Hoe leerling-verpleegkundigen in een psychiatrisch ziekenhuis over hun patiënten en over hun eigen taak denken

Samenvatting

The data used were provided by a former study of 85 student nurses in a psychiatric hospital. A factor analysis was used to provide the answer to two questions: (1) Can the opinions held by the nurses on the causes of schizophrenia be explained on the basis of the 'medical model'? (2) Which other underlying factors can be pinpointed? The 'medical model' is the one used in a medical (somatic) hospital. It was described among others by E. Goffman (Asylums; Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, New York: 1961). In this model it is assumed that the derangement to be treated was accidentally caused within a physical system. The nurse's task is only to assist the MD & not to play an active role in the treatment. The medical model does not play an important role in the conception the students have of their tasks & of the patients. However, four other factors are shown to be important: (A) whether schizophrenia is believed to be congenital or acquired, (B) the importance given to exogenous & endogenous factors respectively, (C) whether it is believed to be important or not to associate with the patients, & (D) whether active therapeutic activity is or is not considered an important task of nurses. Modified HA.