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Moving The Mentally Ill Into The Community: The Problem Of Acceptance And The Effect Of Contact
Author(s) -
Cousens Penelope,
Crawford June
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1988.tb01223.x
Subject(s) - project commissioning , mentally ill , context (archaeology) , socioeconomic status , psychology , publishing , mental health , social psychology , psychiatry , mental illness , medicine , political science , environmental health , geography , law , population , archaeology
Community acceptance of the mentally ill is fundamental to a successful change to community‐based care, now being implemented in New South Wales. This policy was based on an inquiry that viewed acceptance optimistically and postulated that contact with the mentally ill would be a favourable influence. The applicability of this extension of the ‘contact hypothesis’ from its original racial context is tested in one area of Sydney. The results indicate that the type of contact arising from community mental health facilities is not an effective catalyst of relevant attitude change, and suggest particular difficulties among the lower two socioeconomic classes.