Mental Health Act assessments - professional narratives on alternatives to hospital admission

Hall, Peter (2017) Mental Health Act assessments - professional narratives on alternatives to hospital admission. Journal of Social Work Practice, 31 (4). pp. 445-459. ISSN 0265-0533

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Abstract

This article draws on themes derived from research conducted as part of a doctoral study, using Framework Analysis, in which fifteen mental health professionals were involved in nine Mental Health Act assessments in the UK. In this work, risk is explored in terms of the social context, using a social constructionist perspective, in which concepts of ‘social crisis/mental illness’, professional negotiations and social capital are explored. The key findings highlighted: the social constructions of service users’ worlds, as presented by the Approved Social Workers (ASWs) and Home Treatment Professionals (HTPs), were notably different; the negotiations between the ASWs and HTPs, provided the ASWs with a number of roles including negotiator, deal-maker and decision-maker and the service user’s social network and the provision of home treatment showed that the ‘treatments’ provided can be seen as a shared role. Finally, the implications for contemporary mental health social work practice is presented.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Mental Health Act assessment, home treatment, social crisis, professional decision-making, social capital, social work practice
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Divisions: Faculty of Arts, Business & Applied Social Science > Department of Applied Social Sciences
Depositing User: Peter Hall
Date Deposited: 12 Jan 2018 08:16
Last Modified: 12 Dec 2018 01:38
URI: https://oars.uos.ac.uk/id/eprint/406

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