Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2004): Mental Health Services - Overseas

MEDICALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN HONG KONG

K.-S. Yip

British Journal of Social Work, Vol. 34, 2004, p.413-435

The paper examines the response of social workers to medical dominance of mental health services in Hong Kong. In response to medical dominance social workers usually underwent a process of medicalisation, which consisted of five stages:

• ignorance of medicalisation;
• confronting medical dominance;
• compromise with medical dominance;
• acceptance of medical dominance;
• internalisation of medical dominance.

VIOLENCE TOWARDS PSYCHIATRIC STAFF: A COMPARISON OF GENDER, JOB AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS IN ENGLAND AND SWEDEN

S. Lawoko, J.J.F. Soares and P. Nolan

Work and Stress, Vol. 18, 2004, p.39-55

The article explores workplace violence suffered by psychiatric staff in England and Sweden. In particular it considers the ways in which the work environment contributes to violent incidents, and explores the influence of gender on workers' exposure to violence. Results show that the risk of violence in mental health care is high, and possibly increasing and that those most vulnerable are male nurses and British nurses. The risk of being abused also increased with age, dissatisfaction with the quality of care, and increased physical strain. The article concludes that clinical supervision, team functioning and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.