Dr. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk is a seasoned pediatric nurse practitioner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, educator, researcher and author. She is a nationally/internationally recognized expert in evidence-based practice, intervention research, child and adolescent mental health, and health and wellness, and is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences on these topics.
Dr. Melnyk has consulted with hundreds of healthcare systems and colleges throughout the nation and globe on how to improve quality of care and patient outcomes through implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice. Her record includes over 19 million dollars of sponsored funding from federal agencies as principal investigator and over 280 publications. Dr. Melnyk is co-editor of four books, including Evidence-based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice, Implementing EBP: Real World Success Stories, A Practical Guide to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Screening, Early Intervention, and Health Promotion (2nd Ed), and Intervention Research: Designing, Conducting, Analyzing and Funding, an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award winner. Dr. Melnyk is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She served a four-year term on the 16-member United States Preventive Services Task Force and currently serves as a member of the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Behavioral Health Standing Committee and the National Institutes of Health’s National Advisory Council for Nursing Research.
Dr. Melnyk also serves as editor of the journal, Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing, and is a board member of U.S. Healthiest, the National Guideline Clearinghouse and the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse (NGC/NQMC). Dr. Melnyk has received numerous national and international awards, including the Audrey Hepburn Award, Mary Tolle Wright Excellence in Leadership Award, Research Hall of Fame Award from Sigma Theta Tau International, the Jessie Scott Award from the American Nurses Association for the improvement of healthcare quality through the integration of research, education and practice, the 2012 Midwest Nursing Research Society Senior Scientist award, the NIH/National Institute of Nursing Research’s inaugural director’s lectureship award, and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Melnyk also is founder of COPE2Thrive, a company that disseminates her COPE programs.
Questions & Answers
I have extracted the first 7 cognitive behavioral skills building sessions from the 15-session COPE Healthy Lifestyles TEEN program and refined them specifically for teens with anxiety and/or elevated depressive symptoms. I now have multiple studies that have found the shorter 7-session program to be effective for reducing depression, anxiety, and anger as well as improving self-esteem in teens. Healthcare providers are delivering this 7-session version of COPE in primary care settings and obtaining reimbursement for it, and I have an on-line version of the 7-session program available for teens.
I also have an adapted version of the shorter 7-session COPE program for children ages 7 to 11 years and young adults from 18 to 24 years that have been found to be effective in improving outcomes in these age groups. The 15-session COPE Healthy Lifestyles TEEN program has been used with groups of teens in YMCAs and school-based health centers. In addition, the 15-session program has been pilot tested with 6th and 8th grade children with excellent outcomes.
More information about all of these programs can be found at www.COPE2THRIVE.com.
I do not see any audiences in which it should not be adapted as these are life coping and cognitive-behavioral skills that would help all children and teens.
The best facilitator strategy is to just to follow the manual to a “tee” when delivering the program. Youth truly enjoy the program because it structured and they know what to expect from session to session; healthcare professionals, teachers, social workers, psychologists, nurses, and counselors really like it because they do not have to create any materials; everything is manualized for use.
I have an evaluation questionnaire that we use after the program is completed that I am happy to share with anyone who would like to see it. I also am happy to share any of the tools that we used in evaluating the program in our studies.
I continue to work with others to adapt and test versions of COPE with different ages and conditions of children, teens, college youth, and now adults/older adults.
One of my former PhD students adapted and tested a version of COPE with adolescent affected by chronic daily headaches; another PhD student adapted a version of COPE for parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer, and yet another adapted it for parents of overweight/obese pre-school children in primary care settings.
It has endless possibilities for adaptation and use.