A psychological contribution to the study of an hospital social structure

✍ Scribed by Lawrence Appleby; Norman C. Ellis; George W. Rogers; Wm. A. Zimmerman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1961
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 377 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(196110)17:4<390::aid-jclp2270170416>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

The emergence of the mental hospital social structure as basic to the analysis of patient care has tended t o redirect the evaluation of therapeutic processes(2. 8 , lo, Toward t,his end we are engaged in a large scale study t o determine the kinds of variables, outside of the classic dyadic relationship between the patient and therapist, which may be most conducive t o therapeutically-oriented patient care.2 Principally, these "system variables" are the kinds of attitudes, values, and role conceptions which different categories of personnel have concerning patient ca.re and the mental hospital. I n an earlier study") some evidence was reported for a congruence between ideologies of psychiatric aides and the social characteristics of the ward sett,ings in which they habitually worked. The purpose of the present paper will be to describe the kinds of instruments employed, together with some of the more recent findings concerning various staff groups and a re-evaluation of a treatment building aft,er a period of one year.