Attitudes of psychiatry residents toward a strike by nursing staff : a case report.

A study of the attitudes of psychiatry residents and attending psychiatrists toward a strike by nurses and mental health workers in a psychiatric teaching hospital was performed. All residents (n = 20) and 47 (83% of the attending psychiatrists) completed a questionnaire within 4 weeks after the strike. The responses to the questionnaire indicated that resident's behavior in response to the strike was significantly different from the behavior of the attendings: 20% of the residents volunteered service during the strike compared with 66% of the attendings (p ≤ 0.0001). The attending psychiatrists, when asked what action they would have taken if they were residents, indicated somewhat less of an inclination to volunteer; 16.7% changed their position about volunteering (NS). When asked what they would have done if they were attendings, 55% (p ≤ 0.008) of the residents indicated they would have volunteered service. The significance of these findings is that residents identify themselves more with the "frontline" mental health workers engaged in the strike than with the faculty/attending psychiatrists who serve as their professional role models.

The process of acculturation: theoretical perspectives and an empirical investigation in Peru.

World-wide migratory patterns have led to an increasing interest in acculturation processes and their psychosocial and psychiatric sequelae. This paper reviews alternative theoretical approaches to the study of acculturation and identifies gaps in the current knowledge base. We then present empirical research on acculturation processes experienced by both Indian rural to urban migrants and White-Mestizo non-migrants in Lima, Peru. The study examined overall acculturation and five sub-dimensions: language use, customs, sociability, perceived discrimination and ethnic identity. The data show that second generation migrants are more highly acculturated across sub-areas and perceive less ethnic discrimination than first generation migrants. The first generation varied in acculturative level across sub-dimensions as a function of their age at the time of migration. Contrasts between the migrant and dominant group depicted a two-way process of culture change, but a process characterized by an inequality in the content exchanged in each direction. Socio-demographic correlates of acculturation were also found. These results are discussed in terms of the potential psychological consequences of alternative acculturative adaptations within the Peruvian social-structural context.

Folk healing: a description and synthesis.

All societies have developed ways of dealing with physical and mental illness, defined as folk healing systems. The authors review the systems of folk healing that have evolved in different cultural groups in the United States. They describe the faith healing practices of fundamentalist Christian groups, the belief in rootwork among white and black people in the southeastern United States, curanderismo among Mexican-Americans, and espiritismo among Americans from Puerto Rico. Most believers in folk healing also go to physicians for medical care. The authors argue that physicians should familiarize themselves with patients' folk healing beliefs in order to serve them more effectively.

Perceived statutory applicability versus clinical desirability of emergency involuntary hospitalization.

The authors used a questionnaire survey conducted by mail in 1975 to assess psychiatrists' perceptions of the applicability of two jurisdictions' statutes for emergency involuntary hospitalization and the desirability of such hospitalization in four case vignettes. The great majority of the 287 respondents agreed that the statutes were applicable and hospitalization was desirable for individuals who were at risk for suicide and who were psychotic. Most of them also agreed that such hospitalization was neither legally applicable nor desirable for nonpsychotic, nonsuicidal people. Their perceptions of applicability versus desirability differed, however, regarding people who were nonsuicidal but psychotic or nonpsychotic but suicidal.

Psychiatrists' familiarity with legal statutes governing emergency involuntary hospitalization.

The authors sent out questionnaires regarding knowledge of statutes governing emergency involuntary hospitalization to psychiatrists in Connecticut and in the District of Columbia. Fifty-five percent (N=207) of the sample in Connecticut and 25% (N=87) of the sample in the District of Columbia responded. The responses showed that few of these psychiatrists had a thorough familiarity with the legal statutes governing emergency involuntary hospitalization in their jurisdictions. The most frequently cited criterion was the dangerousness standard, especially in the District of Columbia sample, and many psychiatrists were not sure of the nature of their statutory authority when their patients met the criteria for emergency hospitalization.