Jochen Vollmann
Biographic Data
| ID | 5420585 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jochen Vollmann |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jochen |
| FAMILY NAME | Vollmann |
| SIGNATURE | VOLLMANN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ruhr University Bochum |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0148-6431 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
A template for a psychiatric advance directive
BACKGROUND: Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) allow mental health service users to express their treatment preferences for future mental health crises. An accessible template for PADs can improve their implementation in practice. AIM: Developing and evaluating a PAD template tailored to the German context together with key stakeholders. METHOD: We co-developed a prototype PAD template based on a systematic review of the content of PADs and a …
Improving the Ethics Review of Qualitative Health Research
Most qualitative health research is subject to ethics review and approval by a research ethics committee (REC). While many studies have identified the challenges that current ethics review practices pose to qualitative health research, there is currently a call to move the research focus from the shortcomings of ethics review practices to the possibilities for improvement. The aim of this grounded theory study was to identify possibilities for im…
Assisted suicide and the discrimination argument
According to the “discrimination argument,” it would be discriminatory and hence impermissible to categorically exclude people with mental illness (PMI) from access to assisted suicide (AS) if AS is accessible to people with somatic illnesses. In objection to this, it could be argued that excluding PMI is not discriminatory, but rather based on their inability to meet certain eligibility criteria for AS. Which criteria are deemed necessary depend…
Perspectives on advance research directives from individuals with mild cognitive impairment and family members
ARDs were predominantly seen as valuable instruments that enable individuals with MCI to participate in research. This study provides insights into the reasons why affected individuals are interested in drafting ARDs. These insights can guide the development of supportive interventions that are tailored to assist individuals with MCI and their families in navigating ARD processes
Research ethics in practice
The ethics review of qualitative health research poses various challenges that are due to a mismatch between the current practice of ethics review and the nature of qualitative methodology. The process of obtaining ethics approval for a study by a research ethics committee before the start of a research study has been described as “procedural ethics” and the identification and handling of ethical issues by researchers during the research process …
Socially Assistive Devices in Healthcare–a Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence from an Ethical Perspective
Socially assistive devices such as care robots or companions have been advocated as a promising tool in elderly care in Western healthcare systems. Ethical debates indicate various challenges. An important part of the ethical evaluation is to understand how users interact with these devices and how interaction influences users’ perceptions and their ability to express themselves. In this review, we report and critically appraise findings of non-c…
Solidarity as an Empirical-Ethical Framework for the Analysis of Contact Tracing Apps — a Novel Approach
Digital contact tracing is used in different countries to help contain the COVID-19 pandemic. It raises challenging empirical and ethical questions due to its complexity and widespread effects calling for a broader approach in ethical evaluation. However, existing approaches often fail to include all relevant value perspectives or lack reference to empirical data on the artifact in question. In this paper, we describe the development of an interd…
Framework for evaluation research on clinical ethical case interventions
Evaluation of clinical ethical case consultations has been discussed as an important research task in recent decades. A rigid framework of evaluation is essential to improve quality of consultations and, thus, quality of patient care. Different approaches to evaluate those services appropriately and to determine adequate empirical endpoints have been proposed. A key challenge is to provide an answer to the question as to which empirical endpoints…
Opportunities and risks of self-binding directives
The fact that stakeholders consider SBDs as an opportunity to improve personalized crisis care for people with bipolar disorder indicates that a debate about the legal and clinical implementation of SBDs in Germany and beyond is necessary
Supported Decision-Making in Persons With Dementia
The right to make autonomous decisions is enshrined in law. However, the question how persons with cognitive deficits can be enabled to make autonomous decisions has not been satisfactorily addressed. In particular, the concept of supported decision-making and its implementation into practice has been poorly explored for persons with dementia (PwD).This article describes the empirical development and implementation of support tools to enhance inf…
Types of Ethical Problems and Expertise in Clinical Ethics Consultation in Psychiatry – Insights From a Qualitative Empirical Ethics Study
Background: Ethics consultation has been advocated as a valuable tool in ethically challenging clinical situations in healthcare. It is paramount for the development and implementation of clinical ethics support services (CESS) in psychiatry that interventions can address the moral needs of mental health professionals adequately and communicate the nature of the services clearly. This study explores types of ethical problems and concepts of ethic…
Under which conditions are changes in the treatment of people under involuntary commitment justified during the Covid-19 pandemic? An ethical evaluation of current developments in Germany
Challenges faced by peer support workers during the integration into hospital-based mental health-care teams
BACKGROUND: Being aware of the challenges that may occur during the implementation of peer support work in psychiatry is important to facilitate the integration of peer support workers (PSWs) into multidisciplinary mental health-care teams. AIM: The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by PSWs during their integration into hospital-based mental health-care teams. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis of nine open-ended, semi-s…
Evolvement of Peer Support Workers’ Roles in Psychiatric Hospitals
Peer support workers (PSWs) use their experiential knowledge and specific skills to support patients in their recovery process. The aim of our study was to examine the integration and role-finding process of PSWs in adult psychiatric hospitals in Germany. We conducted open nonparticipant observations of 25 multiprofessional team meetings and 5 transregional peer support worker meetings over a period of six months. The data were analyzed using qua…
Commentary 1
In this case commentary, we analyze ethical concerns that were raised in response to an interview with a woman with bipolar disorder who was under involuntary commitment. We focus on competence and voluntariness as two prerequisites for valid informed consent. We recommend that judgments of competence be based on whether prospective research participants sufficiently possess certain decision-making abilities. Based on this functional approach, we…
Ward Atmosphere and Patient Satisfaction in Psychiatric Hospitals With Different Ward Settings and Door Policies. Results From a Mixed Methods Study
Background: Open-door policies in psychiatry are discussed as a means to improve the treatment of involuntarily committed patients in various aspects. Current research on open-door policies focuses mainly on objective effects, such as the number of coercive interventions or serious incidents. The aim of the present study was to investigate more subjective perceptions of different psychiatric inpatient settings with different door policies by anal…
Psychiatric Advance Directives Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) are documents by means of which mental health service users can make known their preferences regarding treatment in a future mental health crisis. Many states with explicit legal provisions for PADs have ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). While important UN bodies consider PADs a useful tool to promote the autonomy of service users, we show that an a…
Psychiatrists’ views on different types of advance statements in mental health care in Germany
BACKGROUND: Advance directives enable patients to ensure that treatment decisions will be based on their autonomous will, even if they are incompetent at the time at which the treatment decision is taken. Although psychiatric advance directives are legally binding in Germany and their benefits are widely acknowledged, they are still infrequently used in German psychiatric practice. AIMS: The aim of this study is to assess psychiatrists' attitudes…
Gewalt und Psyche
Physician Assisted Suicide
Suicide and assisted suicide are not criminal acts in Germany. However, attempting suicide may create a legal duty for physicians to try to save a patient's life. This study presents data on medical students' legal knowledge and ethical views regarding physician assisted suicide (PAS). The majority of 85 respondents held PAS to be illegal. More than a third of the students viewed PAS in certain situations to be ethically acceptable whereas a smal…
The Prussian Regulation of 1900
Case Study
Evolvement of Peer Support Workers’ Roles in Psychiatric Hospitals
Peer support workers (PSWs) use their experiential knowledge and specific skills to support patients in their recovery process. The aim of our study was to examine the integration and role-finding process of PSWs in adult psychiatric hospitals in Germany. We conducted open nonparticipant observations of 25 multiprofessional team meetings and 5 transregional peer support worker meetings over a period of six months. The data were analyzed using qua…
Case Study
The Prussian Regulation of 1900
Physician Assisted Suicide
Suicide and assisted suicide are not criminal acts in Germany. However, attempting suicide may create a legal duty for physicians to try to save a patient's life. This study presents data on medical students' legal knowledge and ethical views regarding physician assisted suicide (PAS). The majority of 85 respondents held PAS to be illegal. More than a third of the students viewed PAS in certain situations to be ethically acceptable whereas a smal…
Gewalt und Psyche
Psychiatrists’ views on different types of advance statements in mental health care in Germany
BACKGROUND: Advance directives enable patients to ensure that treatment decisions will be based on their autonomous will, even if they are incompetent at the time at which the treatment decision is taken. Although psychiatric advance directives are legally binding in Germany and their benefits are widely acknowledged, they are still infrequently used in German psychiatric practice. AIMS: The aim of this study is to assess psychiatrists' attitudes…
Commentary 1
In this case commentary, we analyze ethical concerns that were raised in response to an interview with a woman with bipolar disorder who was under involuntary commitment. We focus on competence and voluntariness as two prerequisites for valid informed consent. We recommend that judgments of competence be based on whether prospective research participants sufficiently possess certain decision-making abilities. Based on this functional approach, we…
Ward Atmosphere and Patient Satisfaction in Psychiatric Hospitals With Different Ward Settings and Door Policies. Results From a Mixed Methods Study
Background: Open-door policies in psychiatry are discussed as a means to improve the treatment of involuntarily committed patients in various aspects. Current research on open-door policies focuses mainly on objective effects, such as the number of coercive interventions or serious incidents. The aim of the present study was to investigate more subjective perceptions of different psychiatric inpatient settings with different door policies by anal…
Psychiatric Advance Directives Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) are documents by means of which mental health service users can make known their preferences regarding treatment in a future mental health crisis. Many states with explicit legal provisions for PADs have ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). While important UN bodies consider PADs a useful tool to promote the autonomy of service users, we show that an a…
Under which conditions are changes in the treatment of people under involuntary commitment justified during the Covid-19 pandemic? An ethical evaluation of current developments in Germany
Challenges faced by peer support workers during the integration into hospital-based mental health-care teams
BACKGROUND: Being aware of the challenges that may occur during the implementation of peer support work in psychiatry is important to facilitate the integration of peer support workers (PSWs) into multidisciplinary mental health-care teams. AIM: The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by PSWs during their integration into hospital-based mental health-care teams. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis of nine open-ended, semi-s…
Evolvement of Peer Support Workers’ Roles in Psychiatric Hospitals
Peer support workers (PSWs) use their experiential knowledge and specific skills to support patients in their recovery process. The aim of our study was to examine the integration and role-finding process of PSWs in adult psychiatric hospitals in Germany. We conducted open nonparticipant observations of 25 multiprofessional team meetings and 5 transregional peer support worker meetings over a period of six months. The data were analyzed using qua…
Supported Decision-Making in Persons With Dementia
The right to make autonomous decisions is enshrined in law. However, the question how persons with cognitive deficits can be enabled to make autonomous decisions has not been satisfactorily addressed. In particular, the concept of supported decision-making and its implementation into practice has been poorly explored for persons with dementia (PwD).This article describes the empirical development and implementation of support tools to enhance inf…
Types of Ethical Problems and Expertise in Clinical Ethics Consultation in Psychiatry – Insights From a Qualitative Empirical Ethics Study
Background: Ethics consultation has been advocated as a valuable tool in ethically challenging clinical situations in healthcare. It is paramount for the development and implementation of clinical ethics support services (CESS) in psychiatry that interventions can address the moral needs of mental health professionals adequately and communicate the nature of the services clearly. This study explores types of ethical problems and concepts of ethic…
Framework for evaluation research on clinical ethical case interventions
Evaluation of clinical ethical case consultations has been discussed as an important research task in recent decades. A rigid framework of evaluation is essential to improve quality of consultations and, thus, quality of patient care. Different approaches to evaluate those services appropriately and to determine adequate empirical endpoints have been proposed. A key challenge is to provide an answer to the question as to which empirical endpoints…
Opportunities and risks of self-binding directives
The fact that stakeholders consider SBDs as an opportunity to improve personalized crisis care for people with bipolar disorder indicates that a debate about the legal and clinical implementation of SBDs in Germany and beyond is necessary
Research ethics in practice
The ethics review of qualitative health research poses various challenges that are due to a mismatch between the current practice of ethics review and the nature of qualitative methodology. The process of obtaining ethics approval for a study by a research ethics committee before the start of a research study has been described as “procedural ethics” and the identification and handling of ethical issues by researchers during the research process …
Socially Assistive Devices in Healthcare–a Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence from an Ethical Perspective
Socially assistive devices such as care robots or companions have been advocated as a promising tool in elderly care in Western healthcare systems. Ethical debates indicate various challenges. An important part of the ethical evaluation is to understand how users interact with these devices and how interaction influences users’ perceptions and their ability to express themselves. In this review, we report and critically appraise findings of non-c…
Solidarity as an Empirical-Ethical Framework for the Analysis of Contact Tracing Apps — a Novel Approach
Digital contact tracing is used in different countries to help contain the COVID-19 pandemic. It raises challenging empirical and ethical questions due to its complexity and widespread effects calling for a broader approach in ethical evaluation. However, existing approaches often fail to include all relevant value perspectives or lack reference to empirical data on the artifact in question. In this paper, we describe the development of an interd…
Assisted suicide and the discrimination argument
According to the “discrimination argument,” it would be discriminatory and hence impermissible to categorically exclude people with mental illness (PMI) from access to assisted suicide (AS) if AS is accessible to people with somatic illnesses. In objection to this, it could be argued that excluding PMI is not discriminatory, but rather based on their inability to meet certain eligibility criteria for AS. Which criteria are deemed necessary depend…
Perspectives on advance research directives from individuals with mild cognitive impairment and family members
ARDs were predominantly seen as valuable instruments that enable individuals with MCI to participate in research. This study provides insights into the reasons why affected individuals are interested in drafting ARDs. These insights can guide the development of supportive interventions that are tailored to assist individuals with MCI and their families in navigating ARD processes
A template for a psychiatric advance directive
BACKGROUND: Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) allow mental health service users to express their treatment preferences for future mental health crises. An accessible template for PADs can improve their implementation in practice. AIM: Developing and evaluating a PAD template tailored to the German context together with key stakeholders. METHOD: We co-developed a prototype PAD template based on a systematic review of the content of PADs and a …
Improving the Ethics Review of Qualitative Health Research
Most qualitative health research is subject to ethics review and approval by a research ethics committee (REC). While many studies have identified the challenges that current ethics review practices pose to qualitative health research, there is currently a call to move the research focus from the shortcomings of ethics review practices to the possibilities for improvement. The aim of this grounded theory study was to identify possibilities for im…
Psychology (17 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Political science (11 works) · Psychiatry (11 works) · Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Mental health (8 works) · Qualitative research (7 works) · Engineering ethics (6 works) · Ethics in medical practice (6 works)