and yoga, are in greater use today than ever as a means of reducing stress and enhancing health (3-4). These approaches have proven success as complements or alternatives to traditional Western medicine in treating various mental and/or physical illnesses, including depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, migraines, chronic pain, and cancer treatment-related symptoms (e.g., 5-9). Moreover, in light of the current opioid epidemic, the need for better education among healthcare providers in non-pharmacologic treatment strategies is ever more apparent.
This newly updated online CE course defines stress and its impact on health. The clinical application of stress management in the healthcare context is addressed and the evidence supporting the two most widely used approaches - mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) and yoga – are reviewed.
Mental health professionals can chose from over 20 categories of CE topics related to health psychology and behavioral medicine (i.e., ethics, women’s health, cultural diversity, eating disorders, reproduction/sexuality, aging/gerontology, chemical dependency, chronic/acute illness, long-term care, neuropsychology, pain management, spirituality, LGBT issues). HFO’s online CE courses are fast, convenient and cost-effective.
For more information on this course or a complete listing of HFO’s 108 CE courses in our online CE resource library, visit HealthForumOnline.com.
1. APA (2015). Stress in America, Paying with our health. Washington, DC, American Psychological Association.
2. Duhault, J.L. (2002). Stress prevention and management: a challenge for patients and physicians. Metabolism, 6(51), 46-48.
3. National Institutes of Health. (2015). What complementary and integrative approaches do Americans use? Key findings from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. Accessed March 30, 2016 from https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/key-findings
4. Khoury, B., et al. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals, A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78(6), 519-28.
5. Burnett-Zeigler, I., et al. (2016). Mind–body approaches to treating mental health symptoms among disadvantaged populations, A comprehensive review. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 22(2), 115-124.
6. Younge, J.O., et al. (2015). Mind-body practices for patients with cardiac disease, A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 22(11), 1385-1398.
7. Desveaux, L., et al. (2015). Yoga in the management of chronic disease, A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medical Care, 53(7), 653-661.
8. Zhang, M.F., et al. (2015). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy for reducing anxiety and depression in patients with cancer, A meta-analysis. Medicine, 94(45), e0897-0.
9. Derry, H.M., et al. (2015). Yoga and self-reported cognitive problems in breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trail. Psychooncology, 24(8), 958-966.
Michelle Rodoletz, Ph.D., HealthForumOnline, http://www.healthforumonline.com, +1 (215) 887-6669, [email protected]
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