Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T09:06:14.532Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Comparison of Social Workers and Psychiatrists in Evaluating Parasuicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. G. B. Newson-Smith  and
S. R. Hirsch
J. G. B. Newson-Smith
Affiliation:
Charing Cross Hospital, London; now Senior Registrar, St George's Hospital, London SW17 0QT
S. R. Hirsch
Affiliation:
Charing Cross Hospital, London W6 8RF. Address for reprints and correspondence here
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Sixty parasuicide patients admitted to medical wards were assessed by social workers prior to routine psychiatric assessment. Both disciplines completed a rating schedule. The social workers' and psychiatrists' rating schedule responses were compared, and their decisions were examined against further information obtained by a research psychiatrist, which included standardized mental state assessment. Overall the results show that social workers can safely and reliably assess these patients, but they are more cautious. A management approach involving social workers as assessors of parasuicide patients is discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 134 , Issue 4 , April 1979 , pp. 335 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gibbons, J. S., Butler, J., Urwin, P. & Gibbons, J. L. (1978) Evaluation of a social work service for self-poisoning patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 111–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. P. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, B. (1976) Communication in attempted suicide. Social Work Today, 6, 722–4.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (1961) Circular H.M. (61) 94. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (1968) Hospital treatment of acute poisoning. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Newson-Smith, J. G. B. & Hirsch, S. R. (1979) Psychiatric symptoms of self-poisoning patients. Psychological Medicine (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patel, A. R. (1975) Attitudes towards self-poisoning. British Medical Journal, ii, 426–30.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Prusoff, B. A. & Myers, J. K. (1975) Suicide attempts and recent life events; a controlled comparison. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 327–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanley, W. J. (1969) Attempted suicide and suicidal gestures. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 23, 190–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1976) A technique for studying psychiatric morbidity in in-patients and out-patient series and in general population samples. Psychological Medicine, 6, 665–71.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Mann, S. A., Leff, J. P. & Nixon, J. M. (1978) The concept of a case in psychiatric population surveys. Psychological Medicine, 8, 203–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.