Differences between patients', relatives', and physicians' evaluations of a community psychiatric nursing program

✍ Scribed by Richard O'Reilly; Claire O'Donovan; Zack Cernovsky

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 404 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4392
• DOI: 10.1002/1520-6629(199007)18:3<298::aid-jcop2290180311>3.0.co;2-0

✦ Synopsis

We have become accustomed to viewing patients as the only consumers of mental health services. Problems may arise, however, when consumer input is a major determining factor in program design. In many situations, relatives of patients and the physicians who refer patients to mental health programs should also be regarded as consumers of services. This study was designed to determine if the requests of patients for increased services from such a program differed from those of the referring physicians or the relatives of patients. Opinions were obtained by questionnaire. The physicians and relatives more frequently requested extra services than did the patients. These results suggest that it is imperative to consider the views of all three groups both when designing and assessing mental health services.