Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T15:54:06.097Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ward environment and disturbed behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

N. Bouras,
T. Trauer and
J. P. Watson
N. Bouras*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London
T. Trauer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London
J. P. Watson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr N. Bouras, Department of Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London SE1 9RT.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Disturbed behaviour and dissatisfaction were studied in relation to two contrasting ward environments, one representing the ‘medical model’ of psychiatry and the other being a modified form of ‘therapeutic community’. Specially designed forms were used for 18 months to obtain daily and weekly measures of behavioural disturbance from the nurses and of dissatisfaction with various aspects of the ward environment from the patients. The results suggested that the ‘therapeutic community’ ward was significantly more disturbed, and that disturbance on that ward varied according to the day of the week, something which did not happen on the ‘medical model’ ward. Differences in disturbance between diagnoses were also found. Disturbance was significantly correlated with, and tended to precede, dissatisfaction only in the ‘therapeutic community’ ward.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , May 1982, pp. 309 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Bouras, N. (1979). The disturbed behaviour of patients in psychiatric wards. Ph.D. Thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. W., Kegeles, S. S. & Greenblatt, M. (1954). Outbreak of gang destructive behaviour on a psychiatric ward. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 120, 338–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caudill, W.. (1958). The Psychiatric Hospital as a Small Society. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, A. W. & Yeomans, N. T. (1969). Fraser House–Theory, Practice and Evaluation of a Therapeutic Cummunity. Springer Publishing Co.: New York.Google Scholar
Clark, D. H. (1965). The therapeutic community: concept, practice and future. British Journal of Psychiatry 111, 947–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekdawi, M. Y. (1967). The difficult patient. British Journal of Psychiatry 113, 547–552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folkard, M. S. (1957). A sociological contribution to the understanding of aggression and its treatment in a mental hospital. Ph.D. Thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Fottrell, E. (1980). A study of violent behaviour among patients in psychiatric hospitals. British Journal of Psychiatry 136, 216–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottman, J. M., McPall, R. M. & Barnett, J. T. (1969). Design and analysis of research using time series. Psychological Bulletin 72,299–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holtzman, W. H. (1963). Statistical models for the study of change in the single case. In Problems in Measuring Change (ed. Harris, C. W.), pp. 199–211. University of Wisconsin Press: Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Kellam, S. G., Shmelzer, J. L. & Berman, A. (1966). Variation in the atmospheres of psychiatric wards. Archives of General Psychiatry 14, 561–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miles, A. (1969). Changes in the attitudes to authority of patients with behaviour disorders in a therapeutic community. British Journal of Psychiatry 115, 1049–1057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D. H. (1957). The etiology of an outbreak of delinquency in a group of hospitalized adolescents. In The Patient and the Mental Hospital (ed. Greenblatt, M., Levinson, D. J. and Williams, R. H.), pp. 427–437. Free Press: Illinois.Google Scholar
Moos, R. H. (1967). Differential effects of ward settings on psychiatric patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 145,272–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moos, R. H. (1968). Differential effects of ward settings on psychiatric patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 147, 386–393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moos, R. H. (1970). Differential effects of psychiatric ward settings on patient change. A replication and extension. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 151,316–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moos, R. H. & Schwartz, J. (1972). Treatment environment and treatment outcome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 154,264–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, R. & Cheadle, A. J. (1972). Staff versus patients: the phenomenon of rejection. British Journal of Psychiatry 121,627–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, S. (1957). Role theory and the treatment of the antisocial acting-out disorders. British Journal of Delinquency 7, 285–300.Google Scholar
Raphael, W. (1977). Psychiatric Hospitals Viewed by their Patients. King Edward's Hospital Fund: London.Google Scholar
Rapoport, R. N. (1956). Oscillations and sociotherapy. Human Relations 9, 357–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapoport, R. N. (1960). Community as Doctor: New Perspectives on a Therapeutic Community. Tavistock: London.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. S. (1957). What is a therapeutic milieu? In The Patient and the Mental Hospital (ed. Greenblatt, M., Levinson, D. J. and Williams, R. H.), pp. 130–144. Free Press: Illinois.Google Scholar
Stallone, F., Huba, G. J., Lawlor, W. G. & Fieve, R. R. (1973). Longitudinal studies of diurnal variations in depression: a sample of 643 patient days. British Journal of Psychiatry 123, 311–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanton, A. H. & Schwartz, M. S. (1954). The Mental Hospital. Basic Books: New York.Google Scholar
Torpy, D. N. (1972). The individual and the clinical psychologist. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 25, 309–310.Google Scholar
Trauer, T. (1974). A study of deviant behaviour among patients in a therapeutic community. Ph.D. Thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Tuason, V. B. (1971). The psychiatrist and the violent patient. Diseases of the Nervous System 32, 764–768.Google Scholar
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976). The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychiatric illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 129, 125–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, J. P. (1974). Illness and milieu: A study of psychiatric patients in hospital. M.D. Thesis: University of Cambridge.Google Scholar