Abstract
M.A. (Social Work)
This study involved qualitative research with 25 respondents
in a psychiatric hospital. The purpose of the study was to
gain a social work perspective on the patient in a psychiatric
hospital.
The research results led to the conclusion that the patient in
a psychiatric hospital can be viewed from an ecological approach.
This implies that the patient is viewed as being in transactional
exchange with his environment. Stress is treated as
a psychosocial condition generated by discrepancies between
needs and capacities, on the one hand, and environment qualities
on the other. Such stress arises in three interrelated
areas of living, viz. life transitions, environmental pressures
and interpersonal processes.
Finally the researcher concluded that the life model of Germain
and Gitterman (1980) can be employed to good advantage by the
social worker as a practice model in interventitive work
with the patient in a psychiatric hospital. This entails
that the social worker fulfills certain specific roles, functions
and tasks and utilizes certain skills in order to facilitate
a goodness-of-fit between the needs and problems of
the patient, and the characteristics of the environment, with
the ultimate purpose of enhancing the adaptive capacities of
the patient and of improving the quality of the environment of
that patient...