No publications in the field of social work have dealt with planning discharge from a psychiatric hospital, therefore, this is an important contribution and addition to the science of social work in Slovenia.
Research on the process of discharge after hospitalization revealed the actual role of social work in the institutional environment of a psychiatric hospital and obstacles to greater inclusion of users in the process of preparing for their return to the community. Based on these results, proposals were given for the organization and implementation of social work practices in psychiatric hospitals that follow emancipatory principles. The empirically supported insight into the characteristics of professional knowledge, the use of methods and procedures, the advantages and disadvantages of the social workers' knowledge in practice, and the provided guidelines and recommendations for improving the practice of social workers in planning discharge from a psychiatric hospital represent a significant contribution to the science of social work.
The first part of this doctoral dissertation includes purpose and objectives of the research. The following are theoretical contents in relation to health and health care in psychiatric hospital. We introduce the procedure of discharge from psychiatric hospital, the roles of the user, friends, family and other important people in user's life in the effective planning of discharge. and the importance of teamwork. In the next part the theoretical part touches on the stigma imposed on the users and on the options available to them after the hospital treatment. Empirical part presents mixed methodology, that consists of three parts: the analysis of documentation in social services, interviews with users completing treatment in a psychiatric hospital, and interviews with social workers employed at all six psychiatric hospitals. At the end of the dissertation we present the definition of »discharge planning« and add a »dischargement plan« We compare a coordinated treatment in a community and the planning of discharge from psychiatric hospital. We offer an experimental model of optimal planning of dischargement, which represents an important contribution to the theoretical contents in the field of social work at a psychiatric hospital.
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