GPH: The provider Sample

I think the researchers got it right with the sample of the mental health professionals as they involved all the key professionals usually involved in mental health care :a psychologist, a psychiatrist, participants with social work and nursing background all in their active working age with 11.9 years of qualification.

Nevertheless, since the researchers used purposive sampling method, inclusion of some famous and or renowned clergies in thesame catchment area may confer some level of confidence and trust on the users to enable unreserved responses to the questions, i think.

Lets see others views...... Cheers!

Re: The provider Sample

by Shivani Patel - Wednesday, 31 October 2012, 6:44 PM

Hi Eric,

I think it good to have a variation of mental health professionals but I think in this case it isn't very helpful.

This is because the study states 'the professionals' say that they are not adequately trained in dealing with domestic violence, and the service users state that 'the professionals are too focused on a 'medical diagnosis and treatment model.'

I don't think this is was completely true to all the health professionals, particularly the care coordinators who have very different professional roles to the psychiatrists. Care coordinators are more concerned with social work and the general well-being of mental health patients. Therefore, it was the care coordinators that stated they were more comfortable with asking about domestic violence, perhaps due to their experience and training in more socially orientated careers of nursing and social care.

In contrast,I think it is the psychiatrists that are more concerned with the diagnosis and treatment model, and thus feeling like it is beyond their role to enquire about patients general well-being and home life. Therefore, it was the psychiatrists who felt and unconfident in asking about domestic violence experiences.n

Therefore I think it's wrong to group these two categories of mental health professionals into one category as they are both have very different backgrounds experiences and training, and different roles in the care of mental health pateint.

Re: The provider Sample

by Sultana Azam - Sunday, 4 November 2012, 9:38 PM

I also think with regards to the qualifications, it says average 11.9 years but the range starts from 4-29 years! Surely, the one professional with more qualified years under his/her belt will be more experienced and have less concerns about discussing domestic violence with the service users.

I also agree with Shivani that the nature of profession comes with its own experiences. For example, a doctor is trained to ask specific medical history questions whereas a psychiatrist is trained to ask questions around the patient's feelings; they are different disciplines.