New Faculty: Sara Bressi Nath Investigates Health-Care Issues and Severe Mental Illness

"Negotiating the health-care system in the United States is difficult for nearly everyone," says Assistant Professor of Social Work and Social Research Sara Bressi Nath. "So imagine how hard it would be if you had a major mental illness."

Nath has more than a passing acquaintance with the logistical problems health care poses to people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and major affective disorders. Her dissertation research, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, examined some of the factors – unrelated to suicide – that reduce the life span of those with severe mental illness an average of 25 years compared to the general population.

"Using a sample in Philadelphia, I looked at patients’ access to health care, in terms of both quantity and quality," Nath says. "I found that this population is actually getting to the doctor pretty frequently, but the quality of care they receive is often not very good. Some of what accounts for this is that the mental-health system is totally divorced from the system that deals with physical health.

"Many of the medications commonly prescribed for major mental illnesses exacerbate certain physical problems, especially obesity. It’s not unusual for medical doctors to be in the dark about treatment regimens that have been prescribed by other practitioners in a different system. That’s an example of the health risk the disconnect between the two systems poses."

Nath earned her Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, where she won the Hal Levin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student in Social Welfare in 2003. While researching her dissertation, Nath did clinical work as a social worker in an inpatient hospice. She has also has worked with a variety of other vulnerable populations, including persons with chronic illnesses and children with autism and other developmental delays; and has contributed to research projects on end-of-life care received by elders living in the community.

"It was a challenge to do the clinical work at the same time I worked on the Ph.D.," she notes, "because my doctoral program was training me to be a researcher, not a clinician. But that clinical experience is priceless when it comes to teaching social work students."

At the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Nath is teaching two of the six foundation courses required of all students – Foundation Practice, an introduction to the basics of social work, and a two-semester human-behavior sequence – as well as an elective course on aging. In the fall, she will supervise an undergraduate in a Praxis course on children’s mental health.

"I love teaching, and this is a great place to do it," says Nath. "Our students are so impressive: they’re very bright, and they’re doing amazing things. And they attack social problems with gusto."

Nath is now developing a research project examining barriers to health care for older adults with severe mental illness. This summer, she’ll attend a seminar designed to prepare junior social work faculty to obtain federal funding. The seminar is hosted by the National Institute on Aging, which operates under the aegis of the National Institutes of Health.

Back to Bryn Mawr Now 5/17/2007

Next story>>