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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The effect of crisis resolution and home treatment on assessments under the 1983 Mental Health Act
— an increased workload for approved social workers? | | Author(s) | Elaine Furminger, Martin Webber |
| Journal title | British Journal of Social Work, vol 39, no 5, August 2009 |
| Pages | pp 901-917 |
| Source | http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org |
| Keywords | Mental disorder ; Therapeutic services [domiciliary] ; Psychiatric treatment ; Attitude ; Social workers ; Psychiatrists ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | There is an extensive body of research into trends in use of the 1983 Mental Health Act (MHA) and crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) teams, but only one study has examined the relationship between the two. The introduction of these teams led to the belief that use of the Act would decrease as more people with mental health problems were treated in their own environment when in crisis and at risk of admission to hospital. However, in one county authority in south-east England, the number of MHA assessments continued to rise after the introduction of a CRHT team. To investigate this pattern, the authors examined a random sample of MHA assessments conducted in the team's catchment area both in and out of office hours from two time periods: one before and one after the introduction of the CRHT team. The presence of the team was associated with a significant increase in the use of Section 2 MHA, although the use of section 3 MHA decreased. To explore these findings, the authors held focus groups to obtain the views of mental health professionals on the reasons for the continued rise and how their views influenced decisions. It was found the role of the approved social worker (ASW) was poorly understood in the new CRHT team, and that communication between it and the ASWs was disjointed. Integration of ASWs into predominantly medical CRHT teams will assist joint decision-making about use of the Act and may help to reduce unnecessary compulsory admissions. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090903225 A |
| Classmark | E: N3: LP: DP: QR: QT9: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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