Views and Experiences of Family/whanau Carers of Psychiatric Service Users on Diagnosis and Classification
Barbara Laird,
Barry Smith,
Gaelle Dutu and
Graham Mellsop
Additional contact information
Barbara Laird: Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand
Barry Smith: Social Research Consultant, Rotorua, New Zealand
Gaelle Dutu: Waikato Clinical School, Peter Rothwell Building, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand
Graham Mellsop: Waikato Clinical School, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand, mellsopg@waikatodhb.govt.nz
International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2010, vol. 56, issue 3, 270-279
Abstract:
Background: Family ( whanau ) and other carers can play a central part in the natural history of psychiatric service users. Diagnoses or the classification of mental disorders play a significant role in communications between clinicians, psychiatric service users, and family. Despite that centrality, the views and experiences of family on the utility of the present classification systems have been little studied. Aims: This study aimed to document the understanding and opinions of families/ whanau on the utility of diagnostic labels as they observed them being applied to their family members. Method: This is a qualitative study. The families of two cultural groups (New Zealand Maori and non-Maori) of psychiatric service users were interviewed using a structured approach. Results: A number of themes on the utility of the diagnostic systems emerged. The single most powerful message being that how the diagnostic labels were communicated, and how they were utilized in the patient management planning, were of paramount importance. There were some cross-cultural differences. From Maori, there was a particular plea for a greater incorporation of culturally syntonic concepts. Conclusion: Family/ whanau had positive views of the contributions current diagnostic practices make to patient care. The study elicited the view that more contextual issues, and not just phenomenology, should be taken into account in the development of diagnostic systems.
Keywords: classification; consumer views; diagnoses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764008101637 (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:56:y:2010:i:3:p:270-279
DOI: 10.1177/0020764008101637
Access Statistics for this article
More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().