Mentored Activity: Patients’ Emotional Wellness
According to the ACLM guidelines, “All patients should be screened initially and periodically for signs of unhealthy stress responses and stress-related conditions such as depression.” In this mentoring activity, you will check on the patient emotional wellness and work together on any issues you may discover.
- Invite your project patient for a medical visit.
- Ask about his/her emotional wellness (well-being).
- Apply the DASS questionnaire.
- Assess whether his/her emotional well-being needs to be improved.
- Offer components of emotional wellness self-management and ask for his/her thoughts.
- Assess ‘Importance’ and ‘Confidence’ - Can he/she incorporate a small stress reduction behavioral change to the Action Plan?
- Use motivational interview tools such as Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, etc., to increase the probability of success.
- Ask your patient to visit or phone weekly to report on his/her Action Plan, Successes, and Challenges. Adapt as needed.
- Write a summary of the visit and ask for your mentor’s reflections on it.