Asylum blues: staff attitudes towards psychiatric nursing in Sarawak, East Malaysia.
This paper draws upon findings from an ethnographic study of psychiatric service users in a psychiatric institution in Sarawak, East Malaysia. Findings focus primarily on the accounts of nursing staff in relation to attitudes towards psychiatric work and patients. These indicate that despite a rhetoric of decentralized services, a custodial 'asylum' model continues to influence the care of patients at many levels. Negative professional attitudes towards patients lead to issues of both moral and physical containment. However, an associated attitude of stigma and prejudice towards mental illness impacts upon how attractive a career in psychiatric nursing is perceived to be by respondents, subject to gender differentials.
College of Family Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sara.Crabtree@zu.ac.ae
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Ashencaen Crabtree
D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011287:Prejudice; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing