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Dual Diagnosis Public Policy in a Federal System: The C anadian Experience
Author(s) -
Gough Heather,
Morris Susan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of policy and practice in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1741-1130
pISSN - 1741-1122
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-1130.2012.00347.x
Subject(s) - legislation , statute , ratification , context (archaeology) , legislature , government (linguistics) , public policy , dual (grammatical number) , mental health , health care , public administration , medicine , business , political science , psychiatry , law , politics , art , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , literature , biology
Persons with dual diagnosis, defined as having both mental health needs and developmental disabilities, can have significant problems accessing appropriate and integrated care. It was hypothesized that jurisdictions across C anada would be lacking in legislation and policy regarding care for dual diagnosis. A legislative scan was performed, encompassing statutes and regulations, followed by a search of government ministerial Web sites to identify policy; relevant persons within ministries were contacted for clarification and further information. Findings indicated that no province or territory within C anada currently has legislation regarding dual diagnosis; four have policies addressing dual diagnosis care. Some policies exclude people with disabilities from qualifying as having a psychiatric disorder, and some policies exclude people with certain types of psychiatric disorders. The patchwork of regional legislation and policy in C anada suggests that dual diagnosis care would be better facilitated if rights to such were enshrined within legislation. Ratification by C anada of the UN C onvention on the R ights of P ersons with D isabilities and a national mental health strategy provide a new policy context that is worth monitoring in relation to rectifying the current situation.