Implications of a Family Systems Orientation for Preventing Psychiatric Hospitalization

<p>The present study evaluated the implications of a family systems approach for preventing psychiatric hospitalization by comparing the behavior of field clinicians who professed a systems view versus clinicians who held more traditional nonsystems views. The focus of the investigation was the clinical assessments and decisions of 31 clinicians who worked at five Virginia public mental health centers as they prescreened (i.e., evaluated need for inpatient treatment) 171 candidates for hospitalization. Q-technique was employed to determine theoretical orientation.</p> <p>It was hypothesized that clinicians who held a systems view would be more likely than nonsystems therapists to evaluate and attempt to organize clients' social context and to contact and organize the input of relevant professional helpers. They were expected to be less likely to involve physicians, use medical or psychodiagnostic procedures, or refer clients to sheltered treatment/support facilities. Most importantly, they were expected to recommend hospitalization less often and emphasize aspects of clients' social context in their decision-making. If hospitalized, their clients were expected to have shorter stays.</p> <p>The results indicated that clinician behavior, clinician decision-making, and client disposition all reflected elements of systems and nonsystems views. While systems therapists placed greater emphasis on approaches that were consistent with their point of view, they also employed methods and were influenced by factors (eg., symptom severity, diagnosis) that were inconsistent with professed orientation. Further, they hospitalized clients no less frequently than nonsystems therapists and their clients spent the same amount of time in the hospital during the 30 days following prescreening. The results are discussed in terms of the exportability of the method outside the training institute.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

1987

Author dc:creator

• Bullock, James Howard

Contributors dc:contributor

• Glenn Shean
• Neill Watson
• Joy Kannarkat
• Herbert Friedman
• Joseph Galano

• Family systems orientation
• Psychiatric hospitalization
• Clinicians
• Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/251

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:psychology_etds-1253