This thesis deals with the architecture of the inclusive built environment. The hypothesis argues that social barriers can be challenged through the physical formation of the city, its buildings and spaces. The platform used to explore this premise is Weskoppies Hospital situated in Pretoria West. The stigmatization and institutionalisation of the mentally ill has been a hotly debated issue for a long time. Recently the topic has received a lot of attention in the media, parliament and medical circles. The issues underpinning the hypothesis deals with the “power of architecture to address social, economic, political and cultural forces by way of form- and place-making.” (Yudell 1997:134) / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

This study examined helping and hindering factors that influence the experiences of forensic psychiatric patients in the forensic system, and describes implications for practice. A qualitative approach was used to delineate which factors patients report are helpful and which ones are reported as hindering within a forensic inpatient hospital. Ten participants were interviewed using Critical Incident Technique to elicit their experiences since coming to a Forensic Psychiatric Inpatient Hospital. Results indicated that the factors that were helpful were: talking with staff, programming and services, and taking prescribed medications. Hindering factors included: exposure to illicit drugs, exposure to violence, programming and services, stigmatism, living on a maximum security ward, lack of respect from the staff, and concerns involving prescribed medication. The results of this research are discussed in light of how this present research supports the extant research and theories. Implications and recommendations at both a clinician and system level within forensic psychiatric services are offered. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

The subject of this study is to examine the problems of a group of discharged mental patients and the services provided to them by their referral to a public assistance agency. The study has examined the particular problems presented in financial need, accommodation, and family difficulties, and has attempted to assess whether public assistance services are adequate to effect continuing improvement, in a clinical sense, in the patient's psychological adjustment. Within the period, January 1st, 1954, to December 31st, 1954, fifteen patients were referred by the Crease Clinic Social Service Department, Essondale, British Columbiaj to the City Social Service Department, Vancouver, British Columbia, as being in need of financial assistance. Ten of the patients were in receipt of assistance at the time of their admission to the Crease Clinic. At this point their cases were closed by the City Social Service Department. Upon discharge from the Crease Clinic, re-application to the assistance agency was necessary. This constituted re-referral and they were thus included in this study. By the use of two Schedules¹ and through personal communication with the Administrators of the Social Service Department of the Crease Clinic, and the Social Service Department, data were obtained about the patients' psycho-social background, the problems presented, and the services given by the psychiatric hospital social workers, and the Assistance Agency Staff. The findings indicated that shortage of social work staff, and heavy caseloads, may in certain severe problem cases, result in uncoordinated and inadequate service. The need for a more adequate definition of responsibility in providing After-Care Services through joint hospital and community planning, was evident, particularly in the cases where the psychological difficulties of the patients, remained unmodified by the services given. This is stressed because of the policy of the City Social Service Department to close their cases when financial need is no longer required, in the cases mentioned the psychological problems would appear to re-activate psychosocial difficulties. An example of a referral policy has been suggested to affect closer liaison between the agencies. A suggestion that the City Social Service Department consider plans to promote preventative services to families and individuals with rehabilitative potential ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¹ See Appendix, pp. 91-92. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study reviews the procedures, standards, and administrative requirements inherent in the setting up of a Social Service Department in a mental hospital. Recommendations for a future Social Service Department are based upon: (a) standards for adequate social service as recommended by the American Psychiatric Association and other professional personnel, and (b) the experience of some existing departments in Canada. The latter include: (a) the Social Service Departments at the Crease Clinic of Psychological Medicine and the Provincial Mental Hospital, Essondale, British Columbia, and (b) the After Care Department of the Ontario, Hospital, London, Ontario. This study has also incorporated the information and findings contained within four previous Master of Social Work theses, dealing with (a) the analysis of social work services in a mental hospital, (b) administrative aspects of a social service department in a mental hospital, (c) post-discharge problems of mental patients. The study has examined social work functions in a mental hospital, including: social services rendered during admission, social services rendered during the period of treatment, social services rendered during rehabilitation and convalescence. To ensure effective provision of these social services, the study has outlined "job descriptions" for each social work position within a Social Service Department. Three selected Social Service Departments were examined on the basis of: (a) administrative structure, (b) personnel, and (c) services rendered. Methods used include direct observation, interviews and correspondence with administrative personnel, an examination of information in annual reports and relevant professional articles. The projected department is divided into three distinct sections: (a) an Admissions Section; (b) a Continuing Casework Section: and (c) an Out-Patient Section. To ensure adequate administration and service, such a department requires twenty appropriately-qualified personnel: sixteen social workers at the direct service level; three social workers, each as Casework Supervisor of a Section; and one social worker as the Director of Social Service. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Understanding the social, psychological, and physical dynamics involved in mental illness is difficult enough because of the many intangibles involved. However, when mental illness occurs among immigrants, the problem becomes even more complicated. Some of the difficulty stems from the tendency to say that these people are mentally ill because they are newcomers, or that they are immigrants because of their mental or emotional instability. This study is intended as a small contribution to bringing some order to the confusion union seems to distinguish present day approaches to mentally ill newcomers. The material for this study was derived from a thorough perusal of newcomers’ hospital files. Because these files, in most cases, included the observations and impressions of psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, nurses and others, together with a full transcription of any Interviews hold with a patient, it was possible to get a fairly full picture of any newcomer's personality, behaviour, and general circumstances. On the basis of the information available in these files, a rating scale was evolved, being designed to assess the newcomers’ prevailing and potential adjustment. In part, this study is an experiment in scientific method, pointing the tray towards identifying mentally ill newcomers who could be rehabilitated, and those for whom deportation appears to be the only alternative. Such a method involves a differential approach to mentally disturbed immigrants, and the assumption that deportation legislation should not apply to people who, with proper assistance, can become proper citizens. Without doubt, because the sample of immigrants studied required hospitalization for mental and emotional disorders, they may be regarded as a special group in the total Immigrant population, nevertheless, the enquiry establishes the fact that some offer distinct rehabilitation possibilities while others should not have boon permitted to migrate in the first place. A verification of the existence of those two kinds of newcomers leads to appropriate recommendations concerning the application of deportation legislation and the screening of potential citizens. It suggests both the employment of qualified social workers who are well equipped to assess a person's emotional or mental stability, end the use of methods on the lines of those developed in this study for evaluating and predicting the kind of adjustment newcomers are likely to experience in this country. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

M.Cur. / Nursing is a profession involving the care of people. Nursing is a goal directed process in which the primary objective is to develop a relationship between the care provider (nurse) and the care receiver (patient) for the purpose of maintaining a level of functioning (Kreigh & Perko, 1979:10). Psychiatric nursing is defined as specialised field within the practice of nursing. The focus of psychiatric nursing is both corrective and preventative. It is corrective in that it provides individuals, families or groups, who are experiencing various degrees of emotional or psycho-social disequilibrium with an opportunity to engage in a therapeutic interactional process. It is preventative in that it endeavours through the educative aspect of the interpersonal process and role model exemplification, to preserve equilibrium and promote optimum mental health (Kreigh &Perko, 1979:7).One of the concepts that the psychiatric nurse believes is important in developing criteria for care is that behaviour has meaning. In this study, behaviour is what the youth says and does. Meaning is defined as the way in which young people attempt to convey the expression of their innermost feelings. Harris and Radaelli, 2007 state that the perception of people constitute the reality of daily life, hence what the youth says and does, is in response to perceived external and internal stimuli.

M.Cur. / Nursing is a stressful activity and therefore it is necessary for nurses to develope effective coping mechanisms, or to strengthen existing ones in a healthy manner, in order to be capable of dealing with stress, arising from their personal and professional lives. It is however, not soley stress itself which predisposes nurses to fatigue (physical, psychological and emotional exhaustion) but rather the chronic nature and excessive amount of stressors which place excessive demands on the energy resources and coping mechanisms of nurses resulting in the ineffective handling of stress which in turn leads to the eventual development of fatigue. The detrimental results of this experience are however not confined to the nurse herself, but extends further to the patient and the organization. Thus, if fatigue is not controlled or dealt with, all parties and organizations concerned could suffer. This research covers the accompaniment function of the psychiatric nurse specialist in the prevention of fatigue in psychiatric nurses by strengthening their mental preparedness. As a possible solution to the experience of fatigue, a structured, accompanied program of three days duration was offered to a group of psychiatric nurses. This group was identified as the experimental group. The control group was only provided with literature giving essential data concerning fatigue. This was done in order to limit the Hawthorne effect of this research. The Solomon four group design was followed in order to eliminate influences on the subjects resulting from the completion of the self-evaluation scale as pre-test. In order to determine the level of fatigue experienced by psychiatric nurses, half/Of / the experimental group were tested before and after the three day structured accompanied program was presented, by means of the self-evaluation scale. The second half of the group were tested once only after the structured accompanied program was held by means of the same scale. The control group was divided and dealt with in the same way except that no structured accompanied program was presented to this group...

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / Social situations make a person vulnerable to mental illness. These situations include circumstances such as poverty, an unstable family and inadequate nutrition. A combination of these circumstances predisposes exposed people to developing unhealthy ways of coping with stress. '. Violence can be seen as a way of managing stress, but also as a factor causing stress. An example of unhealthy ways of stress management in the current South African society is the violence that lends to unrest which has affected different communities in a short space of time. There does not seem to be much information in texts about the. effects of violence, and not enough studies have yet been done to gain enough insight into this field, since it has only recently drawn the attention of health professionals. As a result, the development of sound interventive measures in this' regard to support the communities exposed to violence, has been neglected. The aim of this study is to explore the experience of a community exposed to violence and to compile guidelines for support action for the exposed community studied. An exploratory contextual study was undertaken with the purpose of generating meaning regarding the experience of a 'community characterised by violence. . The phenomenological method of interviewing was used to gather data. The target population consisted of a township community of 228000. Ten respondents were interviewed in total, selected by the convenience purposive sampling method through intermediaries. The interviews were recorded on tape and later transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed by the method of content analysis. The results were centred on the respondents' and their families' experiences of violence since March 1990. The results indicated four types of experiences for all people exposed to violence: psychological, spiritual, physical and behaviourial experiences. The experiences of interactions with the internal environment (psychological, spiritual and physical experiences), were predominantly negative, except for only two positive spiritual experiences (improvements in the people's faith and positive experiences in both environments brought about new insights, that is, that even though most of their internal environment and part of their external environment is bleak and hopeless, the victims of violence still have the will to survive and live a normal life like other people. This positive attitude then, supplies the psychiatric nurse with a point of entry to bring about positive change that acts as a support for the community exposed to violence.

No description available.