Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T00:35:16.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Negative Correlation between Improved Production in Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Social Behaviour Outside

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

L. G. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Aberdeen, AB9 2ZD
F. Adamson
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Aberdeen, AB9 2ZD
D. A. Alexander
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Aberdeen, AB9 2ZD; Ross Clinic, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen, AB9 2ZF
B. E. Stöffelmayr
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Aberdeen, AB9 2ZD; Ross Clinic, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen, AB9 2ZF

Extract

One of the major problems encountered in rehabilitating psychiatric patients is that work motivation cannot be assumed but must often be created (Benney, 1964). Several investigations (e.g. Goldin, Margolin and Stotsky, 1968) have suggested that staff approval can be a particularly powerful incentive for some patients' rehabilitation. Wing and Freudenberg (1961) have shown that even some chronic schizophrenics improve their production level when staff encouragement is made contingent upon work behaviour. Although it has been suggested that a number of variables, such as age and diagnosis, are related to the magnitude of the increase in production, very little is known about the actual significance of these factors; in particular, virtually nothing has been written about the possible relevance of contemporary social interactions outside the rehabilitation setting. In most treatment regimes attention is focused on the present situation and past life experiences to the exclusion of a systematic consideration of the nature and quality of social relationships outside the treatment situation. Clearly, it would be of great value if it could be established which social environments were conducive to success within a given therapeutic regime. This study attempts to correct this imbalance by using systematic observational techniques to explore the interaction between response to social reinforcement in a rehabilitation unit and social relationships outside it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayllon, T., and Azrin, N. H. (1964). ‘Reinforcement and instruction with mental patients.’ Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour, 7, 327–31.Google Scholar
Benney, C. (1964). ‘Factors affecting motivation for rehabilitation.’ Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement, 38(ii), 5.Google Scholar
Bergin, A. E. (1971). ‘Evaluation of therapeutic outcomes’, in Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behaviour Change (ed. Bergin, and Garfield, ). London: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Goldin, G. J., Margolin, R. J., and Stotsky, B. A. (1968). ‘Motivational factors in the rehabilitation facility.’ Rehabilitation Literature, 29(3), 6672.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956). Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., and Freudenberg, R. K. (1961). ‘The response of severely ill chronic schizophrenic patients to social stimulation.’ American Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 311–22.Google Scholar
Wohl, S. A. (1964). ‘Follow-up community adjustment in social psychology’, in Treating Mental Illness: an Experimental Approach (ed. Fairweather, ). New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.