Practice with People with Severe Mental Illness: Rewards, Challenges, Burdens

Abstract

The authors surveyed a random sample of 1,200 NASW members in post-master's practice in mental health to identify their attitudes toward practice with people with severe mental illness. Contrary to the literature that claims social workers have abandoned vulnerable populations or have negative attitudes toward this population, the authors found that the majority practice with this clientele and find their practice rewarding. Most of the respondents' frustration and obstacles in practice were related to systemic problems, not client-related problems. Respondents' recommendations for education of future practitioners are presented.

What Influences Social Workers’ Attitudes toward Working with Clients with Severe Mental Illness?

“…Furthermore, this lack of influence could not be attributed to an over-representation of private practitioners in our sample. These findings are somewhat surprising given that previous research, including our earlier descriptive analyses (Newhill & Korr, 2004), indicated that modern-day social workers and/or other allied mental health professionals are frustrated more with system-related than client-related issues (Acker, 2004;Mason et al, 2004). In light of this research, our current findings suggest that although frustrations with the mental health system may dominate social workers' melee, clientrelated frustrations.…”

“…Only a brief overview of the methods relevant to this study is presented, as further elaboration on the methodology used in this study is available elsewhere (Newhill, 2003;Newhill & Korr, 2004).…”

“…Implications for social work practice and directions for future research are discussed. (105 words) Keywords severe mental illness; attitudes; frustrations; burnout; schizophrenia; direct practice Social workers provide the majority of direct mental health services in the United States for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (Newhill & Korr, 2004; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2001). As such, social workers represent a primary and important treatment provider for this population.…”

“…However, research has confirmed what many social work practitioners have long known: working with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) is challenging (Acker, 1999; Mason, Almos-Gallo, Bacon, McQuilken, Henley, & Fisher, 2004;Reid, Johnson, Morant, et al, 1999;Wykes, Stevens, & Everitt, 1997). There are also indications that social workers and other mental health professionals may hold less than positive attitudes toward this population, and that these attitudes have an important impact on outcomes for individuals with SPMI (Barrowclough et al, 2001;Heresco-Levy, Ermilov, Giltsinsky, Lichtenstein, & Blander, 1999;Newhill & Korr, 2004). However, to date, this research has yet to elucidate the factors that contribute to social workers' attitudes toward individuals with SPMI.…”

Profilage diagnostique et traitement des troubles mentaux

“…Une recherche (Morin, Dorvil et Grenier, 2003) quant àl'univers des maisons de chambre a toutefois dé-montré que celui-ci n'est pas homogène d'un endroit à l'autre mais il est manifeste toutefois que la sécurité l'emporte sur l'autonomie défi-nie par les propriétaires. Une recherche (Newill et Korr, 2004) Plus globalement le zonage, un mécanisme de division des sols et de ségrégation des populations, a joué un rôle majeur dans la reconfiguration des services d'hébergement et dans la reproduction de rapports sociaux fondés sur une distance vis-à-vis de la folie. Le zonage, comme technique de contrôle du territoire, est ainsi devenu l'instrument privilégié d'exclusion des populations marginalisées, aux États-Unis comme au Canada.…”