Family Involvement in Managing Violence of Mental Health Patients

Abstract

Relatives are a valuable source of information in developing strategies to manage patient violence humanely. Their views on developing the quality of psychiatric care merit more attention.

The last taboo: The experience of violence in first‐episode psychosis caregiving relationships

“…The current findings were also consistent with literature confirming the negative impact of patient violence on carers, even when carers are living separately from their relative (Hanzawa et al ., ). Participant reports of living in fear of their FEP relative were in line with reports from carers of patients with a longer‐term illness course (Konito et al ., ). The results highlighted a pattern where carers tended to express a greater degree of fear about potential trouble for their relative (i.e., that the relative's violence might lead to police and criminal justice involvement) compared to carers’ fear for themselves and their own well‐being.…”

Comment On: Family Involvement in Managing Violence of Mental Health Patients

“…The research study by Kontio, Lantta, Anttila, Kauppi, and Välimäki explores how family involvement can help patients who have violent tendencies due to mental health. Mental health is a person's condition with regard to his/her psychological and emotional well‐being (Kontio, Lantta, Anttila, Kauppi, & Välimäki, ). The different psychological diseases that can make a person violent include schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder, personality disorder, and post‐traumatic stress disorder.…”

“…When families are not capable of helping their loved ones on their own, they have to make the tough decision of admitting them to a psychiatric hospital, which in most cases is involuntary. The study looks at the family's opinion on the healthcare system in these hospitals and what can be done to make it better for the patient and the family (Kontio et al., ). The article explains that the three greatest reasons that healthcare providers in psychiatric settings do not work with family members of patients are because of lack of time, conflict between treating the client and treating the family, and lack of positive outcomes when working with the families of patients (Kontio et al., ).…”

“…The study looks at the family's opinion on the healthcare system in these hospitals and what can be done to make it better for the patient and the family (Kontio et al., ). The article explains that the three greatest reasons that healthcare providers in psychiatric settings do not work with family members of patients are because of lack of time, conflict between treating the client and treating the family, and lack of positive outcomes when working with the families of patients (Kontio et al., ). That is, the researchers found that relatives or family members who were willing to share their experiences and recommendations of how the psychiatric healthcare providers can work better with family member for better outcomes.…”

“…The study is a qualitative research design that was centered around two main research questions, “What are the relatives’ perceptions of violent episodes of their family member?” and “What are relatives’ suggestions about how to develop safe and humane management of violent episodes in psychiatric hospitals?” (Kontio et al., ). The relatives were chosen through their associations and members who fit the guidelines of the researchers, and next there were a series of interviews that determined which family members were right for the study.…”