Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia
Thesis (M.S.W.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1990. Social Work Bibliography: leaves 221-227. Psychiatrists' decisions regarding disclosure of the diagnosis of schizophrenia have implications for social work practice as well as for patient and family treatment. Ongoing controversy still...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
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1989
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Online Access: | http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/223648 |
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ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses2/223648 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
op_collection_id |
ftmemorialunivdc |
language |
English |
topic |
Psychiatric ethics--Newfoundland and Labrador Psychiatric social work--Newfoundland and Labrador--Moral and ethical aspects Informed consent (Medical law) Schizophrenics--Newfoundland and Labrador |
spellingShingle |
Psychiatric ethics--Newfoundland and Labrador Psychiatric social work--Newfoundland and Labrador--Moral and ethical aspects Informed consent (Medical law) Schizophrenics--Newfoundland and Labrador Smyth, Mary A. Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
topic_facet |
Psychiatric ethics--Newfoundland and Labrador Psychiatric social work--Newfoundland and Labrador--Moral and ethical aspects Informed consent (Medical law) Schizophrenics--Newfoundland and Labrador |
description |
Thesis (M.S.W.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1990. Social Work Bibliography: leaves 221-227. Psychiatrists' decisions regarding disclosure of the diagnosis of schizophrenia have implications for social work practice as well as for patient and family treatment. Ongoing controversy still exists on how disclosure of this diagnosis should be handled. -- This descriptive study examines Newfoundland psychiatrists and social workers who work in psychiatry as to what they report on their practices of disclosure, their opinions, and the various factors that influence them in this area. Sixty-three respondents representative of both populations were given personal interviews utilizing an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire. There was one hundred per cent participation. -- The study reveals that the practice of disclosure is not uniform among psychiatrists and social workers. Some psychiatrists generally disclose to all of their patients, some to a portion, and a few are refraining from revealing the diagnosis. Similarly, not all social workers disclose the diagnosis of schizophrenia to patients. Over half of the workers require participation in relation to disclosure from psychiatrists when working with uninformed schizophrenic patients. -- Some notable examples of the many factors which influence psychiatrists and social workers include: the certainty of the diagnosis, patients requests for the diagnoses, the degree of social stigma, the activity of the psychosis, the patients ability to understand, and individual patient characteristics. -- A diversity of issues were raised relating to disclosure; some of these include: the patient has a right to know his/her diagnosis, there is more than one illness lumped under the classification of schizophrenia, some patients prefer euphemisms to the term schizophrenia, knowledge of diagnosis allows patients and their families to increase their educational and therapeutic opportunities, social work's role is affected when patients do not know, it is important, when revealing, to consider "where one's client is at", revealing often reduces the blame for patients and their families, and revealing can at certain times be countertherapeutic. -- Overall, the psychiatrists and the majority of social workers believed that under most circumstances the psychiatrist should be the individual who reveals the diagnosis of schizophrenia but that this does not preclude other trusted individuals (including social workers) revealing or being present when disclosure occurs. -- This study concludes that disclosure is a complex phenomenon and is only a small part of educating patients about their schizophrenic illnesses. Ultimately, each case needs to be examined individually as to whether disclosure should occur, how it should be handled, and who is the most appropriate person to disclose the diagnosis and follow up the disclosure. |
author2 |
Memorial University of Newfoundland. School of Social Work |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Smyth, Mary A. |
author_facet |
Smyth, Mary A. |
author_sort |
Smyth, Mary A. |
title |
Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
title_short |
Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
title_full |
Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
title_fullStr |
Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
title_sort |
psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia |
publishDate |
1989 |
url |
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/223648 |
op_coverage |
Canada--Newfoundland and Labrador |
geographic |
Newfoundland Canada |
geographic_facet |
Newfoundland Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
op_source |
Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries |
op_relation |
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (64.09 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Smyth_MaryA.pdf 76058048 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/223648 |
op_rights |
The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. |
_version_ |
1766112984042569728 |
spelling |
ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses2/223648 2023-05-15T17:23:31+02:00 Psychiatrists' and social workers' disclosure practices with regards to the diagnosis of schizophrenia Smyth, Mary A. Memorial University of Newfoundland. School of Social Work Canada--Newfoundland and Labrador 1989 viii, 255 leaves : ill. Image/jpeg; Application/pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/223648 Eng eng Electronic Theses and Dissertations (64.09 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Smyth_MaryA.pdf 76058048 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/223648 The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries Psychiatric ethics--Newfoundland and Labrador Psychiatric social work--Newfoundland and Labrador--Moral and ethical aspects Informed consent (Medical law) Schizophrenics--Newfoundland and Labrador Text Electronic thesis or dissertation 1989 ftmemorialunivdc 2015-08-06T19:17:26Z Thesis (M.S.W.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1990. Social Work Bibliography: leaves 221-227. Psychiatrists' decisions regarding disclosure of the diagnosis of schizophrenia have implications for social work practice as well as for patient and family treatment. Ongoing controversy still exists on how disclosure of this diagnosis should be handled. -- This descriptive study examines Newfoundland psychiatrists and social workers who work in psychiatry as to what they report on their practices of disclosure, their opinions, and the various factors that influence them in this area. Sixty-three respondents representative of both populations were given personal interviews utilizing an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire. There was one hundred per cent participation. -- The study reveals that the practice of disclosure is not uniform among psychiatrists and social workers. Some psychiatrists generally disclose to all of their patients, some to a portion, and a few are refraining from revealing the diagnosis. Similarly, not all social workers disclose the diagnosis of schizophrenia to patients. Over half of the workers require participation in relation to disclosure from psychiatrists when working with uninformed schizophrenic patients. -- Some notable examples of the many factors which influence psychiatrists and social workers include: the certainty of the diagnosis, patients requests for the diagnoses, the degree of social stigma, the activity of the psychosis, the patients ability to understand, and individual patient characteristics. -- A diversity of issues were raised relating to disclosure; some of these include: the patient has a right to know his/her diagnosis, there is more than one illness lumped under the classification of schizophrenia, some patients prefer euphemisms to the term schizophrenia, knowledge of diagnosis allows patients and their families to increase their educational and therapeutic opportunities, social work's role is affected when patients do not know, it is important, when revealing, to consider "where one's client is at", revealing often reduces the blame for patients and their families, and revealing can at certain times be countertherapeutic. -- Overall, the psychiatrists and the majority of social workers believed that under most circumstances the psychiatrist should be the individual who reveals the diagnosis of schizophrenia but that this does not preclude other trusted individuals (including social workers) revealing or being present when disclosure occurs. -- This study concludes that disclosure is a complex phenomenon and is only a small part of educating patients about their schizophrenic illnesses. Ultimately, each case needs to be examined individually as to whether disclosure should occur, how it should be handled, and who is the most appropriate person to disclose the diagnosis and follow up the disclosure. Thesis Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) Newfoundland Canada |