 The vicious cycle of distrust: Access, quality, and efficiency within a post-communist mental health systemSigita Doblytė Social Science & Medicine, 2022, vol. 292, issue C Abstract: Trust –a critical mechanism to manage vulnerability amidst uncertainty– may greatly influence healthcare practices, and consequently, its objectives. Building upon the work of Jürgen Habermas and the framework of trust chains, the aim of this article is to unpack how trust dynamics between the state, the provider, and the service user shape the functioning of mental healthcare in one of the former Soviet states –Lithuania. The case is of interest to medical sociology due to the region's historical and contemporary context. By drawing on in-depth interviews with healthcare providers and users, I demonstrate how the chains of reciprocal distrust underpin the workings of the mental health system and how the actors in turn employ a range of responses to such distrust. The instances of trusting relations nevertheless demonstrate how trust might facilitate the strive for mental healthcare that is more accessible, efficient, and of higher quality. Keywords: Trust; Mental healthcare; Communicative action; Access to healthcare; Efficiency of healthcare; Quality of healthcare; Lithuania (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:292:y:2022:i:c:s0277953621009059 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114573 Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
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