Occupational stress in a public mental hospital: the psychiatrist's view.

Although state mental hospitals face a critical shortage of psychiatric manpower, there have been no studies of how psychiatrists view their roles and responsibilities within the public mental health system. In this study, a modification of the proportionate scaling method developed by Holmes and Rahe is used to measure and rank the stress-producing potential of 60 items identified by psychiatrists at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., as sources of stress. Results of the analysis show that most of the events rated as highly stressful fall into the category of administrative and organizational shortcomings.

Predicting tenure decisions of psychiatric nursing assistants: individual and work-related factors.

Models were developed to predict the tenure status of 106 psychiatric nursing assistants at 3, 6, and 12 months after beginning employment at a large public psychiatric inpatient facility. The attrition rate of this sample was 40% which was consistent with trends reported in the literature. The predictive power of four groups of variables--personal, training, ward related, and organizational--was shown to change over time. Personal and training variables were significant early determinants of tenure, while ward and organizational factors gained more importance during the course of the year. Certain factors that appear important in reducing turnover of nursing assistants are discussed, with recommendations for program changes.

Making cooperative living work for psychiatric outpatients.

In the wake of deinstitutionalization, the exploration of alternative placements and living arrangements in the community has come to the fore. After describing a program for cooperative apartment living for female psychiatric outpatients, this article assesses the program's economic cost and its benefits to clients and outlines the authors' recommendations concerning future efforts to develop cooperative living programs.