Abstract
Risk aversion trumps human rights
International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Vol.27(Supplement 1), p.37
International Mental Health Nursing Conference: Mental Health is a Human Right, 44th (Cairns, Australia, 24-Oct-2018–26-Oct-2018)
2018
Abstract
The risk society in which we currently live has led toorganisational and government policies that impactenormously on the practices of mental health profes-sionals working within acute psychiatric inpatient set-tings. Following de-institutionalisation, signiï¬cantfunding was allocated to forensic mental health servicesand to intensive community outreach, both designed toprovide a greater sense of 'security' for the public(Howell & Norman, 2000). However, acute psychiatr icinpatients wards were largely not locked at the frontdoor. On December 13, 2014 a Queensland Govern-ment directive was carried out to lock all public acutepsychiatric wards across Queensland. Despite decadesof accepting the need to care for people in the leastrestrictive environment and signiï¬cant back lash fromall of the professional groups, the policy remains inplace.Risk has become the focus of governments and soci-ety broadly in response to media representations ofdangerousness. A focus on risk is particularly apparentwhen there are sentinel events in mental health careand media reports impress upon society the dangerous-ness and unpredictability of the mentally ill. Thesereports naturally contribute to the stigma associatedwith mental illness which results in calls for greatersecurity. This inevitably results in tighter risk man age-ment policies that constrain practices in these settingsleading to negative impacts on staff morale and job sat-isfaction and limiting the rights of people with mentalillness.Risk management or forestalling risk is the focus ofmanagers and bure aucrats while the culture of mental health nursing values the person's emotional and physi-cal safety. Mental health nurses must balance organisa-tional risk management demands with theirprofessional values that seek to reduce interpersonaldistress for people in their care. This presentation con-siders the risk discourse and how mental health nursesmight respond to the current emphasis on risk in orderto support people to recover from mental distress/ill-ness while seeking to ensure their human rights areconsidered.
Details
- Title
- Risk aversion trumps human rights
- Authors
- Christine Palmer (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Vol.27(Supplement 1), p.37
- Conference details
- International Mental Health Nursing Conference: Mental Health is a Human Right, 44th (Cairns, Australia, 24-Oct-2018–26-Oct-2018)
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Date published
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1111/inm.12539
- ISSN
- 1445-8330; 1445-8330
- Organisation Unit
- Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health - Nursing; School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450628802621
- Output Type
- Abstract
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