Citation

Gebhardt RP, Steinert T. Eur. Psychiatry 1999; 14(5): 291-297.

Affiliation

Centre of Psychiatry Weissenau, Sector Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry I of the University of Ulm, Weingartshoferstrasse 2, 88214 Ravensburg, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10572360

Abstract

This study examines whether ward atmosphere, aggressive behavior, and sexual molestation will change after severely disturbed patients have been distributed over several wards determined by their place of residence, instead of concentrating them in locked single-sex wards. Four wards for predominantly psychotic patients were investigated with the German version of the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS), and some further questions about the observation of aggressive behavior and sexual molestation once before and twice after internal sectorisation, partial ward opening, and mixing the sexes were asked. Questionnaires (345: 162 staff members, 183 patients) were evaluated. After the structural changes, a significant improvement of ward atmosphere and a reduction of aggressive behavior was found on average in all wards, whereas the impact on sexual molestation remained unclear. Internal sectorisation and sex integration policy, resulting in distributing rather than concentrating severely disturbed patients, have beneficial effects on the social climate of acute wards.

Language: en