Violence and abuse in psychiatric in-patient institutions: a South African perspective

International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
Marilyn Lucas, Dean Stevenson

Abstract

Institutionalisation of psychiatric patients was a prevalent treatment approach in the apartheid era of South Africa. Allegations of violence and abuse towards patients frequently arose during this time. The post-apartheid Department of Health prioritised improvements in mental health care by recommending, inter alia, deinstitutionalisation and reintegration of patients into the community. Ten years later, these interventions have proved difficult to institute and many patients are still hospitalised. The present study investigated whether currently hospitalised patients continued to experienced violence and abuse. This was an exploratory naturalistic study in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Of the 127 who completed the study, more than 50% reported experiences of abuse. The main perpetrators were other patients, although violence by staff was reported. Reasons for the tardiness of implementation of deinstitutionalisation and the prevalence of ongoing violence and abuse in psychiatric hospitals are complex. Factors inherited from the pre-democratic system coupled with increased urban violence and financial constraints appear to be some of the major causes of ongoing dependency upon hospitalisation o...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 27, 2013·Issues in Mental Health Nursing·Malek Fereidooni MoghadamMasoud Fallahi Khoshknab
Sep 20, 2012·Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing·M LuckhoffD J H Niehaus
Mar 13, 2017·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology·Dzmitry KrupchankaNorman Sartorius
Mar 22, 2019·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·Sophie StaniszewskaScott Weich
Mar 11, 2016·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·Franziska MeinckHeidi Loening-Voysey
Oct 26, 2007·International nursing review·S S CelikO Uğurluoğlu

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