Crisis team intervention in a psychiatric specialized health care unit in Finland: A follow-up study
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the family and network oriented Crisis Team in the Psychiatric Specialized Health Care Unit of Lounais-Hame, Finland, has operated in a manner consistent with crisis intervention theory and its operating principles. The secondary focus was to examine the differences in outpatient crisis services between the Crisis Team and the on-call duty system of the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic within the same larger psychiatric treatment context. All case records of new clients in both crisis service systems during April 1991 through 1994 were content analyzed using a coding scheme developed for this study. The Crisis Team had 156 and the Clinic on-call system 175 new clients during the research period. Both intrarater and interrater reliability estimates supported the use of the coding scheme. The study was a development-and-research project to improve the provided crisis services. The results supported the conclusion that the Crisis Team is a specialized crisis service that is most often activated by other health care and social service organizations in serious crisis situations involving acute psychosis, suicidal concerns, family problems and traumatic incidents. The Crisis Team applies an explicit family and network orientation, and emphasizes cooperation and connectedness with clients' network and other service organizations. The Crisis Team is mobile and its services are immediately and easily accessible focusing on brief outpatient interventions. The Clinic on-call system has other functions besides the crisis services it provides. Most of the clients of the Clinic on-call system are self-referred and the presenting problems involve mainly psychiatric problems, family concerns and life situational crises The treatment model is individually focused with a stronger reliance on the medical model. The treatment is provided mainly at the Clinic and more in separation from other health care and social service providers. Recommendations for further improvement of the crisis services were included.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Piercy, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Mental health|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology
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