Mental health professionals' perceived barriers and benefits, and personal concerns in relation to psychiatric research.
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AIM: Mental health professionals can contribute to generating a strong evidence base for policy and practice in psychiatry. An insight into their perception of psychiatric research is important for planning support strategies. This study explored healthcare professionals' perceptions of barriers, benefits and concerns about psychiatric research in a Singapore psychiatric hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect socio-demographic data and opinions on research. Likert scale was used for the responses and descriptive statistics and ordinal regression were used for data analysing. RESULTS: 93.8% respondents perceived "contribution to medical knowledge/public health" to be a major benefit of conducting research. 86.7% respondents felt that "learning experience" was important. "Prestige/publication" (52.7%) and "financial gain" (76%) were perceived to be unimportant. "Clinical load of patients", "lack of skilled personnel to assist in research" and "insufficient funding" were identified as important barriers by 72.4%, 70.6% and 68.9% respondents. "Time constraints", "patient and family readiness to research participation", "insufficient training" and "concerns about patient welfare" are major concerns while conducting research. CONCLUSION: To the study team's best knowledge, this is the only study of mental health professionals' perceptions on psychiatric research. It is useful for strategising research planning and enhancing the research culture in the hospital. (+info)
Understanding the scope and practice of behavioral medicine in family medicine.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Family medicine integrates psychosocial factors (behavioral, psychological, cognitive, social, and cultural) into the comprehensive medical care of patients. Behavioral medicine is the discipline representing the contribution of the behavioral sciences to medicine and encompasses a broad field of knowledge and practice. This research explores the understanding of the scope and practice of behavioral medicine among academic family physicians. METHODS: Surveys were administered to physicians at nine family medicine residency programs in Florida. RESULTS: Study participants reported being trained in and using behavioral medicine techniques and consultants with patients. Behavioral medicine was valued as a collection of techniques for the prevention and treatment of physical and psychiatric illness. Physicians emphasized the utility of behavioral specialists' skills in conditions with strong psychological components compared to other chronic medical conditions. Behavioral medicine techniques were associated with traditional psychotherapeutic interventions and often provided by nonpsychiatric physicians. Many physicians categorized behavioral medicine as a type of complementary and alternative medicine. CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral medicine is valued but not strongly identified as a distinct discipline, which might affect its use. This may explain why behavioral medicine skills were differentially valued for the prevention and treatment of psychiatric illness compared to medical illness. (+info)
Behavioural interventions for HIV positive prevention in developing countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
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