A Descriptive Survey to Identify the Skill and Information Needs of Hospital Based Multidisciplinary Mental Health Staff in the Move to Community Care

[摘要] Mental Health care was changing from a segregational hospital-based service to an integrational community-based service. The Government policy documents that were setting the community care objectives indicated that staff would require further education as a result of the changes (DoH, 1994; DoH, 1993; DoH, 1989a; SHHD, 1988). However the documents did not indicate what education was required. Furthermore a search of the mental health literature in the UK did not reveal any empirical studies of sufficient size and methodological rigor to identify what education was required. Literature from the USA in mental health and from learning disabilities and general nursing in the UK suggested that mental health staff moving into the community would need to leam more skills and gain more knowledge in order to be effective. This study aimed to identify and describe the skill and information needs of a multidisciplinary population of mental health staff in the movement from a hospital-based working environment to a community-based working environment. In order to describe the skill and information needs four research questions were posed. The questions addressed issues of identification of the current educational preparation of staff; identification of the current skills and skills required for community practice and identification of the knowledge possessed by some multidisciplinary mental health staff about community care changes. Questionnaires were distributed to the population of mental health care workers in one Scottish Health Board (n=695) and a 36% response rate achieved. A volunteer subsample of 20 questionnaire respondents were interviewed to enrich and clarify data from questionnaires. Data analysis revealed a diversity of skills was possessed by mental health staff. However, it was concluded that hospital based mental health staff needed to leam more skills and gain more knowledge to transfer to community based posts. This study makes a positive start in identifying the skill and information needs of a population of mental health care staff moving to a community-based working environment. However, as a consequence of the low response rate the findings are considered tentatively. Conclusions and recommendations have implications for service purchasers, providers, professionals and clients.

[发布机构] University:University of Glasgow

[关键词] Mental health, Health care management, Medical personnel