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Essay Instructions: Psychotropic medications and people who receive services from department on disability

People with developmental disabilities may be prescribed psychotropic medications for behavioral or psychiatric reasons. However, it is not sometimes clear whether the reasons for prescribing psychotropic drugs are legitimate. Behavioral side effects associated with these medications can be an overlooked problem for people with developmental disability and can be confused with other psychiatric conditions. This is important because many people with developmental disability can not well communicate the presence of these side effects and problems and are dependent upon others for recognizing them. These medications may provide successful treatment for some people but they should not be the first treatment of choice; positive behavior support approaches must be applied first. Standards, guidelines and procedures must be established for the appropriate use of psychotropic drugs by individuals with developmental disability.

Aim
Assist Department on Disability in reviewing and assessing the effects of psychotropic medications on their clients’ health status.

Objective
To determine the effects of psychotropic medications on the health status of vulnerable clients considering age and gender, correlation of these medications to diagnoses, the rate of various diagnoses against population and whether medications for diagnoses vary according to the severity of cognitive impairment.

Methods
This study will use data from database of Department on Disability. Information on patients’ use of psychotropic medications will be considered in the analysis. I will perform statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel to estimate the relationship between different groups of psychotropic drugs and diagnoses, see if there is any pattern for prescribing these medications for the clients and determine how well medications correlate with diagnoses.

Please follow this template by maintaining the headings of each section:

a. A scientific abstract should be included (at the beginning).

b. Background: Presentation of the issue that is proposed to be the focus of project. A brief justification of need for the activity to be carried out (e.g. research area)

c. Specific Aims: Clear statement of the specific aims of the project

d. Objectives: Clear statements of the principle objectives the project will be assessing

e. Methods: Outline of the proposed program activity methods, the project design, types and sources of the data, and human subjects protections