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Mental Health Work (mental + health_work)
Selected AbstractsClinical Responsibility and Client Autonomy: Dilemmas in Mental Health Work at the MarginsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2001Michael Rowe Ph.D. Mental health outreach to homeless persons requires practice standards for cases in which clinical assessment and client autonomy conflict. After reviewing the principles of mental health outreach and presenting case examples, conditions and boundaries within which outreach workers negotiate the clinical responsibility/client autonomy dilemma are discussed. Guidelines to support sound clinical practice while respecting client autonomy are also discussed. [source] Community mental health nursing: Keeping pace with care delivery?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2008Julie Henderson ABSTRACT:, The National Mental Health Strategy has been associated with the movement of service delivery into the community, creating greater demand for community services. The literature suggests that the closure of psychiatric beds and earlier discharge from inpatient services, have contributed to an intensification of the workload of community mental health nurses. This paper reports findings from the first stage of an action research project to develop a workload equalization tool for community mental health nurses. The study presents data from focus groups conducted with South Australian community mental health nurses to identify issues that impact upon their workload. Four themes were identified, relating to staffing and workforce issues, clients' characteristics or needs, regional issues, and the impact of the health-care system. The data show that the workload of community mental health nurses is increased by the greater complexity of needs of community mental health clients. Service change has also resulted in poor integration between inpatient and community services and tension between generic case management and specialist roles resulting in nurses undertaking tasks for other case managers. These issues, along with difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, have led to the intensification of community mental health work and a crisis response to care with less time for targeted interventions. [source] Primary health care practitioners' tools for mental health careJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 5 2004S. HYVÖNEN rn mnsc The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse the content of mental health care from the practitioner's point of view. The specific aim of this paper was to outline the types of mental health care tools and the ways in which they are used by primary health care practitioners. The data were derived from interviews with doctors and nurses (n = 29) working in primary health care in six different health care centres of the Pirkanmaa region in Finland. The data were analysed by using qualitative content analysis. The tools of mental health care used in primary health care were categorized as communicative, ideological, technical and collaborative tools. The interactive tools are either informative, supportive or contextual. The ideological tools consist of patient initiative, acceptance and permissiveness, honesty and genuineness, sense of security and client orientation. The technical tools are actions related to the monitoring of the patient's physical health and medical treatment. The collaborative tools are consultation and family orientation. The primary health care practitioner him/herself is an important tool in mental health care. On the one hand, the practitioner can be categorized as a meta-tool who has control over the other tools. On the other hand, the practitioner him/herself is a tool in the sense that s/he uses his/her personality in the professional context. The professional skills and attitudes of the practitioner have a significant influence on the type of caring the client receives. Compared with previous studies, the present informants from primary health care seemed to use notably versatile tools in mental health work. This observation is important for the implementation and development of mental health practices and education. [source] Beyond Trauma-Focused Psychiatric Epidemiology: Bridging Research and Practice With War-Affected PopulationsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2006Kenneth E. Miller PhD This article examines the centrality of trauma-focused psychiatric epidemiology (TFPE) in research with war-affected populations. The authors question the utility of the dominant focus on posttraumatic stress disorder and other disorders of Western psychiatry, and they identify a set of critical research foci related to mental health work with communities affected by political violence. Core assumptions of TFPE and its roots in logical positivism and the biomedical model of contemporary psychiatry are explored. The authors suggest that an alternative framework,social constructivism,can serve as a bridge between researchers and practitioners by helping to refocus research efforts in ways that are conceptually and methodologically more attuned to the needs of war-affected communities and those working to address their mental health needs. [source] | ||||||||||