Title

Asylum blues: Staff attitudes towards psychiatric nursing in Sarawak, East Malaysia

Source of Publication

Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

Abstract

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.

Document Type

Article

First Page

713

Last Page

721

Publication Date

12-1-2003

DOI

10.1046/j.1365-2850.2003.00665.x

Author First name, Last name, Institution

S. Ashencaen Crabtree, Zayed University

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