Caregiver perceptions of psychotropic medication in residential facilities

Aman, Michael G.; Singh, Nirbhay N.; White, Anthony J.

doi:10.1016/0891-4222(87)90025-4

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, the results were very similar to the earlier study and, in many respects, resembled the professionals' perceptions and knowledge of psychotropic medication for individuals with mental retardation in the Aman, Singh, and White (1987) and studies. In general, these nurses were not as involved in medication decisions as they would have liked, the use of subjective as-sessments was standard practice in the monitoring of drug effects, there were several misperceptions regarding the indications for and side effects of psychotropic medications, and the majority felt that they were inadequately trained and in need of continuing education regarding the use of psychotropic medications in the treatment of behavior problems.…”

supporting

confidence: 85%

“…The first of these studies on caregiver perceptions and knowledge of psychotropic medication solicited the views of "psychopaedic" nurses from several public residential facilities in New Zealand for individuals with mental retardation (Aman, Singh, & White, 1987). The results indicated a widespread dissatisfaction among these nurses regarding their training and knowledge of issues related to the use of psychotropic medication in the management of behavior problems.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

On prescribing psychotropic medication

Ellis

1993

J Child Fam Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric and behavior disorders has moved away from treatment based solely on the concept of controlling problematic symptoms to an approach that is focused on the overall best interests of the patient. For example, psychotropic medications have traditionally been used to control the symptoms of many disorders for which there is no sound scientific evidence that they are effective. It was the realization that the short-and long-term adverse effects of these medications outweighed their benefit to the patients that forced many clinicians to rethink their reliance on psychotropic medications, and consider the full range of other treatment options. Thus, although there are some well-established indications for the use of psychotropic medications, professionals are consciously trying to decrease their use. Further, in contrast to the sole reliance on the medical profession for making medication-related decisions, there is an increasing emphasis on the involvement of multidisciplinary treatment teams in treatment decisions. Finally, refinements in assessment and data collection methods, such as structured interviews and behavioral observations, now provide clinicians with objective, data-based information that can be incorporated into medication decisions.As clinicians, we believe that we are practicing with the best interests of our patients at heart. To those of us who treat children or individuals with developmental disabilities, this is especially pertinent as we often assume the awesome responsibility of looking out for their best interest because they cannot do this for themselves. In the case of the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric and behavior problems, the current 1Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry,

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 85%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

On prescribing psychotropic medication

Ellis

1993

J Child Fam Stud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A number of questions were framed to reflect contrasting situations, such as perceptions of practices in the current, financially tight situation and, alternatively, in ideal circumstances with unlimited staff and resources. A fuller description of the procedure and the questions making up the survey appears elsewhere (Aman et al, 1987).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elsewhere, we have reported the descriptive results of a survey carried out among nurses working in two public institutions caring for mentally retarded individuals, concerning nurse perceptions and knowledge of psychotropic drugs (Aman, Singh, & White, 1987). Among the more salient findings were the following: The senior nursing staff and unit doctors were considered to be the dominant figures in medication decisions, whereas psychologists were the only professionals from outside the units perceived as exerting such influence by more than 25% of respondents.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

The relationship between nurse characteristics and perceptions of psychotropic medications in residential facilities for the retarded

Aman¹,

Singh²,

Fitzpatrick³

1987

J Autism Dev Disord

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A total of 227 nurses were surveyed regarding their attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge about the use of psychotropic drugs. In general, greater age, male sex, status, and higher qualifications tended to covary and were associated with perception of greater involvement by senior nurses in drug-related decisions, more satisfaction with the level of in-service training, awareness of certain side effects, perception of interdisciplinary decision making as a clinical reality, and the view that psychologists were not influential in medication-related decisions. Those without these characteristics (e.g., females, younger nurses) more often advocated greater use of medical and laboratory tests, ongoing training, and alternatives to drugs. Nurses working in nonambulatory units more often saw senior nursing staff as influential in decisions to stop drug treatment and more often recommended that alternatives to pharmacology be employed. Some tentative conclusions about the dynamics surrounding medication use in these facilities were offered to account for these patterns.

show abstract

“…Lewis et al [1996] reported that there is widespread mistrust and suspicion regarding pharmacological interventions but, as noted above, social validity data are not characteristically reported when drugs are evaluated in people with mental retardation. A few surveys, however, have examined the acceptability of such medications by asking caregivers for their opinions about psychotropic drugs in general, or in the context of hypothetical cases [e.g., Aman et al, 1987;Christian et al, 1999;Singh et al, 1987Singh et al, , 1996Spreat et al, 1989]. In short, their findings suggest that caregivers do not consider themselves to be especially well informed concerning psychotropic medications, which they view as relatively restrictive (harmful) interventions when administered to people with mental retardation.…”

Section: Social Validity In Studies Of Psychotropic Drugsmentioning

confidence: 94%