Psychiatric Staff Members Research Articles

Effect of nonviolent self-defense training on male psychiatric staff members' aggression and fear.

Male staff members at two state psychiatric hospitals were trained in nonviolent self-defense skills for dealing with potentially assaultive patients to determine whether such training could reduce the number of assaults and episodes of patient restraint. Three groups of male staff received didactic training, didactic and physical skills training, or no training in the nonviolent self-defense skills of protective profile, repel, and push-off, as well as in evasive movement. Effects of the training were evaluated using the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory; a questionnaire about clinical experience and sports training; judges' evaluations of physical skill, aggression, and fear; a self-report questionnaire about the value of nonaggressive responses and felt fear and aggression; and a follow-up questionnaire about posttraining assaults. Behaviorally expressed fear and aggression were significantly reduced among staff who received both didactic and physical skills training. The other two groups showed no significant changes in this area. During the two weeks after training, subjects trained in physical and didactic skills were involved in 23 percent fewer assaults than those who received only didactic training and 20 percent fewer assaults than those who received no training. The development of increased skill in nonviolent physical techniques of self-defense was strongly correlated with an increase in the value placed on the use of the skills and on nonviolent outcomes.

Studier Av Psykiatrisk Vård, Särskilt Tvångsvård, I Två Svenska Län Den Psykiatriska Vårdpersonalens Attityder, Erfarenhet Och Upplevelser Av Tvångsvård

Three hundred and forty-three psychiatric care staff members were asked in a postal questionnaire about their experience of and attitudes to compulsory care. Eighty per cent had been in contact with patients under compulsory care during the past month. Two-thirds had never or seldom physically restrained a patient. About 65% have experienced physical violence from patients. More than 95% think compulsory care is needed to protect the patients from themselves, but only two-thirds believe that the neighbourhood needs protection. Most report that compulsory care is seldom or never discussed among the staff.

Supervision in social psychiatry

The clarification of the concept of supervision and its delimitation from therapy and administrative intervention by institutions superiors is followed by a sketch of its specific problems in Social-psychiatry. These are related to the patients personality structure, the patients difficulties and the specific treatment modalities. Supervision is not only important for the amelioration of therapies and the education of the younger colleagues, but for the prevention of professional diseases of psychiatric staff members too.

Drug therapy decisions. A social judgment analysis.

Seventy psychiatric staff members at various Veterans Administration hospitals made decisions concerning appropriate medication for 40 hypothetical cases. A profile presented for each case described the patient's status on eight symptom dimensions. The physician-judges examined each profile and specified appropriate drugs and dose levels for the case. Analyses focused on agreement among judges and on prescriptive strategies, the manner in which symptoms were weighted in specific drug decisions. When base rates were taken into account in determining chance levels, the judges failed to agree with each other significantly more than would be expected by change; this was true for their prescriptions of general class of medications, specific drugs, and dose levels. Differences among physicians were traceable to inconsistency in the use of symptom information and individual variations in prescriptive strategies, cue (symptom) weighting strategies of judges being dissimilar and sometimes contradictory.

Nursing staff adjustment as a function of psychiatric treatment modality

Job satisfaction and job-related attitudes of 59 former and current psychiatric nursing staff members of a university hospital were assessed using a 52 item questionnaire. Four psychiatric services were compared, one adult service using behavior therapy, one traditional adult psychiatric service, one adolescent and one child service, both using interpretive psychotherapy and drugs. In comparing the adult behavior therapy unit with the more traditional interpretive-milieu psychotherapy unit, it was found that the staff of the traditional therapeutic service felt that the service on which they worked was more mechanistic, was more likely to violate patients' rights, was more superficial and was more experimental in nature than did the comparable staff on the behavior therapy unit. Moreover, the staff members on the behavior therapy unit were less inclined to feel drugs were used excessively (7%) as compared with staff members on the traditional therapy unit (50%).

Open-Mindedness, Rigidity, and the Tendency to Change Inferences among Psychiatric Nursing Staff

To test the relationship between open- and closed-mindedness, between rigidity and nonrigidity, and the tendency of psychiatric nursing staff to alter inferences when given additional information about a patient, the Dogmatism Scale, Form E, And the Gough-Sanford Rigidity Scale were presented to 120 psychiatric nursing staff members, all employed and working directly with patients. Low-dogmatic subjects changed their inferences regarding patient behavior significantly more than high-dogmatic subjects. Although high-rigid subjects changed their inferences about patient behaviour more than low-rigid subjects, the relationship was not significant.

Change of therapists as a cause of absences from group psychotherapy.

The involvement of a number of psychiatric hospital staff members in group psychotherapy meetings constitutes multiple therapy. In such a situation one staff member is customarily assigned the role of ‘therapist’ and the rest are called ‘observers'. Observers are often passive, but they may participate in the group proceedings as co-therapists (MacLennan, 1965; Bloom and Dobie, 1969). Multiple therapy is said to enhance treatment (Mullan and Sanguiliano, 1960; Rubins, 1967), but this may be a rationalization to excuse its continued practice (MacLennan, 1965), particularly as it is so useful for training staff in group psychotherapy (Gans, 1962).

Disaster alert and the community mental health center.

Hospitals must be prepared for disasters of indeterminate magnitude in order to fulfill their community function. The protocol for organization of services should be brief, explicit, and define who is in charge of duty assignments. Psychiatrists are uniquely prepared to handle telephone calls from distraught relatives. This paper illustrates that psychiatric staff members of the community mental health center are uniquely prepared to function in the coordinated work of a medical disaster team.

Attitudes toward mental illness among mental hospital personnel and patients

Attitudes relevant to mental illness were sampled among 62 psychiatric ward staff members and 89 hospitalized psychoneurotic patients. Content dealing with authoritarianism, social distance, information about mental illness, evaluations of ‘self’ and ‘mental patient’, patient description of own illness and demographic variables was factor analyzed. The main attitudinal component identified in both samples is termed general authoritarianism and yields factors loadings for patients and staff strikingly similar in magnitude and confessional figuration and opposite in direction. Other staff factors describe different aspects of professional roles. Patient factors show the predominance of low self-esteem, passive compliance and a physical orientation toward the patient's own mental illness. Implications of staff-patient differences for therapeutic interaction are discussed.

New concept in university community mental health services

A group of medical students under faculty supervision has developed an experimental advisory service to assist troubled college students who are reluctant to seek formal psychiatric care because of fears of its "stigma," suspicion of university administration, and/or a belief that older professional personnel cannot understand the problems of their generation. A medical student advisor has unique positive attributes of clinical training and experience, yet is of peer age. Walk-in centers ("Talking Points"), located at strategic areas on campus, are manned during key hours. Complete anonymity of contacts is guaranteed. Psychiatric staff members hold regular supervisory sessions to review cases. In the first 14 weeks of operation, 71 clients (1% of the undergraduate population) were seen. Problems have included depression, social maladjustment, incipient psychosis, fear of pregnancy, and suicidal attempts. Clients requiring professional care are referred.

New Concept in University Community Mental Health Services

A group of medical students under faculty supervision has developed an experimental advisory service to assist troubled college students who are reluctant to seek formal psychiatric care because of fears of its stigma, suspicion of university administration, and/or a belief that older professional personnel cannot understand the problems of their generation. A medical student advisor has unique positive attributes of clinical training and experience, yet is of peer age. Walk-in centers (Talking Points), located at strategic areas on campus, are manned during key hours. Complete anonymity of contacts is guaranteed. Psychiatric staff members hold regular supervisory sessions to review cases. In the first 14 weeks of operation, 71 clients (1% of the undergraduate population) were seen. Problems have included depression, social maladjustment, incipient psychosis, fear of pregnancy, and suicidal attempts. Clients requiring professional care are referred.

Opinions of Psychiatric Hospital Personnel and College Students toward Alcoholism, Mental Illness, and Physical Disability: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory study investigated the attitudes of 303 college students and 521 psychiatric hospital staff members toward alcoholism, mental illness, and physical disability. The Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Scale was adapted to yield two additional scales probing alcoholism and mental illness. Statistically significant differences were not found between the mean scores of the college students and the hospital personnel on the scales. Both groups were significantly more accepting of physical disability than of the other two illnesses. The students were slightly, and the hospital personnel were significantly, more accepting of alcoholics than of mentally ill people but the mean scores of both groups on both scales were still within the non-accepting range.