Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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Religious coping in highly religious psychiatric inpatients
- Author:
- PIEPER Joseph Z. P.
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Religion and Culture, 7(4), December 2004, pp.349-363.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study among highly religious psychiatric patients in a mental hospital in the Netherlands focused on the following issues: their religious and spiritual beliefs and activities; their religious coping activities, measured using Pargament's three coping styles and a positive religious coping scale; the influence of religious coping on psychological and existential well-being; and the predictive value of general religiousness, as compared with religious coping activities, regarding psychological and existential well-being. For this population of inpatients, religion had a positive influence on their ways of dealing with mental problems; religious coping was positively correlated with existential and psychological well-being. General religiousness as well as religious coping were positively correlated with existential well-being, whereas psychological well-being primarily was predicted by positive religious coping. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical notions of religious coping, addressing in particular the positive influence of religious beliefs, relying on God, religious activities and religious social support in psychological and existential times of crisis.
Ward watch: Mind's campaign to improve hospital conditions for mental health patients
- Author:
- MIND
- Publisher:
- MIND
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 25p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This report reveals two extremes of hospital conditions: for some patients, the hospital environment has provided the treatment and support needed to help them recover; for others, poor accommodation and security, safety concerns, insufficient staffing levels and intense boredom have exacerbated existing difficulties and created new ones, subjecting patients to an environment that is inhumane where it should be therapeutic.
The construction of religious and cultural meaning in Egyptian psychiatric patient charts
- Author:
- COKER Elizabeth M.
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Religion and Culture, 7(4), December 2004, pp.323-347.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This paper explores the use of religious symbols and metaphors in Egyptian psychiatric inpatient charts to portray psychiatric pathology and, by extension, the role that religious symbols play in constructing psychiatric illnesses. This represents a deconstruction of patient charts, assuming that the psychiatrist chooses aspects of family and patient discourse which best represent unexamined cultural ideas of person and illness, normality and abnormality. All of the psychiatrists writing the charts were Egyptian and shared much of the same cultural background with their patients, excluding their medical training. Therefore, while chart discourse is used to justify a psychiatric diagnosis, it is also the product of a shared cultural history; a tacit agreement about what constitutes a meaningful story. This paper focuses mainly upon discourse that has religious connotations, for the reason that these seemed to be more invested with cultural meaning than other delusional themes. These religious symbols and metaphors are interpreted in light of their symbolic associations with certain existential states, the family unit and with society as a whole.
Identified problems and service utilization patterns among kinship families accessing mental health services
- Authors:
- SMITHGALL Cheryl, MASON Sally
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 9(3), 2004, pp.41-55.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study examined the mental health problems and service utilization patterns of kinship families who accessed services in an urban outpatient child psychiatry clinic. A random sample of children who completed the intake process during a calendar year yielded 47 children, or 19% of the sample, whose primary caregiver was a relative, other than a biological parent; approximately half of those families were involved with the child welfare system. Data from an administrative database and from medical records describe the diagnoses, identified problems, and services used by the kinship families. Academic or school-related problems emerged as an identified problem in approximately half of the kinship cases, but school intervention was not a primary target for clinicians. The kinship sample was also compared with a random stratified sample of children who were living with primary caregivers other than kin. Kinship families were more likely to be African-American, but few differences were found between kin and non-kin cases on diagnoses and frequency, duration, or type of services received. The findings suggest that collaboration with schools might increase the engagement and retention of kinship families in mental health services. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580)
An evaluation of mental health services for the culturally diverse
- Author:
- FALKENSTEIN Sandra
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, 3(3), 2004, pp.53-74.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The purpose of this project was to examine the needs of multicultural populations in the mental health system, and see how these needs get addressed in current policies. As a social worker in the mental health system, the author wanted to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of service providers in their ability to meet the needs of diverse populations. In doing this research, she hoped to make a space for people whose families have had to deal with mental health services, and explore the experiences of those who have not had the opportunity to discuss them. In addition, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to a body of increased knowledge on how the mental health system treats people who belong to a cultural minority. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580)
Clinical practice guidelines in mental health: a guide to their use in improving care
- Editors:
- WHITTY Paula, ECCLES Martin
- Publisher:
- Radcliffe
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 133p.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
The book covers a wide range of topics including the nuts and bolts of guideline development, potential pitfalls of using or not using guidelines, details of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and its collaborating centres, reference to equivalent work in Scotland and feedback on the process of using guideless at trust and primary care level. With over 50 clinical practice guidelines in development, the UK’s National Health Service has probably the largest guideline programme of any healthcare system in the world. Although seemingly directed towards mental health, this book has general applicability and will be valuable to anyone involved with guideline development and implementation.
Assaultive behaviour in state psychiatric hospitals: differences between forensic and nonforensic patients
- Authors:
- LINHORST Donald M., SCOTT Lisa Parker
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(8), August 2004, pp.857-874.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Forensic patients are occupying an increasingly large number of beds in state psychiatric hospitals. The presence of these mentally ill offenders has raised concerns about the risk they present to nonforensic patients. This study compared the rate of assaults and factors associated with assaultive behavior among 308 nonforensic patients and two groups of forensic patients including 469 patients found not guilty by reason of insanity and 76 pretrial patients. Consistent with other studies, nonforensic patients had higher rates of assaults than either group of forensic patients. However, being a forensic patient did not affect the odds of assault when controlling for the effects of demographic and clinical variables in a multivariate logistic regression analysis. Factors associated with assaults in each of the three patient groups were identified using multivariate analyses. Implications are presented for treatment of assaultive behavior, mixing of forensic and nonforensic patients within state hospitals, forensic release policies, and future research.
The use of ‘drug dogs’ in psychiatry
- Authors:
- GORDON Harvey, HAIDER Daniel
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 28(6), June 2004, pp.196-198.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
The undertaking of drug dog searches on psychiatric units, being premised on the need to create and maintain a safe therapeutic environment, precludes the obtaining of consent by patients or affording to them any advance warning that such a search is to take place. It would be unreasonable for such a search to be prevented due to refusal of consent by patients with illegal drugs in their possession. Similarly, patients cannot usually be informed in advance as that would defeat the purpose by enabling patients to remove any illegal drugs prior to the search. Patients should, however, be informed generally that drug dogs may be brought in at various times without them knowing specifically exactly when. Staff themselves may have differing views on the use of drug dogs, though no surveys in psychiatric units have been published. Extensive discussion is therefore appropriate on units where such an approach is being introduced.
The approved social worker's guide to mental health law
- Author:
- BROWN Robert
- Publisher:
- Bournemouth University
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 128p.
- Place of publication:
- Poole
This book has been primarily written for those on the Mental Health Social Work Award (ASW) courses or those helping to provide placement opportunities for ASW trainees. It will also be of use to practising ASWs, other mental health professionals, service users and carers. Contents: civil admissions, guardianship, supervised aftercare; relatives and carers; the role of the approved social worker; patients concerned in criminal proceedings;and consent to treatment and mental capacity. Summaries of current mental health law are provided.
Treating dangerous and severe personality disorder in high security: lessons from the Regional Psychiatric Centre, Saskatoon, Canada
- Authors:
- MADEN A., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 15(3), September 2004, pp.375-390.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Describes the approach to risk reduction at the Centre, making legal and institutional comparisons with the new Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) Service to be established in high security hospitals in England and Wales. The Centre applies cognitive behavioural techniques to reduce recidivism, and current evidence suggests the same approach should form the core of the treatment regime in DSPD units. The key to success is the strict management of programme integrity, to deliver intensive treatment tailored to the individual's abilities and readiness to accept change. The Stages of Change model, derived from addictions, allows planning, monitoring and evaluation. It plays an important role in maintaining staff morale by providing an objective measure of success within a reasonable time frame. The service will require effective management and sophisticated information systems to support these developments. The Centre has the advantage of clear pathways through the service. Patients are able to return to an ordinary prison whenever they wish, and the average length of stay is about 2 years. The service will have to guard against beds becoming blocked by long-stay patients with no way out of the service. Long term hospital incarceration is an expensive and inefficient way of protecting the public, and a unit with a high proportion of long-stay patients would find it hard to sustain a therapeutic ethos, with a consequent threat to staff morale.