A community mental-health nurse case manager is asked by the local program for aging services to help establish a mental-illness primary prevention program for the elderly residents of an assisted-living apartment complex. An appropriate strategy would be to:

Question

a. invite all residents of the apartment complex to an education program on mental illness
b. contact each resident's primary care providers to obtain risk for mental illness profiles
c. conduct medication education group sessions at the apartment complex
d. provide individual counseling sessions for a prepaid monthly fee

Answer 1

A
Inviting residents of the apartment complex to an education program on mental illness is the most appropriate strategy. Primary prevention activities refer to activities aimed at reducing the incidence of a mental disorder within a population. The emphasis lies in targeting population groups at risk of developing the mental disorder and environmental factors that may contribute to it. By inviting residents to the education program, the nurse is providing an activity directed at the target population with the intent to reduce the risk of mental illness within the aggregate of the population.